Roleplay part 9

I made it to the lone ranger i sat down and removed my helmet nodding to the woman from the train

 

I gasped for air as I was abruptly shaken awake. My eyes fell onto the familiar face of Nicholas who had dragged me here earlier. He leaned over me and in German told me, "Get up, get your crap, and get out. Meet me at the cafe". And with those words he left my tent and walked off. Reluctantly I raised myself up and after a moment of self motivation, stood up. I had a headache that nearly burst my skull with every throb and crack. But after all I did and drank last night I guess I deserved it.

As I packed my "crap" another figure poked his head into my tent, the owner of the tent. He asked me if wanted to buy another night or head elsewhere. I thanked him and told him I was leaving the station this day. He nodded and left without another word.
It was another two minutes before all my "crap" and weapons were packed and after that time I exited the tent and looked around trying to get my bearing right from sat nights mayhem.

Finally the cafe came into sight after a few minutes of stumbling around the station. As expected, Ncholas was there. I walked up and pulled a chair beside him as he leant over a table and cup of tea. There was one sitting on the table for me as well. "You missed out on quite the party last night..." where the first words I said to him. There was a light pause before he began to answer once again in German, "Says you!, I'm the on who was sleeping three tents from the bar!".

"Well don't get mad at me! That perty was happening with or without me, so at least one of us got to have some fun. And don't speak German so loudly in public this is a Red station". I replied as I slowly sipped the tea. "Whatever... Anyway while you were busy drinking and fist fighting I was able to get a little more info on Rangers that says they're still I Polis, but might be leaving soon. So if I were you I'd get my ass moving to Polis before they disappear to god knows where."

 

I stood by the door trying not to make too much noise after seeing the man named Arthur laying down asleep.

"Arthur, Arthur, Arthur where have I heard that name before? Oh yes those English Tales of King Arthur and Knights of the Round table. When was the last time I heard that story?" I thought to myself. "I remember now when I was in Lenin's Library above Polis. It was the same day that the bombs fell." I began to get lost in thought while Joe and his sister rambled on.

 

At the time, I was not really certain of what I would say. I was not even really sure why I was seeing the man in the first place. As I was walking down the dark, narrow and gloomy corridor with cells on each side, I slowly begun to realize that he would probably dig deep into my past. He would penetrate my mind and dig it out of my heart before he would throw it right back at me like a handfull of mud and dirt. It would cover me like filth only visible to myself and cause a constant smell in my nostrils. This was a bad idea, nothing good was to come out from this. But I did it nevertheless. I don't know why, I simply just did. I was not going to stop in that hallway, turn around and leave. No, i was going to confront the only man who was able to hurt my feelings severely. Perhaps that was why I was going there. I was step by step getting closer and closer to the old large metal door at the end of the hallway.

Before I got there, I untied my dreadlocks and let them fall forward around my head and face before I grabbed the ones covering the front side of my face and whipped them back over my head. I was still wearing my brown cargo pants with my utility-belt with my tranquilizer in it and my black hooded sweater, with the large brown backpack on my back including my weapons. The guard politely opened the door for me and allowed me to enter before he closed it shut behind me, even locking it. I was met by a squared medium-sized empty room containing only a dim glowing lightbulb in the center of the ceiling and a little wooden chair under it. In the chair sat the monster of a beast that I never in my life would call neither a man nor a human being, wearing only a pair of ragged trousers. His whole upper body was covered in scars and wounds, some even fresh. Discluding the blood on his upper body the floor and the chair, he was more red than skin-colored. At this point, I realized that I would be the one that would throw the mud at him.

I just stood there and stared at him silently for a while. Although he was bending forward in pain and exhaustion, I knew that he knew that I was standing there. His hair had grown down to reach his shoulders, and his stubbles had grown as well. It was surprising to see how Polis had treated him. Polis themselves had sunk to the level of torturing. Standing there, I was wishing that I could feel sorry for him, that not even he deserved such agony. But that was impossible for me now. The twenty years in the metro had shaped me too much, and so had he. I could not say that I knew him that well. But I knew him enough to know that he had been nothing more than heartless to me and all the people I had seen him engage with. My friends. My love.

