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Post by Διμι on Jan 18, 2010 15:19:41 GMT -5
You heard a rumor that Freedom's HQ is in the old Soviet warehouses area north of Rostok. But, you couldn't verify this rumor since most people south of Rostok are either Duty, rookie loners, bandits, or psychopathic maniacs after you and your dead grandma. So, you decide to investigate on your own.
You approach the entrance. Three guards are laughing and smoking... good Lord, is that ganja? Seeing that you aren't in black and red, they immediately let you through. You decide to give their "smoke" a miss and head for the building the stoned Freedomer called "HQ."
"Hey, buddy! Relax, you're in the Freedom base now, chill. You looking for Lukash? He's up there, but be careful, he didn't have his smoke this morning, so he's a bit cranky!"
You finally realize that Freedom's main support comes from Netherlands. You wonder who this Lukash person might be as you ascend the stairs. Dazed from all the smoke in the building, you bump into a tall man who practically knocks you over. He looks at you for a moment before smiling.
"Name's Lukash, man! What do you want, friend? You need anything? I'll get my boys on the job! You name it, they do it! Come on, spill the beans! You need a place to crash? Say no more! Need to buy something? Check Skinflint downstairs, he's the trader 'round here, you name it, he'll have it! You want something to eat? Somebody wake up that drunk, Chef! This fine man here wants to eat!"
He points you to the only room that seems to be clear of smoke. You stagger to the room, already half-stoned. "Haha, another stoned newbie! Name's Skinflint, friend. Care to trade? I've got some stuff even God doesn't know where it's coming from... NATO, the US of A, who gives a damn, it's free and that's how I like it!"
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Post by Basil on Apr 22, 2010 5:10:21 GMT -5
Around three days after the events in Limansk and Pripyat, two bedraggled, dirty and exhausted loners showed up on Freedom's doorstep. One of them was a man with a slight French accent and a rather battered merc suit, while the other was a woman with eyes who made the guards jump and a very worn ecologist suit that had apparently been of bright orange colour at some point. The two loners were none other than Adder and Maginot, who had walked through the Red Forest North of Limansk and skirted the dead town's Eastern edge to avoid the mercenaries. They had then gone through the Red Forest again and had been slowed down by radiation, anomalies, mutants and exhaustion as well as dwindling supplies. The trip had been hard to say the least. After a brief discussion with the guards and a woman who seemed to be Seth's second in command (and who also seemed to be high on something), Maginot gained acces to the room where Seth's magic case was kept. Adder was not allowed to go with him as the Freedomers were obviously uneasy with her. After opening the case and revealing a bunch of papers inside, Maginot picked those up and began to read them. To: Sr. Researcher V. Makfeev From: Prof. G. Antipenko Date: 14/3/1991
Success!
I believe that, after the initial two years of research, we have finally managed to isolate and examine the frequencies of the mysterious emissions generated in the center of the Exclusion Zone. So far, we have had only limited success in building resistance to these signals, as they increase in power exponentially given the victim's relative proximity to the Chernobyl NPP. I believe that whatever the source of these intereferences is, it is located there. We will continue research, and perhaps examine methods with which we might mitigate their effects. Perhaps, a solution may be acquired 'naturally'?
To: Sr. Researcher V. Makfeev From: Prof. G. Antipenko Date: 27/7/1992
After losing several members of our teams in order to set up frequency meters, we have managed to get a better insight at the signals. Apparently, these emissions trigger and affect areas of our own brains responsible for conscious thought, essentially turning the victims into sorts of 'zombies'. We have analyzed these frequencies, and are currently looking into genetic traits responsible for natural resistance to the psychic radiation. We have also managed to obtain the programming documents concerning the equipment used in some sort of secret laboratory in the center of the Exclusion Zone, and are currently pulling the exact workings apart. We have tried opening up communications, but whoever is running the facility will not respond, leading us to reason that it automated.
To: Sr. Researcher V. Makfeev From: Prof. G. Antipenko Date: 4/10/1992
Apparently, this network of automated programs is intensely connected to the surrounding area itself, and uses large-scale 'emissions' to warp the surrounding lands into the anomaly we know as the 'Exclusion Zone'. We still have absolutely no idea as to how it is controlled, but we are beginning to reverse-engineer its operational code in order to stop and ameliorate the immense damage it has done to the surrounding countryside. We have hired a team of expert mercenary coders and hackers, who intend to set up base in the Zone itself to do the task. We have no idea whether it will work or not, or how long it will take. The leader of these hackers suggests that it could take years, or even decades to hand-craft the repairing Code. A step forward, and two steps back, isn't it?
