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--- old_man [2023/06/19 22:01] – raventree
+++ old_man [2023/06/19 23:33] (current) – raventree
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 ****Fin's Father****
-There in the dark sat a man.  He had a bushy grey beard and unkempt grey hair.  On top of his head (hiding his bald spot) was a worn hat reading "United States of America".  It was a relic from a bygone time.
+There in the dark sat a man.  He had a bushy grey beard and unkempt grey hair.  On top of his head (hiding his bald spot) was a worn hat reading ////United States of America////.  It was a relic from a bygone time.
 The man's name was Zach.  He had a terminal condition; blood cancer.  He had less than 2 months to live.  Strangely enough, this didn't scare him but instead brought freedom to him.  He decided to choose his own exit from this world.
-So much time he'd seen wasted in his 73 years.  So much history that was now being rewritten.  When did it all go wrong?  There really wasn't one specific cause; like many great tragedies, there were a lot of factors.  This "Republic of America" was a poor shadow of the "United States of America" he'd grown up in.
+So much time he'd seen wasted in his 73 years.  So much history that was now being rewritten.  When did it all go wrong?  There really wasn't one specific cause; like many great tragedies, there were a lot of factors.  This "////Republic of America//// was a poor shadow of the ////United States of America//// he'd grown up in.
-It was the federalization, he supposed.  Sure, Lincoln forced a torn country back together; history taught that.  But maybe it should have been left to separate; perhaps it set a dangerous precedent.  Many years later it was Roosevelt that through many federal programs helped pull the country back up from its depression.  As time went on, more & more federal laws trumped state laws.  The inept federal government continually failed to balance the budget; more & more, the debt was owed to China.  They held the debt, and therefore, the purse strings, eventually.  When North Korea finally completely lost all sense, annexed part of the old Russia and tried to take a piece of its ally, China, China had to fight back.  It only made sense they would call on America.
+It was the federalization, he supposed.  Sure, Lincoln forced a torn country back together; history taught that.  But maybe it should have been left to separate; perhaps it set a dangerous precedent.  Many years later it was Roosevelt that through many federal programs helped pull the country back up from its depression.
+As time went on, more & more federal laws trumped state laws.  The inept federal government continually failed to balance the budget; more & more, the debt was owed to China.  They held the debt, and therefore, the purse strings, eventually.  When North Korea finally completely lost all sense, annexed part of the old Russia and tried to take a piece of its ally, China, China had to fight back.  It only made sense they would call on America.
 Besides, as China shifted its manufacturing to wartime, the cheap products Americans had so grown accustomed to were suddenly not available.  It started tipping the American economy toward another depression.  The American government was happy to send troops to support China, and help divert part of its out-of-work populace to a war.  But never had a war been won with such a bittersweet victory.  No one would ever be born on the Korean peninsula ever again.
+Those vets that came back did not come back to jobs.  An economic depression had set in during a war and stayed after its end.  This was unprecedented.  The federal government started forcing resources from the states that had done their due diligence and ran their part of the country correctly.  Succession suddenly became the new buzzword.  Through a rash of sudden terrorist acts and then state governments deploying troops to keep federal troops out, things hit a boiling point.  While Americans were pointing guns at Americans and all refusing to pull the triggers, behind the scenes federal agents took custody of ////traitors////.  State governments fell.  Troops withdrew and went home.  The stock market closed.
-Those vets that came back did not come back to jobs.  An economic depression had set in during a war and stayed after its end.  This was unprecedented.  The federal government started forcing resources from the states that had done their due diligence and ran their part of the country correctly.  Succession suddenly became the new buzzword.  Through a rash of sudden terrorist acts and then state governments deploying troops to keep federal troops out, things hit a boiling point.  While Americans were pointing guns at Americans and all refusing to pull the triggers, behind the scenes federal agents took custody of "traitors".  State governments fell.  Troops withdrew and went home.  The stock market closed.
+International trade stuttered, and for once, the federal government actually acted.  It was suddenly proclaimed that we were not the ////United States OF America////, but that the United States ////AR////America.
-International trade stuttered, and for once, the federal government actually acted.  It was suddenly proclaimed that we were not the United States OF America, but that the United States ARE America.
