Within his room, Ameer was watching the news for the first time today. There had been no need earlier, because his drones gave him a front row seat. Still the 100th Stem attack in the USA within the year was big news, so he needed to gauge societies reaction. Not only that, but the director of U.N.S.E.A herself was about to arrive directly at the attack site. The Georgia U.N.S.E.A base was in Savannah, but that wasn’t where she was coming from. She was flying directly from the global headquarters in New York City, 10 miles south of the United Nations headquarters. It had been about two and a half hours since Cory’s attack ended at this point. Rescue crews had just finished finding the last survivors, as well as the remains of those who had been near the line of fire and a random limb or head here and there from those who suffered direct hits.
The anchor woman spoke: “This is Tina Tucker here with World News Network. About 40 minutes away from our headquarters in Atlanta, J.D. Johnson High School in Clayton County, the 100th Stem attack in the United States this year has happened. We have hundreds of videos from people in the community pouring in. There are over 400 confirmed injuries and 116 confirmed deaths so far from the school alone! Of the injured, about 70% of them are in critical condition and may not make it! I repeat, that’s from the school alone! The projectiles fired by the Stem, who was identified as a student here, flew into the greater community! He fired off eight in total! Thankfully, the one that flew towards the pre-school here only hit the outdoor playground!” Tears were welling up in her eyes. Her voice began to crack as she said “I’m sorry, I can’t do this….” She broke down as the camera panned away.
A caravan of black vehicles pulled up. The news cut back to the studio anchor, “We’ve just received word the director of U.N.S.E.A has arrived. She will be giving a speech shortly. But folks I must say, this has been a devastating day. Something must be done about Stem attacks.”
Cherrae was cuddled up to her husband, laying on his chest. “Well this should be interesting. Ionia doesn’t talk much.” The camera watched as Ionia Allard, a true amazon, emerged from one of the vehicles. This six foot two woman was only 2 inches shorter than Ameer. She had brunette wavy hair, jet black eyes currently covered by shades, and slightly tanned white skin. She wore a standard black suit that you would see someone in charge of a government entity wearing. On her left side, she had the 10 point star badge of U.N.S.E.A. She approached the podium that was set up. Whoever came up with the notion that size and grace were antithetical had never seen this woman walk. She turned towards the audience and cameras as she removed her shades. She looked out among them with the stoic look that she was known for. She took a deep breath and finally began to speak. This was not her first time in a situation like this, yet things were different this time.
“Ladies and gentlemen,” she began. “Well what can I say that hasn't been said a thousand times before?” Her voice began to crack, and the stoic woman she had been known for being began to melt away. “Three weeks from now, I was to be celebrating my 20th anniversary at U.N.S.E.A, and my 5th year as it’s International Field Director. Yet, today on these school grounds, I am reminded vehemently why U.N.S.E.A exists in the first place.” She paused. Tears were rolling down her face. Ameer spoke “Who knew that woman was capable of crying?” Cherrae: “Ameer!” He and Ionia had interacted several times before. They disliked each other instinctively from the day they met, similar to TaeJean and Cory. Whenever they would run into each other at government events, technology conventions, or places where the rich happened to hang out, they always exchanged snide remarks.
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The tears rolled down Ionia’s face even more as she spoke. “You know, I entered this line of work to prevent deaths. I truly try my best, yet whenever I hear of a situation like this I feel so powerless.” She cried more and more, looking down as the tears fell of her face. She managed to choke up a message to the anchor crews. “Please don’t cut away. I just need a second.” For three minutes humanity watched as the toughest woman in the world broke down. Finally she spoke again and got her final message through.
“I can’t say anything that hasn’t been said for the 99 other Stem attacks in the United States this year, or any other Stem attack globally. I know these will sound like empty words to the victims and their families, but I promise you. I will do everything in my power to prevent anything like this from happening again. Thank you.” She put her shades on and turned around. The anchors decided to pepper her with no further questions. The screen cut back to the news room and the on screen anchors spoke. “That was U.N.S.E.A field director Ionia Allard speaking at J.D. Johnson High School, the site of today's Stem attack. Ladies and gentleman, I have never seen her cry. This just shows you how devastating this day has been for everyone.”
Ameer turned off the television, and looked at his wife. Cherrae spoke: “You know, if things get bad, we may have to combine forces with U.N.S.E.A one day.” Ameer: “Over my dead body!” Cherrae laughed. “Still, we should help her out. Everyone knows what rogue Stems can do. Can you imagine rogue Soul-Borgs?”. Ameer responded, “That’s assuming the person who stole it knows how to make Spirit Agitating Nanites.” Cherrae’s tone changed. “You think it’s such a far leap? After all, whoever stole the ‘Rock’ knew what they were looking for. In fact, they don’t have to even make S.A.Ns. I’m sure there are other applications of Spiritanium. You barely experimented with it after all. You let barely anyone else deal with it either. So even without S.A.Ns, they should be able to come up with some form of their own Soul-Tech. In fact I am fairly certain they will, and soon too.” Ameer raised an eyebrow. “What makes you so sure they will SOON?” Cherrae spoke calmly. “Think about it. You hid a mountain sized chunk of magical space rock in an alternate pocket dimension with a crap ton of security measures. Dozens of drones, robots, and hard light constructs. Not to mention me, the kids, and all the employees. Someone managed to break in and steal it. You know how ridiculously smart you are. So, think my love. How smart was the person who robbed you?”