Tea Leaves and Opal Necklaces

Puppet Masters

Match Twenty-Two: Puppet Masters:

There are three big parties controlling this game behind the scenes. They all have the same goal: start the apocalypse. They do not like or trust each other. But, they are bonded because of their game. The methods are different, but the end goal is the same. Their respective countries have no say in this game. They have to go along with what their hidden masters have to say. They are just the puppets to the their puppet masters.

They are called Vozrozhdeniye.

Do you remember the Soviet Union. Well, it didn't really go away. It just went underground. A few surviving members banded together and became Vozrozhdeniye. Many people in Russia do not believe they exist. Or rather, they pretend that they don't exist. There are rumors that Putin is the secret leader of the group.

Only Ivan knows the truth.

It's not his choice to be here. His boss insisted that he has to be part of Vozrozhdeniye. It happened about six years ago, maybe even longer. He stopped counting at this point. The big Russian man just went with it to humor his boss. To his credit, he did try to help out members of the group. Speaking of which, they all worshiped science. These weren't some thugs left over from the fallen Soviet Union either. These eight men and two women had PhD's in science, math, and psychology. Impressive records if Ivan could say so himself. That still didn't excuse them from this madness they were trying to pull.

He looked at each one in the closed club house tonight. Alexander, Adrik, and Karp were the first three members the leader recruited. They all came from the same university, in fact. Lomonosov Moscow State University delivered some of the finest minds to come out of Russia. The leader was quick to capitalize on such potential. Ivan laughed to himself on that thought. Heh, capitalize. He digressed.

Except for Katerina and Karp, the rest of the members didn't interact with each other outside of work. That didn't stop Ivan from trying to get to know who he was stuck working with.

Alexander Turov specialized in microbiology. The leader recruited him second to join Vozrozhdeniye. At twenty years old, Alexander wanted to take his skills beyond what he was limited to do. Their leader opened the door for that to happen when he showed them the film of the experiments on Midori. When he first laid eyes on the second generation of tadpoles, he had to find out more about them. These could be the perfect evolution of the human race.

"They would even be the perfect soldier in war!" he said. It too upsets him that Tandeki won't give over the tadpoles for them to do their own experiments on. Alexander still has his plans for the tadpoles. He even started planning out which drugs he wanted to use on Kitano's beloved pets. Tonight, he reads over his notes to get the formulas just right.

Adrik Wowk specialized in abnormal psychology. He was a grad student at the time. He wanted a better life for himself. Adrik grew up poor and bored. Growing up, the young man had the mental skills and wits to do so. He began working at a series of part-time jobs to save up money to go to college. No standard old university would do it. Adrik wanted to get into Lomonosov Moscow State University. His father belittled him for his ambitious dreams. It all became motive for the young man to prove him wrong. Adrik saved up his money and kept working to stay in school. It was during his grad year was when he met the leader and became the first Vozrozhdeniye recruit.

Karp Zubov specialized in cell biology. He and his wife were part of the same group together. He too attended Lomonosov Moscow State University. Karp came from a rich family. He lived like a prince in St. Petersburg. However, ugly roots hid underneath all that gold and white. His parents were secret communists and well-known in the secret meeting circles. It was rumored that they supported to Stalin. (Karp and Katerina were starch Putin supporters.) When the Soviet Union fell, the family didn't fall with it. You see, the parents were always looking ahead when it came to their eight kids. They were determined not end up in the streets.