"It is by doubting that we come to investigate, and by investigating that we recognize the truth"
Peter Abelard

******Chapter III: The Investigation******

**Part 1; The Escape**

The escape was going to be quick and easy, wind of the news of the assassination had not reached the Stasi, so they were completely unaware of Slade being a fugitive, this would be easier than he though. He had already forged his East German military identification papers on the train. He had also already gotten rid of his luggage, or more or less had given it to a Western spy at the train station. The next part of executing his escape plan was getting an East German military uniform.

The first thing Slade did was headed to the East German military headquarters. The streets of this nation shared several characteristics with the streets of Moscow, the police force was extremely violent and brutal, and the weather was both bitter and cold.

After walking several miles Slade found the building was looking for, he noticed the guards doing their patrol around the front gates and the statue of Lenin, this could be his advantage. He maneuvered himself through several alleyways, until he was at the back gates of the complex, as he expected, no guards. It was routine for the guards to do several patrols on a daily basis, lucky for Slade he had arrived when the guards were doing their routine patrol. He then hopped over the wall and began to make his way to the building.

***

Checkpoint Charlie, the most well known border point, a powerful and defining symbol of the Cold War. This was the point that separated east from west, capitalist from communist, and NATO from the Warsaw Pact.

Several East German border guards looked over at their western counter parts. Both sides had cold and heartless stares at one another, but deep down they knew this was pointless, they were both German for crying out loud. But both Eastern and Western Germans hoped, someday, they could be reunited again.

It was the time of day again when the East Germans switched their guards, their Western counterparts also did the same. But more importantly it was the ideal time for an escape. The East German colonel yelled "Achtung! Firma A verlassen, Firma B steht auf Wache!". The first company then left, and the second company then stood at where their predecessors had stood. Slade knew it, it was now or never.

As the guards began talking to one another, ordering one another around, moving to their ordered locations, Slade then decided to make a full out sprint from his post. He ran towards the infamous checkpoint, still at full speed. As he ran he yelled "DON'T SHOOT I'M AN AMERICAN!". He saw the Western guards stand down and began to raise the gate, but he also realized that the East Germans know had an idea of what was doing.

He heard the same German colonel from before yell to him "Halt! sonst wirst du erschossen!". This didn't stop him, if anything this made him faster, knowing he had a bunch of angry communists with machine guns were chasing him.

He ran and ran and then ran even faster until he was there, over the infamous border. But for that brief amount of time while he still ran, everything went quiet and time seemed to stop for Slade. As he crossed over the Western side, Slade practically collapsed from exhaustion. He heard several people began to clap and cheer for him. A western border guard picked him up and began to question him. Sure there would be a hell of a lot of questions for Slade, but he had personal sanctification and relief to keep him going. But he had did it, he had escaped the communists and lived to tell the story.

**Part 2; The Taking**

Meanwhile, in a completely different time zone and continent to Germany, young little Margaret Wallace sat on the swing in her backyard, it was 8:30 and the sun had already set. "30 more minutes until the curfew kicks in". She was smart for her age, she knew the police had instigated a curfew since the disappearance of several children had happened. Some were older and some were younger than her, some were even in her grade. But one thing was for sure, she knew she wasn't going to disappear. She was the toughest girl in her grade, she was faster and stronger than all the boys in the majority of her classes. Whatever would happen, she wouldn't go down without a fight.

She just sat on the swing pumping herself backwards and forwards. She loved being outside, it was always so peaceful and calm. But sadly that would not last long.

She heard a snap of a branch, and quickly cocked her head over to see what made the sound. She saw nothing. Margaret was officially began to freak out, she swore, no.....she knew that she had heard something. She then heard light breathing coming near her. For some reason it calmed her, but also frightened her at the same time. She then saw her.

A woman wearing a black hooded robe had suddenly emerged from the woods. Margaret didn't know what but something about her was unnerving. The hooded woman came closer and closer to Margaret, and when she was close enough, she spoke. "Hello young Margaret Wallace, I have been searching for you". Her voice was calm, soft, and paced.

"Who.....who are you?" asked Margaret, barley getting the words out of her mouth.

The woman then responded "my name is Impius, and I have been searching for you....to complete the forgotten prophecy". After she had finished her sentence, the woman removed her hood and robes. She had nice silk blonde hair, she wore a crown like object that covered her forehead. Her face was clean and spotless, her nice green eyes almost glowed in the dark. She wore a sort of armor that had several designs carved into them, mainly the breastplate had designs. The metal boots she wore matched the designs of the breastplate.

