And it's coming for you
The mob is restless
Looking for something new
You lead us here with an eternal promise
The mob is calling for you to pay for this
And now we're left here on our own
There's nowhere left to turn
Who will see us through?
Your Heroes are Dead – Project 86
Shephard's Story
-A Traitor in Our Midst-
"Hand me that wrench, will ya hunny?" Slick said, most of her body hid under the hover bike. Katya sat in a short swivel chair next to it, rolling her eyes in boredom, or anxiety, or both. They hadn't heard anything from her father for several hours. It wasn't uncommon, for the amount of work they had to do, but still…
"Katya?" She heard Slick's voice pull her out of her trance. Katya shook her head and grabbed the appropriate tool from the chest next to her and slid it underneath the bike.
"Sorry 'bout that." She apologized. Slick slid herself out from underneath the bike and wiped several spots of hydraulic liquid from her face.
"You worried about that Shephard boy, aren't ya?" She said, a small smile creasing her face.
Katya's cheeks grew red. "Well, everyone, I'm worried about how they're all doing."
"You don't need to hide it from me. I can tell you like him. Hell, I think he's cute." She said, handing the tool back to her. "Wire cutter."
Katya handed it to her and made a face of disgust. "Please, Slick. I'm a big girl, I can take care of myself."
Slick shrugged. "Suit yourself." She turned around and pulled open a side panel, revealing several different colored wires, and went to work.
"I sure hope father will contact us soon, though." Katya sighed.
"Well, if they're really plannin' on goin' inside the zone, it might still be awhile…" Slick said, still trying to concentrate.
"Yeah." Katya agreed. "But still, we'd have heard by now if something had happened, eh?" Slick didn't want to worry her, but couldn't look her in the eyes as she lied.
"Of course, hunny."
Trying to change the subject, Katya looked around. "Speaking of everyone, where the hell is Aaron?"
Slick's shoulders slumped at the thought of that pathetic excuse for a man. "I don't know. Not doin' his job, probably. Jerkin' off, I'd say."
Katya made a face. "Gross, Slick. I hope not."
"Yeah well whatever he's doin' I just hope it involves makin' sure no one gets inside the perimeter." She closed the small side pocket and handed the wire cutter back to Katya, then donned a pair of welder's goggles. "Alrighty, hand me Shirley."
Katya pulled the welding torch out of its sheath next to the tool bench. Twisting the nozzle, gas poured into the tubing, and Slick lit the end, producing a hot blue flame. Pulling the glasses down over her eyes, Slick began welding several pieces of steel over sensitive parts of the engine.
Katya had to look away from the now blinding sparks. "I don't think father trusts him anymore."
Slick didn't slow her pace as she responded. "Did he ever? Did you ever? I know I never did. He's good with a gun, and that can be both a blessing an' a curse with someone like him."
Katya didn't like to think about murder. There was too much of it outside to even pondering that it might intrude on their safe haven, down here below the surface. "I think he did, once. But Aaron's got it in his head that father isn't the boss anymore. Or at least that he doesn't have to listen."
"He got cocky." Slick replied.
"I don't know how much longer father will take it. You saw what happened right before they left." Katya said, recalling the confrontation the two had, and how her father had almost pulled his sidearm after Aaron had disobeyed.
"Everyone saw that, I'm thinkin' they'll be having words when he gets back."
"Oh," Katya sighed, feeling slightly worried. "I'm sure it'll be more than words…"
X X X
"Motherfuckin' machines!" Aaron said slapping the side of one of the monitors. He'd been sitting in this reeking dungeon for two hours, and he couldn't understand how Stanley could live down here like he did. "Probably why he smells." He snorted in disgust.
The monitor banks never changed. Nothing new was ever on the screens. Several times he'd seen a couple of houndeyes break the motion sensor perimeter, but nothing else. He began to wonder if Stanley ever actually watched the screens, or if he just slept. He didn't think he could keep his attention much longer.
He looked to the monitor that watched the garage, and noticed that Slick and Katya had begun welding some of the scrap metal to that piece of junk bike. Good, that would give him enough time. He sneered at the thought of those two, of everyone actually. What good did hiding like a bunch of fuckin' animals do? Overwatch would eventually find them. They took more and more risks every time they left the base. Supplies weren't strewn about ruined cities anymore like they'd been after the war. They'd all been scavenged, picked clean, and dryer than bleached bones in the sun.
Or maybe the Resistance would turn them in. They weren't the smartest fuckers, and they took more risks than Sasha did. One day they'd get caught, and they'd use the general and his team as leverage, so maybe they got a bullet in the back of the head, instead of a ticket to Nova Prospekt.
Either way, Aaron didn't plan on being here when the shit hit the fan.
He pulled a small piece of crumpled up notebook paper from his pocket. He pulled his chair over to the communications screen and input the numbers for the nearest spy sat. His hand hovered above the enter key, unsure for a moment.
