"Gentleman, we have updated intel on the status of Charles Ofdensen," Senator Stampington said, standing in front of the Tribunal. "It appears that Mr. Ofdensen has been gathering intelligence of where our compound is located. Gentlemen, next week we will be moving to a new location somewhere in the Antarctic. We must remain hidden from Dethklok and it's growing army,".
"How did this happen? What army?" Vater Ortlaag interjected, sounding rather upset. More than he should be. Senator Stampington changed the slide. Before them was a former member of the tribunal.
"It appears that he attacked and over powered Mr. Baker at his home, and brutally tortured him with the assistance of a few of his elite gears,".
"Elite gears?" A new member of the Tribunal asked, apparently the man hired in Baker's place.
"A killing squad," Stampington again changed the slide "trained in the depths of Mordhaus. They are few, but they are strong and, as we've been told by the few gears we've captured, completely devoid of feeling or sympathy,". Senator Stampington again changed the slide. This new one was a very blurry dark photo taken in the depths of mordhaus. Line upon line of gears were standing in attack poses. "These Elite Gears lead smaller battalions of Gear Soldiers, skilled fighters loyal only to Dethklok. According to intel they are all trained in hand to hand combat, and the more skilled go on to be gunners. What we've discovered is that the number of Elite Gears tripled after the first attack on Mordhaus and has more than quadrupled since Ofdensen's return. Gear Soldiers are being trained at a septuple rate. They number in the thousands at last count. Charlene has added a small section of mages as well,". There was an audible gasp from Ortlaag.
"She's training more necromancers?" he said grimacing.
"No," Stampington replied. "As you have told us, Vater Ortlaag she wouldn't be able to pass on that knowledge without the use of the Order's books and casting plates. She isn't capable of training any new necromancers. No, she is training them in simple destruction spells and a select few healers. These skills are of a low level. From our understanding she never studied them and is using books available in many of the underground cult circles. They are nothing to be overly concerned about. Our own magical forces are sufficient for their deflection,". Senator Stampington again changed the slide. This new one was a picture of Charlene sitting at her desk in Mordhaus. "Further intelligence tells us that Charlene knows Toki's nature. This, gentlemen, is the most disturbing information we've received so far. She knows how to awaken the beserker death God within him , and she plans to do so soon. When this happens, we will be dealing with more than just a man who snaps when angry. We will be dealing with an un-hesitant killer that is loyal to only her and Dethklok. Combined with her known ruthlessness and volatile temper we are sitting on a time bomb. She's a loose cannon, as we have learned from reports of her behavior in Finland and Ortlaag's account of her membership in the Order. There is no telling what she'll do with her power. Stampington finished with his presentation and stood waiting for a response.
"She must be killed with the upmost quickness," Ortlaag said, wiping sweat from his brow.
"No," Selctia said, causing Ortlaag to jump "we must allow these events to unfold as they will,"
Toki played the scale again, again tripping up on the last few notes. This gained him another hard slap across his knuckles with a ruler from the merciless Skwisgaar.
"Again! And rights this time!" He shouted, drawing back the ruler again, in preparation for the inevitable failure of Toki for the 100th time. He would never get this scale right. He would never get anything right. Part of him wanted to quit, and to throw the guitar in Skwisgaar's face. Walk out of the room and the band. Now that Charlene was back and ignoring him, there was no reason for him to remain. On the other hand, he believed that he would maybe capture her heart again if he could master the scales. He failed again, because his mind was wandering to Charlene. He was snapped back into reality by another swift smack to his knuckles.
"Toki. I's doing this for you. The butlers lady wants you to gets betters for the good of the band. And apparently we's has to obey the butlers lady until robot butlers comes back,"
A pang went through Toki's heart. They had re-hired Charlene as their manager when the deadline passed, still believing that Charles would return. Charlene had made the decision for them, although the band had been convinced that they had signed the contract of their own free will, Toki saw Charlene convince them. He didn't understand why she could manipulate them, but it always seemed as if they were staring past her when she was in the room. It almost seemed as if she was a ghost, and implanted the belief that her orders were their own thoughts. Another smack came from the ruler.
"Toki! Pays attention!"
Charlene sat in her study, ending the conversation with her father on the videophone.
"Fine, four more weeks. That's it. No more of this. I'm sick of dealing with these morons. I'm also quite sick of having to deal with their vacant staring. Why can't I wake them?"
