 |
| In every man's life there will be a moment where they will shine the brightest among their peers. |
Act 2, Prologue 3: With Strength And
Right
Sitting in a barely lit room, the walls were comprised of corrugated metal. The ceiling was nearly 30 feet high with a small light providing him just enough brightness to read. This man was Elliot, calmly looking over a map and slowly tracing lines across the various roads of the city in this makeshift office in the warehouse he procured. He calmly glanced them over, lifting them up to make sure he was making a good route.
A knock on the door is heard and he turns his head up to look at the door. He felt himself tense as the door didn't really have a way for him to know who it was on the other side until the intercom beside him rang. “Wolf, the Mercenaries from INVICT have arrived and will be awaiting their payment details.” A familiar womanly voice said on the radio. It was calm, but a bit flat and dull sounding. This was his main lieutenant, Diane Kessler, also known as Fox.
He stood up from his table and gently pressed the button on the intercom, making sure to speak clearly enough so she could hear him. “Arrange them in the second warehouse, Di. I wish to speak to them as a group.” He responded, there was a short pause before the intercom crackled to signal it was turned on again. “Got it, Also... Call from your daughter.” She said, Elliot's brow perking as he grabbed his cane in one hand, slowly strolling to the door and opening it. It was much brighter, so bright it kind of strained his eyes when he opened the door.
He looked down at her, she was a bit shorter looking with somewhat of a dull face, tanned skin, brown hair strapped into a loose ponytail and bright green eyes. She held up a cell phone for him as he lightly took it, pressing his palm against the receiver so his daughter couldn't hear him just yet. “I appreciate it, Di. I'll be with you in roughly 10 minutes.” He said, Diana nodding her head and walking away to start barking out orders. He closed the door behind him and held the phone up to his ear to talk.
“Heya, Rose.” He said on the phone with a slight smile on this face, the normal stress lines faded and he had a legitimate smile. There was a brief pause before a high pitched, feminine voice rang on the other line with a happy voice. “Hey dad! Uhh.. I just wanted to call you to see if you were okay.” She said with concern, but he calmly paced his room and talked to her with a friendly voice. “Oh you know I'm fine, Rosalyn. Daddy's just got overtime again, I'll probably be back before you head to bed.” He said to try and reassure her.
“Well that's good... I don't know why you work such weird hours. I try to keep track of it but your work hours always change on me. Don't most people with jobs have schedules?” She asked, he closed his eyes a bit and gave a chuckle. “Well, it's kind of the problem with these kinds of jobs. I get called in when they need me, and they need me quite a lot.” What Elliot said was theoretically true, so he wasn't really lying to her about that fact. “Well... To be honest I don't even know what job you have sometimes.” The 14 year old girl said on the line, he couldn't even really admit this to her, so he came up with an answer that could brush her off a bit.
“Well, I tend to do a lot. I don't really know what I need to do until I get to where I'm needed.” He said, hoping that was a good enough answer for her, there was another short pause before she spoke again. “Well... I wanted to let you know how much I miss you.” She admitted, Elliot frowned just a bit and sighed. “I know you do.” He responded with some sorrow in his voice. “Ever since mom left...” Rosalyn was going to say before Elliot cut off her sentence a bit. “Look, I'm trying my hardest to make this world better for you. I can't bring Shauna back, but I can at least try my best.” He said, to try and reassure her.
“Look, I'll come back in a couple of hours. I'll see you soon, Rose.” He said, hanging up the phone and setting it back on his desk. He tried to make his face more brazen, closing his eyes and taking a deep breath before slapping himself on the face with both hands. He grabbed his blue suit off the coat rack and slipped it over his black shirt, grabbing his mask sitting beside it and slid it over his face, strapping it to the back of his head. It was cold engraved steel, but also served as a useful face protector. He opened the door and looked around the warehouse.
On one side was a couple of shipping crates, pretty much stocked to the brim with his haul from the previous robberies they made. They have to still chemically process all the materials needed for the next step for their plan, but they're just sitting there and waiting the heat to back off a bit and allow them to work more freely. There were a couple of his workers just sitting around and talking over some sandwiches the cook they had managed to make earlier in that day. He slipped his hands into his pockets and walked over to the door, before opening it and walking outside.
The moon was smack dab in the middle of the sky, the spring nights were always slightly too cold for it to be comfortable, especially if the wind kicked in. Almost like nature heard his musings as he walked between the two large warehouses on the docks. The wind kicked in and started to flap his long blue leather coat. He sighed and turned to face it, as it was coming from the Glass Lake. The water was still with the reflection of the moon almost perfectly mirroring the sky in reverse. It would be a mirror if there wasn't boats slowly drifting along the waters to break the symmetry.
