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Thaddeus Duke · (06-26-2017)

[duke]Saturday, June 24, 2017 | 8:41 AM | Illuminatus Compound | Old Saybrook, Connecticut [/duke]

Thaddeus Duke sits in a common room inside the mansion nervously awaiting word from his father. There is no doubt that Thaddeus is a military man, but going to war, and the death that comes with it, isn’t something he’s looking forward to. Two days ago, he made a calculated move to force his fathers hand into submission. The move, while looking inconsequential to those outside their world, has made a difference. To what extent, is yet unclear. Conflicting reports of defectors from his fathers side to his own have been coming fast and furious.

Now he waits.

[duke]”You’re sure?”[/duke] Thaddeus asks Lincoln Tritter.

”Yes,” Tritter responds from his seated position. ”Sebastian Duke was indeed on that plane. My guys in France confirmed it.”

[duke]”Well, where the hell is he?”[/duke] he asks rhetorically. No sooner does he ask than a call comes through from the Gate House. [duke]”Yeah?”[/duke] Thaddeus answers quickly after hitting the COM button on a panel in the wall nearby.

”Sir, your father is here,” comes the voice on over the speaker.

[duke]”He armed?”[/duke]

”Probably. He’s arguing with Sam so we haven’t checked yet.”

[duke]”Disarm him and escort him up.”[/duke]

”Right away, sir.”

”Well, here goes nothing.”

”Do you really think he’ll surrender?” Tritter asks.

Thaddeus ponders the question momentarily before shaking his head. [duke]”No, I don’t think so. Linc, get me something official on the defectors. I want a number that he can see with his own dead eyes.”[/duke]

Lincoln nods and excuses himself.

Meanwhile at the Gate House.

”No, I’m not fucking armed!” Sebastian yells at the guards aiming their weapons at him. ”Jesus!”

”Hands against the wall and spread ‘em!” orders the man only known as Jenkins. Part of the private security firm owned by Lincoln Tritter, tasked with guarding the Illuminatus Compound.

”I’m not...” begins the deposed Illuminatus leader before Jenkins, a tall and muscular man, forces him against the concrete wall of the Gate House.

”Search him,” Jenkins says to Sam, short for Samson, as he cocks his pistol and holds it aimed at Sebastian’s head. Samson goes to work, patting down the once powerful leader. Samson turns to Jenkins and gives a thumbs up, signaling the ‘all clear.’ Jenkins eases his gun away from Sebastian’s head and steps back. ”Open the gates!” he calls out, and within a second or so, the large heavy iron gates begin opening outward.

”Wait!” Jenkins yells out as he grabs the ex-leader by the back of his shirt collar. ”Remove your blades, sir,” he orders, referring to the set of spring loaded daggers Sebastian was fond of wearing attached to his wrists. Sebastian rolls his eyes, but obeys the command, removing the blades and tossing them at Samson. Jenkins then motions toward the golf cart just inside the gate, before leaving toward his radio microphone, ”Redwood all clear and incoming.”

”Redwood? You guys call me Redwood?”

”Move!” shouts Jenkins as he shoves Sebastian Duke through the gate.

Thaddeus paces nervously as he waits. Jim sits idly by in the chair vacated by Lincoln Tritter moments ago. ”Stop looking nervous. You know him, he’ll sense it and pounce.”

In his mind, Thaddeus knew that was true. Really, he didn’t care. This had the potential to be a very big moment and he isn’t nervous about seeing his father so much as nervous about the implications of this meeting and what it may lead to.

The front doors swing open and Jenkins leads Sebastian Duke into the common area. ”Should I stay, sir?”

”No, but thanks for the offer. I can handle my kid.”

”I wasn’t talking to you.”

Duh.

[duke]”No Jenkins. Stand outside, I’ll send him out when he’s worn out his welcome.

“Which shouldn’t be long.”[/duke]

Jenkins nods, then exits the mansion.

”How ya doing James?” Sebastian asks of Jim, extending his hand.

Jim accepts the handshake but says nothing.

”You call me Redwood?” he says, turning toward his son.

[duke]”Let me be clear, this isn’t a social call.”[/duke]

Taking the hint, Sebastian Duke buries his false facade of pleasantries.

