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Thaddeus Duke · (03-21-2017)

Thaddeus Duke exits the Lincoln Continental just outside the front doors of the Illuminatus Compound. James, waiting at the doorway, heads for the now opened trunk and grabs Thaddeus' bags. The young progeny, as Oswald called him, walks past James without saying a word. James rushes with Thaddeus' bags to catch up. Duke makes a hard right into the Compound's library and plops down on the sofa. He rubs his forehead with his hand.

"I can't help but noticing this bag feels as light as it did when I put in the car the other day," Jim says, breaking the silence. "You didn't beat Oswald?"

"No I beat him," Thaddeus replies, still rubbing his head with his finger tips. "After I won, I was distracted by Lane, by Heyman, by D'Ville. He rolled me up and took the title back.

"Wait a minute! You didn't fuckin' watch!?"

"Well, I intended to, but I was on Tinder and... you know how that goes."

"This is my big fuckin' title match and you didn't watch?" Duke says as he stands up and starts pacing. Jim lays down the bag and takes a seat in an armchair.

"I watched.

"I just wanted to gauge your reaction. Your mood," Jim responds, looking up at Thaddeus as he paces in front of the crackling fireplace.

"This is unacceptable Jim! That was MY fuckin' moment! MY first title win! And now I have nothing to show for it!" Thaddeus stops pacing and looks at Jim.

"You know who is to blame right?"

"Yeah.

"You."

Thaddeus stands quietly, slightly taken aback by Jim's candor. "The fuck you mean?"

"Look man, say what you want about Lane. About Heyman. About D'Ville. The fact is, it was YOU. YOU allowed yourself to be distracted. YOU allowed yourself to get rolled up after you won. YOU allowed Oswald to take the title back.

"You can only blame yourself bro."

Thaddeus initially says nothing. "Fuck!

"Yeah, you're right.

"That doesn't change the fact that Lane was ready to strip me of the title that I just won fairly."

"No, you're right. It doesn't.

"What are you gonna do about it?"

"I don't know yet."

"That's not like you.

"Indecisiveness is an ugly color on you."

"Heyman's House of Horrors. In two weeks, I'm going into the demonic structure that is this hell chamber. I'm going to be squaring off with Broken Oswald and Doctor D'Ville. I'm going to right these fucking wrongs, Jim. I'm going to hurt them badly, Jim.

"I'm god damn pissed. I'm pissed right the fuck off and I can fucking promise you, I'm coming out the winner this time. I respect Doc and his status as a fucking legend. I respect Oswald's awareness to know that even though I was champion, he could still roll me up and take the title back. When that bell rings at Lethal Lottery, I'm throwing respect, Doc's legendary status, Oswald's broken brilliance out of the fuckin' chamber because it means fuck all at that point.

"I'm going to fight them both harder than I've ever fought anyone and why? Because I fucking can. That's why. I'm going to another XWF pay per view. I'm going to fill the house because that's what I do. I'm going to steal the show because that's what I do. I'm going to fucking win, because that's what I do.

"And if Heyman, or Lane or anyone else tries to stop me, I can guarantee you, they're going to feel the wrath of my anger. Every. Last. Fucking. One. Of them. They will hurt like they've never hurt. They will bleed like they've never bled. They will rue the fucking day I stepped through the doors of the XWF.

"Jim, gas up the plane."

"Where are you going?"

"Oakland."

Thaddeus walks off with his phone to his ear.

"Mr. Kato, Thaddeus Duke..."

Saturday, March 4, 2017 | 12:37 AM | Asmodeus Air Base | Berlin, Germany

Last time on the Thaddeus Duke serial saga, the young would-be Prince was in Scotland on a state visit. HIs father having pulled Thaddeus from all Illuminatus military operations, incensed Thaddeus. As a result, they haven't spoken. In an effort to keep Thaddeus occupied but still doing important things, the Illuminatus King decided to send his son abroad in an effort to build friendships with other nations. Thaddeus wasn't thrilled but did as he was instructed. After arriving in Scotland he was just starting to have a good time and enjoy himself when he received some troubling information from one of his old Illuminatus military Commanders.

