Chapter 27

"Okay, Zee-vah- I know you're determined to catch this guy and all, but why in the hell did you have to drag me into your insane plan?"

Tony, half-occupied with creeping stealthily through the front yard of the storage facility with his weapon drawn, making his way past a series of large metal containers, was stage-whispering as he followed his partner through the maze towards the long, single floor building.

"I did not drag you into anything Tony." She replied in the same tone. "I merely pointed out to you that it was in your best interest to stop an act of terrorism before it potentially wiped out the entire world."

Tony, temporarily stunned by the almost casual way she said the last part of her sentence, replied, "Pointing out? You practically guaranteed that if I didn't follow you every step of the way, you'd kill me in a horribly painful way with one of your fingers!"

"Not true." She said. "I merely suggested to you that I once had to cause an uncooperative terrorist some discomfort with one finger in order to get him to cooperate."

"That's practically the same thing! And anyway, that's assuming we actually get through this alive! In case you haven't noticed, we have no backup. I mean, sneaking off without bringing Gibbs along- ah, damn it, Gibbs is gonna kill us! Unless we're already dead, in which case he'll resurrect us and then kill us! Course, he'll probably kill you first for not listening to his lecture on not going after supercharged terrorists alone, then he'll kill me for allowing myself to be talked into this. Actually considering the fact that you more or less threatened to kill me, he may decide to-"

"Tony!" Ziva spun around and fixed him with a dangerous look in her eye. "If you do not shut up, Asher may just move down to the second person I most want to kill today…"

The threat made itself very clear, and there was no more added commentary as the NCIS agents cautiously made their way towards the storage facility. The area in front of the building was relatively large and widespread, but was littered everywhere with large metal containers- probably used for transporting oil drums from trucks to the building itself. It required careful navigation, especially taking into account the definite possible escape route in the back; a railway ran past the building on the southern side. If Asher was indeed planning to use Russikov's private cargo train for his plan, they it'd be best if they didn't leave anything to chance.

After about a minute, the pair found themselves walking into a clearing in the yard, surrounded by metal crates on all sides. Ziva immediately perked her ears up even more; it was situations like this that were the most dangerous to come across.

Her hearing, tuned to pick up even the tiniest of sounds, immediately locked on to a sound coming from the far end of the square. She immediately swung her weapon towards the noise, with Tony quickly catching on and following her example.

A figure came forth from behind one of the crates into the edge of the square. A rather small figure, hunched over, shuffling haltingly forward. Hidden for just a brief moment in the shadow, it stepped forward into the slightly cloud-covered sun light, revealing the pale-skinned figure of none other than the CEO of AISSEX herself.

"Natalya Russikov!" Ziva shouted, keeping her weapon locked on the Russian. "Stop right there!"

If Natalya had heard the voice of the Mossad agent, she gave no indication of having done so. Dressed in the same golden-coloured dress and necklace as they had seen her wearing on the television monitor the previous day, the look of cool pleasure and sophistication she had previously had was gone. Replacing it was a look of pure; her arms clasped tightly around her stomach, her face contorted with agony, her words came out in short, pained gasps. "Why?" Her voice sounded every bit as pained as her face looked. "Everything I've done- everything I've sacrificed- all of it was for you…"

Ziva and Tony exchanged confused glances while they kept their weapons trained on the CEO. Though they were the only others in the area, it was fairly clear that Natalya wasn't talking to them. Nor did it seem very likely she was muttering to herself- vain as she was. Even though they knew her to be a highly opportunistic individual, her pain and suffering appeared to be very real. Something wasn't right about this.

Then, as clearly as if being spoken through a loudspeaker very near to them, came an all-too familiar voice. "Ziva! How nice of you to join us."

Ziva's head jerked up. "Asher!" She raised her gun, her eyes darting around as though trying to locate the traitorous ex-JTF2 agent.

"Don't worry," the Canadian's voice radiated around the area. "Your long and impossible mission is almost at its end. Hellstorm is on the eve of its international unveiling. Six billion cries of agony will burn the world into a new age of stability and peace."

Ziva felt a wash of white-hot rage flow through her. "You will never succeed in doing that Asher!" She shouted. "Not as long as I am still alive!"

"Unfortunately, it's already far too late for you. You have rejected your only means of survival in this global purge, and now you will join the tiny insignificant masses as they perish under the foot of a true god's power. You will not live to see another moon rise."

Stumbling into the centre of the square, Natalya dropped to her knees, her hands pressed against the ground as she struggled to speak through the pain. "Asher!" She cried. "I thought you said we would change the world and rule it together- side by side! I- I loved you! Why?!"

