Canyons of Steel - Our Solemn Hour Pt. 8

Maxwell winced as the doctor looked over his injuries. Naomi stood in the room, watching carefully as Maxwell sat completely still during the procedure. The doctor hummed and hawed, making comment that the injury wasn't too bad, but it could have been a lot worse. For the bumps and bruises that both he and Naomi had, at least they were well deserved. The bad guys had been captured. It made the pain worth it.

“I really hope this doesn't affect my opening comments to the new class,” Maxwell stated through clenched teeth. The doctor just sighed and shook his head. Maxwell looked to the doctor with questioning eyes. “What?”

The doctor looked to Naomi, speaking with a tired voice. “Can you make sure that he takes a few days off to recuperate. The last thing he needs is to stress the injury more.” He looked back to Maxwell and spoke with a stern warning. “And no crime fighting when you get back home.”

“I think that'll be simple enough, Doc,” Naomi stated as she leaned against the wall. She looked to her side and smiled as her son leaned against her leg. “Ready to go back home, Squirt.”

“Mom!” Petey whined as she used the tame nickname. “Can we go to Uncle Max's ranch? I wanna see the horses again.” Naomi smiled at the question and nodded.

“See,” the doctor huffed as he overheard the boy. “Spend time with your family. I'm sure that your employers will understand if you take some time off.” Max shrugged and nodded in reply. He didn't think he'd get anything less from the doctor save stern warnings.

As the examination continued, Naomi walked her son back into the lobby area. Her mind was filled with questions. Self doubt, in a way. What if what she was doing wasn't helping? What if it didn't really matter? No matter how hard she and Maxwell tried, the criminals would always come back. Maybe the public didn't care about them.

She huffed as she took a seat in the lobby. Petey crawled up into her lap and she grunted with a laugh. “You're getting to big for this, Petey,” she said with a smile as she put her arms around him. And then, she saw it. Another boy in the lobby. Playing with his toys.

And it was then that she really noticed it.

The young boy had a pair of action figures, but both had something strapped to their backs. Wings. The boy flew them through the air, making his own game, but at the same time, making Naomi realize something.

“Come on, Billy,” a woman called out to the boy. He quickly packed up his toys and rushed over to the woman, perhaps his mother. “Did you have fun?”

“Oh yeah...” the boy cried out excitedly, explaining what he was doing. And stating boldly, that he wanted to be like the two superheroes he saw the other day.

And Naomi smiled. Because she realized that yes, she and her brother do make a difference. One person at a time.

*****

Tunguska, Russia – 8:14 p.m. - August 24th, 2002

Elite Red Army soldiers watched as the transport carrier landed on the old runway. They had been informed of the cargo from United States prosecutors. Extradition proceedings went without any intervention. Authorities wanted Dimitri out and they knew the Russians had a long list of charges against him. After all, the man was a psychopath.

“Ensure the prisoner is heavily guarded, comrades,” Commander Lina Gregarin shouted out to the soldiers. “We will nyet be losink such a criminal as this one.” Gregarin knew all to well of Kovolenko's rap sheet. She had studied his crimes as a cadet before she joined the Moscow police. He was worse than any criminal she had ever arrested. “Dimitri will pay for his transgressions as he freezes in the cold of Siberia.”

Soldiers raced to the cargo hold, weapons held firm as they awaited the prisoner to be brought forth. Gergarin tensed slightly. Something was wrong. The pilots were taking too long She furrowed her brow and tightened her grip on the rifle. “Comrades, be ready. We are gravely deceived.” With her last word, an explosion rocked the cargo ship, quickly followed by a volley of bullets from the hold of the plane. Soldiers were cut down easily like stalks of wheat. Gregarin cursed the long coat she wore, making her movement difficult. Racing across the snow, she dropped the rifle, then shed the long coat. She could bear the cold, there was more important things to worry about than her comfort. She took the pistols she wore from their holsters and scanned the area. Dimitri was covering himself quite well.

“Ah, my old tovarich,” Dimitri finally called out. “Has been a long time since we were together, nyet, comrade.”

Lina clenched her teeth and cursed in her native Ukranian. This man had to be stopped. “You are a devil, Dimitri. Anything we may have had is long in the past. I bear no feelinks for you now.”

Dimitri laughed aloud at Lina's comment. “Ah, then in that case, for all the times we shared. Spasibo. It is unfortunate that now, I will have to be killink you. My little Tovarich.”