They were late. Thaddeus hated being late. The Scottish First Minister was a gracious host but failed to notice the urgency with Thaddeus’ hints that there was a situation that needed his attention. The First Minister insisted that Thaddeus try several different variations of the finest Scotch whiskey he had available. Thaddeus, never drinking a drop of liquor in his life to this point, drank it all fairly easily but was three sheets to the wind as a result. Once they left the residence and boarded the plane, Thaddeus downed about a pot of coffee. With that, comes multiple trips to the head. One does not purchase coffee, one merely rents it.

With Thaddeus sobering, Illuminatus Three makes its final descent as it approaches Asmodeus Air Base outside of Berlin. The plane comes in fast and slows to a stop after what seems like several minutes. The stairs are placed and a convoy of military vehicles speed down the runway toward the plane. Thaddeus and James emerge from the cabin just as Commander Brunson steps from his vehicle. He stands at attention near the bottom of the steps. Thaddeus and the Commander exchange salutes and a handshake as they make their way to the convoy.

”My Prince, the other Commanders are here,” he shouts loudly as the jumbo jet engines are still deafening as they wind down.

”Commander, from here on out, never refer to me as the Prince,” Thaddeus shouts just before entering a Humvee.

The convoy swings around and heads back down the runway toward the meeting room where the Commanders await Thaddeus’ arrival. As they enter the meeting room, the Commanders stand from their chairs to salute their Prince. ”Please, be seated. We obviously have a lot to discuss and I’m tired as fuck thanks to a shit load of Scotch.”

Everybody takes their seats. Thaddeus sits at the head of the table with James standing quietly behind him. ”First, I want to discuss what happened. Someone tell me in full.”

”The Minister of Intelligence briefed the King at 0800 this morning informing him of a possible prime target opportunity in northern Iraq. It was a medium sized building with very few windows. To us, it seemed very plausible that Islamic State operatives may indeed be hiding out in there.

“The Minister advised waiting until we could fully discover what or who was really inside that building. The King didn’t want to take any chances of them fleeing so he mobilized an air unit out of the Southern Peninsula.”

”Italy, you mean?” Thaddeus interrupts, wanting to be sure.

”Yes, sir. The Italian peninsula.

“He sent in six attack choppers, fully armed against the advice of his own Intelligence Minister. By 1500 hours the building was destroyed. Iraqi ground forces using anti-aircraft batteries opened fire on our units, downing four of the six choppers sent in. Our guys elected not to fire back out of confusion and a total lack of having any kind of rules of engagement.

“Sixteen of our men were shot down, sir. And as it turns out, that building was a school. Acting against the advice of his Intelligence, the King murdered upwards to 400 Iraqi children. We don’t have a final count as of yet. It may be a little less or a little more.”

Thaddeus stands up and starts to pace a little as he starts to speak. ”Why did we act without concrete intelligence?”

”Sir?” Commander Brunson asks, not fully comprehending what Thaddeus meant.

”I mean the King gave the orders, but why did our military leaders follow those orders without the intelligence?” he explains, still pacing.

”We were following orders,” the Commander answers. ”Sir, you know as we all do. When you’re military, you follow the orders of your commanding officers. And the King, is the highest commanding officer.”

”I was just following orders,” Thaddeus repeats the Commander, his face reddening in a mix of anger for the situation and sadness for the innocent children taken from the world. ”During the Nuremberg Trials after World War Two, Hitler’s SS officers and his high command within the NAZI party will grilled for weeks and weeks by a tribunal of judges from multiple nations. Those people were relentlessly grilled on the subject matter of the day and do you know what the most common subject was?

“The final solution to the Jewish question.

