Apocalypse Wow! 2! Part 2, Chapter 19

Disclaimer

The following is a work of fiction. Any real names, real events, non-original content, or likeness of celebrities are used in a fictitious and parodic manner. All other character names and events are fictional and any resemblance of real names or events are purely coincidental.

CHAPTER NINETEEN: JULY – ONE YEAR LATER…

Jason Saxon adjusted his tie while looking in the mirror. Today was a very important day for him. Today marks the one year anniversary of Jason Saxon’s ascension into the position of Prime Minister of Canada. A lot has happened since he had taken office: Canada flexed its new military muscle in hotspots across the world thanks in part to the Viisk. The Viisk and the Strategic Homeland Defense Initiative kept Canada safe and secure ever since the Vegreville Bombings of July 7th 2010, and people have been grateful for it despite having a lot of freedoms suspended until the culprits could be successfully captured and brought to justice. But now was not the time to worry about it. July 1st saw the celebration of Canada Day, and one week afterwards would be the first ever “Jason Saxon Appreciation Week”. The first day of such a week was today and to kick it off Jason Saxon was getting ready to make a “one year later” speech highlighting all the great things he had accomplished. The speech was to be broadcasted across the nation. A makeup artist made sure Saxon’s face was looking perfect before stepping out to address his nation. She simply shook her head in disbelief that a man who serenaded her with a rousing rendition of Kylie Minogue’s “Step Back In Time” is responsible for running an entire country.
Jason Saxon walked down the hallway as dozens of staffers and interns wished him well. Saxon made his way into a studio room where he was set to address the nation. More staffers prepped the desk and got the cameras ready for broadcast. Saxon sat behind a desk as a cameraman motioned they would be going live in sixty seconds. A makeup artist quickly made sure Jason Saxon’s face was looking as perfect as ever. Thirty seconds to go, someone handed Saxon his speech. Everyone else cleared out of the scene as Jason Saxon was now set to go live in ten, nine, eight…
“Good evening my fellow Canadians,” Saxon begun with a smile and warm introduction. “It has indeed been a roller coaster ride over the last year for our nation as a whole. As we look back upon the events of the last year, we as a nation have seen significant changes. A lot of those changes came because of the events of July Seventh of last year, but now one year later we can look back and realize that we have not let the thousands who died that day in Vegreville, Alberta die in vain. Since that fateful day, our Strategic Homeland Defense Initiative has successfully stopped any and all other attempts of terror on our home soil. We have boosted our own military strength thanks in part of our alliance with the Viisk. Thanks to them, casualty rates among our brave men and women is significantly down and we have made major in-roads in our conflicts in Iran and Afghanistan. We have stepped up our role as defenders against terror and tyranny and in a few short weeks, an new era of cooperation will begin between Canada and our neighbors to the south – the United States. An era where we will now be the forerunners of all military and foreign policy. For the first time in history, the U.S. will be following Canada in a bold new direction and we will be proud to say for once that the Americans will be the ones taking a back seat to Canada as…” Saxon paused as he noticed a television monitor carrying his speech had gone to static. One of the producers approached Saxon and told him “We lost the feed, sir.”
“Well, get it back!” Saxon ordered the producer.
“We’re trying to but someone or something has overrode the signal,” the producer added.
“Well, who would do such a thing?” Saxon asked as he looked at the monitor and saw the static fade out and then a clip from the classic video for Rick Astley’s “Never Gonna Give You Up” showed up on the television set. Saxon and the producer looked on in confusion as the video faded out and faded into another scene with an unknown person, dressed in a black robe and wearing a red-colored version of a Guy Fawkes mask. The person begun to speak through an obvious digital voice box so as to disguise his or her own voice.
“We are The Angels of Mercy,” the voice started off with and continued. “One year ago, Jason Saxon invoked our name in a series of alleged terror attacks in Vancouver, Toronto, and Montreal. We never existed at all during that time yet over and over Mister Saxon abused the name so as to scare you all into submission. Now that one year has passed, the real perpetrators of July Seventh have yet to be identified and captured. Instead, you have all blindly accepted him as your new leader and a man who will keep you safe. But what has Saxon’s safety cost us as a nation? We have had our basic rights suspended and lost our sovereignty by allowing the Viisk walk alongside our troops, in essence fighting our battles. The choice is back into your hands, Canada. Rise up, make a stand, and let Jason Saxon know we are mad as hell and we won’t take it any more. We are The Angels of Mercy. We will never give you up. We will never let you down. Expect us, any where, any time, and any place.”
The screen went blank. Jason Saxon turned around and looked at two men in black trench coats. “Find out where this signal came from and have them dealt with. By any means!” Saxon ordered the two blackcoats. “Nobody cuts into my airtime and gets away with it!”

