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Post by Διμι on Apr 17, 2010 23:20:00 GMT -5
Seth's knife made a sickening squelch as the Freedomer pulled it from the body of the lone guard keeping watch over the entrance to the Stadium. He was almost there, he thought beyond this last obstacle lay his destination, the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant, the place where all wrongs would be righted, the place that would free everyone and everything in the Zone when he was through. The Freedomer checked a pocket on his belt, both the flash drive Jurgen had given him, and the small, rectangular metal sliver of a key were still secure. If the Code worked the way the scientists had described it, he had a reasonable chance of success. He checked the visor of his suit. The lining within would provide meager protection against the psy-field that lay beyond the stadium exit, but he trusted the power of his very mind would provide enough protection to at least resist the Monolith's call, and put his plan into effect.
He re-loaded his SVU, taking a careful peek out of the entrance into the bleachers and into the Stadium's field itself. Three Monolithians, each armed with an RPG-7 rocket launcher, stood on the other side, guarding the exit. In addition, he spotted two figures on the surrounding roofs, each armed with a Gauss Rifle. Taking out all of them without getting killed would be a test to his aim and agility like no other.
He quickly took aim from the shadows, pulling the trigger on his gun. The sniper rifle sang as the round blasted through the Gauss sniper's head. Before the man could even fall to the ground from the roof, Seth had brought the gun around and fired again, taking down the RPG-wielding Monolithian directly across from him. Springing out from cover, he saw a single Gauss projectile make a distinct trail of disturbed air as it hurtled through the air, burying itself in a patch of earth behind him. He leapt from his sprint, and stopped as he rolled across the ground. Another 7.62x54mm round left his rifle, bringing down the second Monolithian, who was busy loading a rocket into his launcher. Before the Gauss sniper could recharge and fire again to take out the Freedomer, Seth fired yet again, and the man fell from his perch. He leapt back up and sprinted to the other side of the field, where the last Monolithian had finally finished loading his RPG. The remaining zealot looked up, searching for his target, when he realized that it was too close now for the explosive to be of any use. His hand dove for the Browning sidearm at his waist.
Seth leapt out from cover, his USP now drawn and aimed. Three HydroShock rounds slammed into the Monolithian's chest plate just as the man's hand closed around his own gun. The Monolithian fell back from the sudden impact. Wasting no time, Seth sprang up the rows of seats and finished the job, putting another bullet through the man's helmet. The last foes in his way eliminated, Seth stood up, and made his way back down to the field. Putting his gun away, he walked up to the exit to the Stadium.
Just as he turned the corner, he saw a huge shape move in the corner of his eye.
The exoskeleton-clad Monolithian crashed into Seth, bringing them both to the ground. The Freedomer's arm immediately went for his holstered sidearm, but his assailant was far too quick, pinning the Freedomer by grabbing both his wrists with a massive, meaty paw, and his throat with another. Seth's eyes widened as he recognized his attacker, who's mask had been removed.
"Th-Thor!?" he rasped out.
The Monolithian nodded, a maniacal grin spreading across his face, and an unholy fire lighting up in his eyes. "You thought I would simply stand by and watch as you destroyed what had created us all?" the huge stalker whispered, squeezing the squirming Freedom leader's throat tighter. To his horror, Seth discovered a new tone in the voice of his former friend, a tone of all of the mind-controlled maniacs he had killed en route to this place. "But... but.. how?" he rasped again.
"How? How did I survive?" Thor hissed, "yes, by all standards, I should have died in that tower, after making a stand against the armies of the Great One. But He found me. He saved me. He forgave me..." Thor's eyes looked clouded, distant. "And now, I shall repay Him for His generosity by ending the life of the greatest threat to Him." Thor tightened his grip further, intent on strangling his former leader and companion.
"N...No..." Seth gasped for air, struggling to escape the Monolithian's grasp, but all in vain. The enourmous man pinning him down was simply too strong. He had been the single, strongest, most massive Freedomer in the ranks of the faction. Picking a close combat fight with him suicide. He was done for, Seth knew, there was no saving himself now. Yet he had been so close... He felt the corners of his vision go dark as his body struggled for air.
Then a shot rang out. Blood sprayed Seth's face as the huge fanatic on top of him went limp. A bullet from the exit wound smashed into the concrete dangerously close to his ear. He heard the clatter of a gun hitting the ground as he pushed the massive body off of him. He stood, struggling to re-focus his vision and get a clear view of his savior.
Lutiy dropped his AK to the ground as he saw Seth push himself up and rise from the ground to face him. The Freedomer had been an inch from death at the hands his former colleague, whom the bandit recognized as Thor, former gunner of Freedom fame. Had Lutiy arrived a minute later, the Code would have been in the Monolith's hands, and destroyed.
