《The Illuminating Heroes》 Chapter One - Start of the New World Order You know, I once was a pretty normal guy. You wouldn¡¯t think that now perhaps as an entire industry turns on my words, but once, I was just a kid, running around and playing like any other. But even then, I knew something was wrong. I once sat watching the coverage of an election and my dear mother had asked who I wanted to win. I told her that I did not care, because anyone who could reach that far, who could make it to that stage, must be able to do a good job. Kids say the damndest things, don¡¯t they? Well, I shouldn¡¯t be to hard on a five year old, how the hell would I have known better then? But I certainly do now, human government is like a giant shrimp, an oxymoron. Looking at an election now, I would tell you the scotch in my hand is medicinal, and who would blame me? After watching politicians destroy everything from the economy to the environment, I need a drink. We all need a drink. And in 2028, I, Kevin Sterling, have had enough. I ignored the government and pursued my own dreams, through diligence and research I invested wisely and made more money than most people can even imagine, used it to buy out a couple of tech and advertising companies and now can shit in a gold toilet and wipe my ass with hundred dollar bills if I wanted to. But I don¡¯t, because I am not an ass myself. Instead, today I have a very important meeting, conducted by video messaging of course, with some very important people. As their faces join the room on the incredibly expensive, top of the line projector I bought for no better reason than I had to spend my money somewhere, I smiled and put out my cigar and set down my scotch.This story is posted elsewhere by the author. Help them out by reading the authentic version. I have had enough, and so has every man and woman on the screens here. Tech giants like myself, oil oligarchs, entertainment moguls, even the head of the conglomerate that owned most of the funeral business. If you name it, we have our fingers in it, and if you name us, you name the Illuminati. However, we are not as powerful as the tin foil hats would have you believe, though I can¡¯t say that isn¡¯t the goal, and we certainly are not evil. We are simply pissed off and tired. Tired of seeing politicians and pundits who don¡¯t know anything about the subject they are speaking of continually mess up and ruin things. Not that we are good people, I plan to take every dollar from every pocket I can. But those pockets need dollars for me to take, people need to prosper so that I can prosper, and that is why we are here today. ¡°Welcome, ladies and gentlemen.¡± I say smiling broadly, ¡°None of us particularly care for pleasantries I believe, so perhaps we should get down to business.¡± One of the women, an older but still beautiful Chinese lady spoke and the computer translated it for me to understand. ¡°I realise the idea of Americans being rude and only caring about money is a stereotype,¡± The translation software was really top notch, it was even able to put subtleties like her wry tone across. ¡°But you do a very poor job of dispelling that.¡± ¡°Well, I have to admit it is often true. Certainly in my case.¡± My time was valuable, some magazine had done the math and claimed I made more money in the shower every morning than the average human on the planet made in a month. I had only wondered who had to do the research to get an estimate for how long I spent in the shower, maybe they called a past fling of mine? Still, the point was accurate enough, and as a result, I felt I should try not to waste my time. It may be old fashioned thinking, but a part of me did not think it was fair to the hourly staff at the bottom of the ladder that I should not use that time to its fullest. ¡°Still, there really is not a huge point to small talk right?¡± This from the CEO of a Brazilian biotech conglomerate, ¡°We are all busy people, so let¡¯s get to the point.¡± ¡°Also a fair point,¡± one I agreed with too. ¡°Well then, let''s discuss the birth of the New World Order. It certainly is not like we could do worse at this point.¡± Chapter Two - Meeting a Senator and flirting with my secretary. There is something particularly sleazy about meeting a Senator. I suppose it used to be something that was a bit of an honor, but not anymore. The man I was meeting today had been in his seat for longer than I had been alive, and I was starting to get grey in my hair, and anyone who looked into it would realize he held on to his seat despite his dismal approval ratings was due to the heavy gerrymandering and toxic video ads. And to top it off, I knew way more about this man than he would have liked. Sure, technology allows you to do some things with privacy, but someone owned that data somewhere. And that someone was me. Which was how I knew that this upstanding citizen known for his moral compass had a tendency to hire prostitutes for the kinds of things you wouldn¡¯t ask your wife to participate in. ¡°Ah, Mr. Sterling.¡± The man was fat and greasy looking, but still I smiled and shook his hand as we headed into his office. I¡¯ll just wash my hands later, I guess. ¡°To what do I owe the pleasure of your visit?¡± ¡°Senator Stevens,¡± When speaking to politicians you have to walk around subjects and never quite touch them, they always wanted plausible deniability. Well, if push came to shove I had him by the balls with the information I had. It wouldn¡¯t be too hard for a ¡°hacker¡± to ¡°expose¡± his little secrets if it came to that. ¡°We have been friends for a long time, no? I was a little concerned about the new Corporate Information Bill and wanted to talk to you a bit about it.¡± The new bill introduced would make it easier to see who owned what in terms of companies, and honestly, it wouldn¡¯t be a bad thing if people were competent. As it was, it conflicted with my goals and the goals of my group, even if it is for the best we can¡¯t let them know until the deal is done. ¡°Ah, yes.¡± Senator Stevens sat down heavily, ¡°I understand, I understand. I think you might want to speak to my friend Mrs. Nunez, between the two of us and a little encouragement I might be able to really help you out Mr. Sterling.¡± Translating that from political speech to normal human, Senator Nunez was in a close race for reelection and if I put my finger on the scale he would give me the votes I needed. Simple enough, and if I recall Nunez was siphoning funds from several public projects, so with the dirt I had on both of them I would add to my list of senators in my pocket. It was a slimey pocket, but one he had to put his hand in nonetheless. Still, best to remind the senator who precisely was in charge of this relationship. ¡°I will have an appointment set up with her,¡± I stood up and began to leave before throwing a parting comment over my shoulder. ¡°And do give my regards to Chunkydom64, the things that woman puts up with¡­¡±Love this story? Find the genuine version on the author''s preferred platform and support their work! With that I left the senator stuttering in his office and walked out to my limo with a smile on my face. Was that sadistic of me? Probably a bit, but I prefered to keep that to the bedroom with people who were more interested in me than my pocketbook. Admittedly, that was something that was often hard to find, but when you owned the dating sites it was easier than you might expect. My secretary was waiting for me inside, listing off my schedule for the day. I knew that some of my colleagues thought me a bit of a hypocrite, for all I said about only having relationships with women who were interested in me, they noted that my staff had quite a high percentage of pretty women in office attire that was a little shorter and a little tighter than what you might find elsewhere. I am not a hypocrite, I don¡¯t have a relationship like that with my employees, but that doesn¡¯t mean I don''t enjoy looking. And for that matter, you would be surprised how many women seek out the position to try and get to me. Personally, I blame that shitty book from 2011. Why do people keep thinking that just because I am a male billionaire I have a bondage dungeon next to my office? I actually have work to do you know, and that stuff is far better kept at home anyway. ¡°Sir, you have a plane to Chicago in an hour.