GWOTC: The New Order/The Last War (Parts 1 and 2; IC)

[South Raznakova]

"Give me five minutes with each, and we will find out who were looking for.", said the Ghost, a hint of excitement in his voice.

[Oppermenia]

Town Hall, Helnenburg

“Of course,” the Commander said as they walked in.

A man walked up to them in the lobby. He held up his FID badge. “Hi, the name’s Danvers,” he greeted. “I’m an agent of the Helnenburg branch. I’ll be your ticket in here, in case anyone thinks they’re too suspicious.” He gestured towards Crimson Ghost and Taipan.

“Hi,” Jon greeted back. “We need to talk to some people, but first: where’s the public network computers?”

“Oh,” he said. “Over there, you’ll find them. He pointed over to the wall, where rows of computers were lined up. Who is it you need to talk to?”

“Five people,” the Commander answered. “Two secretaries, a security guard, and...”

“Jeffson Korte,” Jon finished.

“The council member?” The agent looked confused. “I’ll see what I can do. You’ll need to find the others yourself, if it’s someone specific.”

“Right.” Jon gave a slight nod to the agent. As the agent walked away, he shouted to join, “And thank you for your service to the country, Captain!”

Jon’s face went red. The whole Captain Oppermenia thing just embarrassed him. He was a soldier, not a superhero. As he walked to find his friend, several people walked up to him thanking him for his service, saying they’re big fans of Captain Oppermenia, even asking for pictures. He was nice, of course. But on the last picture, he was thinking he might have half a mind to sue the comic book companies for using him in stories, if he wasn’t such a symbol for Oppermenia.

He saw a custodian mopping a floor. “Jim!” Jon shouted. “Jon!” Jon greeted back.

Jon ran in and gave Jim a bear hug. “Haven’t seen you in so long, Jim!”

“Yeah, good to see you Jon,” he said, “or should I say, Captain Oppermenia?”

“Don’t.” They both laughed. Jon got to business. “So, where’s the secretaries, the guard?”

“Oh, right, yeah, you’ll find the secretaries at the desk,” he said pointing to a desk at the center of the lobby. “As for the guard...” he gestured to a man in guard clothes in a corner. “...you’ll find him lurking...”

“Alright, thanks.”

He gathered the two secretaries and the guard, while the Agent gathered the lawyer and Jeffson Korte. They found a private room for Crimson Ghost to interrogate them

[South Raznakova]

The five suspects were all seated in different rooms. The Crimson ghost quickly got to work. Within half an hour he managed to cross the secretaries, the guard and the lawyer off the list. All of them had a solid story to back up their innocence, and none of them seemed to have any connection to the dark web. Finally, after an hour of waiting in the dimly lit room, the councilman was starting to get impatient.

"I demand to know the reason of this.", he yelled. "I demand to be released, I have done nothing wrong."

"I will be the judge of that." said a person behind him. The councilman jumped of from his chair and spun around. Without missing a beat, the ghost grabbed Korte, spun him around and seated him back in the chair.

"Get up again without my permission and I will break your legs, understand?"

[Oppermenia]

Korte got quiet. “Understood.”

[South Raznakova]

"Great. Now, when was the last time you used the public networks computers. I would recommend you tell the truth, otherwise you will not be leaving this room in the same condition as you were in when you arrived."

[Oppermenia]

"Great. Now, when was the last time you used the public networks computers. I would recommend you tell the truth, otherwise you will not be leaving this room in the same condition as you were in when you arrived."

He spoke slowly, pretty calmly, by almost too calm. “Two days ago,” he said. “I just needed to check some emails from my party members, and I didn’t have my smart phone with me.”

[South Raznakova]

The Crimson Ghost sat down on a chair in front of Korte, and pulled out a knife.

"Most people in this world think they know pain, they don't. I do however, I know whats it's like. Over the years I made a list, were going to work down it, together. First, I'm going to bend something, that was never supposed to bend."

He got up and started making his way towards Korte.

[Oppermenia]

The Crimson Ghost sat down on a chair in front of Korte, and pulled out a knife.