Inside the storage building, Asher raised an eyebrow behind his sunglasses. He couldn't help but see the irony. Love? It was that foolish attitude of hers that got her into the situation she was in now…

***

Five minutes prior…

Asher strode towards the television monitor at the front of the main office. Linked up to the surveillance camera out front, he watched as an NCIS van screeched to a halt in front of the entrance to the front storage area. His lips creased as he watched Ziva and Tony jump out of the vehicle and move at a fast-move stealthy pace into the area, Ziva in front as usual.

He had expected NCIS to track him down again eventually- he just figured it wouldn't take them as quickly as it did. The group was beginning a real annoyance to him- especially the ones that had just appeared on the scene.

"Don't you two ever tire of failing your objectives?" He murmured at the screen. DiNozzo was clearly more adept than any of Ziva's old partners. She was likely starting to rub off on the former cop.

Then again, she had rubbed off on him a great deal as well, Asher knew. He had survived everything she had thrown at him with ease. The Mossad officer had trained him well- perhaps a little too well for her own sake.

The sound of the door opening and a throat clearing brought his attention to the doorway behind him. Natalya stood there, pointing to her watch, indicating it was almost time to begin the final step in their journey.

Asher turned back and stared straight ahead. His forearms, uncovered without his trench coat, rested at his sides. In a clear, neutral voice he asked, "Is everything prepared with the train?"

Natalya nodded, coming up beside him. "My workers finished loading the drums into the cars ten minutes ago. All that remains now is your order and it will be off."

He gave a curt nod. "The final stage in my world vision is nearly at hand. Hellstorm would infect every living soul on the planet; those whom it judges worthy of existence will become stronger and faster; those whom it doesn't… will be eliminated."

Natalya gave a seductive grin. "And you and I will be at the centre of it. The entire world at our disposal- true gods ruling with a supreme army of Hellstorm super soldiers at our command." She gently placed a hand on his abdomen, running her fingers over his hardened stomach muscles. "I cannot think of a better person to have by my side."

She moved her hand over his abs, slowly running it down towards his pelvis, when the Canadian said abruptly, "Why did you aim at the first floor of NCIS during your little helicopter intervention?"

Surprised, Natalya drew back quickly. "What do you mean Asher?"

"If you had truly wanted to strike a blow at the heart of your enemy," Asher said in the previous neutral tone, "you should have struck at the laboratory in the basement. Their capabilities largely rest in that area- their means of tracking us and putting a stop to our plan lay in there- and yet you neglected to target it. Do you want this operation to fail Natalya?"

Her eyes grew wide. "No! I…" she fumbled, "I did not want to risk your own safety Asher! I knew they would likely be keeping you in the Interrogation area in the basement area, and I did not want to risk impeding your ability to escape their custody any more than necessary. What I did was purely for you- for us!"

Asher gave a slight sigh. Then, slowly, he raised his hands up to his face and slid off his sunglasses. Natalya suddenly felt slightly alarmed; worried that he might harm her. But instead he merely laid them to rest on the table in front of him. Leaning forward and putting his hands on the table, he murmured, "If you hadn't acted as you did, it's likely NCIS would have tracked down this facility sooner. Your actions probably bought us some time."

A relieved look came over Natalya's face and she let out a held-in breath. "Yes! Of course it did! You know me Asher- I would never endanger our operation due to carelessness!"

The look of seduction came back onto her face. "And since you are so interested in my ability to 'aim' properly, perhaps it is time that I proved to you exactly how accurate I am when I have my eyes on an objective."

She placed her hand onto his upper torso and ran her fingers over his chest, taking in the pleasure of the feeling of lust and desire it gave her. Far too often she had been on the receiving end of lust and desire herself, but she had always dismissed them since none of them were worthy of her time. It was indeed both strange and pleasurable to be on the giving side of that feeling for a change.

***

Asher was tired.

Tired of everything. Of endless life without living. Of seeing everything around him be corrupted to the point of self-destruction with each passing day. Of being able to taste the air around him without actually experiencing it. Hellstorm had given him everything he could possibly want- and still it was not enough.

His plan for Ziva- his desire to get her to see past the corruption she had been taught and join him in his quest to save the world- had not gone the way he'd hoped. He wouldn't call it a failure- he would never accept failure- but it was a disappointment. She was the one person who could have understood what he was doing was necessary; after all that was what she had been taught. But it seemed the weak, corrupt characters of NCIS had influenced her more than he'd anticipated. She no longer looked past her own sentimental views and saw the larger picture. It was yet another burden on him; that as well as having to contend with the personal views and goals of his wealthy asset.

