Chapter Thirty: Not A Warm Welcome.
Cold, bitter, snowfall came down in Russia. Not exactly the best place people wanted to be during any time, especially when they wanted to be comfortable. A bright light appeared, and Harry Potter dropped down, dressed in armor which protected from both the attacks and the cold.
Nyssa and Sara dropped down behind Harry. Talia decided not to join them on the mission, due to wanting to move the prisoner to a secure location. The Daughter of the Demon also intended to search for the remaining pockets of Bane's men. She assured Nyssa, Sara, and Harry it was an investigation which could be undertaken on her own, and there was no reason for them to intervene. So, Harry decided not to intervene, and just let Talia do.
'We're in contact if we need something,' Nyssa thought. 'So, are we in the right place?'
Harry spent a second. The medallion opened a portal to this location, due to the familiar magic in the air. Harry wondered if it would be easy enough to drop them back in the location with the spider medallion. Harry had possession of two medallions, took him long enough, to be honest. Even though the medallion would have to be held for the rightful owner, and Harry still needed to find that rightful owner.
'One problem at a time,' Harry thought. 'And yes, we're in the general area. Something is off in the air though.'
Harry moved around outside of the cave and poked inside. Several men scrambled around the area of the cave. One of them looked on and was speaking very fast in Russia and sounding very agitated when doing so.
"He's saying they couldn't have gotten far," Nyssa said. "The westerners, they'll pay for what they've done."
"What, who did what?" Sara asked.
Nyssa shrugged in response. A good question, to be honest, an even better question would be, was the medallion around this area? Nyssa stepped towards the cave and noticed markings similar to a spider.
"With any luck, we won't have to fight giant spiders," Sara said.
"Been there, done that," Harry said in a very bored voice.
"Why am I not surprised?" Sara asked.
Harry held a hand up and they moved to a dark corner into the cave. Contrary to popular opinion, Harry very much liked to avoid a fight when necessary.
"It's too bad the medallion can't translate," Harry muttered.
No sooner did those words pass out of Harry's mouth, the medallion flickered to life. Harry thought for a second, the medallion would have given away their location. The men looked around on the opposite end of the cave.
"They would have been buried alive by now," one of the men said.
"Until we find a way to bring the bodies up, and verify, they're still out there," another man said. "Spies, filthy, dirty spies and they think…they think they can disable Mr. Kovar's operation. Well, they are in for some kind of rude awakening, aren't they?"
Harry got a name of the man who was involved in the operation, Kovar, and something told the sorcerer he was on the right track. A loud humming sound came from the cave, and Harry frowned. It was almost like someone else opened a portal.
The men looked up and a figure almost fell down onto the cave wall. Harry noticed a flicker of a watch around the figure's wrist.
"Rose?" Sara asked, noticing the same thing.
The question of why Rose decided to pop up in the cave would have to wait until later. Several of the men pointed weapons at the young girl. Rose withdrew a concealed dagger and stabbed one of the nearest men in the throat, doubling him over.
The others made a grab for Rose. Rose twisted out of the attack and nailed one of the men in the ribs. Rose dipped behind the attacker. One huge kidney punch dropped the grunting goon down to the ground. Rose flipped the man down and hyperextended the arm. The elbow drove down to the side of the man's neck and smashed him face first down onto the ground.
One of them closed in on Rose from behind. Nyssa looked towards Sara and Harry and all three of them had the same general thought when dealing with this situation.
'So much for stealth.'
Nyssa came out of the shadows and knocked the man with the gun back down. Several more inches back and the man would have dropped down a bottomless pit straight to doom. Nyssa pulled the man back and nailed the man with another punch.
Two stun batons whipped out and Sara dodged them with a flipping attack. The nimble blonde dropped down behind the attacker. The warrior's dodging frustrated the mercenary. Sara finally got the hang of dodging each individual attack. The more the attacks had been ducked, the more frustrated.
"Bitch!"
Well, at least the gentleman, a term used very loosely, used English. Sara avoided the baton coming into her stomach and kicked the man down across the back of the head. Sara pulled out the sonic weapon, the last one borrowed from ARGUS, and pressed a button.
A shrill cry doubled over several of the attackers. Harry came down from the heavens. Bullets bounced off of a field around Harry. One of them looked up and saw the medallion on Harry's chest. Horror struck the man with one clubbing blow from Rose did.
The dust settled and most of the men had been knocked out. One only just barely remained awake. Nyssa leaned down and grabbed the man by the shoulder to force a standing position. Nyssa grapevine the arm and pulled it back, agonizing the man something fierce.
"You can't stay out of trouble, can you?" Harry asked.
"Well, no," Rose admitted. "But, believe it or not, I didn't take a trip to Russia for my health. It's Liv, Nym, and Holly, they were….well they went on a mission for Waller, and they never checked in. Mia was flipping out."
Harry could only imagine. Regardless, the Dragon's attention turned towards Nyssa who grabbed the man's shoulder and twisted it.
"You're going to tell me everything you know," Nyssa said. "Do you understand me?"
"Da," the man muttered.
"There were three women down here," Rose said. "Do you know anything about them?"
"Oh, those idiot women blew up the ground and caused a rock slide," the man said in broken English. "We were planning to search for them. After all, you can't declare someone dead without a body."
'They have brain cells,' Sara thought.
Harry peered down to the hole and the good news was, he sensed no corpses down the hole or no one in danger of dying. Other than clarifying that particular fact, Harry could hardly tell.
Tess Mercer roamed both the top floor and the basement, for lack of anything else better to do. The Westerners arriving out in the middle of nowhere had been the most exciting event. Kovar's men had not been by in a while, but regardless, Tess did not know what happened. Perhaps they were busy, perhaps there were other reasons. Tess did not want to take the chance to be perfectly honest.
'Knowing your luck over the past year, the minute to step outside, you could be dead.'
A thumping sound could have been heard deep inside the basement which caused the hairs on the back of Tess's hair to stand up. Tess never stepped inside of this particular part of the basement, given there were rumors those who entered this area of the basement would be punished.
The reasons precisely why they would be punished, well, Tess could not really tell without a shadow of a doubt. There were rumors Kovar's men kept their wine down in the basement, but it could not have been clarified to be perfectly honest. Tess stopped a few seconds later and the sound stopped.
'Maybe it's just you going mad,' Tess thought.
Hardship should not have broken Tess, given the conditions she grew up in. Regardless, the redhead peered down the hallway and waited for something. In a dark, dimly lit basement, shadows moving caused a person's imagination to run wild.
