My Tall Yuri: Mind Control is Panacea

by Daxn

Operation: Mind Games (Prologue)

Yuri was running inside the humid and dripping dungeons of his ruined castle in Transylvania, rushing towards the deepest part of the subterraneans. Sounds of explosions, crumbling stones and shouts came from above, constantly reminding Yuri to keep up his fast walking pace.

Soon he arrived at the end of the corridor, where a wooden door with a iron deadlock awaited.

“Defeated once again, and, this time, right in my last-standing Headquarters,” he muttered to himself, as he rapidly slided away the iron deadbolt of the wooden door in front of him. “It is truly a blessing that I am as savvy as I am, otherwise I would suffer… unpleasantness, in the comrades’ hands.”

Once the door was open, he swung it inwards, revealing to himself his greatest acquiring of all, courtesy of a handful of helpful Allied scientists and his (rather small) think tank of great scientists.

The Time Machine, built with a similar structure as the one that the Allies had originally installed in San Francisco to wipe out his base there. Yuri quickly walked the stone stairs leading down at the Time Machine’s already-open hatch, closing it down with one swift telekinetic effort, just before sitting down on the black lather seat and strapping himself down.

“Everything I need to know is stored in the back, if the clones of myself didn’t lie to me.” Yuri said to himself, as he then started to select a date- 30 of April 1954 to be precise- to go back to. “Easier than just use my own mind, even if exquisite.”

As soon as he finished to key in his destination and both of his hands were on the lever, he heard shouts and a steadily-increasing sound of boots coming from outside the room.

“I will not waste my time in taking control of them.” He whispered to himself, as he pushed the lever all the way towards himself. As soon as he did that, the air around the machine started to audibly crackle, while the machine itself started to quake intensely and let out a very loud mechanical whine. Yuri closed his eyes, and soon there was a thundercrack-like sound going off, one that echoed inside inside the cockpit.

Shortly after, there was another crackling sound and a loud thud, as the machine strongly shook again.

“Already at destination, it seems,” he muttered to himself, as he opened his eyes while undoing the straps holding him to the seat. “Not that I mind.”

However, as soon as he concentrated on what lied beyond the cockpit’s glass, he was greeted by the sight of a rust red cloudy sky, in the midst of a forest of half-dead trees.

Yuri looked up at the display supposed to tell him the time, only see a garbled neon green mess. Yuri stared at it for a few seconds, when he went back to look at the trees.

“Something tells me I am everywhere but close to destination.” He said to himself, as he opened up the hatch, before climbing out of the machine onto the grassy ground below.

Done so, Yuri walked in circles around the Time Machine, looking around himself to see if he could notice any kind of landmark or location specific characteristic, only to be greeted by contorted shapes of black dead trees all around him.

“Somehow, for some reason, I seriously doubt that going in circles is going to bring me anywhere.”

With that said, Yuri stopped his walking to look a little better at the forest in front of him.

While the trees showed signs to have been luxuriant once upon a time, the branches and the roots protruding from the ground weren’t clustered in a way that could make traveling through them overly difficult for somebody on foot. Noticing that particular, Yuri walked next to a tree and concentrated himself on his index, causing a little flame to form on the tip of fingertip, before slowly writing his monogram on a tree’s bark.

“This should be a reference point good enough, should the Time Machine be stolen or broken while I am away… somehow.” Yuri said to himself. He snapped away with ease the few branches that got in his way and dodged the roots quite handily, making his way through the forest. The vegetation’s thickness thinned out as he went on, until, in-between four trees, Yuri spotted in the distance what looked like a wall made out of black wood logs and stone, with several thin streams of gray smoke coming from behind it.

“If my own mind does not deceive me, this is a pretty clear sign that I am not anywhere near in time to the Forties. Nor in New Mexico, for that matter” Yuri muttered to himself, leaning on a nearby tree for a minute, before resuming his walk with a hunched back and a slower step. “I shall get closer.”

As he walked closer to the structure, he could see more details appearing in his field of view: tower and their embrasures, flags depicting a black crown of spines- with four drops dripping from said crown and a half-open eyes in the middle- on red background, some broken weapons laying scattered next to the wall, and armed equine shapes going around the walls’ boardwalks.

Yuri’s eyes briefly widened at the sight of it.

“Oh, that is interesting. Equines guarding an encampment’s walls.” He muttered to himself, massaging his goatee as he kept looking. “That is really interesting. To have access to the minds of the ones that have trained these animals to guard duty would be quite an accomplishment. No matter, thought: I will have time to satiate my hunger for knowledge later, now it is time to see if they will be… consensual, in providing me shelter, nourishment and possibly fuel.”

Getting a little closer, he could no see more details of the guards, who not only were equines holding up weapons, but were also of colour unusual to the species, as if they had been created by one his counterparts in a moment of boredom.

