Immortal's Club - Game Thread. Arc Five : Winter Soldier (Started, Open)

[JoJo]

West Berlin

Later that evening as darkness set in, the immortals gathered in a house by the River Spree, each arriving from different directions at prearranged times to avoid suspicions. Cadeyrn assumed it must be rented by Utna, the dwelling appeared to be an entirely unremarkable family house, other than the fact it was empty. The young fae spent an hour watching German cartoons on the living room television, refreshing the language in his head, before striding out in front of the assembled immortals when he heard the last arriving, proudly displaying the equipment that had been gathered earlier that day.

"These are dry suits," Cadeyrn started, pointing to the bundles of dark clothing in front of each immortal, "That means they won't let much water in, if they're done up properly, so you won't freeze once you get out on the other side. They weren't easy to get hold of so far away from the sea, so they might not fit exactly," he looked down the line with a gleam in his eyes, "Especially you, Screecher,"

He glanced down at his own pile, child-sized suits were particularly hard to come by so his was several sizes too large. He sighed and moved on to a cache of tanks in the corner of the room.

"These are aqualungs, they have about thirty minutes of air each. Just don't hold your breath while using them, it hurts trust me,"

He picked up a few watertight bags of useful tools, among them wire-cutters, maps and a few small firearms. He spread them between the piles so the group wouldn't be reliant on one individual.

"Any questions?" he added with a quick grin. He had to admit it felt good to be the one in charge of the other immortals, for once.

 

[Baddamobs]

"...so they might not fit exactly," he looked down the line with a gleam in his eyes, "Especially you, Screecher,"

"Oh, hardy ha." Screecher snapped back, eye twitching slightly as she growled. "Bet you spent all night thinking of that one didn't you, you little runt."

Despite the bite in her words, they lacked her usual edge.

The ex-owl was looking decidedly worse for ware, and seemed to be only just barely listening to fae's run down of their equipment and plan. Her one visible eye often lost focus gazing at nothing around the room, and she bounced on the heels of her feet while her gloved fists clenched and un-clenched by her sides. She hoped that none of the others would recognize her level of agitation and nervousness, especially not...

Naditabirus was among their number. Screecher had chosen specifically to stand on the opposite side of the room from the other Immortal, and to make sure her gaze never shifted towards the enigmatic figure, but despite that, Screecher could feel her in the room. Her presence currently felt like a source of some kind of antithesis of heat and sensibility. Like just glancing at the other Immortal would somehow cause Screecher's ultimate destruction.

There was a part of her that feared it would.

Nonono, Screecher shook her head almost imperceptibly, gulping as she did so. Have to keep up appearances. Let's just get this operation out of the way, and then you can worry about...other matters. Ask a question; make out that nothing is amiss.

"I-is there a planned rendezvous point?" Screecher coughed, standing as straight as she dared. "We'll, urh, need a meeting point if we all get split up at any point."

Screecher more asked to keep up appearances, but this would useful to know. Right now, she wouldn't want to be caught alone with...certain other parties.

 

[drmigit2]

Earlier that night

A sacrifice?she had to do it. Naditabirus thought of Vlad, what the Winter Soldier was doing to him, what Jack was doing with her knife. She had by now, decided the knife was hers and that Jack simply had stolen it. By now, that was about as true as anything else conjured by her peers. As Naditabirus walked down the streets of a slum somewhere in West Berlin, she couldn?t help but think back on the old days with Vlad.

The two were a hell of a team. Whatever she needed done got done, and Vlad was more than happy to ride the rails and see where his lover might lead. Lover was a strange word to Naditabirus, as love was something she never really felt toward anyone, not even Vlad. As Aristotle said, most friendship forms from expedience, and from friendship comes romance, and expedient was probably the best word to describe her relationship with the Impaler. The two fit each other perfectly, Vlad accepted Naditabirus? obsessions, while she accepted his darker tendencies. Where Naditabirus was fantastic in long term planning and deduction, Vlad was better at short term tactics and battling. Vlad was also charismatic, and while he was not blessed with Naditaibirus? intellect, he was however much more gifted socially. Dracula of course had his needs, and physical lust was something even Naditabirus fell prey to, but love? Did she really love him? It was hard to say.

The Lich was holding in her hands a hamburger bag, with a bit of her own special ingredients added in. She didn?t want to be stuck with some squealing pig when she sacrificed the man to Pazuzu, no sedation was always the best tactic. She moved quickly and with purpose through the streets, this was how she baited them. Vlad had taught her this one, had Naditabirus offered a random stranger a hamburger, he would be suspicious and probably would go without eating it, but if the person asked for a handout, and she reluctantly gave the hamburger away, then he would almost certainly consume it. Thus, she was fishing for Pazuzu, casting a rod out with her lunch as the bait. She would soon need to prepare for diving, but this was her best opportunity to appease her trump card.

Eventually, a small homeless man took the bait. He looked up with sad eyes and asked if she could spare a bite. Naditabirus stared at the hamburger bag for a moment, and sighed. She held out the bag and the man cracked a small smile before digging into the paper and snagging her burger. The vagrant fell to the ground a few moments later, and Nadiabirus grabbed his corpse. She had already set up under the bridge. She had already positioned the candles, all that was left was for her to light them.

???????????.

It had been set, the man was inebriated and surrounded by the candles. Naditabirus turned to Pazuzu, who watched the process with an approving smile. He didn't need all of this show, and Naditabirus really wished he didn't ask for it, but Pazuzu was very specific. He wanted to drag this out, slowly. The god turned to the man and said "Say the words."

