06-04-2019, 06:18 PM
"I apologize to everyone viewing for the theatrics. I am happy to have my great-granddaughter and her boyfriend home. We have all been away far too long. Now if you will excuse me, I have other matters that must be attended to. Much of what happened to us must remain classified; however, I'll schedule an interview to explain everything that I am able soon." She pulled the rest of the torn fabric from the stars in her hand and pinned them on Ramirez. "For now, my family and I would simply like to go home. I leave any further questions to the new supreme commander of San Finzione's armed forces, Generalissimo Hernando Ramirez. Thank you for coming."
Contessa Helena de San Finzione walked to a waiting limousine. Maria and Stavro followed. They drove away as Generalissimo Ramirez began to take the reporters' questions.
* * *
"In other news," said the anchorman. "Famed Russian chess grandmaster Garry Kasparov has been located after failing to arrive at a tournament in Brussels over the weekend. According to sources, he had been a guest at Castle Finzione when the recent crisis in Uongo unfolded, and owing to the classified nature of those events, agreed to be sequestered in the castle until the matter had been resolved. The grandmaster commented that La Contessa's staff had been most courteous during his stay, stating quote 'I was so pleased with La Contessa's hospitality that I didn't have the heart to remind her that one cannot castle out of check.'
"Turning to local news, the Tourism Council of San Finzione has issued a statement advising that the dungeons of Castle Finzione shall be closed indefinitely to tourists and will no longer be a part of the castle tour. They advise any tourists currently holding tickets that refunds are available at any Tourism Council location.
"And now, the weather. What can you tell us about this sudden heat wave the past few days, Katrina?"
* * *
Two men were gagged and chained to the wall of the torture chamber when Contessa Helena de San Finzione entered, passing under a poster of her official portrait. Many identical posters were on the walls of the room as she turned to them.
"Hello, Mr. Igazi, Generalissimo. I know you're no longer a general, I figured you might like to hear it one last time. How're the knees holding up, Dave?"
The large black man struggled against the chains to rise to his feet, but his bandaged knees were unable to support him. He attempted to curse her, but the ball gag in his mouth made his words unintelligible.
"Oh yes, the gag. What do you think of the newest model? Better than that one you had on me, huh? We went all out for you." She looked around the room, as if noticing the posters for the first time. "Oh, they hung them up! There are copies on the walls, ceilings, and floors of your cells as well. I wanted them to put the real one over the door, but the curator of the National Gallery had some strong arguments against that. The posters are set into the walls and behind ballistic plastic so you can't tear them down; the ones in your cells too. They tell me you'll be able to see my face everywhere you look down here. Which is good, gentlemen, because it's all you're going to remember. Of anything, ever again."
She pulled up a stool and sat before them, lighting a cigarette.
"You see, gentlemen, I TRY to be a good person, I really do, but I've had problems with it. My upbringing... well, I won't bore you with that story. The point is that it's only recently that I've come to think that the idea of 'family' could be a good thing. And just as I'm getting used to the concept, you two decide to come at me through mine. I think that deserves special consideration, so I'm putting that 'good person' idea on hold for a bit just for you."
Helena picked up a rusty device with an ornate knob on one end and a round, bulbous end on the other. She was able to twist the knob a little bit and the other end of the device opened slightly with a creaking sound. She gave a little snicker and tossed it aside before continuing.
"We'll get that oiled. Or not. Now, if you had come at me directly, I could have respected that. I have enemies all over the world, and they get stupid sometimes. I might've just ruined you; left you bleeding from the ass, cursing your god for making you think that it was at all a good idea to cross me and leave you to tell others what it gained you. But you both know about the thing I can do that I'm about to do to both of you, and your plan would have failed much sooner. So you decided to go after Maria and Stavro. As a result, you don't get off that lightly. I have friends all over the world as well; some of those friends have all kinds of experience and training in these matters. They're mostly who you'll be seeing from now on. I might send the occasional doctor to ensure that your lives down here will be very long ones.
"But you are men of power. I'm sure that at the end, when you look back on your lives, you'll have precious memories of past conquests and victories to cling to. Maybe take comfort in your cells with memories of how a particular victim screamed or a pleasant night with a beautiful woman. Not me, of course. But I'm sure you've both done enough things to people who don't deserve them to lie on your deathbeds and, like the Khans of old, tell yourself it was all worth it and that your place in history is secure and your mark on the world will long outlast you. That's why I'm taking those memories from you."
She looked at both of them intensely. A look neither man was able to tear himself away from.
"You will forget everything; absolutely everything. Your entire lives, everyone you've known, everything you've done, even this conversation; are vanishing from your minds, never to return. You'll remember to breathe, but you won't remember how to speak or walk. You don't even get to remember what you did to me and my family to deserve the pain that will be all that you will know. Torture and pain is all you have ever known and all that ever will be of your existence and you won't even understand the reason for your torture; or that there could ever be any other existence but endless agony. The only thing you will know ever again is that the woman whose face you will see everywhere you turn is the one making this happen. The woman whose face will be the last thing you see when you die screaming many years from now. You won't know WHY I am the architect of all your suffering; only that it is happening because I wish it to be so.
