Description
Name: Charles Andrew Hastings
Age: 36 (born 2041)
Nationality: Canadian (US Citizen since annexation and end of his interment period)
Prewar profession: Rocket & aeronautics Designer: Chief designer of Hastings De Havilland – Messerschmitt (Requisitioned by the transitional government of the former Canadian Territories to Repcon and thereafter to Robco)
Appearance:
Height: 1.85 meters
Hair color: Dark Blond
Eye color: Blue
Clothing: Dark suite, Business hat (like the prewar hat in game)
Personality
Personality and brief back story:
Charles is not renowned for his patience however for most of his life every task he has taken upon himself he has remained dedicated to. Despite his uncompromising, aggressive and sometimes irrational attitude Charles appreciates the skilled and learns from every source he can find.
Raised in a tough Spartan like environment and with a military attitude hammered in to his mind since he was a babe Charles had always been fascinated with flying ever since his Grandfather built him a model De Havilland Mosquito to play with. In flying Charles found the freedom he so craved for away from the dominating and demanding values and expectations of his family.
Once he joined the military Charles was glad to find an authoritarian system of the kind he had learned to respect but he was especially glad to find a place in which his family had no excuse to interfere with his life, or so he thought.
Charles became a test pilot at first for the military however with the growing influence of the Hastings DHM company in certain areas of the airforce Charles effectively became a test pilot for his family.
Flying triggered a growing sense of independence which eventually led him to take over designing for the company. Since then Charles has become a very proud and somewhat arrogant individual, his dedication to his work is so absolute that to this day he has never found the time to settle down and begin a family… not even the intention to do so has crossed his mind.
Despite the defeat of his country and his long period of imprisonment by the American authorities Charles remains dedicated to his values and his dreams… he no longer really cares who he builds his planes so long as they fly and in his words "kill some communist savages"
Habits:
Drawing when deep in thought
Drinking whisky (or beer) often in large amounts and/or smoking when he has nothing to do
A seemingly emotionless matter of fact attitude to strangers
[b]Mentalities:/[b]
Aggressive anti-communist
A prominent Capitalist
Self-centered and a believer in the authoritarian military discipline
Emotionally dedicated to the preservation of democracy
Equipment
a locked and coded Suitcase with company related materials, a traveling bag, a sketch book, a number of pencils, a lighter and cigars, a one liter water bottle he often takes during long journey's, a cheese sandwich, a 9mm pistol with one magazine of ammunition (12 rounds), An incomplete letter of protest to his insurance company, a gun license permit, his suite hat and shoes, a diary, a card pack, his wallet with about 700 dollars in cash, two metro tickets for different lines, a snack, Nuka Cola Quantum bottle he was offered from a metro stand advertising the new flavor (despite him not liking Nuka Cola at all), a war bond of the "Liberate Alaska!, Crush the Red!, Power Amor for our Boys!" type (printed 2076), Bank checkbook, Metro lines map pamphlet.
History
(note that history is separated into Character history and the history of the aviation company)
Character History: The Hastings family has a long history of military involvement stretching from the American Revolution, Waterloo, The Crimean war, the First and second world wars and many other conflicts. The family had blood in every land Briton had set foot on however a fierce rivalry emerged inside the family as its members found themselves fighting in opposing sides.
The American branch of the family which had married into a similarly military orientated American family in the years following World War 2 came into blows with its British counterparts due to their resistance at the marriage.
The two sides of the family in Canada and the US has an especially fierce rivalry and when the Canadian branch went into military specifically aviation production in the late 2030's their American counterparts soon followed their example.
Eventually both families found themselves working for the Hastings De Havilland – Messerschmitt Company and as the Canadian Branch and American Branch merged together the two families also remerged mainly due to the American Hastings great dislike to the Boeing Company which was driving them out of Business.
The Hastings family became the dominating force behind this vastly expanded industry and the combination of the Canadian branch's ambition and the American branch's aggressive market policy served to both make the Branch the second largest in the company and also win a great measure of unofficial independence.
