[Prologue 4] The Fall

[LUDMILA ILYUKHIN]

AUGUST 1991 ONWARDS

Prison. Ludmila had never been imprisoned. And now she'd been thrown behind bars by her own people. She'd been one of those who had supported the August Coup. She'd been seized, dragged from the building she worked at, kicked three times in the face and ribs, and then thrown into a police van and carted off to a police station somewhere in Moscow, where she was put behind bars for an indefinite period of time.

And now, the world outside was the theatre of a sweeping tide of uncontrollable events. The policemen outside her cell were watching the news on television, and Ludmila, who had been confident in the survival of the Soviet Union, felt her alarm and despair grow with every passing minute. Everything on the news seemed to indicate the imminent collapse of the country she'd devoted herself to for decades. She watched the little TV screen in growing horror as the events outside unfolded.

On the 24th of August, only a few days after the end of the coup d'Etat, Mikhail Gorbachev resigned from his position as general secretary of the CPSU. Ludmila did not take that news very badly, as she believed Gorbachev would swiftly be replaced by someone more competent who would manage to save the errant Soviet Union from collapse. However, as the days turned into weeks, and the weeks turned into months, no such successor came. Finally, the second blow of many blows came: on the 6th of November 1991, the CPSU was officially prohibited by Boris Yeltsin.

And then it all went downhill: on the 8th of November, the union treaty signed in 1922 was annulled, and the Russian Federation was founded. A couple of days after the New Year, two men from the Committee came to fetch Ludmila in her cell, officially releasing her from prison and reinstating her as an agent. However, the damage was done. As Ludmila left the building, she felt a solid wave of despair and confusion smash into her. She slowly reached for her wallet, opened it and took her Party membership card. It meant nothing now, so she threw it into a nearby dustbin.

"What is there left to do now?", she asked weakly, "Now that everything is gone?"

"-I don't know, ma'am", said one of the men who'd come to get her. "Keep on working for the Committee...continue with life."

Ludmila nodded. His words seemed shallow and worthless. Her entire world was collapsing around her. Since 1917 she had done nothing but fight for Soviet ideals. The horrors of Stalin's rule and the stagnation and repression of the Brezhnev era had done nothing to dent her faith in the country she saw as her personal saviour. Now it was gone, and she was left with nothing to believe in, nothing to fight for and nothing to lean on.

That night she went back to her quarters after having purchased several bottles of vodka. All she felt like doing now was drinking, so she drank. She drank most of the night, obliterating her thoughts with alcohol, and visiting the toilet twice to vomit. In the morning she did not show up at work, the first time in decades. She did not go to work for three weeks before she finally mustered enough strength to do so, and even then her work had lost its appeal. The Committee itself underwent drastic changes, restructuring and budget cuts as Russia's economy floundered. Ludmila, due to her support for the August Coup, soon lost her former position as a terrain agent and was reassigned to doing paperwork.

Ludmila's income also plummeted throughout the 1990s, as the Committee withdrew its support for its agents. She was kicked out of her accommodation and was thus forced to live with her adoptive father in his dacha outside Moscow. In only three years she'd gone from one of the most respected agents in the Committee to a second-rate bureaucrat, condemned to spending her days typing up budget reports and other paperwork on an ageing typewriter. Every now and then, the new president would pop up on TV and make a speech regarding the future of the Russian Federation and its people. Ludmila did not care about the future any more, preferring to sink slowly into amnesia and stagnation. What good was life for now anyway?

[LUDMILA ILYUKHIN]

The early 2000s weren't much better either. Ludmila lost her own office, which she had had since 1952, but that was not due to her being further demoted. Instead, it was due to the Committee moving its headquarters from the underground of the Lubyanka building to another, smaller building outside St Petersburg. Ludmila was forced to stay in a hotel till she could get an apartment close to her new workplace. Even then, said apartment was little more than glorified monk's cell under the roof. It leaked when it rained, and she could hear the couple living below her argue almost every night.

She did make efforts to cut down on her alcohol consumption, and was quite successful in getting off her drinking habit altogether. However, she took to smoking a lot more than usual, and her complete apathy to the rest of the world remained unchanged. In late 2007, some surprising news came to the Committee: the Americans and their Bureau for Paranormal Research and Defence would be sending an "ambassador" of sorts in order to improve relations between the two organisations. The news became more tangible when a certain Robert Elroy arrived at the Committee's headquarters in company of the new director, who had made it a point of honour to grind Ludmila into the ground.

As the two men had gone past Ludmila's dismal cubicle, she had caught the following conversation:

"Now I understand that your organisation is quite different from the Bureau", said Elroy in almost perfect Russian. "I believe it was mostly financed by the military, yes?"

"-Yes, yes it was, mister Elroy", said the director. "The Soviet administration tied the Committee with the army, and it is the latter that provided most of the former's budget."

"-Interesting indeed. The Bureau is quite interested in helping your organisation get out of the hard times it's been going through lately, however, we'd also be interested in performing an exchange of sorts."

"-What kind of exchange?"

