Was that it? He stopped in his tracks, something he hadn’t done in years. Was he through living? All he did was ruin other lives, as his own had been ruined. They deserved it, though! Humans desired self-destruction by nature, but that did not mean they had to ruin the lives of others. Revokov was just paying back the world for being stupid.
But was it time to stop? The ex-VKR officer continued down the halls, wondering all the way. His thoughts were rudely interrupted by a few loud bursts.
Gunfire! The connection was almost mechanical. Revokov drew his pistol, a Beretta he’d kept handy throughout all the troubles he’d faced in life, and pressed himself to the wall. He heard it again, followed by a small cry. He followed the sounds to the prisoner’s section, greeted with quite a sight.
Blood was on two doorways. Revokov moved through one, eyes widening a bit at what he saw. The man inside was laying in a pool of his own blood, head blown away. Revokov let out a low whistle and ran into the next room, the place he’d left Stephen Turbin.
He was laying in the corner, a bloody heap. Revokov ran over to him, confused and angered. Turbin was twitching slightly, alive but dying. Quickly.
“Turbin!” Revokov hissed, “Damn it, man, don’t die yet!”
“Yet…” Turbin hissed, stirring slightly. He used the last of his strength to turn to Ivan, exposing his chest. He’d been shot at least three times. “Y…you did this…why…”
“No!” Ivan insisted, “It was not me! Who did this?!”
“Y…you…”
“Gah, you fool!” Revokov shook him, “Who? What did he look like?! The other Yamatoi are at risk!”
“Th…they always…were…”
Revokov breathed heavily, oddly concerned, more over the assailant. He couldn’t quite find any more words, Turbin hitting him hard once again.
“I hope…” he sputtered, blood flying from his mouth, “I hope you’re…still alive…when it….hits….”
“What?” Revokov grabbed the dying man’s shoulders, “When WHAT hits?!”
“Ivan!” he heard his lieutenant, Volkov blurt, “We caught a man with a gun-oh Holy Mother, what happened?”
“He…they’re dead, the Mavericks…” he stared down at Turbin’s now stiff body, the man was very much dead.
Volkov helped his stunned superior to his feet.
“How?” Revokov demanded, “Who authorized this?”
“It wasn’t a Zemzelett order, I can assure you! Machzer was very angry when he heard.”
“Machzer also doesn’t know as much about his organization as he should…you say you caught the guy?”
“Yes.”
“Grill him. And do it well, very, very well. Turbin said something about ‘when it hits’, and I suspect some kind of explosive device.”
“Gotcha. Virielli is waiting for you in the strategy room.”
The Russian and the Italian sat quietly in the room, not making much noise. Volkov came in shortly after.
“The man we caught admitted to the killings. He didn’t have much choice.”
“So?” Revokov growled, “Is he dead yet?”
“No, not yet.” Volkov grimaced. “He’s being kept alive.”
“Why?” Revokov was on the edge of losing his temper.
“He…he’s from the Yamatoi.”
The air in the room seemed to crash around the aging men. Virielli spoke first, and his voice was hoarse.
“Wha…what?”
“Li himself ordered the prisoners dead.”
“How?” Revokov boomed, “How did he do it? Is the Zemzelett security really that crappy?”
“No, Ivan, it’s not. This man was integrated in the Zemzelett for some time.”
“My god…” Virielli breathed, “Li and Ardonjes are smarter than we thought…bloody professionals”
“No.” Revokov shook his head firmly, “They’re just good murderers. They killed their own people…after they had plenty of time to spill their guts! It was pointless!”
“Not really,” Volkov pointed out. “Their assassin may just be a bit slow.”
“And stupid,” Virielli pointed out. “He’s screwed.”
“I want to talk to him,” Revokov stated. It was more of a command. Volkov nodded.
“I’ll get you an audience with the creep.”
About a half hour later, Ivan Revokov was sitting in front of the man from Yamatoi, who would not give a name other than X. How cliché.
“You will talk to me,” the Pale Horse stated, “And you will tell me the truth, or I swear to you, you will die in a way worse than you ever believed possible.”
“You will kill me anyway,” X protested, though a bit pale after the last sentence.
“No, I will not. I give you my word.”
“The word of a killer.”