"Most people in this world think they know pain, they don't. I do however, I know whats it's like. Over the years I made a list, were going to work down it, together. First, I'm going to bend something, that was never supposed to bend."

He got up and started making his way towards Korte.

Korte was on edge. "What do you want from me?!"

[South Raznakova]

"You know what we want from you. Give us what we want, and you won't be deported to South Raznakova as punishment for treason. Instead, you will spend the rest of your life in a nice comfortable cell in a minimum security prison here in Oppermenia. Now if you don't give us what we want, well..."

[Oppermenia]

"You know what we want from you. Give us what we want, and you won't be deported to South Raznakova as punishment for treason. Instead, you will spend the rest of your life in a nice comfortable cell in a minimum security prison here in Oppermenia. Now if you don't give us what we want, well..."

"Listen," he said, "you can't just make those threats." He was scared, but he knew the law. "The law protects me. You see, you have no evidence that I did anything wrong. Anyone could've used that dark web site..."

He realized his mistake as he let it slip.

[South Raznakova]

"And now we have our evidence my friend. Also, don't pretend like the law protects you, your assassin tried to kill the brother of the king. We could make up a story about your disappearance, its one of the things we South Raznakovans are known for, making people disappear. Now, if you don't want to end up in a Raznakovan black site, you will tell us who you work for and why they had your hire that miserable smear of slime to kill the brother of the king. Understand?"

[Oppermenia]

"And now we have our evidence my friend. Also, don't pretend like the law protects you, your assassin tried to kill the brother of the king. We could make up a story about your disappearance, its one of the things we South Raznakovans are known for, making people disappear. Now, if you don't want to end up in a Raznakovan black site, you will tell us who you work for and why they had your hire that miserable smear of slime to kill the brother of the king. Understand?"

Korte sighed. “Well, I won’t keep up this charade. If you wanna know, then yes, I work for the New Order. But, I had nothing to do with that assassination attempt. I recruited her for the New Order, and they decided to use her for that task. They wanted an assassination attempt on all leaders that was public to cause world tensions, but they didn’t expect Jon to be there. He easily stopped her. I would’ve advised against it, she was too New a recruit. But, they chose her exactly for that reason - the sloppiness. You happy? Now, you have these claims from me, but you don’t have evidence the New Order exists, just the word of two people. You now need evidence of the organization itself. I’d be glad to give you some planned activity for exactly that...”

[South Raznakova]

"Don't play games with me Korte. Give me the information or I will beat it out of you."

[Dyllonia]

DRELO

The pressure had grown too much to bare, and it wasn't the volcanoes doing so. It was like twenty anvils were perched on his back and he couldn't shake them off. He nervously paced the dark hallways of the Ash Fortress, looking for his brother. He walked up stairway, peeked in his room, and searched the kitchen. Finally he looked out into the greenhouse, or greyhouse in this case. Fields of ashes with little fruits and vegetables growing out certainly made for a sight. But his eyes were to Taegos Lysandos. "Brother." he said uneasily.

"What is it, Drel? You didn't mistake the volcano for a chamberpot again, did you? You still look whole to me." his brother said.

"No, it isn't that." Drelo stammered off for a while. Finally he was able to spit it out. "You know the New Order, right?"

"Not personally." Taegos said with his everlasting sarcasm.

"Well, I do." Drelo sighed.

"Wait, I'm sorry I think I have earmites again."

You probably do. "It was no jape, brother, I communicated with the Order." Taegos for the first time in his life had no words. Drel continued. "Taegos, the Order held a presence in Shadowlight. I drove out every so often at night and I would take part in their rallies. I joined them, brother."

The way Drel looked down in shame and turned his gray skin a shade of red confirmed the truth. "Oh, ok-" Taegos tried. His brother interrupted.

"I wanted to put Lysandos back where it should be: at the top. And I figured our uncle would just be a soldier for the king forever. If this was the Imperatorial Days then he could have been ruler, but we aren't anymore. Dominik saw an end to that."

"Why did you leave?" Taegos asked quietly.

