The Return of a Soul Best Left Sleeping

Preface for death
800 miles from the magnetic North Pole on Russian soil a small sailboat heads toward a secret base known only to 15 people. 16 it seems. Two guards stand at the door. They are killed in seconds. The boat runs aground. A small man in a black cloak steps out. He is holding a gun with a silencer. The man moves in and kills three more guards and four scientists. Inside a large chamber there is a frozen man. The cloaked man hits a button and a countdown clock reads 24:00:00, 23:59:99. The frozen man begins to roll on tracks out of the building and toward the sailboat. The man moves into a box labeled "TO MOSCOW". The box also reads "Boris". The first drop fell from the slowly melting ice and his eyes twitched open.

A Russian aircraft carrier patrols the arctic. It is about 100 miles from the facility. Everything is normal until the radar shows two fast approaching bandits. The ships defenses activate but it is too little too late. The plane flies overhead and an explosion rings out. The ship sinks, the icy sea already claiming it as its own.

In a Mongolian border town three Russians are caught without permits or visas. They have one bag between them. The bag contains clothes, over a pile of explosives. There is also a map with a highlighted route to the Capitol building. Closer examination of the clothes reveals that there is a plan written up by the KGB for the trespassers. It includes passwords and secret routes. The men claim that they were sent by a man named Alexi. A report is filed on site by the officers. As soon as it's done the bombs go off ending an unbroken silence and six lives.

In The Czar's Palace a junior staff member named Sonictus entered the alert room. There is a message from an arctic facility

XXURGENTSENDFACILITY007XX XXSUBJECT[007]001BORIS111XX YYFREEBYELEVENELEVEN13YY YYBORIS001ISFREEFROM007YY YYVINCENTENEMY034FREEDYY YYVINCENT[034]/|001ONFREEYY

{BORIS IS FREE}

THE END IS HERE.

Sonictus pressed delete. Nikola would never know.

In a Russian factory town near Ukraine, life goes on. Soon, however, the animals begin behaving strangely. A blast is heard and a fireball is seen. The first shot disables communication. The second and third shots take out the bridges. Then, the cars and boats are hit. People panic in the streets until an armada of tanks rolls in. They level the town hall. A man with a cloak comes up and plants a flag. "Long live Ukraine, long live Vincent" the soldiers chant over and over again.

"Long live me" the cloaked man says.

He looks at his watch. It reads 22:00:00, 21:59:59, 21:59:58

His plan was almost complete. Russia was his.

Perturbed
"No, I don't care that your mother has deadly shingles virus"

"Czar Nikola, what to you plan on doing about the famine in St. Petersburg"

"I will increase food exports from the whole oblast imminently while increasing tariffs on food imports."

"Czar Nikola, what do you have to say about the sunken aircraft carrier off of Siberia.

"I feel bad for the ships. They were expensive. As for the dead people I am indifferent."

"Czar Nikola, are you aware that the Mongolian government is accusing the KGB of killing several officials."

"Now I normally say when I order someone's death that it was an accident, but I truly have no idea how they ended up dead."

"No more questions" Alexi said

These few weeks had been very stressful. Only this month had the rebuilding from Boris's sack about a year ago finished. Over the past few days many irregularities had appeared. A house of an official burns down, a military base neglects contact protocol, prisoners escape. This was my third press conference in a week and I was exhausted. I got to the Czar's Palace and fell asleep.

I woke up to an "oh my gosh" from my wife.

"What," I inquired.

"There's a man about to jump from the building across the street" she replied.

"Why is that important?" I asked.

"That's not all"

"What else"

"He has a banner on that says 'the czar will fall, fall by the many'"

"Oh"

I turned as he jumped.

Breakfast was nearly silent. Peter and Dmitry sat in silence. It was an overcast day and the mood was grim. Then I heard a shriek. I ran outside and saw a huge cloud looming over the city. It had a projection on it. It had a countdown clock on it that read 8:43:49, 8:43:48, 8:43:47, and below that the words "what you have sealed away has broken through Nikola". I noticed that the projection was coming from a small speck in the air. Closer examination showed it to be a small plane that flew the banner "the czar will sleep now and forevermore". The pilot suddenly veered towards the ground and crashed into a statue of me in the park. As it exploded, it shot up a flare. The flare detonated and depicted a picture of me dead on the ground, then faded away.