"Come to cut off my other hand, have you?", he broke the silence without looking up at all, the hair covering his head. He was being sarcastic, so to set him straight and make him know that I was being serious, I threateningly answered him "I might do that". He literally straightened up a little and looked up at me with a face that expressed everything oposite of happiness and satisfaction, even honor. This was the first time I had seen him with his head not held high. He was lower ranked than a rat at the moment, and he knew it. It was easily seeable on his face.
"But that is not what I came here for", I concluded. He did not seem surprised. "So why are you here then?", he asked me in a way that revealed how he just wanted me to get done with it so I would leave. He disliked my presence when he was so humiliated. And I only stretched out the time and enjoyed it.
I found myself very slowly walking back and forth in the room right in front of him. Ironically enough, I still was not sure why I was here, so I took my time to try to figure out a decent answer. Byt the time I could do that, he spoke again.

"You should have killed me when you had the chance. Look at all that I have done. I have lead troops upon troops and triumphed in glory as I have killed man after man, woman after woman, child after child..... and you're to blame. Their blood is on your hands", he despisefully said, almost spitting the words out. "No", I answered as I shook my head. "Had I killed you, it would only be one of the other hundreds of soldiers just like you who had done the exact same thing instead of you. You are right about one thing, though; I am the one to blame for -you- in particular being the one who did such monstrous acts. Perhaps that means that I should finish you off right here and now, so I at least have done one thing correctly", I yet again threatened him.

He slightly chuckled. "Please do. I have nothing to live for. I'd rather die than to live the rest of my life painfully in this hole", he told me. I leaned down close to his ear. "And that is the only reason I will not", I loudly whispered to him mockingly. He leaned back in the chair, this time being more self-confident. "Ah, so that's why you're here. To laugh at me. To kick me while I'm down and roll me over in the mud", he stated. "There is a little something called revenge, you see, which I believe to be something you know very well of", I replied. "Too well, I'm afraid", he answered. He was sounding more and more confident each word.

Oh man, this is a whole friggen essay right here! I'll stop here and continue the rest later on in a third post. Otherwise, this'd be a hell of a lot longer :lol:

 

*I listened to the stranger and knew what he was refering to as soon as he mentioned the word 'lift'. perhaps he could be useful, but it was a decision I could not make on my own, and who wasn't saying he might be a nazi spy, sent to infiltrate the group?. after D6, I wasn't willing to trust anyone readily*

'perhaps, but it is not my decision. the others will come soon, and then will see about letting you stay with us. for the time being, I suggest you stay where you are, with your hands visible at all times, understood?' I said to the man with a tone that brokered no doubt that I would put a bullet in his stomach if he so much made a move I thought hostile.

*as I was saying this Dimti appeared and sat next to the stranger. he nodded at me and I nodded back*

'hey Dimti, welcome. any news on the other guys?' I said to him with a quick look at the door.

 

"So how does it feel to have betrayed the Reich?", I asked mockingly. "I have never betrayed the Reich", he answered me almost nervously. "Oh, yes, you have. Your betrayful tongue have slipped the words that let Polis know of the Toxin. You did it only to save yourself; to make your torturers stop torturing you. Yet they did not. How does that feel?", I asked him. "Yes, it's true. I did it for my own, but I knew that there's nothing Polis could do to stop the process. No one in the whole Metro has the capability, manpower or skill to infiltrate the Reich and destroy the Toxin. Not even Polis", he said arrogantly. "That is where you are wrong", I answered him. He now sat there, waiting for me to continue. "Just like you believed that no one could take down your whole Nazi-caravan on the surface a while back and then bring you here, you also believe that no one can infiltrate the Reich and destroy the Toxin. But someone did kill your whole caravan on the surface, did they not? And someone did bring you down here and captured you, did they not? Just like that, someone did break into D-6 and destroy the Toxin. They even got out alive and made it here to tell you this story", I said. Whilst speaking, I found myself moving my head closer and closer to his, bending my back more and more.

"YYYOOOUUUUU!!!", he groaned out in complete rage as he threw his head forward towards mine in order to hit me, literally face to face. Despite his efforts in doing so, my head was just far enough away for his head to stop right in front of mine, as the chair held him back. I slowly straightened up, looking at him with an almost evil smile while he twirled in anger with a blood-red face. He took some time to calm down as he leaned back and gasped for air, moaning inbetween each breath. "That is correct. They might not be the same people, but they are still the same group that captured you a while back. And I am the same man", I told him. "You're bluffing", he said beneath his heavy breath. I smiled. "You would like to believe that, would you not? But I can see on your face how you do not believe that. I must admit that I do not have proof at this very moment that it was done, nor do I have proof that it was I that did it. But in time, you will hear the rumors and news of how a single ranger-squad defeated the greatest threat of the Metro", I proudly announced.

