08-03-2013, 10:10 AM
A few days after"A Window to the Past"
The Custody of Defence was in a frenzy as the Ascendancy had flown to the US. Michael wasn't concerned. The man hadn't become ruler over half of the world by being a fool. He could handle himself.
They wanted to double security in the Kremlin and inner Moscow - they actually asked him to draw up plans for a couple of battalions stationed along the river!
It was pointless, but they didn't seem to understand. The Ascendancy was the CCD, not Moscow, not the Kremlin. He would be the target. If the enemy of the CCD weren't total incompetents they would strike at the man, and him alone.
If they attacked a city full of innocents, the Ascendancy would rouse the people's fury and would be fully justified in unleashing the might of the CCD. If they killed him, on the other hand, the snake would be left headless, to thrash about until it finally died.
Of course, even if they did kill Nikolai Brandon the CCD would likely survive long enough to take it's revenge. Nobody with sufficient power was fool enough to risk it, and the US would never allow him to die on their soil.
Both Moscow and the Ascendancy were the safest they had been in years; but the river would be secure nonetheless.
He repressed a sigh as he opened the door to his home, the scent of the river lingering in the air.
The first thing that alerted him to something strange was that Tony did not have a bottle of vodka in his hand.
He looked miserable - well, he always looked miserable, but more than usual.
"Tony? Was there another attack?"
Michael seized the power, ready to kill.
Tony looked up, his eyes bloodshot, "Ah, Michael..."
He was distressed, he started speaking in Russian.
"Stop,"
Michael said in a dangerously quiet voice. Tony complied immediately. "What's wrong? In English, please, or I won't be able to help."
Tony regained some of his composure. "Thank you, Michael. It is terrible...Katalina has gone missing! They say she was kidnapped by a group of men in the middle of the night!"
"Katalina?"
the name sounded familiar, but he couldn't place it.
"In the Undercity... my niece. You didn't know her, my brother and his wife died before you came and Katalina was raised by her maternal grandparents."
"I'm sorry..."
he could not think of anything to say.
Tony gave him a sharp-eyed look that made Michael wary, it was not the look of a distraught man.
"I have something to ask of you." Ah. "There are...stories...going around the Undercity. You must have heard them. Men who eat the flesh of others, who lurk in the depths. Raping or killing - or both."
Michael held up a hand. "I don't care about rumours. Tell me what you want me to do, I would help your family as if they were my own."
"Don't be so rash, boy. I am not trying to scare you. I am warning you. If you can find Katalina, I will be in your debt."
"Of course I will do the best I can, but what about you? Why haven't you been looking?"
Michael asked.
Tony seemed embarrassed. "I...can't. The wound, it hasn't healed. I- I can barely walk 100 meters without a rest. I would be of no use."
"I see -"
"Don't do anything stupid, Michael." Tony had anticipated his reaction.
Michael didn't plan on doing anything stupid, but he would find the bastards who did this, and they would pay. Dearly.
Continues in The Hunt
Edited by Michael Vellas, Aug 11 2013, 07:16 PM.
The Custody of Defence was in a frenzy as the Ascendancy had flown to the US. Michael wasn't concerned. The man hadn't become ruler over half of the world by being a fool. He could handle himself.
They wanted to double security in the Kremlin and inner Moscow - they actually asked him to draw up plans for a couple of battalions stationed along the river!
It was pointless, but they didn't seem to understand. The Ascendancy was the CCD, not Moscow, not the Kremlin. He would be the target. If the enemy of the CCD weren't total incompetents they would strike at the man, and him alone.
If they attacked a city full of innocents, the Ascendancy would rouse the people's fury and would be fully justified in unleashing the might of the CCD. If they killed him, on the other hand, the snake would be left headless, to thrash about until it finally died.
Of course, even if they did kill Nikolai Brandon the CCD would likely survive long enough to take it's revenge. Nobody with sufficient power was fool enough to risk it, and the US would never allow him to die on their soil.
Both Moscow and the Ascendancy were the safest they had been in years; but the river would be secure nonetheless.
He repressed a sigh as he opened the door to his home, the scent of the river lingering in the air.
The first thing that alerted him to something strange was that Tony did not have a bottle of vodka in his hand.
He looked miserable - well, he always looked miserable, but more than usual.
"Tony? Was there another attack?"
Michael seized the power, ready to kill.
Tony looked up, his eyes bloodshot, "Ah, Michael..."
He was distressed, he started speaking in Russian.
"Stop,"
Michael said in a dangerously quiet voice. Tony complied immediately. "What's wrong? In English, please, or I won't be able to help."
Tony regained some of his composure. "Thank you, Michael. It is terrible...Katalina has gone missing! They say she was kidnapped by a group of men in the middle of the night!"
"Katalina?"
the name sounded familiar, but he couldn't place it.
"In the Undercity... my niece. You didn't know her, my brother and his wife died before you came and Katalina was raised by her maternal grandparents."
"I'm sorry..."
he could not think of anything to say.
Tony gave him a sharp-eyed look that made Michael wary, it was not the look of a distraught man.
"I have something to ask of you." Ah. "There are...stories...going around the Undercity. You must have heard them. Men who eat the flesh of others, who lurk in the depths. Raping or killing - or both."
Michael held up a hand. "I don't care about rumours. Tell me what you want me to do, I would help your family as if they were my own."
"Don't be so rash, boy. I am not trying to scare you. I am warning you. If you can find Katalina, I will be in your debt."
"Of course I will do the best I can, but what about you? Why haven't you been looking?"
Michael asked.
Tony seemed embarrassed. "I...can't. The wound, it hasn't healed. I- I can barely walk 100 meters without a rest. I would be of no use."
"I see -"
"Don't do anything stupid, Michael." Tony had anticipated his reaction.
Michael didn't plan on doing anything stupid, but he would find the bastards who did this, and they would pay. Dearly.
Continues in The Hunt
Edited by Michael Vellas, Aug 11 2013, 07:16 PM.
"She saw a flaring halo around his head, radiant in gold and blue. It shouted of glory and power to come"
"No matter how fast light travels, it finds the darkness has always got there first, and is waiting for it."