A much smaller group than had gone to California stepped through the portal into New York. It was quite a bit different than using a teleporter. With a teleporter, you didn’t experience the time between points, but you did feel the after-effects. At least with the crude ones Normenia was able to produce.
With the portal, it felt like his entire body was twisted and compressed down to a fine point and then shot through an ever increasingly smaller pipe. It was not a very enjoyable experience for Norman, even if there was no actual pain involved. The trip wasn’t instantaneous either. The blur of red light that surrounded them at the beginning of the journey slowly shifted back to normal. Suddenly he was whole again as he stumbled out of the New York side of the portal.
If he wasn’t currently in his undead form, he was pretty sure the trip would have made him lose his lunch. Before he could catch his bearings, Eugene slammed into him from behind, sending him sprawling to the ground.
The rest of their retinue crashed into Eugene, but unlike Norman, they were sent sprawling to either side as his bulk refused to yield.
There were some chuckles from a few other travelers who had seen the display, but when a nearly eight-foot-tall man wearing dark armor glares in your direction, you quickly shut your mouth and move on with your business.
“Sorry, Boss.” Norman accepted his Commander’s hand and quickly got back to his feet.
“Not your fault,” he responded as he brushed the dust off his clothing.
It may not be his nicest set of clothes, but he still checked them for rips or tears. Once he was done brushing himself off, he looked around.
Yup, they were in New York. Although, he couldn’t say where in New York. It certainly wasn’t in Manhattan. He could see the city skyline in the distance, or what was left of it. He had been to New York once for a class field trip in grade school. And while that had been… shit, nearly thirty years ago, he was pretty sure there had been more high rises back then. The smell wasn’t much better though. It still smelled of piss and shit. Although California wasn’t much better. The only difference was he was used to the smell of rot and decay from all the undead.
“That look off to you?” he asked Eugene.
“Yeah… I’d say one out of three buildings are missing.”
Some random passerby snorted. “They ain’t missing, they collapsed. Blind man could see that, stupid tourists,” the last sentence was muttered under his breath, but it was still loud enough for everyone around to hear.
Eugene was about to set the guy straight, but Norman waved him off. “We don’t have time to deal with idiots. We need to find Anna and see if she knows where Donovan is hiding.”
He waited for Eugene to unclench his hands before continuing. “Now, where to start?”
“You!” Eugene pointed at a wiry man with greasy blond hair pulling a cart. The man froze like a deer in headlights as his eyes widened. Then he looked around hoping beyond hope that the mountain of a man wasn’t pointing at him. When he saw everyone around him scurrying away, he swallowed hard and pointed a shaking hand at his chest. “M- m- me?” Norman felt pity for the dude. He had much the same reaction the first time he saw Eugene. And the man wasn’t half as terrifying back then as he was now.
“Yeah, you. Where’s Anna?” Eugene didn’t quite demand it of the man, but it sure sounded like he did.
“Anna?” The man asked worriedly.
“Your boss.”
“M- my boss’ name is Bert. I could take you to him.”
There was a sharp grinding noise as Eugene tried to pinch his nose in exasperation, but forgot he was still wearing his helmet. Norman did his best not to laugh. When Eugene eyed him sidelong, he realized his efforts weren’t completely successful.
“Why the fuck would I want to talk to your boss?”
“I- I don’t know, you said my boss. My boss is Bert.
“I. Want. To. See. The Boss. The one that runs this part of the city.”
The man looked around, his eyes bugging out. Norman had seen that look before, hell he had had that look before. The dude was contemplating his chances of making a run for it.
“Look, dude,” Norman cut in. “Do you know where the leadership resides or not? If not, just tell us and be on your way.”
“I’m just a cart pusher, man. It’s just a paycheck, I don’t worry about shit above my pay grade.”
Norman nodded and waved the guy off.
The man still kept a wary eye on Eugene as he hurried out of the square where the teleporters were located.
