"TRIIIINNG! TRIIIINNG!"
"TRIIIINNG! TRIIIINNG!"
"TRIIIINNG! TRIIIINNG!"
"TRIIIINNG! TRIIIINNG!"
"Who is calling me at this time of the night?" yawned Jack as he pulled of his bedsheets and walked to the dresser. As he looked at the caller on the phone, all signs of sleep disappeared as he knew that a call from Brian at this time would definitely mean that something serious happened and that it would require his immediate attention.
"What happened Brian?" he asked lifting the call.
"YOU WON'T BELIEVE WHAT HAPPENED AT THE SITE ZERO!", came Brian's voice, loud enough that Jack tilted his head away from the phone.
"Did we find anything new at the site?" asked John rubbing his eyes. Brian sounded happy and excited which only happened when new discoveries were made at the site.
"OF COURSE NOT," yelled Brian. "I WOULD JUST PUT IN A MAIL FOR THAT. I WOULDN'T CALL YOU OF ALL. NOW GUESS."
"What could even make him so excited," grumbled Jack to himself with his hand over the microphone. He had just woken up and wasn't in state to tolerate Brian's antics. He always hated talking to Brian as they always involved more questions and riddles than information.
"I JUST WOKE UP AND AM NOT IN THE MOOD FOR GAMES, BRIAN!", Jack shouted back. He was hardly ever patient towards Brian's questions and decided that he wouldn't start today.
"Haha, I caught enemy. I caught enemy. I caught enemy.", Brian began repeated the same thing in a sing song tone.
"What are you saying?"
"Didn't you hear, clearly. I caught enemy, codename enemy. The Bounty number one for the past three years. I captured codename ENEMY", said Brian, yelling at the end. "I caught him sitting at my lab, while you have been searching for him all this time. Come and see for yourself."
Brian cut the call and Jack stood stunned for a couple of minutes before he was able to accept what he heard. "Impossible!", muttered Jack as he went for a glass of water. He couldn't believe that the man who evaded the capture of the entire force of MI8 and a bunch of other national clandestine agencies had gotten captured by their vice-director in charge of scientific discoveries. According to what he knew, Brian never involved himself any field operations in his life and was afraid of any action close to him. He was purely a scientist and had never had taken part of any other kind of operation even as a remote advisor. So, the news was quite shocking to him.
As he came to terms with Brian's call, he immediately called back Brain to confirm the news. This time he ended up in a conference video call with other vice directors along with Brian. Looking at their faces, he realized that none of them could believe it either. "How did this happen?" asked Jack.
"Luck, Jack. It is luck", yelled Brian happily. Brian hated Jack a lot as he had repeatedly pulled funding away from the science division to fund the search for codename ENEMY over the past few years. So, he was quite happy
"Damn it, Brian. Just tell me how Ajax ended up being your captive," yelled Jack. He looked towards the others in the call as he searched for his father, Jonathan, who was the director of MI8 agency of the United Kingdom.
As Jack, looked for his father, the others also notice Jonathan's absence. "Where is Jonathan?" asked one of them. "Why is he not here?"
"Uh! Yes, let me come to that." said Brian. "I am unable to get a hold of him. Have been trying for the past half hour. I actually tried to contact him before any of you. Even used the emergency method for a new discovery at the source, but have received no response of any kind. That is why I had called you and everyone else. If Jonathan was accessible, it would be him informing you all."
"What?"
"Are you serious, Mr. Brian"
"Jack, did you call John?"
Everyone immediately began to attempt to contact Jonathan, but none were successful. After a few minutes of repeated attempts, Jack realized that Brian didn't really mention how he had managed to capture Ajax.
"Luck," said Jack as he remembered what Brian told about Ajax's capture. "What do you mean that Ajax got capture due to luck."
"I didn't actually capture him," said Brian. "It was the system, the AI at the complex. Ajax somehow managed to gain access to the source floor and the AI locked him in. The AI put the entire complex into lockdown under some protocol, restricting all access to source floor. Let me share the video feed to you".
As Brian, shared the video, all the members in the call could see Ajax leaning by a triple reinforced polycarbonate glass door. He was still and not moving with one hand holding the door handle tightly. The room was filled with translucent white gas. The man was about 7 feet tall with a stout build, dark hair and an oriental face. He had his eyes closed and hair and clothes covered in blood.