Margaret was so transfixed that she almost forgot what she was going to say. "Prophecy.....What prophecy?"

"The prophecy...is a important to my sisterhood and I, it will bring forth the new era, a time of peace and prosperity". stated Impius

Margaret then replied very confused "then how and why am I involved in this?"

"You are one of the chosen few that are known as the elcti, we are to bring you to our master, this is the greatest of honors" replied Impius, this time sounding a bit more stricter in her tone.

This was all making Margaret feel uneasy, a strange woman, dressed in medieval attire, comes to her demanding she come with her to fulfill some prophecy. Red flags went out all over Margaret's mind, she had to get out of there, and fast. "You know....my parents are probably worried about me, and the curfew is about to kick in and......" she was cut off by Impius.

"So you say no?" said Impius in an quiet and dark tone.

"No.......it's just that I'm busy and got school and stuff and....." Margaret was then cut off by the pure fear that consumed her. Impius's hair had several black streaks in them, her eyes glowed red, her teeth had now all but become long and sharp fangs.

Impius's voice then turned very very dark as she said "My master requests you come, and when something is requested by the master, it must be fulfilled, now come with me.......before you get hurt."

Margaret then ran and began to scream "Help somebody help, please!". As she looked back, she saw Impius running after her, Margaret's pursuer then leaped into the air and cut Margaret off. Impius's arms had become long and shadowy and cut off Margaret completely.

They then became longer and longer and encircled Margaret, and Impius began to laugh in a dark,mocking, and demonic voice "no where to run little one". All Margaret could do is scream as this....this monster ensnared her. That was the last anyone saw of poor Margaret Wallace.

Impius then began to walk back into the woods whispering to herself "As times become darker, the prophecy shall see it's completion, and we....the sisterhood of the Myriad shall rise, soon master.....you shall return I promise."

**Part 3; Reassigned**

Many miles and oceans away, Slade sat at a desk at the U.S embassy in London, England. He had just finally finished his reflection on the events that had just unfolded, not less than just two days ago. After finishing the last sentence ,Slade sighed from exhaustion, he then put the papers into the folder and closed it. He observed the seal of the Central Intelligence Agency, after several minutes.

It was one o'clock in the morning, the date was October nineteenth, nineteen hundred and sixty two. Slade was aware of what was going on in the world right now, as he was informed of current events. He was now aware of what was mainly going on in the island nation of Cuba. All he could was pray that no missiles was going to be fired off anytime soon.

Slade then looked at the clock now, entranced by its ticking. As the clock made its usual sound and the dials moved, Slade then remembered something; the necklace. He pulled it out of his undershirt and held it right in front of him. He studied and observed it very thoroughly, trying to decipher what it meant. He had all but forgotten his childhood, with all the events that had occurred in his lifetime.

His thoughts were interrupted though for there were more pressing matters at hand. Several knocks on the door had just happened.

KNOCK KNOCK KNOCK!

All Slade could say was "come in!". The desk worker from down stairs, Ms.Helen, had entered the room. She held an envelope in her hand.

She said in quick and somewhat tired voice "letter for you Mr.Wilson". Slade then curioslu took the letter from her hand, a letter at this time in the morning, something was up.

Slade muttered "thanks" to Ms.Helen, and with that response she left. Slade then looked at the envelope, it was sealed with the official seal of the United States of America, this meant either he was getting decorated, or he was in serious trouble for something. He knew he was a bit reckless here and there, but to get a letter from the government, then he would have to blown up a communist memorial or something. He had detained it enough with these thoughts, Slade then opened the envelope. In it he found a letter that said the following

Dear Mr. Slade Wilson

We have seen your skills in both combat and survival, and we know you are one of the best. Both my cabinet and I decided that you, and you alone, are the only one capable of completing this task we are giving to you. You may ask, what task is this, it is fairly simple; to investigate the disappearance of several children in the town of Mirifield in the state of Washington.

The disappearance rate is about 32% above the national average, this has become somewhat of a crisis. Are the communists involved, we do not know, but your task is to find out, and possibly eliminate the source of the abductions. I understand that this may not be your most exciting mission ever, but it is still very important. As you may know, the majority of our other sources are concerned with the whole missile crisis occurring in the nation of Cuba right now, so this may not seem a big deal.

But regardless the threat is still very dangerous, and at large. As said earlier Mr.Wilson, you are the best, and you are going to have to be the best. Mr.Wilson, see to this done immediately.

Sincerely, President John F Kennedy

Well.....that sucked, there went Slade's break. Slade then began to complain to himself and then realized that it was the president of the United States that had ordered him to do this, and besides how hard would it be? Just go around and do some detective work, compared to other things Slade had done, this would be easy.

