Hero Falls Kingdom Rises

by Farhat Kidwai

  “That’s crazy. I don’t support trophy hunting but it was a legal hunt. If someone did that to my friend I would let the law handle it. Omega can’t take the law into his own hands. If I did what he did I would be in jail facing the consequences for my actions. Not like Omega who ran back to his home. He is wanted in America for murder and he needs to surrender and face the consequences.” Fossil fuel lobbyist Toby Daniels who was once a supporter of Omega responded. Fossil fuel industry was using surrogates to fight back against the efforts by environmentalists to use Omega to push their cause.

  “Roman never committed a crime either and yet he was brutally tortured and killed. What gives us the right to give permits to kill other animals without their permission? They don’t have a say in this situation. In this instance justice was served. For all of you who want to go big game hunting; the playing field has finally been leveled. Any game requires two willing participants but that wasn’t the case until now. You still want to hunt endangered species? Let’s see if the militias in those regions can hunt you before you can hunt the animal. Now it’s truly a game,” John responded.

  “You people are disgusting. Now you are supporting terrorists. You are supporting killing of Americans at the hands of terrorists. You have turned into a sympathizer.” Toby tried to get into a shouting match by hurling insults which is somewhat the norm on News panel discussions to get better ratings.

  “I am, I am a sympathizer for animal rights and I am proud of it. I am not paid for by the fossil fuel industry hell bent of destroying the plant for make a quick buck.” John fired right back.

  “Guys, Guys. Let’s be civil. We will leave it at that for now.” The anchor successfully got what they desired from the panel. This was ratings gold.

  On another news show, they had the Pastor Paul going up against scientists on the same topic.

  “Pastor Paul. What do you think about Omega’s actions? From a religious point of view were they justified?” The anchor asked.

  “Bible does not condone violence under any conditions. He killed innocent people and that makes him a sinner,” Pastor Paul responded.

  “Some might say that his actions are right out of the bible. If anything he is as powerful as a God and throughout Bible there are instances where God gets angry at humans. In fact, the biblical god has done far worse than Omega.” Decorated Inventor and Billionaire Jack Helm responded. Helm was considered the one of the most brilliant minds of this generation and had a great vision for the future.

  “That is very interesting. Pastor, do you see the resemblance between his actions and the bible?” The anchor asked.

  “I don’t. Jesus is the only true savior. We can’t fall for false prophets like Omega. If anything his indiscriminate and barbaric killings are more in line with the something the Devil would do,” Pastor Paul refuted.

  “Jack. How do we come to terms with the ruthlessness with which he killed all these people?” The anchor asked.

  “The punishments were in line with old testament. The reason historically we had harsher punishments dished out in public so it would act as a deterrent for others. I am not in his head but he may have done this to stop others from going out there any hurting animals. Overall his actions may benefit society. If he can force us to start treating animals better and protect their habitats it may save our ecosystem. He can make a positive impact on climate change. I know my pastor friend doesn’t believe in climate change but for this rest this is not all bad,” Helm answered.

  Pastor jumped in “God created this planet for us. He made animals for us. I don’t buy into humans creating global warming. Driving cars or killing a few animals will not destroy it. Sin will.”

  “I will give you a theological argument. You believe that Earth is only six thousand years old right? Yet we have fossil fuel that we are using that dates back millions of years. I have heard two main religious justifications for it being there. Some say the Devil put it there for us to questions God and others say God put it there to test our faith. Either argument leads to the same conclusion that those who believe the Bible should not use fossil fuel. I mean it is all in front of you. It is dark, comes from deep underground where the Devil lives. It burns up like hell fire and releases toxic chemicals. It is heating up the planet. It’s making the planet more suitable for the Devil to live. Compare that to the energy sources created by God like sun, wind, and tides. What is common amongst them? They all produce clean energy. And that would make sense. God wouldn’t create energy sources that would poison and destroy his most precious creation. You can argue that using fossil fuel is actually a sin. People involved with the industry could be called devils minions.” Helm had a huge smirk on his face as he made his argument.

  “That is a very interesting point of view. Pastor, what do you have to say about it?” The anchor tried to control his laugh as he threw it back to the pastor.

  “Jack is a smart man. He has a way for twisting words. I don’t believe using fossil fuel is a sin and the people working in the industry are definitely not devil’s minions. I have a lot of good folk who work in the industry that are regulars at our church. We are getting off topic. We are not here to talk about fossil fuel industry.” Pastor Paul wanted to get off the topic as quickly as possible.

  “Back to Omega. Just quickly give me your final thoughts. Pastor Paul first.” The anchor asked his final question before ending the panel.

  “We need to take this very seriously. I don’t know where he came from but he is not from here. He may not be the Devil but his actions are not God like either. He has broken the law and needs to be punished for his crimes.” Pastor Paul ended on that note

  “Some believe that he is God. He is God to the Dashkis and who am I to tell them they are wrong. Especially since he is the closest thing to God we have ever witnessed with our own eyes. We may not like the way he is doing things but he is not human and doesn’t have to oblige by our rules. Nothing he has done so far is anything worse than what we have done to each other. I would caution anyone thinking about retaliating against someone who might have the power to destroy us all.” With those words from Helm the anchor ended the segment.