They called it the Glass Lake because it has no tide, or waves that affect it outside of the wakes of boats, so it reflected almost a perfect image unless a storm kicked in. Elliot would have called it 'Mirror Lake' instead but no one ever says he gets to name things. He slipped his hands into his pockets and swung the other door open. This warehouse was much more empty, pretty much being a flat, smooth concrete floor with nothing inside barring a small risen metal platform with stairs on each side. It doesn't really seem to be used for another purpose, but it made a pretty neat stage.
He walked up the stairs, watching as Fox was currently sitting near what appeared to be a PA system. She was currently fiddling with the microphone connector and blowing into it to make sure it works. A couple of loud hissing noises and feedback came through the speakers as they were attached near the roof to make the sound fill the room. Elliot turned around from her to look back at the empty floor space... only to find it completely packed shoulder to shoulder with people.
Fox turned off the microphone and turned to Elliot, handing him the microphone and patting him on the shoulder. “I had the boys set up the PA system so you don't have to shout the entire time. I know how much you hate that.” She said casually, he looked at the microphone and began to inspect it a bit, finding the red switch near the bottom so he could turn it on when he needed it. “Thanks I guess.” He replied, turning to her and crossing his hands. “I'm a bit surprised.” He mentioned.
“Why?” Fox asked him, turning to look at the same crowd he was. There were a good number of people wearing the Silent Fall uniform.. but nearly a third of the crowd was wearing street clothes... The other third were wearing an all black uniform with a red insignia he couldn't exactly make out. “I didn't expect us to have so many people here.” He admitted, it was quite a pleasant surprise, but when your words get this much traction you begin to wonder about things.
“Hey, maybe it's just because people are as frustrated as we are.” She said to try and reassure him with a pat on the shoulder. “Now let's see you do what you're good at.” She said, before walking off stage and out of the door back to the other warehouse.
Sitting in a barely lit room, the walls were comprised of corrugated metal. The ceiling was nearly 30 feet high with a small light providing him just enough brightness to read. This man was Elliot, calmly looking over a map and slowly tracing lines across the various roads of the city in this makeshift office in the warehouse he procured. He calmly glanced them over, lifting them up to make sure he was making a good route.
A knock on the door is heard and he turns his head up to look at the door. He felt himself tense as the door didn't really have a way for him to know who it was on the other side until the intercom beside him rang. “Wolf, the Mercenaries from INVICT have arrived and will be awaiting their payment details.” A familiar womanly voice said on the radio. It was calm, but a bit flat and dull sounding. This was his main lieutenant, Diane Kessler, also known as Fox.
He stood up from his table and gently pressed the button on the intercom, making sure to speak clearly enough so she could hear him. “Arrange them in the second warehouse, Di. I wish to speak to them as a group.” He responded, there was a short pause before the intercom crackled to signal it was turned on again. “Got it, Also... Call from your daughter.” She said, Elliot's brow perking as he grabbed his cane in one hand, slowly strolling to the door and opening it. It was much brighter, so bright it kind of strained his eyes when he opened the door.
He looked down at her, she was a bit shorter looking with somewhat of a dull face, tanned skin, brown hair strapped into a loose ponytail and bright green eyes. She held up a cell phone for him as he lightly took it, pressing his palm against the receiver so his daughter couldn't hear him just yet. “I appreciate it, Di. I'll be with you in roughly 10 minutes.” He said, Diana nodding her head and walking away to start barking out orders. He closed the door behind him and held the phone up to his ear to talk.
“Heya, Rose.” He said on the phone with a slight smile on this face, the normal stress lines faded and he had a legitimate smile. There was a brief pause before a high pitched, feminine voice rang on the other line with a happy voice. “Hey dad! Uhh.. I just wanted to call you to see if you were okay.” She said with concern, but he calmly paced his room and talked to her with a friendly voice. “Oh you know I'm fine, Rosalyn. Daddy's just got overtime again, I'll probably be back before you head to bed.” He said to try and reassure her.
“Well that's good... I don't know why you work such weird hours. I try to keep track of it but your work hours always change on me. Don't most people with jobs have schedules?” She asked, he closed his eyes a bit and gave a chuckle. “Well, it's kind of the problem with these kinds of jobs. I get called in when they need me, and they need me quite a lot.” What Elliot said was theoretically true, so he wasn't really lying to her about that fact. “Well... To be honest I don't even know what job you have sometimes.” The 14 year old girl said on the line, he couldn't even really admit this to her, so he came up with an answer that could brush her off a bit.
