//------------------------------// // .:LOG 5:. - A Game Called Revenge // Story: Secrets of the Zone: Ghosts of Chernobyl // by TheFullCrumb //------------------------------// Sparks groaned from her place on Zulu's back, Nimble's hand slinking back from touching her. He was angry, too angry to speak. After Zulu had broken the handcuffs on his wrists, he had spat on the ground, standing up and staring him straight in the eye. “Zulu, you know what has to be done.” Zulu had grimly nodded, looking down at the ground. Staring over his shoulder at Sparks, he watched her slumber fitfully, deciding to sit down and let her rest. “They shot her in forehooves. Nimble, you always say you have cache somewhere with army medkit. Tell me, where is it?” Nimble pointed at a somewhat visible structure not far from their position, overlooking an underground entrance area. Zulu drew out a bottle of vodka, holding it to Sparks' lips. As she drank, mostly out of a dire need to numb some of the pain she felt, Nimble sighed, taking a deep breath. Zulu cut him off before he could say anything. “I know you care, Nimble.” “She is our responsibility, Zulu. She... she is like a sister. A sister I never have.” Nimble brought his knees up to his chest, hugging them as he sat on a rock. Looking around, he noticed a couple familiar faces in the distance. With a jump, he stood at the ready, his face a sudden mask of stone, no emotion present. His AK's bolt slid into position, chambering the first round. Zulu held up his hand, looking at the two approaching them. “Sit down, Nimble. Is Snag and Uncle Yar.” Nimble set down his rifle, clicking the safety back on, sighing as he looked away from the approaching Stalkers. “Privet, comrades! What- where is Vano?” Zulu held a finger to his lips, pointing at Sparks' front hooves. Yar almost charged before Snag held him back. “Look, bro. We heard what happen. Sultan and his men, they brag about deed back to Skadovsk. Claim to be untouchable.” Nimble stood up, fishing something out of his pocket. Turning to face them, he held up a shiny key. “I have plan for that.” --------==|0|==-------- They stood in front of the structure, Yar cradling Sparks in his arms as she continued to sleep, the vodka having the desired effect. Nimble and Snag stood inside while Nimble fiddled with a padlock. “I found cache one year ago. Is filled with, well, see for yourself.” He stood aside, watching as Snag dropped his rifle, scrambling in to heft the heavy weapon atop his shoulder. “A working RPG-7? You kept locked up from us?” Nimble shrugged, tossing the lock and key aside. He entered, hefting an AC-96/2, a significant increase over his old AK. He grabbed another, tossing it to Yar, who strapped it to his back. He scrambled around in behind some crates, lifting a SVDm Dragunov as well, handing that off to the best sniper in the zone. Everyone could feel Snag's smile as they loaded up with their weapons. Snag had often bragged about finding a working RPG, but when he hefted that weapon, the giddiness was evident in his body language. Yar was impressed by the weapons, choosing the Dragunov over the AC-96/2. “While I enjoy good weapon like Obokan, range is better. Besides, Dragunov is better suited to me, eh?” Nimble chuckled, clicking a GP-25 launcher to the underbarrel rail while sliding a PSO-1 scope to the top rail. Drawing the bolt back, he stopped laughing, growling as he looked outside. Zulu put his hand on Nimble's shoulder, sighing as he joined him by the front door. “We will get them back, Nimble. Vano is friend, as is the Colonel.” --------==|0|==-------- Stepping into Yanov, the four Stalkers surprised everyone with how heavily armed they were. Nitro stepped up to say something, closing his mouth before he said anything. Nimble stopped in front of him, frowning. “Go get General Voronin. And you, Trapper! Go get Loki. We have things to discuss.” Nimble sat down at a vacated table, Snag, Zulu and Yar taking the other three chairs. Zulu looked around, the Loners around them – Stalkers not belonging to any 'faction' – eyeing them nervously. “We are not here for trouble. Trouble found us, and she paid price.” He motioned to Sparks, who was sitting on his back, snoring soundly. The silence was deafening, broken only by the cocking of a rather large shotgun. Zulu turned to come face-to-face with Cardan, who bore a mask of rage. “Sultan-” “Is a problem, yes, Cardan. You, and you, bring these tables together. Bring everyone together that is in Yanov. We have discussion to make.” --------==|0|==-------- Snag, Zulu, Nimble and Yar sat across from the leaders of Duty and Freedom, General Voronin and Loki respectively. Loki spoke first, raising an eyebrow at his compatriot. “So, what you say is, Sultan attacked, trying to steal malen'kaya loshadka, took Vano and the Colonel, and shot her-” Loki had to put his hand up to push Cardan's gun barrel away from the table, as it was venturing dangerously close. Voronin decided to continue the dialogue with the four Stalkers in front of him, frowning. “-and you want help from both factions to mount offensive to stop Sultan and his men, da?” Zulu sighed, looking at Nimble. “Yes. They killed Hatchet and Kovalsky.” At the mention of the mercenary's name, Loki stood up, a pistol almost appearing in his hand. Voronin, while he was almost as quick to react, kept himself collected, pushing Loki back down in a chair. Loners and members of both Duty and Freedom watched as they continued to converse, discussing amongst themselves. Nitro and Cardan looked ready to break down a fortress wall with the amount of tangible anger in the air. Nimble set down Hatchet's Trs 301 on the table, pushing it towards the other two. Voronin swallowed, looking up at Nimble. “H-how many-” “All of Hatchet's men, dead.” Voronin swallowed again, desperately trying to maintain composure. He looked atLoki, who nodded in response. They both stood up, looking at their respective factions, Cardan moving over to the side of the four Stalkers. “They