Path to Becoming the Greatest Space Mercenary

"Did I just hear Chancellor Rheinlander announce that a suspect has been apprehended?"
Bastion was visibly sweating as he asked this question.
Before he had seemed devastated by Jasmine’s "death", but now that he was remined that his own a*s was on the line, it was obvious what he was thinking about.
"Yes. I’m told that the head of the kitchen staff disappeared right as the food was coming out. Regina found this to be suspicious when she heard about it and had her guards search for him. Apparently, he was attempting to leave the premises when he was apprehended. If it really is him. I’ll use every connection I have to make sure that he never sees the light of day again." Avery said, feigning extreme fury as he spat out the last words.
At this Bastion gulped as Avery was exerting quite a bit of pressure only someone that had experienced deadly combat could.
He may have been young, but with what he had been through since becoming a mercenary, Avery had developed a sort of dangerous presence that he could wield when he wanted to.
"And you really think that it’s this staff member that poisoned Jasmine?"
"Yeah, I do. The timing and circumstances line up too perfectly. It’s clear that after committing the crime, the man wanted to escape. Though, I doubt he’s the one that’s behind it. I’m certain that he’s just a tool someone used. And we will figure out who bribed or threatened him to do this." Avery said, his expression grave.
Hearing about what Avery was thinking, and likely by extension Regina, Bastion’s anxiety ramped up to dangerous levels.
He nearly started hyperventilating, but he just barely kept himself from completely losing control.
If he was a more calculating individual, he might have realized how strange it was for Avery to be telling him all of this or even speaking to him right now.
The two of them were not friends or even acquaintances. In fact, they were closer to enemies considering what Bastion had already done to try and smear Avery’s reputation.
However, Avery had tactically shaken up the man’s emotions to make it more difficult for him to think critically.
By starting by insinuating that Jasmine was dead, he had landed a pretty heavy blow on Bastion’s psyche.
Followed by telling him that Jasmine had left final words for him, Avery had played into Bastion’s delusions that he had some sort of special relationship with Jasmine and that they were actually very close. Otherwise, there was no way that he would have followed Avery into a room where they were alone together.
Of course, once he had Bastion where he wanted him, Avery had hardly mentioned Jasmine and instead was focusing on the crime and doing his best to unsettle his fraught opponent.
While what he wanted to do more than anything was just beat the sh*t out of Bastion right here and now, that would only be cathartic for a few moments.
Then he would end up being viewed as the villain that unjustly attacked an Azadian Senator without any proof he had committed any crimes.
So, since he was unable to enact any physical justice right now, Avery do some psychological damage instead. Fortunately, it was not too difficult thanks to Bastion being a very emotional person who was easy to agitate.
"I-I need to g-get o-out of here!" Bastion stuttered as he pushed past Avery towards the door.
It seemed that his self-preservation instinct had taken over now. Though he had been lured here by Avery promising to tell him the last words Jasmine had left for him, believing that Kokkas had been captured made him think that it was only a matter of time before he was outed.
"Wait! Didn’t you want to hear Jasmine’s last words? Just before the end, she had something that she desperately wanted me to tell you."
Avery pretend to be concerned, making sure not to point out Bastion’s obviously guilty behavior. He knew that even Bastion would not be so dense as to continue to listen to him if Avery started accusing him.
Luckily, this managed to stop bastion and keep him around for just a little longer.
He still looked like he wanted to bolt, but hoping for the acknowledgement that he thought he deserved tempted him to stay.
"When she was losing her strength, Jasmine told me things she wanted to relay somethings to her mother, and you, her close friend. She wanted me to let you know that she always thought of you as someone special. She often looked fondly on the time you two spent together and the games that you played. And though this hurts me a little, she said that if she had not met me, she probably would have chosen you." Avery said, putting on a show that he was deeply saddened and hurt.
Naturally, none of what he said was true. It was what he knew Bastion wanted to hear.
Jasmine was still alive and was at no threat of dying now, and the disdain with which she had recounted her time with Bastion when they were children made it obvious that she hated him.
Nevertheless, the false narrative Avery had created had clearly shaken Bastion with intense regret.
Now he would believe that had he just played his cards a little differently, he could have had Jasmine as he wanted.
Yet, that would not be possible. Since he had inadvertently "killed" her.
Had he been emotionally manipulating someone else like this, Avery honesty would have felt pretty bad. But in Bastion’s case, he did not feel a single ounce of guilt. This was something the other man deserved for what he had done to Jasmine. Whatever his intentions had been did not matter.
With all of this put into his head, Bastion’s thoughts were a jumbled mess.
He could not focus properly as he had to come to grips with what Avery had said, and the result of his own actions.
In the end, he was not going to blame himself though. There was no way someone like him was ever going to come to the conclusion that he was at fault.
’It’s all because of Rowan Listig. He tricked me. This is all his doing.’
After only around a dozen seconds of inner turmoil, Bastion found someone to blame for all of his failures.
Obviously, he could not be the villain here. It was all his senior senator’s fault.
Having found a knew sense of purpose, Bastion left the room and planned to go directly to Rowan Listing.
Except, the room that had previously been filled to the brim had emptied out for the most part.
There were still people around, but most of them were either guards and staff that worked under Regina, or members of Avery’s team.
All but just handful of senators that were closest to Regina had already left. They could smell a scandal like the one brewing here from several kilometers away. Nearly all of them wanted to put as much distance between themselves and this incident as they could. This of course, included Rowan Listig.
"Looks like almost everyone else has already left. You’re free to go as well, but do stay in the city. I don’t think that you had anything to do with this, but when we hold the service for Jasmine, I’d like for you to say a few words." Avery said, having to fight back gaging as he pretended to be friendly with Bastion.
"Yes, I’d like that. But there’s something that I need to do first."
Wearing a purposeful expression, Bastion headed out of the venue to find Rowan Listig. He wanted to confront the man and believed that he could somehow pin everything on him and escape as just another unfortunate victim of this tragedy.
"He really is stupid. How delusional does he have to be to think I would ever confide in him like that. All I had to do was wind him up and send him in the direction that I wanted. Now all we need to do is wait and see what sort of chaos he’ll bring about. An incompetent ally really is worse than an intelligent enemy. Though, I’m sure that Rowan Listig only ever saw him as a disposable pawn." Avery muttered before pulling out his terminal.
Swiftly, he sent a message to Kasandra, asking her for an update on her assignment.
Before Avery had taken Bastion into an isolated room, he had sent her a quick message asking her to keep track of Rowan Listig.
Thankfully, with her acute hearing, she was able to follow people from a good distance without losing track of them or being noticed.
’He’s just waiting in his vehicle for now. And it’s either got impeccable sound proofing, or nothing is going on since I haven’t heard anything from inside yet.’ Jasmine’s response said.
Avery told her to stay in position and to be ready. It was only a matter of time before Bastion found Rowan Listig and the two of them had it out.