Canon Fodder

CHAPTER 234 BREAKING NEWS

“I’m sure we are all looking forward to the weekend,” Janice said as her plastered on smile split her face. “It’s good to know we have sun to look forward to.”

“You’re right there, Janice,” her cohost said. His hand moving to his ear he zoned out for a moment as someone spoke to him through the earpiece. “I’m told we have quite the bit of news coming right up after these messages.” The fake faces of the 2 people dropped as the On Air light turned off. I smiled widely as I walked up to them. 

“Who the shit are you?” The guy asked as I stepped up. “Hank, where’s that guy with the video from the plane crash?”

“Uhh,” Hank said slowly. Still rather dazed from the Genjutsu. 

“I was actually on that plane,” I said. 

“You were one of the survivors?” Janice asked quickly. “I thought they were still at the hospital.”

“Yeah I was,” I said. I was talking in English. I hadn’t realized but apparently whoever I talked to, heard me in their native tongue. The girls had told me that when I spoke to them all they heard was Japanese. They had thought that everyone we conversed with so far were just bilingual. It wasn’t until Kishimoto tried to question someone that they found out that people could just understand me. I was sure it was one of many things explained to me before my Memory Meld, but it was good to know that I wouldn’t have to translate stuff. Although I did have to get translators for the God Aliens, so I guessed it only worked with humans. 

“Flew into Hawaii. Then I was flying here when it hit,” I said. 

“Fuck yeah,” the guy said. “This is much better. We have questions for him?” 

“Oh no, I will just be talking,” I said. “You won’t need to ask any questions.” 

“That’s not how-” The guy passed out as he looked into my necklace. Dropping to the ground Janice looked freaked out for a moment but I moved to the guy’s spot and sat down.

“Let’s get this rolling, alright?” I asked. “I have places to be after this.” 

“What are you doing?” Janice hissed. 

“Making history,” I said. “Are you going to be with me in the video? Or do you want to join your co-anchor?” She stared at me. Looking to Hank for support, the guy sent some pages to pull the co-host off. She thought about it longer but sat next to me. The commercial break ended soon enough. 

“Welcome back,” Janice said. “We have an unorthodox guest today. I’m sorry, I don’t know your name.”

“I am Weston Watanabe,” I said with my best smile as I stared at the camera. “I was on Flight 122 that crashed earlier today.” I didn’t pause to let her talk, but continued on my prepared speech. “It was a harrowing experience, let me tell you. But I know who was at fault, and I am here to tell them that they need to watch out.”

“Someone was involved?” Janice asked. “We heard it was mechanical failure.”

“Oh no, the plane was shot down,” I said. “There is a secret organization out there. They call themselves Revelations. They knew that the end of the world was coming here in about a week or so. They were hoping to take over the world after most of the world’s militaries were destroyed. Quite preposterous sounding I know, but all true. Luckily a few days ago I was able to end the threat.”

Janice stared at me in stunned silence. Unable to process anything. I was sure she was questioning how the hell they let me on air in the first place. No one would believe that. The thing was, there would be many people that would believe. 

“There is a secret group in the world. Divided by location we were controlled by an entity called Gantz,” I said. “Gantz has since shut down, relinquishing all of his powers to me. I tell this to my brethren out there. Those other people that had died and were drafted by Gantz. I’m not sure if you know this, but when Gantz remade us, he implanted a tiny bomb inside our brains, right here.” I pointed at my forehead. “If we talked about Gantz, moved too far away from where we were supposed to be fighting, or did anything to piss him off, he would make it explode. I am telling you this now, because I have sole control of this power.” 

I let it sink in for those that were listening. “No longer are you prevented from talking about Gantz or the aliens. Since I have taken control I have disabled that feature. So please tell the world your stories. Tell the world of those people you cared about that died in your arms. And most of all tell me about it,” I said. “With Gantz powers I have been granted the power to bring back to life those that you fought with.”  

I stood and a tall blonde with an amazing rack stepped out from the backstage. “This is Jackie Decklin,” I said. “She was a small time actress that had a few bit parts. She was killed by a stalker last year and sent to fight for Gantz. She died in her first skirmish. But is now back to life.” She smiled wide, waving at the camera then headed off. 

I had brought to life plenty of people from the Gantz orb as I tested the powers. Jackie was the most famous though. She had died while fighting an alien and was found ripped to shreds on railroad tracks at the center of town. The police had painted her as a new Black Dahlia. Thinking that some sicko had killed her and tore her apart. Even I had heard about her death when it happened. 

“She and thousands of others were forced to fight aliens, but no more. Not unless you want to of course,” I said as I sat back down. “I will be making rounds to all the Gantz orbs. So be sure to secure the orbs, and let me know your story. What friends died in your arms. What aliens you defeated. How many times you reached 100 points. Tell me all of it.” 

I took on a more serious stare after I finished my sales pitch to the Gantz survivors. “Now, the most dire part of this whole situation,” I said. “Revelations… you have tried to kill me twice now. The first I could understand, it was more of a greeting. But when you blow up a plane I am on, I become…upset.” I released my Conqueror’s Haki, knocking Janice out. 

