Tautų miršta sunkiai per Kalėdas
(by Sailor Taichichi Vegeta)
Almost done… Here's a chapter to mark Christmas Day for the Trio, then the final chapter will be posted on Ukraine's Christmas Day. :)
Disclaimer
Hey, hey, Mama, more hot cider!
Hey, hey, Papa, hey, hey, Papa!
I can't forget the taste of that grilled cheese-and-bacon sandwich that nobody wanted to share with me!
Draw a circle, that's the Earth,
Draw a circle, that's the Earth,
Draw a circle, that's the Earth,
I'm not Himaruya and therefore own nothing!
Part 7
As Lithuania was left to finish dealing with the terrorists in the ballroom, reinforcements arrived, obviously alerted by the gunfire. He ran back into the kitchen and made the snap decision to head for the blast he heard –it was probably Estonia.
The wonderful, state-of-the-art hotel had doors that were all tightly sealed. None had been blown off their hinges, or showed any other sign of being entered or tampered with. Lithuania scanned each one as he passed, wondering how to find his friends… and then he saw the brown smudge on the door to the laundry room. When he rubbed at it, it began to crumble away. It smelled nice.
"Chocolate frosting…"
With no key card his only choice was to shoot his way in. Lithuania did so, praying he'd have enough time before the terrorists caught up with him. He chose to aim for the hinges, and when he thought he'd done enough damage he broke in the door with a few good kicks. The hole in the floor let him know where the others had gone, so he propped the door back up with a pair of large appliances –those would only delay the terrorists for a bit, but every second counted –and shimmied down the ladder.
The tunnel was cool and quiet. Striking a match helped Lithuania to not slam into any walls, but there wasn't enough light for him to guess where the others might have gone. Finally he picked a direction at random and set off, calling for his fellow nations every so often.
After his fourth call, there was a response. Lithuania heaved a sigh of relief, then realized a split second later that none of the three voices were familiar. He had just enough time to hide his gun in his coat before the bright beam of a flashlight came round a corner. They could still see his knives though…
"Who are you?" demanded the short man who held the flashlight. His two friends shifted their knapsacks to better grip their weapons, a semi-automatic and a sizable wrench.
"I… ah… I –my girlfriend –works in the museum, up there, a-and I was watching her work in the basement. Not this basement! But we were in the basement of the museum… um, fooling around, playing soldier, and I chased her down here–"
"Liar! Kill him!" spat the terrorist. Lithuania whipped out his gun and shot him point-blank in the liver; the impact knocked down all three men. The flashlight clattered to the ground as he turned and fled, trying to remember where he'd last seen the sides of the tunnel illuminated. He hit the wall once and dared to stop and strike another match, even with the remaining terrorists now recovered and in pursuit.
"Please don't let this go out…"
Then he saw the ladder beside a few wooden crates. He flung himself at it and climbed for his life, firearm clenched in his teeth, match forgotten on the ground. Every second the angry shouts grew closer and he swore his heart stopped for a moment when that awful beam pinned his shadow to the wall opposite. Lithuania took the gun in one hand, kept climbing with the other (thank you, military training, he was almost at the top), and sprayed the area behind and beneath him with bullets, taking grim pleasure in the grunt he heard. The enemy returned fire –he must have only hit the man with the wrench –and he felt something tear past his shoulder. He felt no pain, so he surged upward, heaved the wooden trapdoor open with a mighty clatter, pulled himself inside, and emptied his clip destroying the ladder and the third terrorist on it. Then he shut the door again and collapsed across it, breathing heavily.
As Lithuania rested, a pair of boots entered his line of vision. They weren't Latvia's or Estonia's; they belonged to a sweet-looking young lady, one of Japan's citizens, dressed for wintertime sports. She crouched down, Nintendo DS in one hand, and asked, "Feeling better?"
"Yes," he panted. Behind the girl, and all around them, he could see shelves and tables full of old weapons, ancient coins, pottery shards… "Where are we? Is this the hotel?"
She helped him to his feet, answering, "No, sorry. This is the M- City Museum of History and Culture. I'm Yuko."
"Hello, Yuko."
"And I'm Cornelia," sounded a different voice from behind him. Lithuania turned to meet the hazel eyes of another girl, clad in athletic gear similar to Yuko's. She was sitting at one of the artifact-covered tables; in front of her was an Italian copy of the Divine Comedy and a small radio that looked out of place among the duller metals. "And you aren't supposed to be here."
