The Doomsday League

CW: Profanity

Ms. Wong, the fourth-grade teacher of Kenwood Elementary School clinged onto the news station before class, Tom Gosling and Rachel Reynolds were the charismatic anchors on-air that morning. They began announcing the latest breaking news story almost immediately.

"YBC News. Good morning listeners, It's 7:00 a.m. in the East. We bring you breaking news at this hour, members of the Republic of Karboya now on a showdown at the American Consulate building in England in a wake of high level diplomacy tensions.

"That's right Tom. Jenny Garcia is our correspondent on the scene standing by a few miles from the entry gates. Good morning, Jenny! What do you have for us this morning?"

Jenny, is standing behind a wall of military vehicles and soldiers wearing gray camouflage fatigues. Her voice maintained a concise speech flow despite the volatile situation behind the scenes. "Good morning! Jenny here, that's right, after days of high rise diplomacy tensions, the US Consulate is readying their defenses against the presence of military forces in the area. Demands for reinforcement from the Secretary of State calls for England's prime minister to intervene."

"Jenny, can you tell us if there are any statements from the representatives of Karboya?"

"Certainly, Tom.... have not...The Republic of...then..launching ballistic...in... exercises-"

"Jenny? We seem to be having some technical difficulties here."

"Tom, can you hear me?"

"Jenny? You're breaking in and out. Can you repeat the last thing you said?"

Suddenly a deafening sound of an explosion is heard.

The camera captured a large fireball in the foreground coming from the Consulate Building. The camera footage is showing shaky footage of some of the military personnel rushing the building, then pointing their weapons at Jenny and her crewmembers.

The camera fell onto the ground and loses visual.

Jenny's high-strung voice is heard muddled in the loud commotion of artillery vehicles hastily driving by, followed by a slew of loud gunfire.

"Tom! It seems we're being evacuated to---!"

"Jenny?! Is everything, OK? Can you get somewhere safe-"

"This...just...we're under attack!"

"Ms. Wong?" Principal Hilliard cleared his throat to get her attention. "Ms. Wong?"

Ms. Wong jerked and turned startled by the Principal's presence. "Oh--"

"Ms. Wong, can you please turn that television off? The kids will be coming into the classrooms soon. They don't need to listen to any of that." Principal Hilliard peered through the opened classroom door after pacing through the hallways and noticed the amplified TV sounds.

"Yes Principal Hilliard. Of course."

"Thank you, Penny."

She turned off the Television as the bell rang to commence the beginning of her class, her flock of fourth-graders walked in shortly after, and sat in their designated seats bearing their hand-written name signs.

Richard walked in, he was a regular ten-year-old boy with scruffy dark hair, a little shy, but inquisitive. He wore his uniformed white collared shirt with dark navy blue pants with an oversized Ninja Turtles backpack strapped to his back. He found his seat amongst the rest. 

"Good morning, children!"

"Good morning, Ms. Wong!" said the children almost in sync, most of them had still been yawning, and a little drowsy.

Someone interrupted the class by knocking against the opened door.

"Excuse me?" A tall man who wore a neon vest stood by the door looking toward Richard's direction, then back to Ms. Wong. "Are you Ms. Wong?"

"Yes? I am. How can I help you?"

"I'm here for Richard."

"May I ask what this pertains to?"

"I'm one of the counselors. My name is Will. Richard's mother is asking for him." The tall man handed her a phone with his Grandma Sophie waiting to speak with her. I just checked in with Mr. Hilliard as well. She says it's very urgent, nothing to be alarmed with, but she needs Richard to come back home."

After a brief conversation with Richard's grandma, Ms. Wong handed Will the phone back. "Ok sure.... Please come with me, Richie. We're going back to the main office."

The tall man followed both of them to the front desk.

After the receptionist cleared them, Will guided Richard to the bus stop.

The bus driver was a kind older woman in her forties. "Hi Richie! Good morning. Your Grandma Sophie is going to pick you up at the bus stop back home, ok?. There was just a small accident at your mom job. Me and Will are just going to make sure you get back home alright."

"Is my Mom ok?"

"Of course, Richie. Is it just your Mom and Grandma who live with you?"

"Yes."

"And your dad?"

"He's on active duty."

"I see, well. Can you do me a favor and fasten your seatbelt?"

"Ok." Richie said walking back to a window seat to sit down.

The bus driver began heading to her route, but her arms began shaking out of fear for something. She fastened her seatbelt and drove very cautiously.

Meanwhile, Will sat directly behind her fidgeting with something in his hand.

Richie was usually uncomfortable around new people he didn't recognize. It was the first time he had seen both of them.

After a few minutes, Richie noticed an unfamiliar route they were taking.

"Wait. Excuse me. This isn't the way to my house? You're going the wrong way."

The woman suddenly began driving erratically, swerving to the next lane, trying best to keep the ride steady. The traffic had been minimal, so few noticed the strange driving.

"Richie, please don't be nervous. We're just going to visit your Mom at work."

