Elites Chapter III: New Empire Rising

XXIII

Endgame Headquarters, Undisclosed Location
When Jayson woke up, he was disoriented. He looked down, and only saw one of his legs poking out of a wall. The rest of him was encased in it. He tried to pull his arm free, and the bricks surrounding his hand started to give out. However, just before he could get his hand free, the grip around it grew stronger, and pulled it back into the wall. "You're not getting out of that wall. It's a quicksand-concrete blend. The more you try to pull out, the tighter the grip is." Jordan Barnes said, standing in the doorway. He walked in, and put his mask down on a desk. "Barnes...Look what hell spat up." Jay said, panting. "I thought you died when we dropped a huge gunship on your ass." Barnes replied "No. A recovery team found me, and Kaiser decided that he wasn't done with me. They put me in a healing vat, and here I am." Jayson examined the room, and saw all his equipment was on a table. His mask was plugged into a computer. "You're not gonna find anything useful in there. The clean slate protocol should've wiped everything by now." Kaiser then rolled in, saying "The contents of your mask can be salvaged by other means. But what is most important is what you have to offer." Jayson asked "What do I have to offer? And what makes you think you can have it?" Kaiser replied "Your mind is what you have to offer, and we have no intentions of negotiating for it. In a matter of weeks, you will be no more. There will only be what we make of you."
18.4653° North, 66.1057°West
Noon
When a couple of pieces of shrapnel fell from the floor, Robert was startled back to life. He turned back, and saw that half the plane was missing. The blood was rushing to his head, as the front half landed upside down. The cockpit was moving as well, teetering on the edge of a massive cliff. Sam lay motionless on the cracking glass. Rob quickly unbuckled his belt, and fell onto the glass. As he did, the front half teetered further off the edge, and the glass cracked even more. He slowly stepped towards Sam, grabbing her arm. "Okay kid we need to go!" He quickly slung her over his back. Suddenly, the earth gave out below the craft, and the jet fell off the edge. Rob quickly ran up the rising incline, leaping over sliding crates. As the front end fell off the edge, Rob jumped out and reached for the ledge, but he missed. They slid down the cliff, until Robert punched his left fist into the cliff. The rocks then surrounded his hand, holding him in place. He raised his right hand, and rocks held his hand in as well. Rob slowly climbed up the mountainside.
Eventually, Robert made his way back up the cliff, and took Samantha off his back. Her face was cut, and her nose bleeding. The bottom half of her right leg was way out of place. "Sam are you okay?" Rob asked loudly. He felt the bottom of her jaw, and felt a pulse, and she was breathing. Rob sighed in relief. He looked around, and saw green mountains that were really familiar. He saw an orange brick tower on the other side of the valley, and a road right by it. It took him a few moments to realize where he was, and he knew where he could hide. "Sam." Rob said calmly "We have a long way to go." Two boxed off rocks rose from the ground, and surrounded Sam's injured leg. "This is gonna hurt...a lot." Rob continued. Sam replied faintly "Just get it over with." Robert then said "On the count of three...one." In an instant, the rocks shifted violently, and Sam heard a sharp pop. She screamed at the top of her lungs in pain. In an instant, the pain was gone. "Jesus Christ! The fuck happened to two and three!? That hurt like hell!" Rob replied "By rushing it unexpectedly, you don't panic as much and it hurts less." He pulled Sam off the ground, and put her on his back again. "I know a place we can go."
For many hours, Robert trekked through the rainforest until he reached the orange tower. He pulled a small device out of his pocket, a key fob. He pressed the unlock button, and suddenly a patch of leaves and branches changed into pixels, revealing a white and black Charger SRT. "I was hoping you were still here" Rob said as the headlights turned on and the engine revved. He put Sam in the passenger seat and drove off. He rolled down the winding roads. He turned on the radio to see if he could pick up any communications from other Elites. "Is anybody there? This is Stone. I'm within close proximity of the safehouse...Can anybody hear me?" There was nothing but static as he rode through the forests and hills. "It's okay, maybe we just can't get a signal." Rob said nervously. Sam paused for a moment, and asked "Do you really think they're dead?" Rob replied anxiously "I, I don't know." "You can't lie to me. What do you think is happening?" Sam asked calmly, her patience wearing thin. Robert finally blurted out "I think that this has gone on way too long, and I'm getting tired of all this crap. For the longest I've been wanting to get out of the Elites' shadow, phase out and retire. And now, we might be the only ones left in the world, rising up against a bad guys that are always one step ahead of us! I don't wanna live out the rest of my life running and hiding. And the last thing I want, is to be stuck in a black and grey suit, waiting to catch a bullet."
