President Leon's Story

I frowned, curling up tighter. Something was wrong...well...maybe. I heard screaming and gunshots. I scooted towards the back seat as the door opened. I blinked up at the stranger. ...what..who...I'm confused.... I thought to myself, but without the president in sight, it seemed as though I might be rescued. Doing my best, I shifted forwards, looking up hopefully at the stranger. Could this possibly be my hero? Maybe.. I started to try and say something, but instead ended up falling forwards. I was now laying on my back on concrete. Blinking, I stared up at the stranger. I closed my eyes, letting myself relax. "Mmmpfnnmm." I mumbled through the tape. I shifted, trying to break the ropes on my wrist, but it hurt too much and they were starting to bleed, so I quit. I just stared up at him, confused and a little disoriented. Where's the president? I frowned slightly, even more confused.

~~~~Meanwhile...~~~

President Leon was furious. He didn't know who or what that thing was, but he was not going to go down that easy. He pulled out his cell phone, dialing a number quickly as he scaled a tree. Sitting in the upper branches, he began quickly speaking in some code. "Esya. Ona, hesa asa eenba tolensa. Leasepa. Einforcementsra ouldwa eba erfectpa. Hankta uoya." He hung up with a sigh. Two days..just give her two days.

I slipped into a state of sleeping as we pulled onto the road. I hugged my knees, my head resting still on my knees while I slept. Something tugged at my subconscious, telling me to wake up, but I shrugged it away, letting myself fall deeper into sleep. My dreams made no sense, but the much-needed sleep allowed me to relax a little and recover slightly...until the jeep started to jump around. I tensed, brought immediately from my sleep. I stared at my knees through the sunglasses, the helmet blocking out some sounds. I waited..tense, almost afraid. My mind wondered if I had slept through some type of mistake where I'd been re-kidnapped..

I jumped as a hand tapped my shoulder. I relaxed almost immediately when I saw it was only my rescuer. I nodded slightly at him, yawning. I looked out the window and realized I had no idea where 'here' was. "Umm...wh..where?" I asked quietly, looking at him, kind of confused.

~~~~~

President Leon sat impatiently in the back of a restaurant, three guards dressed kind of like cowboys around him. He wore an eye patch and a black suit with a cowboy hat tipped to hide his face. He listened to the phone call from one of the people he'd sent to find Satey. "What do you mean she escaped?!?" He hissed into the phone, forgetting about their communication code. "I don't care," he said in a very annoyed voice, "FIND her and Bring her to me unharmed!" He said before hanging up, slamming the phone on the table. A waiter brought a glass of wine.
"You sound like you need a drink." he said, setting the glass down. Pres. Leon gritted his teeth. His guard sipped at it, then nodded.
"Thank..you." The president managed to grumble. The waiter nodded and walked off.

I listened carefully, nodding. I was about to say something when there was a sudden sound. A helicopter. My eyes widened but I didn't say a word. I hugged my knees slightly tighter against me, waiting. When he motioned to the beds, I only nodded slightly. I didn't move, however. At the moment I was more worried then tired, despite the fact he told me not to be. I shifted, looking down at the glasses. My reflection peeked back.

~~~~~~~

Leon paced impatiently above the spot he'd been told they were hiding. "Oundfa hemta etya??" He asked, remembering the code. There where a bunch of no's, which made him even more upset. He kicked a rock. "INDFA HEMTA!" He said, pulling out his phone and calling someone unknown. He had about 15 people scouring the area for anything useful. The tire tracks just...ended. There was nothing else that gave much of a hint.
A few hours later one of the men tripped over something. He paused. "Aye! I might have found something!"
Leon twirled around, shutting his phone. "Odeca!" He said quickly.
The man stuttered. "S-sorry. Ereha!" He said, starting to move some bushes and debri. The others came over to help.

~~~~~

I began to feel sleepy. I shifted, yawning slightly, but not planning to go to bed yet. There was a slight thunk and I tensed, rubbing my eye as I looked over by the entrance. I began to wonder how they found us in the first place...

I nodded, confused and terrified. I walked over to the corner the moment White protection disappeared. I sat there, curled up, watching the entrance, waiting..

~~~~~~~~~

The President jumped back as one of his soldier's head flew off. "Etreatra!" He said, jumping into the helicopter. Only one other soldier made it on the helicopter. the others where left. The helicopter started up, it's blade rotating. Leon watched as the man took out his other guards before going back towards the hideout- The helicopter spun wildly and the pilot started yelling. One of the rotor blades had broken. The helicopter began spinning wildly. Leon, the pilot, and the one guard jumped out, landing painfully on the ground. The helicopter spun, crashing into the ground with a small explosion. Leon rolled away, coughing and in pain. He sat up. Someone ran over - on of the remaining guards. He had two..two..not too bad. The guard helped him up, both of them stumbling away to a safer distance...

