Peace Through Force: Chapter 1 – A Show of Strength

Chapter 1 – A Show of Strength

I check myself in a full-size mirror before we exit our plane. My modified crimson-and-black hoodie with ballistic weave looks as good as always; my black army boots are clean; my kneepads go well with my black jeans; and my white shirt with a snake in the middle, in the shape of the chi rho, is iconic as ever. Taking a closer look at my face, I look into each eye, my blue and grey eye, and my red and black eye, each of which tells me whether or not God decides if a person is deserving of life or death. My black hair is combed back and slick, and my new goatee without a mustache is looking good. The plane is starting to descend, so I leave my room and head into the main body of the plane. My wife, Idelle Mundr, is the first person I see as I exit the room, looking at me as if silently judging me.

“What’s the matter?” I ask.

“What were you doing in there, Kane?” she says.

“Just checking myself before we leave. We’re in a new country representing the Dominion and Columbian Union, Idelle. We have to look presentable.”

“You look the same as always.”

“You look beautiful too,” I say as I kiss her.

Idelle’s long hair is black and blonde. Her eyes are black, red, white, and gold. She wears one of her favorite long pink country-girl dresses with brown boots made by her adoptive mom. Behind her is my friend, Zandro, who is split down the middle in one appearance, with one side having more color than the other. His hoodie and plain clothes reflect that, being half black and half white. One of his eyes is dark brown, while the other is a light gray. I’ve told him to change up his style, and the best he can do is fix his black hair into two different styles and wear two different colors rather than black and white all the time. As we land and start to come to a stop, I manifest one ebony pistol and an ivory revolver from my hands and stand in front of the exit of the plane.

“Castigators, get ready for action,” I say.

The door of the airplane opens, and I point my guns at the first people I see who are waiting for us, who hold up their hands. They’re men and women with guns, body armor, and mechanical body parts.

“Whoa, whoa! We’re allies! Weren’t you told you’d meet us here?” one of them says.

“Based on what I heard about your country and the situation, I was expecting an ambush,” I say, somewhat disappointed.

“I get it. In fact, I respect it. Unlike the Columbian Union and the West, the East respects strength, bluntness, and honesty. Here.”

We are handed earpieces connected to some kind of wires with a microphone.

“What’s this?”

“It’ll help you understand the native languages and speak in them. Try it out.” We put on the devices. “Welcome to Guardian. My name is Bolster.”

The words that Bolter says don’t match his lips, and yet, I hear the translation clearly as if it did.

“Huh. You’re right, these do work. It even translated the name of your country and name.”

“It’s a new invention thanks to the Coronamento Corporation. Unlike our neighbors, we value and respect the fruits of the West, but we are most thankful they sent you out of every subsidiary of the Dominion. Come, let us talk while we go to your vehicles.”

“I’m surprised they sent us,” I say as we talk with our allies and go to the hangar where they’re leading us. “John Elio and Timeo Severe said we’re the best ones to handle the situation and that the relations department of the Dominion will handle the aftermath.”

“Yeah. Leave the peace talks to the peacemakers, and leave the blood and sacrifice to the true heroes. I must admit that talking people down is much harder than beating them down, but this is a situation where violence is the only answer. The four countries of Guardian, Wall, Steadfast, and Hammer have been in a state of on-and-off conflict for ages. Even when the Catholic Church had control of the countries and the region was at its most peaceful, the people still fought one another over racial and minor theological differences.”

“What’s the modern-day conflict over?”

“It’s over what mankind always wars over, to have what they consider the truth enshrined by law, enforced by its military and police, and have the perceived evil of their enemies punished by imprisonment or death.”

“Where does Guardian stand in this?”

“Where it always has since it was christened by the Church. We seek nothing more than to save souls and punish evil.”

“Amen to that.”

“Amen, brother. We didn’t fall to heresy like Wall and Steadfast has nor did we lend our ears to the morals of the age like Hammer did. Despite our faithfulness to Holy Mother Church, the Vatican refuses to send aid to us, and it’s only thanks to the Dominion and her allies that we’ve been able to stop losing land for the first time in ten years.”

“We’ll turn the tide of the battle. I promise.”

As we reach the hangar,  I see a motorcycle, a sports car, and a few armored SUVs.

“We heard you liked motorcycles, so we thought you’d like to drive one while you’re here, Kane.”

“Oh, baby, I do.”

I’m excited to try out the new motorcycle, but as we approach the vehicles, an explosion blows us back from them. A squad of people in helicopters, flying and running with superhuman powers, and cybernetic men attack us with guns and their powers. Immediately getting up, I get in front of my allies to defend them from our attackers. I make sure to use my revolver to knock a few of them out for questioning that my eyes say to keep alive, and to kill those who deserve it with my pistols with extreme prejudice. Dodging between the attacks coming at me, I keep shooting, while Idelle and Zandro leap at, tear at, rip apart, and beat down everyone coming at us, making this a simple fight.

“Wow. The stories about the Castigators are true,” one of our injured allies says.

