Episode 4

6/17/1983

Rin never ran. To her mind, it made one look hurried, inelegant. There was no way to appear dignified while running, so she adopted a brisk walk toward the Capital. There was no sign of trouble for the first mile, but then things quickly went downhill. Several army vehicles zipped by, possibly on the way to the checkpoint.

There were many roads into the Capital, so it was hard to tell where they were headed. Rin's uniform worked well for a short while until she reached a group of troops directing traffic. Were they on alert, or was this the ordinary conduct of business in the Capital? One of the soldiers waved her over, and she had little choice but to comply.

Unsurprisingly, her uniform was of low rank, and she kicked herself for neglecting to take the Commandant's stripes. Once an officer started barking orders, the gig was up. Rin pretended she couldn't hear over the ruckus, and calmly approached so the soldier could repeat himself. When close enough, she drew her gun and fired into his stomach.

There was no reason to be coy, now that discovery was inevitable. She had hoped to reach the presidential Palace unnoticed, but wasn't foolish enough to think it likely. The question had been when, not if, the trouble would start. A mile wasn't ideal, but it wasn't disastrous either. Whatever the commotion, he wouldn't realize it was her. Not until she was upon him.

Rin briefly considered drawing a crowd around her to give the illusion of revolution, but decided this was too likely to cause panic. No, she would let him ignore the obvious risk. Or, confident in his own power, perhaps he would await the approaching menace. Yes, that did sound like him.

It was what he would have done in the old days. Sit on that goddamn throne, waiting for the enemy to defeat his army and storm the palace. Then he'd personally vanquish the entire invading force, proving that the kingdom depended on his strength alone. Rin sighed. Of course he couldn't resist becoming Dictator. The man always had a thing for thrones.

In fact, she was impressed he had managed to keep from one for so long. To her knowledge, he hadn't been a ruler of any significance since the old days. And she had been rather vigilant in keeping tabs on him, at least until recently. She wondered what he called himself these days: President, Generalissimo, Glorious Leader? None of the modern titles had the right ring.

In the old days, there was no ambiguity, no need to pretend to a bunch of peasants. A king was a king, until he wasn't. Of course, titles were mere marks of vanity for men such as him. His power didn't come through office or lineage or military might. It came from his person. Nor would its scope be limited by any title he held. People never truly changed, whatever they chose to call themselves. But their trappings could, and she wondered what he was like now. It had been a very long time since she last saw him, and the circumstances of their separation had not been ideal.

When Rin emerged from her reverie, she had reached the fortified entrance to the Palace. She realized that a steady stream of bullets and larger projectiles had been bombarding her for some time. She seemed to recall flashes and people scattering. Explosives? Probably grenades or tank rounds. A circle of soldiers surrounded her. The firing stopped, maybe because they finally had her attention.

Suddenly all sorts of faces and hands and feet flew through her field of vision. It created an odd impression, and she was reminded of the collages of faces which sometimes served as murals. She detested those things, more for their aesthetics than their particular brand of idealism. After a while the soldiers grew tired of trying to grab and hit her, and the firing resumed.

Turning her head, Rin saw that two tanks were at odd angles and clearly out of commission by the side of the road. A third was aimed at her, and periodically the soldiers would pull back as it fired. The two discarded tanks had a graceful styling, and Rin smiled in admiration.

She wanted to drive a tank. It looked like fun. Maybe on the way back. She noticed that one of the tanks was badly damaged. Had she walked through it? That seemed uncharacteristically rude of her, and she shrugged apologetically to nobody in particular.

To disdain a cowardly enemy was natural, but to despise a weak one was ungracious. And to unnecessarily destroy the beautiful weaponry of your enemy was both foolish and an affront to good taste. Rin really did hate this. At least she wouldn't have to kill all these soldiers. They were doing a pretty good job killing one another. The chaos of shrapnel and deflected bullets had taken quite a toll. Well, healing was not within her power. And even if it were, she doubted any of them would be worthy of it. She would not heal animals, only men. Animals were food and pets.

Rin glanced down at her clothes. They were completely gone, shredded along the way. How embarrassing. It wasn't unexpected, just inconvenient. She didn't care about being seen naked by the men around her, but it would be awkward to appear this way to him. Especially after so long. And it would distract from her triumph. While she explained the many reasons for his inevitable destruction, he'd probably stare at her tits. What was the point of exulting in victory if the enemy just stares at your tits? It's undignified.

No, that would not do at all. She'd have to find another uniform before going in. Rin looked around, but saw nothing at hand. Even there had been, the new clothes would disintegrate almost instantly under the onslaught. She would have to wait until she got inside and hope an opportunity presented itself.