To: Corporal V. Makfeev From: Prof. G. Antipenko Date: 5/16/2000
I realize it has been a long time since our last correspondence. Although the mercenaries have still not managed to create an operational code for us to use, we have made another breakthrough! A single individual with the required genetic trait has been discovered to be able to resist the psychic emanations. He is yet only an adolescent as of now, but by the time the Code is completed, the mercenaries reckon that he will be able to take up this new task. As of now, he will be given discrete, but apt protection in order to ensure no harm comes to him until he is ready.
On another note, I hope you realize our reasons for including you in General Tachenko's advance expedition. As one of the only scientifically inclined personnel in the group, I hope that your findings in the Zone will further our understanding of the problem.
Good luck out there, soldier.
To: Corporal V. Makfeev From: Prof. G. Antipenko Date: 5/23/2000
We are truly considerate of General Tachenko's predicament, and thus understand his desire to break away from the army and form his own paramilitary group. However, this does not in any way affect your own mission in the Zone. We hope that even with this so-called 'Duty' not being directly funded or sponsored by the government, you continue to relay us important data. Your involvement in this project must not by any means be compromised.
To: Sgt. V. Makfeev From: Prof. G. Antipenko Date: 2/11/2009
The mercenaries have informed us that the creation of the Code is nearing completion. As a result, we have been prompted to launch two new operatives into the Zone. One is Kirill Malygin, the aforementioned psychically resistant subject, and intended receiver of the Code, as well as the chosen operative to complete the mission itself. He is to be escorted and protected by another scientist, codename: Seth. Expect the latter to come into communication within the coming week. You and Seth are to work together in the process of both protecting Malygin, as well as retrieving the Code from the mercenaries once it is complete.
To: Major V. Makfeev From: Prof. G. Antipenko Date: 8/3/2010
Congratulations on your promotion, Major, you will now get a chance to put it to some real use.
The mercenaries have specified that the Code is in post-processing and testing stage. It is a one-use system, and is to be contained on a portable flash disk. Seth has sent Malygin out from the Freedom base under the pretense of kicking him out from the faction. Make sure you receive him and ensure no harm befalls him at the hands of your faction. Given that Seth is the arch-enemy of your faction's leaders, also try and make sure that no harm befalls him in the process of your inadvertent raids.
To: Major V. Makfeev From: Prof. G. Antipenko Date: 6/29/2012
We have received word that the mercenary command has at last completed its final tests and modifications concerning the efficiency of the Code, and has sent the flash drive out with a stalker by the name of Jurgen. Seth has volunteered to receive the disk and meet Jurgen en route at Yantar in order to later transfer the Code to Malygin, who is also heading North. The outcome of their trip will decide whether these twenty years of hard labor and experimentation will result in a successful eradication of the Zone and its horrors, or simply failure. Given the experience the two stalkers have gained in the Zone, we have a large chance to succeed. All depends on them now.
I have attached a near-indestructible polymer case, along with a key. Please put this letter, as well as all print-outs and transcripts of our past conversations in it, and destroy the key. There is only one other copy of the key exists, and is currently carried by Seth himself. If any necessity is found to de-classify the information concerning this experiment in case of failure, etc..., it will be his job to do so.
P.S. When all this is over, and Duty finds no further need to exist in a Zone that is no more, please do drop by our research station in Kiev. We haven't seen you for ages over here!
Regards - Professor Antipenko [/b][/blockquote] Maginot looked at the documents for a while, reflecting on what he had just read. The persons who knew how to "destroy" the Zone were probably dead, but the documents contained enough clues for someone to piece the rest of the picture together. "Autant les détruires"(might as well destroy them), said Maginot quietly. He folded them up and put them in his pocket before walking out of the building. Adder, who was sitting on the front steps, stood up as he came out. The Freedomers did not ask Maginot any questions, apparently too "relaxed" to care. "-So, what was in the case?", said Adder as Maginot headed off towards a tunnel he had seen near the bridge into the base. "-Oh, things", said Maginot in a vague voice. They came to the tunnel, which had a few gravitational anomalies, and Maginot took out the documents before tossing them into the closest anomaly, which promptly shredded them. "-Huh...well, looks like I'll never know", said Adder with some regret. Maginot rubbed his eyes tiredly. "-I suppose I'd better get all those people sobered up and back in gear. I'm supposed to be their new leader after all." Tough job, but is anything tougher than what we went through from Rostok to Pripyat?
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Post by Basil on Apr 23, 2010 6:44:59 GMT -5
Getting everything back in working order turned out to be a predictably difficult task, the hardest part being getting all the potheads sobered up and ready to hold a gun again. Patrol reports were sloppy and Maginot suspected a lot of the faction's members had been loafing around the Warehouses instead of keeping an eye on some of the sensitive points of the Army Warehouses.
