Discovering the real world

PART 7: "A life changing trip"

Half an hour later, Lara, Leah and Bullseye, followed by two bodyguards were hurrying down the hall of Fisk-Corp's headquarters.

The trip had been quite annoying and uncomfortable, especially for Bullseye, sitting in the back of the limo with two of Lara's bodyguards, who often glanced curiously at him but especially with that girl who managed to humiliate him like no one before. From time to time the two of them exchanged glances, Bullseye looking angrily at her with his usual facial expression and cold dark eyes, and she responding him with an innocent but proud and victorious smile. The most difficult part for Bullseye was that he had to withhold from harming Leah or the bodyguards. Not that he couldn't do it; he was positive he could defeat even Leah, with all her powers, if he took her by surprise, as well as he could easily kill the bodyguards. But one thing was for sure, such actions would not improve in any way his relationship with Lara.

As much as he hated the situation he was really curious to see what Lara had to show them. He had tried to get it out of her earlier but as a response she reminded him of the woman he told her to have vanished when he stabbed her. She told him that the woman vanished not because she was a mutant who could teleport herself but simply because she died. The last thing she told him was that this was the only opportunity he had to find out more her profession and the secret military organization she worked for.

Two bodyguards standing in front of Wilson Fisk's conference room saw them approaching fast and came forward to stop and question them but Lara's bodyguards moved faster than they and drawn them aside so Lara could pass.

Fisk and his right-hand man, Wesley, had been waiting in the conference room for almost twenty minutes. Fisk was surprised that Colonel Alex West himself had gone through so much trouble not only to prove his "innocence" and get him out of prison but also to get Daredevil out of the way. More surprisingly even, he had been announced that the Colonel would come personally, to have a meeting with him.

This visit was a real honor for him. If the Kingpin controlled every crime in New York City, Colonel Alex West controlled several crime bosses in the United States and also had substantial intercourse abroad. He was known to be a very wealthy, powerful and feared man, and like most men of his profession, he did a very good job in keeping his real identity secret. Very few had actually seen him, but from the rumors that had spread over the years, he was said to be quite young -somewhere between 30 and 40- but not at all inexperienced. He and the kingpin had done business before, although they never met or even spoke on the phone, and the Colonel; managed to gain Fisk's respect due to his experience and brilliant ideas.

Waiting for the Colonel to arrive made him quite nervous. He was walking impatiently in front of the big glass wall of the conference room, smoking as usual one of his cigars, while Wesley waited quietly, sited at the white, oval table.

Then, all of a sudden the doors were pushed aside and Lara rushed in, followed by Leah and Fisk's two bodyguards from the hallway. In that moment Wesley stood up as well.

"I'm sorry sir, I tried to stop them but .... " said one of the bodyguards.

"It's all right, you can go mow."

They left the room as Fisk ordered them to and one of Lara's bodyguards closed the doors behind them. The other one remained in the hallway with Bullseye.

"Mr. Fisk."

"Lady Croft, such an unexpected pleasure. You must forgive me, your visit pleases me very much but I'm afraid this is not the most appropriate time. You see, I am about to have a very important business meeting."

(Lara Croft and Wilson Fisk had met at the "Black and White ball", Lara also being known in society as a wealthy and very powerful business woman)

"Well, I am here on business as well. You are expecting colonel west, no?"

"You know Colonel West?" Fisk asked surprised, knowing that only few people had actually met the Colonel.

"I am Colonel West."

Fisk and Wesley just starred at her shocked but Lara didn't give them time to react; she had no time for that.

"Obviously this is quite a shock for you. I understand your confusion and I would gladly tell you the story of my life so that you understand that I am indeed fit for this job; but unfortunately we do not have time right now. Anyway, let's get to the things that matter the most, namely the reason why I got you out of prison and the reason of my visit. But please, do sit down."

Although confused by the situation, neither Fisk nor Wesley knew what to say so they just accepted the situation and sat down.

"Leah," Lara waved her hand to one of the empty chairs on the opposite side of the table -in front of Fisk and Wesley- and Leah took a sit.

"Oh, I apologize, I forgot. Gentlemen, this is Leah Lail, my personal assistant."

The two men looked at her and nodded and she answered with a faint smile.

"Now let's get back to our business. Mr. Fisk ... or better yet, Mr. Kingpin, we have been co-operating for years and; I helped you, you helped me and I must admit we did a pretty good job together."

The two men were listening to her with interest and at her last statement, Fisk nodded with a smile on his lips, while smocking his cigar. He had quickly analyzed the matter in his mind and didn't find it impossible for a woman to be the famous Colonel West. After all, he had met many powerful women who did things some would believe only men could do. Lara was pleased by his reaction and continued.

"The reason I am here today is because I need your co-operation once again. I decided it was time to get you acquainted with the real situation, to tell you what sort of business I really deal with.

