TGWR
Manchester, Great Britain
Johann sat still as the VTOL craft carried him above Manchester. He had had to go through extensive psychological evaluation and tests to determine that Madison didn't tamper with his mind in any way or implanted some sort of mental command to make him her sleeper agent. If she did any of the two it would have spared him slightly from suffering through the fallout of what occured.
Being connected with the worst containment breach to date was something no one wanted and with a perfectionist like Johann, it was a bitter pill to swallow, a very bitter one. So many personal dead and missing, so many resources destroyed and some stolen, but the worst was that a large percent of the anomalies that were contained were now loose once more. The Imperative's operations in this world had suffered a severe set back.
Johann's years of excellent service was what prevented him from being demoted into a rookie or possibly terminated for the sheer level of incompetence most would think occured to allow for the breach of that scale to happen. Already he could tell some in the Imperative wanted him taken out from this assignment, whether it was because they fear he was mentally compromised to keep his position or they lost faith in his skills he didn't care.
As Johann clinched the data pad tightly, he was determined to show everyone in the Imperative that he could still be trusted with his position and that the Imperative would get revenge for what had occured back at Site-54. The director would hear from the pilot that they had reached their destination. The craft began to land in front of the building acting as a temporary parliament, at least until the one in London was repaired.
Johann would calmly walk out of the craft and walk to a group of soldiers. As the soldiers began to pat him down for any weapons he would be hiding away they would allow him to walk through, one joining him to guide him through the halls of the building to find the right room and to keep an eye on him. The journey through the building was quick and soon Johann would enter a large room filled with members of the UK government.
"Gentlemen. Ladies." He would say as he walked to the one empty seat reserved for him. "I understand you all have concerns over what occurred in our facility and the increase of anomalous incidents." He would place the tablet on the table. "This contains everything that occured but in short the witch called Madison Goodwill is to blame for what has occured on Site-54. Her and rifts." He told everyone.
“Madison Goodwill? One of the wizards?”
"Yes. The one that was once hailed as their heroine until the Ministry betrayed her during their war against us. She intends to stop you all from oppressing her people." Johann explained.
"She and others utilized rifts to exploit a weakness in our defense and managed to trigger a site wide containment breach so they could escape from our custody."
Just then, Madi appeared in the room with a flash of light and what sounded like a popping sound. She took a moment to get her bearings and then noticed who was in the room with her. The Witch didn’t say anything but merely froze and eyed Johann, wondering if they were going to kill her on sight.
Johann was finally moving his arm away from his eyes, an action he took to prevent from being blinded by the light. As his ears still rang from the loud popping noise that assaulted his ear drums his eyes would spot an all too familiar and detestable sight; Madison Goodwill.
The man would quickly reach for the hostel of his gun but find it wasn't there, confiscated during the check up. He would glare at her. "What are you doing here Goodwill?” He said with much contempt.
Madi looked around the room again before responding to Johann. “What I’m doing here is I’m going to try and convince you to not go after any of the offworlders, aka those that came through rifts. They’re not from here, they just got caught up in everything. I’ve got medieval people, anthropomorphic animals, super humans, different types of humans, a goddess, and who knows who else will show up.”
She took a deep breath and continued. “I’m not saying to get them back home, although if you think it’d be better in the long run, go ahead, but I’m afraid that after this whole incident with the airship, they’re going to try and go off on their own. They’d never survive.”
Johann placed his elbow on the table, clasping his hands together in front of his mouth. "You want their safety and freedom but not your own people? Have you abandoned them? " He asked her. "Regardless my orders are to reclaim the anomalies that escaped Imperative custody; which are the majority of the offworlders. I can't stop unless my superiors say otherwise. " he told her in a calm and collected manner.
More importantly Johann won't yield to her request, not after she tried to make him her puppet and after she killed so many of his people. No, he refuses to bend to her demand unless the Overseers order him to do so and he very much doubt they will give such an order.
“Okay, but have you considered that those that are off world don’t want to be captured again? And if you capture them, what exactly do you plan to do, send them back home? Detain them indefinitely? I mean, no one is older than twenty, I think, save for two people, they have no experience with modern detainment methods or being arrested and whatnot. However, if you want to take me in along with them, I could help...uh… convince then to cooperate, if you really want to detain them.”
Johann eye's narrowed. "You are arguing for the freedom of entities that possess a threat to people in your world? Before we contained most of the entities that you and your terrorist cell released they were responsible for many deaths in the United Kingdom; Czernobog being one of the greatest examples. Your group could have been an exception but then you and several others not only caused a containment breach that killed many people working with me you also tried to control me against my will." He told her with much edge on his voice.
"Some people in your group might be safe, but the majority of your group and the other anomalies pose too much of a great danger to humanity to be left alone." His eyes narrowed on Madison's eyes. "You fall into that category yourself Goodwill. How can we be sure that you won't harm someone with your power or subvert their will for your own gain? If you truly wish to show that we can trust you then tell the rest of your group to turn themselves over. We will decide who should be detained indefinitely and who can remain free."
