AEGIS Command group, North Atlantic
Altitude 25,500 feetFor a moment, the Director and his two guests remained seated, staring blankly at one another as if to gauge an appropriate response. For three days it had been a linger uncertainty, a shared uneasy experience between a handful of men and women, tasked with the very moment the three men found themselves in.
'Show him in' The Director nodded, searching for another queue or hidden acquiescence that could serve to reinforce the decision for this moment. Two Black Knight level operatives emerged first, taking positions in the cardinal points of the room, while another four entered around their guest.
'Well?' The Director began, looking at the guest with a combination of cool trepidation and receded hostility, 'The terms were fairly clear in your parole....you were to leave Earth and never, ever return...'
'Things don't always happen the way we want' the man began. Tall and lean, the dark hair had begun to gray around the edges, more lines around the eyes which would have made the guest seem more scholarly than criminal.
'I do not have time to debate what we want' The Director began again, looking more uncharacteristically irate as he braced his fingers together, 'Why are you here?'
'I know about Hephaestus' the man began, looking carefully at the director and the other two guest, 'Everyone out there knows about it....but that's not important....what is important is what's going to happen next...'
'Next?' The Director asked, 'What exactly do you mean?'
'Oh come on!' The man exclaimed, 'You know damn well what I mean....you've probably already started to sever ties...probably already made veiled threats....this isn't something that Croc hasn't thought about....or planned for.'
'Why does this matter to you, exactly?' The Director retorted, the thinly veiled emotion twinging his words.
'Because I set up his defenses...' The man began, 'And I have a pretty good idea what Croc will do. You go in there, it's a trap....it's a bloody, awful trap and people will die...'
'Compassion has never been your strongest suit' The first guest, the older man added, breaking his silence as he leaned forward. Without facing him the convicted guest nodded, 'I'm no saint, but I'm not going to sit back and let something I built be used by a madman...'
'Not unlike all of those other times' The First Guest nodded, 'Yes, I could see you brimming with compassion for the innocent then...'
'Listen, asshole....I don't really care what you think....I'm telling you this is how it is: Croc isn't going to think of how this plays out....he knows how it will play out, and he's more than ready for it. He'll make the first move....he'll bring you in, and he'll smash you down....believe me....this is what he's been waiting for since he took power'
'And what, exactly, are you offering?' The Director chimed in.
'You want me to lie? I won't do that....I'm a son-of-a-bitch but I don't lie. Something happened to me....up there.....and I won't simply let that go. There is a reason I'm here, I don't know what that reason is, but I'm here. Call it whatever you want, but you know the one thing I'm not is a liar'
Silence once again filled the room as the Convicted Guest sighed deeply, rubbing the bridge of his nose. The Director looked at the two others, quietly nodding as if in deep conversation. A minute stretched to two and then five before any of them spoke.
'You will give us everything, and I mean everything. There will be no holding back....no second chances....one glimmer you're not above board, or if any of us for a moment believe you're lying, It won't be prison...it won't be exile...it will be immediate full weight of the international courts on you punishment....do you understand?'
'Yes' the Convicted Guest nodded, 'I do...'
'Then...' The First Guest started, 'Why don't you tell me why Mauler has been seen here on Earth when you are supposedly in space, Cranston'
'They stole it' Cranston answered matter-of-factually, 'and you know how I take theft....'
DESTROYED
MARSCON 2015 - January 16-18
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