Chapter 191: press conference poking a hornets nest

Seeing that the second call was from his best friend, Clark was at first surprised as Leo was supposed to still be in his military checkpoint at this time of the day.

Despite his surprise, he did not waste any time contemplating before dumping his personal assistant’s call and answering the incoming call of his best friend.

“Hello, Clark…”.

“Yes, I’m here”.

Though Clark really wanted to strike a joke at his friend the way he normally did, he could not bring himself to do it after everything that happened today. He just kept quiet after replying, waiting for his best friend to initiate the conversation.

“Umm, I don’t know if this is the perfect moment to call. If you are busy, you can just indicate, I’ll call later”.

“It's ok, Leo. Tell me why you called, every other thing can wait”.

“Ok. I’m sorry bro, I just saw the news about what happened to your home city, that’s why I called. I didn’t know that the Persian tiger’s organization can be so unbridled in such a big city”.

“I’ll come to meet you later in the day. If you need any help, you can just indicate, I’m always here for you. I just hope that you don’t let this setback hold you down”.

Hearing his best friend’s words, Clark went silent for a moment as he tried to control his emotions.

Though he always felt that he needed no one’s comfort since his parent’s died, Leo’s words just gave him a wake-up call to the fact that he was lying to himself.

Since his parents died, he had never really been in a situation that needed someone’s comfort. Leo’s words of comfort seemed filled with mysterious powers, as most of his anguish at the attack faded away like the wind.

A good friend who helps and comforts you in a time of need is pricelessly precious. Today was when he verified this saying, his whole being felt privileged and grateful to hear these surprising words from his best friend.

“Clark…, are you still there?” Leo finally asked again, after not gaining any reaction from his friend for about a minute.

“Oh, I’m here…” After saying this, he paused again to reorganize his thoughts before adding.

“Leo…, thank you, I really appreciate it”.

“Oh, welcome. For what actually”.

Clark chuckled on hearing this. “Bro, for everything. For being my best friend, for being there when I need you the most. Thank you”.

“Umm, wel…come”.

“Please, keep your promise and come later in the day, I want us to spend some time together”.

Noticing that his friend already recovered his usual cheerful mood a bit, Leo finally sighed in relief.

“Ok, Clark. Don’t worry, I’ll surely come”.

“And, will you still be available for us to go to the Spartan army exobeast training base? You originally said that we’ll go in 2 days”.

“Yes, don’t worry, we’ll go. Just come to meet me first. I have to go now, I have a press conference to attend, see you later bro”.

“Yeah, see you later”.

After hanging up the call, a cheerful smile outlined Clark’s face for the first time since the day started before walking to the entrance of the room with wide strides.

As he walked, his encrypted communication device buzzed again, indicating another incoming call. This was when he remembered that he snubbed Rose earlier.

He chuckled on imagining how flustered she probably was currently, before answering the incoming call.

“Hi, Rose”.

“Ah, boss, you finally picked up. I heard about the terrorist attack, you shouldn’t be directly placing yourself in such dangerous situations again, you’re now a big shot. Are you hurt? Is anything wrong? Are you in the hospital?

“Rose, I’m fine. Just a little bruise here and there, nothing serious”.

“Phew…, boss you scared the crap out of me. Please, I’m your personal assistant, try to ask for my opinions and advise at times before embarking on your risky missions”.

Clark chuckled again on hearing this, before placating her and maneuvering his way to quickly end the call.

After finally ending the call with his nagging assistant, he finally started walking to the door in peace. Recalling her extreme reaction, his thoughts could not help but become naughty.

“Does she have a crush on me already?”

Finding it funny that he even had such a controversial thought, he quickly discarded it to the back of his mind before opening the door.

Coming out, he was surprised to see the 5 commissioners still waiting diligently outside the room even with all the time he spent taking his calls.

He felt a little guilty about seeing them like this, but he didn’t apologize openly, he just patted the nearest one to show that he was no longer angry before going outside the hospital with them in tow.

Getting outside the hospital, he was a little surprised as a mob of people already gathered outside its fence, spreading widely across the street.

Though the city was still recovering from the attack, the civilians that came out unscathed still wanted to hear reassuring words from their leader directly before they could finally go back home with peace of mind.

Clark did not waste time, as he directly went to the makeshift podium that was hastily organized by the hospital for the press conference.

After climbing the podium, with a solemn expression on his face, he finally turned to face the civilians that were looking at him with looks of expectations.

“My fellow Vatican citizens…, I’m sorry that you all had to witness such a black day in the history of my reign as your leader”.

“I feel devastated when I think of all the innocents that died today to the unbridled attack of the terrorists, I don’t know how best to express how sorry I am to them”.

