Chapter
4 – Mercy and Masters
Timeo and I pray for hours while
waiting for Giovanni to “work his magic”. We wait and pray so long that the spy
joins in, and we share our faith with him and get him interested in pursuing
it. Sometime later, we received a message that Giovanni is doing his part and
to watch the news. There, we see a separated media and world, those who support
us and those who don’t. Because of the intel that Timeo and the spy retrieved,
we’ve exposed Nexum for their crimes. Yet, there are defenders of Nexum who
doubt the legitimacy of the information, dislike the way we obtained it, or
claim their actions are justified because they disagree with our beliefs.
Giovanni publicly berates them all online and on live TV as he rallies more
support for us.
The part of his speech that gets my
attention the most is when he says, “This is the line in the sand in beliefs
that I constantly emphasize and explain why I act the way I do. I use
vigilantes and people made into villains because their countries criminalize
them and refuse to give them a second chance. I exploit the grey areas of the
law because it is flawed, taken advantage of by corrupt leaders, and an
embarrassment to our country that needs fixing. There is no such thing as
common sense between people of different beliefs, and we see this most clearly
in the conflict between us and those who support Nexum’s terrorist and
hypocritical actions. There is no shared goal or common ground to reach through
dialogue because they refuse to accept the truth. So, what is left other than
fighting them with physical force? What else can we do but force them to submit
like the rabid dogs they are or slap them across the face like spoiled
children?”
Our objective is clear. With Nexum
deploying the full force of its military to defend itself from protesters
outside its borders, and vigilantes and heroes from our country and others who
are knocking on its doors, we are tasked with bringing its leaders to justice.
What Giovanni did was clear our reputation and that of the Dominion. Now, we
must finish this fight against our greatest enemy yet, and possibly pursue
their allies afterward. Giovanni sends us a message indicating where to go to
end this, and Timeo and I head there, to a palace that resembles a cathedral
with walls around it, surrounded by superhumans on both sides.
A shot is fired by someone we can’t
see, probably one of Giovanni’s people, and those for and against Nexum start
fighting. Timeo and I join in on the chaos, push against Nexum’s defenders, and
bring its leaders to justice within minutes. During the fight, many defenders
die in battle, a few are captured, and others, like their leaders, kill
themselves to avoid the disgrace of being captured or killed by us, as they
said before they died. From there, we’re given the green light to go home by
Giovanni, and when Timeo and I arrive back in the Columbian Union, we are
exonerated of our crimes by our country’s leaders, as the traitors within the
system are expunged and jailed or die during capture, either at their hands or by
law enforcement. The media and ideological war continue as people from across
the world argue against the morality and legality of our actions, some in
support, others against.
As for me, I’m glad to just be home
with my family again, and divine justice has been satisfied. Deborah tells me
that, while Timeo and I were gone, she was defending our remaining allies here
with Idelle, Darcy’s family allies, and Timeo’s apprentices from assassins sent
by Nexum allies within our country, something that Timeo and I knew would
happen and would result in our allies, friends, and families not letting us
down. With Nexum brought to its knees and the world in our favor, the Dominion
is not only reinstated but dubbed the first international hero association. We
have supporters in all countries across the world, will have offices in them,
and the ones who support us are subsumed into it. Since the Dominion is now the
most powerful hero association in the world, we can better protect our country
and others across the world so that what happened to us doesn’t happen to
anyone else.
Giovanni tells Timeo and me that, “We’ll
make sure that the law serves God and its citizens rather than being used to
serve select ideologies, except our true one, of course.”
“What should we do with Nexum? They
still hate and want to fight us,” Timeo says.
“Whatever you want. They’re
threatening us with violence and are probably conspiring to take their revenge
as we speak. No action that you can think of will be too harsh because of what
they’ve done.”
“I think we should try to smooth
things over with them,” I suggest. “They’ve all been taught falsehoods, so they
don’t know what they’re actually doing. If they continue to be violent, then we’ll
put the detractors in their place, but until then, with the power and people we
have, we should be the better men.”
“Agreed,” Timeo says.
“Eh. I’d say that it’s a bit too
merciful, but it’ll be good for our public image,” Giovanni says before walking
away.
“We both know you’ll do whatever
you want, despite what we say,” Timeo points out, only for Giovanni to laugh.
The wheels of change are set in
motion, and the world will be different from now on. Through the power we now wield,
no villain, criminal, or enemy of the Dominion will escape justice nor its embrace
of mercy. To think that my simple goal of serving God every moment of my life
led me to this present moment is crazy to me. I, a simple man who loves his
God, family, and country. While I ponder this amazing truth and greater moments
await me in the future, I enjoy the present as I eat a celebration dinner with
my family and friends, all the while enjoying seeing them happy and thanking
God for everything.
The End
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