The Lion and the Serpent: Premise

"What are you doing? Are you mad!?" A terrorist leader angrily said to Cobra in front of him.

"This is nothing personal, just the will of boss!"

Two gunshots was heard inside the bunker beneath the city.

Government troops have been pounding terrorist positions inside the city for months. The terrorists have nowehere to go, their options are just to surrender or fight to the death.

In response to the gunshots that was heard inside his quarters. Two terrorists, armed with their assault rifles look at Cobra in front of them. In seeing the man, the two froze, intimidated and afraid. The two sweated cold and unable to move an inch before the man before them.

"Do you wish to go with him and meet your maker?" Cobra said and pointed his pistol in one of the terrorists before him.

The terrorist turned pale in response, dropped his weapon then shooked his head. The other terrorist beside him peed on his pants. He sweated bulletsd and turned cold in fear.

"Good, rally with me and call the others!" Cobra said and left with the two with him.

Inside Cobra's mind, Enrique's orders are absolute. However, he is worried about the potential war it may cause. The organization may have Enrique's in their sights, they are no ordinary foes to go against.

"What is done, is done!" Cobra muttered as he navigates to the tunnel networks underneath the city. With him are at least twenty armed men who are escaping the city.

Explosives are already set to cover their tracks. The government may have surrounded the city but luckily for Cobra and his men, their escape path is not.

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While the progress of retaking the city of Lipis from the terrorists was going well. The leaders of the organization was not happy of the outcome. Most of the men who sat in the table in front of the television looks displeased.

"What are our agents doing?" A huge man who is smoking a cigar asked.

The room fell silent as no one wants to answer the question.

"What about Enrique? What is his say on this incident?" The man said and extinguished his cigar in the ashtray.

One of Enrique's close friend in the room kept silent and did not face their boss. He is a bit nervous in their boss' tone. He knows he will have to stay calm and keep his mouth shut.

The telephone suddenly rang and an operator answered the call. It was Enrique, for days he has no contact with the organization. This has caused suspicion towards the leaders. In hearing his name, the gentlemen in the table looked at each other baffled with his sudden call.

"What shall we do Don? Shall we answer him?" One of the top figures of the organizatgion told their boss.

Don approaches the phone operator and answered the call.

"It is me..."

Don and Enrique had a long conversation on the phone with Enrique explaining his side of the story. While Don was suspsicious of him, he kept his tone calm.

"You did quite did an impressive job but in the end you screwed it up!" Don said to Enrique on the phone.

"My apologies sir, the loss of one of our agents to the government leaked a lot information." Enrique said.

Don cannot believe Enrique's recklessness. He believed that this wrong doing might be intentional. Enrique on his side made himself a bit obvious in his actions as he gotten more confident.

Enrique was seen by the organization as the most efficient in his tasks. He climbed his all the way to where he is in because of his skills and abilities. To fail in a reckless and massive scale is very not like him.

After fifteen minutes of talk Don ended the call. He approached the other leaders of the organization to the table. Don silently took a glass of whisky and took a sip. He looks at his subordinates and places the glass in the table gently.

Enrique's friend on the room still felt uneasy, but as their boss, Don signalled that he is about to adjourn the meeting he felt a bit of relief.

"You are all adjourned!" Don said and left the room ahead of others.

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The skies in Metro Tondo looks gloomy as thunder occassionaly roars and lightning flashes in the sky. Enrique is at his hotel after the talk with his boss from abroad.

Enrique sips his whisky and fixes his bathrobe which exposes his well defined chest. He turns off the television set in front of him and stands up to the window. With the whisky glass in his hand he approaches towards a table near where he is standing.

As he place the glass in the table his phone rang. Enrique answered the phone beside the whisky glass and answered.

"This is me!" Enrique responded to the caller.

"Boss, it is me! I only had a handful of men with me."

Enrique smirked in respond to his caller, "Is that so?"

"Yes boss, the failure of our agent had cost us a lot." Cobra reminded his boss.

"There is no need to worry, we will have to cut corners. The head has noticed us." Enrique said to his subordinate.

"What shall we do now?" Cobra asked.

"We will kill the pigs in the pen. However, I have a better plan in achieving this." Enrique said opening the drawer beneath the table where his glass of whisky was.

Enrique takes a document which is written in a foreign writing style, "Do you know the incident of Chang'an?" It was the time when the Yin Dynasty when a cunning general made his move to defeat a conspiracy against him."

"What do you mean?" Cobra sounds puzzled in his boss' words.

"The July Plot of 1628 C.T."

Cobra's eyes widened and got what his boss meant. He knows that fighting the organization will be disastrous to them. However, at the rate his boss is handling matters. It is inevitable.

"Be ready, this is just the premise." Enrique said.