Kaliningrad, 1970.
They were late for the meeting set up in the abandoned military base. Outside the wind howled and the heavy rain pattered over the tin rooftops of the makeshift buildings littering the abandoned base. Wrecks of armored cars from the great war were left forgotten all around the base, awaiting disposal and dismantlement. The Baltic Sea could be seen from the highest building, a four story brick complex which served as the Headquarters of the base. Nearby empty hangers looked on at the sea in hopes of salvation, but nothing would come to save them.
Jack was sitting on a wobbly wooden chair, leaning forward on top of a slick mahogany desk and jamming a knife in between the extended fingers of his left hand. The knife he wielded seemed strangely familiar, although its handle was made from a new black plastic. He was wearing warm clothes in dark colors, a woolen cap over his head and ears. The cold seeped through the heavy cloth, but it wasn't as cold as up north when they first tested him. They were bad memories Jack couldn't shake off. It seemed like his whole life was a string of bad memories. He tried to change that.
The Hanger he was in appeared empty, but it was hiding an entire Company of veteran soldiers, mostly paratroopers, peppered with an occasional KGB agent and a handful of Tanks. The surrounding Hangers held the rest of the forces, ready to spring into action when the time was right. Among those there was the Soviet's secret weapon. Jack cringed at the thought of the bastard with the long beard, those hollow, dead eyes...
The sound of a car outside alerted him to the arrival of his companions. He will soon meet again with the Impaler and his girlfriend, and finally end the sad affair with the hunter, Shenshen.
The car was a sleek black cruiser, modified from an old police car. Now that he was back in Eurasia, Vlad had access to his car collection. He stepped out of the car, engine still running and smiled. Jack was here, just as planned. Naditabirus was notably nowhere to be found.
Vlad went into the trunk and popped it open, revealing a metal coffin with a red finish. He hoisted it over his head and gently set it on the ground. This was where they were set to meet. The King of Vampires grabbed the coffin and moved inside the compound. The Impaler wondered if his old friend was being genuine or not. It didn't matter, he still had the upper hand.
The old man had arrived rather late, which was peculiar for him. It must have been the attitude rubbed off his girlfriend. The two were awfully close, it seemed back then, and they must have shared quite the history together. Vlad was carrying a coffin with him - oh the delightful irony even made Jack smile. It seemed like he was happy to meet Vlad once again.
He stopped playing with his knife and placed it on the table behind him. Jack took a few steps forward and held out his arms in an attempt to embrace Vlad.
'Vlad, my good friend. It's good to see you. I hope the trip wasn't troublesome for you'.
Shenshen opened his eyes. He didn't know how much time had passed. Time had become meaningless for him, though he felt it had became harder and harder for him to die, so moments where Shenshen slumbered in the peace of death were replaced by periods where he went mad due to the pain of his prison. Shenshen greatly feared the blank rage that came with those periods. In the rare moments where he was lucid found the iron maiden covered in scratches and gouges which formed curses and nonsensical phrases. His prison seemed to reflect the degeneration of his own psyche.
Shenshen smelled the wind and his instincts told him that something was about to change. He felt movement.
[hr]2[/hr]
When they told him he would meet more of his kind he was afraid they could replace him. He feared it more than anything in the world - even more than death, since it was not a problem for him. They pitted the two of them together in the far north, to test his ability, and the abilities of the other one. He was an Anglo scum, yet he sought to join the global revolution. He couldn't be trusted.
He had a name, but it was forgotten long ago. He had a mother, but she died long ago. All he remembered was the cause and the revolution, the rebellion and the war. All he remembered was standing by the red banners, and living through all of those deaths. He became a legend, an honored veteran - and an agent of the state. The Winter Soldier was standing in a room adjacent to the hanger, only a mere door standing between him and the enemies of the revolution. The Atheist Monk looked at the men surrounding him - all good men, all strong and loyal men. He was ashamed they could die in defending the motherland while he couldn't have such an hour. That was the fate of the immortal. To live forever for the sake of the revolution.
