The W1RLD

Written by: The Masked Eidolon

Edited by: Leon the Man

Enjoy 🙂

Chapter 18 - The First Inspector

Date: 1 Year before the creation of the Virgilian Empire

Time: 6 a.m.

Location: U.S. Virgin Islands Military Compound

The hefty iron door creaked as the locksmith inserted 13 custom made keys into its mid rail and turned them all to one side, opening the aperture.

He grabbed the handle, "Be careful, Sarge. This guy broke out of our best containment facility. Even if he looks powerless in there, he'll find a way to kill you if you get too close."

"I'm well aware of the dangers." Rico said as he adjusted his collar. "The top brass promoted me for a reason."

The locksmith took a deep breath, "I sure hope so. Me, I'm too scared to even enter the room. I'll be watching you over the security cams if anything goes wrong, though."

"I appreciate it." Rico replied.

The keymaster opened the door and the Sergeant was greeted by a dimly lit room with a man chained to a chair that was bolted to the floor at the end of the chamber. The man glared daggers at Rico the moment he entered the room.

His name was Dimitri Babikov, and he was an extremely dangerous Russian special operative who had been caught trying to plant remote controlled mines in a U.S. base. The U.S. has intercepted Russia's communications signal, and if Rico managed to learn how to decipher the codes they were using, he would surely go down in history as the man who won the war for the United States. Thus, his mission was imperative.

Although Rico was confident in his combat skill, he didn't dare come any closer to Babikov, who was probably itching to use him as an escape method.

"Are you going to ask me anything, or did you just come in here to startle me? Because, know this, I am not afraid of you." he sneered in that somber yet menacing voice that he was known for.

Rico gulped, "I'm surprised you have the confidence to say such things, considering the fact that you clearly have no power here."

"I have no power?" Babikov rasped, "If you really thought I was helpless in here, you wouldn't have to shout from across the room in order to interrogate me."

"I'm a cautious man."

"A sergeant ought to know the difference between caution and cowardice."

"Enough of this petty bickering. We're moving on to the subject at hand."

"I agree. Your pathetic attempts at intimidation are quite annoying." Babikov remarked.

Rico, ignoring Babikov's jab, took a bottle of water out of his pocket, "I'm sure you've gotten quite thirsty in here after 5 days of dehydration. Tell us how to decode Russia's communications that we've intercepted and you can have all the food and water you want."

Babikov only smirked at this prospect, "You know very well that I won't give you any such information. And once I've declined to do so, your religion forbids you from keeping me alive."

Rico glared at Babikov, "Torture isn't outruled."

"Torture?" Babikov snorted, "Is that what you think will make me talk?"

Rico gulped and noticed that his palms started to sweat.

"Let me give you a little hint. It won't. However, I may consider giving you the info if the deal is more advantageous to me."

"What kind of deal are we talking about here, Babikov? Are you asking for entertainment?"

Babikov shook his head, "No, no, nothing so crude. All I want is to get out of this facility unharmed. You turn me loose, and then I'll give you all the info you need."

"Who do you think you are?" Rico spat, "You're a prisoner of war. You have no right to make such demands. And the fact that you just asked to leave the facility in exchange for information means that you can't break out yourself."

"It's not that I can't break out." Babikov replied, "It's just that if I tried to, I'm not sure I could take on all these soldiers myself. Although, even if I did die, you would lose a lot of men, and you wouldn't have the info you desire so much. How about we sort things out peacefully?"

Rico thought for a moment and said, "Alright then, we'll go with your deal. In exchange for the information, the U.S. military will deport you back to Russia unscathed. But, you will give us the information first, and if it turns out to be fake, you will be executed on the spot. Does that sound reasonable to you?"

"Yes, very." Babikov uttered.

Rico crossed his arms, "Well, I think you've got some explaining to do."

Babikov smirked, "We'll start with the letter A."

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As Rico exited the room, two guards approached him.

"Did you get the information, sir?"

Rico stopped walking and addressed the two, "Yes, I did. I want both of you to go in there and guard the prisoner. If he makes any funny moves, blast him into oblivion."

"Yes, sir." they said in unison as they gave a salute.

