The Wolf, goat, rooster and owl, along with Jessie and Anne, were busy watching the video of Fyodor attempting to perform gender reassignment surgery on Susan Thompson with a porcelain banana for the umpteenth time when they received a surprise visitor. Anne answered the door and standing on the porch was a young redhead woman in military uniform with a large lion standing by her side.

"Does that lion talk?" Anne asked nonchalantly.

"Yes, as a matter of fact, it does," Sonya answered, equally nonchalantly.

"Come on in."

Sonya entered the house, followed by the lion.

"Wow, it's like a zoo in here."

The four guardians had followed Anne down the stairs. As the guardian of enlightenment, the rooster was best equipped to ascertain what Sonya and the lion's motives were.

"Are we to take this to mean that you have chosen to oppose the Raven?"

"Yes; we've become aware of its plans and have decided to commit ourselves to thwarting them," the lion answered.

"For you in Russia that's very dangerous."

"I know, but we have to take the risk; if this invasion of Ukraine is allowed to go ahead it will be disastrous for Russia," Sonya responded.

"What are the chances of an invasion?" The Wolf asked.

"After Fyodor's ridiculous stunt with the banana the referendum has virtually no chance of succeeding; the invasion is inevitable."

"Why are you worried about the invasion being a disaster for Russia? Russia has the second largest military in the world," the owl said.

"I know what the Ukrainian people are like, they won't just give up their country, they'll put up a strong fight and the war will drag on for months, and Russia will be blackballed by the rest of the world and become a pariah state. I don't want that for my country, and the only way to stop it is by stopping the invasion and removing the president."

"She's right, that is the only way out of this," the rooster said, "but pulling it off is going to be next to impossible."

"That's why I'm here, the lion told me that you all have powers that could be useful to us."

"For us to agree to help you we would need to know what it is exactly that you have in mind," the rooster answered.

Sonya went into the dining room with the guardians and they talked about her plan there over tea that Jessie prepared. Sonya went through her plan in detail and to the rooster it seemed feasible, but that that was only in the event of everything going according to plan. If they agreed to work with her and had the guardians use their power to aid her cause then the chances of her succeeding improved from being slim to being more than likely. What gave the rooster pause was the fact that Sonya had been adopted by the lion, whose adoptees had on more than one occasion walked the path of tyranny. That the lion had spontaneously awakened was another factor in all of this that made the rooster uneasy. The lion had spontaneously awakened in response to the enormous strength that it had recognized within Sonya, enough strength to imbue a person with an insatiable thirst for power. Yes, she had rejected the Raven, but that was no guarantee that she wouldn't end up going down a dark path later in her life. Neither the rooster nor the owl had the power to know if she would go down such a path and had to base their decision on whether to help her solely on their judgment. To help them make their judgment the rooster had a private, telepathic conversation with the lion about the kind of person that Sonya was and if it was safe to trust her.

"I don't see that you have much of a choice, what's going on in Russia is arguably more important than what's going on here because of the shadow of war that is hanging over everything over there," the lion said.

"Have you heard what some of Jim Balmer's supporters have been saying about civil war if he loses?"

"Yes, but they don't command an army, the Russian president does, which is why he needs to be treated as a greater cause for concern."

"Can she handle the power? Being the Russian president with you at her side is going to make her awesomely powerful, most would be helpless against the corrupting influence of it."

"At her young age she has already achieved many extraordinary things and she's done so without losing any of her equanimity or focus, and her ambition to be president is rooted in her desire to do the best that she can for her country and her people, she's not some power hungry would-be despot."

"Telling those two apart is generally not so easy."

"With her it is; if you don't believe me, test her."

The rooster was inclined to believe the lion about Sonya being trustworthy, but it was intrigued by her and proceeded with the test. It hopped up on the table and stood before Sonya.

"Have any invasion plans been drawn up?" The rooster asked her telepathically.

"Some preliminary plans have been drawn up, yes."

"Would you be willing to share those plans with us?"

"I'll share those plans with you on two conditions: One, you agree to help me; and two, you promise that your actions will result in minimal loss of life."

"I can't make any guarantees on your second condition; the guardians all possess tremendous power and when they use that power the results are often catastrophic."

"Catastrophic how?"

