Gah! I'm sorry this is way later than I usually update. I'm in the states right now and there is all this stuff I need to do. I am no longer a woman of leisure. )=
Bisexual cookie: Thank you, I try. =D
Ninilia: I'll keep at it, thanks for telling me. Finland is hard because he's a sniper. Generally a sniper isn't going to know hand-to-hand combat, their specialty is strictly guns. But, Hungary is going to get her day in the sun, trust me. Also, I'm super glad you're enjoying this story so much! It warms my soul, to be honest!
Warning: Brain mush, gun shot wounds, and swearing.
Matthew held the cellphone to his ear and took a deep breath as it rang. He was definitely not looking forward to this phone call.
Alfred picked up on the third ring, "Hello?"
Matthew couldn't keep the frown from his face, "Alfred, we have a problem."
"What." His brother's voice immediately took on a dangerous edge.
"Lóng just reported in, an old friend of yours is looking for one of our people."
"Which friend?" Alfred's voice was steadily becoming more dangerous.
"Ivan Braginski." Alfred didn't take the news too well. Matthew winced at the smattering of curses and death threats that followed his answer.
"Did Yao have any information for you?" Matthias asked conversationally.
Ivan gave him an annoyed look, "Sadly, he did not. We're working solely based on Eduard's information."
Gilbert snickered, "I pity him if the mission goes south. I wonder if we'll even be able to catch him if it does?"
Ivan glared warningly at Gilbert over his large nose, "I don't believe we'll have to. Eduard chose to be a part of Severance. He will except the consequences of his actions like a man."
Each member of Severance had their own reasons for following the terrifying and merciless Russian brute. Eduard had known Ivan since he was young. Their relationship wasn't always as civil as it is now. In actuality, he joined because his childhood bully asked and he was too afraid to decline. Though, Ivan has mellowed with age and Eduard only fears him out of habit now.
Ivan met Gilbert during his time with the KGB*. Gilbert was an agent for the Bundesnachrichtendienst** (BND), a foreign intelligence agency in Germany. He was also a double agent, secretly working for the KGB. He was on a mission with a few other agents when something went wrong and his cover was blown. Ivan was sent by the KGB to kill one of Gilbert's associates. He ended up saving Gilbert instead. Gilbert has been with the Russian man ever since. He even followed him into the Russian mafia after the KGB was dissolved.
Ludwig, Gilbert's younger brother, never planned on joining. In fact, he didn't know what his elder brother was doing for years. He didn't care either. He had tried many times to understand why his stalwart brother would betray his own country and always came up blank. Years ago, before he left, Gilbert had left him with a burner phone. He instructed him to only use it in the event of an emergency. Ludwig planned to never call, he didn't need his traitor brother's help. Then, he fell in love with a humble girl called Elsbeth. She was targeted because of Ludwig and held hostage by some of Gilbert's enemies, looking for information about his brother that he just didn't have. When Ludwig couldn't give them what they wanted; kind, lovely Elsbeth was brutally murdered in front of his eyes. Ludwig barely managed to escape and coincidentally he made it out with the burner phone. He called it, not knowing what else to do and the rest is history.
Lukas and Matthias are childhood friends and the newest members to join Severance. If you asked, they'd tell you their backstory isn't nearly as interesting as the others'. They were asked to join by Ivan. They met on a job in St. Lucia, a small island country in North America. Their client had hired two separate groups, in the hopes that the job would get done quicker. He planned to pay the successful party and dismiss the other without pay. At first, it was a race to catch the cartel smuggling drugs onto the island. Then, during a particularly intense standoff, Matthias suggested they work together. Afterward, Ivan was so impressed with their skills he offered them permanent positions.
"We are at the targets' last known location." Ludwig alerted his team.
Matthias spoke, "This is the edge of the ghetto. You think we got lucky and they were shot for looking at someone funny?" Lukas smacked the back of his head, to which Matthias responded with mature a "Hey!"
The group of five climbed out of the 2010 Hummer H3 as Ivan turned on the communication channel and asked Eduard "Which way from here, priyatel'?"
Eduard, who was currently holed up in a hotel staring at his computer, jumped when the channel opened and Ivan's voice blasted through. He fell out of his chair and scrambled to get re-situated in a timely manner. He pressed the output button on his comm. "S-south. They headed South." He tripped over his words, still a bit flustered. Ivan hummed in recognition and the five set off.
It didn't take long to find the trio's location. Matthias mentioned that his wild "girlfriend" came this way with two of his "buddies" behind his back. After that, the locals were more than willing to tell them where they went.
Within minutes they were standing in front of the building their targets' were inside.
Ivan motioned to Gilbert and he stepped forward, a stainless steel Desert Eagle .50 AE*** in his left hand. He raised the other to knock on the door.
The Kid breathed a sigh of relief as Vegas left to answer the door. The suffocating atmosphere disappearing with him as he mumbled something about how it must be their idiot friends knocking. The Kid had decided Vegas was more than a little bitter about his job. The Kid didn't blame him. He figured that he'd hate it too.
The three listened as the sound of the sliding the eye door signaled that Vegas was going to ask for the password. Except that, the sound of Vegas' voice never came. A deafening BANG reverberated through the building, replacing his voice with the sound of a gun shot and most likely his death.
