Argonauts

The Plan

In a secure location in Greece, hidden from prying eyes, a conference was being held that if successful could mean well for the safety and security of Europe and not to mention the rest of the world as well. Nearly two dozen people, presidents and leaders of European nations as well as armed forces commanders were exchanging words with each other on various topics around a large glass table.

Soon a man with a thick white mustache and wearing a navy blue suit and green tie came to the front of the table, his stride was one of confidence and he was ready to make his pitch to the committee.

Clearing his throat, the man got the attention of everyone in the room. They all took a seat at the table that had been designated by country, all of them European nations.

"Ladies and gentlemen, thank you for attending this important meeting. For those of you who do not know me, my name is Ambrose Richard Clarke, and I am a former soldier of the United Nations peacekeeping forces. For thirty years I fought on various battlefields around the world: Sicily, Afghanistan, Brazil, Mexico, and even in Northern Russia to quell the rebellion there. What happened with those battles? Simple: we won, the enemy didn't. After I retired from fighting and began to watch on the sidelines, a newer and more dangerous enemy began to appear and not long after that did we discover that they were not a mere story told in a book."

Ambrose motioned to the table, and the glass surface, which was actually a really large computer screen, began to show various media. Newspaper clippings and videos from around the world, showing the same thing: monsters. Creatures that should have only existed in stories and myth were real and though the majority of the public believed them to still be that, the people in the room knew otherwise and that was why they were meeting on this day.

After taking a big breath Ambrose continued to speak, "In the last year, supernatural activity has been increasing all over the world and for the most part it has been contained. An incident in Japan was silenced by the Japanese Defense Force, while a large energy surge caused an island in the central Pacific known as Yeonog to go dark for a few days before seemingly being brought back to normal. Then, incidents in Crystal Cove, New York City, Starlight City, and San Francisco as well as Astros City also had a fair share of supernatural activity and were contained, mostly by the various demon slayer organizations that the United Nations is allied with."

The table returned to normal and every one turned to Ambrose again, their attention to him even more focused.

Ambrose sat down in the chair before him. "However, what if, but some means, we aren't so fortunate next time? What if something catastrophic happens and we can't merely cover it up like we have been for the last decade? That, ladies and gentlemen, is why I asked you all here."

A middle aged man, balding and with little grey hair, spoke with a thick accent of an Eastern European language, "To address how to deal with monsters, soldier?"

Ambrose shook his head, "For the last five years my team and I have worked extensively on bringing this project together. Through various fields of experimentation my team and I have concluded that harming the creatures is no different from harming humans and they can still be killed with conventional weapons. Truth is there is only so much the U.N. can do on its own. Were it to deploy a large body of soldiers to any region in the world it would raise suspicions. That leads me to address one of the purposes of my proposal: I am requesting that the United Nations create a task force designed to handle these incidents before they get out of hand."

For a few moments the room was quiet. Looks were exchanged and while any words that were spoken were mere whispers there was some chuckling that could be heard. All the while Ambrose remained stoic in his chair. Being a fifty-three year old retired soldier, he was used to waiting for responses from his higher ups. This was no different than when he was in the field.

The committee al returned their focus to him and from there a woman who wore a pendant of the flag of Spain, recognizing her as the representative of that country, spoke to Ambrose, "Mr. Clarke, what you are proposing is rather extreme, don't you think?"

Standing back up, Ambrose began to address not only her but the room as well, "Ma'am, I will be quite frank with what I am about to say. One of my general fears is that, tomorrow something will happen and the world will be fully exposed to the fact that these monsters exist and there will be mass hysteria and panic. When that happens, everything will fall apart. Society will collapse and the world as we know it would end. This task force, should it come to fruition and as I believe it should, would help protect the world on its own. Only the United Nations itself would tell it where to go and what missions it would do. It would be top secret of course, away from the eyes of the public. Its members would be confidential, their pasts and identities erased the moment they sign on the dotted line. In return, the task force would be made up of people from around the world who would die to defend their fellow man. In short, gentlemen, this organization is perfect for the defense of the world, and you wouldn't have to worry about getting your hands dirty."

Many of the men and women nodded, seemingly liking the idea already, though there were still a few that were hesitant to accept such a proposal. One such a man stood up, wearing a black suit and tie and he wore a pendant of the flag of Greece, "And where would the funds for such an organization come from? Should the United Nations send care packages every month?"

His sarcasm was noted and even Ambrose cracked a smile for a moment. "No, councilor, everything to create the organization has been prepared in documents I will hand out to each of you when the meeting is over. Please, think this project over, because in my opinion the future of this world depends on it."

A few more minutes of talking on the finer details of the project went by before Ambrose handed out a series of blue folders pertaining to the project were given to everyone in the room.

After everyone had left, Ambrose remained standing in the room holding onto the only folder he had left. On the front of the folder in big bold letters were the words PROJECT ARGO.

As he stared at the folder, Ambrose solemnly said, "For Myra and Bella...I will save the world. Whatever it takes."