Dimyan Egor.

The man who'd killed Nolan's squad.

The man who'd caused him to be put in jail for ten years.

The man who'd taken a countless amount of lives.

Needless to say, Nolan didn't hesitate to pull the trigger, but Egor ducked behind the concrete pillar with ease, dodging the two bullets aimed his way.

"Hungry for revenge, I see." Egor remarked, his Russian accent thick. "But I only came to talk, Mr. Clay."

Nolan didn't lower his gun, but turned off his earpiece. He didn't want to distract Grace or Toby. "I'm not very sociable." He said.

Egor came out from behind the pillar, his hands up and his countenance relaxed. "That's alright; I'll do most of the talking."

He fished a cigarette from his pocket and lit it. "We haven't officially met. The last time I saw you was through the scope of my rifle on an exploding cargo ship, yes?"

"It could've been better circumstances for sure." Nolan replied.

"Ah, but little did you know, that was the beginning of a revolution." Egor said casually, exhaling a long puff of smoke. "We have a lot to discuss. I'm sure my men inside will keep your accomplices busy for a while."

"Then get to the point; I don't have all day." Nolan retorted. He hoped Grace and Toby could hold out for a while. "Tell me what you want."

"I want the world to be a better place." Egor replied. "I want to cleanse it of its dross and reform it into a new earth; a better one. We live in a corrupt society, Nolan, you know that. People are allowed to run rampant through the streets, murdering, stealing, bombing whatever they want."

"You're one to talk." Nolan countered.

Egor nodded. "Perhaps, perhaps. But who lets all of that happen, eh? The people in charge of our countries. We all live under a dictatorship, ruled by a malevolent power. My job here is to take it all away, to create a new government in place of this corrupt one."

"And how do you plan to do that?"

He gestured towards the EMP. "By taking away what people have been relying on for years: technology. Transportation, cell phones, electricity, running water...without it, they can't function. By taking it from them, it will bring our people to their knees, ready to be molded into a new creature." He took another puff from his cigarette before continuing. "This isn't about power, though; far from it. I don't want to rule the world... I want to reform it. When chaos reigns after the EMPs go off, the strong will survive and take leadership."

"Why are you telling me this?" Nolan asked, his gun still trained on Egor's head.

"Because there's nothing you can do to stop it." He took several steps closer, a wild look glinting in his eyes. "The Russian militia killed my family, Clay. I watched my daughters and my wife murdered in front of me in my own house fifteen years ago. And do you know who was to blame for that? The government. They didn't do anything to stop them, so now I have to."

"You can't do this, man." Nolan tried to reason. "You're fighting corruption with corruption."

"So you do not see my point?" Egor asked, genuine sadness on his weathered face. "Pity."

He pulled out a small remote from his jacket pocket as well as a Glock 18 and trained the gun at Nolan.

Nolan dodged to the side just as a single shot echoed through the air. He dove behind one of the pillars, fumbling with his earpiece and turning it on again.

Toby's loud swearing immediately blared in his ear. "—have to go!"

Ignoring him, Nolan went to lean around the corner of the pillar, but Egor was already there.

He slammed the butt of his handgun into Nolan's temple, causing Nolan to reel backwards and drop his gun.

"You can't stop this, son. You're going to get a lot of people killed if you try." Egor warned.

Nolan promptly swept his leg into Egor's knees and brought him down. He rolled over and grabbed a fistful of his shirt collar, quickly banging his head against the ground.

Egor grunted and kneed Nolan firmly in the stomach, kicking him away with surprising force.

Nolan tumbled to the side and watched as Egor flipped a small metal switch.

No...

The plaited dome that formed the EMP device opened, sending a clear blast of energy throughout the parking garage.

A huge explosion could be heard from outside that echoed through the air with electrifying crackles. It had taken out Kavala's power grid.

Nolan's insides heated up and his earpiece immediately went dead. The lights in the garage flickered out.

He had to get out of there.

He scrambled to his feet, but Egor grabbed his ankle and yanked him back down again. Nolan winced. He managed to get a solid kick to Egor's face before getting up again, ignoring the dizziness clouding his brain.