Even though it was dusk and obscurity was only about an hour and a half away, the French stalker was currently leading a group of five men down the road to Rostok. The small, abandoned farmstead that served as a checkpoint of sorts had not been garrisoned in a while, and Maginot suspected old Mary Jane was mostly responsible for that. Earlier on he had named Adder "Commandant", putting her in charge of Freedom's patrols. But the degree of laxity the faction had fallen into with Seth's departure meant that Maginot had had to "lead by example" to motivate the Freedomers, and so far it seemed to be working.
"So you're from France eh?", asked one of the men with Maginot. "-Yep." "-Damn, I'd love to go to France...I guess what we have going here is like the watsit the Parisians set up in the 19th century..." "-La Commune?" "-Yeah that."
I guess he's right, thought Maginot, only the Commune didn't have most of its members smoking pot all day.
They reached the farmstead without encountering any opposition. The farmstead also turned out to be deserted, much to Maginot's relief.
"-I'm glad Duty didn't try to pull a Skull on us", said the Commune guy. "-A Skull?", said Maginot, not sure what his fellow Freedomer meant by that. "-Have some Duty nutter go up to our base and shoot us up. That's how Lukash got killed", said the Freedomer before spitting on the ground, "damn Fascists."
Maginot left the sentries at the farmstead before going back to the base. He intended to take a firm stand against drugs and booze, both of which had been consumed in excessive quantities during Seth's absence. He wouldn't be able to stamp them out entirely, after all, Freedom's members were free, but he would at least reduce their consumption and circulation to a sensible level. As he went past the path to the infamous "Bloodsucker Village" he saw Adder and ten other Freedomers talking quietly to each other.
"-Hey, Adder, what's going on?", said Maginot.
Adder turned to Maginot. She looked a lot neater and business like with her new Guardian of Freedom suit.
"-You know those bandits who sat their arses down up in that hollow above the village? Well, turns out they want more than just a comfy stay in the Warehouse area." "-Don't tell me they think they can have a piece of the Freedom cake now that Seth is gone", said Maginot with a tired sigh. "-You guessed it", said Adder flatly, "they tried to bully us into paying tribute, but their bully boys got shot up."
From Adder's smile Maginot could easily tell she had enjoyed the show. "So you're going to attack them." "-More than that", said Adder, her smile becoming bigger, "we're going to wipe them off the face of the earth except one guy we'll send running back to his butt buddies in Dark Valley, to show Svoboda isn't down." "-In the dark?" "-They won't be able to match us in night fighting. We all have night vision, and I have the Zone's little 'gift' to help me see in the dark."
Maginot nodded before wishing them luck and walking quietly back to the base. He didn't have night vision, and Adder and her 'boys' probably didn't need him. As he went past the guards at the entrance to the base, gunshots and shouts came from the hollow where the bandits had settled, and a few minutes later, Adder returned with her little punitive squad dragging a bound bandit behind them. Adder made the bandit kneel in front of Maginot. "-Oh man, please don't kill me!", said the bandit in a frightened voice. "-I won't kill you, I just want you to bear a message: Freedom is not up for grabs. Anyone who tries to take our freedom away will suffer accordingly. Now go."
The bandit's bonds were undone and somebody tossed him a small Makarov pistol. The bandit dashed off down the road back to Rostok, too frightened to even look back. "Damn", said Maginot as he watched the bandit disappear, "what did you do to them to make him so terrified?" Adder smiled and shrugged, "I guess coming out of the darkness and slaughtering everyone but him was a bit too much for his nerves."
As she said that, the Freedomers who had participated in the surprise attack chuckled. One of them patted Adder on the shoulder, causing her to tense. Her paranoia had apparently not died down, but she seemed comfortable enough with the squad. "They've all volunteered to go out on a night patrol with me", said Adder with a laugh, "we'll be going on a trip round the area, make a quick stop at the Barrier and all in all just keep an eye out for anything." "-Okay, good. But be careful."
Adder and her squad set out into the growing darkness and Maginot went back to the HQ building. The ten men and women who followed Adder on her night patrols were all part of a new group in Freedom named "Penumbra". Their peculiar time schedule was in keeping with their specialisation: nocturnal operations and assassinations. Maginot had no doubt a lot of caffeine was involved in the nocturnal habits of some of "Penumbra's" members.
Chuckling, he went up to his "office" on the first floor of the HQ building and sat down on the rickety chair that sat behind an improvised desk made of a large wooden plank set atop two sets of breeze blocks. Maginot sighed as he began rifling through the messy weapon and ammunition supply records...maybe he'd get someone else to do that particular job.
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Post by Basil on Apr 25, 2010 6:17:53 GMT -5
Adder returned to base at around 4 am, waking Maginot up as she walked into his room and knocked on the wall. Maginot had gone to sleep on the small, worn sofa that sat in a corner of the room, and his back was not grateful for it.