“Well, that was a bust. I guess we keep looking. Split up and ask around. Fifty Grothlo to the person that gets the information first.” The knights split up and began spreading out and asking the locals.
Eugene was about to join them but Norman lightly tapped him on the chest with his hand. “Not you. Did you notice our watcher?”
The big man grunted softly but stopped. “More than one. I caught sight of at least three. Could be more.”
Norman nodded. It made sense to watch the people coming and going from the portal. You never knew who could come through. The only reason California didn’t have guards was because they got pulled away during Norman’s attack. Otherwise, he knew from reports that there were always two controllers guarding the station along with two hundred undead. Enough to slow down any force that came through.
New York seemed to take a different approach to handling the threat. Likely due to who controlled this area.
After ten or so minutes, a smiling Death Knight mage jogged back towards them. “I have directions, Sir,” She stated proudly.
Norman handed her the money and they waited for the rest of the knights to return. Only a few came back, with the location. Which matched the first knight’s report. Not that he doubted the woman, but it was good to have multiple sources pointing the same way.
With luck, one of the knights they brought with them was a New York native before moving to California and joining the Marines. While he didn’t know the exact street they were currently on, he was able to guide them to their destination in less than half an hour.
The building didn’t look like much. Just a double door at street level tucked between two businesses. Both of the businesses seemed to be popular judging by the number of people coming and going from them. One was a deli and the other was some sort of tiny market.
As a group, they made for the door.
As if some invisible trigger had been set off, all of the people on the street stopped and turned toward them. Norman and the others paused as they looked at the people, all of whom seemed to be armed with makeshift weapons now. He hadn’t even seen them pull the weapons out.
Norman wanted to sigh in annoyance, but he resisted the urge and took a step forward. The crowd mimicked his movement, closing in on them.
“I’m here to speak with Anna,” He stated.
None of the mind-controlled people moved or talked, they just stood there. He took another step closer. And they moved again, closing the distance.
He crossed his arms in annoyance and shouted. “Anna! Unless you want me to kill all these people, call off your dogs!”
He waited for a bit, but nothing happened. Then he strode forward. Instead of mimicking his movements this time, the crowd only followed him with their eyes. The group got to within twenty feet of the doors before the crowd spoke as one.
“Only you. The rest must remain outside.”
Norman rolled his eyes before turning to Eugene. “Keep an eye out, I’ll be back shortly.”
“You sure, Boss?” The man warily eyed the frozen people.
Norman followed his gaze, seeing close to a hundred people had now entered the street. Every single one was watching them with unblinking eyes. He just shook his head. Anna really hadn’t learned or changed at all. “I’m sure.”
Then he turned and strode through the doors.
Unlike the unassuming exterior of the building, the interior had been recently remodeled. Or so he thought, considering there was a grand staircase past the entry that led up to a second floor. A fancy place like this simply wouldn’t have existed in this rundown suburb of New York. It was more likely this building had once been an apartment building of some sort.
More mind-controlled thralls stood at the top of the stairs. One pointed to an elevator. As if Norman was going to risk getting trapped in one of those. He ignored the thrall and took the stairs up.
Anna must have accounted for his apprehension as there was a thrall on the top floor. Either that or she just covered all her bases. Like the one at the stairs, it was simply pointing.
He ignored this one too as strode through the door. What greeted him was a bit surprising.
Haphazardly clustered desks with people typing away on old typewriters covered one section of the floor. A few of the people even glanced his way, showing they weren’t completely mind-controlled. Now that he thought about it, didn’t Anna usually leave their minds intact? They were just beholden to her ‘beauty’. It seemed she had learned some new tricks since the last time he had seen her. Now he was doubly glad for coming in his undead form. Having to rely on a dodgy mind shield or an explosive lodged in his heart would not have been comforting.
He strolled through the maze of desks and toward the obvious doors on the far side of the room. Obvious because they were huge, but also because the two guys flanking them were equally huge. Not quite Eugene’s physique but close. The pair of hulking men were attired in finely tailored suits and each man sported a holster under their jacket. Norman noticed that little detail when they shifted to follow him through the path of desks.
