ic With Ice Cold Hands

[Avenger Assembled]

March 5, 2014

Freedom City

 

"The entire garrison? You are absolutely certain?" Alone in the small, cramped office that was all he had in Freedom City, Comrade Frost closed his eyes as he held his cellphone to his ear. "All right. All right, I will be there within twenty-four hours. Yes, with superpowered associates." At his interrogator's question, Frost simply laughed bitterly, remembering what he'd seen in the reports sent his way from Bukhara, as well as what he'd seen on the news from Moscow. "No, not the Freedom League. No, we will need rather different help for _this_ threat..."

 

For all that he'd had to wheedle his office space and his first-level access to the League, the effort paid for itself again and again every day, as now when Frost used the League's access to make a few clandestine phone calls. And so it was that with the help of a few borrowed phone numbers, he managed to have a message sent to Ghost Girl and Revenant, albeit the first through a third party.

 

CRISIS OF THE DEAD. MEET ME IN FREEDOM HALL TONIGHT AT SUNSET. -COMRADE FROST

 

At the appointed hour, Frost was sitting in the small meeting room he'd set aside for the occasion, drinking from a large cup of nearly-boiling hot coffee as he awaited his guests - allies in what promised to be a difficult situation to come.

[Gizmo]

Frost wasn't waiting long before a translucent blue head poked through the room's closed door and looked about. "Jams, this place has so many rooms... oh! There you are! Hello!" The ethereal form of Ghost Girl passed effortlessly the rest of the way though the wall, tattered reaper's cloak fluttering about feet that floated a short ways off of the floor. "I'm Ghost Girl! But I guess you knew that," she mused, pursing her lips slightly as she took stock of the small room, gliding through the air as one thing or another caught her attention.

"So you must be Mr. Peshkov, right? Or do you like Mr. Frost better? Dan- er, Mr. Storm told me a bunch about you. ...some of it was good!" The sunny smile the immaterial teenager gave the seated draugr did its best to be reassuring though his sensitivity to temperature couldn't miss the distinct chill that radiated from her like a rolling fog. "Oh, before anything else, I should make sure: you're not a robot, right? The last time I was here a really big jerk of a ghost tried to irradiate my friends and then his friend turned out to be a robot and honestly I didn't like any of that much at all." Her expression was one of perfect earnestness as she waited expectantly for his answer.

[Avenger Assembled]

"If you have power I have heard, you should be able to tell dead man of ice and snow from a robot, eh?" Frost smiled, relaxing fractionally in the presence of the personable teenage spectre. He'd always been comfortable around young people (for all that the feeling was rarely mutual) and the young lady was especially disarming. "Could show you insides, I suppose, but you might find sight unpleasant. All is frozen and dead! I was in Russia, but I remember that business with false Stratos. A shame no one was paying attention in those days, or we might have prevented Day of Wrath." Fighting the craving for a cigarette, he went on, "Whatever Daniel Storm has told you about me, it was truth." That, he could say with conviction. "He speaks highly of you as well, which is why I have sought you out. I have a situation in Russia that requires services of dead, and a certain degree of...discretion. With things as they are, Freedom League cannot simply walk into Russia." 

[Tiffany Korta]

“Has it been that long that you replaced me with a younger model already? Though to be fair that cover quite a lot of people...â€

Standing in the doorway Revenant struck a pose that suggested business, the smile on her face suggested that she wasn’t serious.

“It’s good to see you again.†she gave Comrade Frost a friendly hug, before turning her attention to Ghost Girl.

“Hello there I don’t think we’ve met before. I’m Revenant, but to be honest I prefer it if you call me Lucy.â€

Getting her introduction out of the way she stepped back and was all business.