Another loud thumping sound made Tess stand up straighter. Imagination or not, something was down here, or rather someone. Tess made sure the makeshift weapon had been in hand. The last line of defense, as crudely made as it was, gave Tess some level of security, a blanket which could allow Tess to have some level of security.
'Why don't I feel secure now?'
Another loud thumping sound echoed and Tess stood up even straighter. Tess could see something moving and walked over. The lights grew a bit brighter in this part of the basement. Tess hesitated to flick on a light switch. The redhead walked past, not wine, but several boxes full of papers and books.
No time to really shuffle through those boxes now to see what was there. Tess leaned back a few inches and leaned towards the darkness. A figure stepped from the shadows and looked hunched over. Something happened to the figure which caused a minimal injury, or maybe something more serious.
"Who are….."
Tess saw a figure stumble a little bit. Whatever adrenaline brought the person here, wore off. Tess caught the figure when falling over. The feeling of the body pressed against her caused Tess to guess the mysterious figure was a woman. Tess looked over and frowned.
"Are you okay?" Tess asked.
Stupid question given where they were, but one Tess had to ask, to keep the peace. The figure grabbed Tess's shoulder lightly to remain standing and took in a deep breath. The pained breaths continued as the figure tried to remain standing.
"I'll be fine, I've had worse," she said.
Tess understood false bravado when she heard it. Regardless, the figure moved over towards a cot which had been left in the basement. Tess rummaged around and got her hands on a minimal first aid kit.
"I don't know how you got here, but you stumbled on the last place someone in your condition wants to be…you're going to have to take that off so I can get a look at you."
The woman hesitated for a second. Tess leaned in and put a hand on the woman's shoulder. The gesture did a lot to relax the woman, who obviously was on pins and needles on her way there.
"You're going to have to trust me," Tess said.
"I'm going to have to."
The hood part of the outfit had been taken off, and Tess could have gasped. The face had been recognized from the news, and it was the face of Olivia Queen. The girl who went missing close to two years ago, after the Queen's Gambit had gone down. She would have been declared dead a long time ago when Tess was in captivity.
"What's the matter?" she asked.
"I'm not used to meeting dead people," Tess said. "The rest of it, please."
Liv shrugged off the rest of the attire, dressed in nothing but a sport's bra to show her ample breasts and flat, toned, abs, without an ounce of fat. Tess noticed a few small scraps on the side, along with a cut coming down the woman's back.
"That doesn't hurt, does it?" Tess asked.
"Well, it didn't hurt until you started to poke at it," Liv said, closing her eyes at the agony of feeling Tess's finger brush against the injury.
Tess pulled back with a soft smile and a soft sigh, almost apologetic. There was only so much which could have been done here, with the injuries to the woman. Thankfully, by some small grace, the injuries were not immense. A few bruised ribs, some cuts, nothing else. Tess shined a flashlight in Liv's eyes.
"You don't seem to have a concussion," Tess said.
"That's good news," Liv said with a smoke. "I think I'm scatter brained enough without the added head trauma thank you very much."
Liv's breathing continued a few seconds later. An attractive redhead feeling her up wasn't the worst way to spend some time. It could have been much worse. Regardless, Liv tried not to let herself get distracted by her own enjoyment of the situation for too long. Despite everything else that happened, there was still some work to be down. Liv took a deep breath and let it out.
"So, am I good to go?" Liv asked.
Tess nodded and heard something falling the way Liv had gone. The redhead moved over to check the door, only to reveal the tunnel collapsed in. Tess took a deep breath and turned back to Liv.
"Well, good thing you got there when you did," Tess said. "You would have been buried alive."
Liv's heart sank somewhere down to the pit of her stomach. No way out of here, they did not have a chance to get out of here, and her team had been trapped. Had they found their own way out or had they been buried alive elsewhere? Liv tried not to get frustrated.
"You weren't alone, were you?" Tess asked.
"No," Liv said. "The rest of my team….."
Liv staggered a moment and felt very flushed. Tess grabbed the Billionaire heiress's arm to prevent a collapse to the ground. The moment Tess checked Liv's pulse, she felt something. It was very weird, to be honest, but Tess deduced through common sense what was going on.
"You need water and food," Tess said. "Not a whole lot of that here, unfortunately. We're at the mercy of Kovar, but…that's a long story. We'll see what you can do…get that hood back on and make sure your face is covered at all times."
"Why?" Liv asked.
"You're a known face," Tess said. "People aren't going to like the fact you're here."
Liv had a pretty strong suspicion this woman was not telling her everything to be perfectly honest. She did not really know, to be honest.
"So, we're going to have to…."
"Tess," she said with a smile. "I should take you upstairs."
Not the first time Tess said that to another woman, although this time, there were less fun reasons for saying that sentence. Liv made sure to secure the hood, for reasons which Tess hoped would be clear the moment the woman cleared the steps. For now, Tess just had to play it calm and collected when leading Liv up the stairs.
Liv stepped into one of the most depressing and hopeless places in the world. She turned around and noticed a man in the corner who had been just humming. Another man lying on a cot looked up and looked towards the woman who came in from the other side of the basement.
"Great, another mouth to feed…not that it matters, they're slowly starving us."
The cynical nature around the room caused Liv to feel really anxious about everything which was going on around her. Nervousness spread through the body of the young woman and she turned around to see another woman. Liv had a feeling that there were only three women in this area.
The woman would have been beautiful, had she not have been so beaten down. The dark hair came down her face. The woman scrawled down something on a pad of paper and crossed it out violently. Liv took a moment to look and blinked, realizing the name was Robert Queen. The woman wrote Robert Queen's name several times and crossed it out several times.
"Her name is Isabel Rochev," Tess whispered. "She's been here slightly longer than I have been, and she's only kept alive by one thing, vengeance."
Liv somehow knew, to be honest. The woman continued to go to work on the pad and Liv could tell why Tess warned her to keep the hood on.
"So, let's get lunch," Tess said. "Hope you like stale bread and soup and water….it's not much, but it's all we've got."
Beggars could not be choosers, and given what Liv had to work with to survive during the over a year before ARGUS picked her up, it could have been much worse. It could have been much better, but at the same time, it could have been much worse.
A large broad shouldered blonde man sat and drank fine wine in an even finer dining hall. News reached him that there had been spies in the country. Spies who intended to destabilize an operation which had been set up by the Russian government in a very legitimate way.
Konstantin Kovar earned the role in the government and continued to achieve several very important goals along the way. He made lots of money, for lots of important people. Started from very humble beginnings, as a prized fighter in Russia, working his way up the ranks, and stepped on some very important toes along the way, but it was just the nature of business. It was nothing very personal.