Rico saluted as well and then speedwalked to Jared Keith, the technician's, office. There, he would be able to decode Russia's transmission and intercept their plan. Of course, the data he got from Babikov could be fake, in which case Rico would have to re-interrogate him.

"Specialist Keith." Rico said as he opened Jared's door. "I need access to the Russian communication codes."

Jared typed something on his computer and swiveled his chair around, "Sure thing, Sarge. The messages are right here."

"Thank you." Rico said as he walked up to the computer.

Rico stared into the monitor, and found that there were hundreds of pages of text ready to be deciphered by his team. Having so much information would be vital to winning the war, but a much faster method of translation has to be obtained in order to access the knowledge.

"This is way too much for me to decode by hand." Rico said as he passed a notepad to Jared, "I took notes on how to decipher the scripts. I'm sure it would be very simple for you to make a program based on interpreting it."

Jared took the notepad and said, "Yeah, I can do that. Just give me ten minutes."

"All right. In the meantime, I'll start working on the first few lines."

"Cool." Jared said as he began typing furiously into his terminal.

Rico sat down himself and grabbed a spare legal pad he found on the desk.

The first line in the memorandum read:

Opal drungederci. Hyi lohkst meiy whau ovbki zensho frahzogin.

As Rico checked what each word meant based on the information that Babikov gave him, he started to get more and more intrigued. So far, the first word, Opal, translated to "Get.'' Whatever the Russians were planning, it could involve a certain object or weapon they were trying to get ahold of.

Rico's pensive demeanor was interrupted by Jared saying, "Got it."

Rico looked in Jared's direction, "You're done already?"

"Yup. It was easier than I thought. Are you done with the first sentence?"

"No. I didn't have my notepad."

"Alright then. We should probably proof check the program by comparing its results to our manual translation." Jared said as he got up from his chair.

"Good idea." Rico responded.

Rico then copy-pasted the first sentence into the interpretation machine and clicked the button at the bottom of the screen. After a few seconds of loading, an English sentence appeared in the other text box.

Get baited. You were a fool to trust my information.

Rico immediately left his seat, brought out his radio, and turned it on, "That bastard gave me false info! Shoot him in the limbs, but don't kill him. I'll personally perform the second interrogation."

Rico was met with no response.

"Do you hear me!?"

"......"

"Squadron Four!"

"......"

Rico then turned to Jared, "Evacuate now. We can't have our best technician die."

Jared nodded vehemently, "Yes, sir."

Rico then proceeded to run out of the technician's lab and towards the interrogation chamber as he changed the channel on his transceiver,

"Squadron Three! Sound the alarms now! Deploy half of your units to Specialist Keith's lab, and the other half to the interrogation chamber. There's a violent prisoner on the loose!"

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Dimitri Babikov sat comfortably on the chair he was tied to. Since Rico refused to come closer than 5 meters away from Babikov before he left the room, he couldn't escape at that moment. Although, Rico's two guards were just about suffocating him with their guns pointed directly at his chest. Babikov had given Rico false information, so the time to act was now or never.

Just a few hours ago, Babikov had managed to use all of his flexibility and strength to free himself from his bondage, meaning he had the element of surprise on his side. However, in order to outfox the Sergeant's soldiers, Babikov needed to wait until each of them were confident enough to let their guards down.

This happened almost immediately, when one of the men initiated a small conversation with the other.

"I'm hearin' rumors your wife may have found herself another man while you were away."

"Oh, that... Nah, I don't believe those stories are true. Just a couple dudes tryna throw me off, y'know?"

"Alright. Good ta kno-"

At that moment, Babikov broke free of his chains and grabbed the guns out of the two guards' hands. He then used each gun like a bat to knock out their respective owners. Both guards crashed to the floor before they were able to process what had just happened.

Babikov then climbed up on the chair he was bolted to, and unscrewed the vent. He caught it right as it was about to fall and placed it down lightly on the floor. He took one of the guns with him and climbed inside. Babikov was barely able to fit inside the ventilation shaft, but it was currently his only way out of the cell, so he had to take it.

As he slowly trudged through the dark and gloomy chutes, he noticed an opening grate that led directly to the explosives chamber.

