Star Rebellion (31 page)

A few minutes later a man who looked strikingly similar to the first walked in. They whispered together briefly before he left once again at a brisk pace, never even once glancing at us.

My leg started bouncing in impatience until Dark placed a hand at my shoulder and briefly shook his head before mouthing the word “professional”. I nodded my head and forced myself to appear stoic even though I was racing with energy.

I was left sitting rigid for a few more minutes when the shrill ring of a telephone broke the silence and made me jump. Dark glared at me but it was only halfhearted; I doubt the man who had let us enter the building noticed my surprise.

The man murmured into the phone for less than a minute before he placed it back down on his desk. “President- I mean Mister Moscow is ready to meet with you.”

Dark and I stood simultaneously and followed him out of the room. The man kept his posture straight as a board which made me self consciously straighten mine. I could see Darkstar trying not laugh at me from the corner of my eye and I barely hit him, trying to keep the noise to a minimum.

We were led up three flights of stairs before he stopped at an elevator and pressed the up button. The doors opened automatically and once we were inside, he stood so that his body blocked us from seeing the buttons he pressed on the keypad. Apparently this building was so secure that you needed a pass-code just to use an elevator.

I watched the number display increase until we reached the twelfth floor, and then the elevator stopped with a ding. When the doors opened, our guide stayed inside, though he did briefly nod us in the direction we were supposed to go. Not once had he smiled the entire time we had been there. Damn were the Russians friendly.

A stout man was sitting behind a large, wooden desk with his fingers tented on top of it. “You are different,” he said in the same, thick accent as the other man. He also looked at my sword, but with less worry than his secretary. I wondered if there were hidden, armed men in the room.

“Sir, may I inquire to what you mean?” Dark asked, stepping in front of the desk and holding his hands clasped behind his back. I tried to mimic his pose but I doubt it had the same professional air that Darkstar had managed.

“The last person to be sent for me was a young girl named Snowstar, and before her a young man by the name of Foreststar. He I liked. She was as cold as her name, though not lacking in social etiquette. Foreststar liked to have a good political joke every once in awhile. Now, what may your names be?”

“I am Darkstar while my companion is Firestar. We were part of Team Mystic.” I could see Dark’s eyes barely narrow as he said our old team’s name; apparently he was testing this man’s reaction to that.

“Ah yes, I remember now. A few years back, your Commander Arctic had informed us at the council meeting. Tell me, is your world also swarming with demons?”

“Yes, sir.”

“But Arctic has been able to spare you two to come talk to me?”

“Yes, sir. There are important matters that we must attend to before anything… extravagant happens.” Darkstar offered a polite smile at the end of this. Damn did I wish I could tell what the hell he was thinking. I have never really seen Dark in action before; I had always just thought that he turned on his power, gave a command, then poof! People did as he commanded. Apparently the ruffle with the doctor wasn’t how he normally operated.

“By extravagant I am going to guess you mean the bombs?” Moscow smiled and sat back, but I doubted that it was a friendly smile. Seemed more like the type of smile Water gets when she has some devious plan up her sleeve.

“That is precisely what I mean. Now, would you like to conduct the negotiation here, or would you like to bring in some of your advisers and constitute it in a conference room?”

“What makes you believe that I am open to negotiation?” Now he really had that devious smile. Darkstar, if you’re going to use your power, it better be now.

“Well, you have graciously accepted an audience with my companion and me, so I had hoped that you would be considerate enough to hear us out. I also understand that Calsh fuels a lot of your nuclear power trade.” I blinked at Darkstar. What the hell did that last part have to do with anything!?

“Ah yes, it does. You are well informed, but of course, Arctic wouldn’t send a mere idiot to conduct this business with me. Maybe by the end, both of us shall be a bit… ah, profitable with the outcome?” He smiled again before standing. “I will call my advisers, please, step into my conference room.” He motioned to a door that was on the other side of the room and I followed Darkstar into it.

While we were still alone, I turned on him. “What the hell is up with the random nuclear interjection?” I asked, still befuddled.

“A bargaining chip to make him at least listen to us. If he was still not going to listen, I would threaten to cut off the trade supply, and if he did listen, as he has, then I will put it as an incentive to get him to Rome in time.”

“I hate politics,” I muttered and Dark smiled. “What should I do? I doubt Arctic sent the both of us for no reason, there must be something I can do besides stand here like a fool.”

Dark glanced out the door. “How quickly can you see into the future and pull out of the trance?”

“Fast enough, I’ve gotten better at it.”

“Do it then, and tell me if what I’m planning works.”

I nodded my head and focused my power, clearing out all thoughts and focusing on Moscow and Rome. I could see him standing in front of some fountain and it was night. A shorter man with salt and pepper hair along with Arctic were also standing outside with him.

I pulled myself back to the present and gasped slightly. Darkstar grabbed my arm as I started to teeter forward. “He’s there, in front of some fountain with Arctic and another man.”

Dark nodded his head. “Good-” but before he could say anything else, Moscow and a few other men walked in. A man in what looked like a servant uniform came in and placed water in front of everyone’s seat; Dark and I were at the far end while Moscow’s two advisers took the seats on his right and left while he sat at the head. It was obvious he was doing it to make him seem more in power, though I’ve got to admit, it worked.

I took short sips from the water and felt my head clear a bit. I focused in and out of the conversation, briefly touching the void where I saw the future while the men went on, seeing the outcome of some of the mentioned points. My water was filled up twice through the course of the meeting, and when I started sipping my third glass I noticed one of Moscow’s advisers warily looking at me.