A knock on the door caused Kovar to put down his wine.
"Come in," Kovar said. The man opened the door, a very broad shouldered Bulgarian gentleman who walked into the room. "Viktor, come in, sit down."
"Thank you, Mr. Kovar," he said. "We have a problem."
Kovar took a drink from the wine.
"I'm not sure what to think about this, Viktor," Kovar said. "Is it Bratva? Are they causing more problems."
"No sir," the Bulgarian youth responded. "It's him…he's been sighted…in the country…..the Dragon."
Kovar took a moment to sip on the wine very thoughtfully.
"Yes, the Dragon," Kovar said. "Do you understand what forces he can command? It would not be wise to make an enemy out of him, rather an ally….."
"But, you have one of the medallions?" Viktor asked.
"Yes, Viktor, I have one of the amulets," Kovar confirmed. "The spider, a medallion which has ties to Russia….further back….it's inspired them…inspired the Red Room."
The young man looked very confused, and Kovar decided to elaborate.
"The Red Room is when they took young innocent girls and trained them to be deadliest of assassins," Kovar said. "They call them Black Widow, after deadliest of all spiders. One bite and you're dead, just like one attack from them, and most of their marks died."
Kovar took a moment to sip on the wine and smiled at his young charge like a favorite nephew.
"The point is, the program had been shut down during the Cold War, but all of those girls had to go somewhere," Kovar said. "They grew into mercenaries, working. Some of them joined a cult which worshiped the spider goddess…although they have never been able to find this medallion."
Kovar pointed behind to a case which the medallion shined. Any special properties it had, it would have to wait. Kovar's lips curled into a smile when turning back.
"We will have to meet with the Dragon," Kovar said. "He should thank me for liberating the medallion. There are other more sinister forces who would cause great harm, such as the White Bumblebee."
Both men in the room shuddered to even speak of the name of that particular man.
Dare they try and find a way up? Holly asked herself that question sooner rather than later. Her pulse started to race, along with a quickening heartbeat. Holly never did nervous a lot of the time. Still, they had been in a situation where they had screwed up.
"Maybe I shouldn't have agitated the rocks and brought us down here," Nym said.
"A bit too late for apologies," Holly said, voice a little bit colder than intended. "We need to get out of here, and hope we can find a way to extract Liv."
Holly spent as much time as possible to try and fiddle with the communication ear piece. The ear piece whistled when trying to press it in. The thing was very much busted, and Holly did not like the looks of it. No way to get back to home base.
The only good thing Holly could think of was the fact Mia would be freaking out something fierce and would likely have tried to nag Waller about a search party. That would have been a conversation Holly wished to be a fly on the wall for.
"Well, the only way to get out of here is to go up, "Nym responded. She anxiously drew in a deep breath and turned to Holly who responded with a very casual shrug.
"After you."
No question about it, Nym felt like a canary being sent into the mine, taking the first step. Any magic could further bury them down the cave. Nym took the first tentative step up and reached towards the air. It had been a long jump and Nym had never been the most graceful girl in the world.
'Take a deep breath.'
Nym jumped as far as possible. She tried to think positive. This jump could be made. There was no question about it, the jump could be made. Very close to not making the jump, and Nym's heart practically stuttered when almost slipping down into the chamber beneath.
A hand reached out and grabbed Nym to yank her back up. Nym turned around and came face to face with Rose who pulled her up to a standing position.
"Thank Morgana's hairy…"
"You're welcome," Rose said. "Is Holly or Liv down there?"
Nym took a couple of minutes to catch her bearings. After a second, she pointed down and Holly came up. Sara and Nyssa joined them and pulled Holly up into the cave instantly.
"There's Holly," Nym said. "As for Liv, well that's a good question. There was an incident where we got separated and…"
"Liv is still trapped down there," Rose said. "I know it's really weird, but earlier, I saw a vision of what happened, and it brought me here. Thankfully Harry, Nyssa, and Sara were here, otherwise, things would have gotten really ugly, but….maybe things are going to get ugly."
Something about the cave put Rose on edge and looking around them, the teenager could only begin to guess what the others thought.
"So, wait, you saw it?" Holly asked. "Is this some kind of side effect to the Mir..whatever?"
"She could be a seer," Nym offered. That thought seemed a bit absurd to Nym when saying it, but given how many absurd things Nym saw, perhaps it was not the worst possible thought. "Well, kind of a seer, I mean, it's not like she's seeing things that are going to happen, maybe. She could be seeing something that's going to happen, or is happening or something like that."
The shape-shifter took a deep breath before tripping all over her words and then returning back to the conversation at hand.
"Maybe," Nyssa agreed. "But, maybe it's another side effect."
"Well, guess it's just more tests for me, the last thing I really want to do right about now," Rose said.
"So, are you two okay?" Sara asked.
"Well, we'd be a lot better if we weren't nearly buried alive," Nym offered, with a slight shoulder shrug. "And we would be even better if we got out of the creepy spider cave of death…and you know, we found the other girl we're with. Who I suspect is down there somewhere."
Rose moved closer with eyes screwed shut. A deep breath came through the girl. Nothing popped into her head other than frustration. Whatever triggered the vision regarding the caves collapsing, and Liv, Holly, and Nym being separated did not happen twice.
'Damn, why, why, why?' Rose asked.
"Don't force it," Sara said. "You looked….well no offense, but you looked more constipated than anything."
"Thanks," Rose said. "I just wish I had found a way to find out where she went….maybe Harry will have better luck tracking her down, at least I hope so."
"Speaking of which," Nym said. "Where is the Dragon?"
"He had to check out something," Sara said. "He should be back any moment, right about now. Unless of course, he got in trouble."
Rose took a few seconds to sigh, she hated to be cynical, but at the same time, found it highly likely. The presence creeping in the cave gave Rose some creeps. What crept out the poor girl, even more, were carvings being etched in the walls.
"Return what was stolen or suffer."
Nym's mouth opened and shivered. Everything grew even creepier and something loomed in the cave. She watched Rose, Sara, and Nyssa who remained ready to fight whatever came around the corner.
Liv stood in the corner, just waiting for the other shoe to drop. The woman started to scratch a line through a piece of paper and once again write the name of Robert Queen. Several times, the woman scratched through the paper over and over again and tore it to shreds in anger.
"If you're going to stare at me, at least tell me what's on your mind."