Vegreville, Alberta was mostly quiet on the anniversary of its disaster from one year ago. It remained quiet until dozens of armored personnel carriers pulled into the town. From each vehicle, Initiative troops and Viisk troops emerged and stormed onto the streets of the quiet prairie Alberta town. A jeep drove into the scene, carrying Sloane and two other human Initiative troops. “Spread out the search area!” Sloane barked. “Latest intel points to the broadcast interruption originated here!” she said, looking at a row of houses that the Viisk and Initiative troops moved in on and cleared out its occupants. Two Initiative soldiers entered the house as the occupants were held by gunpoint by the Viisk. The Initiative soldiers popped out of the house and indicated that it was all clear, and for the Viisk to allow the residents to return to their homes. However the Viisk, for reasons unknown, attacked and killed the residents. Incidents like this one became a common theme in Vegreville, more and more innocent people were wrongfully killed by the Viisk, despite not being given orders to do so. Concerned, Sloane spoke into her earpiece and asked “What is going on here?”
An unknown male voice answered back “Something has gone wrong so it seems. This happened once before, someone contaminated a supply of napicin and the Viisk resorted to a primitive…”
“How do I stop them?” Sloane screamed back.
“Unfortunately, these Viisks will have to be killed off. Order the human Initiative troops to execute Emergency Protocol Seventeen.”
“Right.” Sloane said into her earpiece. Then she commanded “Execute Emergency Protocol Seventeen!” The Initiative troops recognized the command immediately and all quickly activated a special switch on their guns and then fired upon the Viisk. A giant battle broke out as the Viisk fought back against the same Initiative troops that they were once aligned with. It would take a while and heavy casualty rates, but the task was completed. Fuming, Sloane looked around and kicked a deceased Viisk corpse. “Contamination, eh?” Sloan said, feeling like she knew who was responsible for this incident as she tapped a device strapped to her upper arm.

Doctor Sarah Bellum watched with a heavy heart the coverage of the carnage in Vegreville on one of the few independent stations that haven’t been bought into Jason Saxon’s propaganda machine. If only that stranger had told her this would happen, Sarah would not have gone ahead with the plan. Now this was the last thing Sarah needed: more innocent blood on her conscience, despite it meaning there would be no victory ritual tonight. The only thing Sarah hoped for now is that it won’t be traced back to her. Sarah’s hopes were quickly dashed as Sloane appeared in her office and violently slapped Sarah to the floor.
“You belligerent cunt!” Sloane yelled at Sarah, who tried to get up but was quickly knocked down to the floor again. Sloane threw herself on top of Sarah and began strangling her. As Sarah gagged and gasped for air, Sloane taunted her some more and yelled “You thought you would be so clever, huh?! Poison the Viisk and you thought we would let you go? Just give me one good reason why I should let you live now? Because you sure as hell haven’t done anything lately to prove your worthiness to our cause!”
As Sarah could feel her very life being squeezed out of her by an irate Sloane, she remembered something else that Willow had handed to her. That piece of paper. But Sarah was told to only use it if her life was in danger. Guess no better time than the present. Hopefully her claim will get through Sloane before the forceful grip she had on Sarah’s neck caused it to snap.
“Because I know where Project Looking Glass is finally located!” Sarah screamed in between gags. Sloane let off her attack and stood up. “Really?” Sloane asked.
Sarah coughed and wheezed to get her breath back. “Yes. Kill me now and you lose your only link to it. Is that something you want to take back to Mister Saxon?”
Sloane pulled Sarah back up, only to force her up against the wall. “Well then, guess just about ending your life was the way to go,” Sloane said. “But know this: I don’t give second chances to anyone ever. You foul this up, it will be the end for you!”
Sarah sheepishly nodded in agreement, despite her neck sore from having it squeezed to near death.