He suddenly smiled a little. "You're not doing this only because I am who I am, are you? You are still stuck on that day twenty years ago when I joyfully slaughtered your friend, even your pretty girl, like they were two pigs at the slaughte-", he could not finish his sentence before I interrupted him by yelling out "Enough!". Now he smiled more and even chuckled a little, while I was now the one who seemed angry. When I think back to that moment, it is strange how he and I just switched roles like that so easily even by a few words. "How can you not have moved on from that? It was twenty bloody years ago, dammit!", he laughed at me. I was talking like he was the greatest enemy in my life, which he was, and he talked to me like we were old aquaintances, as if he was an old man and I just a little boy who had so much to learn. "You do not know what real companionship is. You do not know what love is. I suspect you do not even know what fear is. All you know is selfishness, and nothing more. That is what you have become", I told him dramatically.

"Oh, please, cut the crap already with all this dignity and honor of yours. There's nothing like that down here in the Metro. One has to take care of oneself and that's it. Honor and dignity does not exist anymore", he told me. "Perhaps in your world it does not. But my life is based on it and surrounded by it, and there is nothing you can do to change that", I answered him seriously. After a moment of silence, I smiled a little. "In fact, there is nothing you can do about anything. You can not even end your own life as much as you want to. All you can do is sit here and rot, and take the pain and misery that is being served to you so cold", I mocked him again. "There's nothing that you are going to change either by coming here, so I suggest you just get the heck out of here", he answered me crankily. "I just wanted you to know that this is what you have deserved. This is the result of the life you have lived. The reason I want you to know this, is not to make you ponder over it and regret it. But to taunt you and make you aware of it. To remind you that you lost, and I won. To make you have to live with it until you die of age", I told him despisefully.

"GET OOUUUT!", he yelled in rage. I walked to the door before I stopped and turned towards him. "Your faction of nazis had so much. They had the greatest power in the whole metro. They had D-6 and the Toxin and it was going wonderfully. Soon, they would have flooded Polis with the Toxin and taken it over, then have you released so you could have triumphed on in glory and lived the rest of your life in comfort and luxury. But instead, you gave Polis the information which, in the end, is what made it possible for us to crush all of that hope. We killed a motherload of nazis, most likely a lot of people that you knew. We forced them to leave D-6 behind and we destroyed the Toxin", I said before I pulled an ID-badge out of my pocket and threw it onto the floor in front of him. He looked down at the ID-badge before he slowly lifted his face towards me with the most fierce face expression you could ever imagine. "What happened to him?", he asked me slowly with a rusty and fierceful voice. All he was missing was glowing eyes and two voices instead of one, and he would seem like a Demon.

"So you knew him? Good. The explosives that blew up the Toxin, reached him. The fire and the heat from the explosion burned onto him and peeled the skin right off him. He twirled and twisted and screamed in agony and pain unlike any other. The whole front side of him was red and black, and I could easily see the figures of his skull and his chest-bones inbetween all the exposed flesh. He was suffering a thousand times more than you are suffering. I forced him to answer my questions, and his efforts to answer me could only have hurt him even more. I promised in return to end his life..... but I let him live", I said dramatically. The officer had let his face drop down to look at the ID-badge while I was speaking, and when I finished, he looked up with tears in his eyes and tears streaming down his cheeks and a face expression that was unreadable to me. I guess he was filled both with anger and sorrow, although I found it hard to believe that he knew how sorrow felt. He then dropped his head down and began sobbing, crying out loud. He would now not only have to live with the physical pain, but also the emotional pain, however long that would last. My work was done, and I left the room. Polis was far from done with him. They would never be done with him.

Benjamin is evil, I know, haha

 

That's quite deep, Skaara... I like it!

 

Thanks a bunch!

 

Nicholas was right. I needed to head to Polis as soon as possible to ensure I would lose track of the Rangers. Who knows were they'd end up...