"Oh screw it." He whispered, and slapped it. The signal went through and the screen was blank for several seconds while it connected.
Finally the screen lit up, and he was more surprised to see the Metrocop on the other end than he had anticipated. He knew it had been coming, sure, but it was still strange.
The mask on the other end might have covered its wearer's expression, but Aaron knew the surprise by the body language. The uniform tensed and the hands flew across the keyboard, trying to find the source of the signal.
"It's useless. I've encrypted the signal. You wont find me unless I want you to. Which is exactly why I've called. So if you want to help in the biggest arrest of your career, you'll get your commanding officer to speak with me."
The Metrocop didn't respond, but his hands became still. He brought one up to the side of his face, and must have tapped a button for a secure access channel, because Aaron couldn't hear what he was saying.
Finally he let go, and tapped several things into the keyboard in front of him. In garbled English, he merely replied. "Transfering you."
Aaron put on his best shit-eating grin. "Well thank you very much officer, you've been most helpful." He knew the face under the mask must have been seething. No citizen ever disrespected a Civil Protection officer without repeating some kind of horrible consequence.
The screen was blank for a moment, when he was finally greeted by something that even terrified him. The white uniform was rarely seen, but Aaron knew what it meant the second the soldier came on screen. There was no turning back now; he was fucked if he did.
The single red ocular sensor sized him up, and was silent for what seemed like an eternity. Aaron was about to open him mouth when that same grinding noise that had terrified him since he was small made it's way through the screen.
"Anti-citizen." It simply said. "Strange." The Combine Elite cocked its white helmet.
Before it could continue, Aaron jumped right into his planned speech. "I've got a deal to make with you. I've got…"
"The Combine does not make deals. The Combine cleans and sterilizes. Anti-citizen, you have been charged with violations that amount to nothing less than off-world removal. If you turn yourself in immediately, you may be sparred, and have capital punishment administered instead."
Aaron took a deep breath. He had thought this would happen; Combine soldiers were built to follow orders without questioning. All sense of reasoning was lost on them. But Aaron knew that Elite's were generally given more artificial intelligence, and being logical with them wasn't as impossible as it might seem. "I understand, sir, but why have me when I could give you much more."
The Elite seemed to compute what Aaron said. "Continue." It ordered.
"I have the location of a human underground base."
"Resistance?" The Elite inquired.
"Well, that too. But I have the location of Sasha Destovaya." He smiled smugly, this could all work out for him.
The Elite was busy accessing information, and didn't reply right away. "Anti-citizen Destovaya. Violations: Illegal possession of human weaponry, trafficking of weaponry to recognized enemies of the state, several…"
Aaron took a gamble by cutting the machine off. "Yes, all those things. And I can get him for you, and the weapons he's been running."
"In exchange for your life?" The Elite tapped the keyboard and the female voice ended it's listing of Sasha's many recorded offenses.
Aaron nodded. "You set me up back in North America, and you get Sasha, his team, and the location of every single person he supplies to." It all seemed to be going in his favor now.
"Unacceptable. We will apprehend anti-citizens without assistance. Your life is meaningless." His voice, even through the interference, was especially icy. Aaron's heart sank; he had only one last option. He frantically pulled the object from the table behind him, and he could tell the Elite was about to end their conversation.
"He… Destovaya, he's found something I think you might be interested in." He pulled the vest, the protective vest Adrian had been found with, and showed it to the soldier. "None of your soldiers have anything like this."
The Elite had his hand hovering over what Aaron new must be the button to cut the transmission. But slowly he retracted it. "Where did you get that?" He ordered, sounding slightly frantic.
"We found it on someone." Aaron finally felt like he might get out of this.
"Who? Who did you find it on?" His fingers were now flying along the keyboard accessing information Aaron couldn't see.
"Some guy named Shephard." The Elite's fingers stopped tapping almost immediately, and his single red eye remained fixed on the vest.
"I believe you have secured your freedom."
Aaron didn't know what Shephard had to do with this, but he was glad to finally have his way out.
X X X
The large metal doors of the underground base shuddered and finally began to lift. The blackness beyond in the caverns that served as the entry points for the base was broken by the head lights of the van as it came to a slow stop in the loading bay.
Katya, Slick and Aaron stood waiting in the bay. Katya nearly sprinted to the van as it's engine cut, and everyone began to get out.
"Father!" She said confronting the General. "Why? Why didn't you contact us?" Her father couldn't meet her gaze. Her face registered even more worry. "What? What happened?"
Her father turned to Aaron and the others. "Unload the truck." Katya finally noticed that Shephard was not among those who'd gotten out of the van.
Panic welled up inside of her, and she grabbed her father's arm forcing him to meet her stare. "Sasha," She said, using his first name. "Where is Adrian?" He shook his head, his eyes down cast.