Naditabirus sighed. She looked at everything around her. Candles lit on moist concrete, a bit of water dripping on the man who had little droplets of water falling on him from the bridge's leaks. Everything was quiet, and Naditabirus was pretty sure nobody would see this. She whispered the words.

"Ill sabab ah rakin, to nuk toa. Pazuzu as renin."

With the last syllable, Pazuzu pounced on the man, and began to eat. Flesh was ripped from bone, blood spilled everywhere and Naditabirus watched without emotion. Soon she would clear out the candles.

The candles were weak, pitiful things. They hardly even lit the grim proceedings; a purposeful choice. Even if someone, by unlikely chance, looked any where near the bridge they wouldn't see much. A barely seeable flicking, and odd shadows within.

Right now, one onlooker was suddenly regerting her ability to see within those shadows.

Screecher throat was abruptly dry, and the chill of the air seemed so much worse.

She wasn't even sure what was happening: her lack of two eyes that could see equally as well as each other in the dark was screwing with her. Her one true eye could see almost every drop of blood that spewed forth, glistening in the candle light, while her other eye could make out the outline of the events even at this close distance.

In one way, she was oddly familar with these events. It had the air of a meal, of some kind of sustenance. There was a kind of connection with the innumerable hunts she had commited. But this wasn't a hunt. This was a slaughter.

The fact Naditabirus wasn't even DOING ANYTHING was the most unsettling part. She had whispered words that the ex-owl had missed, and the man before her more or less exploded into gore.

Were...were you always able to do this, Naditabirus?

No.
No, surely someone would have seen her by now.
Maybe?

Whatever the hell is going on, I want no part of it...

Praying her clumsy human feet would find purchase, she started to back away, her mix-matched eyes being similar in their display of fear. For almost the first time in hundreads of years, the ex-owl PRAYED; to whatever she had to keep the shadows around her retreating figure solid.

She would confront the other Immortal about this night, sometime. But at this moment in time, that seemed like a suicidal choice. Even Immortality hadn't dulled the owl to that feeling, she reflected, as the flicking light slowly grew distant.


????????.


Naditabirus headed over to the rendezvous shortly after sacrificing the man. It was odd how Pazuzu was acting, sure she had only been sticking near him for a small while, but it looked like he was debating between telling her something. The Lich looked up to the god and asked ?Is something bothering you? You?ve been acting strange ever since the sacrifice. Don?t tell me it wasn?t sufficient.? Pazuzu looked out and whispered. ?It was sufficient, Lich. I suppose I should give you a fun hint, however.? Pazuzu floated down and pointed to the rapidly approaching marina. ?One of the immortals saw you sacrifice that man. One of them saw it all, I know it was one of them, because I had seen the meat bag at the meeting before. You should be more careful, Lich.? Pazuzu chuckled and Naditabirus watched him float away. She wondered who had witnessed it, and what they had actually seen. She was very cautious during the ordeal, and it should have been impossible for anyone to stumble on her. This was probably just a misunderstanding, there was no way she had messed up that badly so early. Naditabirus took a deep breath, and headed over to the rest of the group.

She watched quietly as Caedryn gave his speech on the drysuits. None of the other immortals were acting strange, she figured that if one of them had witnessed her, they either did not care, or had at the very least not spilled the beans yet. This was good, she needed time to figure out who it was, and to make preparations for the future. Naditabirus was already regretting not making this her own solo mission, as it seemed every single ally she added this time around was out to get her in some way or form. The Lich did not have any questions for the Fey, and simply intended to follow the group.

 

[TheIronRuler]

West Berlin, some asshole's dwelling

There was a certain series of actions that kept repeating itself every time they had to interrogate someone off the books. Ben would go off his rocker and pump it to eleven, eagerly *****-slapping and pistol-whipping the ever living crap out of their target. Jerry would stand back, admire his tenacity after all those years doing the same work and occaisionally stop him from accidentally dispatching their target to the other world. This time Jerry knew it would be different. They were both booted from the CIA like a Soviet rocket into space and have been trying to find themselves since then.

Ben stood in front of a plastic kitchen table, a couple of German books sitting on top, along with a German man right behind sitting on the only chair in the house. He was holding a sandwich in both his hands, something the locals called 'Schnitzel'. 'I ask you again, where is Utna Shwartz?', Ben raised his voice. The gun in his hqnd was the same he always used for this kind of operations - his colt revolver. The German bugger was still in shock - his hands still wrapped around his lunch, unable to process the fact two Yankee men have broken down his door and started to ransack his home. Jerry was standing on the other side of the room in the corner kitchen, on the other end of the room, watching Ben carefully. It's true - everything was different. He's not even going to bother stopping him.

Ben smiled at the German whose mouth was full of meat when he tried to speak and a few mumbled noises came out. He grabbed the table and hurled it behind him, sending it to crash on the wall. 'I asked, where is Utna Shwartz? '. The German swallowed his food in an audible gulp and Ben snapped. He cocked back the hammer of his colt revolver and looked at the German through the top of the barrel. The German looked to his left and saw his friend lying dead on the sofa. They shot him. Just like that. As if he was nothing.

'What?', the German mumbled in terror.

'Do you speak English?'

'What?'

'I asked, do you speak motherfucking English?'

'Y...Yes!'

'Then tell me where is Utna Shwartz!'

'What...'

Ben shoved the gun straight at the German man's forehead and pushed it. He was durious. 'Say what again. I dare you ************, say what one more god damned time'.