¡± My secretary adjusted her glasses and read off the schedule. She was one of the ones who seemed to be trying to come after me, but I had to admit that I was tempted with legs like that. ¡°I presume the FAA wouldn¡¯t shift the schedule?¡± I had wanted to leave earlier, but the FAA could be a pain to deal with. ¡°No sir, which leaves you with a free half hour after we arrive at the airport. I have adjusted your schedule regarding the meeting with the Great Lakes Industrial Agency to compensate.¡± ¡°Good to know,¡± I smiled slightly and leaned back. ¡°Honestly, despite time being at such a premium I am rather glad to have some time to relax.¡± ¡°Would you like me to arrange something to help you with that Sir?¡± Ah, here we go, I thought. His dress code for his secretarial staff was definitely more for him than anything else, but even he wouldn¡¯t tell them to leave that many buttons undone. ¡°No, that is fine.¡± Tempting, but no. He had more control than a politician after all, and sleeping with your staff was always a bad idea. ¡°I think I will enjoy reading a book for the first time in a few weeks.¡± ¡°Of course sir,¡± She sounded disappointed, but continued on. ¡°What would you like done about the video of the senator?¡± ¡°Keep it under wraps for now,¡± I took out a bottle of champagne and poured a glass for myself and her. Also not the best practice, but hey, what was the point of being rich if you couldn¡¯t share it with someone? Plus, her legs were almost exceptional enough to make an exception for. ¡°If he doesn¡¯t play ball, have it released the usual way.¡± She took a sip and then said, ¡°To be honest sir, I could not really believe the Senator would do that¡­¡± ¡°I am more surprised he survived it.¡± I laughed, ¡°between the drugs and four hundred pound domina in latex, the man must have a constitution like a bull to be alive right now!¡± His poor secretary just looked a little sick and took a deep gulp of the alcohol. Chapter Three - The Cheesehead Drug Lord I had not been home in a long time. For all the riches, luxuries and staff I was surrounded with I was still too busy to sleep in my own house most days. Probably my own fault for buying a mountain in Colorado and having my house built on it, it is not exactly the easiest place to get to. I had houses and apartments in other places as well, but this was my real home as far as I was concerned. I stepped in through my main door into the sleekly designed home, a mix of modern architecture and ancient Greek motifs, it was artistically stunning and also incredibly practical. Well¡­ Minus the part where it is hours from any kind of civilization. The maids that stayed here had their own rooms, and were rotated every three months. I could probably leave the place empty, but I would keep telling myself that I would spend more time at home even if I never did. Of course, whenever I was here I brought secretaries with me. Once you reach this level of power in business you never actually have time off, and in a twenty-four hour global world, you never even had a guaranteed time to sleep. For that matter, I was not here to relax, but for a meeting. My house had a few special features, as one might expect from me. The most important for the current situation was the fact that this place was essentially a black box if I wanted it to be. You couldn¡¯t even get a satellite image of my house due to some very careful satellite placements. On paper, it was a system designed to take solar panels in space and transfer their energy to the planets surface, and it did do that. But that energy just so happened to bathe the area in a few different kinds of low level radiation, effectively preventing pictures from being taken from space. ¡°Mr. Sterling,¡± I was greeted by the man, Daniel Cristan, in the meeting room. ¡°A pleasure as always to partake in your hospitality.¡± ¡°A pleasure to have you,¡± for now. ¡°I keep telling you the guards are unnecessary.¡± Cristan was not a good man, but he was a good businessman, and a ruthless criminal who brought armed bodyguards with him wherever he went. I suppose when you took over the Colombian drug trade by killing your partner and everyone else who opposed you it probably left you paranoid. People might wonder why I allowed him into my home so easily, especially without guards of my own. I would ask another question, when the government contracts a company to build military technology, do you honestly think that the company doesn¡¯t use it for other things? The computers and the AI were designed by me, but the weapons in the robotic guards stashed away in secret compartments in the walls were courtesy of the U.S. government. Honestly, I do have to wonder how no one notices things like that going missing¡­ ¡°Ah, they are good for my heart.¡± Cristan replies smoothly, ¡°You cannot tell me that you would not do the same if you came to visit me.¡±The narrative has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the infringement. ¡°Your house in La Crosse I wouldn¡¯t,¡± I say as one of the maids pours us both drinks. His is alcoholic, mine just looks like it. ¡°Your estate in Colombia¡­ Well, you have me there.¡± ¡°Ah, Wisconsin,¡± Cristan said wistfully, ¡°Nice place to grow up, never even knew what my uncles were doing for most of my life. Real pity that, so many missed opportunities.¡± I fought down the urge to just make the man disappear, disgusting as it may be, real change could not be made in the world without dealing with the darker elements. ¡°So,¡± Cristan rubbed his hands together as he got down to business. ¡°You had some issues with our original deal and wanted to discuss expanding it, right? It won¡¯t be cheap.¡± ¡°To be honest,¡± I lied. ¡°I have to applaud your business acumen. Our deal was to leave those cities and refugees alone in Colombia in exchange for me interfering with the governments drones, satellites, and communications. So you decided to stop them after they crossed the border¡­ Technically following the letter of our discussion, but not the spirit.¡± The polite tone I was using chilled, ¡°But we never signed a contract, and I would have expected you to adhere to the spirit of our agreement. Let me be clear, you will not get anything from me because of this trickery. We are partners in this agreement, I need those people happy and healthy either in their homes or across the border, and you need me to prevent the government from sending drones to turn your business into a smoking crater.¡± ¡°Ah, but I don¡¯t think we need you as much as you say¡­¡± Cristan smiled, unfazed by my unpleasant expression. ¡°So the value you are providing is less than we expected.¡± So you want to go this route? I am not some lowly official you can push around you know, if you want to play chicken on the tracks I am game for it. ¡°Then let¡¯s put that to the test,¡± I smiled. ¡°I will reduce my influence to only cover half of your plantations, factories, and camps. In a week, if you still think I provide no real value to you, I will pull out entirely and compensate you for wasting your time to the tune of¡­ How does a billion sound?¡± I thought for a second, ¡°Actually, just to make sure there would be no hard feelings, I¡¯ll make it two. How does that sound?¡± Daniel Cristan¡¯s face was stuck in a stiff smile and I could almost hear his teeth grinding. ¡°So many might lose their lives in that time¡­¡± Threatening civilians? How droll. ¡°I do care for them,¡± this might be the first time I was honest today. ¡°But there are a lot of people in the world who need help, it only makes sense to help those who can be most efficiently helped. And for that matter, I think you have the wrong impression, this is not purely a humanitarian venture, I expect to profit greatly off this long term.¡± Especially when I sell out your entire operation. ¡°In that case¡­¡± Cristan seemed to be struggling with himself for a moment, then sighed. ¡°Well, from the head of one business to another, all I can say is, well played, Mr. Sterling. I will make sure our agreement is honored in full.