Han Gai let out a shaky sigh, relaxing a little as he slumped into the car seat. Through the tracking spirits he'd sent out, he at least knew that Ruohan was coming along quietly without stirring up a fuss. If she tried to run though…he glanced at Joyce quickly.
Joyce looked just as tired as Han Gai.
"Oh my god, what do I do if she actually runs though? Do I have to fight her?" Joyce groaned. Han Gai and the driver, Mr. Lu, offered sympathetic sounds and no advice.
"I bet she was cringing the whole time, I can't threaten people properly," Joyce added.
"I think it was fine, Chairman," Han Gai said. He discreetly sent Kiyoko his fifth message of reassurance. Kiyoko had freaked out when the videos of the Hesheng Bridge battle had been released, and even more when Spade's video was released. So now Han Gai was pacifying her with emoticons of bunnies and messages confirming that yes, Joyce was fine.
"You know, I have a whole magic artifact that should've solved everything, but we're still relying on brute force and luck," Joyce lamented. "At some point, that's going to get old. If even Ruohan wasn't the turning point, what the hell is?"
No one knew how to respond to that, so Han Gai and Mr. Lu both offered sympathetic sounds and kept their peace.
Joyce read a text on her phone and perked up. "Oh great! The other guys wiped the floor with Wu Peifu and got Wuhan down," she said.
"Awesome!" Mr. Lu said enthusiastically.
"But they let Wu Peifu get away," Joyce said. "How the hell did they even let him slip? Even if the shamans didn't get him, General Li should've. What are they playing at?"
"Probably politics," Han Gai said. "They're playing mind-games with each other like there's no tomorrow, only the Flying Dragons have been kind of exempt so far." Mostly because no one wanted to play politics with someone who could blow up everything in a fifty-mile radius. Even the guys who'd come to question Joyce about the plague spirits had been demoted by Jia Xu for acting like idiots. Not that Joyce cared.
Joyce tossed her phone back into her sleeve in favor of nursing a can of herbal tea.
"How long before we get back, Mr. Lu?" Joyce asked.
"Twenty minutes, Chairman," Mr. Lu replied cheerfully. "Perfect amount of time for a nap."
"Mate, you get me," Joyce said just as cheerfully. "I'm taking a power nap then."
Han Gai waited until he was sure Joyce was asleep before leaning closer to talk softly with Mr. Lu.
"Mr. Lu," Han Gai whispered. "Were you scared earlier?"
"Of course, I had to go pee in an alleyway so I didn't shit my pants," Mr. Lu said. "And you guys just dropped off the map until Vice-Chair got into contact, it's been a rough night."
Han Gai leaned his head on the back of Mr. Lu's seat with a thoughtful expression.
"That's fair," Han Gai said. "But also, I guess we can't expect normalcy when your bosses include an Apostle, an undead swordsman, and a shaman with a pet bird that sets itself on fire."
Mr. Lu laughed at that, hastily stifling his giggles to avoid waking Joyce up. Han Gai grinned, feeling a little tired now that the adrenaline from earlier was wearing off. Han Gai was never a powerful shaman. But it was his pride and not his lack of skills that had kept Han Gai from applying to any faction before the Flying Dragons. It had turned out to be an…interesting choice.
"Chairman's strong," Han Gai said blankly. She also couldn't run, but that was a different story. "I think Miss Hu will know better than to try any more shit."
"I sure hope so," Mr. Lu said amicably. "Chairman's really quite nice, I'm sure Ms. Hu will come around."
They chatted for a little bit more before arriving back at their camp. Mohan and Kajio immediately set upon the car. Han Gai hurriedly shook Joyce awake.
"Chairman, we've arrived," Han Gai said. Joyce straightened, blinking at him blearily.
"Damn, couldn't we have driven any slower?"Joyce groaned. "I'm sleep deprived."
Han Gai politely directed her attention to Mohan and Kajio, who were approaching with anxious expressions.
"Oh shit, I forgot about them," Joyce said. She opened the door and stepped out to pacify their worries. Han Gai followed as Joyce was hustled into her tent.
"That Hu Ruohan, we have to prepare some precautions," Kajio growled as soon as they were inside. "There's no way someone like that will actually stay loyal."
"Indeed, we'll just have to make it so that the more she tries to flee, the more painful it'll be for her," Mohan said in a chilly tone. Joyce shrugged.
"Yeah, that's probably a good idea," Joyce said. "What's the situation with the shamans from Wuhan?"
Kajio and Mohan paused awkwardly for a second before Kajio hurriedly broke the silence.
"They're being held in the middle of the Alliance encampment to prevent them from trying anything," Kajio said. "Spade's there too. And don't worry about them, the shamans who were injured are being treated with their wounds."
Joyce scrunched up her face briefly before giving a thumbs up. "Right. Nice. Anything on Wu Peifu?"
Mohan snorted. "They let him go on purpose so that they have an excuse to strengthen their power in local governments," he said dryly. "They actively stopped their shamans from torching him."