The guns didn’t bother him. The glowing rings that each man wore were more of a concern. Not enough to make him slow or stop, but it did make him quirk an eyebrow.
Once he was in front of the doors, one of the men held his hand out. “We need to search you for weapons.”
“Is this really necessary?” he asked loud enough that Anna would surely hear him through the door.
There was no answer though. Wanting this to be over, he raised his arms. The big man patted him down and squeezed his pockets. Not that he would find anything.
“Please take off any jewelry you’re wearing.”
“No. Either open the fucking door, or I’ll do it myself.”
The men glanced at each other, a bit of uncertainty in their eyes before a voice called from beyond the door. “You can let him in.”
The man who hadn’t patted him down opened the door. Norman glared at both men before striding into the room.
He wasn’t surprised to see Anna sitting behind a big desk on the far side of the room. She hadn’t changed one bit from the last time he saw her. Her physical form still oozed sex appeal that would drive most men crazy. All he saw was the same troubled child he had known so long ago.
If he wasn’t here to extract information from the woman, he might even feel pity for her.
“Anna.”
“Norman… Seems like we’ve had a similar conversation start in the past.”
“Perhaps. Care to guess why I’m here?”
She shrugged and leaned back in her chair, purposefully reclining slightly and crossing her arms to highlight her breasts.
“Knock it the fuck off. I don’t have time for your childish games.”
She smirked at him but uncrossed her arms. “A pity. You used to be so fun, Norman. I guess marriage does change a man.”
“And I see you haven’t learned from your mistakes.”
She spun her chair around and lifted her hands. “Of course I have. Can’t you see what I’ve accomplished?”
“With the Council’s help, I’m sure.”
“Oh, don’t take that tone with me, Lord Norman. I only agreed to join them because they gave me something you refused to.”
“And what’s that?”
“Me,” a voice spoke from the side.
Norman turned his head to see someone walk out of a side room.
He pinched his nose and sighed. “Really, you joined the Council because they promised to bring your brother back?”
“Good to see you too, Norman. Been far too long,” Toby said.
Then the bastard pulled out a pistol and emptied the magazine at him. Norman didn’t even budge, he simply let the bullets splat against the armor that had reactively coated him.
“I see you’re still an underhanded asshole. I would have thought spending a decade in the ground would have improved your personality.”
“Don’t you fucking lecture me!” The man screamed, spittle flying from his lips. “I wouldn’t have fucking died if it wasn’t for you. You think I don’t know it was your goddamn blood oath that caused my death? And don’t for a second deny that you didn’t know you were the cause of my death.” The man loaded a second magazine and aimed it at him.
Anna cleared her throat, getting both of their attention.
“Yes, Norman. Tell us that you didn’t know. Tell me that you didn’t withhold this from me.”
“Of course, I knew, but what would have been the point of telling you?” He admitted. “You weren’t exactly mentally stable at the time. Not that you are now. But I suppose the secret is already out anyway.”
Anna shot to her feet and screamed in rage. “I could have had my brother back sooner!”
“Yes, and I see he’s been such a wonderful influence on you.”
The guards from outside rushed in and grabbed him but Norman was done playing. He simply pointed a finger at each man and they collapsed to the ground dead.
Then he pointed a finger at Toby. “If you want your brother to remain alive, I suggest you answer my questions.”
The woman scoffed and threw herself back in her chair. “You think I can’t just bring him back? Do you think I can’t just revive those two guards or myself? You have no leverage here, Norman.”
He chuckled, then hosed both guards with a wide beam of disintegration. “Let me ask you something, Anna. Who do you think developed those spells to bring back the dead? They need a sample of the body to work, don’t they?” He was banking on the fact that Donovan would have kept the secret of the phylacteries to himself. And it seemed his gamble paid off.
For the first time since he entered the room, the woman looked unsure of her position.