¡± ¡°Thank you kindly, Mr. Cristan.¡± Chapter Four - An Interview ¡°I am here with the reclusive billionaire, Mr. Kevin Sterling, for our exclusive interview!¡± Why am I smiling in a chair across from a young reporter? Well, part of it was my weakness to a nice pair of legs, but the main reason was to increase my influence. Young people often gravitate to people that they view as good and powerful, so if you put that image forward- you can profit greatly from it. It will also help with some of my more humanitarian efforts, but then I had long ago tied the two of those together. ¡°I am glad to be here Kate,¡± I flash a smile and make certain to keep my eyes on hers. Another group of people I wouldn¡¯t sleep with was the press, you never knew what they would dig up and worse, I talked in my sleep. ¡°It is certainly nice to have time to sit down for a time!¡± That was true. The world keeps spinning and as technology advances it only moves faster. ¡°Well I am quite happy you were able to make time,¡± her smile was more blinding than mine was¡­ Who the hell did the dentistry for news agencies? ¡°But since that time is limited, how about I dive into my first question?¡± ¡°I am all ears.¡± ¡°I wanted to ask about your recent acquisition of multiple video streaming and art websites,¡± Kate glanced down at her note and shifted. Damn, her legs were as nice as my secretaries, and I swear she is doing this to distract me. ¡°Some people have concerns that you are attempting to create a monopoly of online services, the E.U. in particular is said to be investigating, how would you respond to that?¡± Well, I can¡¯t comment on the legal side of things, but of course the E.U. is investigating. They won¡¯t pull their nose out of my business for anything, and damn it is annoying. On the other hand¡­This book is hosted on another platform. Read the official version and support the author''s work. ¡°Not so much a monopoly as a one stop web service,¡± I laugh, and I am even telling the truth. ¡°Formerly, video hosting and streaming sites were separate, drawn art and written art sites were different things- and then the way these people were supported changed hands multiple times and involved multiple companies!¡± ¡°Say you have a video maker on a certain site who is supported by donations on another site,¡± I¡¯ll explain this in detail, since it is the key to my next move. Or at least people thinking well of it is. ¡°To support that person, money must move from the bank to the donation site and then to the maker. And now imagine that this video maker also streams on a different website and has to work to make that content become available on the primary site. You can see how things get complicated and split up really quickly right?¡± ¡°So my idea was, what if all the sites involved in that chain belonged to one company?¡± I lean forward and smile, this is one of my favorite ideas after all. ¡°I bought popular web novel, art, video, video streaming, donation sites, and now I am having all these services integrated into my search and social networking sites, and even to the bank I own!¡± ¡°So in the future, these will all be in one place and easy to support?¡± Kate was trying to keep her face straight, but her eyes had widened slightly. I suppose it is hard to not be a little shocked when someone casually says they spent a couple billion dollars without even noting the price. ¡°That is quite fascinating- do you think the people using this site will support this?¡± ¡°Well, since everything is streamlined they stand to make more money and obtain larger audiences.¡± True, even if the lion¡¯s share of that new money will end up in my pocket without anybody noticing. ¡°Further, it means that creators who work in several mediums will be able to show off their creations far easier than before. So it is a win for everyone, and a big win for a number of people.¡± ¡°I see, well that is truly interesting. My next question¡­¡± This was going to be a long interview, and at this point I knew she was shifting to try and get my attention. Why did I have to be so weak to a nice pair of legs? Chapter Five - I am an idiot. So if there was one thing I would want people to know about me, it would be that I make mistakes too. See, when you say one thing and do another as a normal person, it is a mistake that you can leave behind you. When you are a billionaire CEO you if it gets out it will haunt you until you die. I preface with this because I am waking up to the kind of thing I swore up and down I would never do. On my right side was Kate, who pulled the blankets tighter around herself to prevent cold air from getting in. Yes, I do remember swearing to myself I would never sleep with the member of the press- I never said I had perfect self control! Now that said, if it was just that maybe I¡¯d be fine. That ¡®if¡¯ turned out to be a big one for me, because on my left side was my secretary, Rebecca. Well, if I was lucky this wouldn¡¯t come back to bi- and that is my phone buzzing with a message from a number that I did not want to see right now. Now, I know it is human nature and a logical fallacy to equate correlation and causation, but the lady on the other side of that message was the kind of person that made you feel like every single event that happened had been planned out by her years ago. And checking it, yep, that is blackmail. I can¡¯t help but sigh even as a pair of soft things press against my back and arms circle around me. ¡°Problem Mr. Sterling?¡± Kate said sleepily but perhaps a bit too cheerily. I sigh again, ¡°Really? The others were that worried about me? I am not really the type to go wild, you know.¡± ¡°After last night we both know that is a lie, and you know it isn¡¯t enough to drag you down, just enough to have some insurance.¡± So the reporter worked for Mrs. Wang, well that is my luck. That woman has been a step ahead of me for the past ten years, so I suppose I shouldn¡¯t be surprised. I mean, she was the empress of a media empire- I should have done more research into who was doing that interview. ¡°Anyway, it isn¡¯t like I was forced into this you know.¡± Kate whispered into my ear, ¡°Honestly, I thought you were kinda sexy to begin with and thought it might be fun to mix business and pleasure for once.¡± Well I already screwed up- might as well enjoy it I suppose, I think I will stay in this morning¡­ *A few hours later*The tale has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident. ¡°So how was your night?¡± The translation software even managed to capture her smug tone, who the fuck programmed that in? ¡°As if you don¡¯t have details, was this really necessary?¡± I ask, quite annoyed by this turn of events- even if it is my fault for being an idiot last night. Why the hell did I do that again? Oh, right. Nice legs and alcohol, good to know I am such a responsible and mature individual as the man responsible for hundreds of thousands of jobs around the world¡­ ¡°You tend to be a bit of a wildcard Mr. Sterling, it was not so much necessary as a precaution.¡± The older lady raised a single eyebrow, ¡°it isn¡¯t my fault you are a bit of an idiot.¡± True, but still¡­ ¡°Your influence in North and South America is a bit much,¡± she continued. ¡°Can you really blame us for taking precautions?¡± I sigh, I have been doing that a lot today. ¡°No, not really, that doesn¡¯t make me feel any better though. Well that is life I guess, so what is it that the rest of you want to do that you think I will object to enough that you need to blackmail me?¡± ¡°Technical support for a few groups¡­¡± ¡°Oh for fucks sake, not this again.¡± Yeah, with a bit of support certain ¡®radical¡¯ elements in multiple countries could be a strong destabilizing influence and allow our group to insert our people¡­ But so many people would die as a result. ¡°You know why I object to this, and you cannot say my logic is faulty.¡± ¡°Your logic is fine, but you spin it for your own agenda.