After some refreshing time and non-productive chat with Nuan, it was time to get back to business. Despite Nuan's health warnings, I took a stimulant to get out of my slightly sleepy mood.
"Okay." I said, putting down my cup on the table for the last time. "So, we are going to call the governor here and have a serious talk with him."
"And threaten him, if necessary." Nuan added.
"Threaten..."
"We always had a weak spot for Talossa. But I think it is time to remind them that we are the only reason for their existance."
"I see... Agreed." I said. "So, I will just-"
"No, you won't call him yourself. Let the comms officer handle it." Nuan said, and gave the order to the relevant personnel.
"This is not a nice way of engaging in diplomacy." I said.
"We are not even trying to be nice." said Nuan. "We are outright, openly warning them. Heh, what are they going to do, threaten us back? With what? The Republic rules cities bigger than the entire Talossa itself! If we were to take over the city, we wouldn't even need to spare resources; simply walk into their buildings and it's done before people even get to know what's going on."
"Nuan..." I said. "You are getting a bit too much into it. We are not invading the city."
"Oh, I'm sorry, perhaps not yet." she said, chuckling. "I just find it hard to understand them."
"Me too, but still, your words came out a bit dangerously aggressive. Be mindful, you might accidentally declare war on someone, someday."
She sighed.
"It is okay, I know what I'm doing." she said, pouring down another cup of tea for herself.
"Nuan, stop." I said. "You are going to hurt your stomach."
"I was just beginning..." she said.
"Nuan, you are not okay." I said. "That will be it for today, maybe we should continue tomorrow."
"We already called the governor!" she said. Unfortunately, she was right.
"Then let me handle it." I said. "Go home."
"Nooo..." she moaned. "Let's party!"
Party? Ignoring the total irrelevance of the idea, she couldn't even walk straight now.
"Nuan, you look drunk." I said. "I will get someone to help you get home."
"No, no, no, no..." she said. "Bring in the friends!.."
I grabbed Nuan's arms.
"Guards!" I yelled. No one came inside. "GUARDS!" I repeated. It was like no one was hearing me.
In a few minutes, Nuan had spent all her energy and fell asleep on my arms. I carefully placed her onto one of the armchairs. After that, I rushed out of Nuan's office to find someone to help me.
Just as I opened the door, I had a gun pointed at my head at close range. I instantly froze in position. Holding the gun was a guard, in his dark blue uniform.
"Mr. President." he said. "You are coming with me."
"What is the meaning of this?" I asked.
"No questions." he replied.
I tried calling for help using my Vineura, but it wasn't working for some reason.
I suddenly leaned down to get out of the guard's line of fire, holding and twisting his arm. He pulled the trigger a few times, but the bullets ended up creating random patterns of holes on the walls. I pushed him down to the ground and got on top. I couldn't get the gun out of his hand, so instead, I made him press the trigger in order to spend all the bullets. However, my effort to do so had given him a chance to kick me back. I fell down across the corridor.
We both got back up at the same time. He hurled his gun towards me, but I dodged the attack. Immediately after the attack was his defenseless moment. I took the opportunity and punched his chin as hard as I could. I heard a few things break, and he fell unconscious on the floor.
"You don't mess with someone who has got marine training, do you?" I said.
Just when I thought I was victorious, three other guards appeared - two of them on one side of the corridor, one on the other. All of them were pointing their guns at me. I was trapped, and there was no way I could win against all of them at once.
"Mr. President." one of them said. "You ARE coming with us."
I instinctively raised my hands above my head to surrender.
A gunshot followed.
I wasn't feeling anything.
The lone guard silently fell down. Now, only one side of the corridor was blocked.
"GO!" Nuan yelled. I started running the way she had cleared for me. One of the two remaining guards started chasing me, the other one got into a gunfight with Nuan.
I took every corner possible in order not to give the guard chasing me any opportunities to shoot. After I took one narrow corner, instead of continuing to run, I hid behind the corner. Just when the guard came running next to me, I kicked him and pinned him down. His gun flew out of his hand. I took it and hit his face repeatedly, until he couldn't fight back anymore. Then, I started retracing my steps to reach Nuan.
When I got back the scene, the gunfight was no longer going on.
I barged into the office. The guard and Nuan was in melee combat. I raised my gun, but they were constantly moving. I couldn't risk shooting the wrong person.
"Freeze!" I yelled instead. They both froze for a fraction of a second, but then, the guard held Nuan and got behind her.
"Haha!" he said. "Shoot, if you will!"
Nuan didn't say anything, she was struggling to escape.
I didn't shoot, but stepped forwards to get closer.
"Oh, no, no, no..." the guard said. "If I were you, I wouldn't do that. That's a very very bad idea." he said as he pulled Nuan back a bit more.
He couldn't shoot Nuan, but that would only be one of many ways to hurt a person. I could not risk trying to close in either.
None of us moved for a minute or so.
After that minute, I recognized the sounds of a shuttle overhead as it landed on one of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs landing pads.
Then we all heard rapid gunshots outside the ministry, and downstairs in the building.