The Cave [Feburary 17, 1964, 10:30 pm - continued from Night Search for Corpus 2]

[capt-kasya.livejournal.com]

They were still for a moment, in the wake of Major Liadov's query.

Then everyone looked at Imanov.

Isaev had told Kassian that Imanov had gone to a university and studied psychology. That made him the obvious choice in Kassian's book. Kassian hadn't even completed his secondary education before he'd have to leave in order to work at the factory.

Kassian wondered if there was anything in Imanov's psychology books that talked about this, murders committed out of some deep-seated need, fueled by this cycle of escalation that Liadov had talked about.

Probably. It sounded like it happened often enough that experts had coined terms for it, after all, some deeper explanation than merely knowing the difference between having to kill, and wanting to kill.

Comments

[major-ocelot-2u.livejournal.com]

"Jesus fuck!" yelped Ocelot, whirling around and drawing his gun.

His finger was on the trigger and it was already aimed- only the sense of a logical question penetrating his mind halted the depression.

A split second reaction, and in the end all it meant was that he was staring at the artless, scruffy face of that American instead of a smoking black hole where his face used to be.

Ocelot scowled, unsure he'd made the right choice.

"What the hell are you doing here?"

[nikanor-liadov.livejournal.com]

Liadov looked up at the outburst, and saw the American and the Major engaged in what looked like a schoolyard standoff.

He rolled his eyes and went back to watching Rakitin grope the corpse.

[nagaya-zmeika.livejournal.com]

"You should pay more attention to your surroundings," Snake advised mildly, before his attention was pulled to the object standing at the center of the tableau like a twisted passion play.

The analogy proved more apt than he had intended.

A dismembered corpse, strung up like a diorama of a psychopath's dream.

The pathologist from Moscow lifted its face with businesslike delicacy to examine the neck, dictating notes to an Ocelot.

If the eyes had been open, they would have been looking right at it.

"That's one of the Shagohod's mechanics," Snake said.

[nikanor-liadov.livejournal.com]

There was a very long pause.

"The what?" asked Nika, delicately. He fingered a mess of curls aside so that Rakitin could get a better look at the kid's throat. "I'm afraid I'm not familiar with that name. Did we miss something on our tour?"

[major-ocelot-2u.livejournal.com]

Ocelot gritted his teeth and raised the gun again.

"You're going to be a real thorn in my ass, aren't you," he hissed, and tapped his CODEC.

"Colonel," he muttered, dropping his voice to a subtone. "Your American stray dog just let the cat out of the bag on Sokolov's project. In front of the MVD. Do you want me to deal with him?"

[heartofthunder.livejournal.com]

Volgin hadn't really wanted to answer his CODEC.

He and Ivan were -

Well. They weren't really doing anything, yet.

It was the yet that made him grit his teeth, but Ocelot's message made his eyes widen.

"He did what? How does he even - "

Volgin broke off. Of course the Boss' protege would know about the Shagohod, if she'd seen fit to tell him, which apparently she had.

This, he had the feeling, would blow his evening, and not in the good way.

"No, Ivan, not now," he muttered, sighing.

There was a thumping noise in the background.

"Untie me, will you? This is something I have to deal with."

He cleared his throat. "I'll handle the MVD, Ocelot. Direct any questions they might have about the Shagohod to me. I'll meet them in my office when you return. As for the American dog..."

Volgin paused. "Make sure he understands his place here, though not in front of the MENTs. Nothing permanent, understand me? We can't have the Boss getting upset. But another blunder like that, in front of the wrong people..."

Electricity snapped, and the line went to static for a few moments.

"...way, just... with him."

The line returned to normal.

"...understand? And what's happening there? Did you find the body?"

[major-ocelot-2u.livejournal.com]

"We have the body," he confirmed. "And a tentative identification. The MENTS are molesting the corpse as we speak."

Ocelot cracked his knuckles.

"Understood on all counts, Colonel."

He switched off the channel and angled his gun at Snake with a deep scowl.

"You," he declared. "You and and I have business after this is over. Don't you dare stray."

[nagaya-zmeika.livejournal.com]

Now that was a reaction Snake hadn't been expecting. A gigantic tank with nuclear capabilities that must account for a sizeable chunk of the military's development budget could hardly be much of a secret. If the Shagohod was something he was supposed to pretend to ignore, The Boss would definitely have said something.

The MENT had asked him a question, but Snake's internal hierarchy of priority tended to default to the man pointing a gun at him.

"Shouldn't wave that thing around unless you're planning on using it, kid," he said in a tone of friendly advice.

[major-ocelot-2u.livejournal.com]

"Believe me, I would like nothing better than to use it," snapped Ocelot. "You'd make a beautiful corpse."

He clicked the safety on and holstered the gun with an unnecessarily florid twirl, to dispell some of the wish to fire.

"Unfortunately, the Colonel disagrees. Don't ask me why. I think you're a barbarian and a relic."

He turned to Liadov and Rakitin.

"You. Volgin wants you to report to him for debriefing on this...security breach."

[hajimenoippolit.livejournal.com]

"Hmm?" Rakitin said, looking up from his examination. "Neck is clear and unbruised," he said in aside to the Ocelot taking notes. "No signs of strangulation."

From Liadov's tone, something significant had been said. Ocelot's response corroborated the hypothesis.

A shiver ran down the back of Rakitin's mind at the prospect of reporting to the Colonel.

