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The sun shone brightly down on the group standing outside. The snow had somewhat melted although it was still cold out, but at least it was bearable. They all wore light coats against the light breeze picking up.
"Is it really summer here?" Shelby asked, leaning against the wall of the building. "Cause it is way too cold for summer!"
"Oh no." Anastasia smiled, pulling the sides of her furry white jacket closer together. "It's more like fall. Not winter yet."
"You mean it gets colder?" Shelby asked in exasperation.
"Much." Anastasia nodded.
"How can you bear that?" Darkdoom asked, shaking his head.
"It's easier when you're born into it, trust me." Anastasia said "Although I do love the heat in other places. If it were hot here, it just wouldn't be the same."
There was a quiet rumbling and a dog barking in the distance. Anastasia looked over.
"He's home!" she said cheerily and went over towards the gate. She pushed the controls and the gate slowly opened automatically.
A big black truck rounded the corner of the tall pine trees. As soon as Pietor drove through the gate, Anastasia went over and ran along with the car, putting her hands on the window and smiling in. In the back of the truck was a big husky dog, chained to the floor of the truck and barking continuously.
"Does Pietor have a dog?" Shelby asked Laura quietly, who shrugged.
Pietor waved at her in mock excitement as he turned the car into the garage. Anastasia still smiled and she ran after him.
######
"Well how as your day?" Anastasia asked Pietor once all of them had gone inside.
"Don't ask." Pietor replied, setting his stuff by the computer.
"Awww….that bad?"
"No of course not. It was great! They had me go and do something useful instead of making me sit at a desk all day." Pietor rolled his eyes and turned away. Anastasia smiled at him.
"You've really been sitting in a desk all day?" Raven asked, with a slight smile on her face.
"No. No! I'm just saying that to hear my own voice." Pietor said sarcastically.
Raven stuck her tongue out from behind him.
"And don't stick your tongue out at me." Pietor said, shooting her a look. Raven closed her mouth, but everyone was really amused at his grouchiness.
"What are you doing now?" Anastasia asked, leaning over his head.
"Get off. You're not supposed to look at this." Pietor replied, still typing.
"Well you're not doing a very good job of stopping me." Anastasia said, her eyes flicking across the words.
"Go away, please." Pietor said, waving a hand at her.
"You got a notice from the Convit General today." Anastasia told him.
"Well go get it."
His sister rolled her eyes, went into the kitchen, and returned with the note. She set it next to the key board.
"Thanks." Pietor said.
Anastasia waved at the others to come over to the middle of the room with her.
"Let's leave him to be grumpy." she said. Nero smiled as they followed her over.
"How are the men doing?" Darkdoom asked, as they sat down.
"The Colonel reported everything appeared to be in order." Nero replied, crossing his legs.
"Yes. I had a look in." Anastasia added "It seems fine."
"What we need now is a layout of the main building we're attacking." Nero said.
"Oh yes. We should get that tonight." Anastasia "Hey Pietor?"
"What?"
"Can we go and get the floor plan of the Convit building tonight?"
"Wouldn't it be locked and guarded at this time?" Darkdoom asked.
"Locked, yes. Guarded, no." Anastasia replied "They are too confident with their power, so they wouldn't think anyone would…..try to break in. Pietor has a key though, so that makes everything easier, right? Pietor?"
"Yea. In a minute."
#####
The black truck pulled up in the parking lot and the engine quieted while the lights flicked off. The driver's door opened and Pietor stepped out.
"This place is spooky at night." Anastasia said as she climbed out of her own side. Raven, Nero and Darkdoom did as well. The wind blew softly, making the few trees in the yard rustle. They had left the students at the Furans with the Colonel to watch them.
They walked up to the entrance and Pietor dug his keys out of his pocket. He unlocked and the door swung open.
Lights slowly turned on in the hallway before them.
"Ta da." Pietor waved a hand, exaggerating their entrance. He led them down the hall, than turned left to a short hallway with several doors.
On the first door on the left, next to it was a little sign with "Soldat Poruchik-Pietor Furan"
Pietor unlocked that door as well and turned on the lights in his office. It was a spacious yet confined little room with two desks. One with a computer and printer, the other that was empty on top except a picture frame and pencil holder.
Pietor sat in the chair and slid it over to the computer one, clicking to wake the computer up.
"Do you have a key to like every room in this place?" Anastasia asked, flicking at the pencils on the desk.
"Uhhhhmmm…..all…except one." Pietor replied, concentrating on the screen in front of him.
Raven looked at the picture on his desk. It was him and Anastasia together. Anastasia smiled in the picture, while Pietor looked a bit amused, mouth almost curved and looked past the camera.
