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Thaddeus Duke · (08-09-2019)

[duke]8:04 AM | Illuminatus Nation Compound | Old Saybrook, Connecticut[/duke]

The motorcade rolls to a stop outside the front door to the Illuminatus Compound. It’s been eight weeks since Thaddeus Duke has been here. Six of those eight weeks he spent in a secluded, rundown old castle in Scotland, removed from the everyday pressures he faces as a young leader. He steps out of the blacked out Lincoln Navigator quietly. Jim not far behind him. Before entering the building, a somewhat saddened Thaddeus Duke looks up at the scarred and charred facade of his once inpenetrable fortress, pockmarked by mortar and rocket fire.

For years, this young man was placed upon a pedestal by his grandfather and father, then his Illuminatus followers, then by his legions of XWF fans the world over. It’s easy sitting on the outside and judge the boy for his shortcomings- what few he’s had. To overlook his amazing accomplishments in the world theater would be a periless endeavor. Not yet 21 years old, he’s a seasoned, accomplished and battle tested military commander, not to mention the obvious fact that he leads a small, borderless nation of a quarter-million people, growing by the day now that women may join their ranks.

Leadership is his destiny no matter how much he may try and run from it. No matter how much he may not want it. No matter how many times and how often, it may distract him and take him away from his first love of professional wrestling. Sometimes, Duke Nation may have to wait while Duke’s Nation takes precedence.

[duke]”It doesn’t look so bad now,”[/duke] Thaddeus says to Jim, not taking his eyes off the facade of the building.

”I called in reinforcements from around the world,” he answers. ”We’ve made some improvements to the security as well. If you look there,” he explains, pointing to one of the guard towers off in the distance. ”Where we previously had simple sharpshooters and guards with automatic weapons, we now have turret guns.

“Complete with 360 degree turn radius. Should we ever come under siege again and they manage to break through the barriers, Thaddeus, we can still reign fire and blood upon them.”

[duke]”There’s no more fence now? Walls were put up?”[/duke] he asks, referring to the previous iron stockade type fence they used to use.

”The perimeter wall is inpenetrable, my friend. Concrete six feet thick, ten feet into the ground and twenty feet high… reinforced, of course.”

[duke]”Rebar?”[/duke]

Jim scoffs. ”Silly

. Those perimeter walls are reinforced with iron beams.”

[duke]”I hate that word.”[/duke]

”The others are waiting,” he states, reminding Thaddeus why he came home to begin with. With haste, they make their way into the building and weave around construction crews as they work their way to the meeting room. ”Your new cabinet room, my leader.”

[duke]”Cabinet room?”[/duke] he asks. It used to be a library, filled with thousands of books ranging from recent best sellers to ancient texts hundreds of years old, if not more. Thaddeus takes the surroundings of this “new” room in. No fireplaces, no sofas… no windows.

”You’ll notice the room is smaller than it was when it was a library, and the ceiling is lower. We borrowed the idea from the Americans. The White House has a ‘situation room’ that is entirely scure from anyone who may be trying to listen. Reinforced ceilings, walls, floor. This would also act as a bunker, should an attack happen again.

“Up there,” Jim motions toward a large LG television mounted to the wall. ”Your new global map display. It’s operated from a laptop but its voice activated.

“Try it out.”

Thaddeus steps forward and looks around. About a dozen smiling faces stare back at him. [duke]”Show me the Illuminatus Compund, Connecticut.”[/duke] Immediately the screen lights up. First it shows feed from the satellite in orbit, then it zooms on the eastern United States and repositions, then focuses on the New England states, then focuses on Connecticut, then the southern coast of the state, then zooms in to show a live feed of the Compound.

[duke]”Holy shit, that’s live.”[/duke]

”Indeed, my friend. A few second delay perhaps, but nothing major.”

Thaddeus grins wickedly (trademark Peter Gilmour) as he turns to the people standing behind him. [duke]”Be seated gentlemen,”[/duke] he states, forgetting this was an official meeting and everyone stands until either he says otherwise, or he takes his own seat. They shuffle around taking their seats.

Standing in front of his seat at the head of the table, he paces a few seconds as he arranges his words. [duke]”I imagine you all have a hundred questions about why I left, or where I went and all the what’s and why’s but that’s not why we’re here today. There will be time for all the other shit later but right now, we need to talk about this government and its future.

“For years now, this nation has functioned solely from my grandfathers fortune. I inherited that fortune and I don’t exactly spend wisely. It has sufficed until now, but its not sustainable. Not long term anyway. We need to establish commerce and establish an economy. And in order to do that we need…”[/duke]

”Lebensraum...” a middle age man interrupts from the far side of the table. Thaddeus looks at Jim.

