CCP

Sage didn't think she had ever been this happy in all of her life. Every day was a happy day, almost like the fairytales written to preserve the sanity and naïve innocence of young kids.

She woke up to a lovely family of Terra and Savant every morning, did work that helped make positive changes in the world, and spent more time with her family. She couldn't have asked for anything more.

It wasn't like there weren't inconveniences to her daily life though. She sometimes had small arguments with Savant, Terra could be a massive nuisance despite being controlled by an AI or maybe it was because of that, it was hard to tell with her. Then there were all kinds of disturbances at work.

"I have updated the new OS and the simplified coding language is coming along well. But there is something else, some of the countries are trying to build firewalls to isolate their networks. Especially China, they say they don't want outside intervention in their country's network."

Doug Ramsey, aka Cypher, reported things to Sage. Doug was supposed to just handle the software in the beginning but with the arrival of Terra, a lot of programming work became redundant so Sage decided to train him into her successor. Now that she had a kid, she should spend more time at home she told herself.

"What do you think of it?" She asked him.

"They took the infrastructure and proprietary technology that we sold at a heavily discounted price but now they want to cut us out and minimize our influence. After the riots and all that tyranny they displayed to get the country under control, I suppose they don't want unrestricted access to internet to spread among their people.  Informed citizens are the bane of any authoritarian government."

Doug gave his opinion. He didn't like the Chinese government. A government that can run tanks over its citizens to suppress them was not worth his respect. He had even questioned why they sold the technology and infrastructure so cheaply to countries like China, Libya, Russia, North Korea, and Cuba.

He had thought that the establishment of Earth Federation might cause these countries to become tamer but there seemed to be no such indications. They were openly reneging on the initial contact and wanted full control over the internet within their countries.

Sage saw through the anger and frustration within Doug's eyes. "Tell you what, let's go put those guys in their place. They can't control the internet or any other communication medium on Earth. Only the Earth Federation has jurisdiction for that."

Doug's eyes lit up. That's right. Their company was the supporter of Chancellor Doom. He knew a little about Savant being friends with Doom or some similar arrangement. So now they had the weight of the entire Earth Federation behind them. Even countries like China will have to bend their knee with that kind of weight being thrown at them.

Sage just shook her head at the daydreaming Doug and brought him along to go for a visit to the Chinese leadership. They may have tried to break the contract but they couldn't openly deny the request for a meeting by the CEO of Savant Tech. It was rumored in some circles that denying her reasonable requests was an invitation for trouble that nobody wanted. With their unclear ties with the new Chancellor, it was even more imperative not to shun Sage.

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Right after landing in Beijing, the psychological warfare between the Chinese and Sage had already begun. Due to her working under Sebastian Shaw for most of her time in the US and her mysterious past, the Chinese did not have much information on Sage before she joined Savant Tech.

So, they just decided to treat her as one of those oddities from the west where a female runs the company in the name of the actual owner. Their attitude was quite clear when they sent out burliest men they could find to be in the security team for the visitors.

Stepping off the plane, Sage was greeted by the CCP members who were basically all over the age of fifty and were in the process of balding or wrinkling. They were also surrounded by a lot of military personnel who unsurprisingly had body frames that were on the larger side for average Chinese.

Unfortunately, they had failed to account for the fact that Sage on account of her mutant physiology was taller than average women. Adding the heels she wore, Sage was the one towering over her welcome party of old men.

"Welcome to China. This is the Minister of Infrastructure…" the translator had just begun to introduce them when Sage cut her off. "I don't need the translation, thank you." She noted that they were not using their instant translation software and still trusted the human translators.

After a little astonishment, the Chinese welcoming party introduced themselves. On Sage's side, the only person who was noteworthy to be introduced was Doug. There was already a team led by some executives residing in China and was coordinating on the projects so Sage had only brought along Doug and a security team that was mostly for show. Even Doug could handle them alone.

