The Angarian Amulet, Part I

by Hamsterdam

He was being followed. One night of hard drinking couldn’t dull his many years of super cosmonaut training. But who could it be? KGB?

The night mist dampened the sound of any footfalls, but Yuri knew he was there. He paused under a street lamp to light a cigarette.

"You know my face, comrade, but I do not know yours." He pulled in a drag, then blew out slowly.

A man in a black leather trenchcoat stepped into view from the walls of a building. "A bloke ought to be careful what he wishes for," he said. "It just might come true." The man grinned, and Yuri clenched his stomach at the sight. The face was somehow … distorted. What in Mother Russia was this?!?

Yuri decided to act first and ask questions later. He executed special cosmonaut take-down maneuver #22: he jabbed at the face with his left, punched the solar plexus with his right, then yanked his opponent’s wrist with his left hand while he drove his right forearm into the man's neck. With a pivot, Yuri spun him against a wall!

But with inhuman strength, the man shrugged off Yuri's press and, grabbing him by the shoulders of his overcoat, launched him into the middle of the street!

"Impossible …" Yuri stammered. He struggled to get up. He had been champion wrestler at his secondary school; how could this man be so strong? Perhaps it was time to deploy special cosmonaut maneuver #23.

Yuri regained his footing and turned to face his attacker. The man seemed even more menacing than before. His eyes glinted with excitement, his teeth shone in the dark, and his face flinched in pain. Wait -- his face flinched in pain?!?

Thud. "Bollocks!" the man shouted. He clutched his ear. "What the bloody hell?" he cried as another rock whizzed by.

Yuri whirled to see who had come to his aid. He stared, not understanding. He had not expected to see such a hottie. Neither had his assailant.

"Slayer." The man spat. "This is no concern of yours."

The hottie smiled innocently, tossing a rock up and down in her hand. "Aw, Spike. It's just you and me." Her voice took on an unmistakeable edge. "You think I’m concerned?"

Spike hesitated. He glared at Yuri and then at the Slayer. Finally, he turned to Yuri and said, "This isn't over between us." Before disappearing into the shadows, he looked at the Slayer and repeated, "This isn’t over."

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