Taken Over: Sapphire of Hope

A Name for History to Remember

Jake walked down a path that had dark gray pillars on both sides. Some of these pillars were cracked or broken giving it an abandoned look. The building this path lead to was a huge and abandoned. From the front you could see a pair of giant closed doors for the entrance. On the left side there was a tower that had a balcony in the middle near the top. The place had a creepy feeling to it if you had never been there before. Lucky for Jake, this wasn't his first time going to this building. He had been here many times in the past.

When Jake reached the double doors, he glanced around to make sure no one was following him. When he saw no one was around, he pushed the doors open and walked inside.

Looking inside this building was a very bizarre sight. There were a lot of people in this first room. The room was a massive arena made specifically to hold a mass amount of people. There were more pillars all the way down to the other end of the arena to help keep the ceiling up. But the amount of people was ridiculous. When you looked in this room, there were literally people everywhere. Some of them were on the ground floor talking or training. Not only were they on the ground floor, but also the walls and ceiling.

As Jake walked down to get to the other pair of doors at the other end, he watched some of the people training. A particular pair of individuals really got his attention. These two were sword fighting, and were all over the place. Forcing one another back and forth with every swing and really challenging each other

In the middle of this fight, one of the swordsmen forced the other very quickly towards one of the walls. Right when the opponent was backed against the wall with a sword to his throat, he quickly sheathed his sword, put his hands against the wall and flipped backwards kicking the sword at his throat out of the way and landing firmly on his feet against the wall. He then pulled his sword back out, and ushered his opponent to join him upon the wall. The other opponent ran towards the wall and when he was a couple feet away, front flipped onto it, and continued to fight.

As much as Jake wanted to continue to watch this battle to see who came out victorious in the end, he had business to attend to, so he walked through the door at the end of the giant room when he reached it, and took a sharp left. When he got to the door in that room, he opened it to reveal some stairs. Jake quickly walked up the stairs to meet his leader in the room above. When Jake reached the top, he knocked on the big blue door, and waited for it to open. There was a faint buzzing sound and the door started slowly opening on its own.

This room had only a few things in it. There was a bed on the left, and to the right was the balcony. Directly in front of the door on the other side of the room was a huge chair that acted as a throne. It was in this chair that the leader sat upon when Jake entered.

Jake walked across the room to stand in front of the masked man to tell him what had happened in Oregon.

"Captain Lance has been killed. Apparently Adam was able to escape. On his way out he killed 2 guards and the captain."

The masked man looked down. Even with no expression to be shown, you could see his disappointment. Jake saw this and paused before telling him the rest of his information.

"There's more. The girl and her group have made it safely over to North Dakota and should be arriving at the station in a couple of hours. Also, Adam apparently thought it was a good idea to leave a message when he left. He wrote it in blood on the wall so the other officers would see it."

The masked man looked over at Jake and waited for him to continue.

"It said 'Death Trap Forever' and the other policemen have been trying even harder to find us."

At the sound of this news, the masked man was furious. He stood up in anger and began walking to the balcony. Jake followed him out there, and they stared out into the distance right at the border wall. Jake was afraid to say anything else, but knew he had to.

"What do we do about this? We can't stay here, not while the wall is still white. Should we take over this state and the other states in the west to see if we can find Adam and T.C.?"

The masked man simply looked at the wall, and considered what Jake had just suggested. Finally the mysterious man spoke.

"No. We aren't just going to take over the west. Prepare everyone we have. We need to make sure our people as well as the girl are safe if we are going to accomplish this. You can start in the west and work your way over, but don't stop taking this nation until you reached the borders of Pennsylvania and New Jersey. We will leave both those states and the states above it as a safe zone."

Jake looked at his leader very confused.

"Um sir, who is the safe zone for? We can take out all the states now if we have to, why make a safe zone for anyone?"

The masked man made a sound that reminded Jake of light lion growl.

"Because Jake it's what I asked of you. T.C. is a smart group. If they know we are after them, and I know they do, we will need to provide them with a place to gather. If you can back up an infestation of rats into one room, it's easier to destroy them all without question of whether or not you missed any. T.C. will go to the safe zone and start preparing to wipe us out. What they wont know, is we'll be at the front gates ready to burn them down when they attack."

Jake nodded showing he understood this plan.

"Anything else before I leave?"

"Yes, I need you to make sure the girl gets to that safe zone. Tell the men when they see her, Lauren, Victory, Taftner and your brother to stand down and let them escape."

At this news, Jake had to protest.

"Sir you said my brother would be ok with them, and now you want them backed up into a trap with T.C.? No, I'm getting them out of there."

The masked man turned quickly to face Jake and grabbed him by the throat lifting him up into the air.

"You will do what I asked of you or I will not hesitate to throw you over this balcony to your death. Your brother and the others will be safe like I said they would."

After he said this, he dropped Jake who fell to his knees gasping for air. The masked man turned around and walked back into the building towards the door. When Jake caught his breath, he too walked to the door to follow his master down the stairs. Before they left the room, the masked man began speaking to Jake again.

"I realize he is family, and I know you're loyal to him and me, but if I am putting his life in danger, you have the right to take me down. Until then, you need to trust me. There are bigger things happening. And larger plans at work here. I will not tolerate your disloyalty and distrust in me as your leader."

Jake stared at the masked man, Jakes reflection looking back in the shiny chrome mask. He nodded, and the two men left to give the orders to everyone downstairs and contact the other Death Trap members that were spread throughout the nation. When Jake and the masked man walked into the huge room at the entrance to the building, everyone stopped what they were doing and looked at the two from where they were. When they were certain they had everyone's attention, the masked man spoke.

"Soldiers. It's time to do what we have been training for. I want you all to meet with the other members of Death Trap and take over the nation!"

The people cheered and chanted at the sound of this news.

"Jake will be informing all of you on the details, listen carefully and do everything correctly and we will complete our duty in no time."

More cheering and chanting followed these words, and the masked man started walking to the door leaving Jake behind. When he got to the door, one of the soldiers asked him a question that caused the man to stop.

"Who are you?"

The chanting slowed down as they waited for a response from the masked man. Some of the soldiers looked at the one who asked the question in fear. The masked man simply turned to answer the question to the whole audience.

"I am your salvation, your freedom, your leader. To the world I am currently known as a terrorist, but to you and everyone else I shall be known as Skullfire."

At the sound of the name, the soldiers began chanting. Skullfire looked at his army and was very satisfied as he turned and walked out the front door and into the world.