“Well, I tend to do a lot. I don't really know what I need to do until I get to where I'm needed.” He said, hoping that was a good enough answer for her, there was another short pause before she spoke again. “Well... I wanted to let you know how much I miss you.” She admitted, Elliot frowned just a bit and sighed. “I know you do.” He responded with some sorrow in his voice. “Ever since mom left...” Rosalyn was going to say before Elliot cut off her sentence a bit. “Look, I'm trying my hardest to make this world better for you. I can't bring Shauna back, but I can at least try my best.” He said, to try and reassure her.
“Look, I'll come back in a couple of hours. I'll see you soon, Rose.” He said, hanging up the phone and setting it back on his desk. He tried to make his face more brazen, closing his eyes and taking a deep breath before slapping himself on the face with both hands. He grabbed his blue suit off the coat rack and slipped it over his black shirt, grabbing his mask sitting beside it and slid it over his face, strapping it to the back of his head. It was cold engraved steel, but also served as a useful face protector. He opened the door and looked around the warehouse.
On one side was a couple of shipping crates, pretty much stocked to the brim with his haul from the previous robberies they made. They have to still chemically process all the materials needed for the next step for their plan, but they're just sitting there and waiting the heat to back off a bit and allow them to work more freely. There were a couple of his workers just sitting around and talking over some sandwiches the cook they had managed to make earlier in that day. He slipped his hands into his pockets and walked over to the door, before opening it and walking outside.
The moon was smack dab in the middle of the sky, the spring nights were always slightly too cold for it to be comfortable, especially if the wind kicked in. Almost like nature heard his musings as he walked between the two large warehouses on the docks. The wind kicked in and started to flap his long blue leather coat. He sighed and turned to face it, as it was coming from the Glass Lake. The water was still with the reflection of the moon almost perfectly mirroring the sky in reverse. It would be a mirror if there wasn't boats slowly drifting along the waters to break the symmetry.
They called it the Glass Lake because it has no tide, or waves that affect it outside of the wakes of boats, so it reflected almost a perfect image unless a storm kicked in. Elliot would have called it 'Mirror Lake' instead but no one ever says he gets to name things. He slipped his hands into his pockets and swung the other door open. This warehouse was much more empty, pretty much being a flat, smooth concrete floor with nothing inside barring a small risen metal platform with stairs on each side. It doesn't really seem to be used for another purpose, but it made a pretty neat stage.
He walked up the stairs, watching as Fox was currently sitting near what appeared to be a PA system. She was currently fiddling with the microphone connector and blowing into it to make sure it works. A couple of loud hissing noises and feedback came through the speakers as they were attached near the roof to make the sound fill the room. Elliot turned around from her to look back at the empty floor space... only to find it completely packed shoulder to shoulder with people.
Fox turned off the microphone and turned to Elliot, handing him the microphone and patting him on the shoulder. “I had the boys set up the PA system so you don't have to shout the entire time. I know how much you hate that.” She said casually, he looked at the microphone and began to inspect it a bit, finding the red switch near the bottom so he could turn it on when he needed it. “Thanks I guess.” He replied, turning to her and crossing his hands. “I'm a bit surprised.” He mentioned.
“Why?” Fox asked him, turning to look at the same crowd he was. There were a good number of people wearing the Silent Fall uniform.. but nearly a third of the crowd was wearing street clothes... The other third were wearing an all black uniform with a red insignia he couldn't exactly make out. “I didn't expect us to have so many people here.” He admitted, it was quite a pleasant surprise, but when your words get this much traction you begin to wonder about things.
“Hey, maybe it's just because people are as frustrated as we are.” She said to try and reassure him with a pat on the shoulder. “Now let's see you do what you're good at.” She said, before walking off stage and out of the door back to the other warehouse.
He turns on the microphone again,
clearing his throat as he spoke into it. The PA speakers echoed with
a slight delay at his voice as the chattering quelled and started to
pay attention to him. “I would like to thank you all for choosing
to join us tonight.” He first said, his voice projecting forward a
bit to show a bit more confidence. “Not all of you will stay
through this, that is just an inherent fact about the nature of what
we are discussing. You have decided to come here on your own
volition, we did not force your hand.” He warned, just making the
fact more clear to anyone who was harboring any second guesses.
“This is your last chance to turn around and return home before I begin addressing you.” He said, noticing some people in the back slowly begin to funnel out of the room. He waited for about a minute as whoever intended to back out did, before he continued. “For those who have decided to stay, you understand how truly depraved we as a society really have become.” He stated, walking closer to the crowd and looking down at them as they just observed. There were a couple of shouts in agreement from the back.
