Zeroed Escapism

by Grimbo5

In a post-apocalyptic Russian environment, the region known as Tarkov rages in an all-out war between four factions: Terragroup Labs, BEAR, Scavs, and a fourth faction fighting against all of them. Desperate for survival and an eventual escape, this fourth group must hold out against all odds and survive the Russian hellscape. Luckily, they happen to have some interesting members.

The difference between a good soldier and a killing machine isn't much. One questions itself beforehand, while the other does it afterward. The real question is, which is which?

Raid #9
Day 02 10.23.38 AM

Access Level: 15

BEAR Operator N/A

Tarkov, Reserve

"Okay people, let's do this. Kill the target, grab his guns and keys, then extract. Quick and easy."

"Ay, you know where the hell this guy even is?" One voice echoed out amongst the small crew.

"Should be somewhere in the trainyard area according to the data. His crew should be there as well." The leader replied.

Approximately three PMC operators, all from the BEAR agency, had been deployed into this area, known as the reserve. Their objective? Find and Kill the scav boss of this area.

"We even know who this guy is?" another voice rang out over the radio. This one belonged to the team's sniper.

Having recently found the woods emptied in their previous raid, the operators were armed to the teeth.

The sniper, for one, carried a high-caliber unsuppressed SVDS rifle, taken from the scav boss Shturman. That engagement had been incredibly hard on the team, and they ended up losing their SMG gunner to the boss and his armor-piercing rounds. On his side, he carried a highly modified PPsh-41 submachine gun, for self-defense at close range.

The person right behind the leader carried a weapon they had picked up from a different boss, the legendary Reshala. This particular weapon was a highly modified DT MDR rifle, chosen for its reliability and ease of modification. Suppressed for obvious reasons, it was the second most powerful thing in their arsenal, and considering the things nonexistent recoil, it had a completely multipurpose use for either short or long-range combat, excelling in the medium areas.

On his side, he carried an M45A1 pistol, meant for when he runs out of ammunition in his trustworthy rifle. With minimal recoil and hollow-point .45 ACP rounds, it completely shredded any scav that dared try to encroach upon them during their raids.

However, those weapons were all outclassed by the leader's own. Having obtained it from a particularly risky labs raid, the leader carried an HK-416 assault rifle with a Belomo PK-06 reflex sight attached. Having it suppressed as well as an attached 100-round magazine, it was the team's ultimate close-range weapon that had shredded everything it came into contact with. The combination of low recoil and massive damage output provided by the absurdly powerful 5.56 M995 ammunition made the team barred by none in terms of pure combative firepower. The only reason they stood a chance against it in labs was because of their sniper equipping a night scope and hitting one of the most impressive shots known to man.

His secondary of choice was the five-seven pistol, known for high accuracy and penetration. Considering it fired 5.7 x 28 AP rounds, this particular leader found no need to even place a sight on the damn thing. The only attachment it had was a cylindrical Gemtech suppressor designed specifically for its special cartridge. This made the weapon devastatingly effective even against rifles, making it alongside its wielder perhaps the scariest combination in the whole group.

That said, even though they had showcased their skills in labs, they couldn't help but be worried. This particular Scav boss was said to give people a lot more trouble than even Killa, who was no easy task himself.

"Of course we know who it is. Gluhkar, right boss?" The man behind the leader looked inside of a room and saw a carton of milk. He was fairly thirsty, so he grabbed it and gulped down the whole drink to replenish his vitals.

Nearing a separate room to the left of his comrade, the leader confirmed, "Kor is right. We're hunting Gluhkar."

As to why he didn't breach the room in the first place, well…

"Gahk!...yebat' etot kashel"

He heard the light coughs of a dirty scav right behind the doors. The M32 headphones he and his group were equipped with allowed him to hear small, usually unnoticeable noises like the coughs this scav made, alongside allowing them to communicate easily while aiming down their sights.

This tactical advantage made the team extremely hard to mount a surprise attack on no matter your approach angle, and more importantly to this squadron, allowed them to sniff out any dirty scavs hiding behind closed doors.

Looking at his secondary rifler, the forward man signaled him to move aside the door. If this scav was going to try and surprise them, it was only fair they do the same.

Following up on his commander's signing, Kor quietly approached the sidewall and slid up against it. As he did so, the militarian jostled through his uncomfortable body armor and the rig surrounding it. The honeydew-colored armor, assigned to all members of the force, thankfully covered both his thorax and his stomach but was incredibly thick in order to pull it off. This was thankfully offset by a relatively small but spacious black rock rig surrounding his upper body, which of course held the key to breaching any room.

Grenades.

Taking two out of his upper pockets, one a flashbang and the other fragmentation, Kor looked towards his commander and gave him a small, cheeky grin as if to say he was going to throw the grenade in right that second.

The person who he faced toward looked downwards, clearly disappointed in his friend's unsoldierlike behavior. Of course, he was also hiding a small smile of his own, but he couldn't let it show. He was the commander of this unit after all.

Holding up three of his fingers, the two made eye contact and nodded to each other. This was an obvious signal for a countdown, the ending of which would have Kor throwing the grenade.

One finger went down after they both nodded, and Kor put his finger through the grenade pin. He was many things, but a good timer wasn't one of them. Generally speaking, he would have preferred to at least have been the one responsible for tossing open the door, but he understood that the countdown was just for grenade timing.

On the lowering of the second finger, the commander grabbed the door handle. It was a measly sphere with little bits of paint coming off of it, exposing its age to the duo. What made it obvious that it had been used recently was the remaining flakes currently resting underneath the handle on the floor.

It was a telltale giveaway, but also completely unnoticeable unless you were checking underneath each door, which was both time-consuming and put you at risk of getting shot by an unseen assailant.

Of course, they couldn't worry about other enemies right now as...

The third finger lowered.

Quickly hoisting open a small crack in the door, the commander held his back to the wall until he heard two small clicks and a gust of wind blow past his hand. An obvious sign that Kor had thrown the grenades into the room.

Now immediately shutting the door, both Kor and the commando quickly pushed themselves up against the wall they both had previously been on and readied their weapons. Even if this scav wasn't armored against a grenade, fragmentation always seemed to go wrong whenever people needed it to, so it wouldn't be a stretch to say a gunfight was necessary to prepare for.

The beanie-wearing scav, who had been happily munching on the remains of an MRE, saw the grenades fly in one after the other.

A look of utter horror graced his scarred face when he screamed, "Blyad'! Granata!" and began fleeing for the window.

He was too late.

The flashbang blew up first, providing a deafening screech alongside a massive flash at the scab's feet, causing him to hit the floor.

Stumbling, the poor scavenger fell down and felt his chest press into another small spherical item. Completely unable to process anything due to the shock of the flashbang, the scav muttered one last word before he took his last breath…

"Blya...soldaty.."

An explosion rang out, completely eviscerating the scav's chest and stomach. The pain was, although short-lived, nothing short of the purest agony as he felt shrapnel go through his very heart and tear through his pelvis, completely shattering the interior bits and pieces leaving nothing but a small pulp to remain.

That was where things began, however. For the poor scav, this was only the beginning of his two seconds in hell. As he felt the piece that came to rest in his heart lose its pace, he began to notice something else.

His heart wasn't beating.

The brain's first response to an impending death is to shut off literally everything in your body. This would range from the simple pain detecting nerves to your very source of life. And the scav had ended up with the second option coming first.

Now struggling to even make sense of anything, the now disfigured man just simply lay there as the final pieces of the grenade went further into his body. It was like a slowed time state, feeling each and every fragment travel down even the blood vessels of his legs. If there was ever a feeling to describe the truest form of agony, the scavenger would probably describe it as this.

But the scav would never once get to share this pain with anyone ever. Not his family, not his friends, not his dog...nobody. Not one person.

For his world had begun its descent into the darkness. Or was it light? The scav could never tell the difference.

The fragments had made their last entryway. They had gone straight into his very skull, leaving behind little trails being filled with blood.

It was all over for the scav.

---

"We breach...now!" Barking out orders as was per usual, the leader of the duo quickly shoved open the door they had just thrown the grenades through. After hearing two explosions followed by what could only be described as the familiar sounds of flesh hitting a wall and dying groans, they had more or less confirmed that the scav was at the very least incapacitated if not completely dead.

Thrusting both their shoulders into the door, both Kor and the head of the operation took in, one going in left and the other taking a hard right towards the small portion the swinging door would have covered had it not been broken off its hinges.

Glancing around the room, they noticed a dead scav with a massive amount of blood pooling around his chest area, but not much else. Other than a few small things on the room's cabinets and a half-eaten MRE packet, things were surprisingly blank here, save the chunks of flesh propelled all over the floor by the grenades.

Both simultaneously said "Clear" before moving inwards. Kor made a move for the scav's body, taking the backpack off of him and tossing it to his mate.

