Balance Of Power - Part II
(Author’s Note: Yeah, I know this is a long one. I just couldn’t find a good way to break this in half. Anyway, after this, all that’s left is the epilogue! We’ll talk more after that! Read on, MacDuff!)
“Master!” Jackal lumbered into Anubis’ audience chamber. His master had already started to crawl out from the rubble. He hurried over and helped Anubis up with a gentleness that belied his size.
Anubis looked up at his last loyal subject and patted his arm. How could he have been so foolish? He had seen this, and yet he still permitted himself to fall into madness. A madness that cemented his fall.
He suddenly felt very old. His sandaled foot sank down into a pool of water. The explosion had cracked the floor and the cold water had began to seep in. He allowed Jackal to help him keep his footing on the now slick floor.
When the soft clapping began, they almost mistook it for more debris raining from the ceiling. They both turned and looked at the person standing in the doorway.
She was clad neck to toe in black leather. Her pale face framed by perfectly styled blonde hair, ruby red lips turned up in a lazy smile, which didn’t quite touch her cold blue eyes. Anubis and Jackal stood stunned as she slowly walked into the room. She walked as if she enjoyed being watched. As she passed through patches of light and shadow, they just caught the shine of a badge on her left breast.
“Oh, poor Lord Anubis.” Her voice was rich and honeyed. A thick German accent added just the right amount of exotic allure as she spoke. “Everything you’ve built, everything you’ve worked for, destroyed.” A calculated amount of laughter showed in her voice, “By four people. My, how the mighty have fallen.”
“How dare you? Bow to Lord Anubis!” Jackal’s eyes bulged, the outrage causing his voice to shake.
She laughed, a rich throaty laugh that did things to Anubis that he didn’t think his body would be capable of anymore. “You presume to order me? I don’t think you quite grasp your situation, Herr Jackal. You are hardly in a position to order anyone around.”
As she spoke, something deep in Anubis’ memory was sparked. He knew her. Or her speech patterns reminder him of someone. He just couldn’t quite place it. “Who are you, Fräulein?” For the first time in years, Anubis let his native accent show. Something about this young woman demanded it.
She didn’t say anything, just continued that ever so captivating walk over to the high-backed chair that Anubis ran his Reich from. She walked around it, trailing a hand across the back until she came around to its front again. As she turned to face them, the stylized German National Eagle insignia she wore flashed brilliantly. She looked down on the two with heavy-lidded eyes. “It is sad that things needed to come to this. You were useful, after a fashion. Even past my, shall we say, disappointment in your initial defection all those years ago.”
Jackal howled in rage, “You have no right to say such things to the great and powerful Anubis!”
She offhandedly turned to Jackal, “You are becoming tiresome.” With one smooth motion, she drew a pistol from a holster from her hip and fired, hitting the dog-man between his eyes. Jackal rocked for a moment, tongue lolling before falling and spinning to land face first in the still growing pool of water. The shot was deafening in the room, and Anubis was stunned at the entirely unconcerned way that she simply re-holsterd her pistol. The small shuddering sigh she gave after made the hair on the back of his neck stand.
She turned back to him, cold eyes alight with a twisted passion that seemed to fade as he watched. “Now. Where were we? Ah, ja, I remember.” She draped herself onto the stone chair, her fingers laced over her stomach as she looked over at Anubis. “I do have to thank you, you know. If not for your grandiose distractions over the years I would never have been able to grow my power base and entrench myself the way I have. Tell me, really. Did you expect you would succeed?” Her tone became almost one of that of a mother scolding a wayward child. “You were so brazen. I’m sure even you must have remembered that this world still hold those who call themselves heroes.”
He said nothing. He simply stood there and studied her. She noticed, and made sure to pose. On a gut level, this overt show of sexuality felt wrong, at odds with a strange idea running in his head.
“Nothing to say?” Delicately manicured eyebrows rose as a smile developed. It looked like she was tasting something exquisitely sweet. “Not surprising. You always had an air of prescience about you, Anubis. Or,” she paused, her smile growing even wider, “should I call you Klaus?”
She laughed as he paled. “How could you,” he stopped. “No one has called me that in longer than I care to remember.”
“Since several years after World War 2, I would wager.”
He nodded. “No one alive knows me by that name.”
Again, that laugh. “Oh poor, naive Klaus. Did I teach you nothing?”
All at once the suspicions coalesced, both surprised and not, “I saw you die.”
“Oh please.” She twisted around, straightening on the chair. With arms flat on the arms and back straight up, she looked like she belonged there. Then a smooth cross of her legs to hammer the point home. “How many times did you see me perish only to rise once more thanks to the brilliance of my scientists?”
“After that last? I was not the only one who went my separate way.”
“No. But the only one to take a sizable amount of my people.” At his flinch, she smiled not unkindly, which only served to unnerve him more. “I harbor no ill will, Klaus. Though, the time has come to make a symbolic gesture. It took me several more incarnations to get to the point that I could rebuild, but now I have. So, now I must take back what you took, even if only in spirit.”
His shoulders slumped and she nodded, smiling. “I knew you would understand.” She stood and shrugged. “This is nothing personal. You did, after all, serve the Greater German Reich in your own way.” Again, that smooth movement of drawing her pistol. This time, he saw it was an antique Luger.
He sighed and straightened, facing her. “I suppose, then, it is time to do one final duty for you, mein Führer.” He threw his arm up in the old Nazi salute. “Heil Hitler!”
She fired. It shot hit him in the forehead and he simply fell back, joining he last loyal minion in death. Again, that little shuddering sigh as she holstered her gun.