The woman, Isabel, looked straight into Liv's eyes. Liv's hand shook, very nervously when walking over towards the woman. No way, she could have known who Liv was. Still, it was a very anxious situation.
"You hate Robert Queen?"
Liv knew the very instant when she spoke this question, there was something very personal about it. Liv should not have spoken the question to be an instant.
"It's personal," Isabel said.
"Oh, it's obvious….you're holding onto something, and it really isn't that healthy to hide onto that kind of bitterness," Liv responded a second or so later.
There had been a very long sigh in response coming from Isabel. The woman, by some miracle, put down the tablet of paper and turned to direct her full attention to Liv. The moment those eyes were locked on Liv, Liv knew right away there was something really going on.
"I don't know how you got here, and I don't know who you are," Isabel said. "One lesson you're going to learn when you're here is everyone here has given up hope, well most of everyone here has given up hope. Unlike some of them, I have something to hold onto. That bastard who ruined my life, he took everything from me, when I gave so much to him, I gave him some of the best work."
Liv thought the name Rochev sounded very familiar, but to be honest, Liv didn't really know. One of her father's conquests, well Liv thought it was very possible. Anyone who thought Robert Queen was completely a faithful family man was delusional. Liv thought the world of the man, but she did not become very blind to some very obvious and very evident flaws. Liv took in another deeper breath when looking at the woman across the room. Those deep breaths increased.
"You worked for Queen?"
"I started as his personal assistant, but over time, I became a trusted partner in business, at least so I assumed I was," Isabel said. "We had a relationship which got very intense, and pretty personal….and I thought I knew the real Robert Queen, a man his family barely knew still existed. I thought he was a good man."
Isabel took in a deep breath.
"He chose his family over me, over the fresh start I offered him," Isabel spat, sounding very bitter in response. "His children….I know Thea wasn't his…."
"What?" Liv asked.
This revelation floored Thea.
"Not sure about Olivia, not that anyone would have acknowledged her, given the spoiled entitled brat she is," Isabel said. "Given the fact she didn't wind up dead in a gutter somewhere by the time she was twenty really shows how unfair was. She's likely living the high life in Starling City, with her many adoring fans and friends, while I'm stuck her, rotting, because I pledged my heart to a man who would stomp on it."
"its…she didn't know about this," Liv said.
"You don't know the Queens like I do," Isabel said. "I gave Robert a choice, either choose me, or he choose his faithless wife and his worthless kids….kids which I'm not even sure was he come to think of it. I would have never betrayed him, and now he ended up betraying me….that son of a bitch, I hope he burns in hell when he dies!"
"Why did he….just because he didn't run off with his family, he betrayed you," Liv said.
"Oh, no, it's much more than that," Isabel said. "I knew Robert was making plans to help clean up a city which was built on corruption and on crime. He made a deal with Malcolm Merlyn and a cabal of like-minded individuals. I didn't like it, but what could I say? I was faithful….they planned to sacrifice some of the worst parts of Starling City…..I confronted him about this, tried to tell him he was going down the wrong path."
Isabel gave a very defeated sigh.
"I was drugged, and shipped off to this hellhole in Russia, to die, and likely go insane," Isabel said. "That son of a bitch used me, I let him sleep with me, and I helped hold his company up, I did more for him than he ever would know, and he didn't appreciate it."
"I'm sure there's more to this than meets the eye," Liv said.
"Look, I don't know who you are," Isabel said. "I don't even know why I told you this much….mostly because it doesn't matter. There's a chance you're going to be dead soon when Kovar's men come and see a government agent standing in the middle of their prison complex. Many of these guys will sell you out if it means one warm meal."
"Will you?" Liv asked.
"I have nothing to gain," Isabel said.
"You do because we're going to find a way out of here," Liv said. "My friends will find me."
"Your friends…Kovar will have them gunned down before they get close enough," Isabel said.
"Try and have a little hope," Liv said.
"I lost that the first week," Isabel fired back.
Harry Potter separated from the rest of the group, staying in contact with them.
'Holly and Nym are okay, a bit shaken up, but given what happened, I don't really blame them,' Sara thought. A long sigh followed by the woman when she took a second to compose her thoughts. 'Liv, she still hasn't shown up, and I'm worried about her, and for good reason.'
'Well, I have a feeling she's not dead,' Harry thought. 'Or, has been swapped for another alternate version, or really the same alternate version that she got swapped from…which technically was the native version to this universe of….well the multi-verse can cause headaches to even the best of us.'
'Yes, know kidding,' Sara said.
'I thought I saw something lurking around the area of the cave,' Nyssa thought to Harry. 'But, it's just nothing….at least nothing I can see. Given the legends involved around this area in Russia and the rumors what the Soviet Union was up to during World War II and the Cold War….well….'
'The Red Room?' Harry asked.
'Yes,' Nyssa thought. 'They wanted child soldiers, and who better than innocent little girls. They would only age to young women if the rumors of the experiments were true.'
'I think it's highly likely,' Nym thought. 'My mother ran into someone claiming to be one of the girls experimented on, she was sixty years old, but she hadn't aged a day past her twenties.'
'Capturing a woman like that could be very useful,' Rose thought.
'Yeah, they're dangerous, you wouldn't want to try and fight with them,' Nym thought. 'With their state of the art conditioning, mental and physical, it's going to take a long time to get into their heads.'
'If anyone can, Harry can,' Sara thought.
Harry smiled and heard something coming over the edge of a village. A small group of well-armed gentlemen stepped closer towards Harry. Naturally, Harry waited to see what they were up to.
The leader of the group stepped forward, a tall and broad-shouldered blonde man, with an aged face. This gentleman looked like he could crush most people who tried to fight him. Harry noticed something, sensed something rather.
'He's been in contact with one of the Medallions,' Harry thought.
'It's close by, the Spider Medallion then…it's Kovar, isn't it?' Nym asked. 'He's just walked up to you…he must be insane or very confident.'
'Or one of his men mentioned I had been sighted,' Harry said. 'Which was my intention all along.'
"Well, as I live and breathe, the fabled and legendary Dragon," the gentleman said in a bold voice. "Stand your ground, men, there is no need to fight."
The men backed off on their boss's orders. Harry wondered what the catch was. His eyes followed the progress of the gentlemen.
"Konstantin Kovar," Harry said. "I wondered whether or not I was going to run into you."
"Ah, yes, you are as omniscient as the legends say," Kovar said. "Please, I do not wish for a battle. Good men are so hard to find these days, and I'm afraid you would end up ripping apart some of the best….I wish to speak with you, face to face. I think we can come to some kind of understanding with each other."