[hr]2[/hr]
The inside of Jack's hangar was bleak to say the least. Vlad had wondered why he wanted to meet there, it was possible that he wanted to do something funny, but Vlad was confident he could deal with anything Jack could scrounge up. Perhaps Jack just wanted to meet in a secluded location, he always was strange that way.
Vlad looked at the Ripper with cold eyes and said "You and I both know that a hug from the Ripper lies among the most dangerous things in the world." Vlad was on his guard, it had probably occurred to Jack that one may betray the other. He was not going to let the Ripper stick a knife in his back so easily. Vlad placed the coffin down and said "As you can tell, I have my side of the bargain. Do you have the knife?"
[hr]2[/hr]
He could see him standing there, a grin on his face. The evil man was meeting another evil man, to do evil business. It was his duty to stop it, his duty to take the knife - no, forget that - take Jack's life. He saw it unfold through his binoculars, the exchange about to take place. Sun was standing on top of a hanger three hundred yards from the sea, leaning forward at the edge of it to take a better view of the situation. This was the moment he was waiting for. It was high time for revenge - but it was best to be certain, so he waited and screened the rest of the base. Signs of more activity propped up - armed men were trying to keep themselves hidden, but he heard them down below in the Hanger. Something else was there - someone he knew from long ago. An immortal.
[hr]2[/hr]
Jack didn't expect any warmth from the Impaler, but a simple sense of courtesy was something he had expected from royalty. Perhaps over time his manners were reduced to nothing when he rotted away in the various prisons they had thrown him in, but Jack kept his sanity with him. Indeed he have, he told himself, I am completely sane.
Jack turned sideways and revealed the table behind him with the knife over it. He outstretched his arm and presented it to Vlad.
'Before you receive it, let me prove to you it is the knife you were looking for... Open the box, and let me show you. I will avenge our stolen years in the pits of hell'.
Vlad let a wild smile grow on his face as he opened the individual locks on the coffin. He popped each one with unusual care and kept an eye on the Ripper. He wanted to see the man's face when he revealed his surprise. The final lock popped and Vlad said plainly, "I am afraid that the only one to finish the Hunter will be me."
Vlad opened the casket and out fell a cord, which he caught on the descent. On the cord was a single button, and as light reached the coffin, Jack realized what was really inside. An uncountable amount of TNT revealed itself to the Ripper. Vlad shrugged and said "Give me the knife, or I will blow up this building, and both of us with it."
Jack stared dumbfounded at his traitorous former companion. He trusted him to live up to the bargain - if not that, then at least deliver the hunter so he could kill him for the both of them. Jack froze in his place while his mind raced to find the alternative.
He couldn't give up on the knife - it was the only thing making him attractive to the Reds. If he loses it he's gone - he would have no sponsor, no place to hide. He will be found and returned to another new torture for him. He couldn't allow it to happen again. Never again.
'You traitorous bastard! All I ever wanted was have that dog killed for putting me in hell... You should want the same!'
"Don't worry, friend. Once I have the knife, I will send him to wherever we go myself." Vlad had a confident smile about him. His pose was that of a King now, he actually was feeling more like his old self now than ever before. His regal self allowed the room to go cold and quiet. His smile turned into a frown and he stared into Jack's eyes.
"Now put the knife down, and kick it over to me."
'What would you do then, Vlad, when this does go off? We will turn into a pile of meat... it will be days before we put ourselves together, and how will you get your knife then?'. Jack showed him a coy smile, challenging him to prove his resolve.
The sweet irony of the matter will drive a man to a fit of laughter
'I would have felt betrayed', Jack started, his hands holding the knife, caressing the edge of the blade gently like an old lover, 'had I not done the same'. Two of his fingers went up to his mouth, and Jack whistled. A door from the other side of the warehouse opened with a mighty kick, and a massive man charged forward holding an RPK light machine-gun. Behind him came a stream of black clad soldiers.
'I know you would like to press the trigger', Jack continued to the surprised Vlad, 'but it's too late for that'.
'Soldat, Strelay Na Provad!', Jack ordered in Russia, and a stream of bullets wheezed past Vlad. He must have been a terrible shot to have missed him by so much - if he was aiming at Vlad at all, and not at the wire going from the trigger to the pile of explosives sitting next to him.
