24 Each their own choice
A moment of silence set up in the room.
Eléonore considered what she had learned so far about the mysterious Espadon platoon.
The Espadon platoon was a small team of "ability users" formed by the government kept in tight secret. Altin had not explained what ability users meant, but Eléonore guessed it referred to people having some sway over the 5th force.
Altin had said they were 'very, very few,' so the government struggled to find relevant people.
"Eléonore," Juliette said, interrupting Eléonore's thoughts, "You don't have to answer now. I refused to join because I didn't want to get mixed up with the military; I only signed the confidentiality agreement. You can do that too. Take some time to consider."
Altin, Julien, and Paul didn't say anything. They wanted Eléonore to think about it and decide by herself.
"Thank you, Juliette," the blond girl replied, "Don't worry, I won't decide now." Eléonore turned to the trio of boys. She asked: "I wonder, what made you join the platoon? Ah! Before that, what's a platoon?"
Julien saw the question as the perfect time to shine and share his knowledge: "A platoon is a team of 10 to 20 people in the military. Two platoons make a company, but there is also something smaller called a squad. Usually, a platoon is made of 2 to 4 squads. Altin, Paul, and I form a squad. So in the correct order: squad, platoon, company."
Paul mentally noted the size and the structure of each level. Every time Julien explained, he would forget thereafter. So Paul had found a straight simplification to remember. He shared: "Anyway, a platoon is a group of people in the army. Just remember that."
Eléonore nodded, but Julien sighed on the side. "Right." Julien continued. "So about your first question, we joined for slightly different reasons. For me, I want to know everything about the 5th force and experiment as much as possible, so being in the Espadon unit was a must."
Paul's turn came, and he said: "I just felt it was the right thing to do. School always bored me, so I joined the platoon because it was interesting."
Finally, Altin said at last: "For me, I want to rescue and help people as much as I can. There are so few people like us, but so many anomalies. It was something François would have done..." The last sentence was full of bitterness and sadness.
Although Julien, Paul, and Altin each had different reasons, they shared one thing in common they did not need to say: they were best friends, brothers of fate, and would never leave one another. If one joined, all would follow, no matter the risks.
Eléonore had never pictured herself in the army. But then, she had never imagined herself growing in the middle of what seemed to be more and more like the end of modern days.
The young adults kept talking for an hour, after which Eléonore quickly fell asleep. Her wounds still stung.
When she woke up, she learned that Altin, Julien, and Paul were on a mission to stop an anomaly causing damages to a train station.
Juliette wasn't here, but she had left a note saying she left to join Pascal in his lab. She was supposed to go two days before, but she had delayed until Eléonore woke up. Now that Eléonore seemed safe, she had no more reason to wait.
There was a true bond of sistership.
Eléonore would only walk after a week. Now, she had to rest.
She had a lot of time to think. She had a lot to think about.
---
Four days later.
A heavy silence filled the vast living room of the old brick countryside house. A dozen people were sitting on the sofas and chairs, some resting on their chin, some other resting defeated against the couch. They shared one common point: all were thoughtful. However, ten people were not near enough to fill the space in this large house. It seemed as if many attendees were missing.
A man of medium build had just finished presenting a PowerPoint presentation entitled: "Preliminary results of the experiment N° 24". His hair, cut short, was hastily dressed to the side on his head, and he wore a light blue shirt with a matching tie. From the creases of his shirt, it was easy to see the man didn't iron the shirt. Like the young woman in front of her, he had delicate facial traits. He understood the severe atmosphere. It was Pascal.
It had been years since he first started to pilot the 5th force association. Since then, he had held numerous meetings and thus knew how to induce positive or negative feelings in the audience. In this presentation, however, he hadn't tried to induce anything; instead, he had focused on the sole truth, the unbiased and objective analysis of the results that the experiment two days ago somberly yielded:
The world was doomed.
"Pascal, are the results verified? Is there any possibility that a mistake was made?" A man asked. He was the one who drove the laser truck to the experiment site: Bastien. In real life, Bastien was a trunk driver. The association always used his help whenever heavy machinery or supplies needed to be transported across the country. He was tall, reaching about 187cm, slightly fat - probably due to spending most of his time sitting in his trunk.
