The Hall of Martyrs. Eagle's Nest. Earth.
A man and a woman stood in front of a slot.
Name: Tracy Washington.
Generation II Phasewalker.
Dec 1, 2002 - July 2, 2020
Age: 17
Rank: Corporal. 4th Motorized Battalion. 1st Phasewalker Regiment. The Phasewalker Corps.
Corporal Washington was killed in action 20 kilometers away from Fortress Alpha, on the highway between Fortress Alpha and New Sara.
Helmet Camera Footage: Logged.
Compensation: $10,000/month and full medical care for his parents.
The woman lowered her head and sniffed her nose. Beside her, the man wrapped his arms around his wife. His eyes were dry, but the way his face twitched suggested he wasn't as calm as he was trying to be.
The man slowly pressed a button, and an image of their daughter popped up. In the picture, Tracy had a big smile on. The photo was taken not long after she was first entered into the Phasewalker program. She was wearing a Generation I Phasewalker Armor, which was basically just the U.S. Army Uniform with red insignia.
She had a big smile on. She had no idea just weeks later, all that was left of her and her smile would be a box of ashes. Oh, and a slot in the Hall of Martyrs.
Along with a pair of grieving parents.
Finally, the woman couldn't take it anymore. "Oh...my baby girl!" She exclaimed before breaking down in tears.
The man couldn't go on either, but he pushed through. Another click on the interface pulled up the last seconds of the helmet camera footage. The last seconds of his daughter's life.
The interface flickered before starting to play.
"Fall back! It's an ambush!" This was the voice of the commanding officer.
"You two! What are you doing? Cover the retreat! It's an order!" This was the attempt made by the commissar to keep the retreat from becoming a rout.
"Help! Help! Medic!" This was the screams of dying Phasewalkers.
"Die! Die! Die! Kill them all!" The battle cries of broken soldiers.
And then, all of a sudden, the camera shook violently. It rolled and turned before landing on the ground. It was facing up, staring straight at the lower half of a familiar body. Behind the corpse, a Mutated Animal growled and charged forward, only to be ravaged through by a hail of ammo.
The father closed out of the footage before turning around. With his broken wife by his side, he slowly walked out of the Hall of Martyrs.
But he wasn't going to be let alone. A teenager was waiting for him outside the halls. He was in a black uniform, but the Phasewalker symbol on his shoulder revealed his identity.
"Mr. Washington." He said quietly. "My name is George."
The father ignored him.
"I knew your daughter," George added, this time managing to stop Mr. Washington in his tracks. Seeing the effect, George added. "We were both Generation II Phasewalkers. We knew each other in training. Her death was painful for me."
Mr. Washington didn't turn. "I am sorry for your loss."
"So am I, for yours." George paused before walking up to face the Washington couple. "But it is a necessary pain. I hope you can come to see that she died for a worthy cause."
Mr. Washington suddenly grinned, but there was no warmness in his grin. Instead, it was a mocking expression. A cynic one. One going against everything smiles were supposed to represent.
"You people have already poisoned the mind of my daughter and sent her to her grave." He hissed. "Are you going to try to do the same to us?"
George didn't flinch.
"Poison?"
"Can't you see what Section X is doing here?" Mr. Washington suddenly raised his voice. "They are pulling sons and daughters away from their parents and brainwashing them to die! In a war that we know nothing about! They aren't even adults! Their brains aren't even fully capable of making reasonable decisions! Yet, you are leading them in with money or pride and calling it their own will! Yes! This is poison! Section X, the Phasewalker program, and everything! They are all poisons that will one day destroy our society!"
George was slightly taken back.
"Perhaps. This is a free world, after all. While I don't quite agree with what you said, you are entitled to your beliefs." He threw his hands up. "This is a democracy. You have your rights."
"Yes it is."
"But when your actions threaten the safety of the nation, and even this world, your rights will have to be curbed."
Mr. Washington froze.
"John?" His wife raised her eyebrows. She has been struck by sorrow during most of the conversation, but now she could no longer sit back. "What is he talking about?"
George waited for a few seconds to see if Mr. Washington would answer the question. When he didn't, the Phasewalker spoke up.
"After Tracy told you two about the program, your husband collected the contact information of 13 news media. He didn't do anything then, but after the news of your daughter's death arrived, he sent an email to all 13 of them. The email contains everything he knows about Section X and the Phasewalker program." He turned to Mrs. Washington. "He is trying to expose everything."
"The people have a right to know about a government agency secretly stealing their children from them!" Mr. Washington suddenly snapped at George. "If you are getting into a war that is costing us the lives of our sons and daughters, we deserve to at least know about it!"
That was when he realized something critical. "Wait! How did you even know about this? Are you secretly surveilling us? Spying on us?"
"You broke the rules." George's answer was simple.
"Rules that were made without the approval of elected officials! Rules that weren't voted on!" Mr. Washington was furious. "This is still a democracy, god damn it! This is the United States, not Nazi Germany or Communist Soviet Union where the government can just make our decisions for us!"
The Phasewalker stood there in silence. For a moment, Mr. Washington thought he convinced the man, but he was quickly proven wrong.
"There will be a time when what we do here is revealed, but that time is not now." He said quietly, untouched by the outburst. "Our computer experts have intercepted the messages you sent. Go home. Forget about all this, and you and your wife will be remembered as the parents of a hero."