The Freedomer did not draw his weapon as he beheld his former ally in front of him. At least, he's willing to listen, Lutiy thought. He had no want of killing the man who had protected him for so long, unless the circumstances required him to. "You know why I'm here." he spoke quietly "Your plan is ridiculous, you'll never succeed in controlling the Code's parameters, much less make it past the Monolith itself. Your brain will be fried, and you'll become just another of the walking aberrations that protect this place. Now hand it over. I've got a job to finish here."
Seth looked at him steadily, as if he had weighed all of his options already. "I knew you were obsessed after seeing you catch up with me that quickly." he said "You think you're certain about the limits of the Code's use, but you're wrong. Just think of what we could do if we managed to use it to control the Operating Block, the entire damn Zone! Just think of what the world could do! The limits to which technology would be raised to! This could eliminate all the crises in the world in one fell swoop!"
"And what if you're the one who's wrong?" Lutiy snapped "Do you really think this malformation of nature deserves to exist any longer, no matter the benefits? Look around you Seth, how many lives do you think this place has taken already! How many more it takes with every passing day? How much it all grows every single fucking second? And what if, God forbid, someone in the Big Land were to take over, and use it for evil? What then!?" He let the words hang "Look at him!" he pointed to Thor's corpse, slowly cooling on the concrete. "Do you think he deserved what this place did to him! He didn't even die as himself! Just another automaton in a mindless army of evil bent on protecting this place! Now, hand over the Code. I'll do what's right, even if it means shooting you."
The Freedomer flinched at the words, Lutiy could see it in his eyes. It was time to act, if Seth wasn't willing to cooperate.
Seth opened his mouth. "No." he slowly said. "This place doesn't deserve to be destroyed. It must be... freed." his hand flinched towards the gun in his waist holder.
"Fuck you and your Freedom bullshit." Lutiy spat. "So this is how it's going to end, isn't it? Like some stupid western duel, good against evil?" he looked to the Deagle at his own side, ready to draw it at a second's notice. "I hope you'll be proud of dying 'free' - just like your friend!" he nodded again in the direction of the late Thor. He thought he saw Seth flinch again, but the Freedomer's hand still hovered by his gun. "You might not be evil. But if there's anything I've got going for me..." Lutiy said slowly "It's the spirit of youth."
An unnatural silence hung in the air as the words seemed to hang in the air. Then Lutiy's hand dove for his sidearm.
The Freedomer was quicker on the draw, and his gun was lighter, much lighter than the bandit's modified Desert Eagle. But the uncertain, cornered look in the Seth's eyes gave his intentions away quicker than his lightning-fast draw.
Two 9x39mm rounds slammed into Seth's torso as he fired into the air above Lutiy's head. The Freedomer fell back to the ground, fatally wounded by the immense damage the armor piercing bullets caused to his system.
"You damn fool! Why would you?" Lutiy cried, springing to the Freedomer's side "Where the hell is it!" he yelled, searching the Freedomer's vest, which was quickly turning red from blood.
"Belt. Second pocket." The Freedomer said calmly, almost with an air of resignation. He coughed up a mouthful of blood as more slowly seeped into his suit. The bandit tore the pocket open, removing the flash drive inside, and placing it into his own trench coat.
Lutiy became aware of a commotion on the other side of the Stadium. Some stalkers had seemingly heard the fighting, and were making their way nearer. The bandit took one last, silent look at the dying Freedom leader, who returned his gaze. Then Lutiy turned away and walked out of the stadium, his face steely.
Leon burst out of the entrance into the Stadium's field just to see Lutiy's brown trench coat whip around the massive doorway on the other side. He could see a single figure, clad in green, lying on the ground near the exit by the other side, a small pool of blood forming by his side. Springing forward to the wounded Freedomer, Leon began barking orders to the rest of his team.
"Rusty, Rodent - cover the exits, we don't need any more Monolithians making their way into here. You two" he nodded to the two loners "tend to the Freedomer, and see what he has to say! Duke - go with them, and try not to end up in an anomaly. I'm going to try and catch up to Lutiy! I reckon with my gear, I'm the only one here who has a chance to get up close to him and survive."
He crossed the stadium, noticing several things. The bandit's AK lay on the ground, next to the body of a massive Monolithian. He heard Seth try to say something to him as he passed, leaving the two loners to tend to him. "No... p-psy f-f-field.." The Freedomer ground out, spitting more blood.
The mercenary turned and nodded. "Don't worry, I won't let him get that far." he reassured, eliciting more movement and protest from the dying man. "Hold him down." Leon told the two. "I've got this asshole covered." Holding his G11 tightly, Leon stepped out of the stadium, and began his pursuit in the direction Lutiy had vanished to.