"Is he unconscious?"
"Yes, the defenses seemed to have gassed the room making him unconscious. I have sent a few personnel to retrieve him but none managed to open or come close to the door. I tried my best to circumvent it, but it seems that only the director can do that in such a case and he needs to be physically present," replied Brian.
"It is protocol, bastion," said Jack. "It would lock the source room and activate defenses to prevent anyone from escaping. Is the source alright?"
"The source seems to be fine," said Brian as the video showed a large structure like an altar at the end of the room. The altar was studded by multiple gems, each having shining undecipherable ancient rune like symbols flickering on them. The centre of the altar had a human sized oval shaped black portal which seemed to be flickering in and out of existence.
Seeing the source fine and their adversary out cold, calmed down most of the members in the call. The entire foundation of their organization was that altar. It was named source as it randomly spewed out old instruments and vials. These items were like magic to them. It was a mystery to all but a couple of people in the agency.
All scans and analysis revealed them to be simple compounds and items from an ancient, unevolved era, but their behavior was anything but simple. Crowns that could force people to reveal their darkest secrets, drinks that could increase a person's strength by 20 times or so for an hour without any side effects. The source was the main reason for MI8's creation and for it to be able to expand its influence in many countries over the world. As the organization gained more power, no one considered the origin of these items and were satisfied as long as they kept getting them.
"Good, all is fine as long as the source is fine. There is no problem."
"Yes, I was afraid, the boy would do something to the source. With it fine our legacies are safe," said an old voice in the call.
"Good. Then, immediately capture and interrogate the bastard."
"I concur.,"
.
.
"I agree with all of this too," interjected Brian. "But according to the AI, the protocol can only be disabled by the director, who, I am unable to contact."
"Can we release poison into the room and kill the boy?"
"Yes, that would rid us of this nuisance once and for all."
"No such thing should be done," said Jack. "We don't know how he went in there and what he knows. He did something which none of us could do. We need him alive to interrogate."
A few minutes of silence followed Jack's statement as everyone thought about it. They realized that someone like Ajax would surely have kept a backup or did something to make sure someone else would receive the information in case he failed to damage the source.
"I guess that we all agree that we need to interrogate him," said Brian.
"We need Jonathan for that. What happened to him?"
"I think Ajax happened," interjected Jack. The more he thought about his father's lack of communication, the more he felt that was the case. The last thing he could do was check for his father's location. "I need to go somewhere to confirm. If I confirm that the director is compromised, I need you to get to site zero to decide upon the new director."
"Jack! I think that deciding a new director might be in haste."
"No, I know about the protocol. The doors won't open and source room is set to explode in case of any serious attempt to breach the room. The only way to get to the source now and secure it is to consider the director as dead and appoint a new interim director. This is the only case, where the security of the site will allow us to continue to use the source," explained Jack.
Hearing Jack, the everyone quieted down. Brian immediately contacted the AI to confirm what Jack told them and found it to be true. In a few seconds, one of them agreed to Jack and then the rest followed.
Jack quickly put on a suit and drove to his father's place. As he reached his father's holiday home where he expected his father to be, he saw the dead bodies of the dogs and leopards that were reared to protect the gate. As got inside, more bodies appeared, human ones along with guard dogs. A few windows were shattered, doors broken and a lot of furniture disturbed and thrown around. He soon started to yell for his father and searched the entire place. He found the bodies of everyone except his father.
Jack immediately contacted the others to inform them that a new director has to be decided upon and asked them to come to site zero. All of them need to provide DNA verification at the site and confirm on a single person for him to be recognized as the director by the site.
He felt that the entire thing might be a trap to get them all to the site and then attack them, but he also knew that they had no other options. Without the source, the influence of the organization would wane in weeks. He knew that all of the people involved understood that it might be a trap, but he also knew that they would be willing to risk their lives to retain their influence and power.
As he reached the site entrance, he saw rest waiting for him. They had brought in a lot of armed personnel. They were all ready for a battle, but everything was quiet. There is no report of any movement in the areas surrounding them and airspace was also reported to be secure. They got into the site and soon came to face Brian on a floor right above the source room. It was where the core of the security grid of the site was located and where they needed to vote on a person for the position of the director.
