Another day, another meeting, another dozen voices yelling in his ear from either two buildings down, or from the other side of the world in their own cushy office, sometimes a debate, sometimes a call for help, but it was always, always yelling, no one ever called the Deacon of Athens just to chat about last night’s game, never a friendly call, even just to ask for a few obals to go see a movie, no, it was always someone wanting to yell at Robert Grace, the leader of the United Cities of Athens, or the United Republic of Athens, they hadn’t really decided on a name, the vote always ended in a tie. Robert had insisted his fellow confidant, the leader of Orion, the Daemon, a woman named Iris “stood” in front of him, at least, her hologram did. Using cutting edge communication equipment made by the people of Orion, the two were able to have near intimate conversations, with the other person’s form being represented by micro orbs reflecting the person, or people’s movements.

“-need to control your people, Mr. Grace.” Iris said, as Robert began to pay attention to their conversation again, he’d begun spacing out several minutes earlier.

“Deacon Grace, Iris.” Robert replied, “And why do I need to control my people?”

“Because, my people who are minding their own business, living their own lives on your soil are being targeted and harassed simply for living there.”

“And where specifically is this happening?”

“In the City-States on the Eastern shore of-”

Robert held his hand up, “Iris, we have been over this two dozen times, I cannot control what the people of Hades say or do, I am not their leader. I cannot just command them, as you can’t.”

“Then force them!”

A laugh emitted from just outside the blue outline on the floor around Robert, which represented the limit of what the machine could transmit audio and visually to the other person on the opposite end of the call, meaning, Iris did not hear the laugh herself, but she did notice Robert’s head jerk in the direction of said laugh.

“Iris…” Robert started, still glaring in the direction of the laugh, “What would you have me do? March an army of one thousand men and women I am legally allowed to have in Hades territories, spread them thin as razor wire to every corner of land I can and demand each and every citizen treat your people more nicely?” Iris didn’t respond to the stupid question, she simply stared at him, waiting for him to continue, “The territories need their own leader, their own structure, only then can their people be properly regulated, and rules be enforced.”

Iris scoffed, “It’ll be fifty years before any proper leadership can be installed in those lands… might as well just let us take it all over.”

Robert’s kindness, or at least attempted kindness toward the woman faded, “Then that would make you no better than the Spartans from barely twenty years ago…wanting to enforce their own ideals, beliefs…systems on people who didn’t want them.”

Iris didn’t take kindly to such a comparison, her nostrils flaring, and her silver eyes burning with rage, “How dare you? What makes you think you are so much better than us?”

Robert smiled, not a kind one, not a friendly one, but a politician one, “Because I am not one to even playfully suggest a hostile takeover of forgein territory to suit my own gains, Ms. Daemon.”

Iris leaned forward, her bald head nearly “touching” Robert, “Your country’s entire history is that of backroom deals for military might to do exactly that, Mr. Deacon. You just make different deals these days.”

“No, my dear, my only concern is the safety of the common man.”

“Keep telling yourself that.” Iris said, as the machine shut off, the little marbles clattering to the ground, rolling systematically into the slots on the ground, a small clicking noise indicating it was ready to make another call if needed as the lights turned off.

Robert let out a sigh of relief as he stepped out of the ring and walked to his desk, the man who made the laugh already holding a glass of scotch in his hand.

Robert accepted it with a nod, and downed it in a single gulb, the booze burning his throat on the way down. The man at his side looked in concern, his scraggly snow white hair almost covering his green eyes stared at him.

“What is it Michael?”

“Did my laugh make her mad?” Michael asked, knowing there was no real way for her to hear him, he just wanted to break Robert’s bad mood.

Robert let out a chuckle, “No, just getting old… it’s just getting very old.”

“What?” Michael asked, pouring another glass, likely for himself

“I’m leading Athens…and I feel like I’m micromanaging Hades…and babysitting the people of Orion living abroad who decided to immigrate to Hades, and expected to be welcomed with open arms, and cheers from people who hated them a couple centuries ago.”

“Then don’t worry about it.”

“What?”

“You heard me. Pull back all our troops, stop sending support to Hades, reinforce our own borders, and watch as the people of Hades and Orion burn themselves up fighting each other.”

“That’s fucked up, Mike.”

“World’s fucked up, I’m just playing the hand we’re dealt.”

“My predecessor gave them a shit hand when they launched that bomb, Michael.”

“And that’s none of your concern. That’s none of our concern. It’s not our problem!” Michael shouted, slamming his glass onto the table, “Why…why do you care so much about this?”

“Michael, as long as one person from Hades goes to bed, exhausted, starving, suffering because of what we did to them, while our people can go to bed eating twice their body weight, not having to worry about fucking radiation poisioning, or the looming threat of some Beast snatching them during the night, I have failed as a leader.”

“But, they’re not YOUR PEOPLE!”

“No, but they’re still my responsibility. We set off that bomb, we have to clean up the mess we started.”