"Because, I'm part of the code. You know that. I'm asking for four weeks. My gears have obtained the information from Baker, we know where the current compound is. We have to watch them, to see if they move. Unless we keep on them we'll be unable to destroy them once and for all," Charles said with finality.
"Why not now? Let's just blow them to pieces now!" She shouted, slamming her fist into the desk and knocking her Skwisgaar mug of Duncan Hills coffee to the floor. Apparently the band had smashed all the Toki ones.
"Don't let that stain the rug. Either way, I've explained that as well. We have to wait until our forces are able to destroy those of the tribunal. Keep training the army, and wait for my orders,"
"Fine," Charlene said, betraying her annoyance. She had never had the ability to hide her emotions as well as her father. "Four weeks, and then I'm done if you don't return. I'm not your slave Dad, I'm not getting paid enough to deal with these idiots,"
"As true as their being idiots may be, you aren't getting paid anything. You are earning your massive inheritance," He said, more meanly than he had meant it. "You are doing this for Toki. You are doing this because you are my daughter. You are doing this for the benefit of all of the nations that depend on Dethklok's existence. You are saving the world Charlene. Transmission out," he said as the little screen turned off and sunk into the desk.
Sighing, she turned to the Gear guarding her door. "Send in the hookers, and after that throw yourself off of the highest tower. You're a liability for having heard that. Make sure I can see it from my window," The gear saluted and left. Charlene stood and walked to her large picture window and stood there, as the escorts entered the room.
There were three. Three of the world's most expensive escorts sat on the couch in her private study. The best way to bribe Skwisgaar to give Toki guitar lessons was to provide him with professionals. Unlike randomly selected groupies they were more easily tracked, and could be cleaned up if there were any problems.
"You all understand your job?" Charlene asked and they all nodded. "Very well, go down to Skwisgaar's room and provide him with your services. I must insist however, that you keep your hands off of Toki. No matter how much he tries, you must rebuff him. He is not to be touched,"
"Why? Is he yours?" A particularly buxom brunette said, with a little bit too much enthusiasm and snappishness. Charlene stared hard at her with her lips tight. As she stared the girl down, there was a long scream as a body dropped past her window followed by a wet thud and a chorus of death bells.
"No," Charlene replied, still tight lipped and trying her best to burn the vile creature with her eyes. "But he's far too classy for you. Dismissed, do your job and get out. The gears who show you the door will give you your money," She turned her back, beaming her anger out of the window as she watched the gears cleaning up the mess that their co-worker had made in the court yard. When she heard the door close behind them she returned to her desk and turned on the monitor of Skwisgaar's room . As the escorts entered the door, she glanced at the giant blunt axe above her fire place. If her orders weren't obeyed, there'd be hell to pay.
The door opened to Skwisgaar's room and three beautiful women walked in. Skwisgaar smiled.
"I believes we has company little Toki. Please don't ruins their ears with your terribles playing," Skwisgaar grabbed the guitar Toki was practicing on and hurled it idly out of the window. There was a dull thwack and a chorus of death bells sang out in the court yard.
Two of the girls jumped quickly into Skwisgaar's lap and begain giggling as Skwisgaar began telling them all about how skilled the fastest-guitar-player-in-the-world's fingers were. And began promptly displaying their abilities shorty.
Toki, whom usually enjoyed watching Skwisgaar was distracted shortly by the buxom brunette who climbed into his lap. "Hi Toki, my name is Trinette. I'm a huge fan,"
If Toki had a way with words, he would have made some joke about how she was certainly the biggest-breasted fan he had met. However, Toki was speechless. While she was beautiful, something in him was screaming for him to throw her off. He felt in his heart that he was betraying Charlene, and something horrible would happen if he went through with it. But then, the experience he had had with the dating agency came back to him.
He recalled how Charlene had tortured him through the shower wall. How she pretended it didn't happen. How she told him to stay out of his office when he snuck in to give her a bouquet of blue and white lilies. How she had sent the chocolates he bought her back with a note that she didn't like chocolate. And then he remembered how she had laughed when Skwigaar had dumped the maami Toki had slaved over into the toilet saying that it looked like shit.
Why should he be loyal to her? She obviously hated him. Time had soured their love. She wasn't a cute little girl any more. She was a shrewish woman, who often made eyes at Skwisgaar just to make Toki jealous. Skwisgaar never even seemed to see her, instead he looked at the wall behind her. She was doing it to punish Toki for something he didn't know he had done. Toki knew better than to waste his dreams and love on women who didn't return it. Instead, he looked at the pretty brunette in his lap and did what any sane man would do.