Toris screamed as Porcelain shoved him to the ground behind an old floral print couch. The Kid lunged for his rifle bag. He pulled out two .9mm pistols and tossed one to Porcelain. They clicked off the safety and aimed toward the door.
Kid looked at Porcelain out of the corner of his eye as sounds of the door being kicked down continued to shake the small space, "There isn't a back door or window here, is there?"
Porcelain steeled her gaze, "No."
With that, the door finally gave and a chillingly raspy voice floated through the room, "Kesese~ Here's Johnny! Kese, I've always wanted to do that. Guys, watch where you step. Make sure you don't get brains on your shoes."
The sound of shoes squishing in what remained of Vegas' head were heard and Toris had to fight the wave of nausea that hit him after accidentally conjuring the image. Seconds later a sinister looking man with blood red eyes and snowy white hair stepped in, behind him towered a man who could only be a giant. Toris peeked his head up from behind the couch, unable to fight his curiosity at hearing the newcomer's voice and whimpered at the sight.
"Hallo, Kinder." The red eyed man grinned at the three of them, "We have some questions we'd like to ask." The snowy haired man stepped aside to make way for the giant as more terrifying men filled the small space. Toris tried to ignore the pink and red mush that caked the bottoms of their shoes, but failed and found himself emptying the contents of his stomach.
"Natalya Arlovskaya. It has been awhile." Porcelain briefly glanced around the room for another woman that could have been this "Natalya" and quickly found that she was the only one he could be talking to. "It has been a long time, da?"
"I don't know what the fuck you're talking about." She deadpanned, her eyes narrowed and her gun still trained on him.
The purple eyed giant just smiled at her, "Mmm," He mused, "you were very young when we met. But, I find it interesting you claim you don't know who I am... or yourself for that matter."
The Kid looked at Porcelain from out of the corner of his eye, silently trying to figure out what was going on. Porcelain glanced over at him and just shook her head. Kid couldn't decide if that meant she didn't know what was happening either, or she wasn't going to explain.
The giant finally turned his attention toward the guns the two agents had when they adjusted their aim after their silent conversation. "Now, what are those for? I only wish to ask you few questions. It isn't polite to point guns at people during civil conversations." With that he raised hand and gestured two fingers in their direction. In an instant the other four men accompanying him had their weapons aimed at The Kid and Porcelain. "You will hand your weapons over, or I will have Gilbert blow your brains out like your little friend in the doorway, da?" A shiver ran down Toris' spine at the man's words.
The Kid and Porcelain finally relented by slowly setting the pistols on the floor and kicking them over. The red eyed man, who could only be Gilbert smirked at them and retrieved the weapons, admiring them briefly before he stashed them away.
The giant grinned, "That's better. Now please, sit." He said and gestured to the floral couch Toris was still behind. The Kid nodded to Porcelain as if to tell her that they best go with it for now and the two sat on either side of the top half of Toris' head, as he was still watching the action warily.
"Now, Natalya I would like ask you how you're alive. But, I'm afraid I am not here for you." As he spoke the other men gathered around him, their guns trained expertly on the trio.
The Kid glanced at them, "I thought you said it wasn't polite to point guns during civil conversations Mr...?" He trailed off expecting to catch the man's name.
The giant just gave them a childishly malicious grin, "Who I am does not matter. Besides, this conversation is between the two of you and me. They will not be participating."
The Kid and Porcelain sat in silence as Toris tried to get his breathing under control. "Tell me where your comrade is. The blonde one with the machine gun."
The Kid answered, as the two agents had decided during their silent conversation that he would be doing all the speaking, "We don't know."
He nodded, "That is too bad. Will they be coming to retrieve the three of you?"
"That's unlikely."
The giant gave another terrifying smile, "You should make sure you're telling the truth. I don't much appreciate liars." His smile widened as he leaned forward conspiratorially, like he was going to tell them a secret, "I don't believe you."
There was a tense silence. The giant man grinning as Toris and the agents' discomfort increased. The Kid could tell that Porcelain was calculating her odds against the five men. He didn't care how good she was. There was no way she could take on this many guys with that many guns by herself. They were completely stuck.
Just as this thought ran through his head an ear-splitting SPAT resounded through the small space, accompanied by an overwhelmingly bright light that came from behind Toris.
I'm really sorry about the record breaking short length chapter. Buh, I freaking miss my desert home. The United States is a killer, let me tell you. (well, mostly just Utah)
Look! I finally figured out asterisks. I'm so proud of me.
*KGB stands for Komitet gosudarstvennoy bezopasnosti.
**This is totally a real thing. German is a crazy language. I'm not even sure if there's a word in the English language that's used day-to-day that can rival it.
*** I'm not a big fan of guns... but, this thing is beautiful. Check it out!
So, there you have it; confirmation that China is a "personnel exchange" agent. But, who is Lupus?
I feel kinda super bad for killing Molossia, the precious baby that he is. Oh well, it's action. I feel like people have to die in action. Like, Elsbeth: my heart seriously bleeds for Ludwig.
Mint Oreos are amazing and I love those stupid suckers. I'd also love you, you stupid (intelligent and aesthetically pleasing) sucker, if you reviewed.
-FRA