"During Adolf Hitler’s regime, the NAZI’s murdered millions upon millions of Jews, gypsy’s and others just because they were different. While under questioning, those NAZI officials predominantly gave the same answer as to why- I was just following orders.

“That’s not a valid excuse. That’s not a valid reason. Military or not, you do know right from wrong. When an order comes down that you don’t agree with, you can not follow it blindly. Decisions and perhaps even sacrifices need to be made in order to not repeat mistakes of the past.

“What’s the saying? Those who do not learn from history are doomed to repeat it.

“Why are we here?” Thaddeus stops pacing and faces his Commanders.

”Excuse me?”

”Commander Brunson, I was in the midst of a powerful tribute to my grandfather when I received your summons. I am no longer in control of this military. The King saw to that more than a month ago. You calling me here is a breach of protocol.

“So I ask you, Commanders, why are we really here?”

”Can we speak freely, my Prince?” a Commander on the other end of the table asks.

”Commander Valencia, I’ll tell you the same thing I told Commander Brunson. No longer refer to me as your Prince.

"In fact, tell everyone that. I'm already tired of saying it.

“But to answer your question, yes. I’d actually welcome it. Please, speak as freely as you like. What is said here, stays here.”

”We believe the King is ill equipped to handle the military, sir. He acts on emotion and terrible instinct rather than good judgment and concrete intelligence. It’s counter intuitive to a strong military. He’s placed us in a position that could create a lot of trouble for the Illuminatus as a whole, not just the military.

“Your grandfather, rest his soul, founded the new Illuminatus and worked his entire life to build it to what we see today. The most powerful independent military in the world, not allied to any nation, but to a cause. The cause of freedom and truth. He believed, and he was right, that the truth was on our side.

“The King will destroy it all. That’s my assessment. And I'm not alone. Iraq is a war torn nation, that much is very true so I don’t think we would see resistance or military action from them. But they do have allies. Powerful allies like America. America sees themselves as the righteous big brother of small underdeveloped nations the world over and they could see fit to retaliate.

“If they do, we’re not equipped to defeat them. Sir, your father is going to destroy the Illuminatus as we know it unless we stop him.”

”And you all agree?” Thaddeus asks as he looks around the table at the various Commanders nodding their agreement. ”You do realize this entire conversation is treason punishable by death?” Again they all nod. ”And you’re coming to me, the son of the King, why?”

”If I may,” Commander Brunson stands. ”If it was any one of us, the men wouldn’t listen. They’ll listen to you. We know you don’t want your grandfathers dreams going up in smoke.”

"Sir, we believe this is necessary for the long term survival of the Illuminatus."

Thaddeus turns his back to the Commanders, looking James in the eye. ”I want a bloodless coup, gentlemen.” Thaddeus returns to facing the Commanders. ”We’ll fly to Rome. We’ll march through the gates of Vatican City. We’ll stand before my father on the throne and demand he leave.”

”And when he doesn’t?”

”Commander, he has no idea this is coming. He has no idea we are coming. He has no idea of anything. All he’s going to see is a bunch of his military walking into the Basilica with his son. His heir. He’s not going to be prepared to fight.

“He’ll walk out because as dumb as he is, he’s not stupid enough to try to fight off my military without help that he won’t have. He is smart enough to live and fight another day.”

”When?”

”Tomorrow.

“We leave tomorrow. The sooner the better, because the longer we wait the more chances we take in the information leaking. Gentlemen, Vatican City is a holy land. We disagree with the beliefs, but we respect them. We shall not strike first, is that understood?”

The Commanders all nod affirmative.

”No blood needs to be shed there unless it's absolutely necessary. My father is to be allowed passage out of the City. Commander Valencia, call on your best soldiers. No less than 1000 of them. Have them meet us at the Coliseum in Rome at 1200 hours.

“We’ll have a head start and that will allow us to not only secure the Vatican, but also the Compound before my father can even gather himself and figure out what to do next.

“Commander Brunson, assemble the men in the yard. I have something to say.”

TBC...

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