The room was dark. Only lit by the projector. The quiet hum of its vents is the only sound in the room.
"We have a problem." One of the men in business suits had spoken up. "We've reached an agreement with most of our investors. We've cut loose ends once. Why can't we just get rid of this guy?"
"That's why we're having this meeting. Mr. Holder has been a mystery for too long. We take his money, we give him the artifacts. But the 'don't ask questions about platinum members' policy is already obsolete."
"Why can't we just keep him? I mean, even if we're finally independent now, what dose of harm does some extra money do?"
"He's not the kind of guy we can have around."
"If he is a man. We have no Intel on the guy. We don't even know if he is a single person or a collective. He could be Foundation for all we know."
"Does that make a difference? He pays and has never created any problems in his 70 years funding our operations."
"His recent movements suggest otherwise. He wanted to buy himself one of the Omega Class."
"If he has such an absurdly large sum of money, why not?"
"The Omegas are highly classified. An outsider having information on this is outrageous. Not even all members of the Alpha designation know about the Omegas and the people who do think it's a problem that he knows."
"We have not declared independence from our sponsors to be bought out by a wealthy entity we know nothing about."
"True, Holder's knowledge of high-level operations means we've been compromised at the highest level. Who's to say that after an omega dose he won't want to buy the whole package?"
"Are you suggesting that one of us or a group of us is Mr. Holder?"
"It's entirely possible or at least one of us must have informed Holder."
"This isn't a case for internal affairs, but telling the entire Central Command about it has possibly alarmed the mole and with it Mr. Holder."
"It seems so."
"You want to test him?"
"Wait. Did you realize that the entire Central Command is here?"
"I have. It's quite rare for there to be so much power in one place. The last time the higher-ups had to gather was the day we all in Zeta split from the Falchion."
"Well, that's exactly the point. For many of us have followed my call. I'm counting on it.
"Not all members are here, but the mole certainly is. I'm going to call around now. Primary and secondary communication links. One or more of us will be doubles. This way, we can narrow him down."
The man pulled out two cell phones from his pocket.
All the other members pulled out the phones and placed them in front of them on the table.
One was a normal phone, the other was an anomalous one.
Untraceable communication was key, but a secondary, untampered method of communication should not be ignored either.
The phones started ringing.
One answered.
Silence.
3 minutes of silence.
6 minutes of silence.
The blood of the entire Command dripped from the ceiling and walls.
Blood ran over the symbol the projector had been projecting. The stylized H that was Holder's symbol had changed. With the blood running, half of the symbol now looked like an M on top of a W.
A man stood up from the meeting table. He walked to the blinds and raised them. Light flooded the room. The tower was in the middle of a ruined city.
He slowly turned his head and looked back into the meeting room.
The members of Central Command were all bloody skeletons. The suits had dissolved and the table had been consumed. He walked back to the table and picked up one of the anomalous phones.
"Mr. Holder, congratulations on your entry into Central Command. The city is yours to command."
No response.
Mr. Holder had taken top command of Cell Zeta. His drone would finish off the rest.
The Core was his once again.
Original: Señor Holder
Date: 13 Jul 2019
Author: Meta Wonderrat
Translator: Yorick1