 

“I believe you were about to explain why you asked us here?â€

[Gizmo]

"Aw, thanks! You can call me Kimber, then!" Ghost Girl replied with a smile that stretched from ear to ear. As the poltergeist looked from Revenant to Comrade Frost her eyes briefly went a pale, milky white. "Ooh, I get it, you're dead, too, Lucy! Neat! That makes-- actually, no, that doesn't really explain anything." Resting her chin in her palm, she tilted her head slightly to one side. It was always nice to meet new undead people but the summons hadn't made it sound like a social call. "You said you needed us specifically for a thing? Do you need to like scare some living bad guys or something?"

[Avenger Assembled]

Frost seemed to light up at the sight of Revenant, tugging at his collar and pulling out a chair for her. "Why hello! Come in, come in, Lucy, and have a seat. Yes, Kimber and I have mutual acquaintance in Canada, so I thought I would call her in for this one as well. Not that I think your presence needs any help, heh-heh-heh..." He winked at Lucy, then paused for a moment, remembering Ghost Girl's question. He normally used his nomme de guerre to keep a distance between himself and his colleagues - but in the company of the ghost and his fellow vampire, that seemed a little silly. "You should call me Dimitri, Kimber, as long as we are working together." 

 

Now that they were all there, he headed to the corner of the room and pulled the cover off a slide projector that had been old when Kimber was alive. Plugging it in, he rested his hand on the warmth of the projector as it began to radiate through the white casing, the glowing lens casting an image of a sere, dry desert on the screen. Unusually for the desert, the camels on screen were resting beneath the shade of a rusty ship. "Aralkum, in Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan. All that is left of noble Soviet effort to tame mighty rivers of Central Asia, and of once deep Aral Sea." He kept paging through the slide projector as it hummed, showing a fertile land transformed to desert in what must have been very quickly indeed. "Recently the land has been...taken by an American necromancer." He moved the slide forward to an image of a wild-eyed woman in what looked like a funeral shroud, a gleaming, golden staff in her hand as she hurled a ball of black lightning directly at the camera. "A cultist bonded years ago with Staff of Necro-Kings who calls herself Sister Sixtus. She has been seen here and there in area, but now she has taken city of Muynak. She has driven out local population and cast zone of...death around city. Living who have disobeyed her warnings have become, in the American parlance...the living dead." 

 

He turned off the projector, his hand leaving a quickly-melting icy outline against the warmth of the decades-old machine. "Peoples' Heroes unwelcome in Uzbekistan and Freedom League is...challenged to enter Russian soil in these times. So we go in to remove her. As simple as that." 

[Tiffany Korta]

Whilst Lucy was happily in a relationship at the moment with Henry she still enjoyed Comrade's Frost not so subtle flirting, it wasn’t like she was going to allow it to go beyond just flirting.

Any such thoughts of more innocent thing were put aside as Dmitri laid out the serious situation that had befallen this foreign city.

“Well I guess we don’t have to worry about how we’re going to get there.†she looked around at the building they were currently in

 

“Do we have any idea what we can expect when we get there? I’d prefer to keep any surprises to a minimum.â€

[Avenger Assembled]

Frost was able to dig up a black and white surveillance camera, taken by a high-flying drone, that showed an image of the fallen town. "The decay you see here was present even before the arrival of Sister Sixtus," he admitted, steepling his long, cold fingers, then tracing one hand over the image of what looked to have been a ghost town even before the arrival of the dead. "Hope is that the barrier erected by Sixtus is merely that, and not zone of death over entire town. Muynak was fine city once, full of fishermen and factories, now it is merely a dead town in a dead place. The people who live there have done all they could to keep their lives even in the midst of devastation brought by too-hasty agricultural construction. They deserve better than death." He indicated a shadowy ring about the town. "Here are where dead known to be dead have formed. Garrison troops that probed town without warning, creatures from seabed. Am concerned about death of land itself."  

