Post by Deleted on Mar 30, 2015 6:02:08 GMT -5
Here for your consideration is Part 2 of 3 of
By Marcus Mebes
Kindly edited by Green Lantern
Chapter Two: From Russia, with Love.
Winter in Moscow was cold, made more so by the biting wind that slashed through trees, inside cracked panes of glass, and through doors that opened, no matter how quickly.
Sixteen-year-old Leonid Aleksandrov ran up the steps of a dark, stone building at the end of an even darker street. There were several vehicles parked in front of it, but Leonid had walked the twelve miles to his “job.” Despite his gloves and heavy coat, his fingers and toes were practically frozen, but he did not mind. Soon, he would be in a warm place where he would spend several hours, and even though he did not like his “work,” he could close his eyes and pretend he was somewhere else. Besides, he was working on convincing himself that he DID like it, and he felt that if he kept it up, perhaps eventually he would. His childhood friend Yuri said he liked it, and if Yuri could learn to like it, so could he.
“Password?” demanded the deep voice behind the door after he knocked on it and waited.
“Volshebnik,” answered Leonid, his teeth chattering as he shivered. The relieving sound of locks being opened soon led to the door being opened, and Leonid dashed inside before the heavy door closed, and was locked up again.
* * *
“Again, I appreciate the offer, but we don’t need personal funding. If you really want to help out, send the donation to the Center. Okay… yes, I’ll hold on. Thank you, Brendon,” Lukas Driscoll said as he waited for Nightvision to transfer the phone call to Power Guy, back at the Hall of Justice. Lukas and his teammates—Arani Caulder, Toni Monetti, Ryand’r, and Lilith Clay Jupiter—were in one of the conference rooms at the Center for Missing and Exploited Children. They stood by patiently as Lukas waited to speak with the leader of the Titans of Justice.
“He’s going to say yes,” said Lilith with a smile, swinging her legs under the table she sat on. Her thigh-high boots clicked as they brushed against themselves, and threatened to snag the heels on her Omen robe that she used as a cushion against the cold table.
“You’re that confident?” asked Ryand’r, doing his best to avoid ogling her legs. He licked his dry lips and jerked his head away to stare at the duck pond outside the window.
“No,” replied the psychic. “I’m just telling you, he’s going to say yes. You are all worrying for nothing. And besides, even if he didn’t say yes, it wouldn’t make much difference, would it?”
Toni Monetti rolled her eyes and shot exasperated looks at her two teammates as she placed her finger in front of her mouth and said “Shush!” angrily.
Arani Caulder calmly strolled up to the large window and admired the pond and the ducks swimming in it. Despite the cold weather, the waterfowl still swam and splashed in the water, ignoring the icy coldness. She pulled her sari closer around her, shivering in spite of the heat inside the building. “The ducks are oblivious to the cold,” she commented with a wry smile. “It’s as if they cannot—”
“They’re hurting him!” screamed Lilith abruptly, before covering her mouth with her hands and rushing from the room. Her outburst startled the others.
“Go with her,” ordered Lukas to his aunt and uncle. He was still holding onto the telephone, but was tempted to hang up. “Find out what she just saw.”
“We’ve been studying the Aleksandrov case. Maybe she’s seen something about it,” suggested Ryand’r. He frowned, knowing full well what the case involved, but still confused by it.
Arani scowled, no longer interested in watching the ducks. She sneered angrily in disgust, and closed her eyes tightly before a tear could escape. “It would be good if you could finish your call, Lukas, so we could go on with this case. I am tired of waiting!”
Lukas anxiously waited for Power Guy to get onto the phone, something that was taking much too long for his comfort. He did not want to be rude, but he could not hold any longer. He hung up the phone and arose to join Arani in pursuing their companions.
They found their teammates in Lilith’s room. There were psychedelic posters on the walls, and a vase with large sunflowers on the nightstand next to the cot. She was sitting nervously on the bed, flanked by Ryand’r and Toni on either side. Lilith was clutching her shoulders and shaking as the vision she had been tormented with ran through her mind.