”Thaddeus, this is your new Minister of State, Max Schulyer,” he informs.

[duke]”Living space,”[/duke] Thaddeus says, returning his attention to Max.

”We need to establish an actual nation. With land, and borders.”

[duke]”That’s preferrable, but how do we do that exactly?”[/duke]

”Well, the hardest part is already over, sir. The United Nations acknowledges the Illuminatus Nation as a legitimate world government. As such, those that belong to the UN also recognize us which makes our path that much easier.

“We can attempt to relocate the nation to border regions of friendly nations and work out deals and pacts to secure land from those nations in order to establish our own country.”

[duke]”And the likelihood of actually accomplishing that, Minister?”[/duke] he asks as he finally takes his seat.

”Probably more likely than one may think, Your Grace. For instance in Europe, there’s a plethora of smallish countries that might be willing to give up small portions of land, for a price of course.”

[duke]”Money,”[/duke] he surmises.

”Well yeah, I’d say money would certainly be involved, but we can significantly reduce costs by offering significantly discounted pricing to those countries for our technology and labor.”

Thaddeus looks puzzled at Max’s statement.

”Thaddeus, the one thing we have that a lot of small countries don’t, is a powerful air force.”

[duke]”You guys want me to sell my air force? Fuck that. Absolutely not. That’s out of the question,”[/duke] he replies emphatically.

”No. What I mean is, we build new planes for these countries, we help them to build or rebuild their own air forces and we train and retrain their pilots. The biggest business in this world is government. More specifically, defense. Our advanced air force which despite its smaller size is comparable to that of the most powerful nation on the planet.

“I’d suggest a great number of smaller countries may be highly interested in entertaining the idea if it means they can grab a piece of the action.”

Thad leans back in his chair for a moment as he deliberates. [duke]”Okay Max, it’s on you. See what deals you can put together and we’ll go from there. Nothing goes through though without my approval or my signature.”[/duke]

”Understood sir, I won’t let you down.”

[duke]”Fellas, I want to move on now to a deeper issue. A vision of this new government on a broader scale. Monarchies are in the past. Dictatorships breed poor nations and destitue people. That’s not what I want.”[/duke]

He pauses as he debates in his own mind how to break this to his people.

[duke]”I am not your King. My grandfather wasn’t a king and despite his best efforts to prove otherwise, my father wasn’t a King either. I am but a spoke on the wheel.”[/duke]

He pauses, gauging their reactions and receiving very little more than just a few puzzled looks.

[duke]”Once we establish our country, we will install a purely democratic government. The head of state will serve no longer than and no more than two six-year terms. Once its time to have provincial representation, they too, will so no more than two six-year terms. There will be no such thing as lobbies. There will be no such thing as career politicians raking in a high government salary while working a third of the year.

“Representing a group of people in governmental affairs is a priviledge, not a right. The salary will be enough to live on and they won’t struggle month to month, but I doubt they’ll be living in any mansions. Moreover, they can’t pass bills giving themselves more money or better perks without first allowing the general population to vote on such an issue.

“In case you’re wondering, yes, I’m looking at the United States and I’m fixing their fuck ups from the outset. It’s a reasonable form of government they have, at least on paper. But in practice, I think millions would agree that its a broken system.

“They have adequate representation but they serve two years, so they’re literally running for re-election their entire political career. Not in our country.”[/duke]

”So if you’re not a King, are you the President? The Prime Minister? What should we call this new head of state office?”

[duke]”Governor General. Just Governor, or just General for short, in settings such as these.”[/duke]

”Allow me, Governor, to address the elephant in the room...” says an older man to his immediate right.

Thaddeus again looks at Jim.

”Gerald Lightoller, Minister of Defense.”

Thaddeus looks back to Gerald and nods.

”With respect sir, you went missing for six weeks. Went on vacation for another two wees after that while the lot of us in this room were planning and forming this new government in your name.

“Again sir, with respect… Where have you been?”

He breathes in deeply and exhales a sigh, realizing he can’t really avoid questions about where or why he’d gone or what he was doing during his absence.

[duke]”I’m not one to make excuses so I’m just gonna lay it all out here in front of you. You can all choose to hate me or love me on your own, I’m not here to be your friend. I am your Governor General though and until we establish this nation in the real world, I’d suggest you remember that I still have absolute authority in all matters.

“This life isn’t something I chose, gentlemen. It was thrust upon me by my father and grandfather and believe me, I’m not complaining. I live a very fortunate life because of it, but one thing that goes with being thrust into a life like this is that… you can never be ready for everything.

