Inferno: Book I

Disclaimer: Same as before.

Nikolai gently pet the head of Polkan as he awoke the next morning, getting ready to feed his dog. He noticed healed scars around Polkan's muzzle, a lot like those left by clawed hands. As if the dog's large build, and the Red Star Kennels ear tattoo weren't enough to mark this dog as a kindred spirit. A war dog.

Polkan let out a sympathetic whine as Nikolai lightly touched the scars on the dog's muzzle. Nikolai muttered to the dog, "Well, my friend, it seems we both are adrift from a nation that has ceased to exist, having served it to the best of our ability."

The memories came back, unbidden, and he patted the dog's head, just aware of Polkan licking his hand, panting softly.

Very few things are more terrifying to a spetsnaz soldier than a Search Ghost. Nikolai thought. The bastards have sharp senses and when they spot you they can alert practically every Heartless in the area onto your position.

"We're going to have a spot of company when we go out on patrol next time, gentlemen." Nikolai said to his men.

Behind him were two large Eastern European Shepherd Dogs as well as their handlers. "This should help us deal with the Search Ghosts. I needn't tell you what a pain in the arse those are."

A damned understatement. Nikolai had thought. At the bare minimum patrols have to dodge around them several kilometers. At the worst they get compromised and that means they get attacked.

"As you know," Nikolai mentioned, "There are multiple ways to deal with Search Ghosts. Our main way have been our snipers and silenced weapon experts. The dogs give us another option. Their senses are sharper than ours and if they detect a Search Ghost before it detects us, we can kill it with the attack dogs..."

Back in Ms. Honey's old cottage Nikolai patted Polkan's muzzle and said, "You had to have had more than your share of encounters with those things. Like me you served the Rodina well. Like me it had no further use of you."

"Are you ok, after that dog showing up yesterday?" Lavender said to Matilda at recess the next day.

"I'm ok, thanks for asking." Matilda replied as she climbed onto the seesaw.

"What happened?" Lavender asked, sitting on one end of the seesaw already.

"Mr. Varshavsky showed up and commanded that dog to calm down or something like that, in Russian." Matilda said.

"That's not surprising, he is Russian." Lavender said.

"But a dog like that is like something that would be in the military. Not just roaming around randomly." Matilda said, "And anyway how would Mr. Varshavsky know how to tame it?"

"Maybe he worked with dogs before he became a handyman." Lavender said, "Who knows what he did in Russia?"

"Exactly." Matilda said.

"I don't think Ms. Honey would intentionally hire a bad guy." Lavender said as her end of the seesaw went down.

"Just because he isn't a bad guy, it doesn't mean he isn't hiding something." Matilda said, "I just wonder what it is? I mean he did say that he worked with such dogs when he was in Russia."

"Matilda, don't tell me you think our school handyman is some kind of Russian spy." Lavender said.

"For all we know he could be." Matilda said, "Or at the very least he worked for the Russian military. After all a dog like the one we saw yesterday is something that you'd see in a Russian military camp. And it did respond to Russian."

Matilda hopped off the seesaw, heading for the school library, "Sorry, I gotta go..."

Lavender replied, "This is against my better judgment, but I'll go see what you're up to."

Eating his own lunch, Nikolai sat at a bench near a fountain near the front of the school. Polkan was munching away at a couple treats of his own.

He scratched the ears of the dog. Rest easy friend. Nikolai thought, as he pet the dog some more. May war no longer affect you.

Private Igor Sergeyovich raised a hand, halting the patrol. With a hand signal he told his comrades that his dog had sensed a Search Ghost.

Nikolai knew the dog had scented a Search Ghost Heartless by the fact that its hackles rose and its teeth bared. He knew the dog waited for the command that would send it attacking its quarry.

Igor looked over to Nikolai, eyes questioning, sweat brimming on his forehead. There was a decision to make. Either try and box around the Search Ghost or send a man with a silenced weapon with the dog and handler to kill it.

Nikolai nodded and said, quietly, "Igor, take Volodya and the dog and get rid of the Search Ghost."

Igor turned and looked down the line and gestured to Sergeant Volodya Semyenov, who carried one of the unit's AKMS-47s with the sound suppressor on the muzzle.