'Meet my partner', Jack motioned at the winter soldier. 'Tell me then, where can I find Shenshen?'.
[hr]2[/hr]
There were gunshots fired in the hanger and Sun was on edge - should he come in now and make his revenge, or wait to see what will happen? He waited for all those years tracking down the Ripper, and it was only because of the contacts helping the Impaler that he learned of his location. The Soviets kept his location a secret, fearing more for the knife than the man, he suspected, but as expected he sold them a story about only he could use the knife to its full extent.
That's because nothing can really kill an immortal
Something was happening down below. Monkey heard rustles coming from where Vlad arrived, and saw a woman leaving the car and opening the trunk, where she tried to pull out a massive coffin. Who was it the Impaler was driving with?
Sun had to find out. He dropped down a drainpipe, climbing down the hanger roof to meet her. Monkey was crouching, his hands dangling forward, holding his walking cane. He looked down on her from the steel fence surrounding the military base.
'Who are you?', he asked ominously.
Naditabirus twisted around and saw a man in a cloak. A man with a tail. His voice had a distinct accent about it, she chuckled and rolled her eyes. "Kong. I would ask the same of you." Naditabirus reached behind her and clutched her sawed off shotgun. Kong was known to be scrappy and this was really not the time for his antics. She had just heard shooting, and no explosion. Vlad did bring a few guns, so it was possible he decided to solve things that way, but she really had no time to waste on a monkey king.
"I am getting the knife from the Ripper so I can study it, now go away." She hoped that would sate his curiosity, maybe he would ignore the coffin. Naditabirus wished she had slammed the iron rod down on Shen's head before taking him out. Maybe he wouldn't notice, maybe he was too crazy now to even comprehend the situation? The Lich regretted not studying him over the years.
Sun Wukong was annoyed about being ignored like that, he a legendary sage, a fighting Buddha and the most handsome monkey king! Sun jumped from his perch on the drainpipe and lightly ascended on the coffin. He turned towards the stranger and repeated "I asked you who you were dark one".
Sun Wukong made a seemingly casual motion to scratch his head and grabbed the needle that was placed behind his ear for safe keeping. With his weapon in hand, Sun Wukong tapped the coffin he was on with the base of his foot. "What is this? Doesn't it seem a bit excessive to hold a knife? Is it something important?" Sun insolently cocked his head to the side and smiled, although his eyes remained cold and fixated on the woman in front of him "Well I'll be keeping this as well as the knife, so you can go study something else student".
Naditabirus' eyes betrayed her lack of interest in Kong. The fact that he was touching the iron maiden did not help. Naditabirus took a step back and whipped her shotgun forward. "You won't be able to deflect this, Kong. Go back home, pretend to have the world figured out and stay out of my business." Nadi never did respect the monkey, she read his story and was not really all that impressed.
"As for who I am" Naditabirus continued. "I am Naditabirus." With that, she fired her shotgun. There was no time to waste with the monkey. Vlad might need her soon. Plus, she doubted Kong would be so nice if the hangar exploded.
Sun Wukong's face was briefly stuck in an almost comical expression of surprise when Naditabirus made a movement to take out her gun, but recovered quickly enough that in the moment Naditabirus took to say her name Wukong had brought down his fist with an exaggerated flourish. The needle in his hand expanded rapidly and took on the size of a pillar, enough for Wukong to take refuge behind and shield himself from the shot.
Sun Wukong then shrunk the size of his weapon to that of a tree trunk, jumped in the air and bellowed "It's the Monkey King to you!" before bringing it down towards Naditabirus.
Naditabirus jumped to the left and barely dodged the massive strike by Kong. Snow scattered everywhere, but mostly piled to the sides. Wukong left a massive dent in the earth where his poles struck, but there was no immortal under him. The new terrain allowed Naditabirus to hide among the new mounds of powder while she reloaded. Kong was dangerous, that was well known. But his hubris was also well known.
"Pathetic! You can't beat a woman without using your pole? I thought you were the Monkey King, not some sort of brute." Naditabirus quickly began to move towards one of the hangars, and caught sight of Kong again.
