Rebellion

Failure

Failure

President Mark Wakefield stood in his office, watching the many different screens in his room. He was seeing different views of different states. Any rebel uprisings were being put down, the rebels killed. There was a knock on the door and he sighed.

"Come in. And then leave us alone."

He heard two sets of footsteps come in and then leave. He waited until the door shut to turn around. He was tall, around six feet and had brown hair that was pushed aside on his head. He was rather good looking for how old he was, only thirty. He glared at the man who was kneeling on his floor.

"I expect better from you," he said coldly, "A simple bullet isn't enough to kill you."

"I'm sorry," the man whispered, his emerald eyes locked on the ground, "I couldn't.....get to them."

"Well that won't happen again will it?"

"No sir."

"Good. I like you Chester, I don't want to lose you as an elite."

"You won't sir."

"Stand up and wait," Mark sighed. He hadn't had to do this much. Chester was usually good at completing his missions. Some elites were awful but Chester was bloodthirsty and he did whatever was asked of him. Chester stood up and Mark tore the man's shirt off of him, leaving his tattoo-covered back visible.

"Hands on your head."

Chester followed his instructions and he saw his muscles clench. He was waiting for it. He might as well just get it over with. He clicked a button and the gauntlet that all elites wore sparked slightly before Chester let out a cry of pain and ended up on his knees. He'd given the elites the gauntlet to not only give them power but if they became traitors or did not follow orders, they were punished with electric shocks. The thing with the elites was that they were trained to be strong and resist pain. Chester was pretty good at it.

"I'm going to up the level," Mark said as he flipped a switch and Chester leaned forward, pressing his head to the carpet, "Two minutes."

He gave the elites five minutes of electrocution at least if they failed a mission. If it was a more important mission, it'd be longer. When the two minutes was up, he let up on the electricity. Chester stood up slowly and staggered against the wall. Mark grabbed his arm and tugged him upright.

"Are you alright?"

The elite nodded but did not answer him. There was smoke curling up from his skin and Mark knew he'd have to kick Chester down to four minutes if he wanted him to survive. The emerald eyes locked with his and he smiled slightly. He'd always liked those eyes.

"Come on. We're going down to the labs. We'll get you a new shirt and jacket. You won't be failing anymore."

"I won't sir," Chester's smooth voice replied this time. The replies rolled off his tongue as if he'd rehearsed them over and over again. He gave Chester his shirt and jacket and the man pulled them on quickly before following a step behind him. It was the way of the world. Elites walked one step behind him. They were not on the same level as he was.

As they walked through the large network of buildings, he took the time to glance at the elites. They were all dressed similarly to the one walking behind him. Platform boots that raised their height about two or three inches, black pants with cyber green lines up the side, white jacket with black sleeves over a white shirt, and different variations of face paint. All the minor elites had M's on their face. Elites like Chester usually painted their own design. Chester's paint ran straight down his forehead and then circled around his eyes before trailing down the sides of his nose and running off at an angle to the edge of his face.

"Sir, I would like to go back out."

"Not yet Chester. You know the rules. A failed mission doesn't just mean electrocution."

"But sir, those are rebels. I almost had them. Let me go back and finish the job. They won't escape this time."

"I said no."

Chester growled in his throat and Mark turned to him. The man looked away immediately. Any act of defiance or anger towards the president was not viewed in a positive light.

"You know what happens when you argue," Mark snapped and Chester lowered his head before kneeling down in front of him. Having the power over people like this was so simple. It was so easy to make people do what he wanted them to. He grabbed the elite's hair and slammed his head into the metal bars of the railing. It was quiet between them for a moment before Chester looked up at him, hand against his head.

"I'm sorry sir."

"You better be."

"It won't happen again, sir."

"It better not."

And with that, they were once again on their way. They headed towards the first lab. The one with their scientists that were creating the armor for the elites. Chester was already armed with body armor before he left for any missions. Like he'd said before, Mark couldn't lose Chester as an elite. That man did great things for him.

"How's it going Austin?" Mark asked. The scientist smiled at him.

"It's going well. We'll have some more gear ready to go by tonight."

"Good. I'll need it."

"Chester," Austin greeted the man behind him but Chester ignored him. It was something that a lot of the elites did. They only talked when they needed to.

"We'll be going. We have one more thing to check up on."

"Good day sir," Austin saluted before going back to his work. Austin Carlile was one of his science elites. He ran a lot of the different branches of the technology labs. He walked towards the lab that was at the end of the hall. This one was what he was most looking forward to seeing. This was the only elite that was higher than Chester. He opened the door and they walked inside. Inside, at least fifty scientists were working on their latest project. Mark had wanted them to develop some toxic gas to flush people out into the streets. Then he'd send the elites in with gas masks to start the massacre. Once they killed off any potential threats, then they'd be good to go. And the man in charge of this was walking right towards them. He hit six-four easily. He felt a shift next to him and saw Chester kneeling down with his head bowed. It was a sign of respect.

"Hello Scott," Mark said. The elite smirked before reaching down and tapping Chester's left shoulder gently. The shorter man stood up and took a hesitant step forward before glancing at him. Mark sighed but nodded his head. Scott and Chester were the only two elites that were actually close.

"Hey Chazzy," Scott smiled as he hugged Chester and then glanced at Mark, "What do you need?"

"How's the gas coming?"

"It's coming. A few days and it should be good to start replicating."

"That's good. We're going to need it soon. There's a group of rebels on the loose and we're going to need to hunt them down. I want you to join the field teams to take the poison out."

"No problem as long as I can take Chester with me."

"That's fine. As long as he behaves."

Mark turned and motioned for Chester to walk in front of him. He was about to leave when Scott grabbed his shoulder.

"You know how much he can take. You gave him more today," he hissed. Mark glared back at Scott. He was the only elite who could get away with this. Scott didn't wear a gauntlet like the rest of them. He was independent.

"I'll decide what punishment is fit for him."

"No," Scott took a step forward, "You won't. I told you his dosage. Pushing him beyond that is going to make you lose an elite."

"Get back to work Weiland," Mark growled before shrugging his hand off and shoving Chester in front of him, "Go."

He stalked back through the halls as Chester followed behind him at the same pace. He was lucky to have the people that he had but he needed them to be stronger. Chester was his strongest elite but also his weakest. He had the lowest pain tolerance of the major elites but he didn't get hurt often. He usually pulled out his missions and came back satisfied. Austin was extremely productive and he got things done quickly. His results were always exceeding Mark's expectations and Scott was just smart. He knew how to make things explode and that's all Mark wanted from him. He had a good team. Now he just needed to stop the team that was rebelling before they got better.