Falling Defense

“What the… “ The robotic figure stared down at them from the rooftop. None of them moved, none of them blinked. The way it looked down at them was so cold and calculating. It was terrifying. “What is that thing?!” Sero managed to ask the question, but no one answered. At first they may have assumed it was one of the school’s training robots, or possibly just one that was assigned to security detail. But its design was a dead giveaway that that answer was not correct. The ones the school used were either designed to have an appearance similar to animals and bugs, or to at least look as non-menacing as possible. This qualified for neither. It was incredibly sleek, minimalistic and practical. It was designed for combat. That led to another train of thought, that this was a robot made by their teacher Mr. Aurdel. After all, he was an impressive engineer and made several robots to serve as training dummies in scenarios. But Midoriya wasn’t too sure of that answer either, as far he’d known he hadn’t made anything like this. That left only one line of thought, one that was probably correct. It was a Villain. If that was the case it didn’t matter who it was, just that they’d managed to get onto school grounds, got past the teachers and into the training area. If that was all true then that left them in a seriously unsafe position. But maybe-

His thoughts were interrupted as the robot suddenly moved, its bright red eyes disappearing and left only a blank steel plate for a face. In an instant it jumped into the air and then down towards them. That broke their spell of fear. Todoroki responded first, bringing up his arm and his Heaven Piercing Ice Wall in order to freeze it in place. But it was too fast, too strong. Before they could properly process what had happened it had smashed through the ice wall and kept going. Then, following up in quick succession, it grabbed Todoroki by the head, drove a knee into his gut and then hurled him aside. None of them could have reacted quick enough to stop it. This was no simple exercise anymore, and they had to respond accordingly. So they released the members of the Big Three and moved to attack. “Todoroki!” Midoriya used Full Cowling and hopped over to Todorok, him having been thrown partially through of one of the walls

“I’m fine.” Todoroki squinted and held the back of his head, “I managed to dissipate most of the force with my ice.”

Midoriya turned back to the robot. “Who are you? Why are you attacking us?!”

The robot didn’t answer him, it just stood there for a moment. None of them could tell just what it was doing. Sizing them up maybe? A second passed, then it reached out its right arm and closed it on something invisible. “Stop talking. Fight.” As it turns out, Hagakure had moved quickly to try and sneak up on it and attack from behind. None of them waited for another move. They all began to close in at the same time, this was a do or die situation.

Sero went first to try and hinder its movements. It didn’t work. The robot grabbed the tape as it was fed in its direction, then grabbed it and yanked Sero forward. Mineta attacked at the same time, using the balls from his quirk to try and create an impassable obstacle. Instead, the robot ended up using Hagakure and Sero as bodyshields, the two of them becoming stuck together from the mess of materials. After that they were hurled at Mineta, him having no way to move away from the attack. In a matter of seconds they were down three people.

Jiro attacked next, bringing the speakers from her arms about to face the robot. “Heartbeat Surround!” Waves of sound blasted the robot over and over, her intense heartbeat providing a consistent stream of sound to attack it. At first it looked like it would be enough to force it back, but after taking a second to adjust it managed to push its way through. The robot sprinted towards her at breakneck speeds, forcing her to stop her attacks and quickly move. But she wasn’t fast enough, so Midoriya quickly intervened and pushed her out of the way. In her place he ended up taking the robot’s backhand, leaving a searing red print on his right cheek as he was sent flying.

“Acid Pool!” Ashido let out a wave of strong acid, burning into the ground and doing as the name of the move implied as it formed a pool of acid. In response the robot stomped on the ground, shattering it into rubble. Then it used an air cannon, blocking all the rubble and the acid back at her. The combination was enough to leave her with some serious bruises and cuts, though she still wasn’t out of the fight.

“I got this!” Kaminari charged in, the others cleared out of the way. By the time the robot went to attack him, he had already started his own. “Direct One Million Volts!” The robot violently spazzed out as Kaminari put two hands on its chest, its arms and legs flailing around as it was shocked over and over by the intense level of electricity. After letting out the full one million volts he took his hands off of the robot, it seemingly having locked up. “See, what did I tell you? Robots can’t stand against my power.” Was he right? It wasn’t moving, and smoke was floating up off of it.