Since the Hastings family was also involved in other military hardware apart from aviation the family became increasingly wealthy and as the family attempted to create its own empire the majority of shares of the Canadian De Havilland – Messerschmitt branch where brought by the family.
Despite the eventual bankrupting of the company the Hastings family was able to both endure in the aviation industry and expand literally to the skies and beyond. Charles Andrew was born to the dark days following the APS disaster and was brought up much like his ancestors had been in a strict military philosophy. Charles served mainly as a combat pilot for the Canadian air force for a while until he entered the family business in aviation.
First working for the family as a test pilot Charles soon began to involve himself directly with the design of the aircraft; in 2065 he became a designer on his Uncles team until the death of his Grandfather in 2068. Since his brother was in line to succeed his father who now owned the company it was decided by the family that Charles would succeed his Uncle and become the company's new chief of design. Charles focused his efforts on the X99 project after completing a number of other designs for the company, Charles wanted to regain the fame the company once enjoyed and create an aircraft as legendary as the Messerschmitt 109 and the De Havilland Mosquito.
Despite his best efforts the design was never completed, a test program which consisted of a squadron was able to inflict a surprisingly large amount of kills at American formations in its short 31 hours of combat however it was too little too late.
Upon annexation Charles was captured by American troops and brought to an internment camp in the DC area among other leading Canadian Scientists. For a period of four years Charles remained in captivity working under American air force supervision to finalize the X99 design and incorporate into the boing 5000. With his period of interment complete he was declared "reeducated" and a new "American patriot" however Charles still worked against the Americans on occasion such as sabotaging his work… this was the reason why his period of interment was so extended despite his partially American origins.
Charles at first worked in the Repcon facility in Nevada until being offered a contract by a group calling itself the "Enclave" to investigate the possibilities of constructing a space ship capable of traveling beyond the Solar system by 2078 at latest. After a short period of work Charles explained that he could only even hope to develop an adequate propulsion system by 2082 at earliest and instead suggested the orbital platforms already in place above the Earth's surface be employed to construct the ship in orbit in order to save engine room otherwise required to house sufficient rocket power to propel the ship out of Earth's gravity.
The project still had some interest however with his work done Charles soon began to build his own new company out of some his former employees and dissatisfied Repcon staff who refused to work with Robco. With the alarming development of the war against Communism Charles decided to secure a place for himself and his best employees in vault 100 which was based near the town of Bethesda near to his own headquarters in the DC area.
When the war finally came Charles was onboard a Metro car and like many others he fled into the station. Desperate to get into his vault in time Charles has made every possible effort to contact his contact his company however the chances are that their headquarters was destroyed and that none survived to reach the vault in time.
History of De Havilland Messerschmitt:
(Note this is an alternative history): following the end of the Second World War the Messerschmitt aircraft company which had produced many of Germany's fighter aircraft was requisitioned by the allied army of occupation as part of the arms race between the allies and the Soviet Union to produce interceptor Rocket planes for the new West German Luftwaffe.
Messerschmitt mainly produced older upgraded aircraft however resources where often lacking and soon the De Havilland Company which was famous for its ability to design aircraft with few resources began to bond with Messerschmitt eventually merging the two companies together as part of the European Commonwealth drive of the 1970's.
The new company faced plenty of competition in the military market and even its advanced Rocket capabilities proved to be unreliable for military purposes at the time. Due to these short comings the company turned towards commercial aircraft producing a number of industry. In 1991 the company officially relocated its headquarters from England to Germany since the aviation works in West Germany had since become much more extensive and advanced then those based in England.
By the early 21st century the company had expanded to include branches worldwide and even in the Soviet Union as the cold war moved towards China. With ties between the EC and the United States deteriorating the company's branch in the United States left the country after a number of espionage attempts and merged with the Canadian Branch making it the second most powerful branch of the company after Germany.
