Line of Duty
By Difoyksveyotsgod
Legal Stuff: I don't own the rights to the Incredibles, but Boris Ivanovich Kaslowski is my own creation, I don't take credit for the hard work of the people at Pixar and in fact my hat is off to them. I hope that if any of them read this they enjoy it. I hope you all enjoy it as well.
Rating info: Right now, this story is rated fairly low, because the first couple of chapters aren't going to be that terrible. Once I get deeper into the plot the rating will go up, so be forewarned about future use of violence, language, and possibly some innuendo. Right now it's fairly tame though, so enjoy! And feel free to submit reviews, I'm always looking for constructive criticism.
Chapter 1: From Russia with Love
"Helen, are the kids ready?" Bob Parr's voice echoed through the small home, coming from their bedroom.
"Yes dear, and dinner is on the table, and Jack-Jack has been fed." Helen reached across the room to smooth Dash's hair, and went back to laying out silverware. Her husband emerged from the bedroom dressed in one of his nicest suits and pecked her on the cheek. She turned towards him and smiled. "How do I look?"
Bob took a step back, looked his wife up and down, and smiled back. "Perfect."
They embraced for a second and then stood apart at a loud knock at the door. Bob ran over and turned the handle, and looked out at the massive man that stood there. He was dressed heavily in fur, with a large ushanka covering most of his head. A thick beard and mustache covered his face up to his eyes, and he stared down at Bob with a piercing glare.
He suddenly burst into a grin and stepped forward, wrapping Bob in a massive hug. "Comerade! So good it is to be seeing you again! After all this time too!" He took a step back, still grinning, hands on Bob's shoulders. "And you have not let yourself go! This is a most excellent thing indeed!"
Bob clapped the man on the shoulders and squeezed experimentally. He felt solid cords of muscle underneath and grinned right back. "You either Boris. How have you been?"
Boris shrugged slightly, letting out a long sigh. "I am staying busy, but is not like the old days. I have been too long away from America. Things have been difficult in my home country, and are looking to stay that way. But such is life."
"Indeed. Come inside, dinner is ready and I want you to meet my family."
Boris had to duck to get through the doorway, and his shoulders were nearly the width of the hall. He smiled warmly as Helen walked up and wrapped her arms around his waist, gently placing an arm around her in return.
"It's good to see you again Boris." She smiled up at him after they separated, gesturing towards Violet and Dash. "Kids, this is a friend of your father's and mine, Boris Ivanovich Kaslowski. These are our children, Violet and Dash. Say hello to Boris kids."
"Hello..." Violet smiled slightly and elbowed Dash, who was staring up at the man in awe.
"You're...you're..." Dash's voice was filled with awe, the kind children reserve for their favorite heroes and stars.
"PÑÑÑкий медведÑ...the Russian bear?"
"Yeah! You're like the greatest wrestler ever, andthestrongestmanin Russiaandthegreatestboxerand..." Dash's speech picked up to a level of speed that was unintelligible.
"Dash, you're talking too fast again. Sorry Boris, he does that sometimes." Helen smiled apologetically at him, and he simply shrugged deeply.
"It does not bother me, I am flattered that I would be thought so highly of. I was always of opinion that Alexander Karelin was better than I, but is just opinion. Before I am forgetting, I have a gift for you!" Boris rummaged through his coat, removing a small glass bottle from a pocket. He presented it to Helen, grinning. "Part of Mikhail Gorbachev's private stocks, recently purchased for a very reasonable sum in Moscow and transported by way of one Russian lumberjack to your home."
"Thank you Boris...", Helen passed the bottle back to Bob, who set it in one of the high cabinets. "Are you hungry? Dinner is ready."
"Always. Thank you."
It was a light dinner, with Boris and Bob swapping jokes and stories from the old days, and Helen occasionally chiming in. The Russian ate like his name sake, consuming twice as much food as everyone else combined, with Bob remarking on the side to Helen that he told her it was a good idea to make so much extra.
Boris told how he had been quietly deported during the barrage of lawsuits and the beginning of the relocation act, after he refused a government offer to take up permanent citizenship in the States as long as he agreed to lay low. He had declined on personal reasons, saying that things in his country were deteriorating so rapidly that he felt the need to return anyway. Promises were given of his guaranteed option to return after things settled down, and indeed he was one of the few superheroes who disappeared with their reputation intact.
He had returned home to find his country in a slump of economic despair, with the collapse of the USSR bringing about poverty to his small village. He had gone to work as a lumberjack, earning a respectful living that kept him in shape. His people were more accepting of powers, especially ones that aided work, so he was free to use his strength unrestrained. After a time he had gotten into strength contests from around his country, and by purposefully restraining his powers, became a hero once more.
After a brief controversy about his inclusion in the 2003 World's Strongest Man competition, and his honest third place finish after Mariusz Pudzianowski of Poland and Zydrunas Savickas of Lithuania, he was allowed to go into wrestling and boxing on the international circuit.
