Project S.T.A.R. (5)
Anthrax headquarters; 2pm... Once we entered the school and sent off our vehicles and suits to maintenance, we were welcomed by a mob of students, officials, and teachers. Apparently, everyone had heard of our stunning victory against the ruthless Prof. Simon Rancor. It seemed as if everyone had forgotten about my past. People were proud of me! I received high-fives and slaps on the back. My jaws hurt from smiling so much. I had never been so happy! Then..."Felix Alvarado, agent #27, please report to the briefing room, STAT!" blared the intercom. My smiles quickly faded. I raced through the crowd for the briefing room. Once there I expected my whole team to be there. But as the door closed, I noticed that it was just me and Dr. Kraken, alone. "Sit my boy." He motioned for me. I walked slowly over to the cushioned leather seat and sat down uncomfortably. "Umm...sir? Is this about the trial?" I asked nervously. He looked away from me. "Nope. That is not the purpose of this discussion. It is about YOU Felix." He said. I took a deep breath. Then he turned to me and we locked eyes. "Felix, "the Minister", Anthrax operators, my personal officials, and I have reviewed the tapes and discussions from your team today. We have studied them many, many times and Felix, I want to be the first to tell you that what you did today was beyond amazing. I have never seen that type of courage or stability in ANY Anthrax student until today. And I helped create them all! I am not here to punish you Felix. But I am here to congratulate you. You may be the one we are looking for to be the first to lead the other 99 students in taking the next step in the Anthrax revolution." He ended. I was flattered. Dr. Kraken was not known for complimenting a student. "I knew you would do great things Felix. Do you have anything to say?" he asked me. There was one question that I had been meaning to ask him for the past 3 years. I never had the chance, until now. "Dr. Kraken, I know that we are helping mankind but, how much longer are we going to have to do this?" I asked cautiously. His attitude turned dark. He no longer smiled. "What's wrong Felix? Don't like all the attention you're getting? Don't like the danger, the killing?" he asked strongly. "I just want to be normal." I said, eyes on the floor. "WELL YOU CANNOT EVER BE NORMAL! YOU OR ANY OTHER DAMN PERSON HERE! YOU ARE GOING TO DO THIS FOR THE REST OF YOUR LIFE! NOW GET THE HELL OUT!" he roared. I was already out of the door. That night, I couldn't sleep. I don't know if it was insomnia or if it had just been because it was the first day at the Anthrax school that I was truly a person to be reckoned with. I had gotten email from many high officials from other Anthrax schools. I had pushed my squad to #1 on the missions completed charts. I had gained respect from each and every squad in Antopolis. For once, I was happy. But I couldn't directly deal with it. At about 12:00midnight I left my room and walked up to the roof of the school. On our roof, there is this big recreational area for us to hang out on our free time. It was always open, so now a few kids with their own problems sat in groups or by themselves. I sat on one of the benches overlooking the beautiful Anthrax downtown district. After about ten minutes I heard a noise from behind me. I looked around to find Taylor walking towards me. "Hey." I said simply. "Hey. I thought I would find you here." She said as she took a seat beside me. "Felix, I don't know how the others feel, but I'm sorry for everything. I feel guilty about what I did to you." She said slowly. I nodded. "Thanks. It hasn't been an easy few weeks." "So how does it feel." She asked me. I knew exactly what she meant, but I played dumb. "How does what feel?" I asked. "You know...the attention. I mean, you've been in our shadow for years and yet now, everyone knows you and respects you. How does it feel?" she ended. "You sound like a reporter. I love it all but it's putting a lot of pressure on me. First there's Dr. Kraken and all his bullshit and now everyone likes me because I saved so many lives today...what happens if I fail? I go right back in my squads shadow." I said. "You know, don't even worry about it. The squad is going to be always supporting you and helping you. Ray even said that he knows you are going to be a much better leader than he ever was." That was a relief. "Taylor, have you ever thought about what it would be like if we were normal?" I asked seriously. "All the time. Everyday I think about what it would be like. Going to a normal school. Normal friends. Normal life instead of the hellish things we do here everyday." She said. "Taylor, I think Dr. Kraken is planning something for us. I don't think it is any good though." I told her. She eyed me suspiciously. "What do you mean?" she asked. "Today he told me that I might be first to lead the other 99 students in the next step of the Anthrax revolution. What do you think he means by that?" I asked. She looked mystified. "I don't know. If it is any worse than this, I don't really want to have anything to do with it." She said. There's