The Immortal Greed

Castle Rise Hotel, Bower City

(6 months before)

The serenity of the night crept throughout the sophistication of the Castle Rise Penthouse. The night achieved long years of peace, giving comfort to every constituent of Bower City and its neighboring allies. But this peacefulness that the night carried hung in a balance, so delicate that a small spark would topple everything into chaos.

United Alliance Confederation Defense Secretary Henry Wallace was soundly sleeping, all naked, under his bedsheets. With him was a high-class hooker comfortably sleeping, curled at Henry's left side.

Ring! Ring! Ring!

Suddenly, the wireless digital telephone placed on top of a nightstand rang loud and replaced the night's serenity. Secretary Henry woke up and rubbed his eyes, hauled himself from slumber seemingly from exhaustion, and sat at the edge of the bed. Cursing under his breath. Lazily, he reached for the telephone's loudspeaker button. A deep voice echoed from the phone's speaker.

"Secretary Henry, this is Commander James Johnson. I have news for you."

The Secretary glanced at his wristwatch and it was 11:00 pm. "Commander, why are you calling this time of night?" His voice was faint with a hint of yawn and a mixture of irritation.

"My trusted agents provided me intel in Mt. Elberus. I believe you have an interest in the said area. Maybe oil, perhaps." The other end of the phone had to be direct, knowing the disturbance he had caused to the Secretary, and people with their positions tend to go straight to the point.

The Defense Secretary jerked gently at hearing what was supposedly a secret about his intent with that Mountain. He glanced at his back looking at the hooker and she was still sleeping in the bed under thick white sheets.

She slept like an angel, her long wavy hair scattered beautifully to the expanse of the king-size bed. He was now cautious for this conversation may lead to very sensitive and confidential information, and probably may expose his illegal exploits in Mt. Elberus.

"How do you know, Commander?" The Secretary asked.

"Well Mr. Secretary, you know that I am the head of your covert division and this is what I do. Collect information and use them to my advantage."

"You are using your advantage to Blackmail me, Commander! Don't you ever think of..." The Secretary whispered angrily but was suddenly stopped as he heard the Commander interject. "It is not what you think, Mr. Secretary. We are actually on the same side and I can give you what you want."

"What is your plan, Commander? The confederation preserves these forests and especially the local tribes living in that area. I cannot pursue my interests there if not to relocate all these tribes, and it would be impossible. They are hard-headed and they do not listen to the Confederation. In addition, Environmental activists and NGOs are pretty strong in their pursuit of Forest preservation."

"Well, let us make a deal Mr. Secretary. I need a bigger slice of that pie, 20 Billion dollars perhaps. I will set up a base camp there covertly and I will take care of the local tribes."

"20 Billion? Are you out of your mind, Commander?" The Secretary retorted he had not yet subsided from the irritation he had since he was disturbed.

"Yes, 20 Billion. I know you can allocate the Defense Budget with that kind of amount easily. Do this for me and I will provide you the oil you wanted so much." The Commander invited.

"First of all, what is in it for you Commander?" The Secretary asked.

"Human greed is unfulfilling. You can never satisfy it within our given lifetime, Mr. Secretary. Believe me or not, Immortality is what I am after." The Commander answered.

"What are you talking about Commander? Immortality? There is no such thing."

"I have the best doctors under my employ and they said it is possible. The ingredient that I need and everything is on that Mountain, Mr. Secretary. Do you know Consolacion village, one of the largest tribes there? they are considered the capital of the surrounding tribes on that Mountain. I have solid intel that the villagers there are immortals."

"How did you confirm this Commander? For me, it is just another bedtime story that we told the children before they sleep." The Commander sounded sarcastic and skeptical.

The Secretary's phone suddenly lit up, it was a picture sent from the Commander. Secretary Henry took his phone and opened the picture message. Henry's eyes were wide with disbelief at what he saw in the picture.

The picture was dark with light green and dark combinations, it was captured by a night vision camera. In it was an unidentified creature standing in between trees and tall grass. It had glaring eyes, tall limbs, long claws, and sharp teeth. It was like a grendel, a mythical creature, used to be one of the characters of fictional stories.

The Commander said, "That picture I sent is one of the villagers, Mr. Secretary. They are immortal but the side effects are hunger for fresh meat and blood and a hideous creature transformation.

That's all I can give you for now, but I know, these are not humans anymore and they need to be eliminated. This poses a threat to the general welfare. We cannot go public with this one, this must be just between us Mr. Secretary, otherwise, our pursuits will be revealed. Too many eyes lead to too much hostility."

Secretary Henry was still skeptical for a moment but the Commander's reputation precedes him. He would never present information, intel, or data that are half-baked or not supported by various pieces of evidence. The Commander was built this way, data interpretation at its best.

The Secretary was known to be intelligent and very cautious. He questioned the plans of the Commander,

"The process of eliminating or obliterating the village may be loud and our plans may reveal to the public and other officials of the UAC. Even your men, are they up to this and believe that these creatures exist and are willing to kill everyone in that village?"

"Let me handle with my boys Mr. Secretary. I have a few men that know the real situation but other agents are very delicate and sensitive to compromise. So I will tell them that the village is a rebel stronghold, fortifying their numbers to attack again our great City."

"You may be right Commander. What you have may convince me in the long run. Give me 24 hours to decide. If I will grant you the budget, you must be very transparent about your plans and all must go through me. Let us meet here in my penthouse tomorrow evening and lay me out the details. We are in this together Commander." The Commander nodded and ended their conversation.