A much smaller group than had gone to California stepped through the portal into New York. It was quite a bit different than using a teleporter. With a teleporter, you didn’t experience the time between points, but you did feel the after-effects. At least with the crude ones Normenia was able to produce.
With the portal, it felt like his entire body was twisted and compressed down to a fine point and then shot through an ever increasingly smaller pipe. It was not a very enjoyable experience for Norman, even if there was no actual pain involved. The trip wasn’t instantaneous either. The blur of red light that surrounded them at the beginning of the journey slowly shifted back to normal. Suddenly he was whole again as he stumbled out of the New York side of the portal.
If he wasn’t currently in his undead form, he was pretty sure the trip would have made him lose his lunch. Before he could catch his bearings, Eugene slammed into him from behind, sending him sprawling to the ground.
The rest of their retinue crashed into Eugene, but unlike Norman, they were sent sprawling to either side as his bulk refused to yield.
There were some chuckles from a few other travelers who had seen the display, but when a nearly eight-foot-tall man wearing dark armor glares in your direction, you quickly shut your mouth and move on with your business.
“Sorry, Boss.” Norman accepted his Commander’s hand and quickly got back to his feet.
“Not your fault,” he responded as he brushed the dust off his clothing.
It may not be his nicest set of clothes, but he still checked them for rips or tears. Once he was done brushing himself off, he looked around.
Yup, they were in New York. Although, he couldn’t say where in New York. It certainly wasn’t in Manhattan. He could see the city skyline in the distance, or what was left of it. He had been to New York once for a class field trip in grade school. And while that had been… shit, nearly thirty years ago, he was pretty sure there had been more high rises back then. The smell wasn’t much better though. It still smelled of piss and shit. Although California wasn’t much better. The only difference was he was used to the smell of rot and decay from all the undead.
“That look off to you?” he asked Eugene.
“Yeah… I’d say one out of three buildings are missing.”
Some random passerby snorted. “They ain’t missing, they collapsed. Blind man could see that, stupid tourists,” the last sentence was muttered under his breath, but it was still loud enough for everyone around to hear.
Eugene was about to set the guy straight, but Norman waved him off. “We don’t have time to deal with idiots. We need to find Anna and see if she knows where Donovan is hiding.”
He waited for Eugene to unclench his hands before continuing. “Now, where to start?”
“You!” Eugene pointed at a wiry man with greasy blond hair pulling a cart. The man froze like a deer in headlights as his eyes widened. Then he looked around hoping beyond hope that the mountain of a man wasn’t pointing at him. When he saw everyone around him scurrying away, he swallowed hard and pointed a shaking hand at his chest. “M- m- me?” Norman felt pity for the dude. He had much the same reaction the first time he saw Eugene. And the man wasn’t half as terrifying back then as he was now.
“Yeah, you. Where’s Anna?” Eugene didn’t quite demand it of the man, but it sure sounded like he did.
“Anna?” The man asked worriedly.
“Your boss.”
“M- my boss’ name is Bert. I could take you to him.”
There was a sharp grinding noise as Eugene tried to pinch his nose in exasperation, but forgot he was still wearing his helmet. Norman did his best not to laugh. When Eugene eyed him sidelong, he realized his efforts weren’t completely successful.
“Why the fuck would I want to talk to your boss?”
“I- I don’t know, you said my boss. My boss is Bert.
“I. Want. To. See. The Boss. The one that runs this part of the city.”
The man looked around, his eyes bugging out. Norman had seen that look before, hell he had had that look before. The dude was contemplating his chances of making a run for it.
“Look, dude,” Norman cut in. “Do you know where the leadership resides or not? If not, just tell us and be on your way.”
“I’m just a cart pusher, man. It’s just a paycheck, I don’t worry about shit above my pay grade.”
Norman nodded and waved the guy off.
The man still kept a wary eye on Eugene as he hurried out of the square where the teleporters were located.
