Everybody Wants To Rule The World 4

4 – Anno Nuovo

A small body of determined spirits fired by an unquenchable faith in their mission can alter the course of history.

-- Mohandas Gandhi


The yellow Spongebob mug sat atop a folded piece of paper in Brian's wooden desk. In his room the only source of light is the computer monitor, and he sat in front of the desk, his eyes locked on the gaze of the yellow sponge. He kept telling himself to dispose of the mug but he couldn't find the strength to do so. The mug is Byron's favorite, along with the character, back when their family is still enjoying Sunday afternoon trips to the beach and early morning church services.

The night is unusually quiet at 9 PM, not much vehicles drove around outside. Very few pedestrians walked and only the barks of stray dogs kept the night from being dead quiet. Living alone in a two-storey house with only a dog to keep you company is something that awaits Brian every time he comes home from work. No messages in the answering machine, no mail in the mailbox, not even a text message on the cellphone, there's nothing or no one to greet him. He only takes three seconds to look at Byron's photo hung above the fireplace, then he moves up to his room, never to go outside except for meals.

His room consisted of a small bed, a wooden desk with his cheap desktop computer, a television, a ceiling fan atop the bed, and two windows. The floor is covered with a blue carpet and the walls are painted brown. Three ceiling lights are attached around the fan, seldom turned on since Brian usually relies on the computer monitor as his illumination.

Phoebe slept on the bed. The white and brown Shih-Tzu faithfully accompanied her master from the day Byron pointed her in the pet shop through the times when the same Byron barked at his father for his mother's death. Phoebe's small black eyes witnessed them all, and still she chose to stay with Brian. Almost everything in this house is a reminder of Byron, and Brian eventually managed to just let it pass, to forget everything in the past.

His eyes then moved to the monitor where the email sent by Virgil is displayed. He moved the mouse cursor towards the document's icon in the attachment which he then clicked. A second later the document now lay in his desktop which he then opened. It read:

August 1, 1963

The report of a terrorist base situated in the North Pole is ridiculous, well not until I saw it myself. A small installation with three missile silos capable of launching warheads that can hit nearby countries. More images provided by spy planes revealed that these guys are quite numerous, a small army to be precise. The members come from different nationalities, and it puzzles me on what united them under one flag.

Captain John Warsaw is given command of the team to be sent there (now I'll label the location as NP). They'll stay for a week in the outpost before launching the attack. While in the outpost he reported no signs of unusual activity, just frequent blizzards and the sound of heavy machinery operating.

A week later he sent us an update, stating the massacre of his team by the terrorists. It seems that they've defended their installation with great care. Warsaw requested for more forces and even asked for some air support which the president approved and the military provided. Four helicopters, four tanks, and fifty infantrymen.

They were all reduced to piles of flesh and metal.

It seems that the terrorists are much more powerful than originally thought. Now they have anti-air batteries and anti-armor capabilities. It seems that the president is getting pissed and Warsaw is wetting his pants.

This time the military sent triple the amount of the previous reinforcements sent. Warsaw personally led the team into the fray.

We heard nothing from him ever since. Presumably he was killed in battle.

JFK expressed his concern over the impenetrable fortress in the NP. He convened with the military and came up with a solution.

Hammerdown Protocol was initiated.

They turned the installation to ash. Spy planes gave us images of a smoldering crater in the middle of a white blanket of snow. Other nations frowned upon the method of destruction brought upon the terrorists, but hey we've got no more other options left.

Two months later JFK was assassinated. Great. Many theories sprung on why he was shot, one of them says that it is revenge wrought by the same guys in the NP who operate in the country. Well if that's true then we're in some pretty deep shit.

This is General Adrian Manson, the following pages of this document will detail the events which-----

===============================================================

Brian closed the document. He went back to his email application and typed in a reply to Virgil, a simple question on where's the rest of the document.


--------------------------------


"Welcome to BlackWatch."

Adam Blaine followed the female guide as she walked with him through the tour of the vast underground facility located near the place where he took the first test. The hallway is completely illuminated with rows of white lights and the walls and the floor are painted white as well with black lines which indicate the space between the tiles. The guide wore the usual office attire seen in big companies and Adam wore a gray business suit.

