Offensive Operations E-Book

Jesse Wilson

• Herausgeber: Next Chapter
• Kategorie: Fantasy und Science-Fiction
• Sprache: Englisch

Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2022

Beschreibung

The war is over.

The Delta Squad ended the invasion, and the war of the worlds was over. But at the same time as the last battle, 188 assassinated the President of the United States, hoping that even with his defeat the country would fall.

Putting their commander in charge of the country under disguise to keep chaos from breaking out, the Syndicate believes they have avoided disaster. But the hard-headed commander only plays the part for so long before revealing himself, causing unprecedented civil unrest.

After a surprise attack from Mark and his own version of the Delta Squad turns the country upside down, they become public enemy #1. The real squad is forced back into action, to free the country one vicious battle at a time, and rescue America from a near-hopeless situation. But are they already too late?

Leseprobe

OFFENSIVE OPERATIONS

DELTA SQUAD BOOK 2

JESSE WILSON

CONTENTS

Chapter 1

Chapter 2

Chapter 3

Chapter 4

Chapter 5

Chapter 6

Chapter 7

Chapter 8

Chapter 9

Chapter 10

Chapter 11

Chapter 12

Chapter 13

Chapter 14

Chapter 15

Chapter 16

Chapter 17

Chapter 18

Chapter 19

Chapter 20

Chapter 21

Chapter 22

Chapter 23

Chapter 24

Chapter 25

Chapter 26

Chapter 27

Chapter 28

Chapter 29

Chapter 30

Chapter 31

Chapter 32

Chapter 33

Chapter 34

Chapter 35

Chapter 36

Chapter 37

Chapter 38

Chapter 39

Chapter 40

Chapter 41

Chapter 42

Chapter 43

Chapter 44

Chapter 45

Chapter 46

Chapter 47

Chapter 48

Chapter 49

Chapter 50

Chapter 51

Chapter 52

Chapter 53

Chapter 54

Chapter 55

Chapter 56

Chapter 57

Chapter 58

Chapter 59

Chapter 60

Chapter 61

Chapter 62

Chapter 63

Chapter 64

Chapter 65

Chapter 66

Chapter 67

Chapter 68

Chapter 69

Chapter 70

Chapter 71

Chapter 72

Chapter 73

Chapter 74

Chapter 75

Chapter 76

Chapter 77

Chapter 78

Chapter 79

Chapter 80

Chapter 81

Chapter 82

Chapter 83

Chapter 84

Chapter 85

Chapter 86

Chapter 87

Chapter 88

Chapter 89

Chapter 90

Chapter 91

Chapter 92

Chapter 93

Chapter 94

Chapter 95

Chapter 96

Chapter 97

Chapter 98

Chapter 99

Chapter 100

Chapter 101

Chapter 102

Chapter 103

Chapter 104

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About the Author

Copyright (C) 2020 by Jesse Wilson

Layout design and Copyright (C) 2022 by Next Chapter

Published 2022 by Next Chapter

Cover art by CoverMint

This book is a work of fiction. Apart from known historical figures, names, characters, places, and incidents are the product of the author's imagination. Other than actual events, locales, or persons, again the events are fictitious.

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without the author's permission.

1

It's raining in Washington D.C. The war against 188 is all but over. The horrors inflicted upon the world are coming to an end.

The bodies of secret service agents lie in the halls of the White House, the alarms are blaring. The invasion was sudden as it was violent.

The President is in his oval office, sweating and his hands gripped tight against the sides of his chair.

There is a barrel of a gun pointed at his chest. He is surrounded by dead Secret Service agents. Their blood is dripping off the walls and had soaked into the carpet to its limit and refuses to drink anymore.

“Security appears to be lacking in the White House these days,” Dan said with a wicked smile, his black suit is covered in the blood of secret service agents and Mud from Blackfire Island. “The war is going to be over soon. As you already know the Delta Squad is likely going to win the battle, but I don’t care about that,” Daniel said then continued.

“Truth is there is a bigger plan but it’s too bad you’re not invited in it Mr. President, sir, but before I kill you, would you care to tell me where your Vice President is, what’s his name. Todd Stone?” Dan asked.

Adam looked down the barrel of that gun and tried not to be afraid. “I’d die before I told you anything,” he replied.

“Have it your way,” Dan replied as he pulled the trigger. The blood of the President sprayed in all directions as the chair fell over backwards.

“I Never killed a president before, I kind of like it,” he said to himself as the doors behind him were kicked in.

Roger and Nick burst through the doors and took aim only to see they were too late. “Well son of a bitch, I told you that wasn’t an agent,” Roger said and Nick only rolled his eyes at that as they drew their weapons.

“Shadow Stalker, Dan, whatever you call yourself, you are under arrest for the murder of the President and crimes against—“ Nick started to say and Dan just pressed a button on his left wrist and disappeared in front of them.

“I also distinctly remember telling you to shoot him before you tried to arrest him,” Roger said as he lowered his weapon. “What in the hell are we going to do?” Nick asked as the two of them walked over to the dead president.

“I have no idea, but no one knows he’s dead, all the guards are dead, I think we can cover this up.” Roger said as he began to think about how to do it.

“Call it in and we’ll come up with something. No one can know they killed the damn president this late in the game,” Nick replied to him as Roger got an idea just before he called it in.

“Heath, we have a problem. The President was killed by that Shadow guy, we uh, well we messed up,” Roger said into his communicator. There was no response for a few seconds.

