Background music suggestion: Avantasia: The Scarecrow

Chapter 9: 'HOPE'

...

It was early morning. Too early, Jo had said half-asleep when he left. Ian was again up before everyone else, running, wishing to catch some coolness of the dawn. The trail was circling on the low slopes, amidst the trees. It felt comfortable to run. He had been there quite a few mornings but this was the first one when he realized there was a particular scent, pine apparently, that actually reminded him...of home.

Home.

The thought surprised him. He actually had a home now. The crappy trailer in Rock Falls. But he immediately realized it wouldn't have been his home without Jo. That one night in Oslo when she had expressed her wish to avoid killing again...And that moment had somehow remained with him. He couldn't help wondering how could one destroy the evil without causing destruction oneself? Would it even be possible?

It was all about the timing now. And about Lithasblot. Helena had suggested this. Lithasblot was an ancient Norse harvest festival that was an important part of the NüVikings cult culture. It would take place on the last day of July. Apparently most people at the complex would get wasted and it would be a good day to sneak in. Also, by that time almost two months from MoGaCon would have passed so they hoped the evil alliance would have let their guard down. And there was still time till their apparent deadline, August 21st. Of course they would choose that anticosmic date.

When the Agents decided to travel to Bucharest in mid-June it had already been painfully hot. The pavements were practically melting. Luckily Vlad the Forger had set them up with the place in Transylvania. It could be described either a small villa or a very large cabin. It was quite close to a valley, surrounded by an epic forest. The mountain location had first reminded Ian of the attempt to reintegrate him back to SCEPTRE.

In the mornings and evenings, when the weather was bearable, they would practice. Especially using weapons with the junior Agents. During the hours they spent indoors, they would plan. Weighing their odds and the data Helena had given them, the mission obviously needed to be as stealthy as possible. Helena had tried to pry about the ultimate masterplan but the Agents had demanded her not to take unnecessary risks. So Bargala remained a mystery. As well as Namma, the other mystery word that had come up. It turned out to be a name of an ancient Mesopotamian mother goddess. Ian didn't like this at all. He had had enough of names like Suhrim, Ahriman, Lilith, Samael, Tiamat, Nihil and Baphomet. Especially Baphomet who apparently was genetically his father. When Ian thought about it, he guessed the only name among them that he wasn't completely disgusted by, was Apollyon, the strange scientist who he had met at the fnord facility and who had later saved him at the mountain complex. The man's destiny still haunted him sometimes. He had been separated from him during their escape through the sewers, and had probably died.

...

"Have you thought of their ship...Are they like...SCEPTkings or NüViRE?" Orfeus asked while they were spending the painfully hot moment of the day in the living room, going through their plans once again.
"Bastards. That's what they are," Gudrun said sternly with a Swedish accent.

Luckily for the seven Agents all their personalities seemed to mesh. Well, Gudrun and Orfeus seemed to somewhat annoy each other but they managed. Also, it had taken time for Mitsuko and Orfeus find their way. They had apparently expected to be attracted to each other, but when this wasn't the case, they had luckily found a sibling-like chemistry.

Gudrun had confronted Erik quite bluntly on the second evening in Romania.
"So Erik, would you like me to join you in your room?"
Erik had raised his eyebrows. He couldn't help thinking certain type of women seemed to be attracted to him. The straightforward valkyrie type.
"Thanks Gudrun...But no thanks."
"I actually knew you were going to say that," she shrugged.
"But a girl has to try," she said with a wry smile on her lips.
"Do you have someone back home?"
"No," Erik said.
Gudrun looked thoughtful.
"Now I am surprised."
Then the conversation just died there, neither of them even bothered by this.

Erik had listened to Gwen's grunting again the other night, setting himself in the mood for her vengeance. But it only made him sad...He thought it was strange how one could leave something like that behind...

The voice was so alive.

…

Cosmo was sitting on his bed the laptop on his lap. He and Helena had somehow ended up establishing blogs in Tumblr. There Helena was selinahthings, which Cosmos noted to be a reference to Catwoman's original identity. Cosmo was chiropteraman which he thought to be quite clever. Of course they wouldn't publicly react to each others blogs in any way but they would post random stuff that they knew the other would see. Thoughts. Memes. Even something Cosmo would classify as poetry. And rarely they would even post a random photo. That evening she had a picture of her pet goat. It was apparently called Gerda and he thought it was cute. Perhaps a bit weird. But cute.

Cosmo had told nothing of the Tumblr blogs to the other Agents. He had told himself that if Helena would give some essential information through this channel, he would react. He thought perhaps this outlet would help her remain sane. Sometimes he would watch the recording of their meeting. He told himself it was just for preparing for the mission. Deep down he knew it wasn't exactly that. Perhaps the others would find out...Cosmo's thoughts returned to their last night in Oslo, when Orfeus had confronted him about turning the feed off when meeting Helena.

"I'm actually not an idiot, Vanya. I hacked into your set."
"What if I had actually been in the toilet?" Cosmo asked sarcastically, trying to appear cool.
And trying to remember what exactly had he and Helena talked about.
Orfeus laughed.
"That would have been my tragedy."
"But Vanya, for your own benefit...Do know that you suck at lying."
"Note taken."
Orfeus actually now seemed a bit grim now. It was a bit unlike him.
"She's one tragic woman…I hope we get her out."

...

Gudrun was still up.

"Shouldn't you get some to sleep too?"
She took off her headphones. It had been Orfeus.
"I'm going to in a minute."
She looked more relaxed than usually.
"Can I ask what are you doing?" Orfeus asked. He was curious, like he often seemed to be.
"This actually isn't Agent related. I like to write this thing...to unwind. Fanfiction," she said her eyes returning to the screen.
"I think I've heard of that. So is it something like that..."Fifty Shades of Grey"?" Orfeus asked.
"Hell no," Gudrun said now looking at him quite angrily. But she instantly calmed down seeing from Orfeus' reaction he actually hadn't meant to offend her.
"I mean, I don't write that kind of stuff...And I'd actually prefer we'd finish this conversation now."
"Sure. I really didn't mean to insult you or anything like that."
She nodded, looking quite concentrated.
Orfeus frowned.
"Just one thing," he said nodding towards her headphones.
"I couldn't help noticing, I mean hearing…"
"What is it?"
"By any chance are you listening to..."
He swallowed.
"Dubstep?"
Gudrun's eyes widened a bit.
"Yes...I am."
Orfeus nodded, staring in her eyes.
"Cool…I really like dubstep."
"Me too," Gudrun said staring back at him.

To both of them...This was unprecedented.

...

'HOWRU'

He had just played "I am the Batman".

'TIREDPLAYMEHOPE'

Cosmo thought for a moment and put "Seasons" by DragonForce on.
He actually continued playing it back to back, not knowing what else to do.

Song by song her answer unraveled.

'THXCOSMO'

...

The words are dying in the night
No winter lasts forever
The seasons pass
And the sunlight will shine
On my life again

- Dragonforce: Seasons

...