Unless the understanding resulted in Harry leaving peacefully with the Spider Medallion, Harry doubted it would occur. Regardless, he just nodded politely.
"Let's talk over tea like civilized gentlemen."
"Yes," Harry said. "Let's."
He had a few questions for Kovar, but the fact he would not go to aggression made Harry very curious what angle the gentleman went for.
Chapter Thirty-One: The Ones They Left Behind.
Appearances could be very deceiving. Harry saw the man around him, Kovar, and wondered what the game was. The man seemed personable enough, all things considered. Harry did not want to accuse the man of any kind of trap, but it looked like Kovar was planning something. Exactly what, Harry did not know. The man looked like the type of person to keep cards very close to his chest.
'Do you need us to back you up?' Nyssa thought a moment or so later.
'Be ready in case I need any help,' Harry responded. 'For now, no….I think Kovar will be more relaxed if there aren't any members of the League of Assassins or any ARGUS agents moving around. Best to make sure he's comfortable. He might be more willing to give up information, but if I back him too far into a corner….'
No need to tell them what was going on. The group understood everything completely. Kovar looked around and spoke to his men very calmly. They all nodded and two of them made their way to open the gates to some kind of base of operations, which doubled as a mansion of some sort.
"I do hope you don't mind the walk," Kovar said. "But, keeping my base of operations slightly out discourages retaliation from enemies. There are those who don't understand what we do. I think we have that much in common, don't we?"
Harry answered with a nod in confirmation and waited for Kovar to lead the way inside. Those men still having their weapons forced Harry to remain on his guard at all times. The group made their way up the long slope and stepped into position.
"Just one second, and I'll allow us inside where we can talk together, have a meal, have something to drink, tea, or maybe something a bit stronger?"
"Lead the way, Mr. Kovar," Harry responded.
Harry saw no attempt of deception just yet. There was something unsettling about the air around him. The closer they got, the more Harry sensed they were in proximity of something. They were in proximity of the medallion, the spider medallion.
The glow coming from one of the trophy rooms indicated Harry would be a lot close. A maid stepped around the corner, and walked back, mouth hanging open. She quickly moved to get refreshments for the guests.
"I hope you enjoy my humble home," Kovar said. "It's come a long way since I had to fight for my next meal. I'm now making sure people get an opportunity to have next meal….and we're going to have big meal, aren't we?"
"Well, that's all up to you," Harry said.
"You must try this, my friend," Kovar said. "This wine was some of the strongest in the world. It's very potent and has a sharp enough kick to it just….snap."
Kovar snapped his fingers and one of the henchmen retreated to the cellar to bring up a very elegant looking bottle of wine. Very dusty, very vintage, the man put the bottle of wine down on the table. Another man brought a cork opener. Kovar smiled and pulled on the cork which released the wine in a fizz.
"Here you go, drink to your health."
The wine poured and Harry placed his hand on the glass, performing a scanning charm.
'So, is he brazen enough to try and poison you?' Nyssa asked. 'Because, if he is, he's made his biggest, and final mistake.'
'It's just a little bit stronger than normal,' Harry responded. 'No poisons, no serums, nothing, but a well made, and very potent wine. Enough to get someone without resistance built up drunk with a few drinks.'
Harry could tell the wine would not be enough to knock Kovar over, at least until a few glasses had been downed. The glass had been picked up and Harry took a drink of the wine. He smiled when peering over the edge of the wine glass towards Kovar.
"Did I tell you?" Kovar asked. "Was that not the best wine you've ever tasted?"
"It's pretty good," Harry admitted. "But, I don't think I've just come here to drink all of your wine. There is more pressing business, and I don't think an intelligent man such as yourself is ignorant to the real reasons why I'm here in Russia."
'Well, you're going to tell him, if he doesn't already know,' Sara thought.
'Oh, I'm sure he already knows,' Nyssa commented a second later. 'Why wouldn't Kovar know? He made that show of power and showed how much he had his men under control. Kovar called them off. There's such kernel to what he's saying, he fears what the Dragon would do.'
A knock on the door caused Kovar to look up from Harry. He had been saved, at least for the moment of answering Harry's inquiry about the reason why he was here. Kovar cleared his throat a second later.
"Yes, come in."
The door opened and Harry saw that not only the women from his own world existed in alternate forms, the men did as well. A former opponent in the Triwizard Tournament, Viktor Krum, turned in. He still was slightly more coordinated when standing than the Krum Harry remembered.
"Viktor," Kovar said.
"The latest report, sir," Krum responded a few seconds later. He avoided all eye contact with Kovar's guest and slipped the folder into the man's hand.
"Thank you, Viktor," Kovar responded a second later. "I have a very important guest which I have to entertainment."
"No sir, I need to check on my parents, to see if they are still holding up well after what happened," Krum said, looking at Kovar and not looking at Harry for a second.
'Is it odd to you that he's doing everything possible to avoid your eyes?' Sara asked.
Harry just brushed it off as Krum not doing well around strangers, at least in this world. He was not a world famous Quidditch Star in this universe, rather he appeared to be a hand for a powerful man in Kovar. Krum took a half of a step back and Kovar returned to take a drink of wine.
"He's not very chatty, is he?" Harry asked.
"Viktor's had a very hard life," Kovar said. "I've given himself and his family a second chance after they've had everything taken from them by Bratva….his father has a weakness for gambling. Horse races are is passion, but it was a one-two punch of his mother being ill and his father's debts. He's a good soldier in the battles ahead. I hope to bring tranquility back to many who had lives which were lost."
Kovar took a moment to down another glass of wine.
"And yes, I'm aware you here to ask about the Spider Medallion," Kovar said. "It's a long story of how I acquired that particular artifact. I couldn't be certain what it was at first."
Krum watched the meeting from outside of the room. The Dragon was considered to be a spirit of misfortune from his family, and only bad things happened when the Dragon was around.
'Viktor, you can stop him,' a voice whispered in Viktor's ear. 'Use the medallion, the spider Medallion, you know where it is. Use the power to crush the Dragon.'
Krum could have sworn an image of an unkempt man with a beard appeared in the mirror. The only thing Viktor saw in the mirror was his own reflection. The young Bulgarian man shuddered and heard those whispers continue to escalate, being encouraged to take down the Dragon.
Tess heard some insanity in her day. Hell, there were times where insanity crossed the mind of the woman. Still, she looked at Liv for a long few seconds when Liv suggested they would find a way out of here.
"I told her she was crazy," Isabel said. "She hasn't been here for five minutes, and her mind already has slipped more than the rest of us."