'I...I rented him a house'.

'Where is it'.

'What?'


Ben moved the barrel left and pulled the trigger, the bullet biting at his shoulder.

'He warned you', Jerry said from the other side of the room.

[hr]

West Berlin, a place full of hot and horny young German translators

'Did you ever keep a list?', Jerry asked curiously. Ben was busy staring at the luscious and tired ladies sitting with their headsets and listening to people all around the city. Jerry broke his concentration, 'huh?', he asked. 'The people you get rid of. Like the couple at the apartment-', Jerry tried concentrating but a translator standing up caught his attention and cut him mid-sentence. Ben had his back to her. 'Why would I ever do that?'. 'Huh?', Jerry asked, confused.

'Don't you ever feel this is inappropriate?', Ben caught the aytention of the distracted Jerry with a light tap on his shoulder.

'The killing is too much for my taste'.

'Not that. I'm talking about us doing it now. We're our own boss! We shouldn't be doing this. We run a whole department', Ben tried to remember where it belonged.

'It's all secret, you should know. We can't risk putting more people in. We already have a team of black-listed scientists...'

'And our hot secretary'

'And Catelyn...'

'Gentlemen', another German man greeted the two agents. This one had been under contract for a long time with Uncle Sam. 'I see you appreciate our elite...team', he motioned at the translators. The two nodded in agreement. 'Follow me to my office', he turned around and lead them to a small and modest room at the back of the whole operation.

He proceeded to touch Jerry and scan his bosy for listening devices, and then went for Ben who puahed his away aggresively and went for his revolver, muttering 'Dont touch me, Goddamned Nazi'. Jerry stopped him and apologized to their host.

'We need your facility to find someone'.

'Ah, agents from the mainland. I didn't receive any instructions from my handlers... Where are you from?'

'CIA operatives', Ben started and Jerry stopped him, 'A part of the Pentagon. A black listed independent division. Off the official nunbers'.

'I beg your pardon?'

'Prometheus', Jerry calmly responded. It seemed to have jolted a memory in the German's mind.

'Yes...yes...I can send results in three days, once we clear other-', the German was leaning against the wall opposite to the agents, attempting to look calm.

'Right now', Ben barked at him. 'This takes precedence', Jerry walked to the desk next to the German and carefully placed a portfolio of documents on it. 'There are names here. Utna Shwartz. Michael Hunt. The rest are inside.'

The German opened the brief, a stamp of top secret written across it, very carefully. 'Anything else?'.

'Keep it quite, or it's your head'.

 

[JoJo]

"I-is there a planned rendezvous point?" Screecher coughed, standing as straight as she dared. "We'll, urh, need a meeting point if we all get split up at any point."

"On the other side of the river?" Cadeyrn offered with a nonchalant shrug.

"Utna suggested this address in the East as a friendly, no questions asked, holding house," Emmanuel interjected, holding out a scrap of paper from his pocket, "I know he told you about it Cadeyrn, I was there, "

"Oh yeah," the fae replied with a sheepish grin as the note was passed around the group for copying. Once that was done, the group split to try on their drysuits, Cadeyrn attempted to follow Screecher into the ladies room to annoy her but before he could get through the door he was intercepted by Ali, who steered him back into the room with Emmanuel. He sighed again as he pulled on the drysuit, the age: 12-13 tag almost mocking him as he tried his best to bunch the suit up so the arms and legs didn't have several inches of room to spare at each end.

Finally after they had all got changed, the immortals waited together in silence in the living room, each to his or her own thoughts. The clock slowly ticked, inching closer and closer to 2am.

"It's time!" Cadeyrn whispered suddenly as the minute hand finally edged into the right position. He crept cautiously out of the front door and down the pathway to the jetty: his aqualung, mask and waterproof bag all balanced precariously in his short arms whilst a newly sharpened pair of wire cutters and a diving flashlight hung from his belt. He threw himself to the ground behind several bins as an East German patrol boat sailed past at a leisurely pace.

Once the boat had moved on, he signalled silently to the rest, who followed one-by-one down to Cadeyrn's hiding spot. As the last arrived a couple more patrol boats jetted past, this time with a little more urgency.

"What's happening down there?" Emmanuel breathed slowly.

"Utna said there would be a diversion somewhere further up the river at this time," Cadeyrn replied with a quick smile as a few shots rang out in the distance, "Looks like he delivered, let's go before they come back!"

Without any further hesitation he scampered out from behind the bins and let himself fall unceremoniously onto the calm surface of the Spree. He landed with a plop into the icy waters and with the help of the weighted belt around his waist sunk like a stone to the river bed, giving a thumbs up to his comrades above him once his feet touched the bottom.

"Let's do this," he mouthed through his regulator, aware that they probably wouldn't be able to understand him.

 

[TheIronRuler]

Mink, Military Base, Officer's Quarters


The bells are ringing again...

The bells are ringing and the incense is lit. They walk through the rows and chant of the dead man who came to life. There is a certain charm to it all. A familiar tune - a mother's lullaby, a childhood hymm, a love song. Warmth envelopes his mind, surrounds him, embraces him - yet outside the wind freezes breath itself, and the air turns to ice before it even leaves the mouth. Such are the cold winters of the dead north, where a dozen are too many, a solitude is the most reliable of friends. It comes again tonight as it does every time his mind breaks, and through the creaks of his old wall come seeping in memories of old. It is one of the few moments in his life where he feels at peace, even though it is not real. Dreams could never come true, and his dreams are not even his own. The winter soldier prepares to wake, but something prevents him from leaving the realm of the Sandman. Something old, big and hungry.