During the 2030's with contracts dying up as the company was once again challenged by competition the company embarked on its most ambitious designs to date; the high altitude total superiority combat design X99 and the APS (atmospheric passenger starship)
Soon the press and invester interest propelled the latter of these two projects into a prestigious position, the X99 program in the meantime was suspended with work being transferred to Canada as Company shifted its efforts towards the APS.
In 2039 the first APS entered service with International Pacific, the leading international transportation service based in the EC. Nicknamed the Meteor the APS cut the journey between London and Sydney to a mere hour's journey leading to the construction of a fleet of five APS's with many other orders well under way.
The entire company with the exception of the Canadian Branch who's head was a military man with military designs tooled up towards the construction of the APS and despite its great cost many companies made preorders for the new design.
In 2040 after half a year of flight disaster struck when the Meteor mysteriously exploded over the pacific in root to the Japan causing the deaths of 700 passengers and crew. Over the course of five weeks two more APS's exploded in midair (24 hours apart) with an additional APS failing to take off properly and crashing. The APS's which had not been grounded yet due to the companies' immense influence in International Pacific where finally grounded after investigations into the matter reviled that the APS had not been properly certified and tested before entering service.
The APS had been rushed into service with the company virtually bribing its way into the market due to its growing debt which threatened and end to the company's independence.
The scandal which had cost the lives of nearly two thousand passengers and crew sent shock waves around the world. The APC was soon banned despite efforts to correct the flaws in the design and the company was force to pay immense compensation after a thorough inquiry by the ECASB causing the company to shut down (European Commonwealth Aerospace safety board)
Only the Canadian Branch survived thanks to its independent contracts of the rest of the company and its focus of military design. Despite the Canadian Branch having little to do with the APS the scandal cast a shadow on the remnants of the company for many decades to come causing the Branch to involve itself in Research in an attempt to "lay low" and remove itself from the public's eye.
The Company also changes its name to Hastings DHM Aerospace after its owners surname however the name De Havilland Messerschmitt remains the name of the company inside the aerospace industry with Hastings being only a front name to satisfy public curiosity.
In the 2060 with the world energy crisis looming worldwide the Canadian military began to take interest in this small secretive company as it pioneered alternative energy sources and new aircraft types as well as space going rockets. The X99 development program was soon revived with aid from the Canadian government as a desperate attempt by the Canadian military to develop a fighter capable of containing the absolute American air superiority.
During 2068 under the directive of its new chief designer Andrew Hastings, the second son of the companies "ruling family" since the merging of the American and Canadian Branches the company turned to intrigue in its attempt to catch up with American aerospace development.
In the infamous "Snow Fight fiasco" an American Air Force Research facility in Alaska was raided by unknown assailants stealing many top secret research files and plans. American intelligence eventually traced the action to the Hastings Company however a counter raid failed to retrieve the stolen information.
The development of the X99 caused great alarm to the Americans as more information on the top secret project became available (only information on technologies involved in the design and not the design itself). In addition the Hastings Aerospace company became the dominant developers of Canada's missile arsenal along with other prestigious projects which highlighted in the first interception of a Comet by a missile developed by Hastings. (The Comet posed no threat to Earth but the test was an immense morale booster for Canada during these troubled times)
In 2069 realizing Canada had no hope of containing the Americans the Canadian government relented and allowed a growing American military presence and involvement in Canadian affairs. By 2071 the Hastings Company was forced to partner with Repcon effectively ending its complete independence, despite this setback the X99 design continued with support from the Canadian government after research was transferred to a more secure location far away from any American areas of interest.
When the US army attacked Canada after their exploitation of the country became unbearable to the populace the X99 "Conqueror" had been issued to only one squadron and despite a remarkable performance its airfields where soon overrun and "teething troubles" in the design permitted only a handful of functioning examples of the aircraft.
With annexation the staff of the Hastings Company was interned to the United States along with all relevant research and equipment. The X99 project was incorporated into a rising American design; the Boing 5000 "Challenger" which was set to enter production in 2078.