“Interesting. Perhaps I can check if these… ‘horses’, can be actually controlled?”

Yuri set his right hand on his temple and used the other hand to point at the encampment, before concentrating in harnessing his mental energies. After a couple of minutes, Yuri’s hand weakly glowed purple and he lifted his head, looking at the wall, until he noticed a black crossbow-carrying stallion passing by right in front of him.

Wasting no time, Yuri stretched his hand forward towards the guard, before concentrating his gaze on him. Soon enough, Yuri felt a slight tingle going up his arm, signal that it was time for him to act.

“Greetings, soldier. My presence may be rather… unexpected, and so will be my questions. However, due to a series of setbacks, I am in dire need of information. Would you kindly provide them?”

“W-what?” Yuri could hear the pony think. “What are you doing in my mind? A-are you one of t-those changeling spies? I-I will n-not betray m-my king!”

“King Sombra?” Yuri mused. “Changelings? Pray tell what are you talking about?”

“H-how? How.. is this possible?” The soldier’s thought got even more panicky. “What are you?”

Yuri let out a sigh. He clenched his fist and squinted his eyes close.

“I’m Yuri. Obey me.” He whispered two times to the guard. Soon enough, in Yuri’s field of vision, a rather large field of white and khaki tents seen from the above appeared in his field of vision. Many horses similar to the ones he was controlling were out and about, acting very much like human soldiers would have, between some polishing their weapons rhythmically and obsessively, others betting over either spoils or parts of the rations with card games and dices, and yet more drinking from flasks and lying just outside the tents.

“So, this is a military encampment after all. I still do not see any jockey or beastmaster around, thought.” Yuri muttered to himself. He then shifted his focus on the mind-controlled guard.

“Bring me to your commander. I have… interest, in having a quick talk with him...”

“Yes. I will bring you to my Commander… King Sombra…”

---

Sergeant Pyotr Cservenka trudged along the perimeter of the Soviet military outpost stationed in Helsinki, leading his squad of Tesla Troopers in single file line. Finland was mostly a low priority during the war despite it's relative proximity to the other Allied-aligned Baltic States. He and his squad were only a few weeks ago on the front lines of Corpus Christi providing anti-armor support for tank divisions landing on the shores, but for whatever reason the powers that be in Command felt he and his squad were better suited where he was now, more or less guarding animals due to the outposts relative proximity to the local zoo.

Keyword was 'mostly'. Since the Soviet Union annexed Finland in the late thirties, resistance groups had plagued the land. While the insurgency was nowhere near as bad as it was when it peaked during the Allied counteroffensive in the Second World War, a new generation was buying into the empty promises of independence from Yuri and it was deemed second-line and nonessential forces needed to bolster the local garrisons. Tesla Troopers were far from second-line troops or bullet sponges the average conscript inevitably ended up being, and were actually among the elite of Soviet infantry, but orders were orders.

Cservenka was as close to to the Russian stereotype of a burly no-nonsense mountain of a man as one could fit inside an insulated rubber suit with a weaponized Tesla coil mounted on the forearm. Tall, bald, and with a muscular build masked by a layer of fat. Out of the four other men in his Tesla Trooper squad, he was the only veteran of the Second World War twenty years prior, fresh out of training when he was selected for the experimental 'Shock Troopers' and he still had the acid burns on his back to prove it.

“I just hope some of those partisans show up, I'm looking forward to making some northern lights,” a voice came from the small speakers inside Cservenka's suit, responding to the others. The voice belonging to that of Corporal Moskvin, the only other member of the Sergeant's original squad and by default the most competent under his command.

“Focus,” Cservenka replied curtly into the small microphone resting at his chin, and any nonessential chatter died just like that. The Sergeant found it somewhat difficult to peer out of the narrow visor his suit allowed, he always had to stay on edge for sniper fire, especially as he and his squad were out in the open. Their suits were technically bulletproof - albeit that was more a byproduct of making the rubber layers thick and sturdy enough to stand war and not fry the wearer by mistake – but were not invulnerable.

The squad continued their patrol in relative silence, the only noise being their rubber boots hitting the ground with each step as they finished it and made their way back to base on the opposite side of the zoo before them a couple blocks away.

The silence gave way to the distant but ever present wail of an alarm from the outpost and a general order from their built-in radios.

“General order to all units within the vicinity of Helsinki. Reports of fires and large unidentified beasts causing destruction have been reported from the Helsinki Zoo and its immediate surroundings. All nearby units, engage at will. All stations are to report any and all suspicious sightings to Command no matter how insignificant they seem.”

“Talk about luck,” Cservenka could not see Moskvin's grin, but he knew it was there. He hated to admit he was as eager to fight long ago, but publicly explaining the exact reason for his attitude change would in the best case scenario have him be lugging a flak cannon over his shoulder instead.

