The air in the back of the armored van was stale. No doubt due to the fact that it was packed with eight people. Among them sat James who shifted his eyes around the faces that sat around him. The person directly in front of him was Mr. Tweed, an Alpha who served as a supervisor among the Reapers. James knew that today was going to be a special day the second he saw Mr. Tweed walk into James' office early this morning. Then, the people who sat all around him were fellow Reapers, but unlike James they were all heavily armed and wearing military looking equipment. In fact, James felt uncomfortable sitting in the middle of the van with his cheap black suit especially when the person sitting right next to him was a legendary figure among the Reapers. Armed with a gigantic sniper rifle, the person next to James was Mr. Simon Hayha.
According to official records, Hayha had been a part of approximately 150 assassination missions, and is credited with 270 kills. The most frightening thing was that every Reaper knew that the official records often omitted a majority of these special missions, so some rumors have spread among the Reapers that in reality Mr. Hayha has at least 1,000 kills with his sniper rifle. This guy was the real deal. Mr. Hayha breathed for the will of the Golden State, and would easily kill any dissenter from a mile away. Thus, even many Reapers feared Mr. Hayha as some claim that Mr. Hayha could smell disloyal thoughts. Although the olfactory aspect of the legend was obviously fabricated, Mr. Hayha still demanded respect no matter who you were. In fact, Alphas, who know of him, take care to not offend him, and are often visibly scared of being in his presence.
James shook his head to dispel the thoughts in his mind. For some reason, Mr. Tweed told him to get in the van this late morning, and they had been traveling for almost an hour. Still, James wasn't told what was happening, and being in this state of confusion was suffocating to James. Thus, he decided to speak out "Mr. Tweed. May I ask what is going on?" Mr. Tweed turned his head sharply and looked at James. He said "Wolff, we need your ability. You've been acting as a interrogator for the last three years despite not being officially designated as such, and have some of the most success in extracting information. I don't know how you do it with your... pacifist techniques. However, we need you to act as a negotiator. There's an Omega who we've received reports about. Somehow, this guy got his hands on a pistol. I don't know how. Anyways, he took an Omega female child as hostage, and is holed up in an abandoned apartment complex. We've managed to secure the area, and we already raided his home where we found a lot of illegal political, religious writings, and drug paraphernalia."
Mr. Tweed then handed him a list of a bunch of titles that he recognized such as 'The Communist Manifesto', Dante's 'Paradise', and one of his favorites, 'The Prince'. Tweed then continued to talk "Because of this, we think that he might be affiliated with the Insurgency, and this would be their biggest move in the last few years. We want him captured alive for further interrogation, and this is where you come in. Convince him to surrender."
James responded "Uhh, sir. It seems to me that we have an extremist. I doubt that I can convince him to surrender especially when he's not in a right state of mind..." Mr. Tweed then cut him off and said "Well, it's either you convince him to surrender, or we go in hot. I can't guarantee that the child will be safe if that happens, but his capture is more important. So, I don't really care. The only reason why I'm bringing you in the first place is that some of the higher ups don't want to piss off the Omegas any more than necessary. So, it's up to you. Convince him to give up somehow, or we're doing it the good old fashioned way." James thought to himself "Damn it all." as the life of the little girl rested in his hands. James nodded and said "I'll do my best." Mr. Tweed replied "I don't want your best, Wolff. I want you to just do it."
He then reached into his utility belt and pulled out some things. He handed them over to James and said "Here. Consider this to be a promotion. If you see an opportunity, then go for it." James took the objects and looked at them. It was a pair of cuffs, a little ear piece and what appeared to be a little taser. Although he wasn't comfortable with using the taser, James was trained in the use of weapons, so it wasn't that he didn't know how to handle it. Regardless, James hoped that he didn't have to use it. The van came to a slow stop, and the rear door opened. Mr. Tweed jumped out, and turned around. He happily announced "It's show time, boys."
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