“Alright, well we need to deal with this. Clean up that mess and leave no trace, I think we have it about handled out here,” Heath replied to them, he sounded stressed as he said it. “You heard the man, cleanup and go home,” Roger said and tried not to think too much about what all of this would mean for the future of the world. Roger put his weapon away, he wouldn’t be needing it here. Nick followed his lead.

Nick reached into his pocket and pulled out a small silver bottle. He opened the bottle of liquid metal and poured it on the carpet. It was a vial of nanites programmed to clean up situations like this for secret missions or assassinations. It was the best way to keep a secret.

The tiny machines spread immediately across the room and made quick work in devouring the blood and the bodies Dan left behind. Within minutes there was nothing left remaining.

“I’ll never get over these little guys.” Nick said as they returned to the bottle on their own and he put the lid back on. Roger walked to the chair and picked it up and pushed it against the desk to make it appear as normal as he could.

“Oh, I can’t wait to see how we get ourselves out of this one,” he said to himself just before the two of them disappeared.

188 was vanquished by the dimensional weapon and the war was over in one dark flash. The five of them limped away from the scene of their final victory, beaten and tired. Emily and Heath met them back at the headquarters.

“You guys did a good job, thanks,” Heath said to them and they knew it would likely be the only thanks they would get from anyone, same as it ever was.

“There has been a development. You four can get lost if you want but Cody, we need to talk.” Heath said, disregarding the others as he continued.

“I have a job for you,” he said and threw a device at him. Cody said nothing as he caught it with his left hand, surprised that he could catch anything with how he felt right now. “Hologram emitter?” he asked in response.

“You’re going to need it,” Emily said to him and Cody nervously looked at the others for some kind of support. “This is all you, bro,” Josh said, laughed and the others did too. Cody did not get the support he was looking for but at this point pretty much knew that would how it would turn out.

“See you later, right now I need to get out of this armor, take a shower and get back to reality,” Wyatt said as the others started to walk away. Cody started to walk with Heath and Emily in the opposite direction.

“What’s the job, anyway?” Cody asked as they walked.

“You’re going to be the President of the United States for a while,” Heath replied to him in a flat voice. “Wait, what?” Cody could only respond as they walked into the headquarters, completely stunned by what the new job was going to be but didn’t quite understand it.

“All you have to do is wear this thing long enough, play the part. Make a few pre-written speeches and don’t make any public appearances. Until we can make sure it’s safe enough for the Vice President to take over and we make something up as we go, thankfully he’s still too scared to take up the mantle. We just need to make sure things are okay before he can come out of his bunker for a week or so. Things go right back to normal after that. No one knows the president is dead and we’d like to keep it that way. Do you think you can handle that?” Heath asked as Cody looked at the hologram emitter.

“Why me?” Cody asked mostly to himself. “Well we could have asked Wyatt to do it but, well, you can imagine how that might turn out,” Emily replied, Cody shook his head imagining it. “Alright, I get your point,” Cody said with a sigh.

“Oh, about that whole faking your death thing. Never do that again. You do that again and I will kill you. Again,” Emily said to him as Cody’s green and gold helmet slid back. “Don’t worry, I don’t plan on it,” Cody replied to her.

“You didn’t plan on it this time, go get cleaned up and don’t tell anyone about this or we’ll detonate the bomb in your head,” Heath said to him in a completely serious voice.

Cody was reasonably sure there was no bomb in his head but he decided to take it seriously for now.

Cody had a chance to say goodbye to his team, but it wasn’t much more than a picture taken on the blood drenched shore of Blackfire before they all went their separate ways.

Cody got ready. “I’ve always thought the best thing a Delta Squad member could wear is a nice suit,” Erin said to him as she smoothed out a wrinkle on his sleeve. “Well, it’s not my usual outfit, I feel over dressed,” he replied to her. “Yeah, but you’re playing the President of the United States for a little while. You should at least look the part, don’t you think?” she asked him.

“Of course,” Cody replied and felt as ready as he would ever be to do this job. “Let’s get this party started,” he finished as the two of them walked towards the teleporting room.

“Good luck,” Erin said to him and continued, “you’re going to need it,” she finished as he stepped on to the teleporting pad. Erin pushed the button on the control panel and with a blue flash, Cody was gone.

He teleported to the Oval office. He was alone and despite being the commander of one of the most secret forces on Earth, he’d never once been inside the White House. He looked around the place, thought it would be better somehow. The hologram emitter was already on and working perfectly. He pulled out the desk chair to sit down.

“First thing I am going to do is install a teleportation defense system in this place. No need for something like that to happen again,” Cody said to himself but even his voice was not his own. He was sure on a day like this he was supposed to be in the Situation Room or somewhere important like that. He literally had no idea what he was going to tell anyone.

In this time of crisis, he expected more people to be in here. He didn’t know what to expect. All he knew was that he was alone, but it wasn’t going to last.

He didn’t worry about it and while he was thinking of how and what he was going to do next his phone rang. Cody stared at and was nervous, he had no idea of what to say but picked it up anyway.

“Uh, hello,” he said with the least amount of nervousness he could muster.

“Relax, it’s me. In a few minutes someone is going to rush into the office telling you 188 is dead and the war is over. Act surprised,” Emily said on the other end of the line.

“Also, the agents that Dan killed died in your defense against assassination attempts, if anyone asks stick to this story,” Emily said and was finished. Cody was about to say something when the other end of the line went dead. There were no agents, no bodies. No damage to even say anything bad had happened at all. Cody figured he’d keep his mouth shut and hope no one asked.