"See if there's anything good in there. I'll check his pockets." Surprisingly, it was Kor that gave out those orders and not the actual leader, but it was accepted. Generally speaking, scavs seemed to keep their best stuff on the rigs instead, so Kor wanted to get to that first. His captain wasn't oblivious to this but followed along anyway to oblige his underling.

Rifling through the backpack, he found nothing of note within. That was save for one particularly weird object. "I've got some...Juice, an esmarch, some gun parts, a suppressor, and...wow. This fucker had heroin on him."

That caught Kor's attention. Heroin sold for big money outside of this sector and generally speaking went for a lot more than it had any right to. By the looks of things, it also looked like this was a custom-made injector as well, possibly reusable. It would account for the ridiculous amount of needles he was finding in this scav's pockets and rig.

He needed to check for confirmation though. "Toss that shit over here man. Let's see if it's legit."

Heeding the order of his subordinate, the other professional in the room handed over the blue injector to his comrade, simply grinning at him, "Don't inject yourself with it. I know how you feel about this stuff."

Kor, having recently gotten over a small addiction to methamphetamines, grimaced at his commander's little joke, if it even was one. After his mates had found out, one of the only requests from the team's long-dead SMG gunner was to quit it. There wasn't a full story behind why, only that his sibling got into it and he hadn't seen him since.

It was a very out-of-place comment, but one to be debated over another time.

Frowning, Kor took a look at the plastic surrounding the currently full vial. It was definitely built for reusability, and by the amount of grime that was around the primary injector button seemed to have been used more than a few times already.

Taking a closer look at the labeling, however, led him to a new discovery. "It's from Terra."

His partner, who had already looked at the surrounding plastic, knew it was from those testing fucks. Almost anything drug-related you found in this region was related to the Terragroup, no matter how commonplace it was in the outside world. This was, for all they knew, that little bit of evidence they needed to incriminate them.

"Yeah, it's definitely from them. Let's hand it over to the higher-ups when we're done here." Having already made up his mind about their little heroin discovery well before Kor had even asked for the vial, the commando quickly authorized Kor to hang on to their new vial. Anything to incriminate the Terragroup was valuable evidence to them.

Kor could easily follow orders and nodded while putting the injector into his rigs pockets. That was of course before he snagged one last look at the labeling on the device and what the drug was actually named.

Smiling towards his captain, Kor looked up at him and said, "We ain't got shit on Terra. This is apparently something called 'Herion'. Not the drug we're looking for."

Now having a grin of his own upon his face, the captain quickly turned his face back to a neutral before saying, "Shut the fuck up mate. Just put it in the bag."

Even Kor could tell he was suppressing a laugh. Their voice-enhancing headphones made this even easier to tell than usual, which only made him chuckle more as he shoved the vial into his rig and its pockets.

"Gol, you in position?" Now finished with that little debacle, the commander asked the sniper about his positioning. He was key to the beginning of their assault and would provide necessary covering fire whilst waiting for his opportunity to snipe Gluhkar and his guards.

Coming in over the radio, Gol responded affirmatively:

"Roger. I have a visual on two targets in the trainyard, roughly 150 meters west of my position. One has a suppressed MP5, no armor. Other has an M4A1, looks to be wearing light ceramic plating. Could be a member of the target's guards."

Two targets were typically the average encounter that they would have, but knowing the layout of this place, it was more than likely that one of these guys if not both were members of Gluhkar's crew.

"Understood. Take out the one with the M4 on my mark." Ordered the commander.

"Roger."

His prioritization was key here. If the M4 user, a weapon that was known for its pure offensive capability, was armored, then it was more or less confirmed that he was a member of Gluhkar's gang. If he could jump both him and the guy with the MP5, then their initial assault would be a confirmed success. He just had to wait.

During his approach, the leader felt an odd wind pass over him. Contradicting the normally North flowing wind, this gust blew in an eastern direction. He thought of it as odd, but nowhere near as odd as some of his other encounters. Wind blowing in weird directions always happened here.

"Hold. Negative reading on targets. Visual confirmation lost." Came in a shaky voice over the radio.

"If they were moving, you should've told us dammit!" The commander quickly readied his rifle while cursing his sniper's inattentiveness. If they had disappeared, there was a high likelihood they had been spotted.

That wasn't what Gol had seen though. "Apologies, targets moved indiscreetly. I was trying to keep my scope on them while contacting you sir."

That caught the commander off guard. Gol was known as an uncannily accurate sniper with inhuman abilities to both contact and shoot while doing so. Failing to do so was indicative of something very, very wrong. Not even during the Shturman incursion had he failed to keep them informed. Hell, his quick reactions to Shturmans movement were what secured their victory that day, not to mention their labs raid.

All he needed, for now, was a new positioning on his enemies and to trust his sniper just had an off moment. He'd get an explanation on a different day. "Understood. Search for new targets. We might still be able to win this."

"Doing so." Was all that he heard from his friend. Whatever had happened, it clearly shook him up.

Gol prided himself on being the best sniper around. His aim was legendary in their home city of Tarkov, and for good reason. Ever since he was a child, he had been naturally skilled with weapons. His gift for his birthday was a PPSh-41 submachine gun, for god's sake.

Among few things, Gol loved his PPSh. Out of his entire arsenal, it was the single weapon that he dedicated the most of his time to. Creating custom rounds for armor piercing, manufacturing custom 100-round drum magazines, personally painting the damn thing, he loved it. Nobody could blame him either. 1000 rounds per minute was quite the firepower to boast, especially if you wielded a sniper rifle as your primary.

Ah yes, the sniper rifle. Another part of his birthday gifts, Gol owned a trustworthy Mosin Nagant rifle that he had customized beyond belief with sights and of course, custom tooled cartridges. They cost him a small fortune to make, but each kill was worth it. It was his most preferred rifle to date, only being outclassed by the PPsh in terms of raids attended.

That said, he liked it so much that he found himself lacking the sense to use other rifles, even if they were superior to the Mosin. Even when given a clearly loftier alternative, he always chose the Mosin, avoiding the other weapons like the plague. That choice had been forced upon him by someone else today though.

Even if he hadn't particularly cared for Shturmans weapon choice, he couldn't deny the SVDS and its efficiency at range. Having gone up against it, even with his custom Mosin he had come dangerously close to knowing what it was like to have a bullet go straight through your thorax.

Surprisingly, having such a harrowing experience didn't cause him to hate his Mosin in the slightest, only praising the rifle for allowing him to survive. Had he the chance, he would have taken it here as well if the commander hadn't told him to "drop the damn thing and use this."

Gol didn't particularly like that attitude, but he would have to deal with it. After firing a few magazines at some targets, he had calibrated himself to the weapons gimmicks. A few degrees further up than normal, the odd recoil, the pattern it made when fired in successive rapid-fire busts, he had acclimated to all of it. Mostly.

Suddenly, Gol saw something move. He couldn't make out the form, but it was definitely human. He had to report it.

"I have movement. 180 meters west of your position, roughly 230 off of mine. No identifiable weapons or armor. Most likely the target." Came in Gol.

Aiming in at the spot Gol had pointed out, Kor signaled to the boss that it was clear to proceed.

"Understood. Moving to intercept. Keep your aim trained ahead of us, Gol." The leader proceeded, hopping out of the only window in the room. According to the time limit, their extractors would only wait another 30 minutes. They had to work fast, or they'd miss their opportunity to escape and be left to the scavs.

One final time, Gol spoke over the radio. "Roger."

Little did they know, someone was already scoped in on Gol's position.

---

"Shaula, there's a sniper up on the roof. You should take him out on Subaru's mark, I suppose." A blond loli, wearing nothing more than a small military outfit, ordered from her perch upon someone's shoulder.

Said loli was wielding an FN-GL40 grenade launcher alongside an IMI Desert Eagle, she probably carried the highest amount of single-shot firepower in the entirety of this small force, with the possible exceptions of the person she was upon the shoulder of and their sniper.

Checking her ammunition, she realized it wasn't using armor-piercing rounds and instead the pitiful hollowpoint .50 ae.

"Wrong ammo type, I suppose." The small girl mumbled.

"Thanks Beako. We should wait to see if he has any allies. Garfiel?" The black-haired, nasty-eyed boy known as Natsuki Subaru, commanded this punitive unit. Much like his shoulder-perched loli, he wore a typical military camouflage uniform, with the exception of a tanned Airframe helmet nearly covering his entire face.

His intelligence was known as well above average, especially in combat scenarios. It was what had led him to take the title of "Scav Boss" from Gluhkar, this zone's original conqueror. Now, all he had to do was secure a spot for him and the crew to take refuge in.

"Yeah capn? I'll bait 'em if ya want." The blond-haired, muscular, lightly armored 14-year-old Garfiel was Subaru's left-hand man when it came to all things combat. Not only was he able to take extreme amounts of damage at little cost, but his speed was unrivaled by all.

