Now
The Island
"That's amazing." said Priest through his helmet, as he watched Mona punching Shaun in the face time and time again, each time Shaun didn't try to avoid it, he didn't even flinch as he saw Mona's fist coming, he just too it and staggered back, or sometimes fell, and when he did he would get up and wait for the next one.
"What is?" asked Sayid as he stood at Priest's side.
"I just started with him three days ago; already he's learned what it takes others months to learn."
"What the hell did you teach him?" asked Sayid, "How to get hit in the face?"
"Exactly. Once he's all properly got the mindset I'm going to start teaching him the actual fighting."
"A peculiar method if you ask me, did government training use to be like that in your day?"
"It wasn't the government that taught me, it was an old evil bastard called Abraxas."
Shaun fell to the ground, collapsed like a sack of bricks on the sand and didn't seem to be about to get up anytime soon. Sayid shook his head and started walking away.
"Priest, I think Shaun's had enough." said Mona as she nursed her hand, "And my hand is killing me."
"Alright, we'll carry him to your tent and let him sleep it off. When he waked up and the swelling goes down, we'll start again."
"No," said Mona as she picked Shaun up by the feet, "When he wakes up and the swelling goes down, he's going to continue target practice."
"Fine, how's that going anyway?" asked Priest as he picked Shaun up by the arms.
"He's doing okay. He's starting to get comfortable with the grip of a gun."
"We'll have to work out a system," said Priest, "Maybe I can have evenings and you can have him for the afternoon?"
"Sounds reasonable."
Dubai, U.A.E.
"I watched from a slit in the side of Priest's tent as you had the man who tried to kill me killed." said MacGuffin, "Up until that point I was convinced that my jail break and the entire island was merely set up to get me to confess y true identity."
Jenny, Nemo, Raimus, Mason and MacGuffin were sitting and drinking tea while al-Sheikh, the suite's resident stood by the window and smoked as he quietly sized up MacGuffin.
"I wasn't sure, though. The League had shape-shifters in their employ, skilled impersonators and Bond would spare nothing for the peace of mind that would come with knowing that he had me for good. And so, when I had heard that you were sailing away, I knew this may be my only chance to escape and learn who all of you really were. So I swam to the submarine, and hid in the cargo hold until I sensed that enough time had elapsed and I emerged. Exiting the submarine, I swam to the shore and after an hour of pick pocketing drunken tourists, managed to get myself looking presentable as I am right now. I made a few calls first, to contacts who corroborated that I was indeed missing."
"What contacts?" asked al-Sheikh.
"Within the League itself, the New York branch precisely. Anyway, once I had known that I was free, I found lodgings for the night and had some truly restful sleep. And here we are."
"Its about time we talked, then." said Nemo, "About Phoenix, that is."
"First I have a few demands, grant them and in exchange I will help you to the best of my abilities." said MacGuffin, "I want constant protection and some freedom in going where I please."
"Done."
"I also want some money, enough to maintain a Suitable comfortable style of living." said MacGuffin, "I will follow you anywhere, but not to that island again."
"Done."
"If and when you've managed to fulfill your plans, I will be released, and will be granted an adequate severance pay. Agreed."
"Agree." said Nemo.
"Well, then." said MacGuffin with a smirk, "Are you sitting comfortably? Then let us begin."
"It was after the war of '67 that I first started thinking of Phoenix, what Phoenix is, or was at the time was a massive covert operation, absolutely devious yet extremely effective, the purpose was end the turmoil in the Middle East. It involved certain assassinations, followed by framing innocent parties, rigged elections, inciting civil turmoil, moving pieces around across a massive chess board, and in the end would be a very possible peace and security, permanent and stable. A Jewish state living side by side with an Arab state... Now to you, this seems absolutely insane, but I assure you that it could have worked.
"My proposal was met with mixed feelings, my superiors were impressed and saw the possibility of success, but couldn't take the risk and vigorously disagreed with the methods. They ordered me to carry on, and think of a less bloody and expensive way. It was 1969, when Bond was married and his wife killed on the same day. He was not the same after that, MI6 found that he had become too violent and unruly so they cut him loose. In 1970, I recruited him myself into the League, he may have been too unstable for her majesty's secret service but not for us. I mean look at the kind of people the League have employed over the years; Edward Hyde, Alphonse Moreau... He fitted in quite nicely, really.
"The reason I recruited him was that I needed some most able personnel aid me in gathering the proper intelligence. I already had one operative, but I needed another. The first operative was stationed in Tel Aviv, Bond operated in Beirut, Cairo and Damascus. The Tel Aviv operative was Mina Jekyll, who in those days went by the pseudonym of Josephine Murray.
"In 1974, I had been granted more personnel to pursue what I wanted. Bond was promoted and returned to London, where I decided to integrate him into the more significant aspects of Project Phoenix. Josephine was reassigned, she protested but it didn't change anything, she relocated to the states where she started working for the American Branch of the League... Back in those days there were only just two branches. Anyway, Bond grew more and more committed to Phoenix, he said that he had found his life's purpose. It made him alive again. And I should admit, I was thrilled at the time to find someone who shared my vision.