“I’m not so sure,” Kirishima, who’d made his was over with the others, carefully took a step forward and carefully observed it.

“Of course it is!” Kaminari threw up his arms, “How many robots do you know that can take over a million volts and stay standing?”

“The security bots on I-Island. The moment you tried to fry them, they locked up and you didn’t end up doing anything.”

“Fine, maybe them. But that’s just one time!”

“Then this makes twice.” The robot spoke, they froze up.

“Aw crap.” The robot attacked again, seemingly completely unaffected by all the electricity it had just taken. It grabbed Kirishima and Kaminari by the heads, slamming them face first into each other with enough force to knock them out. Ashido was about to try and attack again, this time with Aoyama’s help, but before she could Kirishima and Kaminari were thrown straight at them. In the short time they had they tried to avoid them, but they weren’t fast enough and all four went down in a tumbling mess. The robot then began to push them back, hammering the rest of the class into the alleyway between a nearby pair of buildings. At the same time it also damaged the nearby buildings, thrashing the walls and compromising the structural integrity. Sato, Ojiro and Tokoyami moved to the front and tried to use their better prowess in close quarters combat to try and turn the fight in their favor. Ultimately, it was no use. The space was too narrow for all of them to properly fight inside of, and occasionally they ended up striking each other instead of the robot. And when they did manage to actually strike the robot they finally did manage to land an attack it did very little, not even managing to put a dent or scratch on it. Then it brought the roofs down on them.

Several cables and wires shot out of the robots forearms, hooking into the various buildings surrounding them. Then, with a hearty pull, it brought them down. The damaged walls collapsed and they were forced to run. The three who were closest to the robot were drowned in the chunks of rubble, leaving them out of the fight. The rest of them had to retreat further back into another street, the robot seeming to not pursue them for the moment. “Are any of you even trying to learn anything we were taught?” Bakugo growled at them

“What’s that supposed to mean?” Uraraka asked, “We’re fighting a real Villain!l

“That doesn’t matter!” Bakugo jabbed a finger towards them, “In fact if it is a real Villain, that’s even worse! You’re all going in piecemeal, not fighting as hard as you can. Especially you, Deku!” Now Bakugo pointed at him, “I still don’t know what that tentacle whip thing you can do is. But if you think that you can get away with not using it here, you’re dead wrong.”

“I-It’s not like that!” Midoriya raised his hands defensively, “I’m still not sure how it works, and I really don’t know how-”

“Then figure it out so I can knock you down a peg, I’m not going to just wait for you to get better than me!” He turned towards the rubble, the robot seemed to have retreated temporarily.

“So, does that mean you have a plan?” Mirio said, popping out of the ground. The other two members of the Big Three appeared nearby. “In that case, we’ll just go along with whatever it is.”

“I must protest!” Ida shouted, “They may be the Big Three, but for the purpose of this exercise they were to be considered Villains. I cannot in any good conscience fight alongside Villains as a Hero!”

“Maybe that’s true, but sometimes as a Hero you have to make compromises,” Mirio chided, “In this case, it’s working with us to take down that robot.”

“Make no mistake,” Bakugo said, “Once we’re done fighting it, we’re still beating all three of you into the dirt.”

“I can live with that.”

Counterattack

Aurdel took a moment to have a breather, he’d give them a chance to regroup. His reason for doing so was because the technology he was using for this exercise was still very much experimental when he’d first found it. “So, are my babies working?”