Within minutes Jack was appointed as the interim director and they were able to clear the gas in the source room and enter it. Every step of the way, all of them repeatedly were checking for signs of attack or any unauthorized communications, but there were none. They began to consider that Ajax actually got caught in such a situation due to hubris.
Jack and the rest of them got into the source room and had tied up Ajax sitting onto a chair as they had their personnel secure the room. Brian came up and quickly injected Ajax with a serum to wake him up. Ajax slowly opened his eyes as Jack used his newly gained position to open the Ajax's confidential details on an electronic tablet and began to peruse them.
"Ajat aa setru," Jack pronounced in an attempt to get the name right as he looked at Ajax. "That is your real name, right? Why did you change to Ajax?"
"It is pronounced Ajaatashetru," yawned Ajax. "Means one without enemies. My bounty name is enemy, shetru. Ironic, huh."
In return, Ajax received a sharp slat to his face. "Answer only what we ask of you," said Jack.
"Ajax was much easier to pronounce. So, changed the name after he adopted me," said Ajax.
"My father adopted you?" Jack question as he began to confirm the same in the information he received.
"Killed my folks. Appeared to me as their friend and promised to take care of me. Made me into his most trusted assassin," said Ajax in calm manner as he looked around. "Well, I obviously didn't know at that time, that he was the one who killed my parents."
"Definitely sounds like what he would do," agreed Jack.
"So, all this was just for revenge," asked Jack.
"Yes. Well not just revenge. He tricked me into helping him and become everything my parents hated. He corrupted the ideals of the organization. He lied to me a lot and hid the source. It is a long list," accepted Ajax. "So, I killed him. You will find his hands, eyes and blood samples near that server there", he continued tilting his head towards his left.
"About how you got into this place and who helped you?"
"Oh! whoa! Why?" asked Ajax. "It isn't like you would believe anything I told, right? You will just use that ancient magic headband to force me to speak the truth. So, why bother."
"Why is he so calm," asked Brian when suddenly the doors the room shut again locking them all in the room.
"Initiating protocol: Apocalypse," sounded a pleasant female voice throughout the site. "Self-detonation in 20 seconds."
All of them immediately pointed their guns at the entrance and started firing. But the doors and walls stayed firm without a scratch and the bullets ricocheted all around hitting others. In a second, they stopped firing as they realized that their own bullets would lead to their demise if the continued. Then, the guns turned towards Ajax.
"WHAT DID YOU DO?" they yelled in chorus.
"Wow! Did you guys rehearse that?" chuckled Ajax. He immediately heard a couple of shots as felt mind-numbing pain at his knees. He felt sudden pressure at his chest as his view turn upwards. He realized that someone shot out his knees and kicked him down to floor. He felt a few more blows on his torso as he felt the bitter taste of his blood and bile in his mouth.
"Of course, I planned to kill you, but the surprise is that Jonathan planned for it better than me. He never trusted any of you. He didn't want the MI8 to exist without him at the top. He had already written down this ridiculous 'Apocalypse' protocol. I just had to change the activation conditions," said Ajax while spitting out blood.
"How do you plan to escape? What will you gain by this?" asked Jack hoping that Ajax would have a way out for himself. He found it hard to believe that someone would destroy everything when the source could allow them to rule the earth.
"Gain? Nothing. I am equally responsible for all the atrocities done by MI8 as you. I never wanted to kill you. I just wanted to stop that source, that power that no one understands and corrupts all. This is my penance. All I expect is a good death," muttered Ajax as he lost his conscious.
"Is this the end?" asked Brian sitting down clutching his hair.
"You fool, you and dad were both fools," said Jack as he sat down. "I am fool too for allowing this to happen. I should have stopped him when I had the chance. I guess now no one can stop it."
In a couple of seconds, the voice system began to announce a countdown from 10. The altar began to shine and vibrate frightening all of them. Brian and the other ran towards the security console and started trying to get out while the others began to shout at screens hoping that the AI would stop it but nothing happened.
As the countdown came to 1, the portal on the altar shattered in a flash of light which burned so bright that everyone was blinded and scorched for a second and in the next second, there was an enormous sucking force which pulverized the entire site and disappear into the portal.
The few people who were outside the room and managed to get out of the site could only see a deep empty crater at the location of the site. A second later a wave of power emerged from that crater. It moved over everything, unseen and unnoticed by anyone as it encompassed the earth and moved further.