“That doesn’t mean she has to suffer more. Don’t you think she’s been through enough?” Borys countered Oksana’s words, honestly a little bit disgusted with her callousness toward her Babushka.
Oksana shook her head to Borys's comment, drunk yet willing to die for her grandmother. She got that feeling. Like the he actually cared about someone for the first time in the while though, that was new, but care for her grandmother was mutual.
"There's enough pure bullshit on this place to cover our tracks. Quite literally, I spent the entire inventory of what I had left behind here in concealment glpyhs, and honestly, she'll probably list off the five different times I visited two years ago. And, we're out of town. Relax. I wouldn't have taken us here if I didn't feel comfortable." Oksana replied, as the conversation ebbed and flowed. The ketamine might have had a slight effect on it, but the comedy of Borys being more attached to Oksana's grandmother than Roxie was herself, well, that was gold. It had to be said, Borys certainly had matured up, even if he was half cut....and well, Oksana should have been a bit better there.
Rowan sipped her tea before asking Oksana. “How do we recognize the former Security Apparatus in Polavia?” Rowan thought she knew the answer but was curious how Oksana would answer. Besides one of the others might need to know the answer. She found the other woman’s humor compatible with her own. She found her amusing and liked her sass.
"When you see them, you'll know. Somehow, I feel I might refer to that later." Oksana chuckled, sipping away more of the cup of tea, and putting the cup back on the tray, ready to go back inside to Babushka once they were on the way out. She wasn't unclean or anything.
“One ward-carrying cop and we’re fucked even with false identities. They know our faces, the forged papers will have to rely on changed appearance to be effective here in the first place.” Borys pointed out a hole in Felix’ plan that he thought saw, probably not helping the shapeshifter’s situation by being yet another voice that interrupted his briefing instead of waiting for him to finish. “Might as well work the underworld connection angle and get smuggled out or take the train as the first option and only use forged papers to disappear once we’re abroad.” Likely in motherfucking Liboli, he thought glumly to himself, almost reaching for the wine at the thought.
"Point taken." Felix replied midway through, shrugging his shoulders. "But at the rate you're going, your face is getting rearranged by said cop if we get as shitfaced as we did back there. That's where I'm going with it, we get abroad, or at least, build up distance through some anonymity. So we can get the fuck out of here. We're in your country now, so I mean, pick a spot." Felix sighed, as if he was talking to schoolkids who were truant and pissed up.
There wasn't much for it, because Felix, after a few shots, felt just as truant.
With a brief, and an incredibly rough idea, the team had places to be. Flasks full of soup and tea, and weapons set, backpacks on, they were on the move.
Day 2: 00:23:02
Grestin Monastery,
Somewhere overlooking the the village of Pristupin,
Libor Province,
Republic of Polavia
Part Two: Running for the Train
Moving through the woods, the team were keeping a tactical sweep, the moss cushioning noise, all members of the team in all angles. This was some tactical stuff, but the forest seemed as containing as evil as they were poking it.
"Roxie, anything ahead?" Felix asked, 417 to shoulder, as he moved back into a more patrolling pose, far too full to even consider shifting to his lion form.
"Nothing that's tingling." The Druid replied, the ruin of the old Chapel monastery providing a useful landmark. Cover, too, if they needed it, but mostly an opportunity for visuals on Felix's plan. As shit as it was, finding if the coast was clear would get them out.
The team moved tactically, two by two. Rowan and Felix in the lead, Silas in the middle, as the team's medic, with Roxie and Borys keeping the tail, eyes towards back.
"Eyes up. Observation Post is ahead. Roxie, Borys, get on point." The voice held crisp, as Roxie nodded to Borys, the bush moving forwards ahead of Felix, her Vityaz in hands moving through the stone relic. It was quite overgrown, Chapel long since kicked out, but the pile of rocks that was left here making for a decent spot.
"Clear." Oksana called out, getting through the ruin, the stone tower still in place but with stairs that were wrecked going up to it. It was so much a ruin that it was down to hip-height walls, glyphs all but lost to time from a half century of wear. The second storey was gone entirely- it felt like just the base rooms were left, and of that, even less was structurally sound. It was just a convenient post, and cover this close to the village. They were overlooking after all, and using this as a checkpoint before heading to the trainyard. To review their fine shit work.
Moving forwards and a bit beyond it between a pile of rocks in a natural hide, Oksana set herself down, the bush immediately seeming to cling to moss, absorbing it almost in a weird way. Felix stayed at the stone wall inside the ruin, getting in position with his viewfinder, sticking close to Rowan and Silas, while the recon team of Polavians kept an overwatch.
"Eyes on village. Police sirens for sure." Oksana adjusted, taking her rangefinder out, pushing it to the pisshead of the group, Borys adjacent.
