October 27, 2062
0200
"The snows getting heavier." Hyena extends his hand out, letting the snow pile up on the fingerless gloves he wears.
"Da, Comrade," PPsh-41 says, placing a hand on his shoulder. "Let us finish the mission quick so we can go back home."
Hyena smiles underneath his balaclava. "Understood. Let's not keep the Commander waiting."
PPsh-41 gives him a smiling nod and walks ahead of him, climbing over the hill they were dropped behind. Hyena follows after maintaining the space between him and her.
From the atop the hill, both soldiers can see down into the town and into the objective. The town below was abandoned long before SF moved in as apparent from the destroyed buildings. Destroyed masonry and holes caused by shelling dictate that the town was once the site of a battle some time ago. Hyena knows not who fought the battle, but from the scene in front of him, he can assume there was no victor.
Hyena takes out a pair of binoculars and looks through them towards the objective. Just as the Commander said, the FOB is still under construction. The walls have yet to be finished, and the turrets atop the completed sections are offline. He scans the area in front of the walls to see enemy patrols marching along their predesignated pathways. They bear unfamiliar weapons and outfits that could be best described as "lewd."
"What's the verdict, comrade," PPsh-41 asks.
Hyena points to three different areas of the FOB. "It seems the enemies are most concentrated at these points." He raises the hood of his BDU. "If you're quiet, you can probably sneak through the patrols and attach the devices to the supplies." He sighs. "I'm not sure what will happen when you do it, though…"
PPsh-41 looks at him, puzzled. "What do you mean?"
"Well, it's going to be obvious when the supplies are extracted. A massive crate flying off into the air is pretty difficult not to see." Hyena rubs his chin. "Once that happens, the base will be on full alert."
"Well, that won't be a problem," PPsh-41 says gleefully.
"And why's that."
"Because you will be watching over me, my ангел-хранитель."
Hyena looks at her with a slight smile. "I will do what I can." He points to a ruined church with a tower that overlooks the town. "I will set up there and provide overwatch. Remember that we have no ways of communicating."
"Yes, comrade, I know." She says, looking at the FOB. "We meet back at the LZ at 0300, whether we complete the primary objective or not." She looks at Hyena with soft eyes. "It's better to get back home alive than not at all."
Hyena nods and looks towards the ruined church. He gets up from his kneeling position and heads down the hill while PPsh-41 heads in the direction of the FOB.
The streets of the town are utterly devoid of sound except for the crunching of Hyena's boots on snow. The darkness combined with the snow, slow his progress to the church, and he can feel his energy being ebbed away with each step. However, he presses on until he reaches the doors of the church. He slings his rifle in front of him and enters.
The first thing through the door is his m200. He slowly opens the door so that he can squeeze through. Upon entering, Hyena notices that part of the roof of the church caved in, allowing the snow to pour into the main area. Everything inside is in disarray as if the people living here were in a hurry to move everything. Hyena shakes the idea and heads up the side stairs leading to the tower.
As he climbs to the second floor of the church, he notices a metallic glint before climbing the ladder into the tower. He cautiously walks over to it and finds the glint barely peeking out from under the snow. He wipes away the snow to reveal a Makarov handgun. He looks around the pistol and sees out of the corner of his eyes a boot submerged in snow. He picks up the gun and moves to the boot. Hyena kneels down and picks up the boot only to find that it is attached to a dismembered leg. He quickly throws it back down.
"That wasn't very nice, comrade." A voice coughs from the darkness.
Hyena points the Makarov towards the voice and cocks it. He pulls out a lighter and flicks it activating its small flame. He shines it towards the sound.
From the flame is revealed the body of a girl. She wears a blue ushanka with a red star upon it and a red scarf that goes from her neck to her navel. Her outfit compromises of what used to be a blue shawl, white skirt, and black stockings. Now, however, her once beautiful outfit has been ripped to shreds, and she lies in a corner, disheveled. Her right leg is missing, blown off at the knee, and her left leg is completely gone. A combination of dried blood and mechanical parts poke out from her missing limbs.
"It's not nice to stare." The girl says in a severe tone.
Hyena looks her up and down. "You one of the commanders, girls?"
"Yes. Well, at least I was until he abandoned my squad here. Are you the rescue team?" She laughs. "You're only a week late."