Sun Wukong had to wait before the snow and dust cleared to see that his attack had no effect. His opponent had the speed and habits of a snow rabbit. He could hear her mocking him and he snarled at the taunts of his opponent. He, Sun Wukong was tempted to chase after her and show why he was the Sage equal to Heaven, but remembered the teachings of his friend. Sun breathed deeply, then smirked and announced to no one in particular: "I am the Monkey King and I suppose I can graciously forgive your ignorance".
He walked back to the truck and stood next to the coffin that his opponent had been guarding.
Wukong drew a small circle around with his staff and then examined the coffin, it smelled of blood and worse, but anything associated to the immortals here would probably have root in some dark magic, like the knife. He might as well confiscate their weapons in that case. Sun loudly announced to the surrounding area "Stupid. How stupid. I got your coffin!"Sun Wukong lifted his staff and broke the locks holding the iron coffin's door in place and in a grand gesture opened the door to whatever prize was within.
Sun then stared bemused at the coffin's content, which seemed to be a starved men.
From the compound, a small army of soldiers began rushing out. They were speaking Russian, a language Naditabirus was unfamiliar with. What she figured however, was that Vlad had been captured somehow, and that the army was now searching for her, and for Shen. The Lich peaked at WuKong prodding at the coffin, and unsealing it. Naditabirus sighed, there was no possibility now of taking down WuKong, the army, and ensuring Shenshen stayed in his coffin. There was only one option now, a strategic flank that resulted in a recovered knife.
Naditabirus ducked for cover and allowed WuKong to continue investigating the coffin, he would draw the attention of the army, allowing her to sneak past. She kept low to the snow and moved in a circle toward the hangar. The army was more interested in her car than anything else, though she had her pistols at the ready if she needed to strategically remove one of the mortals.
Shenshen groggily opened his eyes and met the eyes of what seemed to be a very hairy man. Both immortals looked at each other in confusion for a few moments before they were alerted by shouts originating from the warehouse. Shenshen only had time to glimpse at some Russian soldiers running towards them before he was unceremoniously grabbed by the hairy man over his shoulder. After that the only thing he felt was the sensation of flying, before he once again passed out.
[hr]2[/hr]
Vlad was slowly losing ground to Jack and his army. His skills in subterfuge was useless in such a wide open warehouse, and even with his speed he couldn't dodge every single bullet that was being shot at him. They were even bringing in machine guns, to take him down. Worst of all Jack hadn't lost his edge at all and it was only by sheer luck that he hadn't gotten stabbed yet. Nadi was the one who was supposed to pacify him, so where the hell was she?
For a moment a thought went through Vlad's mind. What if Nadi had simply fled or even betrayed him to Jack? This made him hesitate for a split second mid-kick, which was all that his enemy needed. Jack slashed Vlad's leg and the Impaler fell.
Jack looked down at Vlad, with a small smirk on his face and drawled.
"You know Vladdie, I never had the chance to give you a proper London welcome. I was indisposed by that damnable hunter, but I heard he gave you a good enough run of the place. Still, I always wanted to show you what we do to Polacks like you back home."
Jack then brought down his knife for the kill.
It was at that point, that Vlad saw in the corner of his eye, a tank. It was hidden behind some loose sheet metal, but he could see it poking out a little bit. They had brought a tank? What for? This was beyond overkill, but in it the Impaler saw an opportunity. He kicked Jack in the shin and forced him to go tumbling to the ground. The vampire then bolted straight to the tank, ripping the sheet metal in one swipe, he hopped on top of the tank and began to force the hatch open. The bullets flying past him didn't matter anymore. He could hear the screams of the people inside.
"Jack! You brought me a present?" Vlad said as he ripped the hatch open and jumped inside the tank. Jack and The Winter Soldier did not even have a second to react to this, as one of the terrified operators of the tank fired. While normally this would not be a massive problem, the coffin inside the hangar was filled with enough explosives to level the entire building, which is exactly what it did when the tank fired.
