C2 Things falling apart

General Leo's POV

"General Leo, General Reggie is here to see you," Scorpion announced as he walked

"Okay, disarm him and let him in," I responded, and Scorpion nodded. He was about to leave when he turned around and stared at my grandson, who was sitting next to me; then he turned and stared at me, silently questioning with his facial expression if he should take him out, and I responded by shaking my head to communicate a No

" Liam is old enough to start learning from me, and besides, what we are going discuss is not that serious," I told him as I patted Liam, my little grandson, on his head, and Scorpion nodded, turned around, and left.

"Grandpa, why does he want me to leave?" Liam asked me innocently

" Oh my little boy," I said and rubbed his head again, "it's because grandpa wants to have an important meeting with a follow general, but as the only child among my grandchildren who is willing to be a general like me, I'd let you sit with us so that you will watch and learn how generals communicate but make sure you don't interrupt our discussion you can only speak when my guest is gone okay? I instructed, and he nodded. Just then, Scorpion walked in with General Reggie behind, and I gestured Scorpion to leave.

"Greetings General Leo." General Reggie greeted me and bowed to show respect

"Greetings to you too, General Reggie," I responded to his greeting. "You are welcome. Please take a seat."

"you disguised so much that one would not believe if told that you are a general," I said to him as soon as he got seated

"General Leo, you know how smart Lord Aiden is. He must have sent spies to monitor the movement of every General now, so I had to disguise this much so as to confuse them," he said and laughed

" That's very true," I concord. "By the way, how is your Mom hope she's better now."

"yes, General, she is better now," General Reggie replied

"Okay, that's good to hear," I said

"This is my grandson Liam. Liam, say Hi to General Reggie," I said, and Liam stood up and greeted him.

"good morning, General Reggie," Liam said and bowed just as I taught him to greet people

"Hello Liam," General Reggie replied coldly with his facial expressions telling he was comfortable with Liam

" so, to what do I owe this visit?" I asked, but he didn't reply. He just stared at Liam and stared back at me, silently questioning if it was okay for us to discuss in his presence, and I laughed.

"come on, Reggie, Liam is just a kid. You can say whatever you want to say to me in his presence," I told him

" I understand your point, general, but what I want to discuss is about his uncle, and I'd appreciate it if I could speak to you alone," he insisted

" If by his uncle you mean Lord Aiden, then you don't have to worry. Liam doesn't even know Lord Aiden. They've never met each other before, and I'm sure Liam here doesn't even know they are related," I protested so he could let Liam stay

" Please, General, with all due respect, I still insist on speaking to you alone," he said, still insisting, and I had to comply

" Alright then," I concluded, "Liam, we have something really important to discuss. Go wait in your room for now. When Grandpa is done, he'll send for you, okay? I said to Liam, and he nodded, stood up, and walked out.

" thank you very much, General, for your understanding," General Reggie said as soon as Liam walked out of the room.

"you are welcome, Reggie. So what is it that you want to discuss with me about Lord Aiden?" I asked with curiosity, even though I already knew the reason, and he smiled

" General, I know by now you already have a clue about what I want to say," he said, still smiling

" come on, Reggie, I wouldn't be so curious if I had known. If you don't tell me, how would I know? tell me, what is it?" I said, still pretending because I wanted him to spill it out himself

" I am here to discuss with you about the impeachment of Lord Aiden from his position as the Lord of the Generals." he and I smiled

"Okay, what about it?" I asked, and he continued

" as we all know, Lord Aiden has been terrorizing every one of us in one way or the other ever since he began to rule. He has been doing what he wants, and no one dares to question his actions because we were all subjected to fear. He oppressed and troubled us all despite being the youngest among us, and now we have had enough. That is why we want to seize this opportunity of his weakness and throw him out before he rises up again and continues with his oppression."

"so if Lord Aiden is not weak, a whole 195 Generals together would not be able to fight, huh? Him, he is really something," I said and chuckled, and General Reggie was quite

"Are you sure y'all be able to win against him?" I asked curiously, but this time, it was sincere

"yes, General, I'm convinced we will able to defeat him," General Reggie assured me

"so, what are your plans?" I asked again, and he smiled

"Now we've already succeeded in turning the world Security Council against him, making them to ask him to step down from his position because of his anger and health condition, or they would apply force, and as we all know, Lord Aiden would never agree so the World Security council would have no other option than to ask us to fight him and impeach him ourselves that is why I am here on behalf of myself and the others to ask you to help lead us in the battle to fight against him because you have the world second best soldiers after Lord Aiden and your arms industrial produce quality weapons so if you lead us in battle we would surely be able to defeat him" he said and I burst into laughter

"General, why are you laughing?" he asked, confused about why I suddenly started laughing

"Sorry, I couldn't help it," I said, trying to control my laughter. " Your plans are lame, very, very lame."

