Stone Hunting, Part 4
8:30 AM
As the others checked their weapons, Theodora sat in the corner, watching them quietly. Her eyes occasionally darted over to the door. Olga noticed her discomfort and walked over.
“Hey,” she said, “You okay?”
“I’m…I’m just confused,” Theodora said, “One second I’m walking in a park in Athens, the next I’m surrounded by concrete and metal, about to be executed. So, uh, thanks for stepping in.”
“It’s my job,” Olga said.
“To be fair, it was really weird seeing you and that other lady here,” Theodora said, “There aren’t many like you in my day.”
“Maybe that’s why your dream is so daunting,” Olga said, “Because you’d be the first woman to run for the Diet. There’s nobody behind you to look up to.”
“I, I know,” Theodora said, “I just don’t know what to do. Even if I get home, is this what I really want to do?”
Olga thought for a moment. What about herself? Did she really want to do this? She had been on X-Division for about fifteen years now. Was this her legacy? Was this what she wanted to be remembered for? What would she do after the X-Division?
“Just do what you really like doing,” Olga said, “Even if everybody’s telling you no, don’t let them get to you. It’s true, there’s nobody behind you to encourage you. But somebody has to be the first, right? I think you’ll make a great senator. Not just a great female senator, but any senator too, man or woman.”
“Really?” Theodora said.
“If you don’t believe me, I’m sure the Crown Prince will say something similar,” Olga said, “When you get back, make sure to talk to him. He’s a great role model. Look, you’ll always have haters. The road ahead of you won’t be easy. Don’t let that dissuade you. It doesn’t matter how many steps you take. They just have to be in the right direction.”
Theodora smiled and nodded. “I'll keep that in mind.”
Olga smiled back. “Alright. Now let’s get you home. Oh, one more thing, I’d like you to do something else for me when you get home…”
She whispered something into Theodora’s ear as Diana walked over.
“You ready?” Diana said.
“Ready as I’ll ever be,” Olga said.
“Let’s do this,” Munster said.
They approached the blast door, guns ready. Diana pushed a button, and the door slowly rolled open. The hallway ahead was deserted, its alarms still blaring. The group cautiously advanced, checking constantly for enemies. There were none, but there were plenty of bodies on the floor, both cultists and RSB agents.
“Make a left here,” Munster said.
They turned left into another hallway, where several cultists stood watch. The cultists immediately noticed them and grabbed their guns.
“Hey, stop!” they shouted.
“On you,” Diana said to Olga.
Olga opened fire first, followed by Diana. The cultists didn’t have time to shoot before they all fell to the ground.
“You still got it,” Diana said.
“Too slow,” Olga said, “Took me three seconds. My average is two.”
“Still great,” Munster said.
“You wouldn’t know,” Olga said.
“You’ll get better,” Diana said.
They reached the end of the hallway and stopped in front of the door to the first lab. Munster wrote a spell on his tablet, temporarily increasing the audibility of sounds from inside. They heard the voices of several cultists.
“Here’s the plan, Diana,” Munster whispered, “I stun the cultists. Then you and Olga take them out. I’ll barricade the doors, then you handle the reinforcements while I work on the machine.”
“And the stone?” Diana said.
“The stone, like similar artifacts, can be neutralized with extreme heat,” Munster said, “If I just cast a spell to incinerate the stone, as Stephen tried, it should be destroyed.”
“Sounds like a plan,” Olga said.
“Alright,” Munster said, “Olga, care to do the honors?”
Olga reached for the blast door’s control panel.
“Clear,” she said, pushing the open button.
The door slowly rumbled open, and the cultists stopped murmuring.
“Fire in the hole!” Munster said.
He raised his hand, and a magic circle surrounded his arm. A bright light filled the lab, temporarily blinding the cultists. Diana and Olga charged inside and quickly dropped the cultists. Munster then closed the door and put up a barrier to reinforce it. He put another barrier over the other blast door.
“That should buy us enough time,” he said.
Olga and Diana picked up the dead cultists' guns and hid behind machinery. Diana handed the stone to Munster, who put it in the machine, making sure to handle it with a cloth. He took out his spray can and drew a sigil on the machine and a second one on the ground. Then he walked over to the computer and started the machine. The stone glowed red, white the machine sigil glowed blue in response. Shouts came from outside, followed by cultists banging on the doors. The magic barriers holding the doors flickered, struggling to hold against the assault.
