The morning light shown through the window of the command quarters of the former EOL base, now dubbed Fort Kablooey. Dominic had been given the rather chilly room, much to his surprise, but he supposed it was better than a shack on the side of a mountain. Of course, it was only temporary, as the plan was to absolutely level the facility with four five thousand pound charges of ANFO set in the remaining buildings and on the walls. The chemical had been taken from an abandoned quarry, and there was much more where it came from.

Currently Dominic was laying on the rather firm queen sized mattress with Maria beside him, he was listening to the chirping birds outside that intermingled with the occasional shouting of soldiers that were raiding the base of its fuel, food, and weapon caches. Aside from the bed near the window there was a desk off in the corner, the walls were rusted corrugated tin and a wooden door was at the very center of the eastern wall. The EOL had been so arrogant in their belief the base was unconquerable they’d left it all out in the open, along with at least five trucks and one police cruiser, all in working condition. Dominic had laid claim to the cruiser already.

Maria was still asleep, but it was clear that it was a restless slumber. The young commander looked at the sniper as he heard her whimper, his hand slipped to her waist and he pulled her closer. It had been going on regularly for the past couple nights, Dominic didn’t know why, but Maria was having more and more horrible nightmares. She hadn’t wanted to talk to him about it, but he knew sooner or later she’d open up.

“Shh… It’s okay…” He said quietly as the woman continued her whimpers, occasionally mumbling some incoherent words. Dominic rested his head beside Maria’s, doing his best to comfort the woman from her nightmare. Part of him wished he had some sort of control over magic, some sort of power, if only so he could use it to end her suffering sleep.

“M-Mom… P-Please, no.” Maria mumbled again, Dominic looked at her and listened closely. “I-I-I don’t want to…” She suddenly began to cry and move around, that was more than the commander could stand. He put his hands on her shoulder and gave a slight shake.

“Maria, honey, wake up.” He said in a normal voice, Maria gasped and sat up, panting heavily. Dominic sat up beside her, resting his hand on her shoulder and prompting her to look at him with a somewhat scared expression. “You okay?” The woman paused, then shook her head slowly. “Want to talk about it?”

“I… I lied to you, about my parents…” Maria said quietly, Dominic raised an eyebrow. “I didn’t find the rifle, I took it from them.” Maria quietly curled up and leaned against Dominic for support, support he offered fully. “They were alive, Dominic, and when I found them I was so happy…” The pain in Maria’s voice cut through Dominic like a knife, he hated hearing that voice in pain, he hated even more knowing that there was nothing he could do to stop it. “Then they wanted me to come live with them… They had Tyler living with them… You remember him?”

“The guy who gave you a black eye?” Dominic asked, Maria nodded.

“They wanted me to… To… You know, with him… ‘To keep the family alive’.” Maria said with embarrassment and shame, Dominic felt like he’d been hit by a ton of bricks. He kept his hand on Maria’s shoulder, doing his best to quell the feeling of disgust and anger rising in his chest. It wasn’t directed at Maria, he would never direct such a feeling at her. The thought that her parents would want her to do something so wrong for the sake of bloodlines was absolutely revolting, but for Maria he hid his raging fury. “I didn’t do it, Dominic! Honest, I didn’t!”

“I know…” Dominic said gently, turning Maria’s head to face him. “I know, Maria…” The woman rested her head on his shoulder with a shuddering sigh, and Dominic could feel a few moist droplets on his skin. Dressed in only an undershirt and boxers, it was easy to feel just how hurt Maria felt. “It’s okay… You’re okay…”

“I… I took the gun, Dominic… I took it and I… I killed them!” Maria finally said quietly, breaking down into sobs. Dominic felt a pang run through his chest, images of his own family lying dead at his own hands because of his hesitation to put a bullet in the head of his infected sister caused him to shake. Even still, he remained strong and continued cradling Maria in his arms.

“Let it out, honey… I know… Don’t you think I know?” Dominic said, it felt odd to him to speak in such tones, but there he was saying it nonetheless. Maria continued to cry for what felt like an eternity, not that Dominic would ever complain. Like a mountain he stood resolute, willing to hold his beautiful mosin maiden all day if he had to. Then there came a knock on the door. “Don’t disturb us.”

“I apologize, herr commander, but their are two prisoners that are demanding you speak with them!” Draco’s voice called from the other side of the door. “The snipers from last night, herr commander!”