"What was that?" I yelled.

"That was you," a voice behind me said.

It was a junior staff member Sonictus. He had a gun pointed at me.

"Goodbye Nikola" he said and got shot ten times in the back. Uncle Minsky was behind him with a smoking barreled gun. Several maids were running away screaming.

"Thanks Minsky" I said.

"Look word is that people on the streets are trying to intimidate you. Did you see the jump, and the plane. The mafia is trying to find out who it is leading this group but we're at a loss."

Just then Alexi walked into the room.

"Hello Alexander Minsky," he said in a snarky voice.

"Alexi why you’re a little late. I was just saving Nikola's life."

"Enough bickering," I yelled. "We need to stop these people whoever they are. They want to kill me and that is not good. Here's the plan. Minsky, you keep gathering intel. Alexi, mass up a defense force around Moscow. Prepare to kill anyone out of the ordinary. We need to end this threat. Let's roll."

When tears have fallen
The next hour Alexi arrested a man carrying 10 pounds of C4 to the czar's palace. Uncle Misky found a warehouse where many supplies were being stored. Of courses I did the most important job. Living. My family had been moved to the country estate and I was determined to wait this out. The next display took place at Moscow park. At the midday exactly parachutes fell from a cargo plane. The plane was shot down. The parachutes contained dummies of me hung and cut. They read "five hours till the come will come". We surmised that the planes had not taken off at any airstrips within 100 miles of Moscow.

I decided to start my own countdown clock to determine exactly when 'it' would happen. I heard a doorbell. I walked downstairs with a complement of 20 KGB guards. It was a mailman. He had a package. We passed it through a metal detector. It was clear. A guard opened the box. Then he shot the mailman. He passed the box to me. Inside was a cake that said Happy Death-day Nikola. It had a picture of me on the ground, dead. It also read 4:00:00.

I ordered that the cake be incinerated. My family had been successfully transported to safety. Alexi had also learned that the leader was called the V. Uncle Minsky was interrogating a man who owned a small airstrip in the country. It appeared that the planes had taken off at this airstrip.

"Yes Alexi bomb the warehouse, okay out." I told him.

Across the city a fireball went up. We had a direct hit. The countdown clock read 3:00. Then, out of a building about a mile away, a crowed came out. They stopped all traffic and then made a pattern. It was a picture of me with a knife in my head. Then they pulled out rocket launchers. They began to march towards my location in the czar's palace.

"Alexi get down here now" I yelled frantically.

They began to shoot at cars and buildings.

"Alexi send out a tank now! Now! Oh my gosh, they're here"

After several minutes, they were right outside of the czar's palace. They began firing at the grand hall door.

"Get down here NOW!"

A tank rolled out of the garage. It fired several shots and they were all dead. "This is getting weirder and weirder" I said.

"We only have two and a half hours until the timer goes off" Alexi replied.

I decided to enjoy myself for until the next freak-show event occurred. I went to the czar's ice skating rink and skated for about 25 minutes. Then I heard a beep that signified the 2:00:00 hour mark. I continued skating and was thrown into the air by a massive explosion.

I skidded across the rink. Then I crashed into the far wall. When I had regained my balance I heard Alexi calling for me on the walkie talkie.

"Come in Nikola, this Alexi. Are you alive"

"Yes, I'm okay"

"A bomb went off in the czar's palace. We are reading small overall damage to he structure but large internal damage to specific rooms. Several pools were hit along with an arcade and a guest bedroom. Also, we just lost contact with Calvin Russiaman. We were monitoring his apartment but our intel went dark about two minutes ago. We are sending additional teams to investigate. We need to get you airborne and out of this building." Alexi relayed.

"Let's get to the magnetic launcher. We'll take a bomber."

We moved up an elevator and got in a bomber. We had a successful launch. The only people on our plane were 10 KGB guards, two pilots, uncle Minsky, Alexi, and me. The city was a wreck. Apparently other bombs had gone off around the city. There were several fires and craters in the street. A crowd was gathering in the park. They carried banners depicting my death.

"Nikola, I hope you don't mind but we're going in for a bombing run." Alexi said.

"Who's our target?" I asked

"The protesters. They are going to wish that rip they were dead in a minute."