His speed was completely unmatched, which was valuable enough as is, but his weapon choice made him devastating at close range. Garfiel's immense strength allowed him to dual wield the Baikal MP-43 double-barrel shotgun. In terms of close range, one-on-one combat, Garfiel outclassed everyone he encountered, no matter what weapon they used.

Knowing this, it would probably not be a great idea to let their opponents know said fact. Subaru made such a fact known to his compatriots. "Nah. My bad for asking you to do that. Can't let them know about our ace in the hole."

"Damn right we can't! I'll show em what a man un'er the capn's command can do!" Cheered Garfiel, as he raised his shotguns.

Subaru, who had by now formed a bit of a plan, instructed Garfiel on what to do. "Your enthusiasm is a bit concerning, but I'm not complaining. Head south of here, and we'll wait to see if he has any compatriots. If he does, then you're good to take them on."

The ability to let loose wasn't something Subaru normally allowed Garfiel to do, and boy was he excited. A peak-performance Garfiel was something nobody with the exception of the other Scav bosses stood a chance against. Even then, Gluhkar was considerably weaker without his allies, so Garfiel had been able to take him on single-handedly.

"Aighty, cap'n, I won't let ya down!" He exclaimed whilst running eastward. Just as Subaru had hoped.

"Subaru?" Called a sweet, female voice.

This voice represented perhaps the largest piece of Subaru's mind and heart. It belonged, of course, to his one and only beloved Emilia. The one person who he treasured above all else and likewise, treasured him above everything else. The single brightest star in Subaru's sky, and the one which he swore to protect with his entirety.

Emilia.

Just Emilia.

"Yeah, Emilia-tan?" He turned around, giving his beloved a slightly off-kilter stare. The discrepancy in his stare was just the slightest tinge off of its normal seriousness, not that it mattered. There were only two people that noticed the softness in his eyes whenever he spoke to the silver-haired militarily clothed girl.

Trying to hide her recognition of Subaru's softness, Emilia covered it up with a separate notice altogether. "You're not going to try and bait them out, are you?"

Her concern. Subaru was always a fool, going into things and putting his life behind that of others. It was a part of him she both detested and loved.

She detested it because it might take him away from her. If she were to ever lose him, she would curse the fool that dared take him from her. The problem would be that he might be the fool that takes himself away.

She loved it because it was what saved her and everyone else. It was one of the few things that she was most grateful for, right behind Subaru's actual existence. She also knew that without it, he wouldn't be her Subaru. Neither would she have ever survived long enough to meet him.

Frowning, Subaru sighed towards Emilia. "It's not like having anyone else do it will change anything, Emilia-tan."

Good logic was another one of Subaru's main strengths. Whether it just suited his victory in an argument, or he was sorting out a plan inside his head, his logical methods always seemed to prevail.

It was another thing Emilia hated and loved about Subaru.

"Don't worry about Subaru. Betty wouldn't ever allow them to take her Subaru away from her, I suppose." Beatrice, who had turned alongside Subaru, reassured Emilia.

Emilia knew she could trust Beatrice, but she still was concerned for Subaru's wellbeing. Overall, even if Subaru constantly put himself in danger, it never lessened the effect on Emilia. She would always want to protect him, as he did her. It didn't exactly help that he never let her be the bait.

Still, she knew he wouldn't allow her to be the bait. He cared for her too much. "Ok. But I'm still going to safeguard you!"

She said this whilst rechambering a round in her MPX in an attempt to intimidate the enemies that obviously weren't there. It didn't even intimidate Beatrice, who was known for her fragile body. The little act instead prompted a light chuckle from the blond girl.

Emilia's MPX was one of the things that Subaru had spent the most time modifying. In terms of sights, he had attached a PK-06, one of the most valuable compact sights on the market. It was for good reason as well, looking at the statistics. The three reticle options, the lack of visual obstruction, everything about the sight was a perfect fit for the weapon. Fitting the magazines with the famous 9x19 AP 6.3 rounds only made it an even more catastrophic weapon, and when you added a suppressor to it, you had 850 rounds per minute coming out of the thing with no recoil whatsoever. In other words, it was a devastating weapon in the hands of even the most inexperienced, and when wielded by a person trained for its use like Emilia, the opposition stood next to no chance at close range. If they had been watching this though, there was no way anyone would have thought Emilia knew what she was doing.

Following his shoulder-seated loli's lead, Subaru subtly laughed at his girlfriend's naive antics. It was a part of her that he wished to protect more than ever, and was the exact reason why he couldn't allow her to be the bait.

"I don't think even my grandparents say that anymore, Emilia-tan." Turning his head back and lowering Beatrice off his shoulder, Subaru wanted nothing more than for this to be over soon. Hopefully, these guys would be quick and easy to take out, and they could find somewhere to sleep.

"Now," Subaru began walking toward the edge of the wall, knowing full well what he was about to perform. "Time to do what I do best."

But a hand reached out to grab him and his partner. Of course, there was only one owner with such a hand, but nonetheless, the grip surprised him and made him do a slight jump.

"Subaru." Emilia, who knew full well she couldn't stop him, just wished to make sure of one thing.

"Be careful."

The black-haired boy smiled at her, just before waving her off. "You make this such a big deal, Emilia-tan. I'm just waving my hand around a wall."

Subaru knew how dangerous the simple act of baiting was, but he didn't care. Even if someone were to flank them and attack by surprise, Shaula would put a bullet in their head so incredibly quickly that Subaru wouldn't have noticed where the shot came from. He put his full trust in Shaula, as she did in him, and it hadn't failed him once.

However, even with these thoughts to reassure himself, he could see Emilia was still concerned and in need of reassurance. So, he walked up to her and did the most natural thing a soldier would do before he goes off to battle.

He kissed her.

It wasn't as if the kiss signified any large event, or that she may never see him again. It was simply just a proclamation, a remedy to Emilia's personal necessity. And a promise. A promise that she would feel it again, that Subaru would come back to her alive and breathing, just so they could experience the joy that this small act brought once again.

That said, just because you can have something later, wouldn't you also want more of it then?

"Are you two done with your endless flirting, I Suppose?!" Yelled a certain, infuriated drill-haired loli. Her adoptive older sibling never even thought about stopping his flirting with this supposed half-elven girl. It never ceased to amaze her just how easy he was able to switch topics with her at the drop of a hat.

Pulling themselves out of the kiss, which by now had starved both of them for oxygen, Subaru gasped for breath before saying, "Yes, Beako. I'll go do my job now."

Readying his RPK-16 and his nerves, he turned off the safety and began to walk towards the edge of the wall. But just before that, he turned towards Emilia and smiled at her.

It wasn't a particularly bright smile, neither was it forced. It was just as described. A simple smile, sealing the deal on their recently renewed promise. And it earned him one back.

His confidence renewed, Subaru waved his hand just far out enough to catch the eye of the enemy sniper.

---

"Gol, how does it look?" Asked the commander. Seeing as the normally talkative sniper had taken a silence off the radio, he needed to check on his friend and his well-being.

"Negative on any further movement. You're clear to enter." Gol, who was on edge after seeing the movement, noticed no further advances. It appeared as if they were able to make their way through the station without being stopped by these guys. Perhaps they had the jump on Gluhkar.

"Understood. Entering trainyard, keep your scope to our eastern flank." Relayed the leader.

Gol did as commanded, and trained his aim on the eastern flank. As he did so, he realized there was a person.

A blonde, unidentifiable boy was running at inhuman speeds in the southern direction, away from his comrades. It was most definitely possible that he was going for a route to get behind his mates. This was information he had to let the team know, ASAP.

But, just before he could tell his squadmates about the impending disaster...

"Mark."

A bullet went straight through his head.

The shot was so incredibly clean that there wasn't even an explosion. It was a quick, silent death with nobody to observe, a life taken by a professional.

"You know, you'd think they wouldn't hold still for so long in such an obvious position. Guess that's what they get for hunting down Master!" It was a relatively relaxed comment, made by a particularly odd girl.

Wearing what could be considered the bare minimum of clothing, a camouflaged Shaula started snickering to herself as she rechambered another M61 round in her Orsis T-5000. A sniper wielding an SVDS couldn't ever outdo her or her master, no matter what they tried. It was pitiful, really.

The Orsis T-5000 is a weapon of extremely high damage per shot. With several 7.62x51 armor-piercing rounds loaded in each cartridge, Shaula's scarily fast pullback times making the fire rate well above the normal thirty rounds per minute, and the things effective accuracy rating of one thousand meters, Shaula was perhaps one of if not the most dangerous sniper in all of the scav lands. And it showed.

It infuriated her to no end that someone thought they had the right to take her master and friends away from her. Least of all Garfiel, who was her second favorite to spar with during melee training and her favorite to talk about...other things...