[duke]”You’re here to surrender, or leave.”[/duke]

”That was a hell of a stunt you pulled, kid,” Sebastian begins. ”Acting all that time like you didn’t want the crown or the monarchy, yet low and behold I get your scrawny ass popping up on my TV wearing my fathers crown and some new garb.”

[duke]”It garnered a lot of attention from the boys though didn’t it?”[/duke] Thaddeus asks, almost rhetorical in nature. [duke]”Tell me father, how many men deserted you after that appearance?”[/duke]

Sebastian stands quietly.

[duke]”5,000? 10,000? 25?”[/duke]

”I lost some guys,” he finally answers.

[duke]”Is this where you tell me you’re defeated and that you surrender?”[/duke] Thaddeus asks as he advances toward his father.

”Does a surrender so quickly sound like something I’d do?”

Thaddeus doesn’t answer.

”I’m here only to give you fair warning...” Sebastian explains before being interrupted.

[duke]”Shove your warnings up your ass, old man. Either you surrender, or as soon as you leave here I’m on the phone with the French President having your asylum revoked.”[/duke]

”And when he refuses?”

[duke]”My birds hit the air, father,”[/duke] he says, stepping closer to his father, now barely a foot separates them.

”You got balls, I’ll give you that,” Sebastian responds.

[duke]”Oh I got balls for days.

“Consider this scenario, dear father, my warplanes hit the skies. They begin bombing Paris and the rest of France. The white flag waves before noon and I break for lunch. Meanwhile, you’re in the air above the Atlantic with nowhere to land.”[/duke]

Sebastian strikes. He grabs Thaddeus by his throat and slams him against the wall behind him.

”Aw crap!” James muses aloud as he stands up and tries to free Sebastian’s death grip from Thaddeus. Sebastian sends an elbow into the side of Jim’s head and drops like a rock.

Click.

With his hands free, and unbeknownst to Sebastian, Thaddeus retrieved and cocked his Desert Eagle, and now has the barrel pointed right under his fathers chin. Feeling the cold hard steel of the barrel, Sebastian significantly loosens his grip.

[duke]”Give me a reason to squeeze the trigger,”[/duke] Thaddeus challenges.

”I should have left you dead,” Sebastian states.

The words cut deep into Thaddeus like a knife, but perhaps not as deep as they once may have.

[duke]”But you didn’t, so here we are.”[/duke]

”I’ll only ask you once,” says Tritter, unseen to the cameras. ”Please remove your hands from the boys throat.” Tritter has his gun barrel digging into Sebastian’s temple as the camera zooms out, allowing Tritter into view.

On the floor, Jim is a bit dazed as he struggles to his feet. As he regains his bearings, the realization of the gravity of the current situation hits him. Two guns threaten the life of Sebastian Duke. Two hands threaten the life of Thaddeus and Jim won’t stand idly by. He bolts into the fray, nailing Sebastian with a stiff right hook to the jaw. A little bit of blood flies from the deposed leaders mouth as he staggers backward and stumbles over an end table, spilling him over it and on to the floor.

Thaddeus hits the floor as he tries to regain his wind. Lincoln Tritter tends to him as Jim takes Thaddeus’ pistol from him. Jim turns toward Sebastian Duke and points the pistol at him.

”If you ever lay your hands on him again, he won’t have to kill you because I’ll do it myself,” Jim says to the once-leader as he lies on the floor, stretching out his jaw. ”And just in case you think I’m bluffing, or apt to deliver idle threats,” Jim begins.

POP!

James Edwards, the right hand man of Thaddeus Duke, best-friend, closest adviser and protector, fires a round into Sebastian Duke’s right shoulder. The big and powerful man lies on the floor writhing in pain and clutching his shoulder with his left hand.

"FUCK!"

”It’s not a bluff.”

Hearing the retort of the gunfire, nearby members of Lincoln Tritter’s security force come rushing in. Surveying the scene and realizing its at least somewhat under control, they choose to stay put.

”Escort this man to the infirmary. Patch him up and get him the hell off the estate,” Jim orders to Tritter’s men.

The men pounce, paying no attention to the gunshot wound in Sebastian’s shoulder, they pull him to his feet. He yelps out in pain.

