Chapter 141

World Gathers (II)

"Hey, wake up," a voice and a shove jerked Cain awake as he struggled to open his eyes. As soon as he did, he saw Rick's defeated face as well as the strange expressions of others in their group. Looking around, he tilted his head in confusion, wondering what was happening.

"Why are you even here, if I dare ask?" a somewhat annoyed voice spoke aloud, through a microphone, Cain quickly realized, drawing his eyes up to a platform. There, a somewhat older-seeming, gray-haired and well-shaven man stood, looking down at him with scorn in his pair of black eyes. "You've done nothing but slobber and droll. Is the fate of the world of so little concern to you, Conqueror?"

"..." Cain realized that the entire gathering, practically, was staring at him, causing him to chuckle inwardly. "Who's he?" he asked at just loud enough of a volume for a man to hear him, prompting the latter to nearly explode.

"Brazil's representative," Rick replied tentatively.

"Brazil? I thought they were done." He's doing it on purpose... everyone close enough quickly concluded that the masked man was purposefully talking just loud enough for the representative to hear him.

"Dude!" Rick hushed him anxiously, prompting Cain to chuckle as he suddenly stood up, yawning and stretching.

"My apologies, Mr. Representative," Cain said, doing a half bow. "It is no fault of yours; I am simply a man who loves napping too much. Tonight, I will forgo sleep to repent for my sins. Go on."

Cain's exaggerated 'apology' did little to appease the man, but he didn't lash out, merely scoffing before turning his attention back on the rest of the massive hall while Cain sat down, smiling faintly.

"As I was saying," the man continued. "It is unjust; every man, woman, and child across the world should have free access to the Towers. They are not a national property, but a universal one, artifacts that fell from the Heavens as a gift to us, to all of us. What we are doing right now is equivalent to a crime against humanity; it would be similar to if we only allowed the already rich people to earn money, while we gated all the poor from ever even earning a dime. We need to unite, not as individual countries through some pacts and alliances -- but truly unite, as one. Become the beacons for the future generations that will inherit this mystery from us. Thank you," roaring applause followed as Cain closely examined the man leaving the stage. Cain wholeheartedly agreed with every single thing the man said, but he suspected their motives differed; Brazil had to request this, as, otherwise, even more people would start pouring in there.

The man may as well have believed what he was saying, but that belief would still be secondary to reality. Cain had no qualms over opening the Tower in L.A. to the entire world. Even if they did it right now, in theory, there were enough resources to supply hundreds of millions of new Conquerors -- mostly because a good chunk of them would die within a week. However, it wasn't due to the resources or alike that he objected it -- flames would kindle and burn. Rapidly, daily, all-consuming. Autonomy had to be maintained for at least a full year before the gates were opened. By then, how people self-identified would slowly begin to change; being an American would become secondary to being a Conqueror. Same with being German, or Japanese, or Australian. The world, however, wasn't ready for that... just yet.

"... what do you think?" the President suddenly turned to Cain and asked. "Should we counter in our speech?"

"Eh? We weren't on the podium just yet?"

"No..."

"Oh," Cain shrugged. "It's fine to just ignore it. Just do your thing and leave the rest for tomorrow."

"Oh. Alright."

Cain leaned back into his chair and closed his eyes again; he didn't need to be awake to know what would be said. And though his attitude might rub some people the wrong way, that was hardly his intention; he truly just didn't care. Almost nothing of this meeting would truly matter in the long run, since the entire thing started with a narrow and short-term focus. Countries without Towers want access to Towers, and those with are uncertain whether they should allow it.

He hardly blamed them, though; he had the foresight of twenty-five years, knowing how the events would transpire and unfold and how the Towers themselves would progress. They didn't. What they had was uncertainty, fear, and caution, man's worst enemies.