'Who...', a whisper in the wind cries out to everyone who could hear it, yet none answer. The wastes are home to a few men and many monsters. The earth shakes gently and the chanting grows stronger to drown out the outsider.

'Are...', the whisper grows stronger and the lights shimmer, the walls shiver and the chants grow weary. The feeling of unnatural dread grabs him by the gut and thrusts him to his knees. His throat aches, his lungs shake with tension and his eyes buldge out with pressure. He was no longer at peace.

'YOU'. Everything stops at once. The pain, gone like the wind. The chants have died out. Time itself had ceased to exist - such is the nature of a dream. Everything is liquid like water. Everything bends like the light from the sun. Yet this one, this thing, it does not act by the laws of a dream. It is from outside.

'Who are you?', it asks again, sniggering at the end, staring down at the winter soldier. The symbol of the revolution forces his head up against every instinct he has and looks directly at violator of his psych. A beast from hell, with glowing red eyes of a hawk and head of a lion placed on a broad-shouldered frame, two wings protruding to either side. He lifted his arms - no, his talons - up to the air, and prepared to sink them in the winter soldier.


'Tell me...Or you die...'

He sprung forward, tackling his legs with his right shoulder, sending the creature falling behind him. It crashed on the ground, any ground - but there was nothing there but blackness - and struggled to get up. He suddenly felt heavier than he had ever felt, and all around him the chants returned, this time however a familiar sound to the soldier's ears. The voices of the revolution cry out together and demand the socialist world republic. The power of the proletariat overthrows the shackels of tyranny and ushers in a new age - and so did he overthrow the invader, like the great leader had so many years ago in the great patriotic war. The creature was struggling, crying out in anger and frustration. He hit it with his fists, and it reeled back in agony. He grappled him, pulling him down and smashing his head against a newly-found brick wall. The dream was his playground, and he was awake enough to exploit it and break the invader to bits.

'My mind is my domain', the winter soldier was furious, ferociously lashing out at the creature with a flurry of kicks. 'My head, My mind, My dreams - you have no power here!', he pushed him even further, and the creature didn't resist, as if he was a mere doll. 'You will never play tricks on me ever again-', he charged forward in the abyss, yet he couldn't feel the creature when beating the void in front of him. It was his trickery yet again - but how, the winter soldier wondered, how could he control his thoughts - and his voice boomed again through his dream.

'I did not make your memories - it was you, and your forgotten past... You are more than you reveal-', he stopped for a moment, and then spat out the word like a curse, '...Winter Soldier - Even to yourself'.

The bells are ringing again...

Blood-curdling screams echoe through the military base at the outskirts of Minsk. Someone had a nightmare.

 

[Mr.Ivebeenframed]

Ali sunk to the bottom, the cold water engulfing and absorbing her. A sense of calm flooded over Ali as she descended into the body of water, brought down by weights and other contraptions that the Immortals were able to scrounge up. The dry suit clung to her skin as she calmly floated to the bottom. She checked her pouch as she did so but without a sense of urgency as the others did. Effortlessly, Ali swam alongside Caderyn as they cut through the water and towards their objective. It wouldn't be hard getting into the Soviet Union but escaping without starting World War III was another matter.

Ali tapped Caderyn on the shoulder, signalling that she had his back in case he needed anything or if the situation would turn sideways.

 

[Baddamobs]

Swimming was the exact opposite of flying.

Screecher hated every second of it.

While in the air, you have a vast sense of freedom: the only limit to your travels is the ones you let yourself have. Well, you had to take air currents into account. But's that's beyond the point.
Flying was where Screecher felt truly like herself. The night sky was hers and hers alone. As long as her wings flapped by her sides, and her eyes could zone in on the fleeing vermin, she was completely in control.

In contrast, swimming gave the ex-owl a feeling of powerlessness.
All around her, crushing water pressure. The knowledge that if her 'aqualung' gave out and she couldn't swim fast enough she'd be stuck at the bottom of the river for however long it took someone to fish up her 'dead' body.
On top of all that, it felt...wrong. How could she just simply float in a space? She knew this largely came from her instincts demanding her mind to flap wings that weren't there, but it still disturbed her to no end.That, and the fact she she kept worrying about non-existent feathers getting damp depressed her to no end.

Regardless of her own feelings on the matter, here she found herself, hesitantly following behind the others at the bottom of a river, her breath feeling as loud as thunder.

As if I didn't already have enough to deal with...

Screecher looked around to where Naditabirus glided along. Here, in the choking water of the city, her form almost looked spectral. Even clad in all the diving equipment, there was something...unnervingly otherworldly about her.

...Pfft, listen to me. The way I was talking, you;d think she was a demon or a ghost...

Despite that, Screecher couldn't shake her unease.

Just put it out of your damn mind. You can always deal with it AFTER the dangerous operation.

Deciding that was a fair enough point, Screecher rather awkwardly sifted over to the chain-link fence, and awaited the others to move. At the very least, she intended Naditabirus to go first...

 

[JoJo]

Cadeyrn turned to give a thumbs up to Ali, before gliding slowly along the river bed, occasionally stopping to glance through his mask at the surface. The waters above him remained mercifully undisturbed, presumably the boats were still occupied with Utna's distraction. Unlike some of the other immortal's the young fae loved swimming, the quiet of the underwater world calmed his restless spirit and took him back to the days when he'd swum in the warm shallow pools of the other world. He did a couple of playful loops around Naditabirus, though the heavy tank on his back hindered him from doing much more.

