“Good morning Johnson City! It’s another sunny day in the capitol, which is probably being completely ignored by you people stuck in traffic. There’s been an accident on I-1…..” Kenneth turned down the radio as he drove toward work, thinking about the mountains of paperwork he would soon have to look over. It was a slow commute, especially with all the traffic on the roads. Someone should work on that, he mused as he got off Interstate 1 to avoid an accident.

Luckily he knew a few back routes and could get to work at a decent hour as he was late to begin with.

Finally making it to the building where he worked, he parked in his special parking spot in the underground parking garage.

 

It was then that he noticed several men in black suits lurking around the area holding walkie talkies. He paid it no mind and locked his car, which promptly chirped to confirm it, and walked through the door to the elevators. Kenneth had plenty of time to think as his office was on the 8^th floor. Who would’ve thought that I would have gotten the job I have now, he mused. A healthy man at 25, and  single to boot. I really should get a girlfriend at least, he thought. Maybe eventually, but now might not be a good time. Work is really stressful as it is, and having a significant other this early in the game might complicate things. Still, he thought, it would be nice to have someone to come home to every night.

“This is the 8^th floor,” said a female voice as the elevator came to a halt and the doors opened.  As he got closer to his office, the number of men in black increased. Went he got to the door to his office, one of them stopped him.

“What now?” Kenneth asked.

“Sir, you can’t keep avoiding us like this,” the man in black said.

“But you’re cramping my style,” Kenneth retorted. “I can’t even go out to have fun with my friends with you all lurking in the shadows; you make everyone uncomfortable.”

“Be that as it may, we’re still under orders.”

Kenneth sighed then, a long drawn out one. “Whatever, but can you at least make an exception for my brother’s birthday party next week? At the very least, you could dress like normal people and act a little more normal.”

“We’ll see what we can do,” the man said.

“By the way, what’s your name? I sorta forgot it,” Kenneth said sheepishly.

“Chris Teniga. I’ve told you this at least 50 times.”

“Yeah, but it’s so hard to remember. But I’m going to write it down this time.”

“Please try to,” Chris said exasperatedly. “Well I’ll leave you to your business.”

“Alright.”

                As Chris left, Kenneth thought, I’m definitely going to forget his name again if I don’t write it down, and entered his office. It was a large circle shaped office with plenty of space. Large elegant paintings adorned the walls. His desk sat in the middle, a large desk by most offices’ standards, but in this room, felt smaller because of the size of the room. Two couches were in front of his desk at an angle to each other. He laid his suitcase down on one of them and sat in his comfy swivel chair. He turned around and looked out the window for a moment taking in the view. Before him, like a picture, was most of the Commonwealth of Paradise. If he strained his eyes, he could see the next city over, Paradise City. Kenneth really loved this view. It was really quite scenic, at least as close as you can get in a city. As he admired the view, he realized he was supposed to being doing something. Remembering Chris, he turned around and was about to reach in a drawer for some paper and a pen when the phone rang. Wondering who would be calling here, he picked it up.

                “Hello?” he said.

                “……………………………………………………”

                Maybe they hung up….but why call in the first place? He thought, slightly annoyed. He was about to hang up when he heard a voice.

                “It would behoove you not to hang up so hastily,” rasped the voice.

                “Who is this?” Kenneth asked.

                “It doesn’t matter who I am. It just matters that I’m not satisfied with the way things have been going as of late,”

                “What are you talking about? And how did you get this number?” Kenneth questioned.

                “Once again, worrying about things that don’t concern you. I really hate that about you. All you need to know is that things don’t start changing quick, things are going to get really nasty in the Commonwealth.”

                “What are you talking about? I’m going to—“

                “Don’t even think about it. Of course you might want to start thinking about rescue operations.”

                “For what?”

                “Oh, I think you’ll find out soon enough, President Kenneth Johnson.” The man hung up.

What could he have possibly been talking about? Kenneth wondered.

The answer came ten seconds later in the form of an explosion……