 In the name of balancing budgets, state governments were replaced by the federal government.  Most of the actual employees kept their jobs and kept doing what they were doing; it was just the name on their paycheck changed.  All the state politicians were suddenly unemployed.  Not that anyone really missed them... And so, it was time for a Presidential Election.  One candidate promised to 'restore' the states' rights.  The other promised to 'streamline government, getting rid of waste and making sure all laws were equal'.  And that's how President Yamamoto won the election.
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 Or, at least, it would have.  One thing the government had been very good for, and that was teaching Zach how to kill.  And when you don't have to plan a way to get out alive, its amazing how much you can do.
-Zach had the rifle sitting on a tripod.  The small camera lens was mounted on top of its barrel; a cable went from it to a motor between the tripod and the rifle.  Directly under the tripod on the floor was a box with a green light on.  It sat on top of another larger box, which had a single wire going to it.  The light with the green box was a small computer.  It was 'underground tech'.  Zach's transmitter was a fake tooth in his mouth.  He was in an abandoned building.  The rifle was facing a window, pointed toward the front gate of the water treatment plant.  Zach walked out of the room, down the stairs and to his plumbing repair truck.  He climbed into the back of the truck.  It was filled with plumbing parts and tools.  He pulled on the overalls that proclaimed him to be “Ed's plumbing”.  The name badge said “Ed”.  He went up to the steering wheel, started the van and drove out from behind the abandoned building to the street.
+Zach had the rifle sitting on a tripod.  The small camera lens was mounted on top of its barrel; a cable went from it to a motor between the tripod and the rifle.  Directly under the tripod on the floor was a box with a green light on.  It sat on top of another larger box, which had a single wire going to it.  The light with the green box was a small computer.  It was 'underground tech'.  Zach's transmitter was a fake tooth in his mouth.  He was in an abandoned building.  The rifle was facing a window, pointed toward the front gate of the water treatment plant.  Zach walked out of the room, down the stairs and to his plumbing repair truck.  He climbed into the back of the truck.  It was filled with plumbing parts and tools.  He pulled on the overalls that proclaimed him to be “Ed's plumbing”.  The name badge said Ed.  He went up to the steering wheel, started the van and drove out from behind the abandoned building to the street.
 The government's dysfunction would work to his advantage.  The local state & city governments had been given small bits of power to placate them; part of that was destruction of buildings.  It would have made sense to secure any government structure by destroying abandoned buildings near them, but it was more friendly to make the high-rent district prettier.  So Zach was merely exploiting a weakness.
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 Zach turned and looked at the lab tech who's non-bloodied hand was on the button.  The tech stared at him, eyes wide.  Zach grinned.  The lab tech pleaded, Don't kill me.  Zach ripped open his shirt, revealing a thick pad with the 2 darts stuck in it.  Zach said, It's your lucky day, boy!  He peeled the pad off his chest, rolled it and when he did, 2 metal contacts on it touched.  He threw it at the lab tech, and as it flew, multiple strands came out of it.  The strands and the pad hit him, and he twitched with electrical shock.
 Zach turned to a row of compressed tanks hooked up on a wall.  One was about 2 feet long.  He quickly unhooked it and worked with his tools and pouch.  Within moments, he stood up, tank strapped to his back with what had been his tool pouch.  A line ran over his shoulder from the tank to what appeared to be socket extensions with the firing mechanism a ratchet from where the end of it the line hooked to.  Just a few inches down from where the 'ratchet' hooked to the 'extensions' was a clear container of screwdriver bits.  He turned toward the man on the floor he'd hit with the adjustable wrench.  He was starting to get up.  He aimed and a hole appeared in the man's forehead as the tile floor behind his head cracked.  He stopped moving.
-	Outside, at the main gate, multiple military trucks rumbled up.  The three tripod-mounted rifles fired, taking out the 3 guards with a single shot to the head of each one just as the first truck came to a stop.  Smoke and fire came up from the box on the floor under each
+Outside, at the main gate, multiple military trucks rumbled up.  The three tripod-mounted rifles fired, taking out the 3 guards with a single shot to the head of each one just as the first truck came to a stop.  Smoke and fire came up from the box on the floor under each tripod.  Soon, the entire rifle & tripod started melting.  The reactive military quickly took positions trying to find where the shots came from.  Without the guards, no one on the inside could open the gate.