He joked that he wasn't sure who would have found the other first, him or Bob. He had seen the news of Syndrome's defeat at about the time he had become a known name in America, and had written to Mr. Incredible in the hope of reestablishing contact. Through some stroke of luck his letter had been sorted by one of the older clerks in the government office for managing superhero mail who had recognized his name and sent the letter, after much censorship and redirection, to Bob Parr.
"And so I have found you and we are here together. A toast!" Boris drained his glass of milk in a single swallow and set it down, sighing happily. "Helen, I am so full I could not be eating more if my life depended on it. Most excellent, thank you." He patted his stomach, burped politely, and smiled.
"So Boris...did you ever get a family?"
The Russian grinned, lacing his hands over his chest. "Yes, I married a beautiful woman, we settled down, and I have a son about your daughter's age, Gregor. Already he is as strong as an ox, and barely even 14! I have a job for him with the lumber company while I am gone. He enjoys the work, it is a break from his schooling, and lets him show off, but too much I think."
Bob chuckled, glanced at Dash, and sighed. "I know the feeling. It's a bad influence from the father or something like that."
Boris laughed and clapped his hands. "Something like that, or so my Natasha is always telling me. Ahh...soon it will be our children doing the work, and us sitting around retired da?" Boris heaved out a long sigh and leaned forward. "Oh well. Such is life and time, and no power is great enough to be stopping it."
The group rose from the table, and Dash, Violet and Helen began clearing the dishes. Bob went to the cabinet, retrieved the bottle and two small glasses, one with ice, one without. He poured the drinks, handed the one without ice to Boris, and both of them headed out to the back porch. They settled into the lawn chairs and sipped at the vodka, staring out into space, communing in the silent way of men. Finally Bob sighed, took a sip from his glass, and looked over at his friend.
"Well Boris...we both know this isn't just a simple social call."
The other man shook his head. "Sadly it is not, as much as I am wishing otherwise. I take it you understood from my letter what we are up against?"
"As much as the censors would let me. I'm amazed it got through at all."
"I made a few calls for favors."
"Thought so. What are we up against?"
"You remember the Cossack?"
"Big SOB, used fire like none other and liked to burn down everything he couldn't steal? Thought your guys took him out in that '02 raid."
"So did we."
"Ah...not good. Well, we've got Lucius, now that his wife's over him missing their anniversary dinner to fight Syndrome. Man he was in the heat for a while. Made up to her for about a month."
"So he DID get married...I wondered about that for a long time. We are going to be needing his help for this Bob."
"You think the two of us can't handle that guy? Last I checked, you brought him in alone and helped keep him in lockdown during the uprising of '88."
"...There is...how to say...complications. This time I do not think he is working alone. If it were that simple I am thinking he would not have survived 2 years ago, or even managed to escape."
"The Underminer maybe? We haven't quite nailed down all of his operation, but we're pretty sure we can take him out."
Boris shook his head, sighing softly. "I have not been entirely honest with you comrade...you know how my government is with its secrets. I have been working for them ever since I was deported. What Spetsnaz could not handle alone, and it was more often than you may be thinking, I was called in. It was not incompetence...it was...difficulty. The challenges in my country are greater, criminals are holding more sway and power, and it is easier for a villain such as the Cossack to wind up in an organization. All the publicity, the television and contests were all covers to make it seem like I was too busy to be a hero."
Bob shook his head, smiling slightly. "You and your honesty...Boris, if you think I honestly believed you could stop being a hero any more than me, I'll eat my own socks. I figured that as soon as you got home that someone would contact you. Nobody over here ever heard any details of course, or even anything generally related, but I always figured you'd find some way to do your job."
Boris laughed, raising his glass in acknowledgement of his friend's assessment. "Ah...I should have expected. You were always too smart Bob, my government caused more trouble than yours for contacting you. But is in the past, and we are now men of the present. I am concerned because the Cossack simply vanished from the site of the raid. We found no body, no remains of any kind. There was not even a sign of teleportation, it as if something simply popped out of thin air, grabbed him, and went back. We are baffled."
Bob shifted, the sound of traceless teleportation not something he wanted to deal with. "So you guys couldn't even put out a source trace? That's really bad. He could have wound up anywhere."
"Yes, but he has resurfaced. We tracked him to this area, and of course had to find some way to deploy me without arousing too much suspicion. What better way than a visit between comrades who have not seen each other in years?"
"True...is there anything we can do about this right now?"
"Nyet. I am afraid we must wait until he is spotted in person to be making a move."Boris yawned, drained the last of the vodka from his glass, and sighed deeply. "How I wish this could be just a simple visit between us! I would have loved to bring my family and introduce you...but..."
"Such is life." Bob finished the sentence. "I know old friend, I know. We've got the guest bed made up for you."
"Thank you Bob...thank you. In the morning I hope there will be better news."