The two men and the dog crept from the unit's position as Nikolai glanced around, making sure his unit had taken cover, blending as best they could into the rolling hills and smashed buildings that remained of the town of Crossroads.

Nikolai thought to himself, grimly, as he reached towards the selector lever of his AKS-74, gently flicking it down from safe to fire. Best case scenario, Semyenov and the dog neutralized the Search Ghost with not even a sound. Worst case scenario Heartless and their Metroville allies would converge on their positions.

Counting hour-long seconds, glancing occasionally at his watch. Pyat. Desyat. Pyatnadtsat. A few seconds later he saw Igor, Volodya and the dog returning. Feeling relief.

Moving slowly away. Halting. Hoping no one noticed the fact that his team took out the Search Ghost. Moving a few paces and then seeing the dog's hackles raise and Igor raising a hand.

Choryt. Nikolai thought as the team sought what cover it could, moving off the wrecked street and into a nearby alley and the shell of a building long ago smashed by artillery fire. Very slowly Nikolai brushed his hand against the side of his AKS-74, a slight metallic click as the safety catch was turned off.

To Nikolai the sounds of the click, his own breathing, and his heartbeat all felt like they resonated through the night. Thankfully he didn't hear a vehicle engine. The last thing they needed was a tank accompanied by enemy infantry in the area.

For a half second he dared hope that the enemy patrol didn't find the Search Ghost Igor and Volodya had killed. For exactly that half second the hope remained alive as the patrol seemed to move past the team's location. But then he heard a shout and the enemy turned towards their location.

"Ogun!" Nikolai shouted, no longer needing stealth as he squeezed the trigger on his AKS-74.

A pre-planned response. One they rehearsed time and again. If compromised every man would open fire, gain temporary fire superiority and then escape towards a pre-arranged point. Rapid fire bursts of fire.

A flare shoots into the sky, hanging from a parachute as it slowly descends to the ground, lighting the wrecked town. Casting ghastly shadows. Halting since in the new burst of light movement is easily noticed.

Running and shooting some more and...

"Excuse me." came a voice.

Nikolai turned to see Ms. Honey standing behind him. Polkan sat at the foot of the bench, panting with his tongue hanging out.

"Yes." Nikolai said.

"Mr. Varshavsky, might I ask you a favor?" Ms. Honey replied.

"Certainly." Nikolai replied.

"I understand you adopted the dog..." Ms. Honey began.

"Polkan." Nikolai said, "His name is Polkan, after a centaur of great strength in Russian and indeed much of Slavic mythology."

Jennifer felt a bit confused at first, for a school handyman Nikolai seemed to be quite erudite and educated. She put that at the back of her mind for the moment and said, "Anyway, I know you adopted Polkan and he seems to be quite well behaved."

Ms. Honey's eyes moved towards the dog who was sitting and attentively watching both his master and the woman speaking to him. Polkan cocked his head quizzically to one side as he regarded Ms. Honey and Nikolai.

After looking over to the animal and then to its master she said, "Could you ask my permission next time you bring Polkan on campus? Understand some of the students and faculty are still a bit uncomfortable."

"Of course." Nikolai said, as he wiped his mouth, having taken another bite of his sandwich while listening to Ms. Honey, "However might I propose something?"

"Sure." Ms. Honey thought.

"Would you like to pet him? I assure you he's quite obedient." Nikolai replied.

"Ok..." Ms. Honey said, gingerly reaching a hand out to rub the dog's head. So far, so good. I mean he hasn't bitten my hand off.

Indeed Polkan was responding quite well, panting softly before licking Ms. Honey's hand and looking back over at her, with his tongue hanging out. The dog's eyebrows raised alternately, left and right as he regarded Ms. Honey.

"I'd like to submit that I can take Polkan to the different classes." Nikolai said, "I can show them that Polkan isn't a threat and that he's quite tame."

Ms. Honey was taken aback for a moment, thinking it over and then realized the Russian was right. If Nikolai could demonstrate how well behaved the animal was then he wouldn't scare some of the students. She'd definitely have to talk this out with the staff meeting she had coming that afternoon.