"Ziva's interference is becoming annoyingly a little too frequent." He said in the same cool, neutral tone. "It seems that the only way to get anything done these days is to do it yourself." He drew himself up. "I am really going to enjoy tearing her limb from limb."

"You really hate her, do you not?" Natalya questioned.

"Hate her?" Asher's voice showed no emotional reaction to her question. "No. I don't hate her. I'm beyond hating. I'm beyond feeling any type of emotion that would be felt by a human being- except the ones that tear at what one might call the soul of a person. There is no such thing as a soul- a soul is merely a fabrication of the weakness of humanity. So what I feel is nothing more than a burning necessity in my blood- a burning realization. I don't hate Ziva." He raised his head up higher. "I despise her."

"For turning her back on you?"

Asher hesitated a moment before answering. "For her blindness and her standing in the way of the inevitable."

"She is a fool."Natalya said dismissively. "A little charlatan who does not know a good opportunity when she sees it. She prefers to meander to the weak and fight the pointless struggle." She raised an eyebrow. "Now I on the other hand know exactly what I want, and I do not accept anything other the strongest and the best. I am fully ready to embrace the experience of it- every single day of my life as a goddess-with you…"

Asher slowly turned and stared at her. Even though the darkness in his eyes seemed to block out any feeling he may have, she was still drawn to it; that sense of darkness and danger that seemed envelop him. It suited her own desires- the lack of rules and restrictions.

"Natalya…" he spoke in a low tone, and the Russian quickly came to attention, "do you remember me asking you when I first offered you your chance to control the entire world's oil supply if you wanted to join my side in the new world order?"

The CEO's eyes immediately widened and she gave a quick nod of the head. Asher went on in the same voice, "I have to admit I wasn't sure when I made the offer if I was doing the right thing. Technically, you are the head of one of the biggest sources of corruption on the planet; I wasn't sure if you could be trusted with such an important operation." He raised one of his gloved hands and slowly ran it down her cheek. "But it appears I was wrong- you have been very reliable and trustworthy." He took her chin in his hand. "And I believe that the time has come to show you exactly what my decision is."

With that, he pressed his lips against her own. Momentarily surprised, she quickly returned the kiss, engulfing his mouth with her own. Her wandering hands immediately caressed his arms, his back before moving up towards his face. The feeling of pleasure went racing through her body; she felt her heartbeat increase significantly and a thin blanket of sweat broke out over her arms. It was an experience she had never felt before on such a large scale. If this was the beginning of her role as leader of the new world, she was going to be enjoying herself very much. The lust and passion she yearned for would be satisfied every day with him- every time she yearned for pleasure beyond her imagination, he would be there to-

Her thoughts were suddenly cut short by a sharp pain in her stomach. Breaking away from the Canadian, she let out a cry of pain and looked down just in time to see Asher slide a cap onto the needle part of a small empty syringe. Momentarily taken in by shock, she heard his gravelly, neutral voice: "Perhaps Hellstorm will find you a worthy candidate for the new world."

She raised her head quickly, her eyes wide- this time with fear and horror. His face completely indifferent, he spoke in her native tongue.

"Cena spasenija chasto platitsja v krovi."

The price of salvation is often paid in blood.

He turned back towards the table and retrieved his sunglasses. Natalya started to take a step towards him but stopped short when a sharp wave of pain soared through her abdomen, doubling her over. When she tried to straighten up, another cramp ripped through her stomach muscles, and she let out a sharp cry and clasped her hands around her midsection.

"The price of becoming a god," Asher went on as he slid his shades onto his face, "is that everything you come to embrace in the world- every bit of feeling you've every experienced- is destroyed in an instant. The ability to love is torn from your body, leaving you with only a complete indifference to anything projected onto you. While keeping my disinterest in your affections as moderate as possible, it also became beneficial for me to play into your desires slightly. And now, as measure of appreciation, I'm going to let you do one last favour for me."

He took hold of her arm in a firm, though not overly manner, and led her trembling, agonized figure over to the front door. Her eyes grew wide again and she rapidly shook her head. "No…" She looked at him pleadingly. "No Asher, please!"

Without another word, the Canadian pulled open the door and semi-firmly pushed her out the door, closing it behind him.

Walking over back towards the video screen, a small smile crept onto his face as he watched Tony and Ziva approach the square just in front of the building. He took position beside the microphone hooked up to the loudspeaker on the outside, his eyes zeroing in on Ziva's determined face.

'Perhaps you should not have been so quick to throw away what was your lifeline in this revolutionary sea of salvation…"

***

Natalya, still kneeling on the ground let out another cry of pain and started writhing in agony. Her eyes reflected the torment of someone with fire racing through their veins- excruciating and impossible to stop.