"You don't need to spot. It's a vessel, no idea how it performs on drunk people, but hopefully you won't puke, and you might see a little bit forwards when in combat. Lose it, I'll fucking actually foresee you getting shot. By me. I've not had a problem that hasn't been fixed by 762 by 54 millimetre yet no matter how many beers someone slugs." Oksana quipped, SVU back in hands as she aimed down the rifle barrel, flicking her NVGs up, the natural lighting doing enough for her with the feint of green against her forehead. She was generous to give something quite close to her early on, definitely showing her appreciation for Borys, but also ripping into him while at it.
"Hang on. Activity. Alright, let's watch, Borys." Oksana remarked, going quiet and letting the team listen in.
Because from their natural overlook, down below in the village, the team could hear the sound of a frustrated man. It wasn't police. The flashing lights were going, yet no actual siren noise. And then more men. And a whole gaggle seemed to come out of one of the houses.
"Where is she?" The rough looking man was dressed in Polavian camouflage had gotten through. The house raid had worked nicely. Because in the next house over, they had found their target.
Dragging out the smaller witch- M4 witch- it appeared she was still here, and much worse for wear.
Had her exfil been botched? Glyphs did go wrong, but not that bad, surely?
They brought her to the foot of the World's End, enough well armed, leather-jacket and military gear hand-me-down militia already in place. More were coming in. Way more. Fuck me, this went from a one man raid to at least a dozen, like that, the team lead thought to himself.
"That isn't Polavian Army, nor Police. Unless they're suddenly all equipped with more AKMs and bad uniforms to supply a Druid Mafia raid. Any militia, Roxie?" Felix looked through his tactical viewfinder, wondering what the actual fresh fuck was going on now.
Roxie checked her comms, adjusting the mic's setting to mouth, knowing it was best she called it out to Rowan from earlier. She could recognise them by their dirtied insignia. Pricks.
"Rowan....
THAT, is Security Apparatus. Leather coats, black, olive tactical gear, yellow and red insignia. Every story you read is true. Secret police that ruled this land creating fear on behalf of the regime...formerly, at least. Why the fuck they are back in numbers I don't know. Real experts at wards, too. Everyone, be real careful." Oksana uttered, in shock she'd seen this many of them out.
What the fuck was this, a convention for them? How the fuck did this many unemployed, torturing, scumfucks end up this wealthy, this kitted out, and most of all, holding a DSR Special Forces soldier captive? They kept their insignia because they were proud of their work, clearly. Not afraid to come out of the woodwork. For some reason that nobody in the team quite understood.
And finding out why, well, that scared Oksana more. Were they going to already raid Grandma's house after? That felt a fucking nightmare. So much for leaving. But the situation still was evolving, as she stayed silent for now.
"Eyes on vehicle. Nice one too. Oksana, you recognise them?" Eyes on, she watched the BMW roll in, a new model. Wanting to quip back she didn't know every fancy car in Polavia, now that was just racist. Yet she was still taking this all on. Shit, the PSA had laundered enough money to fund a small army here....and with the man that got out of it, Oksana took the man that stepped out of the car in, mouth dropping further than it already had when she realised who it was. More had started coming in from the car behind, out of a shittier looking Lada.
She had hoped Felix was just chatting bare shit as usual, but here, she realised fate was crueller.
"Fancy car. I mean, could be any....wait. That's....ahhh, fucking hell. He survived his alcohol problem then. That, that is....Lieutenant Colonel Yezhov Prigostin. Bastard, we should....." Oksana adjusted the PSO scope, and immediately could see his head exploding in every, single, vivid way, in a manner that probably would have overriden to Borys next to him.
"Roxie. Hold." Felix's order came through knowing he had to stop her going on impulse, as the bald looking, fat bastard of a Security Apparatus looked down, with a glaring grin at the witch, cuffed at arms and hogtied at legs.
"Actually, explain who that is?" Felix asked, watching as the Lt Col adjusted his leather jacket. This was cartoonishly the most Polavian bad guy he'd even seen, walking over to the captive.
"Prigo was Head of Chariton Unit in the PSA. The worst of all of them......the people the Party sent after the people they really didn't like. Counterintelligence. Went dark after the Revolution. Thought he got killed by his own people. Let me have him, Felix. If I do anything right in this life, please let me kill the Fat Seal. For everyone he hurt. And the asshole he is." Roxie's teeth chattered, Borys probably realising she was even more angry than the money he owed, but now with a bullpup sniper rifle in hand, really trying not give up position.