"As what the Speaker told you, the training phase isn't yet complete. You will be tested throughout your career, and if you show signs of disloyalty, you will be promptly eliminated," she said without any emotion. Adam took a good look on her to see if she's really a human being.

"I get that," he replied.

"Good, Mr. Blaine. You will work in order to earn the rank of Initiate which will be your official ticket into BlackWatch," she refused to look at Adam; she kept her gaze forward as the two walked through the long hallway. Her hands clutched the black folder with an Egyptian eye on it.

She continued, "We need you to be on your one-hundred percent always. BlackWatch needs not those who are weak or hesitant. Remember that we need cooperation in order to achieve our goals."

Adam stopped walking then asked, "What is BlackWatch after anyway?"

The woman looked at him in the eye then smiled, "You'll find out soon. Come on."

She led him through the automatic door which revealed a vast octagonal chamber flooded with lights. Cubicles adorned the chamber complete with desks, computers, chairs, and workers in office attire. Security cameras on the ceiling kept watch on the workers and a transparent part of the wall on the left part of the chamber caught Adam's curiosity.

"Here please," the woman pointed to the door on the opposite end of the chamber. It led them to an elevator which then descended to a lower floor.

Adam asked her, "So, who is this Arbiter?"

She didn't look at him, "The Arbiter is the leader. We all answer to him. He guides us."

Adam nodded. These guys give really weird names to their titles. That Arbiter guy is the CEO, the Speaker guy is his PR guy and this woman here is the tour guide, or probably just another employee.

The elevator doors opened which led them to another hallway, though this time shorter than the first one. Another automatic door led them to a small room with little illumination from blue lights.

The woman flicked a switch next to the door which turned three ceiling lights on, all white. A pedestal sat on the center of the room with a strange device attached on the ceiling resting atop it. Adam examined the device; it looked like a huge syringe with a long needle which is thin in comparison to the size of the device's body. The woman ordered him to stand next to the pedestal.

"Please put your right hand on top of the pedestal," she said.

"What is this?" Adam asked as he complied.

The woman said nothing. Her fingers tapped the buttons located on the other side of the pedestal; a control panel resembling a computer keyboard. The device lit up with orange colors and the needle descended upon Adam's hand, sinking into his flesh which made him wince.

The needle injected an orange liquid into Adam's hand. The door behind him opened, a man wearing a business suit entered then pointed a pistol towards Adam's head. The needle then withdrew; the woman wiped the small wound with a cotton ball dipped in alcohol.

"A guy with a gun on my head, now what?" Adam asked, irritated.

A familiar voice spoke, audible from a wall-mounted speaker behind Adam, "This is to ensure your cooperation Mr. Blaine."

The Speaker!

"We have injected you with a slow-acting poison. The man behind you will put a bullet to your head just in case your reactions become too… Exaggerated."

He continued, "The poison will kill you in the day of reckoning, the effects will be lessened when you ingest the antidote which will be given unto you as a reward for completing your assignments."

Adam nodded; he doesn't have any other option at the moment.

"The antidote will fully cure you in the day of reckoning if you prove yourself to be a valuable asset to BlackWatch. The Arbiter generally frowns upon traitors, and this is a new method in order to enforce loyalty. And this also acts as the second part of your test."

Adam spoke, "So that means I'm an Initiate now?"

"In due time, Mr. Blaine, there's still one last task for you. One which will require your skills from your previous career."


------------------------------


The nightly drive for Jennifer is a routine which involved the same route from the Malacañang Palace back to her home in Pasig City. The routine also calls for the same music in her radio (thanks to her CD's), the same drive-thru takeouts from McDonalds, the same tapping of the hands on the steering wheel to match the beat of the song, and the same traffic when she's ten minutes away from her house.

Being the Presidential Spokesperson isn't an easy task, and Jennifer struggles to cope with her everyday work. President Ramon Barrera has been kind to her, in fact she's never been barked by the big guy ever since her first day in her career. His peaceful nature in handling situations in the country and as a family man is what kept Jennifer from leaving and finding a new career. She looked upon the president as her second father, since her biological father is an alcoholic low-life. Her mother went to Canada with a new guy, taking Jennifer's two siblings along, leaving her with a father who's always chugging down Budweiser and has never left the house except when buying his 'fuel.'

