Argonaut - The Apprentice (Part II)

Chapter 10 - Diplomatic Immunity

“Why are you here?” one of them asked curiously, attracting venomous glares from his peers.

“There is a mutual threat to both of our species,” she replied, “and as long as your governments don’t join in on Silverlight’s little crusade we should be able to combat it before time runs out.”

“The Niphal?” he raised an eyebrow, “We aren’t going to team up with Archaeans just because of your blood feud. You may as well leave now.”

“No,” she shook her head, “This is much worse. We’re hoping to contact the Niphal for a truce after I’m done here.”

“Wow,” he seemed genuinely surprised. “This must be serious then.” Cassius was interested with the depth of human knowledge of the other species.

Before she could ask further questions the doors slid open and the soldiers all snapped to attention. They marched her forward under the watch of hundreds of world leaders, on display as if she was a prisoner.  They eventually came to a stop in front of the dozens of rows of officials, standing patiently and waiting for them to speak first.

“You are a representative for the people of Valhalla, are you not?” the man elected to be the speaker asked, staring down from his podium. A strong British accent marked his words, revealing his country of origin.

“Yes” she replied, “I am.”

“And your reason for intruding upon this occasion?”

“Ladies and gentlemen,” she began, sweeping her gaze over each and every face, “A new threat has arisen, greater than any of the races or nations that you know of. This force was one even Archaeans were not fully aware of until yesterday.” She nodded to one of the African emissaries, “They currently race through the mostly uninhabited lands of central Africa, but will soon reach heavily populated areas. All efforts by my kind to kill them have failed, and the situation looks grim.”

“All of this seems very convenient” a new voice interrupted, a light French accent tainted it. “It seems more likely that your kind is simply aware of how dangerous a war with humanity could be, and is making up excuses to avoid it.”

Cassius turned to face Charlemagne, the leader of the Silverlight Initiative. “You are too arrogant for your own good,” she replied through a tightened jaw, “What are you doing here?”

“The United Nations allocated this session to me,” she said proudly, “and you are the unwelcome guest. Why even bother with the lie?”

“There are seven of these new enemies,” Cassius ignored Charlemagne, addressing the world leaders once again, “They are known as the Stygians. If we let them roam free any longer they will destroy us all, we must stop this conflict. Oh and by the way,” she turned back to Charlemagne, “They came from Ragnarok, “I’m going to assume that holds some significance to you.”

The Frenchwoman’s face paled, realising the weight Cassius’s words held. To drive the point home the screen behind her flickered, displaying the massive form of one of the beasts tearing across the plains of Africa.

“This footage was captured earlier this morning,” the captain continued, “our calculations indicate that they will reach a developed area very soon. Be ready. We do not ask that you stand with us blindly, but just to collaborate until this threat is eliminated.”

Whispers of doubt filled the rows, frustrating the captain. She was about to shout to get their attention when a familiar voice spoke, walking out from the shadows.

“I would listen to the woman” Crowley spoke up so that they could all hear him, “this threat is very real.”

After Cassius got over the surprise of his sudden appearance she began to wonder why he was taking her side, after all the Argonauts had held him wrongly responsible for previous disasters concerning Silverlight.