Offensive Operations

Chapter 3

3

Joey was watching the television along with the rest of his delta squad. They were national heroes in a time when the whole world seemed to be in need of a hero; at least they were for fifteen minutes because of what they did or claimed to do at the convention.

Now the war was over and the new president was going to address the nation today, but about what the announcement didn’t say.

“Dude, do you think that the president is gonna tell us all. that he’s declaring martial law?” Brianna asked them.

“I doubt it, besides he’s not really the President. Nobody knows where this guy came from,” Angel replied, but he never took his eyes off the television.

“Doesn’t that voice sound familiar to any of you?” Joey asked them as he tried to place the President’s voice in his mind with someone else, he’d been doing it since the first time he heard it and it was driving him crazy.

“Yeah, it sounds like that green and gold freak who took down those other weirdos at the convention, just with less electronic interference,” Kelly said as an afterthought.

“Son of a Thursday, you’re right. It’s him,” Joey said, standing up in shock as he stared at the screen with wide eyes.

“The president is a maniac,” Tyler said calmly, but the idea spread among them like wild fire. This was as about as far away from good as anyone could possibly be. Now they all needed to see what the monster had to say and the possibility of it being anything positive was dying quickly. They watched and the fear that something terrible was coming increased by the second.

Cody wasn’t exactly nervous about the speech. He just didn’t know how good he’d be at doing it. He took a deep breath and walked up to the podium yet again and put hands on the sides of it. He stared into the cameras with the gaze most of his enemies never actually got to see as it was usually behind armor.

Cody had a good idea of what he was going to say but the country was tearing itself apart over him being the president, uninvited and unelected, this was the only thing he could think of to do.

As the press conference began all Cody could think about was the war and all the lives that were lost, on both sides. The mysterious red army were fighting to survive and he knew full well that the loss of the war meant the destruction of everyone on their world.

That thought haunted Cody as much as the amount of death they had caused. He took a breath and began to speak what came to mind, something he hoped would help everyone calm down.

"America, we and the rest of the world have had to unite to stand against an extraordinary evil that nobody expected. The battle was hard and many people fell on fronts all over the world. The War has changed the events of human history forever; life on this planet will never be the same. The challenge was great but we worked together and overcame it, however a greater challenge awaits the human race in the future. As peace descends upon the world once more I would ask you to remember those who have fallen in our defense, the ultimate sacrifice that has been made by countless people. American fighting men and women died with those of every country of the world,” Cody said into the cameras and continued.

“Because of this peace and rebuilding can return to our world. I know that you did not elect me, or even know me, but you can trust me. I will not declare martial law, raise taxes or make any major changes in the system like I said. All I am asking from all of you is to not worry so much about me and place your energy in rebuilding this country of ours. Donate your time, money and skills if you have them. Everyone is important now; we all need one another in this time of rebuilding. So I urge all of you to be united, when the elections come you can choose a new leader for yourselves or I am sure by then the rightful person will be here instead of me and you can elect that guy or not,” The acting president didn't have much to say in this grim time.

The world was, in many places still finding and burying the dead from both sides of the war. Cody didn’t know why the Vice president didn’t take over he was doing the best he could and none of this made any sense to him.

More and more he felt like a pawn in the Syndicate’s game, despite doing all of this, they hadn’t made contact yet. He didn’t like it one bit.

Joey and the others were shocked as soon as he heard the voice and their worst fears were realized. It wasn’t the first time he listened to the President actually say anything, but since he connected the dots of the true identity of the president, his blood ran cold. He had to be the maniac in the green and gold armor at the convention last year there was no way it was anyone different.

None of them would never forget that voice and even though it sounded strange at the time there was no mistaking it now. “See, now all of my theories make sense,” Joey said to himself. “Theories, like what?” Kelly asked as he leaned back into his chair.

“Well, I thought that convention thing was odd. I mean we all agree that the other four were the real squad, right?” Joey said but no one really agreed with him on this point, but to get him to shut up about it they just rolled with it. “I think that green guy was, is, their leader and the president is the actual leader of the Delta Squad. There is no way they’d let a maniac be in charge of the country,” Joey said to them.

“Yeah, but you know, strangely enough the only members who ever called themselves the Delta Squad was us and most of the people there still think it was nothing more than a really big advertisement it for you done by the convention,” Brianna said to him.

She was getting annoyed by Joey’s constant theory making, as were the rest of them.

Joey was pissed.

He believed that he and his friends deserved some kind of a metal for putting their life on the line like he was sure they did. He wasn’t happy with his fifteen minutes of heroic fame the media gave to him. He wanted more and was determined now more than ever to actually get it, but now he needed to figure out how.

“Alright guys, the ‘president’ should have at least mentioned us. We did a lot too. But now that I know his secret, I intend to use it to my full advantage,” Joey said but had no idea how he was going to do it yet.

“Well, while you do that, I am going home. I’ve had enough conspiracy for one day,” Tyler said, the others liked the idea. “Yep, it’s about that time to go back to the world of sanity,” Angel said and stood up. Joey was used to this from his friends by now.

“Fine, go, you’ll thank me later when we are all rich,” Joey said to them, never taking his eyes off of the television as they left his living room. As the president was talking about war and skills or something like that, he looked at the screen.

