6pm came, and I was gathered with the other recruits called under Nest in a cramped room next to the communications offices. There was a 30-inch TV jammed behind us, which as Major Lennox said was going to give us a live feed with General Morshower , who along with the former were going to give us an idea of what Nest is.
The technician fiddling with the wires looked annoyed, as for the fourth time, the TV refused to power up. He shook a wire at Lennox saying he'd be right back, before he headed out of the room. Lennox looked at his wrist watch, before he rubbed his face in a tired sort of way.
For the 3 months that he has been training us, he would often be replaced by other officers, as he would be called away on business regarding to Mission City. Apparently, Lennox and his group were directly in the thick of it when the attack took place, so now they were charged with being the main ones who would oversee anything having to do with it. There were plenty of problems that still had to be taken care of, but this week was especially trying for them.
Apparently, some wanna-be know it all was spreading rumors about what really happened during the attack, saying it was giant robots from space that came to take over Earth. At first, he was easily blown off by the public, people generally like to believe what makes more sense, and a terrorist group seemed more believable. But then he started posting pictures. And videos.
They could have been easily ignored as something generated by some techie with a large imagination and attention to detail. But whoever it was, was smart. How could animated videos explain the prints left behind on the ground and the blue colored ooze that no one seemed to figure out where it came from? How could terrorist bombs explain the thick grooves that looked as if they came from some overcharged Wolverine the size of a house? He used newspapers and media feeds to connect the dots, and that got a lot of people riled up. While there was still some speculation about the existence of giant robots, there was no doubt that the government had lied about what really happened.
New theories and stories were constantly popping up every hour. Some seemed to be getting close to what the government wanted to hide, so Lennox and his team were brought in to deal with it all. We only saw him for a few hours during the last week, the rest of the time he was dealing with that mess.
"All right everyone, listen up. "
We all straightened up in our seats, as we were used to when Lennox talked to us. It was instinct by now.
"I'm sure you all have heard about Mission City. Everyone knows about the damage done and the amount of people that died. What you don't know is what really happened," Lennox said." The media said it was a terrorist attack, but it wasn't the usual type of terrorists that we normally hear about."
My heart ticked. Were they really going to tell the truth? To us? We were still new, and I'm pretty sure that we didn't have that much clearance yet. Was this some kind of test? Or some twisted joke? I still get nightmares about flashing red eyes and some weird clicking language, but I always manage to convince myself that it was just my imagination making it up as a coping mechanism.
I leaned back in my chair and crossed my arms, the perfect definition of calm, bored interest on the outside. On the inside, I felt like a kid again, afraid to sleep without the light on because the monsters would come and get me. I felt my chest tighten all of a sudden, I had a bad feeling about this.
The techie had come in while Lennox was talking, and the TV was booting up now. Soon after, General Morshower, a serious faced man, whose hair was practically nonexistent, popped up.
"Good evening, Lennox. Took you long enough."
"Sorry, sir. Technical difficulties and all that."
Morshower rubbed his face, in a way similar to the way Lennox had just a few moments before. He had been dealing with the Mission City business as well, so it wasn't surprising that he was just as tired , if not more so, than Lennox.
"All right let's get this over with. " Morshower straightened up in his seat before turning back to us. "Now, I know you've all noticed that more often than not, Lennox here had to be replaced by someone else to look over your training, so that he could help me with business regarding Mission City."
"Let me make this clear straight away. Those terrorists that attacked all those months ago, are still on the run, and they have no intention of backing down. The threat is not over. They may be weak right now, we've hit them hard, but they're regrouping, and it's only a matter of time before they try something else. Lately, they've been getting impatient, and we've had a few stragglers feeling brave enough to try to stir shit up again. Lennox and his team have been on the front making sure that doesn't happen. But it hasn't been enough; and that's where Nest comes in.
"Nest is going to be our direct response towards these criminals; it is going to be focused solely on combating the enemy with weapons specialized in taking them down and solid tactics to minimize our losses," he said. "They've made it clear that they are nothing more than psychopaths that cannot be dealt with in any other way other than brute force; they're fanatics completely dedicated to their cause."
So that's what they wanted. They wanted to be prepared, understandably so, but why were they talking to only us new recruits? Shouldn't this be the whole army's concern?