Willow Brody-Toroshenko walked through the now quiet streets of Vegreville. A town that was earlier drowning in screams of people dying and gunfire raining down now fell silent. Viisk, Initiative, civilian population, all lied down dead. Willow sat on a park bench on the main street of Vegreville. She cracked open a bottle of beer and took a sip from it as she looked around the carnage that was spread among the street. Jericho then appeared standing behind the same bench and placed his hand on Willow’s shoulder as to get her attention.
“Was it worth it?” asked Jericho.
Willow took another swig from the bottle and scoffed at Jericho’s question. “I suppose you’re going to tell me you could have stopped all this from happening, right?”
“Well, we could have. But this was all you this time.”
“What are you talking about?” Willow asked as she chugged the remainder of the beer and threw the bottle to the ground.
“We know you handed a vial of ‘Blackout’ to Doctor Bellum so she could try and poison the napicin supply. After we specifically told you doing so would result in this.” Jericho replied back.
“No no no, you’re not going to pin this on me! I never told the doc what would happen, this is her fault! She is the one who needs to deal with this!” Willow said, almost in tears and hysterics. Willow then tripped on a human body and fell to the ground. She found herself face to face with the dead. Willow looked into the eyes of a petite dark blonde/reddish haired woman. Willow screamed in terror and jumped back up in fear.
“Think about it. That could have easily been your mother there on the ground,” Jericho cautioned a now in tears Willow, who turned around and faced Jericho. Willow charged after Jericho and proceeded to beat her fists into his chest in frustration.
“You son of a bitch! You allowed them to all die! You allowed my mom to die! Why won’t you do anything?!” Willow screamed and cried in anger. “Why are you doing this to me?!”
“It… wasn’t all my idea,” Jericho sighed. “The Council was willing to terminate you unless you learned to control your use of this gift we’ve given you. I didn’t want to do this. I didn’t want you to learn this way.”
“You could have easily stopped me! I could have not done it!” Willow said in tears.
“I may have been able to, but what would stop you from interfering again? I had to this… this act of… tough love.”
“This isn’t love! This is torture! Why?!” Willow cried out as she clung onto Jericho, who awkwardly tried to calm her down to no avail. A familiar voice then chimed in. “We’ll take it from here.” Jericho looked and saw Faith Williams and Hailey Bellum, both in their early twenties and both wearing the same brown trench coat Willow had adopted as her own style. The two of them kneeled beside Willow, still sobbing away.
“Oh my god! What did you do, Jerry?” Hailey asked Jericho.
Jericho sighed in frustration in regards to Hailey’s pet name for him. “I did what I was told to do. I had no choice, the Council was about to terminate her along with the rest of you.”
“You told us we’re important in the upcoming battles, yet you were willing to sacrifice her?” Faith asked as she pulled Willow close into her body as to comfort the shaken mental state of Willow.
“I wish I could tell you more, but I told everything I could to Willow and now look at her,” Jericho said trying to justify his actions. “Maybe now we’ll have finally gotten through to her…”
“… But at what cost?” Faith asked back, looking at Willow.
“Where’s Mercy?” Willow asked quietly and in between sobs.
“You know little sister – not a big fan of emotional melodrama like this.” Faith said and let out a little laugh so as to calm Willow down, who also let out a little chuckle.
“Please, for the good of the upcoming days, keep a tab on the two of them.” Jericho said to Faith and Hailey, who picked up Willow and phased out of the scene. Jericho looked around and sighed at the results of what his act of tough love had resulted in. “I sure hope we did the right thing here,” Jericho said.