“So this is for you…Harry Lincoln,” I said. “Your pilot had a very loose tongue, so yes, I know who you are. You forget that I am in charge of Gantz. You decided to surround yourself with people that had been summoned by Gantz. This was a very bad move. I’m sure you had the bomb removed from your skull, but did you remove the bomb from those under you? I doubt it. So, I am giving those under you a chance to run. Just disappear and I won’t blow up the bombs in your head. I will be coming for you. Trust me, even if your lackeys did stay they wouldn’t have a chance against me. But all of you died and were summoned to a room to fight aliens, just as I was. I feel a little bit of kinship towards you. You have this 1 chance to run. And after I’ve dealt with Lincoln you can come to me and I will help bring back to life those you cared about, or remove the bombs in your head, or whatever. We are in this together.”  

I stood up, still staring at the camera as I did so. “For those of you who have no idea what the hell I am talking about, you will see soon enough. The universe is much more populated than has been let on. And I plan to lead us into the dawn of the space age. Interstellar travel is out there. Aliens still hide on our planet. We will begin working with, or if they choose, against them. This is only the beginning. The alien armada sent to destroy us has been dealt with, but who knows about the next? I feel like we should be ready if some other race wants to try their luck.” 

I nodded and walked out. “I can’t believe you’re doing this,” Jackie said as she walked beside me. 

“If I was actually scared, I probably wouldn’t. But Gantz suits aren’t the strongest thing in the world,” I said. “Thank you again, I think seeing you will help gain some traction to that newscast.”

“Thank you,” she said sweetly. “Did I really get famous after I died?” People stared at us wide eyed as we walked. 

“Oh yeah, I even heard about it in Japan,” I said. “Going to go find your family?” 

“Not sure if I have anyone,” she said slowly. “I was about 2 weeks from starring in porn. I burned most of my bridges.” 

I handed her some money. “Go to the others at the hotel. They’ll get you a room. You can help us build.”

“Build what?” She asked, taking the money without question. 

My harem, I thought. “Something great.” She smiled wide. Excitement leaking off of her. Going our separate ways at the door I made a pool of water form under me and raised up to the sky. I had another stop to make before I ended my night. 

—

The mansion was in worse shape than I had imagined. A fire on one side of the large building, the front doors were knocked down. My Observation Haki was active at all times as I walked inside. I could see that it was once a grand entrance, now it was as if looters got ahold of it. 

Broken vases, furniture, carpets in disarray, it was all splayed around me. Closing my eyes I sensed as far as I could. Finding something in the distance I headed toward it. The rest of the large home was in just as bad of shape. Nothing had been safe in the stampede that left the mansion. 

I continued on until I found the top half of a man. He was blown away at his kneecaps. Blood pooling where his feet had been his face was rather pale. “Lincoln!” I said with a wide smile as I approached. He jumped awake with the sound. Giving me a sneer as I closed the distance. “I take it your men saw my news broadcast.”

“They did,” the old man said with a groan. “Didn’t like the threat of heads blowing up.” He eyed me, looking me up and down as I crouched in front of him. “Can’t believe I got beaten by a 16 year old kid.”

“You know, I bet the God Aliens had the same thought before they plunged into that star,” I said. The man chuckled. We stared at one another for a bit, simply gauging the other as we both thought. 

“So what do you want?” He asked. “Care to finish the job?” 

“I want to know what you want?” I asked. “Walk me through it. You swoop in, get access to Gantz, then start playing god?” 

“Like you’re doing?” He asked. I didn’t answer, simply stared at him. “Something like that. We um wanted the God Aliens to wipe the big governments out. We had plenty of personnel. Once they took care of the big stuff we would be able to hack into the Gantz orbs after the clones passed. We could teleport people in. Strike against the aliens. Then take over.”

“You know you would have failed, right?” I asked. I had seen the very thing he talked about in the Gantz manga. “The God Aliens would have found you. I’m not sure how, but they would have.” 

“Guess we will never know. We were locked out of the orbs as soon as you were teleported to the God Aliens. Some kind of failsafe,” he said with a groan. He was quiet for a time as I thought. Eventually he spoke up, “You know I died too, right?” 

“Oh yeah?” 

“Yep, my brakes were cut. My…son wanted to take over. I woke up in that apartment with the orb. There were all these people crying around me. Confused and disoriented. But I knew what it was right away.”

“What’s that?” 

“An opportunity for something great,” he said. “Man has always wanted to extend his life. Can you imagine what would happen if you had infinite lives?” 

“It’s pretty great,” I said, referring to the many lives I lived. “But not everyone can be resurrected.”

“Oh yeah? Thought it was everyone?” 

“No, more like 1 in 4,” I admitted. “I learned a lot when I connected to the orb. There are a lot more weapons and vehicles that no one ever earned. They took thousands of points to reach. And now I can make them all.” 

“Quit teasing me,” he said, coughing into his hand as he did. “Just end it already.”

“I haven’t decided if I want to,” I said. “Justify your life to me, Lincoln. Offer your money, your contacts, your undying loyalty.”

“Fuck that,” he hissed. “I don’t play second fiddle to anyone.” 

I frowned, but nodded. “Alright, I had to try. Gotta respect your resolve.” A water bullet pierced his head without another thought. I was sure if I went slow he would have begged me, but I knew deep down I could never trust the guy again. I had really wanted his money. 

“On to plan B,” I said. I could resurrect him, force his clone to give me all of his money, then blow up his head with the bomb. There were many options with infinite lives. Infinite everything. At first I didn’t have a plan, but it was quickly coming together as I walked into the dark outside the mansion. There was a whole universe out there, and I planned to see all of it. 

“What to use you on?” I asked myself. “Maybe the Gantz ball. I could 3-D print whatever I want.” The idea was intriguing. It would take some thought as I began to fly off in the direction of where my girls were.