"-Well, since a lot of your agents followed intensive training sessions with the army, their discipline and skill would be quite valuable to us. You see, the Bureau recruits from various places such as the police, the army, or universities. However, our agents' field of expertise is still rather civilian in comparison to yours..."

"-So you would like one of our agents in exchange for financial aid?", said the director, catching on to Elroy's proposition. "Well, we do have a few agents you might be interested in...I trust you examined the files I gave you?"

"-Yes, I examined them in detail. Very interesting. However, I'd be most interested in meeting a miss Ludmila Ilyukhin."

"-Hm, well, she's rather complicated, mister Elroy. She's been with us since 1920 or so, and she's been in the NKVD, the KGB...she was also part of the August Coup attempt. She was a strong supporter of the Soviet Union. Nasty history, to be honest, you don't want her."

"-Ah, but her file says she underwent training with the Spetsnaz, the Vityaz and even Vympel? Not to mention that her curriculum and history seem particularly impressive."

"-But her antecedents..."

"-Antecedents do not interest us. We are only interested in competence. May I speak to her?", said Elroy.

"-She's in the cubicle behind you", said the director reluctantly. Elroy went round the plastic ramparts that marked Ludmila's tiny domain, giving her a polite and professional smile.

"-Miss Ilyukhin? I am Robert Elroy of the B.P.R.D. I saw your file..."

"-I heard", said Ludmila unenthusiastically.

"-Excellent...but say, I wasn't expecting you to have a desk job."

Ludmila glanced spitefully at the director before answering:

"-I was demoted. Several times as a matter of fact", she said coldly.

"-Hm...well, the Bureau is interested in you. We would like you to come and work for us as part of the Russian-American exchange program between our two organisations. Your experience in the domain of the paranormal as well as your military experience is quite valuable to us."

"-Oh...a delivery boy", said Ludmila coldly. "Sent by grocery clerks to collect the bill. Sorry, I'm not interested. It's already enough to get repeatedly demoted by your boss because you aren't a member of the new elite, why add more to my case by moving to another country? I'm finished."

"-Well, judging by your unnatural lifespan, you're not quite finished yet, ma'am", said Elroy. "Working for the Bureau would be a great opportunity for you."

"-Oh I'm not sure the director would like that, mister Elroy. He has been diverting money from our salaries to go on holiday to the Bahamas every year since 1998...wouldn't want to make him lose my salary, would we?", said Ludmila, looking evilly at the director, who had gone quite red when she mentioned the Bahamas.

"-Ilyukhin. In my office. Now"

----

"Your behaviour, agent Ilyukhin, is utterly unacceptable", said the director. Ludmila and the director were in the latter's office, Ludmila being seated on an uncomfortable leather chair in front of the man's desk.

"-I apologise, sir", said Ludmila unenthusiastically. Ludmila had always respected figures of authority, but the director inspired no respect in her, only contempt.

"-Do you realise how important this is? We need aid from those people! Otherwise the Committee will be hitting rock bottom in only a few years."

"-I realise that", said Ludmila. "Although most of that aid will probably be diverted towards financing your next trip..."

The director turned on Ludmila and gave her a look so full of hatred and anger that it would probably have bored holes in the wall. He bored down on Ludmila threateningly, fists clenched in anger.

"-Don't you dare talk to me like this! Ever! You are nothing, you hear me? Nothing! You were part of the decaying shit-hole that was the Soviet Union, and the sooner you vanish at the lowest echelons of this organisation, the better off we will be! You are a virus and an obstacle to this organisation's progress!"

Ludmila's apathy and patience regarding her abusive superior had been sorely tested over the years, but now it had reached breaking point. A thin and taut metaphorical line snapped within her, and her anger boiled so violently that it broke her cold façade.

"-With all due respect sir, you have demoted me to the point of no return. You have cut my pay more than anyone else in this organisation, and you have dragged me in the mud for years. I was the best, and now I'm shit! Isn't that enough for you? No? Well fuck you! Fuck you over and over! I'm not taking it any more!"

"-Your insolence is appalling!", shouted the director, who was absolutely livid with anger.

"-Insolence? INSOLENCE? I've been under your orders for almost fifteen years and I never, EVER contested any of your decisions, you fat piece of shit! You are an incompetent and greedy bastard, and I'm tired of working for you!"

Ludmila was now shaking her fist and yelling almost at the top of her voice. She was furious, the repressed anger and frustration of years coming back to the surface.

"-Miss Ilyukhin, you are fired! You hear me? FIRED!"

"-GOOD! I might as well go work in America than continue typing your stupid budget reports! I've typed so many of those fucking things that my finger bones are almost broken!"

And with that, Ludmila stormed out of the director's office, kicking the door violently open. Elroy was still in the other room, talking to another employee. Ludmila went right for him and asked clearly and simply:

"Is the Bureau's offer still valid?"

"-Well yes, ma'am", said Elroy with a smile.

"-Good. I accept your offer. I'm leaving this dump."

[THE STAFF]

Closed by the request of topic starter, Basil.
Originally closed on: 2011 April 05 by The Staff