"Well I'll be off then. Thanks for the help, Brother" I said to Nicholas as I stood up from my chair. I placed a couple of bullets on the table to pay for my tea than casually strolled of towards the western gates of Teatralnaya. My head was pounding and body aching from the night before and I didn't have the slightest urge to leave yet but I had to if I wanted to keep an eye on the Rangers. Perhaps I'd be able to catch a few hours rest in Polis if time permitted...

After a few minutes of walking through the stations main halls the western gates finally appeared before me. Walking up to them my documents were once again checked and rucksack searched to ensure my innocents. This time the whole process was a lot smoother due to most of the guards being my drinking companions the night before.
They sent me off with a wave and smile as I sunk further not the tunnel ahead. Another long walk...

One has to keep his guard in these tunnels, between Polis and it's neighbors. Bandits are a common sight here seeing as how some of the finest goods passed through these parts. Twice I was stopped by both Soviet and Polis soldiers to check if I was a bandit or a scout but the small document Ioseph had given me helped me through.

However there was one moment where I thought my life was in danger.
Near the final stretch to Polis, around the 500th meter a crackle was heard from a dark doorway on the tunnels side. I sprung into action shouldering my rifle as I slowly "Pied" the corner. I had to sling the rifle over my back and draw my pistol to be able to use my hand held flashlight. Even with it's relatively bright rays only a group of dangling pop cans hanging from the ceiling could be seen.

Perhaps it was bandits, or perhaps just a tunnel breeze. Whatever it was I wasn't staying around long enough to find out. I jogged the remaining 500 meters.

"Halt! Who goes there!?"

A blinding spotlight shone so bright in my eyes that I nearly heard them sizzle like bacon. I threw my hands in front of my eyes, temporarily ignoring the mans demand. "Cut the light you're blinding him!" another voice said and with that the spot light was turned off and replaced with a more practical head lamp. Suddenly a man crept up from behind me and stripped the AKMS and CZ from my person in one well executed move. "What's your business here? And show me your documents!" he shouted to me from behind.

As I began to grab my documents once more a series of tiny red dots could be seen dancing on my chest and legs. I tightened up. This place had got a lot more hardcore since I last visited. "Come on I don't have all day!" he ordered.
"Ok, ok!, calm down I'm just stopping here on my way west. My documents will confirm that." I replied as I began to loosen up at the slow vanishing of the red dots.

Carefully he inspected each page of my passport, checking the authenticity of each stations stamp. Seeing nothing out of the ordinary he slid my documents into my back pocket and began to rummage through my rucksack. "Anything illegal in here I should know of? Weed, Home brew, pressurized gases?".

"No sir, just survival gear, nicknacks and junk, Sir".

With my rather intense search complete a whistle was sounded and the airlocks of Polis opened. The roar of its inhabitants grew louder as the door opened further and further until the loud thud of it's limit sounded. "Your good, Welcome to Polis..."

With that my weapons were handed back to me and the last of the dancing red dots left my chest. I quickly moved into Polis and out of the incredibly akward checkpoint behind me. Ah!, Polis!...
It slightly cheered me up to know that I had made it here relatively unviolated but my mood quickly returned to it's usual metro gloom as I remembered my business here. Now, where to begin?...

As I thought I began to mosey around the stations platform. I quick look here, a quick glance there. Nothing.
It wasnt until then that I realized that probably everyone in the whole station had heard of them and could direct me to them. I slapped my hand to my face in a moment idiotic realization earning me a weird look from a few surrounding people. I tried to give an akward smile, then ran off...

Near a market stall a man stood alone with a small flask mumbling to himself. I shadily approached him, "Do you know of the Ranger group 'recently arrived. Supposedly heroes or some shit?.."

"Aye..."

"I'm looking for 'em... Business I suppose. You know where they are?"

"Aye..."

"...Well?... Where are they!"

He lazily turned his head to me and grinned. "If you take me to the bar and buy me another bottle of via I'll tell you everything you need to know." he bargained. Usually I'd ignore such a proposal and walk away but my head was killing me and I just wanted to finish this. "Fine, but your talking the whole way there, got it?"