"Anything to report?", said Maginot with a pained groan as he stood up. "-A few mutants coming in from the Red Forest, some Monolith fanatics who decided going for a stroll near the Barrier was a good idea and some strange lights above the tower in Bloodsucker Village." "-Lights?". Maginot was no UFO buff, but hearing of a sighting so close to home was unsettling. "-Yeah. A few white lights hovering above the tower, no idea what could have caused them and they disappeared very quickly...so it really is just a curiosity."
Maginot nodded and stretched with a grunt. The sofa was uncomfortable, but was still better than some of the surfaces he had slept on.
"How's Penumbra?" "-Tired!", said Adder with a laugh, "but they moved through the dark like snakes through grass. Most of them are snoring away now."
Maginot chuckled before leaving the room with Adder by his side. They both left the building and walked across the bridge to the entrance of the base, where they stood and watched dawn come. After a while, Adder went back to the HQ to get some sleep, leaving Maginot by himself.
"Encore une belle journée dans ce beau pays", said Maginot to himself as the sky to the East became lighter and lighter with the sun's rising.
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Post by Basil on Apr 29, 2010 5:30:41 GMT -5
Some time later, Maginot called a meeting with Adder and a few other Freedomers. Earlier on he had thought about the Scorcher being reactivated and had decided to take some measures to prevent that from happening again. The meeting was taking place in Maginot's "office", and the small sofa he slept one was taken up by Adder and three other members of Penumbra. A few other Freedomers were also present, including Katya.
"So comrades", said Maginot finally, "we are gathered today to discuss a matter of utmost importance."
"-Which would be?", asked Katya.
"-I'm getting to it", said Maginot, unfazed by the interruption. This was Freedom, and interrupting the "leader" was no big deal, "while Adder and I were in Limansk, some poor fool decided to reactivate the Scorcher. I'm not sure if it was Monolith's doing, or some isolated stalker, but it greatly endangered the lives of many stalkers in the area."
"What I am suggesting is, on behalf of all the Zone's free stalkers, that we destroy the Scorcher's activation mechanism. That way, there will be no danger of the Scorcher being reactivated, and the road to the centre will be free for all...except maybe Duty and the bandits."
The assembled Freedomers took the information in before a member of Penumbra spoke.
"-Now I'm all for the Zone being made available for everyone, but going beyond the Barrier is kinda dangerous, besides, isn't the Scorcher still active?"
"-Judging from what little info I got, it was deactivated recently. As to the risks we may encounter, they are a normal part of the operation and shouldn't be too important if we put in enough numbers."
"-I hope you don't intend to take control of the road to Pripyat", said Katya, "that would be far too costly for our faction."
"-It would be more useful than Limansk", retorted Maginot.
The assembly fell quiet for a moment before Adder spoke up.
"-So, do we have a plan yet?"
"-Not really, for now we'll elaborate it carefully so as to avoid anything going wrong. We might also recruit some guys to bolster our ranks, preferably loners or mercs."
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Post by Διμι on Apr 29, 2010 23:36:43 GMT -5
Sokol walked through the Forest in silence. Behind him, in the distance, he could hear the sounds of new explosions. Fighting had erupted once more either in Limansk or Pripyat, he thought. But as he walked down the beaten dirt path, the noise slowly faded away.
The Red Forest seemed serene to the Freedomer, almost as if it had come to terms with a visitor who had proven himself worthy. The sun slowly rose from the horizon as morning dawned, rays of light piercing the tangle of branches obscuring the sky. Sokol put his rifle away. Even if something would decide to attack him, he would have little time to bring it around and fire, no matter how accurate he was.
Slowly, the canopy above him dissipated as he drew nearer to the Barrier, the trees growing larger and more skeletal in appearance. Craters, and other traces of small explosions riddled the path laden with decaying bodies. Gravitational anomalies dotted the area, marked by large bloody smears on the ground beneath them. Soon enough, the Freedom outpost came into view. The few sober stalkers raising their guns to apprehend the newcomer.
Sokol calmly walked out from the shadows of the forest depths into the light, casting a long look over the fortifications. The Freedomers looked as if they had seen a ghost, lowering their barrels in shock as the most renowned sniper of the faction passed them, long rumored to be dead along with the rest of the Alpha Squad and their former leader. The man pulled on his gas mask as he passed, recoiling from the sudden attention and recognition, and continued down the road towards the Freedom base.
The guards at the entrance let him through without a sideways look, and the masked Freedomer slowly walked down the concrete path towards the faction's headquarters, his AW-50 slung across his back. He walked through the building's doorway, past the armory guard, and slowly ascended the staircase, making his way to the what used to be Seth's room. He stopped by the entrance. Someone was conversing within. He walked inside. "So, do we have a plan yet?" he heard a female voice, but not Katya's say.
Several Freedomers, including the two loners he had seen leaving Rurik's squad, were seated around the room." Not really, for now we'll elaborate it carefully so as to avoid anything going wrong. We might also recruit some guys to bolster our ranks, preferably loners or mercs." he heard the standing man speak. Sokol walked inside. He needed little of Freedom's express invitation.