"Nice shot Shaula. Any confirmation on his allies?" This squad's commander, Subaru, was already five steps ahead of an enemy he didn't even know was there.

Well, strictly speaking, he actually was aware of their presence, he just had no idea where they were. No sniper radios movement to a nonexistent squadron, and as soon as Shaula had informed him that the sniper had reported his position, he put a plan into action.

Making plans when you don't even know the approximate location of your attacker is a bit difficult, but if you were Subaru, then it wasn't all too hard. What you lack in physical ability, you must make up for it in mental skill.

In Subaru's case, his mind was the sharpest weapon he possessed, next to his RPK-16. His planning skills were unquestionably the best in all of the Tarkovian lands, proving to be able to best even the original scav boss of the shoreline, Sanitar. Even if he had required assistance to do it, it was no small feat to take out such a legendary scav boss, especially one with such a loyal following.

Now, however, it was time to move on to bigger fish. He and his team had just recently taken out Gluhkar and needed to secure Subaru's position as the new scav boss of reserve.

These foes were the last people that could interrupt them on their way to a safe position to clear out the remaining scavs, not that there were many left. Gluhkar and his gang had been particularly thorough in their killings this time around. It wouldn't surprise Subaru if these guys were the last people the extractors were waiting for.

"Nooooooo...wait never mind! I see one person coming in from the east. I think he's about 150 meters away." Shaula, who as always was trying desperately to please her master, finally spotted one of Gol's squadmates.

It was entirely possible that there were more, but as of now, a location on one could lead to the group he was with.

Another helpful tip they had picked up from the extraction agencies was that there would only ever be a maximum team size of five people deployed into a region at once. If they could transport more, they gladly would, but the cars that could manage it weren't built for the terrain surrounding them.

Can't exactly drive 9 people through dense forests and swamps with only 20 gallons of fuel, can you?

That being said, the agencies had been more than happy to just drop off Subaru and his crew. One way tickets were always good for them in terms of pay grade, and this particular trip gave them the opportunity to get some old-fashioned revenge on the traitor.

Gluhkar and his company had been a nonstop thorn in the extractors' side ever since he had taken up residence in reserve. First by turning on that god-forsaken armored train, and second by running assaults on the convoys they sent there. His kill count on helpless scavs and PMC's was up in the hundreds, and very nearly cracking a thousand. Due to this, nobody really trusted the agencies to transport them and began solely relying on Gluhkar's methods.

This outstanding, the agencies began making huge promises to anyone able to kill him permanently. One-way trips became the primary method to arrive there, and although the majority of them got attacked by Gluhkar and co., some of them made it past. This would include Subaru's group of self-designated PMCs, who had been among the few to arrive whilst Gluhkar was recovering. Had it not been for the other operators that came before them wearing down Gluhkar, their losses would have taken a turn for the worse.

Thankfully, their execution of the scav boss had been relatively quick due to assailants that had come just before them. Right after their target and his crew had dealt with a highly offensive coalition of eight people, Subaru, and his crew came in and took them out fairly quickly, suffering only a few bullet wounds.

Both he and Garfiel had taken them on, and although both were mostly fine, Subaru's lack of enhanced genetics was a huge detriment to him and his team, which is why he was the team's strategist.

It was, by extension, a near-perfect reason why he shouldn't be the bait for any of their operations, least of all against high-caliber sniper rifles.

Nevertheless, Subaru always made himself the bait no matter the opponent. Only once had they convinced him to let someone else be the bait, and that was Otto during one of their training sessions. It put the entire group on edge, save for Garfiel who thought it was the coolest thing his captain could do.

"Okay. Hold your fire until I say so." Now having confirmation on a second presence enclosing in on their position, Subaru prepared for a firefight.

It was more than likely that whoever these people were, they possessed a decent skill level. Nobody carries an SVDS as their primary and doesn't have serious firepower at their teammates' sides.

"Okayyyyyyy. He looks like he has...a DT MDR? I can't tell which type though. Sorry mast-" As she began apologizing for her poor eyesight, which had been known to spot enemies from miles away and kill them with iron sights, Shaula was interrupted by none other than her supposed master.

Taking this into account, Subaru couldn't stand to allow his number one sniper to degrade herself, least of all in front of him. Considering how many times she had saved their lives with a clean shot to their opponent's head, it made this all the more inexcusable to allow. "Shaula, if you could tell one DTR model from the other, I would have lost you to the Anastasia faction long ago. It's a wonder I currently have you on my side."

Subaru was, of course, telling the absolute truth when he said this. He genuinely couldn't believe that nobody had even tried to take Shaula away from him, and he was eternally grateful for her presence. Her accuracy had saved his and many other lives. Apologizing for being unable to identify whether the weapon used 5.56 ammunition or 7.62 rounds was quite frankly stupid.

Even still, the sniper couldn't help but feel as if she had failed him. Shaula always felt this way, no matter how consequential the act was. Truth be told, there wasn't a failure here in anybody except Shaula's eyes.

Just before she was able to irk out some words of protest, Subaru's smooth voice coming over the radio relieved her of the stress that had been brought on. "Thank you Shaula. Just keep your eyes out for other squad members. That's all."

It was never the master's job to thank the servant, least of all in combat. Whenever they were engaged, Subaru put his mind up-front and into the field, exclusively focusing on how to ensure everyone's safety. Not once had she heard a thank you during the preface to a firefight.

It felt good.

"Roger." Smiling in the most unnoticeable way, Shaula turned her vision back through her scope and silently thanked her master. He was truly the best person she could have chosen to serve.

Wearing his own small smile, Subaru hoisted his rifle and turned his vision towards where the enemy had just been spotted.

Aiming down the holographic sight of his RPK, Subaru could just barely make out the top of a green helmet. It looked to be in a similar design to the wear of Killa, the previous scav boss of the Interchange area.

That helmet was strong, especially against the lower calibers that Emilia wielded. However, higher calibers and superior round choice, like the armor-piercing "Iglonik" cartridges loaded in his RPK and Beatrice's Desert Eagle, made tearing through them a piece of cake.

And of course, if things went wrong, Beako always had a grenade launcher. That would basically tear through everything that a person wore, no matter its resistance to their armaments.

That said, it was a terrible idea to be engaging now. With nowhere near enough information on how many there might be, Subaru couldn't tell his team to charge into battle and engage the apparently single member of a PMC squad.

Thankfully, he had more than one viewpoint.

"Cap'n, I see two of 'em where Shaula was sayin 'ey were. Nobody else's around. 'm I good to shoot 'em where they stand?" His plans beginning to fall into place, Subaru began making further predictions on both his enemies and their movement.

First came the possible movements. Judging from their position, it was more than probable that they would try and push in from the eastern area and not change directions towards Garfiel. This would allow for a flank provided they didn't have a spotter, which considering how most spotters will be right next to the sniper or at least close to them in some regard, the probability of them having one was in the lower areas. Most definitely still possible, but less likely than not.

Secondly came their arms. One had a DT MDR, capable of using a 7.62 cartridge, some of the most lethal available on the black market. Knowing that things recoil, or lack thereof, it would be smart to have Shaula snipe him and put a quick end to things. However, since Garfiel didn't report what the other one was using, it was possible that he had any number of things. They were most likely small arms due to the fact that Farf hadn't seen it, so the seemingly best plan of attack was to have Shaula take out the MDR guy and the rest of them move in on the unarmed one.

This plan had one flaw in it that might be fixable though.

"Hey Garfiel, do you know what the second guy has? Shaula and I can't see it." Asked Subaru. If he could iron out this plan's singular flaw, then he could be assured of an absolute victory over the enemy. He also didn't like going in blind, but that wasn't exactly something anybody else likes to do either.

Reporting what he should have earlier, Garfiel told Subaru about what he could currently see, or lack thereof. "Nah. I can' see it eitha. Looks big thou'."

That was a red flag for Subaru. Something that "looks big" is not exactly what you want to hear from a guy with two double barrels and perhaps the strongest man on your team.

He couldn't spend time panicking though. If he wanted he and his team to survive this, then he would have to quickly reformulate.

Assuming this was what Garfiel would call big, he could eliminate pistols alongside submachine guns. Unless they were running around with extended barrels, SMGs were fairly tiny, and he planned to keep it that way.

By the same extent, he could also eliminate it being any sort of sniper rifle. Considering they already had a sniper, there would be no need for a second that wasn't spotting, and since he was moving up with a guy using an MDR, there was no need for longer-range combat.

This all led to the weapon in question being an assault carbine of sorts, in addition to the typical assault rifle. Either one was bad news, but also completely expected. The question was, what exactly was the weapon? Ammunition was important, but it's useless if you don't have a gun to shoot it out of, so what calibers might it be shooting?