Contessa Helena de San Finzione walked to a waiting limousine. Maria and Stavro followed. They drove away as Generalissimo Ramirez began to take the reporters' questions.
* * *
"In other news," said the anchorman. "Famed Russian chess grandmaster Garry Kasparov has been located after failing to arrive at a tournament in Brussels over the weekend. According to sources, he had been a guest at Castle Finzione when the recent crisis in Uongo unfolded, and owing to the classified nature of those events, agreed to be sequestered in the castle until the matter had been resolved. The grandmaster commented that La Contessa's staff had been most courteous during his stay, stating quote 'I was so pleased with La Contessa's hospitality that I didn't have the heart to remind her that one cannot castle out of check.'
"Turning to local news, the Tourism Council of San Finzione has issued a statement advising that the dungeons of Castle Finzione shall be closed indefinitely to tourists and will no longer be a part of the castle tour. They advise any tourists currently holding tickets that refunds are available at any Tourism Council location.
"And now, the weather. What can you tell us about this sudden heat wave the past few days, Katrina?"
* * *
Two men were gagged and chained to the wall of the torture chamber when Contessa Helena de San Finzione entered, passing under a poster of her official portrait. Many identical posters were on the walls of the room as she turned to them.
"Hello, Mr. Igazi, Generalissimo. I know you're no longer a general, I figured you might like to hear it one last time. How're the knees holding up, Dave?"
The large black man struggled against the chains to rise to his feet, but his bandaged knees were unable to support him. He attempted to curse her, but the ball gag in his mouth made his words unintelligible.
"Oh yes, the gag. What do you think of the newest model? Better than that one you had on me, huh? We went all out for you." She looked around the room, as if noticing the posters for the first time. "Oh, they hung them up! There are copies on the walls, ceilings, and floors of your cells as well. I wanted them to put the real one over the door, but the curator of the National Gallery had some strong arguments against that. The posters are set into the walls and behind ballistic plastic so you can't tear them down; the ones in your cells too. They tell me you'll be able to see my face everywhere you look down here. Which is good, gentlemen, because it's all you're going to remember. Of anything, ever again."
She pulled up a stool and sat before them, lighting a cigarette.
"You see, gentlemen, I TRY to be a good person, I really do, but I've had problems with it. My upbringing... well, I won't bore you with that story. The point is that it's only recently that I've come to think that the idea of 'family' could be a good thing. And just as I'm getting used to the concept, you two decide to come at me through mine. I think that deserves special consideration, so I'm putting that 'good person' idea on hold for a bit just for you."
Helena picked up a rusty device with an ornate knob on one end and a round, bulbous end on the other. She was able to twist the knob a little bit and the other end of the device opened slightly with a creaking sound. She gave a little snicker and tossed it aside before continuing.
"We'll get that oiled. Or not. Now, if you had come at me directly, I could have respected that. I have enemies all over the world, and they get stupid sometimes. I might've just ruined you; left you bleeding from the ass, cursing your god for making you think that it was at all a good idea to cross me and leave you to tell others what it gained you. But you both know about the thing I can do that I'm about to do to both of you, and your plan would have failed much sooner. So you decided to go after Maria and Stavro. As a result, you don't get off that lightly. I have friends all over the world as well; some of those friends have all kinds of experience and training in these matters. They're mostly who you'll be seeing from now on. I might send the occasional doctor to ensure that your lives down here will be very long ones.
"But you are men of power. I'm sure that at the end, when you look back on your lives, you'll have precious memories of past conquests and victories to cling to. Maybe take comfort in your cells with memories of how a particular victim screamed or a pleasant night with a beautiful woman. Not me, of course. But I'm sure you've both done enough things to people who don't deserve them to lie on your deathbeds and, like the Khans of old, tell yourself it was all worth it and that your place in history is secure and your mark on the world will long outlast you. That's why I'm taking those memories from you."
She looked at both of them intensely. A look neither man was able to tear himself away from.
"You will forget everything; absolutely everything. Your entire lives, everyone you've known, everything you've done, even this conversation; are vanishing from your minds, never to return. You'll remember to breathe, but you won't remember how to speak or walk. You don't even get to remember what you did to me and my family to deserve the pain that will be all that you will know. Torture and pain is all you have ever known and all that ever will be of your existence and you won't even understand the reason for your torture; or that there could ever be any other existence but endless agony. The only thing you will know ever again is that the woman whose face you will see everywhere you turn is the one making this happen. The woman whose face will be the last thing you see when you die screaming many years from now. You won't know WHY I am the architect of all your suffering; only that it is happening because I wish it to be so.
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