"Gentlemen," he said simply as the veteran Freedomers' eyes all turned on him "if we are to make a move, we do it now. The forest road is wide open, the mercenaries are holding the Monolith forces back. We'll gather enough explosive to bring down all of the emitter's antennae and their foundations onto the entire mechanism and bury the laboratory below."
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Post by Basil on Apr 30, 2010 16:38:17 GMT -5
"I couldn't have put it better myself", said Maginot with a smile. He did not recognise the newcomer, but several of the Freedomers in the room who had been in the faction before Maginot and Adder arrived saluted him with respect. Maginot had heard some people talk about Seth's Alpha Wolves, so he guessed the man must be one of them, Sokol maybe?
"You're Sokol, right?", asked Maginot. Adder looked up at the man and yawned, fatigue from her rather busy night hitting home.
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Post by Διμι on May 1, 2010 19:57:03 GMT -5
"Falcon eye reporting. Sokol it is." affirmed the Freedomer "As you know, the Alpha Squad went north. We lost Thor at Limansk, and Seth disappeared as well. Only on the next day I heard he was dead, killed up in Pripyat. There was little point in going North along to investigate, so I followed Lieutenant Rurik of Duty and his squad down through the Red Forest. I had no choice, since the Brain Scorcher emitter was active at the time, and only one of the loners in his force had adequate protection."
"You mean, you sided with a Dutier!?" exclaimed Katya in outrage. Sokol slowly turned, towering over the woman, his normally bright green eyes now a murky, swamped color.
"If you had only seen," he began slowly "if you had only seen what we had at Limansk. If you had seen the building in which one of your most trusted companions was, collapsing into a fiery inferno. If you had only seen a city so devastated by fighting that not a single corpse dotted the streets, rather only parts of it. When you are that close to a true man-made hell, all allegiances disappear." he concluded "Whether Dutier or not, Rurik saw just as I had that what lay north of that city was simply irrevocably evil, and had to be destroyed, just as it had destroyed our leader in its turn."
He turned to Maginot "The loner in Rurik's group managed to deactivate the Scorcher, at least temporarily. I have no doubt that the Monolith will waste no time in reaching the apparatus and fixing it in as short a time as possible. We will have to run a weighted race against time to reach it first and destroy it to remove its influence from the Red Forest. I am afraid that we will have to give our lives in the process. I have seen the Monolith's army, it numbers in the hundreds, and although it has been forced into a retreat for the time being due to its leader being killed, I have no doubt it'll be back stronger than ever, and redouble its efforts to assimilate the entire Zone." he looked around "We have to move out promptly if we want to reach the Scorcher before they do, and destroy it."
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Post by Basil on May 2, 2010 13:16:22 GMT -5
"If the road to the Scorcher is open then we must act", said Maginot, "I was in Limansk when the Monolith launched their attack, and the mercenaries managed to give them quite a beating despite suffering heavy losses in the process. After such heavy fighting Monolith will definitely be licking their wounds before launching another offensive."
But if the Monolith's troops number in the hundreds...this will make things a lot more delicate.
"-This is an operation fraught with risks", said Adder.
"-You backing out, Addie?", said Maginot with a small smile. Adder stiffened and glared at him mockingly. "I'm not backing out, Mag", she said, "Penumbra will always be there to give the enemies of Freedom a scare in the dead of night."
Several Penumbra members nodded vehemently. Adder's little spec ops squad or whatever they chose to call themselves had acquired a fair number of members almost immediately after its foundation despite Adder's distinctive lack of charisma and her social awkwardness.
"-Get Penumbra ready then, Adder. We'll get enough explosives to blow that emitter to hell, as well as enough volunteers to cover this operation's need for manpower. I suppose you're coming too, Sokol?"
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Post by Διμι on May 8, 2010 10:50:35 GMT -5
Sokol frowned "This puts us in a precarious position," he said "if there's a chance that the Monolith has already made their way down to the Red Forest, we'll need as many men as we can possibly muster to breach their defences." The Freedomer walked up to the window, taking a peek outside. The Freedomers were more sober than usual, he noted amusedly. No doubt the work of this new Maginot fella standing before him. "If we are to do that, however, it will open us up to attack by everyone who wants a piece of Svobodnaya Territory."
"On the other hand," he turned around "we can take a small team, and hope that the Monolith's army hasn't gotten that far south yet, and if it has, search for some kind of pinhole of an entrance. We'll probably all end up dead, but it'll leave the base and grounds with adequate protection, should Duty or the bandits decide to launch an assault."
"So," he looked at the Freedom leader "which one will it be. I'll be coming along in any case, the question is, how can we present it to the faction to get as many volunteers as we really need? And who will we leave to protect the base?"
