“What do you mean?” Meryl wondered.
Arthur’s phone started ringing.
“It’s me. Three Comm Uplinks are up. It should be safe to communicate for now."
“Perfect timing, Lowengren! Hypothetically speaking, if you are an alien race who wants to take over this world, and you plan to weaken it through making the natives fight each other, how would you do it?” Arthur immediately asked.
Lowengren was surprised at the sudden question.
“If it was me, then I’d level the playing field. I’d aid some of the countries and make them strong.”
“Just as I suspected. Anyway, I’m in the Police Comm office. I want you to take note of the following locations and I want you to find a way to attack these places. Make sure to make it look random.”
Arthur then immediately began listing all the locations that were displayed on the monitors.
“You got all that?”
“You’re asking me to attack the most influential and powerful men in this region!” Lowengren frowned.
“You have to. These guys are in collaboration with Gary Corner. Think of them as people who are in the same fold as Feltrick Ung-glaive.”
“Then they have to die.”
“These locations were being monitored. The police have been immediately dispatched to Alean’s position the moment they started the shoot-out. It seems the police are protecting these people with high-priority.”
“Then we have a problem. If what you say is true then the military may have been dispatched to Alean’s position. The Hero of Helion’s Tragedy is based here.”
Arthur frowned.
“Have them retreat. Now that we’re inside the Comm office, their mission is already accomplished.”
“On it.” Lowengren abruptly ended the call.
“It is as I suspected. Even Lowengren had the same idea.”
“What did he mean by level the playing field?”
“Make many nations stronger. If this world has only one or two superpowers, then it would be unlikely for a war to happen because everyone would be afraid to offend them.”
“So they made other nations stronger to take away that fear?”
“Yes. Seeker knew about this. That’s why he didn’t show any moral dilemma with attacking Australia. Australia is already under Aragarian control. The fact that they are protecting these places proves it! This nation was doomed to destruction in Seeker’s eyes since the beginning.”
“But isn’t it that our final enemies would be African-Russian union?”
“It could’ve been any nation. The Aragarian’s divided their resources and sent different spies on different countries to improve it with a limited set of technology. Whoever won this game would be the nation that they would control.”
Suddenly Arthur paused as he realized the urgency of Seeker’s command.
“Of course! Even Seeker can’t tell which nations belong to the Aragarian’s. And if we attack Australia then the future changes! It’s no wonder Seeker asked me to protect them.” Arthur continued to contemplate.
Meryl gave a curious look.
“Protect who?”
Arthur then sat down on the chair and started working on the computer. Several of the displayed screens were enlarged and Arthur started writing down instructions on to a piece of paper.
“Meryl, go over to these locations. I need you to raid these places and check if there are activities of human trafficking. Save as many of them as you can.” Arthur handed the paper to Meryl. He then took off the coat belonging to one of the dead officers in the room and gave it to Meryl.
Meryl didn’t argue and simply took the paper and wore the coat.
“Contact Lowengren and have him send you some of his men to help you with the extraction. Ask Lowengren to hide them somewhere safe. I won’t be there to protect you so be careful.”
“Wow. So romantic.” Meryl gave a sarcastic laugh.
“What are you going to do?”
“I’ll stay here. I’ll be the conductor of this concert.”
“Concert?”
“The Concert of Chaos.” Arthur grinned. Immediately, Arthur started typing commands and orders and sent them out on the various police officers around the city.
Meryl gave a light smile as she looked at the serious Arthur. She quietly left and gave a long stare at Arthur before closing the door.
“I guess he’s not that bad.” Meryl chuckled and started sprinting out of the room.
Stolen story; please report.
The chaos at the Octagon Square started to escalate. The sudden and quick response of the police made Alean and Cliff retreat into one of the buildings nearby.
“Damn! That was fast!” Cliff complained as he crouched over to hide from the view of the windows.
“It’s like they immediately saw what happened!” Alean cried in frustration.
“We’re not safe here.” Alean then started to sprint further inside and Cliff followed.
Several gunshots were heard outside as the police noticed the two fleeing further inside the building.
Several bullets started piercing through the concrete walls and surprised the two.
“Concrete piercing rounds.” Alean frowned.
BEEP!
Alean immediately answered.
“Kind of busy here, Lowengren!”
“I noticed. Get ready to jump on the eastern window.”
“What? There’s a lot of cops there! They’d shoot us and with that many bullets we’d be dead for sure!”
“Don’t worry. Charles is already there. I’ve prepared a huge distraction. Use that to escape.” Lowengren then ended the call.
Alean immediately started running for the eastern side.
The Australian Special Operations Police team finally started moving in. Each officer wore full body armor that could render Alean and Cliff’s guns ineffective.
The team entered the building tossing smoke grenades and flashbangs at the entrance.
Alean finally reached the eastern side of the building. She dared not peak outside in case people would notice her.
“What now?” Cliff inquired.
“Lowengren’s planning something. Get ready to take off your mask and change your disguise.”
Overlooking the northern building near the Octagon Square, the large screen monitor that was held high by the building suddenly turned itself on and the image that appeared was a familiar face.
Lowengren stood alone in a dark room.