Of course the tank itself was fine. It's a tank, an indirect explosion is not going to do a whole lot to it. Everyone else on the other hand, disappeared under a pile of rubble. Vlad had at this point managed to kill the operators of the tank, and slowly drove it out of the rubble, turning the barrel at the small legion who had exited the hangar. Some of them were already killed by shrapnel sent out by the hangar, but a whole lot more were about to be dead. Vlad began to laugh as he fired the tank, sending out a massive shell towards the army.
[hr]2[/hr]
The explosion hit, and hit hard. Shrapnel flew everywhere around her, a particularly large piece landed about three feet near her. Naditabirus? eyes grew wide, but she knew what to do. Or at least she thought she did, Vlad came rolling out of the rubble in a massive tank, and she could only watch as he fired explosive shell after explosive shell into the crowd of soldiers that had come chasing after her car. She watched very carefully, and her eyes grew wide as she saw one of the shells hit her car. He was insane! He had not seen her, and he knew she was in the car. Maybe he missed, but he was being too reckless. Naditabirus steeled her nerves and in the chaos, ran to the hangar to recover Jack?s knife.
Running through snow is not easy, she was dressed warmly, but everything around her was frigid. She was moving slowly, but surely. The hangar?s ruins were in sight. It was possible that this could take a really long time, but Naditabirus did not really think about that as she moved forward. She wanted the knife, she had wanted the knife. She needed the knife. She had sacrificed too much to not have it. The Lich reached the first bit of rubble and began to tear at it. She was wearing gloves, but she occasionally got cut by the errant piece of hangar.
Naditabirus kept digging, she had her shotgun in hand and the second she saw any bit of the Ripper, she would blast so much buckshot in his face that he would never get up again. Especially after she plunged the knife in his heart. There was no time for studying it on him, she had to kill the Ripper. It was the only solution.
It was buried under metal sheets and bits of concrete, reinforced iron and a lot of dust - but Nadi recognized the glint of metal when she saw the knife flicker at her in the moonlight. It was a beautiful sight - her deepest desire, the end to her journey of understanding what she was afflicted with coming to a sweet end - had it not snapped up and shoved itself in her neck, tearing at flesh like it was butter. Nadi was in a daze, shocked to find her blood seeping from her, the wound refusing to heal as they would normally. She clutched her throat in an attempt to stop the bleeding, which helped slightly. A deep gash across the side of her neck was oozing thick blood. Near her more rubble moved and a figure emerged underneath - Jack the bastard, Jack the murderer, Jack the rapist - Jack the ripper, with a wicked smile on his face.
'Cat got your tongue?', he teased her, kicking away her weapon as he watched her struggle to get up.
[hr]2[/hr]
There was a path in the rubble made by a massive Soviet-made tank making way through the ruins. It was piloted by one man - but that man had lived enough lifetimes to populate a small nation. It sowed panic in the men outside, firing shells and operating the heavy machine-gun at the top. The sound of screaming men was muffled by the rubble, but it still reached his ears. His countrymen, getting slaughtered in the field. Just like in Leningrad. Just like in Kharkov. Just like in Stalingrad. He wouldn't have it. He had to resist.
Vlad was firing everything the tank had. Shell after shell, it really did seem to make a difference. The Russian army was dealing with...wait was that Sun? What was he doing here? Had Jack made even more enemies? Vlad shrugged it off, Kong had most of the soldiers handled, and was beginning to make a rush for the rubble. Vlad's eyes grew wide, the rubble! Was Kong after Jack's knife? He couldn't have that. Vlad turned around and saw Naditabirus fall back and began to aim the cannon of his tank. He couldn't tell what was going on, but she seemed hurt.
Vlad drove through the now open landscape, killing off the ants that remained in his playground. They were all merely human, every one of them, and nothing made them special. They were all dispensable - buts of meat carrying juicy blood - oh, how he craved for it now as mists of it came up where living bodies used to be. He noticed in the edge of the sights Nadi being brutalized by Jack, of all people - and the top gun to aim at him. That murderer had outlived too many encounters - he was like a cockroaches, and those had to be squashed.
