Project S.T.A.R. (7) Felix: "May I ask sir, what are you planning for us?" [static cackles] Dr. Kraken: "Once everyone is in a position of at least half a mile, you will all fire you mini-nuclear cruise missiles located in your super-cycles. The building is heavily armored against outside threats, so you will have to nuke it." Felix: "....But sir, there are more than 2 million other people in the vicinity! The nuke will surely kill them! We will become worse than the terrorists!" [static increases heavily] Dr. Kraken: "That's just the beauty in the whole thing Felix!" But Felix was unable to hear Dr. Kraken. The static was now blurring out the whole conversation. Before Kraken could say anything else, the transmission was cut. "Wha....operator, re-connect with the Green Dagger squad!" The operator worked in silence, trying to connect. "Sir, I cannot get through." He said. Dr. Kraken turned to his communications expert. "This has never happened before! Why can't we get a clean connection!" He yelled to the expert. "The microchips in their brains can only be disturbed by radioactive beams sir." He spoke. "And from the details of the status of the satellite, it seems that the terrorists have activated the protective shield on the satellite. The beam is providing a protective shield all around the NASA station for a radius of ten miles." Ended the expert. "Are you saying that no one can get in or out of the ten mile shield?!" gasped a startled Dr. Kraken. "I'm afraid so. If a poor soul would try to get through, they would become like the 100,000 people that have already died today. Burned rapidly to death." The expert said. "Where is the Green Dagger squad located?" Dr. Kraken asked slowly. The expert looked solemn. "I hate to be the one to tell you sir, but they are trapped inside the beam." Central Park... "Dr. Kraken? Hello? What do I do?! Dr. Kraken, can you hear me?!" All I could hear was the relentless buzzing of static. "Guys, the connection has just broken up. All there is left is static." I told everyone else. "Weird, that's never happened before." Replied Tim. "Taylor, you're the techno expert here. What's with the microchips?" Ray asked her. But she was distracted by something. She signaled Ray to stop talking. "Guys, look in the sky." She said slowly. When I looked up I still saw the satellite. But the THING coming from it was very gut wrenching. The satellite had projected a beam, but this one was spread out, like a flashlight shining on a desktop. The satellite had something of a cover spread out far and wide down on Antopolis. It was crimson red, immense, and I could not see where it touched down on the ground. "Anyone have an idea of what THAT is?" I stuttered. We were all silent. Afraid. Until now, I couldn't even remember something that made me genuinely afraid. Get it together so we can get out of here. I thought. "Taylor, I really need some info here. You know the most about technology here, what the hell is that???" I asked her. "I...have never seen anything like that before. At first I thought it was a hologram, but there is nothing to hide. Then the thought of a force field...nevermind." She stammered. "No, maybe you're right. That is probably some big force field! Brilliant!" They all stared at me. "No, I mean, whoever took over the NASA station probably activated all that from the satellite. That way, no outside force can stop them!" They caught on quickly. "That thing is probably causing our communication failure." Taylor said. Then we grew deathly quiet. Everyone knew what we had to do without any of us saying it. They knew that somebody was going to have to stop whoever it was in the NASA station. They knew that somebody was us. "I don't really feel up to this." Alex sighed, breaking the silence. "This is way over our heads! I didn't ask for this! I just want things to be normal!" Alex was behaving like a child. I didn't blame him. For the first time since we became ex-best friends, I put my hands on the shoulders of his suit. "Alex, none of us asked for this. I have cried myself to sleep more times than I can remember to know that when I wake up, I would have to shoot someone or blow shit up. But I just can't run away from this. Right now, whoever controls that THING up there has all the power in the world. Who knows, their next shot might strike our families. Our friends. I want to run away from this too, but not so it will cause an unexpected death to my family." I said to Alex. He nodded. I could almost hear him sniffle. "Nice speech." He said with a laugh. I smiled. "Okay guys. Time to end this. Who ever said the Green Dagger squad wouldn't pull through?" I said enthusiastically. But as we started to race towards the NASA station, I couldn't help but feel like I was leading my squad, my friends, and myself into certain death. NASA station... "the Minister" was happy. Everything was falling perfectly into place. Soon he would have his money. Then he and his crew would escape on one of the space pods. But not before setting a continuous laser beam fire on Antopolis until all that remained of the damned city were ruins and ashes. "Why Steve, I didn't know you were so...ruthless! As you can see, anyone can be evil." He blared. Steve sat at the console. He had a broken foot, toes, and ankle. He was so mentally scarred with all the viciousness that he had even wanted to make them kill him. "the Minister" walked over to Steve and leaned over so only he could hear. "Don't be ashamed, Steve. I really do have an insurance package waiting for you. Once I get my money, you will get your full share of my wealth." Steve looked blank. "Sir, they want to talk about the money." Reported one of his guards from the communications center. "the Minister" walked over to him and snatched away the ear piece. He began to speak through his voice disruptor. "the Minister": "Do you have my money?" Bank guy: "Yes sir. We have half of it right now. We will need at least 30 more minutes." "the Minister": "Do you think of me as someone you can trick? Fucking idiot. You say you need more time when you have probably not even scraped together ANY money at all! This is the richest city in the world, my 500 million better be here in my lap or your are going to be responsible for a couple million deaths after I get through deep-frying everyone!" Guy: "But sir, we need time- "the Minister": "You had time! Thirty minutes ago I said I wanted my fucking money! Eight minutes and 38 seconds. That's how long you have left! [click!] "the Minister" angrily slammed the phone down. "Is everything well, master?" asked one of his guards. "Yes. Everything is going along as planned. They will be here in less than 8 minutes." He answered, greedily. "GUARDS!" he barked, "I need twenty-five of you to await down in the front lobby with me, to welcome the money trucks!" The guards yipped and yelled joyfully. "BUT, we need to be ready for them, in case they try something funny. The other five guards, stay here." He ended as his guards added fresh clips and ammo to their own deadly arsenal. 