We flew in low and let our guns run ablaze. We went in for another swoop and launched a missile at them. When we were done there was a crater in the park. It had just been restored and was now sadly being damaged again.

"Nikola, the western suburbs or Moscow are no longer contacting us. There is also a large storm brewing in the same area and we are moving our forces back to the czar's palace. Your blimp has taken off. We will rendezvous with the blimp in about ten minutes."

"That's when the countdown will be at one hour." I observed.

We made a sharp turn back towards the czar's palace. As we approached the blimp I noticed that the cloud was getting closer. In fact it was almost at the city and was approaching fast. As the blimp loomed lightning crackled. I looked and saw the cloud split open. Hundreds of planes came out and began to fire.

War for Russia
The planes I recognized as the Ukrainian Bulls. They were the equivalents of The Czar's Fighter Escorts. They descended and flew over the park. They began firing at the statue of me in the park. It withstood several rounds but began to turn red hot after being hit by a missile. After 12 missiles, it shattered.

"Pilot hit the planes now." Alexi commanded

We flew over the swarm and began to destroy them. Meanwhile, I saw my blimp launch hundreds of planes. The czar's palace was also deploying planes.

"Get the KGB Airship airborne now!" I yelled.

The enemies were swarming our defenses. I estimated that 500 planes had been deployed by the enemy. I then saw about ten of the Ukrainian planes explode. The KGB airship had taken off and was firing along with several tanks.

"Open silo 2 and continue the assault." I yelled while getting into a turret.

The hull shook as we crashed into a bull. Fortunately, this plane was a generation 4 and had shielding. My turret took out twelve planes and and additional twenty were destroyed by the missiles. Just as the skies cleared, lightning crackled again and the cloud spewed 10 Ukrainian Firestorms (bombers) and 3 small blimps (about 400 feet long) all heading towards the KGB airship.

"Hang on" the pilot yelled.

We shot towards the three blimps. I took out two firestorms with my turret and we destroyed another three with missiles. I saw one of the blimps open up and drop bulls. Then the middle blimp opened up and dropped them also.

"We need to take out the third blimp or it will drop more planes." Uncle Minsky shouted.

Our plane fired a missile that jammed the door at the bottom. I heard a crackle as our shields powered up with our emergency generator. We accelerated to full speed and rammed into the blimp. While in the helium container we dropped one of our bombs. As we exited the other side the bomb detonated. The whole blimp was eradicated by the blast. On the way out we rammed another firestorm and destroyed ten more bulls. I saw that the tanks had formed up and brought down another blimp. My blimp charged its main weapon and atomized the final blimp along with most of the remaining fighters. The final fighters were destroyed. So far we had lost almost no forces.

Lightning struck for the final time and the cloud collapsed. 50 firestorms surrounded one large blimp that was heading towards our fleet. As per the usual the escorts were annihilated by the tanks and fighters. Soon, the main airship dropped three of the smaller blimps. One was hit by my blimps main weapon. Another fell to a squadron of bombers. As my blimp prepared to shoot again, the opposing flagship fired a small bolt towards it. It struck my blimp and it immediately went down.

My blimp slowly drifted down at a gentle slope. The large blimp moved in to destroy my blimp but the KGB airship intercepted. It put up a fight and deployed everything it had but at this point it was hopeless. The main blimp rammed into it and crushed it. Then I noticed that the main blimp had shields. I ordered that my tanks begin to fire at the airship. As the shields grew weaker, I executed the final smaller airship with a deadly machine gun missile combo from my turret. The large blimp then turned towards the czar's palace. My tanks brought down most of the remaining bulls and firestorms but the blimp remained intact.

"All fighters attack the shields, kamikaze the west side and escape at the last minute." I yelled into the com.

All fighters turned on the blimp and hit full speed. As the first several hit the whole superstructure shuddered. More and more crashed until it looked like one side of the blimp was on fire. The sheer momentum of the oncoming planes was enough to tip the blimp at a forty five degree angle. Finally, I saw a spark that meant that the shields were down.

"Pilot, full speed full shields. We are going to ram right through the blimp and come out on the other side." I said.

"Alexi, keep up your fire on the hull. We need to keep those shields down." Uncle Minsky yelled.

As we approached the blimp several straggling bulls came our way. We shot all of them down but in the process stopped shooting the airship. We unleashed the final battery of missiles as the ship filled our field of vision. I saw a bright speck on the hull as we came within 100 yards. The shields were coming back online. The impact was devastating.

