-Revision-
Chapter 7: Politics and War
Jane Valderamma didn't agree with what the people are asking her to do. But at least with the recording of Douglas' death being shown to the public, she believes that quick action will be taken to this 'Overlord' character. Heck, she believes they would even give him the title of 'terrorist'. It was only 20 minutes ago that they made their presence more known to the public. That should at least be incentive enough to motivate a central government representative to analyze his actions. And then he or she would summon the military to deal with The Overlord and his... 'things'. Even though there was a large deployment of police here, and though proud as they may be, Jane didn't feel at ease.
"Are you really thinking of going into there?" A cameraman she works with said.
"As much as I hate to say it, I might have to." Jane admitted, checking herself if she looked presentable. "I think I would like to bring a weapon with me though."
"So why don't you get one?" He asked.
"I didn't have enough time to stop by my house." Jane said, making sure that her low-profile camera in her blouse works. Even though it sometimes poked her, it'll be her most useful tool. A camera is a reporters greatest weapon after all. "Do you have the connection link?"
The cameraman checked his laptop. "Mm... yup! The window in the titty cave is linked. Whatever you point your chest at, we will be able to see. Keep your boobs from closing into a cleavage and we won't encounter a problem with muffled audio. I'll try and talk to you through your earpiece when you're on the other side."
"Excuse me?" Jane asked her co-worker.
"... Aheh." The cameraman rubbed the back of his head. "Sorry. I got a running joke with... uh... a different female reporter with the 'titty cave' thing. We have this inside joke, see? ... Anyway..."
"... What?" Jane asked, looking at him condescendingly.
"Don't look at me like that, you got a date. Go already!" The cameraman said, focusing on his laptop and shooing Jane away.
"It's not a date!" Jane rebuked. "And I'd rather not walk into hell, okay? I mean... what if he was bluffing or something."
Her co-worker turned to face her. "... You think Douggy's death was a bluff?" He said with his rhetorical question.
"Well it's his fault for entering into that damnable structure when he was told not to do anything reckless. He's always been so stubborn! You knew that too!"
"Mhmm. Listen, were 6 minutes till that armored guy comes out to find you. But that's the least of our worries. From the way I see it, if it really was a bluff and you did nothing, then nothing would happen. But if he was truthful in making good on that threat, then there is no telling on what he might do. I doubt that he'd get very far, but then again, I wasn't the only one who watched Douglas die." The cameraman said, then returned back to his laptop.
Jane took a deep breath and started walking to the steps of the amphitheater. Looking down, she saw the blue heat emanating from the 'mouth' of this thing. They probably found it funny that they had initially called it 'The Mouth of Hades'. And she has NO idea what this 'lifeforce' is. Jane thinks that it could spark some tension with environmentalists and hippies. But before she could walk down the steps, a familiar voice called to her. "Sup Jane!"
Jane turned around and saw an old face. "Paula? Well... This is a big surprise!"
"Well, not really. That guy in the tin can did threatened The Saints, so I'm here to show him what I think." Paula said. "So. Did you bring any heat?"
Jane shook her head. "I had no time to prepare. It was either go home and risk being late, or just wait here and maybe convince them that violence is not an answer. But unlike you, he seems like the bigger threat here."
"Bigger threat? That's a laugh." Paula said. She cocked her cobra and aimed to the ground. "I doubt he is more bad-ass than me."
Gat, Shaundi and Pierce finally came, bringing with them some backup in case 'shit hit the fan'. Though the police eyed them and some even pointed their weapons at them, The Saints were a feared gang in Stilwater. Plus, if any of The Saints or the police broke the neutrality between them, then a different hell would break loose altogether.
"So what did we miss?" Gat asked approaching Paula and Jane.
"Nothing much." Paula said. "I think Jane here was going to do the noble thing and throw herself down that portal."
"Wait. It's a portal? I thought it was a gate?" Pierce asked.
Paula turned to look at Pierce, making him shrug and look away. "Gate, portal, a fucking dog door, who gives a shit." Paula said.
"Did you really need to bring so many Saints here?" Jane asked.