So begins...
"Ticktzzz pleazz" said the unnatural monotone voice of the Robco machine, Charles eyed the metallic contraption menacingly uselessly trying to put it off.
"Pleazzz show your valid Metro tickettt" said the machine once again much to the annoyance of Charles.
Charles shut his book abruptly and wrote "99" on the back of his cigar case; his current progress with the novel.
Charles stood up from the bench and slowly put out his cigar taking his time leisurely as if to purposely aggravate the tin can standing before him.
Charles presented the small blue card as the machine scanned it seemingly returning Charles the favor and taking as many as nine seconds above the usual scanning time to clear him for entrance.
"Valid Metro ticket detected, thank you for traveling with Metroo" said the Robco machine still fizzing the words because of the mechanical fault called Mr. House's sense of humor.
Charles hoped that by the time of his next transit the damned machines would be a little bit more compliant with the passengers. The last time someone accidently confused a blue ticket for a red one the robots had almost lopped of his arm as they dragged him out of the station.
Charles lit another cigar, for all he knew those machines would start shooting people; at least then he would be getting a more efficient service!
Charles boarded the train walking past the cabins until he found his pre-arranged seating arrangements. They were first class of course as always and since Charles was by now a long standing and loyal costumer of DC Metro a bottle of wine was surely enough present and waiting for him on the table.
"Ahh there you are Mr. Hastings I have been waiting for you, please sit and make yourself comfortable" said the familiar German accented voice on time as usual.
Charles put down the case and took his seat putting out the cigar knowing the man in front of him was a prominent anti smoker.
"What amazes me Mr. Kessler is the way by which you seem to find yourself in this cart before it has even departed its first station for the day" said Charles making conversation despite him knowing the answer to his question very well indeed.
"Come, come now Mr. Hastings, you should know by now that gaining entry to a closed train is little effort for the organizations I represent" said Kessler pouring the content of the bottle into the two glasses… it did not seem like wine as Charles had expected. Kessler appeared to have noticed and brought the bottle to view for Charles to see its identity.
"I thought for today's meeting we would taste something more potent, Schnaps to be precise. Do please taste it, this bottle has come a long way… from my birthplace Austria in fact"
Charles glared at the small glass before him and sipped from it gaining a taste of the liquid, he had to admit this drink was far more enjoyable then their normal wines.
"Most excellent indeed Mr. Kessler" said Charles draining his cup and waiting for Kessler to explain this hastily planned meeting.
Kessler took slightly more time to finish his drink measuring the quality as savoring the taste once he found it satisfying. By the time Kessler had drained his cup Charles had finished another cursing himself for his lack of control.
"My colleagues have requested me to inquire after your progress concerning operation Eagle"
Charles denied his bodies impulse for another glass of the beverage and focused on his compatriot's strange request. Why would they be looking into the development? Hadn't he made it clear that years would be required before he could even hope to test his theories?
"I must say Mr. Kessler that I am surprised at this request, there is nothing to be said of Eagle at this time"
"We are not asking for the technical details we have all those from our sources. What we want is your words on the program" interrupted Kessler with a somewhat more earnest approach to this meeting than usual.
Charles pondered this for a moment and wondered how on Earth was going through with another meeting just for him to repeat himself worth such a waste of time?
"I have little more to say on the matter at this time, the fuselage itself could be constructed easily enough using existing technology but the power generation system for this machine would have to be extraordinary… many hundreds of times humanities current energy output in total.
My team and I have seen remarkable progress I would have not dared hope possible after our original meeting but we are still years away from any experimental system let alone a fully operational one"
Kessler listened intently showing no signs of his thoughts until he opened his brief case taking out a black file.
"There are some alterations to the plan; I would like you to read this file and make your assessment of it"
Charles took hold of the folder and opened the file finding no clues as to its origin nor it author as he examined its opening page. Resigning himself to reading it Charles proceeded intently and was soon bemused as to what he saw.