6 blocks away... I didn't have a great plan yet as for how we were going to take back the NASA station. Everyone kept asking me privately what do we do. Well I don't fucking know! I wanted to scream to them. This thing was way over my head. And then I heard Ray make a stupid comment about how I couldn't lead correctly. With all the shit that I had just experienced, I was just about ready to run him off his damn bike right in front of a bridge impartment! That's when we saw the truck. It was another armored truck. But it was as big as a dump truck. Then entire truck looked like it was sealed in an impenetrable metal. Titanium. It rolled slowly down the road leading towards the NASA station, which was about five or six blocks away. What was so suspicious about this truck was that besides us, it was the only thing out on the streets. People had panicked and tried to vacate this area in record time. "Do you think it is going to attack us like the others?" asked Tim. I shook my head no. "It's close enough to see us. I don't know." Alex said. "Maybe we can use this...guys, follow my lead. We get close enough and then take over the truck. See who's dumb enough to still be out in this danger zone." I said as I sped up. The truck was going extra slow for some reason. What item could be so precious that one would have to guard it with titanium? I jumped from my cycle to the truck. In a split second, I had my weapon out and I pointed it at the driver. Ray was on the other side doing the same. The truck pulled to a sudden stop as Alex, Tim, and Taylor blocked it's path from the front, weapons drawn. The driver looked pale and bleek. His partner slowly reached for the bulge inside his coat. "HEY! Don't move. We are not going to hurt anyone." I said through my helmet speaker. This was the first time one of us Anthrax agents had ever talked to an outside person while we were in our suits. The driver looked sullen. "Listen, I don't know what you want but if I don't get to the NASA station in about 8 minutes, that damn satellite will fire again! MOVE PLEASE!" He shouted fearfully. NASA station? This was the break we needed. "Listen carefully. I want you to tell me why you are going there." I asked. He kept silent. I tapped my gun on his face. "We "rogues" are going to try to stop whoever is inside that building. Tell me why or you will just be another innocent bystander dead." I said acidly. Yeah it was mean, but we were running low on time. "The guy inside has asked for money. I am taking it to him." He shuddered. "How much?" I asked for my own sake. He looked stern, "I am not suppose-" but his partner cut him off. "We have 500 million American dollars. That is the price." They gave in to his demands. Dumb! I thought. "I want you two to open the lid on the trunk of the truck. Me and my four comrades are going to give them a "surprise" when they open it up. After that, you two get out of here as fast as you can." I told them. They nodded as they re-started the truck. We hung on the bumper but Alex trailed on his super-cycle to see if someone was following us. This will be over pretty soon. I thought. How could I have been any wronger? NASA station; lobby... The NASA station consisted of ground-control, mission-control, and a couple of buildings for satellite use and training. "the Minister" and his men had set up shop in the lobby of the main offices of NASA. The lobby was a large room with plenty of space. And plenty of hiding places. His men were elaborately hidden by the marble columns extending to the ceiling. Some hid behind booths, couches, and hallway entrances. About 6 floors up, the rest of his men were still watching Steve. "the Minister" could see the truck now, rolling through the opened gates entering the station. "GET READY EVERYONE! AFTER THEY UNLOAD THE MONEY, KILL 'EM!" He roared with laughter. The truck pulled up and then started to back up towards the entrance. "the Minister" himself hid behind a column. The 20 ft. automatic doors whooshed open as the truck backed up into the entrance of the lobby. It then pulled to a stop. "SHOW YOURSELVES!" barked "the Minister". The two unarmed officers slowly made their way out of the armored dump truck. "the Minister" looked at the large titanium lids that were tightly closed. "Driver, my money is in the trunk, I presume?" he asked. The driver nodded nervously. "Well then, you open the trunk and your friend, I want him out in the open where I can see him TRY to cause trouble." He added deviously. The driver coordinated the gears as his partner stood in the open area of the lobby. This is not how the plan is supposed to go. The driver thought fearfully as the lids started to open. Inside the trunk... We all hid in silence behind the huge columns of money. Even in the darkness, I could detect the radiant green of money. They were stacked in 5ft. square piles. One stack had to have held at least 100 million. So much money, in such a close space. I thought greedily. I had even thought of taking a couple million for myself. Did I or didn't I? None of your business. We were in. The lid of the trunk had started to open, revealing the bright lights of one of the NASA buildings. I could hear voices, but the titanium coverings made their conversations muffled. Then the tailgate dropped hard. I was getting ready for the signal when a voice stopped me on my tracks. "Ahhh...good job officers. Now it is my turn to fulfill the bargain." Said a very familiar voice. No way could I, or any Anthrax student forget that voice. The voice of the person who always got off by beating and kicking defenseless children. The voice of a person who would always find a way to make one fell insignificant and weak. I stood up by sheer, dumb, human instinct. He stood beside a large pillar with a sub-machine gun in hand. "Minister..." I said with shock. He stopped talking and just stared, awestruck. "Agent..." he said, stunned. But then his awestruck look turned into an evil smile. "ATTACK!!!" he screamed. Then, as if out of midair, a small army of armed mercenaries appeared from each and every possible hiding place in the lobby! Oh, shi- was my thoughts before the mass of guards unexpectedly opened fire on us.
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