gotta be a way out of this life. I thought, staring at the endless view of skyscrapers. Friday; 2:56pm... It was finally Friday! The week had been a drag mostly. But it was a good week for me especially. Now I wasn't known as the lowly follower who escaped with a not guilty verdict, but a leader among leaders. As I packed up getting ready for the outside life I suddenly remembered that I had left my watch in my equipment locker, which was way underground. We usually get out of "school" at about 2pm on a Friday, but my squad had to finish a mission before we came back. So now the school was mostly vacant. No one else was present but me. Should I take the main elevator or the back one? I thought. I decided to take the back elevator because it was much closer to my locker than the other one. Once underground, I proceeded to my locker. I had to go past the main executive offices. It was off limits at all times. No one's around, I won't get noticed if I just go through the office hallway. I thought deviously. I sneakily walked through the hallways of the executive offices when I heard sudden loud shouts from one of the rooms. People were in there having a loud, abrasive discussion in one of the executive rooms. Just being my often nosy self, I wanted to hear what was so important that whoever was in there, had to shout about. I recognized Dr. Kraken's voice. There were others in there as well. I didn't know that this discussion would affect me and everyone else in the Project S.T.A.R. program. It went like this: Dr. Kraken: "This plan will revolutionize the Anthrax way of life. We have yet to see the maximum damage our pupils can do." Person #1: "Yes we have yet to see what they can fully do. What do you propose Dr. Kraken?" Dr. Kraken: "On Monday, we will go through a series of "tests" on one of our students. Yes we are in the midst of shutting CRIME down but, this will bring us out of the midst and into the clouds. My plan is that we go into a Phase 5 of out Anthrax testing- Person#2: "Sir don't you think that is just too much? I mean we need to have some sympathy for- Dr. Kraken: "HUSH. We created them. We will do as we wish with them. And after it is all done, we will kill them. On Monday a specially selected individual will be the first to experience the new and improved Anthrax personality. The plan is to tap into the microchip of the person and start the pre-programmed Phase 5 plan. This will add a mental lock over the person. In other words, it will take over their whole brain. They will be our slaves and they will only obey whatever we tell them to via the interface. So basically, they will become full time Anthrax agents. They will become the suit. The will have no sense of reason or free will at all. They will be indestructible. And we will be...invincible." [Other people in the room yell and applaud] Person #3: "What about the other agents? How will we get them to go forth with it?" Dr. Kraken: "Easy. With the selected person that I have chosen, we will just us them to persuade everyone else to do it by the means of lying, of course." Person #4: "But Dr. this person must be someone that the students can trust and respect." Dr. Kraken: "Yes I realize that. In the past three years, I have seen the children do ruthless things. I have watched them succeed, and fail. I have been watching, waiting for someone that they all look up to so he or she can lead them all in the our hellish plan. And that is why I have chosen Agent #27, Felix Alvarado." [more applause] I stumbled as I backed away from the door. The color in my face drained. I was terrified by their evil plan. What they did to us already was evil, but this is something even more evil! I suddenly stood up and ran out of that room, in and out of the elevator, out of the school, out of the misery. I kept running until I finally reached the Tram station, out of breath. As I sat down, waiting until I got home, I felt horrible. There want to turn me into a fucking robot! And then they expect to control me into lying to everyone else until all of us become permanent slaves of Anthrax! Well I'm not going out without a damn good fight. I thought angrily as I clenched my fists until they bled. Once at home I put on my Oscar award winning cover so my parents wouldn't see how upset I was. No matter how safe it was here now, no matter if my own father was in a drug ring, I couldn't shake the horrible things that were planned for me. I had to take drastic action. Soon. On Monday my life was over. No need in warning everyone else. I had my own sadistic plan in store for Anthrax. Everyone in the Anthrax co. simply didn't have any records at all of themselves. It was like they never existed. No one would miss any of them if they were all killed. They lived and worked in the underground towns under each Anthrax school. My plan was to sneak into the school and take out all the operators who controlled monitored us through our microchips. Even though I am just 13, I am also a trained killer thanks to Anthrax. Killing the operators would be an easy task. Then I would send out a message of utmost importance to all of the other 99 