"Kessler, what is this about? These figures can't be right"
"Our organization expects a resource short fall in the near future"
Charles tossed the file back to the desk, was this some joke?
"A resource shortfall? How could 97% of currently available resources become inaccessible and 99% if your reported industrial capacities become unavailable? What is this all about Kessler?"
"Like I said our organization expects a resource shortfall in the near future, think of it as expected budget cuts. My colleges would like to know if production of Eagle could proceed despite these shortcomings"
"Not smoothly that is certain" said Charles as he examined the more detailed information in the file." Well, if you compensated for your lack of resources with existing construction you would not need to produce any heavy equipment for Eagle. You could in theory rebuild a Repcon Rocket ship to suite your purpose but it would be a cheap alternative at best. But it would not matter if you could not create a working propulsion system"
Kessler nodded as he took a second black folder out of his case and placed it at the table. "Read it" he said filling his glass again.
Charles read the file; this was nothing like the previous one and contained years' worth of propulsion system development among its pages.
"You are not the only scientist we contacted for this task; many hundreds more have made their contribution to our case"
"Why then did you need me? You have what you need in this file" Said Charles quite angry about being played around with like this.
"We need alternative perspectives for our work. Do you think we can build this system using the resources available in the previous file?"
Charles pondered this question; he could not deny that this discussion as a hypothetical one was fascinating but he knew that his work with these people was far from hypothetical… they were bloody serious about it.
"No, I can't see it being accomplished with such drastic cuts; it would be like cutting the funding of the US army to the level of a boy scouts platoon"
Kessler nodded and stood up packing his suitcase and putting on his hat.
"The Enclave thanks you for your time Mr. Hastings" said Kessler as he turned to leave the cart.
"Are you leaving?" Said Charles surprised by Kessler's breaking of habit.
"It's quite early relatively to our normal; I have never seen you break with schedule like this Mr. Kessler"
Kessler smiled, Charles had never seen him do so and this alien face gave him chills down his spine.
"Today I have to make an exception, it is actually quite late. You may keep that bottle… I expect before this day is over you will find yourself in need of it. Goodbye Mr. Hastings"
With that Kessler departed the cart; the train stopped which was strange considering this station was not a part of its route but Charles had learned to expect that sort of thing from these people.
"Goodbye Mr. Hastings", in all their Meetings Kessler always said "Until we meet again". Something was up… A sudden meeting out of the blue which demanded no delay, a hypothetical 99.9% cut in production capability, serious details about the accommodation of many hundreds of people into space and sudden breaks of habit due to haste?
Charles grew grim, there was no such thing as hypothetical with these people.
Sirens started to shriek their message of doom answering a question to which Charles already had the answer.
Kessler was right; he would indeed need that bottle.
Charles remained seated as the siren sent the metro into a frenzy of activity. His concerns were not for finding shelter or of the great disaster he knew was heading his way but of the half full alcoholic beverage his "dear friend" Kessler left behind.
Should he drink it now and face his demise literally in high spirits or would it be best to save it? Charles laughed, as if he would be around to drink it after the bombs fell… although maybe he would be?
Charles's mind filled with wonder; he was not a total stranger to the thought of nuclear war and knew fairly well what he ought to do in such an emergency. The Metro station presented him with a natural shelter once the bombs began to drop however staying for long in its confines would leave him quite dead of worse… parts of him might end up in someone's stomach!
Charles stood up and packed his items, heading towards the vault was probably his best shot but he doubted he could make it in time now. A better option would be to remain in the metro and then after the bombs fell slip away with as many supplies as he could grab.
Charles packed the bottle inside his suitcase and noticed Kessler had also left him another magazine of ammunition. That chap was indeed quite well meaning and considerate which was surprising if one was aware of his line of work. Picking up the magazine Charles noticed it was the same type as his own pistol; coincidence? Not with these people… they knew everything.