"We were leaving the city, the kid was pretty messed up; incoherent, mumbling. Civil Protection stopped us, and noticed your dad was armed. They would've arrested us, but Adrian went ape-shit and killed them. We tried to make a run for it, but he wouldn't leave. A couple of units picked him up." Stanley said, relating their sad story. Katya's eyes began to well up, and she brought a gloved hand to her cheek, smearing away any sign of tears.
"So he saved your life?" She growled, accusingly at her father. "And you left him?"
"I didn't have a choice." He replied, somberly. "I don't need to explain myself to you."
Katya finally let go of his arm, only to bring a fist down on his chest. "He saved your life! You have every reason to explain yourself!" The tears finally began to flow as she pulled at her father's denim top. "You don't know what they'll do to him…" She sobbed. "You…he, he's got no one!" Slick came up behind her and held her close.
"Shh, babygirl, shh." She cradled Katya as she shot the general a death glare. "Calm down, come with me." She tried to pull Katya out of the room.
Everyone was looking at the General now. Only Aaron replied. "Well, looks like that stray turned out useful after all." He said, yawning. "Better him than you."
The rest of the group shot him looks of disgust, and Ivan was about to respond, when the General broke the silence. "Stanley." He motioned to him. "Give it to me." He held out his hand, and Stanley handed him the memory card. "Good, unload the truck, get those meds down to the infirmary."
X X X
Down in the garage, Sasha sat in front of the bank of computers that made up Stanley's laboratory. He held a small PDA in one hand and had his other hand resting on Adrian's power vest. Slowly, he slid the memory card into a slot on the back and tapped several buttons, accessing the small treasure trove of information the card held.
Names, dates, births, criminal records; everything he needed. His trembling fingers input the necessary information. The small computer whirled and whined, accessing what he had requested. His fingers gripped around the collar of the vest as the results were displayed.
A sharp intake of breath followed. How could it be possible? He tried the search again.
/search: Shephard, Adrian
Corporal A. Shephard
United States Marine Corps.
Training
United States Special Forces
Sharp Shooting
Specialized Hand-to-hand Combat
Tours of DutyKuwait
Iraq
Kosovo
Bosnia
Transferred to HECU 21st Mary, 1997
///Classified
The report ended there, the rest classified, and to top it all off, a small, neat picture accompanied the information. The grip on the power vest intensified. He hadn't aged at all, longer hair, sure, but virtually identical. With watery eyes, Sasha set the PDA down and sighed deeply.
It was time to act.
X X X
Everyone was busy unloading the truck when the General rushed into the loading bay. No longer sporting his citizen's uniform, he had changed into his combat fatigues and an MP5 bounced on his chest, and the prized Spas 12 "Stella" cradled in his arms, as he ran up to the group.
Katya, her eyes still red from crying, shot him a look of surprise.
Tossing the shotgun at Ivan, the muscle-bound man dropped the crate he was holding and caught the weapon deftly. "Suit up." The general ordered. Everyone shot him looks of disbelief.
"…What?" Stanley finally managed to ask.
The General let a small smile cross his face. "I said 'suit up'. We're going after Shephard." Katya's eyes lit up and she turned to Slick, who was equally shocked.
"You've gotta be freaking kidding me." Aaron grimaced. Sasha didn't bother looking at him.
"Everyone goes." He added. Ivan nodded and followed Yuri out of the loading bay, towards the armory.
Aaron sauntered up to Sasha. "I ain't goin' back out there, especially not on some suicide mission to save a nobody." Katya looked up and glared in his direction.
"He isn't a 'nobody', he's part of this team." Sasha countered. "And I say we go get him. I'm in charge, Aaron, and you'd do well to remember that." Aaron simply sneered and walked off. Sasha made a grab for his arm and held on tight, pulling him close, whispering into his ear. "Don't you fucking walk away from me." Aaron tried to get himself free, only resulting in an increase of the painful grip. "You walk away, you better be walking out of this goddamn base." This gave Aaron pause for a second. Finally he sighed and shook himself loose of the General's grip, turning his back on him.
Sasha took a deep breath and didn't bother to turn and watch Aaron walk off. "Stanley." He called the young tech over.
"Yeah General?" Sasha turned him so they were facing away from Katya and Slick, who were watching Aaron saunter out of the room.
"I need you to access the Overwatch transmissions from 17. I need schedules for trains, troop, and prisoner transports, high profile, and low." He hunched closer and whispered. "Katya was probably right. After what he did, Adrian's probably earned himself a one-way to Nova Prospekt, that might be a good place to start." Stanley nodded.
"You got it." Sasha turned to let the man go. "What's with the change of heart, sir?"
Sasha turned to Katya, who thanked him with the smile in her eyes.
"Just get me those schedules."
A/N: Tell me what you think! And remember, you've all really made this story what it is, so thank yourselves!
-Blind