"It's a different route, Richie. Please sit still and keep calm."

Tears started streaming down the driver's eyes. "Please. Calm down, Richie."

Will quickly got up and walked slowly towards the fourth-grader.

Richie noticed he had been holding a syringe in his hand.

"What are you holding? I'm scared." he whispered.

"Listen, I'm not going to hurt you."

The bus continued swerving again, braking abruptly, then jolting everyone back and speeding off.

Will held his balance, then suddenly stopped in his track and began to convulse. He grabbed the syringe with his other hand and slowly turned 180 degrees to the opposite way towards the front of the bus. Despite his best efforts against it, he moved his hands to actuate the lever and opened the door.

"Richie, we're not trying to--"

"Please don't do this. Don't kill him, Richie!" yelled the bus driver.

Will reached his foot out of the moving vehicle, and hovered it outside for a moment while the vehicle reached speeds of over 70 mph and accelerating.

"I... c-can't.... m-move."

"We're almost there and we'll explain everything!"

"No! I don't know you people."

"Don't let him fall! Please!"

"I just want to go back to class. " Richie cried whike his voice shivered.

The driver finally slammed her foot willingly on the brake and swerved over to a restaurant under construction.

Will's arm twisted in an unnatural motion, breaking the bone in his wrist, he shoved the syringe deep into his upper thigh and injected himself with a sleep chemical.

The bus driver started crying and muttering prayers to herself. "Please God, we thank that you never leave us, that you never forsake us..."

She shut her mouth and began slamming her head against the steering wheel repeatedly.

Will walked up to her and grabbed her shoulders firmly to prevent her from continuing.

"This whole thing was a mistake..." cried the bus driver.

Will collapsed unconsciously from the chemicals taking effect then stumbled down the steps headfirst onto the floor.

The bus driver with her hand's still shaking struggled to press something in the front of the bus. With her eyes bulging and sweat condensing on her forehead, she mustered an opportunity to press a switch by the dashboard. 

"I think I want to go home instead and see if my moms alright" said a frightened Richie.

The bus driver grabbed the key still in the ignition and tossed it to the floor.

"Please, take me home." Richie pleaded. "I want to go home!"

"Richie, I know your scared, honey. Trust me."

Suddenly, vapor smoke spread through the ventilation area of the ceiling.

With the door shutting automatically, both the Bus Driver and Richie inhaled the smoke agent, then quickly drifted to sleep.

*****

"I'm not getting in that room with that fucking kid."

"How's Will?"

"He's holding up, I guess. Dinged his head on the concrete pretty bad. His hands broken in four places..."

"Oh God... And Ms. Johnson?"

"She took the day off. She's pretty spooked about all this."

"Yeah, no shit, Sherlock."

"This is your poor planning, Mag!"

"Oh give it up, do you realize what that kid is capable of doing? I'm more than aware Will and Ms. Johnson, including the kid could have been killed. But, this is the risks we take for the betterment of the world."

"Guys! He's waking up. Shut up. Shut up!"

"Try to act normal. Be pleasant."

Richie woke up from a comfortable couch in another room with a camera strapped to a large monitor facing him. There he saw a table filled with snacks and juice boxes with board games and coloring books.

"Good morning, Richie! I'm sorry for these turn of events. My name is Maggie, you can call me Mag for short." said a thin older woman, finely dressed with short platinum hair and looked as if she was in her sixties. She stood behind a camera with a Jake and Jacky slouching on tables and Tony sitting near the camera attentively watching from the large empty restaurant. "Listen, just wanted to clear things up. Your Mom and Grandma Sophie are fine. You're safe too. Let me just begin to describe why you're being held here for the time being. You may not be aware, seeing as you're almost eleven and probably don't know what's going on in the world of politics. Things aren't shaping up too great, hon." Maggie paced back and forth. "All you really need to know is that there are bad people out there who threaten our country, our families, your own teachers, Ms. Wong and our entire livelihood --".

"Pshhh. How desperate have we become? Briefing a child on a war call?" said Jake ripping meat from a plate of chicken wings with a ring of buffalo sauce splattered around his mouth.

"Quiet, Jake! Clean your mouth and let her speak." Said Tony.

Mag glared daggers at him from across the room, then back to the camera where Richie stood waiting confused and frightened. Mag turned to peek outside, there was a school bus poorly parked across a few spaces.

It was now covered in a large tarp, with a man holding a walkie-talkie waiting nearby.

"Anyways, Richie. These men I'm warning you about, they're from a country called the Republic of Karboya. One with a very charismatic and ill-natured dictator."

"Not a friendly group, Richie, do trust me, Monsieur", added Tony.

"Right." said Mag. "This may seem a little unorthodox, given your age. You may not know the importance of the gift you were given."

"Un-Or-tho...dox?"

"Yes, a little out of the ordinary, Richie. Look I found you by watching the news. Your incident sparked my interest. A couple of months ago, your mom was there getting interviewed by the news reporter. Do you remember that day coming back from the Pier on Friday night? A mugger pulled a gun on you and your Mom? Remember that? Do you remember what happened to him after?"