"Because...because I learned their truth. They were awful. Harsh and way too dangerous. I don't know what I was thinking when I joined them, but I did. Luna forgive me, I did! I defected on a mission, they wanted me to kill some strong democracy supporters. A whole family of them. I lost my heart for it and I fled. I came here and then the bears came. They chased the Ferrum and the army here. Do you remember those Unit-46 operatives?"

"The ones who had the courage to come knock on Sah'cal'lah's door? Yeah."

"Taeg, they were not Unit-46. Not even Raznakovans. They were the New Order in a Bear's coat. Why do you think Taimon Black alone slew three of them by himself?"

"Gods." Taegos sighed.

"Gods." Drelos agreed. "I wanted the bodies at the bottom of Mount Ashenfield after they died. And now Uncle and Taimon are gone. I-I-I am scared, brother. I am sorry, I don't know why I ever joined that fucking guild in the first place."

"I have to call them, you know. For our own safety and everyone else's." Taegos said. "You know that, right?" Drelos nodded, tears falling out of his eyes.

SARVOS

The words slapped him like wroth smell. "What do you mean, Taimon? If you are jesting me I will drag you to the bottom of Ashenfield myself."

Taimon looked concerned, "I was not jesting, Captain, I am telling you what Taegos told me. He joined the Order, left, and now he is likely wanted. I am sorry I never suspected anything."

Sarvos growled, "Just as I was getting comfortable. Arvel, Taimon, to the Seraph!" They gathered their things and returned to the ship. Sarvos whistled and Veronica perched herself on his arm and nibbled at his cheek. Sarvos made way to the pilot's seat and Arvel next to him. Behind them both was Taimon Black. "Drelos, what have you done?"

The Seraph blasted out of the nest as the mouth closed behind them. "Taimon, when you fought those operatives, what did you notice about them?"

"That they looked all like spoiled princes who were allowed to skip squireship and dived straight into knighthood. Their training was poor and they made for a surprisingly easy kill. I was disappointed I must say."

"If what you told me was true, then that should explain that they were no Unit-46 operatives. You could handle yourself in a fight against them I have no doubt, but unless they sent you the boys still in training I would not expect you to take down three at once."

"I wonder where they got the armor." Arvel said ponderously.

"Likely tried to copy its designs. I saw the assassin who Jon Neddard stopped. I doubt they would send incompetent fools out to die trying and bring one of those guys down. Something tells me there is more danger then meets the eye about them, but I fear they may have been throwing their worst down, so we underestimate their risk."

"You think so?" Arvel asked.

"Yes, you have to think like they do. The one who was at Oppermanor that night spoke of them like they were a god, everywhere and everything." the thoughts all came back to him. He remembered Jon rushing in like a hero to apprehend the sorry excuse for an assassin. Her fake Raznakovan accent and how it turned Oppermenian when Jon brought in the fury. He remembered Vladimir Vodovenko telling her that his boys would not have been so clumsy. And he remembered how she poisoned herself before Jon could stop her. As Captain of the Magnum Ferrum he had seen some sorry assassination attempts, but that was the most pathetic of all.

"Scary." Taimon said bluntly.

"I thought them to be a hoax, a lunatics story. But if they appeared at the Ash Fortress to then this could just exist. Perhaps not as powerful as the would-be-assassin had promised, but no doubt an actual society."

"Well, bed-time story or New Illuminati we'll be ready!" Arvel declared happily.

"I will have to confront Drelos about this first." Sarvos said, the skies fading behind him.

[South Raznakova]

The Office of the General Secretary

"How goes the investigation into the New Order Vladimir?"

"It is going well John. We have the evidence we need to prove their existence, so it should not be long until we can get the operation rolling."

"Good to hear. How are Jon and Al... I mean the Ghost, getting along."

"As good as one would expect from two men who would kill each other at a moments notice."

"Of course. I also saw that you sent another 2 billion forints to Dyllonia."

"It was the least we could do after what we did to them."

"Yes, well, by the time this is other, the number of lives we will save will be 20 times bigger than that of the deaths in Dyllonia."

"I hope you're right John, for your sake."

"Hmm, well I better be off, there is much to do and little time to do it."

"Yes, there is. I will see you again when this is done?"