I was thrown through the front of the bomber while I saw Alexi and uncle Minsky fall back. The two pilots were killed but broke the shock for me. The first thirty feet of the bomber was in the ship. The aft section teetered as Alexi and uncle Minsky crawled to the escape pod. The back was hanging on by a thread. The two rivals opened the main hatch and hopped in as the back tore from the front. I said goodbye to my two friends as the bomber fell.

I was stranded on an enemy ship with only the pilots pistols, a missile from the bomber, and a shotgun strapped to my leg. It was time to make them pay.

The Bowels
The ship was about 1200 feet long. I came across no guards and only one plane, primed for launch. As I moved through the ship, I became increasingly unsettled. I still had a missile on my and would destroy the ship when I came across the engine. The first guard I came across had a shocked expression on his face. He died like that.

"Alexi, do you read me" I said into my walkie talkie.

"This is Alexi, I read."

"What happened after I got stuck in the ship."

"All of our guards escaped the bomber. We made it to the czar's palace and have been watching the blimp. Your blimp is intact, and landed near Kazan. We have destroyed several squads of tanks sent down by the airship but have no way to take down the airship right now. However, we are working a plan with several transport blimps and if everything goes well, should be able to pick you up in 20 minutes. Also, the countdown clock is at 22:26 minutes."

"I am inside the enemy ship and have only encountered one guard. I have a missile and am trying to locate the main engine so I can take the ship down."

"I will contact you when we are inbound. Alexi out."

I continued to move about the ship and heard an alarm. A voice on the loudspeaker yelled.

"Intruder detected on deck two. Dead guard has been found. Proceed with caution."

Hearing that, I knew that I did not have much time. I hooked up my missile to a radio and while walking, found the shield generator. I attached my missile to the back and armed it. I explored deeper into the ship and found a small prison block. I ventured inside to find three guards at a cell. Inside was Calvin Russiaman.

I instantly pulled out my shotgun and took down two of the guards. I tripped the third one and shot him with my pistol.

"Who is it," Calvin said.

"Nikola," I replied.

"Nikola, were you sent to rescue me. Where is the KGB?."

"I'm alone. Our military was defeated by this blimp."

"According to my guards, this is the entire Ukrainian military. They only defeated the Moscow fleet. We can still call in more."

"Reinforcements are on the way. Also, my blimp is intact and will return soon. Alexi is working a plan to rescue us with transport ships. Let me contact him."

"Alexi, this is Nikola, I have Calvin Russiaman. I have also planted a bomb on the shield generator."

"Good Nikola, we are almost ready to take off,"

"I will contact you when the bomb has gone off."

"Good, Alexi out."

I handed Calvin my shotgun and we moved out. Several guards were caught off guard (ironically) and fell. Things got dicey when a patrol of twenty men moved down our hallway. Fortunately, Calvin and I escaped by being unseen. Then, were surrounded. Guards appeared to our lefts and rights. When Calvin got shot I screamed. Then a man stepped out of the legion. It was Vincent.

Boris
"I suppose that you are wondering what you are doing here. Let me explain,

When you threw me out of Russia, I vowed vengeance on you. So I gathered my military and set my traps and waited for just the right moment. I considered attacking you after Boris was defeated in Moscow. But no, you had confidence and would have repelled our army with valor. So then I knew what I needed to do. I needed to destroy that confidence. But a man such as yourself has so much trust in himself that I couldn't destroy you with one move. I needed many.

How many times in the last three days did you wonder 'what's happening'. A lot, I hope. Though your boarding of my airship was, unexpected, you really played right into my hands. In fact, I couldn't think of a better move than killing your friend right in front of you. But that's not my final move. The countdown clock has been a massive part of today. Now we only have three minutes until reaches zero. What happens then? One word. Boris."

"Oh no" I whispered in horror.

"He will be released and will destroy Russia. The, I will rise up and conquer all that was once yours."

In the background, I saw that the transport ships had risen. Vincent saw it too.

"Pilot, drop the package on the lead ship. I want Nikola to see this."

I heard a faint din as the plane I had seen earlier took off. The transport ships shot at it but only hit it once it had dropped Boris. As Boris's container hit the top of the ship the fighter exploded.