“Well goodbye to you too,” Cody said as he hung up the phone. True to her word a man in a suit burst through the doors, Cody didn’t have any idea who this was.

“I don’t believe it, but according to this report 188 was killed hours ago in a surgical strike by the Delta Force,” the man said and Cody was surprised, honestly and almost reacted in a way that would have betrayed him but he remembered that the Delta Force was an actual counter terrorism unit named after his own team and relaxed.

“And how come I didn’t authorize or know about this attack?” Cody asked in response, standing up, looking as mad as he could, the man in the suit recoiled in fear just a little bit, his eyes widened.

“It wasn’t planned. 188 was spotted by a team on another mission and took the chance on their own volition, it was a success,” the man replied to him and Cody smiled.

“Then the war is over, their leader is dead,” Cody said with a smile. “I’ll hold a press conference immediately to tell the world,” he finished saying to the man. “Yes sir, I’ll set it up, this is a great day,” the man in the suit replied and left.

“Of course, it just had to be an American victory,” Cody said to himself, sighed, realizing now that he had to figure out just how to do some public speaking, even though part of this gig was no public speaking or appearances. This was turning out to be more complicated than shooting the enemy already, and he was regretting taking the job.

Ten minutes later he found himself standing, behind a podium in front of many reporters who had no idea why they were standing there in the first place. Cody had actually never given a public speech in his life. It was said that the speeches would be pre written by some over paid writer. He didn’t have that. There was nothing on a teleprompter, no words in. Now he had to wing it. Cody took a deep breath before he got started.

“Hello everybody, how are you doing today?” Cody asked, as he did there was a hushed murmur in the crowd, this wasn’t how the President addressed the nation and Cody realized it, he had to step it up a little bit to be convincing.

“Oh, right, national announcement thing, it is why you’re all here after all,” Cody said and swallowed before speaking again. “I would like to announce that 188 is dead, for real this time. A Delta Force unit got lucky and in a covert mission happened to find the terrorist leader nearby. They attacked and ended up killing him. The war is over, his forces have been crushed,” Cody said it as quickly as he could.

Immediately the crowd erupted with questions. Normally the President didn’t take any questions. “You, in the red,” Cody said and everyone went quiet.

“How do we know you’re telling the truth this time?” she asked, Cody smiled as she asked that. “Well, you’ll just have to trust me, but this time I am confident that that maniac is toast and I doubt we’ll be seeing him again,” Cody said not as the president but as himself. He really had no idea how a president was supposed to sound. The answer did not amuse anyone. He was discovering how easy it was to lie, too.

There was no possible way to know for sure if 188 would return or not.

“Now that the war is over, how are we going to proceed?” Another reporter jumped in when he saw his chance.

“Well, I suppose we are going to rebuild stuff and make life better again. It seems like the thing to do,” Cody said and with that he didn’t want to answer any more questions. “Alright, tell everyone what I just told you, this war is over but we can’t relax. The work of rebuilding is just beginning and it’s going to be a long road from here,” Cody said and waved to the reporters.

He didn’t have any idea why he waved as he walked from the podium. He had no idea how he was going to do this, keeping the secret of the Delta Squad was one thing, lying to the country about who he really was and what happened was tearing him apart inside, it just wasn’t right.

He walked back into the White house and was surrounded my men in suits, there were people here, too. Everyone wanted to talk to him and all he could hear was a jumbled storm of noise coming in his direction. Now that the war was over this time, everyone had a concern, complaint and a request and everyone wanted to be heard at the same time.

“Guys, listen, hold on,” Cody said to all of them. “The war is over. We all have a lot of work to do and we all have issues right now. But for today, take a day off. Your problems, concerns and issues will all be here tomorrow. I will get to work on helping you all as best as I can, but today. Well, today we should take a moment to celebrate. Go home. Say hi to your kids, call your mom. Do something or get some sleep, but today we all deserve a break,” Cody said to them.

“Now, if you’ll excuse me, I’m going to get some me time,” he finished and walked away down a hallway. The small crowd he addressed was stunned into silence.

“Sir, it’s not my place but—“ Cody turned and looked at the agent with those weary, battle hardened eyes that nearly cut through the holographic disguise and sent chills down the agent’s spine. “You’re right. It’s not. It’s been a long war. Be thankful you didn’t have to fight in it,” he replied to him. The agent had nothing else to say and the two made their way down the hall in silence.

2

“Is 188 really dead or is the government just doing their best to trick us again?” one host asked another on television. Cody was flipping through the channels to see what the general mood of the country was. The mood was the same, one of distrust, misery and anger. Providence was still a disaster despite being a victory and the rest of the world was in much worse shape.

Every single channel that had anything to do with the news was reporting burning cities, ruined landscapes and fields of dead bodies. 188 might have lost the war, but he had several victories all over the world. Every country on earth had been touched by his insane brand of violence. It made Cody cringe to see it all like this. On one hand, he was happy that him and the team was able to do what they did, on the other, he wished he could have done so much more.

The general state of the world was just waiting for the next 188 signal hack to unleash yet another global terror on the world. Cody switched off the television and knew that the world was going to need more than lies. Even if 188 and his people were gone, the world was still threatening to blow itself into pieces at any moment. He looked out his window and from here, everything felt peaceful. It was night now.