“You cannot talk! You killed people from your own circle, helpless! And you took your sweet old time in doing it!”
“How was I to know they had been interrogated?”
“Don’t give me that, I will rip your intestines out.”
X sat back. “I don’t think you have the nerve.”
Revokov jumped to his feet and brought down his fist. It shattered the table in front of X, splinters flying into the man’s face.
“Next time,” Revokov growled, “that will be your skull!”
X just nodded, real pale now.
“I’m going to ask you a question, X. I want you to tell me the truth and the whole truth. If I find that you are lying, or that you will not speak, I will take you to our pet corral. There, radioactive ravens will eat your eyes. You will live, trust me, and you’ll be back in here to speak with me. And I’ll just have to think of another punishment if that doesn’t work. Capice?”
“Y..yeah…”
“Good. Your man, Turbin. He spoke of something ‘hitting’.”
“I…I don’t know…”
“Don’t say a thing. His exact words were ‘I hope you’re still alive when it hits’. Explain this. You have one minute until you become blind.”
X reeled, sweating. He gulped, somehow knowing that this man in front of him would do exactly what he had promised if he lied. “O…okay.” X took a deep breath. “Ardonjes was…well, is, the descendent of one of the bigger drug lords of Columbia. He has access to one of the active drug satellites above earth…”
Satellites! How bloody ingenious! “Go on.”
“The satellite will be passing over tomorrow…if he can get a message to it, which he probably will, Ardonjes will activate a bomb hidden near here.”
“Where?!”
“I don’t know!” X jerked back from the angry man.
“TELL me, damn you! You’ll die, I swear it!”
“I know that! But I don’t know where they put the bomb!”
“Like hell!”
“WHY would I lie NOW?!” X was genuinely terrified now. He was not lying.
Revokov sighed. “You’re not out of any woods yet, padre. You have a few murders to answer for.” X was silent. “Thought so. Enjoy your life, it won’t last much longer.”
Zed Machzer was very angry. “When are we attacking the Yamatoi?”
“We’ve confirmed residence in the shelter near Buckingham Palace,” Virielli answered him, “Maps of the building are being printed out, and we’ll have Grivet and Revokov working on them as soon as we get them. There is, also, a request from Revokov.”
“Yes?”
“He wants to accompany Reno on the mission.”
“What?” Machzer laughed the word.
“Not combat with anyone, but he wants to be there when the thing goes down. The Yamatoi have been giving him hell.”
“Well, why not. He’s earned the choice. Get to work! I want our men out of here by midnight! Mr. X wasn’t specific on the time the satellite would show up! When you make the plans, make sure you take out the controls that will contact that thing, got it?”
“Confirmed, sir.”
Two hours passed. Reno walked through the doors of the strategy room to find Revokov and Virielli putting the finished touches on their plans.
“We’re ready,” Virielli wasted no time. Revokov handed Reno a map of the shelter.
“I’m going with you,” the Pale Horse stated.
“So be it. We’ll take care of you.”
“I can do it just fine on my own. Even so, I’m tagging along with you. We’ll be on the left side of their base. There’s no door, but we’ll make one, right into this hallway here. We’ll go right from there and follow the map until we reach the core of the complex, the likely place for Ardonjes’ satellite linkup. Blow the computers, plant a bomb, and run like hell. BEFORE all of this, however, another team will show up in front of the complex and give the Yamatoi everything we have. It’ll most likely draw their firepower to the front of the complex, clearing our path. We have to work quickly, though. Inform your troops, we leave in an hour.”
“I’ll start setting up, Ivan.”
“Do that.”
When Reno had left, Virielli cast a worried look at Revokov. “Are you sure about this, man?”
“Giovanni, my life is boring me greatly. I can still take care of myself on a battleground; you did it, after all. If I can’t get some thrill out of my life then it’s not worth living.”
“I see what you mean, comrade Revokov.”
“Signore, we stopped using that phrase a while ago.”
They were as ready as they’d ever be, Jaques Grivet realized. The vehicles containing the Zemzelett troops drove slowly through the city, as if on a routine run. No one questioned them. Then again, no one dared.