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Post by Basil on Apr 18, 2010 5:53:49 GMT -5
Maginot knelt down next to the injured Freedomer, who was coughing up blood quite regularly.
"Now, I don't have any medical expertise, but this guy seems pretty fucked", said Adder flatly. Maginot noticed she was beginning to sweat, and her eyes looked vague. "-Looks like his lungs got it..."
Duke shook his head slowly at the scene before him. It was almost sad in a way. His eyes were drawn away from Seth's agonising form to the woman, Adder, who was acting rather strangely. The Frenchman was too busy with Seth to notice.
Adder's breathing grew ragged, and her vision became blurred.
My child, you have made it here, into my embrace. You must do a final favour...kill those heretics, then kill that mercenary fool and that bandit. Your brothers and sisters will be grateful for such a deed.
"-N...no...", muttered Adder. One part of her mind was rearing to do what he voice was telling her, but another part was struggling against its increasingly hypnotic power.
"Can't...fight...much longer...", she slurred, holding her head with one hand while the other reached for her shotgun. Her mind struggled to remain in control, stumbled, slipped and lost its grasp on her. She slowly turned to Maginot, shotgun at the ready.
"-Seth, if you have any information to pass on, you'd better tell me now", said Maginot. He saw Seth look at something behind him with shocked eyes, and Maginot looked around and almost gasped in suprise.
"-I'm afraid...I can't let you do that...", said Adder in a quiet voice and an ugly smile. Her eyes were glassy and empty, like those Monolith freaks. "-Adder...no, not you..." "-What? Not happy with...with this sudden development?"
Duke looked on with mounting horror as the snake-eyed woman pointed her shotgun at the Frenchman. Her eyes and voice said it all: she was taken by the Monolith. Without thinking, he raised his FAL and shot at the woman, but his hands were shaking and the bullet missed her. The woman turned to face him before he could switch to full auto and fire another shot at her. The shotgun fired and Duke was thrown back as the buckshot slammed into his chest.
He gasped. The buckshot had not done any major damage to himself as his suit had stopped most of them. Before he could get back to his feet, the woman was on him, slamming her foot into his face and pinning him down. "-You shouldn't have done...that", she said, before putting the shotgun against Duke's face. Duke gulped, the shotgun fire, and his life ended in an explosion of red that swiftly turned into the eternal darkness of death.
Maginot had his gun aimed at Adder and was reluctant to shoot his companion-turned-zealot. The woman, who had killed the bald bandit, turned to face Maginot. "N...now, Mag, you wouldn't shoot me, would you?"
Maginot remained silent as Adder loaded two shells into her shotgun.
"Join us, Mag...you'll be fine. I joined the Monolith and just...look at me now..."
She smiled and one of her eyes twitched. Something seemed to be going on in her mind.
"You aren't j...joining? Too bad. I'll just have to kill you..."
As she pulled the trigger, Maginot leaped forward and rugby tackled her, throwing her to the ground and making her shot go up in the air. He struggled with her briefly before tearing her gun out of her hands and tossing it aside. He then took his pistol out of its holster and aimed it straight at Adder's face. "G...go on, kill me, Mag. You won...", said Adder with a smile.
Maginot hesitated. Adder was a friend, they had stuck with each other since the Cordon, surmounting terrible odds and escaping terrible threats...could he shoot her? "-I'm sorry", he said, and pulled the trigger. A shot rang out in the Stadium, followed by a brief, and definitely female scream of pain and surprise.
Adder blinked back tears of pain as she looked at her bleeding shoulder before looking at Maginot again. She felt...free. The voices weren't there anymore, and the world seemed normal, not seen through some nightmare filter. "-I didn't try to kill you, did I?", she said weakly. Maginot nodded and she winced. "-You killed that bald guy over there", said Maginot, indicating Duke's corpse. "-Ugh..."
They both got up. Seth was still alive despite having been left unattended for a while, and the two loners walked over towards him. Adder looked at her shoulder injury, which was still bleeding. The bullet had gone right through her shoulder, so no real damage had been done. She winced, took a medikit out of her backpack and started to treat her wound.
As Adder shakily bandaged her injury, Maginot knelt next to Seth once more. "-Comrade, you don't have much time left in this world. If you have any information to pass on, pass it on to me. When I was younger, I was with the CNT, and fought with riot police in the name of freedom. You can trust me, I'm on your side."
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Post by Karcentric on Apr 18, 2010 8:09:45 GMT -5
Rusty was standing with Rodent standing in the grand stand on the opposite side of the stadium, he was peaking over the wall checking for any possible monolith when he heard the first shot, spinning around Rusty was looking across the stadium but couldn't see what was happening. It seemed Duke was shooting at the two they had meet, looking through his binoculars to his horror, he saw the one with the strange eyes shoot Duke, to his relief the bandit was unharmed. But before he could stand up she stood over him and blasted his brains into the ground.
