CHAPTER EIGHTEEN
Within the deep part of the Zhou gin chemical plant, over a hundred people knelt in deep reverence at the image of a chubby man giving a speech on a large golden platform.
"These thieves have stolen our land, the hearts of our brothers and sisters and our livelihood so that they can use it to fuel their degenerate nations built on exploitation, fear and perversion in the name of their deceitful idea of democracy and civic freedom. Have they done good on their word. Aren't our chidren dying? Our homes caked the mud from poverty and despair that they have wrought? Is the world equal and fair?. No, it is not and today we will remind them that the hand of god is with Guang union, we will strike back and show them our strength, so that this child devouring monsters will know that Guang dominion has not been defeated."
A defeaning war cry echoed in response to the chubby man's speech, those within the underground floor also joined the war cry.
Moved by their leader's passion filled rant, their eyes glowed with deep conviction and murderous intent.
Then their orders came from the leader's mouth in the form of a triumphant declaration and call to action.
"All our comrades across the globe, go now out of your fox holes and wreck havoc on the enemies, rise and let them feel our might. We will no longer remain under their oppression. Never again."
"Never again! Never again!! Never again!!!"
Their chants echoed throughout the walls of the underground floor, powerful enough to cause glass furnishings to tremble.
Soon they all dispersed, each arming themselves with all manner of firearms and gear branded with the symbol of a blood red hand holding a sword rising from the ocean.
Throughout the facility, workers in hazard suits began filling up the vats and drainage systems with a purple liquid labelled with a radioactive marker. Pressure pipes were turned on allowing the purple substance to take on a gaseous form. Vehicles containing barrels of the hazardous purple agent were sent out, along with armed agents and highly destructive explosives.
Across the city, the explosives were set. In the basement of city hall, banks, bridges, the subways tunnels and finally the main bridge leading out of Valkyren. One of the vehicles containing armed agents headed towards the police station where the force were going about their evening activities.
An old man in a business suit was supervising all the processes from his office compartment in the chemical plant when one of the workers came over to report.
"General Wen. We have rounded up all the enemies."
"I'll be right there." The old man now identified as General Wen stood from his seat and headed towards one of the colossal chemical vats where hundreds of employees and regular staff who weren't part of their movement had been tied and confined to. Seeing General Wen, one of them complained.
"Chief director Zhi. What is the meaning of this?"
Other frightened souls cried out, "Please I have a family!"
"I don't want to die!"
General Wen smiled scowled, "Hmm… Weak cowards, you have lived in comfort born from the bodies of our fallen brethren, now you will remember that the war isn't over. I remember being a boy and watching my entire family blown to bits by the democratic pigs aiding Huaxia as we tried to cross a bridge to safety. Now you too will know how that feels and you don't have to worry. All of you will die equally."
This hate filled statement made all the captives pale in horror, a disturbing realisation dawned on them.
'Their captors had no intention of letting them go. This is where they would meet their end.'
Seeing their reactions, General Wen nodded in satisfaction and walked away leaving only an order behind for his subordinates to execute.
"Finish them off."
The machinery whirled and the vat began filling up with corrosive acid, the screams resurfaced, this time more desperate and horrified than before but all this was interrupted when another worker ran up panting.
"General. We have guests!"
He showed General Wen, the video feed of the front gate where three individuals were standing waiting to be let in. Their professional attires and calm expressions showed they were important figures.
"What do they want?" General Wen asked as he moved with hurried steps to ensure their plans weren't foiled so early.
The worker reported, "They are from national investigations, they are here for a safety check of the facility."
"Imps!" General Wen cursed angrily, their timing was abysmal and if anything suspicious was found. Their plans would be revealed, jeopardizing the efforts of their brethren across the nation maybe even the globe.
"Let them to turn off the acid vats and close their covers. The last thing we need are screaming hostages alerting our guests." General Wen ordered the worker.
"Yes, sir." As he was about to leave, General Wen added.
"Bring me a checkbook, this pigs will spare the devil if you greased their palms hard enough."
"Of course, right away."
General Wey entered the meeting room and found the three sitting there calmly.
A bulky man of African descent, a gentle faced young man that resembled a spanish Casanova scrolling unbothered through his phone and finally a dignified looking man who was most likely their superior from his confident and well mannered air as he paced the room studying the objects present.
All dressed in an expensive black silk tuxedo. The style of the powerful.
'They are most likely the higher ups, probably from the federal board. I need to act fast and carefully.' General Wen reasoned and stepped in with a warm smile.
"Ahh… Good evening, gentlemen. Sorry to keep you waiting."
He extended his hand and received firm handshakes from all present.
Sitting down facing eachother, General Wen began.
"I'm deeply sorry but right now isn't the best time for a tour, a gas leak was detected. We are currently working overtime to fix it up before we can be operational tomorrow."
"I apologise then for the inconvenience. But we were sent here for a completely different reason.." The confident one of the three said.
General Wen felt a heavy thump in his heart.
"And what would that be?" He asked, his countenance growing increasingly grim.
"We wanted to look at all the information you have of your workers. How many of them there are. Their personal data and all of that." The confident one calmly explained.
General Wen was beyond certain, they were on to him, his eyes grew dark. He suddenly became a tiger ready to pounce.
"For what reason do you need this information?"
"Simple, we received a report that Zhou gin chemicals had been sending false numbers to the public records. We hear that you may be manipulating numbers to evade taxes and exaggerate your investment potential." The confident one said this without moving his eyes away the table prop which he admired with bright eyes.
Hearing this and seeing his nonchalant attitude, General Wen calmed down immediately.
"If that was all then you should have said so. I will provide the documents files now.."
General Wen walked over to his desk and brought out a thick file containing information about the workers and their personal data.