He arrived besides Screecher and resisting the temptation to shoot a barb, put his hands against the chain link fence. It was stiff but not too thick, hopefully brittle with age. Reaching for his belt he drew out the wire-cutters and began snipping a circular hole just over a foot wide, making sure there would be ample space for the adult immortals to swim through. The last piece fell away and he propelled himself through, letting out a whoop of joy. His excitement was short-lived however as he tried to kick away and found the aqualung on his back was caught on one of the sharp edges of the fence, sending him sprawling back into the chainlinks.

"Damn, I forgot about that!" Cadeyrn exclaimed to himself as he struggled and tried to reverse, finding the snag stopped him going backwards too. He felt a gentle hand on his shoulder and a moment later he was released, he looked back to see Emmanuel giving him a wave with his own pair of wire-cutters.

"Thanks!" Cadeyrn garbled and then carried on eastwards, picking up the pace as a dark shadow drifted above him. He felt something bubbling around his ears and then suddenly realised what has happening: the sharp ends of the fence had caused a leak somewhere in his equipment. He started to swim as fast as he could but it was a losing battle as the air irreversibly forced itself out of the small hole and away from the young fae. He took a final deep breath as his regulator was flooded with water and swam desperately on, his lungs beginning to scream as the lack of oxygen bit in. He wouldn't die of course but he could lose consciousness for several minutes and drift away from his friends, and aside from anything else drowning was painful, even if you did wake up sometime afterwards.

Suddenly the stone wall that marked the East German bank of the river emerged from the watery darkness and with a last surge of energy Cadeyrn dragged himself up by the metal rings embedded in it. He burst out from the deep and threw himself down behind a boat by the side of the river, gasping like a landed fish.

 

[TheIronRuler]

The East

It was a wonder they weren't flooded with guards aiming their kalashnikovs at their heads and screaming bloody murder. The immortals got past the river, half-swimming and half-drowning through all of the way. Cadeyrn's plan worked at the end, and the discarded equipment was laid on the river-bank. The moon was missing from the sky, and it was tough to see in the dark. Emanuel sprawled on his bank, breathing heavily and enjoying the fresh air. It wasn't too long ago that he had been underwater for too long, and it wouldn't ever be long enough to forgot.

'We made it across', he was heaving every word with great difficulty, sending a warm glance at Cad, 'We're on Soviet territory'. He was looking for everyone in the group and making sure they were all across. 'We can get out of the city tonight, and then head east', Emanuel pushed himself up and steadied himself. 'To think this was all rubble once...', he mumbled at nobody in particular.

 

[Mr.Ivebeenframed]

"To think this was all rubble once...'"

"You should have seen Tokyo, little one." Ali said, slipping out of her suit nonchalantly. "A city razed by firebombs now stands proud above the ashes like a phoenix. Can't much about this place though."

The pace didn't do much to faze Ali. She faced much worse during the Boxer rebellion when they hadn't even invented proper scuba gear. Still, Ali scanned the area while she was crouched behind a broken rowboat along the shore. The other Immortals were making their way out of the water while she noticed a lack of guards or sentries around the area which she found good. She didn't exactly like killing mortals for the heck of it but in this kind of circumstance, they had to have the element of surprise.

Spoiler: OOC

Apologies for anyone trying to contact me via Skype, I've had trouble trying to log in without an error.

 

[JoJo]

Cadeyrn nodded silently in reply to Ali's remark, they'd all seen great cities torn down some time in their long lives. He looked furtively around, the river bank seemed to be deserted.

"Let's go!" he whispered to the others and crept along the ground, sliding up against the concrete wall that marked the edge of the communist-held city once he reached it. He followed the wall along until he found the small opening Utna told him would be there.

"Still haven't patched that one up," he grinned to himself as the group squelched through into a dark alleyway. Despite the low light, East Berlin was noticeably drabber compared to it's western counterpart. He began to shiver a little, even immortals felt the cold and the dry-suits provided little protection against the chill winter winds.

"Where now?" Emmanuel asked Cadeyrn as he shuffled up behind him.

"First we find this address," Cadeyrn replied, retrieving Utna's note from his waterproof bag, "Then... then we go east,"

~​

Several days later, the immortals stepped off a packed train into the main station of Warsaw. Their drysuits had long been abandoned in favour of more ordinary clothing, they now instead looked more like a family on holiday, mostly. Some of the passers-by gave Nadi and especially Ali curious glances as they stepped off the train, neither looked very German. Luckily it seemed no-one was eager to ask too many questions and their faked security documents, this time all from states inside the Warsaw Pact, were waved through with barely a glance from the bored custom officers.

"Guten tag," Cadeyrn piped cheerily as he was let through, feeling confident he'd clinched the German accent by now. There were a lot of memories tied up in this city, ones he'd tried to forget in the twenty five years since the Uprising. The houses had been rebuilt but they were no longer like the chaotic mess of the original old town, now they were all identical socialist blocks, made to order. He sighed and looked up expectantly at the other immortals as they joined him.

"What are we doing first?" he asked excitedly in German, throwing a glance at Screecher to remind her to stay in role, "Mutter?"

 

[Frission]

Shenshen had never really planned on staying in Warsaw and his first priority was in fact to return to Western Europe by any means necessary and rallying the club there. It was only a uneasy feeling that kept him in Warsaw, an unease that something important was happening.