Rusty dropped his binoculars in shock, fumbling for stolen Steyr Aug, he looked at it before leaning that against the wall, smiling viciously he shrugged the SVD off his shoulder, pulling the visor off his suit, he looked down the scope, lining up his target as he was about to fire when Rodent called to him, "Rusty, there's a squad moving this way, looks like a bunch of monolith pricks!" Rusty swore, grabbing his assault rifle running to where Rodent was standing, looking down the scope the group was indeed a monolith group there were 8 troops, heavily armed. "Shit, should we shoot them?" he asked looking to Rodent, the man nodded.
Lining up the leading troop Rusty fired the bullet passed right through the man's head, the round continued hitting the man next to him in the neck. Rusty pumped his fists in the air at his shot before ducking behind cover as the remainder of the group began shooting at him, switching to his Steyr. He fired blindly where he thought the monolith were. "THIS ISN'T GOING WELL!" he shouted to Rodent.
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Post by Διμι on Apr 18, 2010 12:27:58 GMT -5
Seth glanced up. There was no one but the two loners beside him, one of whom had just apparently walked into the critical point of the psy-field, seemingly with a mutation that left her even more susceptible. The other, however, seemed to resist the call. Wild shooting could be heard from the other side of the Stadium, the two stalkers the mercenary had left to cover the entrance had encountered opposition. Apparently, the Monolith troops had pulled back into Pripyat and were now making their way through the city.
Both the mercenary and Lutiy were gone, either doubtfully to return. Seth glanced up at the man before him, feeling his extremities starting to go numb. Someone has to know the truth... he thought. The record of the entire Project couldn't simply die here, never to be revealed to someone who could take care of it.
"When I was younger, I was with the CNT, and fought with riot police in the name of freedom. You can trust me, I'm on your side." The loner said, crouching down next to the Freedomer. Seth gave a faint smile "T-That's... more proof than I... need to see..." he murmured, shakily reaching a hand into his belt pocket. His fingers closed around the small, rectangular metal sliver that Lutiy had left. He pulled the tiny object from his belt, handing it to the stalker. "T...Take it... My artifacts and... guns... You're leader... now, you'll need it... it would be a... damn shame if it all... w-went to waste with... me in here." The radiant, colorful artifacts of the Alpha Squad spilled onto the ground, along with the Freedomer's heavily modified pistol and rifle.
The loner accepted the mysterious metal shard, looking at it before stowing it away. "Take this... to the base..." Seth whispered "Tell those crackheads... I won't be coming home... to stop them... any longer." With that, the Freedomer fell silent, slowly sinking back into his last moments.
Whatever the Zone would come to was now up to Lutiy, he thought. Or perhaps, it wasn't up to Lutiy at all. Perhaps it was up to the newly christened Freedom Leader crouching before him, or perhaps his companion, or perhaps the thousand or so stalkers that had made this place their home. He heard more gunshots coming from the opposite side of the Stadium as the clouds in the sky split, bathing his face in sunlight. He had lived for Freedom, and he would die for it. Death was peace, and peace meant having to settle with what existed. He was going to die in the heat of battle. What a funny way around the concept, he thought as his vision slowly turned black. His heartbeat slowed, and his breathing shallowed to the point of nonexistence.
"Ya... Svoboden..." Seth breathed. Then, he was still.
Leon made his way over the ridge to see Lutiy nearing the bridge across the channel, hardly forty yards ahead. The massive structure of the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant loomed in the distance, flames still licking its roof, casting demonic lights over the area. "Stop right there," he roared. The bandit obliged, slowly turning around. Leon could feel a crushing pain in his head, his vision starting to blur.
"Have you come to annihilate me, Dark Angel?" Lutiy seemed unperturbed, smiling calmly at the mercenary. "Have you, like Seth, come to take away any chance the world has?"
"No," Leon grunted against the pain clouding his mind "I've only come to bring you to justice, nothing more." With that, he raised his rifle, and fired. Three caseless rounds shredded through Lutiy's armor, tearing through his chest. The bandit's eyes widened in surprise as he fell to the ground. Leon approached his mortally wounded prey calmly, the pain dissipating, when suddenly, a voice spoke in his head, a deep, bass-driven intonation.
You have done me well. it said. Leon shook his head, struggling to make sense of what was happening.
"You fool... What have you done." Lutiy writhed on the ground. The bandit reached into his trenchcoat, pulling out the flash drive he had taken from Seth. "Take this... back to the mercenaries. Have them find another bearer." he whispered "It's the last chance for twenty years of hard labor. Get out!" he spoke to the mercenary, urging the man to get out of the Monolith's increasing influence before it was too late.