“Jim, what was the total?”[/duke] he asks, referring to the total number of lives lost in the attack on the Compound and the other thing you don’t know about yet.

”Two hundred twelve, in total,” he answers.

[duke]”You might think 212 people aren’t that many when we lost thousands in the wars. While that is certainly true, thousands in war versus hundreds in peace time, was too much for me to handle. I’m not used to making mistakes, not on that scale, at least.

“That was the first time it really hit me, the first time that I really understood that, people live or die by my decisions. The decision I made to not take the… what’s that called again Jim?”[/duke]

”The Ares Project.”

[duke]”Right. The militant group is calling their operation against us the Ares Project. Anyhow, I didn’t take the threat seriously in the beginning and it cost people their lives. It was a little too much for me to take, Minister, and I own that.

“I’m not proud of deserting all of you holding the bag, but what’s done is done. The fact that there have been no further incidents since I went off the grid is proof that their target is me specifically. 212 people died because they loved and followed me.

“You can judge me a coward or whatever you like, Jerry… Can I call you Jerry?”[/duke]

Gerald nods.

[duke]”Good because it was entirely rhetorical. If I went to call you Sara, I’ll call you Sara. But before you cast your judgment upon me Jerry, try living with the blood of 212 innocent people on your hands.”[/duke]

The room falls silent for a moment. Gerald clears his throat.

[duke]”Dismissed. Everybody out.”[/duke]

The men in the room quietly disperse. [duke]”Not you,”[/duke] he says to Jim as he starts for the door. Gerald is the last exit and closes the door behind him.

”That could have gone better.”

Thaddeus rolls his eyes.

”Seriously, he wasn’t unreasonable. I see your point, Thad, I do. But you disappeared and left everyone scared, confused and looking for answers.”

[duke]”It’s not like he jumped up and punched me in the face or anything,”[/duke] he jokes, referring to when Jim found him.

Jim chuckles. ”I’m not sorry I did that. I wanted to pound your face into that floor, but you were naked and sweaty and it would’ve looked gay on television.”

[duke]”………...so?”[/duke]

The two boys break into hearty laughter as they often do, as the scene fades.

[duke]Are you ready for Savage?

Seriously.

Are you ready for Savage because personally, I’m fucking stoked!

Now, I’ll admit Tampa isn’t the best place in the world to put on a show because I’m fairly certain the air around Tampa carries Chris Chaos and Jenny Myst’s gonnasyphyherpheles. I’d suggest a mask because even though that shit is sexually transmitted, I’m sure the XWF has found a way to turn it into an airborne disease.

Only in the world of the Xtreme Wrestling Federation does the impossible become possible. For instance, someone as large and as fast as Ghost Tank reportedly is, can the guy suck as much as he does. He’s so big and so powerful, yet he never really developed into the true monster that he could’ve been, wrecking havoc over the roster. Except that’s not what he does. He lives in his creepy little shadow world where he hides for months on end only to reemerge is some bigger, better, grander version of the jackass he was and consistently shits the bed worse than Peter Gilmour after a late night trip to Taco Bell. Then once more, retreats to live in the shadows jerking off to pictures of that bitch ass Frodo Smackins.

But I digress.

See, I hear him thanking me, but I’m not sure he’s ACTUALLY thankful that I kicked his ass a couple years ago. Guys, really, I think he just needs me to validate his existence and the only thing I’m really going to do is kick his ass again and beat him again because it’s what I do, and what he never seems able to do. At least on any kind of consistent basis.

I’d say he’s overhyped but he isn’t. No one sings his praises. No one hardly even mentions him, really, much less remembers him other than every few months he slinks out of his closet… I mean, the shadows claiming to be better and stronger and lose all over again…. Annnnnnnnd back in the fuckin’ closet he goes.

Shadows.

Back in the shadows.

Speaking of shadows, now I have to question the very existence of Samuel MacPhagson or whatever. So like, what’s the point of becoming a professional athlete if you’re never gonna even try to be good at it? What’s the point of wasting all your time and energy just to MAYBE show up at the very last possible second?

As much as I have no love at all for Ghost Tank, him I do respect. He comes and goes more than I do but you know what, win lose or draw the mother fucker tries hard. He has fight. He has spunk.

This MacPhagson guy? He has none of that bullshit. I mean, I get it if you don’t like me, or don’t respect me but you know, the guy should at least have enough respect for himself to show the least bit of interest in the fact that he has a match tomorrow night.

In the final analysis, it comes down to one question: who is more ready to return? Goat Taint? Or yours truly?

Tank credits me, to some extent, for his existence… Tomorrow night bitch, you come face to face with your God. You’ll learn once again, Ghost Tank that I am unequivocally… better than you.[/duke]

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