"10, 9, 8, 7, 6,5, 4, 3, 2, 1" Vincent counted.

The entire airship swayed several explosions reverberated in the hull. Then, the entire ship detonated. I saw a small speck land on the second airship. It to was destroyed in seconds. Finally the speck leaped almost 1000 feet to the final transport ship where it ripped the ship in half. Boris fell from the sky and landed in the heart of Moscow. A crater appeared and Boris emerged, destroying the entire street. He jumped around and took out building after building. An entire block had been destroyed in less than one minute.

Boris turned towards the park and sat down on the swing-set. He swung back and forth until his swing broke. He then went to the sandbox until sand got in his eyes. Then he played on the play-set until it broke under his weight. He resumed his destruction at Moscow general. I saw veterinarian john's car peel away. Boris chased it and grabbed it.

From here I heard him yell

"ice cream truck, ice cream truck."

He reached in and ripped out John. John appeared to yell as he was beaten like a sack by Boris. Boris then shook him down for ice cream. When he found none, John was thrown half a mile. Boris chased him and caught him as he was about to hit the ground. Then he bunted John across the city. When Boris caught up with a real ice cream truck, he jumped into the back and rode around for ten minutes. When he was done eating ice cream he ate the driver and went on a rampage in midtown.

"Don't you love the chaos." Vincent said.

"Stop him now. Don't you know that you can't control him." I implored.

"Oh he is under control. I installed a chip in his head that gives him a set of parameters. He still has free will, but he must abide by my rules. Oh by the way, one of them is to kill you on sight. Watch this."

Vincent typed 'stop' into a console.

Boris desisted.

Vincent's blimp lowered and moved to the hanger at the palace. I was handcuffed and prodded to a waiting room where I found Alexi and uncle Minsky, also captured.

"You will be put into the playpen of Boris where Boris will kill you. You will have no weapons of tools. You will die." Vincent explained.

He left and we rose up after a minute. As the light hit us I saw Boris.

"We ate gathered here today to witness the death of Nikola Medvedev, Alexi Kudsky, and Minsky Alinoff. Let the games begin now." Vincent proclaimed.

Boris charged at full speed. The three of us dodged. Alexi moved in and struck Boris in the back. Boris grabbed uncle Minsky and tossed him. I swung my fist and struck Boris in the neck. As Boris turned on me, Alexi snap kicked his shoulder. Boris howled as uncle Minsky jabbed his eye. I followed with a vicious elbow in the hip. Soon, Boris tossed off Minsky and Alexi.

I was left alone against Boris. Boris moved in and punched at me.

"Boris, don't kill me. Please leave me be. Let me live."

Boris moved closer. As he reeled back to deliver the death blow, I yelled.

"Boris, I love you!!!"

He stopped and turned around. He then ran at the stand and crushed the soldiers. I saw Vincent run away. Boris gave chase but the guards held Boris off long enough to save Vincent. As Boris became overwhelmed, hundreds of KGB members dropped in. My blimp had returned.

Vincent
By the time that we had secured the building, Vincent had escaped. He was heading back towards his airship. I knew that I could never trust Boris again.

"Hey Boris! Do you want your own plane?"

"Yes!" He screamed excitedly.

Boris got in a fighter. It was the last thing that he drove.

"Blimp, destroy the fighter. Get me a plane." I said

A got a bomber and twenty elite KGB guards.

"Nikola, Vincent is on board. Our main gun is ready." Alexi told me

"So am I"

I hit my remote button. Vincent's shields went down and I saw smoke. Then the forth and final smaller blimp came out. It lined up perfectly. Boris, the smaller blimp, and Vincent.

"Blimp, take the shot." I said. My blimp charged up its gun. Meanwhile, my bomber had taken off. The blimp fired.

The main cannon is the most powerful weapon in Russia. It could devastate a square mile in one shot and took one minute to reload. It even took Boris four minutes to destroy an equivalent area. Therefore, when it fired, Boris was reduced to a pile of ash. The shot carried enough power to destroy the smaller blimp after vaporizing Boris and enough more to impact the side of Vincent's blimp. As the crater in the blimp cooled, my bomber approached. We landed in a hallway and I filled myself with one thought. Boris was dead.