"But try anything else, and you will become traitors of the nation. Even worse, threats to the nation."
Mr. Washington suddenly sighed and walked a few steps, leaning against the wall. He reached inside his pocket and pulled out a cigarette.
"John…" Mrs. Washington frowned. Her husband hasn't smoked for years.
John Washington ignored her. He took out a lighter, lit the cigar, and gave it a deep smoke. George waited patiently as the man spoke up again.
"George, right? That's your name? Do you know how the Nazi party rose to power?"
George shrugged. "Can't say that I do."
"After World War I, Germany was torn by a thousand different problems. They went from one of the peak military powers in Europe to a nation with a restricted army and no navy. They had to pay a king's ransom to France and its allies. Their most prosperous industrial complexes were stripped away. Countless families lost people to the war. Germany was hopeless."
"Hitler's appeal was simple. Germany had to become stronger to survive, and to do that, because Germany was already so behind, drastic measures had to be taken."
"Democracy would slow things down, so a single, unsupervised leader had to have most of the power."
"Germany faced enemies outside and within, so the communists and the Jews and all the enemies of the State must be terminated with no hesitation or mercy. Fear must be answered with force. Burning a thousand innocent just to slay one embedded traitor was a nice trade."
"Chaos was terrifying, so absolute order was established via a system of secret police and a powerful central government that controls most of the important infrastructures of the state and censors the media. The people hear the same story. They hold the same beliefs, and they act toward the same goal. Unity achieved through propaganda."
"Do you think this method benefited everyone? Of course not, but most people looked at this structure and decided it was better to have a few suffer than to doom most." Mr. Washington glanced at George. "In what you tell the boys and girls you bring in, it's that the sacrifice of a few is worth the survival of the world."
"Tell me, do Section X and the Phasewalker program have oversight?"
"Yes. The President."
"And who is he supervised by? Does he have an oversight made up of the representatives of the people aware of all that's going on?"
"Not to my knowledge."
"Ahhh...so a single, unsupervised leader with most of the power. Check. The Phasewalkers are created for one thing: use force to handle potential threats. In other words, use force to fight fear. Check." He tilted his head. "As for the secret police...do I need to keep going?"
"You, Section X, and the Phasewalker program. You are on the path of becoming Nazis."
"So, what are you suggesting we do?" George took a step forward, unconvinced by the man's words. "Are we supposed to tell the world that we can be invaded any minute? That any minute, we may be attacked and destroyed and enslaved by forces beyond our control? That the fate of everyone is on the shoulder of a group of teenagers? If we tell the people what you say they have the right to know, there will be chaos. Mass crime. Mass unemployment. Society as we know it will collapse."
"Is it what you think or is it what you're told?"
"It's what I know."
"Well, you underestimate what the people are capable of. There may be some chaos at first, but eventually, we will persevere. Democracy can guide us forward. Fascism will only pull us back." He tilted his head. "Dying in a free world is better than living under the thumb of a Big Brother."
His stance was clear. He would not give in.
The halls were quiet for a moment before George quietly moved to the side. Mr. Washington glanced at him before moving to walk down the hallway. George didn't look at him. He simply turned and eyed Mrs. Washington.
He was waiting for her to make a choice, and a choice she made.
The woman quietly followed her husband down the dark hall.
Finally, George was left alone.
The Phasewalker took a deep breath before pulling out an object from his side pocket. A Shield.
What Ryan Carlson said to him a while ago when he recruited him still echoed through his head.
Shieldbearers had the sacred duty to do whatever was necessary to ensure the safety of Earth and humanity. If the Phasewalkers were the warriors fighting on the front, then the Shieldbearers were the wardens in the dark. They were the shadow guards. The assassins. They were the blade that threatened to cut open the throat of every traitor, coward, spy, and incompetent individual, in and out of the Phasewalker Corps.
He took out his encrypted phone.
"Mr. and Mrs. Washington are driving back to their hotel, 20 kilometers away from here. They will never get there. A tragic accident will strike before that happens, killing both."
"Yes sir."
George put the phone away again.
Fascists, huh?
Adolf Hitler was a maniac, a sinner to his people, and a monster in general, but the fact was, his Fascist policies turned Germany from a nation defeated in war to a menace of the world. Germany, under the Fascist leadership, almost took over the planet. It was only the Fuhrer's idiotic mistakes and failures later in the years that sent his empire crumbling down.
What the Phasewalkers were facing was countless times worse than what Germany did after World War I. Germany was in political, social, and financial turmoil. The Phasewalkers? If they failed, the entire Earth would be overrun. Politics? Society? Finance? All that would be irrelevant under the fangs of Mutated Animals.
So if Fascism could elevate the Phasewalker Corps and Earth the same way it did to Nazi Germany, well...it might just be a necessary evil that Shieldbearers like him not only had to allow, but also had to foster.
With the kill order given, George started moving once again. He walked over several hallways before seeing a line of recruits coming in on the other end of the hall. George quietly moved to the side as the recruits crossed.
As the Phasewalker Corps shed their share of blood on the other end of the Portal, the flow of new bodies to replace the lost ones never stopped. And this time, Section X was making the moves.
In 5 different training facilities, over 3,000 Generation IV Phasewalkers were being prepared for war.
The machine of war roars on, crushing all in its way.