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"From this moment, we, the free world, have entered the darkest of times!"
John's first words made everyone grasp the severity of the situation, and no one dared to speak first.
He certainly had good reason to be angry; the hotline conference call that had just ended a few hours ago was maddening.
Although they were ostensibly at fault, they clung desperately to the "civilian" and "stray" excuses and would not budge, while the others simply had no evidence of action, rendering all their verbal sparring pointless.
It was rare for the other four powers to issue a united condemnation, but all it resulted in was a "sorry" and an immediate promise to "send a rescue team for humanitarian relief efforts." All they did was symbolically handing out some money and a verbal apology.
