Desperate Measures

-Yes the world was indeed awful thanks to men who want their fingers inside every busket of life.

Nearly four days after the unascertained occurance in the Cape Amberes' cities and town left residents without an answer. Rumours of course have circulated the media and any little household that that was a cause of military and government experiment. Some say it was a failing test of a new superweapon but others say it was the weapon itself at its phase of unleashment.

Approximately ninety-three hours after the black storm yet no ultimate response has been delivered around. The truth was that investigations have already taken measures to deal with the situation however there were no clear outcomes to countering the impediment.

On a distant plateau where several vehicles were parked near the edge, a number of soldiers wandered around them as they proudly kept guard. The glances to the breathtaking scenery became more frequent.The distant woodland of autumn stirred up a feeling of relief as nature stared back.

Soon the clattering of another vehicle stole their attention at once as it pulled up to the formation. On the contrary, it was a speck of colour amidst a cluster of monotone.

When it came to a halt, Nine stepped out the driver's side and stood behind his door to scan those in waiting. Half satisfied to suspect nothing suspicious, he shut his door and walked forward in cautious steps.

A figure towered over him, their eyes as if they'd pop out their socket as he gave a look with bold intensity. That soldier looked at him up and down, side to side and squinted when he returned to a posture held high.

"Name's Nine, representative and acquaintance under the revolutionary regiment. I am here to speak to your leader." He identified himself as he was signalled to raise his hands. The bulky soldier called forth an associate of his to perform an exercise of patting down the guest. The person did as was told.

"Regiment? The Brethren Influence you mean?"

"So it's called," Nine slightly nodded. As the associate worked, the giant fired a series of serious questions. Questions that are delivered without the tiniest a smile :

"Say lad, what position do you hold in this party you got going on? What does this god damn revolutionary regime hope to accomplish by the end of imminent warfare with us, huh?"

"I am here to confer with you leader. Nothing much," Before he could punctuate the end of his statement, when the associate finished it bumped their shoulder against Nine's. A pistol was handed by it to the giant. Not long afterwards, ammo clattered and scattered onto the ground as the giant expertly emptied the magazine. Nine's shoulders sagged; the giant frowned and turned away dismissively.

'Oh Bran, I don't know how I may make enquiries in a confidential manner about this. Were you at all certain we could win an allied hand from these... savages?' He thought to himself as he watched a woman come out from one of the black cars. 'She must be their leader.'

She walked towards all their visitor whilst locking her eye onto him. It was clear that she knew whom was to be seen. Closing the distance only by a step away from him she finally stopped, her face appeared to be gaining smoother and even tones from the lighting as she eased her expression packed with esteem. "So we meet at last." Said she in a voice laced totally in composure. They both almost stretch out a palm but hesitantly waited for one another to be the first to gesture. But ultimately not one of them did.

With a brief nod, she introduced herself as the Commander under the Cape Amberes Solidarity Division. The first squad and special task force.

All this time Nine was squinting a glare trying to drill through her mind as if he would know each secret hidden under that well-groomed hairstyle of red hair. At the same time he was recalling the plan his brother had almost incompetently devised.

"So far, from what we know and have recorded, no weapon in the nation has a capability of that kind." The fella got straight to business. The Commander, however, encouraged him to shorten his pauses just by waiting out the rest of his little speech in a silent patience. "And as patriots disapproving of this country's own rule, mass murder isn't part of our intention. Frankly, it wasn't our doing."

For some reason everyone else burst out in laughter. They soon stopped but after the Commander snuck in an inward chuckle, another round of laughter ensued.

"Extortion," Nine heard a soft but aggressive voice from behind the Commander. A lady with a smaller build compared to any other, Nine included, came into view as the crowd made way for her. She pushed her glasses up when a glimmer swiped onto the lenses. "impersonating an officer, grand larcency, grave robbing, unlicensed dentistry, bear baiting... and racketeering." By now the little woman had stopped between Nine and the Commander. She looked up and at him; he looked down to her with an arched eyebrow.