Pascal sighed at Bastien's question. He could never be 100% sure of the results, but science was rarely 100% accurate; it only aimed at best modeling nature. However, something 95% confirmed could be said as "confirmed." So Pascal said: "I double-checked the results. They are most likely correct. Sorry, Bastien. We only have little hope."
Nobody spoke for several seconds. Then, a young woman with long dark hair asked: "Dad, what should we tell the world? We aren't going to keep this a secret, are we?" Juliette had joined her dad to help as his team analyzed the experiment results four days ago.
"No, we will not keep it secret," Pascal indicated, "even if the army wants us to." He marked a brief pause, then continued: "there are other secret organizations like us emerging out of the shadows these days. Like them, I propose we release our results publicly, albeit under a pseudonym. Who disagrees?" The direct question was hanging in the air.
After a few seconds, two attendees raised their hands.
But Pascal did not let them speak: "We have to. Humanity has to prepare. This is bigger than us, bigger than France: this is about the survival and the continuity of our society. Think of your family. Think of your friends. Think of you. Do you think all of you will do well by yourself? No, society needs to adapt and changes itself to prepare as a whole, and quick."
Slowly, the two raised hands lowered.
"Going back to Juliette's question. We need to be descriptive enough to warn even the common folk. We need to tell them we have verified that the 5th force has been coming steadily into our world and that its growth rate is increasing. Therefore, we deduce that all technologies will cease to function within the next five years. We thus recommend to learn survival skills, to create communities with farming capabilities, and... we will release a training manual to gain control of the 5th force."
The grave speech may not have been the most elegant in history, but its intent was clear. Some people in the room seemed hesitant to ask a question, but feeling the tense atmosphere, they refrained from asking.
Juliette, however, did not: "What about us? It's nice enough to help the world prepare, but we should get ready. Like structuring our association to answer our future needs."
Pascal had it all planned out: "Of course. We need to rework our organization and buy freely all we may need before panic intensifies. I'll be blunt with all of you. Marie is still in a coma, with some others still hospitalized.... That's just the beginning. We need to become organized, trained, and solitary. That's why... I want us to become a community now headquartered here to welcome and train new members."
Pascal paused for a moment to gaze at his audience. He searched for signs of approval or denial in the eyes of the other members of the association.
He saw Bastien hesitant.
"You're free to join this community and help, or, if you prefer, you can go back to care for your family, but you will be on your own." He then asked: "What will your choice be?"
---
Two days later, in a secure countryside military hospital.
The now-16 y.o. Eléonore certainly had never considered enrolling in the army before. Yet, she had never imagined that the world she knew would end in a mere few years.
She wanted to deny the grim reality that Juliette had just depicted during their call but adding everything she had experienced till now...
"I guess it's really the end of modern days," She thought to herself.
Eléonore shook her head. Wasn't it funny? When her family discovered the 5th force with Pascal, she saw herself as a lucky heroine soon to wield superpowers. She used to see the world and the future with optimism and eagerness. She had felt special and gained confidence because of that. Whenever new people would visit her home in Paris, she would energetically welcome them and showcase her sensitivity to the 5th force.
That was before.
Now, her only relative in France was still in a coma.
Now, doomsday was confirmed.
Could humans live in a world where the 5th force reigned supreme?
She didn't know, but it wasn't easy to be optimistic about that. For sure, technology would be the first to go unless scientists managed to adapt technology at light speed.
Her once safe and bright future was gone.
Now, only dark and challenging days awaited.
Juliette had called just now. She had tried to persuade her to decline to join the Espadon platoon and instead join the 5th force association as they relocate to the countryside and stock up supplies. She had said that she would be safer there and that staying in cities could be dangerous once blackouts disrupt worldwide supply chains and lead to food shortages in cities.
She had said that the fifth force association would welcome and protect her and Marie when they recover.
