Keep Quiet or Death

"I welcome all of you who were able to make it here today for this grand event. All of you have come from all over the world in order to achieve greater things in life. Some of you have endured hardships. Some of you strive for world peace. Some of you strive to become someone who will have direct influence in this world. All of you have different reasons for being here, but we're all here to change the way of the world. As most of you know, times are becoming more hectic. Just recently, White Tower executive Roy Evans was…"

***

The man in front of the crowd suddenly turned to my direction and put his speech on hold. He proceeded to start walking towards me with an imposing aura that froze me in place.

When he was finally a few steps away from me he asked, "Who are you?"

I felt a bit tense from his presence so I decided to speak respectfully, but did my best to avoid seeming scared, as it would hurt my pride.

"I'm Nathaniel, Nathaniel Perez sir."

"Okay then, Nathaniel Perez, what is a kid like you doing here? I don't remember ever scouting you or ever hearing your name, so why are you here?

The man had started calmly, but I noticed he was getting angrier by the second. I started to get the feeling that if I took one wrong step, I probably won't make it out of here in one piece.

"I, I found a flier sir," I said, completely scared out of my mind. I started to feel like I got caught up in a situation that's worse than back home.

"So you found a flier then?"

"Yes…"

After hearing my response he took a look at a woman in a black suit. He started to walk toward her in a fit of anger and stopped right in front of her face.

"Why is this the first time I hear of this? Tell me!"

"I, I, I didn't mean to hide this from you sir! You asked me to find more people to join us, but I couldn't find that many candidates. I had to resort to other measures!"

"So you went around spreading fliers that could have exposed us!?"

The man grabbed the woman by the neck and started to choke her. Tears started to stream out of her eyes from the force behind his grip. She gasped for air as she struggled to breathe.

A Japanese boy with a black ponytail wearing a yukata came walking out of the crowd and walked up to the man.

He appeared to be a little bit older than me and had his black hair styled in a ponytail. He appeared to the spitting image of what one would imagine a samurai without armor to be.

"Let her go," the boy said towards the man while pulling out a katana from his waist. His eyes burning with anger, glaring towards the man.

The man got surprised for a second, but instantly regained his composure and started to look at the kid.

"Why are you getting involved, former Sonobe?"

"Why does that matter, just let her go."

The man sighed and let the woman go, but then set his sights on the kid.

The kid had challenged his authority in front of everyone, and now the man had to show them why he is in charge.

He walked towards the kid while releasing his imposing aura to try to frighten him a bit.

"How dare you get in my way after I went out of my way to help both you and your brother, despite knowing the risks in doing so."

The kid managed to resist the pressure and kept up with his defiant attitude.

"My brother is the one who came to you, not me. So don't expect me to feel like I owe you anything, because I don't owe you shit." The kid said all this and then spit right in front of the man .

The man proceeded to run towards the kid and knocked his katana away. He then grabbed and smacked the kid's head on the concrete floor, creating a loud boom.

He continued to beat him senseless until I decided to get involved.

I couldn't take it. I couldn't handle seeing such aggressive actions. I've been living a somewhat normal life and this is just beyond me.

But even though I'm scared of what could happen, I was feeling some excitement.

I want to be someone who can have a direct influence on the world. I want to be able to control my own life. I want to become the greatest version of myself. I want to be as domineering as the man in front of me.

And if I want to be able to do that, I have to stop being scared. I have to get over my fears. And if I can't get over my fears, then I have to throw myself in front of them and force myself to take action.

" Hey, ummm, sir…?"

"Huh?"

The man, genuinely confused, stops and takes a look at me.

"Haaa, what do you want, kid? Or do you also intend on getting on my way?

I feel my fear starting to resurface so I have to do something while this excitement is still coursing through me.

"I…

…Sir, I, I wanted to tell you that he's way too hurt so you should probably stop hitting him!"

"..."

The man started to stare at me silently while breathing in and out. Everyone present was also quiet trying to avoid setting a target on their back.

He continued to stare at me for about a minute, which felt like hours now that my fear had come back to me and realization hit me on what I've just done.

"Should I just have you take his place? You seem to have forgotten that we never scouted you and your presence here risks national security. I might just have to deal with you now in order to maintain our secrecy."

"I…"

While I was struggling to find a way out of my current situation, another boy came out of the crowd. He was wearing casual clothes that were all black. His actions seem to have alerted the man as I notice that he starts turning his head towards the boy.

"You Sonobe twins seem to keep forgetting who helped you out when you were close to being executed."

"No, sir. I haven't forgotten how you helped me and my brother, but this is going overboard. You have already achieved your objective haven't you?"

"Hahaha, you're a smart kid, I knew my intuition didn't fail me back then. Good, take your brother and back off, but let me warn you, if he gets in my way one more time, it won't end this easily.

"Yes sir, I'll make sure to have my brother reflect on his actions so such insubordination doesn't occur again. But, let the kid go. I don't like getting involved in issues like this, but that kid tried to help my brother, so I'm obligated to take responsibility for him and his actions."

As I was hearing this, I suddenly felt something washing over me. Tears started coming out, I just couldn't help it. It was the first time in a while that someone stood up for me, I felt extremely happy.

I had to immediately stop my tears though, as the man signaled me to come forward with his hands. This time he didn't put any pressure on me like before and let me come forward without worrying about what could possibly happen to me.

"Kid, my name is Michael Hurst and I'm a branch leader of the International Secret Corps under the jurisdiction of the United Nations. We are secret agents who are tasked with carrying out operations against people or organizations that threaten peace around the globe. My branch focuses mainly on the areas surrounding the Pacific Ocean. With all that being said, I'll give you two options. Will you join our group and keep quiet about all you heard, or don't you want me to silence you right here and now with your death?"

***