He listened through the rest of the speeches half-asleep as the gathering dug well past midnight by the time the last country, Japan, finished. As he suspected, each speech had one or two key points that there then wrapped in eighteen layers of ornaments just to extend the speech for as long as possible. And, just as he suspected, the stances were relatively similar across the board -- at least the official ones -- 'we are open to discussions and will try to make the right decision'. It was a diplomatic way of saying 'we're only here 'cause of pressure and will concede to little or nothing'.

As soon as the last speech was done, people in the hall began getting up and leaving, Cain and others in his group among them. They were quickly surrounded by a few extra delegations, nominal allies of the U.S.; while the politicians took the front, the Conquerors stayed the rear, all of them eyeing Cain.

"Man, I'm not sure whether you're trying to kill me or strip me with those eyes," he joked, grinning at the three Conquerors lined next to him. "I'm afraid I'm not open to either option, though."

"Were you the one to clear the First Floor here?" one of the three, a man looking to be in his early thirties, much like Cain, asked with a curious look on his face.

"No," Cain shook his head and paused for a moment, enjoying the confused expressions. "It was my party."

"..."

"..."

"What'd I tell you, Jake?" the solitary woman in the group scoffed. "This guy's a textbook asshole who excuses everything as 'humor'."

"... I feel you, lads." Cain smiled encouragingly at the two men who smiled back knowingly, though merely shrugged otherwise. "You lot look really strong. How go your adventures?"

"They'd be better if I wasn't repeatedly called back to 'report'," the man called Jake said with a sigh. "They're absolutely terrified of me being poached. What about you? U.S. government keeping a tight leash?"

"..." Cain looked at the man dubiously for a moment before replying. "I'm fairly certain they're more terrified of me than all the countries that came here combined. Nothing against you guys, but I don't know what it is... people here just fear me."

"Might be the whole massacre you committed," the woman said. "I bet you enjoyed that."

"Though I appreciate the free consult," Cain winked at her. "I will fire back if you don't stop."

"Ha ha ha, please, try."

"How about this -- a textbook insecurity surges to the surface in the form of false bravado and confidence masked behind putting other people down as to never allow a mind to examine itself!"

"..."

"... damn, you studied psychology too?" the other man asked.

"Gosh, no, I just said a bunch of words together," Cain chuckled. "To be fair, she's probably right. I've gone overboard with that one."

"Overboard? You've defined a new era, man," Jake said. "I mean, think about it -- nobody even tried to arrest you for it. Everyone now started thinking Conquerors are above the law... but they aren't. Just freaks of nature like you are."

"Be honest," the other man joined in. "What's America's stance on this? Will you guys be opening up the Tower?"

"Nope," Cain replied simply. "Not to the public, anyway."

"... people won't be happy."

"People haven't been happy ever since the TV was invented," Cain shrugged. "We'll live, I imagine. Anyway, how about we ditch the boorish politicians and grab ourselves a beer?"

"... are we being poached?" Jake joked.

"... would you like to be poached?" Cain smiled as he took a tunnel to the left rather than right that those in front of them took. "'cause, though I don't like bragging, three minutes with me -- and you might just wanna relocate permanently."

"How about we just have a pint and share some tips and tricks we picked in the Tower, eh?" the other man suggested. "No mind games, no nothin'. Just good ol' fashioned broing-down."

"Did he just turn 'bro' into a verb?"

"Yup."

"You and I can't be friends, mate."

"Eeeh? Why?"

"I think we should also spar," the woman suggested. "Just to confirm who is the strongest here."

"I agree," Cain nodded to others' surprise. "Though, I am terribly weak so I immediately forfeit all battles. You guys are just too good."

"... you don't have a bone of dignity in that body of yours, do you?"

"I may not have a bone of dignity, but I do have a dignified bone."

"... yup, he's one of us, ha ha ha." Jake laughed as he tossed an arm over Cain's shoulder. "I knew it from the moment I saw him. I told you, Bren, didn't I?"

"Sure did, buddy," the other man laughed as well for a moment. "Let's go have some fun and forget all about 'dem boring-ass politics! Ha ha ha..."