"So, what is it you do Lady ..., I'm sorry, ... Colonel."

Lara smiled dimly at Fisk's question; she could still sense signs of disbelief in his voice.

"It would be pointless to simply try and explain it to you. This is something you must first see to believe."

"Then show me what evidence you have."

"Certainly. But first I must assure myself that you really believe I am Colonel West. That is why I have brought and old friend of mine, someone we both know."

Lara made a sign with her left hand at the bodyguard standing near the door and he let Bullseye in.

"You?" Fisk asked surprised but continued shortly afterwards, with a smile on his lips. "I told you too much pride can kill a man."

"Don't count on that. The devil won't get away next time. I'm here for my money Fisk. Daredevil was not part of the deal. You hired me to take care of Natchios and his girl and you have to admit I did a pretty good job."

"How do you dare come here and ask money from me?" Fisk's tone suddenly changed to a serious and somehow angry one. "Because of you, with your exaggerated pride and your big mouth I ended up behind bars."

"No, you ended up in a cage 'cause you don't know how to do your business right. But what does it matter now? You're out, aren't you?"

"Daredevil knows I am the Kingpin, and all thanks to you."

"Daredevil will not be a problem from now on, I assure you, but we will discuss this a little bit later. For now, let's resume what we started. Take a seat."

Bullseye followed Lara's instructions and sat down at the other end of the table (as he didn't like to be near Leah), leaning comfortably against the chair and placing his crossed feet on the table.

"Leah."

At Lara's request, the girl took out from a black leather briefcase, she had brought with her a laptop and another black device, in shape of a bowl with a glass ball in the middle. She placed the device on the table, in front of the laptop and connected the two with some wires.

The device turned out to be a hologram projector, because, as soon as Leah began typing at the keyboard, accessing different programs, the black glass ball in the middle of the bowl began to shine and the image of a military compound appeared in mid air.

Lara began explaining about the secret military organization she worked for -"World Liberation Army"- and about its location -under an apparently abandoned military compound, situated somewhere in a mountainous region of the US-, while Leah was showing them different images, using the hologram projector. They also saw pictures of different quarters inside the facility, the training of the soldiers and the weapons they used. Besides ordinary weapons they also used very sophisticated ones as well as weapons made of the rare and indestructible metal called adamantium.

"Very impresive," Fisk remarked.

"Yes, but for what such intense preparation and such sophisticated weapons? Wesley continued his boss's idea.

"For protecting."

"Who? Your people?" Fisk asked.

"No. The entire human race."

"From what?" Fisk asked amused.

"From the real world."

"Oh no! Don't tell me you're gonna start talking funny again?" asked Bullseye , remembering their conversation about mutants.

"You believed me."

"How couldn't I?" he responded rolling his eyes angrily towards Leah, who quickly turned her head from him smiling."

"What are you talking about?" asked Fisk confused.

"In their subconscious all people fear what they do not understand and the most common weapon they find to banish this fear is denial. I could very well start to explain everything about what we do, who we protect and from what, but for what reason if I know that you will not believe me. Like I said, this is something you must see to believe so, if you gentlemen do not have any other plans at the moment I could take you to our secret compound. General Stryker is waiting for you."

"Kurtis Stryker?" asked Wesley.

General Kurtis Sryker had a reputation as "good" as Colonel West among the underground life of crime. He was known to have retired from the army in order to join a secret organization and he also gained profit from running different illegal operations, like selling weapons and equipment to gangsters or crime bosses. He and the Kingpin had been doing business for years.

"Yes. I work for him."

"How do we get there?" Fisk asked.

"There is a helicopter waiting for us."

An hour later, Lara, Leah, Bullseye, Fisk and Wesley were all in a big conference room, situated at about 100ft. under ground, inside the secret military compound. There they met General Stryker, after which they all sat down at the big round table, in the center of the room. Leah sat down in a special place at the table, in front of a special Keyboard that controlled the computerized device placed in the middle of the table -a more advanced hologram projector.

What Fisk, Wesley and Bullseye heard and saw was truly unbelievable but Lara and General Stryker were very serious and very convinced of what they were saying. They were told everything, from the existence of mutants to the purpose of the organization -exterminating vampires and other inhuman beings that represent a threat to human society.

"World Liberation Army" was an organization founded once some people realized that there are greater thing that threaten the world besides criminals and terrorists, things that may lead to the destruction of human civilization as we know it. These threats are represented by supernatural concepts that some people would never accept. The simple truth is that vampires, werewolves, spirits, demons and all other things people consider to be myths and legends are real and if some people don't accept it and do something these creatures may take over. Of course, there have always been vampire hunters or other people who decided to try to save the world by themselves, taking in consideration the fact that no one would believe them but now, with all the technology of the 21st century, some people finally woke up to reality and decided it is time to do something once and for all. The "World Liberation Army Organization" has headquarters in all the major states of the world. Only the president of the state and some of his most thrust-worthy men know about this. The supreme leader of this organization is of course the president of the United States.