All important questions, but ones he didn't have the answer to at the moment. Unless he were to pull yet another risky move, a much more passive style was necessary here, taking into account their...numbers…

This was currently a 2 vs. 5 scenario, soon to become a 1 vs. 5 if Shaula took out the person she could see. An absolute win for Subaru, who had more than double the numbers of the opposers, and probably even higher amounts of planning and strategy. And out of all the things they wouldn't expect, it would be a complete rush at them with weapons drawn and firing. As long as they all approached from unexpected angles, things would work out quite well and this conflict would be brought to a close. A fast-paced approach probably had the highest chance of success.

And the first step to this plan was…"Shaula, take out the guy you can see. Now."

As per her commander's orders, Shaula instantaneously shot the available target, with yet another clean shot.

---

"Kor! HOLY SHIT!" The commander screamed, quickly taking cover behind a small brick building and readying his HK.

His side partner just had a bullet put straight through his head. His only partner in taking out Gluhkar had just died. From a suppressed shot.

Gritting his teeth, the leader swore to himself, "Cowards…"

There was nothing more that this squadron commander hated other than suppressed snipers. He had even made his own sniper, Gol, use an unsuppressed SVDS because of it. His own wish for the removal of suppressors for snipers, submitted under the name of Karmakov Dizelto, was sent to the Russian federation in 1967. It was of course denied, but he honestly didn't care. If the federation wouldn't get rid of them, he would on his own terms.

Looking down at his deceased partner, he cursed once more. The shot had gone straight through his forehead, completely shattering the helmet that he had been wearing and exposing far too much brain matter for any hope of the man's survival. Had it not been for his personal adaptation to these kinds of situations, the man known as Diz would have charged straight at the train station where he knew that shot came from.

However, he knew he needed to keep his cool. Rushing in to charge an enemy, no matter how pissed you were, was never a good idea. Not once had it ended well for any incursion in this godforsaken sector, and it most likely never would. It was an absolutely terrible tactic, used by only the worst of planners. It was why it was never to be expected.

Thankfully, he still had an edge in this battle, even if Kor was down.

"GOL! What the fuck is going on up ahead? The hell did that shot come from?" Diz was now screaming into the radio, even though he knew that it made his commands indecipherable. They hadn't upgraded their microphones in who knows how long.

"..." There was no reply to his message. Not even a bit of radio static. Just a complete utter silence.

A much quieter voice came from the commander now. Not classifiable as a whisper, but not exactly what could be called a normal voice either. Harshness dripping in his tone mixed with fear. The commander tried again to get some information out of his quiet sniper. "Gol? Tell me what the hell is going on over there!"

Still, there was no reply. Even when he lowered his voice, which definitely should have been picked up by the radio, there was no response. It was more than unnerving.

If Gol, his number one sniper, was dead, then he was alone in this raid. Even if he had their most powerful rifle, it meant little against a team as competent as this. Managing to take out a sniper in his prime isn't an easy feat, and managing to do it to his secondary rifler was nothing short of terrifying. This Gluhkar fellow was good. Very good.

Trying one last time in his desperation, Diz sent one more transmission. "Gol?"

Complete, pure silence from the other end. Now Diz was alone. Against a highly coordinated foe with a few 100 round magazines and a rifle in which to put them in.

This was the single worst situation that Diz had ever been in. He would have considered throwing in the towel here and now, shooting himself in order for Terragroups to not get any information out of him. If it weren't for the slimmest possibility of his survival, alongside the will to avenge his comrades, a tactical suicide would have been in order. But he was going down swinging.

He would kill whoever that bastard was with the sniper rifle. He swore it here and now. His comrades were the only thing that had been alongside him constantly. He would have to take out this sniper to honor their deaths.

But a moment of mourning was in order. If nobody were to find their bodies here, no proper funeral would be held for the lost, with their bodies still present.

And so, doing what he had wished to do for his long-dead SMG-wielding comrade, he began reciting vows for his fellow soldiers in arms.

Pulling out two pieces of white cloth, he wrapped one around his trigger finger for Gol and threw the other on top of Kor's corpse. If he could reach Gol, he would have gladly tossed it on him. Unfortunately, he couldn't even come close. Gol was too far away for him to begin this operation, so Diz instead put it around his trigger finger. Praying for Gol's accuracy would be one of the keys to his survival if nothing else.

With nothing else to prepare, Diz began the miniature battle funeral.

"Give thanks to the Lord, for he is good." The beloved Psalm 118, perhaps the single most common thing read at funerals, was what Diz had memorized. Even only able to remember a bit of it, the soldier had memorized the pieces he wished to say before charging into battle.

"His love endures forever." This verse was only repeated once, even though it was supposed to be three. Once again, a homage to those who were not there, hoping their spirits were with him repeating what they were supposed to.

Finishing up the short segment, the commander of none closed his eyes in solemn retribution. "When hard pressed, I cried to the Lord; he brought me into a spacious place. The lord is with me; I will not be afraid."

Opening his eyes, the look Diz wore was nothing short of pure fury. Anybody on the receiving end of this terrifying gaze would consider running away more than just an option.

And now, that glint had a small smile to go alongside it. "What can mere mortals do to me? The lord is with me; he is my helper."

Turning the safety off on his weapon, the final words of his prayer came forth, alongside his smile growing ever wider.

"I look in triumph on my enemies."

His smile turned to a sinister frown, alongside gritted teeth.

---

"I lost em cap'n. He's hidin behind sum boxes like a gazelle in th' fields." Garfiel, who had by now flanked behind the sniper's post, could see the cowardly man begin to stand up. Although Garfiel couldn't see what, he could swear there was something scary about this guy. Someone, probably them, had pissed him off. Justifiably so.

Crackling in over their own radio frequency, Subaru told Garfiel, "Thanks Garf. Just stay out of his sight for now. Me, Beako, and Emilia are going to rush him. Keep tabs for us."

Grumbling something about him not being able to fight even one person today, Garfiel confirmed to Subaru that he would stay put until further notice and keep his eyes trained on the man. Frustration around his particular methods of attack was constant, but he also knew the immense power that it held. When they had been clearing out the smaller rooms of the dorms and other things during their offensive into customs, their effectiveness had been more than noted by some of the top commanders in their small resistance.

Of course, he would be given opportunities to fight another day. He was usually the first one Subaru called upon whenever they needed a heavy gunner, and with the exception of Beatrice, he was probably the person with the highest single-shot damage in their crew.

But for now, he would have to sit and wait while he watched his cap'n take on their singular enemy.

Said captain was currently hiding behind a couple of metal drums alongside his small, blonde partner. They didn't provide much cover but were a solid defensive when they inevitably got shot at again. Considering it would be near impossible to penetrate about 5-8cm of what was most likely steel, protecting them from more or less every conceivable assault rifle caliber. With the exception of some very high calibers that weren't even around on the public market yet, he was probably safe.

The same could not be said for Emilia nor Shaula, for both of them were currently on top of large barrel stacks.

Shaula, who had only just hopped down from the roof she was just on in order to get a better angle, was keeping one eye down her scope and the other firmly trained on Subaru. If he were to be hurt, she would instantly rush down to his side and patch up every single wound she could find.

Although unofficial, mostly due to the fact that you can't find a medical license in the Tarkovian province, Shaula was considered to be this team's primary field surgeon. Her knowledge of the kits, alongside her inhuman eyesight to identify wound location allowed her to be more than a few seconds ahead of even the world's leading surgeons in some cases. And a few seconds could mean life or death on the battlefield.

Emilia on the other hand had begun to close into a range where she would be most effective. Her priorities were much the same, but Subaru had promised her he would be alright and come back to her. Even if she did want to stay behind just in case, she knew that both Shaula and Beatrice had him covered in more ways than she could.

That being the case, Emilia had decided to just ensure that he wouldn't get hurt in the first place. If he remained unharmed for the duration of this encounter, then he wouldn't have to have surgery performed on him.

So she had begun her own rush of their seemingly cowering opponent. She had of course been given permission by Subaru, but she probably would have done so even if he hadn't told her.

Despite her more than passive nature in conversation, Emilia was not someone you wished to engage with in direct combat. Not only had she mastered the arts of close-quarters engagements with her MPX alongside figuring out how to use it most effectively with her class 4 armor, but she was also one of the few people who had knowledge of the exact effective range of the gun, and more importantly, where the bullets had the highest damage capability. And she knew that it was most effective at a range just out of throwable melee range.

Completing her vault over the boxes, Emilia hit the ground and immediately turned her head left to check for any possible enemies. She saw none.

Confirming there were no more enemy presences that Shaula had missed, Emilia began rushing to the left side of the building to catch their foe off guard. With Garfiel confirming his position behind the tower, Emilia felt confident she could catch him off guard.

Subaru on the other hand was a bit wary of this foe. He had already decided to rush a position which wasn't exactly easy to hold and had already lowered their foe's numbers to just one. The problem was this guy's gun. Whatever it was, having Garfiel describe it as big still discomforted him.

