"My hand still hurts." Kathrin said with a frown as they walked down the street a day later.
"Well blood is how you connect yourself with the metal." Laura responded.
After locking herself away from the others. Laura had to carefully sever the lingering soul threads connected to the coins. After she finished she had called them all back one by one and had them bleed onto said coins.
Laura wasn't sure if it would work with her since she technically didn't have a soul, but she was able to form a connection with her core in the end. She sighed in relief since their entire operation could've been in danger if she couldn't connect with the coin. She did have to wash the black blood away before anyone could notice however and she couldn't stop herself from checking for more as they walked.
"The province building is over here." Laura said rounding a corner, and a large grey brick building came into view.
Laura and with a little help from the others had already set the explosives they needed around the city. They couldn't explode every building, but they can have buildings topple over and crash into other buildings, creating a domino effect of destruction. They could even cause the ground to cave in by blowing up the sewers beneath them. Causing even more destruction than normal.
She also didn't forget to place napalm bombs located at any farmland nearby. They were miles away from the city of course, but the whole point was to make it look like the White Ash was trying to halt their progression. This may delay their forces for sure, but it'll cause civil unrest among their people more.
With a little pep in her step, Laura climbed the stairs to the building, White Ash issued weapons in hand. It was a similar model as the Zari nation, a left over from when they were once a single nation. Over half a century had of course caused a change in weapons used, but they weren't far apart in design.
"Stop where you are and show us some ID." One of the guards on duty said, carefully approaching them when they entered the building.
Laura wasn't surprised. Normally no one would be allowed in the building with weapons and would be detained without question. The difference now was the fact they were currently at war, so that meant soldiers weren't that uncommon of a sight. Even more so for a city so close to the front lines.
However this was still a government building, and not just any regulated government building. This was where the governor of this province worked. So while the guards were understandably cautious, they didn't want to detain anyone that might be important.
"We're part of the Intelligence Bureau." Laura explained as she and her team pulled out their coins. "Here."
Handing over the very familiar coins the guard froze and looked back at his colleague. The other guard on duty got up and entered a backroom and emerged a few moments later with a device. First they scanned a coin then one of us, and repeated the process a second time.
"These are legit." The guard said. "Sorry for holding you Ma'am."
"No problem." Laura said with patience. "Tell us where the Governor is located. This is an emergency.
"Of course."
After getting directions they marched into the building without a seconds delay. People scrambled to get out of their way after seeing their guns and hard expressions much to Laura's amusement. Soon enough they arrived at the Governor's office and barged inside without knocking.
"Wha-"
"Sir, you and every official in this building need to come with us immediately." Laura said while holding up her coin."
While he looked both startled and angry at first, the moment his eyes landed on the coin his expression turned fearful.
"What's the problem?"
"We'll explain once we escort all of you out of the city safely. Can you send out an order for all high ranking officials to evacuate the city?" Laura started. "Here are the coordinates we need them to go to. We'll be personally escorting you to safety ourselves."
"... Fine." The Governor said. "Just give me a moment to send this out. When should they evacuate?"
"Now. If they don't they will die."
"...."
With a pale face the Governor sent out a message to the other government officials. Once she finished Laura ordered him to turn off his phone before they made their way out of the building. Before they left they passed the Governor's secretary and he made her follow them out.
A couple hours later they made it to the safe house. It was located atop a large hill and the city they had left could be seen clearly from their location. Laura, the Governor and his secretary stood on the porch watching the city.
"Will you tell me why we had to leave in such a hurry now?" He asked impatiently.
"Yes, since you can no longer do anything about it." Laura answered and then looked him in the eyes.
"Do you know what scorched earth tactics are, Governor?" Laura asked in a low voice.
"It's when either we burn towns and resources to halt an enemy's advance, or when an enemy does it to us." He answered. "It fell out of practice centuries ago with the rise of technology."
"Well it's not impossible to still do today. It's just a little more extreme." Laura said.
"What are yo-" Before the man could finish his question he noticed a large plume of smoke and fire rise into the sky.
He looked in shock as the building of his city crumbled and exploded. Moments later, the thundering boom of the explosions washed over them. The horizon had turned red from the rising fire, and more explosions of fire erupted on the little bit of farmland they could see in the area.
"What…."
"The enemy has been using food to cut the cost of their own supplies, and our cities and towns to establish footholds in our country." Laura started, holding back her own amusement at the man's devastation. "This was necessary."
"What do you mean necessary?!" A voice exploited from behind her.
Turning around she found a gathering of government officials who had just arrived.
"My job here is done. This never happened and the official story is that the sewers blew up. Understood?"
"No, not understood. Explain why you thought this was necessary to do." Another official demanded.
It was clear they were all in shock and filled with righteous anger. Even if the amount of care in the city varied, they still lived there with friends and family who are now most likely dead. Laura didn't see any reason to stick around longer.
Her disappearing after being rude like this will probably work in their favor too. Without warning, while the officials continued to yell at her she teleported to her team and then teleported away from the location.
=======
The rest of her team was already at the next city setting up more explosives at key locations. She went back to the other city and disguised herself as a worker from the governor's building. She went about spreading the word that the city leaders had fled just before the explosion.
She changed her form constantly to make it look like this news came from multiple people instead of just one. It also helped that actual employees that worked there ended up surviving and confirming her words.
Laura now walked through the destroyed city looking more like herself, but with cat ears and a tail.
"Aaahhhhhh!"
"Whaaaa, whaaaa, whaaaa!"
"Liv! Liv! Don't leave me!"
"Someone help! My son! My son is injured! Please! Help!"
"I can't see! My eyes! My eyes!"
Laura glanced at the as the fire creeped closer to a group of people trapped underneath rubble with an impassive gaze. She couldn't say she was completely unaffected. She did feel bad she had to do this, but it was a necessary evil. While she was here she might as well save some people.
She walked over to the trapped individuals who were all screaming in panic as they saw the fire growing bigger. She placed a hand on the stone and morphed it into a doorway. The citizens all ran out and fled the scene, not even giving her a second glance.
"Rude." Laura said despite the fact she's the one who caused this situation in the first place.
"Help! Please!"
Laura turned her attention to the mother holding her unconscious son who was bleeding badly. If he didn't get help soon, they would die.
"I can help." Laura said matter of fact approaching them. "I have the ability to heal a little. I can at least stabilize him."
"Please!" The woman cried looking up at her.
Laura felt a twinge of regret since she herself had a soft spot for kids. Crouching down low she placed a hand over the opened abdomen and started to mend the flesh.
"I saw the city official had fled only a little before this." She started. "Some officers from the Intelligence Bureau had come on and then left with the Governor, with the rest leaving shortly after them."
"What?"
"I worked in the Province Building." Laura said offering context. "That place wasn't hit as hard as the rest of the city, so a lot of us managed to survive."
"Are you implying they knew this would happen?"
"No, just telling you what I saw." Laura denied. "I don't want to believe our own government would do this to us after all."
"Whoever planned this is a monster." The woman spat. "Why would anyone ever do something so cruel?"
"... Yeah. I guess they would be a true monster." Laura said, feeling the slight pressure of the void in the back of her mind. "There must be truly something wrong with them.
And a monster she shall be. Whether this was the influence of the Void or her own heartlessness didn't matter. This was all for Zenesha.