“Though I feel a lot of regret at all the deaths, I feel even more anger for the terrorists who dared to spread their destruction tentacles to my territory”.

“Like most of you already noticed, yes, I led our soldiers after stabilizing the situation here and pursued the terrorists all the way back to their base camp that was hidden deep in the forest”.

“After a fierce battle that involved a lot of deaths, with the help of my soldiers, I finally wiped out the sub-base of the Persian tiger’s organization”.

“Despite all the sorrow and gloom today, this is one of the only reasons that made me cheer up today. With the selfless sacrifice of thousands of our soldiers, we were able to kill every terrorist, excluding only their Commander”.

“I’m sorry, this is for all the families whose relatives died today. I want you not to lose faith in the city because of this, think of all the soldiers who sacrificed their lives to wrath revenge for them, and get optimistic from it”.

“I need you all to know that no matter what problem and setback are thrown at us, I, your leader, Major Clark, I am always ready to remain at the helm and fight on your behalf”.

“Before I leave, I want to use this opportunity to address the terrorists”.

“Persian tigers or pussies, whatever you call yourselves, I want you all to get it into your thickheads that I will be coming after you. Don’t ever try probing my territory again, your fate would be worse than this base that dared”.

“And to those powerful figures who think you can control the fate of my city with just a word, I also want to address you that you don’t have that right yet”.

“No matter how powerful you are, this is a warning to you all, I am not afraid of you, don’t ever try it in my territory again. I believe that the President will also watch this, so don’t try anything nefarious against me”.

“President Leonidas is the leader of my country, not whoever you call yourselves. Draw boundaries now or you will regret it, I will not cower before you like other leaders”.

As Clark said all these, the 5 commissioners who stood behind him were already shocked beyond measures as their eyes widened to the limits.

“God!! We doomed our Major. We shouldn’t have told him”.

Though Clark felt a lot of apprehension and dread when he thought of making this decision, he still decided to address these powerful figures that were manipulating from the dark.

There was no way that he would let them f*CK him over, and also f*CK his city over while he would remain silent because of fear.

That was the reason why he took the soldier career, to get strong enough and protect things close to him and his interests. If he did not even have the guts to face these powerful figures, then his dream of overthrowing the rule of the big 5 would just be a farce.

Though he knew that his decision would probably lead to a lot of bad consequences, he still made it. No matter how powerful these people were, he believed that President Leonidas was still the one ruling Sparta.

There was no way that the President would let these figures freely assassinate a soldier with potential like him. That was his belief, he let every other thing to fate.

As soon as he left the podium, the news of his press conference swept across the whole city like a plague through the internet, the various social media platforms, and the popular news media.

News of their Major tyrannically destroying such a large Persian tigers’ base dominated everywhere. His last words, though most people did not understand it, they still dwelled a lot on it.

As all these happened, he finally got on his way back to his mansion. He wanted to get set to receive his friend.

…

As expected, the same hour that Clark made the press conference, the news got to the higher-ups of the Spartan republic.

In an extremely luxurious room that exuded a very scholarly vibe, an old man with huge and well-trimmed white beards sat on a golden kingly chair while watching the recorded press conference.

An interesting smile lit his face, as his deep all-knowing eyes scrutinized this young soldier that dared to declare an indirect confrontation against them.

“Hmmm, what an interesting fella”. He muttered while maintaining the strange smile on his face that could send creeps down anyone who stood near him.

“Another fool finally emerged who is challenging territories that are far above him, I always said that all soldiers are idiots. The headstrong Leonidas being the most extreme of them all”.

“Soldiers ruling this country was the biggest mistake that we made since its inception. Well, we didn’t have a choice during that period of war. The great battle of supremacy is really a bastard”.

“Well, as this guy is looking for death, I would gladly grant it to him. The only problem is…, he was clever enough to add Leonidas’s name to draw his attention as a layer of protection”.

“Hmmm, even if I can’t kill you openly, I can still do it discretely”.

He suddenly turned his head to the middle-aged man that stood silently beside him, since he started watching the brat’s press conference.

“I heard that Rashford initiated a dangerous mission that is related to the frontier, right?”

“Yes, sir. The soldiers for the mission are already decided”.

“Hehe, that’s no problem. Go and include this boy’s name among the soldiers, I want to see if he can survive the frontier. He won’t have the strength to spout such nonsense then”.

“Sir, but the Pres…”

“It’s ok, I know that Leonidas would object. Just help me call the others to solicit their help. With all of us involved, Leonidas’s choices are limited”.

“Ok sir, I’ll implement it immediately”.

“Good”.

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