Hyena walks over to her and kneels in front of her. "No. I'm actually here on a supply run mission. What's your name."
"Makarov." She looks at the handgun Hyena holds.
Hyena looks down at the handgun as well. "I take it this is yours? You want it back?"
"No, you keep it, comrade. You're going to need it." Makarov says with a smile as she lifts her shot off arms.
"A stupid question." Hyena places the handgun in his right holster. "Sorry."
"It's fine. Go complete your mission. I'll be here." Makarov says, still smiling.
"I'll be back for you. I promise." Hyena says, getting up from his position. "No soldier left behind." He says, approaching the ladder to the tower.
Makarov silently watches Hyena climb the ladder, her red eyes fixed on him. Hyena climbs the ladder and makes it into the tower. The tower is small and only has four windows. Luckily for Hyena, all four windows point towards the objective. He mounts the bipod of the m200 to the window and scopes in.
Hyena scans the surroundings through the scope until he catches a glimpse of PPsh-41. He can see her attach a Fulton device to a red shipping crate. She moves away from the crate and takes cover behind some sandbags and activates the Fulton device. The crate flies quickly into the air just as expected, and just as Hyena expected, the alarms of the base start to go off.
"Shit." Hyena curses under his breath.
He scopes back in and follows PPsh-41's movements completely. She moves quickly to the next crate and attaches the device to it, sending another shipping crate into the air. As she moves to the next one, Hyena spots a shielded enemy unit about to intercept PPsh-41's sprint.
Hyena loads a shot and fires. The armored unit hits the ground dead just before encountering PPsh-41. PPsh-41 stops her sprint in front of the dead unit and turns around. Hyena scopes in on her just in time to see her give a slight nod. She turns back around and continues her sprint.
Another unit tries to intercept PPsh-41, but Hyena takes it down with another well-placed shot. He loads another bullet into his gun in preparation for the next enemy. PPsh-41 enters into a building from which Hyena cannot see into. He takes this time to look at his watch.
"0250," He says aloud. "The operation is almost over and only two crates." He says to himself, disappointingly.
Just as he finishes, PPsh-41 exits the building. Hyena scopes back onto her and finds that she is grasping her shoulder, and her gun is missing. She starts to limp towards the third crate and just barely attaches the device to it before a patrol turns the corner. She limps over to a wall and rests against it. Hyena can see that the enemy is starting to zero in on her position, and if something doesn't happen, they'll find and eliminate her.
Hyena scopes in on a larger patrol comprising of 6 hostiles. He begins to take them out one by one without any space between shots. He then turns to a patrol near PPsh-41 and takes out the most armored of the ones there. This draws the attention away from PPsh-41 as the patrols move from her location and start to move towards Hyenas.
"Good. Let them come." Hyena says under his breath as he loads another magazine.
Instead of focusing on the closer patrols, Hyena aims for the farthest patrols and fires at will. Each shot finds its mark, and the escape route for PPsh-41 becomes ever more apparent. She takes the opportunity granted and escapes the base and disappears into the town.
Hyena lets out a sigh of relief. He leaves the m200 against the window and climbs down the ladder.
"Things are getting really hectic out there, comrade," Makarov says as she sees Hyena.
"Eyup. It's about time for us to ditch this party." Hyena says, picking up Makarov and princess carrying her.
"My hero," Makarov says sarcastically.
Hyena ignores her comment and climbs down the stairs with her. He quickly heads out the door he came in from and starts to run down the road. As he runs, he can hear encroaching crunching from behind him. Cold sweat drips down Hyena's face as he struggles to run in the heavy snowfall while carrying Makarov.
As if to make things worse for the duo an enemy unit approaches from in front of them. Hyena quickly drops Makarov and pulls out his handgun. The enemy unit fires at Hyena but misses. Hyena fires two shots. Both shots hit their mark, and the enemy falls to the ground dead. He picks Makarov back up and continues running.
"Shit, I didn't expect them to be this fast," Hyena struggles to say through haggard breathing. He kicks open the door of a nearby building and heads inside.
The building, from the looks of it, used to be a bar of some sort. The bottles behind the bar table are still in place, having not been moved in a very long time. The once adorned windows have long since shattered, and the wood floor has signs of shrinkage from the snowfall.