“What did you see? Can you pinpoint a location?” asked Lukas softly, placing his hand on his aunt’s head. He drew the terror into himself, and was shocked to feel the disgust, horror, and shame that she felt. “Good… Good Lord,” he said, biting his lip.
“You see it too?” asked Lilith as she looked up at her nephew.
“See what?” asked Ryand’r, still obliviously naïve about the whole thing. It was enough for him to learn that children were being abducted and abused, but he could not wrap his mind around the terror that they were about to confront… despite enduring the uncomfortable seminar and frank discussions that the Center Director had with them. “Do… do we want to know?” he asked, a lump of fear rising in his throat.
“No,” replied Lukas, speaking for Lilith. “Not yet, anyway.”
“We’re going now,” announced Arani with conviction. “We’re going on our mission and we will deal with this matter, and we will be satisfied after doing a good deed, and then we will be disappointed and disheartened when we realize that there are hundreds, if not thousands, more situations just like it. Then we will deal with the next, and the next, and we will never—EVER—finish. And we will never look for my son, either, will we?” The Indian woman stomped her bare feet on the linoleum floor and stormed out into the hallway, and out of the building into the cold snow.
“Let her go,” sighed Lukas, his eyes closed in defeat. “She’s right, but what can we do? We do what we can.” He looked at his uncle, who was the only member of the team crying unashamedly. Being Tamaranean, he was ruled by his emotions, and even though he gained strength from them, he also suffered great weakness as well.
“What about your phone call?” asked Lilith after taking a deep breath. “Did you ask him?”
“It’s not important,” snapped Lukas, his patience wearing thin. “They left me on hold. It can wait.”
“There’s no reason for you to be rude!” scolded Toni, her anger building. “I would expect better behavior from my own family!”
He sighed, then changed his attitude. “I’m sorry, Aunt Lil, Aunt Toni.” He turned to leave the room. “Mrs. Caulder’s right. We need to get this under way. I’ll call Mr. Kovar.”
“Let me do it,” suggested Toni, standing up and leaving with him. “I know Leonid. We’ve worked together in the Titans. It’ll be good to talk with him. I was there when Pantha and Baby… well, never mind.”
Heavy sighs were plentiful in the Center that day among the small team of former superheroes. The phone call to Russia was made, and arrangements were set for them to meet by the Lenin Mausoleum in Red Square. Backpacks were stuffed with first aid kits and food, a map, passports, and the equivalent of $5,000 in Russian rubles that would not even be used. They all put on heavy coats—even Ryand’r, who was able to use his ability to regulate his body temperature—and Arani wore heavy fur-lined boots.
Always fashion-conscious, Toni wore a Prada coat and boots, while Lilith pulled her old full-robe-and-hood Omen costume out of mothballs to wear.
“These wraps look like such a pain to put on,” commented Toni as she watched Lilith pull a pair of gloves that looked like mummy wraps over her fingers.
“They aren’t,” replied the precognitive woman as she finished the task. “They’re surprisingly warm. The robes are warm too. One of the best things to come from that silly ‘Omen’ part of my life.”
“Wearing heavy clothes,” sighed Ryand’r as he looked at the thick leather of the jacket he wore. “It’s an interesting experience.”
“Yes,” agreed Toni, heading him off before he could mention once again how such things were abnormal back on Tamaran. “Unusual for you, and all that.”
“No,” said the Tamaranean prince, stroking the small beard he had allowed to grow on his chin. “I was about to say that I have a closet full back in Crossroads. Colorado Winters get VERY cold.”
They all gathered together around Lukas, who was bundled in a heavy jacket with a black scarf around his neck and hat on his head. As they all were ready to leave, and did not want to prolong the ordeal, he let loose his velvety black soul-self, which enveloped them and allowed them to drift into blissfully peaceful darkness until it deposited them into the blistering cold of Moscow’s Red Square.