Bam

Shenshen munched on the smoked cheese the messenger had been carrying with him, before rifling through their pockets and stealing off with their info and wallet, leaving the messenger groaning on the concrete, the first few snowflakes settling upon him.

Bam

Shenshen always suspected that there were plots that passed underneath his notice, since it was part and parcel of being an immortal, but when several different groups were plotting in the same area, Shenshen believed that it behooved to find out what was happening. Unfortunately the sheer amount of groups made intelligence gathering harder, rather than easier. He had spent half of his time trying to sort out to who he should attribute activity, and wasn't even sure how many different groups were active in Warsaw. However, he was now closing in on one of them.

Bam

It was night now and Shenshen slowly plodded through the alleys of Warsaw, idly munching on a stale loaf of bread that was given to him by someone who's face he couldn't remember. In his coat jacket he carried the address of the house he was about to break into. It was a simple matter to find this building really. Shenshen had only needed to get some agents drunk enough before they talked and only needed to triangulate the area messengers came and went.

Shenshen checked the letter to make sure he got the right one, and started to open the window. Snow slowly gathered on the shoulders of his coat.

Crack

Shenshen opened with great difficulty the door to the study, looked down and satisfied himself that this was the main co-coordinator and the rest of his cronies. With that, there was only one person left to deal with.

He was tipped off by the fact that a greater amount of the local thugs were finding employment and from them he learned of tales of a mysterious benefactor who no one ever sees, whose motives were never quite clear, but who payed quite well, and who led a shadowy organization composed of several small cells. Those were telltale signs of immortal involvement and unfortunately for them, most immortals were never quite as subtle as they think they are. This one in particular relied too much on throwing around money. That was always his weakness.

 

[drmigit2]

Warsaw was not a place Naditabirus wanted to visit anytime soon. She had abandoned Poland long ago, a country divided and conquered for centuries, only to finally be consumed in a haze of gas and ash. The Lich was not sure when she would visit Warsaw again, but now was far too soon. She needed answers though, and she needed a lead on the Winter Soldier. If Warsaw was to be where she would pick up the trail, then Warsaw was where she would have to be. Naditabirus looked up at Pazuzu, he was hungry. She had been unable to find him any meals on the train, and it was always difficult to grab a person off the streets during the stops. This only made the situation more dire.

Naditabirus looked around at the group, Ali and Screecher were too observant, they would question her motives. If they dug too deep there would be problems. Shanna was someone Naditabirus barely knew, and the new guy was even less certain. Normally she would do this alone, but the risk of being captured now was far too great. She needed to rescue Vlad, not get brought to him in a box. There was only one person who really could fit the bill for such a job, and his name was Caedryn. Naditabirus was not sure who her target was yet, but Caedryn could probably be brought in through antics, and kept with a demonstration. As they left she could dispose of the body via Pazuzu.

Naditabirus leaned over to Caedryn and tapped his shoulders. ?I think I have an idea. We can start looking for leads while the others gain their bearings and set up fort. Think of it almost as a spy mission!? Naditabirus hoped the boy would take the invitation. She could see Screecher tense up as she spoke. Probably something to do with Caedryn being important in something. Screecher did always have a hatred for the kid, Naditabirus could sympathize with her, but she found Caedryn to be tolerable most of the time.

After being cooped up in a cramped train carriage for several hours, Cadeyrn was happy to do anything that would keep him outside. With a pointed glance, he turned his back on Screecher.

"Can I pretend to be someone else?" he asked Naditabirus eagerly. "Where are we going to go first?"

"I'm not sure that would be necessary. Last I remember, we have an old friend in Warsaw. Someone who has built his way up. Perhaps he might have something to tell us? I think we will meet him for dinner."

Naditabirus giggled and began to walk away from the group."Finding him will be a small challenge. Our friend won't be happy to see us. Perhaps a persona could aid us in finding him?"

Cadeyrn sprinted to catch up to Naditabirus so he was walking besides her, glancing up at her quizzically.

"Who is he?"

Naditabirus had a wicked grin as she turned around. Nobody was following her this time, she was sure of it. Aside from Caedryn, obviously. But now he was an accomplice. The Lich spoke softly and almost whispered "Gilles."

Cadeyrn's eyes widened and a small smirk appeared on his face, though this was then followed by a frown.

"Were you there that time in Calais?" he asked in a quiet voice, "When he gave me lots of drinks and then started being weird?"

The fae chuckled to himself as his usual demure suddenly returned as quickly as it had vanished.

"You have to promise to protect me if he acts funny again!" he added, sticking his tongue out in mock disgust.

"I have heard the rumors. Not sure how true they are but I don't think you have anything to worry about here. If anyone is going to need protection, it will be him." Naditabirus wondered to herself about Gilles, she honestly had thought very little of the man. If the rumors about his "pass time" were true, it would probably make what she was about to do a bit more fun. The primal urge for justice had long since left her, but a hint of it here or there could be nice. It would also make feeding Gilles' lackeys to Pazuzu feel a bit easier.

"So, I suppose we should probably ask around? Maybe grab a person or two off the streets and figure out where good old Gilles might be?"

"I guess," Cadeyrn shrugged after a moment, not able to conjure up a better plan, "There's lots of people in this city though, how will we find people who know him?"

"Someone important? Knowing Gilles, he is probably hiding in a castle somewhere. He can't avoid being someone's center of attention. I guarantee someone important knows him. We could stake out some nice farmer's market, but I think it would be easier to kidnap a politician." Naditabirus shrugged and looked up at the sky. "I can compile a list, and we might just go down it until we find the man we need?"