However, Eléonore had to weigh in her friends in the Espadon unit. Except for Juliette and, of course, Marie, she was not very close to the other members of the association. On the opposite, she was close to Altin, Julien, and Paul, who had already enrolled in the special platoon. Although they seemed to never cease to be exhausted, they were happy and proud of what they were doing.
They were saving lives. According to Julien, their squad had already saved 230 lives, and the platoon overall more than 500 lives.
Things were terrible to this extend. Anomalies erupted just everywhere, and people were defenseless against them. Well, they couldn't even sense them before it was too late.
Nevertheless, when Eléonore considered her personal safety, there was little doubt that joining Juliette would be the safest option. The 5th force community would always put its members first before it attempts to help others. The Espadon platoon was different, though. As a military structure, they served the state and would have to risk their lives whenever ordered. These days, they only had rescue missions, but what if the high command ordered them to fight other people? Eléonore brushed this idea aside. She thought, "If the platoon is deployed against other people, then surely they must be bad people, right?"
Eléonore paused her train of thought.
She had made her choice.
---
At the same moment.
While his friends were busy, Altin had asked for a day off to visit his foster family. He was on the way alone to Reims to meet Mr. and Mrs. Durand. He had so many things to tell them. Of course, now that he was entirely part of the Espadon unit and had signed a plethora of NDA, he could at least inform them properly of what happened and why he had barely given any news. He had thought of explaining by phone, but he eventually decided to tell them face to face. This way, he could show them his powers and makes sure they believe him.
Besides that, he was sure that a heated discussion would follow. Better to discuss it face to face, then.
Onboard a high-speed train racing across the green countryside of the Champagne-Ardennes region, Altin let his thoughts wander.
He had been training harder than anyone else. Not just 5th force control, but also body and mind. He worked on his 5th force training with jiujitsu in the morning, musculation in the afternoon, and meditation in the evening. In between, he would either be on a mission or be playing with his newfound powers.
His powers were incredible, albeit hard to control. When he joined the Espadon platoon, he had showcased to his friends and the committee how he could destructure the atoms when he focused very hard. In other words, Altin had found in himself the power to disintegrate matter. The only problem was a range problem; whenever he channeled the 5th force by anger and uncontrolled violence in front of him, he would only be able to disintegrate whatever was only centimeters apart. That was outside the range of any anomalies in normal space.
However, like Julien and Paul, he could draw more powers close to an anomaly. In this case, the range increased - to date, the best he could do was to reach one meter. It was a convenient power to dissolve walls and doors. It was also very convenient to impress his friends.
Altin had another power: he could create electric imbalances into thin air, thus creating tension, thus creating flashy arcs of electricity. His power had already manifested itself back when he trained in the Hub before François's death, but he could only barely heat an electric wire back then. Now, however, his electric arcs could tickle quite a bit. Powered up and directed against someone, the arcs could even paralyze someone.
Among Julien, Paul, and himself, Atlin had the strongest offensive abilities. Paul now played very well with light. After Altin's explained how he first created light out of nothing in the gloomy warehouse back then, Paul had drawn from the story a method to do it easily. He was very useful as support. As for Julien, he was special. He was perfect for neutralizing a dangerous anomaly. Together, they formed a superb team.
Still, Altin found that something missing. Seeing how Eléonore flew from the gravity tornado, he hoped she would join them, but he could not force her to make a decision.
Brrrrr.
Brrrrr....
Altin's phone vibrated. Someone was calling him. Altin grabbed the phone. The phone showed that his foster mother, Mrs. Durand, was calling him on its screen.
He took a glance to his left and right and noticed that nobody was sleeping. "Well, it's probably ok to take that call."
He picked up the call, carefully placed the phone to his ear, and said: "Allo?"
He fully expected to hear Mrs. Durand asking him what he would love for dinner. However...
"I have a big surprise for you." A male voice answered instead.
Shivers ran through Altin.
He asked: "Who is it?"
Altin dreaded the answer. A part of him already knew.
"Did you forget about me already?" The voice answered. "Jurgen."
Altin's heart missed a beat.
He dropped the phone.
