Chapter Text
Nochnoy Storozh rested his elbows on the small old table in the kitchenette, staring down at the glass that Koldunya had put in front of him, filled with some dark liquid. It had been close to a day since the fight. They had escaped out the back from their (old) headquarters, into the alley on the other side of the building. Down the way had been another stairway to another basement, and they had raced down the stairs and crouched below the street level. Though it had almost taken more power than she possessed, Koldunya had levitated a dumpster off the ground just enough for him to slide it over the opening, covering it entirely. Then they had waited, with Nochnoy Storozh looking out through the opening for Svyatogor or Claire to follow them. But they hadn’t. Instead, the next person they had seen had been one of those robed figures, who had walked calmly up the stairs from their headquarters, looked up and down the alley once, and climbed back down, shutting the door behind him. Koldunya had sat down, crossed her legs, closed her eyes, and remained motionless for a moment while Nochnoy Storozh continued to watch. Finally, she had stirred and crept up behind him. She nodded quietly and slid the dumpster aside, beckoning him to follow. That was when they had cautiously snuck back to their headquarters.
Svyatogor had lain in the middle of the room, surrounded by a pool of his own blood with three claw marks stabbed through his chest. Nochnoy Storozh had felt for a pulse, but even as he did so, he had known it was in vain. The rest of the room had been utterly destroyed, the furniture in pieces and debris strewn all around. The remains of their computer had been swept around as though someone had combed through it, and the hard drive was missing. A small blue bag – Olivet’s – had been pushed into a far corner near the wreckage of a sofa, and Koldunya had picked it up. Olivet herself had been nowhere to be seen.
The police had questioned them for an hour once they finally arrived. Nochnoy Storozh had explained what had happened and described their attackers, to which the police sergeant had nodded. Koldunya had given them Svyatogor’s name, and the police sergeant had promised to notify his fiancée before dismissing them. Nochnoy Storozh’s jaw clenched. It should have been him making that call… but he couldn’t do it. He had been there, only to flee when the fight got difficult. Did that make him a coward? Even if his decision to retreat didn’t make him a coward, the fact that he couldn’t face Svyatogor’s fiancée probably did. But instead of fulfilling his responsibility, he sat in this apartment that Koldunya had rented as a temporary base, staring at the glass, unable to bring himself to drink it.
Finally he found his voice. “We shouldn’t have left.”
Koldunya let out a heavy sigh and raised an eyebrow. “If we had stayed, would it have made a difference?”
He shrugged. “Maybe. Maybe all four of us could have fought them off together and Svyatogor wouldn’t have died.”
“Or we would all have been killed, and not just him,” she pointed out.
“I would rather have done that than just abandon him…” he retorted, frowning.
She hummed. “But is that what he would have wanted?” she asked. “He wanted us to escape, to carry on. So that’s what we’ll have to do.”
“I guess so…” He sighed. “It just sucks to lose a friend, and especially in this way.”
She nodded. “That’s what makes us heroes. We want to help other people – we want to stop the bad guys and protect the innocent. That’s what we did.” She swallowed. “That’s what he did.”
Nochnoy Storozh picked up his glass and clinked it against Koldunya’s. “To Svyatogor. The bravest man I ever knew.” The dark liquor burned down his throat, and he coughed, smacking his chest.
“His sacrifice saved us,” Koldunya agreed, taking a sip of her own drink. “It saved Olivet, too.”
Nochnoy Storozh scoffed. “Did it?”
“We didn’t find her there…”
“She did say they wanted her alive, though.” He frowned doubtfully. “And even if she did escape, did it really save her, or did it just delay the inevitable? She was still alone in Moscow with the bad guys hot on her heels.” His shoulders slumped. “Exactly how I found her…”
“She did get away,” Koldunya insisted, her mouth set in a thin line.
“How do you know?”
She let out a forlorn breath, hunching forward over her glass and staring into its depths. “Because if she didn’t, then Svyatogor really did die for nothing.”
Nochnoy Storozh raised an eyebrow as the cell phone on the table between them rang. Cautiously he picked it up and answered. “Privet.” [“Hello”]
“Are you the Geroi Moskvy?” an unfamiliar voice asked in English.
Nochnoy Storozh cocked his head suspiciously. “Who wants to know?”
Something whooshed behind him, and he spun around as a portal opened in the middle of the apartment’s small living room. Three figures stepped out, one of whom held a dark brown shape to his ear. The call ended as he reattached the object to a horseshoe which he placed on his back. “Some new friends,” he replied, smirking. He jerked his head to the young woman to his left. “I’m Pegasus, and this is Sent-Bee. And I think you already know–”
“Olivet!” Koldunya interrupted him, jumping to her feet. She gave Olivet a brief hug and stepped back, examining her carefully. “You are alive! And with the, um, Heroes of Paris!”
“After we found Svyatogor, we feared the worst,” Nochnoy Storozh interjected, standing up also.
Olivet nodded, her lips curving up into a hint of a smile that quickly vanished. “I am, thanks to you… and thanks to Svyatogor, also. My daughter was in the city looking for me,” she explained. “Svyatogor’s sacrifice allowed me to escape, and I found her.”
Koldunya sighed in relief. “I am glad to hear that.”
“I’m–I’m sorry about Svyatogor,” Olivet began hesitantly, looking down. “He died honorably and bravely, but… I wish I could have saved him.”
Nochnoy Storozh crossed the room and took her hand. “He would have been content, knowing his sacrifice was not in vain.” He turned to Pegasus and Sent-Bee. “Thank you for coming, and for letting us know that Olivet was okay.”
“You are welcome,” Pegasus replied.
Sent-Bee grinned. “It was the least we could do.”
Koldunya cocked her head, staring at them suspiciously. “That is not the only reason you came, though.”
Sent-Bee’s grin grew wider. “No, it is not. We’re here to talk to you about joining the Heroes of Europe.”