¡± Wang waved her hand dismissively, ¡°your report that the American government has tried similar things to little or no result was true, but the whole point of this endeavor is that we are better than them, no? As for your discussion about the value of a human life, also true, but unless the current situation changes we can¡¯t make use of that.¡± True and true, I was not exactly blameless myself considering my actions in Columbia- but I had plans for those refugees and I had kept civilian deaths to a minimum by my actions. This would be chaos and anarchy¡­ And I have no choice, do I? Sure, the fact I slept with Kate and Rebecca was a scandal to be sure, but not enough of one to drag me down by myself. However, if all the other groups stuck their knives into that chink in my armor- yeah, I would be put down and my business split up between them. I stopped counting my sighs a bit ago, but there is another one for the tally. ¡°I¡¯ll arrange it, but I am going to do what I can to reduce casualties, and I will take it up with the rest of the group that I have concerns about our chances of success regardless.¡± If this went the way I figured it would, I would probably be able to turn the tables on her- but I don¡¯t like the fact that it would likely come at the cost of thousands of civilians. ¡°Wonderful,¡± Mrs. Wang smiled. ¡°A pleasure working with you, Mr. Sterling.¡± ¡°Likewise.¡± And the link is closed. I feel a headache coming on, this is not what I needed on my plate right now. On the other hand¡­ ¡°You don¡¯t mind me staying for a bit, do you?¡± Kate asked with a mischievous smile, and lets be honest- I am too much of an idiot to say no. Besides, I am of the opinion that a woman looks better wearing my shirt, and I really can¡¯t say no to that combination with those legs. Chapter Six - A Lawyer is fine, a lawyer team is hell Another thing I find myself dealing with all the time- that I personally count as worse than being blackmailed by an ancient Chinese lady who may or may not have more people in her pocket than some countries have population- is lawyers. Now, to set the record straight. A lawyer is a person, and oftentimes a pretty fine person at that. Good people mostly. But a group of lawyers is not a person or a group of people, it is a thing that is more like a vampire than anything else. It sucks your money, it drains your time, and it takes all your energy- swallowing it all into a seemingly bottomless pity that gives nothing in return but paper written in legalese. Kate, who thought she had wormed her way into a strong position as an assistant to one of the most powerful people on the planet, was asleep- and it was hard to blame her when Rebecca was nodding off to. For that matter, I don¡¯t know what happened in the last five minutes¡­ I probably fell asleep, god damn this is dry! On that note, I say Kate ¡®thought¡¯ she had manipulated me into giving her the job when it would be more accurate to say that anyone who could manipulate me that well probably deserved the job to begin with. This is what psychologists called rationalizing, and because I know what it is, clearly it can¡¯t be happening to me. Or so I tell myself. ¡°...in short, we have evidence that certain witnesses were manufactured, but not by the prosecution.¡± One of Kevin¡¯s lawyers was saying, his haggard appearance giving Kevin some much needed schadenfreude. ¡°Possibly without the witnesses knowledge, for that matter. Though it is inextricably tied to this case, it could almost be its own lawsuit by itself.¡± ¡°Another nick from which to bleed me from, huh?¡± I said, and none of the lawyers had the decency to even look ashamed. ¡°Kate would you¡­ Nevermind, Rebecca if you would be so kind as to wake Kate up.¡± Of course, Kate was mortified to be caught in that situation, but I certainly didn¡¯t care. After all, she had not been hired for legal advice, or her legs. In fact, my next sentence would prove that she had not been hired for her legs, really... Even in my own thoughts I somehow imagine skeptical looks when I just think that¡­If you find this story on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the infringement. ¡°Considering your expertise in media,¡± I said knowing that I would have to explain more later considering she had not been awake to actually hear the issue, but not wanting to embaress her more by reiterating it all- and no, it wasn¡¯t because I also had fallen asleep a few times and probably couldn¡¯t explain the whole thing myself- wow my thoughts were cynical and self loathing today¡­ ¡°I would like you to track down the groups responsible for this. Much as I would love to have this case thrown out of court with this, we should take the high ground here and have a public relations field day with it. Rebecca, make sure they are notified, I want the press to get fed the following line, ¡®while we regret this abuse of the system, we would like to take the opportunity to show we have nothing to hide.¡¯ Or some bullshit like that, make it pretty. Once Kate has found them you fine folks in legal are going to sue them so hard they drown in paperwork for rest of their lives.¡± While taking my money, I thought but didn¡¯t say. I made a mental note that legal reform would have to be high up the group''s list of priorities. This is ridiculous. That meeting over, I face an even worse hell- the limo ride to my plane. Now on the surface, that doesn¡¯t sound like hell. A limo ride with two beautiful ladies to a private plane with all the amenities you could ever think of and a fair few you hadn¡¯t but can¡¯t live without once you discover? Opposite of hell for most people, but there is an issue for me. Those two women might be gorgeous, but despite how it looks, I do not hire people based on looks. Apparently, I can be swayed by them- though in my defense I never imagined they would work together, that is just unfair- but not enough that I would ever employ someone incompetent. Also, although this seems slightly off topic, it is worth noting that the most successful people in the business world often have sociopathic tendencies. Not that they are all sociopaths, but a few of those traits often help people go much further. When you combine those two things, and add what I guess is mischievous delight knowing that you are messing with someone who could by some countries and have enough money left over to renovate the whole damn thing afterwards and well¡­ You have my two secretaries, who have far too much fun driving me crazy, are far too smart to ever go too far, and are far too capable for me to fire if they did! I swear, some days they seem more in charge of my company than I do¡­ But now I have a weapon, I will turn the tables on these two! ¡°So I was thinking about having all legal documents go through you two,¡± I said with an evil smile. ¡°I really could stand to be better informed about what is going on in that part of the company.¡± Ha! Now those looks of pure horror are true beauty! Chapter Seven - Lesson Plan Education was a big target for our group, we were working hard to sink our tendrils as deep into the world¡¯s educational systems in every country and at every level and you could immediately see that it was desperately needed. In fact, the sheer amount of bullshit in education rivaled that in politics- no, exceeded it! Even working with my colleague, Brenard Goit- a rather interesting fellow with quite diverse holdings- I felt I was more likely to be mired in the shit forever than succeed at anything! ¡°I did try and warn you,¡± Brenard said to me, his eyebrow raised. Prick. ¡°Yeah, but I kept thinking to myself, ¡®it couldn¡¯t be that bad,¡¯ and the fact that it is worse is a little stunning.¡± In this age of information, nearly unlimited knowledge was available at any moment- yet education was so mired in the past I wouldn¡¯t be surprised to find an archaeologist picking over a school. Though I do admit that this was not about pure academics, what was taught was pretty correct in general- the issue was what was not taught. ¡°These kids couldn¡¯t think their way out of a paper bag if I gave them a map!