The Leaders of Pedtro Conference

The meet and greet reached its conclusion and all the guests present made their way to their way to the 50th floor of the building for the main event, the Leaders Conference. All made their way into the large hall. In it was a large stage and podium at the furthest end and seats arranged in a semi-circle. They made their way into their assigned seats and waited for the first proceeding to begin. Folorunsho had regrouped with the Kenan and the rest and was seated beside Ingrid, whose eyes were locked on him as usual.

The conference began as the President of Pedtro took to the podium. Folorunsho had only ever seen the man on television now and he was unsure whether he was more impressive in person or not. President Emich Buer was an aged man, with wrinkles across his forehead, neck and knuckles. His hair had gone grey from his age as well. The only part of him that seemed untouched by time was the look in his eyes, one between determination and purpose. Or was Folorunsho reading too deep into it?

"Welcome all," President Buer greeted. His voice was amplified by his mic and his visage was beamed on the large screens behind him. "To yet another annual leader of Pedtro Conference,"

The President began the proceedings immediately, calling on various ministers and other officials to give reports on the goals they had reached in their economy, ecology, education, politics and other aspects of Pedtro's governance. It did not take long for Folorunsho to get bored with the proceedings and fall asleep. After addressing their current achievements, the conference moves on to its second half.

"We shall now move on to ongoing issues currently plaguing the planet," President Buer said. "I will now let the Minister of Trade and Foreign Exchange discuss how we intend to address the issue of importing moonstone and iron-"

Before he could finish his statement, a hand shot into the air. It was none other than the Mayor of Meiden who wore a smouldering look on his face.

"Honourable Abayomi, could you save questions for after the second half?" The President asked.

"I would have you forgive my interruption but it is for good reason," The Mayor explained.

"And, if I may ask, might that be dear Honourable?"

"The issue of kidnappings that have been occurring widespread across Pedtro,"

A murmur erupted amongst the officials, indicating at the very least, their interest in the matter.

"That is already tabled on today's agenda and will be addressed by the Minister of Security and Defence," Burr explained.

"The fact that it is not tabled as the first thing to be addressed indicates the lack of importance being placed on it!" The mayor exclaimed.

"Dear Honourable, your bias is showing," The President commented.

"How dare-!"

"Would you have me believe that if this issue you would like us to address immediately is something you would advocate for had it not affected you?"

"Whether or not it did is inconsequential!" The Mayor growled. "What matters is that we deal with this threat before it grows out of hand!"

The murmurs of the crowd grew louder. All of them seemed to agree with the Mayor of Meiden. President Buer acknowledged this and called on the Minister of Security and Defense to give his statement.

"Good day to all and thank you for having me here today," The Minister began. "As you are all aware, there have been a series of kidnappings lately by individuals wearing black hoods to hide their identities. These individuals have consistently abducted individuals with significant wealth or influence, or their relatives and have made away with millions of Durls,"

"Though we have apprehended a handful of them, with the most recent being this morning at the Shandel Railway Station, none of the members in our custody have been willing to talk. The only denominating feature across the board for all of them is that they are all members of the Lower Class,"

"We are acting under the assumption that these hooded deviants are simply poor men and women trying to make money the quickest way they can. Ordinarily, such a syndicate would have been cracked down upon by now and dissolved, but these groups of people have proven to be experts at evading capture and are still at large,"

"This is why the Ministry of Security and Defense, alongside the peacekeeping forces of Pedtro have come together to establish a means to a solution," The Minister continued. "If we are able to gather a near-unanimous vote in favour of it, we intend to establish a task force that will specialise in tracking down these kidnappers. Though it is not established yet, we have the first few members on standby and are ready to begin hunting after this conference,"

"Then why wait?!" The Mayor of Meiden asked. "If it is a vote you require, let it be done immediately!"

The crowd gave a small jeer in agreement. The Minister looked to the President for guidance. Emich Buer simply nodded in approval. If that was what they wanted, then it would be done. All the political officials began voting on screens presented before them. In a matter of minutes, the votes were collated and presented on screen. 92 per cent had voted in favour of the task force.

"It seems we agree then," The Minister said. "Following the conference, the task force shall be deployed to tackle this threat. I shall now give way for the next minister to-"

Suddenly, the screens began to distort. The feed being presented abruptly shifted from the voting results to that of a man. The man wore a black hood over his face and a pair of sunglasses over it. From the background behind him, it was clear that he was somewhere in the building.

"I'm sorry you all had to waste your time," The man said in a machine-like voice. "But you will not need a task force to find us. We are already here,"