"Right, real War on Terror vibes right there, give yourself the power to increase surveillance so you can hunt down terrorists and then keep that power even after the terrorist is gone," Joyce sighed. Han Gai waited expectantly for them to move on towards the problem of handling Ruohan, but Joyce was mulling something over so they all kept quiet.
"There are two things that bother me right now," Joyce said after a long pause that had everyone awkwardly shuffling around and glancing at their phones.
Joyce raised two fingers, and after thinking about it lowered one.
"Well, first off I have no legitimacy. Isn't that pretty important for when you're justifying why you're taking over territory?" She said.
"But you're the Sixth Apostle!" Han Gai blurted out before he could stop himself.
"Yeah, and that's great for shamans," Joyce agreed. "Kind of. But what about non-shamans? Then I'm just an overpowered foreigner initiating a military campaign onto Chinese territory."
"That sounds pretty bad if you say it like that," Kajio winced.
"Yeah, I mean, that's the point," Joyce said. "I bet that's going to be a major problem. You know how the first emperor of the Han Dynasty, Liu Bei –"
"Liu Bang," Mohan corrected her.
"Liu Bang, he was a robber and an escaped convict with no legitimacy, but then he made up a whole story about killing a giant snake and being the child of the Red Emperor or whatever for legitimacy," Joyce urged.
"He did no such thing in this world's history but go on," Kajio interjected.
"Guys. I need to be legit. How the hell did the previous Apostles do this?!" Joyce asked.
"They were usually of similar culture and ethnicity to where they landed, and most of them lived before major technological advances, so shamanic authorities were way higher on the social ladder and people could accept it," Mohan said.
"Yeah, but I can't even read," Joyce said helplessly. "Anyone have some ideas?"
"But you're Han Chinese, aren't you?" Kajio said. "I feel like most people could be fine with it."
"Chairman," Han Gai cut in. "I think it's fine even if you don't have that kind of thing." He cringed as everyone turned to look at him. Joyce waved for him to go on.
"The Manchurians didn't have legitimization when they invaded China and established the Qing Dynasty," Han Gai pointed out. "The Japanese didn't have legitimization in their takeover of Hokkaido. Many of the warlords today are not native to the provinces they're ruling over. In the end, winning is what matters. Whatever legitimization you need will come easily after that."
"You're probably right," Joyce said uncertainly. "But I'm kinda shaky on shaping myself after them. I mean, all of those examples were pretty nasty going down."
"Then people will just be all the more impressed when you behave better than them," Han Gai insisted. "Not to mention, gaining legitimacy will still be a huge farce. The best you can do is shoulder everyone's scrutiny and prove your worth, Chairman."
"Problematic, but nothing I can say in response, so kudos to you," Joyce said, making finger guns at Han Gai. He politely bobbed his head in thanks.
"What he said," Kajio said gently. "That, and also because we have no options. If there was ever a time for that, it would have been to not publicly announce numerous times at several different press conferences that your parents migrated abroad."
"Oops," Joyce shrugged. "There's that then. Screw it, I was just thrown off by the Ruohan thing. I figured that she was hounding a legit guy to support rather than someone who dropped out of the sky."
"While your concerns are valid, they're for the wrong reasons. If legitimacy is what she was looking for, Jia Xu is the daughter of someone who committed fratricide and patricide, and Taeyun is half Joseon tribe. They're not exactly people who would've rose to power in a more traditional society," Mohan said dryly.
Joyce opened her mouth to reply, found herself at a loss for words, and quietly settled for sipping some water
"Alright then. So about Ruohan," Joyce continued.
"Chairman, what was your second point?" Han Gai hurriedly reminded her.
"Oh! Oh yeah, um, shit I kinda forgot….wait, I've got it. The Conqueror's Seal. Y'all know how all of my multi-step plans promptly become more chaotic than a Nordstorm on Black Friday?"
No one knew what she was referring to but they all nodded.
"So after tonight's explosions, I think I really need to get the chaos factor under control a bit more. How the hell do I use this thing anyway? Why can't my chaotic energy be a little less…um…" Joyce trailed off.
"Destructive?"
"Troublesome?"
"Ridiculous?"
Joyce gaped at them. "Wow, ok. That's fair I guess. I mean, it worked pretty well when it was just me and Spade, but now that we're doing things on a larger scale, I really need to get this shit under control. Ideas?"
Mohan and Han Gai avoided her eyes.
"Not at the moment," Mohan admitted after a few seconds of awkward silence.
"Yeah, I'll just keep a tab on that for now," Joyce sighed. "But first, let's do a press conference with Ruohan."
Kajio nodded firmly. "I've got the time slot for 9 in the morning and a script ready," he said. "Please stay on script though."
"Bro," Joyce said, with emphasis. "You're objectively the best."
Kajio rolled his eyes. "You say that about everyone."
"Great, can I go to sleep now? Wait, I forgot about the plague spirits! Fine, get that done and then go to sleep," Joyce said. She took out her phone to text Mr. Lu.
Han Gai awkwardly cleared his throat before they could get too far off-topic.
"Chairman, I actually have an idea," he said cautiously. "About the Conqueror's Seal…"