The two stood still, staring into each other's souls, Michael breathing heavily, he likely wanted to punch Robert in the face, but had enough sense to hold himself back. It was clear Robert and Michael were going to be arguing about this for the rest of his tenure as Deacon, thankfully, Robert thought to himself it was only another four years.

Michael sighed, and turned his back on Robert, resigning himself to the alcohol tray. Robert ran a hand through his dark hair, as he tried to sort the information in his head, as another voice in the room cleared their throat.

Robert turned to see a young woman, short blonde hair in a ponytail, a dark hoodie, and blue jeans staring at them, a lit cigarette in her mouth.

Before he could ask anything, seven guards burst into the room, weapons raised at the woman, laser targeting all aimed at her chest and head, but she was nonplussed by it, keeping her attention on Robert, a bored expression on her face.

“Can I…help you?” Robert asked

“You invited me.” The woman said, holding a business card in her left hand

Robert cautiously took it, much to the confused, angry look from the closest guard, reading it, Robert’s stance and mood dropped, “Men…stand down.”

The guards did as they were told, lowering their weapons, and stood back, but refused to leave the room.

Michael stood between them, “Who the hell is this, how did she get in here!?”

Robert sighed, keeping his attention on the woman, who simply waved at the guards, a cute smile, and threw up a peace sign, “That…is Catherine Anne Tharros… Member of the Ichor Brotherhood, Commander of the Royal Forces of Athens…and ex-leader of the Dead Mans Hand squadron.”

“Impressive” Catherine said, “Didn’t think you read my file.”

“I had to,” Robert said, “Wanted to know all about who I wanted to recruit.”

Catherine blinked, “I’m sorry?”

“Ah…you weren’t…alright, so-”

Michael pushed Robert, rather violently “Shut…the fuck… up! What in the Nine Hells do you think you’re doing!?”

Robert shrugged, “Trying to recruit someone?”

Catherine raised her hand, “Yo…I’m still here, I can hear you, you know that right?”

Michael turned his attention to her, “And who are you to be so important that Robert would make these kinds of decisions without me?” He asked, getting a little too close to Catherine for Robert’s comfort

Catherine simply held out her hand, and in a flash, a sword hilt appeared in her hand, “An Abnormal.”

Michael’s eyes widened, and he turned to Robert, “You had an Abnormal on your books and you didn’t tell me!?”

“No.” Michael said simply, “She’s not on my books, I literally just met her.”

Michael pointed in her direction, “And you didn’t think to warn me, at all? What if she makes a gun magically appear and just shoots everyone here dead?”

Catherine cleared her throat, “Still right here… Also, why would I want to do that?”

Michael did a one eighty, smoke coming out of his ears, Robert could almost hear his blood pressure rising as the conversation continued, “And why wouldn’t you want to? You could kill us all, take over, rule the world, no one could stop you!”

“Mr…” Catherine started

“Griffon”

Catherine blinked “Idris…Griffon?”

“No, that’s my husband.”

Catherine nodded, “Right. Again…why would I want to do any of that? I just met you.”

“And why should we trust you?”

“Well…going by your logic, I didn’t just…walk into this room and kill you all.”

Michael squinted, “Don’t be cute.”

Catherine smiled, “I’m adorable.”

Robert laughed, “Miss Tharros… this is Michael Griffon, my second in command. I am Deacon Robert Grace.” Catherine extended her hand for a handshake, which Robert happily accepted.

“Catherine Tharros…but you already knew that. So why am I here?”

“Well… I have an offer for you, and your people.”

“The Brotherhood.”

“The Brotherhood, exactly.”

“And that is…?”

Robert extended his hand past Catherine, “Please, follow me.”

Robert started walking out of his office, down the hall, two guards at every column, guns at the ready, eyes of steel staring Catherine down.

“Security hasn’t lightened up since I was here last time,” Catherine mumbled

“When were you last here?” Robert asked

“I was…ten? My mentor Aiden took me here to meet one of your predecessors about their plan to unify the City-States.”

“Oh? How’d that go?”

“I was ten, man, I didn’t care. I had to stay out in the hall.”

Robert let out a chuckle. “Sounds about right.”

Robert lead Catherine, Michael, and a couple guards to a panel in the wall, indistinguishable from the others, before turning the four squares in different directions, each making a distinct clicking sound, like that of a bank vault lock, before the panel compressed, the wall made a hissing sound, and retracted, revealing a staircase highlighted by neon lights.

Robert continued down several flights, he would look back at Catherine every now and again who was scanning every inch she could , possibly looking for potential escape routes in case this was a trap, and she needed to fight her way out. Robert wanted to reassure Catherine, say something to take her edge off, but decided it would come across as suspicious if he did so, so he remained silent.

Eventually, they came into the underground testing and training facility, the VIP section were a series of tubes that overlooked the thousands of soldiers, as the scientists inhabited a second series of similar maze like tubes a floor below the VIP floor, also overlooking the soldiers, and keeping an eye on their weapons and equipment as they were tested.

