My Infinite Investment System

Chapter 75: Committee Day

The first black jacket hit the corridor wall before Mika reached the ward.

She drew one tonfa, struck the attacker’s wrist, and drove him beneath the clinic camera where his borrowed Seven-B emblem filled the feed.

"Nobody follows the jackets," Mika called with her eyes on the recovery bays, stepping between them and the corridor, "follow the patients, the exits, and the people who know this building."

Ryan reached the doorway with Grace and the ace behind him, but Nia caught his sleeve before he crossed the painted medical line.

"You can stand there and direct traffic," Nia said, her eyes on his shoulder, "you cannot turn the clinic into another ruin because your name appeared on an order."

Ryan looked past her at the attacker struggling beneath Mika’s knee.

’The old answer was to enter the fight,’ he thought, keeping one hand on the Compound Spear, ’the new answer had to leave the right people in control of it.’

"Grace, take the records room," he said with one hand on the spear, "Ace, keep your junior away from the cameras, and Mika, the corridor is yours."

Mika glanced at him, then at Nia, "I accept the assignment, and I will decide when the corridor needs you," she said, tightening the strap around her wrist.

The ace moved toward the guarded ward, while Grace pulled the evidence case against her chest and disappeared through the records door.

The attacker’s jacket carried Seven-B colors, a stitched member number, and a cheap imitation of Dara’s pink seam.

Mika tore the emblem free, "counterfeit," she said, holding it beneath the camera, "the real jacket has a removable panel, and this one has been sewn shut so the wearer cannot change lanes."

The clinic feed carried her words into the waiting room, then into the committee building where the day’s permit vote had begun.

Grace watched that second feed from a records terminal while two staff members moved patient files into a fireproof case.

The committee chair asked whether Seven-B’s route permissions should be suspended, and the patron’s representative answered before anyone else could speak.

"The clinic is under attack because Seven-B creates instability," he said with his hands folded over the permit packet, "the committee should protect public order before it rewards a guild that attracts violence."

Across the committee display, the ace’s resignation appeared before the representative finished the sentence.

Around the table, attention shifted toward the document as the screen changed.

"Her resignation is unverified," the representative said with his hands folded and his voice carefully measured.

Grace’s recorded hash appeared beneath it, followed by the clinic’s preservation receipt.

"The resignation is verified," the chair replied with her eyes on the packet, turning toward the patron’s representative, "and the committee will hear the order before it hears your recommendation."

Ryan did not see that exchange directly, but Grace sent the committee feed to Mika’s camera channel while she locked the records room.

The chair requested the original order, the preservation receipt, and the ace’s recorded statement before allowing another objection.

Grace supplied each file from separate storage, keeping the clinic archive, witness record, and operational threat in distinct packets.

"The vote has started," Grace said over the internal line with her hand on the archive drive, "and somebody just placed three counterfeit jackets on the clinic feed."

Mika caught a second attacker at the far entrance, then drove his shoulder into the reception desk without touching the patients behind it.

"Make the feed useful," she said, keeping her body between the attacker and the waiting room, "show the uniforms, show the exits, and show who is protecting people."

Dara arrived with the replacement jackets stacked across both arms.

The new design kept Mika’s camera mount above the left shoulder, pink conductive lines beneath the black fabric, replaceable panels over the ribs, and no hard seam across a medic’s movement.

Grace’s version held two body cameras and detachable evidence pockets.

Ryan’s version had deep pockets for cards, keys, medical tape, and small tools for inconvenient rooms.

"Nobody is dry-cleaning these during an assault," Dara said with her eyes on the panel, tossing Mika a jacket, "and every panel comes off before a medic cuts through it."

Mika caught the jacket, "you made mine look expensive," she said, pulling it over her shoulders while the clinic camera stayed live.

"It becomes expensive when you bleed on it," Dara replied with one brow raised, sliding the next jacket toward Grace.

Grace caught it with one hand, "the body cameras need independent storage," she said, opening the side panel, "and if the command feed fails, the evidence still needs a route out."

"Already wired," Dara said with one finger on the replaceable panel.

Ryan took his jacket from the stack, then stopped when Nia pointed at the medical restriction mark stitched inside the collar.

"That is not decoration," Nia said with her jaw set beside the red thread, "you are on restricted deployment until your shoulder stops trying to leave your body."

"I noticed the subtle color choice," Ryan replied, looking toward the reception attack.

"Good, then notice it from behind the line," Nia said with a dry voice and her eyes on the reception attack.

Mika and Grace met beside the supply cart while Dara passed jackets to recruits.

"You are angry because I kept Ryan from entering," Mika said, tightening the camera strap, "and I am angry because you are treating the order as a document before treating it as an attack."

Grace secured the body camera, "I am treating the order as both," she said with her eyes on the archive feed, "and I refuse to make Ryan deliver our disagreement while he is injured."

Mika looked toward Ryan, who had begun directing staff toward the rear exits.

’They were trying to make me the messenger,’ Ryan thought, watching Mika lower her voice, ’the useful part was that neither of them let me accept the job.’

"He is not carrying this conversation for us," Mika said with her voice low.

"He is not carrying the clinic either," Grace replied with her eyes on the feed split, "we own our command lanes, and we report to each other directly."

Mika’s anger stayed in her shoulders for another second, then moved into the order she gave the recruits.

"Nia, take the recovery ward," she said with the camera raised toward the reception line, "Dara, keep the spare panels moving, and Grace, isolate every camera that shows a counterfeit emblem."

Grace nodded toward the records room, "I will do that, and I will keep the resignation chain attached to the live incident," she said with her eyes on the archive light.

At the chair’s signal, the committee began the permit vote.

Across the table, the patron’s representative objected, then objected again when the ace’s preserved testimony appeared beside the authenticated order.

One final permit passed by one vote after two objections.

As a result, the clinic’s route, emergency response, and monitored storage permissions remained active, while the ace entered guarded hospitality under a temporary witness order.

The patron’s representative stopped speaking when the chair ordered the record sealed, and the ace’s resignation became part of the public incident file.

Across three separate feeds, the committee’s decision reached the clinic with the permit result, the witness order, and the warning that counterfeit uniforms had entered the building.

The public saw the permit survive, the ace enter guarded hospitality, and the clinic remain open while the patron’s representative stood beneath a record he could no longer call private.

Through the reception feed, the attackers heard the result without any announcement.

One of them pulled a phone from his jacket and showed the screen to the others.

Three counterfeit jackets turned toward the records wing near the archive door.

Grace saw the movement first, "they are leaving the lobby," she said, keeping her hand over the archive drive, "the reception attack was cover."

Mika moved after them, "then the clinic is the battlefield, and the records room is one of its targets," she said with her eyes on the records wing, keeping one hand near her tonfa.

Six windows opened across the feed at once.

From the west stairwell, three black jackets entered behind the reception group.

The fourth attacker severed power to the server room with a cable in hand.

Before the patron’s representative could speak again, the committee chair issued a public incident notice.

[Serious incident review initiated]

Mika pulled on Dara’s new jacket and stepped into the center of the clinic feed.

"This is Seven-B operational responsibility," she said, facing every camera, "we are protecting patients, staff, records, and exits, and anyone wearing our colors without a member number is an attacker."

Behind Mika, the next wave struck the records door as the line buckled.