"I beg your pardon?"
"Well you better, my mercy is all that's keeping you from a spending the rest of your life in jail."
The shocked look on Masud's face was one I welcomed. He'd come here to tell me that the AU needed to force a government on my nation before they could allow us back into the organization.
It angered me. And though I knew for a fact that these were the words he would spew once we met, living the reality was a lot more provocative.
"Mister President let us not deceive ourselves. You're doing a very bad job of being a dictator and I can either help you stabilize the region, or I could help you get into a cell." I regained my composure after breathing deeply, I spoke with a rather calm and condescending voice, he needed to be put in his place.
Still his mouth hung open in shock but at my words he shook his head fervently, "I am no such thing. Unlike you Mister Fatah, my countrymen voted me in on basis of trust."
"Ah, yes, they voted you in but now you've refused to leave, going as far as amending the constitution much older than even you are to further your needs for power. It is painfully obvious to see that you are leading a corrupt, autocratic government with no regard for the same countrymen you swore to protect."
"Ah, so you've been to Namibia and experienced the full extent of the internet have you? Done a little googling and decided to believe the first slanderous article there was on me huh." He scoffed lightly, the shock on his face now replaced with a thinly veiled anger, I suppose he wasn't used to being questioned, but then again, neither was I.
"Yes actually." His eyes widen briefly as he readies to pounce on my admittance, "But the article only gave me the idea, I went ahead to find out more about this 'slander' as you put it, because where's there's smoke there's fire, and my lord are you on fire." I chuckled a bit as he began looking confused.
"You have nothing dear boy."
And that was a trigger.
"I've got everything, Inmate Masud," I spit out, "I'll give you a hint, Zone 74." As I say this I activate my pain-infliction skill and carefully induce a mixture of fear and anxiety, furthering the hopeless feeling that will no doubt follow.
I smirk as I hit the jackpot. His face rapidly lost much of its colour at my words and power, I couldn't help laugh out loud.
"How do you know about that?" his voice had gotten calmer, you'd think he'd be screaming at the top of his lungs and bearing at me with all the uncomfortable emotions I was forcing him to feel, thankfully, he was smarter than that, smart enough to keep hold of his mind as he tried to process and control the uncontrollably large feeling of despair that washed over him. I was slightly impressed.
"It doesn't matter how. What matters now is what's next, for you I mean, I know I'm going to be living a very cushy life, much unlike you once the international community gets hold of this," I take out a flash drive and wave it at him, "In this flash drive there are about twelve twenty-minute videos of torture, executions, intense interrogations and more, all in full audio and at your orders. I was particularly touched when you spat on a man, oh what was his name? Mohammed Sayyid, one of the many unfortunate competitors that thought it wise to fund protest against your brutal regime."
The mention of Sayyid was the nail in the coffin, I could tell as he sweats bullets in a properly air-conditioned room that he'd lost all hope. I'd crushed all form of reprieve for him.
"What do you want?"
I grinned, happy like a child at an amusement park, "Getting back in the AU is a no-brainer, but what I really want from you, Mister Masud, is Egypt."
He looked at me confused and exasperated, "What, you want to do as your Father did and take over Egypt with forged documents, that won't do you any good, you're more likely to make enemies, the east isn't a playground."
I scoff at this, "Please do not look down on me while I have your entire life and government in my hands. I am a Nineteen year-old capable of stabilizing all political tensions in a country and now I kind of have you by the balls. Show me some respect."
He bows his head at my scolding and I sigh, tossing the flash drive back into the drawer, it'd done its job quite well. In truth there was simply nothing on the flash drive, maybe some files regarding the RDOS but other than that, nothing. I'd also hadn't bothered researching the Egyptian President, I knew enough about him to know that he was a corrupt scoundrel, quite literally the scum of the earth, my past lives told me this much.
Masud had been an up and coming dictator in Africa at this time and as many novice dictators do, they draw so much attention with the sudden disappearances of their rivals and enemies and not to mention the massacres that occur often when people begin protesting. In all past lives, Masud was eventually ousted for the tyrannical leader he was by the west and pushed out of office. Area 74, Sayyid, these were all facts that were brought to light by the west. I just remembered it all.
For a second I thought he'd have the sense to ask to see the videos, that would have put me in a tight corner as the only videos I had were those provided by the intel-ii upon gazing at him, luckily, the mention of Sayyid was enough.
"Now, What I meant by that is, a lot of Egypt's resources will be heading towards Schelar most especially weaponry," with this little ransom, I needn't rely so desperately on Russia, "A formal alliance, and periodic payments to my administration under foreign aid."
To be honest, I hadn't planned on ransoming Egypt into submission, I was still playing according to the history of my past lives, I never expected the AU to show so much interest in Schelar despite their entire purpose for existence being to unify the African people and because of this in my past lives, as well as this one, I never prepared for the inspection that happened right under my nose with President Nawab and Bernador and because of this I never got the Union's attention, I never got Masud in that chair, I never got to play the one-hit-kill card I had.
"I'll help you stay afloat. No need to sully yourself with the little rebels that plague you, I'll handle them personally. You just need to focus on compiling with these demands. Is that understood?"
Slowly, he nods, his eyes wide and unmoving in a daze, "Yes, Mister President."
"Good," I smile, satisfied with my handiwork. I deactivate the Pain-infliction, and I hear him let out a sigh of relieve, "Don't even think about clearing up area 74 either, I plan to go on an excursion there soon." Just in the even that he does call my bluff, I intended on having a real video of the deplorable place to further my leverage.
"One more thing, Masud," I called out as the exhausted man stood to leave, "If you have any problems comprehending the demands, feel free to consider yourself my vassal."