She even considered leaving her father for good, but that would feel bad for her conscience. She couldn't find the strength to get out of the door and never return, her father just doesn't give a damn about her anyway. It even seems that he doesn't know about his daughter's career. The only thing that he knows is that she's giving him money for beer which is supposed to be money for the bills.

The neighbors first complained about her father's uncontrollable fits of rage when drunk. He relieves the day when his wife left him because of his habit, he rages whenever the words fly into his clouded brain. The words his wife spoke before shutting the door for good. Bottles were smashed, furniture kicked, profanities howled; all the same routine before falling asleep on the asphalt wherein Jennifer and a neighbor would carry his drunk fat ass back to the sofa where he'll wake up ten hours later and start drinking again. The neighbors eventually got used to the routine and decided not to pay attention to the noise anymore.

One of them even urged Jennifer to leave her father, "Iwan mo na yan, walang kwenta yan." (Just leave him, he's no good anyway.)

Jennifer, or Jenny as how they call her, answered, "Tatay ko po yan, kahit ganyan siya hindi ko siya magawang iwan." (He's my dad; I can't just leave him behind even if he's like that).

And they gave up on her as well. She then resorted to locking the front door so that her father won't fall asleep on the sidewalk. She even considered her father as the prime factor on why she doesn't have a boyfriend even at her age of 30.

Her driving is interrupted by a black limousine which is parked in front of her home, right on the spot where she parked her car. She parked behind the black limo, grabbed her things, and left the car. A man in a business suit stepped out of the limo and confronted her.

"Ms. Dela Cruz?" the man said.

Jenny raised both of her eyebrows, "Yes and who are you?"

"I believe that the Arbiter has spoken with you on the phone."

Jenny remembered receiving a call earlier from a man with a deep voice, saying something about reckoning, "I, uh, I believe that you're referring to the guy with a deep voice."

"Yes. You are now required to visit this address first thing tomorrow," the man handed her a business card which bore an Egyptian eye, behind it an address which is fairly close to her home.

"Uh, I'm afraid I can't go. Pretty packed up schedule tomorrow," she returned the card with a smile.

"I hope for your kind reconsideration," the man didn't move a bit. Jenny could feel the man's eyes behind the shades locked at her.

"No, I'm really sorry. Maybe some other day perhaps?" Jenny started to feel nervous.

"So be it," the man gave her back the card and went back to the limo which then drove away. Jenny sighed as she went back to her car in order to park in on the right spot.

Before she left the vehicle she took another good look at the card. The address is just ten minutes away from her home. This made her start the engine and take a look on the location.

Ten minutes later she found herself in front of an abandoned building which was originally a mall. There are nearby houses and shops, there are also a lot of abandoned structures. The location is deep in the neglected parts of the city, and she felt that going to that said meeting isn't a very good idea.

Jenny drove back home as fast as she could. She started to feel a cold chill down her spine the moment that man gave her the card.


-----------------------------------


"For the final part of your test, we will require you to exercise your abilities in your previous career."

The Speaker stood behind a metal table in front of Adam inside a very small room. A small vial containing a blue liquid sat on the table. The Speaker held a brown envelope on his right hand. A lone light on the ceiling gave the room a bright white shine, the Speaker's brushed up hair reflected some of that light.

"Inside this folder you will find information regarding your target. We need this assignment to be completed before tomorrow ends," the Speaker handed the brown envelope to Adam.

He opened it and found documents about the target. Pictures stapled onto the documents revealed who the target is. And it assured Adam that this isn't going to be an easy task for him.

"The reward, Mr. Blaine, is this vial of antidote. As what I've told you before, if you manage to complete the set of antidotes, you will be fully cured from the poison," the Speaker pointed to the vial on the table.

Adam spoke not a word, he just nodded. He knew that he must obey if he wanted to survive. And he must do this for the greater good. He felt that BlackWatch is involved with the attacks on the city, and if that's true then he'll do everything he can to take this group out from the inside.