The Mithril operatives appeared on a rooftop some miles away, and it didn't take long for them to recognize their hotel from the surroundings.
No one talked about the possibility, almost certainty, of civilian casualties from the blast. Maybe if they'd had more than a month or so of experience with being Ainur, they would have tried to interrupt or contain the blasts, but as it was?
"Why all the way back here?" Andy asked, curious as he watched smoke rising in the distance. "We could have looked for whoever set that bomb."
"Because I went for the quickest shift I could make that was still in the same area," Mao said, before looking to Sousuke. "Care to explain what that message means, Sergeant?"
"Yes, Ma'am," Sousuke said immediately. "Hamidra was a former comrade of mine in Helmjastad."
"I thought all your comrades got killed back then," Batiste noted curiously. "Besides, how can you be sure the message was meant for you?"
"Bdakshon's Tiger was a name used to refer to a particular resistance leader," the mercenary explained. "He named me Kashim."
"So, the son of Bdakshon's Tiger is you," Kurz said. "That's a round about way to get a message across."
"But how'd he know to trap that particular building?" Andy asked.
"Well that's simple," Batiste said.
"How so?" the blonde Texan asked sourly.
"Nimu was checking it out because it was the only really good place to set up surveillance on the hotel," Kurz said. "Because we were planning to set up there."
"Which is what Amalgam did," Grey agreed.
"And Gauron saw it coming," Mao finished shaking her head.
"Affirmative," Sousuke said.
"After Helmjastad, we should have assumed such a trap," Grey said.
"So I guess now we find Sousuke's old buddy Hamidra then," Kurz noted.
"Unfortunately, that will not be possible," the young mercenary said. "He was among those killed when Gauron attacked our camp."
Everyone stared at him.
"Then what the hell are we supposed to look for?" Andy shouted. "A corpse?"
"Negative," Sousuke said. "A Helmjstani electrician. That was Hamidra's occupation prior to being in the resistance."
Mao stared at Sousuke for a few moments as everyone exchanged looks.
"Sousuke, this guy has a serious hard on for you," Kurz said finally.
"This would appear to be so," Sousuke said.
"Berlin is in the fallout path out of Russia," Grey noted. "It's getting evacuated right now."
"Life is never easy, is it?" Mao asked.
****************
"Well?" a tall man said angrily. "Who is to blame for this foul up?"
"In all honesty, Mr Simmons, how were we to know that Gauron would rig the whole building with enough TNT to put a hole in the world?" one of the soldiers asked.
"We're dealing with beings that can change the tides because they think hard," Simmons said snidely. "And Gauron knows it. Of course he's going to take extreme precautions."
"At least, sir," the agent said. "We suspect that the Mithril team took the bait and retrieved the message that Gauron had left."
"And given that Mithril operatives are currently capable of teleportation," he muttered. "They'll be heading to Berlin, trying to beat the fallout in the next couple of days. Have someone there to watch for them."
The agents nodded and slipped out of the room as Simmons considered the nature of the beings that Mithril had allied themselves with.
Oh what he'd do with that sort of power, the man thought to himself. To have the powers of a literal God. Able to remake the world in his image if he so wished. Perhaps to even control the very continuum of space and time.
Certainly someone like him would use it appropriately unlike these foolish bureaucrats and petty criminals that apparently wielded it right now. Massive levels of power and they weren't using save directly.
The concept that the Gods and Demons didn't want to make use of power on that level save to stop world-ending events because of the fact that using that much could be a world ending event didn't occur to him.
"You dream of power," a voice noted from the shadows. "Perhaps I can help you."
Simmons arched an eyebrow and glanced back over his shoulder toward the sound and he saw a figure sitting in a chair and leaning back into the shadows. There was something...off about the voice, but he still recognized it.
"Testarossa," he said irritably. "Amalgam is not interested in any more of your projects. If you leave right now I might give you a headstart away from the hounds."
"I'll leave shortly," Leonard said. "You realize how the Immortals operate don't you? A network around a massive generator and processor. Currently they are, all of them, weaker because of how many have died and the fact that they are fighting against each other. And my sister's nascent race isn't much better due to lack of numbers."
"I don't think you heard what I said, Testarossa," Simmons noted. "There is a kill order on you for the near crippling of our tactical units at Meridia. Had you waited to carry out your original plan, we would have had behemoths, plural and Mithril not on alert."
"It is immaterial," Leonard said. "The original goal remains and I should note. My sister is not the only Whispered in the family."
"I think she's calling herself 'Ainur' now," the Amalgam leader said.
"Hmmm, I wonder what they'd call me," Leonard said.
That attracted Simmons attention as the young man stood up, and stepped forward.
"I'll be coming back to take your decision," Leonanrd said.
Simmons had just a brief sight of something vaguely pulsing under the indistinctly discolored skin of Leonard's cheek. And then the world seemed to bulge outward around the other Testarossa. Then he was gone and the world snapped back into place.