"We have arranged for you to rest for the day at a hotel with spa. There is a program for you to visit some scenic spots and take in the sights of China. We have also prepared for a culinary experience for you to taste food from across China." The official guide from some ministry Sage didn't care to remember was telling her about the itinerary the Chinese had planned for her for her 3 days visit.

Doug asked with confusion, "And when will we have the meeting that was requested?"

The official gave an ingratiating smile to Doug and spoke with respect, "It will be on the day after tomorrow. We will have a press conference and a live TV discussion."

Sage was acutely aware of the Chinese ministers and officials being extra respectful to Doug. She knew that they had probably misunderstood Doug to be some kind of supervisor or even the actual person who would negotiate and Sage was just a pretty face who was there to act as the CEO.

It wasn't just China where she had faced such a problem. Even in India where their factories and headquarters was recently relocated, the politicians and officials would question her decisions over and over or straight up ask if it was approved by Savant. Frustratingly, ever since Doug had been handling small tasks for her, Doug had never had similar problems.

Sage sometimes missed her past where she could kill without consequence. Well. technically she still could, there wasn't anyone who could ask for justice against her when her partner was the guy who made the Chancellor of Earth Federation. It didn't hurt that she had some of Savant's Sentry powers too.

But she held herself back from violence, she remembered all the girls who would come up to tell her how much they admired Sage for being at such a position as a woman. She had an image to keep. "Cancel everything else and inform you president that the meeting will be held at the first hour tomorrow."

"Yes?" the official had to take a minute to process Sage's commanding tone of voice.

"You heard me. This is a serious matter. If we can't come to a conclusion soon, we will be taking up our issues with the Earth Federation. They would love a high profile case to boost the image right now." Sage's voice was flat and impassive but the official felt cold sweat on his back. It seems like I will be sent to some random village soon, he thought. Hopefully it wouldn't be firing squad treatment.

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After a lot of deliberation among the top Chinese leadership which involved a lot of swearing, liberal use of the words ranging from bitch, slut, whore to more descriptive phrases unfit for most ears, the conclusion to agree to the meeting was made.

Thus, with a lot of scrambling on part of many officials on many levels and departments, a meeting with the CEO of Savant Tech was prepared for the next morning. The Chinese, not leaving any potential for propaganda to be untapped, had sent a purple traditional Chinese dress for a formal tea ceremony style meeting.

Sage, who had sent the photo of said dress to Savant, was blushing all the way to her car much to the confusion of Doug. She looked absolutely stunning in the dress and Doug himself felt his heart race a bit too fast for a moment. He could tell from the body language of the security teams that they were much like him in a state of stunned discomfort.

The youthful feeling completely disappeared from Doug's mind when he reached the meeting venue with Sage. There he saw half a dozen top CCP members all sitting around drinking tea and laughing. Because of his youthful nature and what he had seen of their tyranny, he felt a bud of anger rising in his heart.

But with a tap on his shoulder by Sage, and a stern smile, which he understood clearly as meaning if you do anything stupid by getting emotional here I will beat you up later, he calmed down. That was the gist of it anyway. Owing to his mutant powers to understand all language, Doug had understood from that smile word for word how Sage had planned to beat him up.

"Welcome Ms. Sage. I hope you had a good rest." The Chinese president Jiang Zemin stood up to greet Sage. The others also got up lazily to shake her hands.

Without the least bit of subtlety, one of the men pointed at Doug and asked, "And who is this friend?"

The battle of nerves and towing the lines between insult and casual remarks had already started. "Oh, this is my assistant and potential successor Doug Ramsey."

And thus began the meeting that would later be cited by many historians as the beginning of the downfall of the authoritarian regime of CCP on China.

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I think I watched a bit too many videos on Chinese oppressions and the atrocities that China likes to hide before getting into this chapter. Oh well. 

Also I am having some problems with login after deleting my social media account I used to create this account.

Send more stones please. Please. Stonesssss.