A full twelve hours had passed since 188 was beaten and he still wasn’t used to the idea that tomorrow wouldn’t involve an ocean of blood and dead people. Freaks with chainsaws and illusions. Life was, with any luck, about to get back to some kind of normalcy.

He also knew the country didn’t have a president anymore, Cody knew that he wasn’t the man for the job and he also knew that the one who was supposed to be here was still scared out of his mind, hiding in some bunker somewhere until it was safe to come out. He turned off the lights and the television as he made a choice. He couldn’t allow this lie to continue on any longer.

These nice White house beds were a far cry from the hard beds in the cramped quarters on Blackfire Island. He was having trouble getting used to them, sleep, once again would be elusive.

Hours past, how many Cody didn’t know but he woke up with a start. A nightmare fading from his memories, something he did, a thousand things he did all meshed together. It wasn’t important right now. What was important was getting ready for the day, getting ready to reveal one of the biggest historical events that he could think of.

Cody took a shower and got dressed in his suit. He made his way to the Oval Office and sat down. The sun was just beginning to stream through the windows. He couldn’t imagine that the carnage of the war reached all the way here. He was only told about all of it, that was enough.

Cody was ready to get to work, do something and not quite sure what when the doors of the office swung open. Bill Mcraven walked through the doors and put a paper on his desk. Cody looked up at him trying to act as if he’d never seen this guy before.

“Now that the war is over, do you think I can get back to working out plans again?” Cody asked him as he leaned back in his chair.

“No, what plans did you have in mind?” Bill asked him and Cody sighed.

“A press conference. I have something I need to tell the public today, something important,” Cody replied to him and Bill narrowed his eyes. “Are you going to let us in on the secret or keep us hanging?” Bill asked in response.

Cody smiled. “You’ll just have to wait and see. I’ll set it up for about three this afternoon,” Cody replied to him.

“In the meantime, let’s try to keep the world running smoothly,” Bill said and Cody just raised an eyebrow. This was all very uncomfortable to him, he had no idea what to do. Bill left the office and Cody looked at the paper.

It was a report on something called Talos armor. And according to this they were weak replicas of their own armor. Did Bill know more than he was letting on? Cody didn’t like the way they looked and put the paper down, it was going to be a long, boring day if it kept up like this.

The day passed just as slowly as he had predicted. He was more stressed out about the meaningless squabbling of people he didn’t even know coming to his office. Issues he didn’t care about or understand completely, it was all a blur.

He was not meant to be a politician and up until now he was playing the part he was meant to play. Quiet, a placeholder. The most powerful nobody in the whole world. But it was time to change everything. It was time to reveal to the world that nothing was as it seemed. The hour was close at hand and he mentally prepared himself for that was coming next, stood up and was glad to finally leave this office. Despite how important it was, right now it was feeling more like a prison cell.

Cody wondered if other presidents felt the same way in the past about this place after a while. He had no intentions of staying here for long, however.

Cody stood on the podium once more it was a Thursday about three in the afternoon. The sun was shining, a slight breeze from the north. It was a good and peaceful day. He was surrounded by reporters who once again had no idea what to expect. He knew more than just reporters were watching, but he didn’t care.

“Hello again everyone, I have something of an announcement to make,” he said and took a deep breath.

“I am not the man you think I am. The day I reported 188’s death, the American people suffered a tragedy that was kept hidden from you. The President was assassinated right here, just feet away from where we stand now. In order to avoid panic the government decided that a proxy would be needed to take the Vice President’s place until security can be confirmed.

“My name is Cody, I am, for now at least, the President of the United States,” he said as he lifted up his arm to reveal a silver wrist band. He grabbed and tore it off to reveal a very different looking person before them as the image shifted.

“This is not a takeover. Taxes won’t be raised or lowered. Guns won’t be taken away. Elections will be held when they are meant to be held and I will step down as soon as it is safe for me to do so. I know, this is a tough time for everyone involved,” Cody said and everyone was too shocked to even ask any questions right now, reality was still settling in.

“I will do the best I can. We will rebuild and we will thrive. I will do everything I can to make this a better time for all of us,” Cody said to the reporters and the rest of the country.

“Sir, how can anyone trust you, you covered up the death of the president?” A reporter asked without being called on.

Cody thought about this for a minute.

“Well, I don’t know. I wouldn’t trust me either I guess. I will just have to prove it one day at a time starting with this,” Cody said, sighed and stared into the cameras. “I know some of you out there supported the ideals of 188. The man was a maniac, completely insane. He wanted to kill everyone. He was a genocidal monster. Change your ways now. If you keep insisting on following his insane path we will find you and stop you. This is your chance to walk away I insist you take it,” Cody said directly into the cameras, slipping back into full on Delta Squad commander mode for a moment, briefly showing the potential brutality that lay beneath

There was not a single person in the room who didn’t get a chill from that tone of voice. Cody noticed this in an instant and dropped it.

“America has always been at its best when it has been united. We will stand united again and rebuild what we have lost, mourn those who died and heal what has been broken,” Cody said to them and the rest of the country. He knew nothing would ever be the same but didn’t care about the results of this.

He could only imagine the look on Heath’s face right now, he was also sure he was going to get a phone call on the subject too but right now he didn’t care either way. The reporters looked at one another for a moment, but then they all erupted in a cacophony of noise and questions. Cody’s eyes widened, he didn’t have any answers. He’d told them everything he knew.