"Tell me criminal," Said the little woman. "what's so revolutionary about your regimen?"

"Well said Amanda," The Commander was clapping her hands. "well said. Now, as you can tell there's no reason for us to keep you about sightseeing. I find you guilty, we find you guilty, therefore we sentence you to two hundred years in prison."

"Actually it's -" Amanda was about to correct when her Commander yanked her by the collar removing her from her sight.

"I'd be damned should I not detain you right here right now."

"Or we could just waste him! It's that easy!" The giant roared from behind. The others followed in scrapy laughter as they agreed.

'Such pride.' "I'm honestly impressed by the sort of teamwork you guys pull off. I'll give it to ya, it's amazing how you can put two and two together." He paused, chuckled, coughed, cussed and took a deep breath. "A criminal I am, agreed on that, but that all goes to nothing when we're goons alike..."

"Hey is it just me or that was an insult?" Someone voiced themselves out.

"What are you getting at." The Commander narrowed her eyes.

"Ever heard of a legend, an omen perhaps? If you care so much about your people or the country itself given the circumstances, then getting to understand what I'm about to say should not trouble you."

Amanda turned to her leader whom whispers unto her, "Any record on mental health or anything like that?" and Amanda shook her head. "Dismissed!" The order was given; three men moved to do as was told. Nine staggered about as the soldiers closed in on him. One grabbed his arm and stepped on his foot, the other on the other side did the same. The giant sighed as he revealed his weapon's barrel end to Nine. "Hate to say this but, I was starting to think that you are cool." His weapon clicked and Nine stattered a hundred pleas. The giant aimed and slowly turned his head away when his victim said something that managed to make him think twice. When he told him to say again, Nine shoved everything under his heavy breathing.

"The purge, the storm, it hasn't begun just yet. Our time has come, we cannot run from our sins! And the prodigy has been sent, we might have a chance at redirecting humanity's fate!" The soldiers released him from their grip and Nine fell to his hands and knees.

Throughout time, the world known to this date has been blindly praised to be built and carried by those whom grew beards. The history held by graves together with a number of literate ways it has been told, men have mostly danced under the spotlight. The wise are acknowledged; the wisdom undervalued. Rules of the way lives are worked lately these decades have long been decided by them. From what we learn, how to act, think, to how every spectrum of life must abide by the traditions put in place. Agreed, that has brought order in a bittersweet peacefulness profound to those who've simply accepted it so gave anything no question.

What about that of which dwells in between? Those parallel to both the wise and naive? Were they never spared a position and let to spill their opinion and genuine perception? Nonetheless, the real conceptualization has always and will continue to begin with - Why?

Commander walked forward again, shadows overlaying her entire appearance leaving that piercing gaze to bore into Nine's soul. She lifted her boot off the earth, Nine watched as its rough sole rushed closer to him.

THWACK! All the other soldiers grinned. All except Amanda and the giant, who prompted to head back to the edge of the plateau. THWACK! THWACK!

-SMACK!!

"Did I statter..?" Says the Commander and everyone else went on to join Amanda and the giant for sightseeing. When she listened to their shuffling footsteps getting farther away, she rose to her full, magnificent height once again. "Look at you, all bruised and sorry... bloody bastard." Nine didn't want to look at her. He instead dragged himself on the ground attempting to go closer to his car. Seeing this, the Commander stepped on his leg like she was pinning a creature in place by the tail.

"Where to? Be greatful, you're lucky because unlike you I chose to be human."

She seems not to enjoy Nine's misery. She whistled for someone to hand her her shotgun. Cocking it to the ready after inserting the bullets which would do the work, she pointed it to him. However, just as she put her mind to pull the trigger something in the back of Nine's car caught her eye.

"Do you have anyone inside of your car?" He nodded. "Search the vehicle!" She ordered.

When they did, they found a little girl innocently sat inside. She was taken out there and asked a couple of questions to which none of them did she answer to. The leader has had enough! Two ways this would be done: "The way you speak just pisses me off. Either you're going to be clear or blown away by what this double-barreled toy can do. What's it gonna be..?