Then, as he moved, something else fell from his pocket.
Jericho's Resonance Crystal rolled onto the ground, flickering a wild blue, so near its master. Leon's eyes became wide and dilated as he stared at the glowing fragment, entranced.
Become one of us, Champion. the voice in his head intoned again, slowly taking over his system.
"No!" Lutiy rasped faintly as the man before him reached down and picked up the miniature emitter of the Monolith's will. Leon looked first to the stone, then to the flash drive in his other hand.
Destroy the Code. the voice said simply.
Clenching his ironclad fist, Leon felt the flash drive turn to pieces in his hand. All the life seemed to go out of Lutiy on the ground as the crushed pieces fell to the ground beside his face. "You've failed." Leon said turning to the bandit yet again, his voice now full of the Monolith's coursing power.
I will not die one of you, Lutiy thought, as his last breaths slowly left him. "I will not... be the last." he rasped, struggling in his last moments "I will be... succeeded..." said finally, evoking a look of rage from the possessed Monolithian. The bandit drew a final, shuddering gasp of a breath, and then sank across the cold stone, his eyes rolling into his head.
Leon stared at the body for several seconds before turning his attention back to the Crystal in his hand. The stone was perfect, alluring, drawing.
You will carry out my will now. he felt the voice of the Great One say in his head. Leon turned back to the Chernobyl NPP to see new ranks of troops in grey and brown walking out of the compound gate, enforcers of the Monolith's will. The army stopped before him, listening obediently to their new High Preacher.
"The Monolith!" he roared, his own voice instantly mingling with those of nearly one hundred fanatics behind him, echoing and reverberating through the Stadium, streets, and buildings of the ghost town before them.
Leon stepped forward, and began to march, and the zealots followed. And then, Leon was a be---fanatic!
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Post by Basil on Apr 18, 2010 13:28:37 GMT -5
Maginot closed Seth's eyes and stood up to quietly contemplate the situation. Adder had murdered a member of the mercenary team that had accompanied them here, and two members of said team were at the stadium's entrance fighting Monolithians off. He doubted those two would be very friendly.
He quickly looked around the stadium for another exit, and saw an area where earth and debris had been piled up against the Eastern wall of the building. The Western and Eastern walls of the stadium were not as high as the rest, and that bank of earth was their ticket out of the stadium.
"Come on, Adder", said Maginot, "we're leaving this place and going to Freedom's base." "-Isn't that at the Army Warehouses?", asked Adder, standing up gingerly. "-Yep. Now come on, hurry up before any fanatics show up to kill us."
The two loners rushed across the stadium, avoiding the center which was full of gravitational anomalies. They quickly reached the bank and ran up it before finally jumping over the wall. They dropped down on the other side onto the worn tarmac of a small side street.
From there, they avoided the retreating Monolith squads heading towards the stadium and made their way back towards the South. Maginot felt guilty about leaving the two mercenaries behind, but they would probably shoot him and Adder on sight. Besides, they were distracting the Monolith units in the area.
"-So...what did Seth say?", asked Adder quietly. "-He gave me all his artefacts and made me leader of Freedom."
Adder stared at Maginot incredulously.
"-You're joking, right?" "-Nope. That's why we're going to the Army Warehouses." "-Wow..."
The pair hastily hid behind a wall as three Monolith troopers jogged by. The retreat from Limansk was in full swing. After they had gone past, Adder and Maginot resumed their retreat from Pripyat and after a while made it to the Southern outskirts of the city.
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Post by Zeno, Lord Camelith on Apr 18, 2010 15:24:39 GMT -5
Taking aim at one of the Monolith soldiers, Rodent put a 9x39mm round through his skull. Just as he was about to take aim at another, a ferocious roar echoed up the stadium from the left of the Monolith troop. Running out to a hill by a downed helicopter, Rodent looked over at the direction of the roar. A massive teardrop shaped mass of flesh was storming towards them, scatting a large herd of Tushkano as it smashed through their feeding grounds. Raising his rifle, Rodent fired off three 9x39mm rounds at the beast, to his dismay the heavy armor piercing rounds seemed to just aggravate the monster. Running over to the stadium seats, he grabbed an RPG from a dead Monolithian and took aim at the Pseudogiant. The round missed by several feet, but caused the mutant to take a sharp turn to its left, towards the Monolithians. Rodent watched with a sense of sick pleasure as the massive creature smashed into the Monolith squad. Screams and shouts echoed across the stadium, until the gunfire died away.