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Post by Basil on May 9, 2010 13:50:05 GMT -5
"We'll take a small team. The bulk of the faction must stay here to watch over our territory should Duty or the bandits try to dig their claws into it. We should pay a little visit to the arsenal and grab some explosives...we should have some lying around."
The vagueness of Maginot's propos was justified: Freedom's arsenal was a rather nebulous mess, and Maginot had not been able to find out who supplied Svoboda with weapons since nobody seemed to keep any records or basic information. The weapons just arrived and the Freedomers didn't ask questions, a rather annoying situation that displeased Maginot a lot. He'd have to fix that. The assembled Freedomers left the small room and headed downstairs to Freedom's arsenal.
"-Penumbra's ready to move out." Maginot turned to see Adder standing nearby. She had her VSS Vintorez with her as well as some magasines marked by a pale green cross on them.
"-What are those for?", said Maginot, indicating the marked magasines.
"-Poison bullets", said Adder with a smile, "I got the venom from those mutant snakes hanging around the North of our territory and dipped a few bullets in the stuff."
"-That's pretty...sick."
Adder looked hurt for an instant before reassuming her cruel smile.
"-Bah, it'll make Svoboda's enemies squirm nicely."
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Post by Διμι on May 9, 2010 15:09:48 GMT -5
Sokol glanced at the ammo. "Cute for a show." he said "But I prefer heads exploding, limbs flying, and things getting blown apart in general." he added, patting the AW-50 tentatively. The Freedomer entered the armory, and walked up to two large green crates in the corner. He was pleased to discover that the new command did not have enough time to completely misplace all of the faction's armaments.
The lid of the box made a wooden cracking sound as Sokol wrenched it off completely, revealing the container to be full of tightly stacked packets of plastic explosive. "Handy little things," he remarked "we intercepted a shipment for the mercenaries to the west of the Barrier, when, you know, we were still at war. No way in hell we're giving them back now."
"So it's just going to be you, me, and this chick's team of crackpot night-stalkers?" he asked as he began to unload the explosives into three smaller crates. "We'll need some men in exoskeletons to carry these, and God forbid one of them gets shot, because if even one of these babies ignites, we'll all head to kingdom come." he concluded gravely, packing the last of the plastic bricks into the crate and attaching a detonator panel before snapping the case shut.
He picked up several extra magazines of .50 BMG rounds for his rifle before dragging the three cases outside. "It'll be a light show to remember, whether it explodes underneath those antennae, or in our hands." he said, motioning for three stalkers in exoskeletons by the base entrance to come over. "We'll give these guys some big guns too," he explained, as one of the men headed back inside the armory and returned with three MG36 machine guns. "In case we're ambushed, drop those cases, and take care of the attackers. If one of 'em gets hit, that's too bad for us, I suppose." he laughed nervously.
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Post by Basil on Jun 30, 2010 17:21:39 GMT -5
A few hours after the events shown in Rubles.
Maginot removed his boots, sighing before massaging his sore and tired feet. Night was falling over the Zone, and the Moon was full and bright, shining through the quasi-absent cloud cover. A blind dog howled from somewhere in the Red Forest, its lugubrious cry drifting through the cool, quiet night air. Maginot rubbed his eyes and shifted slightly on the old sofa in his office, groaning as the movement made his broken ribs flare up.
The day had been very hard, and Maginotwas quite literally drained. He couldn't wait to get some sleep, and had had a couple of glasses of Cossacks vodka to hasten the arrival of slumber. After removing his suit, he lay down on the couch, covering himself with the slightly scratchy quilt and closing his eyes. His preparations for sleep were interrupted however by the sound of his office door quietly opening.
"Uuuh?", he said, propping himself up on his elbow and looking sleepily at the person who had just come in. The green glow of the person's eyes made Maginot recognise Adder. "Huh, Adder...is there a problem?"
"-No...", said Adder quietly. Maginot didn't recognise the tone in Adder's voice. It sounded too soft somehow. "Did I disturb you?"
"-No, no", said Maginot, fighting the sleepiness in his voice. He felt like he'd drop out of consciousness any minute now. Adder slowly approached him and sat down on the edge of the couch, looking straight at Maginot.
"-You know Mag...I'm really glad I met you", she said. Maginot suddenly felt terribly awkward as Adder said that.
"-Thanks", said Mag uncertainly. Adder seemed to smile in the darkness.
"-We're close friends", she continued, "but I...I've been feeling a little more than friendly affection for you..."
Adder suddenly laid her hand on Maginot's chest while the other one fumbled awkwardly for the zipper of her suit. Maginot stared speechlessly as Adder took off the upper part of her Guardian of Freedom suit and then her tank top.