It wasn't the time to think about such things anymore though. It seemed as if their opponent was peeking out at them.

"Emilia, he's looking at us. Get him now."

Doing so with a dangerous glint in his eyes, Diz put his scope squarely on top of Subaru's position. Although unable to see his target, he could already tell that he was hiding behind those damn barrels. Diz could easily see Subaru's head poking out from the side

However, his vision quickly shifted to another, far more appealing target. Shaula.

Having just hopped off her position, Shaula had aimed down her scope in a direction to cover Emilia and her flank. Worse, since she was scoped in with her right eye, her left couldn't even make out his body past the obnoxious scope on her rifle.

Thankfully for her, Diz couldn't tell that she was the team's sniper. His vision was still primarily focused on Subaru, and although he could definitely see her, there was no conceivable way that a sniper was right alongside this team's leader. Cowards would always be cowards.

What caught him off guard were the footsteps he heard coming from his right.

Realizing what this probably was, Diz fired off a few shots at Subaru's relatively hidden head before ducking right behind the wall and training his weapon in anticipation of his incoming enemy.

Only just managing to recuperate from the bullets shot at him, Subaru began to panic. When he saw their unknown opponent dip behind the tower, he could have sworn he saw that rifle turn towards the opposite end of the wall.

And he had a clear look at the rifle.

Although he couldn't identify the model off of the gunshots and shape, he could definitely tell it was an assault rifle. And it fired very, very fast.

If what he saw was to be believed, then Emilia was currently rushing towards her death.

Going off of this, Subaru quickly screamed out to her, "EMILIA! HOLD BACK!"

It did little good.

Rushing around the first corner, Emilia prepared herself and trained her SMG on where the enemy would be. As long as she got this done quickly and aimed for the head, Subaru and the rest would be safe from this engagement and they could begin the second part of their operation.

Emilia was hopeful for this rush to be successful, and her adrenaline was surging throughout her every vein. She added confidence from this being one of Subaru's plans added on to this, making her a bit smug in her approach.

If she could just quickly end this, all they would have to do was shut down Gluhkar's remaining operations. Then, maybe she and the rest could rest easy tonight. Not that it was ever easy to sleep after a fight for any of them, but for her in particular, sleeping right next to Subaru to "save space" was more than enough to help her sleep well. It drove away the nightmares.

With all this hope bottled up in her, all this energy, all of this strange excitement about what was yet to come, Emilia rounded the second corner of the building's edge right before she heard someone yell her name out, almost like a cry for help.

When the voice recognized itself in Emilia's head, it was already too late. She had rounded the corner, gun raised to catch her target off guard...

Only for her to be met with a spray of gunfire into her chest.

"Fucking worthless murderer!" Diz unloaded more rounds into the poor girl's stomach. She was definitely part of the damn team that had taken out his partners, and he was paying it back tenfold. These wretched killers deserve nothing less.

That said, he could only allow his rage to control him for a small while. If he were to fail here, then an avenging of his comrades would never be achieved.

And he wanted that damn sniper.

Falling down on the ground, blood began to slowly trickle out of Emilia's chest and into the dirt surrounding her. She could have sworn she saw the Russian spit at her. But it was already getting too dark for her to tell.

Despite her more than human pain immunity, Emilia hadn't exactly been trained for what to do when she was shot through the chest more than a few times. Mostly because you were assumed dead if you were shot even once.

As she began to bleed out, her mind was still as functional as ever. Already, the pain was beginning to dim itself throughout her whole body, and as she clung to life by an accord that wasn't even her own force of will, all Emilia could think of was what she had done.

Specifically, with that boy who had brought it all to her. Subaru.

Emilia simply put, just wanted a bit more time with him. Even for a few more seconds, she would have gladly put up with anything for a few more precious seconds with him. Yet here she lay, unable to do anything as her body began refocusing itself on her survival.

She hated how she couldn't do anything about it.

Barely managing to breathe what could be considered normal levels, Emilia tried to catch a glimpse of her assailant, who had held off on his attack on her for now. Most likely because he thought she was either dead or going to die fairly soon.

Or they were going to take her back.

Meanwhile, on the other side of the battlefield, a now watery-eyed Subaru was already beginning to shut down.

"Emilia?" He uttered into the radio. He hoped to god he would at least hear something. Anything was better than this goddamn silence.

He waited for a few seconds. Having heard the suppressed shots ring out after he screamed for her, his fears began to drown him.

She couldn't be dead...right?

Emilia said she would come back too, right? She kissed him back then to tell him what he told her. Right?

Subaru didn't know anymore. He was beginning to sink even deeper into his self-induced reality that Emilia was dead. If he, on his orders, had sent Emilia to his death… was he any more than worthless? Did he not deserve a bullet for himself, for dooming yet another life by his command?

That darkness which he had to suppress during these raids came in full force here. Had he not begun to crawl up into a ball and begin to make undecipherable noises, there was a good chance that nobody would have noticed him to begin with.

Thankfully, even in the heat of battle, someone always seemed to keep track of Subaru.

"Subaru, regain yourself I suppose." Beatrice retreated behind the barrel alongside him and cast a tender hand down his hair to prompt him to look at her.

His mind hanging by a thread, Beatrice had long noted her adoptive sibling's tendency to hide all of his suffering. She knew that he had opened up the most to both her and Emilia, but even then he wasn't ever one to let it show. This happening now proved something needed to bring him back.

And Beatrice needed to be that something.

"Betty needs her beloved sibling here, you know. She cannot shoot alone." Staring him down, the small girl signaled for Shaula to return her focus towards the building. Shaula looked miffed but obliged the order. If it would help her master out of this clearly deranged state, she would hold that sightline for now.

This wasn't doing it for Subaru. Not even close.

Losing yet another family member by his own accord made his mind completely shut down in an attempt to prevent him from going completely insane. Even the mere thought of failure had already begun to plague his mind when Emilia hopped over the stacks of barrels, and now that she was more than likely dead, all of his fears had been confirmed. He was scum. The being known as Subaru Natsuki could only kill those who he cared about and nothing mo-

"You're wrong, in fact." Almost near instantaneously reading in on his thought process, Beatrice intervened before things could get even worse inside the hurricane that was Subaru's mind. More importantly, she knew exactly how to both calm him down and get him to move forward.

"The half-elf as you like to call her is still alive. You just need to save her, as usual." Maintaining her own facade, Beatrice completely lied to Subaru's face. She had no idea whether Emilia was dead or not, but if it meant Subaru standing back up as quickly as possible then she would do it without issue.

This lie, for a quite obvious reason, triggered a sudden comeback in Subaru's mental state. Not to say it was necessarily good, but it was certainly much further suited for combat than his previous one.

If Emilia was indeed still alive, then yet another question he had asked himself was: Why the fuck am I letting her die meters away from me?

Nowhere near ok, Subaru quickly rose up and snapped his vision back towards that building where Emilia was. If she was indeed still alive, then each and every second of inaction would lead her only closer to death's door.

His aim shaky, Subaru rose his RPK to the edge of the wall and started proceeding forward, signaling Beatrice to follow right behind him.

Swapping her grenade launcher for the desert eagle, the blonde smiled to herself as she once again brought Subaru out of a self-inflicted panic attack. Not once had she nor would she ever fail to do this.

Taking pace behind her chosen leader, Beatrice raised her pistol to the same level as Subaru's RPK and followed suit.

Now on the hunt for blood, Subaru threw caution to the wind as his primary directive took him forward. Although still being torn apart in his mental state, the art of being a good leader is the ability to keep face no matter what or who you may lose. Subaru didn't have this exact ability, but rather something to substitute it.

When it came down to it, Subaru wasn't the kind of person to fail at saving someone. If this were his motivator instead of simply shutting down Gluhkar's operations, he would stop at nothing to achieve it. The fact that Emilia was the one he was trying to save only strengthened his mindset.

Holding his slow approach, Subaru folded behind one of the four walls of the tower. He knew that Emilia had gone the left pathway, and suspected that he could do much the same. Yet Subaru had to take certain things into question.

Namely, how their offender had managed to anticipate arrival. It was fairly obvious that he had headphones of some kind, but that kind of precision guessing was akin only to a soldier's ears. It was easy to tell he was quite well geared, but if he was an operative of one of the PMC companies operating in the region, then they had bigger issues.

Trained PMCs were massive threats in the Tarkov region. Not only did they apparently have orders to kill on sight anybody they spot, but they were also specially trained to carry out quick executions. Both factions tracked within Tarkov were formed of ex-special operations soldiers, with BEAR having its primary force formed out of Spetsnaz and USEC hiring massive forces of army members that had finished their tours. There were rumors that there were even a few American green berets among them.

