<P>"We offer money instead of violence."
<P>
<P>"Where is Omatsu?"
<P>
<P>"He is on the fifteenth floor of an abandoned office building to the north. The sign over its entrance is in Japanese, so I will indicate it to you once we find it. Much fighting surrounds the building. Around it is where Omatsu's empire used to occupy. Now they have been pushed back and are fighting desperately to keep control of what they have left."
<P>
<P>The man continued in Japanese. Tiberius reflected on what he had just been told. Fingering the pistol he had been issued, he realized that Carson had probably been correct. Destroying the global communications grid had pushed humanity over the edge of sanity. It was a hard reality to face.
<P>
<P>The whole world is in shambles and he wants me to fix it. Whoever I was before, I'm sure "messiah" wasn't on my resume.
<P>
<P>The signs of violence became more apparent as the two moved northward. Bullets had torn into just about every building, signpost, and streetlight around. Scorch marks and holes in the pavement demonstrated just how sophisticated the weaponry available to the gangs had become. The translator moved quickly, glancing every which way as he continued on. Tiberius began shaking, his discomfort becoming more and more unbearable.
<P>
<P>It wasn't long before his fears became justified. The pair was stopped by a man standing a short distance away taking aim with an assault rifle. He yelled something in Japanese and the translator froze. Tiberius reacted instinctively, pulling out the pistol and disarming the safety. He couldn't recall ever using a weapon like this, but once he had it in his hand the motions were extremely familiar. The man shouted at them again, making aggressive gestures with his gun. At this point Tiberius already had the pistol level with his eyesight. He aimed low and pulled the trigger. The recoil and the noise shook him back to reality, but he found himself unable to move.