“Sorry, guys. There won’t be any more questions today. Right now, I need to get to work on ridding this country of the last remnants of 188’s insane cult following. Until we do this, none of us are truly safe,” Cody said to them, and that last part was true. Anyone who might believe in 188’s path would be a threat to anyone else. With that, he left the podium and stepped into history forever.

The country immediately exploded.

Riots broke out on both coasts. Some were angry they were tricked, others calling for civil war because this wasn’t their president, they didn’t even know who this was. Civil unrest, protests, both peaceful and violent was the flavor of the day.

Cody watched America fall apart almost overnight.

Talk shows on every television station, news programs and even late night shock fests immediately erupted into a furious debate, all asking the same questions. How did the president get replaced and was this even legal at all?

Congress flew into a rabid state, arguing constantly demanding to know what party was responsible for this travesty, without a body, some even believed the President wasn’t dead at all and this was some kind of scheme to take over the country.

There were public protests in the streets with people holding up various signs that said things like ‘Not My President’ and ‘Cody is a Phony.’ The country had never been so divided and united by one single issue at the same time.

Cody was watching the small television in the office, flipping through the networks.

“Damn, they really don’t like me,” he said to himself, wondering what the others were doing at the time wishing he could be just about anywhere else. He figured this would have gone better than this but it appeared that.

“Well, it’s still a few months until the election. I’d better do something to make this situation a bit less tense. A bunch of crybabies can’t handle. Makes me wonder if 188 didn’t have a point after all,” Cody continued to talk to himself; it was something he did quite a bit under stress.

It was time to talk to the public again, this time he had a plan. Cody picked up the phone on his desk.

“Yeah, I am going to need to talk to the country again. These people don’t seem to get the message and I think it’s for the best I clear things up before they start killing one another over nothing,” he said, waited a moment.

“I don’t care what you think. This debate needs to end yesterday. We have bigger problems than me,” Cody said, smiled.

“Excellent. I’ll see you in about two hours,” Cody said, but had no idea what it was he was going to tell the country and quickly came up with a plan that he was sure to be foolproof.

In the meantime, news channels all over the country broke into their regular programming with the announcement.

3

Joey was watching the television along with the rest of his delta squad. They were national heroes in a time when the whole world seemed to be in need of a hero; at least they were for fifteen minutes because of what they did or claimed to do at the convention.

Now the war was over and the new president was going to address the nation today, but about what the announcement didn’t say.

“Dude, do you think that the president is gonna tell us all. that he’s declaring martial law?” Brianna asked them.

“I doubt it, besides he’s not really the President. Nobody knows where this guy came from,” Angel replied, but he never took his eyes off the television.

“Doesn’t that voice sound familiar to any of you?” Joey asked them as he tried to place the President’s voice in his mind with someone else, he’d been doing it since the first time he heard it and it was driving him crazy.

“Yeah, it sounds like that green and gold freak who took down those other weirdos at the convention, just with less electronic interference,” Kelly said as an afterthought.

“Son of a Thursday, you’re right. It’s him,” Joey said, standing up in shock as he stared at the screen with wide eyes.

“The president is a maniac,” Tyler said calmly, but the idea spread among them like wild fire. This was as about as far away from good as anyone could possibly be. Now they all needed to see what the monster had to say and the possibility of it being anything positive was dying quickly. They watched and the fear that something terrible was coming increased by the second.

Cody wasn’t exactly nervous about the speech. He just didn’t know how good he’d be at doing it. He took a deep breath and walked up to the podium yet again and put hands on the sides of it. He stared into the cameras with the gaze most of his enemies never actually got to see as it was usually behind armor.

Cody had a good idea of what he was going to say but the country was tearing itself apart over him being the president, uninvited and unelected, this was the only thing he could think of to do.

As the press conference began all Cody could think about was the war and all the lives that were lost, on both sides. The mysterious red army were fighting to survive and he knew full well that the loss of the war meant the destruction of everyone on their world.

That thought haunted Cody as much as the amount of death they had caused. He took a breath and began to speak what came to mind, something he hoped would help everyone calm down.

"America, we and the rest of the world have had to unite to stand against an extraordinary evil that nobody expected. The battle was hard and many people fell on fronts all over the world. The War has changed the events of human history forever; life on this planet will never be the same. The challenge was great but we worked together and overcame it, however a greater challenge awaits the human race in the future. As peace descends upon the world once more I would ask you to remember those who have fallen in our defense, the ultimate sacrifice that has been made by countless people. American fighting men and women died with those of every country of the world,” Cody said into the cameras and continued.

“Because of this peace and rebuilding can return to our world. I know that you did not elect me, or even know me, but you can trust me. I will not declare martial law, raise taxes or make any major changes in the system like I said. All I am asking from all of you is to not worry so much about me and place your energy in rebuilding this country of ours. Donate your time, money and skills if you have them. Everyone is important now; we all need one another in this time of rebuilding. So I urge all of you to be united, when the elections come you can choose a new leader for yourselves or I am sure by then the rightful person will be here instead of me and you can elect that guy or not,” The acting president didn't have much to say in this grim time.

The world was, in many places still finding and burying the dead from both sides of the war. Cody didn’t know why the Vice president didn’t take over he was doing the best he could and none of this made any sense to him.

More and more he felt like a pawn in the Syndicate’s game, despite doing all of this, they hadn’t made contact yet. He didn’t like it one bit.