By Marcus Mebes
Kindly edited by Green Lantern
Chapter Two: From Russia, with Love.
Winter in Moscow was cold, made more so by the biting wind that slashed through trees, inside cracked panes of glass, and through doors that opened, no matter how quickly.
Sixteen-year-old Leonid Aleksandrov ran up the steps of a dark, stone building at the end of an even darker street. There were several vehicles parked in front of it, but Leonid had walked the twelve miles to his “job.” Despite his gloves and heavy coat, his fingers and toes were practically frozen, but he did not mind. Soon, he would be in a warm place where he would spend several hours, and even though he did not like his “work,” he could close his eyes and pretend he was somewhere else. Besides, he was working on convincing himself that he DID like it, and he felt that if he kept it up, perhaps eventually he would. His childhood friend Yuri said he liked it, and if Yuri could learn to like it, so could he.
“Password?” demanded the deep voice behind the door after he knocked on it and waited.
“Volshebnik,” answered Leonid, his teeth chattering as he shivered. The relieving sound of locks being opened soon led to the door being opened, and Leonid dashed inside before the heavy door closed, and was locked up again.
* * *
“Again, I appreciate the offer, but we don’t need personal funding. If you really want to help out, send the donation to the Center. Okay… yes, I’ll hold on. Thank you, Brendon,” Lukas Driscoll said as he waited for Nightvision to transfer the phone call to Power Guy, back at the Hall of Justice. Lukas and his teammates—Arani Caulder, Toni Monetti, Ryand’r, and Lilith Clay Jupiter—were in one of the conference rooms at the Center for Missing and Exploited Children. They stood by patiently as Lukas waited to speak with the leader of the Titans of Justice.
“He’s going to say yes,” said Lilith with a smile, swinging her legs under the table she sat on. Her thigh-high boots clicked as they brushed against themselves, and threatened to snag the heels on her Omen robe that she used as a cushion against the cold table.
“You’re that confident?” asked Ryand’r, doing his best to avoid ogling her legs. He licked his dry lips and jerked his head away to stare at the duck pond outside the window.
“No,” replied the psychic. “I’m just telling you, he’s going to say yes. You are all worrying for nothing. And besides, even if he didn’t say yes, it wouldn’t make much difference, would it?”
Toni Monetti rolled her eyes and shot exasperated looks at her two teammates as she placed her finger in front of her mouth and said “Shush!” angrily.
Arani Caulder calmly strolled up to the large window and admired the pond and the ducks swimming in it. Despite the cold weather, the waterfowl still swam and splashed in the water, ignoring the icy coldness. She pulled her sari closer around her, shivering in spite of the heat inside the building. “The ducks are oblivious to the cold,” she commented with a wry smile. “It’s as if they cannot—”
“They’re hurting him!” screamed Lilith abruptly, before covering her mouth with her hands and rushing from the room. Her outburst startled the others.
“Go with her,” ordered Lukas to his aunt and uncle. He was still holding onto the telephone, but was tempted to hang up. “Find out what she just saw.”
“We’ve been studying the Aleksandrov case. Maybe she’s seen something about it,” suggested Ryand’r. He frowned, knowing full well what the case involved, but still confused by it.
Arani scowled, no longer interested in watching the ducks. She sneered angrily in disgust, and closed her eyes tightly before a tear could escape. “It would be good if you could finish your call, Lukas, so we could go on with this case. I am tired of waiting!”
Lukas anxiously waited for Power Guy to get onto the phone, something that was taking much too long for his comfort. He did not want to be rude, but he could not hold any longer. He hung up the phone and arose to join Arani in pursuing their companions.
They found their teammates in Lilith’s room. There were psychedelic posters on the walls, and a vase with large sunflowers on the nightstand next to the cot. She was sitting nervously on the bed, flanked by Ryand’r and Toni on either side. Lilith was clutching her shoulders and shaking as the vision she had been tormented with ran through her mind.