"You will.", as John walked to the hidden entrance, he turned to Vodovenko and said, "For Kegyeleem."

"For Kegyeleem.", replied Vodovenko, and with that, the man was gone.

[Oppermenia]

"Don't play games with me Korte. Give me the information or I will beat it out of you."

“And when Captain Oppermenia hears my screams?” He smiled. “This is a town hall, Ghost, not a law enforcement building. The walls are thinner, people out there, especially those who don’t know of my... activities, will hear their councilman cry out, and this investigation ruined. Listen, I don’t like playing games, either. Those threats won’t faze me, because I’ve thought ahead for these things. So, stop playing games with me, and I’ll stop with you. I’ll put it straight: I’m about to give you this info, but what I want in return is full protections. That New Order, you see, wouldn’t like me breaking like this.” He rubbed his scruffy beard. “Tomorrow night, go to the Oppermenian docks. You might just find some Orderrites trying to stir up some trouble.” He put his hands together. “Now, as said, I hope you’ll give me protection from the New Order for my help, and after that, I’ll aid you in any way I can.”

[South Raznakova]

"No one will hear your screams councilman, I have made sure of that. If what you say is false, I will do things to you that will make death look like a mercy. I promise you that."

The Crimson Ghost gets up and leaves the room. He walks over to Jon and the others who were listening in on the conversation.

'You heard him, best we get going. I would suggest placing the councilman in a secure location. Once this is all over he can be charged with treason and espionage."

[Oppermenia]

"No one will hear your screams councilman, I have made sure of that. If what you say is false, I will do things to you that will make death look like a mercy. I promise you that."

The Crimson Ghost gets up and leaves the room. He walks over to Jon and the others who were listening in on the conversation.

'You heard him, best we get going. I would suggest placing the councilman in a secure location. Once this is all over he can be charged with treason and espionage."

“Good,” the Unit 0 Commander said. “However, this investigation needs to remain private. If we reveal them right away, then it might compromise the investigation, and civilians needn’t know about it right now.”

“And,” Jon added, “we’ll need evidence of the New Order’s existence before we can legally charge him with anything. He said tomorrow night, right?” He picked up his phone. “I’ll need to suit up.” He made a call.

[South Raznakova]

The Next Night

It had been two hours since the team had begun staking out the area of the docks where the supposed New Order members were meeting. It was a cloudy night, so visibility was poor. The only thing that could be heard was the wind and the sounds of cars in the distance.

Saul was in a van two blocks away, watching the security cameras, Jon and Daniel were waiting at one side of the docks while Taipan and the Unit 0 commander waited at the other end. The Ghost was positioned on a rooftop right across from the docks with his sniper rifle. He had an excellent view of both teams as well as the area where the meeting was to take place. He was ready to jump down and assist the two teams at a moments notice.

"How much longer are we going to wait here?", asked Daniel.

"As long as it takes Daniel.", replied the ghost, no emotion in his voice.

[South Acren]

"Nearing Oppermenian Airport, ETA 15 minutes" The voice woke Agent Laubach with a start. He stood up and ordered the others to begin their gear check. He goes over his own and soon Deltas voice pierces his helmets silence. "Sir im looking on the camera. I see some strange oppermenian forces there. Try not to blow up anything or cause a revolution." Erik smiles. "Dont worry i wont." The helicopter descends upon the field and they rush out of the heli. They rush to the president's position with guns raised. The medic begins checking the two out with help from the Shock Trooper. Meanwhile Erik actives his helmets voice changer, making his voice unrecognizable. He keeps his gun on the lead Oppermenian Soldier, not knowing weather they are friend or foe. "Keep your hands where they are! State your reason you are here!"

[Oppermenia]

The Airport

The Unit 0 soldiers put their hands up. The second-in-command, since the Unit 0 Commander was away, stepped forward and spoke for the unit, like he had been. "We are Unit 0," he replied. "There were attacks on Oppermenian soil by some strange forces, so we rushed in, seeing that they attacked your president. We were trying to keep the peace, and once we knew of the attack on your leaders, defend your leaders."

The Night Before

Jon walked into the rustic room. This had obviously been here for a long time, an old room.