"Alright Mr. Varshavsky, I'll talk to the rest of the staff and I'll get back to you. In the meantime, just let me know whenever you plan to bring Polkan on campus." Ms. Honey replied.

"Alright." Nikolai said.

"Thank you for being so patient." Ms. Honey replied as she headed back to the school building.

There's something about both of them. She thought. It's like there's a something I'm not seeing. I mean Nikolai definitely sounds like a lot more educated than a simple handyman would be. It's like there's another side to both of them that they're not showing. But my question is would I really want to see it?

She chided herself mentally. It's not like Nikolai worked for the KGB or anything like that.

She attempted to picture the normally good natured, if sometimes standoffish Nikolai as a member of some old Soviet secret service. Her last thought on the matter for the remainder of the day was: That's absurd.

Agatha Trunchbull smiled at her good fortune. Unlike several of the other sites she had examined for information on the Heartless this one was intact. It wasn't destroyed in fierce battles against the Soviets or blown apart or burned by fleeing scientists. It seemed to have been simply left to the elements, to simple ennui.

No more. Agatha thought as she read through the files on a computer that was undamaged. This would require planning, and take time. But this time would be well worth it. And the words on the hard drive of the computer seemed to be almost linked directly to Syndrome's own notes.

She knew that Syndrome was the former dictator of Metroville until being ousted from power around the same time as the Soviet ceasefire. This particular laboratory seemed to be a fallback position that nobody had claimed.

Well, it was time for someone new to claim it. And Agatha Trunchbull had every intention of using it. No time for rest, even though it had been an arduous climb to that location, it was time to put the machinery left in the lab and the archived information on its computers to good use.

"Oh, sorry." Matilda said as she bumped into Boothby as she walked out of the school library. In carrying quite a few books she bumped into the tattooed, graying haired, retired Marine.

"It's alright." Boothby said as he helped pick up a couple of the books.

"Russia and the Tsars, The Soviet Union, and War and Peace." Boothby remarked, "Looks like some heavy reading."

"Just some research." Matilda said.

Heck, that's more than just 'some heavy reading' it's damned spooky that this kid's a lot smarter than her peers. Boothby thought.

Matilda carried the three books to the bus, she was going to take a trip to the public library for a few other books that the school library didn't carry

"To comrade Captain Nikolai Varshavsky," spoke the burly Commissar Letveyev, "For bravery on the Metroville front, behind enemy lines the Motherland awards you the Order of the Red Star."

The Commissar pinned the red enameled, five point silver star with the image of a soldier, onto Nikolai's faded camouflage patterned jacket. He just barely heard the Commissars continued reading of the award citation.

On his last mission seven people died. And in the distance Nikolai could see seven skeletons clad in the service uniforms of the Soviet Union. Above them shimmered the all too familiar emblem of the 'crossed heart'. The symbol of the Heartless.

His dream shifted one more. This time he could see Crunchem Hall Elementary School. But its grounds were devoid of life. He could see the Heartless roaming about the grounds. Nobodies flitted amongst the overgrown ruins and then he saw the symbol again, a black heart with a red 'x' crossed into the center of it.

Nikolai sat bolt upright in bed, instinctively reaching under his pillow for the Makarov PM pistol he kept hidden underneath it. Polkan sat up too, with a bark.

This had been the second time that week he had that dream. Having a nightmare like that once would be grounds to dismissing this. Having the same nightmare twice or more in a week, as well as not being able to sleep warned him that something was afoot.

One did not survive years in the spetsnaz by ignoring one's gut instincts. And Nikolai sat up in bed, patting Polkan's head as he walked into the kitchen, taking a notebook from the dresser and began to start writing.

He knew a lot of things had to be done and he wasn't sure how much time he had. He had written up a list of things he needed. First was a need to get into shape, starting tomorrow. Fighting shape.

Continued.

Choryt - Shit

Desyat - Ten

KGB - The Russian acronym literally translates into Komitet gosudarstvennoy bezopasnosti or 'Committee for State Security', the Soviet internal security service.

Pyat - Five

Pyatnadtsat - Fifteen.

Rodina - Roughly translated as Motherland, the name Russians call Russia.