"I know the museum isn't open yet, but… Look, there are some dangerous people on the loose, they've taken over the hotel and we need to get out of this complex now. I'll explain everything after we've left."
Cornelia tilted her head and smiled coyly. "All right, then, show us the way to get out of here safely." She offered a hand to Lithuania, who helped her out of her chair… and was rewarded by a blow to the stomach with her book. "Get him, Yuko!"
"Hai!" The poor nation had stumbled toward Yuko, and she leapt up and kicked him in the arm. She grabbed the same arm in order to hold him in place, then savagely head-butted him and finally let him go. She kicked him in the side when he tried to get up, but he rolled away and sprang back up just in time to block a vicious punch. Lithuania blocked three more punches and a kick before Yuko broke through his guard and dealt a blow to his face anyway. As he stumbled again she shoved him toward her partner with a cry of "Your turn, Cor-chan!"
Cornelia leapt onto Lithuania's back, wrapped her legs around his waist, and repeatedly slammed her palms into the side of his head, giggling the whole time. He threw himself backward, earning an "oof" as his attacker hit the floor, and plunged his second-largest knife into her thigh.
"Aaaaaaaaagh! Cazzo!" Quite predictably, Cornelia forgot about him and clutched her damaged leg as she writhed on the floor. Lithuania got up and felt a sharp pain of his own; when he glanced down at his arm, he saw a bit of blood. Fantastic, the terrorist had gotten him after all. He'd just have to pray the bullet had only grazed him. Meanwhile, he had two other problems, one of who was screaming in obscenity-laced Italian for him to die.
Yuko prepared to oblige her friend by snatching up Lithuania's gun from where he'd dropped it near the trap door. Cornelia's sigh of savage glee was choked off when they realized there were no more bullets.
"Will you give up?" asked Lithuania, readying two more blades.
"No!" shrieked Cornelia.
"No," said Yuko as she pulled a spear from a nearby shelf. Lithuania decided to let her come at him so she wouldn't be able to grab another weapon as easily. The one proved to be enough, as she displayed at least as much aggression with the spear as she had with her fists.
"Oh, Mr. Petrov?"
The terrorist removed the cigar from his lips and took up his radio. "Hinkel, this had better be good."
"It is if you like money," crowed the hacker before taking another big bite of Snickers. "The M- City Museum of History and Culture is now open for business."
Petrov allowed himself a genuine smile. "Wonderful news indeed, Hinkel."
"Does this mean I'll be paid the other five thousand?"
And there went the smile, as fast as it had come. "Certainly not! You couldn't even take care of the job I assigned you!"
"Wha –I just did! The security system is gone. I got all the cameras, I blocked all the cell phones, heck, I even took out the Internet for two blocks in each direction!"
"Yet you failed to warn me of the little sneak trying to steal my weapons outside of the hotel. Do you have any idea what might have happened, of what could be happening right now?"
"That wasn't my fault. Somebody hacked me!"
"You, the self-proclaimed 'Computer Caesar' of Western Europe, were hacked."
"…perhaps it was someone from Eastern Europe."
"Shut up! And be grateful I'm still willing to pay you what we discussed earlier!"
"Yes sir." Hinkel moaned and finished the candy bar.
Next, Petrov contacted more loyal subordinates.
"Yuko. Cornelia. Is everything ready?"
Neither woman replied. Yuko was still battling Lithuania, now wielding a sword on loan from Turkey. The spear she'd previously used was in two pieces on the ground, along with other artifacts knocked over and kicked around during their fight. The contents of Cornelia's table were among them, and their owner shouted the occasional bloody word of encouragement from where she rested against the wall, thumbing through Dante once more. Petrov's call caught them all off guard; Lithuania recovered faster than Yuko did and drove her into another table, so hard she slid across it and fell. While she struggled to regain her balance he ran toward Cornelia, who was making her way through the objects on the floor to the spot where the voice was heard.
"Yuko! Cornelia! Answer me!"
Lithuania got to the radio first (it lay next to a partially-disintegrated sack of coins) but Cornelia, in an astounding burst of speed, dove for it and bit his fingers before he could do anything with it. As luck would have it, that was exactly when Yuko came after him again, so he was forced to give her all his attention while the other terrorist shrilled, "Mr. Petrov! We're under attack!"
"Attack? From who?"
