Chapter 1: Prologue
He ignored the blaring alarms and flashing lights from the machines around the room, keeping his eyes fixed on the massive ceiling-to-floor screen displaying the skyline of a sprawling metropolitan city.
The door behind him occasionally opened with a soft hiss, admitting another person who joined him in silence. Some stood, while others took seats, filling the room until all thirteen were present.
He never turned to acknowledge them, and they remained silent, their attention on the screens.
"This is escalating beyond our control; we must intervene," one of the shadowy figures said, her voice calm yet authoritative.
He nodded slowly in agreement, imagining the others doing the same. "Indeed, we have no choice this time," he said calmly after a short pause.
"We must proceed with caution to avoid exacerbating the situation," another shadowed figure spoke, their voice deliberately obscured. A low murmur spread through the room as some agreed and others dissented quietly.
The first speaker glanced around the room before continuing. "We need to demonstrate our strength, but not excessively. It is imperative that those not meant to see remain in the dark," he said, receiving nods of approval from the others.
Despite their frequent disagreements over resources and visions, they put their differences aside in dire situations, acting swiftly and decisively.
He moved his hand as if tapping on an invisible keyboard, and small windows popped up on the screen. "I've already deployed additional personnel, including some of our elite mobile task forces," he said, only to be interrupted by a female voice.
"Some of those are under my command, O5-1. I'd prefer you didn't commandeer my forces," she said, glaring at him. Others joined in, criticizing his unilateral decision.
He raised his hands in apology, but before he could speak, a drastic change occurred on the large screen. Bright red alarm lights illuminated the dim room, accompanied by loud alarms.
On the screen, a vast pitch-black rift had opened, revealing the darkness of the universe in broad daylight. Tiny objects began to fly through the rift. "This is not good," he muttered, refocusing on the screens.
"This is too significant to ignore," another voice stated firmly.
"We must act immediately and with overwhelming force," another stern voice said.
He nodded and moved his hands again. "I call for a vote on a full city lockdown and signal blackout."
"O5-2 in agreement." "O5-3 in agreement." "O5-4 in agreement." "O5-5 in agreement." "O5-6 in agreement." "O5-7 in agreement." "O5-8 in agreement." "O5-9 in agreement." "O5-10 in agreement." "O5-11 in agreement." "O5-12 in agreement." "O5-13 in agreement."
"Vote passed. New York is going dark," O5-1 said. With a push of a button, the entire city of New York plunged into total electronic isolation. Most people in the city hadn't yet noticed the massive portal above or the alien invasion underway. However, they quickly realized something was wrong when their phones, televisions, radios, and computers simultaneously stopped working.
Widespread chaos ensued as all communication ceased. Calls for help, 911, and military hotlines went dead. The EMP burst was ruthless, and lives would be lost because of it, but it was a necessary sacrifice.
The entire world was now oblivious to the alien invasion in one of the busiest cities on the planet.
Organizations that could have helped, like the US military or S.H.I.E.L.D., were now blind. Even satellites showed nothing from the blocked-off area.
They stood in silence for a few moments, and then pop-up alerts flooded in from their agents worldwide, now aware of the situation.
"We'll need to deploy amnestics across the entire city. That will significantly deplete our reserves," O5-8's voice sounded out.
Everyone quickly agreed. He knew the cost of affecting a city this size, so he spoke up. "We must handle this swiftly to minimize the memories we need to erase," he said, calculating the time they had before more extreme measures would be necessary to contain the information spread.
He outlined his action plan, detailing objectives and quick execution strategies, including a cover-up involving contained objects to clean up the invaders and their technology.
With urgency, he secured agreement from the others and gave the green light to the agents ready to act. The plan was set, and the objective was clear: to secure, contain, protect.