CHAPTER : 20 PROPHECY ...

She's back. The little hound of Reunion had crawled her way back from the underworld it seems.

She looks way different than the last time I saw her. Her clothes had changed. The dark, charred and roughened jacket she once wore with the mismatched civilian clothing she humbly used everyday was gone. Now dressed in a darker than black trench coat with a specialized hood to accommodate her ears, she walked the streets of Chernobog main with only the strands of her orange-red hair showing, and yet even the useless grunts seemed to immediately know it was her. I was the same, but one more thing changed apart from her new fashion, the way she walked, it wasn't like before.

She was like me in a way, not fully trusting anyone except for Talulah. Well maybe we aren't alike at all because of that. Usually she always walked discreetly, never wanting any more attention than necessary. But now she's here, parading the streets with her presence instead of contacting us in secret, and more, that bitter hatred I always saw in her eyes, that longing desire for vengeance that I related to and understood, dimmed. Replaced by something else.

Hah. I wonder what happened to you?

She saw me approaching, I could already see the white in her eyes with how intense she was looking at me. What's up with that stare huh? I don't remember doing anything… She then shook it off I guess, with now a neutral gaze laid in response to my smile as she went closer to me.

“Welcome back, Crownslayer.”

“W.”

She said, not saying another word.

“Where have you been?”

“That does not matter now. I need to see Talulah.”

Oh? Tallulah?

“Woah, you just got here, couldn't you talk to me for a bit?”

“It's urgent.”

“Urgent?” My eyes narrowed. “What is?”

“It's confidential, it's not for you. Sorry W.”

She said, not even staring at me anymore as she walked straight past me. She definitely seems like she doesn't want to meet me. Well, I wonder why? No one just does me like that. I grasped her shoulder, forcing her to stop moving. “Wait, Talulah is in a horrible mood these days, she already branded you as MIA, if you don't have a good reason for your return, you'll be branded a traitor.” “She wouldn't do that.” “Oh? What makes you think that?” “I believe in her.”

Ah, Let's see how far belief takes you.

I let go of my hand. She wasn't saying anything to me. If that's the case, I'll look for other sources of information. Whatever this confidential info is, I'll find it myself.

I waved goodbye to her back as she walked straight to the road that'll eventually lead to the person she's looking for, even if the person she once knew was far long gone. I wonder how so many of them haven't realized that yet, is the promise of revenge and retribution that blinding? Am I the same way?

I shook my head.

No I am not. I thought to myself resolutely. I'm not blind. I'm W. At least I'm sure of that fact. And I'm also sure that it's time to stop thinking. Always thinking produces wasted time. It's time to find out what she's hiding.

…

She didn't look at me. Her front facing the window in her new Chernobog office and her back facing me.

“You have returned.”

“That is correct.”

A silence dreaded the room with an eerie presence.

“But, Why?” Talulah said. Her voice is a low whisper, like the gentle tone of a solo flute. No sour mood was to be found. Was W lying to me?

“The day you disappeared, everyone else thought you died. But I reasoned you lived, escaped from the Reunion, and to see you here now only proves my point. Why have you returned?”

“I am loyal to only you, Leader of The Reunion, Talulah. Icon of the Infected's Revenge.”

No answer.

“I've been- actually, I was wounded during the invasion. Fortunately, some people have helped me-”

“Some people?” She said, immediately responding.

“They are kind. Not Rhodes nor everyone else. Actually, they wanted to contact you.”

“You're telling me many things, Crownslayer.” She said, turning around from the window to face me. No emotion, I couldn't know what she was feeling right now, it's almost as if she wasn't looking at me at all.

“Then, who are they?”

“Actually, they're here, they want to meet with you.”

“Crownslayer, you brought strangers to our territory?”

She's wary, but if I was in her shoes, I would be too. I placed my right hand on my chest. A small thud sound breaking the monotony of silence and our voices.

“I swear in my name, Lyudmila, that they are worthy of trust. They have proven their authenticity to me, and I vouch for them.”

Talulah seemed to relent upon seeing my oath. Stuff was like that was important after all. A renewed look washed the tension of the room like the cooling gale of mountain-high winds. She was curious now, that I could see unlike the unpassable wall of her less than emotionless face before.