“Well, that was a bust. I guess we keep looking. Split up and ask around. Fifty Grothlo to the person that gets the information first.” The knights split up and began spreading out and asking the locals.
Eugene was about to join them but Norman lightly tapped him on the chest with his hand. “Not you. Did you notice our watcher?”
The big man grunted softly but stopped. “More than one. I caught sight of at least three. Could be more.”
Norman nodded. It made sense to watch the people coming and going from the portal. You never knew who could come through. The only reason California didn’t have guards was because they got pulled away during Norman’s attack. Otherwise, he knew from reports that there were always two controllers guarding the station along with two hundred undead. Enough to slow down any force that came through.
New York seemed to take a different approach to handling the threat. Likely due to who controlled this area.
After ten or so minutes, a smiling Death Knight mage jogged back towards them. “I have directions, Sir,” She stated proudly.
Norman handed her the money and they waited for the rest of the knights to return. Only a few came back, with the location. Which matched the first knight’s report. Not that he doubted the woman, but it was good to have multiple sources pointing the same way.
With luck, one of the knights they brought with them was a New York native before moving to California and joining the Marines. While he didn’t know the exact street they were currently on, he was able to guide them to their destination in less than half an hour.
The building didn’t look like much. Just a double door at street level tucked between two businesses. Both of the businesses seemed to be popular judging by the number of people coming and going from them. One was a deli and the other was some sort of tiny market.
As a group, they made for the door.
As if some invisible trigger had been set off, all of the people on the street stopped and turned toward them. Norman and the others paused as they looked at the people, all of whom seemed to be armed with makeshift weapons now. He hadn’t even seen them pull the weapons out.
Norman wanted to sigh in annoyance, but he resisted the urge and took a step forward. The crowd mimicked his movement, closing in on them.
“I’m here to speak with Anna,” He stated.
None of the mind-controlled people moved or talked, they just stood there. He took another step closer. And they moved again, closing the distance.
He crossed his arms in annoyance and shouted. “Anna! Unless you want me to kill all these people, call off your dogs!”
He waited for a bit, but nothing happened. Then he strode forward. Instead of mimicking his movements this time, the crowd only followed him with their eyes. The group got to within twenty feet of the doors before the crowd spoke as one.
“Only you. The rest must remain outside.”
Norman rolled his eyes before turning to Eugene. “Keep an eye out, I’ll be back shortly.”
“You sure, Boss?” The man warily eyed the frozen people.
Norman followed his gaze, seeing close to a hundred people had now entered the street. Every single one was watching them with unblinking eyes. He just shook his head. Anna really hadn’t learned or changed at all. “I’m sure.”
Then he turned and strode through the doors.
Unlike the unassuming exterior of the building, the interior had been recently remodeled. Or so he thought, considering there was a grand staircase past the entry that led up to a second floor. A fancy place like this simply wouldn’t have existed in this rundown suburb of New York. It was more likely this building had once been an apartment building of some sort.
More mind-controlled thralls stood at the top of the stairs. One pointed to an elevator. As if Norman was going to risk getting trapped in one of those. He ignored the thrall and took the stairs up.
Anna must have accounted for his apprehension as there was a thrall on the top floor. Either that or she just covered all her bases. Like the one at the stairs, it was simply pointing.
He ignored this one too as strode through the door. What greeted him was a bit surprising.
Haphazardly clustered desks with people typing away on old typewriters covered one section of the floor. A few of the people even glanced his way, showing they weren’t completely mind-controlled. Now that he thought about it, didn’t Anna usually leave their minds intact? They were just beholden to her ‘beauty’. It seemed she had learned some new tricks since the last time he had seen her. Now he was doubly glad for coming in his undead form. Having to rely on a dodgy mind shield or an explosive lodged in his heart would not have been comforting.
He strolled through the maze of desks and toward the obvious doors on the far side of the room. Obvious because they were huge, but also because the two guys flanking them were equally huge. Not quite Eugene’s physique but close. The pair of hulking men were attired in finely tailored suits and each man sported a holster under their jacket. Norman noticed that little detail when they shifted to follow him through the path of desks.