  Chapter 7

  Omega was finally back at the GSRC for the first time in months. With the recent events there was a lot to talk about. Omega’s actions would eventually impact everyone at the GSRC so they had to figure out the next move. Omega being in the safety of the GSRC was not going to reset the chain of events that had been set in motion. It was just the beginning of the chaos.

  For now that was not at the top of his mind. He was still struggling with the loss of Roman. Whenever he was going through a rough time there was only one person who reach him.

  “Well you know how to steal some headlines. I didn’t know you were capable of this. Is my brother going through a rebellious phase?” Kat walked into Omega’s room and tried to lighten up the mood.

  “It’s good to see you sister,” Omega was happy to see Kat but was not in the mood to joke.

  “Did serving justice make you feel any better about your loss?” Kat asked on a serious note.

  “It didn’t. I thought it would but it didn’t,” Omega responded.

  “Revenge often is not as satisfying as we imagine. It doesn’t really ease the pain. So I have heard.” Kat tried to console her brother. She couldn’t stand to see him hurting.

  “I killed him too fast. I made it too easy. He needed to suffer like Roman. His punishment was too quick. I failed to deliver justice for Roman. I failed him and his family.” Omega was still struggling.

  “You must have built a very strong bond with Roman and his family to feel this way.” Kat knew that for Omega to be reacting this must have really hurt.

  “I did. They accepted me as their family. I felt happy when I was around them. And Bill took it all away. He left Kira and the cubs to fend for themselves. Two of them were taken by poachers. Rest would have eventually been killed by other lions. Now they can’t go back to t
heir home until they are older. And once they do then what? They are also going to get hunted by greedy humans. I can’t keep those innocent babies safe. I have never felt so helpless. It makes me angry. I need to do more. I have to do more.” Omega looked down trying to hide his feelings from Kat.

  Kat got up and put her hand on Omega’s shoulder. “We are here for you. Whatever you decide to do next we will be right next to you. We are the only family we have ever known. When you are hurting like this it hurts us too. So please don’t shut us out. Let us help you.” Kat tried to console Omega as best she could. She had never seen him like this.

  “Thanks, sis,” Omega appreciated the support.

  “Everyone wants to see you. You are not going to fix anything by hiding in this room. If you want to help these animals let’s help them. If you want people to stop hurting them let’s make them. This is the type of stuff we are trained for. Let us help you brother. You don’t have to do it alone.” Kat walked out of the room to give Omega some space. “Come join us in the lounge when you are ready.”

  “How is he doing?” Yasmine asked Kat.

  “He needs time. I have never seen him like this. He is hurting and he is angry. The death of Roman really impacted him. He really bonded with that family.” Kat informed the rest.

  “Seriously!? He did all this over a lion? What’s the big deal?” Stan thought Omega was overreacting.

  “Hey moron. You do understand that Omega is not human? If he can bond with us, he can bond with animals as well. What do you think he would do if something like that happened to one of us?” Sol tried to explain the situation to Stan in a way that he would understand.

  “He better burn the whole place down. You know I would if someone hurt any of you. If it’s important to him it is important to us. One of you needs to help me understand this situation with the animals. I guess it’s not a priority for the UN based on the missions we have been given.” Stan seemed genuinely interested in learning.

  “I think we all need to learn more if we want to help. It’s what we do for our families.” Yasmine agreed.

  The room got quiet as Omega entered, everyone staring at him. Stan realized his brother needs him.

  “Omega, I’m here for you, whatever you need.” Stan reassured Omega.

  “I…” Omega tried to speak up but his thoughts were scattered, he was so overwhelmed. “I appreciate you all for trying to help but I need time.”

  “Take as much time as you need. We will be ready when you are.” Yasmine could see Omega was still hurting.

  After Omega left the room Sol added, “Let me go start preparing some material. I will go talk to Elliot since he knows a lot more about it. Meet me in the briefing room after dinner.”

  Later that day…

  “Do I need to bring anything?” Stan asked Sol as they were getting ready to go into the briefing room.

  “Stan, don’t worry, the rest of us do the heavy lifting for you. We wouldn’t want you injuring your trigger finger by taking notes.” Sol chided Stan as he headed to the briefing room. Stan paused for a second as he flipped off Sol then followed him.

  “I’m getting coffee, it’s gonna be a long night. You want the usual?” Yasmine asked Stan.

  “Sis, you’re the best,” Stan smiled back. Yasmine always knew what he was thinking.

  Everyone headed into the briefing room where they would usually prepare for upcoming missions, only this time it was personal. The main wall was covered with large monitors with a long conference table in the middle. Sol sat at the main terminal that had controlled the displays.

  “Alright who’s ready to kick off Operation: Don’t-Fuck-With-My-Family?!” Stan shouted as he entered the briefing room. Sol, quite used to Stan’s brazen personality, didn’t even look up from the main terminal. He loaded video after video on every screen so that everyone could see, multiple at a time.