~~~~~~~~

I squeaked as someone fell into the hideout. It took me a moment to recognize the person. I stood, cautiously walking over. "H-hey...heeyyy.." I said quietly, kneeling beside him. "Hey!" This time it was slightly louder. The lid was still open..I didn't know how to close it. Looking back at White Protection I decided to try to help. I leaned down, carefully wrapping an arm under his arms and picking him up as much as I could. I walked towards one of the beds...well, stumbled, carefully placing him on it. Just that wore me out. I walked back over to the entrance, looking up. I picked up one of the chairs and dragged them to the side of the bed, sitting there, watching him.

I felt something tap my shoulder and I yawned, stretching. Ooooh...misty. I stood, looking around. While White Protection climbed up to check to see if the coast was clear, I took the glasses and hung them on the neckline of my shirt. I put the helmet on before I heard 'all clear'. I grabbed a bottle of water before following White Protection. It seemed extremely calm and I felt strangely like it was a lie. I looked at the gun I was handed. Hmm.. it looked like a simple Beretta to me. I clipped it to the belt I wore around my waist. Pausing, I looked around. It seemed...empty. Why would the president just leave? Shaking my head, I quickly followed White Protection. I couldn't keep myself safe, but I guess a gun would be useful. I watched the trees, feeling almost as if we were being watched. I took a sip of the water, watching the reflections in the water. Silent, I followed. One thing I'd learned from TV if nothing else: never ask questions aloud if it seems your being followed. That could get you in a lot more trouble then you want to be in.

~~~~~~~

Leon woke up in a tent. He cursed, sitting up. Everything hurt. Looking around, he noticed there were three guards, that's it. "Aye Mr. President, it's good to see you're up."
"Where's the others?"
"Well, there's two tangos out on guard and three guys went to get some provisions. We're gonna be camping here a bit until our reinforcements get here." He said, almost as if he where in charge. Leon snickered.
"You have it all planned out don't you...what if she gets away before they get here?"
Silence.
"Exactly. Once I don't feel like I haven't eaten in 4 days, we'll work something new out." He said. His stomach complained loudly. He hadn't eaten since lunch the day before and he felt like he was dying.

I followed, carefully. It took me a few moments, but I managed to get over the wall. I continued behind you, confused. The broken windows reflected shadows that made me tense, the cars were loud and a bit unnerving. How did everything go downhill so fast?? I sighed softly. I paused by a car. Inside it looked like someone had just got up and left it. One of the windows were broken and the glass covered the seat. I took a few quick steps to catch up. I was caught off guard by a questions. "Used to do? Well..I went to school with a friend of mine...and I took acoustic guitar lessons..I love the acoustic." I smiled faintly. "Dad and I would go to the park on weekends and-" I was silent the moment I heard the cough. I took the smallest step closer to you, already behind you.


~~~~~~~~

President Leon, no longer hungry and sore thanks to some food and a little more sleep, was talking into his cell-phone, very angry. "Ellwa on'tda osela erha! Indfa erha!" He said, cutting the caller off. They were currently driving along the road towards some town he'd gotten a call from. It wasn't one of his men that spotted her, which made the president extremely upset.

I'm startled by the gunshot, but feel protective arms grab me. I curled up slightly, waiting to get hit, but it never came. I looked up as I was spoken to. Stay here, got it. I nodded, my right hand touching the handle of the fun. I tensed, wincing as White Protection was hit in the face. I bit my lip, watching him disappear. I stayed crouched, going over to a desk and flipping it over, sitting behind it, listening for anything outside the door. I closed my eyes, slowing my breathing to a steady pace. I couldn't just shoot randomly, and I knew I needed to be able to concentrate.

~~

Most of the gunmen shifted position, continuing to fire.

~~

Leon cursed as he was called again. "What?!.." he listened for a few moments. His face paled and he frowned further, if possible. "They're firing guns?...Get her out. Now." he said, not caring if someone overheard the phone call. He hung up.