Liv took a deep breath and perhaps they had a point. Perhaps they both had a point, the fall and getting separated from the rest of her team drove Liv completely insane. The disguised heiress did not know whether or not Nym or Holly survived. That uncertain thought made Liv's mind go a million miles a minute. More thoughts entered the mind of the poor girl and a deep breath filled Liv's lungs.
"You want to get out of here, don't you?" Liv asked.
"With my entire life," Isabel said. "Which is the only thing I have left about now."
Tess thought about it and considered all of their options. All things considered, escaping from this point was not the worst idea in the world. Kovar's men did not show up for several days, maybe even weeks. The perception of time had been skewed a little bit on Tess's perspective.
'We either die here, or we die out there,' Tess thought.
"So, we get out of here, where do we go?" Isabel asked. "Are the people who sent you on this mission even have an extraction plan, or did they just drop you out here. Because it's very risky to be out here when you're a Westerner."
Liv frowned in response, more risky to be there with a woman who hated her because of Robert Queen, despite the fact Liv's face. Still, Liv had to keep her head up and maintain a very positive thought pattern. The heiress kept her head turned around and locked directly on the two other women.
"We can do this," Liv said. "All of us can do this if we just stand up to them. Are you afraid of dying? Or maybe afraid of living again?"
"You should save speeches like that until you run for public office," Isabel said.
The question pierced Isabel's armor, the thoughts she had put up. Isabel's eyes screwed tight in deep though. Did she really want to take the risk of getting out? Well, did it really matter at this point?
"If you're going to get killed, that's your business," the man in the corner responded when looking up towards the three women. "There's more food for the rest of us."
"Yes, get killed out there, get killed in there, makes no difference," another prisoner said.
"You don't have to stay in here, wondering where your next meal is coming from," Liv said.
Tess sighed, she appreciated the girl's passion for doing what was right. Unfortunately, and Tess really hated to be the one to break this particular news, Liv fought a losing battle.
A thump on the other side of the mountain could be heard. Liv's heart started to race a moment later when taking a very deep breath and letting out the breath.
"Someone's coming."
Liv reached over and pulled out the quiver of arrows. The man in the corner scoffed and picked up the newspaper, very worn, and smelling of urine, yet the only thing to read in this particular area.
"I don't think those little arrows are going to help her much against Kovar and his weapons," he muttered.
Tess and Isabel took a couple of steps over towards the outside. The fact they had not been greeted by immense gunfire was a very good sign.
A loud thump followed, and one lone man stumbled on the mountain, with stab wounds in his chest. The man groaned when dropping down onto the snow. Splatters of red stained the white, and the man kept coughing very loudly. The body twitched on the snow.
"Not one of mine," Liv said. "One of Kovar's."
Tess stepped over to a man who had been violently slaughtered. She would not shed too many tears for Kovar or any of his men, but at the same time, it was very curious. Some of those stand wounds ran pretty deep on the men. Tess peered down and glimpsed a hint of another man who did not make it up
"Maybe being inside is the safest, given what attacked them," Tess suggested.
Liv ignored these very simple words of warning and turned around three hundred and sixty degrees. The radio on the downed men could potentially get information out to ARGUS if Liv modified it enough to get it working. The man on the ground looked up towards the man.
"Danger….Widow…..trouble….return…medallion to…..Spider!"
Those words choked out with a splatter of blood from the man's mouth. Tess grabbed Liv's shoulder and steered her both inside. Isabel followed them and pushed the door shut. No one was going to come up here, not now, not ever.
"At least we got the radio," Liv suggested. "Maybe we can get help from someone."
"Providing whatever is down there doesn't get to us first."
"We can only hope," one of the cynical prisoners muttered.
Harry knew Kovar knew Harry knew that there were a lot of their conversation which was not completely on the level, to be honest. Kovar took a deep breath and had stopped drinking the wine. They had dispensed with the pleasantries and took a very deep breath in response.
"I can assure you, the power is very tempting, but I've studied enough books to realize holding that Spider Medallion when not worthy will have severe and long reaching consequences," Kovar said. "But, I've been unable to tell who is worthy of the medallion…and I do wish to keep it under lock and key unless he comes for it."
"Who is he?" Harry asked.
Kovar once again looked around and then stared Harry straight in the eye. The gentleman's voice dropped into an extremely deadly whisper so only Harry could hear it.
"The White Bumblebee."
Harry needed to drink some wine after hearing that particular name again. Not that it did Harry much good because the wine barely caused a buzz in the sorcerer. Still, the thought counted, with Harry taking a deep breath.
'The White Bumblebee?' Nyssa asked. 'That's the same name Ruve Darhk mentioned, who was a high-profile leader of HIVE, maybe a high profile leader.'
'Albus Dumbledore,' Harry thought. 'My old school headmaster, his name means White Bumblebee. He was capable of some pretty shifty things, all for some greater purpose. But, I don't think he was capable of performing international terrorism, as far as I know anyway.'
Harry took a deep breath, as far as he knew.
"The White Bumblebee….."
"Please, I beg you, keep your voice down," Kovar said urgently and turning around three hundred and sixty degrees. His eyes locked on Harry once again and leaned back. "No offense meant, Comrade, but he has his ways of knowing when people speak of him."
"I don't fear him," Harry said.
"Even after he was the man who helped seal you away in your prison for a thousand years?" Kovar asked him. "Or so the legend goes?"
"No."
Harry found this particular bit of information to very interesting. Providing, of course, the White Bumblebee and Albus Dumbledore were one and the same. Harry took a moment to consider the factor.
'Ironic given how Dumbledore was feared by a man who most people feared to speak his name, and this one right here, he has his name feared by a hardened mobster, who should not fear anyone. He could break people easily, but that's just the power Albus Dumbledore commands, unfortunately.'
"We have a serious issue we need to discuss," Harry responded. "You are keeping prisoners here, on the mountain just outside of the village across that field."
"Mmm, yes, I knew you would ask about that," Kovar said. "I do not abduct people from their beds and drag them all the way here. I leave those matters to the United States Government. I've heard horror stories from people about what they do to those who don't follow their party line. People wind up dead, missing, or worse. All in the name of preserving freedom, naturally."
Kovar took a long drink one more time from the wine. Harry did not react in either a favorable or unfavorable way to Kovar's words. He had no knowledge of how the United States government, magical or otherwise, worked. If they were half as corrupt as the British Ministry, well, Harry would have problems, naturally. Then again, he always had a serious problem with following authority.
