Phoenix Ashes

Off in the distance, the fireball from the explosion at the bell tower was glowing through the fog as it rose to the sky. The sight brought a sense of accomplishment to Mortis. He felt that this plan could actually work. When he shook himself out of his trance he guided everyone to the inside of the capitol building. The building went into lockdown as more people began seeing the explosion off in the distance. It was all going according to plan as they managed to weave their way through the chaos within the building. More people focused on the massive event outside and not the small group of people that had started moving through the building.

"Let's keep going. The mayor's office is at the end of the hall on the other side of the lobby." Mortis whispered to the rest of the group.

The group gave a silent nod as the alarm began to go off overhead. Like shadows in the night Mortis and his followers made their way unseen across the lobby. He could feel his heartbeat in his throat as he got closer to the hallway. His goal was within his grasp and it was too close for him to give up now. As he wrapped his hand around the door handle that lead to the final stretch of the hallway a hand landed on his shoulder. He turned around to see one of his followers facing him with his mask lifted.

"Sir, are you ready for this? This will change everything from now on." The follower had a smile on their face as they spoke.

"Yes, I am ready for everything to start getting serious." Mortis gave a smirk as he jerked the door open.

Before the last member walked through the door they grabbed a metal door bar. After they finally made it through the door they put the bar through the hand locking it shut. This gave a sense of safety to the operation. When the group gathered at the end of the hall just outside of the mayor's office, guns began getting handed out to each one of the members. A moment of silence passed between them as Mortis started counting down using his hand.

"Three, two, one. Now!" Mortis yelled as he kicked the door open.

The mayor fell out of his seat as the members pushed his bodyguards against the walls. They forced each guard to disarm themselves. Mortis approached the mayor's desk placing down a device. He pressed the button causing the electronics to shut down as the device came to life. He walked to the mayor and pulled him to his feet by the collar of his jacket.

"Now, mayor I know you don't know who we are." Mortis said smoothing out the mayor's suite.

"No, I don't know who you are." The mayor said as tried to steady his breathing.

"Well, we are as far as you are concerned in charge. I would like to add that no one has died yet. We don't want to kill anyone either. I just want to make this town a military state." Mortis said rolling the mayor his office chair.

"Well, would giving you the power over the town keep this from becoming a blood bath?" The mayor asked with interest.

"Yes it would and we are not terrorists. We are not trying to spread terror among the masses. We want everyone to come together and keep these invaders from getting any deeper into Italy. The only thing is that we cannot trust the government to protect us. They didn't show any real worry for the people they left in Sicily and if my followers can bring the nearby towns into this union we can get Sicily back. That brings me to you. Either you can join us and you can keep your spot or you can be taken by force." Mortis said leaning over the mayor's desk.

"I would rather make this easier on us all and this is a special time in history. You have my support as long as you can keep your promise." The mayor put out his hand to shake Mortis's hand.

"Then this stays here in this office and the guards come with me." Mortis gestured emptying the room of everyone but him and the mayor.

They exchanged looks as Mortis gave him a smile and removed the device from the desk causing the electronics to come back to life. He slowly made his way out as all power to the building was lost. This was done by two members who broke from the main group to cut the power and phone lines to the building. They did it to make sure the mayor couldn't call anyone before Mortis and the group could make it back into the fog.

"Let's go home." Mortis said as the group changed their mask filters and made their way out the door they came in.

The guards made their way back to the group's home base without fighting with them. When they had made it back the guards sat in Mortis's office with him talking. The idea was to have the guards join the group and keep an eye on the mayor. It wasn't that Mortis couldn't trust the mayor, but he didn't want to take any chances. As for the guards they would be watched by a sniper that will live in a nearby building.

"We have control over the city now. We have created the future of Italy and it is a future of prosperity. We will show the world that Italy will not fall." Mortis announced as he made his way down the stairs to join his members.

Soon Mortis had members infecting the ranks of the city council and other positions. His plans had started coming together and all that was left to do was expand slowly into the surrounding towns. The night after taking control of the town the A.F.A.F.I. feasted and they feasted well. Each one cheered and congratulated each other on how well everything went.

The world was now in their hands.