" General, what do you mean?" he asked again, still confused

"Lord Aiden was not present when the meeting was held, and the council concluded that he should step down from his position or we should take it up ourselves and apply force. They only sent him the message through his assistant, who attended the meeting on his behalf that day, and since then, he hasn't responded. Why do you think that is? Lord Aiden must have already gotten a backup plan by now, or do you guys think he would just sit down and wait for you guys to come impeach him with these lame plans? Do you guys even know Lord Aiden very well? He became a Lord at the age of just 22 not just because he was strong and powerful but because he was also very smart and crafty." I paused and continued

"the position of 'Lord of the world generals' was never in existence. It only came to be because Lord Aiden made it to be, and you think he would just sit and fold his hands and watch you guys take that position from him? And concerning his health condition, the same Doctor, Steve, who came to testify that Lord Aiden cannot last for more than a year is the same doctor who examined Lord Aiden when he was two years old and told me that because of the uncontrollable strength and supernatural abilities he possessed, that he would not be able to live up to 25 years old and other doctors and scientist came to confirm it and said that it was true and whole news stations carried the news then of the strange child the who would not live up to the age of 25 because of his uncontrollable strength and supernatural abilities even newspapers, magazines and the rest wrote about it. Now Lord Aiden is 28 years how can you hold onto his testimony and rely on it to impeach Lord Aiden? I'd advise you all to come up with a better plan or, better still, forget about impeaching Lord Aiden," I said, trying to explain things to him, but he refused to listen

" why are you saying all this?" he fired at me." Is it because he is your son? Is that why you are dissing our plans? I've been more a son to you than him, General, so why are you taking sides with him."

" I'm not taking sides with him; I'm only trying to state my point, Reggie; try and understand me I replied, trying to make him understand me

" no, I will never understand you, General. I'm going to take my revenge on Lord Aiden and defeat him. Lord Aiden only managed to get three more years added to his estimated life span because he took some drugs which he can no longer find to take again, and now he is doomed and I, General Reggie, will seize this opportunity and take my revenge on him for what he did to my father" general Reggie said and stood up

" general, I can't tolerate the insults and mocking anymore. I'd take my leave now," he said as he bowed and stormed out angrily, and I smiled.

" general, are you okay?" Scorpion asked as he barged in to check on me to see if I was hurt, judging by the way General Reggie left angrily

" come on, Scorpion, don't downgrade my personality. I know I'm getting old and weak, but I can still protect myself against a toothless bulldog like General Reggie," I replied, laughing

" Forgive my ignorance, General," he replied, bowed, and walked out of the room

Amara's POV

"Please have mercy on us. Don't drag our brothers away," my sisters and I cried and begged the men who were dragging our two brothers into their van

" don't you dare lay your filthy hands on me," one of the men shouted at my elder sister, who was trying to stop him. " If you like, don't go and start hustling for our money by the time we get back in two weeks. You would all be begging for your lives, bunch of fools," he added

"please give us a little time, and we will pay you your money. Please don't drag our brothers away. We beg you," my elder sister Shawn said, crying

" you've been saying that for six months now. You think that is what we want to hear, give us our money. Stop telling us that trash," one of the men yelled and pushed my sister to the ground. They got into their car and drove away with my brothers, leaving us crying.

My dad died eight months ago, and since then, we have not known peace. My dad was tricked by his friends into borrowing money from some notorious money lenders that use even children as collateral. My mom tried her best to stop him, but he refused to listen to her, saying he had his plans and that he knew what he was doing. On the day my dad left to collect the money after using us his children as collateral and signing the necessary documents he was ambushed and killed. The money was taken from him, the 1 million dollars he borrowed. My mom collapsed upon hearing the news, and when we rushed her to the hospital, the doctor said that she had a Broken Heart Syndrome due to the shock of the news, and now we don't even know where to start from.