"-Adder. Stop", said Maginot, laying his hand on her arm. He had slept with other women before, but he didn't really like the way Adder was acting. It felt awkward and stiff, and the fact Adder was not the most stable person made it all the more awkward.
"-Why?", said Adder, blinking.
"-It feels wrong", said Maginot, struggling for words. "I don't think you know what you"re doing..."
Adder kept on staring at Maginot. "You don't...want me?"
"-I...no...Adder. You need rest", said Maginot in a desperate attempt to appease his friend. Adder suddenly averted her eyes, and Maginot got the impression she was blushing despite the darkness.
"-Yeah...you're right Mag", she said flatly and hesitantly, "Sorry I bothered you."
She hastily put her suit back on and left the room, closing the door behind her and leaving Maginot in the darkness. The French stalker was fully awake now, and staring at the ceiling, completely at a loss over what had happened. His soul was currently prey to a crashing maelstrom of conflicting emotions, and the vision of Adder staring at him in that lost manner and saying "you don't...want me?" kept coming back, stabbing at his heart.
Maginot shook his head and sat up, reaching for the bottle of vodka on his bed side table. Within ten minutes, he had finished it and was out cold on his couch.
Adder left the HQ building, her head reeling and her mouth dry. Why had she done this? Why? What had propelled her to do such a thing? She had obviously offended Maginot with her crude pass at him.
She stumbled out into the night. The base was quiet save for a soft reggae tune drifting from one of the buildings, and a few Freedomers were sitting around drinking, smoking and chatting. Adder recognised the heady smell of Marijuana and some other drug, and headed over to them, unsure wether to reprimand them or not. As she approached the group, one of them noticed her and said: "Commandant? You look like you're in the dumps."
"-Today wasn't a very easy day", said Adder.
"-Heh...hey, would you like some of this? It'll make you feel better about yourself!"
The Freedomer offered her a glass pipe filled with a smoldering black substance of some sort. Adder looked at it suspiciously before shrugging limply and taking it.
"Don't draw too much, it's strong", said the Freedomer with a chuckle. Adder took a tentative draw on the pipe and couched as the acrid, resinous smoke scorched her throat and lungs, bringing tears to her eyes. After a short bout of violent coughing, she tried again, gently forcing her lungs to accept the heady smoke before exhaling it.
A few minutes later she was barely aware of her surroundings and quite thouroughly mesmerised by the starry sky above. The Freedomer who had offered her to try the substance had patted her a few times before shaking his head and laughing. The other Freedomers around her were now talking pleasantly, laughing softly as they chatted about little nothings. Adder stared at the dark sky and its silvery dots. The stars, so far away and yet above this hellish place. Was there another Zone on another planet billions of light years away? Was there another Adder who had been scorned by another Maginot?
No, scorned wasn't really the term. Maginot had seemed uncertain, almost shocked. Maybe she didn't really know what she was doing. After all, the presence of others still seemed foreign and threatening to her...
She sighed deeply and kept on staring at the black void of space. A few minutes later, she had drifted off to sleep.
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Post by Basil on Oct 17, 2010 5:22:00 GMT -5
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Adder looked at the bandage around her hand. The wound inflicted on her by Balalaika would leave a nasty scar indeed, a reminder of the harrowing chase from Yantar to the Army Warehouses. The Freedomers who had survived being contaminated had all been given the treatment the scientists in Yantar had prepared, and many were already showing signs of recovery.
Despite this, many Freedomers had succumbed to the disease, and their bodies were buried in a mass grave at the back of the warehouses, their final resting place marked by many crude wooden crosses. Adder, who was sitting in Maginot's study, was looking out into the yard. Maginot, who had survived long enough for the treatment to be given to him, was already trying to get the base back on its tracks while the Commandant got her well deserved rest. Adder sighed and sat down on the couch in the small room Freedom's leader used as his study.
She thought about what had happened when she and Balalaika had run into bloodsucker village. What had happened to Balalaika? Adder seemed to remember her screaming, and nobody she knew could survive an emission in the open. This probably meant Balalaika was dead...but still, Adder had her doubts.
A small squad of Freedomers had gone to the hills overlooking the bloodsucker village and had observed it for a while, looking for signs of Balalaika. They had seen nothing, and the village had stayed wrapped in its shroud of sinister silence.
Maginot and a few other survivors of the epidemic had feared a surprise Duty attack, but so far nothing had happened. The Dutiers were probably not willing to set foot up North while rumours of a terrible plague circulated. Incredibly, many rumours had already been conceived and carried South to Rostok and other parts of the Zone and they told of stalkers covered in buboes and Freedomers going insane and attacking their comrades. Evidently, they were embellished versions of the real thing, but they still made many stalkers afraid to go to the warehouses.