'I am a gentleman, which is why I will allow you to have your last words-', Jack smiled as Nadi struggled to speak with her throat so badly hurt, '-you can't? What a shame. While you were living high off your -', Jack waved his knife around in the air, looking for the right word to describe Nadi's coke crazed frenzies, '-addiction-', he continued, '-I was living in my own shit. Do you know you can never get used to the smell? I can still smell it, taste it, always a hint of it around me... I was a gentleman, a royal physician, they were harlots - working girls, and you put me up in this madness?'. Jack felt rage building up in his body' the urge to exact vengeance, some retribution on anyone even slightly responsible for his incarceration - though that plan didn't go so well when a tank rolled up next to him and decided to use him as target practice. Jack turned back and ran as fast as he could, hoping to outrun a speeding bullet - or a shell.
Underneath all of that rubble a heart pounded for justice. Its bloody hands delved deeper in the wreck above, pulling a broken body out of the ruins. It was the determination of the devout and the iron-will of the willing that brought such a miracle of the global revolution to the surface - quite in time to take a direct hit from an explosive shell. Bits of flesh scattered everywhere while the dust settled. A figure ran forward, murder in its sunken black eyes.
It jumped up and stood on top of the open hatch, bone and exposed flesh showing, blood dripping from everywhere. The winter-soldier dropped down below to the innards of the tank and faced off against the king of vampires. One was powerful beyond comprehension - the other wouldn't allow himself to die, as long as his mission was left undone. Out of the tank came only one man, or what resembled one. The regeneration worked slowly, but the appearance of the great soldier of the revolution came to be bit by bit.
[hr]2[/hr]
Shenshen's monstrous regeneration which had been suppressed for the past few years was now finally taking effect. Bones splintered, then healed, muscles were re-knitted and blood once again flowed through his veins. Shenshen slowly got up. He looked more like a corpse than anything that was a part of the world of the living world, starved and covered in filth as he was, but he could move and fight and that's what mattered (the only thing that had mattered).
Shenshen checked his surroundings. He was on top of some sort of building and he knew that it was very cold, but that was it. Everything else was a blur, and he had heard screams, gunfire and what seemed to be an explosion as he slept, he couldn't be sure what was real and what was a product of his fevered mind. He could take for example the very hairy man in front of him. Shenshen's memory cleared for a minute and he recognized the features of the entity known as Sun Wukong.
Seeing him stir the Monkey King muttered "Well, it looks like the hungry ghost is awake" and looked over the ledge of the building. Shenshen unsteadily walked towards the edge of the building and saw what was monopolizing the Monkey King's attention.
There were several copies of what looked like the Monkey King hitting anything within reach of them with a cudgel. The panicked soldiers facing them were poorly prepared for their rampage and shot wildly at the clones, but only managed to hit each other more often than not. Without turning away his eyes from the scene in front of him the Monkey King addressed Shenshen " The trouble with the illusion of magic is that mere belief in it creates more demons."
Apart from that Shenshen saw a collapsed warehouse, as well as a the familiar figure of a lich navigating through the debris. The Monkey King had noticed her as well. "The student! She may very well lead us to the knife!" Sun jumped up and made a few exaggerated stretches, then turned towards Shenshen " You are an immortal, correct? As they say: Even a starving camel is bigger than a horse, so I'm sure you'll be of some help. I'm sure you would also want to help your savior." Without waiting for a response the Monkey King roughly grabbed Shenshen and then jumped towards the figure below.
[hr]2[/hr]
Naditabirus' eyes grew wide. She had only been half paying attention to the Ripper, and Vlad's tank. Or whatever was happening there. Her eyes were only on the knife. She took a deep breath and started analyzing the situation. She was clearly in shock right now, the neck wound was problematic, but not crippling yet. She would need to deal with it, but there were more important matters. Jack had kicked away her shotgun, but she had other weapons.
Naditabirus quickly drew a pistol and fired it at Jack's back as he ran away. She missed, but attributed it to recovering. The Lich stood up and began to run after him. She fired again and grazed his shoulder. Four shots left, but now she was on his tail. "You ************! You have the secret to our affliction right in your hands, but instead of studying it you give it to the Russians to weaponize? You small minded freak! I have spent thousands of years researching this, spending longer than you have been alive trying to solve the mystery. I will NOT let you take the key away," A third shot rang out and hit Jack's hand, though not the one with the knife. Naditabirus cursed and continued to chase him.
