Wearing the Cape 5: Ronin Games Read Online Free
Author: Marion G. Harmon
Tags: Superhero, Superheroes, supervillain, super hero
still bothered me. Doctor Beth had cheerfully informed me that a normal person on the receiving end of Zmey’s touch would have been looking at a charred stump of a leg. I just had what felt like the world’s worst sun burn and an ache that went to the bone.
“And that is a shame!” Svyatogor clapped my shoulder. “Dancing is good for the spirit, a celebration of life! We live!”
And that made me wince again; not all of us were alive—two of the Russians Artemis had dropped in the action’s opening had died when the Zmey fighting Grendel had stood practically right on top of them. They’d basically cooked in that steaming hell before Seven could get to them.
The big hand on my shoulder tightened.
“Do not be tender hearted, devochka moya . No innocents were hurt today, and no man we found in that place deserved your pity.”
“ What he said ,” Shell seconded inside my head as Rush nodded agreement. “ I read their files .”
I sighed. Bright side, we’d stopped the Bratva from moving into Chicago. The fight had been the culmination of months of international cooperation, and the Russian mob’s attempt to move in on the Chicago Mob was yet one more of the follow-on effects of our takedown of Villains Inc. They’d brought their own drug suppliers, taste for violent extortion, and sex-trafficking.
I tried on a smile. “At least now you don’t have to fight them back home, right?”
That earned me another booming laugh. He patted my shoulder one more time, reached for his beer.
“My dear, you are the ne plus ultra , the very epitome, of women! You are strong, enduring, with a heart full of the love of others. You should have been a Russian! But you are an American, which means that even with all of your experience, you are a little blind.”
I blinked. It was the first time I’d ever been called that . His big dark eyes suddenly looked a lot more serious.
“You see good and evil as forces that can always be divided up into sides. For good to triumph, all it must do is identify evil and fight to win. If only it were so simple!” He wagged his thick finger, no longer smiling.
“I quote the great Soviet dissident, Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn.‘If only there were evil people somewhere insidiously committing evil deeds, and it were necessary only to separate them from the rest of us and destroy them. But the line dividing good and evil cuts through the heart of every human being.’”
He looked at his finger, spread his huge hands and dropped them.
“It loses something in translation, but Solzhenitsyn did not mean that there are not evil people doing evil things. Only that we will never be rid of them all. Often they will be unrecognizable, and sometimes they will be us.”
“So someone will take their place?”
“Of course. Which does not mean that we should not catch or kill as many of these monsters as we can—any act which lessens the suffering of others is loved by God.” His smile returned. “But these are much too heavy matters for tonight!”
After that it was a contest of comparing Chicago and Moscow winters, toasts to international cooperation, and more dancing until Shell finally pulled me away with our pre-arranged “errand” excuse and I flew home. I’d have to be back to the Dome in the morning, but going home had become the thing I just did after every public fight unless there was unfinished business that kept me away.
The house was dark, the parentals already asleep; I’d called before news of the fight had been broadcast so they’d known not to worry and that I’d see them in the morning. Changing for bed while Shell briefed me on the Oroboros’ and Shelly’s take on what our win today likely meant for the near future, I let Graymalkin in my room. Just before I turned out the light I remembered the one question I’d saved to ask later.
“Devochka moya?”
“ It means ‘My little
“And that is a shame!” Svyatogor clapped my shoulder. “Dancing is good for the spirit, a celebration of life! We live!”
And that made me wince again; not all of us were alive—two of the Russians Artemis had dropped in the action’s opening had died when the Zmey fighting Grendel had stood practically right on top of them. They’d basically cooked in that steaming hell before Seven could get to them.
The big hand on my shoulder tightened.
“Do not be tender hearted, devochka moya . No innocents were hurt today, and no man we found in that place deserved your pity.”
“ What he said ,” Shell seconded inside my head as Rush nodded agreement. “ I read their files .”
I sighed. Bright side, we’d stopped the Bratva from moving into Chicago. The fight had been the culmination of months of international cooperation, and the Russian mob’s attempt to move in on the Chicago Mob was yet one more of the follow-on effects of our takedown of Villains Inc. They’d brought their own drug suppliers, taste for violent extortion, and sex-trafficking.
I tried on a smile. “At least now you don’t have to fight them back home, right?”
That earned me another booming laugh. He patted my shoulder one more time, reached for his beer.
“My dear, you are the ne plus ultra , the very epitome, of women! You are strong, enduring, with a heart full of the love of others. You should have been a Russian! But you are an American, which means that even with all of your experience, you are a little blind.”
I blinked. It was the first time I’d ever been called that . His big dark eyes suddenly looked a lot more serious.
“You see good and evil as forces that can always be divided up into sides. For good to triumph, all it must do is identify evil and fight to win. If only it were so simple!” He wagged his thick finger, no longer smiling.
“I quote the great Soviet dissident, Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn.‘If only there were evil people somewhere insidiously committing evil deeds, and it were necessary only to separate them from the rest of us and destroy them. But the line dividing good and evil cuts through the heart of every human being.’”
He looked at his finger, spread his huge hands and dropped them.
“It loses something in translation, but Solzhenitsyn did not mean that there are not evil people doing evil things. Only that we will never be rid of them all. Often they will be unrecognizable, and sometimes they will be us.”
“So someone will take their place?”
“Of course. Which does not mean that we should not catch or kill as many of these monsters as we can—any act which lessens the suffering of others is loved by God.” His smile returned. “But these are much too heavy matters for tonight!”
After that it was a contest of comparing Chicago and Moscow winters, toasts to international cooperation, and more dancing until Shell finally pulled me away with our pre-arranged “errand” excuse and I flew home. I’d have to be back to the Dome in the morning, but going home had become the thing I just did after every public fight unless there was unfinished business that kept me away.
The house was dark, the parentals already asleep; I’d called before news of the fight had been broadcast so they’d known not to worry and that I’d see them in the morning. Changing for bed while Shell briefed me on the Oroboros’ and Shelly’s take on what our win today likely meant for the near future, I let Graymalkin in my room. Just before I turned out the light I remembered the one question I’d saved to ask later.
“Devochka moya?”
“ It means ‘My little
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