“What is this?” Catherine asked

“Welcome to The Underworld. It’s a site off the books, undetectable, unreachable to everyone except government officials and members of the Valkyrie… and of course, the scientists, and soldiers chosen to take part.” Michael said, finally being a bit friendly to Catherine.

Catherine leaned on the railing to look out the window at the soldiers in the firing field, shooting lasers at the multicolored targets with the new weapons they were assigned to test, the walking tanks testing traversal on different kinds of terrain, “It looks like you guys are prepping for another war…” Fear and concern returning to her face.

Michael spread his hands, “Our intel…the boys are telling us they predict with how the people of Hades and Orion are going, we might be looking at another war within three years. We don’t want it, but we’re prepping for an all-out war. Again.”

Robert chimed in, “Hope for peace, prepare for violence.”

Catherine grimaced at their casual discussion regarding the loss of life, and yet another, potentially long conflict between three parties, “So…where do I come in?”

Robert nodded, “I would like to offer you a place in the Valkyries.”

Catherine blinked, “What?”

Robert, confused, cleared his throat, “Did Magnus not tell you? They’re our agents, they operate directly for the leaders of their respective nations, they have access to the highest tier of weapons, ships, people, intel, our spy networks, the works. They’re given the go ahead to bend every rule, every law they can…within reason to accomplish their mission.”

Catherine sighed, “Define…within reason.”

“Don’t blow up a hospital to kill one target,” Michael said with a dark laugh

Catherine glared at him, “And why are you being so generous with this high position? You literally just met me.”

Robert shrugged at the completely fair question, “I would like to re-establish the foundation between your Brotherhood and our government. I fear if the war we think is going to happen breaks out, we will want every possible bit of help we can.”

Catherine stepped away from the railing and glared at Robert, examining him, “There’s more than just Orion and Hades…isn’t there?”

Robert shook his head, “As far as I know…no. But it’s better to fight someone with a revolver with six shots, then a revolver with two.”

“What?”

Michael bent in again, “It’s better to have extra shots in case you miss then to go into a fight unprepared.”

“Ah.”

“As a show of good faith…” Robert said, taking a data tablet from a passing scientist, and inputting a few codes before handing it to Catherine, “As much intel and information as I’m comfortable giving you, and a tour of our weapons lab.”

Catherine eyed him, “And…what?”

“Either a yes…or a no, in three days. I’ll give you a number to call me on.”

Catherine looked at the tablet, and answered, keeping her eyes away from Robert, “I think you already know my answer.”

“Good! Then let’s continue.”

The next door opened revealing four doctors in white lab coats dashing around their lab space at high speeds, no words being said, eyes laser focused in front of them, but always avoiding collision like two sides of the same magnet.

“This…is where half the magic happens.” Robert said with pride

“And what about the other half?”

“The field, the fighting.” Robert said

Catherine rolled her eyes, “Right…”

One of the doctors approached Catherine holding a rifle, his short black hair slicked back, with an unhealthy amount of hair gel cemented to keep it back, sweat pouring down his face.

“Can I…help you?”

“My name is Doctor Daedalus, I am the lead scientist on the weapons proj-”

“No he’s not!” a woman’s voice shouted as she rounded the corner, a she was at least ten years his senior, with similarly black colored hair, and brown eyes, her vest was more open, and she carried herself more casually, “I am the lead of this project, Dean.”

“Ah,” Daedalus said, hissing, “Doctor Jaeger… how lovely.”

“Still pretending to be in charge, I see.” Dr. Jaeger said, annoyed, “Bothering the Deacon and his guest?”

Catherine spread her hands, “He was trying to sell me a gun. I think.”

Daedalus nodded, handing her the rifle, “Our newest model, a multi action blaster, capable of switching between three firing modes at the user’s command, a flip of a switch between shotgun, assault rifle, and sniper rifle. Using the cooldown system, rather than switching between multiple charge packs.”

Catherine starred, “It does…what?”

Robert cleared his throat, “Our newest agent has been in deep cover for the last few years, please excuse her,” he waved the two doctors away, and they bowed to him, they were only a few feet away before Jaeger started yelling at Daedalus, when they were far enough away, Robert continued talking to Catherine, “It’s all in the files I gave you, you can study in private.”

Catherine nodded, “Thank you.” As she said that, a thin blue light spread across the rifle, as she handed it off to another passing doctor.

“What was that?” Michael asked

Catherine froze briefly, “Think of it as a…scan. Making sure I didn’t pass any germs around, wouldn’t want a lockdown all the way down here.”

Robert nodded, “Some Abnormal thing,” he said, internally he said to himself, “She’s a shit liar…” Though that meant she hasn’t been lying so far, which put him at ease a bit, “I’ll have Michael give you the tour of the rest of the facility, and escort you out, Ms. Tharros, I’ll expect an answer in three days time and we’ll discuss the rest.”

Catherine nodded, “Thank you, Deacon Grace.”

Robert winked, “Call me Robert.”