¡± I exclaimed in exasperation, happy to be in one of my many penthouses with a glass of scotch in my hand- I needed it today. ¡°Kevin, man, I keep telling you that you don¡¯t pay enough attention to the bullshit- don¡¯t be surprised it snuck up on you!¡± The cause for this particular breakdown was the report in front of me that broke down belief in a series of major conspiracy theories and pseudoscience in adults under thirty in the United States. The results were- well, I needed alcohol to make it through the report, so take that as you will. ¡°Though honestly,¡± Brenard said with a chuckle, ¡°I think we should give the people who believe in the Illuminati a break now, they aren¡¯t wrong anymore.¡± ¡°We have been at this less than a year and these people have believed for decades- hell, some of this shit dates back centuries.¡± I grumbled, ¡°and frankly our attempts have been similar to trying to ram our heads through concrete. Taking over the world is hard fucking work!¡± ¡°Honestly,¡± Brenard laughed. ¡°I kind of want to screw with them a bit. Like go in to an interview with contacts that make it look like I have slit eyes and then remove them when the camera pans away.¡± ¡°Fuck you,¡± I say, but don¡¯t really mean. The two of us are pretty decent friends as things go. It is nice to have someone around who is my equal and I can actually relax with! ¡°I actually have people who think I am a lizard person from a moon space station- how they even come to that conclusion is beyond me, it is so crazy it comes full circle and just becomes silly.¡± Brenard sighed and his expression turned serious, picking up a particular page of the report.This tale has been pilfered from Royal Road. If found on Amazon, kindly file a report. ¡°Jokes aside,¡± he said scowling at the paper. ¡°We have to do something about these ones. Creationists, anti-vaccers, climate change deniers, and those bullshit alternative medicine crackpots- this all needs to be shut down- Hard.¡± ¡°And it all comes back to education,¡± I sighed. ¡°No one properly educated would buy this bullshit, but trying to change education to actually educate kids garners so much resistance that we might as well not even try.¡± ¡°Between the two of us we have serious pull in congress¡­¡± ¡°But not that much,¡± I thought about the political shitstorm that would follow attempting to fix the serious gap in critical thinking skills in schools. ¡°These groups don¡¯t overlap entirely, and together they represent more than half this countries population- no leech, I mean politician, would be dumb enough to piss all of them off at once, no matter what leverage we apply.¡± ¡°You know what we need?¡± Brenard said after a moment of silence, ¡°we need a banner to rally this behind, a cause to get them worked up.¡± ¡°Use fire to fight fire?¡± I thought about it, ¡°it is exactly what we are fighting against, but I could see it working. It isn¡¯t like those opportunities come along every day howe- oh, I know that smirk.¡± Brenard¡¯s face always had that smirk right before he fucked with someone. How this mischievous bastard had managed to become a majority stockholder in more major companies than I could name and then with some little pushes, ended up ruling them all from the shadows, I will never know. Well, I say shadows, but that is just because he likes to work in the dark- literally. Only light is the computer screen. He isn¡¯t hiding anything, it is just that no one bothers to check who owns what. It isn¡¯t his fault that no one noticed what he was doing, it was all a matter of public record if you checked. ¡°If I said ¡®false flag,¡¯ what would you say Kevin?¡± ¡°I¡¯d say that I will have the cameras ready to roll,¡± I replied, draining my drink and standing up. ¡°Let''s get this done.¡± A week later, a group of anti-vaccer creationists that Brenard had managed to dig up from under some unknown rock assaulted a meeting of the teachers union in Texas. For some reason, the journalists that were there to record the meeting were not the run of the mill reporters normally sent, but some of the most recognizable correspondents from around the nation. How they all ended up there would eventually be attributed to a series of computer errors- which would be traced back to hacker groups that had gained access to the systems when some conspiracy theorists nutjobs had managed to find a ¡®backdoor¡¯ into the news agencies computers. If you wanted to be technical, neither Brenard or I had done anything- we had just made it possible for some people to do what they would have wanted to do if they could. Add to that a little bit of pressure and some suggestions to the right people and high profile celebrities were stirred up and making speeches about the importance of education and learning. Plus, making certain that at the same time certain internal reports about the dangers of some alternative medicine practices and you had the perfect storm. Now the only thing to do was ram it through congresses mouth and down their throat before they could taste what we were feeding them. The most effective time for any movement was just after it started, when it was not yet an establish part of the system and was instead a destabilizing influence on it. It was time to call in a few favors. Chapter Eight - Regretful Decisions It was not going to be enough, Brenard and I had seriously underestimated the lifespan of this movement. ¡°Why is it so much harder to get people to do something good for themselves than it is to fleece them and laugh?¡± I sighed as I watched the news while simultaneously in a video conference with Brenard, who was in Australia today. ¡°Yeah, you would think prosperity and wealth would be easy sells,¡± Brenard agreed. ¡°But then, the whole issue we are fighting against is the fact that people are idiots.¡± A fair point, that. If you had to make a convoluted plan to reduce the amount of idiots around you, chances are you were surrounded by idiots. And you can always count on an idiot to do something idiotic. Somewhat witty observations aside, this was fast approaching a point that I had wanted to avoid. Though Brenard and I joked about it, this issue was no laughing matter. Anti-vaccers and alternative medicine bullshitters were causing real harm- oftentimes, deadly harm and almost always economic harm. The very best they could do was nothing at all- and the worst result was painful death. Creationists were admittedly less overtly harmful, but their opposition to science had a definite impact on the progress of the human race. Less scientists, less money for science, hampering the spread of new discoveries- these fools might not directly hurt people, but I could see that the unintended consequences of their actions cost lives. ¡°Kevin¡­¡± Brenard looked uncomfortable, even on screen. ¡°I hate to say this, but¡­¡± ¡°Yeah, I know.¡± I sighed again, ¡°I will call you after I get it done.¡± If my next call became public, it would undoubtedly fuel ethics debates in classrooms for the next century. Was what I did good, was it bad? How much is one life worth when compared to the well-being of society? Kids in ethics classes could debate that constantly, but they are only deluding themselves- there is an objective right answer, it just isn¡¯t a pleasant one. A lot of the things I do operate under the butterfly effect, I change something small and inconsequential somewhere and that snowballs into massive movements in society around me. I can do this because of the sheer amount of data and processing power available to me that allows me to come damn close to modelling real life in human society, albeit on a small scale. Loosening up the accuracy a bit allows me to use it in a far broader sense, and to know where to poke to make people do what I want without ever seeing my hand.This story has been stolen from Royal Road. If you read it on Amazon, please report it -Is what I would like to say. In reality, it is far less powerful than it seems or I would be able to solve education with a wave of my hand. Sometimes things need more of a prod than a poke to get moving. And at the worst of times, they require a shove. The news agencies were going wild with the story, a man had gone to a rally of