Brent, Matt, and Bill Gates had just arrived in Dulles after their failed attack on the French Mafia in Bordeaux. What was left of the AOL forces were pacified by the Oligarchy Army, Netscape Liberation Army and Microsoft Militia, and the city of Dulles was under full Oligarchy control.

Brendan and Cronan were organizing efforts to end the tyranny of America Online once and for all, shutting down their mainframes and cutting out thier base of operations from the internet. The two brought Brent with them to a hidden vault deep within Dulles.

"So all we have to do is shut these mainframes down, right?" Brendan asked Brent.

"Yeah, that should prevent the AOLers from running any more operations against the Oligarchy." Brent sat down at a primary computer and accessed the mainframe controls. "This can't be right," Brent said. "This stuff is already shut down."

"Maybe they shut it down when the French retreated. A concession of defeat," Cronan suggested.

"No," Brent disagreed. "According to these logs, they've been shut down for the past few weeks."

Brendan's brow furrowed. "That doesn't make sense. The past few weeks is when AOL has been showing the strongest retaliation. WinAmp, the mosquitoes and the Fort Hood nuke were the hardest blows they've thrown at as."

"It's possible that they've moved their system terminals somewhere else," said Brent. "I can hack into the AOL system and try to trace its central source. I can't pinpoint it, but I can get a general location."

"Do it."

"I'll have to go back to NetForce HQ. I'll call you as soon as I have an answer."

In the meantime, Brendan called Aethel in Paris.

"Aethel, that military equipment that took off from Bordeaux, has it come back?"

"Not that we've seen," she replied.

"They had to have gone somewhere. Just keep an eye out for them. Watch all of France, not just Bordeaux."

"I already am."

"I also need you to come to Raleigh. There's something we need to discuss."

A moment after he hung up, Brendan's phone rang again. It was Brent.

"What did you find?"

"It's not good," Brent began. "The AOL system is based in Western Europe, and there's a 78% chance of it being somewhere in France."

"That's what I thought," replied the Co-Ruler of the World. "Meet me in Raleigh."

The three Co-Rulers, the heads of the OCB, Aethel, Bevin, Beck and Schuler met in a conference room back at Enloe. "That war had no winner," Brendan began.

"Um, I thought we just won the war," said Matt.

"We didn't win shit. AOL is still online; they escaped nearly unscathed where it counts. Plus, we have a new enemy with the French Mafia. Even Netscape is still under their control. We may have defeated their military, but to no end, and it's all your fault for not seeing the connection between AOL and France before Bill Gates did."

"So what are we going to do about the Mafia?" Aethel asked.

"First of all, Bevin, arrange to send two Army divisions to France. They will be under the command of General Beck, who will answer to Aethel. Col. Schuler, you may send a contingency if you want, but you will also be under Beck's command and supervision. The OCB will be involved across the board, also. Any kind of mafia -- even one like this, with political and military capabilities -- will be involved in old-fashioned organized crime, so Arthur, your job as head of the Criminal Investigation Section is obvious. Brent, keep tracking all AOL activity and anything else the French may be involved with -- Netscape, WinAmp, and whatever else they control. And Matt, collect intelligence in France and see if you find any connections with Luc Peillot or those Panthers and tanks. Keep an eye on Canada, too -- there's no evidence that they are involved yet, but where there's smoke, there's fire. Norman, coordinate their efforts and make sure they don't get into any jurisdictional disputes."

"What about Microsoft?" asked Wayland.

"They helped us out for their own reasons, not out of friendship. Now that it's all over, they're enemies just like before, but at least now we know their capabilities. Make sure you update your intelligence files, Matt."

"Right."

"Does anyone have any more questions?"

"Do I get a medal?" asked Cronan.

"Sure, why not," Brendan replied. "Self-awarded medals for everyone. Anything else?"

"We're out of cheesy poofs," Matt noted.

"Then I guess this meeting's over."

And so ended the AOL War.

THE END