The White Feather- A story of infinite worlds

Terminator In A Cage

Thomas’ head felt like bursting when he woke up. When he finally opened his eyes after some time, he realized that he was tied to a chair. The right side of his face was swollen, and the eye was shut close. He moved his fingers and stretched his neck.

He was in a glass room. There was a table in front of him, and on it was placed something that looked like a speaker. After recovering full vision, he observed that the room had a transparent window.

“Hello Thomas White. I bet you’re curious to know how you ended up here after finishing your ‘mission’.” Veda said from the other side of the glass.

Thomas didn’t answer; he just stared and stared until Veda looked away.

“You must understand, Thomas. The Chakra can never break It was destined to rule over this city and mortals cannot change destinies.” Veda said and smiled.

“You f*****g traitor! You have no honor. How can you even live with yourself after betraying your own people? They trusted you, they looked up to you, they killed and died along your side!” Thomas yelled as loud as his broken jaw allowed.

“Oh no, you still don’t understand. I would never betray the rebellion or its purpose. The question you should be asking is what the rebellion’s purpose really is.” Veda said.

Thomas’ heart rate dropped and he felt like he was sinking. His eyebrows relaxed and he looked down in disappointment. Everything was becoming clear now.

“Yes, now you get it. The Iron Hand wasn’t created to take over The Chakra, it was created to make sure that The Chakra is never taken over.

You see, our leader knew that someday, someone will try to end his reign. And so he conceived the master plan. A plan no one would even suspect. He named this masterpiece- The Iron Hand. The Iron Hand would serve two purposes; Firstly, if any armed authority entered the city, they would turn towards The Iron Hand for vital Intel and manpower. Secondly, it would give the people something to believe in. They wouldn’t turn anywhere else for help if they thought that their own leaders were fighting against the Chakra right here.

Now in order to keep the plan fool-proof, he added the essence of Ahimsa. If the rebellion was based on non-violence, there would be no loss of manpower on our side. It was a win-win situation.” Veda explained slowly.

Thomas was destroyed. He was hearing everything but his mind was numb. He looked around pointlessly as Veda continued telling the brutal truth.

“We had you on the radar from day one. We could kill you with ease, but the boss said ‘where’s the fun in that’. So we decided to play a little game with you.” Veda continued.

“Does that mean that Amanda….” Thomas was saying but stopped abruptly.

Sweat poured over Thomas’ face when he saw the only person he trusted walk out of the shadows and stand beside Veda. Amanda’s face screamed that she didn’t regret any part of her cruel act.

“It was nothing personal, Tom. But I must say that the s*x was good.” Amanda said an winked shamelessly.

“It was personal for me!” Thomas said with boiling red eyes. his nostrils flared and a current of energy poured in his body.

“Zeus!” He fired.

There was no reply from his watch. He was shocked and looked at the little piece of metal.

“We tried removing it. But the first one to try it was fried by the electrical shock. We figured that it was pointless to sacrifice more men over a piece of tech. So we decided to pack you in this room. You know what makes this room so cool? It is completely signal proof! That means you cannot contact your superiors, produce rifles out of thin air and summon assassins to kill us.” Amanda said, looking at Thomas with fake pity.

Thomas was at the end of the rope. Just when Veda and Amanda expected him to be broken, a smile appeared on Thomas’ face. He looked up and started laughing. But his jaw gave in and he stopped in pain.

“Ow, motherfucker! Well, looks like your genius boss went a little too far. His little game cost him his life.” Thomas said after suppressing the pain.

“I never said that that freak was my boss.” Veda said with a grim look on his face.

“What?!” Thomas said in confusion.

“Of course, think about it- when you play a video game, you don’t play it yourself. You select a character and control it. Do you really think that c***k head could manage to kill dozens of people in a single night? I mean, no single person could kill so many people in a single night.” Veda said.

“Then how did your boss manage to do it?” Thomas asked curiously.

“You’ll see.” Amanda said and walked away from the window.

“How long have I been here?” Thomas asked, still trying to spot Amanda in vain.

“One and a half hour or so. But we plan on holding to you for much longer. Your agency will be on our asses if they find out you're dead. Besides, that watch is a state of the art masterpiece. It will take us some time to figure out how to get it off you.” Veda said, lighting a cigar.

“Your boss really thought this through, didn’t he? I would really like to meet him sometime.” Thomas said, trying to get comfortable in his constraints.

“You will, sooner than you expect. You see, he has been rather impressed with your skills and eager to meet you.” Veda said, exhaling the cigar smoke all over the window glass.

After some time, Veda went away and Amanda took his place.

“I loved you, you know.” Thomas said pessimistically.

“I know. But I also know that you would never betray your people and neither will I. So you see, I had no choice.” Amanda said, playing with her fingernails.

“Did you feel anything, like ever?” Thomas asked, looking at Amanda’s face.

Amanda took a deep breath before looking at Thomas. She looked at him for some time before opening her mouth.

“No, Thomas. I’m sorry, but no one can understand this better than you. When the mission is at hand, no act is off limits. It was nothing personal.” She said softly in an attempt to explain her betrayal.

Thomas’ face grew red and his body started shaking from excitement. Amanda didn’t break a sweat because she knew that there was nothing Thomas could possibly do to harm her. Still, she was a little alarmed. After all, Thomas was always full of surprises.

“You think you're smart, huh? Let me tell you something. I WILL get out of here. And when I do, I WILL hunt you and your smart ass people down. I won’t kill you, no. I will peel the skin off your body and feed it to the cats at your house. Then I will cut off your limbs while you are still alive. Then I will push my knife into the eyes which made me fall for you. I will take them as souvenirs.

You know what I will say just before you die?” Thomas hissed while smiling like a psychopath.

Goosebumps appeared over Amanda’s body. She couldn’t avert her eyes from Thomas’ face. Thomas could feel her fear across the thick glass and crawling all over the room.

“I will say that it’s nothing personal. Still, count yourself lucky because I will do much worse to your people.” Thomas growled in a stone cold voice.

“As much as I’d LOVE to see that, I’m afraid I can't allow it to happen, Mr. White.” A dark voice came from behind Thomas.

Thomas watched in confusion as four men walked into the room and stopped right in front of Thomas. They all had the same face, same height and same built. They even had identical voices.

“I have been waiting for this moment for a long time.” One of them said and a smile appeared on all of their faces.