“Perfectly fine, though one might say they’re doing too well.” Hatsume had come out as an observer for the training exercise, the robot that his class was fighting being a collaborative engineering effort between the two of them. The design for the robot was based off of his original combat dummy designs, the ones that were meant just mimic the human body in durability and capability for training purposes. However, due to the difference in materials and the much more reinforced frame, this one was much stronger and durable than the others were. On top of all that, the difference in materials also allowed it to be much more quick and agile. In fact in terms of capabilities, the numerous changes they’d made nearly put it at the same capabilities of himself. Of course, there was the issue of how it was controlled. That was where the aforementioned experimental tech had one into play. The original dummies had a basic artificial intelligence system, something even lesser than a dumb AI as able to easily respond to the scenarios it was given but practically froze up when put into much more complicated scenarios. And since he was unable to create a smart AI for the sole purpose of controlling it, doing so would require a donor brain and tech he didn’t have on hand, it was then that he would try recreating an experimental interface was being prototyped for the MJOLNIR armor. For lack of a better explanation, it was effectively an improved neural link that he could tap into via his neural lace. Or, rather, neural laces. Because of his unique history he was essentially equipped with three neural laces, something that would make the back of his head look like a pegboard if he were to go bald. First was the basic one, one that all UNSC personnel were equipped with for easy transmission of data, IFF tags usage and HUD compatibility. The second was a command neural interface, one given to Naval personnel so they could more easily interact with a ship’s system. He was unique among Spartans to have this specific lace due to his specific circumstances with the program, but it came in handy when the situation requires it. The third and final lace was the Spartan neural interface, one that came standard issue to all Spartans. This one was much more specialized to his needs and personal requirements, allowing him to interface with his armor and even an AI should a chip be inserted into the back of his helmet. But this was all off tangent, the point was that using the tech hammered into the back of his head he was able to remotely control the robot. With all that they’d put into it, it was a force to be reckoned with. Granted the sensor suite the robot had available was not as all-encompassing as he would have hoped, because while it stimulated the corresponding sensory organs in his own body to feed him information it wasn’t nearly as all encompassing. The sensor suite was rather archaic, as it wasn’t as fine tuned as the one in his own suit or even just the human body. But there was also the additional mental toll that just trying to control this thing took, as the reason this tech had stayed experimental and not mass produced was due to the rather significant statistic of test subjects losing focus and dissociating into the wrong body. He cleared his head, “Alright, they’re ready for round two.”

“Are you going to go easy on them?”

“Of course not, I wouldn’t be doing my job correctly if I was,” he put a hand on his helmet to steady himself as a migraine started to form.

“Good, because I want to see just how far my babies can go.”

“Let’s go!” The class sprung into action, preparing their trap. Each of them had their part to play, and if it was all done correctly it was sure to bring down even this opponent. Shoji, Bakugo and Koda all stepped out into the open, acting as the lure for the trap that they were going to spring. Simultaneously Koda communicated with the bugs and birds around the training ground, trying to find where the robot was. They wouldn’t have to wait long

“There you are!” Bakugo shouted as the robot appeared, he turned towards it ready to attack. At the same time Shoji and Koda moved to try and restrain it, the former using his many arms to try and hold back its arms and legs while Koda tried to push it down onto its knees. Neither attempt really worked. And so by the time that Bakugo let out his first blast, it had already broken free. It struck Koda across the face with its forearm, then kicked Shoji away as Bakugo began to repeatedly blast it. Unaffected,it grabbed Bakugo by the arms, shattering the two bracers and causing all the built up blasts he had to detonate. By the time the smoke cleared it looked ready to pummel Bakugo just like the others, but one of them intervened.

“Recipro Extend!” Ida burst forward from the edge of the street, sprinting into the middle at high speeds. And rather than take the first opportunity to strike against the robot, he instead chose to help his classmates. He grabbed Bakugo, tearing him out of the robot’s grip and returning him to the others before going back for Shoji and Koda. The robot tried to intervene, lunging towards where Ida would be, grabbing nothing but air as he ran circles around. Then, after Ida gave one parting kick to the head to disorientate it, they sprung their trap.

“Now!” Midoriya and Suneater worked together to restrain the robot. Midoriya balled up his fist. This was his power to use, he couldn’t hold himself back. The tendrils of Blackwhip surged out from beneath his glove and sprung forwards, quickly wrapping themselves around the robot. Suneater meanwhile used his quirk to produce tentacles and did the same, the two of them weaving the tendrils and tentacles into several layers to increase the strength of their hold..