"I only bring in spies, great one," Kovar said. "Those who have come onto Russian soil, under the orders of the United States government. I can assure you no one who has shown up here is being dragged here against their will."
Harry nodded, suspicion of being a spy and actually being a spy were two different things. Kovar sounded a bit anxious now when talking about this prison. Harry made sure the Dragon Medallion laid in great prominence so the Russian understood who he spoke to.
"I want to talk about a woman who went missing recently," Harry said. "Perhaps you've heard the name Olivia Queen."
Kovar put down the wine a few seconds later and rose up to his feet.
"I'm afraid I can't say what some girl heiress would be doing in Russia," Kovar said. "If she's anything like some of your American celebrities, she must have gotten into trouble. She would be nowhere near Russia….I can assure you, as an act of good faith, I will swear on my mother's grave that Olivia Queen has been nowhere near Russia."
Harry looked Kovar dead on in the eye, so deep. Those eyes burned directly into Harry's vision. Harry suspected Kovar was not telling a lie to him. Harry pulled back from Kovar and took a deep breath in response.
"Very well, I believe you," Harry said. "Why don't you take me to see the Spider Medallion?"
For the briefest of seconds, Kovar acted like he was not going to accept that request from Harry. A moment passed when Kovar let out a deep breath and let one back in. The man nodded in response and rose to his feet.
"If you insist….you wish to see it, and you can see it's been unharmed," Kovar said. "I am all about transparency, unlike the White Bumblebee."
For the second time, that name had been spoken in a very crisp whisper. The two of them walked around the corner, towards the trophy room where the Spider Medallion. Harry took a moment to breathe in deep. Some presence caused Harry to be on edge. Perhaps it was the medallion, or perhaps it was something else.
'He's confirmed to me where he's kept prisoners,' Harry thought. 'He doesn't seem to know if she's here, but she might have….she might be close…that cave leads out into a village….and across the village is where he's keeping those prisoners. He believes they're spies, and maybe they are.'
Maybe they were innocent people who were at the wrong place at the wrong time, just victims of politics.
Nyssa slipped out of the shadows to the village. Something caught Nyssa's eye. The smell of decayed human flesh was the first thing which filled the air and Nyssa's nostrils. The Daughter of the Demon craned back a half of an inch and then leaned back.
"Someone else is here," Nyssa said.
"Is it the weird presence we ran into in the caves?" Sara asked a moment later.
Nyssa thought it could be. With each step, a very unsettling presence hit the Daughter of the Demon. Nyssa kept a steady hand on a blade very second of the way. A moment of lapsing her concentration, a moment of hesitation, and everyone would shatter. Nyssa could not do anything other than keep a steady look around. The Daughter of the Demon's deep breathing continued when turning from one side to the next, and all the way back around. Nyssa let out a very casual and very frustrated breath.
"It could be."
Nym looked up and saw a giant statue depicting a spider. Whoever built a spider statue, well they had a few problems, including problems which Nym could not even describe. The government agent took a closer look at the carvings at the basement statues.
"I'm pretty sure those carvings match those in the cave," Nym said a moment later.
Sara looked in for a second opinion. The carvings flickered when Sara got in close proximity to them. After Sara stepped away, the carvings stopped. The warrior frowned when looking at the carvings. Very interesting how their movements only happened when she had been near them.
Rose reached over and extended a hand to touch the base of the spider statue. A flash of light erupted from the base of the statue, and Rose saw something. A figure dressed in black swooping down with a blade extended and attacking them.
In a blink of an eye, Rose pulled away and drew in a deep breath.
"Did you see something?" Nym asked.
"I don't know," Rose said. "I'm not sure if getting attacked by a black people is a very good vision. I mean, isn't are chances of getting attacked by figures in black pretty high given we spend half of her life doing battle with various ninjas?"
"Maybe," Nym agreed.
Nym lightly moved over and rapped on the base of the statue. So far, the statue did not react to Nym's actions.
"I guess it likes you two better."
"I found something else."
Holly motioned for the rest of the group to come over. One of the armed men from the village doubled over with stab wounds in his chest. Whoever attacked this man did not give him a chance to fight back. Nym reached down and did the best to stabilize the wounds, but it was too late. The man already succumbed to some kind of infection and was an inch away from death.
"What the hell attacked him?" Nym asked.
Nyssa turned around going around the area. It was not the first time Nyssa noticed something in the shadows. The Daughter of the Demon withdrew the blade. Sara copied that action as well.
A figure jumped out of the shadows and knocked Sara back down onto the ground. The woman stopped short of stabbing Sara directly in the throat and pulled away. Sara popped up and the figure who attacked her disappeared into the shadows.
'What the hell is going on?'
Sara wobbled back a few inches and drew in a very obvious breath. No telling what happened now, Sara caught sight of Nyssa. Nyssa turned around and blocked a stabbing motion from the side. The stabbing motion broke Nyssa's sword and almost penetrated the side.
Rose saw a flash of where the attacker would attack next. A flash of light followed, and Rose turned around, blocking the jab from the blade. Sparks flew when Rose pushed the attacker back. Said attacker charged Rose with the weapon extended and made an honest attempt to skewer Rose at the end of the knife.
The girl saw a flicker of the attack in her mind's eye and avoided the blade from coming away from piercing her cheek. The electrified jolt repelled back and Rose saw another image of the woman launching into the air and dropping down from behind Rose before stabbing the girl in the back with a knife, dropping her down to the ground.
This Deadly Assassin spun around just in time to watch the deadly assassin jump up high in the air and come down hard. Rose blocked the attack, utilizing the blade. Both of them moved around each other. Despite the deadly nature of this woman, there had been a small amount of vulnerability and an even larger amount of shock going through the woman's mind. It was almost like the woman could not believe someone stood up to those attacks.
Once again, Rose saw a flash of the attack coming and proceeded to answer the attack accordingly. The whipping of a blade came inches away from puncturing the side of Rose's wrist. Rose snapped around and blocked the woman who snapped back.
Holly armed a miniature cannon found lying in the bushes of the village and fired it at the person in question. The mysterious woman in black showed some very skilled abilities by dodging the cannon when it blew up down onto the ground.
Nyssa thought taking advantage of a sudden distraction would put her in perfect position to take the mystery woman down to the ground. One sword spun around showed Nyssa was completely wrong. The woman pushed the Daughter of Ra's al Ghul down to a kneeling position and fired a snap kick which brought Nyssa down onto the ground. Nyssa flipped over and dodged an electrified string.
The woman stopped and flung a gas grenade down onto the ground. The gas filled the area and gave the perfect amount of cover for the attacker to escape.