I stood, thinking, staring at the ground. I was caught off guard when we moved again. I watched White Protection carefully. "F.G.A.?" I noticed something was wrong, but silently I allowed him to leave. The moment we were in the SUV I climbed into the back seat, ducking into the floor and beginning to take apart the pistol I had. "What's the F.G.A.?" I ask, continuing to work with the parts of the gun. I had an idea, but I was unsure if I had the time...or the right gun. I paused, looking up at the top of the car, thinking.

~~~~~

President Leon pulled up to the fight scene. He climbed out, slamming the door. "Where is she??"
His troops slowly took a step back, no one answering the question.

Hipo gave off a small chuckle before saying, "I've wondered that myself. In the beginning years of my life, I've always seen people put food into their mouths and chew it. All the time, humans just ate and ate and ate. So I tried it out for myself, but every time I put something in my body, I don't necessarily eat it. My body just dissolves it, and I get no energy from the food. And then I realized, the sun. I'm almost like a plant, except for the necessity of water, and I use the sun as an energy source. That's why I have a difficult time getting up in the morning. I'm deprived from sunlight, thus I feel groggy. If I was in the sun all the time, I'd never have to slow down." I looked down at the road and bit my lip. "But nighttime is when I have to hide. With no way to regain my energy, if I fought for too long, I'd pass out until the sun came up again." I stated, glancing at her as she ate the bag of chips.

We kept on down the road, and I pondered on a few questions for Satey as well. "So, how's your father like? Is he good to you? Do you have any other family members?", I asked.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

President Leon slapped one of the soldiers in the face and shouted out, "You are a disgrace!" The entire group cringed when the heard the sound of the hit resounded off of the walls. "You had the best chance in the world, with the F.G.A next to you, and you still screw it up!" Leon exclaimed, banging on his car's hood, leaving a small dent. Some of the group looked to the ground, others look to the president, hiding their shame behind their bandanna masks and shrouded shades.

Leon pointed to the group of scientists coming his way as he tried to fix his hair. "Do you have anything that will lead us to them?" One of the more studious looking men in labcoats pushed his glasses in and said, "We have devices that can detect his presence nearly 100 hundred miles away. There is a heat signature that goes along with this device. He pointed to the metal machine in his hand and it made a slight pinging noise about every second. It was sonar, but only for detecting White Protection. Leon nodded his head and made his way to the car. "You, you're going to accompany me in my vehicle. I need everything you know on this guy. What his weaknesses are, how fast he goes, what he wears on casual fridays, I don't care. Just give me all your info on him. The scientist nodded very quickly and almost squeaked out a "Yes Sir." Some of the soldier snickered, hearing the meow-like sound come out of the man. They continued into their vehicles and drove along, following the escapees right on their tails. "Okay, 'Mr. Hero'. Let's see how long you can keep this up." Leon chuckled under his breath.

I leaned forward and suddenly burst into a rushing sprint, my eyes almost like whizzing headlights as the trees flew behind me. I grunted at every crack, pebble and crevasse in the paved road but at least it wasn't as terrible as the liquid water. The yellow lined roads were left with skid marks at every turn I made before I looked forward to lead ourselves down the road. I leaped into the air, rushing over a tree that had fallen in the middle of the road and made it barely above the treeline as I rose and fell. The ground wasn't forgiven for the sudden weight when I started the running once more. I grasped onto Satey as we kept on towards the sanctuary, knowing that just one hour from now, they would be safe enough to take a breather.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The line of cars kept on towards the major road, swerving passed vacant vehicles and the rough grass on the sides of the road. It was driving the President mad with all the cars in his way and he beat the steering wheel of his black Sudan a few times in frustration. The main scientist sweated nervously as he stared at the sonar. Leon had finally let off some steam and asked the scientist a little more calmly, "So this... White Protection is some sort of protector of the earth?" He chuckled under his breath as he only heard this kind of background of someone in a comic book. The preoccupied man flicked up his head and stuttered, "I-in fact, he has been t-through a couple wars. Remember Vietnam?" Leon nodded his head and responded, "Who could forget?"

The other scientists stared at each other in the car and whispered something along the lines of, "What is he doing?!" The main man looked back and the glanced at the driver and said, "The loss of the Vietnam War was because of him. That's why we thought we were prepared enough. Originally, the Vietnamese people of that time actually did have less firepower than even half of our army at the time but... White Protection wasn't a variable that the U.S. wasn't expected." Leon stared wide-eyed towards the road, "You mean the 'Vigilante' case that went off the record? He's the one responsible for that.?" The scientists stopped their murmuring for a moment and then one of them said, "Well... you ought to know who caused the war." The president grabbed the collar of the man who spoke out and Leon whispered, "And nobody needs to know that... right?" The scrawny, pale man gulped and stuttered out, "Y-yes... S-... Sir."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I made a roaring attempt to hold out for the hour of running but eventually found the mountains peaked we had been searching for. I stood Satey on her feet when I slowed down and pointed to the dark tunnel ahead of us. It was one of the frequent tunnels that cut into mountains to let cars through. A pair stray headlights saw Satey and I in the middle of the road and honked their horns, screeching to a halt to try and not run over us. I got Satey out of the way very quickly and stood her by the side of the road. "The entrance is in the tunnel there, a stone door that leads to another safe haven.", I stated, pointing at the tunnel. I grasped the hand of Satey and jogged to the edge of the tunnel's wall. "Now all we have to do is search for it," I sighed, rubbing the smooth concrete beside me.