chapter 2: the game begins it wasn't long before the world began to feel the weight of brandon's invisible hand. behind the scenes, governments scrambled to regain their footing, their leaders caught between disbelief and desperation. the chaos that had started as scattered events was now becoming a calculated patterna shadow war with no defined battle lines. in this war, every move, every decision, carried a chilling risk. the first to fall was a coalition of eastern european nations that had quietly sought to resist american influence. their economies, once stable and optimistic, suddenly spiraled into freefall. a strategic leaktimed perfectlyexposed the corrupt dealings of their central banks, triggering a run that drained them of their reserves within days. panic ensued. leaders who once spoke confidently of sovereignty now found themselves pleading for aid, their unity shattered. in the middle east, a different game unfolded. a series of diplomatic blunders, carefully seeded by anonymous sources, caused long-standing alliances to fracture. secret communications were intercepted and leaked, revealing hidden deals and backroom betrayals. trust eroded overnight, and what had been a stable balance of power collapsed into a frenzy of coups and counter-coups. as the dust settled, it became clear: those who had once resisted american policies were now too consumed by their own chaos to pose any threat. brandon, always maintaining his public persona, remained strangely quiet on these events, his expression one of bemused detachment. yet those who met him behind closed doors sensed a subtle shift. he would listen carefully, letting his counterparts speak themselves into corners. and when he finally spoke, it was always with that same measured calm, as if he were merely pointing out the inevitable.
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