"Hey, this is The Saints we're talking about here." Gat said. "I mean, if he's threatening The saints, that would mean he's threatening me. And if he's threatening me, then I'm calling dibs to make his arms and legs bend in many painful ways."
Paula looked at Gat. "Hey, at least let me fuck him up first."
"Okay, you got it." Gat said, pulling out his weapon of choice: his K6 Krukov.
"Put away your weapons now or we will detain you." A riot officer said, motioning to The Saints.
"Oh, this here?" Gat said, pointing to his weapon. "This is just for self defense."
"Sir, this is your second warning." The riot officer said.
"No no, let me give YOU a warning. We're just here to provide some help to the police for once. We can leave you alone if you ask nicely though, if you really think you have everything here under control." Gat said, making his recruits chuckle.
"You got some fucking mouth, I'll give you that." He brought his gun up and aimed it at Gat. The Saints brought out their weapons and pointed them at the riot officer.
There was a good, long silence to this Mexican standoff. Gat stood there with a smirk to his face while the riot officer, though ballsy enough to challenge The Saints, and Gat, knew he didn't have enough firepower to take them all on. Especially Paula. He finally yielded. "Dammit." There was simply too many guns pointed to him. He failed to realize that there was other guns pointed at The Saints behind him too, but he didn't know that or need to.
"Smart. I guess pigs CAN learn a trick or two." Gat said, chuckling and telling the followers to stand down.
"Hey uh..." Jane's cameraman said, interrupting the silence and hostile awkwardness. "But we have company." He pointed to the middle of the amphitheater.
A man in sinister looking armor stood before the riot officers, The Saints, and a small camera crew recording it all and sending it live to their news station, in the center of the amphitheater. When the cameraman pointed out that detail, everyone quickly broke their attention from the standoff and aimed their weapons to 'The Overlord'. The Overlord looked around and found the whole situation looking rather even sided. Even though the bullets they have can hit his armor and it would sting like a hundred wasps, but he is feeling rather confident about his odds. At the top of the amphitheater he saw men and women in the violet clothing that he was told that The Saints would wear. He even noted that the same Ruborian he saw earlier today was there. More importantly was the person they were next to. Jane Valderamma.
He rotated his wrist so his palm would face upward, then raised his arm towards Jane. It was a well understood hand signal, which gestured Jane to come to him. She froze, not sure if she should even consider going with him. But after some hesitation, she brought herself to walk forward.
"Jane, what are you doing?!" Paula shouted to Jane.
"If I don't leave with him, then Stilwater would be in danger." Jane shouted back. Her knees quivered. "But if I do end up like Douglas, I'd like you to know that I had fun when you called me from time to time."
"... Fuck this." Paula stepped forward and shot her Kobra pistols at the overlord.
Even though her bullets clanged to his metal, all it did was pissed him off greatly. He glared at The Saint who shot him, his eyes changing color from the white glow to a more yellow-orange tone, almost as though his anger was changing his eye color. After her moment of disbelief, she shot multiple more times at him, making sure to empty one clip first then switch ammo magazines. Bullets made contact with his armor, but they either ricochet or completely stopped and bounced off. After several clips were emptied, silence befallen the entire amphitheater. Even though Paula made the first shot, nobody else began firing. Not even the police for some arbitrary reason. Finally, after Paula decided to stop shooting, The Overlord waved his hand around him in a 135° arc. Many of the riot officers ignited, screaming in pain and succumbing to the flame. As they were distracted by their burning, he turned around and shouted "Twenty browns! Ten reds!" A collection of creatures came out of 2 smaller gates that erupted besides the main netherworld gate. A new species of these imp-like creature was soon found, with cherry red skin that glowed like fire. The overlord turned around and gave a command to his horde. "Go. Lay waste on all my enemies and berserk."
The 'browns' riled themselves into a frenzy and took off in all directions, shouting "Kill!" and "Smashy!" as they ravaged and attacked. The 'reds' coughed something into their hands and threw what they gagged up on whatever is in their range, and continued repeating steps one and two. Riot officers who were not in range of the sudden flash of fire tried to shoot at anything that came after them. They were heavily swarmed, or being ignited by the fiery phlegm balls. Paula was having a hard time keeping track on all of them. She did manage to take five or six down by aiming for their heads. But not even half of them were downed before they started swarming towards The Saints. The Saints retreated as they fired their weapons, bringing Jane with them as she witnessed the horror and might of The Overlord and his minions firsthand.