kids who were gathering to support science in education- and shot the speaker. A seemingly senseless act of violence that was without a doubt, my fault. If I was not so busy I would hate myself more than I already do, but this was not something I could let go to waste. I had to tie this death into the movement, make it look like speaking out against it was the same as supporting the child¡¯s death and then ram it home as hard as I could. One of the senators I kept in my pocket- the pocket lined with ruber to prevent the filth leaking out- put forth the bill, though anyone with half of a working brain could figure out that he did not draft it. Though if people had more than half of a working brain this whole thing would be unnecesary. A two thousand page behemoth that, once you cut through the legalese shit and the special extras put in to bribe certain blocs of the House of Representatives, boiled down into a few simple concepts. First, the elimination of anything but established scientific thought from public schools. People would no longer have the ¡®freedom¡¯ to choose ignorance, they would accept reality and be better for it. Second, graduation from high school and the requirements for college degrees would be managed by the federal government. Private schools were free to teach religion, but anyone who wanted a high school diploma and a shot at college needed to have basic knowledge of the world around them. Third, mandatory vaccinations. Vaccinations are the single greatest acheivment in medicine, driving many of the worlds most deadly illnesses to the verge of extinction- and some idiots think it is a pharmaceutical plot. They hardly even make money on vacciines! I have friends in big pharma, and they make most of their money off of medications that people have to take daily for years- which is a problem I will need to address at some point as well. Fuck, I have a long to do list! And finally, that all claims to cure or treat a disease must be approved by the federal government. Bullshit artists who peddle fake cures to desperate people are despicable in ways that I find hard to describe. To make money offering snake oil disguised as hope is disgusting- and it would no longer be tolerated. Thousands of lives saved, tens of thousands- if not hundreds of thousands- enlightened and better educated, and billions of dollars of wasted money saved. This bill was a wonderful thing for the country, and I had to kill a kid to get it to happen. I need another drink... Chapter Nine - Yearly Board Meeting A year after the start of our endeavors, I found myself in a meeting with all of our groups members again. It had been a turbulent and unpleasant year, but the seeds of growth had been sown. It was not a stretch to say that the world was in a much better place and was heading in a far better direction than when we last met. But nothing is ever easy. ¡°You are kidding me, right?¡± I looked at the report. ¡°Those fucks started their own group?¡± ¡°They did,¡± one of the European¡¯s confirmed. ¡°And they are moving to obstruct us as we speak.¡± ¡°They take our efforts as a proof of concept that a shadowy cabal could rule the world,¡± Brenard added. ¡°They are just a little less benevolent than we are.¡± ¡°And quite a bit more crude,¡± Wang spoke through her translator. ¡°Have you seen the reports out of Somalia? Things had been getting better there over the past five or so years, it seemed like a low priority situation since it was already improving without our intervention- until they poured fuel onto that dieing fire in the form of military grade hardware.¡± ¡°Online traffic indicates quite the communication set up too,¡± I said as I looked over my own companies reports on the country- and how much had changed in the past couple years. Someone had invested a massive amount of money into their communications infrastructure. ¡°So effectively they have their own country? What could they be planning?¡± They all shared their own reports and knowledge of the situation willingly, trying to build a clear picture of the growing opposition. The results did not make me happy. ¡°A lot of these places are recovering from violence of one sort or another¡­ The right leverage in the right place and¡­¡± I let my sentence trail off, the others could connect the dots as easily as I had. Individually, the actions we were looking at were small and meaningless- but no one in this room would be fooled by that appearance, that kind of work was their bread and butter. Taken as a collective, there were large movements of money into certain sections of the African continent that seemed to be flowing into various fringe and radical groups- the same groups that had been mostly suppressed years ago. They were trying to turn back the clock and reignite the internal strife, but all at once instead of piecemeal. But I could not shake the feeling that we were missing something. The potential gains from this investment seemed too small, there was a bigger picture here that we were not getting¡­. And then I realized¡­This content has been misappropriated from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere. ¡°They are planning to carve out their own country¡­¡± Once I knew what to look for, it was obvious. The geographic placement, the interference in the groups that would normally dampen fighting, the rise of specific warlords¡­ ¡°I cannot fathom how this plays into their end goals, but this cannot be allowed to happen!¡± ¡°I am not sure we can stop it at this point,¡± one member spoke softly, but coming from him it spoke volumes. He had been born in Somalia during some of the most chaotic times, he did not even know what his real birthday was- no one had recorded it- and had rose to be one of the most powerful people in the world, spending much of his time in Saudi Arabia working in the petroleum industry. ¡°This fire is going to start, whether we like it or not- and I am not sure where we would find the resources to put it out.¡± There was not much in the surrounding areas to bring in- which left one last solution. ¡°If we want to do something about this, we will have to use our own forces.¡± ¡°Forces?¡± Brenard snorted, ¡°that makes it sound so official. Corporate security is not a military.¡± Well this was awkward, though judging by the faces around me, I was not the only one in a bit of an odd position by that comment. ¡°Funny you should say it like that Brenard,¡± I gave him a rueful smile. ¡°My people are a bit more heavily armed than might be expected.¡± ¡°There is a lot of risk with that kind of commitment,¡± the old Chinese demon in a woman¡¯s skin spoke slowly. ¡°But it may be worth it to stop this¡­ Plot. This is not the kind of game where we can let rivals stand.¡± ¡°Well, the bulk of my strength is drones of various kinds.¡± I shrugged, ¡°I have an experimental unit that is essentially a mixed units of soldiers and drones. It would actually be a good chance to test their effectiveness.¡± ¡°You know,¡± Brenard mused. ¡°For someone who hates hurting people so much you sure have a lot of options to do so.¡± Ouch. That fucking hurt man, I am still sore about that education fuck up- and probably will be for the rest of my goddamn life. There is not always a peaceful solution, Brenard. I thought, and sometimes the answer to a problem is really shitty. You are just lucky because you have always put your bullshit on my fucking table and had me deal with it! No, I need to calm down. I am just overly sensitive after all that- especially now that I have to put more blood on my hands. Is it my fault that the mistakes of the past have necessitated it? ¡°I will also commit resources to this,¡± Wang added. ¡°Mr. Sterling, we will need to establish who will be overseeing this operation.¡± Oh fuck you too you undying hag! You do not have to look so smug when you have me by the throat already! ¡°Of course Mrs. Wang,¡± I spoke politely and calmly. ¡°I have little experience there, I would differ to your knowledge in this.¡± ¡°Also, before this meeting ends, we need to discuss the problems in Brazil.¡± Chapter Ten - Next Item on the Agenda ¡°Brazil?