[duke]”Stop!”[/duke] Thaddeus orders as he walks around the furniture and approaches his father. [duke]”I need you to know father,”[/duke] he begins. [duke]”In order for you to defeat me, you’re going to have to kill me.”[/duke]

”Gladly,” replies the elder Duke. ”Have you explained to your men yet, that you could have killed me in Rome, but deliberately didn’t do it? How do you expect them to continue to fight for you when you don’t have the balls to do what’s necessary!?”

[duke]”Don’t look at my compassion as a weakness,”[/duke] Thaddeus answers. [duke]”I’ll fight this war and hope to win peace without killing you. Make no mistake, dear father, if I have to, I will.”[/duke] Thaddeus drives his finger into his fathers gunshot wound. The large man buckles under the pain as he cries out in agony. Stone faced, the young man looks into his fathers eyes. [duke]”I don’t take pride in killing. If I want you dead, and I’m growing closer to that conclusion, all I have to do is say the word. Maybe it’ll be me. Maybe Jim. Maybe someone else entirely.

“Maybe someone in your own camp.”[/duke]

”You and I have some real problems kid,” Sebastian replies as he’s once again brought to his feet.

[duke]”Really? I never could have guessed that.”[/duke]

”You plan on embracing the crown that you detest so much?”

[duke]”Am I wearing it now?”[/duke]

Sebastian doesn’t answer.

[duke]”It was a tactical decision. One that worked, which Lincoln is about to confirm for me.”[/duke]

”Twelve thousand, at last count, have abandoned your fathers military. Many of which have found their way to your bases, Thaddeus.”

[duke]”Your army is falling apart and men are leaving in droves. You have no air force. You have not one ounce of tactical thinking in your all too small brain.

“You don’t stand a chance.”[/duke]

Sebastian smiles slightly. ”Of those 12,000 men, Thaddeus, how many of them chose to go? And how many… did I send?”

Thaddeus doesn’t answer the question. Instead, he motions with his thumb, signaling the guards to remove his father from the premises.

”No infirmary?”

[duke]”Fuck him. Let him suffer,”[/duke] Thaddeus answers as the guards escort his father from the mansion.

”What do you make of the threat?” Lincoln asks, referring to Sebastian hinting that maybe he sent fake defectors into Thaddeus’ ranks.

[duke]”It’d be wise to take that seriously,”[/duke] he responds, taking a seat on a sofa. [duke]”I mean, I’d do it too if I were him.”[/duke]

”How the fuck are we gonna root them out?”

Thaddeus considers his options as he stands to his feet. He walks over to the window silently and watches as his father is escorted down the long driveway toward the gates.

[duke]”We have no way of knowing who are sincere defectors and who might have been sent by my father to infiltrate,”[/duke] he begins, continuing to stare out the window.

”We don’t even know if he actually sent infiltrators or if its just some idle threat to get you to react,” Jim interjects.

Thaddeus turns his head from the window. [duke]”That’s a chance I can not take,”[/duke] he says, turning back to the window.

Fade for now.

[duke]General Jim “Mad Dog” Mattis! He’s a famous man that’s earned respect from nations the world over. He’s a man equally feared and respected for his ruthlessness. General Mattis tells Major Payne here that he doesn’t want him “letting” me win. Oh I got some news for ya General, Josh won’t let me win, but I’ll win just the same.

You can pound your chest and beam with pride of the star spangled banner and you’d be right to do it, Josh. What you don’t realize, is that while I wave the flag of my Illuminatus and I fight for my cause. The fight against oppression and tyranny, I do so with red white and blue coursing through my veins. Yes, I’m a leader of a stateless nation. Yes, I wage war on foreign lands. But I do so, because OUR government, that of the United States of America, has allowed it. My warplanes, my tanks, my humvees, all of it, is American made! All of it, is in my possession with the blessing of Senator John McCain.

I’m an Illuminatus man, Josh. But I’m also a born American. I take great pride in where I’m from and who I am. I take great pride in knowing that virtually all of what you see in a promo that I release, is made possible by the good people of these United States. I am every bit a red-blooded American as you are.

You are right though, Josh. The American flag will fly at Warfare and its not because you’re going to win. That flag will fly alongside my Illuminatus flag, in MY victory. I am equally proud of the American heritage that I possess along with my Illuminatus heritage. It is very much the American, don’t tread on me attitude, that I take into my battles in warfare, and ON Warfare.