“Try this one on for size, Sonic Boom!” Jiro, plugged into a series of speakers that were produced and pre-positioned by Yaoyorozu, set to surround the robot. And the moment that she connected the robot was bombarded with her quirk, sound blasting from every direction before closing in. Eventually it all collided in the center, producing a near deafening noise that probably reverberated for over a mile if not longer. Windows all around the training ground were shattered.

“Nejire Flood!” Nejire unleashed huge waves of energy from above, pooling them out in the form of one massive attack coming towards the robot. It tried to break free over and over, but with how tightly it was being held in place it was essentially impossible. When the attack finally hit it eviscerated the ground, digging a massive hole beneath the robot all the while still attacking it. Everything was working!

“Uraraka, now! Ribbit!”

“Got it, release!” Asui had camouflaged herself and stayed out of sight, acting as Uraraka’s spotter for just this very moment. Because just now she had let loose a torrential hail of debris from above, having collected everything she could from the earlier fighting and pooled it into one massive attack. It was just like the Sports Festival. Except this time, it was against an opponent that couldn’t fight back. Suneater and Midoriya quickly withdrew the tendrils restraining the robot, only doing so at the last second to avoid it having the chance to escape. A small tremor rocked the area as several buildings worth of rubble plummeted from far above and slammed into the ground, burying the robot in a massive pile of rubble. But they still weren’t done. The last part was up to Todoroki.

Todoroki raised his arm and this time, without any interference, let loose. “Bummock Frozen Prison!” A massive ball of ice formed to encase the rubble, leaving the robot buried under their collective effort and with now way out.

“Is it finally over?” Those who hadn’t been knocked out by the fight gathered around where the robot was buried, unsure if their work here was done.

“I’m not sure…” Ida said, “if it’s part of an exercise, then maybe it is. But if not, then we need to contact one of the teachers to inform them that we subdued a Villain in the training rounds.”

“Are... “ Uraraka quickly covered her mouth, then swallowed hard. The amount of rubble she’d lifted pushed her body and quirk to its limits. “Are we even sure that it’s even a Villain? It still could be some robot one of the teachers made.”

“Regardless, we should inform-” Ida went silent the moment they began to hear a pounding noise coming from inside the ice

“N-No way!” Jirou shouted, taking a few steps back. “How is that thing still moving?!” Like a monster, it burst out of the tombstone of ice and rubble with a renewed ferocity. And now, it seemed that any hope of winning this fight had been dashed. In what felt like the blink of an eye it launched forward and attacked them, pummeling them ruthlessly. It struck Ida in the head, shattering his helmet and glasses and throwing him through a wall. Jiro was shoulderchcked straight into a large pile of rubble. Yaoyorozu was slammed face first into the road. Shoji was picked up and thrown against Koda. Uraraka, Nejire and Asui were pulled in and blasted at near point blank range with the air cannon. Suneater was met with a fist to the face that shattered his visor. And in the middle of all thisMidoriya tried to jump in and keep the robot from attacking the others. But instead he was struck, hit much harder than the backhand he’d taken earlier. HIs nose broke and blood was flowing freely, it even felt like part of his jaw and cheekbones had been fractured from the impact. Midoriya was sent reeling back, his vision blurring in and out as he tried to recover from the vicious blow to his head. All the while his classmates took the same level of beatings. By the time he had finally recovered most of his friends were lying on the ground, unconscious. The only ones left standing were Bakugo, Todoroki, Mirio and himself. Battered, bruised and bloodied

“Are you all done, or do you want to put in one last swing before this ends?” The robot asked. It was hard to tell if it was serious, or if it was trying to mock them. But at this point it doesn’t matter. The four of them looked at each other and made a silent agreement. All at the same time they moved in and-

Conspiracy

Aurdel may have… slightly overdone it.