***

Slade had caught the first flight from London back to the United States, he didn't care what state he ended up in, he just wanted to get back to the U.S first.

He had to take several flights before finally reaching his destination. After he arrived in Seattle, he had to take a train to get down South. He took the train as South as it would take him, eventually he had to rent a car to get him to the final location. He had a brief understanding of this small Washington town, Ms.Helen had given him a dossier containing a brief background on the town and its history. He had studied maps during his long flights in order to get him there the fastest. It was strange never before in the entire history of the town, had this much children disappeared, ever. What ever it was though, it was his job to get to the bottom of it, and possibly put a bullet between some sick child kidnappers eyes.

After another two hours Slade had finally reached the town of Mirifield. It was not to large but also not to small, it was probably the same size as Yorktown in Virginia. Slade drove around a bit to see if he could find any suspicious characters. It was late at night, and that was usually when the creeps run amok. Surprisingly he saw nothing, no people roaming the streets whatsoever, it was a small town, with probably a small population.

With that thought, he decided to crash out for the night. Heck he was practically still in the Russian time zone, he need some sleep and some rest. So Slade turned his car around and began to drive to the local hotel. He swore several he saw a young woman looking at him from the nearby woods, very menacingly. He merely put it off as his mind was playing tricks on him, for he was very very tired now.

As Slade drove on though, Impius stepped out from her hiding place in the woods. She whispered "Master he has come....". She closed her eyes, as if she were visualizing something in her head. "He comes with a destiny decided by his superiors, he is armed and very intelligent". She then took in a breathe and opened her eyes, "but do not fear my lord,
he cannot stop us no one can. Soon the a new era will begin,the tyranny of Celestia and Luna will end, the time of men is all but over. And from both of their ashes, we shall rise. The age of the shadow will soon begin"]. She then put her hood up and stepped back into the shadows.

**Part 4; Day One**

The morning was absolutely awful, Slade was still in European time zone. He woke up when it was exactly two thirty in the morning. He ached all over his body as he slowly got out of bed, he could barley think or act. Both the plane and car rides had killed his morale, this was going to be a long day. "Well better get started" thought Slade, trying to keep a positive spin on things. And with that he stepped out of the bedroom and headed to the restroom to go shower.

Several hours later, Slade was in a much better status than he was in when he woke up. He had gotten in a shower, and nice shave. He had also put on a different suit than the one he was wearing earlier (and had slept in), so he was officially more presentable.

Now that his looks were good, he had to make sure he was prepared. Under his jacket, he had a gun holster, which contained his C7-25 automatic pistol. Also under the suit he had a very very light form of body armor (it was not as effective and strong as his usual one). He had his I.D and everything else set, now one problem remained, where was he going to go first to start his investigation?

"I should probably start at the police station first, they will probably have the most information about these disappearances" and with that thought Slade left the room.

***

The police station was overcrowded with upset and concerned adults, probably parents of the missing children. Slade had to practically fight his way to the front desk. The man working there was somewhat obese and not very observant, he smoked a cigarette and was reading an magazine. It was probably a minute before he noticed him. "Can I help you sir?"

"Yes actually, Slade Wilson, here to see sheriff Wyler". Slade noticed the man rolled his eyes as he put his magazine down to see the schedule.

"Ah yes Mr.Wilson, you can head right in, down the corridor, first door to your left". With that information Slade began to walk down the hallway, he didn't want to waste any more time with that fat idiot.

Slade then followed the man's directions and found the office, he entered.

***

To be honest the whole trip to the sheriffs office was a waste of time. The majority of the things the sheriff told him was stuff he already knew. There was one or two things the officer told him that he didn't know, for example, he was being assigned a partner; United States Marshall John Kruger.

Kruger was young, late 20s and early 30s, but he was good. He had hunted down and apprhended several drug lord, prison escapees, and criminals. But Kruger would not arrive till mid-day, and it was still early morning, so Slade still had some time to gather some information on his own.

Slade sat alone in his car in the parking lot of the police station. "So...where to start?", thought Slade to himself, "I should probably go investigate the sight of the most recent disappearance...the Wallace resident, according to the sheriff." And with that thought, Slade studied his map and found the Wallace resident on it, he then drove off from the parking lot.