“Each and every one of you is a good, wholehearted individual deep down.” He said, trying to compliment them before continuing. “Yet... We are turned to violent answers, not because we choose to do it. But because we feel like we've run out of options.” He calmly explained, the crowd still staying quiet. He began to slowly pace the floor, taking a deep breath. “The people in charge want to keep the status quo... Because they are worried about anything shaking up the very foundation they built upon.”
“This is your last chance to turn around and return home before I begin addressing you.” He said, noticing some people in the back slowly begin to funnel out of the room. He waited for about a minute as whoever intended to back out did, before he continued. “For those who have decided to stay, you understand how truly depraved we as a society really have become.” He stated, walking closer to the crowd and looking down at them as they just observed. There were a couple of shouts in agreement from the back.
“Each and every one of you is a good, wholehearted individual deep down.” He said, trying to compliment them before continuing. “Yet... We are turned to violent answers, not because we choose to do it. But because we feel like we've run out of options.” He calmly explained, the crowd still staying quiet. He began to slowly pace the floor, taking a deep breath. “The people in charge want to keep the status quo... Because they are worried about anything shaking up the very foundation they built upon.”
He raised both his arms out into the
air, clenching his fists a bit as he looked upon the rest of the
crowd. “You folk who came here... You have finally understood that
no one was actually listening to you, or what you think. And thanks
to Silent Fall, I'll be one of the few people who could help you.”
He continued to explain, raising his gloved fist in front of him and
clenching it. “We've been trying to be more subtle until we had
what we needed to carry out our message in a more direct manor.
Unfortunately this means the situation is going to get quite bloody
in the next couple of months.” He continued, looking at the
audience to see if they were still interested.
“I'll still be frank with you all, this is a much bigger crowd of people than I originally estimated.” Elliot mentioned, slipping his free hand back into his front pocket. “Having this many people want to go out of their way to change things in such a desperate manner just makes me realize even more how desperate the times we live in. Monsters are attacking us every single day and we have to rely on a bunch of ignorant teenagers being indoctrinated by our military to help us, instead of just being able to protect ourselves... And even then, the rich refuse to help us out when we lose our homes.” He stated, getting a couple of cheers.
“As long as you help me... We'll be achieving something amazing... One of the first times we as a people have ever stood up to the people who control us and telling them that something must finally change.” He said, more cheers and applause coming from the crowd before he kept speaking. “Some of you will not be able to sleep at night after committing some of the acts we've been forced to do just for someone to understand our plight... But no one has ever said starting a revolution was going to be clean, nor predictable.” The metal stage made a loud hollow noise whenever he walked, lightly pacing back and forth on the platform
“As for the members of INVICT.” He said, turning to face the several mercenaries standing near the back of the warehouse. “I will not shirk my responsibilities and you will all be paid in full... Half up front, and half when I consider you no longer needed.” He added, the mercenaries chattering among themselves as their asking fees were just met without any renegotiating for a lower price, it was a pretty good deal.
“I'll still be frank with you all, this is a much bigger crowd of people than I originally estimated.” Elliot mentioned, slipping his free hand back into his front pocket. “Having this many people want to go out of their way to change things in such a desperate manner just makes me realize even more how desperate the times we live in. Monsters are attacking us every single day and we have to rely on a bunch of ignorant teenagers being indoctrinated by our military to help us, instead of just being able to protect ourselves... And even then, the rich refuse to help us out when we lose our homes.” He stated, getting a couple of cheers.
“As long as you help me... We'll be achieving something amazing... One of the first times we as a people have ever stood up to the people who control us and telling them that something must finally change.” He said, more cheers and applause coming from the crowd before he kept speaking. “Some of you will not be able to sleep at night after committing some of the acts we've been forced to do just for someone to understand our plight... But no one has ever said starting a revolution was going to be clean, nor predictable.” The metal stage made a loud hollow noise whenever he walked, lightly pacing back and forth on the platform
“As for the members of INVICT.” He said, turning to face the several mercenaries standing near the back of the warehouse. “I will not shirk my responsibilities and you will all be paid in full... Half up front, and half when I consider you no longer needed.” He added, the mercenaries chattering among themselves as their asking fees were just met without any renegotiating for a lower price, it was a pretty good deal.
“This will be our day. I hope for all
of you that you stay with me until the very end.” He said,
finishing his speech by turning off the mic and placing it on a
nearby table, slowly walking down the steps as the crowd cheered
again. Fox walked back onto the stage to turn the microphone back on.
“Oh, and we now have catering! It's in the third warehouse... I
think we're serving pizza or something.” She said to just the same
amount of cheers. While they were glad they were part of a big
movement, free pizza is always a good thing for a large amount of
folk.
No comments:
Post a Comment