He looked towards Lennox, who until now had stayed quiet, and motioned forward for him to take over.
The Major took a deep breath before starting, "Just to be clear, from now on, whatever you are going to be told, is confidential to only those present. When you signed those papers at the beginning of your recruitment, you signed an agreement saying that unless given authorization, you cannot talk about anything with red tape unless given direct permission by a higher up. "
"Apart from the terrorists, we also met a group who were dedicated to simply fighting against the terrorists, calling themselves the Autobots. They've shared all they can about the others, who we now know call themselves Decepticons, and they're the sole reason we won that battle. The Autobots are going to be directly involved with Nest, in fact it was created because of them, the information they have makes them invaluable and they're going to be working with us to make sure the Decepticons stay down.
"I've been watching all of you these last few months during training, enough to say that I know each and every one of you pretty well. I know your strengths and weaknesses and I've picked you out from the rest, because I think you have what it takes to work with these Autobots. You're strong, determined and smart. And most importantly, you're all able to think outside the box. I need people like that, like you, in Nest. The Autobots, they're kind of …unique, and we need people who can handle unique."
He had a small smile on his face as he finished, glancing at Morshower as if thinking of some private joke.
"That they are, Major, "the general stated, leaning back into his chair. " Now obviously, we can't give full details unless you're on board with this. If you are, you're going to be working closely with the Autobots, and we need to know you can deal with something that is not completely normal."
No… It can't be … Can it?
I raised my hand. "Not completely normal, sir? What do you mean by that?"
Morshower looked a bit uncomfortable, as if he was chewing on some sour grape. "Like I said, I can't give you any more details, if you're not going forward with this, I'm sorry. But I think you can get an idea from what we've told you. There is no room for second guessing with these people; so either you're in or you're out. "
Morshower's face was no longer looking at us, as he focused on something behind the screen. His already stern mask grew if even possible more grim and hard.
"I'm afraid I'm going to have to reschedule this meeting. Lennox, we have work to do. "
And without another word, he disappeared from the screen.
"Sorry about this, but I have to go help Morshower. We'll set up another meeting as soon as possible."
And with that, Lennox too was gone.
We shuffled out of the room, and headed back to our barracks. Spencer looked deep in thought, while the others were busy discussing the short meeting.
"Sounds serious…"
"Of course it sounds serious. You think they just put everyone on the highly psychotic list?"
Ford rolled his eyes , but still kept pace with Crocker . Those two had been joined at the hip the moment they met in recruitment. Crocker was the typical joker , brother to all , resident asshole of the recruits , he got along with pretty much everybody. He was a crazy idiot at times though , and that's where Ford came in. He's the rational part of the duo , where Crocker is an impulsive brazen bull , Ford is the patient thinker who is more often than not Crocker's conscience.
"Not what I meant, idiot. I mean , Lennox handpicked us , we got into a meeting with Morshower and we have that confidentiality agreement over our heads ; they don't just do that for anything , do they ?"
"You got a point there. You think those rumors are true ? The ones about the aliens ?"
"Could be ... There was some pretty good evidence linked to those posts , so it's not impossible..." Ford replied , rubbing his chin , a habit he often did. He turned to me , asking me for my opinion . We got along pretty well , and we often hung out , just talking mostly , about everything and anything really .
" Like you said, it's not impossible. The government didn't tell us the whole story , that much was obvious from the start. Guess we're finally finding out the big truth."
Crocker groaned , catching our attention. " Ok , ok, stop. Whenever you two start talking I get a headache. It's conspiracies this , universe that . Why don't you just talk about something simple ? Like pudding ?"
"You're hungry ,aren't you ? " Ford said wearily, elbowing him lightly.
" Maybe."
I breathed out a laugh as we changed our direction to the cafeteria. "Poor baby. Come on , your brain needs all the nutrients it can get. Maybe one day you can understand all the adult talk by yourself."
" Ha ha , you're hilarious. "
So , second chapter's up .
It took longer than I thought because I'm trying to put every little detail that I'm seeing in writing , but not too much detail xp That and I keep adding and deleting stuff , I can't decide within a time limit , so when it's done it's done I guess...
Any criticism is welcome , I like knowing other people's thoughts.
Anyway , reader , hope you liked it :)