So this chapter 13, and important as it sets the tone for the rest of the story. And no, that wasn't Ed who took his life last chapter, it was just a HYENA inside man. Thanks for the reviews and keep 'em coming.

Cheers: JJZ-109

CHAPTER 13. A THOUSAND SUNS

Several hours after airport massacre

Kopa and Haradion miserable walked into their luxurious apartment and closed the door behind them. Haradion ran to his room and Kopa could hear him crying; the poor kid still though it was his fault. Kopa sighed; it was his fault if anyone. He could have attacked them and stopped them, but he stuck to procedure and tracked them instead. He had followed the bureaucratic rules of engagement- which wasn't like him at all. Normally he was the one that would go diving into a fight. But he didn't and many people had paid for that decision.

He had to put all that behind him; as he needed to be focused on redeeming himself in his own eyes and tracking down the three monsters. He knew who they were now, and as soon as he felt like it was appropriate, he was going to go straight to the PI1 Headquarters to start his search.

He sighed and held back tears, as he gently strummed the strings of his guitar; a 1954 Fender Stratocaster that his mother had bought him. He played a soft gentle tune that mad him feel even worse, so he stopped and placed the instrument down. Then he felt a warm, wet sensation on his hand. His German Shepard dog 'Bella' licked his hand, as if she knew what he was going through. Kopa stroked her fur softly and sighed yet again.

Then his mobile phone started ringing. He picked it up; and found a very agitated Chief Langdon ordering him to come back to the HQ for debriefing on his experience. For once Langdon didn't seem mad at him; as if he knew what he felt. Kopa shook off that thought. There wasn't a single thing Langdon wouldn't do to get him fired. Kopa walked into Haradion's room and tapped him on the shoulder.

"Chief wants us back at HQ for debriefing." Kopa said sharply and Haradion nodded sadly.

He put his shoes back on, before following Kopa outside and to his Jaguar. They drove without conversation; as they were both still shaken. After a while of driving, Kopa finally reached the PI1 HQ building and stormed inside. As he walked, pretty much everyone in the immense building turned to face him with strange expressions. They knew what had happened, and it made Kopa and Haradion feel very awkward.

He walked into the command room and a very stressed looking Langdon met them. He put his hands on his hips and sighed when he saw them. He cleared his throat and spoke, with a reassuring expression on his face; which Kopa thought was weird for him.

"Look...I know what you went through today, and I know it may be hard for you to understand...but uh...You did the right thing." Langdon said and Kopa frowned in rage.

"DID THE RIGHT THING? We could have stopped the bastards!" Kopa yelled at him.

"You did the right thing in sticking to procedure, and saved both of your lives which are..." Langdon tried to say but Kopa yelled to cut him off.

"PROCEDURE? JESUS FUCKING CHRIST LANGDON! Would you rather have your petty fucking rules followed or an extra three hundred and fifty-eight innocent civilians alive?" Kopa shouted aggressively.

"Now, now. Your lives are much more valuable to the agency than a few..." Langdon started, revealing his true colors.

"Our lives? Two grown men for a few hundred mean, women and children sounds like a fair trade to me you sick bastard. That's the last time I follow procedure." Kopa snarled and Langdon lost his cool.

"You listen to me Lieutenant..." Chief Langdon started angrily, but then Kopa lost control of his rage.

"No you listen to me asshole..." Kopa growled through clenched teeth and swung a right hook at him, knocking him to the floor with a bloodied lip.

Kopa jumped on top of his superior officer, ready to beat the daylights out of him for his heartless behavior. He grabbed him by the collar of his shirt and prepared for another punch. Everyone else in the command center just watched; stunned and unsure of what to do. This massacre had thrown them into a state of anarchy. Their best agent and Chief were fighting.

"ENOUGH!" A deep voice bellowed from the back of the room. Kopa paused from his fight and turned to see Simba standing in the command center doorway with a stern expression. Everyone in the room either dropped to their knees or saluted.