¡± I was a bit surprised by that, ¡°I was under the impression that your work was going rather well? I admit, the last two and a half decades have not been kind to the country, but I thought it was rather on the upwards trend.¡± ¡°It is not that simple,¡± Abba Abe, whose name I always found a little humorous, was in an odd position. Over a decade ago, mismanagement and corruption- coupled with a drop in global commodity prices- had just about caused Brazil to collapse. It mostly went unnoticed, in the United States at least, but considering who was president at the time I find it hard to blame anyone for being to distracted. Not that I had much cared who was elected, Trump might have been gigantic idiot whose attachment to his hair and reality are equally questionable- but if you knew the things I did about the Clintons¡­ Well, let us just say that they were not the kind of people I would ask for ethical advice, and I am ordering a private military using military grade hardware to intervene in a conflict on the other side of the world. ¡°My country, like all countries, has a habit of trying to pave over old conflicts until they boil out of control,¡± Abba continued. ¡°It is quite a complicated issue, because officially race does not exist in Brazil- only colour.¡± This much, I am aware of. Brazil was the last country to ban slavery, as well as one of, if not the, largest importer of slaves during the African slave trade. Slaves were very commonly worked to death and replaced because the journey to Africa was far shorter than the journey to the fledgling States, and thus it they were cheap enough to be used and thrown. In 1888, slavery was outlawed, and there was a somewhat unique solution to the problem of racial inequality that was adopted. On the surface, I actually really like the way the solution looked. Far better than the bullshit that went on in the United States, or at least, it was for a time. See, Brazil said from close to the start that everyone was equal- there was no inequality, whereas many parts of the United States fought hard against that concept. However, those fights were the rallying cry of the civil rights movements and exposed many of the underlying inequalities that existed after the abolition of slavery. Discrimination was challenged with increasing frequency and volume, and it became a widely spoken about topic. Brazil, on the other hand, lacked a lot of that- but that led to an even sharper divide between the wealthy and the poor that was almost perfectly along the lines of their skin color. Even in the 2010¡¯s, dark skinned people could still be pointed to service elevators when visiting their friends in certain apartments, and getting a job could be very difficult for someone who was especially dark skinned. But the discrimination was harder to fight against than it was in the United States, at least some people felt that way. The reason is that officially, they are all the same and there is nothing to discriminate against. But a lot of that was mostly history at this point- Brazil had been moving forward in the past two years and was very nearly a beacon of progress and development- largely due to Abba¡¯s work.This book''s true home is on another platform. Check it out there for the real experience. ¡°Bluntly, the country is on the verge of splitting,¡± Abba continued. ¡°Brazil has quite a few separatist movements and contrary to my expectations, the general upward trend of the country has only strengthened them.¡± ¡°The issue is economic inequality by region, the southeast, northeast and western areas are in quite different positions- different enough that the south is in danger of breaking into four separate countries- three of which would form a federation and one that would simply be independent.¡± ¡°It might be a stopgap solution,¡± one of the Russian members said slowly. ¡°But would it not be easy enough to solve this by investing into the less prosperous areas? If they seem to be pulling their own weight, the issue will lessen.¡± I had no idea what this members name was, he was from Latin America- and I had been told his name- but I do not remember¡­ Oh well, I will look it up later. For now though, he was disagreeing with the previous statement. ¡°It would not really matter,¡± he sighed. ¡°Brazil is not the only place with issues, there are issues elsewhere a well. One big collapse and the whole continent could go up in flames.¡± ¡°I have some leverage in the area,¡± I admitted. ¡°But it does not extend very far, I have to work hard just to stop random military groups from killing refugees¡­ You would have thought with all the power we have as a group that things would go more smoothly than this- does that other group have their fingers in South America as well? Nevermind, I will investigate that myself.¡± We kicked around ideas for a bit, but again the only solution seemed to be the unsavory one. ¡°They have to have some dirty secrets,¡± Wang drawled. ¡°Find them, expose them, and the public will hang them and we will never have to worry about it again.¡± But even to that, Abba was skeptical. ¡°It would not work unless it was a local discovery. Otherwise they will just paint it as a false charge and claim government corruption.¡± ¡°I suppose an appeal to reason is off the table?¡± Brenard chimed in, ¡°just a quick glance at what I can pull up now shows that anyone with a passing knowledge of economics can show them why this is a bad idea.¡± ¡°It is not about economics, it is about identity.¡± ¡°But if you tie this debate into one about livelihood- what parent would support something that could lead their children to poverty?¡± ¡°Unless Mrs. Wang is hiding something, I do not think we have much media control in South America though¡­¡± Ideas were kicked around and I stepped into the ring myself. ¡°If we want to appeal to reason, I could always manipulate search results and ads into the country.¡± ¡°That ended up backfiring on Russia five years ago, and that one social site had to swallow its teeth about five years before that- are you sure you can get away with it?¡± ¡°It is all in the phrasing,¡± I smiled at this- this much I can do. ¡°Instead of opposing anything, I will simply spin most of the articles to make the separation seem inevitable and talk about preparations people should make. Written correctly, they will not even realize that they were manipulated.¡± ¡°I will get some of my staff to help you,¡± Mrs. Wang agreed and the issue was settled. Chapter Eleven - Preping for Thunder I have to admire good planning, but sometimes someone is able to see so far and plan so well that it is more terrifying than anything else. You would think that the Illuminati would not be worried about people working in the shadows to manipulate them- because they are the people in the shadows, the man behind the curtain, so to speak. But Wang¡¯s foresight is enough to make me question if she does not already run the world herself and that this is all part of a plan I can not even conceive of¡­ Why? Because she did not need to send anyone over to help me, Kate was already with me! She was just as much a ¡®news reporter¡¯ as she was a fish- her knowledge about media, and manipulating it, was damn near encyclopedic. She was precisely the kind of person I needed, and I could not help but be a little suspicious. But all that did was cause her to laugh. ¡°For someone who grumbles so much about being blackmailed,¡± Kate said when she finally caught her breath after a laughing fit. ¡°You really do not seem to mind giving me more material to blackmail you with!¡± In retrospect, it seemed obvious that Kate- who despite what I said, actually did have experience as an investigative journalist- would be able to plant a hidden camera, but who ever really expects that kind of thing? Or someone doing it multiple times? ¡°You know, we had a whole team of psychologists comb through every appearance you ever made and analyse the best way to reach this point,¡± Kate mused. ¡°But I never really expected the untouchable Mr. Sterling to lose his composure quite so quickly- or to just throw it out the window after that composure cracked a little.