“STOP THEM!” Paulos shouted.
Olga and Diana loaded their guns in response.
“Let’s do this,” Munster said.
He pressed his palm to the machine sigil. The machine rattled and shook, the stone angrily glowing a deep red. The room itself began shaking. Beams of light randomly shot outward from the stone, haphazardly striking everything around them. The parts of the floor and walls touched by the beams suddenly became immaculate and clean, as if they had been reverted to an earlier state. The cultists began forcing the front door open, and Diana shot through the gap. Several cultists fell to the floor, and their comrades retreated.
“Any time now!” Diana said.
“Almost there!” Munster said.
Cultists began prying open the second door as well, and Olga let off a quick burst of bullets to keep them away. Theodora approached the machine, no longer afraid. Munster spoke his incantation in rapid-fire Latin, the sigil glowing in sync. The stone continued shining madly. Diana stared at the stone as it glowed brilliantly, firing off those beams of destruction…or were they rejuvenation? Arabia wrote this was the philosopher’s stone of alchemy fame, the stone which would grant eternal life. Maybe there was truth to the legend. She snapped out of her trance just as another cultist forced his hand through. She shot him.
“Alright, place your hand on the sigil,” Munster said.
Theodora approached the machine.
“Got it,” Theodora said, “Uh, thank you, Olga. For today.”
“It’s my job,” Olga said, “Like I always do.”
The magic barriers finally failed, and the blast doors grated open. Olga and Diana turned back to shooting the cultists as they tried forcing their way inside. Paulos stormed in, deflecting their bullets with his own spells as he angrily charged for the machine. His eyes now glowed deep red.
“YOU WILL NOT STOP US, HEARTLESS!” he roared. “WE CANNOT BE DEFEATED! THIS EMPIRE WILL FALL! YOUR HOHENZOLLERNS WILL DIE!”
“Shut up,” Munster said.
He picked up his gun and fired. His enchanted bullet tore through Paulos’ magic defenses and struck him in the head. The cultist fell to the ground, and the other cultists momentarily halted.
“Now!” Diana said.
Theodora placed her hand on the sigil, and she disappeared in a flash of light. Munster put his palm to the ground sigil, which glowed a deep blue. Energy swirled around the three of them as the machine shook and the stone angrily flashed red. Cracks appeared on its surface, red energy leaking out from behind them. Just as the stone exploded, a blue magic circle surrounded Munster, Diana, and Olga and engulfed them in a bright light. When the light faded, they had disappeared from the room.
Doha - 3:00 PM
Diana and Munster entered a hospital room, where Olga lay on a bed, reading a book. Olga rubbed her forehead and looked at Diana, who sat at her side.
“How are you doing?” she said.
“Could be better,” Olga said, “The doctors found nothing serious. I just need a couple days of rest. What about you?”
“As you can see, I’m fine,” Diana said.
“Well, that was an interesting day,” Munster said, “I’d say that was a successful mission.”
“What are you going to do now?” Olga said.
“Dieter called,” Munster said, “Said he ran into more cultists, not to mention Behr himself. You’re right. The Inquisition is completely compromised. Behr is one of them. I’m going to go meet up with Dieter and his friends at a Hashshashin base after this.”
“You can’t be serious,” Diana said, “Taking on this cult?”
“They were caught by surprise,” Munster said, “They didn’t expect us to expose them so quickly. We wasted a lot of their resources on this mission. We did destroy the stone, so that’s a great victory for us. They can be defeated, so we’ll keep fighting.”
He smiled.
“You don’t have to worry about us or those cultists,” Munster said, “We’ll take care of ourselves. We’ll make sure the cultists don’t go after you. If you don’t hear from us, it means we’re doing our job.”
“So I guess this is the last time we’ll meet, huh?” Olga said.
“I think so,” Munster said.
They shook hands.
“It was nice working with you,” Diana said.
“Likewise,” Munster said, “Tell Anders I send my regards.”
“I will,” Diana said.
He casually saluted and left the room. Diana looked into the hallway, but he was already gone. She walked back into the room and sat next to Olga.
“What are you reading?” she asked.
“It’s Theodora’s diary,” Olga said, “It turns out she did meet the Crown Prince the next day. He was the one who inspired her to run.”