He ran the past minute of background conversation through his mind and was disappointed to detect little of consequences, but for the possible identification. Whatever a 'shagohod' was, unless it could kill a man without a mark and detatch his limbs, Rakitin didn't see how it was relevant.

[nagaya-zmeika.livejournal.com]

Snake's mouth quirked. The kid could never resist the opportunity to show off.

"You don't have what it takes to kill me," he said.

Ocelot had stepped close to threaten him. Something in the air caught Snake's attention. He sniffed experimentally.

"..are you wearing cologne?"

[major-ocelot-2u.livejournal.com]

Ocelot's eyes bloomed open, incredulous.

"No!"

He backed up a pace and crossed his arms, glowering.

"It's an artifact of proximity," he muttered. "Occupational hazard. What fucking reason would I have to wear cologne around this pit?"

Ocelot's eyes narrowed.

"And all it takes to kill anyone is a gun," he said. "There's nothing special about that."

[nagaya-zmeika.livejournal.com]

Snake crossed his arms.

"If all it took was a gun, I'd be dead by now."

Something about the kid's tone made him pause.

Snake's eyebrow rose.

"Proximity to what?"

[major-ocelot-2u.livejournal.com]

"The local flora," stated Ocelot, shortly. "Some of it can be habit forming."

He smirked coolly.

"You haven't met the right man with a gun yet. That's all."

[nagaya-zmeika.livejournal.com]

"Be careful with that," Snake warned. "The good-looking ones around here are usually poisonous."

Personally, Snake preferred to stick to fauna. The plants weren't often worth the effort. Golovas were pretty good, but something about them made him uncomfortable.

Snake smirked back.

"I guess not."

[major-ocelot-2u.livejournal.com]

Ocelot paused, then snorted.

"We're all poisonous."

He holstered his gun and spread his hands presentationally, leaving them that way.

"Well," he said. "Isn't this a multicultural moment."

After a moment he frowned.

"Are you sure this man was a mechanic in the weapons hangar? You've seen him?"

They would talk about how the bastard had been in a position to see him later.

Doing his job, Ocelot supposed. His job, that effectively should have ended when the Boss ditched him in this pretty blue corner of hell.

But Snake looked irritatingly like one of those Young Pioneers who was determined to orienteer his way through the course, with or without his mentor.

[nagaya-zmeika.livejournal.com]

"Yeah." Snake nodded, looking hard at the corpse. "I know I've seen him before. I don't know his name. You should ask some of the other mechanics."

[nikanor-liadov.livejournal.com]

As NIka watched, mildly amused, Ocelot's head jerked up and his hand clamped to his head.

He listened for a minute, then muttered a terse, "On my way."

"Drop your necrophiliac funtime, boys," he declared, turning his gaze on Rakitin and Liadov. "They've got something in the cavern."

Liadov glanced at Rakitin.

"Let's go."

[hajimenoippolit.livejournal.com]

"Right," Rakitin nodded, lowering the dead man's chin to lay against his chest in an aspect of sorrowful repose. "I'm at the limits of what I can learn without an autopsy anyway."

He, Liadov, and the Ocelot Major proceeded deeper into the cave.

[capt-kasya.livejournal.com]

Kassian and Isaev stepped aside as the others came up behind them, letting the MENTs approach the pile of limbs first.

Liadov studied the pile, mouth set and expressionless, though his gaze was thorough, dissecting. He saw something other than just a very sick man's notion of art in that display, Kassian could tell.

It was as if Liadov could see Molokov reaching out of the grave to deliver some sort of signal, one last message about his killer.

Maybe he could. Kassian wouldn't put it past the MENT, who had an unnervingly accurate insight into the nature of men.

Kassian turned away, instinctively moving closer to Isaev.

His tolerance for the macabre had abruptly turned thready.

He looked up, into Isaev's face, and Isaev returned his gaze, brow hooded, grey eyes distant, and hard.

The second time was never as bad as the first, Kassian thought, but it was bad enough.

[ilya-imanov.livejournal.com]

Ilya remained behind to keep the entrance of the cave, along with Ocelot and the American.

He had to contain a serpent-like desire to strike the sniper, hard, when he volunteered to go off with Andrei. What fucking use would a sniper be in a dark passage with next to no distance? None whatsoever, he thought savagely, not liking what immediately sprang to mind.

He could've volunteered to go, but Major Ocelot had opted to stick to Snake, who didn't seem the slightest bit alarmed at a gun in his face.

He might fool around at the other brass' expense - he had a few trophies from Krauss' office, for instance, as well as a few well-penned comments on his dossier - but Ocelot he had nothing but the utmost respect for.

He wasn't about to leave the Major alone with someone who looked like a wild man, and was apparantly not scared of his commander.

He was regretting it now. It was stupid, given his friend's specialty, but he had felt hurt Andrei hadn't opted to remain behind, with him.

What good would it have done to follow, though, other than making the swelling desire to punch something eventually burst?

Water; bridge. His spirits rose to hear Ocelot report that something had been found - not because he had no pity for the man that had died, but because it meant they were closer to the end of it.

... And, the back of his mind suggested, this meant the pair that had gone off together couldn't have got up to much.

He was given a nod from Ocelot, and he followed dutifully, keeping a wary eye out, for both the American and any signs of the killer still nearby - although he doubted he would be.

Too incautious of this kind of killer, to actually watch people find his twisted artwork - he probably got more of a kick out of imagining the horror on his faces, fantasizing over them stumbling around playing his little treasure hunt game, with pretty, dead prizes at the end.