Ivan Revokov was very quiet. He sat in the corner of the transport, constantly looking over his refined AK-47 assault rifle. The weapon resembled carved obsidian, Reno thought with some respect, it was that shiny. Revokov had practiced a bit before the mission went underway, and Reno had been fortunate enough to see it; the Pale Horse could take the head off a man standing a half mile away with one clean shot. It was almost inhuman.
Revokov himself had no illusions about a sparkling performance. He was older than the man who’d leapt tall fences in a single bound pursuing enemies of the Party all those years ago. Older, slower, and plagued with minor arthritis. But he could still shoot better than any other man inside the Zemzelett. He was a god with his gun, this beautiful rifle that symbolized the life of a VKR man turned interrogator and strategist. He wondered what would become of him on this mission. Frankly, he didn’t care one bit. Death was no more a threat now than it always had been, and he would welcome it when it came for him.
Lieutenant Volkov had been unceremoniously placed in charge of the Zemzelett attack force that would serve as Reno’s diversion. Everyone was in place now, guns ready, faces grim. Quite a few here would die, Volkov was sure, but would he be among them? The middle aged Russian grimaced at the thought but held his assault rifle just as steady. The Zemzelett team scanned the reddened horizon where the shelter that was the grand palace of the Yamatoi Mavericks. All they needed was the signal and it would begin. Fear clutched Volkov’s heart, but he shook it off. Fear had killed too many already.
A glimmer of red light from the laser target at the end of Ivan Revokov’s AK-47 hit the dirt in front of his lieutenant and blinked three times. The signal had been given.
Tensing, Volkov got to his feet and his men followed his lead. He fired.
Reno slammed the bomb onto the side of the building, punching in a code. Revokov and the others had cleared away. The commander turned tail and ran just the same while the Pale Horse and his cohorts readied their weapons. They waited five minutes, long enough for the Yamatoi to respond to the roaring gunfire at the front of the building.
“Art thou ready?” Revokov mumbled.
“All clear, sir.”
“Blow it. And don’t give me that look, child…”
Reno shook his head with a slight grin and detonated his bomb. The brilliant flash of light temporarily blinded the Zemzelett, but they ran towards it anyway, entering the Yamatoi master base.
Reno stared through the sight on his assault rifle, catching a few surprised Yamatoi off guard. The hallway was cleared.
“Spread out!” Revokov barked, moving to the side with the ease of a man half his age. Reno followed, realizing that the man was in his element. Revokov heard the sounds of a human down the hall. He raised his weapon and ended the startled young man with a single shot. The VKR man and his young counterpart snuck through the building, following Virielli’s map like boy scouts on a scavenger hunt.
“Here,” Revokov hissed, hearing the voices of two men inside, arguing bitterly. “The console and the leaders are in here!”
“I hear ya,” Reno replied. Suddenly, a loud rumble jolted both of them; the entire base shook.
“Back!” Revokov hissed, and they both pressed themselves against the wall as a big man burst through the door, cursing in Chinese. Li, no doubt, the ruthless second in command of the Yamatoi. He completely missed Revokov and Reno, instead running down the hall away from them. Revokov caught sight of two armed guards inside the room before the doors closed.
“Follow him, Jaques!” Ivan said quietly, “Find out where he’s going, kill him when he gets there. It must be important!”
“And you?”
“I’ll have my fun. Hurry back, I might need your help.”
“Stubborn old mule! But all right.” Reno went off in pursuit of Li, who had just vanished around the corner, while Ivan made sure he had enough rounds in his assault rifle.
Volkov could scarcely believe it. Out of nowhere it came, a tank, a bloody tank! The Yamatoi’s ultimate weapon! How had they gotten it here? Just how crappy WAS the Zemzelett security over London?!
The behemoth machine wasn’t launching any shells, though. Instead, it was attacking with the twin machine guns on its sides. Many Zemzelett fell, while the ones in hiding prepared their grenades.
Volkov broke into a run, leaping over the bodies of friend and enemy, towards the small hill where his men hid. It was only a matter of time before the tank drove over them, and his soldiers knew it.
“Take the grenades, sir,” a younger man said to Volkov, “Hit the treads of that thing! It’s easily done!”