To Rodent's horror, the Mutant continued onwards towards the exit to the stadium, where the rest of the group was. Throwing the RPG down, Rodent sprinted down the steps shouting at the rest of the group to get to cover. "Everyone, find some cover! There's a Psuedogiant coming right for you! Rusty, get up onto the top of the stadium and I'll draw it off to the other side, we can catch it in a crossfire!"
Once Rodent got to the track, he started shouting at the Pseudogiant and fired wildly at it with his VSS. One of the rounds took a large clump of skin from the Pseudogiant's leg. With a Roar of pain, the mutant turned towards him. Throwing the empty sniper rifle to the ground, Rodent pulled his TAR-21 from his back and unleashed a hail of 5.56 rounds at the lumbering beast. None of the rounds seemed to have any effect on the creature. Loading a fresh HEDP round into his M203, Rodent took careful aim, and fired at the pseudogiant. The explosion completely covered the Pseudogiant, and the beast bellowed with agony. What seemed to be a localized earthquake made Rodent almost loose his balance. The the giant mutant charged towards Rodent, one of its eyes was a bloody pulp. Rodent had to time to react, and the beast smashed into him, sending him flying backwards.
The impact of the giant sent Rodent flying almost four yards backwards. He smashed into the downed helicopter, and instantly lost consciousness as part of it collapsed around him. Rodent was suddenly looking into a dark room with cement walls. Every available space in the room was taken up by computers, lab equipment, and stacks of paper. A SEVA suit was folded up on the bunk, and a Maverick 88 shotgun was propped against a wall. A man who looked to be in his early forties was standing with his back to Rodent, fussing with some kind of helmet apparatus. Suddenly the man turned around and looked straight at Rodent, the man's hand went right to the pistol at his hip, "Who are you?" he asked in a loud voice. Then Rodent was back inside the crashed helicopter. His left leg was being crushed by one of the rotor blades. Suddenly a sound caught Rodent's attention, what had originally sounded like electrical wires was his Geiger counter. The device was at almost a constant crackling, reading far over the lethal dose of radiation. With his suit torn in several places, and with his arms unable to reach his pack, Rodent knew he had only a minute or so before the radiation killed him. Throwing all of his weight into the debris holding him down, Rodent barely succeeded in moving the wreckage a few centimeters. My Crystal! he though, and reached for his artifact belt. The life saving artifact wasn't there. He could see it on the ground a few feet away from the helicopter. "Gott verdammt!" Rodent shouted. His vision was starting to black out, and he redoubled his efforts. "Come on you son of a bitch!" he growled, pushing with all of his strength against the helicopter parts. Rodent's vision blacked out completely, and he could feel his strength ebbing away rapidly. Just when he thought his strength would give out, the rotor shifted and he fell forward onto the grass. With his Geiger counter still clicking furiously, Rodent fell unconscious.
The Tushkano had been having a very bad day so far. First he had been thrown from a window by a large human, and now, just as he was about to start eating, some massive thing had to come out and ruin that too. A noise and movement from some ways away caught the Tushkano's attention. Scurrying over to the direction of the noise, he found the same human he had seen earlier. He seemed to be dead, and would've made for a tasty snack if not for the strange skin he had, it was too tough and hard to chew. Suddenly, the human pushed himself up. Leaping backwards, the Tushkano gave a little growl of warning. Pushing himself to his knees the human hit something on his head, and what the Tushkano thought was his face slid up. The human vomited violently, and then groped for something from his belt, fumbled with them for a while, and swallowed them. The Tushkano growled again, and this time, the human turned to face him. Where the Tushkano expected to see a face, was nothing just the back of his hood. "Who's there?" the human asked with a shaking voice, "Leon? Rusty? ANYBODY?!" At this point the thing that seemed-to-be-a-human-but-had-no-face was shouting. The human stood up and stumbled blindly around, falling over several times, he seemed to be sobbing. "I can't see ANYTHING!" he shouted, then collapsed. The Tushkano was throughly confused at this point, he had never seen a human act like this before, he wasn't even sure if it was human anymore. The Tushkano crept up the the human, and sniffed at him.
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Post by Basil on Apr 18, 2010 16:54:01 GMT -5
As Adder and Maginot left Pripyat, they stopped by the side of the road. Maginot took the small key Seth had given to him and set it on the ground.
"Seth gave this to me before he died. I think it's the key to something in Freedom's base", said Maginot in a solemn voice. "-We'll open it and see what's inside", said Adder in a tired voice. The two loners both looked exhausted, their faces grimy and lined by tiredness.
"What do you think is in whatever the key opens?", asked Adder. "-No idea. Hopefully something good. For now let us focus on getting out of here."
The two stalkers looked at the road ahead of them, and Adder sighed heavily, feeling the weariness in her mind and limbs. Unfortunately, they could not rest where they were, as the place was too dangerous for that.