"Minions, to me!" His army stopped what they were doing and retreated, reforming their ranks behind their master. He then strutted towards The Saints, with minion army to his back, which was ready for any orders that was issued to them.
"Get behind us." Paula told Jane. Being weaponless at the moment, she has nothing else to protect her other than The Saints. A criminal gang protecting an anchorwoman was definitely a strange thing to witness. The Saints retreated a little ways away from the stairs. The moment they spot The Overlord and his bloodthirsty force, they would open fire. The Overlord was not stupid though. He made a simple plan of action on the spot.
He peeked past the stairs and carefully judged the distance Jane was in. After judging the distance between himself and Jane, he ran out a few steps and casted his confusion spell, forcing The Saints to randomly attack. They gunned each other or fought with one another in melee combat. Paula had clocked Gat while he jumped on her and started choking her. Pierce and Shaundi exchanged blows themselves, though Shaundi stunned Pierce with her taser while she was hit over the head with a baseball bat. The batter had also took the liberty to knock out Paula and Gat. The Overlord took his time and pushed passed the chaos to a very confused Jane. "Take her to the gate." he commanded. The minions swarmed her and tugged on her clothing, arms and legs, pushing, pulling and guiding her to the netherworld entrance. Any of The Saints that targeted The Overlord had the honor of being cut down by his flaming axe.
After she was guided to the netherworld gate, she was thrown into the blue haze. Carlon then felt a intense impact hit his shoulder. After the whiplash, he looked to see his shoulder was bleeding from the wound. It wasn't till later that he saw a helicopter up high. Another blow to his chest answered his question on where the first attack came from. He reached behind himself. "Red." He said aloud. And by instinct, a red minion jumped into his grasp. After some careful aim, he threw the red minion at the police helicopter. His aim was unnaturally accurate and powerful as the flying vehicle bursts in flames from within, which made it rotate and descend quickly to the ground.
Even though the crash killed many of the riders inside, a red minion awkwardly and dizzily walked from the crash."Ooohoh, Dat was fun! Huahahaha~!" the red exclaimed, then rushed back to his master.
The overlord turned around and returned to his lair, triumphant of his conquest. He thought and realized that he has a lot of things he needed to do in this new land of Stilwater. Such as finding the one who was responsible for managing the police forces in Stilwater, for one. But that part will have to come later. For now, he can entertain a new guest till he found what he needed.
The cameraman that was with Jane before The Overlord came and annihilated heavily armored police and a large gang of The Saints survived with scrapes and bruises. And he recorded every bit of the battle that occurred. But he didn't count on an extra minion coming out of his van with bits and wires dragging with him. He was still recording with the camera he kept safe, pointing it at the little monster.
"Masta? Masta? Masta, where are you?!" The minion shouted, looking around frantically, like a child looking for its mother. Except this kid was armed with a baton and riot armor that he stole from his victims. The minion eventually spotted the cameraman and he eyed him curiously. The cameraman's mind filled with sudden fear. But all the minion did was ran past him, hitting his shin with a baton and fleeing back to the netherworld gate.
The camera guy stood back up and panned the camera around, and talked as he did so, albeit nursing a wounded shin, his voice trembling. "Everyone, this is Callahan Callahan. I'm pretty sure that this is being recorded, though... I doubt the machines in my van is sending this to the news room, but I'm doing this out of training and habit. As you can see here, the carnage is undeniable. Men and women of the law and of The Saints has been decimated by an unknown force that is referred as 'The Overlord'. He made people catch fire with the wave of his hand, he summoned demons to do his bidding, and he can force the minds of others to his will. His armor is thick, making bullets comparable to firing a BB gun at a brick wall. He recently abducted Jane Valderamma, and I am hoping for her safety. If anyone is hearing this, send the special forces!"
A/N:I think I might do 2 in one day with time permitting.