[Gizmo]

Kimber made a face at the old people flirting, sticking her tongue out slightly before schooling her features into something more polite. "Hmph, everybody gets a body but me," she groused under her breath but turned her attention to the surveillance photos when they were presented. "Gosh, that does look terrible," the poltergeist agreed, a note of worry lying at the back of her voice. "Can that happen? The whole place dying?" The question was largely rhetorical. She'd heard of such things in her studies but part of her had assumed it had been more a question of poetic license on the part of the writers than a literal phenomenon. Looking at the barren landscape, however, she was hard pressed to describe it any other way.

[Avenger Assembled]

"It is possible," answered Frost. "You have experience with forest, ah, calamities, yes?" Storm had mentioned his protege's problem with fire. "One animal dies, it is nothing. A tree falls in the forest, who hears it? But if _all_ the trees die, and _all_ the animals die, as so many have done in Aralkum now that we have killed the sea there-" Even in Kimber's lifetime, not so long ago by geological standards, there had been a thriving Aral Sea - when Dimitri and Lucy yet breathed, the Sea had been a deep body of water with a thriving maritime culture around it. "The consequences could be grim. This is what I believe has driven Sister Sixtus to current dire scheme. Wizards love desecrated land for their wicked work. In Aralkun, we desecrated it ourselves." 

[Tiffany Korta]

Lucy listened with some concern as Comrade Frost, Dmitri, described exactly what would happen if this woman wasn’t stopped. She’d picked up some knowledge about the magical world, mostly related to vampire and there kind, and knew enough to believe everything that he was telling them. It was something horrific to think about, and she wondered how mad someone would be to do such a thing.

“Well then what are waiting for? It looks like it’s up to the dead to help the living.â€

 

To emphasise the point she stood up ready to leave on their journey.

[Gizmo]

Gulping silently at Dimitri's confirmation and further explanation, Kimber did her best to push the enormity of the horror out of her mind and maintain her usual, chipper demeanor in front of the vampires. She wasn't entirely clear how old they all technically were relative to each other but she didn't want to come across as the easily spooked kid of the group. After all, she was supposed to be the one who did the spooking. "Sometimes I wonder how they'd get anything done without us, eh?" she agreed with Lucy, floating higher into the air and tilting until she was horizontal and facing upward, hands behind her head as though she were floating atop gently bobbing waters. "Aralkum is probably pretty cold this time of year, right? That'll be nice, at least!"

[Avenger Assembled]

Frost was able to conscript one of the League's Javelins for the flight to Central Asia - since he had no idea how to fly a modern jet, and trusted specialists to do their job, he spent most of his time in the passenger compartment looking over maps of Aralkum. Sleepless and tireless, the icy vampire was obviously distracted by their situation. He occasionally picked up a heatpack from his single suitcase and massaged it until it froze, then tossed it in the plane's trash until he needed a new one. The plane overall was spacious and well-furnished, complete with sleeping arrangements that none of the passengers actually needed - nor did the pilots for what was a journey of just a few hours thanks to the jet's hypersonic, Daedalus-built engine. 

 

It was early morning Freedom City time, late afternoon Central Asian time, when Frost came out of a cockpit conference with the pilot and co-pilot, who had been good the whole time about letting Kimber see how the plane worked - especially with the baffles that protected the hypersonic craft's otherwise sensitive electronics from necromagnetic interference. "I have news. Tashkent has denied our permission to land. Since we are technically on their soil, is problem. But there is good news. You can fly," he said to Kimber, "as can I. And Lucy, can you, ah...do you parachute?" he asked her solicitously.  

[Tiffany Korta]

“Well this would be the...†she began to silently count on her fingers “...first time I’ve ever flown anywhere and that’s not counting the fact I’ve never tried on a parachute let alone used one.â€

She gave one of her broad smiles.

“But I’m not adverse to giving it a try. And hey I bounce really well. Now would probably be a good time for a quick lesson in there use.â€

 

Even if she wasn’t completely confident she tried to project it as much as possible, now wasn’t the time to let the other two down on such an important task.

