The Cultists finally got organized again. Their leader took off a hood, revealing himself to be Ignatieff.
"Senators of the corrupt Empire," he said, "You should be honored that you are about to be sacrificed to the Black God, Chernobog. The crucified god that you so love has abandoned you. Why else would he let your Empire be torn asunder? Why else did he let us capture you all so easily? The answer is because he is a false god. He does not care for you. But Chernobog does. Give up your blood for him, and he will reward you, as he rewarded me and my followers, with untold riches in many forms."
Several senators shouted in defiance, but the Cultists fired their guns into the air again to shut them up.
"You bicker now, but it is no use," said Ignatieff, "Why do you so vehemently refuse this great honor? You should be grateful for being given the opportunity to become part of something greater. You know what? I'm going to stop monologuing. My comrades, prepare the sacrifices for the...sacrifice!"
The Cultists forced the senators to kneel and pulled their heads back by their hair with one hand. With their other hand they drew knives from their cloaks and pressed them to the senators' throats.
Ignatieff began chanting in Russian. "Hear me, oh Chernobog, Black God, the Peacock Angel, the true lord of this world. Please accept my merciful offering to your great form..."
"Hey, assbutt," said a voice behind him.
He turned around and saw a man in a trenchcoat standing right behind him.
"Hear this," said the man, snapping his fingers.
Ignatieff flew across the roof, propelled by an invisible force, and crashed into the railing on the far end of the roof.
"Of all of the universes you could have hidden from Heaven in, you chose this one?" said the man.
"Wilhelm," said Ignatieff, "It's been eons since we last met."
"Ignatieff," said Wilhelm, "It's time you paid for your crimes."
The Cultists let go of the senators and opened fire on Wilhelm, but with another snap of his fingers, all of their bullets stopped in midair. The Cultists dropped their weapons in shock as Wilhelm snapped his fingers again, sending them flying over the edge of the building.
Ignatieff reached for his gun, but he stopped when he found a sword pointed straight at his head.
"Don't," said Theodora, "It's over."
Ignatieff sighed and grinned. "It's never over, Doukai. The Cult may have lost today, but it will never give up. Not until Chernobog is satisfied!"
And in front of everybody's eyes, he disappeared.
"Oh, great," said Wilhelm, "I can't go after him."
"You're kidding me," said Theodora, "You can do all that but you can't find him?"
"He's gone to great lengths to conceal himself," said Wilhelm, "He'll only let himself be found when he wants to. But there is one thing I can do."
"What is that?" said Theodora.
"I have a limited ability to time travel," said Wilhelm, "I can reset time to this morning and give you the information to prevent this attack from beginning. And while I'm at it, I'll give you a list of all Cult strongholds around the world."
"Why would I want to reset time?" said Theodora.
"As Minister of Security, they'll have your head for not preventing this attack, especially at your own home," said Wilhelm, "It's the least I can do. They need you as Minister of Security. They need you in the Senate. The Empire needs you to defend it."
Theodora nodded. "Perhaps you're right...considering the Emperor himself is here."
She had noticed that one of the "senators" was actually the Emperor himself.
"And Kira?" said Theodora. "What about her?"
"She'll be safe once you eliminate the strongholds," said Wilhelm, "You won't have to worry about anything."
Wilhelm started walking away.
"And what about you?" said Theodora. "Can't you help out over here? There's so much you could help us with!"
Wilhelm cracked a sad smile. "I'm sorry, but my powers are quite limited right now, and I would prefer you guys sort your problems out on your own. I can't really do anything."
He continued walking away.
"And what about God?" said Theodora. "If you're here, does that mean he's up there?"
Wilhelm laughed. "You do know you're going to forget all of this when I reset time, right?"
He snapped his fingers.
---
That morning
"And therefore, Italia delenda est," said Donatello.
Everybody laughed again. Theodora noticed Alexios sighing and leading Donatello away. The whole idea of ending every single of his speeches with "Italy must be destroyed" was getting on her nerves.
There were the folks from the Thaddai estate in the corner, debating on the correctness of various words for head of government. Apparently "mesazon" was the most popular. However, not much else was happening. Most senators were just walking around aimlessly, not chatting with each other. She had arranged this gathering to solve the problem of boring senate sessions, but it had itself become as boring.
