Rise of Kings and Queens

Chapter 23

WHO WAS MCKNIGHT?

By L.M.Taurus

11/23/0027 UWC

1 week after headline

The world military leaders gathered at headquarters once again to talk about Dependency. They all sat at a round table with the armored arm-cannon which once belonged to McKnight in the middle of the table. The world military leaders present were Esme Cyr, Kara Saud, Mun Ji-hun, Arlo Windsor, Yelena Sokolov, Luka Urban, Irma Fountaine and Cairo Zakaria.

"I can't believe you killed McKnight without me," said Arlo.

"He killed himself," said Kara. "Blew his own head off."

"And whose idea was it to display the murder weapon on the middle of the table?" asked Irma, putting a napkin over her mouth as if about to gag.

"That was my idea," said Esme. "Luka, I want you to learn everything you can about this weapon. It was engineered by Lin Crespo. I want to know if you can duplicate it."

Luka moved forward and grabbed the armored arm. He observed it closely. "This is some impressive machinery," said Luka. "Sucks its creator is a bad guy."

"Lin Crespo is from a prehistoric era," said Esme. "With a prehistoric mindset. He continues to make weapons like this and we are going to be forced to put him down."

"Like you did with McKnight," said Arlo.

"Again, we didn't kill McKnight," said Kara. "We wanted to bring him in alive."

"McKnight wasn't even our main target," said Ji-hun. "We were after the Kallstrom siblings, but McKnight showed up with that weapon and we had to change the plan."

"At least the media isn't calling us incompetent anymore," said Yelena. "Our first major victory over Dependency," she said, showing them last week's paper.

"Was it a victory?" asked Cairo. He picked up the paper, the headline reading WHO WAS MCKNIGHT?. "Was this even a big deal? We didn't learn any new information about Dependency thanks to his death."

"It was a victory," said Esme. "We took down one of their lieutenants and ruined their recruitment of the Kallstrom siblings. We got that weapon off the street and McKnight is no longer a threat. Dependency took a hit with that battle. This is a big victory for us."

"I didn't mean to underplay your victory," said Cairo. "I was just saying we didn't really learn anything new about Dependency and two of our guys are out of commission."

"I'm just mad I was left out of the fun," said Arlo. "I should have been the one to take McKnight."

"Oh my God, just shut up about that already," said Irma. Everyone's attention turned to her, surprised by her outburst. "What? I can't be the only one annoyed by his nonsense."

"Irma, be nice," said Esme.

"No," said Arlo. "It's okay. She's not really mad at me. She's just pissed at Mexico's president. That woman wasted our time and called us incompetent."

"Is that true?" asked Kara.

"Yes," said Irma. "That bitch doesn't like us."

"Us as in us three," said Arlo, pointing at himself, Irma and Kara. "Princes and princesses shouldn't be world military leaders... according to her."

"Is she going to be a problem?" asked Yelena.

"She's not going to cooperate with us. Hopefully we don't need anything from her."

"I'm not worried about Delfina Cordero," said Esme. "I recommend the rest of you to disregard her as well." She turned her attention to Luka, who was still examining the armor arm. "What do you think, Luka? Can you do something with that?"

"I definitely can do something with this," said Luka. "I'll let you know as soon as I'm done."

"Thank you, Luka." Esme turned her attention to Yelena. "We can update everyone on what we have on Dependency now."

"Yes ma'am," said Yelena as she stood up, a bunch of files in her hand. "So the biggest thing we've learned about Dependency is that the title of Agent of Dependency is actually Agents of Dependency and we've met three of them so far." Yelena raised the first file with McKnight's face. "McKnight, now KIA. A lieutenant of Dependency, but we suspect the weakest link." She tossed the file in the middle of the table.

"We knew who McKnight was and he was constantly on the run," said Kara. "During the battle against him, the other Agent of Dependency abandoned him. It was like they sacrificed the weakest link."

"Or she was trying to save her own skin," said Ji-hun.

"She?" said Arlo.

"Our second Agent of Dependency," said Yelena, raising a picture of the female who wore the Agent mask during the fight with Fyn. "She's the one who put Fyn in the hospital."

"How is Fyn doing by the way?" asked Cairo.

"He's recovering," answered Esme. "He just wants his privacy for now."

"We don't know much about her other than she's quite the skillful fighter," said Yelena. "We suspect she's new to the group."

"Wait," said Arlo. "Is she the one who sucker punched me back in England?"

"We think so," said Kara.

"Alright, I call dibs on taking her down since y'all took McKnight from me."

"For goodness sake," said Irma as she rolled her eyes but let out a slight laugh.

"You love me," Arlo said to Irma.

"Shut up."

Everyone smiled at the exchange.

Yelena tossed the file to the middle of the table. "And our last member is the original Agent of Dependency, the one who broke Lin Crespo from prison. We suspect he might not be the actual leader, but the number two. If we ever see him again, it is very important we take him down alive."

"Next time we see this guy, his armor is probably going to have an upgrade," said Esme. "We have to be very careful when we fight these people. Those arm-cannons are dangerous and I think they might be mass producing them. It is also important we take down Lin Crespo. The longer he stays out, the more of a problem Dependency becomes."

"What about the Kallstrom siblings?" asked Ji-hun.

"They are no longer a priority considering they're not part of Dependency. I'm sorry."

"It's okay. I understand. The new style of weapon makes Dependency a bigger threat."

"About the Kallstrom siblings," said Yelena. "Are we sure they aren't still going to join Dependency?"

"I don't believe so," said Esme. "The exchange between them and Dependency was a bit hostile. I think us showing up ruined any chance of the two groups teaming up."

"I guess that's a relief," said Yelena, tossing two more files to the middle of the table. The files had the faces of Otto and Mercy Kallstrom. Under their pictures read Not Dependency.

"Another thing I will be initiating is that the world military leaders will now travel as duos," said Esme. "If Dependency attacks one of us, I want another one of us nearby to back each other up. Not until we have something to defend ourselves from their new style weapon, do I want us out alone. Luka, I'm going to be counting on you."

"Yes ma'am," said Luka with a nod.

"Who are going to be the duos?" asked Arlo.

"You and Irma," answered Esme. "Luka and Yelena. Ji-hun and Leonie. When Luan returns to duty, he'll be teamed up with Kara. And lastly will be Celeste and I."

"So I understand Fyn is going to be out for a while but what about Cairo?" asked Arlo.

"Cairo will be introducing a new squad that he'll be in charge of specializing in hunting down Dependency," answered Esme.