The confident one scrolled through it, only sparring each page a single glance till he finished reading the entire log book.
General Wen relaxed thinking to himself that this person was simply an incompetent government slub like everyone else though from his outfit, an overpaid one possibly nepotism was at play.
'What should I expect. They wouldn't be a threat.' General Wen soothed his soul with these words.
After completing his reading, the confident yawned and stood up.
"Everything is in order."
General Wen smiled warmly, "Anything else?"
"Yes just gather all non- essential staff that aren't needed in your maintenance check let me do a small head count and send to the higher ups. I need to get going, my girlfriend is waiting for me."
General Wen nodded and left to make this a reality, soon in the open area, all non-essential staff were gathered. Ranging from janitorial staff, company cooks, office jockeys and security personnel. All loyal extremists of Guang union, having entered with forged identities to not have a suspicious past.
General Wen showed the three men, the gathered people.
"We have nearly a thousand workers but currently only these few hundred are on standby. I hope they will suffice."
The confident one began counting, his pace was agonizing slow since he made sure that the person counted matched his profile on the registry.
General Wen groaned with annoyance, each second waste jeopardized the plan further, after the first half hour, he was seriously contemplating just ending the farce and disposing of the visitors but he couldn't prepare for what happened next.
The Casanova pressed his shoulders drawing his attention to him.
"Excuse me. I need to use your bathroom. Is that alright?"
General Wen simply nodded and directed him to the specially reserved bathrooms for delegates.
The second they stepped into the hallway and the door behind them closed, the Casanova pressed a button on the screen of his phone causing the phone of slowly hum and all electrical components of them facility suddenly short circuited.
The whole facility fell into darkness, General Wen didn't have time to figure out what was going on before the Casanova folded his hand in the shape of a gun and clicked his fingers at him and his subordinates.
Bang!Bang!! Their heads suddenly burst open like a watermelon hit by a sledgehammer.
The Casanova reached into his coat, brought out a pigeon mask and wore it.
While this transpired, the open area had fallen into darkness and the confident one made his move. He brought out a small square packet and threw it over the crowd, it silently exploded into countless fine particles and fell onto the people below.
The colourless and odourless substance was inhaled by the panicked group, dissolved into their skin and into their eyes.
The end result came in the most shocking way possible, the people suddenly felt at peace.
A kind of euphoria that shouldn't be possible, it was like falling into an infinity of bliss that refused to end, stretching on in every direction indefinitely.
Pain ceased to exist in the bodies of those present, just moving a thumb felt like being kissed by the mouth of god. Their minds began interpreting reality differently, the universe unravelled, time blurred, identity became transient. Their minds had expanded beyond its physical limits, they saw things that normal sensory experience couldn't express in any meaningful sense, they had left reality completely.
Many knelt in reverent awe and wept tears, some folded themselves into a bundle and began sobbing, some being humming simple hymns in strange languages, some fell to the ground writing unidentifiable runes and characters in strangely beautiful and complex mathematical formations, some just lay down unmoving in the manner a dead person would.
The confident one immediately wore an ultra-realistic owl mask that responded to his facial expressions and head movements finally identifying himself as Zeke.
The other with him brought out a bull mask and marched alongside Zeke. Their masks and thick clothing somehow protected them from the effects of the substance still wafting through the air.
The open area was tranquil like a garden of dead souls.
Zeke calmly found one of General Wen's subordinates and interrogated him.
"You are all sleeper agents from Guang union right?"
"Yes, we are. We were sent by our leader to infiltrate this country and attack when he ordered."
"How were you planning on attacking?" Zeke asked gently.
"We were going to open our drains and vats and poison the air but we had to make sure that people won't escape or fight back so we planted bombs at the trains stations, under the major bridges, police stations and important buildings."
"Is that all?" Zeke pushed with a voice that could calm a raging bull.
"No. Under the factory we have a bomb, a big one. When everyone dies, we will destroy the city and the plant with it. We will serve our leader and become heroes."
"How do you activate the bomb?"
"The heart of General Wen has to stop. He will sacrifice himself and be shot ushering in a new era."
"Of course." Zeke said bitterly. "Such things are to be expected."
The factory alarms began blaring even though most of the facility was in complete darkness.
They had overreached and slain the General Wen before fully understanding if they were in the clear.
"How long do we have?" Zeke asked the enthralled individuals.
"Only three minutes."
"Any hostages?" Zeke asked.
"Yes, within the third east Vat. There are three hundred people, some should be dead now but others could still be alive."
Zeke stepped away and ordered the bulky one.
"Kaleb, begin eliminating any hostiles. Lets find the hostages and bring them to safety."
A gunshot was fired behind them and a hostile burst out armed with a rifle.
The bulky guy now identified as Kaleb, crunched his fists and suddenly an unnaturally thin blade slid out almost half the length of his body.
Kaleb ran towards the man, the gun man not expecting this, cocked his rifle ready to unleash fiery hell on the charging man whose chest had begun emitting an eerie glow.
A loud bang echoed and suddenly Kaled's figure became distorted a bit before launching thousands of times his original speed, he slammed into the gunman who absorbed the force and exploded.
Kaleb then proceeded to cut a path of blood through the facility, the pigeon mask joined up with him and together they rained hell on the Guang union agents.
Before bullets were fired, Kaleb was there, launching at them with the speed of sound and cutting them down before a word could be spoken. Any surprise attacks were countered by Casanova who used his hand gun to blow up those attempting to harm Kaleb.
Hearing the commotion going on, the agents guarding the hostages knew they were being attacked.
"Open the valves." Their last ditch attempt was carried out, workers scampered through the darkness trying to open the valves to begin the chemical attack. And they didn't have any plan of sparring the hostages too, five pointed their guns at the vat containing the hostages, they were about to commence a mass execution.