"Yeah, yeah whatever.." he said as we began to stroll off to the bar. "So two days ago this group of Rangers suddenly strolls in here on the fanciest train in the metro without any warning. I mean I'm sure Polis' big-wigs knew they were coming but usually us citizens are told to keep things calm and organized. Anyway, these guys stroll in and are immediately swept off by the police, well... Some of them anyway. I guess just the officers or whatever. The rest scattered off to do their own stuff except one who got arrested and hauled off by the police. They took him away on another a couple hours later, I don't know what that was about, maybe the Rangers prisoner or something..." he continued. Suddenly and without noticing we were at the bar. The man grinned at me once more, "How about that drink now, huh?"

It seemed fair enough to me that the information he had just given me was worth the relatively cheap bottle of brew he wanted so I bought it for him, along with a cheap bottle of homemade wine for myself. "You have your bottle, now where are they?" I pestered him as my patience began to wear out. "Most of them are still scattered around the station from what I here but if you want to see one so bad than all you have to do is turn around..."

Feeling a bit puzzled I turned my head towards the mans gaze until a shadowy table from across the bar came into view with a woman and man sitting around it. "That chick and the bloke sitting at the table beside them both came from the train, the guy she's talking to I don't know. Anyway that's all I know so our business is done. Thanks for the booze!" the man said as he strolled off with the bottle tilted above his head. Now that I had at least one of them in view I could rest easy knowing I hadn't missed them.

Casually I took a seat at the other end of the bar from the Woman. Carefully I studied her as I drank my wine and snacked on some pork rinds. It was definitely her judging from her gear and general look. The look of a Ranger...

About an hour of this spying went on before I decided it was safe enough for me to leave the bar and get some well earned rest. Just as casually as I had walked in I walked out, leaving a few bullets once again to pay for my consumptions. Just outside the bar I approached a small boy playing with chalk on the floor only meters from the bar. I knelt down beside him, "Hi there little one, what 'er ya drawing? A stick figure? Is it a girl?"

"mmm... Yeah..."

"Do you like her? What's her name?"

"mmm.. It's a secret"

"Well I've got a secret too. You see that woman sitting at the bar over there? Well, I really like her. So let's make a deal, if you come and tell me when she sleeps or if she leaves the station I'll help you meet that girl your admiring, deal?"

"mmm, deal!"

"Awsome!, now tell me which girl it is"

And with a reluctant finger he slowly and embarrassingly pointed to a young lady a dozen tents down. "Alright then, remember to keep an eye on her!". He quickly nodded as I began to walk off down the platform and into a vacant tent. I dropped a few bullets into a box hanging from the tent and flipped the sigh from vacant to occupied before crashing down onto a spread out mat and dozing off.

 

"No word"i said to her

 

LOL, same with me:sad:

 

I'm backkk. Wasn't really away, but its the first time I've actually logged-in in 2 weeks. So anyways, I was going to wait to post until thestalker and Apollo got to day 2, but I'll just go ahead now.

Are we cutting to the meeting and skipping a day? Because if I remember right, Dmitri was talking with Skaara on DAY 1, and Odessa went to the bar on DAY 2. And the meeting is not supposed to be until day 3.

Sorry to hear that, Thestalker.

I woke up feeling rested for the first time in the last several weeks. It was good to not just have gotten a few hours, in winks and stretches in between guard duty. Sitting up in bed, I rubbed the sleep out of my eyes and looked around the small room; it was the same as it had been when I went to sleep the night before, though Vika was no longer inside. "Always was an early riser." I muttered as I slung my legs over the side and stood up slowly, stretching.

Rolling my shoulder as I walked down the hall back to the front room of the compound, I looked around. It was empty as well. "Must be out on errands." I walked over to the bathroom, popped the door open, and set about cleaning up for the new day.

Once I was finished (urinating, showering, changing clothes, brushing my teeth without toothpaste), I went back out into the dining rooom. I pulled a first aid kit off of its mounting on the wall and cleaned up the slash on my cheek, slapping a bandage on it that was just large enough to cover the wound. The door opened behind me, and I heard "Morning. Got some bread from the baker down the row." Vika was certainly in a good mood. And I found that I was too. Everything seemed like it was going to turn out okay; being in the city of light could do that for you, I guessed. I grunted in reply, and then asked "So, I was thinking about it and if I am going to be heading out again, I should probably get a new set of armor and get my Viking pistol improved. Know anyone who can get those done in a day or so?"