Footsteps sounded from the other end of the garage.

Nolan started running and didn't stop until he was on the first floor of the school. He closed his eyes for a brief second as a wave of nausea came over him. He'd heard that some people suffered from brain damage when they stood too close to the aftershock of a nuclear weapon. An EMP was the same thing, right?

He jogged down the hallway, feeling naked without his gun. He could barely see anything in the dark school and it was eerily quiet.

The terrorists would be on him any minute.

Thankfully most of the walls were made up of windows and the sky was illuminated by the full moon, so he could somewhat find his way around. He stole a quick glance outside. It was dark and unusually still. People were probably still assuming it was an average power outage.

Nolan raced up the staircase that led to the second floor, his senses on high alert. He kept close to the wall that was lined with classrooms. He had to squint to decipher the doors from the walls.

Where were they? Hopefully they hadn't—

You can't think like that. He told himself. As he passed by a classroom, a fist suddenly struck him in the jaw. He reeled backwards, ready for a fight.

"It's just Nolan, Grace!" A voice cried.

Toby.

"Well how was I supposed to know?"

Two figures stepped close enough for Nolan to see.

"Are you guys okay?" He asked, rubbing his stinging cheek.

"Toby's hurt, but he'll make it." Grace said.

Nolan could faintly tell that that Toby was holding a cloth to his side and Grace had a few bloody cuts on her face.

"We have to get out of here." He said, walking back down the hallway at a fast pace.

"Where were you?" Toby asked angrily, struggling to keep up. "We lost communications with you for over five minutes before the power went out."

"As much as I'd love to answer your question, I think we have bigger problems on our hands." Nolan said. "The EMP went off...Kavala's blacked out."

"We noticed." Grace sighed, coming up next to him as they jogged down the stairs. "I don't know what happened. None of the men we saw could've been in control of the device. But when it went off, all the terrorists just kind of disappeared."

Nolan frowned.

As they made their way out of the school, Grace asked tersely, "Why'd you turn off your comm system? We kept trying to reach you."

"Egor was down there."

She halted in her tracks and placed a firm grip on Nolan's arm, stopping him as well. "What? You're joking, right? Did you kill him? Did he hurt you? What happened? Why didn't you ask for backup?"

"Calm down. I'll explain it all once we get out of here."

"That's Nolan for you." He heard Toby say behind him as he led the way outside.

The streets were beginning to fill up with people who were probably wondering why their phones or electronics weren't working. Some were dressed in bathrobes, others in normal clothes, but they were all speaking in panicked voices.

Several cars were flipped over on the curb and some were crashed into one another from where the vehicle's engines had suddenly shut off.

Chaos would break loose within the hour once the confusion turned to outrage and Nolan wanted to get as far away from it as possible.

The noise from the people congesting the streets was rising, but Nolan couldn't understand any of it. He didn't exactly know where they were going; the car wouldn't work and there weren't any other escape routes other than walking.

Would Egor be chasing them?

They headed into the crowded street, instinctively keeping their heads down. It was almost disturbing, the quiet. Sure, people were yelling and making a ruckus, but in such chaos Nolan kept expecting to hear sirens or helicopters or...something.

"Here." Toby said, ducking into a spacious alleyway that was void of people. They walked down the alley and hid behind a Greek restaurant.

Toby sat against the wall with a wince.

Grace knelt next to him and pried his hands away from his side, lifting his shirt to reveal a bloody wound. "It hit an artery, but you should be fine." She reassured him.

"Bleeding out, but fine." Nolan added, which earned a glare from Toby.

"So you'd better start explaining what happened back there." Grace said, taking the cloth Toby had and ripping it into strands.

"I went down to the parking garage to locate the EMP and Egor was down there."

"Did he try to kill you?" Toby asked, wincing as Grace pressed the cloth to his side.

Nolan shook his head. "No...he said he just wanted to talk. He wants to cleanse the world of a corrupt government, he said. He built these EMPs to knock out political power so that new leaders can take its place...he's crazy, but brilliant, I'll give him that."