Charles loaded his pistol and carefully hid it inside the inward pocket inside his jacket to provide at least some camouflage for it. Taking a quick look around the train cart Charles began to pinch any item he thought might help him in his survival; a light bulb, batteries, Nuka cola bottles from the cooler and other such odds and ends which might be worth a trade.
Carefully making sure he had not forgotten anything Charles lifted his hat and with a bow at the cart's exit placed it back on his head. "Good bye civilization" he said in a moment of dark humor, the world was coming to an end and all he could do was make as much of a laugh out of it as he could.
The metro station was exited but the frenzy Charles expected had not yet truly began; there had been dozens of false alarms so not everybody was concerned however the security staff where naturally carrying out the normal procedure and had by now locked down the station.
A passing guard challanged him probably wondering why Charles was disembarking a cart which had not even filled with passengers yet however a short show of a security pass seemed to satisfy his curiosity. The tension grew and people began to gather around the ticket stand, a few trains where still operating but they would never get anywhere in time before the bombs fell.
Charles took out his metro map and began to examine its contents; there appeared to be a number of service tunnels which could probably act as a safe haven away from the mass crowds of the metro station however… if Charles could open a map and find them, so could others probably after exactly the same thing; to survive.
Charles opened his cigar case and considered having a smoke, noting a curious uniformed figure among the many people Charles examined the man's face and immediately knew that he knew the bombs where coming.
Charles approached the man and offered him the cigar, it was better to make friends while he had the time.
He still had a considerable stock of cigars at hand so it was no real loss.
The crowd around The lieutenant was a mass of slightly panicked, slightly pushing people that was slowly dropping the ‘slightly’ and just becoming panicked and pushing. Thoughts came to mind of forcing his way to the front and taking complete control, but his experience told him he would just create more panic. In absence of a plan he took to helping those around him the best he could.
“Sir?” A meek voice of scared woman reached him. She was short, barely reaching his chest. “I seem to have gotten myself all turned around and I can’t find the teller.” Jason listened intently as she spoke, as she was very soft spoken. He smiled at her then directed her to the front with his best wishes.
He turned to face the crowd and noticed a man about his height approaching him. he was offering Jason a cigar, which he accepted with mild hesitance as he observed the man. He thanked the man and asked for a lighter. He himself wasn't much of smoker himself, and so never carried a lighter.
Charles was momentarily taken aback by the soldier's lack of both a lighter and a habit of smoking. Merely by observing the man's handling of the cigar Charles could guess that he was dealing with the rare breed of none smoking soldier.
Memories of his own military career filled his mind. Charles smiled weakly for a moment recalling that all the "boys" on his base smoked… the higher the rank, the heavier the smoker.
Charles elegantly opened his upper left pocket and presented the soldier with an obviously antiquated lighter. A flicker of a finger produced small concentrated flames which quickly lit the cigar.
Charles removed a second cigar from his pack and lit it for himself. As he took a few soothing puffs of the familiar Tabaco Charles wondered what on Earth he would do once his supply ran out.
As Charles turned to talk to the soldier he felt a sudden disturbance in the Earth as if a minute Earth quake was taking place. A dozen or so other such quakes followed each progressively getting stronger and more intense.
By the fifth of these occurrences small pockets of debris began to descend from the tunnel sealing to the platform below. A short silence followed returning a measure of confidence to the concerned passengers and staff; maybe there was nothing to it?
As soon as these thoughts crossed their minds the entire tunnels where shaken violently as if a giant was hammering the station between a hammer and anvil. The ferocity of the chaos grew and a terrible blast of power, heat and sound blasted into even this deep crypt of the Earth.
Charles ducked downwards and covered himself, for the first time today he could no longer find anything funny about his situation.
As the first tremor shook the Earth, Jason's heart sunk. This was it. This was the end of his, of everyone's, current way of life and the start of something unknown. He found himself frozen. His fear didn't come from the fear of death, but the fear of starting over. Having to build up from nothing, but not just nothing; destroyed nothing. He knew very well that if he ever got the chance to see the world again, it would transcend the definition of a 'wasteland'.