Nero smiled as he saw it as well. The printer clicked and started rolling.
Pietor stood up and went over to the printer, waiting until it was all the way printed, then pull it off. He rolled it up, stuck a rubber band around it and gave it to Nero.
"Thank-you." Nero said, accepting it.
####
Anastasia, Nero and Darkdoom studied the map as the fire burned in the fireplace. Raven seemed a bit less interested and looked at it every ten seconds in between reading her book. (The same book Nero had given her.)
Laura was writing something quickly on her notebook across from them and Shelby and Wing sat beside her, talking quietly. Pietor still typed on the computer.
"So it has three floors. One on top, one on bottom." Darkdoom said "What are you planning on doing with all the agents, I mean assuming they stop us."
Anastasia pointed her hand at her brother "That's his decision. He's been working there for almost ten years. He knows what to do. Really, you got a very poor image of the Convit; while you were being held." she said to Nero and Raven "It isn't all bad. Gabdin was one of the worst generals they had. A lot of the people who work there are quite friendly."
"Ya think?" Raven asked, rubbing her shoulder. Anastasia smiled and nodded sadly.
"Gabdin was just…"
"A pathetic idiot." Pietor finished for her from over on his computer.
"Well I wasn't going to say….." Anastasia struggled not to smile as her brother stood up and grabbed the letter. He shook his head.
"No, oh no. Just call him what he is." Pietor replied, turning to run up the flight of stairs.
"Yea, Gabdin and him never got along very well." Anastasia said, which a breathy laugh "Mostly because Gabdin was technically in charge of him for a while and they clashed…." she clapped her hands together soundlessly "…badly."
"Yea, we didn't clash very well either." Raven said, with a shake of her head.
"Was Gabdin the same person who captured us?" Shelby asked, sitting up.
"I would assume so." Nero said as Anastasia nodded.
"He was mean." Laura said, glancing up from her paper for a second.
Anastasia sighed "Yes, he was a very vulgar man. Pietor never let me near him. At any of the Convit gatherings it was like me, then Gabdin across the room." she gestured with her hands "Pietor was always right between."
They laughed quietly.
"Yea, he's got that brotherly force behind him definitely." Anastasia went on.
A few minutes later no one saw Pietor was coming back down the stairs, with an angry look on his face. He held the Convit notice ripped open in one hand. He held it right in front of Anastasia's face.
"Read this."
"Why what's wrong?" Anastasia asked, standing up.
"What's wrong? Chto v mire oni dumayt? Ya ikh mneniyu, ya sobirayus' prokhodit' etogo zhivotnogo, to eto proshchaniye Convit! Ya ne khochu rabotat' bok prezidenta!" Pietor gestured at the note furiously "Eto naiboleye zhalkaya veshch'v Rossii!"
Anastasia held the note up and quickly started reading it. Pietor turned and walked towards the kitchen door, still babbling in Russian.
"Ya ukhozhu! Ya ushel pryamo seychas! Chomu vony tak zi mnoyu? Tse absolyutno bez- hluzdo!"
You could hear him until the door slammed shut and it went quiet.
"What's happened?" Nero asked, looking at Anastasia.
"I'm not really sure. He switched languages twice." Anastasia replied with a rather nervous look on her face as she read the note.
"Ohhhhhhhh." she said lowly. A smile came over her face.
"What?" Darkdoom asked.
"It reads." Anastasia cleared her throat "Greetings, Mister Furan. After the very unfortunate and untimely death of Chief Gabdin, the President has so graciously asked you to take his place as first counselor in the main Convit presidency. If you so accept, the confirmation will be held in two days' time at the grand gathering." she let go of the note and let it hit the floor, putting a hand over her face.
They waited in silence and it took them a minute to realize Anastasia was not stressed, she was laughing.
"Oh my word." she wiped under her eyes after a second, making sure her make-up was alright. "Now I can see why he was so mad." she stopped a second to catch her breath.
"Is this a bad thing?" Raven asked slowly.
Anastasia shook her head "No, it's actually a good thing for us, but….ahhh!" she laid her head back on the couch "Poor Pietor!"
"Why?" Darkdoom asked, scowling in confusion.
"Well the good news is, now we can get the current location of the President and his people and Pietor has more access to all the keys and people of the Convit. The bad news is, it's a lot more work and he has to work with the President, although I'm don't see the absolute downside to that." Anastasia closed her eyes and started laughing silently again "It's ironic don't you think? He kills the man to get rid of the general in this place, then is asked to take his place, so he can put power back into this area, and nobody knows he was the one who killed the previous man in the job, yet all Pietor actually wants is to take down the Convit."
"Oh boy." Darkdoom muttered.
"This is going to be fun." Anastasia said, with a smile.
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