"Negative. There's far too many of them. Build picture first. Then we'll execute. Not sure you're aware, but we don't have the mags to kill everyone and turn this place into World War 5. We're meant to be leaving. Not fighting over local politics." Felix commented, looking through his own, the person described truly an ugly fuck. Even by Polavian standards. "Also, do you forget that witch tried to kill us?" So very, very low bar then....
"I'll fucking show you too many.....argh." Oksana struggled, not wanting to entirely go into reasons as to why she wanted to slot him now, but Felix was right. There were at least 20 to 30 men in that village, and they were close enough to take the team out if they decided they wanted a fight. Staying silent, and observing was going to keep the team alive. And finding out what the fuck was going on, that made not the Police, instead a former Security Apparatus Colonel turn up, that was worth intel alone. The team stayed quiet, and listened into the distant murmurs they could. Not that Prigo was quiet.
"So you're the little witch they sent in on our territory. On our land? Where is she?" The Lieutenant Colonel leaned in, his voice an accented English, understandable to everyone, including M4 Witch. She had to have a name.
"I don't....no idea who you mean." She replied, as the Colonel tsk'd and nodded to one of his men.
"Ah, Lily. You will remember. We do not need craft to make you remember. We have our ways." He replied in perfect tone, the man dragging her here enacting that.
A butt of an AK hit her face, Oksana so tempted to shoot, but aware killing him would do nothing. There were already a couple of bodies of drunks nearby. The witch stayed silent, blood pouring from her nose. The men sent ahead of the Colonel had done some nasty work.
"Shit. Torture it is. PSA special. Are they looking for us too....has to be? Fucking Felix." Roxie asked, enough delay in the echoing voice of the men below in the valley, as the Colonel sighed, another senior looking man coming along, from across the bar and the remains of the fight. Past a police car where bullet holes were, and two Polavian Police had been killed in cold blood.
"Ay. Fuck you. Unless your people really like horses, fuck knows why I have anything to do with this. Is this a you problem? I smell projection." Felix replied, addressing it straight on.
"Asshole." Oksana sighed in reply, watching on, looking to Borys. She didn't make herself vulnerable like this, but in that moment, a lot of fire was burning.
Unlike Hex, the SA weren't very good at keeping quiet. They were making a point in the village. And everyone in the village knew that unlike the Mafia, if they came knocking, they would answer- the police had been shot here after all. The Witch was hurting, bleeding plenty, as the Colonel approached another man in the muddy track, almost disgusted he had to come personally to see this, the other man more the doer from his rougher looking appearance. An ushanka, and dirtied leather coat and gloves with a thick beard. Younger, by far. An officer maybe, but not as high ranking as the former Lieutenant Colonel. A Captain, maybe?
"Olygarkov. Torture her for everything she knows. I have affairs to sort in the capital, why I had to detour here is a mistake you will not make again, or else Yelenka and your little boy will have their tongues switched. Understood?" Prigostin's voice was like barbed wire had contacted a cat.
"Again, why her?" Olygarkov replied trying as hard as possible to brush that threat off (after an earlier apology), as he seemed still not to understand quite what all of this pomp and circumstance was about.
"Well, Oly-fuck-tard-ov, Rowan Morgana must be found, because if the DSR sent a team for her, and she happens to be on the run, she must fucking know about Manticore. She's a loose, loose end we do not need right now. And she's magically fucking appeared
here, without a glyph. Find her. And bring her, to me. Preferably in one piece, I'll take many and we'll put her back together until she croaks. Search every house. One of the yokel fucks will know where she is after the mess her team made. Kill them once they tell you. Or you will join her as a loose end." Prigo didn't fuck around.
As if being an awful human being was enough, he also was just an asshole of a boss, and disparaging the less abled. Not exactly one for PC language, but then again, Polavia wasn't exactly the cosmopolitan hive that the DSR or even Liboli could be. Olygarkov nodded, making a symbol that implied crocodile clips to another of the men, less willing to file a HR complaint considering in the Security Apparatus, they were probably more likely to do worse to him than he was about unto others. He left on that note.
Oksana's jaw opened up hearing all of this realising shit was fully in the fan. So much for it being Felix being the fuck up here. At least it wasn't her, as the voice of Felix filled in her thoughts.
"Oh, fuck right off....really?" The words left Felix's mouth in trailing shock, as he glared over at Rowan, by his side. Realising he felt a little relieved it wasn't actually him. But, to be hunted by someone like that, well, that was a little more serious given the wattage that the witch down there was getting soon getting applied with. Rowan had opened up earlier about the botched raid. Looks like this went another octave higher.
Olygarkov and some balaclava wearing SA men dragged the witch through the muddy track, throwing her down in front of a puddle, opening the back of an old Lada and connecting a car battery. And all the team could do is watch, and argue.