The guards and I fought our way into the heart of the ship. My tech guy found a camera system and hacked it. We saw that Vincent was running down a corridor one floor above us. Then the entire ship shook. I felt the temperature rise and the air pressure lower as the hull began to give out. My team elevated up and penetrated a guard patrol. I saw a figure running at the end of the hallway. It was Vincent. I took off running with one pistol and my sword as well as one detonator with three bombs. As my guards ran after me, a shock reverberated through the hull. Part of the ceiling fell and I was cutoff from my group. I went in alone again.

I followed Vincent at about fifty feet. When he noticed me, he shrieked and took off faster. I kept up the chase. When I turned the next corridor, two doors were unlocked. I could not tell which one he went through. I opened the first one and was almost sucked out. The blast had hit here. The second door had also depressurized. I almost gave up until I saw a locked door. Vincent was inside working on something. I could not see his project but I knew that I would have to get in. I put my detonator against the door and pressed. The door flew open. I ran in as Vincent finished.

He screamed and ran out. I gave chase again and pursued him. He closed several doors but I kicked them open. I felt the entire ship fall as the engine sputtered. Vincent was knocked down and strained his knee. He howled and limped into an airlock. I gained entrance with another bomb and found that we were in a hatch leading to the roof. Several explosions occurred over me. I saw Vincent about twenty feet above me. Part of the wall crumpled and separated Vincent and I again. The rubble fell on me and fire shot out under me. I exerted myself and crawled over the gap. I redoubled my efforts and caught up to Vincent again. Above us the pass diverged. I prepared to follow Vincent up one passage but as he entered the ladder fell. I had to take the other path. I ran up the maintenance stairs and emerged on the roof.

The ship was deteriorating. Smoke was belching from the engines and rubble was raining from the hull. Smog filled the air and detonations randomly occurred on the roof. I saw that we had left Moscow airspace. A group of fighter escorts was following at a distance. I saw a bomber moving into a hanger on the intact side. Vincent emerged and I drew my sword as the entire ship dropped.

I ran at him as he pulled out a sword. We clashed blades and I pushed him away. He attacked viciously and knocked me off balance. I hit him and threw my weigh into his side. He fell over and drew a second sword. As he caught himself I stabbed his leg. He collapsed into himself and threw a sword. It knocked the blade out of my hand. Vincent stood up and pulled out a pistol.

"Happy death day Nikola. I hope you like your gift." He shouted. He had an insane look in his eye.

As he pulled the trigger an explosion tore through the roof and burnt him to a cinder.

The bullet missed. I saw a hatch and moved towards it. I entered and found myself in a maintenance tunnel. I had to either find a parachute, the bomber, or an escape pod. I found it harder to keep walking. I soon realized that this was because the airship had begun to tip towards the ground. I ran, found a ladder, and climbed down. I figured that escape pods would be at the top or bottom. I saw a hanger sign and ran towards it. I found my bomber in the hanger. As I moved towards the hanger, my hallway collapsed. I fell into the level below and saw the bomber fall out. Down the hallway, there was a hatch. I took off into a sprint as the entire corridor fell into the void. I felt a sucking force and trudged through the air that now felt like lead. When I turned the corner, I saw that there was one escape pod about 500 feet away. One problem, the entire ship was disintegrating.

I ran as fast as I ever had. Walls caved in and floors gave out. When two tanks ruptured, the power forced me back. As the whole ship gave out, it tilted more and more. I was sliding towards the escape pod. Loose cables swung at me and panels of metal hit me. I got blasted with a jet of exhaust and coughed. When I was only one hundred feet away, the floor all fell out from under me. There were forty feet to cross over a two thousand foot chasm. I grabbed a wire and slid across. When I landed on the other side, I ran the last sixty feet and saw a fireball moving from the engines. I jumped into the escape pod and pressed launch.

The engines started up and I saw that the fire was only two hundred feet from me. I launched and looked up at the disintegrating tunnel. The I saw that the fireball had reached the shaft. Metal fell around me and the entire ship split in half. I rocketed up the tunnel and prayed that I would escape. As I cleared the tunnel, an explosion rung out as the whole ship went up in flames.

As I descended, the fighters followed me. The blimp had reached St. Petersburg before its demise. I was returned to Moscow and announced that the two greatest enemies of Russia were dead. If only I had known how wrong I was. So wrong.