[Gizmo]

"Ooh! Ooh! I can carry you!" Kimber volunteered, bobbing up and down inside the plane and raising her hand as though answering a teacher's question in the classroom. "You probably weigh less than an alien made out of liquid metal, right? Oh, jams, that's kind of a personal question, isn't it?" The poltergeist quickly covered her mouth with one gloved hand before using both to energetically wave off any misunderstandings. "You don't look like you'd weigh more, obviously! You're very pretty! Dimitri thinks so! He's kind of a flirt, though, have you noticed?" Placing a hand to the side of her mouth did very little to render the last remark any more private than the rest of the conversation. "What was I saying, again? Oh! Right! Telekinesis! Way better than a parachute so long as I concentrate and keep focused! No worries at all!"

[Tiffany Korta]

“Cold hands... well cold undead heart but I guess the point stands. Beside I’ve already walking out with someone else, at least I’m sure Dmitri will be a gentleman about it. Though now might not be the best time to talk dating advice.â€

The thought of falling out of a perfectly good aircraft didn’t bother her in the slightest, neither did putting her (un)life in the hands of someone she’d only met a few hours ago.

 

“Okay let’s go with the telekinesis, if you’re sure that you can put me safely back on the ground and I’d rather you didn’t drop me. I’m not sure that I’ll bounce all that well.â€

[Avenger Assembled]

"Yes, ha-ha, yes," said Frost with a wink. "When you meet one like yourself, and they are not unspeakable creature grown fat on blood of the innocent, you will do the same thing, my dear Ghost Girl. But do not worry yet! You are very young, even in years. Someday you will meet handsome ghost boy and understand."

 

Down in the plane's loading bay, Frost let the much-stronger Lucy Harker take position at the door. He hadn't bothered with a parachute himself - he knew from personal experience that he could survive a fall from this height, and besides had the power of flight himself. "On my mark!" he said, counting down with his fingers. "Three! Two! One!" When Lucy opened the door, there was a great rush of air - and since he was the organizer of all this, Frost took the lead, vaulting out into the Heavens! "Now!" 

 

Far above, even in the dark of the night, his heat-seeking vision could pick out the town below, and for a moment he simply fell fast, enjoying the rush of free fall against his cold skin. There was something to be said for those fellows who could fly this way...

[Tiffany Korta]

“Or a female, ghost or otherwise, thankfully thing are much more enlightened than back in my day. Not that ever stopped anyone...â€

Without hesitation Lucy followed Comrade Frost, pausing briefly to take in the view he coal black eyes taking in everything. She looked back at Ghost Girl and gave what she hoped was a reassuring smile.

“Well I hope this all works or things could get... embarrassing.â€

 

Then without pause she jumped from the craft. With every confidence that her allies would do their jobs.

[Gizmo]

Revenant was left to free fall for a long moment, then another, seconds ticking by in the roar of rushing wind. Then a slight pressure wrapping under her arms slowed her descent to a more controlled speed, feeling like the half-forgotten memory of supporting hands. Kimber appeared on her left, matching the plummet with the nonchalance of someone floating atop still waters. "You guys don't really need to give me 'The Talk,' y'know!" the phantom called, cupping her hands around a grin. "You're like the overly supportive vampire parents I never had! Ooh! Ooh! 'Vamparents'!" With a fit of giggles Ghost Girl added a loop to her downward path.

[Avenger Assembled]

Down on the ground, Comrade Frost was reminded of a fragment of an old poem as he stood on the pitiful remains of what had once been the Aral Sea. Down in the bottomlands...The night was unpleasantly cold, enough that he had to pull up his hood to block his heat from being wicked away into the darkness by the wind. "It should be warmer at ground level, not colder!" he called to the others, bending down to run his hand through the soil. Infertile at the best of times, the salt-laced ground now sang with the unholy call of death itself. In the dark, his eyes glowed red beneath his hood, the only source of light in the gloom of his hood. "Come. Let us enter city of the dead. Ladies, prepare yourself for hospitality of Russian tourist industry," he went on, leading the way over the dunes towards the dead, lightless city of Muynak that was their target.  