"I don't know!" Yuko forced Lithuania back. Cornelia scrambled backwards too, to avoid their feet. "He came in through the underground tunnels, stabbed me, and he's fighting Yuko right now. Does the government know we're here?"
"I'm afraid they do," responded Petrov's voice as Lithuania got close enough to make a nasty slice on Yuko's hand. She hung on to the sword despite her cry, but her grip weakened. "But if there's only one man as you say, the two of you should be able to handle him. I will be there shortly and we will proceed as originally planned."
"Got it! Yuko! Kill him!"
Yuko, knowing she was at a disadvantage, darted toward one of the shelves and tried to tip it over on Lithuania. He dodged it without a problem, and chased her past several more, only to have an axe flung at his face upon emerging from behind the last one. Yuko came right after it with the sword in her left hand, but Lithuania side-stepped that too and jumped onto a table. Dropping the knife from his right hand, he picked up a sword of his own and with it countered each swing or attempt to join him on the table. After a minute or so Yuko tired of this and went back for the axe, then with both weapons redoubled her efforts to deprive Lithuania of his position. It was working too –regardless of the enemy's injury and the increasing wildness of her swings, the nation found himself slowly moving backwards. At last Yuko dared to set one foot on the table, and as Lithuania countered he toppled off of it. Luckily his head didn't strike the floor with much force, so he was able to shake off the impact quickly. He stared up at Yuko, not moving or breathing while she grinned cruelly down at him from her new territory and adjusted her grip on her sword. She jumped down to stab him, and at that moment he twisted up and to the side and thrust his weapon through her stomach.
A little whine escaped her lips as Lithuania withdrew the sword. Yuko's knees gave way and she came to rest beside him.
Cornelia, engrossed in her book, did not look up at Lithuania when he approached her.
"Good, you finally got him. Now we just have to wait for–" The bloodstained blade at her throat got her attention. Out of the corner of her eye she saw the radio land in her lap.
"Call Petrov and tell him not to come here."
"Vaffanculo!" She spat at him and instantly regretted it as the sword pressed even further into her skin. Lithuania regarded her emotionlessly. "Ah –i-it won't do you any good. Whether Mr. Petrov thinks that I killed you or that you killed me, he's still coming over here, and he'll bring everybody else with him."
"Why?"
"Why not? Look around you. Everything in this room is older than our grandparents!"
Of course Cornelia was wrong about that last part, but Lithuania did as she told him and surveyed the objects once owned by himself, his fellow nations, and their citizens. What a mess, he thought. Even the little placards identifying each item were strewn all over the room. He peeled one off the bottom of his shoe, then looked at it more closely.
Latvia sat in the small office, sniffling and finishing the second of the three bottles he'd 'borrowed' from the hotel bar. The absinthe had yet to diminish his guilt over leaving Lithuania stranded underground, so Halyna had smuggled some pastries for the little nation to munch. They all found themselves partaking, though. When Estonia's cell phone rang he was loath to set down his donut, but he changed his mind when he saw who was calling.
"Lithuania! Where are you?" Latvia stopped drinking. Halyna stopped rubbing his shoulders.
"I'm in the basement of the M- City Museum of History and Culture."
"Why are you in the museum?"
"Because the terrorists will be here really soon. Check the cameras."
Estonia grabbed his laptop. "Petrov has left the office building. So have his men… and they're marching the hostages toward the museum. What's going on?"
"He must want to have a meat shield in case somebody tries to stop him. Everything they've been doing… all the speeches, all the killing, it's just one big cover-up."
"What's he covering up?" asked Latvia in the background
"Right now I'm looking down at property of the house of Rurik. Yes, that Rurik! Petrov wants the artifacts from the Kievan Rus' exhibit!"
"Well, they aren't invincible," said the smallest Baltic. "They started this… so let's go and finish it!"
Lithuania smiled and was about to agree, but his friend wasn't finished yet. "Hey, Lithuania?"
"Yes?"
"The terrorists are inside now. You should go find someplace to hide."
The fight with two girls was originally inspired by "Diamonds Are Forever," but Liet's knives caused things to mutate in ways not even I could have predicted. By the time Yuko died I was listening to the "Conan the Barbarian" soundtrack.
And now I feel lame for breaking those sweet artifacts.
There is some stuff from Kievan Rus' on eBay. Who wants to go empty their wallets? :D
Who wants to guess who the bosses are named for?
Oh, and Merry Christmas!
