Nose Over Tail
Chapter 9:
Damned for the Land of the Free
"Report?"
When no words came from the General's command, his eyes lifted from the file he was assessing. It was a slow and methodical glance toward the door where he'd heard the arrival. General Peter Trinity figured that it was one of the commanding officers, who answered to him, on his 'mutant' project. General Trinity preferred to call it the Mutant Problem.
As the leading official in charge, he demanded that everyone recognize his position, at the very least, by answering his questions when asked.
His eyes scanned the man who arrived. If he was surprised, Trinity's face never showed it.
"What are you doing here, Bishop?" General Trinity asked in a faux cordial tone that was anything but welcoming. "Forgive me if I don't have time for your...playground projects."
The black suited federal agent's jaw tightened. He loathed nothing more than working with anyone, save one thing - working with military jarheads. He was an independent worker, heading his own projects, being the one in charge. Discovering that there was already a person working on a project he had no knowledge of, but should have not just known about but lead by his estimation, made Agent Bishop furious. Bishop's demonstration of aggravation didn't manifest the way it did for so many others; outside, he showed no indication of his irritation - yet.
"Most of your glorified conspiracy theory tasks have little to no business in the reality of what my job is here. That being said I can't fathom what you're doing here," Trinity's tone had moved to taunting.
Bishop's lips thinned. His patience wore thin and he could feel the integrity of his tolerance falter. He could kill Trinity before the General knew what had happened, but he knew that was not feasible. "General, the Secretary of Defense sent me as back up for your target plans. I'm more familiar with mutants than you may know. I'm more than capable of handling them."
Trinity could tell Bishop felt superior in this project. 'This game, we can play it, Agent Bisohp,' Trinity thought. The Agent wasn't on any of the superior's top list for a variety of reasons, yet still he seemed to receive funding. It was something Trinity couldn't understand. "Ah yes, the outbreak you were responsible for a few years back. Yes, that classified file isn't so classified beyond a certain pay-grade. My clearance trumps yours, Agent Bishop. Rest assured all of your mutants were exterminated."
"That's not what I meant." Bishop hissed through his clenched jaw.
"Surely not, perhaps you meant the ones you helped during the same time or your generated outbreak, or the crocodile you tested on? That research, by the way, came in handy for our purposes. Thank you, Agent Bishop."
"What's your plan?"
"Direct. Very well. Come here, Agent." Trinity waved Bishop forward, to a large window. The stoic man moved forward and looked down to where Trinity gestured. Some dozens of stories below were hundreds of mutants of all shapes and sizes. "This is my best way to monitor them...all of them. My pets, my problems, my vermin."
Bishop knew how he'd come in and that this whole lot of New York was quarantined to what would be the average onlooker. Distracted by undercover government agents and rerouted to other areas of the city. All so the government could hide a fully functional mutant city. "Impressive." Bishop said looking down his nose to the variety below.
"Impressive in the way ants in a farm are. This is a clocked test. Over the last ten years we've been conditioning the mutant population to go on mandatory lockdown for specific period of time. They're getting very good at following orders. Too bad I can't put these freaks on the front line and forgo losing good soldiers. Valuable men."
Bishop didn't look toward Trinity but he measured the man's worth in his comments. He had no love for mutants. He had no love for anything. But he figured that Trinity showed his weakness in his words. If he ever wanted to assassinate him, he would send a woman, just so that Trinity would be surprised that a woman bested him; being that he put his value, obviously, in men and soldiers. Those who took and followed orders without question. 'How short-sighted of you, Trinity,' one corner of Bishop's mouth turned up at the thought.
"Why the drills?"
"To look for thieves, at the moment."
"And in the future?" Bishop finally turned to the General.
Trinity smiled slimy, but turned to a nearby file cabinet. "War. Project Alpha Fox." He handed Bishop a green tinted, standard issue folder. The Agent opened it. He thumbed through charts and maps, flipping through pages of an action plan so extensive that it spanned the length of ten years. Inside were the plans for a bombing of this very city; coordinates for underground bombs, orders for military officials during the eradication, and even a detailed description to be released to the public post massacre. It was to happen while all the mutants were locked down in their apartments per the government's orders; routine, as far as the locals understood.
Innocent people - mutants - who trusted their lives to government like any other citizen were to be destroyed in a planned attack that would be blamed, in a cover story to the public, as a terrorist attack on all four locations all at once. The plan to rile the population and perpetuate war was imminent. A remake, under lies, of the attack made to the World Trade Center to perpetuate war and remind the American people why the government should fund war. To unite the people...the human people.
"This was your plan?" Bishop looked up.
"Every word of it!" Trinity's chest doubled inside for the way he puffed up.
"Remarkable." Bishop's gravelly tone mocked the General, but the Agent knew it would go unnoticed for Trinity's pride, in that moment, was unbreakable. He flipped the file shut and looked back across the city. "Ultimate destruction of an entire race. Genocide. Hitler could only dream of what you'll accomplish in one pass."
"I know." Trinity almost beamed.
"You said they're all headed to lock down now? One of your drills?"
"Yes," Trinity commented. "They know what to do."
"Indeed." Bishop hummed, his eyes had swept the city several times; but on this pass he saw something which turned the tone of his voice up. Not far off, on one of the building roves, his gaze caught the familiar silhouette of a turtle who happened to be a skilled martial artist. One corner of his mouth turned up. 'If you had no fear before, General Trinity, you should now. I think I'll keep this one to myself,' Bishop held his tongue but let his mind run wild with the possibilities.
::Author's Note:: Many of the topics in this chapter are...controversial. Please do not be offended. This isn't a political story, nor a representation of our view point on politics. This is merely a story, and the contents of this chapter was a plot device of epic proportions. It's always been in the outline for this story. I have been hesitant to write this chapter because I feared the way it may be misconstrued. Please know nothing in it is not meant to be a direct feeling or concern. That being said, anyone still reading this, we hope you enjoyed the plot developments which were FINALLY revealed. We'd love to hear what you think! Thank you for reading! V/R Stoic and Harley