With a small and very satisfied smile she whispered, “Heil myself.”
“Master!” Jackal lumbered into Anubis’ audience chamber. His master had already started to crawl out from the rubble. He hurried over and helped Anubis up with a gentleness that belied his size.
Anubis looked up at his last loyal subject and patted his arm. How could he have been so foolish? He had seen this, and yet he still permitted himself to fall into madness. A madness that cemented his fall.
He suddenly felt very old. His sandaled foot sank down into a pool of water. The explosion had cracked the floor and the cold water had began to seep in. He allowed Jackal to help him keep his footing on the now slick floor.
When the soft clapping began, they almost mistook it for more debris raining from the ceiling. They both turned and looked at the person standing in the doorway.
She was clad neck to toe in black leather. Her pale face framed by perfectly styled blonde hair, ruby red lips turned up in a lazy smile, which didn’t quite touch her cold blue eyes. Anubis and Jackal stood stunned as she slowly walked into the room. She walked as if she enjoyed being watched. As she passed through patches of light and shadow, they just caught the shine of a badge on her left breast.
“Oh, poor Lord Anubis.” Her voice was rich and honeyed. A thick German accent added just the right amount of exotic allure as she spoke. “Everything you’ve built, everything you’ve worked for, destroyed.” A calculated amount of laughter showed in her voice, “By four people. My, how the mighty have fallen.”
“How dare you? Bow to Lord Anubis!” Jackal’s eyes bulged, the outrage causing his voice to shake.
She laughed, a rich throaty laugh that did things to Anubis that he didn’t think his body would be capable of anymore. “You presume to order me? I don’t think you quite grasp your situation, Herr Jackal. You are hardly in a position to order anyone around.”
As she spoke, something deep in Anubis’ memory was sparked. He knew her. Or her speech patterns reminder him of someone. He just couldn’t quite place it. “Who are you, Fräulein?” For the first time in years, Anubis let his native accent show. Something about this young woman demanded it.
She didn’t say anything, just continued that ever so captivating walk over to the high-backed chair that Anubis ran his Reich from. She walked around it, trailing a hand across the back until she came around to its front again. As she turned to face them, the stylized German National Eagle insignia she wore flashed brilliantly. She looked down on the two with heavy-lidded eyes. “It is sad that things needed to come to this. You were useful, after a fashion. Even past my, shall we say, disappointment in your initial defection all those years ago.”
Jackal howled in rage, “You have no right to say such things to the great and powerful Anubis!”
She offhandedly turned to Jackal, “You are becoming tiresome.” With one smooth motion, she drew a pistol from a holster from her hip and fired, hitting the dog-man between his eyes. Jackal rocked for a moment, tongue lolling before falling and spinning to land face first in the still growing pool of water. The shot was deafening in the room, and Anubis was stunned at the entirely unconcerned way that she simply re-holsterd her pistol. The small shuddering sigh she gave after made the hair on the back of his neck stand.
She turned back to him, cold eyes alight with a twisted passion that seemed to fade as he watched. “Now. Where were we? Ah, ja, I remember.” She draped herself onto the stone chair, her fingers laced over her stomach as she looked over at Anubis. “I do have to thank you, you know. If not for your grandiose distractions over the years I would never have been able to grow my power base and entrench myself the way I have. Tell me, really. Did you expect you would succeed?” Her tone became almost one of that of a mother scolding a wayward child. “You were so brazen. I’m sure even you must have remembered that this world still hold those who call themselves heroes.”
He said nothing. He simply stood there and studied her. She noticed, and made sure to pose. On a gut level, this overt show of sexuality felt wrong, at odds with a strange idea running in his head.
“Nothing to say?” Delicately manicured eyebrows rose as a smile developed. It looked like she was tasting something exquisitely sweet. “Not surprising. You always had an air of prescience about you, Anubis. Or,” she paused, her smile growing even wider, “should I call you Klaus?”
She laughed as he paled. “How could you,” he stopped. “No one has called me that in longer than I care to remember.”
“Since several years after World War 2, I would wager.”
He nodded. “No one alive knows me by that name.”
Again, that laugh. “Oh poor, naive Klaus. Did I teach you nothing?”
All at once the suspicions coalesced, both surprised and not, “I saw you die.”
“Oh please.” She twisted around, straightening on the chair. With arms flat on the arms and back straight up, she looked like she belonged there. Then a smooth cross of her legs to hammer the point home. “How many times did you see me perish only to rise once more thanks to the brilliance of my scientists?”
“After that last? I was not the only one who went my separate way.”
“No. But the only one to take a sizable amount of my people.” At his flinch, she smiled not unkindly, which only served to unnerve him more. “I harbor no ill will, Klaus. Though, the time has come to make a symbolic gesture. It took me several more incarnations to get to the point that I could rebuild, but now I have. So, now I must take back what you took, even if only in spirit.”
His shoulders slumped and she nodded, smiling. “I knew you would understand.” She stood and shrugged. “This is nothing personal. You did, after all, serve the Greater German Reich in your own way.” Again, that smooth movement of drawing her pistol. This time, he saw it was an antique Luger.
He sighed and straightened, facing her. “I suppose, then, it is time to do one final duty for you, mein Führer.” He threw his arm up in the old Nazi salute. “Heil Hitler!”
She fired. It shot hit him in the forehead and he simply fell back, joining he last loyal minion in death. Again, that little shuddering sigh as she holstered her gun.
With a small and very satisfied smile she whispered, “Heil myself.”
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