General Rose

The room was silent for a full minute before Gamba began to laugh Raucously. Tears could be seen running down his cheeks as he held his sides in a vain attempt to stifle his laughter and control himself. 

"What is so funny sir?" Joseph queried, quite frustrated because he was deadly serious in his request.

"What's funny Lt. Thornwood, is that you think that any kind of news you present would be worth even a single iota of the generals time!"

Gamba continued to laugh for several minutes before finding himself confused. Looking at the increasingly serious and frustrated look on Joseph's face he began to think. "This kid really thinks that his information is worth it...got to admit he's got some balls."

"Alright, Lt. Thornwood." Gamba began as he finally was able to control himself. "Ill make you a deal that if the information you present me is worth it, I will both protect you and personally escort you to the generals office."

Once this was said a system message popped up in front of Joseph. It simply reiterated the terms of the deal, that Joseph would present his information in full without hiding anything, and at Lt. Col. Gamba's sole discretion would the information be deemed worthy or not.

"It seems fair," Joseph began. "However could we add in one simple change?" 

"What's that?" Gamba replied, a small smile still plastered to his face.

"That Lt. Wilson needs to exit the room, and you cannot spread my information to anyone other than General Rose."

Gamba was taken aback for a moment, but sure enough when he looked into the second chair across from him there sat Lt. Wilson. Who by the way looked rather nonplused about the goings on around him. Wilson just shrugged his shoulders indicating he didn't care either way, after which Gamba nodded and Wilson left the room standing outside to await further orders.

Once the system contract reflected the agreed upon stipulations both Joseph and Gamba signed it. It glowed in a brief flash of white light before disappearing. After that was done Joseph felt much better about showing his information because at least he had a guarantee that nothing bad would come of it, at least not from Lt. Col. Gamba.

"Alright Lieutenant, show me what you got."

"Very well." Joseph then pulled up the front portion of his system panel containing his name, age, race, ability, and grade.

"Name: Joseph Thornwood

Race: Half-Angel

Grade: E

Level: 7

EXP: 35/100%

Health:1992

Mana:1992

Ability: Bloodline- Archangel of Vengeance (SSS)

Attributes:

Str: 64+(25.6)+(10)

Dex: 64+(25.6)+(10)

Vit: 64+(25.6)+(10)

Int: 64+(25.6)+(10)

Spr: 64+(25.6)+(10)"

Joseph continued to turn the pages so that Gamba could see and read all of his information, including skills, and weapon abilities. It took about 5 minutes for Gamba to read everything after which he just sat in his chair looking lost. His expression could be summed up in one word, impossible.

Joseph waited patiently for Gamba to regain control of himself, which he did a couple of minutes later.

"Well, Lt. Thornwood" He began to speak after heaving a great sigh as though he had suffered a large defeat. "I'll be honest with you I had gone into this bet with the idea that no matter what you showed me I would say it wasn't worth it." Hearing this caused Joseph to frown a bit, but he waited patiently for the Lt. Col. to continue what he was saying. "However now that I have seen what you've been hiding I cannot in good conscious say it is anything other than the most absurd thing I have ever laid my eyes on. Why, if it wasn't for the system itself giving me constant affirmations that what you showed me is accurate I would have killed you immediately."

Joseph's neck tingled as his danger senses started to go off, but he also noticed that Gamba was suffering a bit of backlash from the system. "As you can see," Gamba said while rubbing his head. "I am prohibited from harming you as per our agreement. And despite the absurdity of your abilities they are genuine and you have indeed warranted a meeting with the general. Please step outside while I make a few calls to get it arranged."

Joseph smiled and nodded while saying, "Thank you sir, I look forward to meeting with them soon." After which he slipped out of the room and closed the door behind him. Standing there next to Lt. Wilson there wasn't a hole lot to say, so they stood silently waiting for their CO to call them back in.

Meanwhile inside the office Gamba was going bonkers. "What the frak did I just see?!! A SSS grade blessing, armaments that boost stats by percentages, uniform growth with every level, and more!!! HA...HA HA...HA HA HA!!!" Gamba was going insane but not from despair or anything like that no, his mind was wrestling with the fact that he had just seen the man who could one day bring a real end to this centuries long war for survival. The relief and happiness he felt nearly wrest him from his sanity, fortunately he was a hardened soldier and was able to regain control of himself before it was too late.

Scrambling he pulled out his private phone and punched in the Generals emergency number. It only wrang once before a light melodic voice came over the line. "Speak."

"I have something you need to see immediately." Gamba blurted out, forgetting about decorum in his haste to deliver the news. "Believe me when I say it has the potential to win this war for us in the long run."

About a minute went by with no reply when suddenly. "I'll be in my office in 30 minutes. Click!" The line went dead but it didn't matter, Gamba had instantly sprung into action grabbing his coat and nearly sprinting from his office. Upon exiting his door he took a brief half a second to tell Lt. Wilson to simply wait inside his office for him to return. After that he practically drug Joseph down the stairs too his car so they could arrive at the generals office on time.

In the 15 minute drive to the generals office, that ordinarily should have taken 30-40 minutes. Gamba gave Joseph a brief rundown of what he should be expecting to happen.

"The general isn't like anything you probably expect, She is infinitely fair and just, but she is also known to be ruthless so please be on your best behavior. Also don't ask her to sign a system contract with you before you show her anything, I promise you will get a lot more out of this encounter if you show her some faith in her character."

Joseph simply nodded, he had heard nothing but emphatic endorsements about the generals character and abilities from the moment he had stepped into that recruitment office. It seemed like she was truly a person worthy of respect and loyalty, and far be it from Joseph to bite a proffered hand of friendship and protection. Especially given his current circumstances, on the run, no idea who's after him. Yea a backer like the general seemed to be worth the risk.

They arrived at what Joseph could only assume was the headquarters, the sprawling building was built from alabaster stone and showed a degree of cleanliness that bordered on obsessive. He was lead through the large double oak doors and down a hallway on his immediate left. They stopped in front of the last door on the left which had nothing adorning it but a simple name tag which read. "General M. Rose"

Gently knocking on the door Gamba waited patiently for a response which he got soon after.

"Come in." Came the melodic reply.

Nodding to Joseph Gamba quickly opened the door and led him inside, swiftly closing the door behind them before introducing Joseph to the general, who could be seen standing behind her desk on the far side of the room.

Joseph was stunned, never in his life had he met a women who ticked all of his boxes like she did. She was about 5ft. 7inc. tall with flowing blond hair that hung loosely down her shoulders and back. She was slender but not thin, with gentle curves in every place you'd want them. Her gaze while intense wasn't cold, but seemed to demand a respect that if given, would be returned. 

Fortunately for Joseph Gamba's introduction of him took a few moments, allowing him to get control of himself before he said something foolish. Once the introduction was over the general turned her gaze towards Joseph nearly causing his heart to stop.

"Well, Lt. Thornwood." The melodic voice occupied the whole of Joseph's attention. "I hope your not wasting my time." 

Joseph's head looked like someone had placed it in a shaker as he vigorously shook it back and forth to indicate he wasn't wasting anything.

"Okay then," She continued, her eyes betraying a brief glimpse of amusement and curiosity. "Show me."