No one talked about the possibility, almost certainty, of civilian casualties from the blast. Maybe if they'd had more than a month or so of experience with being Ainur, they would have tried to interrupt or contain the blasts, but as it was?
"Why all the way back here?" Andy asked, curious as he watched smoke rising in the distance. "We could have looked for whoever set that bomb."
"Because I went for the quickest shift I could make that was still in the same area," Mao said, before looking to Sousuke. "Care to explain what that message means, Sergeant?"
"Yes, Ma'am," Sousuke said immediately. "Hamidra was a former comrade of mine in Helmjastad."
"I thought all your comrades got killed back then," Batiste noted curiously. "Besides, how can you be sure the message was meant for you?"
"Bdakshon's Tiger was a name used to refer to a particular resistance leader," the mercenary explained. "He named me Kashim."
"So, the son of Bdakshon's Tiger is you," Kurz said. "That's a round about way to get a message across."
"But how'd he know to trap that particular building?" Andy asked.
"Well that's simple," Batiste said.
"How so?" the blonde Texan asked sourly.
"Nimu was checking it out because it was the only really good place to set up surveillance on the hotel," Kurz said. "Because we were planning to set up there."
"Which is what Amalgam did," Grey agreed.
"And Gauron saw it coming," Mao finished shaking her head.
"Affirmative," Sousuke said.
"After Helmjastad, we should have assumed such a trap," Grey said.
"So I guess now we find Sousuke's old buddy Hamidra then," Kurz noted.
"Unfortunately, that will not be possible," the young mercenary said. "He was among those killed when Gauron attacked our camp."
Everyone stared at him.
"Then what the hell are we supposed to look for?" Andy shouted. "A corpse?"
"Negative," Sousuke said. "A Helmjstani electrician. That was Hamidra's occupation prior to being in the resistance."
Mao stared at Sousuke for a few moments as everyone exchanged looks.
"Sousuke, this guy has a serious hard on for you," Kurz said finally.
"This would appear to be so," Sousuke said.
"Berlin is in the fallout path out of Russia," Grey noted. "It's getting evacuated right now."
"Life is never easy, is it?" Mao asked.
****************
"Well?" a tall man said angrily. "Who is to blame for this foul up?"
"In all honesty, Mr Simmons, how were we to know that Gauron would rig the whole building with enough TNT to put a hole in the world?" one of the soldiers asked.
"We're dealing with beings that can change the tides because they think hard," Simmons said snidely. "And Gauron knows it. Of course he's going to take extreme precautions."
"At least, sir," the agent said. "We suspect that the Mithril team took the bait and retrieved the message that Gauron had left."
"And given that Mithril operatives are currently capable of teleportation," he muttered. "They'll be heading to Berlin, trying to beat the fallout in the next couple of days. Have someone there to watch for them."
The agents nodded and slipped out of the room as Simmons considered the nature of the beings that Mithril had allied themselves with.
Oh what he'd do with that sort of power, the man thought to himself. To have the powers of a literal God. Able to remake the world in his image if he so wished. Perhaps to even control the very continuum of space and time.
Certainly someone like him would use it appropriately unlike these foolish bureaucrats and petty criminals that apparently wielded it right now. Massive levels of power and they weren't using save directly.
The concept that the Gods and Demons didn't want to make use of power on that level save to stop world-ending events because of the fact that using that much could be a world ending event didn't occur to him.
"You dream of power," a voice noted from the shadows. "Perhaps I can help you."
Simmons arched an eyebrow and glanced back over his shoulder toward the sound and he saw a figure sitting in a chair and leaning back into the shadows. There was something...off about the voice, but he still recognized it.
"Testarossa," he said irritably. "Amalgam is not interested in any more of your projects. If you leave right now I might give you a headstart away from the hounds."
"I'll leave shortly," Leonard said. "You realize how the Immortals operate don't you? A network around a massive generator and processor. Currently they are, all of them, weaker because of how many have died and the fact that they are fighting against each other. And my sister's nascent race isn't much better due to lack of numbers."
"I don't think you heard what I said, Testarossa," Simmons noted. "There is a kill order on you for the near crippling of our tactical units at Meridia. Had you waited to carry out your original plan, we would have had behemoths, plural and Mithril not on alert."
"It is immaterial," Leonard said. "The original goal remains and I should note. My sister is not the only Whispered in the family."
"I think she's calling herself 'Ainur' now," the Amalgam leader said.
"Hmmm, I wonder what they'd call me," Leonard said.
That attracted Simmons attention as the young man stood up, and stepped forward.
"I'll be coming back to take your decision," Leonanrd said.
Simmons had just a brief sight of something vaguely pulsing under the indistinctly discolored skin of Leonard's cheek. And then the world seemed to bulge outward around the other Testarossa. Then he was gone and the world snapped back into place.