“They can wait!” Dominic shouted loudly, but felt a soft hand on his chest. He looked at Maria who was looking up at him with a faint frown. “I can stay here, Maria. They’re prisoners, where are they going to go?” The woman shook her head quietly and gave him a slightly stern glare.

“Go… Win the war for me.” Maria said simply. “I… Think I need a little time to myself anyway, please…” Dominic opened his mouth to speak, but simply nodded and stood up. The man pulled on his green fatigue pants, followed by his jackets and shined black boots. He finally rested his peaked cap at an angle on his head before slipping on his gun and sabre belt.

“I’ll come back if you call.” Dominic said as he walked to the bed, Maria gave a faint smile.

“I know… You big softy.” The woman leaned up and gave him a kiss on the cheek. “Now go, I’ll be alright, I’ve dealt with this on my own before.” Dominic paused, then kissed her full on, taking her by a bit of surprise. When he pulled away he stood up straight.

“I love you.” He said in a quiet voice.

“I love you too, now quit stalling.” Maria replied, the man nodded and walked to the door. His face shifted into a scowl as he pulled it open and stepped outside. The commander found himself face to face with Draco, the thestral snapped to a salute. Dominic returned it and looked around, he was standing on a catwalk overlooking the third warehouse that had been turned into a temporary motor pool. The captured vehicles were being loaded down with supplies, the stench of the outside permeated the room and prompted Dominic to reach for his gasmask on his belt. Once it was pulled on he looked to Draco, the thestral still standing at attention.

“Take me to the prisoners.” Dominic said, Draco nodded and began walking down the steps of the catwalk with the commander behind him. Their boots echoed on the metal stairway until they met the cold hard concrete and shifted into deliberate clicks. “What is it that made you think this couldn’t wait, herr Major?”

“They claimed to be members of some sort of peacekeeping association, herr Commander.” Draco informed as he marched along beside Dominic, the two of them pushed open a pair of metal doors and stepped outside. The pair could see some of the freed slaves were still huddling together while others were already walking around in new uniforms, of course they had been marked with different markings. There had been no shortage of recruits, but not for the CNG. Surprisingly they had all been for the New American Army, which had been a bit of a surprise, not that Dominic was complaining.

Still many of them were too weak to be of any help as it stood, but Dominic wasn’t interested in doing anything that would require their service any time soon. They threw him a couple weak salutes as he walked past, all of which he returned respectfully. The man’s attention returned to Draco once they had passed by the new recruits, he grasped his hands behind him in thought.

“What association, Draco?” He asked with an even tone, his voice slightly muffled by his mask.

“The United Nations, herr Commander.” Draco replied, Dominic stopped mid step for a moment before scowling and pinching the bridge of his nose. “Is that bad, sir?” Dominic nodded as he walked along, his boots crunching the dirt beneath them.

“Bunch of limp dicked, pussy footing, indecisive fuck heads…” Dominic muttered bitterly, Draco caught sight of his commander pulling on his black leather gloves. The gasmask continued to wheeze, puffs of breath being carried away in the chilly morning air. It was bad enough he had to leave Maria when she was upset, but it was because of two people who claimed to be from an organization he thoroughly disliked, two people that had the night before been caught watching him through the scope of a sniper rifle.

“If these assholes want to talk it’s probably to save their own skin.” Dominic continued as he walked towards one of the warehouses, it had been turned into a makeshift interrogation center as it had more rooms than the other buildings. “It doesn’t matter if they’re EOL or UN, either way they piss me off.” Draco nodded quietly, sensing that something was deeply bothering his commanding officer, something that went far beyond the captured snipers. “Speaking of prisoners, anything to report on the EOL troops?”

“We’ve been keeping them in one of the former slave pens, herr Commander. They’ve given us nothing but trouble, especially their commander.” Draco responded, Dominic muttered a few annoyed curses under his breath before looking at the building ahead of him once again. “They’re demanding odd things as well.”

“Such as?” Dominic inquired with a raised eyebrow, Draco cleared his throat.

“Firstly, they demand you release us.” The stallion said with a bit of a chuckle, Dominic’s eyebrow only rose further. “They seem to be under the impression that you’re forcing us to fight for you. Secondly, they demand we give them more rations for their… er… Special cases.”