Maginot had said earlier that the plague might return and that more medication would have to be made in Yantar in order to prevent another disaster. He had gone to speculate about how the pathogen could have found a carrier population immune to its effects and from which regular outbreaks could spring. The possibility of this happening had sent shivers down Adder's spine, for she had seen the terrible potency of the pathogen first hand.
Adder lay down on the sofa and closed her eyes. She was utterly exhausted after the run from Yantar, and sleep quickly overtook her.
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"Oh God..."
A lone small figure stumbled past the old mineshaft outside the Red Forest, moaning and nursing its head. The figure was none other than Balalaika, bedraggled, dazed and stumbling about like a stunned dog.
She couldn't remember what had happened earlier on. Everything was an angry red blur, a blur in which Adder's hateful face and reptilian eyes appeared to jeer at Balalaika. All she really remembered was chasing the Commandant and then nothing, nothing but white hot, blinding pain, pain so incredible that she had felt like she was being forced out of her body.
She didn't know how she had ended up near the Red Forest again. Maybe she had crawled away right after the emission, blind and numb to the world, like a corpse still infused with a semblance of life. Now her head throbbed and one of her eyes stung as if she had hit it against something. Had Adder struck her?
A wave of pain through her head made her whimper and drop to her knees next to the base of the tall building. Her head felt like it was about to explode, like a pumpkin stuffed with dynamite.
But she was alive. For now. And so was Adder.
"Oh that whore...she got away again, yes she did", muttered Balalaika, her face buried in her hands. "I'll get her next time, and I'll make a coat out of her skin!"
She tittered in a way that would have made any sane man run for it before continuing her fragmented, mad monologue.
"Next time she will not escape, no, no, no. She will not. I will corner her and listen to her screams."
She stood up gingerly and looked ahead, towards the ominous line of the Red Forest. A pseudodog howled in the distance.
"She will die, and then I will get Voronin and watch him crawl before me...and then it will all be complete."
As she muttered to herself, one of the stalkers who had sought shelter from the emission in the building cautiously stepped outside and glanced curiously at Balalaika. Having obviously never seen anything like this before, he approached the small woman.
"-Everything all right, stalker?", he said, placing a hand on Balalaika's shoulder.
"-Oh...yes...everything is just..."
The stalker's eyes widened as he felt a sudden rush of fear. Something was terribly wrong.
"...fine."
The stalker screamed. The little woman had turned into something dark and horrible that seemed to claw at his mind like a hungry wolf. He stumbled and fell backwards, still screaming, and then his screams were cut short. His comrades, having heard the blood curdling screams, rushed out of the building, guns at the ready, but all they found was old Alexei lying in a pool of blood, his face a mask of terror. His throat had been messily slit.
One of the stalkers did see a person of small stature run through the rusted gates into the Red Forest however.
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Post by blackpapermoon on Oct 17, 2010 15:18:34 GMT -5
(Two weeks following the events of Epidemic)
Ferret punched the rotting wall of the old army barracks, a wave of self-hatred and pity washed over him. These emotions had been building in his being since his return from Yantar two weeks ago. He tried to kill the feelings with Vodka and 'herbs', but they did little but cover up the emotions temporarily. They just kept returning, nagging him in the back of his mind; always there, haunting him and ever so slowly and painfully killing him.
"Why," he whispered to himself as he took another swig of alcohol, "I'm I so weak. I couldn't even kill some fucking maggot brained zombies."
During the exit from the mobile lab and subsequent chase from the psychotic Balalaika, he had gotten pinned down at the factory by the masses of moaning brain dead stalkers. Then forced to hide in one of the abandoned structures during the emission. Thus making him utterly useless to the Freedom commandant as she made her heroic journey back to Freedom with the cure in hand.
The Ex Bandit smashed the bottle, as a new torrent of rage swept over his psyche. The glass shattered and some of the shards embeded themselves into Ferret's hand. He grasped the wound as he sank to his knees, swearing in pain. As he began pulling the tiny pieces of glass out of his hand he knew he couldn't go on living like this. There where times he thought about ending his own life but he could never take the plunge into the anomaly, or pull the trigger; there was something that always made him stop and walk away. Was it fear, cowardliness, or the Zone itself making him stop. He didn't know, but he had to get out of this suffocating rut he had found himself in.
It was then he remembered what Adder had told him when he first joined Freedom.
"if you have an insomniac streak you can always sign up for Penumbra...I won't stop you."
Perhaps now it was time to take her up on the offer. He didn't have anything to loss at this point.
The next day he fixed himself up the best he could; however he was unable to get the smell of vomitus out of his hair and uniform. He then when to seek out Adder, he knew she would not let him join up easily if at all. He could not blame her however, after all he had once been a part of the assassination plot set against her. He could only hoped that his last mission had earned him some points in Adder's good book.
"Commandant," he greeted in a somewhat clumsy manner that had been caused by last nights drinking, "does Penumbra still need new members…I'd like to join up."
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