This information was henceforth very relevant to Subaru, who had previously thought their targets were just Gluhkar's guards that had been out of range. Being that they were from a private military company, attack strategies had to be changed.

Full-on rush was no longer an option. It worked out horribly for Emilia, and Subaru had little hope of saving her should the results be replicated. This didn't leave him with many options otherwise and considering he was already engaging in a rush, his options were narrowed down further.

Thankfully, Subaru had one card that this enemy wouldn't expect.

Children were not exactly what you would call a common sight in Tarkov. With the exceptions of a few that you could find on the streets waiting for their parents, or those who worked as slaves to those above them, seeing a child on the battlefield usually meant they were either lost or had a death wish. The latter usually had their wish granted.

Beatrice was an exception. Although looking to be a child, her biological structure was the main factor for this. Her exact age, although unknown to even herself, surpassed her physical one by a fair margin, so much so that she wasn't sure whether she would ever grow past 140 centimeters.

This height, alongside her relatively small size, allowed her to perform several actions that were well beyond everyone else's capabilities. Namely, sneaking around their battlefield of choice without being heard.

Both Beatrice and Subaru knew how effective this was firsthand, as it had saved their asses on numerous occasions and would most likely continue to do so. Though they usually only used this trick against scavs who were playing hard to get, every now and then it could be used against one of the PMC operators. This manipulative tactic would now be used once again, and hopefully, catch the enemy off guard.

Signaling for Beatrice to take the left side, Subaru hoped his silence and signaling would be enough to convey the idea to his partner. Of course, it was, but there was an offset anxiety about every single one of his actions after hearing those shots.

Beatrice, who nodded and then darted behind the wall to her left, quickly swapped out her high-fragmentation grenade for a low-fragmentation, high-explosive grenade into her launcher. Given that they were going into close range, a minimal amount of fragments being offset would be ideal, henceforth why the casings of these grenades were barely composed of anything that wouldn't disintegrate on detonation.

Taking Beatrice's movement as a sign for him to move, Subaru quickly breathed in to focus himself. Shoving aside the possibility of Emilia's death was getting harder by the second, and it was driving him to another possible breakdown state. His following and correct prioritization was playing into effect here.

Quickly dashing out from behind the bricks, Subaru immediately fired a spread of bullets that just eclipsed the edge of the stone building. Due to the unsuppressed nature of his weaponry, these shots were both excellent at drawing attention and, for this plan's sake, covering up the little noise that Beatrice's footsteps made.

It worked scarily well.

Diving out from his own cover in a frenzy, Diz quickly took in his new surroundings and quickly sighted himself over Subaru's thorax. That particular region of the body was known to always kill if you fired enough bullets into it, and even though this boy was wearing armor, it would do next to nothing against his M995 ammunition.

As he began to squeeze the trigger, his eyes squinting down in what was now a crazed rage, he saw someone else.

A brown-haired girl with a suppressed sniper rifle.

The fucker that killed Gol and Kor.

Acting on emotion for only a small moment, he began to swap targets from Subaru to Shaula, who already had her scope trained squarely on his head and was ready to pull the trigger.

Glaring down at her opponent, this singular moment in time felt as if it would last for an eternity. With the bloodshot redness in Diz's eyes and the complete lack of any emotions other than focus and anger in Shaula's, their staredown felt as if they were waging their own wars against each other.

To an extent, they were.

Shaula hadn't gotten anywhere near ok in her own, overprotective mental state, and she was furious that this man was the one who dared to make her ever-strong master break down. As for Diz, well...his anger was self-explanatory to both parties.

This everlasting moment would, of course, come to an end soon, as Beatrice's piece of the plan came into action.

"Kaboom, in fact."

Flying right behind the Russian madman, a certain high-explosive grenade completely incinerated the entirety of Diz's backside, blowing a massive hole into him that almost pierced his heart..

Barely managing to register the pain, the grip provided by the white cloth proved extremely effective at its job, pulling down the trigger following the sudden and extreme grip force the ex-Spetsnaz soldier exerted after the explosive detonated.

This explosion immediately prompted both Subaru and Shaula to pull their own triggers, with Subaru already beginning to do so once Diz had rushed out and raised his HK towards him.

A single high-velocity AP round screamed through Diz's helmeted skull, splattering brain matter across the backside before it exited that as well. This impressive shot was immediately followed up by a volley of AP rounds from Subaru's RPK, which tore through the thick armor Diz had been wearing.

Had Subaru been in a slightly better state of mind, he would have perhaps aimed at a slightly less vital spot and saved this armor for later. His mind was nowhere near this normally optimal Subaru though, as it was taking almost all of his mind's thought capability to suppress outside thoughts about Emilia and her state of affairs.

Unloading a few more rounds into the corpse for good measure, Subaru took aim at the skull and blew it completely to pieces. This not only destroyed the helmet beyond recognition, but also left the grass completely covered in gore, with one of Diz's eyes now hanging outside of his shattered skull.

Confirming the kill, Subaru's mind quickly went out of soldier mode as soon as he saw Emilia.

Or rather the bloodstains that covered the dirt surrounding her.

"Emilia!" Bolting to her side, Subaru quickly grasped her hand and checked her pulse. Confirming that her blood was still pumping, Subaru steadily tucked his arm around her head and turned it towards him.

Her eyes were open and moving, and they had immediately snapped towards his. Emilia's eyes softened at the simple sight of him, and she tried to utter out something to Subaru. Whatever it was, not even their noise-increasing headphones could detect it.

Not letting one second pass, Subaru flipped Emilia over onto her back and yelled, "SHAULA! Emilia needs medical!"

Not one to be left behind, Shaula had already begun her descent after she saw Subaru make a break behind the tower, and she wasn't pleased with the state of things. Her master was on the brink of his mind completely breaking down, and she wasn't entirely confident in the safety provided by this field.

They were out in the middle of the open area, and even with this tower behind them, they knew it was only a matter of time before scavs came up from the lower areas to check out all the noise. Subaru's RPK being unsuppressed certainly didn't help matters.

Taking a hemostatic syringe out of her pockets, Shaula quickly lent down to Emilia and nearly began to inject it into her until she saw the extent of the damage.

Emilia's stomach was a complete mess of tears through the flesh, and although it looked as if nothing vital had been hit, the blood loss was more than concerning. Even with Emilia's enhancements, she would need surgery sooner rather than later, and here wasn't the place to do surgery.

"Lets move into the tower. People can see us from here master." Identifying a place where they could at least hold out and stop the bleeding, Shaula directed Subaru towards the tower.

Scoping out the surrounding area on her way into the brick building, Shaula found it was completely clear of any and all enemies.

Still maintaining eye contact with Subaru, Emilia's head was now resting right between his arms as she was dragged into the trainyard operations and communications tower. She was entirely aware of them dragging her into the small first floor, and could even feel the difference in flooring change when she was pulled in and set down.

What immediately drew her attention though was her suddenly being placed not on the floor, but instead Subaru's lap.

As Shaula pulled out a field surgery kit, Emilia tried to focus on this new approach to her safekeeping. For now, focusing on anything other than the feelings that came whenever Shaula pulled another bullet out of her stomach was hard enough for the blood-covered girl.

Finally, as Beatrice entered the room she slammed the door right behind her and quickly hopped up the nearby desk to get a view on their situation.

With Emilia making a surprisingly small amount of noise, despite the ridiculous amount of metal going in and out of her stomach, Beatrice heard something through the headphones she had on. There were footsteps below them.

Swapping out her grenade launcher for the desert eagle, Beatrice took cover behind the wall at the top of the staircase, holding her pistol up to her chest.

Hearing only footsteps alongside a bit of Russian murmuring, she hurriedly used hand signals to tell Subaru and Shaula that she was going in. Emilia, who also saw this, held her breath and closed her eyes.

Not even giving the scav a single chance to respond, Beatrice appeared from behind the wall and unloaded two clean shots into him, with one going through his chest and the other shattering his jaw.

A shattered jaw is one of the most painful things a human can experience in direct combat with another person. Not only can you feel each individual shard knock back further into your skull, if these shards manage to hit the nerve cluster that is within direct proximity to your jaw...that sort of pain is nigh unimaginable.

Beatrice, who knew her way around pain just a little too well for her liking, noticed this and swiftly fired another round directly into his skull, ending the scavs life with a dying scream under five seconds flat.

Rushing down the stairs, the tiny pistol-wielding blonde took shelter behind yet another stone wall before performing the exact same maneuver she had earlier. There weren't any people on the receiving end this time, but clearing out the area was a key step in figuring out their escape route.

Speaking of an escape route, they were going to need one sooner or later. This tower, despite looking as if it would be the perfect place to hold out for the moment, had far too many entry points. This first floor had a massive amount of windows alongside an access point from underground. If anyone were to investigate those shots, the people cooped up in here weren't going to have a good time.