“I intend to start traveling the country; I am going to speak to random students about the reality of our situation. I believe that these kids are our future and I think that we as politicians have grown too distant from our youth. Fifteen random high schools will be chosen for visitation, this journey will begin tomorrow,” Cody said to everyone who was watching the speech.

Joey got chills down his spine then as those eyes seemed to be staring right through him on the screen. He knew that the new president remembered him and Joey knew that without a doubt that his life was going to change.

“Oh, you guys, you should have stuck around just a few minutes longer,” he said to himself, considered calling them to report what he just heard.

“They’ll hear about it on their own,” Joey figured and didn’t bother to tell them anything.

It was about fifteen seconds after that the president left the podium and the typical news reporting on the appearance started up; Joey shut the television off then and went to his room. His parents would be home from work at some point he was sure. He’d been awake ever since the reported death of 188 and was covering every second of news that he could find. He’d been up for a very long time and even skipped school to witness history in the making.

Now he was too tired to function.

His mind raced with thoughts over and over again, the sun went down sooner this time of the year, as his room grew darker he drifted into wild dreams of battlefields, violence, heroes and villains.

Before he knew it, his alarm was going off and it was time to get up for school. He rolled over and shut it off; as usual he was not entirely looking forward to the new day.

“No worse enemy than a blaring alarm,” Joey said with sleep still thick in his mind, as much as he wanted to go back to sleep, the memories from the so-called president’s announcement from yesterday shot him full of energy once more, he sat up with a strange energy and he opened his eyes. “Right, psychopathic maniac runs the country now, better wake up,” he said as a reminder.

It was not a normal day for him because usually his mind was always focused on some imaginary battlefield and there is no other place he would rather be than writing down what he saw in his head after a vivid set of dreams but today was different.

Joey, like most kids, was thankful his state, along with most of America had gone untouched in the war but most mornings like this he wished that someone would have blown up his school. Even if it was on accident.

There was nothing worse for a teenager than having to wake up for school, most of the time, even in this post war world he lived in. The daily routine hadn’t changed, Joey’s parents were already long gone and this was the normal way of life for him and many others that he knew. The war had devastated the economy and just to get by anymore, sacrifices had to be made.

Joey tried his best, as he always did to try and push the memories from before the war out of his mind as he got ready for school. Going through the motions only took a few minutes; soon he was out the door, on his bike heading down the street.

School was boring and it was always boring even in this age with so much going on in the world stage around them; some things would never actually change. The leader of the delta squad deserved better than this and he was sure of it.

His writing was even more popular online now, but it wasn’t doing him any favors yet. Joey had never thought to charge for any of it, and he knew full well it was hard to get anything published in a book if it was already online for free somewhere for anyone to see. He cursed himself many times a week for this, but didn’t know how to change it.

Now that headache was coming back to haunt him because everyone knew about the story but he wasn’t making a single penny off of it and this was frustrating. To sit in some room with the boring lecture from a teacher that droned on about something he didn’t care about should have been considered t*****e.

Joey had other things on his mind and was expecting his life to change in a really big way, he was anxious and twitchy.

He was about to slam his head into his desk and try to pass out into a better world where the heroes got the credit they really deserved, and maybe the money too because money was always nice. Anything would be better than this tension.

He was lost in his thoughts when the intercom came on Joey nearly jumped out of his in surprise as his intense concentration was shattered by a voice from the loudspeaker.

"Attention all students and faculty, there will be a special school assembly in fifteen minutes in the gym." The lady on the other end said to them all, but she seemed on edge. Even the teacher seemed surprised at this announcement and had a confused look on his face at the news. The others didn’t seem too excited by this but Joey’s mind was on fire.

He didn’t expect this to happen this fast, but at the same time he didn’t know how he couldn’t have not expected it. The president, no, the monster was coming for him. If Joey knew what he thought he and his friends knew one of two things was about to happen here. Either they were going to be rewarded or they were about to disappear.

Joey almost thought about making a run for it but decided against it. He got up with the rest of the class and made his way towards the gym with the others.

Once he got there, he met up with the rest of his squad members, this year they didn‘t have any classes together and that just added to the harsh nature of school he was forced to experience.

The five of them acknowledged with a nod and a smile but the situation was rushed so they sat down next to one another despite the teachers trying to tell the others where to go.

“Do you still think the president is the green and gold guy?” Kelly asked him and Joey looked at him and the others. “You know you didn’t need to bring it up, but yes, yes I do,” he replied, to him it was obvious they didn’t catch or watch the news after they left his place and Angel couldn’t help but laugh.

“You know we like picking on you when we get the chance, lighten up at least we didn’t all die,” Angel said to him and Brianna was more than ready to agree with this with a nod.

“School is better than death,” she added on to that. Even if they didn’t get their national amount of fame they had desired, everyone at school respected them just for the amount of internet popularity they got, even though not too many actually believed the convention story as they told it.

“So, does anyone know what this is going to be or are we all in the dark?” Brianna asked and Tyler just crossed his arms

“I bet it’s some kind of anti-d**g thing, it’s always that,” Tyler said and was annoyed because where ever he was he liked it better than being here it was easily seen. Joey knew, or was at least pretty sure he knew what this was going to be all about. It was going to be all about them one way or another.