- tripod.  Soon, the entire rifle & tripod started melting.  The reactive military quickly took positions trying to find where the shots came from.  Without the guards, no one on the inside could open the gate.
+Zach walked the hallway.  It was 1:30am; there were little staff here.  A guard popped around a corner and was met with 2 screw bits.  The screw bits shattered the wall as the guard fell.  Zach took a left and walked out into a warehouse-type open area.  There, he could see a tank labeled Tranquil v2.  2 pipes came out of it, each with a valve.  One hooked to a line, the other went to the floor near a drain.  Both valves were still closed.  He walked up to the one pointed at the drain and opened the valve.  The slightly green liquid flowed out.  He turned as a main door opened.  He fired as 2 shots hit on each side of him.  The men at the door retreated as he leaned against the tank by the open valve.  The fluid drained onto the floor into the floor drain.  He had no cover.  Something ripped through his left leg.  He staggered.  Men ran in; he shot as they shot.  Bright lights gleamed at him distorting his vision.  Men fell as he squeezed the trigger.  His right shoulder was hit.  Then, his ammo ran out.  He kept the trigger squeezed as someone yelled HOLD YOUR FIRE!  HE'S OUT!.
-	Zach walked the hallway.  It was 1:30am; there were little staff here.  A guard popped around a corner and was met with 2 screw bits.  The screw bits shattered the wall as the guard fell.  Zach took a left and walked out into a warehouse-type open area.  There, he could see a tank labeled “Tranquil v2”.  2 pipes came out of it, each with a valve.  One hooked to a line, the other went to the floor near a drain.  Both valves were still closed.  He walked up to the one pointed at the drain and opened the valve.  The slightly green liquid flowed out.  He turned as a main door opened.  He fired as 2 shots hit on each side of him.  The men at the door retreated as he leaned against the tank by the open valve.  The fluid drained onto the floor into the floor drain.  He had no cover.  Something ripped through his left leg.  He staggered.  Men ran in; he shot as they shot.  Bright lights gleamed at him distorting his vision.  Men fell as he squeezed the trigger.  His right shoulder was hit.  Then, his ammo ran out.  He kept the trigger squeezed as someone yelled “HOLD YOUR FIRE!  HE'S OUT!”.
+A man walked up to Zach as he sat leaning against the tank, the last bit dribbling out of the valve.  The man, in full military gear, asked him, What the fuck was this all for, old man? Zach kept the trigger held with his left hand but let the 'gun' fall.  Zach reached with his right hand into a shirt pocket and fished out a cigarette.  He placed it into his mouth, shaking as he bled.  Zach answered, It was for freedom, ya dip shit.
-	A man walked up to Zach as he sat leaning against the tank, the last bit dribbling out of the valve.  The man, in full military gear, asked him,
+And just how the hell did you expect to get out of this?
-	“What the fuck was this all for, old man?”  Zach kept the trigger held with his left hand but let the 'gun' fall.  Zach reached with his right hand into a shirt pocket and fished out a cigarette.  He placed it into his mouth, shaking as he bled.  Zach answered, “It was for freedom, ya dip shit.”
+Gimme a light, would ya, kid? The man produced a lighter and lit his cigarette.  Zach took a full draw, and said, My exit is already planned, kid.
-	“And just how the hell did you expect to get out of this?”
+The tank on Zach's back said 'Oxygen, compressed.”  Zach still held the trigger open with his left hand.  He knocked the cherry off the cigarette which fell toward the trigger.
-	“Gimme a light, would ya, kid?”  The man produced a lighter and lit his cigarette.  Zach took a full draw, and said, “My exit is already planned, kid.”
+//The explosion was beautiful.//
-	The tank on Zach's back said 'Oxygen, compressed.”  Zach still held the trigger open with his left hand.  He knocked the cherry off the cigarette which fell toward the trigger.
-	The explosion was beautiful.
 First Release