  “So we are going multi-screen today?” Yasmine asked as she entered the room and handed Stan a large thermos.

  “There is a lot to cover in one evening. A lot of really terrible and heart-breaking stuff.” Sol replied.

  Kat pushed a box of tissues over to Stan. “Funny. So what exactly are we looking for, Sol?” Stan asked, still unsure what they were actually going to do.

  “Well just like Omega, our exposure to animals has been limited. We grew up in the GSRC and didn’t have normal upbringing. That is why you are so emotionally inept.” Sol got a smirk from Yasmine for that comment. “Everything in our lives has centered on helping humans. We have never looked into animal suffering. Even though environment and climate change has been a priority for Elliot it has not been for us. We have just been focused on missions that help humans. Now we have Elliot and Omega both questioning that. We need to broaden our understanding of the planet as well. Understand what is going on with the climate and the rest of the species. Once we understand the issues we can decide if it’s time to pick our own mission.” Kat tried to level set with the team before they began.

  “I am down for that. I have been saying that for years. I am tired of being a puppet for the UN. We are capable of deciding how best to help the planet. We don’t need the UN to pick our missions without questioning their real agenda.” Yasmine was excited about the team coming around to her viewpoint on this topic.

  “We might not have much of a choice anyway. They are not very happy with Omega’s actions. So maybe it is the right time for us to become independent from the UN and go our own way.” Sol added as he began loading up the monitors with videos.

  The team watched a variety of videos, analysis and documentaries related to environment, climate change, habitat destruction, and animal abuse at the hands of humans.

  They started with the basics of human and animal bonds. They had never been allowed to have animals at the GSRC so they didn’t have much exposure to how beautiful it can be. The first things that popped up were stories about dogs protecting people. There were so many stories of dogs blindly jumping in to save their family members. In one story a toddler fell into a swimming pool and nearly drowned but the family dog jumped in after it and rescued the baby. Another example a couple was gardening in their backyard when their dog saw a rattlesnake that was about to bite them. The dog jumped in front of the people and was bitten by the snake instead, saving the couple from attack. Elliot had really prepared Sol to take the team on a journey.

  “These animals really care about their humans, don’t they,” Kat said. “This is more than just defending themselves; they’re willing to die to protect their family.”

  As they kept exploring the subject they came across several stories about human contact with whales and dolphins in the wild. Yasmine loved dolphins to they took some time to watch those videos.

  A group of scuba divers came in contact with a pod of dolphins. They approached and started swimming in circles around the divers. One person started to leave the circle and suddenly saw a great white shark right in front of him. He realized the dolphins were protecting them from the shark. The dolphins swam around them for almost an hour until the shark left. Once it was clear the dolphins swam off.

  A diver studying whales was caught off guard when a humpback whale nudged her to the surface to protect from an incoming tiger shark. The whale then put its large fin between the diver and the shark as a barrier to keep the shark at bay until it left.

  A boy who fell off a boat and didn’t know how to swim was saved by a passing dolphin that grabbed him and brought him to the surface in reach of his father. The dolphin poked its head out of the water and paused for a second before diving under water and swimming away.

  “Wow I didn’t realize animals could care so much about humans,” Stan said in a surprised tone.

  “I guess all mammals are capable of caring,” Kat added. “Maybe we just don’t give them enough credit. I guess we are not that special after all. They have intelligence like us including emotional intelligence.”

  “Yeah. Minus all the shady shit t
hat we humans like to do. Maybe in that way they are actually better than us. You see what you get. No hidden agenda. I can see why Omega was able to bond with them,” Yasmine added.

  They wanted to see some videos of Africa to get a glimpse into Omega experience. There were several clips of baby lion cubs being bottle fed at a sanctuary in Africa, like the one Omega visited. They recently lost their patents to poachers and would die if left in the wild. The cubs got very excited when they saw the sanctuary staff approaching when it was feeding time.

  Another clip showed a baby rhino and baby elephant playing together. They were both orphaned around the same time because of hunters. They would chase each other around the park like siblings and when they were all tired out they would curl up and sleep next to each other.

  “These people seem to have a very special connection with these animals,” Kat said breaking the silence. “It’s like they are part of their own family.”

  “Surrogate parents since some asshole killed their real parents. It’s beautiful to watch these inter-species relationships but the circumstances are fucking painful,” Sol added.

  “It’s like our family. Bunch of orphan misfits just trying to make the best of the situation.” Yasmine chimed in as this was personal to everyone in the group.

  They continued watching more videos.

  “Oh that’s crazy,” Yasmine said as Sol played a video of a Chimpanzee getting released into the wild. “This little guy has been in a sanctuary most of his life and just got released into a reserve. Look at how happy he is!” Yasmine’s astonishment continues as she watches the chimp turn around and hug his long-time caretaker before taking off and climbing a nearby tree.

  The mood began to change as the night went on. The team spent the early hours seeing how animals can bond with humans, their affectionate and caring nature and their displays of gratitude when the same is shown to them in turn. They knew this is how Omega must have felt when he met Roman and why losing him is so painful.