"Perfect." Babikov grinned, as he unscrewed the grille and dropped down into the room below. He set his gun down and grabbed a grenade instead, holding it so that the pin would come loose and it would go off if he were shot. He then took a timed bomb and attached it to the pile of incendiary devices, setting the timer to thirty minutes. That should be enough time for him to escape the compound. He hid the timed bomb under a few sticks of dynamite, and smiled at what he'd accomplished.

As soon as he turned to exit the room, the door burst open, revealing Rico Jacobson and an entire squadron of troops right behind him.

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"Hold your fire!" Rico yelled. He would have shot the man on sight, but the Sergeant noticed that the grenade Babikov was holding would explode if he did that. And since they were in the explosives room, doing so would cause a chain reaction that would destroy the whole compound.

Babikov smiled wistfully as he said, "Ah... Sergeant. I knew that I would not be able to escape this compound alive."

"Drop the grenade if you want to live, Babikov." Rico responded.

"Let's not kid ourselves, Rico. If I let go of this grenade, you would immediately shoot and kill me."

Rico had no response to this, and instead of thinking of one, he squeezed the trigger just a bit harder.

"Thus, there is only one end to this confrontation." Babikov threatened as he moved to pull the pin from the grenade, carefully making sure that at all times, he could not be shot.

"Don't you do it!" Rico shouted.

Babikov smirked, "Goodbye, Rico Jacobson."

"STOP!"

Babikov then pulled the pin on the grenade as the entire squadron fired on him. His body was riddled with bullets and the force of the impact sent him flying all the way to the wall. Babikov was dead, but the entire base would blow up along with him in seconds.

"EVERYONE, EVACUATE! NOW!" Rico roared to the squadron.

The soldiers were very happy to oblige as each one made a mad dash for the nearest escape hatch. The ear-splitting sound of the explosives room blowing up enveloped all, and the force from the blast sent Rico flying a good 5 meters from where he was standing. He landed just shy of a circular sewer grate that another soldier was surely using to hide. The basin popped open and the trooper howled,

"There's no time for more running! Get down here!"

Rico humored the woman and hopped down into the sewer system just as she closed the grate for good. The entire facility could be heard caving in, no doubt crushing many people attempting to flee. However, the two in the sewers, while afraid, were completely safe from the falling rubble. The aftermath of the explosion could be felt for long after the initial blast, and for that time, both of the comrades dared not speak to each other.

When he had gotten over his initial shock, Rico asked, "What's your name, private?"

"Alex Stone, sir." the soldier replied.

"Stone... a fine name. From this point forward, you will be called Specialist Stone."

"Thank you very much for the honor, Sergeant." she said as she formed a salute.

Rico responded to this with a salute of his own.

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Date: Present

Time: 10 a.m.

Location: Virgilian Empire, Inspector's Quarters

The morning after the duel, Rico woke up to the chirping of a few hummingbirds that were perched on his window. Since it was a weekend, he was free to do as he pleased, yet he remembered the events of the previous day and found that he had no energy to get up. The Senior Adviser was pronounced dead by the Palace's premier physician, Pierce Middleton, and that man never made mistakes. The only reason Rico was finally able to pull himself out of bed is because he remembered that he still had logs to chop, and mundane work would cloud his mind more than lying down on a bed while trying and failing to go to sleep.

When he got to the counter, he poured himself a steaming hot cup of coffee and didn't bother to wait for it to cool off before downing it in 3 gulps. He washed the cup with a sponge that sorely needed to be exchanged for another one, and made his way off to the backyard. Before he got to the door, however, he tripped on a chair that hadn't been pushed in and crashed to the floor. "An excellent start to my day." he thought as he stood and picked the chair back up.

After a few more steps, Rico was outside of the house, but to his surprise, he was not the only one there. He could see Ethan who was fervently hitting his training blade against a nearby tree. His movements were nonsensical, but Rico could see that he was putting his heart into each and every strike. Although, hitting a tree with a stick wasn't going to make him more skilled in any meaning of the word.

Rico walked up to his new apprentice, "What exactly do you think you're doing?"

Ethan stopped his beatdown of the tree to glance at Rico, "Isn't it obvious? I'm training."