"I don't get it." Tony turned towards Ziva. "I thought for this operation, these two were supposed to be partners."

"I was his partner at one point as well." Ziva growled. "Asher does not give a damn about anyone other than himself. He uses people when they have something he can exploit and then stabs them in the back when he has what he wants."

The sound of the Canadian's voice through the loudspeaker brought their attention back towards the building. "Soon, even you in your naiveté will understand Ziva. One look at the world after I'm through with it and everything will be crystal clear."

Ziva gritted her teeth. "Enough games!" she shouted. "Show yourself!"

"Sadly for you, your time has already run out. The global purge of the world's corruption is on the verge of its commencement, and you are about to be caught up right in the middle of it."

Natalya, seemingly oblivious to the communications going on around her, let out another agonized cry on the ground. "Sorry Natalya," Asher's indifferent voice directed towards the Russian, "but it would seem that Hellstorm has rejected you. I guess you were not as suited to lead the world as you claimed to be. However, since you were such a useful asset, I have one final task for you. Show NCIS what happens to those whom Hellstorm judges to be unworthy."

Ziva narrowed her eyes at the CEO. "This is what your fellow Mossad compatriots have to look forward to very soon Ziva. A pity that you will have to join them in elimination; you could have been so much more useful as a soldier in the new world order. Farewell, old partner."

Natalya jerked her head up, stared straight ahead, and shouted in a pained, agonized voice, "Asher, you uród!"

She threw her head back; her mouth opened up and a large red bloody mist shot through the air like a large cloud.

Tony's eyes instantly widened. "What the hell?!" He aimed his gun back at the Russian, with Ziva following suite.

The bloody mist soon came back down and covered the entirety of Natalya's face and the front of her dress. Her mouth remained open, though no sound came out of it. A low gurgling sound came from deep inside her throat, and her eyes remained plastered wide open. A small drop of red appeared at the corner of each of her eyes and at the edges of both nostrils, which soon began streaming down like tiny streams down her cheeks.

Tony stared in astonishment, his eyes glued to the scene in front of him. Ziva gripped her gun tighter and took a deep breath. The two NCIS agents watched as the figure of Natalya Russikov, a bloody mess with red streams now leaking out of her eyes, her nose and her mouth, remained frozen in place for a second before slowly falling forward onto the ground, eyes still wide open in the unmistakable stare of the dead.

Ziva felt a growing sense of nausea in the pit of her stomach. Even though both agents had seen many bad things in their lives, this was by far one of the most graphic scenarios they'd witnessed. The body belonging to the late AISSEX CEO was now a twisted shell of its former self. Blood leaked out onto the ground, covering her porcelain face and surrounding her head, quickly painting the pavement in bright red.

Tony and Ziva both stared thunderstruck at the sight for a good few moments; the silence was finally broken by Tony's voice, sounding as though it were almost speaking unconsciously, "Okay- it's official; we're screwed."

Ziva started to turn towards him, intending on giving him a sharp reproach on his seemingly defeatist attitude, when her ears suddenly perked up again. Her head turned towards the back area behind the building, where the sound was coming from.

Tony heard it too and immediately recognized what it was. Train engine- the crazy bastard's trying to leave!

Apparently her partner recognized this fact as well. Ziva's head snapped towards him and she said, "Quick! We have to get to the train before it leaves!"

The Mossad officer took off running past the body of Russikov towards the back area of the crates, with Tony close behind. Rather than go into the actual building, Ziva decided it would be quicker to cut through a small alleyway than ran parallel to the building. Racing through the narrow area, she quickly hopped over the small steel fence dividing the front section from the back. A second later Tony was making the same jump.

Ziva took a few steps forward and stopped abruptly. About fifteen yards away from her was the backend railway car attached to a series of other cargo train cars; the train was starting to pull away from the building, still going at a relatively slow pace. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw a flash of movement, and whirling around saw the trench-coated figure of Asher, his back to the NCIS agents as he sprint-walked towards the back cargo car.

Ziva thought about shouting, but her body reacted unconsciously before her voice could find itself. She raised her gun up towards the Canadian's head.

Asher stopped for a second, as though he had sensed something was amiss, and then whirled around towards them. At the very same second, Ziva felt her trigger finger pull back.

Bang. A shot echoed throughout the air.

Bang. Another bullet exited the chamber and zoomed towards its intended target.

Asher had heard the footsteps behind him and had realized what was about to happen, but even with his superhuman speed he wasn't completely immune to every single physical attack.

The first bullet struck the right side of his neck, passing through and through and sending a spray of blood onto the right shoulder and upper arm parts of his coat.