“If you want to know, they wante-”

“There is no need for you to explain. Their mouths shall justify themselves.”

She took her sword, placing it at her waist and grabbed her radio, calling someone. I saw her say something right in front of me, but even my ears didn't hear what she whispered, maybe it was out of respect that I instinctively blocked her private comms out of my brain, I'm not really sure. She ended the call. Her eyes focused on my own.

“Show me where they are.”

…

“It's blinking again.” Said Michael, fiddling with the very same device he had since the very beginning of the mission. Winters leaned over, getting steadily curious of the implications of what was happening.

“Do you think it's accurate?” Winters said, referring to the device. The device in question, was SNAFU'S ID tracker, the very same device they had since their first expedition. “At first I thought it was a false positive. I'm not so sure now.” Michael said, looking at it closely with a flashlight and his bare eyes instead of his other sets of vision.

“How far away is it?” “Actually, it's pretty close, I think?” Winters shrugged and moved away from cover, taking his binoculars' to observe their little cat and mouse game with the little demi-human group they've been assigned to chase.

“They're getting ready to move.” Winters said, then turning to Michael, shaking his head. “There's no time to retrieve his ID, let's follow.” “We have the option of splitting up.” Winters stared at him with a blank face, not that Michael saw his eyes since his head was covered in all sorts of tactical gear and masked with the spooky balaclava, but the gesture and short silence communicated well enough. He took his radio, informing command of their decision.

After a while, he put his radio back in his pocket. Staring at Michael while clicking his tongue. “What's important about an ID card?” He said.

Michael chuckled. “So they agreed?”

Winters simply nodded. “Second Squad also had just finished their business, part of their squad will fortify the meeting place while another half would group with us. To hopefully communicate with those unknowns, stuff like that is too dangerous for just us two.”

Michael put his visions back on. “Alright, there's not much time, I'll go now.” “Regroup immediately after you're done, let me know if something happens, Copy?” Michael then stood up, leaving his sniper rifle and giving a salute before leaving. “Copy that, Sir.”

It's been quite a while since he separated, the worst case scenario, he thought, was that the card was buried in innumerable rocks and debris too heavy to actually dig out on his own. But after some deliberations and guesses, he had to disregard his previous assumptions. It was way worse than his own thought out worst case scenario.

He looked at his scanner, then to his boots.

“Is this thing really underground?”

Michael whispered to himself, confused as to whether he should continue or abandon the mission. Even if removing any trace of their existence was of high importance, he could not force himself to search into their sewers alone.

But he was not alone. He had his gun. The trusty and versatile MP5, and that much is more than enough.

Descending down to the hellish nether lands also called plumage systems, he attached a flashlight to his gun just in case and switched his goggles to general night vision to thermal. There was no light to amplify in these total dark systems for general night vision to work after all, but seeing as it was extremely hard to see with just thermal on, he chose instead to place his goggles up for the time being and use the humble flashlight on the barrel instead.

““No one would be here, just me.”” He thought casually as he walked through the wet and grimy industrial swamp while trying to not puke from the rotting stench.

Beep

He was getting closer. He then saw a door just installed on the side of the sewers. After shooting the lock and kicking down the door open, he found himself in some sort of connecting facility, with a lot of doors and paths going to different places, but a map also existed, implanted on the walls.

He could not read Russian, but he understood the gist of the mechanics. After taking a photo, he made his way down to the depth of the city's great labyrinths while the beeping sounded more and more often. Was he going to far? Probably. But this entire labyrinth was extremely intriguing to him, from the disgusting sewers to now this massive underground complex, it was like he was exploring a highly secretive facility from all those Hollywood movies.

He found his way closer and closer to the approximate location of the ID in a more functional part of the underground. Functional only because some of the lights were still glowing light, even if it was weak. But right as he was about to open his comms to report his status to Winters, a female voice echoed throughout the industrial underground.

"Well, well, well. Who do we have here?"

He tried to look at the direction of the voice, he saw nothing but the grey blur of some sort of projectile. His eyes widened as he somehow managed to kick the projectile thing that landed right beside him just fast enough and strong enough for it to explode in a distance he was mostly safe from.

"You're skilled! This will be more enjoyable than I thought!"