“We’ve issued them the same rations we receive.” Dominic said firmly, smacking a fist into his palm. “Their delusion of being special snowflakes may have worked on their old commander, but we are going to show them there’s nothing special about them. They’re humans, nothing else.”

“All due respect, herr Commander, but that seems like a harsh thing to say…” Draco commented, Dominic shook his head and continued his walk.

“This planet is harsh, herr Major.” The man said as he finally reached the building, the commander stopped outside the doors and looked down at his thestral subordinate. “These are people who enslave and torture, many of them like to pretend they are something else so that they can shirk off their responsibility in it all. Some of them even pretend they are thestrals, and I highly doubt you would like to be associated with them.”

“Nein, herr Commander!” Draco said sternly and snapping to attention. “They dare to take the name of our species as their own, they misrepresent our race? I withdraw my previous comment, herr Commander!” Dominic nodded and gave the stallion a brief salute.

“Dismissed, herr Major. See to it the EOL prisoners are aware of our new policy.” The commander ordered, Draco returned the salute before walking away to carry out the new command. Dominic turned back to the doors of the building and pushed the heavy metal slab open, it squealed on its hinges as it was forced inwards. The man entered the warehouse and found himself standing in a dimly lit hallway, several CNG soldiers were standing by numerous doors that lined the hallway. Each snapped to attention when they spotted Dominic, the man nodded to them as he walked past, occasionally peeking through the windows in the doors at numerous prisoners being interrogated.

Dominic came to a stop at the last door, inside he could see Jen sitting across from the two captured snipers. The captain was facing the door and snapped to attention at the sight of the commander, the two snipers looked around in confusion before Dominic pushed the door open and stepped inside. He closed the door slowly and methodically as the two snipers quickly spotted him, both of them looked at eachother for a moment. Dominic quietly took in the room’s decor, it had been an office before the CNG had taken the building. There were several empty filing cabinets in the far corner and an old cheap desk acting as a table between interrogator and interrogatee.

“At ease, Captain Poplawski.” Dominic said as he walked around the desk and beside Jen, his gasmask wheezing faintly. He reached up and removed his cap, then set it on the table to assert that his dominance. After a couple seconds he removed his gasmask and sighed, the mask found itself in a pouch on his belt. Jen sat back down as her commander continued to stand beside her, the man crossed his arms and looked at the two UN interlopers with a neutral scowl.

“Commander Occisor, these are the prisoners that were captured last night.” Jen said, Dominic hummed and looked down at the desk. Jen had a small pad of paper and pen, the paper was blank. “They refuse to speak with anyone but you, sir.”

“It is urgent that we-” The man sitting across from Jen started, but Dominic held out a hand to silence him. “Mister Occisor, please let me explain-”

“Nein.” Dominic said firmly, his hand briefly moved to his head and massaged his temple. “Let me explain, whoever you are. I have no interest in hearing what you have to say, nor will I pretend like I do.” The commander leaned forwards and rested his hands on the table, his face a couple inches from the scruffy looking man. “The woman I love is in a very vulnerable state and I am here having to deal with a pair of failed assassins!”

“We weren’t trying to assassinate you!” The woman, a rather well built red head, shouted. Dominic’s head pivoted to look at her in a way not dissimilar to that of an angry cobra, the woman didn’t flinch even as she stared into the angry green eyes of the American commander. “We were observing you, yes, but we weren’t going to kill you!”

“So you aren’t assassins… You’re spies.” Dominic said without a hint of relenting in his tone. “We shoot spies, you know? Are you sure that’s the route you want to go?”

“Please, contact our commander! He’ll straighten everything out!” The woman pleaded, Dominic stood up straight and looked at Jen. The Captain didn’t look impressed, she’d leaned back in her seat and had her arms folded neatly against her chest. “Mark, say something!”

“What should I say?” The man, Mark, asked as he looked at the woman beside him. “He’s wrong? They got us dead to rights, Andie. I don’t see what calling Putin would do.” The room became very quiet as both Dominic and Jen’s eyes widened at the mention of the Russian President. “Look, Dominic we-”

“How do you know his name?” Jen suddenly asked, Mark’s face fell as Dominic stood up straight. “Sir, I think it’s safe to say there’s a spy in our midst.”

