Chapter 11 | Hall of Honor
"TRADITION…"
"Holy Shit – guys – that photograph, th-that's a picture of Teddy Roosevelt!"
While Gregory Harrison spoke, Robert Buxton whispered to his colleagues as they followed behind their leader in awe. He pointed a chunky finger at one of the many gilt-edged frames that lined the Hall of Honor. It was a wide hall of white marble with large intricately carved Corinthian columns lining either side at fifty foot intervals. Down the center of the corridor was a luxurious purple carpet that ran the entire length of the quarter mile strip.
Each ornate frame contained pictures of former and current members of the New Horizons club, posing with kills.
Robert, Steve and Chip all clearly recalled the strange and unsettling interaction with their boss before entering the imposing high-vaulted walkway. Just before swiping his card in the massive doorway, Gregory had turned and briefly spoke.
"What you will see in here – when you pass through these doors – well, just let me say gentlemen… there is no going back." He then paused and measured each one of his men in turn with an intense and thoughtful gaze, and for the first time, his team began to feel the first hint of real fear.
As they entered the bright hall and began their long walk to the reception area, that fear was quickly replaced with wonder. The frame Robert was currently pointing towards held the yellowed picture of the 26th president of the United States. He was posing with a pile of what seemed to be human corpses arranged like trophies. He held one of them by the hair so his face would show, proudly displaying his prize for the cameras. The bodies were all dressed in what looked to be uniforms as if they were soldiers of some kind. Theodore Roosevelt's iconic grin and round glasses beamed out at the group as they strode past.
Chip Pemberton looked down his long thin nose. There was something under the picture. It was a quotation etched in a shining brass plate: [Far better it is to dare mighty things, than to take rank with those poor timid spirits who know neither victory nor defeat. – TR]
Then the voice of their leader Gregory Harrison diverted the group's attention as he continued his speech in the form of another simple word.
"EXCELLENCE…"
As they followed along behind, Steve Jones touched Chip's shoulder and tugged Robert's sleeve as he pointed, indicating another portrait to his colleagues. He spoke in a hushed awed voice.
"Look – over there – TH… that other picture, it's amazing – but it's Winston Churchill!"
Like Theodore Roosevelt, Winston Churchill was also posing along with a substantial pile of bodies. Many of them terribly mauled and mutilated. Winston's iconic cigar was clamped between his teeth as he smiled, holding his pith helmet under his arm. Under the picture there was another brass plate with a quote. Steve quietly read it to his colleagues.
[You create your own universe as you go along. ― Winston S. Churchill]
Hearing their hushed tones, Gregory Harrison was happy to know that his executives were in awe of what they were seeing. But pretending not to hear their stunned whispers, he simply continued.
"EXCLUSIVITY…"
"Holy shit…" Robert couldn't believe what he was seeing, "…is that – holy fuck… it IS. That's Oprah freakin' Winfrey!"
Robert couldn't believe what he was seeing as he stammered to his disbelieving team members. They looked along with him, mouths hanging open in shock. In a gold rococo frame was a huge color image of Oprah Winfrey standing with her long-time friend and confidant Deepak Chopra next to a pile of heads arranged in a pyramid. They were smiling and beneath the portrait was a quote, on a brass plate, just like with the previous images.
[Where there is no struggle, there is no strength.]
Finally, they had reached the end of the massive hall of portraits. It was a who's who of the well-connected, famous and powerful throughout history. A visual timeline of business moguls, heads of state and cultural icons both known and obscure.
Some of the portraits contained strange pairings. John F. Kennedy could be seen posing with Nikita Khrushchev. They were laughing as they stood amid a pile of broken bodies.
Putin with Bush – both men were holding severed heads high in the air as they laughed posing for their picture.
"SECRECY…"
Gregory's voice was nearly lost on them as they continued to gaze at the images in the Hall of Honor.
John D. Rockefeller was seen arm and arm with Aleister Crowley while Mao Zedong was clearly visible in another picture good naturedly slapping a young, leather clad Elvis Presley on the back as they stood in front of a grisly heap of freshly slain corpses.
Gregory stopped at the end of the gleaming hall before a set of ornate, heavy gilt edged double doors.
"FORCE…"
The trio of stunned executives turned and faced him as he continued to address them.
"Those are the pillars that New Horizons rests on. Tradition, Excellence, Exclusivity, Secrecy and FORCE.
"FORCE gentlemen. The final pillar – what it's all about. The ability to TAKE what you want by FORCE!"
As Steve, Chip and Robert quietly took in what Gregory was telling them, the large double doors behind their leader opened and a familiar voice added to the instructions.
"Yeah – sure, force is great and all, but the whole thing wouldn't be shit without my personal favorite – secrecy!"
Gregory turned quickly to face the new arrival.
"Dick! You old sunuvabitch! How the hell are you doing?!"
A dry metallic laugh preceded Dick's response.
"Heh, heh, heh… How the fuck do you THINK I'm doing Harrison, ya big homo?! I've been keepin' busy chewin' up little cute people – got some kick-ass kills too!"
Laughing Greg slapped Dick on the back.
"I heard! That red eyed freak of a titan you're rolling around in has been hogging all the best kills! You need to slow down and give the rest of us a chance."