Hyena steps into the bar and makes his way behind the bar table and places Makarov against the table leaning forward.
"Are you alright, comrade?" She asks innocently.
"Yeah. Yeah." Hyena responds through haggard breaths. "Just need to catch my breath. That's all." He says this while leaning forward, his hands on his knees.
"We must move quickly. The enemy will soon be upon us."
Hyena looks at her with a face of contempt. "This would be easy if I hadn't picked up additional weight." He jokes.
"I'm not that heavy!" She doesn't try to hide the embarrassment in her voice.
Hyena lets out a dry chuckle. He regains his breath and stands up straight. Hyena looks over the bar table to the outside. He can spot movement in the darkness and can hear the distinct sound of crunching snow. He takes place next to Makarov and checks the magazine of the handgun.
"8 shots remaining," Hyena says plainly.
"Make every shot count comrade," Makarov says with a weak smirk.
Hyena nods solemnly. Just then, the sound of metal on wood reaches both their ears. Hyena peeks over the bar table and sees an enemy unit enter the bar by itself. He sits back down next to Makarov and waits.
.Step.
Hyena lunges over the bar table and tackles the enemy unit. He catches the unit off guard and easily knocks it over. He struggles with the unit on the ground, trying to put the unit in a chokehold, but the unit fights back. After a bit of struggling, he finally puts the unit in a chokehold, and with one fluid motion, he snaps the unit's neck.
The unit ceases; it's struggling and stops moving altogether. Hyena then takes his gun and turns it around so that he holds it by its barrel. He then pistol whips the units head until its helmet breaks. He stops upon looking at what is underneath the bulbous helmet.
Underneath the helmet lies the beautiful face of a woman. Her hair is brown and long as it comes completely undone with the shattering of the mask. Hyena hesitates with his handgun upon looking a the unconscious face.
"Finish her off," Makarov says, having somehow made it atop the bar table.
Hyena looks at Makarov then back to the unit. He stares at the unconscious woman before him and is frozen stiff. He looks back to Makarov and quickly assesses her condition. Upon finishing his assessment, he looks back at the unit and smiles. He raises his handgun and brings it down on the unconscious units face.
Thwack. Thwack. Thwack.
Hyena crushes the units face with the butt of his handgun. He continues, and with each hit, the face turns from human too machine. Each hit reveals both blood and metal. He continues until the unit's head is all but crushed, the evidence of a beautiful face all but gone.
"Good job. Now that vespid won't reveal our location." Makarov says, coughing into her shoulder.
"Let's keep moving," Hyena says, ignoring her comment putting his handgun back into its holster. He picks her up again, this time soldier carrying her, and heads out of the bar.
Outside, the snow has ceased falling. Hyena lets himself breath a sigh of relief and checks his vicinity. Nothing. He listens carefully only to find that the crunching of snow has ceased, and the alarms have gone quiet.
"Looks like we're in the clear." He says to Makarov.
"Da, it would seem so, comrade," Makarov responds with relief.
Hyena runs down the road with Makarov on his back. He heads up the hill where the mission began and heads towards the original LZ. PPsh-41 is nowhere to be found. Hyena checks his watch to find the time reads 0430.
"Shit." Hyena curses.
Hyena puts down, Makarov gently on the hard-packed snow. He kneels down next to her and grabs his belt-mounted radio. He holds it to his mouth but does not transmit. His mouth trembles as he holds the receiver to it.
After a moment, Hyena presses the transmitter. "This is Hyena requesting immediate extraction!" He quickly yells into the radio. He turns the transmitter off, placing the radio into the snow, and withdraws the handgun from its holster, pointing it towards the hill.
"Hyena?" A mature Russian accented voice garbles over the radio.
Hyena picks the radio up with one hand but does not look away from the hill. "Yes, this is Hyena. Requesting immediate extraction. I have wounded."
"This is DP28 reading, tovarisch. Sending extraction. ETA 30 minutes." The voice responds over the radio.
"Understood. Holding position until then."
Hyena places the radio back into the snow. He looks at Makarov.
"Looks like we're getting out of here alive," Hyena says, feigning cheerfulness.
Makarov looks at him; her disrepair made even more prominent by the contrasts between the dark metal that protrudes out of her and the pure white snow. "I'll believe it when we're back at base." She says, holding back her hope.