Around dusk, Rob and Sam pulled up outside a small house. Rob quickly stepped out of the car and walked up to the door. He pulled up the mat on the floor, and there was nothing underneath it. He walked around to the side of the house, and pulled up a potted plant. Underneath the pot, there was a silver key. Rob quickly walked to the front of the house and unlocked the door. He then walked back to the car, and carried Sam inside gently. "We should be safe here. I just gotta activate the security systems." Robert put Sam down on the black couch and walked towards a small glass table. He pressed his right hand down on the table, and the area around his hand glowed green. In an instant, part of the floor hissed, and slid away to reveal a stairwell. At the bottom of the stairs, there was another room. It was all black, with a table, and screens on two of the walls. The table lit up as Rob tapped it, enabling the security systems. He climbed back up the stairs to see Sam watching TV. "Who's house is this anyway?" She asked. Robert replied calmly "This is actually the Gonzalez' summer home. I know Natalie and Nicole's dad didn't want us turning this place into a safe house, so we made this one off the books. Nobody's gonna find us here." Suddenly the TV screen showed vertical colored bars, and a message saying "BROADCAST INTERRUPTED" Suddenly the screen glitched, and went black. A distorted, monotone voice started speaking. "Your world leaders have failed you. They failed to prepare you for what is to come. We shall no longer live in a world where the people do not know who we are. We are the future, the enlightenment. Your world's Endgame. While your leaders see us as terrorists and anarchists, we see ourselves as teachers. Protectors of those who desire it. Lesson One: Faith only brings false hope. In the end, there is nothing that will protect you as the world burns to the ground. How about an example..." Kaiser said calmly. Suddenly, Sam and Rob heard a muffled bang. They looked out the window and saw the city of San Juan, with flames bursting out of one of the buildings. Then there was another bang, and a second building burst into flames. The city was under attack. Kaiser's voice then rang throughout the whole city, and on the small TV "Now, I speak directly to any remaining Elites worldwide: No matter where you go, no matter what you do, there is no escaping your fate. There is nowhere you can hide, nothing you can do to stop us. You are all...out of time." The screen then went to static as a blood red emblem appeared for a split second, before it went back to normal.
"Change... change it to the news." Rob said nervously. Sam quickly changed it to the news, and heard "We seem to have experienced what can only be described as a worldwide broadcast hacking. On top of that there have been reports of a series of bombings across the United States and its territories. The amount of casualties is currently unknown, but we predict this to be the largest terror attack in US history since 9/11." Sam struggled to get off the couch, and said "We need to get out there. Innocent people are dying." Rob quickly replied "That's what they want! If we go out there, they'll know we're here. Our efforts to get this far would be a waste." Sam lied back down, and asked "So what are we supposed to do? We can't fight back, we can't try and stop these attacks. So what can we do?" Rob paused; in an instant he knew how to aid. "Sam you can manipulate and read minds right?" He asked. Sam replied "Yeah, but what does that have to do with anything?" Rob replied "We send a message, one that only the Elites can hear. You're gonna transmit it." "That...might actually work! What do you want me to say?" Robert then said "To any and all remaining Elites, this is US-2 of the American Legion. I know things may seem horrible right now, but we can make this right. I need all of you to converge on my location in San Juan, Puerto Rico; coordinates 18.4653° North, 66.1057° West. If we can reunite, we can plan, organize, and put an end to Endgame...for good." Sam closed her eyes as she attempted to transmit this new message around the world. "How do we know if they got it?" Sam asked as she came too. Rob said "Now we just have to hope for the best."