"-We've got a looooong road ahead of us, Addie dear", said Maginot. Adder smiled and took a shuddering breath.
"-Can't wait to get back."
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Post by Karcentric on Apr 19, 2010 1:38:16 GMT -5
Rusty watched the distorted looking mutant charge about. Firing at it with his SVD seemed to hurt it but not enough to stop it charging or even slow it. Climbing onto the stadium roof Rusty continued firing at the beast, while Rodent was trying to fight the beast on the ground, He's gone insane, who in their right mind tries to fight one of those fat bastards one level ground?
Rusty fired round after round into the beast, even the grenade that Rodent fired had little affect on it. Switching to the Aug, Rusty fired in burst at the angry beast, aiming for what he thought was the head, "Why won't you just DIE!" Rusty shouted as he continued to shooting the beast, Rodent was rammed into a downed helicopter.
The giant was now charging towards Rusty, but unable to reach him snarling angrily, "Make all the noise you want it won't help you stupid shit." he said to the mutant, it had stopped and was staring at Rusty. Rusty waved to the beast before taking an F1 grenade, pulled the pin and dropped it the beast watched the grenade land nearby, approaching it cautiously it exploded tearing another large wound in the beast, it wasn't moving however, aiming into it's head Rusty fire 3 shot from his SVD finally killing the beast.
Letting out a relieved sigh, Rusty looked to here Rodent had fallen, he had moved forward a few feet and was down still, "Shit, shit, shit." Rusty hissed to himself as he ran to his fallen companion, pushing an inquisitive rat out of the way, Rusty turned Rodent over, and jumped back in surprise back "Rodent?" Rusty gasped poking here the mans forehead should of been, it was there but Rusty could see into the back of the suit. "What the hell happened to you? I can't see you?"
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Post by Zeno, Lord Camelith on Apr 28, 2010 23:52:05 GMT -5
"Rusty?" Rodent asked, groping towards the direction of the voice he grabbed onto the Bandit's shoulder. "What do you mean you can't see me? I'm right here!" he said, pointing at himself. "I'm the one who can't see anything, must be something from the radiation. Help me up, we need to find anyone who's left and get out of here." Another small growl from the Tushkano caught Rodent's attention. Pulling a rock hard loaf of bread from his pack and lobbed it at the direction of the noise.
"Fucking pests," he muttered as Rusty guided him away from the stadium
The Tushkano leaped away as the bread struck the ground where he had just been. Growling fiercely at the humans as they walked away. Returning his attention to the bread, the Tushkano started to nibble at it. It was nothing special, but it was food. With the thought of more food on his mind, the Tushkano scurried off after the Humans.
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Post by Karcentric on Apr 29, 2010 7:26:07 GMT -5
"Yeah it's me, I dunno where Leon is and Duke is dead. That snake eyed woman blew his brains out." Squinting at where the loners face should of been. "I can see your suit, but your not so visible, you sure you can't see anything at all? I think we'd better go for the Freedom base. It's the closest base and I didn't mind their hospitality last time I was there."
As they trudged through the abandoned town, Rusty marveled at how the place had been over grown. "It's really amazing here, kind of peaceful. A shame you can't see, can you remember what happened after that fat monster hit you?" He asked, looking at his PDA Rusty saw that they had covered a considerable distance. Looking around he saw that there many mutants running around but they seemed to be at ease despite the two stalkers were moving through their territory, Must have something to do with Rodent?Rusty thought.
Ahead Rusty saw several exo clad loners, sitting about at a little camp they had set up, helping Rodent over the rough ground he held up his hand as he approached them. "Don't shoot please." He said hesitantly "We we're hunting someone, no our leader disappeared now where trying to get to the Freedom base." He noticed that they had barely heard a word he'd said, the leader pointed at Rodent and said, "What sort of trick is this? A floating suit?"
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Post by Διμι on Apr 29, 2010 23:01:28 GMT -5
The Monolith's servants poured in droves across the stadium. Shots were already beginning to ring out in the northern section of the city as the army swarmed in from the Chernobyl Plant. Leon drew his G11, the old rifle feeling familiar in his hands, yet irretrievably far for the Monolithian to recall or understand what it once must have been. Slowly, dozens of stalkers clad in brown and gray made their way around the anomaly field, dispersing into the abandoned city.
Several loners had taken up residence in the abandoned apartment complex across the street from the building that had once served as the Monolith's HQ in Pripyat. With a wave of his hand, Leon signaled for two zealots, each carrying an RG6 revolving grenade launcher. Before the stalkers inside the building even realized that they were under attack, several grenades had flown in parabolic arcs through the windows of their refuge, bouncing up from the floor and walls before exploding, sending flames, charred fragments, and human remains out of the apertures.