He took out his dick.
Charlene stared at the monitor. She stared at the brunette who was now getting dressed. She stared at Toki, covered in his own and the hooker's bodily fluids. She watched as the other two dressed, giggling over the now sleeping Skwisgaar. They were talking, about what was anybody's guess, but all Charlene saw was the laughing. The laughing of those hookers and the returned laughter of the girl who had put that glazed idiot smile across Toki's face. They were laughing at her. They were laughing about the brunette having deliberately disobeyed Charlene's orders. They were laughing at her implied impotance.
Charlene turned then to the intercom system on her desk. She spoke softly into the intercom, telling a gear to bring the brunette to her office. She had forgotten to include part of her payment in the large briefcases that were waiting for them at the doors of Mordhaus. She added to not let the other escorts know where she was going.
Toki woke up on Skwisgaar's cold floor. The brunette was gone and Toki felt dirty. He turned to ask Skwisgaar's council but realized that he was completely passed out. His girls were gone as well. As always, they were paid to be here.
It hit him then, he had betrayed Charlene with a hooker. He had cheated on the love of his life with some two bit whore. He was thinking with his dick and would probably lose his chance at a family for some sort of one night stand. He stood up and ran to Skwisgaar's bathroom to vomit.
After he had thoroughly emptied his stomach he walked slowly back to his room, tears flowing down his face. He felt so bad about himself for having done something so stupid and disrespectful. As he sat down on his bed he turned Deddy's face towards the wall. He couldn't stand to have the bear that Charlene had given him staring at him. His plastic eyes were no longer reminders of her beautiful smile, they were accusing him. Even looking at the bear's little devil tail made him feel like dying. He was a sinner, a disgusting unworthy sinner, and that beautiful angel in her study knew that. That's why she had rejected him. She had known all along that he was a bad person and didn't want him to taint her.
He began to sob in earnest. Dropping to his knees he began reciting a prayer begging for forgiveness. He pulled his shirt off over his head and reached under the mattress finding the whip that he had abandoned for several years before Charlene returned. He knew what she was, an angel sent to show him what he had done wrong.
Again and again he whipped himself, reciting the prayer over and over. He kept whipping until the pain made him pass out on the floor in a pool of blood and tears.
Charlene reclined in the large comfortable recliner in the secret room behind one of the bookcases in her office. She removed a cigarette from the pack she had taken out of the hooker's purse and decided to trade a bit of niceities with the woman she had brought back here.
"Mind if I bum one?" She asked.
A wheezing sound came from the body strapped to the table.
"Good," Charlene said, lighting it and taking a large drag. She slumped in the chair. "You can say I didn't warn you, so stop crying,"
The wheezing continued from the bound figure.
"I'm glad I sliced your vocal chords, I can't stand to hear the sound of people pitying themselves. This is all your fault really. It was a really easy order to follow. Don't fucking touch Toki. Clear as day," She took another drag and stood, picking up the huge blunt axe and walking back into her study. She turned before she slammed the door to say one more thing.
"I was thinking of killing you instead of letting you dehydrate with all your major joints broken, but with your insistence on crying and feeling sorry for yourself, I'm thoroughly disgusted. Enjoy your pity party," Here, she slammed the bookcase over the opening and the wheezing stopped. The sound proofing would prevent any of that racket disturbing her plans. She walked to her hearth and place the axe again in its holder, chuckling at the engraving on the handle. It had been given to her by an admirer at school in Finland. It said "Every real Viking needs a good battle axe. Happy Birthday Camilla!-Arturii" Apparently getting drunk and starting a massive bar brawl made one a Viking.
Quickly, she began making calls around Mordhaus. It was time Toki accepted his place in the pantheon. She ordered the gears to prepare the Dethkopter for a trip to Finland, and to tell Toki to report to the landing pad in 2 hours. He was coming with her, and no one else was to no. No security detail was needed, they would be going to a small village in Northern Finland, where it was perpetual night at this time of year. They shouldn't be expected back for several days.
Charlene reached into a secret drawer in the bottom of her desk. She pulled out a heavy bracelet made of iron. It had the seal of her order, The Children of Väinämöinen, in the center. This bracelet would allow her to awaken the sleeping death god that resided in Toki.