He looked up to where the voice was again. A white and red haired woman holding something in her hand was staring at him from behind glass. Shots were fired as fast as the maximum speed of the electricity inside his body could communicate, but the woman remained unharmed as the glass withstood his bullets.

"Haha! So THEY really did come!"

He did not know what the woman in black attire was talking about, but he calculated that the agency and him would be way better off with her body seven feet under with no stone on top. Since he can't break the glass the smiling maniac was behind, he'll get there himself. He immediately shot the remaining lights of the underground complex, covering it in complete darkness much to the woman's confusion. It was time to hunt, and the dark shall become his ally.

…

“They're here, aren't they?” Alberto said in a low voice. “Scouts.” His bodyguard said. “We saw them coming way before. But seeing as they are simply observing us, the scouts they are.” Alberto readied himself, tightening his gloves and cleaning his glasses. “Are they looking for a way to encircle us?” “That’s what they are doing right now, but they will find it impossible to do so. This meeting place had been chosen in advance for its multiple secret paths of escape. If something happens, we can escape easily.”

Alberto nodded. They were at some sort of small park in the outskirts of the city, with a small museum near the southern end. It was the building they occupied. Multiple snipers were stationed at the scarce but towering buildings outside the park, with escape routes already pre-planned for them if shit really hits the fan but as of now they guard the park like unseen gargoyles.

“They're here.” The guard announced, showing the camera view of a handheld drone currently hovering at the entrance of the park. Alberto took the tablet taking in the strange sight. “That's Crownslayer, and the other one is most probably Talulah.” The guard said. “There's only two of them entering, where are the rest of their scouts?” The guard turned to his subordinate with a binocular, he stared back and shook his head. “Sir! They seem to be, leaving?”

Alberto sighed inwardly, staring back at the two figures walking directly towards their heavily guarded compound with no weapons seen except a sword clinged on Talulah's waist. Was Crownslayer that successful? Were they that brave and stupid to send their head leader without protection?

That cannot be the case. The way Talulah walked said otherwise. Utter confidence, that's what she displayed, confidence mixed with absolute arrogance. The absolute arrogance of someone who knows no one can harm them at any time. He had seen this type of look before, many reputable and made-men of the underworld of Sicily had this aura of untouchability to them, and in most cases that held true, but everyone has a target on their back. Even they knew they weren't really untouchable.

But Alberto saw the leader of Reunion differently. There was way more to her. Alberto smiled a bit. ““This was probably going to be a challenge.”” He thought, giving back the tablet to his guard. “I'll greet them outside.” The guard flinched. “Sir, that's extremely dangerous, who knows if you'll get-” “Haven't you said the scouts left? A fucking crossbow sniper wont kill me today, alright?” “But Sir-” “That's enough.” Alberto said, fixing his suit's tie. “Confidence only greets confidence. Who am I if I don't show the same?” Alberto said, while secretly loading a handgun and placing it in his suit's inner pocket.

“Relax, everything will be alright.” He said, chuckling to himself like a senile old man while he left the building.

…

She was silent, and so was I. We were walking, we haven't talked since we last spoke. It was hard to converse with her, but that was nothing new at all. She always had that look, the greater than you look I didn't mean that in a negative way. Intelligence and ambition, she always was above all of us in those aspects.

The way to their little encampment was peaceful for the most part, I walked and she followed. She didn't ask any more questions, nor did she ask more of her lackeys to come and guard her. She didn't need them, no body guard would be of use to her and her flames that could devour the entire sector.

But this complete silence was really getting into my bones, why was she so silent? Is she not curious about all that has happened to me? I didn't know how awkwardness was digging into me, but it is.

“If I can ask-” “Go ahead, Crownslayer.” “What happened? After the Invasion?” “We were successful.” She said blankly. “Did anything else happen other than my disappearance?” “Casualties were sustained, but the results speak for themselves.”

I looked over the ruined city, ashes of burned concrete and ransacked stores and homes littered my sights. They lost, and we won. It was just as she said, they're gone. Not to be found anymore, we liberated them, we punished them. It was simple, so why couldn't I feel it?

Was this the result of our victory?

I see in the distance, a once green park now gray and brown with small streaks of red still stained on its pavements. They were there. I thought to myself, this was the place.