“In all the years that I’ve helped at this school, I don’t think I’ve ever seen a teacher do anything as reckless or irresponsible as what you do!” Recovery Girl beat her cane against Aurdel’s legs, rightfully chastising him for the exercise that he had put the class through. “If it weren’t for the fact that you brought them here so quickly after the end of the exercise, you could have gotten some of them killed! Let alone leave them with long-term injuries.”

“I’m aware,” he looked towards the long line of beds in the school infirmary. In this exercise, he’d put every single one of his students out of action. Each of them had exceeded his expectations when it came to their willingness and readiness to fight. However, what that had also revealed was that none of them were willing to back down in a fight no matter how underpowered they may be against an opponent, with Aurdel literally having to beat them unconscious to force the end of the exercise. But still, they had done well. Throughout the fight he masked the outside of the robot, hiding the level of damage they’d incurred on the robot using holograms. But the damage they had actually done was relatively severe. The upper plates of armor on the robot were shredded and what lay beneath covered in dents, a number of the sensors and in it were also destroyed. Todoroki had even melted through a solid chunk of wiring, servos and armor in the final combined attack. Sure he could quite easily repair it all, but it was still impressive.

Recovery Girl sighed, “And as much as I don’t want to say it, your efforts certainly are producing results. I don’t think there has ever been another class that would fight tooth and nail as willingly as the.” She shuffled off to attend to some of the students. “But if you’re going to keep teaching them to fight like this, then you should be the one to start attending PTO meetings.” Aurdel sighed and closed his eyes, moments like this were where he questioned whether or not it was right for him to be a teacher. Regardless of what the answer was, he would see things through. No half measures. Each one of his students had great potential and he would help them reach it. Aurdel looked at Midoriya, looking at the injuries he’d caused. That boy especially needed his help, and Aurdel felt obligated to help him for more than one reason. But that would continue later. For now, he needed to leave them to rest.

“How soon will they be back up?”

“If you think that they’re going to start classes tomorrow, then you should get that idea out of your head. They’ll need tomorrow to rest, and after that they’ll need at least another two days before they can do anything with you.” If recovering was going to take that long, then… He’d use the opportunity. Part of the reason he fielded the robot against his class was as a means of testing its actual field capabilities, along with the more advanced hologram tech it used to obscure itself. There was a very specific group of people that he needed to meet with, and it was important that he came prepared for any eventuality. He just needed to make sure it was fixed before he met with them. After pulling his phone out of a hardcase, he texted Mirko with a message saying that he would be unavailable for the next few days. Then he quietly put it away..

“I’ll keep that in mind. When they wake up, tell them that I said there would be no homework for the next three days. I’m going to be busy.”

“Order! Order damn it!” Thomas walked into the conference room. Dozens of important businessmen, legal representatives, tycoon magnates and conglomerate owners sat around the large table in the conference room, many arguing with one another. Two security guards stood watch by the door, armed with handguns. Due to the rather sudden set of circumstances that had called them here, many threw wild accusations of corporate espionage and betrayal. While he could listen in and try and pick up some dirt on his colleagues, he decided that wasn’t important. “I said order!” He raised his voice and slammed his fist on the oak table, a loud thud. Quickly the arguing had stopped and he had everyone’s attention. “We are a proper organization, not a group of common rabble rousers. And if we are going to continue existence then we must act in a way befitting of our status, even behind closed doors. Is that clear?” There was a murmur of affirmatives, then silence. “Good. Now, before we begin we must perform the usual task of taking a headcount. When I say your name, announce your present status otherwise you will be marked as non-attending. David?” He looked around.

“Present, brother. Like always.”

“Gabriel?”

“Present.”

“Benjamin?”

“Present.”

“Albert?”

“Present.” The list then went on for over three dozen more names, but that was to be expected. They were an international group, with important standings in every single country around the world. With corporate standing and government influence, there was no way that they could simply exclude anyone without provoking ire and retaliation. And so after a few minutes of calling names, and having ritual toast to the commission, they came down to business.