Madi didn’t speak for a moment, then sighed. “I mean, most of us aren’t even twenty yet. They might fight you, you know, they might fight me if I tell them to surrender. But I guess they’ll be safer with you than with me. ...Alright, I’ll do it. On one condition - try to make everyone feel as comfortable as possible, I think they’ll be more likely to turn themselves over if you’ll agree to help them feel… at home, I guess. You could learn about other cultures that way too. ...And the riffs allowing everyone to understand each other helps… But under no condition can you treat anyone from off world like they’re ten. They understand things, maybe not modern, but just find out what they do know and go from there. Ask what their technology level is, what inventions they know of, things like that.”
"I will." He replied back. He didn't trust Goodwill but if he can end one potential threat then he will take whatever options are presented to him. "Still. What do you want us to do with your people? You were caught trying to gather information to form a resistance. Has your will to rebel snuffed out after escaping?"
Madi shook her head. “Not at all, I just figured I’d try to work with everyone if possible to solve this. What I want you to do in the long run is stop terrifying everyone and let them live their lives like they did before the whole Czernobog incident happened. Yeah, I know everywhere else has this problem, but I’d rather focus on here first. What I want you to do realistically soon is make a deal with the Muggles and find out a way for us and them to live in peace.”
"I have nothing to do with your people's situation, you will have to deal with the Muggles for that. I can only guarantee that your group might be safe, not the other witches and wizards."
Madi nodded and took a few steps back. “Alright. That’s good enough for me. I’ll get to Buckingham and tell everyone. I hope they don’t fight back or anything...Heh.” The Witch then apperated out of Parliament and to Buckingham Palace.
A second of quiet was held in the parliament as people gave each other odd and weird looks. A bush of laughter came from the whole parliament, what a wild request. The government is not going to give up the issue of the wizards so easily nor will they stop their current plans and actions underway. A random member of parliament yells, “Bloody good joke!”
Johann looked at the members as they laughed, staying quiet as he watched them. Once the laughter died down he would say. "My organization request permission to utilize heavier weapons and vehicles and for our air space access to extend to jets and other similar crafts. With many anomalies now loose we can't afford to just use our current loadout, especially as many magical terrorist groups have become much more active as of late."
Boris Johnson leans into another man’s ear, right of him, they whisper. Boris nods and leans back. “Let’s make this quick and easy. A rise of hands for yes.” A wave of arms goes up into the air. Boris looks around, he nods. “A rise of hands for no.” Arms drops and only a few hands are raised.
“Looks like that is settled. What do you want, but I am attaching oversight committees to your operations. Sounds fine?”
Johann wasn't surprised by the committee request, a small issue. "More armoured vehicles, tanks, helicopters and VTOL crafts that can fight along with carry troops, self propelled guns and artillery, jets and drones, anti air and ground guns, and perhaps mechanized walkers if possible. As for weapons we want railguns to accompany our gauss guns and possibly use direct energy weapons and anomalous weapons, along with rocket launchers and explosives." He would say, seeing all the parliament members' reactions.
"But the real major request is for the Argos to be in your airspace. We need a new base and the Argos fits it quite nicely. My request may seem to be excessive but I assure you, the threats we face will require what I suggested. More importantly some wizards seem to believe that our war never ended. I believe these groups will not only interfere with our operations they might attempt to use the anomalies as weapons against us."
Boris looks at Johann. “Your wishes will be given, but we’ll be watching you. Give us a few days, and make sure you contact our general staff and army and air headquarters.”
“I hope you know what you are doing.”
"We are. We've been in this business for a long time. You'll find that our methods are most effective." He told them. "I will meet with your military staff after we are done with this meeting. We will be repairing our old base while we use the Argos as our temporary new base."
“Anything else that we should know, or will that be it?” Boris asks simply.
"There might be the chance that an organization called GLADIUS may appear to cause trouble for you all because of you all working for us. Both the Imperative and them have history. It's best to let us deal with them unless we request assistance from your military and intelligence agency."
“Tell us about them. We’re in no rush.” Boris leans back into his chair as the parliament await an answer.
"GLADIUS is a splinter group that broke away from us. Some of the original defectors believed that the Imperative was compromised, either by inhuman forces or by the Overseers being corrupt. Regardless, the group sees us as the true threat to humanity. But other members are just mercenaries hired by them." Johann explained.
"They use technology stolen from others and other anomalous organizations, as well as invent their own devices. Their tactics even borrow some of ours but they are much smaller so they favor asymmetrical warfare tactics."
“I think everything is in order. This session is over….”
Johann would get up. "I will make my leave now. I have to see the general staff and air command to have my request approved and prepare my people for the move." The director would walk out of the chamber. His business in the chamber and building are now done. He has no other reason to stay.
