Somewhere in New York City, in a large train station, a group of terrorists gathered all the people they could find in one spot. They made everyone sit down in the center of the station's main hall and took them hostage.
To prevent them from escaping, the terrorists set up a device, like a bomb, on the ceiling and equipped with a motion sensor. This sensor triggers when anything or anyone moves out of the circular area monitored by its infrared sensors.
Then they sprayed the floor with a red circle that surrounded the hostage and marked the area where they were not allowed to leave or... else.
"Waah! Waah!"
Among the people gathered inside the red circle, a mother held her baby, just a few months old. The baby was crying due to hunger, as they had been hostages for a whole day without any food.
"Don't cry baby, there's nothing to be afraid of. Mommy is here with you."
The mother tries to comfort her child.
The terrorists, on the other hand, were just relaxing; there were about five of them, but they were all just sitting down somewhere, whether on the floor, on chairs; surfing the Internet, reading about themselves in the news, or simply watching Netflix.
Little did they know, among the many hostages, one man was devising an escape plan. He understood that unless someone saved them, the terrorists wouldn't let them go. They would have to save themself or do nothing and die of hunger.
So he waited for an opportunity for the terrorists to be caught off guard, and then...
"He's running away!"
He rushes out of the crowd, runs through the red circle line, and sprints as quickly as he can when none of the terrorists are looking in his direction.
Despite his plan, the terrorists immediately reacted and aimed their rifles at him as soon as he ran around 10 meters.
"SHOOT HIM!"
Loud bangs erupted, and the man stopped running and fell down to the ground, his body continuing to slide due to momentum. Numerous holes are created in his body, primarily in the chest and abdomen, and blood starts to stream out.
Seeing this, some people screamed in terror, and their fears skyrocketed. However, some of them began to notice something odd.
"The ceiling... It's ticking!" A girl shouted.
"Holy shit! It's about to explode!"
The moment they discovered the device (the bomb) placed in the ceiling, with red and blue lights flashing nonstop and an increasingly loud ticking sound, chaos spread as people began to panic.
"We have to get out here-!"
BANG!
"OH, MY GOD!!"
A man steps out of the thin red line by accident, and a terrorist shoots him down.
"It's okay baby, Mommy is here with you..." Amidst the chaos, the mother continues to comfort her crying baby.
"Waah! Waah!"
"IT'S ABOUT TO EXPLODE!"
"PLEASE LET US GO!!"
Despite the pleas and begs, the terrorists do not say anything or show any sign that they are free to leave the red circle; in fact, some of them are moving backward, away from the blast radius.
"WE'RE ALL GONNA DIE!"
"Look at mommy baby, everything is gonna be alright..."
"I'M NOT GOING TO DIE HERE-!"
BANG!
A woman tries to resist and run out of the red circle, she is met with an AK rifle and a copper bullet is pinned to her forehead.
"WAAH! WAAH!!" The baby hearing gunshots now cries even louder.
"FUCK THIS SHIT!!"
"LET'S FUCKING KILL THEM!!"
A few people in the crowd, mainly men, have decided to ignore everything and fight the terrorists for their own lives rather than waiting to die.
Bang! Bang! Bang!
Regardless of the number of people who rushed towards the terrorists, they were all met with chilling and deafening gunfires. All those who tried to resist are now dead lying lifeless on the ground. Only those who remain within the red circle are still alive... not for long.
The ticking sound becomes louder and more rapid with every second that passes.
"WAAAHHHH!!" The baby is still in his mother's arms, weeping, unaware of what is coming.
"Everything gonna be alright, Everything gonna be alri-"
BOOM!!
The rapid ticking sounds stopped, followed by a massive explosion, the bomb exploded the bricks and concretes of the ceiling, causing large chunks of debris to fall on the red circle.
The debris crushes everything and everyone beneath it, and after a few seconds, everything suddenly goes quiet. The baby crying, the screaming, and the yelling all stop, and all that is left is a terrifying silence.
"Report! Our job here is done, proceeding back to base."
One of the terrorists spoke into the Walkie-Talkie, and then all five of them began walking out of the station toward their truck.