"No, you're not." Rico replied, "You're smart enough to know that hitting a tree with a stick won't cause you to improve your skill."

Ethan was stubborn, "It's improving my reaction time. Strikes with repetition will also increase my accuracy. Plus, a warm-up before I'm formally trained by you will never hurt."

"A warm-up is part of the formal training session."

"A warm-up to the warm-up, then?" Ethan smirked.

Rico wasn't impressed, "I'd prefer to be serious here, Ethan."

"Sorry." Ethan said as his grin faded, "Did you have any tasks for me?"

"No, not yet." Rico clarified, "I just wanted to know the real reason you decided to abuse that poor tree. I won't judge you, whatever it is."

A darker expression started to overtake Ethan's face as he set his training blade on the ground next to the tree. Whatever the topic of this discussion may be, it was going to be a long one.

"It's about the dog."

"I suspected as much." Rico sighed, "Look, that test was a measure of whether or not you could get things done in a real battle, and you proved to me that you could. Now more than ever, the Empire needs warriors due to the Dark Knight terrorist organization. Don't back out of this. Not now."

Ethan shook his head, "I know what the test was for, and that I had to overcome it to be a warrior. It's just that... I don't feel like a warrior at all. The only thing I feel is this terrible pull at my chest, and the only way to escape it is by putting the thought of that damn dog out of my mind."

"It's good that you feel this way." Rico explained, "That's how a warrior of true mettle lives his life. In constant agony of their sins, and unwilling to burden another with their sorrows."

Ethan disagreed, "No. That's not true at all. Being a soldier is about honor and justice. It's about protecting those you care about and earning the respect of your peers."

"That's what everyone thinks at first. Take one look at someone like me, and all you see is the strong, imposing figure. What everyone chooses to ignore is how I got that strength, and what it costs me. Yes, A warrior is brave and respected among his peers, but the reason for such respect is not as petty as mere skill in combat. The soldier does what others cannot, and bears the burdens of the world's wickedness."

Ethan could only gulp in response to this newfound revelation. Up until this moment, he never truly knew what it meant to take a life. If he was having so much trouble accepting the death of a mere puppy, then could he ever bring himself to kill a human?

Rico continued his speech, "Your first test was to kill an innocent animal. However, your first lesson is to accept the consequences, and realize that you'll eventually have to do the same thing to a man."

"And if I refuse?" Ethan queried.

"Then you are a fool." Rico spat, "You've already taken the first step into our world, why back down now? Are you going to let that dog die in vain?"

"No. That dog will have died teaching me the cruelty of the battlefield." Ethan uttered, "And I believe there are ways to diplomatically solve the current crisis concerning the Dark Knights."

Rico's face contorted in disgust the moment he heard this, "Diplomatic relations!? Have you gone insane!?"

Ethan was irritated with Rico's outright refusal of his suggestion, "What's so wrong about solving things like civilized beings!?"

"Is it not obvious!? The enemy cannot be reasoned with! These are terrorists whose only goal is to destroy our glorious Empire. They will not settle until our way of living has been eradicated, and our population has been leveled."

"And how do you know their motives? Last I checked, you've never been to their headquarters!"

Rico was appalled, "I have seen their misdeeds firsthand!"

Ethan was exasperated, "Yeah. You got hit in the shoulder by a guy you were fighting. The fact that you now won't even stop to think about their side of the picture is ridiculous. I trust that they will be reasonable if you even made an attempt to approach things diplomatically."

"You are an utter fool!" Rico shouted, "Just last night, the man that I fought killed my greatest friend before my eyes!"

"What!?" Ethan gasped.

"Yes, that's right. My best friend is dead. Did you really think that I would be so narrow-minded as to have a grudge on their entire organization just because I got my shoulder hurt? Do you really think of me like that?"

"No, I don't. I'm sorry. I didn't know that happened to you." Ethan stated.

"Don't be sorry. Just think about what you're going to say the next time you open your mouth."

Ethan looked down at his feet. His arrogance had blinded him once again, and he now felt even worse than before. His new master was wise, and should not be disrespected unless absolutely necessary.

Rico opted for one last bit of advice, "And just remember that absolutely no one is trustworthy."

Ethan, confused, looked up, "Huh? But don't you have people you can trust?"

