====== Diamond ======

===== The Last Vice Executive =====

> “Diamond, the last Vice Executive of the Network, is without doubt the greatest whistleblower in the history of Bastion. From her position she systematically exposed decades of corruption within the organisation that had come to dominate the economy and culture of the city. 
> 
> She exposed the financial engineering that the Network was using to suppress the Bastion Kyat and allow Network Executives and Arena champions to live like emperors on the grossly overvalued Riel. Today the Kyat has finally recovered, and the Riel is no more. As a result Bastion now enjoys a thriving middle class, poverty and unemployment are at a record low and the top 1% own less than 10% of the city’s wealth, as opposed to over 99.9% during the Masters era.
> 
> She exposed the the horrifying tale of Gnosis, an Arena team that had been forced to hybridise into a single entity. Today biological augmentation in Bastion is strictly controlled and while the pandoras box of monster-human hybridisation has been opened, we no longer live in a world where shadowy megacorporations can enslave hybrids and force them to compete in the Arenas.
> 
> Finally she revealed the widespread match fixing in the Ultimate Monster Battle Arena. Today Bastion authorities are on high alert for large bodies like UMBC and AMBER abusing their power in order to force Monsters and Gladiators into needly unsafe confrontations.
> 
> Then, at the end of season XXXIV of UMBA, she dissolved the Network. The news hit Bastion like an earthquake. It's fair to say that there were some difficult times for the city after this. Fortunately, as former Network employees flooded the streets there were other enterprises such as AMBER and Max Co. to take them in, and without the monopoly of the Network suppressing these upstarts the economy of Bastion flourished. It wasn’t until this point that it was realised just how damaging the widespread corruption of the UMBA era had been to Bastion.
> 
> The circumstances under which she became Vice Executive, taking over from the infamous Masters, remain a source of contention among historians. However, there can be no doubt that Diamond’s subsequent actions, and the riots they incited, led to widespread reforms in Bastion that have made the city a faier, safer place for Monster, Human and Hybrid alike.”
> 
>  - excerpt from //Do-Gooders and Cinnamon Rolls of Bastion//, by Zephyr 


===== Diamonds Are Forever  =====

You wait, perched on the roof. Treasury’s manor glitters in front of you, but not as brightly as what you’re hoping to find inside. A voice crackles through your earpiece. “I’m in the vents,” Guy says. “Alright, security going down in three, two, one.”

The tiny green light on the camera goes out.

Unfortunately being Vice Executive for a few months has left you a pretty recognisable figure, so schmoozing your way into high security facilities is not really an option anymore. However, you did manage to get a few neat toys before you dissolved the Network.

You pull out the grapple and shoot the minaret on top of Treasury’s manor. You tie it down and begin monkey-crawling across. One thing that never changes: there’ll always be rich assholes with things they really don’t deserve.

You pop open one of the minaret small windows, alarms deactivated by Guy, and glance down. Lit by a single beam of Archeotech light you see it. The mother of all Diamonds. It glitters like a brilliant crystal sun. Poor thing, locked away in this big empty room with no one to appreciate it.

You hook the grapple under the window frame, and tieing the launcher to your belt begin to rappel down towards your prize. The room seems empty. You’re almost regretting having Guy disable the Archeotech security. This hardly seems fair.

Now just a thin layer of glass between you and that beautiful stone. You pull the Monoblade knife from its mag-sheath. You begin cutting a window in the top of the cabinet. It goes through the glass like it was air.

Hmm. this is too easy.

You hear the clicking of heels against the tiles. On instinct you click the rappel and go zooming back up. The knife slips from your hand and sinks to its hilt into the floor behind the cabinet. Beneath you Treasury appears in the chamber trailing a group of sycophants. 

“...and this piece was found in the Wasteland. Isn’t it darling? They say it’s the biggest Diamond //ever// discovered. Obviously I had to have it. Now those Wastelanders weren’t very cooperative at first, but as you can see it's here where it belongs now.”

You roll your eyes as Treasury and her toadies coo over the stone. It’s nauseating. Stealing //is// fun, but also sometimes you’re just doing the world a favor.

Eventually they leave. You rappel back down and retrieve the blade.

“Uh Diamond... ” You hear Guy’s voice crackling over the earpiece. “I think they figured out the security is down.”

Alright time to work quickly.

You delicately dissect the cabinet around the Diamond. FInally you put your hands to it. The //weight//. It’s as big as your head. You tuck it gently into a pouch and rappel up into the sky.

Half an hour later you sit in the Bunker staring at the incredible stone. Perhaps you should give it to Cart. Nice “I’m giving you myself” symbolism. 

Huh. That’s odd. There’s an ever so slight imperfection in the stone. There is a sound like tinkling glass and you see the crack spread. The head sized gemstone begins to shake.

Your shoulders slump as you faceplant the table. “Uhh...for the love of-” The top pops off with a tinkle and you hear a soft mewling from inside...