“What did you see? Can you pinpoint a location?” asked Lukas softly, placing his hand on his aunt’s head. He drew the terror into himself, and was shocked to feel the disgust, horror, and shame that she felt. “Good… Good Lord,” he said, biting his lip.
“You see it too?” asked Lilith as she looked up at her nephew.
“See what?” asked Ryand’r, still obliviously naïve about the whole thing. It was enough for him to learn that children were being abducted and abused, but he could not wrap his mind around the terror that they were about to confront… despite enduring the uncomfortable seminar and frank discussions that the Center Director had with them. “Do… do we want to know?” he asked, a lump of fear rising in his throat.
“No,” replied Lukas, speaking for Lilith. “Not yet, anyway.”
“We’re going now,” announced Arani with conviction. “We’re going on our mission and we will deal with this matter, and we will be satisfied after doing a good deed, and then we will be disappointed and disheartened when we realize that there are hundreds, if not thousands, more situations just like it. Then we will deal with the next, and the next, and we will never—EVER—finish. And we will never look for my son, either, will we?” The Indian woman stomped her bare feet on the linoleum floor and stormed out into the hallway, and out of the building into the cold snow.
“Let her go,” sighed Lukas, his eyes closed in defeat. “She’s right, but what can we do? We do what we can.” He looked at his uncle, who was the only member of the team crying unashamedly. Being Tamaranean, he was ruled by his emotions, and even though he gained strength from them, he also suffered great weakness as well.
“What about your phone call?” asked Lilith after taking a deep breath. “Did you ask him?”
“It’s not important,” snapped Lukas, his patience wearing thin. “They left me on hold. It can wait.”
“There’s no reason for you to be rude!” scolded Toni, her anger building. “I would expect better behavior from my own family!”
He sighed, then changed his attitude. “I’m sorry, Aunt Lil, Aunt Toni.” He turned to leave the room. “Mrs. Caulder’s right. We need to get this under way. I’ll call Mr. Kovar.”
“Let me do it,” suggested Toni, standing up and leaving with him. “I know Leonid. We’ve worked together in the Titans. It’ll be good to talk with him. I was there when Pantha and Baby… well, never mind.”
Heavy sighs were plentiful in the Center that day among the small team of former superheroes. The phone call to Russia was made, and arrangements were set for them to meet by the Lenin Mausoleum in Red Square. Backpacks were stuffed with first aid kits and food, a map, passports, and the equivalent of $5,000 in Russian rubles that would not even be used. They all put on heavy coats—even Ryand’r, who was able to use his ability to regulate his body temperature—and Arani wore heavy fur-lined boots.
Always fashion-conscious, Toni wore a Prada coat and boots, while Lilith pulled her old full-robe-and-hood Omen costume out of mothballs to wear.
“These wraps look like such a pain to put on,” commented Toni as she watched Lilith pull a pair of gloves that looked like mummy wraps over her fingers.
“They aren’t,” replied the precognitive woman as she finished the task. “They’re surprisingly warm. The robes are warm too. One of the best things to come from that silly ‘Omen’ part of my life.”
“Wearing heavy clothes,” sighed Ryand’r as he looked at the thick leather of the jacket he wore. “It’s an interesting experience.”
“Yes,” agreed Toni, heading him off before he could mention once again how such things were abnormal back on Tamaran. “Unusual for you, and all that.”
“No,” said the Tamaranean prince, stroking the small beard he had allowed to grow on his chin. “I was about to say that I have a closet full back in Crossroads. Colorado Winters get VERY cold.”
They all gathered together around Lukas, who was bundled in a heavy jacket with a black scarf around his neck and hat on his head. As they all were ready to leave, and did not want to prolong the ordeal, he let loose his velvety black soul-self, which enveloped them and allowed them to drift into blissfully peaceful darkness until it deposited them into the blistering cold of Moscow’s Red Square.