“With all of that out of the way, we can start. So who was it that called us here?” He looked around the room, no one spoke a word. “Surely someone had to schedule the meeting! It’s not like it could have called for itself.”

“Is this a joke? I thought it was you, Thom?” His brother pointed towards him, “That’s at least what my pager told me.”

“It certainly was not. I was in a resort in the Keys when I got the message that a meeting was scheduled. Granted it didn’t say who it was by, but it certainly wasn’t me.”

“Then who was it?” There was a rising murmur around the table now. Everyone was trying to figure out who was the one who had actually scheduled the meeting, because as it became evidently clear everyone had been told that a different person had scheduled the meeting. Within minutes, there was no clear consensus.

“Could we have been hacked?” One of the men questioned.

“That’s impossible,” Thomas said, folding his arms, “We’re at the top of the IT industries, any encryption the military has we have ten times over. There’s no way that anyone could hack us. The only way anyone from outside could get into our systems is if someone left a backdoor, and we made sure several times that there was no such thing.”

“Maybe it’s a glitch then?” David shrugged, “We are still running it on what was experimental software hardware at the time, and by now it’s considered relatively old. It would be within reason to think that it just made a mistake and rescheduled an actual meeting. It’s better to meet more often than less anyways.”

“I suppose you’re right… In that case, is there anything that any of us want to bring up or discuss?” One of the men raised a hand, “Albert?”

“I wanted to be sure about the details on the Iran-Iraq plan,” Albert said, lowering his hand. “I understand that the tech has improved over the years, but can we really predict such a strong earthquake to strike the region?”

“Not predict, create. Do you remember those contracts we had in the Eastern Horn?”

“Huh? You mean when we were using those Chinese bases to airlift in supplies for the infrastructure repair?"

“That’s right, I managed to get in contact with the divisional head that organized the event. They’ve guaranteed that the quake will happen.”

“What about the possibility of war?” Another man spoke up, Mikhail. “The American garrison is still in Iraq. If we try moving in from the bases in Iran, we’ll get shot down before we can even reach the airspace.”

“Leave that up to me, I’ll apply some pressure to the current administration to try and pull out a last minute reduction. He’s looking for a way to burn the incoming president anyways.”

“I just don’t want a world war on our hands. If that happens, all our networks will be caught in the crossfire.”

“So long as we’re here, it won’t come to that."

“There’s another issue I want to have addressed,” Masato said, raising his hand. “It’s that new Hero that has been causing trouble for me in Japan.” The two security guards by the door looked at each other, then began idly talking.

“Spartan, right?”

“Yes, that’s the one. We’ve tried everything and anything to get some sort of leg up on him, any way of manipulating him. Toy deals, general merchandising, equipment, fame. You can probably name it, and we’ve tried it. We even tried to have the CIA show up and scare him into playing nice, but that failed hard.”

“There have been plenty of Heroes who claimed to be ‘incorruptible’ like he is. Give it time, he’ll falter under the pressure just like the rest of them and there won’t be anything to worry about.”

“I’m not so sure,” Masato shook his head, speaking in a worried tone. “He’s been active for quite some time already, and has been defying all expectations with his performance. And with the billboard charts coming up-”

“Yeah, with the billboard charts coming you can’t have him killed without coming out as a martyr. Is there anything you know about him that could be used against him?” Thomas barely noticed as the two security guards stepped out of the room after they finished talking. Whatever, they didn’t really need them here. The security was just an extra precaution.

“Not really, we know only as much as the government and the public knows. He’s some supersoldier from the future and space, and he's working for the UA Hero High school.”

“Do you think we could target the school to get leverage over him?”

“It wouldn’t be the first time that we did something of the sort, but I’d prefer we don’t target the school just yet. You know how influential the families of some of the students are.”

“Then what about the rabbit?” Alfred suggested, “I don’t know much about Heroes in your region, but she seems like an easy way to get leverage over him. Judging by all the times I see them trending overseas they look to be somewhat close.”

