6 The Calm Before the Storm

Burns wasn't too surprised when he saw Elizabeth leave the bunker. Now sitting in a comfortable office chair which floated above the floor of his personal bedroom, the Erratic Jack knew that even if Donovan were to awaken he'd be unable to salvage this plan. Elizabeth, after listening to Burns seemed to have concluded that trusting him wasn't in the cards. The Diego brothers seemed to have the same idea and also left once they'd recovered. Aside from the still healing Donovan, Burns was the only one still in the bunker.

Although he suspected Hayashi actually intended to return, Burns wasn't too concerned. Items like the Elixir of Bonding could only show their worth in groups with similar goals. When used on people who didn't have any trust or shared purpose it was a recipe for disaster. The Elixir's compulsion would force everyone who'd drunk a portion of the same batch to work together and protect each other. Even if they had completely incompatible goals or detested one another, the elixir would force them together.

"Jimmy, how long till Donovan recovers?"

"He'll be all patched up by daylight boss. That said, he'll probably be pretty out of it for a while seeing how he was mind controlled for so long."

"Yeah, I'd imagine it'd fuck with you. Alright, I'm going to sleep. Make sure to wake me up when he comes around."

"Alarm clock duty, really?"

John McCloud watched the night sky's many stars in thoughtful silence. The freckled, red-haired man sat on the edge of a New York City skyscraper's 55th floor. There'd been a window where he now dangled his legs once but that was long gone; not even remnant shards remained. Looking down, John could see remains from the floors that used to be above the one he now rested on. Amidst those ruins below he saw a pack of werewolves being ravaged by a manticore. Such an occurrence hardly surprised the middle-aged man. This was a Forbidden Zone after all, a place lost to humanity.

Although John watched the fight his thoughts were elsewhere. The day he'd spent so much time preparing for was tomorrow. Since the first day he'd awoken his Internal Magic, gaining the ability to see visions of all future threats to his life, he'd begun a journey of survival. He'd done anything and everything to gain power, forcing the world to bend to his will. Finally he'd reached this point, this crucial night. If his preparations for tonight weren't enough everything he'd done would be for naught. All the sacrifices, the sleepless nights, the guilty conscience that drew blood in quiet moments, it'd all have been for nothing.

When he heard the ping in his mind, he knew time was up. He accepted the call he'd received through his cybernetic implant and listened in trepidation.

"Sir, the RSA's surrendered. As soon as President Greene realized that the Northeastern Union and Winter&Steel Enterprises were ours, he knew a war would be pointless. As for Milestone Technologies, we've finished replacing their executives with our clone operatives. In effect we now control all of North America."

"What about South America?"

"Excluding the Forbidden Zones, we have everything under control officially. Our grasp on Brazil is still shaky at best though. Even though most of the local warlords were subdued, a few are still laying low. If we aren't careful they could stage a rebellion."

John sighed in relief before replying "That's not an issue. With North and South America unified as one force we have a chance. It'll be hell; we'll lose millions even in the best scenario but now we truly have a real chance at survival."

"Don't worry sir, you already lead us this far. I'm sure you can continue guiding us through to a better future."

"I hope so" the CEO of Aceron Multipurpose Megacorporation muttered.

"Burns, wake up! Some major shit went down while you were asleep!"

Still groggy, the Erratic Jack lifted himself from his bed's covers slowly. He rubbed his eyes wearily and sighed. Eventually, once he felt somewhat better, he said "Start over from the beginning."

"It didn't go down how we thought it would at all! Aceron took complete control of the Americas last night!"

"What? How? They don't have the military force and I can't imagine any of the powers would form a real alliance with Aceron."

"Supposedly Milestone Technologies did sign an alliance behind closed doors. It's been announced to the public but the statement was mostly propaganda. There're some rumors being spread by Milestone employees that the execs have been acting a little different recently though so I'm sure something went down.

As for Winter&Steel Enterprises, it turns out they were secretly part of Aceron all along. The whole corporation was just a smoke-screen for Aceron all this time! The Northeastern Union seems be acting especially strangely. They finalized a non-aggression pact and trade deal that they've 'been working on for several long months' just last night. That can't possibly be true if what Hayashi told us is correct!

After all this happened, the RSA didn't dare try fighting it out with Aceron. It was already going to be a tough one and that was when they hoped to ally with other powers. The RSA's already being treated like a vassal state, in a few years it'll probably be completely absorbed by Aceron. This war we thought was going down is already over!"

"That doesn't make any sense! Why would Aceron hire so many Jacks if they were just going to do this?"

"Actually, that's something I noticed and what I'm going to tell you next is even stranger. The job's still up, although we've been given new orders. All the Jacks that were briefed at the facility we got the new gene mods from have been directed to meet near Dallas. I've heard on the web that all the Jacks hired by Aceron, as well as the Jacks the other powers had enlisted are also being grouped up at various locations. Aceron's upped the rewards for everyone who participates too.

It isn't just the Jacks who are still preparing for something big. The militaries of all the powers are still being mobilized, although they aren't being placed around the old borders anymore. The largest population centers are all being evacuated and surrounded with armed forces. I really have no idea what the fuck's going on Burns!"

"I get it now, I think. Aceron was never preparing to fight the powers here in the Americas, they were preparing for some other group. The question is, who can move armies from one continent to another right now? Based off of the way Aceron's moving their forces I can guess they know the mode of transport. It'll probably be via teleportation. Still, the question remains, what power can afford to teleport whole armies here?"

"Even if you're right it's still too weird. The powers in the other continents aren't all moving the same way but some of them are mimicking Aceron's movements. Most of them haven't unified so much territory under a single banner but the preparations are still clear to see if you search the web. It's like half the world is preparing to be invaded!"

Burns eyes suddenly shined as he exclaimed "That's it! Jimmy, what's happened with the alien ship? Have any exploration teams been sent to investigate it yet?"

"Let me check . . . no, not that I can see. It's like suddenly everyone lost interest in it. You don't think the way the major powers are moving is connected do you?"

"I do. Think about it for a moment. We know the Shifts were caused by that alien ship. We also know it never left if the Aceron briefing was accurate. I may not know why the aliens caused the Shifts but I'd bet that there are those who do. They've been waiting for something and now, maybe that wait is about to end. We're going to get Donovan and suit up. Then we're going to the meeting point for the job. I don't know what it is exactly but something world-changing may be on the horizon."