To state their point clearly, General Stryker and Lara also took Fisk, Wesley and Bullseye on a tour of the facility, showing them, among other things, the laboratories and special chambers where they kept vampires and other creatures they used for experiments. These chambers were all situated on a special level of the facility (also the last level, the one buried deepest under ground), designed like some sort of prison, where only authorized personnel had access.

The cells, as well as the halls were all white, illuminated by neon lights. The walls seemed to be made of some sort of plastic, but underneath there was a strong adamantium skeleton. In fact, the facility's every point of resistance was made of adamantium. The thick walls of the cells that faced the hall were completely made of transparent, but very resistant material; they were also the only access ways inside the cells. There were many quarters on this level, each with one row of cells on either side of the path that led through the middle of the room. The creatures kept inside were practically like animals on display at a zoo.

The evidence they had been shown was more than anyone could need to believe that humans with unnatural abilities really existed and vampires were not a myth. And however difficult it was, they had no choice than to accept it.

In the end they were also told about another secret organization, the Lin Kuei, hidden somewhere in the mountains of China, and who's purpose was to train children from a very young age to become deadly assassins -some of who will alter work for the WLA. Lara was herself raised by this organization, having been taken away from her parents a couple of days after birth, due to the powers she possessed. The WLA also had special departments that dealt with recruiting mutants that could be trained to work for the organization.

It was about six o'clock in the afternoon when they finished the tour and Fisk, Wesley, Bullseye, Lara, Leah and of course, General Stryker were all standing outside the compound, near the helicopter that brought them there and that was to take them back.

"Well, I believe we have managed to clear a lot of things here and hopefully consolidate our business partnership."

"Definitely General .. " Lara interfered, not letting Fisk -to whom Stryker was addressing- respond. " ... But I think Mr. Fisk here would like to know as much as I do, why are you protecting Daredevil?"

Fisk and Wesley were very surprised by Lara's statement and Bullseye, who hadn't been paying too much attention, suddenly became interested and came closer.

"I'm not protecting him Colone," answered Stryker irritated, as Lara often liked to defy him and sometimes even disobey his orders. "As you have probably suspected, Daredevil is a mutant; all his senses are inhumanly developed and for a blind man he can do things no ordinary seeing man could do. So I thought why kill him when I can use him?"

"You don't seem to know him very well. He wants justice and he will never agree to work for someone like you," Fisk replied.

"But who said we are going to ask him to work for us?" Stryker answered amused. "Our scientists have created a special serum that can somehow hypnotize a person, making him obey without questioning whatever order he is given."

"Interesting. But he better not interfere in my business again Stryker or else I will not think twice before killing him."

"I give you my word, he will not."

After exchanging some last minutes words, Fisk and Wesley turned to leave; but just as he was climbing up the helicopter ladder, Fisk suddenly stopped and turned, as if remembering something, scanning the surroundings curiously.

"Something wrong sir?" asked Wesley, who was climbing behind him.

"Where's Bullseye?"

Just then, everyone's attention was drawn by the sound of a motorcycle engine and a couple of seconds later, the vehicle causing the noise sprang out from the back of a military truck parked in front of the compound. The motorcycle headed towards the front gate, that was beginning to close, after two black vans had just entered the compound grounds. Four armed guards tried to stop the man on the motorcycle but they didn't even have time to prepare their guns when four shurikens struck them to the ground. The man on the motorcycle managed to pass through the gates just as it was closing but other guards began firing after him.

"Seize fire. Let him leave," Lara ordered the soldiers.

She stood still for a moment, watching him disappear into the distance with a look on her face as if she was just sketching an ingenious plan in her mind. Suddenly she turned to Fisk.

"Speaking of Bullseye, there is something I wish to ask you Mr. Fisk."

Back in the big city, at about ten o'clock that evening, Bullseye was sitting at a small table in a dark corner of an ordinary bar, somewhere in a relatively poor but quiet neighborhood, smocking and drinking his usual beer.

He needed some time off to just relax and settle a couple of things in his mind. That experience at the military compound had really baffled him. Ok, mutants were something he could accept but vampires and werewolves, demons, spirits and witches were too much. He tried to calm his thoughts and find the good side of all this; and finally, he did. He remembered what he felt after Lara had first told him about mutants and he began to see the positive aspects of the situation. In a world with mutants and vampires he had more powerful adversaries, thus more chances to demonstrate his real talents.

His thoughts were suddenly interrupted by his ringing cell-phone. Recognizing the number -Fisk-, he answered.

"Yeah?"

"Still interested in getting that money I owe you for killing Elektra?"

He smiled.