In Joshua’s mind, I think I’m a leader because I’m rich and born into a powerful family. I may be rich and I may have been born into a powerful family, Josh, but make no mistake that is NOT what makes me the leader that I am. I am the leader that I am because I have flown with my pilots and I have been in the trenches with my soldiers. They fight for me, because I am one of them. They fight for me because I earned their respect and admiration. Everything I have, is because I’ve earned it. Everything I am, is what THEY made me. I did not choose to split from my father. THEY chose me. It was the right choice. The responsible choice. The only choice. We are not a superpower, Josh. If the American military is negligent enough to bomb a school full of children, it gives them a black eye but they’re still powerful enough that 90% of the world turns a blind eye. The Illuminatus is a nation without borders. Had we done nothing to rectify that terrible situation, we’d have been a target by the American military and their NATO allies.

Maybe you missed that in the other 200 promo’s I have dropped for the XWF. I don’t lead my men from an ivory tower. I lead my men, by joining the fight right along with them. I’ve seen the high cost of war. I’ve held that cost in my arms as they drew their final breaths.

The entrance at High Stakes? Really? That’s where you’re going to insinuate that I don’t know what I’m doing? That’s where you’re going to go to illustrate the idea that I took valuable resources away from the war? Do you have any idea how big my Air Force is? Do you have any idea how one sided a fight that it is considering my father HAS no air force at all? You can trust me that I know what I have or do not have better than you know what I do or do not have. A dozen planes and some airmen out of thousands? It didn’t even make a dent in my response time should something have happened.

Your own words, Josh Payne. “Now day’s men like to sit in their ivory towers, walled kingdoms, guarded skyscrapers, and even air command bases. Having real leaders biting the bullets, crawling the trenches, and gutting the enemy while he screams for mercy. Now that is a leader.”

Thanks for proving my point. I’ve been there Josh. Again, maybe you missed that in any number of promos I’ve dropped for this company.

You open your mouth and nothing but empty lies and baseless accusations fall out. Everything you think a leader is, you’re not wrong. Without even realizing it, Josh, you have described me from top to bottom. You have described exactly what I have done and called that a great leader while TRYING, and failing, to point out that I’m NOT a great leader.

You can think what you want, Josh. What you think and what is true are two different things. You even admit as much in your latest promo. On one hand you insinuate that I’m not a good leader because I sit in an air conditioned room and hand out orders, yet later you admit that I am a good leader.

Which is it Josh?

In fact, it doesn’t even really matter to me what in your mind makes a good leader. I know that I am, my men know that I am, my Commanders know that I am. Their opinion of me is what matters.

Josh I hope you fight better than you promo because if you don’t, you’re in for a long night, more fight than you could ever have imagined, and a disappointing loss on your record. Don’t think for a second that you’re on my level because you’re in the main event. You’re in the main event, Josh, because I am. And no other reason.

You will find out just what you’re up against. You will find out what so many others already know. That no matter how young I am, or how inexperienced I am, when that bell rings and the match is over and my hand and my FLAGS… plural… are raised in victory, that I am just plain better than you.[/duke]

Several minutes of dead silence pass by as he continues to weigh his options. Having very few options at his disposal is troubling for him. On one hand, diminishing his fathers army while increasing his own would serve beneficial. On the other hand, there truly is no knowing how many of the defectors are sincere. How many have come to the realization that the Illuminatus truly is better and stronger under Thaddeus’ leadership.

[duke]”We don’t have the means to house them all,”[/duke] he thinks aloud.

Jim walks across the room toward Thaddeus, sensing a moral dilemma on the horizon.

[duke]”We can’t feed them all,”[/duke] Thaddeus says as he continues staring out the window.

”Thaddeus,” Jim tries to interrupt but Thaddeus pays no attention.

[duke]”And we can’t just jail them because we don’t have those kinds of resources.”[/duke]

Jim stands next to Thaddeus and sees the sadness in his eyes and all over his face. The boy has always worn his heart upon his sleeve and this is no different.

Thaddeus turns his head to Jim. [duke]”Execute the defectors.”[/duke]

Jim takes a step back as the scene fades.

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