It was clear at this point, that the two could run forever in the snow. Naditabirus wouldn't let that happen. Another shot rang out and this time, Jack dodged it and turned around. Naditabirus drew out another pistol and began to smile. Jack sighed and began to flick his knife around. ?My dear, you can?t have the knife. Not now, not ever. I don?t care about your spoiled arrogant goals, but what I can say, is that the only thing this is the key to, is my freedom.? Jack lunged at Naditabirus and she quickly dodged to the left. She fell in the snow but quickly rolled away. Jack turned to her and attempted to jump at her.
Naditabirus rolled again and kicked Jack in the side before getting up. Jack too brought himself from the ground, grunting a bit and they both raised their weapons at each other. Naditabirus stared at Jack, and he stared into her eyes. ?You have the same eyes as Vlad.? Was all she said before firing her gun. Jack swung the blade at her, but accidentally put his knife in the bullets way. He watched it careen into the snow as Naditabirus smirked. She pulled the trigger again, only to hear a click. She tried her other gun, but another click. Jack began to laugh as he whipped out a scalpel and cut at Naditabirus? shoulder. He had almost finished regenerating from the gunshots, and Naditabirus saw the scalpel would quickly fade. She looked to her side and began to whip out a flash bang, but before she could, Kong?s voice came yelling from the skies and he stepped in between both of them.
'This one is mine', Wukong shouted over to the injured Nadi. Her vision was blurred, and every step felt harder to make than the one before. The wound refused to heal itself like any other, and Nadi felt like a puny mortal for the first time in centuries. Jack's eyes widened at the sight of the monkey-king. There was no chance he could defeat him on equal terms, and the insult he threw it him would spell his doom. He turned away and ran for his life, or the knife buried in the snow, which were one and the same. Without the knife, he was worth nothing to the Soviets - and without their protection, he would return to hell yet again. Sun watched the pitiful immortal flee for his life with glee - Jack couldn't possibly believe he could get away - and his desperation only made the impending revenge the sweeter.
Nadi turned away from the monkey-king and let the flash-bang go off. Sun was blinded with a thousand suns, and his ears were assaulted with the most horrible scream. She picked herself up and ran in a last ditch attempt to get what was rightfully hers, that damned knife. 'What is this?', Wukong rubbed his eyes and shouted at the people around him. Behind him the recently rejuvinated Shenshen stumbled to meet the ripper . Three of them came after the knife, and only one could take it.
Jack stumbled on a cluster of debris from the hanger, lost his balance and completely fell after twisting his leg on top of a dead Russian soldier. Nadi jumped over the soldier and landed on Jack, and then landed on top of the knife, clutching it with both hands. Shenshen came up behind her, still quite disoriented. Everything seemed like a blrr to him and he had to figure out what lead to those dreadful years in captivity. The last thing he remembered was Vlad, and then... the dark.
'I have it', she whispered happily, limping towards Jack, 'I can see it up close'. She forgot about the cut on her neck, her lover torn to pieces in the tank, and all of those years imprisoning Shenshen. All that mattered was the knife. The knife... and how it worked. Jack was pulling himself up from the snow and was met with a sharp pain in his shoulder. The knife pierced through his flesh and scrapped his shoulder-blade. Nadi raised the blade and examined the blood - she smiled at the sight of the dark liquid - and then stabbed the ripper again. She tried to drag him up so she could examine his wound closely, tearing the cut in his shirt and examining the wound in his shoulder. 'That's amazing', she mumbled at the sight of the grooves and nicks, the special form of the wound, its refusal to simply heal on instinct.
