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23 ‎ ‎ ‎ Breakthrough!

UN
Gloom dulled the dimly lit office as he sat, hunched over documents and press readings and resolution releases flashing sporadically on the only uncensored computer there was in Neo. The drawn blinds cast narrow grey slashes across the room; small reflections of dripping rainwater and rumbling storms. Outside, as lightning forked the skies and the rooftops suffered an onslaught of torrential downpour, Representatives ran for the safety of their houses, unaware that danger was not limited to the confines of their rooms.

He tried to steady himself as he rose from his desk, gripping onto the shelves for balance after his legs had gone numb. UN rarely lost his composure — but the loss of control over some of the most powerful Representatives this world had to harbor terrified him.

Not to mention his guards had somehow missed all ten of them. Thirteen, if counting the Axis Representatives. Now all of them were running rampant in god knows where.

NATO and ASEAN, two of the instructors who he worked most closely with in this case, had told him before it was nothing. They hadn't caught them, but they had removed access to their information by raiding and emptying the bottom of the Congress Library.

It wasn't like they could find the location and code to that anyway, a well-recovered NASA had insisted. They had tracked the soles of the footprints left behind that day in the Central Tower — and nearest her body they had found remains of what seemed to be Ryuwon footwear, a brand popular in North Korea. It added up almost perfectly.

He had to remind himself to take a breath. This was like a disease, creeping over his immune system like a cancer. Reminding him that in this race of time, they were losing.

And even more so, the UN in the real world had released documents of a recent conference. It had been the first time the delegates of the United States and Russia had agreed on something. Since the whole...fiasco he had not talked to any official figure in NYC's UN board and he had no way to stop it. Clearly, their respective Representatives were resolving their issues.

"UN." There was a knock on the door. He recognized it as NATO's voice; gruff, always low with some undertone of anger.

"Come in," he sighed, exasperated.

"Have you seen the UN releases?" NATO asked, walking into the office.

"Yes. It's horrible. I didn't know they actually had it in them to get closer."

"All ten of them are spending day after day with each other. Be reasonable. This problem has been blown entirely out of proportion. I take my words from before back; one wrong move and everything could be revealed."

UN gave no reply.

NATO exhaled loudly, shutting his eyes for a moment and opening them again softly. "I know you're thinking that it's better that they're making peace now. It is most ideal for us to tell them to drop it here. They aren't trying to knock each other out in the hallways anymore, and what is the past remains the past. Yet—"

"—it's a topic that cannot just be dropped, NATO," UN smiled wryly.

"That's what I was going to say," NATO narrowed his eyes. "If they figure it out, everything goes to hell. Including so many global relations."

"But we—"

"So we have to stop them before they do."

"Who's to say they're not just going to keep trying again and again? We can't do what we did last time. That's when it becomes overkill."

NATO sighed, looking through hooded eyes at the raindrops race down the window panes. They sunk into an uneasy silence. Again, again, all over again.

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