Joey and the others were shocked as soon as he heard the voice and their worst fears were realized. It wasn’t the first time he listened to the President actually say anything, but since he connected the dots of the true identity of the president, his blood ran cold. He had to be the maniac in the green and gold armor at the convention last year there was no way it was anyone different.

None of them would never forget that voice and even though it sounded strange at the time there was no mistaking it now. “See, now all of my theories make sense,” Joey said to himself. “Theories, like what?” Kelly asked as he leaned back into his chair.

“Well, I thought that convention thing was odd. I mean we all agree that the other four were the real squad, right?” Joey said but no one really agreed with him on this point, but to get him to shut up about it they just rolled with it. “I think that green guy was, is, their leader and the president is the actual leader of the Delta Squad. There is no way they’d let a maniac be in charge of the country,” Joey said to them.

“Yeah, but you know, strangely enough the only members who ever called themselves the Delta Squad was us and most of the people there still think it was nothing more than a really big advertisement it for you done by the convention,” Brianna said to him.

She was getting annoyed by Joey’s constant theory making, as were the rest of them.

Joey was pissed.

He believed that he and his friends deserved some kind of a metal for putting their life on the line like he was sure they did. He wasn’t happy with his fifteen minutes of heroic fame the media gave to him. He wanted more and was determined now more than ever to actually get it, but now he needed to figure out how.

“Alright guys, the ‘president’ should have at least mentioned us. We did a lot too. But now that I know his secret, I intend to use it to my full advantage,” Joey said but had no idea how he was going to do it yet.

“Well, while you do that, I am going home. I’ve had enough conspiracy for one day,” Tyler said, the others liked the idea. “Yep, it’s about that time to go back to the world of sanity,” Angel said and stood up. Joey was used to this from his friends by now.

“Fine, go, you’ll thank me later when we are all rich,” Joey said to them, never taking his eyes off of the television as they left his living room. As the president was talking about war and skills or something like that, he looked at the screen.

“I intend to start traveling the country; I am going to speak to random students about the reality of our situation. I believe that these kids are our future and I think that we as politicians have grown too distant from our youth. Fifteen random high schools will be chosen for visitation, this journey will begin tomorrow,” Cody said to everyone who was watching the speech.

Joey got chills down his spine then as those eyes seemed to be staring right through him on the screen. He knew that the new president remembered him and Joey knew that without a doubt that his life was going to change.

“Oh, you guys, you should have stuck around just a few minutes longer,” he said to himself, considered calling them to report what he just heard.

“They’ll hear about it on their own,” Joey figured and didn’t bother to tell them anything.

It was about fifteen seconds after that the president left the podium and the typical news reporting on the appearance started up; Joey shut the television off then and went to his room. His parents would be home from work at some point he was sure. He’d been awake ever since the reported death of 188 and was covering every second of news that he could find. He’d been up for a very long time and even skipped school to witness history in the making.

Now he was too tired to function.

His mind raced with thoughts over and over again, the sun went down sooner this time of the year, as his room grew darker he drifted into wild dreams of battlefields, violence, heroes and villains.

Before he knew it, his alarm was going off and it was time to get up for school. He rolled over and shut it off; as usual he was not entirely looking forward to the new day.

“No worse enemy than a blaring alarm,” Joey said with sleep still thick in his mind, as much as he wanted to go back to sleep, the memories from the so-called president’s announcement from yesterday shot him full of energy once more, he sat up with a strange energy and he opened his eyes. “Right, psychopathic maniac runs the country now, better wake up,” he said as a reminder.

It was not a normal day for him because usually his mind was always focused on some imaginary battlefield and there is no other place he would rather be than writing down what he saw in his head after a vivid set of dreams but today was different.

Joey, like most kids, was thankful his state, along with most of America had gone untouched in the war but most mornings like this he wished that someone would have blown up his school. Even if it was on accident.

There was nothing worse for a teenager than having to wake up for school, most of the time, even in this post war world he lived in. The daily routine hadn’t changed, Joey’s parents were already long gone and this was the normal way of life for him and many others that he knew. The war had devastated the economy and just to get by anymore, sacrifices had to be made.

Joey tried his best, as he always did to try and push the memories from before the war out of his mind as he got ready for school. Going through the motions only took a few minutes; soon he was out the door, on his bike heading down the street.

School was boring and it was always boring even in this age with so much going on in the world stage around them; some things would never actually change. The leader of the delta squad deserved better than this and he was sure of it.

His writing was even more popular online now, but it wasn’t doing him any favors yet. Joey had never thought to charge for any of it, and he knew full well it was hard to get anything published in a book if it was already online for free somewhere for anyone to see. He cursed himself many times a week for this, but didn’t know how to change it.

Now that headache was coming back to haunt him because everyone knew about the story but he wasn’t making a single penny off of it and this was frustrating. To sit in some room with the boring lecture from a teacher that droned on about something he didn’t care about should have been considered torture.

Joey had other things on his mind and was expecting his life to change in a really big way, he was anxious and twitchy.

He was about to slam his head into his desk and try to pass out into a better world where the heroes got the credit they really deserved, and maybe the money too because money was always nice. Anything would be better than this tension.

He was lost in his thoughts when the intercom came on Joey nearly jumped out of his in surprise as his intense concentration was shattered by a voice from the loudspeaker.

"Attention all students and faculty, there will be a special school assembly in fifteen minutes in the gym." The lady on the other end said to them all, but she seemed on edge. Even the teacher seemed surprised at this announcement and had a confused look on his face at the news. The others didn’t seem too excited by this but Joey’s mind was on fire.