Mutants of every sort scampered away from the advancing waves as they literally razed every remaining shred of opposition in the city in their wake. Monolith snipers slowly climbed the proud, ruined structures, nestling in the roofs and the rubble of the upper stories. The gunfire on the streets was slowly replaced by the sparse flashes and cracks of their rifles firing as the few remaining stalkers attempted to flee, only to be countered by the waves of fanatics retreating from Limansk.
The mercenaries following them arrived only to see the tables turned on them, a true armada now descending from the North. Few had time to recover from the shock before being obliterated in the inferno. The single, deadly remaining obstacle in its way destroyed, the Monolith war machine now sought retribution on the Zone. And its new leader was coming to deliver it.
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Post by Karcentric on Apr 30, 2010 10:01:53 GMT -5
"It's not a trick, my friend here has been afflicted by the zone somehow, I'm just trying get him somewhere safe." Rusty said helping Rodent sit down.
One of the loners tilted his head listening to something else, "Sounds like an army is on the move." The distant sound of gunfire and explosions rang through the city, "We'd better get out of here, we'll take you to the Army Warehouses, Freedom will want to know about this. Follow me, and stay close we have to move fast." The loner said pulling Rodent up and supporting him.
Looking to his men who were sprawled about he gave an order in Russian and they were up, ready to move muttering as they stretched and got ready to move. "By the way, I didn't catch your names." The leader said, Rusty replied quietly "My name is Rusty, this is Rodent. What's your name if you don't mind me asking?" Rusty asked as moved away from Pripyat.
"My name is Gravel, these lads and I have been in the zone for years we all rocked up in the Cordon area about the same time, formed a group and never looked back, that was before the bandits thought they were proper players, if the all the stalkers who aren't in a proper faction we could wipe 'em out within the zone. But you try telling rookies that they should work towards that and they shy away or join Duty or Freedom. If those two actually tried talking to each other and working out some sort of in agreement the zone would almost be an ideal place to settle down and retire."
"Yo boss!" One of the loners hissed, "A few of them nutters swaying about, ya want me and Hammer to take 'em down?" Gravel nodded "Make it quick Cutter." Several shot from shotguns could be heard. Before the two loners came back reloading their weapons with little regard of what they had done. "Hopefully we'll see no one else for the duration of this trip, but you never know." Gravel said holding his FN 2000 at the ready before moving down the hill looking about, deciding which way to go next.
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Post by Zeno, Lord Camelith on May 5, 2010 23:32:48 GMT -5
Holding onto the Loner's arm as he lead him through the city, Rodent asked "Do you plan on shooting your way through the Red Forest? Or do you have an idea for getting through unseen? There were at least 40 Monolithians scattered around the checkpoints when we left the Army Warehouses to get to Limansk, there could be even more now and they'd be on high alert with all those Mercs pouring out of the Dead City to follow them."
Rodent let out a curse as he lost his footing an fell onto his back. A sharp rock cut a sizable hole in his pack and caused some of the contents to roll out onto the ground. "Don't bother picking it up" Rodent said to the Loner after pushing himself up, "We need to move, and I don't need any of that."
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The Tushkano paused for a moment after the Humans had started to walk again. On the ground where the unseeable one had fallen were some scraps of food. Quickly devouring the scraps, the Tushkano looked back up at the humans. The one that had fallen had a hole in his back, and whenever he stumbled, things would fall from the hole. The Tushkano followed the trail of food, and the humans continued forward, leaving behind the doomed city and entering the shadowy bows of the Red Forest.
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Post by Karcentric on May 6, 2010 9:49:25 GMT -5
"We could take the path we used to get here through the thick of the forest?" Rusty suggested, "We had trouble with a pack of snorks, maybe we can sneak back that way without any of those crazies noticing. You lot look like you can handle yourselves." Rusty added. "We'll risk the forest it more direct and me and the boys don't fancy getting ourselves killed out here."
Gravel looked ahead with his binoculars, before waving for the group forward moving towards the hole in the fence leading to the forest. He and another stalker lifted Rodent through the gap before moving into the forest, they slowed their pace at the massive helicopter which was slowly rusting in the depths of the forest. The remains of the snorks they fought off were still silently rotting untouched, Gravel kicked a scorched remains of one snork, "Your handy work lads?" he asked casually. Rusty looked at the remains, he was so much more confident when they had been traveling to find Lutiy. "Yeah we passed this way, those things came leaping off the cliffs above in droves at us." Rusty replied.
I wonder if those fanatics we passed at the checkpoint a still there now? Rusty thought, he decided it would be best to inform Gravel and his men about the possible encounter ahead. "Umm, Gravel when we passed through here originally we talked our way past a bunch of fanatics at the outpost, they might still be there, just so you know."
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