After two hours or so, I decided it was probably time for me to stop touching the void; I had a massive pain where my skull and neck connected, and who knows how much longer this meeting was going to go on. I finished downing the third glass of water but waved off the servant as he went to refill it.

My eyes darted back and forth as I watched Moscow and Darkstar debate, but it was almost obvious how much of an upper hand Dark had at this point. When I really focused and paid attention though, I could hear the persuasive ring to Dark’s voice as he drew on his power.

Finally, my companion said, “So, Mister Moscow, I take it that we have an agreement?”

Moscow blinked a few times before opening his mouth. “Yes, it appears so. I’m glad that we got it sorted out. I will meet you at the St. Petersburg airport.”

The adviser on his left stood, hands pressing against the table. “Sir! Shouldn’t we confer about this first?”

“Sit down!” Moscow commanded. “I can make my own decisions.”

The adviser opened and closed his mouth a few times before following the order. The other guy looked just as astounded about what had happened; apparently Moscow didn’t do many things without consulting these people first. I wondered if that applied to his personal life as well.

Darkstar smiled politely again. “How can we make it to the airport, and where should we meet you once there?”

Moscow looked down at the table and blinked a few more times. “Uhm, right. I’ll have a driver waiting at the front doors, Alexei will guide you there, and I will meet you at the twelfth terminal; it houses my personal jet. I shall be along in a couple of hours.”

“We must be to Rome by ten p.m. tonight.” Dark left a friendly smile at the end to show he meant it politely.

“Yes, yes, of course. I will be there no later than two. There is a mall within the airport that you can spend your time at, and I will leave descriptions of you two with the security; I’m sure they will be able to pick you out even in a crowd with your, ah, distinguishing features.” Moscow’s eyes flicker quickly at my hair. I guess there weren’t many men with long hair. In the dim lighting of the conference room, you couldn’t quite see the difference shades of black in Dark’s hair. I wondered what Moscow had thought of Forest’s hair.

Dark dipped his head once then briefly touched my arm. We stood at the same time and I followed him out of the room.

“Well, that didn’t go as well as I had hoped.”

I looked over at him like he was mad. “Are you kidding?! No violence was needed and he will be going to Rome along with not launching any freaking nukes! How much better could that have been?” I was careful to keep my voice to a whisper; Alexei was already standing by the door leading to the elevator.

“I was
hoping
that I wouldn’t need to use any of my power, but as you must’ve notice, I did.” Dark glanced sharply at me as we got nearer to Alexei, signaling that we could continue this conversation later.

The Russian man led us back down through the building, taking us through multiple offices that looked quite boring to work at. Everything had the same, pristine look and organized clarity without a single mar of difference among any of the cubicles except for the people inside them.

When we finally reached the outside doors, Alexei didn’t continue with us. He nodded to a man in a black suit, the one who had talked with Alexei when we had first arrived here. “My brother, Erik, will drive you to the airport.” He had held the door open only long enough for us to walk outside. I was glad that Foreststar had made us put on the black, turtleneck sweaters that he claimed were professional enough for the meeting and would be warm enough for a Russian summer. At first I had thought that he was mental for trying to tell us that the Russian summers were still cold. The chill air bit any skin that was exposed and I believed that my nose would probably turn red within time from standing out there.

Erik opened the door for us and Darkstar slid in first. The inside of the black SUV was nice; the dark leather smelled new and was comfortable while the tinted windows let no one see in but gave us a perfect view of St. Petersburg as we drove to the airport.

My face was practically plastered to the window for the durance of the ride. I had never seen the domed roofs of buildings, and according to Erik, that was a signature architectural design that Russia was known for. I think the driver had deliberately taken us through different parts of the city to amaze us even more, especially since we were in the car for at least an hour.

Chapter 18: Freefall

WATERSTAR

“Do you have any extra-weight that you can do without?” I asked Ice while already swinging my backpack off. I’d have to leave behind some of my knives, and the book.

“No, all I had and needed was the oil.” Ice’s face was paler than usual and I felt a bit bad for him, but I couldn’t figure out another way for this to work out.

Outside, I could hear the
wiff wiff
of the helicopter blades rotating in the air twenty floors about us. Hopefully he had pretty sturdy ropes, even though we hadn’t planned for anything as insane as this.

I made Ice stand by the window to grab the first rope that came down while I remained positioned by the door. We still hadn’t heard any demons since a few floors back, but I wasn’t going to take any chances by being unprepared. That’s how people get killed in the field.

“Rope’s coming.”

I glanced back at Ice. He seemed to recover some of his composure and was ready to risk the climb. “Let me see the headset.”

He handed it over and I placed the headphones over my hair. “Huang, it is Water. I’ll have the headset for now.”

“Alright, the rope is ready for someone to ascend.” His voice also sounded a bit better and more prepared.

“Is there anyone up there that can pull us up or will we need to be climbing?”

“Climbing, it’s only me and the co-pilot up here. At the bottom of the rope is a safety pack; it has clips that you can latch onto the rope as you go up, but without a parachute. We couldn’t find any actual ascending gear, so it is just harnesses and a rope. From what I have heard of Calshians, you should be able to manage, no?”

The parachute part made my throat clench. There was always the chance of falling, but then again, I didn’t want to see what would happen if we let loose one of the tarps in between the packed buildings of Beijing. Maybe no parachute was a good thing. Maybe. Plus the bit about all Calshians being able to manage this was false. Most people on Earth assumed we were all mutantly stronger, but mostly that was fighters who trained. A.K.A Icestar. “Alright, I’ll inform Icestar.”

I uncovered one of my ears and looked at Ice, who was hesitantly staring at the rope. As Huang had said, there were two packs tied to the bottom of it, and I could faintly see the latches he had been telling me about.