“This is nothing to us, but don’t worry about that right now. Get your dead and injured to the hospital, and get our unconscious attackers to an interrogation room. I have several questions I want to ask them.”

My allies do as I say, and we head off to the nearest jail. I let my allies do the questioning first since they were hurt the most during our attack.

While waiting, Zandro asks, “Do you think this is necessary? We already know the names of the leaders of the enemy countries. All we need is their locations.”

“We need to strike precisely at who attacked us first. They’re our priority since they want to be the glory hounds by trying to take us out,” I say.

“Here I was thinking that you were going to be gun-ho about this assignment. I’m proud of you,” Idelle says.

“I know that a loose cannon does more damage than good because I used to be like that.”

“What about loose cannons like the Council of Punishment we faced not too long ago? They were wild extremists, but they were doing God’s will as He wanted it,” Zandro points out.

“There’s a time and place for that, but we’re not going to bring peace to these four countries if we just burn and blow up everything as the Council did. Besides, we don’t have guardian angels telling us exactly what to do, so we have to take it easy at first before letting loose.”

“It looks like Polina’s advice is getting to you,” Idelle says.

“Eh. She’s right now and then.”

Much to our surprise, our allies come out of the interrogation room with all the answers we are hoping for.

“Like we said before, strength, bluntness, and honesty are core values of the East. Few people lie, even when their lives and loved ones are at stake,” Bolster explains.

“Good. That makes things much simpler,” I say.

“If only it were so. We have a traitor in our midst who allowed them to get through security at the airport, plant the car bombs, and hide before their attack. Their true loyalties lie with Hammer.”

“It’s still going to be simple. Show me where the traitors are. We’ll deal with them first.”

My allies and I drive out to the place where the traitors are said to be, and we happen to arrive just as they are fleeing. Idelle and Zandro use their superspeed to run after them and make them crash and slow down. The armored SUVs of my allies reveal turrets controlled by the passengers that fire at the fleeing traitors, and I do my part by firing my pistol with one hand at the wheels, while driving with the other. Superhumans and robots come out of the alleyways around us to attack and make us back off, forcing Idelle and Zandro stop crashing cars and protect us. My allies and friends handle them, while I speed on ahead and continue the pursuit unimpeded.

I turn my attention to the drivers of the vehicles, whose bulletproof cars and SUVs are no match for my specialized guns. I shoot through the windows and sides, forcing them to crash into buildings and poles. Thankfully, the civilians here seem used to street violence and have already vacated the area, but some ahead of us are firing at the cars. One even fires an RPG to blow the last one off the road. The remaining see the civilians as targets and focus on going after them, but Idelle and Zandro manage to narrowly get in front of them to knock their heads off before they reach our unexpected helpers.

Still, I drive up to them and ask, “Are you okay? Is anyone hurt?”

“We’re better than ever thanks to you, Castigators! As soon as we heard and saw you coming down the street, we had to help you,” one of the civilians says.

“You could’ve gotten hurt. What were you thinking?”

“That we were doing the right thing by helping you out? It may be a Western idea, but when your heroes need help enacting justice, you have to help out if you have the weapons, even if it costs you your life.”

Since there’s no arguing with them, I thank them and thank me in return, saying that I’m an angel of justice sent by God. I hope I can live up to their image of me. Going up to one of the crashed SUVs, I find one of the traitors trying to crawl away with broken legs.

I stomp on their back to stop them, and say, “I thought people here were supposed to be honest, not deceitful.”

“The necessity of deceit is virtuous in Hammer, where I come from. They are the strongest out of the four countries, and you will die before taking them down. They worship the true God and live the right way out of everyone in the world and deserve to rule it,” the traitor says.

I shoot the traitor in the head and walk away.

Bolster approaches me from behind and says, “That’s the truth. Hammer is the most powerful and influential in the region. They have superhumans and weapons of destruction that not only threaten us, but all the allies of the Columbian Union and anyone who isn’t allied with them and their allies.”

“Your point? I knew most of that coming in, and it doesn’t bother me.”

“What about the civilians? Just like the ones here, they’ll fight you to protect their tyrannical and evil rulers.”

“I fight, who I feel that God tells me to, no matter who they are.”

Bolster smiles, laughs, and puts his hand on my shoulder. “Again, I am glad the Dominion sent you. You have no restraints to do what you need to.”

“I don’t, and since we know where the heads of Hammer reside, I don’t see why we shouldn’t cut the head off the snake.”

“With you leading us, I’m sure you’ll achieve a quick victory. We’ll all follow you to our dying breath.”

Bolster, and my allies of Guardian cheer over and over again, “God bless the Castigators! Death to their enemies! All hail the Castigators! Death to Hell’s servants!”

The civilians come out of hiding and cheer the same thing. This is all empowering and intoxicating to hear, so I cut it short by getting on my motorcycle and beginning the drive to Hammer, all the while praying that God doesn’t let it get to my head, and that I use the tools of violence and justice properly so as not to become like the warlords that govern this land.