"Okay, that sounds like fun," Cadeyrn nodded eagerly, "It'll be like when me and Ali were trapping Nazis in the war. I would pretend to be a poor injured German boy and when they come to help me, she would grab them,"

Cadeyrn started to hop from one foot to the other as he thought about the possibilities when suddenly he stopped dead in his tracks.

"Wait!" he blurted out, "I remember Gilles telling me about his house here..."

He put his hands to his head as he tried to concentrate. After living so long it could take time to sort through the contents of his brain.

"He said if I ever got into trouble in Warsaw... to go to Marshal street, then past the tall building on the left... and... and..." he paused for a moment, "he's living down one of the side streets! I bet if I saw the house I would know it, he showed me a photo. It's one of the ones they built again after the war."

"Hmhmhmhm." Naditabirus couldn't help but giggle. It was a subdued one that she contained within her gloved hand. "How entertaining, I knew you would be helpful." Naditabirus ruffled the top of Caderyn's head in an awkward manner, she had no idea how to really interact with children. The Lich slipped a small vial into Caderyn's hand. "I know you aren't great at violence, but neither am I. This is a very secret weapon I am giving you. Simply poke Gilles with it and he will be down for a few hours. After that, I can deal with anyone left in the house, assuming he keeps any company."

"Hey, I'm good at fighting people too!" Cadeyrn replied indiginantly as he took the vial, pocketing it in his shorts, "In Nicaragua I blew a bad guy up with a grenade, bits of him went everywhere!" he added as the pair started walking towards to their new destination.

Some time later, Cadeyrn arrived outside a house. It was large and painted white, a spacious porch held up by four wooden pillars. Hiding somewhere nearby was Naditabirus, waitng for his signal. He was ninety five percent sure it was the one Gilles showed him a decade ago, there was only one way to find out though.

He knocked firmly on the door three times. He heard some shuffling behind, before the door was slowly opened to reveal Gilles peering suspiciously out through a small gap.

"Oh my... Cadeyrn?"

"Hi Mister," Cadeyrn replied brightly, his trademark grin plastered on his face.

"What... what are you doing here?"

"Just, eh, dropping by," the fae shrugged, before adding, "Can I come in?"

"Of course, my dear," Gilles replied quickly, opening the door wider so Cadeyrn could slip in. "Sorry about the mess, I haven't had any visitors for quite a while and oh... it is miserable in this city isn't it? I don't know quite why I'm still here..."

He bustled away to fetch some emergency delicacies out of a cupboard, as he did so Cadeyrn reached into his pocket to feel the tip of his poisoned syringe. He weighed up just jumping onto the man whilst his back was turned but he wasn't sure how quickly the toxin would kick in and he'd heard enough stories of what Gilles had done to mortal children to not want to incur his rage, even only momentarily.

"Crackers and cheese?" Gilles offered as he returned, the pair moved into the living room and sat down next to each other. Cadeyrn gingerly took one of the nibblets and ate it quickly, readying himself for what was to come.

"Thanks," the fae mumbled through a mouth of dry cracker, once he had swallowed it down he turned to Gilles with a more serious expression, "There's... there's something I have to tell you,"

"What is it Cadeyrn?" he asked with concern, "You aren't in trouble are you?"

"Well Mister," Cadeyrn replied, trying his best to look forlorn, "I think my curse might be wearing off,"

"What?" Gilles exclaimed, "Why would you think that?

"I..." the fae looked down at the floor in embarrasment, not entirely pretend, "I have a graze that won't heal up,"

"And where is this injury?"

Red-cheeked, Cadeyrn pointed down to his shorts. Gilles seemed to go through a convulsion of expressions, looking both scandalised and like a cat who had just got the cream.

"Oh my..." he said almost robotically, "I suppose your Uncle Gilles better take a look then, right? Just to make sure it's okay,"

Cadeyrn nodded and allowed himself to scooped up onto Gilles' lap. He was close enough he could feel the man's shallow breath on his neck, a hand stroked gently through his hair.

"Now, let's see where this graze is..." another hand briefly touched Cadeyrn's stomach then found it's way down to his belt buckle. As it did, the young fae slipped the needle out of his pocket and readied it in his hand. Without waiting another moment he jabbed the syringe into Gilles' right leg, unleashing it's toxic contents in less than a second.

"Ow!" Gilles cried aloud, almost dropping Cadeyrn off his lap. He scanned around the room as if he was searching for a ghost, "What was tha... oh..."

His grasp on the fae loosened and Cadeyrn slipped out of his hands as the man collapsed backwards onto the soda, motioning uselessly with his hands. A few moments later he was unconscious, only his faint breaths proof that he was still alive. Cadeyrn sighed a breath of relief and ran up to the nearest window.

"Hey!" he banged on the window in the five knock pattern he and Naditabirus had agreed on beforehand as a signal, "I did it, he's down!"

Naditabirus did not need to know what Caderyn had done to ensure the mission was a success, just that it was. Pazuzu had been watching the show from above Caderyn, laughing as he watched the brave knight Gilles overcome by a small child. The Lich walked from her hiding spot in the hedges, and calmly came to the door. Gilles was paranoid about anyone entering his abode, and had locked the door as Caderyn entered, so she simply waited for him to open the door.

Inside, Naditabirus heard Pazuzu laughing. The cacophony that was Demon King's voice rattled through the house for only one to hear. He couldn't eat Gilles, but he could watch as Naditabirus did her thing, and that would be entertaining enough. Pazuzu yelled from inside the house. "That kid you found is really something! Maybe I should make him into one of my minions too!" Naditabirus began to ignore the Demon King after that.