Hyena looks at her and gives her a smile from underneath his balaclava.
Crunch. Crunch. Crunch. Crunch. Crunch.
Hyena turns around back towards the hill to see a figure charging at him full speed. He lets loose 5 shots from his gun, but each shot bounces off the new aggressor. The aggressor is another one of the female units, but this one bears a shield and a shock rod. The aggressor continues to charge down the hill.
"It's a Guard!" Makarov shouts from behind. "Run!"
Hyena doesn't turn to look at Makarov. "I won't leave you behind!" He shouts back, standing up, preparing to take the charge.
The Guard stops her charge just in front of Hyena and takes a battle-ready stance. Before Hyena can adjust himself, she stabs at him with the shock rod, causing him to drop his gun. Hyena dodges the dangerous part of the rod and grabs it by the shaft. He then rips it from the grasp of the Guard. Both the Guard and Makarov make confused faces.
Hyena takes the rod and slams it against the Guards shield putting the Guard on the defensive. The rod takes all of Hyena's strength to wield effectively, and each blow he lands takes the breath right out of him.
The Guard, on the other hand, lacks the limitations of the human body and simply guards perfectly against each of his blows. She makes no attempt to go back on the offensive and simply takes each blow as they come.
"She's whittling you down comrade!" Makarov shouts. "She's holding for reinforcements!"
"I know!" Hyena says, landing another blow to the Guards shield. "But so are we!" He slams the shock rod against the Guards shield with a mighty swing shattering both the shield and the shock rod. This causes Hyena to flinch.
The Guard capitalizes on Hyena's opening and tackles him to the ground. She tries to lay punches into him, but they come out weak and amateurish. Hyena blocks her punches and grabs hold of her waist and forces her on her back. He wraps his hands around her neck and begins to choke the Guard.
The Guard, seemingly unaffected by the choking, lays a blow straight into Hyena's side, causing him to reel. He lands backward on his back, and only then does he notice his gun in the snow. He begins to crawl to it, but the Guard sees his new objective. She grabs hold of his leg and drags him back to her. Hyena grabs at the snow, trying to find an anchor but finds none.
The Guard drags Hyena back and gets on top of him once again. She imitates what he did to her and wraps her hands around Hyena's neck. Hyena gasps for air as the mechanical hands wrap around his throat. He throws an adrenaline-filled punch towards the Guards, visor, shattering it. The Guard loosens its grip around Hyena's neck, allowing him to escape from under her. He quickly crawls to the gun and grabs hold of it. He jumps to his feet and points the gun towards the Guard.
But he doesn't fire. For just a moment, he hesitates upon looking at the unveiled face of the Guard. The face of a young woman greets him once again. This time, however, this face is full of life and looks at him with teary eyes. Her black pigtails, with a tuft in front dyed purple, and her lewd outfit cause Hyena's hand to tremble with uncertainty.
"Shoot her, Hyena," Makarov says quietly from behind him.
Hyena looks at Makarov from over his shoulder. "She's beaten. It's over." Hyena looks at the Guard and waves the gun towards the hill. "Leave." He commands.
The Guard gets up from the ground and stares at Hyena with confused eyes. She continues to watch him as she walks back towards the hill. As she reaches the top of the hill, the sound of helicopter rotors can be heard. She quickly disappears down the hill.
"You're going to regret that," Makarov barks.
Hyena shrugs as he looks towards the descending helicopter. He picks up Makarov and heads towards the helicopter. As the aircraft descending the doors open revealing PPsh-41.
"Good to see you, comrade!" She shouts over the sound of helicopter rotors. She notices the person Hyena is carrying. "Makarov? Is that you?"
"Don't act surprised идиот," Makarov spouts back.
Hyena places Makarov into the helicopter then jumps in himself. He puts her in a seat and sits down next to her. Her damaged body forces her into a leaning position, and she leans against Hyena's shoulder.
PPsh-41 notices, and a big smile appears on her face. "Looks like you two get along quite nicely. The Commander will be pleased."
Makarov notices how the situation looks and blushes. "It's not like that." She quietly says.
The helicopter takes off and heads back towards base. As it leaves, the new sun begins to show itself on the horizon. Hyena watches the sunrise and takes out the handgun and checks the magazine.
"Three shots left." He thinks to himself. He lets out a sigh and nods off.