She couldn't even talk to anybody. None of the other senators wanted to talk with her, while her family members (her brother, husband, and children among them) were on "vacation" in Paphlagonia. She was stuck here, with a bunch of bored guests. It said something about the party that the only "entertainment" came from a raving anti-Italian senator channeling Cato and from senators debating word choices. Besides, she was strangely quite worried about security, having asked General Ioannes Dalassenos to bring some troops over for some reason she remembered as being "potential civil disturbance."
Suddenly, a servant rushed into the room and made a beeline straight for her. All conversation in the room stopped as everybody turned towards her.
"There's an uninvited individual at the door," the servant whispered, "She wants to speak with you."
"Tell her she'll have to wait," said Theodora.
"She says it's urgent," said the servant.
"Then inform her that I'll send an Athanatos to help her out," said Theodora.
"She wants to speak to you in person," said the servant, "And she has information on the Cult."
"The Cult?" Theodora said. "They haven't done anything since they showed up during that coup attempt in the capital."
She said that too loud, for some other senators started murmuring.
"Apparently they're up to something," said the servant, "And she can help."
"Send her in," said Theodora.
The servant nodded and rushed out of the room.
"Sorry everybody, there's been a change of plans," she told her guests, "My friend Mara here will oversee the dinner preparations."
She left the room and went to one of her small meeting rooms, where a disheveled young Iranian woman wearing torn days awaited her. Her face was youthful, but her eyes looked like they had seen years upon years of events.
"Who are you?" Theodora asked.
"Call me Kira, Theodora Anna Sophia Doukas," said the woman.
"How do you know my full name?" Theodora demanded. "I never told anybody my name."
"That's not important," said Kira, "What's important is that you trust me. I defected from the Cult, and I can tell you how they work and where their main bases are."
"Suppose you're telling the truth," said Theodora, "What do you want me to do?"
"I need your protection," said Kira, "They'll be looking for me."
"I'll tell the Athanatoi to send a detail," said Theodora.
"There's no time for that," said Kira, "We have to move fast, before they come here."
She handed Theodora a list.
"What is this?" said Theodora.
"A list of the major Cult strongholds I am aware of," said Kira, "I found it lying next to my bed this morning with no idea how it got here."
Theodora took the list. "Did you say they were coming here?"
"Yes, I did," said Kira, "They'll be coming after me, and the back of the list has a message saying that there is a group of Cultists on its way here."
Another servant burst into the room. "Minister, I've got General Dalassenos on the phone," he said.
"Tell him I'll be right there," said Theodora.
She got up from her chair. "Now, make yourself at home here," she said to Kira, "You can stay here as long as you want. You have my word you'll be safe here."
She left the room and picked up a phone in the next room. "Hello?"
"Theodora?" said Ioannes. "I don't know how you did it, but we found a whole group of Cultists heading straight for your mansion. We've apprehended all of them, but we wouldn't have found them if you didn't ask us to look for them. How did you know?"
"Several years as Minister of Security does that to you," said Theodora, "Good work, Ioannes. Is a man matching Ignatieff's description among them?"
"Uh, no, but he appears to never have been part of the group," said Ioannes.
"Thank you, Ioannes," said Theodora, "Take them to the nearest holding center for transport to Constantinople. I want the Emperor to be present at their interrogation."
"I should be thanking you, Theodora," said Ioannes, "Good bye for now."
The line clicked.
Theodora sighed, feeling like she had just averted a major disaster. Now she really felt like talking to the other senators. She headed back downstairs to the reception room, hoping to make a few new friends in the Senate.
((I apologize for ending this interactive part like this, but I couldn't come up with any other way to end it properly. I hope everybody's okay with it, and I won't do this again to resolve future plots. The Cult also won't appear again for the rest of this AAR, as I feel they've run their course and have been used too many times. Maybe they'll appear again in HOI4, and they'll definitely show up for a final chapter in Stellaris.))
I guess that gives me a good opportunity to change a few things before agreeing to a merger. If it's okay with everybody I'll write up an explanation for the Unified Imperial Citizens, or as I would like to call it...))