"Rowan, why are there men torturing an entire village to find you? Are they.....ohhhh fuck no. No, Felix, they'll get an answer with that. On all of us. We need to shoot or we're gonna get the same treatment." Roxie replied, actually shook. The scream could be heard, as the witch was connected to many, many volts, and the Druid Witch winced. Before anyone did action something, Felix intervened. In a way that felt awful, probably like pulling hairs right now, but was probably a wiser decision considering what he was watching.
"Negative. I've spotted another Ural's worth of SA down the road. Unless you want to die, situation is the same. We need to get them to dissipate first once they go house by house, and start dropping them one by one. Don't act on emotion or else..." Felix hushed back to Oksana over the comms, as the Polavian turned beetroot.
"Oh fuck you, my fucking grandmother lives nearby, they keep going and they'll......wait, everyone, hold!"
And in that exact moment that Roxie called it, gunfire rang out from the other side of the valley.
Heavy gunfire, and the bullets sounded less Polavian, but more DSR in calibre. The team had a theatre seat to watch Olygarkov dive into cover, Lily get left behind and squirming away from the voltage, and all manner of gunfire respond into the woods on the other side of the village.
"They came back for her! Lucky operator.....they're a lot dumber than I thought." Felix stated, realising what was going down. Oksana didn't agree, even if she understood too.
"Felix, fuck's sake, you got a spine or are we going to sit here and spectate? For a lion, you seem to lack any fucking courage or balls, I don't care, we'll go through them too if we have to stop this!" Roxie was overstating, a little overconfident, but then again, with a sniper and the ability to see ahead, she was willing to roll that dice on her grandmother's village. Anyone would understand. For her, it was personal.
"Do we look like we're equipped to fight a platoon and a half of Security Apparatus, and now, also cross-fight DSR special forces that now want us all dead, so we can join the locals? You fucking in a K-Hole? Observe and wait. We might be able to make this work." Felix replied, as he kept an eye on Rowan, his opinion changing from seeing the wholesome witch to some sort of criminal that was on his level. If she was wanted by him, he didn't want to ask quite what that meant.
Oksana scowled, as she leaned in, watching as the DSR Special Forces team came back. And were trying to fight their way, going through a group. To the untrained eye, they weren't just special forces, they were even more ridiculous than that. The Ural exploded, as a massive fireball was cast, and more gunfire opened up.
"Well, I guess they are equipped to take on an platoon, and a half. Point taken. But we can capitalise when they're done. And again, fuck you, I'm not in a K-Hole...." Oksana took the Ural exploding to note, realising that Felix, as annoying as he was, had a point. On one thing. For now.
"Well, that sorts that out. Or we let them distract and they point them a different way for other resources on what now at least another member of our team knows. If they get her back, they might go for the team. Not us. Ideal. Standby, team, pick up eyes on...." Felix started, comms overrunning.
"Team. Hold still. Contacts. Close." Interrupted by Roxie, holding still in her ghillie, and that made the team's ears prick. A seer saying wait, was like a railroad crossing blinking red. Her voice broke, but was clear enough to make them stop arguing.
As the sound of gunfire erupted, so did the sound of rushing footsteps on their left. A patrol had clearly started moving to another strongpoint. While the Security Apparatus weren't the Polavian Army, many of their rank were trained soldiers first, evil secret police later. And the former was not helpful to the team right now, as Felix could make out the rustle of trees as lights came up.
"Everyone, don't fucking move. Contacts, immediate east. About a dozen of them. New plan, fight our way out and run." Felix whispered, getting back in cover with Rowan, behind the wall.
The team were a bit split. Felix's contingent were in the monastery ruins itself, in the ruins and around the growing conifers, while Borys and Oksana were a little across, hidden in the brush.
Oksana looked to Borys.
"I've got the two approaching the walls in front of Felix and Rowan. Can you get the group right? Without gathering collateral our team? Spoiler alert. You can." She asked, shifting her position, eyes down scope, aware that she had FMJ for this situation, and she had to clarify if they should open the taps. Even against her better judgement, Felix was probably going to be pissed if they didn't take it all in.
"Felix, play? We changing our ROE?"
Felix meanwhile with Keodis, Rowan and Silas, had a chance to line it up.
"Cleared to engage, take the team out and then we run. Keodis, no frags, pick up the main group. Rowan, stick to casting, rather than the shotty. I'll take the first group, no lion from me. Standby. On three." Felix switched up to the 870, loading in a mana-filled pellet, peeking.
"One.....
"Two...
"Three."
And with it, all hell broke loose.
RPM,
VeyrinDay,
cosmiccowgirl,
esqueleto,
xVampire3go,
SonnetNSunbeam,
RisingRobin,
Gunther,
Antlers,
PrinceAlexus