He didn’t expect this to happen this fast, but at the same time he didn’t know how he couldn’t have not expected it. The president, no, the monster was coming for him. If Joey knew what he thought he and his friends knew one of two things was about to happen here. Either they were going to be rewarded or they were about to disappear.

Joey almost thought about making a run for it but decided against it. He got up with the rest of the class and made his way towards the gym with the others.

Once he got there, he met up with the rest of his squad members, this year they didn‘t have any classes together and that just added to the harsh nature of school he was forced to experience.

The five of them acknowledged with a nod and a smile but the situation was rushed so they sat down next to one another despite the teachers trying to tell the others where to go.

“Do you still think the president is the green and gold guy?” Kelly asked him and Joey looked at him and the others. “You know you didn’t need to bring it up, but yes, yes I do,” he replied, to him it was obvious they didn’t catch or watch the news after they left his place and Angel couldn’t help but laugh.

“You know we like picking on you when we get the chance, lighten up at least we didn’t all die,” Angel said to him and Brianna was more than ready to agree with this with a nod.

“School is better than death,” she added on to that. Even if they didn’t get their national amount of fame they had desired, everyone at school respected them just for the amount of internet popularity they got, even though not too many actually believed the convention story as they told it.

“So, does anyone know what this is going to be or are we all in the dark?” Brianna asked and Tyler just crossed his arms

“I bet it’s some kind of anti-drug thing, it’s always that,” Tyler said and was annoyed because where ever he was he liked it better than being here it was easily seen. Joey knew, or was at least pretty sure he knew what this was going to be all about. It was going to be all about them one way or another.

4

One Day before the school assembly,

Marine Scout Sniper School, Camp Pendleton California.

"I see him," he said as he tossed a rock was tossed and a sniper was nailed in the head.

"Son of a B--" Blake stopped the sniper in training at once with a rather loud "Language, soldier" as he tossed another rock, another hidden sniper revealed his position, another one down, it was the same routine as yesterday. He was not impressed with any of these people and even though this was his first session as a teacher, he was already frustrated.

Blake was a teacher of the most brutal kind. He was a dangerous kind of perfectionist and expected the same out of his students but almost no one passed his tests. No matter how good the person was or how good they could hide, it was never good enough.

"Have any of you learned anything I taught you. If it was legal to kill you, I would do so. Stop thinking of me as your teacher and more like your God. I don't like you. I don't need you. If you fail again I will fall all of you and you'll go back to your units and be labeled the failures you’re turning out to be," he shouted out to the open field, his was one of his good days.

Blake was more than aware that war was beyond brutal and if they ever had to fight in real combat this would feel like heaven in comparison. Leaning back in his chair he could easily see all of the snipers. He knew that even if he knew where they were, they were good enough for what they would be used for. His thoughts were interrupted when that special phone on his side rang, he answered it. The last time this phone rang he ended up saving the world. It was a year ago now since it last turned on. He did not expect this thing to ring again, or not so soon at least. The voice on the other end of the phone was one he knew.

“You can’t be serious about this. You owe me too many favors already,” Blake said, annoyed and listened as he rolled his eyes

“Alright fine, but you owe me. See you tomorrow, I was personally hoping for at least ten years before I saw you again but a few days works too, I guess,” he said and hung up the phone and got back to his class.

“Alright, hide better this time. First person I find gets to mop the barracks,” Blake said with a smile.

The Razor’s Edge.

Providence, Rhode Island.

Wyatt was blindfolded again, dressed in traditional black and gold kendo garb. He was fighting seven people at the same time. All his students, all of them were being trained by one of the greatest masters of the sword to ever live in their time but still they had no idea of his true identity.

“Alright, now attack me all at once. The first person to score a hit gets a free month,” he said with a smile and prepared for their attack. He was going to be demonstrating the importance of the ability to change directions in a fight.

Then his phone rang. The special one he always kept on his side at all times.

His students never questioned him about it anymore, every time they did he challenged them to a fight and was less than nice about it, so questions about the phone died out in a hurry and most of them were sure it didn’t even work at all.

Wyatt took off the blindfold as he stepped forward and swung his blade with more force than usual. The sword, despite being made out of wood was very dangerous. The attack hit all the blades and the force was enough to knock them all down to the ground at the same time.

“Sorry about that, guys, but I need to take this,” Wyatt said to his students, they were all in shock and still trying to figure out what happened and how he did it. Wyatt picked up the phone.

"Yeah, are you serious?” Wyatt asked as he put his wooden blade over his shoulder. “Why in the world would we do that? That makes no sense,” Wyatt said and was shaking his head in disapproval. “This is why I should have been in charge but fine, I’ll be there, I guess. This doesn’t make you any less of a jerk," Wyatt said as he hung up.

"Class dismissed, something has come up and I won’t be here tomorrow so ladies and gentlemen, you get the day off,” he said with a smile. Then he walked away, hanging up the phone.

Sparky’s

Dustin’s Bar.

Just outside New Orleans, Louisiana

The place was a success from the first day, most of that was hard work but some of this was due to the owner himself. He was also the main bouncer too, people came to see some nut job drink too much and start trouble just to watch the owner in action. The place was a place made legendary by the locals in an amazingly short amount of time.

"She's coming with me and that’s the end of it, if anyone has anything to say about it we can talk outside or inside I don’t care," the man said way too loud to apparently, nobody. He was off balance and clearly had drank too much, but still a reasonable threat. He held some lady in dressed in green by the left wrist and was causing a scene. No one seemed too worried about it.