-----------------------------------
"Huh, Huh?!"
A few hours after being knocked out unconscious by Saiko, Chad finally awakens from his slumber.
Now it's morning, as their operation started yesterday at midnight. Chad notices sunlight coming in through a window and shining right into his eyes.
"Seems like your sidekick has finally awoken. Let me introduce myself again, my name is Gabriel."
"What the?! Where am I?"
When Chad is completely awake, he sees himself tied up in a chair in a dark room lit only by sunlight that appears quite luxurious and expensive. And in front of him is a man in a white shirt with a beard.
"You're Chad, right? We are glad to have you here in one of the fanciest places in New York City!" The man says.
"Don't talk to him!" Another voice appears, and Chad looks to his right side.
"Mister Neil?!"
"I'm sorry Chad. I couldn't get us out."
"Sorry, always sorry, you are acting like every problem in the world is all your fault, but guess what? Three of you end up here because of me." With a sarcastic tone, Gabriel replied.
"Three?"
Chad moves his body to peer a bit further in Neil's direction, he notices another man in a vest who is also tied to a chair like him.
"Hi, Kid."
"President Mikeal?!"
And realize it was one who was kidnapped by the terrorists on the news, the president of the United States.
"Yeah, it's me. You are Neil's student, right?"
"Oh, so you two know each other?" Gabriel asked.
"I'm not talking to you." The President harshly replied.
"Mister President, I think you should know which position you are in right now. Your life is entirely in our control and it will be decided in..."
Gabriel checks his watch.
"28 hours. Unless the White House agreed with my conditions."
"What do you mean?"
"Well, at about 10 AM Yesterday, I contacted the White House and gave them my demands in return for the safety of Mister President here, and about 2 million innocent civilians being held hostage by us directly or indirectly. I gave them exactly 48 hours and up till now it's currently 6 AM..."
He took some time to do the math.
"So 20 hours have passed, 28 more to go."
"What did you ask for?"
"Hm?"
"The demands, what demands did you give them?"
Gabriel instead turns at the president.
"I think you can answer him for me, Mister President."
All three of them are staring at the President, waiting for his response, which makes him feel a little awkward, so he begins speaking slowly and hesitantly.
"He asked for a withdrawal of all our troops in Afghanistan, and a transfer to give the entire country of West Germany, including the civilians, property, land,... basically everything to the government of East Germany."
"And you accepted that?!" Neil exclaims.
"Of course, I didn't! But right now, I'm not the one who makes the decisions."
After the President's words, silence falls as everyone processes the news. Neil begins to notice something unusual from all the information he has collected so far.
"Those are just... diversions, aren't they? A distraction from the real intentions of this whole thing." He suddenly speaks.
"What do you mean?" President Mikeal wondered.
"All of the terrorists I have encountered until now, I realized that they all can speak English, even though not fluently. But most of them also speak a second language, it's either Russian, or Pashto a language used in Afghanistan, and it's not a coincidence, there are many of them. I know because it sounds familiar to what I've heard during my service in Afghanistan."
Gabriel keeps nodding enthusiastically as if he had anticipated hearing this, while the President remains perplexed by Neil's words.
"What are you implying?"
"I was thinking... what if, a joint operation between the
Hearing this, the President's eyes widened, his mouth dropped, and his face flushed with disbelief.
"So that's what you meant." He speaks to Gabriel.
Clap! Clap! Gabriel applauds in admiration in response to Neil's explanation.
"Congratulations. You are correct! Our true intention is to make the United States and the Soviet Union go to war with each other. But how did you figure it out."
"I didn't, we didn't. Guess what? It was one of your subordinates." Neil speaks with a smug tone.
"And where is this 'my subordinate'?"
"Why would I tell you-"
"Let me guess, somewhere in a basement below a 'Safe' bar, there are three people other than the one you told."
"What?!" Both Neil and Chad sit in shock, hearing the last thing they ever wanted to hear.
"Oh, and there's also another in the underground of this building that we caught, what's his name again? Yeah... Roy."
"Don't you fucking dare lay a finger on them!" Despite the fact that he is bound to the chair, Neil still tries to rush over to Gabriel and yells at him.