"Heh… well – you don't have to worry about that anymore…" Dick said shaking his head. Then he became serious as he quietly added, "…thanks to that crazy Levi fucker, my best Titan got smoked. And it was right after I got my sweetest kill yet. She was fast and I nearly didn't catch her – but she came back to help her friends – heh… how noble. I made it last… and chewed her up real slow. I had just carefully bitten her cute little head off and was getting ready to bring it back, when that nut came screamin' right outta nowhere and just totally wasted me. And I didn't get to bring the trophy back."
Greg could hear Dick's teeth grind for a moment as he briefly relived the frustration before continuing. Dick smiled revealing artificially whitened teeth. They seemed sharp.
"Shit Greg, you shoulda seen it – the expression on her face was so priceless. I really wanted to hang that pretty little head on the wall in my office. See the pain and confusion staring out of those wide frightened eyes whenever I looked up. But this goddamn Levi creep fucked that all up."
Gregory was having difficulty imagining how the red-eyed titan belonging to his friend was defeated.
"Shit Dick – that was the most savage Titan we had. This Levi dude took it down?! How many soldiers helped him?"
"That's the thing Greg – It was just him. He did it on his own."
Gregory Harrison was stunned, he tried to speak.
"B-but that was our best – it was an abnormal… the amazing shit it could do – th-the speed it had… I mean it was so bad-ass and, and – he just… BY HIMSELF? H-how?"
"Lissen Greg – We need to kill that little psycho. He's a little too competent – the others will learn from him."
Robert whispered to Chip and Steve as their boss talked with Dick.
"Shit… I must be losin' it… that's Dick Cheney. It's… it's insane!"
The former Vice President vigorously shook hands with his old business partner Gregory Harrison, CEO of ChemLife. ChemLife had been good to Haliburton back when Dick was CEO of that company. The organization had an exclusive contract to provide weapons grade chemicals and toxins at discount rates for use in so many of their military and anti-terror products.
"Forget it, I'll bring you up to speed on the plan to fix things. Hey – in the meantime, it's great to see you G.H.!" Then pausing and looking past Gregory at his executive team, he smiled and added, "And I see you brought us some new blood too…"
"Yeah, I sure did. Boys, meet my business partner and personal friend, Dick Cheney. Dick this is Robert Buxton, Chip Pemberton and Steve Jones. These guys are my executive A-team and I brought 'em here for the ultimate team building experience."
Cheney gave an approving nod to each of them.
"No shit – got that right Greg. Nice to meet you boys. Welcome to the New Horizon's Club. This isn't some goddamn country club like Augusta, or some bull-shit secret society for closet cases like the Skull and Bones. You are standing in NEW HORIZONS and this is where things get real serious really fucking fast. SO when we go through the swearing in ceremony, you'd all best pay attention."
They nodded vigorously – almost in unison.
"Yes sir, Mr. Cheney!"
"You can count on it sir!"
"Absolutely! Thank you sir!"
"Glad to hear it boys – because once we pass through these doors – yeah these, right behind me… the only way to quit the club is DEATH. Understand?"
They briefly looked from Dick to Gregory, then quickly at each other before looking back to Dick. Chip raised his bony arm slightly, with a puzzled expression. Dick recognized him.
"Question?"
"Uh… D-death? Are you referring to that in the sense of socially, professionally… or possibly in more of a metaphorical, euphemistic way? Wait… m-maybe you actually mean…"
Dick finished his sentence for him.
"Physical. As in we kill you. For real… Nothin' fancy, usually with a bullet through the head."
Chip swallowed hard and slowly lowered his hand as Robert and Steve looked on, continuing to listen, as Dick continued.
"You all saw the portrait of JFK back there?"
They all nodded in unison blood draining from their faces as they anticipated the direction the conversation was going…
"Yeah – right…He was the only bastard to ever turn on us. After his first and only hunting trip, the douche had second thoughts about his membership. When he returned to Earth, he decided he could just leave the club… Even told his brother Robert about it too, and they started threatening to blow the cover off of the whole organization. Well – I don't need to tell you what happened to those two scumbags."
In the heavy silence that followed, Gregory picked up where Dick left off.
"That's right team. To Dick's point – you talk you die. It's a certainty. It doesn't matter if you're a celebrity a billionaire or even a head of state – you will be found and made very dead. Once you have gone through the initiation and have access to all the secrets – there's no resigning from New Horizons. To quit is suicide."
"Thanks for underscoring that important point Greg. SO newbloods… If anyone wants to puss out – now's the time. Just raise your limp, little wrists in the air."
No one raised their hand. After several seconds Dick waved his arm indicating for the group to follow him. As he swung the gold edged doors open and lumbered out of the hall, he growled over his shoulder.
"No pussies in this group… GOOD. Well – now we just need to start the swearing in ceremony. Once that's completed we can get to the training and orientation."
[Thank you for continuing to read! I know this is a pretty radical take on the AoT so thanks for your open minds and helpful comments. I promise, that in spite of the wild plot, I will do my very best to remain true to the characters and not lose sight of what makes each of them special and unique. Please feel free to let me know what you think.]