"And you let him go?" Toby accused.

Nolan frowned. "No. He had backup coming and I knew I didn't stand a chance."

"What? You've gotta be kidding me, G.I. Joe. Did you keep having flashbacks of Project Coercion or something like they do in the movies?" Toby asked.

Nolan shot him a hard glare. "Shut up."

"It's okay." Grace said quickly. "I know about your, um...past. Howard told me during our phone call this morning."

Nolan firmed his lips. Of course she knew. Everyone on the face of the earth seemed to know. "Then I'm sure you had a hard time having me on this mission." He said, giving a bitter laugh.

"Why would I?" Grace shrugged nonchalantly. She expertly took another strip of cloth and tied it around Toby's waist. "People change. I don't see why you being in jail would affect anything now. Besides, you were innocent of the crime you were accused of...and I don't see why being a Navy SEAL would be a bad thing. In fact, I'm sure you have better tactical logic than anyone Howard could've picked."

For once, Nolan was speechless. For years his past had trailed everything he did. He hadn't been out in the real world for long, but in jail he was always labeled as a "murderer" or "the guy who was dishonorably discharged". He had yet to meet anyone that said it didn't matter. Maybe he'd even forgotten the fact that he was innocent himself.

"Anyway," he said swiftly, "We need to get out of here and contact Howard. I'm sure the CIA already knows about Kavala, so we need to focus on getting ourselves out."

As if on cue, loud shouts started echoing through the street.

They heard glass breaking, possibly from one of the stores.

For once, Nolan wasn't sure what to do. They were stuck right in the middle of the uproar and it was going to be almost impossible to wade through to the other side of town. But then again, they didn't have much of a choice. Perhaps they could stay behind the building until it got too rowdy. It seemed safe so far.

Grace handed Nolan her pistol. "Here. Just in case."

He took it gratefully, instantly taking a liking to the way it fit in his palm. He usually didn't prefer the short barrel or stainless steel handle. He didn't recognize the particular version of the gun. "This is nice...what model is it?"

"Bauer Automatic," She said with the shadow of an excited grin that added a slight sparkle to her eye, ".25 ACP cartridge. It carries six rounds, which is pretty good considering its size. Can shoot effectively at ten meters, maximum of twenty-five meters, but I saw someone hit a target at thirty once."

Nolan couldn't hide a smirk of amusement. "You probably know how much it weighs too." He joked.

".284 kilograms, or .63 pounds, with an empty mag. It adds 10 ounces of you have a full clip." She replied bluntly.

"You're good." Toby remarked. "I'm guessing you use it a lot?"

Grace sighed dismally. "I would if I could actually shoot it."

To that, Nolan actually laughed. "You can't shoot? That almost seems impossible considering you know so much about it."

Grace lifted an unamused eyebrow. "Just because you wear a clown costume doesn't mean you can join the circus, Nolan. Besides," she brandished a pair of sleek knives from a compartment in her boot and turned it over in her hands, "I can use these better. Unless the target is really muscular, then it's hard to find an entry point and break through the...uh, nevermind. I'll just shut up now because I ramble when I'm nervous." She gave an awkward smile that quickly disappeared.

"It's a wonder you survived being held hostage." Toby said. He then looked at Nolan. "So what's the plan? We can't stay here forever."

"Well, we're safe here...for the moment, anyway." Nolan ran a hand through his hair, thinking hard. "The only way out of Kavala is by foot and we'll get killed if we try to get through a rioting crowd. They've already started to panic...it won't be long until the panic turns into violence."

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Hi everyone! I hope you enjoyed  ^_^ (Also, if you've started school/another semester this week, I am glad you've survived thus far)

~What are your thoughts on the chapter?

~ What do you think about Egor? (fun fact: he's a sociopath as opposed to a psychopath ^_^)

~How do you think they'll get out of Kavala without being trampled by a bunch of angry Grecians?

{Thank you so much for reading! Don't forget to comment, vote, and share! ^_^}