Rose closed her eyes and tried to will a vision of where the attacker headed, or where she planned to go. Unfortunately, the attacker disappeared and Rose had been standing there, without any idea of what just happened. Frustration looked to mount in Rose's mind.
"I can't believe this," Rose said through gritted teeth. "I really can't believe this. I come so close to taking her down, and see what her moves are like. Then I let her get away."
"Keep your cool," Sara reminded Rose.
Rose nodded in response, yes, very true, have to keep her cool, no matter what the situation was. More importantly, the group of five had to stick together. If any one of them had been picked apart on the margins, it would have been the end.
"She's one of the ones they left behind," Nyssa said.
"Come again?" Nym asked.
"Back when Russia was part of the Soviet Union, they sent girls to the Red Room to be educated and trained as weapons," Nyssa said. "Not all of them were recovered and taken down after the program got shut down. The few remained are the ones they left behind."
"Right, I remember, they were called the Black Widows," Nym said for a second. "Which is why they would be part of this entire spider tribe thing."
"Of course," Nyssa said a few movements later. "They don't want us to take a closer look at this statue, which means something is underneath it."
Sara looked at the statue and once again the runes on the statue glowed. It only seemed to react around her, not to anyone else in the group. Sara stepped back and Rose took a look at it. Rose turned around and locked eyes to Sara.
"I'm going to have to be the one, aren't I?" Sara asked.
"Yes, it looks like that," Rose said. "Well, let's give it a shot, what do we have to lose?"
So many flippant responses for that particular question, so little time. Sara drew in a deep breath and walked closer to the base of the statue and pressed in the bottom of it. The runes lit to light and the statue slid open to reveal a set of stairs leading down to a basement area.
"Down the rabbit hole we go?" Nym asked.
The team could not help but think they had been sidetracked of the original mission of hunting Olivia Queen down, but at the same time, they just had to go down. They moved down completely into the underground. For a brief second, they sensed a presence down here.
'Something tells me if we're found down here, it might be an uphill battle to stay alive,' Nym thought.
'Keep you cool, I don't think they'll harm you if I'm down here with you,' Sara thought a second later.
Nym wished there was a bit more clarity in Sara's words, perhaps a little bit more certainty in those words. Regardless, Nym took a deep breath and kept herself, head up straight, feet on the floor, as calm as possible when getting through the chambers. It reminded them of the old Black Catacombs, and that was not exactly a ringing endorsement.
"So, is anyone else waiting for something to happen?" Holly asked.
"Don't tempt Murphy," Nym warned.
Several bright lights popped on into the tunnel and an archway with stationary spiders had been lit open. Webbing covered the ground which never had been the most ideal of circumstances for anyone involved. The five women stepped inside, with Sara making the lead.
They moved inside to see a large black cocoon with some kind of black substance just oozing onto the ground from this particular position. Sara's mouth hung open when following the progress of the black substance draining from the ground. She had no idea what was dripping onto the ground from the cocoon.
"What the hell is that?" Rose asked. "Please tell me it's not some kind of giant spider egg."
Rose thought about touching the egg, but common sense prevailed, to be honest. All five of the girls looked at the egg which slowly and surely began to crack open. A bright light flashed from the inside of the husk.
"There's someone inside of the egg, isn't there?" Nym asked.
"Someone or something," Holly confirmed.
Holly held the miniature cannon borrowed from the grounds outside. She wondered how much use it would be given the circumstances. Holly drew in a very deep breath, waiting for the egg to slowly begin to crack open. Light poured out of the egg when something began to break out of the surface.
"Someone," Sara said.
One hand slowly poked out of the black husk, and all five women followed the progress of the whatever, was in the egg.
'He sees you nothing as a tool, something to be worn out and thrown away,' a calm voice said in Krum's ear. 'He will just let the Dragon roll over everything. He will destroy your family's land and take everything.'
Krum stepped closer towards the case with the spider medallion. The Bulgarian gentleman lifted the bottom of the case up. Viktor Krum had never taken an aggressive approach, but this new assertive step made him feel really good. Krum's smile widened.
'You have the whole world in the palm of your hand,' the voice whispered very excitedly. 'Take it Viktor, it belongs to you. Take it.'
Viktor reached in and grabbed the bottom of the case, sliding it up. The medallion glinted underneath his hand. Krum smiled wildly but hesitated.
"Well, nice night for a walk, isn't it?"
Krum's hesitation caused him to look up when coming face to face with the Dragon himself. Those green eyes taunted Krum.
"You think you can roll over everyone just because you have a shiny little trinket," Krum said. "I've spent my entire life hearing stories about the feared Dragon. Well how feared am I going to be when I take this medallion, and the power, and use it to slay you."
"You're drunk with power," Harry said.
"Not yet," Krum said.
Krum picked up the medallion in hand. The forbidden thrall of the medallion locked onto Krum's mind and sent waves of power, and great excitement towards Krum. He had never been more excited in his entire life.
"Viktor, what are you doing?"
"You don't have the imagination to succeed in life anymore, Kovar," Krum said. "You've grown fat, lazy, casual in your own power. You could have taken this medallion and used the power to destroy all your enemies, but now it will be mine to hold."
"Drop it, Krum, you don't know what power you're holding," Harry said.
"Oh, yes, I know the power!" Krum cried in pure triumph. "I know the power, and I know how good it feels to hold it."
"Drop it…."
A flash of light engulfed Krum and his screams continued. Kovar turned towards Harry.
"Is it killing him?" Kovar asked.
"If we're fortunate," Harry said. "Unfortunately, we're not."
Four additional limbs ripped from Krum's body and his eyes grew rather wide and prominent, with fangs poking out from the man's bottom lip. Kovar watched the horror show unfold and his men aimed their guns at Krum.
"That won't work."
Harry's words had fallen on completely deaf ears. The bullets vaporized in mid-air thanks to the magic pulsing from the medallion before they could get a chance. Slits on Krum's wrists opened and shot lines of webbing at the gentlemen, wrapping the web lines around their throat.
The web lines, as strong as steel, snapped the men's neck when dropping down onto the ground. Krum raised his hand and summoned a flash of several spiders.
The spiders crawled over one of the men, covering him from head to toe. The screams of agony when the spiders ripped the gentleman had agonizing screams.
Harry sensed someone stirring up Krum's own insecurities to get the medallion. Kovar's guard had been reanimated to be made of spider, and three more followed.
"I want those other two medallions you're carrying!" Krum yelled. "I'm going to have all of the power."
'That escalated quickly.'