"Earthquakes, floods, tidal waves, that sort of thing, but they're nothing like what a normal natural disaster is like, these would be much more powerful. Knowing that, are you still prepared to move forward with us."

"If what you are describing is truly the case then I would ask you to think of other ways in which you could help me, and if you can't, then Yevgevny and I will do this on our own."

"With our help I can guarantee that you will become president; are you sure you are willing to turn that down?"

"If there is a way that this can be done without sacrificing countless innocent lives then yes, I am prepared to do this without you and risk the high chance of failure."

The rooster took its time deciding whether Sonya had seen through what it was trying to learn through its questions and had responded with the answers that she thought it wanted to hear or if she was just being honest. Either way, there was no denying what an exceptional young woman she was, and given that the rooster had no choice but to agree to assist her. Sonya was glad to hear it, and asked for a sheet of paper and a pen so that they could go over the preliminary invasion plan that had been put together. She had worked on the logistics of the supply lines and as such had detailed knowledge of the overall plan.

With all of the guardians gathered around her, Sonya drew a rough map of western Russia and northern and eastern Ukraine. The plan as it was, she told them, was for Russia to attack along two fronts, with one incursion in the north of the country targeting Kyiv and a second incursion in the south targeting Mariupol and Odessa. The northern incursion would be carried out by land and air units, while the incursion in the south would be carried out by land, air and sea units. The goal of the invasion was to use swift and overwhelming force to make rapid gains that would bring the war to an end within a couple of weeks, with as many as 150 000 soldiers being mobilized. Achieving success in the south was the most important part of the invasion plan; if Russia could take control of the south then Ukraine would be cut off from the Black Sea and Russia could run their supply lines through the Black Sea and Crimea.

"Do you believe this plan will work?" The owl asked Sonya.

"No. This plan is based on the assumption that the Ukrainians will be so afraid of the Russian forces that they will just leave them to advance, and like I said, the Ukrainians will not give up their country without a fight."

"So this invasion has to be stopped before it begins," the owl said, "what do you think?" It asked the Wolf.

"That can be done very easily, but you have to accept that there will be casualties," the Wolf said to Sonya.

"As long as you keep them to a minimum."

"I can promise you that I'll keep them to a minimum, but there still may be a lot."

"What is it that you would do to stop this invasion?" Sonya asked the Wolf.

"I can make the terrain impossible for them to traverse, but in doing so there will be collateral damage."

"What about the naval attack in the south?"

"That will have to be dealt with by the Leviathan, if Robert and the Goose are able to awaken it."

"In the case of the Leviathan the amount of loss will be tremendous, that we can't help," the owl said.

"The Secretary of the Navy is a close friend of Yevgevny's; I'll ask Yevgevny to have a word with him and explain to him what the situation is, I'm sure that once he sees what's happening he'll agree to come over to our side, that should mitigate the loss of life on the naval side."

"For the sake of all of those sailors, I hope you're right," the owl said.

"The lion has told me that the Raven is most likely working on something here in the United States as well; since I've told you all about what's going on in my part of the world, would you mind telling me about what's going on over here?"

"I suppose we owe it to you to show you as much trust as you've shown us; very well, our goal is to make sure that Tom Groff defeats Jim Balmer in the upcoming presidential election," the owl said.

"That's not going to be easy, Jim Balmer has already wrapped up the Republican nomination while the Democrats are still squabbling, and Tom Groff is only in third place, he has an outside chance at best."

"You know your politics. Yes, Tom Groff is third but he was last not that long ago; he's a brilliant orator and he has excellent political instincts. He'll get the nomination, and once he does it'll be up to us to make sure that he gets to the White House."

"How are you going to do that?"

"We have certain tools at our disposal, but mostly it's going to be up to him."

"And if he and I are successful, then what?"

"Then it's going to be up to you two to save the world."

Sonya and the lion left Robert's house feeling vindicated in their decision to reject the Raven and reach out to the Goose. They hadn't been able to meet the Goose, which was unfortunate, but they had succeeded in getting the guardians that they'd spoken with to agree to help them, and speaking with them had been a much more pleasant experience than speaking with that odious pig Fyodor Milichenko had been. All that was left for Sonya to do now was to wait for the president to make his move so that she could make her move and seize power from him, ushering in a new day and a brighter future for Russia.