“And from there, she changed history,” Diana said, “She accomplished a lot in her career. You know, my mom met her as a kid, before the war happened. She was one of her inspirations.”
“I can see that,” Olga said, “Look, Di, I just want to say, thank you.”
“For what?” Diana said.
“For everything today,” Olga said, “It’s nice to know you have my back. Even if you do go about it in really reckless ways.”
Diana hugged Olga again.
“I’d do anything for my friend,” Diana said, “It’s the least I could do."
There was a knock on the door.
“Come in,” Diana said.
Instead of a doctor as they expected, Irene Doukas herself walked in. Diana and Olga immediately recoiled and reached for their guns. Irene put her hands up and shook her head.
“Calm down,” she said, “I’m here on a truce.”
“What is the meaning of this?” Diana said.
“Olga should know,” Irene said, “She sent me.”
“What?” Olga said.
Irene handed a slip of yellowed paper to Diana. She read the paper.
“This is Senator Doukas’ handwriting,” Diana realized.
“When she was just starting out as a senator, my aunt met someone,” Irene said, “That person gave her specific instructions…for me. Telling me to help you expose Sentinel, long before I was born or Sentinel was even an idea.”
“Olga, what did you tell her?” Diana said.
“We weren’t getting anywhere with Sentinel, Di,” Olga said, “I was inspired by the RSB leaks. And she raised Irene.”
“Don’t worry,” Irene said, “I’m not going to inform Pavel.”
“So you’re really working for him,” Diana said.
“It’s more like a partnership,” Irene said, “And not anymore. I want you to take him out.”
“What?” Olga said.
“Pavel doesn’t want to revive the Syndicate, he wants to trigger Sentinel,” Irene said, “He doesn’t care if the Kaiser’s not dead yet. He wants to rule the world using stolen Jotun technology. I have to stop him.”
“Why should we trust you?” Olga said. “You have Pavel’s ear. You screwed us over before. You just walk in here saying you want to help us, what’s stopping you from just selling us out to Pavel now? Speaking of which, what's stopping Pavel or his guys from walking in right behind you and killing us all right now?”
"Calm down, we'll be fine," Diana said.
“Pavel calls the shots, but I try to restrain him,” Irene said, "He’s gone off the deep end. Once he triggers Sentinel, he will turn on me and the rest of us. I need you to stop him before he destroys us all. I’ve done enough harm to this world. Maybe I can start by doing some good. It’s what Aunt Theodora would’ve wanted.”
She took a stack of files out of her coat and handed them to Diana.
“Here are some classified files related to Sentinel,” she said, “I received them from my late aunt's estate this morning, along with her message. There are records dating back to the beginning of the Syndicate in the 1940s. They have everything about Pavel and Sentinel. Use them however you want.”
“These include the plans for the takeover of the Reich?” Diana read.
“Not just the Reich, the entire world,” Irene said, “By a well-oiled and well-armed multinational group of powerful individuals that will cull, kill and subjugate.”
“Happening as we sit here?” Olga said.
“It's happening all around us,” Irene said, “It’s starting already.”
“The other shoe waiting to drop,” Diana said.
“The takeover itself will start on Friday, April 1, 2016,” Irene said, “Restoration Day weekend. The banks will announce a security action necessitating their computers to go offline all weekend.”
“Digital money will disappear,” Olga said.
“Followed by the detonation of strategic electromagnetic pulse bombs to knock out major grids,” Irene said, “What will seem like an attack on the Reich, by terrorists or China. Nobody will take it seriously until it’s too late. It's also April Fool's Day, and that might help a little.”
“The upgrade of SVI will play a crucial role in this,” Diana realized, “That’s what those directed-energy enhancements were for. To safely eliminate resistance around the world. The whole system is under Pavel's control.”
“Now you understand what we’re up against,” Irene said, “We don’t have time.”
“Wait a minute,” Olga said, “Why are you giving us all this now? What’s the catch? There’s always a catch with you people.”
Irene headed out the door.
“You don’t have to trust me,” she said, “I understand. What matters is Pavel must go down. For the sake of the world. I can’t do it alone. I need the X-Division. We need the X-Division.”
She left the room. Olga and Diana looked at each other, at the files, and then at the slip of paper, still confused.