“Gotcha!” Volkov grabbed two orbs of death and sprinted over the hill, followed by two others. One was promptly cut down by a Yamatoi soldier, whom Volkov took care of shortly afterwards. The tank turned its attention to the people near the entrance to the shelter, and the barrel of the tank raised and lowered once. It was actually going to fire! And, probably, take out most of the Zemzelett who were in an invasion position. Volkov took a grenade and pulled the pin. He raced towards the tank and when he thought he was close enough, he lobbed the grenade towards the treads. The grenade blew, but it blew too far away to destroy the entire set of treads. Nevertheless, the tank slowed, and Volkov raced in front to reach his allies.
“Pull back!” he screamed, “Deal with the TANK first!”
“Sir, look OUT!”
The tank was turning its barrel to the cluster of Zemzelett around Volkov. He drew his grenade and pulled the pin, staring at the barrel of the tank. The perfect target!
The machine guns clicked and several around Volkov dropped dead. The man was suddenly overcome by fear, it happened so fast! He was paralyzed, staring at the face of the deadly machine. It had won…after all was said and done, the fear had won.
The tank shell hit a few feet in front of Volkov, throwing him backwards a distance. He landed, burned and exhausted, but alive. He was alive! Then, he remembered a certain orb of death, and the feeling was horrible. The un-thrown grenade went off in his hand, making a tiny crater in the ground.
Reno trailed Li like a cat, agile and silent. The big man was surprisingly fast, and good with his pistol. He’d dropped three Zemzelett soldiers with a quick tap to the head, and no doubt the Chinese killer could do the same thing to Reno. He was headed to the core of the entire place, a large storage room deep underground. Curious, Reno made haste after the Maverick.
Li scanned the wide area of the storage room and grunted an approval to no one in particular. He went to a small computer and quickly tapped in some commands. There was no equipment here to signify that this was the one to signal the satellite, but Reno could take no chances. He removed a silenced machine pistol from his belt and raised it at Li’s head. He figured he might as well enjoy this.
“Born in lust,” he growled to Li as he pulled the trigger. Li cursed in Chinese, his last noise. He was in the process of turning around when the bullet connected. He flew back and twisted in mid air, landing in a heap and future pool of his own blood. “Turn to dust,” Reno finished with a snicker. He turned tail and ran upstairs. (Hail Linoge!)
Ivan Revokov clutched the grenade in his hand, finally ready to attack. The man inside the room-he presumed it was Ardonjes-hadn’t made any contact with the two guards. One cleverly tossed grenade, thrown at the right time, should handle the guards and give Revokov the cover he needed to pick off anyone else in the room and destroy the computers inside, insuring the safety of the Zemzelett. As for his own well being, he didn’t mind as long as the people in power were smart enough to use their strength to save the world.
The grenade in his hand had a five second timer in it. He pulled the pin and took a deep breath. The door swung open three seconds later, a projectile was tossed to two surprised soldiers. There was a loud curse and an explosion. Revokov darted inside, spotting a guard in the corner of the room raising his pistol shakily. His first shot missed; Revokov’s didn’t.
Manuel Ardonjes cowered by his computer, hands raised as though surrendering to police. Revokov kicked the man in his spine, flooring him.
“Face me!”
Ardonjes turned slowly and stared up at the angry Russian. “Y…you…you’re him!”
“Yes, I am! Fear me, you scum! You killed your own men, you killed many of mine, and you wanted to destroy the only possible chance this world has for order!”
“You’re power hungry maniacs!”
“Are we? But why are we power hungry? We want to restore order to a dead planet! You don’t seem to want that.” Revokov spat, disgusted with the trembling man before him. The Great Ardonjes, leader of the Yamatoi Mavericks…and nothing but a coward. “But, you know? I can almost forgive you all this.”
“Wha…what?”
“What irks me the MOST, however, is that you have a family.”
“Leave them alone!”
“Just like you did? All right. We will. But others won’t. They’re fair game, and humans are evil, we both know that all too well. You have no idea what you have, Ardonjes! When they are gone, you’ll know it, and you’ll never recover from it.”
“You would, wouldn’t you? You’d kill them all if you had the chance!”
Revokov glared down at Ardonjes, and every ounce of common sense in his body told him to kill the foolish man right now. But once more, the words of a Maverick stung at his brain, ruining his anger fit. Would they? Just to torment Ardonjes, would the Zemzelett kill his family?