“We have all sorts of personal papers on him! That’s how we know!” The woman, Andie, suddenly stuttered. “Check our truck! We have copies of them!” Dominic’s face was one of contemplation, even if they were telling the truth, he had to still consider the possibility there was a spy in the ranks. Someone who knew him well enough to… Dominic shook his head, mentally filing that information away for later.

“You mentioned Putin would be able to clear this up?” Dominic asked, both of the snipers nodded quickly. “Even if I believed you, which I don’t, why would I trust an ex-KGB ruskie like Putin?” Both of them looked at eachother for a couple seconds before Andie snapped her fingers and held up a finger.

“How about… General Hillard? Would you trust him?” She asked, Dominic froze at the mention of the name. Several memories of past fourth of July barbeques and christmases passed through his mind, Jen watched with rapt attention as her Commander adjusted his coat and cleared his throat.

“Uncle Hillard is still alive?” Dominic finally asked, he rubbed his forehead in shock. “Jesus, Dad told me he died when I was eleven…” The man looked at Andie and Mark for several seconds, then to Jen. “Get me a radio.”

[♠]

Hinkman watched the satellite feed with sweat forming on his brow, seated beside him was Vladimir Putin and General Hillard. They were watching in the meeting room as the odd creatures circled over the captured base like bloodthirsty vultures, as well as the recording footage of his two best assets being captured and hauled off into the base. The footage was twelve hours old, and not a single UN agent dared approach the area to find out of the two captured agents were okay.

“This proves one thing.” Putin finally said as he watched in stunned amazement, he leaned forwards and paused the video on the flying figures. “Wherever he came from, it wasn’t earth… At least not as we know it. For all intents and purposes, we should treat this like a first contact situation.” There were several hushed mumbles of agreement as Putin looked to Hinkman with a neutral expression. “Have you uncovered anything further about Occisor?”

“The feeds I’ve been watching show he has some sort of honor complex…” Hinkman stated, all eyes turned to look at him with confusion. “In the footage taken of his combat with the EOL tank unit, he clearly had shots on two fleeing soldiers. He didn’t take them though.” The agent leaned forwards and ran a hand over his head. “If he was in another world, it would make sense that perhaps he adopted some of their customs. He may be far easier to speak with than first thought.”

“So it seems…” Putin said with a hum, then he paused and looked closer at the creatures in the air. “Any idea what those are? What they could be compared to?” Hinkman hummed in thought, but eventually shook his head. “Hillard, what would you say the likelihood of success a strike team would have if they tried to get our agents out.”

“Not good, they’d have to get past those flying creatures, tanks, snipers and who knows what else is in that place.” Hillard replied with a bit of hesitation, continuing to stare at the screen in a bit of surprise at the revelation. “It would be best to just cut our losses here-”

“No.” Hinkman said firmly, both Putin and Hillard looked at him with raised eyebrows. “We still don’t know what Occisor is capable of, he could very well be interrogating them for information to use in an attack on us.” In actuality Hinkman knew that neither Mark or Andie knew anything about the UN’s defenses, but he was willing to say anything to help his friends. Putin seemed to see through his ruse however, and Hinkman knew Putin very well.

“That’s a risk we will have to take, Agent Hinkman.” The Russian said in a much firmer, sterner tone than Hinkman thought possible. “We will not jeopardize our forces in order to save two agents that knew what they were getting into. You’re dismissed.” Hinkman was about to speak, but a glare from Putin made it very clear that would be unwise. As the agent began to stand the door to the meeting room was pushed open by a frantic looking guard.

“General Hillard, there’s a radio call for you!” The soldier said loudly, Hillard raised an eyebrow before turning to a phone that sat on the table. It rarely ever saw use, but it seemed that the communications officer had already put the radio call through. Hinkman stayed seated as Hillard and Putin turned to look at the phone with hesitation. “They said it was ‘Night Eagle’ calling.”

“Thank you, Sergeant.” Putin said as Hillard reached to the phone, the soldier at the door closed it and left the trio in waiting silence. The General’s finger pushed the speakerphone button and the man cleared his throat to speak.

“Hello?” Putin cut in, his voice masked uncertainty.

”Who the hell is this?” A young male voice replied, it was a deep baritone with the faintest hint of a German accent.

“This is President Vladimir Putin of the Russian Federation.” Putin replied, Hillard and Hinkman listened carefully as they heard an annoyed sigh on the other end of the call.