will ask if any Stalkers want to help you. They cannot commit resources they do not have, comrades.” Snag sighed, looking back at Cardan. “You are really not helpful right now, comrade. Why not stick to guns-” Cardan hefted his Eliminator shotgun, smiling. “A gift. From the Colonel. I call it 'Big Bertha.'” Yar chuckled as Loki and Voronin returned. Two Stalkers stood behind them, flanking them with their IL-86 rifles at the ready. “We cannot send massive force now, but these two, and Cardan behind you, want to help. This is Trapper-” “W are familiar with them, General. Loki, Voronin, spasibo. The Skadosvk awaits us-” A Stalker stumbled into the station, causing everyone present to level their rifles, and Snag to level his launcher. The sudden smell of urine hit everyone as they realized the Stalker had just pissed himself. He held up his hands, revealing himself to be woefully unarmed. “S-sorry comrades, I did not mean- my name is Aravich! Borya Aravich! T-there are Bandits outside, and they are asking-” Snag stood up, smiling as he removed his mask, showing the scars up and down one side of his face, Nimble revealing the patchwork scars on his face as well. Zulu stood, cocking back the RP-74's bolt, smiling though his eyes glowed with anger. Uncle Yar simply leaned back in his chair, using his pinkie finger to clean out his ear before looking directly at Aravich. “For us. Well, General, Loki, we will deal with bandit scum. Do svidanya!” With that, the four stalkers stood, Cardan, Trapper and Nitro in formation behind them. Two Loners opened the doors for them, letting them see the large force arrayed before them. Nimble gripped his new weapon tightly, looking for anything that would indicate anything that they wanted. A laughing bandit forced his way to the front, tossing a bloody appendage at their feet. “Sultan sends his regards! If you want rest of Vano, you come to Skadosvk-” At that point, Sparks had woken up, and the hangover had hit her hard. Combined with the fact that she had just witnessed those bandits toss the bloody amputated hand of one of her friends at the feet of Zulu and the others around them, it was enough. Her eyes began to glow white as she floated off of Zulu's back, the other Stalkers backing up quickly while Zulu hit the deck. The bandits were rather confused as to what was happening, although, it only lasted until they reached for their weapons. With the cocking of twenty slides and bolts, Sparks stood in front of them, her horn flaring in a massive spike of energy. “You kill Kovalsky and Hatchet, good men! You take Vano and Degtyarev, good men! You want to take them too?” She motioned to the Stalkers behind her, the ones just beginning to recover what little sanity they could acquire from what they were witnessing. “You are not good men.” With the click of twenty levers, ammunition dropped from weapons, clattering to the ground. Nimble ran up as she levitated the magazines and shells to herself, piling them up in an aggressively organized fashion next to her. The bandits fell to their knees as Nimble stood, dumbstruck as to what just happened. “Sparks!? Why did you not-” “Waste of good ammunition, comrade. Besides, look at ground.” Her horn was still flared, the pins of grenades on every bandit glowing in that effervescent field. He frowned, pulling a pistol from a Duty member who had walked out. With a single shot, he blew the firing pin on one grenade, causing Sparks to jump, jerking the pins on the rest. Turning around, she looked on as the bandit force twenty strong was reduced to strips of bleeding meat on the ground, little remaining of what they were. She sat there, falling to her haunches as she stared at the carnage. “Only good bandit is dead bandit, Sparks. Especially Sultan's men. Cardan, Trapper, Nitro! We move out in morning! Next stop, Skadosvk!” Sparks let the bile hit her throat, spewing out onto the ground as Zulu patted her back. She spat, looking up at her friend with tear-filled eyes. “W-why would he do that, Zulu?” “Nimble is angry. Vano is longtime friend, and Sultan is longtime enemy of Stalkers. He tried to take over Skadosvk before, but Degtyarev, he stopped him. Sultan looks for other way to take Skadovsk. Good men may be-” “Dead?” Nimble looked at Sparks, his eyebrow raising as he watched her face twist into an expression of fury, pure and simple. He sighed, looking ahead, his expression softening. Turning back, he walked up, putting his hand on her head, her eyes still burning with the rage he himself still felt. Aravich slowly approached, sighing as he looked over the mess in front of them. Whistling, he looked back at the trio, Zulu’s face hardening as he stared at Aravich, the unspoken tension in the air almost tangible in its fury. Aravich sighed, kneeling down and poking a piece of bandit with his knife. “Not dead. Sultan is smarter than that. He will wait for us.” Nimble stepped forward, hauling Aravich to his feet. “And how do you know this, comrade?” Aravich smiled, before pulling apart his jacket, revealing his chest, and the scars running down his visible ribs. “He like torture, too much. But me? Oh, smarter. Much smarter. I know Skadovsk inside and out. Best part, though?” Nimble looked him up and down, trying to size him up. Aravich shrugged, pointing in the distance. “To the west, there is military outpost. Maybe vehicle still functioning there, maybe not. But if we find vehicle, we take it, and we get your friends.” Reaching into his pocket, Aravich removed a map, pointing to several locations throughout the area. “These are outpost. Military. We arm Stalkers.” “Why, Borya? Why we need more Stalkers?” Aravich sighed, looking away for a minute. “Sultan has gathered bandit army. Bandit not like working with other bandit, but they... cooperate, with promise of loot from corpse of Stalker. But we will not give chance to bandit scum.” With his knife, he stabbed the map, aiming right at the Skadovsk. Nimble nodded, looking back at Zulu. “So, then, when do we go?”