This guy was a big guy, he looked like a wanna be biker though, still not exactly the kind of person people said no to very often.

The server was new and didn’t cut him off when she was supposed to. Dustin was watching the situation from a distance and didn’t like it and the woman he was going to take with him didn’t seem too interested in leaving, not with this guy anyway.

Dustin walked over to the two of them and people separated as he moved through the crowd.

"Guy. You can still walk out of here; maybe you should keep it that way,” Dustin said and never liked these situations, but when he took matters into his own hands, he knew it was good for business. People always liked a good show.

"You can't even--" Then the guy threw a lazy lop sided punch that Dustin was able to catch easily. He hated being interrupted by anyone, especially trash like this. A twist of the arm and the drunk guy was on the floor. "I‘ll kill you for this," the big man screamed in a fit of rage as the phone on Dustin’s belt rang.

"Hold that thought guy," Dustin said as he answered it with his other hand.

"What do you want?” Dustin asked and waited for a few seconds. “A favor, what is it?" he asked again as the guy started to get up but Dustin twisted his arm more and held him in place with ease. "What, that’s the stupidest idea I've ever heard…no really. This time it is really stupid. I don’t know who thought it was a good idea to put you in charge of anything," Dustin said, his frustration increased the pressure without him realizing it.

The guy's wrist broke with a sickening crack that and everyone heard it some of them cringed in sympathetic pain, others cheered. Dustin barely noticed any of it.

This guy started screaming in pain instantly. "You suck, you know that? This one time I'll do it for you. Pay no attention to that screaming. Oh, don‘t worry about it. I got everything under control here, more than you do anyways," Dustin said and the phone conversation was over. He put the phone back where it came from. The guy was screaming in pain and making the end of the conversation hard to hear.

"Now I'm pissed, today is turning out to be a mildly bad day,” Dustin said as he reached down and took the man's wallet and pulled out his information as he let the guy go as an afterthought. The guy got up and ran out the front door. The crowd cheered and the woman he was threatening seemed to be in a much better mood.

He nodded to her and the bar scene returned to normal in short order.

Dustin walked to and sat down at his computer. He got to work taking his frustration out on this random trouble maker. This guy's life was about to get very difficult now that he had Dustin‘s attention. He began to systematically use the information to empty the guy’s bank accounts. It didn’t take very long when you had access to Syndicate programs he may, or may not have stolen when he left.

That would teach him to spend too much money from here on out, he hoped. He was sure he was being rather nice about the whole thing, usually he liked to make people erased from the system to make them suffer, sure it was illegal but he didn’t care.

The cops got called to Sparky’s many times due to reports of assault from people but none of the cameras ever seemed to catch the alleged assault and there were never any witnesses to it either. Dustin made sure to give a couple of free rounds to everyone after each event like this and it kept the people quiet enough.

Chicago

The Streets

You can take the world out of the war, but not the war out of the world. Even before the war with 188 was over, something new hit the streets, a new drug in a time of great crisis. It was perfect for the new chemical to take hold. Josh didn't know where it came from but he did know what it was called and who had the most of it, at least right now.

The new drug was called the Crimson Eye. It was too addictive and spreading throughout the country like the virus it was. Everywhere that it went the drug brought death and destruction with it. Josh had an uzi in each hand, for him the war had never really ended.

As soon as he left Blackfire Island, he went right back to work. The streets were the same, but the people on them were different. Josh was closing in on a group of Eye addicted maniacs who he knew were selling the stuff. Josh had tangled with these types twice before and hoped that his guns would be enough to deal with this situation.

This drug was like an enhanced version of PCP, it made people nearly invincible. Last time Josh put an entire thirty round clip into a drugged out junkie and she didn’t die until he smashed her head in with a car. Josh was nervous about what he was going to do next. Stepping out of the darkness, both guns pointed at the group of four people who didn’t see him coming.

“Hey. We need to talk about your drug habit, mostly like where you get them. We don’t have to end up killing one another here,” Josh said, waiting for a response.

“It looks like we got ourselves a hero, heroes make great stress relief and they taste great too,” the taller man said and the others turned. Two women, two guys. All of them had clearly used this poison before, their bodies were already changing.

They were all dressed in black leather, it was cheap though. Hand me down and torn to shreds in a lot of places.

Josh wasn’t shocked by this. He’d seen the aftermath of drug dens before. The Crimson eye seemed to create a strange cannibalistic psychosis in who ever used it too long. It was never a pretty sight.

“If you eat me I promise you’ll choke,” Josh said back to them as they started to walk towards him. Josh could tell they had used their own product.

They had the look about them. Bulky and their eyes were red, even at night like this it was easy to tell but the addiction wasn’t that strong yet, they were only level one users for now.

“I get his arms. I really want his arms,” one of them said, some girl who couldn’t have been more than twenty years old. Josh took it seriously, he’d seen what happens when Eye users had a feast after they got high.

“Fine, you can have my arms after you take them,” Josh replied to them and started to squeeze the triggers, before he did, his phone rang. Josh said and put one of his guns in his holster. The four of them seemed confused by this as well.

“Hold on a minute, guys, I need to take this,” Josh said to them, hoping they were as dumb as they looked and didn’t attack him.

“Why does this thing always ring at the worst times?“ he asked as he answered the call. "What do you want? I am busy, here,” he said and looked around, frustrated.