The second bullet struck the left arm of his sunglasses just as his neck wound began to heal; the shades shattered at the screw, causing them to fall off his face and into his open left hand.

Staring down at them for a second, Asher looked up towards the pair, eyes blazing and a look of fury and anger on his face. With a savage grunt, he threw the shades violently to ground beside him and growled in a low, furious tone, "This is just the beginning, Ziva!"

He turned around, took one running step forward towards the moving train and then executed a massive jump into the air towards it. Landing on the roof of the back car, he began running down towards the front engine.

Tony came up to his partner's side. His eyes locked onto the train, he said, "Ziva, he's escaping. Hurry!"

Tony took off after the train, which was quickly gaining speed, racing down the tracks with Ziva right on his tail. Her small, agile figure was naturally built for speed and she appeared poised to overtake her more heavyset partner, when all of a sudden a dull pain started to throb in her thigh. The same thigh that Asher had thrown her own knife into about thirty-six hours previously- the same one which was now beginning to prevent her from running as fast as she needed to.

No, no… not now!

Tony ran with all his might in an effort to catch up to the train. His legs moved faster than he ever remembered in his life and his heart pounded in his ears as loud as a heavy metal drum. He silently thanked all the time he'd spent in the gym on the treadmill; running after a train on foot had to fall under the category of 'extraordinary circumstances' that Gibbs occasionally spoke about as a reminder of keeping them in shape. If neither Ballack nor the boss killed him when this was all said and done, he'd definitely have to thank Gibbs for it.

Racing as though he were on the football field at OSU, he put on an extra burst of speed and, reaching up managed to catch hold of a steel post on the back of the car and with a renewed effort hoisted himself onto the train. Pausing a moment to catch his breath he turned around, and was astonished to see Ziva half-running, half limping towards him.

For a moment Tony wasn't sure what she was doing; then he remembered Ziva's leg injury in her first encounter with the Canadian. A knife wound like that just didn't heal overnight. Course, it didn't help that the time when it started to bother her again was also the time she was trying to catch a train containing a devastating weapon of mass destruction and a very pissed off super terrorist.

"Ziva!" Tony reached out his hand towards her. "Ziva, come on!"

Running as fast as she could possibly could, Ziva could feel the pain soar throughout her leg. She tried to ignore it and catch up to the car, but it seemed that with every step she took the train was going faster and faster. If she didn't catch it soon, she'd be left behind, and Tony would be alone with Asher.

Tony saw the combined expression of pain, desperation and worry on the face of his partner, as well as something else: doubt similar to the one he'd seen the previous night when she'd told him she didn't know if she could defeat Ballack. He'd be damned if she'd let herself fail- not when he'd seen just how good of a person she was compared to the self-proclaimed 'saviour of the world'.

"Come on Ziva!" He shouted again. "You can make it! Come on!"

His words seemed to be having an effect; even though the train was definitely going much faster now, it also seemed Ziva was getting closer to it. The look of doubt was fading away, replaced instead by greater determination. Tony inwardly smiled as she got nearer. There's my ninja.

The ex-cop felt the train shift gears and prepare to move into full speed; if Ziva didn't get on now, its likely she wouldn't be able to catch up to it all.

"Ziva, grab my hand!" Tony reached out as far as he possibly could without falling onto the tracks.

Ziva kicked into an extra high pace. She could see Tony's arm just a few metres away. If she could only get to it before the train sped away…

"Ziva!"

With a cry of desperation, Ziva launched herself forward in a do-or-die lunge and grabbed hold of Tony's hand. The senior field agent immediately pulled back, hauling both himself and the Israeli onto the back on the car. The two of them leaned against the metal door for a moment, breathing heavily in and out, trying to catch their breath.

Then Ziva turned a grateful face towards Tony. "Thank you, partner."

Tony gave a half-hearted grin and said breathlessly, "Does this mean you're going to want to cuddle up and rest your shoulder against me again, Oh Miss-Deadly-Assassin?"

Ziva merely rolled her eyes and pulled out her weapon; Tony eyed the gun nervously and she shook her head and said in a half exasperated, half light-hearted tone, "This isn't for you, My-Little-Hairy-Butt; it's for Asher. I have several friends in it that I think it is long past the time I introduced him to." She looked at her partner in the eye. "Let us finish this Tony- together."

Tony gave a genuine smile this time. "Right behind you, partner."

A/N: Love it? Hate it? Please review!!! The next chapter is going to be OFF THE CHARTS with action! Hit the green button if you want it sooner!

Note: 'uród' means 'bastard' in Russian.