“You don't look like you valued our victory that much.”

Talulah said suddenly, her voice sending a small chill down my spine.

“I concern myself not with destruction, but with justice.” I calmly told her. “Justice has been brought, Crownslayer, destruction is part of its process. If you're in disagreement, blame the catastrophe.” I stayed silent. She was right, we couldn't control the Catastrophe's course, it was fate.

“They're watching.” I said, changing the topic to the flying drone just above the entrance, I didn't know how they did it, but the little thing was as silent as still air. The cover of the night shadowing its presence well. We made our way through the park, with little to no light but the still functioning street lamps flickering and glowing. Until we saw another light, there in the distance. Someone was walking towards us, but stopped at such a distance where my sight couldn't exactly see who. And all of a sudden, a bright flash of light straight from the sky circled out our position. I covered my eyes trying to look for the source, it was another drone, larger than the last one and equipped with a sizable floodlight.

“Are you Talulah, the leader of the Reunion Movement?”

The figure in the distance said. Face still masked by the dark, yet the voice rings all too familiar now. It was Alberto. I couldn't see any more light in the distance except for the singular one which was his lantern. Did he seriously come alone?

Talulah tilted her head in response to Alberto. “Show me your face.” Said she, not answering the question. I heard Alberto chuckle to himself in the distance, before walking more closely. More and more of his face showed periodically as he passed from street lamp to street lamp. And here he was now, just close enough for his face to be fully seen but still kept a respectable distance away from us. He looked at me straight in the eyes before changing his gaze to the one beside me.

“You are correct. I am Talulah.” She said, looking at Alberto. He was dressed like a minimalistic noble, wearing a dark brown dress suit with a golden lapel chain with a symbol of two letter Ls engraved and designed like an insignia. Match that with his dark pants, polished shoes and a black flat cap shadowing his eyes.

“I have introduced myself, it's only etiquette to do the same.” Talulah said, one her hands resting on the hilt of her sword. “Apologies.” Responded Alberto, taking a few more steps before continuing his introduction. “Call me Colosseum.” He said, then he looked at me again. “Crownslayer should have informed you about the details of this meeting, right?” Talulah shook her head. “I asked her not to. I want to hear it from your mouth specifically.” She took a step as she said that, with her tone calm and restrained in all manners, but it felt especially threatening nonetheless.

Alberto followed the motion, also getting closer to Talulah. Whereas others would have trembled in fear, he didn't. Was it because he didn't know much of what she's capable of? No, that can't be. I've emphasized enough about how dangerously powerful Talulah was, and I know he's not stupid, but one wrong move can have endless consequences.

“I understand.” He said, then after that he pointed his lantern to a pair of benches separated from a table. “How about we take a seat? There is much to discuss.

Talulah agreed, lowering herself down to sit while Alberto did the same. But I didn't, I stood still next to Talulah's side.

"I will be frank with you, Colosseum. I don't usually have this type of talking to someone not of Reunion. It's been such a long time since someone had the bravery to come alone and speak to me with such confidence. Rest assured, you have gained my respect. But, choose your words carefully if you want to leave with your head intact." My eyes widened, I wanted to interfere. Alberto was an honest man, unworthy of such fates but my mouth was halted by Alberto himself. "Thank you, I shall keep it short then. Miss Talulah, do you wish to trade?"

"A trade is judged by its offers, so what do you offer?" "Information." Alberto said simply. "Oh? And how do you verify the authenticity of your information?" "Authenticity can only be proven with reality." Alberto continued, taking something from his pocket and placing it on top of the table. "This is an audio recorder. I believe you would find the information stored inside to be pertinent." Talulah took the device. "This does not prove anything." "That is why I will grant this to you as a gift, for its authenticity will be proven in the coming hours. And once the truth of the matter comes out, you will find that we are trustworthy, and I shall return for the real trade."

... A/N

Just a small question, its always been my impression that Talulah at very beginning Chernobog arc was already controlled over 80% by the snake thing guy, is this actually true?

Feel free for suggestions,ideas criticisms or misspellings/typos

Also tried to experiment with first person povs this time, sorry for the late upload (again). The new arknights babel event tho