Shenshen walked up behind Nadi, his arms warily outstretched to meet her and with a sense doubt in his eyes. 'He put me in there', Shenshen was beyond angry - beyond furious - his rage was pent up for so long, there was no way to describe it. It was pure evil. 'Give it to me', he asked her, nearly begged her for it, 'Give me the knife. Let me have him'. Nadi stood with her back to him, her head going wildly from left to right, 'no no no no...', she kept on saying, 'It's mine'. Shen gently placed his hand over her shoulder and asked her again, 'Let me have it. Let me have him. I'll return it to the club and give it to Mar-', Shen couldn't finish his sentence when the knife was rooting through his side. 'Do you know how long I've been looking for this? Do you?', she shoved the weakened Shenshen back, his weight still held firmly on her. 'It's mine, and nobody can have it! Not you, not the ripper, not that stupid monkey and not that fucking Marco'. Shenshen slipped off the knife, making a queasy sucking sound. 'But I didn't...', he tried to finish his sentence and fell to the snow. Jack was crawling away from the scene, somehow surviving all of that punishment and deciding to continue his petty existence.
Nadi was confused, of all things - she was loosing a lot of blood, her vision was already blurry, and she had to get out with the knife. Everything around her seemed deserted or broken - her car was blown up, and her lover was out of sight. She had to leave Russia at once, but first - there was the unresolved matter of a certain royal physician. 'Where are you going Jackie?', Nadi was swinging left and right as she tried to walk, struggling to stay on her feet, 'You need to show me something'. Something came underneath her, pulled her up three feet up in the air and then vanished. She smashed on the snow, hand still clinging to the knife. Wukong was back in action.
'So much murder, so little time', he jumped forward and stood over Nadi, looking down at her squirming on the ground. 'I will need that', he quipped while taking the knife away from the weakened lich, 'It seems everyone here wants to kill this English scum'. He tossed the knife back to Jack with a smug smile on his face. 'Lets have a rematch', Sun pulled back his cloak, his tail snaking out and reflecting light from the moon - a short stump was followed by a series of sharp metal links, ending in a deadly-looking blade. It rose up in the air, ready to strike at Jack, a fitting end for such a lowly creatures. However before he could come close to Jack and deliver the killing blow, an explosive rocked the scenery and threw him off. Sun leaped in the air and turned to where he thought the shot came from. It was a man, or what remained of him, quickly regenerating from his injuries. His uniform was off, and you could clearly see his face - white as snow, black hair like the night, a thick beard grown down to his waist and those eyes - those dead, hollow eyes - looking right at your soul.
'Pashol Nahoy, Obezyana'. Another grenade fired out of the barrel aimed at monkey, and it failed to hit him again - he simply jumped away. He was circling around him, walking up to Jack and standing in front of the beaten London legend. 'Where did you come from?', he was eyeing the winter-soldier curiously, leaping back and away from the Russian Behemoth, teasing him all the while. 'You can't catch me!', he shouted at him, trying to provoke anger, 'You can't ever ca-', another explosion hit the ground next to Sun and the shock-wave sent him reeling back. Fighter planes swooshed over their heads, and the sound of approaching armored cars meant the arrival of more reinforcements. 'We will never surrender', the winter-soldier announced triumphantly, 'Never'. Wukong retreated back, taking a mental note of that mental Russian. He had to deal with him some day, so he could get to Jack without interruptions.
Four hundred yards away, Nadi barely got up to her feet and staggered away from the scene. Shenshen was still slumped on the red snow, breathing slowly. The place will soon be overrun with even more soldiers, and this time they lacked the element of surprise. This was a battle they lost, but the war will carry on. Nadi saved herself, while Shen was left in the scene. A day passed before Shen could stop playing dead and rise from the frozen snow. The stab wound was fatal, yet he didn't quite die from it.
Moscow, two days after the incident
'Sir', a high-ranking official saluted his superior, who was sitting with his back to him in a leather chair. They were standing in a massive hall, a fireplace cackling at the opposite wall. 'We have a report from the field', he continued anxiously, 'The operation failed, but we still have control over our assets. We have captured a specimen of the highest importance... and will begin research immediately'. The KGB hideout in the outskirts of Moscow was used mostly for briefings. 'I was told you will understand this', the agent stopped and prepared himself, then proceeded in a lousy Breton accent as he repeated the same words in French, 'We have Dracula'.
'Good', a single word came as a response.