¡± This was the first I had heard of a team of psychologists, what the fuck Wang? I mean, clearly they did their job, but how much time and money did you pour into this honeytrap? For that matter, am I can not be the only one of the group caught like this- that Chinese woman was probably damn close to ruling the world! That does not bother me too much though, aside from her manipulating me, overall she is an incredibly positive influence in the world. ¡°I would not say I threw it away¡­¡±This narrative has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road. If you see it on Amazon, please report it. ¡°That is not a very convincing statement right now.¡± Well- the only thing she was wearing was one of my shirts, so I suppose that line of argument would go nowhere. Time to change the subject. ¡°These articles you have written,¡± I spoke as I skimmed one of them on my tablet. ¡°They are quite well written, and some of them appear more up to date on Brazil than I am. Your research was superb.¡± ¡°Thank you, a knowledge of the situation and audience are the two most fundamental parts of convincing them of your point of view.¡± She grinned, then became a little more serious, ¡°The situation will evolve though, we will need a team to monitor and adapt to the changes.¡± ¡°Easy enough if it is phrased correctly. The loopholes the governments of the world left in after that bullshit last decade are wide enough to drive a truck through.¡± Direct political interference from foreign powers was heavily watched for by the governments of the world, even in places with a great deal of turmoil. However, that only covered ¡®direct¡¯ interference, and there was so much more you could do than that. In this case, I had my legitimate businesses begin to offer real and legitimate services and advertise them in an above board legal manner. Sounds fine, right? But here is where Kate comes in. The products on offer only made sense in unpleasant situations that could theoretically arise from the secession of those parts of Brazil. Not that those situations would arise, but they could, and legally that is enough to get by with. By heavily advertising these services, and doing so with some rather brilliant ideas, it would create the same effect as a political ad- no, it would be more effective. Kate had even been able to get advertisement spaces on things like billboards and signs- just to make sure that even those without access to the internet would still see the advertisements and still contribute to the general feeling that the ads were meant to accomplish. Hell, she had even managed to rope in newspapers and magazines- there would not be a single place in the country free of these ads or their influence. ¡°Are you sure I would not be able to hire you? Whatever she is paying, I would happily double it.¡± It would be a bargain with this level of skill, but she only laughed and crossed her legs over my lap- a move I should resist, but wouldn¡¯t. ¡°Nope, I enjoy making you squirm too much.¡± I sighed and considered the following truth- women will be the death of me. Chapter Twelve - Doubts I think this came up before, but it bears repeating. Someone has to make the military hardware that the governments of the world use. Even when I was a child, I considered it odd that governments did not build their weapons in house and contracted others to do it for them. After all, that would be putting these powerful weapons in the hands of others, and even a little child knew that the less people involved, the better. However, it seemed no one had told the governments of the world this, because they contracted out almost everything. In fact, following the year 2010, when NASA had its funding cut and space travel in the United States began to be privatised, various members of our newly formed group had gained such a foothold in the industry that, when combined with my military grade equipment and Mrs. Wang¡¯s highly trained forces, we effectively had the strength of one of the world¡¯s superpowers. That was unsurprising considering that some of the most powerful individuals from two of the three superpowers were involved, the only missing superpower was India- however, that could be explained by simply pointing out the turmoil that was arising from its meteoric rise in national power that had taken most of the world by surprise. Not me, of course. It was plainly obvious that China was going to step on to the world stage thirty years ago, and that India would follow for roughly the same reasons. Still, there was quite a bit of chaos in the country that would likely take decades to be sorted out completely. More immediately important were the images on the screens in front of me. Between satellite and drone imagery, combined with the blueprints I ¡®acquired,¡¯ and live feeds from the various soldiers we employed- those of us observing this operation felt night omniscient. It was thrilling, to say the least, watching my forces hack the local security networks and then snipe the guards on watch. The tech they had was so advanced that they could see targets through walls and I watched with rapt attention as my men advanced like wraiths. It was fifteen minutes before the target even realized something was wrong- and I felt amused as I watched a man attempt to sound the alarm, only to realize that the entire system was disabled and be shot.This story originates from a different website. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there. As one might change the channel, I called up images from other teams- we had our forces assault as many of their bases as possible, all at once. There would be no drawn out fight, just a swift decapitation. To be honest, it left me feeling uncomfortable and I took a sip of scotch to calm my nerves. It may seem odd, considering my business and the group I am a part of, but I am a firm non-interventionist at heart. In the same way I am against killing people- which is to say, ¡°wouldn¡¯t it be nice if I didn¡¯t have to do this?¡± I have no doubt that this assault will, in the short term, make things difficult for the countries affected. Our rival group essentially gutted their governments after all- with them removed, they will likely cease to function and collapse. Which will mean the military hardware brought in by our rivals will disappear and find its way into the hands of unpleasant people who will make life difficult for peaceful folk in the future. Both our rivals and our own group essentially want to rule the world. We are gods struggling against giants and the result is largely academic to people who are dying in the crossfire. It is times like these that I have to sit back and reflect on my own ego- I have a vision for the world, one that I feel is superior to the elected governments of the entire planet. For that vision, a man has just knifed another man in the throat, killing him silently and hiding his body in the shadows. For that vision, a country that was recovering will be plunged into chaos. I remember thinking not that long ago that I wished normal people knew those of us at the top made mistakes. A joking thought considering the beauties that were next to me at the time, but the reality was that I was human and was certainly not perfect. Which made me wonder if this was the right thing to do- no, whether I was the right one to do it. This other group could not be tolerated, their ideals were the antithesis of my own. I wished for the world to grow beyond the shackles that held it and they wanted to shackle it to their will. However, perhaps a better man might be able to find a solution that would not ruin innocent lives. That will require some thought actually, this event today is what it is- but I should learn from this for the future. I need a think tank of the best and brightest, with diverse beliefs and backgrounds, and then back them with powerful AI and data analytics. A better man than I might not need that, but I am not him. Instead, I will gather enough good people and computational power to force my way through these issues- if we check every possible answer, eventually we are bound to find the right one.