“I suppose that might work. We target her, he should get down on bended knee and beg. If not then we’ll kill her and break him that way. Either way is a victory for us, especially since the public really likes a tragic-“

A new voice interrupted him. “...It really is like they say. No matter what changes, there will always be some things that stay the same.”

“Who are-”

“Before you try to escape, don’t bother. I’ve already remotely disabled any security systems you had in place connected to this room. No panic buttons, no secret tunnels, no silent alarm. I’m even jamming all communications out of this area. It’s just just all of you, alone with me.” Metal shutters dropped down from the tall ceiling, covering the door and all of the windows in the room. They sat in pitch black darkness until the lights turned on, a speaker dropping from the ceiling. The voice was much clearer now.

“It’s you… Do you know who you are dealing with?” Thomas put both hands on the table and prepared to stand up, “We are-”

“I wouldn’t stand up if from that were you, not unless you want to give the room a new coat of red paint.” Thomas was stunned, the audacity of this was unfathomable! “And I know who all of you are, you’re the World Economic Commission. A successor to the old think tanks and policy manipulators of old. Rockefellers and Rothschilds, industry oligarchs and corporate CEOs, tech conglomerates and medical industry thieves. A bunch of old money. You’re the most powerful men in the world, and yet all you do is manipulate global policy and politics around the world to keep hold of and increase that power. Then you pretend to be philanthropists, passing off all that you do as what’s good for humanity. With vague hand gestures you imitate the direction of progress, then actively work to hinder it by any means.”

“And who are you to judge us? We’ve earned our positions of power.”

“That’s debatable.”

“What’s the point that you’re trying to make then? That you have power over us? That you will make us change the world? Because I can assure you, fighting against us will not change anything.”

“Who said that I’m going to make you do anything?” Spartan scoffed over the speaker, “The only thing that I’m going to do is kill each and every single one of you, take your assets and work to fix all the damage that you and your predecessors have done.” There was silence in the room, then laughter.

“You think that just because you can cover up a few windows and close a few doors, you can threaten us into giving whatever you want?”

“Do you really think that as someone from the future, I wouldn’t study history?” The change in tone was sharp, cold and callous. “Where I’m from, shady government organizations tend to rule the day. In fact, they’re what made me. So to get a leg up on them I decided that I would research the people who made them. Now take a guess what organizations I found would have supported the black budget intelligence arm of the world government? Now, guess what names were attached to those organizations?”

“You knew everything…”

“Even if I didn’t, I would have found it out myself sooner or later. Regardless, I’m not going to threaten you. I’m just going to kill you.”

Albert spoke up, “Now hold on Spartan, we can be reasonable men about this. We can-”

“Make a deal? No, not with you. I’ll make deals with your children, next in line corporate successors, current heads of security. Even just normal people you have employed. You have enough dirt collected on every single person around you that I can blackmail them just as easily as you do.”

“You can’t-!”

“There’s nothing for us to discuss any further, I started having nerve gas pumped into the room the moment the speaker dropped in. In about a minute you’ll be unconscious, another minute after that and you’ll be dead. After that the security will handle the rest of my orders.”

“You-!” Thomas looked for something to throw, but found nothing.

“I lied about the possibility of bombs on your seats, I just wanted to make sure that you stayed put and listened.” After that, there was an immediate clamor as everyone who was sitting down at the table ran to where the entrance had been. Titanium plate and reinforced concrete blocked their way out, and there was nothing they could do about it. In a matter of seconds the room became hazy and foggy, the gas beginning to go into full effect. He lifted up his shirt and covered his mouth and nose in a vain attempt to try and hold his breath as long as possible, that help might come. But it wouldn’t come. In the span of about twenty seconds members of the commission began dropping to the floor dead or unconscious, his brother being one of the first among them. As he counted the second bodies continued to drop and before he knew it a whole minute had passed. “Go on, you’ve earned it.” The voice over the speaker gave him one last message before he started to collapse. The shirt fell from his face, and he landed onto the floor. He could only look up at the ceiling as he held his breath, his eyes slowly starting to close by themselves. There was no point. He accepted his fate, opening his mouth and inhaling the gas.