“Did you really expect me to announce my plans? Idiots! Why would I give you the chance to disarm my bomb? Also, to the two nut jobs is ruining my night… This is my concert and I won’t have you two shooters ruin it! So get ready to run because hell is about to hit you! Australia, remember tonight! Enjoy this Concert of Chaos! For President Albert Hoross!” Lowengren immediately pushed the button of a small device he was holding.
BOOOM!
The mall on the opposite end of the building where Alean and Cliff were exploded.
A series of explosions then followed and devoured everything that was in the mall. The mall was not a prominent commercial building. It was a small-time mall which was only two stories high. And so, there was no evacuation order given to that mall.
The explosions caused panic and everyone around the mall started screaming. Several bystanders who simply stood in front of the building were burnt to death at the massive explosion. The entire building collapsed and all that remained was fire and rubble.
Alean and Cliff took the opportunity to jump outside of the building as the ring of explosions began. They sprinted off towards an area where the police were most affected and distracted. As they approached the police cars, they noticed Charles holding a miniature rocket launcher.
Charles fired the rocket towards the open window where Alean and Cliff jumped out off.
The missile zoomed in.
Back in the main headquarters, Lowengren was overlooking the monitor of one of his team members.
“Failure is not an option, Stanley.” Lowengren’s cold voice instructed.
The person manning the computer was navigating the very rocket that Charles launched. With expert skills, he navigated the missile through the narrow windows and through the doors and corridors and eventually it reached the lobby.
“What’s that?” An officer screamed as he witnessed the approaching rocket.
“Perfect.” Lowengren gave a satisfied smile and pressed on a detonator.
The rocket was strapped with several plastic explosives and was a world-renowned bomb. A masterpiece found only in the Pangean Nation. Of the Eradicating series, this was known as the Area-Eradicating Bomb.
Alean and Cliff waited beside Charles right in the middle of the police cars. The police were so distracted that they didn’t notice the three who were crouching near them. And right before any of the officers could take notice, it happened.
BOOM!
The building which Alean and Cliff just jumped out of exploded with the same terrifying force which reduced the small mall into a pile of debris. The first level of the building was burned and even the concrete started to deteriorate fast but the Adamant metal frame which held the building resisted the blast and continued to hold the building up.
The three snuck away in the midst of the confusion. The changed appearance of the two and with the fact that people were running around in fear allowed them to easily disappear into the crowd.
“That was a little too much, don’t you think?” Alean laughed as they finally found a place to hide.
“If Lowengren hadn’t acted quickly, you’d probably have a lot in your hands. The Hero of Helion’s Tragedy was on his way. And he was wearing a Torque Series Exoskeleton.”
“That guy's famous!” Cliff mumbled.
“You should listen more in class,” Alean grumbled.
“If he's wearing that Exoskeleton, then his Armor should be on one of those trucks.” Charles shook his head.
“At the very least, we wouldn’t stand a chance fighting him. Not with these weapons. Looks like our tasks end here.” Alean sighed.
“Don’t worry. You didn’t fail. Arthur’s in position. He should be starting hell soon..”
The military was finally dispatched. The entire city fell into martial law and soldiers started appearing in almost every corner of the street.
Lieutenant Lander overlooked the quick action of his platoon. Of all the soldiers there, only three wore the same Exoskeleton that he wore though lander had a distinct design and manned his trademark Purple suit.
The Exoskeleton was a 3-meter tall metal armor. It allowed its users to maintain human movements
“I knew he’d do something out of the box. He really got us.” General Garland sighed.
Lander stared at the video projection displayed on the right arm of the Exoskeleton.
“I never thought that Lowengren would be this cruel outside of the game.”
“He’s far crueler than you give him credit for. He just lost his father. And if the Malay-Pangean President was willing to go all the way to an enemy country to watch his son play then you could only imagine how close those two were.”
“What do we know of the attack on the Pangean President?”
“The Malay-Pangean President escaped after the fiasco with Gary. There were three planes that escaped this country all of which, sank. We’ve already found the crash sites. No one survived.”
“Whoever’s planning this wants to start a war.”
“We’ll deal with that later. For now, dealing with Lowengren should be our priority. If he wants death, he’ll aim for residential buildings. He doesn’t seem to have any problem killing innocent lives. However, he could also want to blow up more commercial buildings. Bring Australia down through an economic crisis.”
Lander frowned.
“Requesting for backup.”
“I already sent them. Work with the police. We need all the help we can get.”
The call ended and Lander immediately called the police through a direct line to the Main Comm Office of the police.
“This is Lieutenant Lander of the Australian Military. I need all the information you have.”
“The Hero of Helion’s tragedy himself! It’s an honor to talk to you, sir! What information do you need? It’s chaos out there sir. Reports of arson, robberies, and break-ins are piling up around the city.”
“Send me the residential and commercial zones which you haven’t secured yet. The priority is to ensure that no other bomb blows up in this city. I’ll send you the coordinates of our men so that you can fill the gaps. That is all for now.”
“Sir, Yes sir!”
Lander immediately disconnected the call and sent the GPS tracking of all soldiers in the city.
On the other end of the call, Arthur could not help but smile.
“This makes things a lot easier.”