Unfortunately, things weren't much better inside the Palace. As she entered, the doors exploded inward, bringing down part of the facade. It annoyed Rin that it was impossible to predict what would happen ahead of time. Sometimes the doors unlocked themselves, sometimes they quietly fell off the hinges, and sometimes things were a bit noisier.

She briefly worried that the explosion would precipitate a collapse of the entire building. That wouldn't be a problem in itself, but it could make finding her prey difficult. There also was the danger that all the dust and chaos could facilitate his escape. Fortunately, the building was of sturdy construction. In fact, the rubble proved useful. It kept all those angry young men outside.

Inside, the men with guns wore a different uniform. Rin was disappointed. The style outside would have suited her better, but at this point she couldn't be picky. She took the gun off the first man who approached, and shot him in the head.

Before she even could strip his uniform, it already had acquired three bullet holes. This was frustrating. She gritted her teeth and proceeded to shoot each person in the atrium. It was tedious work, but fortunately the men outside hadn't entered. Rin wondered at this. By now they surely could have found a way. Perhaps they had been ordered not to?

After a while, she realized that men were appearing more quickly than she could shoot them. With a groan, she resigned herself to remaining naked. So much for decorum. She tossed aside her gun, dispensed with any concern for the integrity of the building, and strode forward through doors and walls until she reached the main room of State. It wasn't hard to find, she just went wherever the defense was most enthusiastic.

The Dictator was just a shadow cowering in the corner, but before Rin could approach him a dozen guards unloaded with abandon on her. Something felt wrong, but she couldn't pinpoint what. She turned. Good, the solid iron door had remained intact. It would keep anyone from leaving just as effectively as it stopped anyone from entering.

She hoped the Dictator didn't have some cheesy escape route that would lead her on a tiresome foot chase through the sewers. Rin hated foot chases. Just be a man and stand your ground. To his credit, the Dictator didn't move. To his discredit, he broke down sobbing. She felt a pang of revulsion. Had he really fallen this low? How pathetic. She'd be doing him a favor. Her vacillation vanished.

She had planned a lengthy and dramatic speech, but it seemed out of place under the circumstances. Rin just wanted to get this over with, so she could go back to remembering him the way he once had been --- and then not at all. For the first time since the checkpoint, she opened her fist and contemplated the small sphere it held. This was the only way to dispose of the man. If it worked. There was a good chance it wouldn't, but she had to try. Rin hoped it would, for his sake as much as hers. She doubted that such a sniveling shell of a man could bear to go on, especially knowing what he once had been. She almost wanted to let him do so, make him beg for release. But first, she had to deal with some nuisances.

Rin once again closed her fist around the sphere. She barred the door and stood in front of it, surveying the twenty-odd men who continually fired upon her. She had to make sure none of them opened that door, or a large number of additional annoyances would pour through. Killing them could quickly turn into an interminable chore. Rin assumed the men trapped with her would do the obvious, and it wasn't long before one did---closing in and attempting to remove her by force. This gave Rin the gun she needed, and she began shooting the men closest to the door, keeping a careful eye on the Dictator. It would be aggravating if he just walked out while she was occupied.

Who would build a State room with only one entrance? Surely there were others, but nobody made a move toward any of the obvious candidates. Either the men were extremely loyal or those weren't actual exits. Rin decided to err on the side of caution and act as if they were. She slowly worked her way outward, taking a new gun off a corpse whenever her current one ran out. Unfortunately most of the guns were low on ammunition by the time she acquired them, and she found herself switching quite frequently.

At long last, all the men were dead and the Dictator alone remained. Rin quietly regarded the man in the corner, playfully rolling the sphere between her hands as she did so.

"Karkov," she purred in a sultry tone as she approached.

Along the road, she had considered fucking him for old time sake before doing her duty. In her experience, a condemned man screwed like there was no tomorrow. And the best part was that they usually believed there would be a tomorrow. That they could convince or deceive or seduce her before the time came. Rin always laughed when their embrace ended. It hadn't been salvation, just a little send off on the short journey to nothingness. That had been the plan here as well, but the dictator's cowardice put her off. This man ... no, this thing was a despicable simpering non-man. She pulled him to his feet and studied his face.

She cursed, flinging the man away in disgust. This was not Karkov. He didn't even look like him. Rin feverishly reviewed her information. Where had she made a mistake? Was it the wrong country? Damn it. Rin was furious at her failure, but also relieved. It would be terrible if mere time could turn Karkov into ... that. He remained an enemy who could be respected. All the more so if this had been an elaborate ruse, as Rin was beginning to suspect.

Meanwhile, the Dictator had realized he wasn't Rin's target. He was babbling and gesticulating wildly in the abrasive tongue of his people, trying to tell her something. Aroused from her speculation, Rin stared at him uncomprehendingly for a moment. Then she put a bullet in his head, cursing to herself as she walked through the door. How could she have messed up such a simple thing?