Chapter 86:
Léonard stepped out of his high school, waving goodbye to his friends as the final bell echoed through the building. As he made his way through the bustling courtyard, he spotted the familiar black sedan parked discreetly by the gate. He opened the door and slid into the backseat, greeted by Graves, his ever-reliable aide.
Graves smiled as the door closed. "Boss, I hope your math exam wasn't too tough," he chuckled, glancing at Léonard through the rearview mirror.
Léonard let out a small laugh, leaning back in the seat. "Honestly, it's harder than running the Foundation," he said with a smirk, his casual tone betraying the weight of the responsibilities he juggled daily.
Graves nodded, still grinning, then cleared his throat. "The meeting with O5-4 is all set, Boss. I made sure everything is in place."
"Good," Léonard replied, his expression shifting to a more serious demeanor as he straightened up. His eyes darted to the seat beside him, where Graves had placed something familiar.
"And your signature mask," Graves added with a nod toward the item. "It's right next to you."
Léonard picked it up, running his fingers along the smooth, cold surface of the mask. The intricate design of the mask was unmistakable—sleek, dark, and haunting, it was an emblem of his authority within the Foundation, a symbol of the identity he assumed when operating in his true role. He glanced at Graves, who was already focused on the road ahead, then slid the mask into his lap, feeling the weight of what was to come.
"Alright, Graves," Léonard said quietly, "let's get moving. There's a lot to discuss."
As the car smoothly pulled away from the school, Léonard looked out the window, his mind shifting from the mundane concerns of school life to the dangerous, enigmatic world that awaited him in the shadows.
---
They arrived at a hotel and were greeted by a crowd of security agents with hidden faces. One of them approached and said to Leonard: "Sir, O5-4 and his guards are upstairs and waiting for you." He then respectfully pointed toward the stairs, and Leonard ascended, accompanied by Graves.
They entered a private room where O5-4 and one of his two assistants were waiting. They stood up upon Leonard's arrival, and O5-4 said: "Boss, it's a pleasure to see you again."
Leonard sat down with Graves standing behind him.
Leonard said, "It's a pleasure to see you too. We have far too much to discuss." His expression turned slightly somber.
O5-4 mirrored the look: "I know…"
Leonard said, "So, to keep it simple, we have one week to dismantle SAPPHIRE's entire terrorist operation. That's priority number one."
O5-4 replied, "Yeah, no doubt about it, we can't let them cause that much chaos."
Leonard continued, "After that, we have my tribulation in a week and two days. So we need to preserve the Foundation's forces and prepare for the worst."
O5-4 nodded, "Yeah, that too."
Leonard finished, "Then there's the situation in the Middle East, which is deteriorating even more. Not to mention the anomalies and groups of interest popping up all over."
O5-4 sighed, "It's a real mess."
Leonard agreed, "I confirm, we need to prepare plans for all of it."
Both Leonard and O5-4 thought in silence for a moment before O5-4 said, "Right now, there are just too many things happening, and I don't mean any disrespect, Boss, but you won't have the headspace to handle everything—neither will I. So I suggest we split the tasks. Since the attacks are targeting France and I'm currently overseeing the Francophone branch, I'm best positioned to handle that. As for the tribulation, since you're the only one informed about it, I think it's best you focus on that. Then, we can send someone else directly to Lebanon to manage the situation at the Site there."
Leonard asked, "Who would this third person be?"
O5-4 responded, "I suggest my assistant, Jules, O5-4-A. He's my right-hand man and more than capable of handling this."
Leonard thought for a few seconds before saying, "Alright, I accept. We'll assign him MTF Xi-13 'Sequeres Nos' and Gamma-18 '999 Problems' to assist in the task."
O5-4 nodded, and both fell into a brief silence. Then Leonard asked, "How are the Foundation's businesses doing?"
O5-4 replied, "We've established several media outlets and food companies. We also have a presence in the arms industry, though it's relatively minor."
Léonard: "Good, and what about our financial problems?"
O5-4: "We've resolved all of them."
Léonard: "Well, you're efficient. What's our situation geopolitically, and what about our presence?"
O5-4: "Currently, our main presence is in France. We're in full cooperation with the French government and have infiltrated several of their institutions, including economic, political, military, and administrative sectors. We also have a strong presence in Germany, mainly concentrated in the South, Southeast, and Southwest regions. Additionally, we maintain operations in Algeria, Lebanon, Scotland, Switzerland, and Egypt, supported by a satellite . Our armed forces are particularly effective in Germany and the USA. Lastly, we have a weak or very limited presence in Madagascar, Quebec, Belgium, Luxembourg, and Monaco, with a few agents in Norway and others already deployed in the Middle East due to the Yeda' Zoher/ORIA incident."