Vika paused from unloading loaves of black bread into a cupboard to think, and then replied "I think Nikolai is still in business. We would need to go see him now, though." I nodded in agreement, and followed her as she walked out the door, locking it behind us. I just had my new clothes on, and my holstered pistol underneath the jacket; it felt like I was naked without the bulk of my rifles and the new load bearing vest, but I figured Polis was safe enough.

We reached the Nikolai's Armory after a 20 minute walk through the light, early "morning" foot traffic. Nikolai, a thin man wearing overalls and a black t shirt, listened to Vika's request and then turned to me, a quizical look in his eyes.

"Need kevlar?"
"Yes."
"Rifle plates?"
"If you have them."
"Explosive protection?"
"No, that'd be too much weight."
"Neck, shoulder, groin, leg, or upper arm protection?"
"Neck and shoulder should do it. I could use some knee pads if you have them."

Nikolai thought for a few moments, and then grinned, taking a few measurements of my chest, shoulders, and abdomen. "Alright, that should take me about 20 hours. As for the pistol, I can give it a better balance, paint the sights, and put a compensator on the end. Sound good?"I nodded in reply, handing over the Viking. "Your account, Vika?" She nodded, I shook Nikolai's hand, and we walked out of the shop, the transaction finished.

"Alright Melkov, come with me. I have someone I want you to meet." Vika began heading in a new direction, back towards the market where we had meet the day before. To my question of who, she replied "That councilman that we got to work with us. He'd probably like to meet one of our lead members who just returned." She grinned over her shoulder at me, and then continued, leading me through the market and down the path where I had seen Anton running the day before. I chuckled to myself, wondering if he had gotten the guy running away with his clothes.

We stopped by a house and Vika knocked on the door, looking around at the people walking by. After a few moments, a women came to the door and broke into a smile at the sight of Vika. "Ah, come in, come in." She waved us in and closed the door behind us. Even for Polis, I knew this was an upscale home, with internal plumbing and electrical workings. I stared around at the luxury as Vika and the women, the wife of the councilman, talked. Then, a man walked in from a backroom, smiling in a way that I normally associated with politicians. Though I had to admit, it was nice to see someone else in a good mood.

Vika shook hands with him as well, and then led him across the room to me. He looked familiar, like I had seen his face somewhere, though I could not quite place it. I shook his hand as Vika said "Councilman Oberin, I would like you to meet a friend and associate of mine, Grigori Melnikov." Oh, thats where I knew him from. He looked like Anton. Though judging from the age of the man before me, I was guessing it was the other way around. "Hi."

 

Well, I haven't roleplay going to bed or waking up at all and neither have several others. I'll just pretend Benjamin talked with Polina on Day1, talked with the officer on Day2 and is now after another night's sleep on his way to talk with Polina at the bar and bring her to The Lone Ranger on Day3. I'm skipping all the going-to-bed and waking-up roleplay posts, yeah

 

I'm sorry to hear that. Damn you Insurance Companies.

I shook my head wildly to wake myself up from my day dream about the bombs and King Arthur.
"I don't wish to inconvenience you two and your husband but I could just stay at my own house." I told the two.

 

jesus this is taking longer than D-6.

 

Tell me about it...

 

Ill just post a short little bit, basically after the recon at the bar i went to a room. And i woke up. So as i can tell this is Day 3, correct?

And sorry to hear that Stalker, hope things get a lot better.

It was about 6 am according to my watch. I was sore beyond belief, and i had no clue why. Wasnt tired though. But the soreness was just a killer.

I got up and went to the local shower. There was no warm running water, so i was forced to take the ice cold water instead. After i finished i dried off, got dressed, and headed out to a nearby "Bakery". Honestly, it wasnt even a bakery. It was just called that, in reality they just sold cheap slices of bread and soup. Along with some coffee and tea. Nothing more.

I ordered some bread and coffee. And sat down with my bag on the floor next to my feet. By the time i was "enjoying" my food it was over 7 am. Today i would recon, what a surprise. And follow the "Group"

The bar that i was at last night was visible, about 15 meters away to the north of my current location. I would have to find a new place to recon today i thought. Bit suspicious if the same guy would be at the same bar looking at the same people.

I sipped the warm coffee.

And stretched my neck.