Anthrax students, telling them of Anthrax's evil plans. I would organize a search and destroy mission. Our target: all 100 Anthrax scientists, soldiers, and officials. I myself would savor killing Dr. Kraken myself. We would finally be free. Saturday; 8:45pm... My plan would go into action tonight. There were flaws, but what plan doesn't have them? I had chosen to go at 2am, when I was sure all the operators were sleep. But right now I was out to dinner with my parents. We were in the prestigious restaurant known as Che' Marque. Some kind of restaurant with a French name that didn't serve anything French at all. I tried to enjoy the meal, but I kept thinking if the plan was fool proof. There was a big screen t. v. in the bar area that I could see now. Just daily news about the latest murders or the latest crusade from one of us Anthrax students. The mayor was getting extremely pissed about us. Didn't he realize that if it weren't for us, he might have been one of the 200 million people dead from Bubonic Plague II? The reporter then said something about the asteroid satellite that was going to pass over Antopolis tonight. "This year marks the 50th anniversary of the NASA asteroid defense satellite. Fifty years ago, this satellite was put up for protection from the deadly asteroids of space. NASA didn't want any other destructive asteroids flying into Earth, so they took ten years to build and construct the satellite. The satellite was over thirty feet long and it was totally controlled by artificial intelligence. It was equipped with a nuclear bombs and even a fifteen ft laser cannon capable of blasting asteroids and comets at a range of 3,000 miles. After the man made biosphere was put up, the satellite was of no use anymore. Instead of bringing the satellite down, NASA decided to keep it up there, floating in the thermosphere, as a monument for all the people killed and the destruction that was caused when the asteroid struck the Earth sixty years ago. Since this is the 50th anniversary of the satellite, it will be it's last. NASA plans to pilot it over the biggest cities in the world so people can get a last look of it before NASA shuts it down next week. The satellite is targeted to come crashing into the Pacific Ocean. The last city on the satellites' list will the biggest city in the world, Antopolis, USA." Loud yells and cries of appraisal erupt from the restaurant from the mention of Antopolis. "NASA has planned something special for Antopolis. Tonight at 9:30 the satellite will appear over the city. NASA will re-activate the asteroid laser and perform a spectacular light show for the 420 million residents of Antopolis. All major news corporations will be on hand for a momentous occasion such as this." Ended the reporter. Wow. That's going to be awesome. Maybe I'll catch that before I plan a mutiny on Anthrax. I thought with renewed affection. But something happened just then that made me shiver with fear. Whirrrr...Beep! Beep! Beep! My microchip was beeping me! This had to be some mistake because this only happened if there was serious trouble in my squad's zone. No worries, just a malfunction. But it didn't stop. Beep! Beep! "Attention. There is trouble in the Wall Street Centre zone. All agents in the Green Dagger squad report to Anthrax base immediately." Reported my microchip. This isn't supposed to happen! This was a Saturday! We were off for the weekend! Worse yet, how would this affect my plan? I'm not going any damn where. Fuck Anthrax, I'm no longer doing their dirty work. I thought rebelliously. But my microchip was relentless. It wouldn't stop playing the message. I had never disobeyed a distress call from my microchip. So I didn't know the consequences. I just sat there awkwardly while the chip beeped and repeated the distress call. After about five minutes it stopped. Finally. I thought as I took a deep breath. Then...FLASH! FLASH! No! NOOO! They can't do this! THEY CAN'T! I screamed as I felt my head bursting with pain. FLASH!FLASH!FLASH! I stood up and screamed while gripping my hair tightly. The restaurant grew eerily silent. All eyes were on me. It felt as if someone was inside my head beating it viciously with a hammer. Unbearable. My mother screamed at me, trying to see what was wrong. My father shook me, hard. I couldn't understand their words. FLASH! Security guards now moved towards me. They were going to put me out! They snatched me from the table and carried me out of the area. I couldn't struggle the pain was way too intense. As they carried me out towards the back door, I could feel my body regain control of itself. There were three guards. The guard that carried me lowered me to the ground outside. He said something to me. I could not understand. Everything was just liquidy and warped. I felt very woozy and shaken. FLASHFLASHFLASH! Then I snatched myself from the guard's grasp and ran rapidly down the alley. I had to get to school before I fell unconscious. This better be damn good because now my parents will think I'm on drugs. I thought as I ran towards the nearest Tram station.
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