No, they wouldn’t. They were not the monsters everyone thought they were. Ardonjes was the only monster in sight here; he’d given his family the worries they didn’t need, the fear that their lives could end at any time because of his position as a Maverick. But should Ardonjes die, a child would be without a father and a wife would be without a husband. Revokov himself was without a wife and daughter. He knew the horrors, Ardonjes didn’t, and neither did his family. So why should they? Promptly, something inside Ivan died, a claw that had clutched his heart for so long seemed to let go…
He inhaled sharply. He could tell what was happening to him. All those he’d killed in anger, the stupid humans he’d ended for what an individual had done to his daughter and a group had done to the world, they were needless deaths. He was forgiving humanity at last, for all it had done to him. And it took a cowering, helpless, yet all-too-powerful man to initiate it all. Ah, yes, Ardonjes…he’d have to do something about him…his last act of evil.
“Get up,” Revokov ordered quietly.
“Wha…what?!”
“Get UP, you idiot!”
Ardonjes scrambled to his feet. “What…what are you…?”
“Shut up,” Revokov pointed to the door, “There is a secret exit a few halls down. You know it, I know it. Now, in exchange for your life, I’ll need the computer that controls the satellite. You know, the one that will kill us all.”
“What if I refuse?”
“Then who knows what atrocities may befall your poor family? I’d hate to torture a child.” Revokov bit his tongue with force as soon as the words came out.
Ardonjes turned pale. He pointed to a large computer in the corner of the room.
“If you’re lying, blood will spill.” Ardonjes did not change his mind.
“I’ll handle it,” a new voice piped up. Revokov and a surprised Ardonjes turned to face Reno, leaning on the wall. “I like explosives.”
Revokov nodded. Seconds later, Reno’s grenade wiped out the device. Almost immediately, the other devices in the room switched off.
“That thing also controlled the power,” Ardonjes explained quickly. Revokov nodded; even if that computer didn’t control the satellite, the one that did was powerless now.
“Run out the back, get away,” Revokov commanded, “But if I ever see your face again, I’ll kill you.”
Ardonjes did not reply. Instead, he made good on Revokov’s offer and raced out of the room, and shortly, out of the building.
“The Pale Horse shows mercy?” Reno said in a monotone.
“Jaques, for all intents and purposes, the Pale Horse is dead. And all the better, since it was a very stupid nickname.”
Zed Machzer, leader of the Zemzelett, smiled grimly as he surveyed the ruined Yamatoi headquarters. Amidst the ruins, there was a large, smoking tank that had ruined many of his soldiers. The death count was 25, Zemzelett, 18, Yamatoi. But the Zemzelett had won again, and the Power Struggle was coming to a close. The aging German realized that the responsibility of government and laws would be his soon, and he wasn’t looking forward to it.
But they’d come far from the small cult they started off as, and they’d save the world now, as Machzer’s late predecessor had predicted, a man whose name Machzer would never reveal. The man who wanted to save the planet from the destruction he caused, the man who started it all, would forever be anonymous.
Commander Jaques Grivet awoke to hustle and bustle in the Zemzelett Headquarters. It had been a good week since the attack on the Yamatoi, and people were still recovering from it all. The promoted officer went down to Ivan Revokov’s office with a small folder, information Revokov had requested. He found Giovanni Virielli and Zed Machzer, but no Russian.
“Wassup?”
Virielli and Machzer looked up.
“Mr. Revokov is gone,” Machzer said quietly.
Reno raised an eyebrow. “Gone…?”
“He wasn’t anywhere in the base this morning,” Virielli clarified, “He’s just…vanished.”
Reno nodded. “Anything you need, sirs?”
Machzer shook his head, a dismissal. Reno took it and started back to his quarters, smiling inwardly. Mr. Revokov had been different since the meeting with Ardonjes. A few times Reno had caught the man staring at pictures of an island, Tonga, a place untouched by the war. It would have been so easy for Revokov to hitch a ride on a Zemzelett aircraft and stop by that place….
But it was, Reno admitted, the perfect retirement home for the ex-Pale Horse, a man who had seen and done it all, and still lived to tell about it. It sounded like a fairy tale, and perhaps, Reno mused, that was what it might become.