Léonard: "Do you have any advice on projects we should start?"
O5-4: "Honestly, I think we should wait until we've dealt with our current messes here before diving into anything new."
Léonard: "Not wrong."
There was a brief moment of silence before Léonard stood up and declared, "Since it seems like we're done here, I'll be heading out first."
O5-4 tossed him a card, which Léonard caught mid-air. He looked at it and realized it was a bank card. O5-4 added, "The code is XXXX. There are 50 million euros, untraceable."
Léonard's eyes widened at the amount but quickly regained his composure, nodded, and left. As he closed the door behind him, O5-4 saw Léonard running excitedly with the card in his hands.
O5-4 chuckled lightly, and O5-4-A remarked, "I didn't expect the boss to be so young."
O5-4 sighed and said, "It's refreshing to have someone young around rather than managing the 12 other grumpy ones."
He sighed again, "I miss you guys… can't wait to have a complete O5 Council again."
---
In a war-torn street, Ibrahim, a 13-year-old boy, ran through the streets of Gaza. He looked back and saw three Israeli soldiers chasing him. He turned into an alley, running breathlessly. To his despair, he saw the street blocked by a collapsed house.
Behind him, the three soldiers stopped and glared at him menacingly. The boy said in Arabic, "لا لا لا لا، بابا أنا خائف، الرجال الأشرار يريدون الإمساك بي." (No no no no, papa I'm scared, the bad men want to catch me).
One of the soldiers, who appeared to be their leader, said in Arabic with an accent, "لقد جعلتنا نركض كثيراً أيها القذر، لدي أمر بأخذك إلى المختبر. أنت محظوظ لأنهم أمروني بإحضارك سليماً، وإلا كنت سأعذبك قبل أن أقتلك." (You made us run a lot, you filthy trash, I have orders to take you to the lab. You're lucky they ordered me to bring you in one piece, or I would have tortured you before killing you).
The boy began to cry, "لا لا لا، لا أريد العودة إلى هناك. سوف يضربونني مرة أخرى." (No no no, I don't want to go back there. They're going to hit me again).
The soldier said, "تبا لهذه القذارة، أمسكوه وخذوه، لا أريد أن ألمس هذا الإرهابي الصغير." (Damn this filth, grab him and take him, I don't want to touch this filthy little terrorist).
The men slowly approached as the boy curled up into a fetal position, crying, and said, "أنتم الأوغاد القذرون، لقد خطفتم وقتلتم أختي الصغيرة." (You filthy bastards, you kidnapped and killed my little sister).
He then thought back to his home a few months earlier. He saw his house destroyed, the body of his one-year-old brother, his mother with the lower half of her body missing, and his father who had been shot by Israeli soldiers. They had captured his sister and him, taking them to a lab where he and many other children were tortured.
The child, in a fit of rage, suddenly levitated a meter off the ground and screamed in Arabic: "اقتل اقتل اقتل اقتل اقتل سأقتلكم جميعاً!" (Kill, kill, kill, kill, kill, I will kill you all!).
The man shouted in Hebrew, "Damn it, he's going to kill us! Kill him!"
The soldiers raised their weapons, but the child, blinded by rage, pointed at them and clenched his fist. Plouf, the heads of the three soldiers exploded into a bloody fountain.
Suddenly, more Israeli soldiers, alerted by the noise, rushed into the street. They saw the child and one of them yelled, "DAMN IT, THE ANOMALY TOOK DOWN A TEAM. KILL HIM!"
The soldiers raised their weapons, ready to fire, but suddenly the sound of gunfire erupted, not from the child, but aimed at the soldiers. One of them shouted, "ENEMY ATTACK–" Boom, a bullet struck him dead on the spot.
There was a brief exchange of gunfire, ending with the death of all the soldiers. A group of masked men, their faces covered by scarves and armed with AK-47s and wearing bulletproof vests, emerged from a nearby building. They finished off the wounded soldiers on the ground, then one of them approached the boy, who had collapsed into a deep sleep. The man activated his mic and transmitted:
"This is Tactical Team #134 from Observation Post Romeo-Delta to Site Command. We've just located and discreetly eliminated several Yeda' Zoher combatants pursuing a child around 12 to 14 years old. The child killed three of them using some sort of telepathic ability. I suspect he might be a potential psionic."
A response came through: "Understood. Evacuate and detain him temporarily at your observation post. A transfer team will arrive in three hours to retrieve him. Over."
The agent then turned to his colleagues: "Viper and Rogue, you're on babysitting duty. Let's move."
Then the operatives disappeared into the building block, taking the boy with them.
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Short Chapter I know but i am focused on cooking the next chapters 🤟