* * *

'Eat or be eaten. Hunt or be hunted... It's worms eats worm neh?'

As the last words left Nine's lips, everything just seemed to stop. The world lost motion, time slowed down, even the air grew cold. For a moment that felt like an eternity, the Commander sent a distant glare his way contemplating each secret and message she'd just been fed. The silence was palpable - the truth, far worse.

"Then what if you're lying." She finally said.

"If I am, if I am lying then... I lose every reason I'd ever been scarred for..." Nine pulled down his collar revealing stitches on the side of his neck and his flesh which has long since regenerated, burying whatever was embedded below his skin.

At last, the C.A.S.D complied. The country would later stand its ground to fend off any premonition.

The two brothers could not have done it alone and some sectors of parliament still wager however significance to their prestige was almost completely concealed by the rising brethren influence.

If the threat of inevitable war finds the truth by the people then it can go on to be a civil conflict or something completely strange but dangerous. Reports spoke it that about five percent of the population each from the destructed places has gone missing without a trace. Search parties were hardly necessary as there is no particular leading factors to the scandal.

The common fear is that anywhere and anytime has a promising feeling of another chaos. The innocent who only long to manoeuvre past the first disaster cannot hope to prepare for what would arrive next. However not everyone held a grudge on that. The child is in undisplayed anguish only she knew. She is neither deaf nor blind because for some reason her nonchalant self breaks proportion between herself and her kidnappers. Working in accordance to the two mens' wishes did not cause trouble but the absence of verbal communication costed them with each time passing by.

Perhaps she knew about the entire queer situations the nation has recently faced. She was not as natural as it came in her looks and Nine had a feeling that from her strong reticence yet witty behaviour, something spelt trouble more than he could ever comprehend. He scratched his head erratically then settled on thoughts of progressing plans.

"They're mobilising." He said in a sincere and thoughtful tone looking at the girl in front of him. "I can sense it..."

Cape Amberes, New Coralton: central district

A public rally set amid the townsquare in the sentient town it used to be. The convoy and an additional car arrives there and way through is slow due to protesters interrupting the formation.

"It's a pity," The Commander sympathized. "they are so scared they have lost their minds." She was either referring to the sombre or crazed faces carrying posters of cardboard with the inscriptions: 'We demand reassurance!' and 'The government knew about impending doom - denies it anyway.'

The person addressing the people was a man of no actual standard. Someone who barely followed politics but whose sense of justice won him a couple of intermediate supporters. In his speech he told them about the issue everybody longed to hear. However to the Commander's surprise the man said that they were recently attacked by an opposing country of which Cape Amberes owes some history to. He gave his side of the story more depth as he mentioned deployed company of soldiers plotting to march into the cities two nights from now. Of course this was untrue however a majority of them believed the news.

"Shameless he is." Said the giant.

"What would you expect?" Amanda started to enlighten him and everyone in the van having similar thoughts. "For the most part he's calmed the tides, we can simply thank him for that. And if his story turns out to have some reality in it, I can only imagine the outcomes."

"Are you saying we will be caught up in war either way?"

"Ai, whoever you are, your point might very well be right." Nine voiced himself out over the communicating device. "That guy over there can be shepherd of these sheep, and the infantry that threaten us, whether light, heavy or any other measures they engage us on, it is also a possibility. Right now it's best to gather everyone in one space but at the same time the unpredictable has a beautiful chance of hurting us within our zone."

"Correct." The Commander sank into her seat. "However I haven't received such information from our operating grounds unless the enemy plots their moves on small scales which is highly unlikely. The problem we could face is two full scale attacks we would have to put up with - we'd need to be strategic and very faithful."

"Faith won't cut it, ai." Said Nine and everybody else asked what he meant at the same time to which he then replies: "What I mean is that all should at once brace for doomsday. We can pray on and on but there is no way around the grave..."

"Look who's talkin-"

"I heard that."