"By 1977, it became apparent to us that there was more that we could do in the middle east, so we decided to expand our horizons a bit, and involve the neighboring regions in the process, orchestrating a regime change in those countries that would insure a buffer zone of sorts in case the farther Arab nations decided to threaten the stability of the region. By 1980 we were ready to initiate Project Phoenix, at that point Bond and I had the same rank, and we were equal partners, Project Phoenix's parents, as it were... I can't tell you how I felt when the higher ups in the League decided it wasn't time yet, ordering us to give it a few more years. Bond and I were frustrated, but had to comply. Years later I learned, quite accidentally, that our setback of 1980 was actually instigated by my dear friend and partner; James Bond.
"I confronted him with it, he didn't deny, and apologized, saying that reforming the Middle East wasn't enough, that there was so much more that we could do. That was during New Years party of 1985; our relationship became strained and crumbled within the year from all our repetitive conflicts and fights. Within another year, I had come to the realization that Bond had all the control over Phoenix, myself being a silent partner at best, and that he had extended it to cover all of the middle east and Africa, as well as parts of central Asia.
"Bond was made Deputy Director of the League late in 1987, he outranked me considerably, and I was growing more and more frustrated with each liberty he took with my life's work, resorting to doing anything to make things as difficult as possible for him in connation with all business related matters. I had come to the realization that sooner or later, Bond was going to realize that sooner or later I was going to ruin things completely for him, and that he had to get rid of me to make everything go his way. I knew there was no way I could stip0 him, there was no one on my side capable of covering me forever, and so I decided to get out while I could. Retire.
"But no one retires when they're with us, not really. So my only option was to die, and so I called up my old friend Edward Temple and asked for his help, knowing that the London criminal underground was largely out of the League's domain. I faked my death in Florida and I had been on the run ever since. Now, you have to realize a few things about Phoenix and the League, the more we spent time developing it, the longer its perceived time of completion became, and the more time we spent developing it, the more new blood started to rise to power in the League. People who were thinking bigger and bigger, having no qualms with doing anything as long as it could be done covertly and with minimal direct involvement, acting as the shadows behind the curtain.
"I had managed to disappear, and I could continue to do so until now if it weren't for one thing, I couldn't turn my back on what was going to happen, I couldn't beat the idea of being as oblivious as everyone else when the bomb dropped. I needed to know what was going on back in the League; I needed to know what had Bond managed to do with my life's work. It took some effort and any risks, but I managed to do it.
"Do what, exactly? You may wonder." said MacGuffin as his eyes glimmered, "Acquire the plans for Project Phoenix in its current form. A five year plan, commencing in 2007 and concluding in 2012, preceded by a decade and a half of preparation."
"What is it?" Nemo asked in magnificent awe, his heart racing as he knew all the knowledge he craved was imminent.
"War, Captain Nemo." said MacGuffin, without a spec of levity in his voice, "A full scale war, not a world war, a global war. A war fought by every weapon known to man, incendiary, bacterial, chemical and nuclear, fought by every nation and every army in the world. A war to end all wars."
"And all life as well." said Raimus, "My god! 'Five Years'! Aladdin Sane knew about this, but his madness prevented him from telling us!"
"That's... that's impossible!" said Jenny in a near whimper.
"I'm afraid not, madam." said MacGuffin, "That's their plan, five years of instability, suffering and horror. And in the end, when the smoke cleared and the dust has settled, there will be a stronger loving world, a world with all the sins and the defects of the old one burned out of it.
"A bold new world," mumbled Nemo, "Rising out of the rubble of the old one, like a Phoenix out of the ashes."
"How do I know that this...all of this, isn't just a song and dance to get me to join?" asked al-Sheikh as he lit his fifth cigarette.
"You're the spymaster." said Mason, "Decide for yourself if you believe this or not."
"We need to get back to headquarters." said Raimus, "Our people have to be informed."
"No, you have to get back to your headquarters." said MacGuffin, "I just said that I'm not getting back to that Island."
"We're going back to our headquarters." said Mason, "The Island is not our headquarters. It's just a place where we decided who we needed to cut loose. You're coming with us."
"Hmmm. Fine, just don't forget about our agreement."
The four delegates got up, and so did MacGuffin.
"We will leave this evening." said Nemo, addressing al-Sheikh, "You have till then to make your inquiries, and decide if you are ready to join the opposition, or are satisfied with the third camp."
The five walked to the door, leaving al-Sheikh alone, smoking and pondering what he has just heard.
Now you know, I hope you're not too disappointed. But still, if Austin Powers didn't kill himself, he'd be here telling us that he finds the prospect of nuclear world war more frightening than anything, including carnies.
R&R.