"At ease." Simba told them and they relaxed. He then stormed his way over to Kopa, who was still kneeling on top of Langdon. He pulled Kopa off of him and glared at him in the eyes.

"Don't be a fool son. There's nothing any of us could have done to stop today's events, and we need to put the past behind us; if we are to succeed in bringing these people to justice." Simba said wisely and Kopa nodded; composing himself.

Simba then turned to face everyone in the command room.

"I can confirm that these people: Shenzi Goldberg, Banzai Marin and Edward Cummings are responsible and have been tracked down." Simba announced and everyone exchanged glances.

"So what are we waiting for? Let's kick their asses." Haradion growled and Simba put a hand up to silence him.

"It's not that easy. We've now discovered what they did with that plutonium. And I was sent a personal message by the three leaders of this organization, which is much bigger than we expected." Simba said and plugged a USB into one of the PI1's computers. He then clicked on an audio file.

"Yo Simba dawg, what up brother?" Shenzi's sarcastic voice said on the message, deliberately sounding informal and disrespectful. Everyone in the room raised an eyebrow after the remark.

"You remember us right? The poor old guys you convicted for submitting to you and saving hundreds of lives? Well as you can see, that really pissed us off. Anyway we busted our of your little time-out corner some years back, and have been waiting to bring your corrupt, fucked up nation to its knees. If you think about it, it doesn't even deserve to exist. You can't even manage your own population (Referring to the Outlanders and East Side) and it rebels against you. People credit you for this, why? Because you got the power, the power of a lion. But we got no power, and we have always lived in the lion's shadow the lion used to be Scar, and now it's you. We're like...hyenas you could say. So we've name our little club 'H-Y-E-N-A' which stands for hitting your exalted naive ass, back to where it belongs that is. In the wild, the lion is always credited as the hero, even though it steals more Hyena kills than any other animal. These are the days when that stops, and the hyena rises out the lion's shadow..."

Kopa took all this information in, the guys sounded like stupid idiots, but he knew that they couldn't be if they were that cunning and had people in high places. They also had a nuclear bomb, so that put them in checkmate.

"You can feel free to come and try to get us, hell, I'll even give you our address if you like. But if you come and try to arrest or kill us, we'll use that plutonium we pinched from you. Yeah that's right...There's a nuclear bomb somewhere in your city. But beware, it ain't just any nuke, its got a special kick to it. Mixed in with plutonium is a very nasty juice called 'E115'. After the city lights up like a thousand suns, a gas toxin will be spread around the city with the radiation and it has a tendency to cause severe hallucinations, and eventual mental break down. So it will be a slow, bitter death for your precious little town supposing you try anything stupid. If you do comply with our requests, then one important person will die with each offense. So don't do anything stupid. Don't try to negotiate with us either...it won't work. We can't be bribed, bargained with or threatened, all we want to see is your corrupt country be engulfed by FEAR. And that's about it...so adios amigo." Shenzi concluded and laughed cruelly, her laughter was then followed by the laughter of a man, except his was much more hysterical.

"Hey Ed pipe down! I'm doing an important threatening call here." Kopa heard Shenzi's voice scold the other man, while the microphone was still recording.

"Aw Jesus Christ...*Punching sounds and laughing ceases* Yeah shut up. Sorry about that, anyway, be prepared Simba, and all those you may show this to." Shenzi said one final time before the message came to an end.

Once the message came to an end everyone started talking amongst themselves in a panicked tone. Simba shouted out to silence them.

"Nobody panic, we'll just be giving them what they want...Fear. We need to find a way around this problem with the least media attention as possible. I want everything that can be done to be done. I want that nuke found and defused before or whole god damn country goes up in the light of a thousand suns." Simba called out and everyone reluctantly calmed down.

Amen. Kopa thought.

How was it? WARNING: The 'Hyenas' stay true to their promise of blackmailing the Pridelands and this causes a very sad scene that is coming up. Don't Forget to review!