"The scary man?"

"Yes."

"He..." Richie stood up and grabbed a juice box from the table.

"Richie, focus. Do you remember what happened to that scary man?"

"He killed himself?"

"Right, stabbed himself fourteen times to be exact. Then tossed the gun on the ground after attempting to steal your mothers purse. He did the most unusual thing after that. Whilst bleeding out from his chest wounds, he carried her purse to her car. Remember that? Then he collapsed dead on the spot."

"Ha! What a stone-cold Legend." said Jake.

"Do you know why that happened, Richie?"

"No?"

"You made that happen. It's your gift. You can force your will on people, Richie. Everyone here has a unique gift, one in 10 million to be exact. The same way you can persuade people, and make them do whatever you want them to do, we too can do extraordinary things. I found out my gift when I was about your age. There was a big fire. My Grandpa ignited a cigarette in the house. I was the only one that made it out of there, unharmed. This was almost 45 years ago, I mourn my family every day. But, I also know these gifts are meant to be utilized for the greater good, Richie."

Tony, where's the torch?"

"Here you go, Mademoiselle."

Maggy ignited a torch and pointed the blaring flame to her arm.

Then over to her face. She was left unscathed by it.

"See?"

"Whoa!"

"I can't take this anymore." Jacky pushed her chair out. She was a younger woman with curly blonde hair tightly tucked under a beanie. "Jakes right, this was a stupid idea. Probably the creepiest thing you've ever done too, Mag. It's called kidnapping, you ever heard of it?"

"Sale Pute! Our country are at stake! You'd be ok when we get draft letters in the mail, yes?!"

"Zip it, Frenchy."

"You zip it!" Tony jabbed his finger in Jacky's face.

Her pet ferret immediately circled around his feet and hissed. Then it proceeded to bite Tony's ankles. 

"HA! Oh, ow! What this long rat going to do? I'll make, Confit de Canard from him!"

"I'll rip your head off, if you kick her!"

Tony transformed into an image of Jacky mocking her.

"Oh yeah? You want to fight yourself, beech?"

Jacky shoved Tony to the ground.

"Yo, guys?! Everything OK in there?" the voice of Enrique, the security guy blurted through Jake's walkie-talkie. He's waiting by the bus with an outside view of the restaurant. He has tattoos around his neck and arms. "We have company is why I'm asking. A couple rather pissed off pooches and trash pandas." he smirked. "Oh shit! A big-ass birdy too. Never seen a Hawk that big around here."

"Jacky. We can't draw attention to this place." Said Mag calmly. "Settle down, please."

Jake began to laugh hysterically spitting chunks of chicken and saliva from his mouth. "United Nations best and finest, right here! We'll all be speaking Karboyan in no time!"

"Easy, Skylark." whispered Jacky. "Come back up to Mama's shoulders."

Jake twisted the metallic legs of the nearby chairs and cuffed them around Tony and Jacky's legs, forcing them to sit down.

"Just let the Old Lady finish yapping her mouth, will you? Fucking millennials, always at each other's throats."

"Please, Jacky. Tony. Jake, can you please sit down and let's try to amicably sort this whole thing out. Jacky, I understand you feel like he's not old enough, I agree, we all do. But we are limited in our resources here. With a little guidance, we can keep him safe, far enough until we can secure a visual on the dictator, or some key members of his faction. Nobody needs to get hurt if my plan comes together correctly, especially the boy."

Jacky rolled her eyes. "Fine, his life will be in your hands. You're breaking the news to his mom, to his school, his Grandma if something were to happen."

"Why can't you see this?" said Tony. "Kid is a lot more in control than you think."

"Tony come over here." Mag called over to Tony.

"Oui, Mademoiselle?"

"Show him. Richie, this is the man you've been seeing on TV."

Tony transformed into the likeness of the President of Karboya, he looked funny in Tony's regular outfit of denim vest with a Metal band shirt.

"You see? Richie, scary no?"

Mag continued. "He is one of the most vile dictators in the world. Foreign Intelligence says he may have hands on nuclear weaponry as well, this is much worse than the eightes, hon. Much worse than anything after WW2. War will be imminent, with the influences this country has. This man has been corrupting the minds of other political leaders of the world too. With your help Richie, we can have a chance to succeed in this mission."

"I miss my mom. Can she come?"

"I know you miss her, you'll get to see her again sooner than later. She can't know.

Richie bit the nails on his thumb and nodded.

"We've got a week to brief him."

"Ha. yeah right. A week my ass, the flights leave tomorrow night!"

"You guys are so out of your minds recruiting child soldiers, we're no different than the enemies."

Aye, Madamoiselle! I'll ensure nothing happens to this little man. Cross my heart as you Americans say."

"Thanks Tony."

"Yeah, thanks Tony." Jacky tapped the tip of her nose. "Got a little brown there."

"Things are finally looking promising, team."