[Tiffany Korta]

If you could say anything it was an... interesting ride down to the ground. Whilst Lucy didn’t exactly want to fall all the way to the ground she wasn’t afraid of the drop, in fact she kind of enjoyed the ride. But it was nice to get her feet back on the ground.

She walked up to beside Comrade Frost taking a few moment to admire the bleak, but beautiful, scenery.

 

“So do we have anything approaching a plan? You know apart from walking into the city and meeting up with the evil Necromancer.â€

[Gizmo]

In contrast to Dimitri's sullen distaste for the preternatural chill of the desolate land, Kimber seemed energized by the proverbial bone deep chill. The thick gloom of death hanging in the air like a suffocating fog was less to her taste but until they actually ran into something beyond a bad feeling the upbeat phantom didn't see any point in being pessimistic. "That seems like it'd probably work!" she chirped with a laugh, floating in figure eight patterns over the vampires' heads. "I guess we could try being sneaky but the necromancers I know are all pretty good at noticing ghosts and zombies and stuff even when they're invisible."

[Avenger Assembled]

"We enter the city," said Frost, his boots crunching in the salty sand beneath their feet, "and confront Sixtus. Beings like her, bonded to items of great power, will have weaknesses that we can exploit and...ah." As they crested a hill, he fell silent at what at first looked like a roadblock along the narrow two-lane road that led to Mo'ynoq. A closer inspection soon revealed the grim reality behind the troop carrier, the soldiers standing by the wooden barricades, even the dimly-glowing searchlights. The men did not move, did not speak, did not breathe, do anything other than stand straight ahead and stare in front of them. "I will speak to them," said Frost suddenly, and with that he was boiling down the hill in a cloud of smoke, one that made a bee-line for the troops. 

When he formed up again, he was nose-to-nose with armed guards that stared straight ahead like the corpses they were - unblinking sentinels of the dead around the dead city. "Look at me! I am intruder! I am..." Frost stepped back and studied the zombies, signaling the others to join him if they had not already. "Not even mobility. Ah..." He put a hand to his face, then touched the soldier he was facing off with. "And cold as the grave. Leave them intact. Perhaps there is hope yet." He put his hand down and put it back inside his pocket, not looking confident of that assertion. Overhead, the sign that welcomed visitors to the town still stood, the bulk of the town itself silent and grey perhaps a mile's walk distant. "Come, let us go."

[Tiffany Korta]

As alway Lucy was ready to spring into action if need be, but she allowed Commrae Frost to take the lead she was after all a very long way from home and knew very little about this part of the world. Then again there were still large part of her own City she didn’t know well, she was still trying to catch up on half a century of changes no easy task for someone, even if they didn’t sleep. There was one thing she knew that this Sixtus, as paranoid as most of her kind, would have done.

 

“She bound to know that we’re here, if not now then very soon, we should hurry whilst we have the advantage.â€

 

It wasn’t that she didn’t care about the fate of the poor soldier, far from it, but she couldn't do anything about them until this Necromancer was dealt with. She just hoped it wasn't to late for them all.

[Gizmo]

"Oh, one minute, Lucy!" Kimber called, floating quickly over to the unmoving guards, tilting her head to one side as she looked them up and down. The phantom's pupils fade from view behind her domino mask, eyes turning to an icy blue-white. The omnipresent sense of death in the area was almost overwhelming but she focused specifically on the corpses in front of her. "Hello! Is anybody still in there?" Shifting her tattered reaper's cloak aside she revealed a sizable backpack that clearly hadn't been there before, its translucent blue shading matching the rest of her ephemeral form. A sizable Canadian flag was stitched proudly onto the bag. "We're tourists! Could you maybe give us some directions? We'd really appreciate it!"