Heading back up the stairs, Beatrice pulled out her radio and called out to Garfiel, "Emilia has been hurt. Try and find us a way out of here, I suppose."

Garfiel, who had seen Emilia's unsuccessful rush, had nearly gone in and wiped the floor with that Russian then and there. He may not have the same attachment to her as Subaru did, but there was no way in hell he would let a member of his squadron die without the fucker that killed them going first

Thankfully for the team located inside the tower, Garfiel had held himself back and allowed Subaru to take things on his own way. When it turned out well for him, Garfiel breathed one of the biggest sighs of relief he had in a while.

That sigh was relatively short-lived, as he had seen Subaru then take Emilia into the brick building and then heard three gunshots in rapid succession, alongside a certain train whistle…

The train was here.

The armored train that ran through reserve, despite its known ability to help both scavs and PMC operatives extract, was actually run by Gluhkar and his cronies. Not many people knew this, as the deal Gluhkar had made with the extraction agencies was that this train would be run under "their" control as a condition for a rather large payment each month. In turn, Gluhkar ran the train and covered the fuel costs(which was actually just him turning on a power switch to the electrical wiring above the train).

This train was also armored though, meaning it provided ample cover from attackers. This would be failing to mention the fact that they could also just take the train out of the station and exit reserve entirely, which was probably the best option at this point.

Reasoning that they would just take the train and escape somehow, Garfiel responded, "Trains 'ere. Seems like a pre'y good 'scape to me."

Hearing his voice come in over the radio, both Shaula and Subaru looked at each other.

Both of them knew that this train was a military train, and more than likely had some sort of bedding on it, and more importantly, better surgery tools. The Russian military that used to be located here had tons of things lying around here that Gluhkar hadn't picked up. These would include the massive amount of medical supplies and other such things, which would play a key role in treating Emilia, especially the potent disinfectants that they lacked.

More importantly, this would grant them a huge advantage in logistics as well. This train was connected to every single major point in the entirety of Tarkov, no matter where it was located. If they could not only take it for surgery, but also steal it from right under Gluhkar's nose, they would have easy transport access to every single possible raid site.

This train was their way out of here. They had to get on it.

As Beatrice entered the room, a spray of gunfire could be heard beneath them. There was no doubt in Subaru's mind that it was a group of PMCs, mostly due to the English being spoken below them.

Unable to make out what was being said, Subaru fumbled out his radio and told Garfiel as well as everyone in the room, "We're getting to that train. Garfiel, clear out the cars. Shaula, take Beatrice and get into the control room. As soon as you're done, fire off the flare that signals our mission's completion."

Looking at the girl in his lap, Subaru's eyes narrowed. He would have to take Emilia.

"I'll take Emilia. You guys get moving and fire off that flare. I want us out of here as soon as possible."

Both Beatrice and Shaula began forming their faces into glares, but they were quickly shut up when they heard a much more clear English voice say, "That gunfire can't be far off. Must be up above."

That prompted them to get along with it, as Subaru began to pick Emilia up and into his arms in a full-on bridal carry. Refitting herself with the grenade launcher, Beatrice followed Shaula outside with Garfiel confirming he was moving into the train.

"Emilia-tan...things are gonna be ok. Just hold on a little longer and you'll be alright." Whether these words were to convince himself or the girl in his arms was anyone's guess. All that Subaru knew was that he had to get to that train, and he had to do it fast.

Putting his RPK on his backside and shoving Emilia's MPX into his backpack, Subaru completed the bridal carry he had begun to perform. Normally, you wouldn't see such a bold move be made on the battlefield, but the way Subaru saw things was a bit different.

With her stomach only covered by a blood-ridden outfit due to the earlier bullet extraction, Subaru wasn't sure how much pain she would feel if he were to put her on his already metal-filled bag. The amount of things in there that could worsen her injuries were bad enough, and even so he wouldn't be able to carry his gun anyway. This was just a better method of ensuring her safety to him.

Hoisting her up, he saw Emilia's lips graced with a small smile. Almost as if she was happy, though he couldn't tell for what reasons.

Shaula and Beatrice, on the other hand, having just rushed out of the tower, hopped over Diz's mutilated corpse. The gore that surrounded the body had grown to a large enough size that Beatrice had to take a small detour in order to avoid stepping in it.

Shaula on the other hand, nearly stepped right through it as she picked up the dead man's HK rifle alongside a spare mag. As her only close range weapon was a pistol, this rifle was a massive upgrade in comparison. 100 rounds in a magazine was something to be scared of, and had Subaru known that was the magazine they were going up again...well Shaula would have shot him first.

Settling her Orsis on her backside, Shaula quickly met pace with the continuing Beatrice, who had her eyes focused squarely on the train's front armored cabin. Although it was surrounded by metal grating to prevent direct shots from going into the controler area, Beatrice had other ideas.

Rechambering another high-explosive grenade in her FN-GL40 as she ran up the boarding platform, Beatrice turned back to Shaula. "Boost me up, I suppose."

Smirking, Shaula did as commanded while teasing Beatrice about her neediness."Awww, master's daughter is so short!"

Not at all appreciative of Shaula's lightheartedness, Beatrice glared at the sky and cursed her new assignment. "Not the place for teasing, in fact."

This comfortable dialogue, although troubling, was part of the reason Beatrice was so easily able to focus. As soon as they had engaged with the main force of Gluhkar, the day had felt like nonstop action. This was of course for good reason, but the relief brought on by it was nothing short of fantastic.

Pulling herself over the metal shroud, Shaula landed right next to Beatrice and took aim with her HK. Seeing two very surprised train controllers, there was barely any time for them to scream "Urod!" before her bullets pierced the window and into their skulls.

With this kill being quick as it was clean, Beatrice directed Shaula to get behind the train's main cabinet. She was going to blast open the damn thing.

Heeding her comrades' warning, Shaula quickly went into the tight space between the barrier and the train cabin alongside Beatrice. This gave both of them enough time to prepare for the explosive that was about to detonate and open up the door.

"Three, two, one." Firing a grenade off, Beatrice folded behind the wall just in time to hear the massive detonation blow the door wide open.

Having only disabled the locking mechanism instead of the hinges, this explosion sent ripples throughout the entire train, including back to where Garfiel had entered.

With Shaula now taking point, the pairing quickly entered the control room and found an array of panels, which Beatrice thankfully knew how to use.

Taking in her surroundings, Beatrice quickly adjusted herself to which switch did what. Most importantly came figuring out how to get them out of their current predicament, as they were stuck without opening up the method for escape.

""Help me with this lever, in fact." Already struggling to pull down the brake disengager, Beatrice begrudgingly asked for help not more than a few seconds after they entered. Despite the humiliation, and the massive grin on Shaula's face, the small blonde girl endured this new source of shame. It was unimportant considering their current task at hand.

As the two up front began working things out, Garfiel had already cleared the small cars of the train and was now covering Subaru's escape.

"Get 'n here cap'n! C'mon!" Cheering his captain on, Garfiel couldn't help but notice the obscene amount of blood that drenched Emilia's stomach. Had he been there when they had their mini-surgery, the probability of him vomiting from all the gore would have been pretty high.

That said, his eyes were immediately taken away from Subaru and Emilia as he spotted a figure out in the distance.

This figure looked to be equipped with a long range rifle of sorts, and they were most definitely aiming at Subaru and Emilia. "Shit! Cap'n, hurry up!"

All this yelling only brought more attention to the running Subaru, who really didn't need it at the time. His mind still ablaze, he could barely make out what Garfiel was saying as all he could focus on was moving and keeping Emilia safe. The only thing he could make out was that he needed to sprint faster.

As the scav began to hone his sights in on the running boy, a grouping of bullets whizzed by him, followed up by one of the loudest shots to ever grace this Earth.

Having fired both of his double barrels at the distant sniper, Garfiel glared towards him as he began to pull the trigger for the second shots to be fired, only to be cut off by Subaru breaking into the train and screaming, "GET US OUT OF HERE!"

Heeding the command, Shaula and Beatrice quickly closed the train's exterior doors and put it into a reversed movement, pulling them out of the reserve.

Moments later, a green flare could be seen rising above the former military base as the train exited the station.

---

Hey there. Been a while since I posted something ay? Well I'm back now, though. This fic isn't gonna get lots of updates, but I'm going to stay dedicated to it this time. A huge thanks to Tatoes, Conoor, Oteyspinster, and Killthestory for either helping me out with this fic or accidentally being the inspiration for it. These guys were a huge help throughout this process. Also, huge thanks to both the Reactionist and Re:Start(Or as it has been rebranded, The Forbidden Library) Discord servers for being there to bounce ideas off of. You guys are bloody amazing.

See you next chapter I guess. Oh yeah, one more thing before I go...

We have some art coming out soon. And it looks amazing so far. You're awesome Evon.

-Cheers from Grimbo