Jason hadn't registered the silence or the debris falling despite being coated in dust. He had kept a stone face during the time, and was violently shaken out of his thoughts and forced to focus on keeping his balance. It took merely a second for Jason to swallow down his fear. He couldn't allow himself to give in to panic; it would put others at risk. He scanned the tunnel quickly, the guards were closing the entry gates. They were pushing people back, men, women, children all trying to squeeze in through the closing gate. Some were falling over themselves and others as the quakes shocked them. The guards managed to close and lock the gates, but the people outside continued to screamed and cried out. Jason’s heart ached. There was nothing he could do for those people and it made him physically sick.
A relatively strong tremor that caused pieces of concrete ceiling to fall thrashed through the tunnel and was followed by a silence. It took him a moment to realize why there was a pause, but once he did, he reached out and pushed the two people in front of him down before screaming,
‘DUCK AND COVER!’ His voice boomed through the silenced tunnel and just as he spoke a piercing blast of sound effectively cut him off. The heat was terrible, and the surge left no one standing. The sound from the blast lowered in volume and was overpowered by screaming, but the heat and rocking remained. The heat felt like it was getting hotter and the radiation from the fallout was seeping into the metro. Jason began to force people past the ticket gates while yelling instructions as loud as he could. His voice was suppressed by distressed screaming, but once he got those around him to move others followed.
The tremors grew worse by the second sending led and earth crumbling towards the rails below. The once grand staircases of the Metro station broke and fell taking many dozens of human beings with them into to the obscurity history.
Pipe lines burst; electrical cables short circuited and darkened the Metro tunnels adding to the confusion of the many occupants of this rapidly developing catacomb. The crowds reacted in different ways:
Some rushed into the last train on the platform hoping to escape this melody of death but where destined to be crushed to death when a section of the roof collapsed and flattened the train below. Others attempted to rush the station guards and escape the station; some guards let them pass into the dark abyss of the Metro tunnels while others fired in panic slaying many as the concentrated automatic fire found its targets easily in the tight confines of the station.
Many others did what Uncle Sam had told them they should do for more than a century; "Duck and Cover" While some remained in place too shocked to think of their safety.
Many died as the debris fell, some even managed to be drowned as the huge now defunct water system of the tunnels filled them entirely and in some areas even reaching four feet of height.
Charles saw the coming body of water and climbed to safety using one of the service tunnels. As the chaos below began to subside Charles knew that to stay in the station for too long would mean certain death however in what manner should he take his leave?
Now was the time to make friends and in times like these there were no better friends then the armed ones. Charles looked for his opportunity and found it when he saw an overpowered guard trapped under some rubble.
There were many others in a similar situation and Charles would have saved any person in such a situation in peace time however now Charles was forced to become selective.
Charles made his way to the trapped guard and saw that his legs where covered by a mixture of concrete and other materials mashed together into an unrecognizable mass. Charles tried to shift the materials but could not do so alone.
Charles turned and looked for anybody who could aid him. He saw that since those vile seconds of the attack things had miraculously managed to calm down thanks in large to one soldier who kept his head. Those few guards who had turned to weapons fire ceased their madness and order began to form in the chaos.
Charles soon got the help of another guard and the two began to shift the rubble together. Charles gazed at the guard's eyes and saw that just like him this guard beyond the will to do good wanted mostly to be useful.
Charles understood this very well; anything was better than to think of these events.
The United States of America was under attack, three hundred years of history had been blasted into ruin. Charles did not fail to see the irony as he and the guard managed to dislodge a steel bar among the rubble; As a patriotic Canadian he had never ceased to consider himself a Canadian and despite the annexation Charles never considered himself an American citizen.
Now for the first time in his life Charles could not deny it; he was an American. And despite the sins of the nation towards the land of his birth Charles was sad to see the death of the land of dreams and opportunity.
RPG