The ride over was weird, it was still somewhat warm out, and there were no children outside. Halloween was around the corner, but there were no decorations or anything outside to celebrate the holiday. The only people he really saw on the streets were both older and middle aged people, barley any children. The looks on the people were both unhappy and concerned. Another thing he noted were the amount of ads he saw. On practically every alleyway and store, there were missing poster's. Something foul and wicked was afoot, and it had destroyed the once good spirit of this small town. It was Slade, and now Kruger's, job to find out what was causing this and stop it.

After being helplessly lost for a few minutes, Slade finally got back on track and finally arrived at the Wallace's home. As he exited his car and began to walk to the front door, he thought to himself "this isn't going to be pretty".

He knocked on the front door.

KNOCK KNOCK KNOCK

He heard some yelling from inside, a middle aged man and woman, and a female teenage voice. Already he could tell that this family was a wreck since the disappearance of their daughter.

A young woman then answered the door, she was probably the sister of the missing girl. She spoke, in what was practically a whisper, "who are you...and what do you want?"

Slade responded very politely and confident "my name is Slade Wilson, I'm with the CIA, here to investigate the disappearance of a young girl, Margaret Eileen Wallace, do you know her?"

The girl looked down at the ground know, it appeared that the very mention of the name had both attacked her, and destroyed whatever confidence she had. The young woman then responded "Yea...I was her sister."

Well Slade's analyzing skills had not failed him, that was good, to know. Slade knew the sooner he could get this conversation done the better. The girl began to motion him inside, which was both a burden and a curse. "Well c'est la vie"thought Slade to himself as he entered the home.

***

Slade knew stared at a small wooden swing-set, the last known place where Margaret could have been. After several hopeless minutes, he took in a breathe and decided to use a technique he had learned from the CIA. Slade then closed his eye and took in another much deeper breathe and began to talk aloud to himself. "There was a girl, a young one, sitting here on the swing-set." Slade then stuck out his hand as if he were feeling or pointing at something, "suddenly a figure, most likely the assailant, approached the girl from the woods, she was surprised by it, the assailant most likely tried to convince the girl to come with them, and when they refused the assailant took her by force."

"How did you manage to do that so quickly?", the question took Slade by surprise, he was very quick to look over his shoulder and maneuver his body into a defensive position. To both his relief and disappointment, it was the same teenage girl from earlier.

Slade let out a sigh and said "ah, it's only you."

"Yea, just me, but that doesn't answer my question, how were you able to come up with those facts so quickly" asked the girl .

"Well". said Slade "it's very simple you see, based on the evidence from the local surroundings, I was able to play out a possible scenario of how your sister was taken."

"Evidence?!" asked the girl in a more confused and angered tone, "what evidence? my parents have been combing this place like crazy, and haven't found anything, and neither have I, and I am pretty observant."

Slade then retaliated in a sluggish tone, "well you nor your parent were observant enough to notice the different boot marks near the foot of this swing-set."

The girl now whom was calmed down took a look at the foot step and indeed found some boot markings on the ground. The markings were deep into the ground, as if the boots were medal or a strong iron.

"Wow" said the girl, "what else can you find out about this situation"

Slade then looked the girl in the eyes and said "not much here, but maybe we should try following them to see if we can find anymore clues"

So they began to follow the deep and engraved footprints in the ground. "Say, I never really got to introduce myself" said the girl blushing a little. "My name is Alexandria, but my friends just call me Alex, I already got your name Mr.Wilson."

Slade responded with "Alex, what a nice name, I knew a guy named Alex once, back a long time ago."

Alex looked down at her feet time to time as they walked, and when she was not looking at her feet she was looking at Slade's face. "Hey Slade, just out of curiosity, this is not meant to be rude whatsoever, but how did you lose your eye?"

Slade then responded "it was shot, by a Chinese marksman, back when I was in Korea." Alex then went silent for the remainder of the somewhat short walk. They finally reached where the footprints ended. It was a little grove, but on one of the black trees hung a black robe. "How interesting and peculiar, what in gods name is a black robe doing in the middle of the grove, what do you think Alex?"

Alex was confused and taken by surprise by the question at first but then was able to get her mind around it. "Probably they did not want their identity to be revealed, just in case anyone was to notice them." Slade knew one thing, Alex was very mature, she gave both a sophisticated and well thought out answer, pretty good for a high school student. Slade knew this was probably going to be the beginning of a very interesting partnership, a determined high school student and a CIA marksman, this was definitely going to be interesting.

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Author's Note

Boy this was a hard one to write, but I got it done. More characters introduced, several issues from the previous chapters solved, a plot is being established etc, etc.

Anyways not much else to say other than, I'm very happy I was able to develop the story more, and hope to make it go further on. Anyways I'm tired and am going to bed now

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