"Ah hah! That's the Neil Phildom I'd love to see!" Yet, Gabriel only gets more excited.
"But don't worry Neil, they'll come here soon and we will put them all together in a nice and comfy room, but I promise... we won't do anything to them, unless... You force me to."
"Why are you doing all of this." Chad asked in frustration.
"Why?" Then Gabriel approaches him. "Haven't you heard? We want to start a war between the US and the-"
"I know, I mean you! Why are you doing this personally? You don't just go all the way here, risking your life and becoming the most wanted person in the entire world just for money, don't you? What is your motive?"
"My motive? Let me think... Well, having witnessed the brutality and human rights abuses of both America and the Soviets, I would say I'd love to see them destroying each other. I would enjoy sitting down and eating popcorn while the two most powerful nations in the world set each other on fire."
"How about the innocent people? What have they done to deserve this?"
Gabriel takes a brief pause and then gives Chad a sinister smile.
"Yeah, you're right. They don't deserve any of that, but neither do the 2 million people who died in Vietnam, nor the 70,000 in Afghanistan.
Innocent people die as a result of the selfishness and greed of powerful individuals. This occurs due to what is so-called "ideological differences," where they are willing to drag each other down to their graves along with their own people. And we are just doing the inevitable."
Gabriel's conclusion left all three of them speechless, their faces turning blank in front of the undeniable truth. He then stands up, steps away from Chad, and leans his back against the wall.
"Oh, and personally, I really despise the 'innocent people' you're talking about." He continues.
"What do you mean?"
"Because while "you people" wake up on a comfy bed and have a hot Starbucks on your way to work or study, there are many others who don't know whether they can even fill half of their empty stomach to survive until the next day. While you all may experience heartbreak, unemployment, or financial struggles, there are others who are struggling on the battlefield, not knowing when they are going to die.
You all are behaving as if you're the unhappiest people in the world when you don't have to worry about your safety, hunger, and health. And don't ask me about deservingness, Chad!" He said this while slamming his hand on a table.
"Because this world is already unfair, and I'm sure that my subordinates feel the same."
Then he sat back down in his chair. Nevertheless, Chad remains unsatisfied with this answer, he glares at Gabriel with a face full of hidden anger.
"But that doesn't mean you have the right to kill my friend."
"?" Gabriel bewildered.
"Just because you have suffered doesn't mean others have to suffer as well. Just because innocent people in your country have died doesn't grant you the right to kill people from another country. This makes you no different from the super-powerful people you mentioned. You are all simply murderers who use your own suffering as a justification for your atrocities!"
Upon hearing this accusation, Gabriel just smirked.
"You know what, Chad? You're right. I am a murderer. I've killed tons of innocent people before."
He then drew closer to Chad's face.
"But, so what? You're acting as if I'm the only one in this room who has killed innocent people before, right Neil? Mister President, since you two know each other, I bet you must know what he has done, right?"
"Mr. Neil, what is he saying?" Once again, Chad is puzzled.
"Don't listen to him Chad!"
"Oh, he didn't know?!" Gabriel laughs.
"You shut up!"
"Do you want to know what he did, Chad?"
"What are you saying?"
"Don't listen to him!" Neil begged.
"He..."
"Whatever he's saying he's lying!" Neil continues to beg desperately.
"Killed..."
"Please don't tell him! I beg you-!"
"My wife and son."
"..."
After that, everyone became quiet. Neil stopped pleading with Gabriel to tell what he didn't want Chad to hear, as Gabriel had already said it. However, Chad appeared to be skeptical.
"You're lying! Mr. Neil is not that kind of person! Of course, he used to be a soldier, but he only kills the evil ones like you! Right, Mr. Neil?"
Neil remained silent, avoiding eye contact with Chad and giving the impression that he neither rejected nor confirmed it.
"Wait... are you serious?"
"Jesus." The President exclaims.
"And do you want to know the details?"
Chad's eyes lock onto Gabriel with curiosity and bafflement. He leaned back in his chair, sat cross-legged, and started telling the story of a dark past.