Cadeyrn leapt to the door and opened it with a triumphant bow, before leading Naditarius to the living room where Gilles lay prostate on the sofa. The cheese and crackers were lying in a heap besides him.

"What do we do with him now?" Cadeyrn asked eagerly, prodding Gilles' face with his fingers.

"You have made sure that nobody is left in the house, right?" Naditabirus was talking in Caderyn's direction, but the person she really intended the question for was Pazuzu. The Demon King looked at her puzzled, but then quickly realized what was going on and chuckled. "Yeah, I did. House is as empty as can be, Gilles appears to be afraid of company, I wonder why."

Naditabirus acknowledged Pazuzu with a slight nod, shook her head and continued. "I'm sure nobody is in the house. Let's take him to the basement. I always bring some equipment for such an occasion. We will need a table, however. I think it's time I showed you one of my famous demonstrations." Naditabirus had a grin on her now. Her suitcase had just what she needed for this.

 

[Frission]

tap. tap. tap. silence. tap. noise? gilles? have to fight? no. talking. familiar. loud noise. screaming? very familiar. hide. two figures. gille's down. no. four.

What have you done?

"AND THIS, is where your spleen is. Funny enough, most people think its useless, but it isn't."

Shenshen hide behind the sofa as the two figures in front of him hauled the prone figure onto a table. The taller figure then opened a suitcase and started taking some instruments from it, while the shorter figure plopped down on his hiding spot.

Shenshen thought that he recognized them, although it had been such a long time since he had seen the faces of the korrigan and the lich. Shenshen was happy about seeing some familiar faces, but his pressing concern was what they doing here.

Now, if Shenshen was to discover what base plot they were up to now, the smart thing to do would be to wait and listen on to their conversation. Shenshen's main purpose was to arrest and interrogate Gilles after all, and Naditabirus and Caderyn might be able to do the same thing, with minimum effort on his part. Shenshen then heard some unpleasant ripping and cracking sounds from the table and promptly forgot his plan.

Shenshen sneaked out from behind the couch and surreptitiously grabbed the suitcase while the attention of the two immortals were distracted, then got up and cleared his parched throat, and managed to rasp out:

"Hello, I just wanted to say that you are all in big trouble"

 

[JoJo]

Cadeyrn watched with glee as Naditabirus opened up Gilles' insides, having lived through the Middle Ages it was hardly the first time he'd seen the interior of a man but it had been a while since he'd have the opportunity to see one so close up. He was prodding Gille's speen gingerly with his fingers when suddenly a familiar figure appeared from behind the sofa holding the lich's suitcase in one hand, a disapproving expression carved on his ancient face.

"Shen?" the fae exclaimed aloud. Before he could move or say anything more, Naditabirus leapt towards the man and tackled him to the floor, struggling across Gille's white tasselled carpet. Cadeyrn stood watching with an amused grin until Naditabirus looked up at him angrily.

"Help me, boy!" she barked. Cadeyrn shrugged and knelt down to assist her, pulling Shenshen back onto his feet before pushing the man onto a fancy wooden chair with a cushioned seat. Cadeyrn hopped away as his ally pinned the man and quickly returned with some rope from Naditabirus' case, before long Shen was suitably bound to the chair so he couldn't escape.

"What is he doing here?" Cadeyrn asked Naditabirus, furrowing his brow at the unexpected complication.

 

[JoJo]

Some time later, Cadeyrn was walking along the streets of Warsaw, trying to process what had just happened back at the house. Naditabirus, Gilles and Shen, he'd had shared more experiences with each than could be crammed into a mortal lifespan, working out the subtleties of relationships with his undeveloped mind was just... difficult, sometimes. He was heading vaguely back to the rest of the group but taking a long route, each part of the city overlaid with memories from the past few centuries. Most vivid was just thirties years earlier during the War, his and Ali's final stand against the Nazis before the uprising was crushed under the jackboots of the Germans whilst the Red Army waited no more than a few miles away until the dust had settled and the city was ripe for the taking.

Suddenly, he noticed a zloty note moving across the pavement in front of him. He reached down to snatch it up, cradling the paper in his hands to see how much it was worth.

"Look to your right," was scrawled in neat English handwriting across the note. Cadeyrn dutifully turned around, seeing nothing but an empty cafe in front of him. He hesitantly walked forwards, glancing over his shoulder in-case anything should jump out at him. As he pushed his way through the door he heard a familiar voice.

"My dear Cadeyrn, I've been expecting you,"

"Rin?" the fae exclaimed as the ageless woman moved out of the shadows as if she'd just appeared from nowhere and sat down at a chair in front of him.

"Do take a seat, we haven't got long," she said kindly, pouring a cup of tea for each of them. Cadeyrn sat down, tapping his fingers on the table impatiently.

"How did you find me?" he blurted out, ignoring his drink.

"I have my ways," Rin smiled in her mysterious fashion, "It doesn't seem long ago we were in London together but one of my close friends found something useful out and I knew I just had to tell you," she passed forward a brown envelope to Cadeyrn, gesturing for him to open it. He did so gingerly, ripping open the top as carefully as he could. Inside was a small colour photo, as soon as Cadeyrn saw what was depicted his jaw dropped and the colour drained from his already usually pale face.

"Daliyah?!"

[HEADING=2]To be continued...[/HEADING]​