The guns didn’t bother him. The glowing rings that each man wore were more of a concern. Not enough to make him slow or stop, but it did make him quirk an eyebrow.
Once he was in front of the doors, one of the men held his hand out. “We need to search you for weapons.”
“Is this really necessary?” he asked loud enough that Anna would surely hear him through the door.
There was no answer though. Wanting this to be over, he raised his arms. The big man patted him down and squeezed his pockets. Not that he would find anything.
“Please take off any jewelry you’re wearing.”
“No. Either open the fucking door, or I’ll do it myself.”
The men glanced at each other, a bit of uncertainty in their eyes before a voice called from beyond the door. “You can let him in.”
The man who hadn’t patted him down opened the door. Norman glared at both men before striding into the room.
He wasn’t surprised to see Anna sitting behind a big desk on the far side of the room. She hadn’t changed one bit from the last time he saw her. Her physical form still oozed sex appeal that would drive most men crazy. All he saw was the same troubled child he had known so long ago.
If he wasn’t here to extract information from the woman, he might even feel pity for her.
“Anna.”
“Norman… Seems like we’ve had a similar conversation start in the past.”
“Perhaps. Care to guess why I’m here?”
She shrugged and leaned back in her chair, purposefully reclining slightly and crossing her arms to highlight her breasts.
“Knock it the fuck off. I don’t have time for your childish games.”
She smirked at him but uncrossed her arms. “A pity. You used to be so fun, Norman. I guess marriage does change a man.”
“And I see you haven’t learned from your mistakes.”
She spun her chair around and lifted her hands. “Of course I have. Can’t you see what I’ve accomplished?”
“With the Council’s help, I’m sure.”
“Oh, don’t take that tone with me, Lord Norman. I only agreed to join them because they gave me something you refused to.”
“And what’s that?”
“Me,” a voice spoke from the side.
Norman turned his head to see someone walk out of a side room.
He pinched his nose and sighed. “Really, you joined the Council because they promised to bring your brother back?”
“Good to see you too, Norman. Been far too long,” Toby said.
Then the bastard pulled out a pistol and emptied the magazine at him. Norman didn’t even budge, he simply let the bullets splat against the armor that had reactively coated him.
“I see you’re still an underhanded asshole. I would have thought spending a decade in the ground would have improved your personality.”
“Don’t you fucking lecture me!” The man screamed, spittle flying from his lips. “I wouldn’t have fucking died if it wasn’t for you. You think I don’t know it was your goddamn blood oath that caused my death? And don’t for a second deny that you didn’t know you were the cause of my death.” The man loaded a second magazine and aimed it at him.
Anna cleared her throat, getting both of their attention.
“Yes, Norman. Tell us that you didn’t know. Tell me that you didn’t withhold this from me.”
“Of course, I knew, but what would have been the point of telling you?” He admitted. “You weren’t exactly mentally stable at the time. Not that you are now. But I suppose the secret is already out anyway.”
Anna shot to her feet and screamed in rage. “I could have had my brother back sooner!”
“Yes, and I see he’s been such a wonderful influence on you.”
The guards from outside rushed in and grabbed him but Norman was done playing. He simply pointed a finger at each man and they collapsed to the ground dead.
Then he pointed a finger at Toby. “If you want your brother to remain alive, I suggest you answer my questions.”
The woman scoffed and threw herself back in her chair. “You think I can’t just bring him back? Do you think I can’t just revive those two guards or myself? You have no leverage here, Norman.”
He chuckled, then hosed both guards with a wide beam of disintegration. “Let me ask you something, Anna. Who do you think developed those spells to bring back the dead? They need a sample of the body to work, don’t they?” He was banking on the fact that Donovan would have kept the secret of the phylacteries to himself. And it seemed his gamble paid off.
For the first time since he entered the room, the woman looked unsure of her position.