Glass encasings lined the wall, holding advanced military gear, mainly the body armor. He looked to Daniel. "Where's my suit?" he asked. "I don't see it here."

"Right here." Daniel pointed to something behind Jon. Jon turned around to see a colorful suit.

It looked like something out of a comic book. It was a tactical military suit with blue, white, and green colors (the colors of the Oppermenian flag). On the chest was an emblem. The red shield from the Oppermenian flag with a black wolf head, like a wolf's shadow (differing from the crowned wolf of the flag). There was a helmet with the faintest hint of the top half of a wolf's head on the forehead area with a big letter O there, as well. Next to the suit was Jon's typical bayonet, but also something else. A circular shield, holding the Oppermenian flag on it.

"I don't know..." Jon began.

"Why not? You're Captain Oppermenia, after all." Daniel grinned.

"Daniel, those comics and movies really exaggerate things. I did not wear an outfit that extravagant, and the shield? I mean... and I was never a fan of the name, either -"

"Well, it's the symbol that counts," Daniel cut him off. "Isn't that why you go along with this mantle? For the symbol of truth, justice, liberty, and hope it instills into Oppermenians?"

Jon had nothing to say to that.

"C'mon, suit up," Daniel said walking out. Jon stared at the suit for a second, then opened the case. He tried the shield on.

Oppermenian Docks, Now

Jon waited with Daniel in his new suit. These colors wouldn't do good in battle, he thought. He had his bayonet and shield at the ready.

"Got anything yet?" Jon whispered very softly into his coms. "As far as I gather, the Orderrites might know we're here, or that guy might've been lying. I know it's too early to tell, but that was suspicious in the first place. What business would they have here at the docks?"

As soon as he said that, three men could be seen walking down the docks. From the other side, a man and a woman in suits met up with the men in the middle.

[South Raznakova]

"I have contact in front of warehouse 6. No visible weapons, but they may be concealing under their jackets. Commander, can your run their faces through facial recognition?"

As he waited for a response, he notice's Jon's costume.

"Jon, what in the hell are you wearing?"

[Oppermenia]

"I have contact in front of warehouse 6. No visible weapons, but they may be concealing under their jackets. Commander, can your run their faces through facial recognition?"

As he waited for a response, he notice's Jon's costume.

"Jon, what in the hell are you wearing?"

The Unit 0 Commander laughed as he ran the facial recognition. “It’s his superhero costume. He’s Captain Oppermenia, remember?”

Jon’s face went red. “Well, I like it,” Daniel said proudly.

“You designed it,” Jon reminded him. “This wasn’t my first choice, guys.”

“Okay, we can laugh about the ridiculous costume later. The facial recognition has been run. The three men didn’t show any results, like there’s no record of them. The man and woman in suits came up as Franc and Felis Nova. They’re brother and sister, heir to the multi-million dollar enterprise of their father, Francis Nova. From what I’m seeing, they don’t appear to be armed. The three other men are more likely to hold weapons.”

“We can’t get involved yet, though,” Jon said. “We need to listen in on what they’re saying. Commander? Ghost?”

“On it,” replied the Commander. The Unit 0 Commander turned up a dial on his suit and began to listen to what the five people were talking about.

[South Raznakova]

"When this is done Jon, we are fixing that costume."

As the ghost watches the group of five through his scope, one of the three men adjusts his belt, moving his suit jacket out of the way temporarily revealing a sidearm.

"We have one confirmed sidearm on the man to the left."

[South Acren]

Airport
Agent Laubach motions to the rest of his sqaud to stand down. He lowers his gun and nods. "Well we thank you for doing so. Its not often you have to save two presidents." He turns and waves to the heli pilot who begins the takeoff sequence. Erik turns back and has two of his agents run and get stretchers, which they soon return with. They load the two onto the stretchers and return to the helicopter. Agent Laubach waves the remaining back to the choper, then turns to the Opperman forces. "Gents, i must say hank you for what you did today. You are forever in South Acrens debt, no matter how stubborn these two may be. Anyway i shall escort these two back. Good luck and good day." He salutes and heads back to the heli. It takes off after he boards and flys back to SA.