"No." Rico hissed, "Why exactly would I trust anyone?"

"You and Alex seem very friendly, if you know what I mean." Ethan surveyed, "After all, you two do live together."

"I don't trust her in the slightest." Rico declared, "And us living together has nothing to do with anything."

"Oh, come on." Ethan interjected, "I've seen you share confidential information with her."

"Confidential information?"

"When we first met, you told her everything Fred Wilkins told you. I'm sure you weren't allowed to do that, even if she is in the military."

Rico sighed, "Fine, Ethan. I'll admit to you that I do trust Alex. As a friend. But I'm only telling you this because I don't want you to mistake friendship for weakness, as most others tend to do."

"I would never." Ethan stated.

"Good. And now that this unpleasant conversation is over, we have a funeral to attend. Come with me."

"Yes, master."

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Unlike what Ethan was expecting, Joseph Yossi's funeral did not take place in a church. It took place on the most crowded street in the Virgilian Empire, as is customary when a high government official dies. Virgil himself would be attending the funeral and giving the sermon, as he gave the best speeches in the kingdom. Yossi's body lay in the beautiful stone coffin hand-crafted for him as Virgil made his way to the stand to give his eulogy.

"Joseph Yossi, the First Senior Adviser of the Virgilian Empire, was possibly the wisest man to live on Earth." he started, "He, and he alone identified the man who attempted to assassinate our prized Inspector, and as a result of that, he was assassinated himself. One could say that he gave his life to save the detective in question, but I believe that is not true. This man gave his life for so much more than that."

Virgil paused for effect, and the crowd started to clap lightly, as his speech was obviously not over.

"Ever since the day he arrived in our Empire, this genius of a man has identified and exposed over fifty catfishers attempting to invade our society. And along the way, he has identified one woman named Jenny Lin to be a real female. He, and he alone has given hope to a country in dire need of it."

Virgil raised a clenched fist, "It was him who first brought our revered Inspector to my doorstep, suggesting that Rico Jacobson should be this nation's detective. It was him who implemented the Promotion Tournament System, which so many more of our elected officials hailed from! It was him who has solely made the greatest contribution to our nation and our people since I, King, Virgil the 69th, pulled every citizen out of the rubble!!!"

The crowd went wild with cheers and applause, as was compulsory when their king made a formal speech. But this particular ovation was not born from duty or obligation. It was born from the incredible feats of their fallen Senior Adviser.

Once the cheering had died down, Virgil spoke up once again, "So I say, and I say with confidence, that the life of this man, Joseph Yossi, merits a national holiday in his name! From this day onward, on March 25th of every year, there will be a grand feast in the Royal Palace of the Virgilian Empire!"

This time, the crowd could not contain their excitement, and rushed to the Palace gates, tripping over one another as they tried to get there. As the first few peasants reached the door, Kira Cummings, the newly promoted Senior Adviser, spoke to Virgil.

"Are you sure it was okay for you to do that? Resources are running thin right now."

Virgil turned to look Kira in the eye, "If I didn't honor my first ever Senior Adviser's death with a spectacle like this, I'd regret it. You should return to your post, Kira, and make sure those serfs don't steal anything of value."

"Yes, my king." Kira said as he trotted over to the palace himself.

Meanwhile, Rico and Ethan were still sitting on the pews laid out for the event. They, along with the upper echelon of the Empire, had no need to attend the feast.

"What were his last words?" Ethan asked.

"Why do you want to know?" Rico replied.

"I want to learn what a wise man thought was worthy enough to be his final utterance."

Rico looked in Ethan's direction, "A man's last words aren't any more wise than small talk. Normally, one dies too instantaneously to think about having a meaningful quote as their final words."

"Oh. I didn't know that."

"But, if you really want to know, I'll tell you."

"What were they?" Ethan asked.

Rico looked over to Alex Stone, who was currently chatting with a couple of her buddies from the military. She was wearing a long-sleeved shirt which was slightly too big for her, and covered the palms of her hands. However, she still managed to look as beautiful as ever to Rico as the wind blew her long, elegant hair slightly to the side.

Rico looked back at Ethan.

"He told me to protect Alex. At all costs."