”They put the fuckin’ commie on the line… What did I tell you?” The voice on the other end seemed to be speaking with someone else, Putin was certainly surprised at the bluntness he received at the mention of his name. Then again, it was likely whoever was on the other end didn’t know about his recent work with the UN. ”This is President Dominic Occisor of the New United States of America. Commander of the New American expeditionary force. I currently have sitting with me two agents of your organization who were caught with sniper rifles and believed to be assassins.”

“You idiots! I told you no sniper rifles!” Hinkman practically shouted before Putin glared him into silence, there was another annoyed huff from the other end of the line.

“Now I have heard two voices, neither of whom is the person I wished to speak to… It does not look like things are going well for you.” Dominic’s voice rang through the speakerphone once again, in the background there was the sound of hushed whispers. ”President Putin, I wish to speak with General Hillard. I trust that will be difficult, as I was told he died some time ago.”

“What idiot said I was dead?” Hillard suddenly spoke up, the room went silent. A soft chuckle emanated from the other side of the radio call, almost as if in disbelief.

“Uncle Hillard… And here I was thinking I would get some rushed imposter.” The mysterious commander replied, all three men in the room were looking at eachother with some sort of surprise. Truly none of them had any real idea of how to respond, Occisor sounded like he was either annoyed or shocked. ”These agents I have in my custody, I assume they were sent here to gather intelligence on my forces. What surprises me is that they also seemed to be here to observe me, did you think I was some sort of savage warlord?”

“We were uncertain of your intentions, Dominic. You just showed up out of nowhere with aliens and tanks, we can’t let that go unobserved.” Hillard countered, a couple seconds of silence passed over the room. “Dominic?”

”I appologize, herr General. I was preoccupied. It seems one of these agents of yours had slipped out of his cuffs.” Dominic finally spoke, causing the trio to exhale in slight relief. ”As for your observations, it is understandable, and I would have done it myself. However… I now find myself with two snipers that I cannot keep locked up with the rest of my EOL prisoners of war.”

“We’ll gladly take them back!” Hinkman chimed up, once again there was an annoyed groan on the other side of the radio. Putin remained silent, eyeing up Hinkman as they waited for some sort of response. The Russian President didn’t want to let on that Dominic probably held the upper hand in the way of military forces, but it was becoming difficult with constant interruptions.

”I assume that was Agent Hinkman that Fraulein Andreina is so fond of talking about for the past ten minutes.” Dominic said with a bit of a grunt. ”Releasing them to you is out of the question, the resources it would take cannot be justified. Furthermore, I will not release them on their own. For all I know they could be captured and interrogated by the EOL, and considering they have been observing our forces closely…”

“President Occisor…” Putin said, using the title with utmost seriousness. As far as Putin knew, Occisor could be the Emperor of some distant planet and he didn’t wish to offend him. “Surely, there must be something we can work out? Perhaps a trade in order to soften the loss in resources?”

“Ja… Ja… That could work.” Dominic replied hesitantly, a couple moments passed before he spoke up again. ”Medical supplies and blankets would be a good start, we have liberated many of the EOL’s forced laborers. We can have our logistical personnel work out the details later. There are a couple, shall we say unusual, items I would like to request.”

“What would those be?” Putin asked, part of him was somewhat excited. It had been years since he’d actually worked out a political deal with someone, even if they seemed like a bit of a novice.

”Detailed blueprints for the Fokker D Seven fighter airplane of the First World War, twenty books on basic engineering, a polaroid camera, styrofoam, and… Two boxes of cigars.” The room fell silent several seconds, they truly were unusual items and Putin was having trouble wrapping his head around why they would need blueprints to a biplane. It struck him that perhaps the age of fly by wire fighter aircraft was done, and that the old designs would be far better for the new world that they lived in. ”Do we have a deal?”

“Yes, Mister President. We have a deal.”

Author's Notes:

Well here's another one my faithful readers, I appologize that it's so short, but I didn't feel right including much else in this chapter, it just didn't feel like it would suit the mood... Anyway! I'm feeling better, for the most part. Took a nice long drive down the shore a couple days ago, might do it again tomorrow. But you guys don't care about that, you guys are here for the clip of the day! Well, here it is!

A look into the inspiration for Johnny... Not related to the Johnny in the video...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bfRgVbp9gSY