Orlindo was running. He didn't know from what or why he, a brave man who had seen things that no man would dare even think about. Was running.

All he knew was that he was running.

It was hard.

His breath spilled out of his mouth and nostrils in great leaps and breaths. Wells of air puffing out of him like no other.

But he couldn't escape.

Before long, his legs tired and lacked. His blood turned from an oxygen-rich crimson to a pale out of breath blue.

He couldn't last. He shouldn't last.

And so he didn't.

His body collapsed like a puppet cut from its strings, and he finally found out what was chasing him. Nothing, it was nothing.

But that was what terrified him the most.

When he woke from his slumber beside his wife, he couldn't help but feel fear. For most night terrors could be fought.

You could fight a massive shadow beast with a hundred limbs, a hundred mouths, and two-hundred tentacles. Is it something that was too terrible to hear, and that would end your very purity if heard?

Even against such a beast. You could fight it.

But against something that was so powerful that it slew you when you finally got close. Or that it was so terrifying your body woke itself up by itself.

How could you fight that? You couldn't fight the unknown. There was a reason every battle that was lost was because of a lack of information.

Italy didn't have the knowledge necessary to create the weapons to end the Austro-Hungarians and Serbians. They didn't have the skill to tear their fortresses apart. They lacked what had made most armies so efficient.

Orlindo quickly got up from his bed and dressed.

His wife had been so tired these last few days, helping manage the looming protests and vast civil complaints that had happened cause of the treaty.

His wife, Marrisa Arachne. Was the head of the Dipartimento di Sicurezza Nazionale, or the Department of Homeland Security in English.

Orlindo was getting tired of being so used to speaking English. It was a simple language if a bit lazy, and that was why it was used so extensively. A lazy and easy to learn a language was much more preferable than using a language a bit more complicated.

Marrisa had been getting tired of hearing him speak the language recently.

She had disliked the British long for as long as she had lived. Orlindo didn't know why, and when he asked she would get mad and throw a piano at him.

Literally, don't ask.

Marrisa was always annoyed that they were allied with the British. And now that the war was over, she wanted them to cut off their larger ties with them and go ahead with Germany. Where her family was from, now even an idiot could see why Marrisa wanted the English gone from Italian politics. And for a time Orlindo had entertained such a thought as well.

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But then that thought drowned away with his broken bones. Seriously don't ask.

Orlindo headed out of the bedroom quickly. His stride was a normal one, he didn't feel energetic today.

A servant with red hair, brown freckled skin, and pink eyes came running out to deliver him a message. Now while he had at first thought she was a Vat-Born it had turned out she was Birthed. Her peculiar characteristics had been the result of her being exposed to some chemicals during her childhood.

Her exotic appearance and her very fine skills made her a highly desirable servant. It had become a trend in recent years for Nobels to hire as many Birthed servants as possible to highlight wealth, incidentally driving their working wage up.

It was actually a bit expensive to keep her in the household but her skills were top-notch so it was worthwhile.

"Master, a message arrived for you this morning. About one hour before you awoke. It came from your brother Sir Orlando."

"Alright, show it to me."

"Right away Master."

She carefully pulled out an envelope and handed it to him. He took it and opened it with barely a care in the world. Till he saw the contents.

Dear Orlindo

It's time for the meeting.

Lady Madam Sir.

PS: 586 Matilda's Grocery Store, come hidden

Immediately he went to the trashcan, ripped the letter into little pieces, and dumped them in. And then threw a match his servant lent him for good measure.

He had a meeting to get to, an important one.

----------------------------------------

Matilda's Grocery Store was a small deserted store near the edge of the city he and his family lived in. The Arachne Estate was a small one, but what it lacked in size it made up for being one of the most productive cities of all Italy.

His subjects called it Bastia if he remembered correctly. It was a nice name so he had allowed it.

He entered the store with a cloak and hood on, several bodyguards shadowed him at every step. Mindless Vat-Born came along with them, adding the brawn behind his guard's brain. Plus doubling as unfeeling meat shields that could regrow limbs in days.

The store was pretty bland and boring, but he guessed that's how it always was to an outskirts store. His heart rate rose when the owner of the store. An Augmented man with more metal in and around him than God themself opened a trap door and ushered them inside it.

Following this with a quick walk he ended up in a room with a massive round oak wood table in the middle. Around it was his brother Vittorio, Lady Madam Sir, Pope Francis Scott, and Remlin Struch.

All three were barely dressed in anything eye-catching or gaudy. Such a thing would be jeopardizing the entire meeting. After all, people follow the wealthy, almost always out of poor intentions.

"I believe we can start now?" Lady Madam Sir asked, Orlindo noted that there seemed to be dozens of weapons on her. Most were probably banned.

"Yes you can, apologies for being late."

"Think nothing of it, it gave us time to chat," Lady Madam Sir replied to Orlindo with a smile. Orlindo felt uneasy.

"Now that we can begin," Orlando said with a huff.

"The first order is that our spies have managed to get inside the country as we speak. And our old ones are still inside the Roman Government. I managed to pull out some fakes so most think we're all cleared out."

Orlando continued, "As our new spies enter the country. We have several supply depots planned and numerous criminal organizations in contact with us. One is the Red Cross."

A sputtering of murmurs and gasps came from everyone. "The Red Cross, aren't they the-" "I am very well aware of their operations and beliefs, but they are right now our best ally against the Romans," Orlando said, cutting off Remlin.

"I say, we barely even gotten in and we're already making deals with the devil," Francis said as he toyed around with some alchemical concoction.

"I don't like this any more than you do, but we have to do this. For the greater good as they say."

Orlando sighed as he looked upon the others, it was gonna take a lot to convince them. Orlindo looked at his brother helplessly, he wanted to help but the Red Cross? This was maybe too far.

"Asides from that, I want to deliver my own information," Lady Madam Sir said.

She sucked in her breath and then let out the most damned words of the meeting. "We have a spy among us."

That's when all hell broke loose.

"Hit the Church hard, hit it harder! It's the only area of defense left keeping the Germans at bay. If we continue to hit them, we'll win this whole bloody war! Wait for what? Don't fall back Army 3! What do you mean by 'Metal Plague'. Oh, shit Arggghhhhhhh!!!!!"

-Last Recorded Message of Michael Pendule, Delivered to his wife three months after it was recovered.