“Squad, double-wedge formation,” Cservenka shouted in his sealed suit with enough volume for the other members to hear him anyway. As ordered the five Tesla troopers spread out into a loose W shape, their right forearms outstretched before them ready to throw lightning at an order's notice.

Less than fifty meters from the side entrance of the zoo the squad encountered what they collectively assumed was one of the unidentified beasts. It in the vaguest sense resembled a horse with several layers of muscle added onto it.

Additional details could not be determined by the squad at that moment, mostly due to the fact that the massive, gray monster was charging straight towards them and priorities needed to be set straight.

Acting on instinct, Sergeant Cservenka outstretched his arm, clenching a fist as he looked down the crude iron sights of his Tesla coil and gave the order to fire.

A bright flash of electricity burst from the arms of three Tesla Troopers in front, a streak of lightning from each instantly connecting with the massive beast square in the midsection and neck before disappearing only a second later. Tesla weapons in general were powerful enough to disintegrate a man with a direct hit, however, not only did this creature fail to turn into ash, but it still continued it's dash to the squad undaunted roaring wildly despite the widespread third-degree burns all over its body fuming thin white smoke.

The second line of Tesla Troopers took their turn firing as the others waited for their weapons to recharge. The beast made a second pained cry and collapsed to the ground mere meters from Cservenka, succumbing to the gruesome burns it sustained.

“Was that a Brute we just killed?” asked one of the newer additions in Cservenka's squad, Private Kerensky. His voice full of disbelief, he had probably never seen one in person before, let alone make the killing blow on one.

“Da, looks different though. I thought Yuri only used humans for Brutes though,” Moskvin replied.

The creature before them was indeed a horse, more specifically a pony swollen to several times its normal size, but its facial features were very unusual. It's eyes were massive in proportion to its head, with saucer-like irises in a faded orange color. The strangest yet most haunting feature seemed to be the symbols that appeared on the flank – the indisputable mark of Yuri that all forces under his control wore.

This could have only meant that Yuri managed a way to mutate animals as well for use as anti-armor troops, the petting zoo before them having been made demonstrations of this fact. What this potentially entailed for the Soviets many attack dogs and beloved pets didn't bode well for Cservenka.

“Move forward, squad. There is bound to be more. Concentrate fire on individual Brutes when possible, but be wary of enemy support.” A series of 'affirmatives' followed and the squad of Tesla Troopers advanced further down the street.

---

The Allied European Theater Commander Center in Bonn was echoing in bleeps, shouting, rapid walking and radios crackling. Not a single spot of the building could have been considered silent in any shape or form, nor any member of the staff could be seen slacking off.

Such amount of chaos had been seen only during the devastating but ultimately brief Soviet invasion of Western Germany in the Second World War, and only few inside the office had the (un)luck to be there at the time.

“We are reporting several hostile ground units are coming from all directions inside the cities of Bonn, Cologne and Lyon” The intelligence and communication officer, Elise-Victorie Alleran, said to Commander Valerian Jung, who was- as per his usual- silently listening with his hands held up to form a pyramid with his fingers.

“I thought you had said Munich too!” Lieutenant Giles Price said with his head turned towards the communication officer, while covering the phone’s speaker that he was currently using to communicate with Germany’s chancellor. Elise sighed and then turned her head around back towards .

“We were saying, the units’ origin is currently unknown and their composition is rather unusual, featuring equine-like beasts of war whose characteristics match with the genetically-modified soldiers our soldiers have nicknamed ‘brutes’ mixed with horned horses with firepower capabilities estimated to be around a Yuri’s initiate. We suspect usage of stolen Chronosphere technology, but there are no reports confirming that just yet.”

Valerian nodded.

A sweaty staff member went quickly towards Elise, giving her a folder before scurrying away, and, after taking it in her hands, she opened it to read it to him, while he turned on the monitor with a flicker of his index finger on the power button. The monitor slowly came to life, showing a high-quality video map, with a small radar in a corner of the screen.

“Currently, we have one infantry platoon fully at our disposal, with another three already engaging the enemy. We are also trying to get an armoured division coming from Düren, which should be enough to drive the hostiles out of the city. Until then, your task is to defend the University of Bonn from the incoming attacks with the available forces.”

Valerian once again nodded in silence, as he slowly turned around and fixed his eyes on the monitor nearby, while Elise gestured for somebody to pass the radio transmitter to the Commander, so that he could start to give out commands.

“Sir, for the fourth time, we are trying our best to understand what is happening, as well as contain it.” Giles Price said, massaging his forehead, still talking on the phone. “Chancellor, sir, if we are not trying to fool you. Actual, honest-to-God pastel-coloured horses, are attacking us. And it has only begun...”