Stalingrad
1943
Earth: Home
"Come on, they can't have gotten far." He said to Reaper as he started a rusty looking snowmobile.
A few blazing bullets later...
"Outrider!" Anthony shouted as he dropped into the back of the truck. "Wheres Polina?" His eyes went wide with fear.
"In another truck!" She said over the loud chaos of shooting guns. The truck took a slight swerve, wobbling their balance.
"Reaper! What are you doing up there?" Anthony shouted to the robot as it took out the driver. "Wait a minute bot, I need you to slam on brakes."
"And get us killed?! Plus what if she's in that truck." Outrider pointed to the vehicle behind them.
"She wont be..." he mumbled the last part. "I don't think."
"Slamming on the breaks." Reaper casually announced. Anthony and Outrider were thrown onto the the truck behind them as they held on to the top and sides. Their grip didn't last for long when the two trucks were thrown into each other, causing a domino affect.
He found himself lying face down in the snow. Remains of damaged vehicles all around him followed by mass amounts of soldiers surrounding him. He knew it was risky riding in with an army of Germans, but they were running low on time and options. He sat up and looked behind him to see the others either unconscious or confused on the cold fluffy ground.
The Germans detained the squad and snatched their weapons and lethals away before pulling them up on their feet and giving them a harsh shove with the ends of their guns. "Now we will have to walk the rest of the way you reckless moron!" The Nazi spat. The army marched with its newly acquired prisoners with five tanks for protection.
"That was kind of the point." Anthony gave Outrider and Reaper a smirk. They got the cue.
He used his cyber core to harbor his active camo, while Reaper used his psychosis and Outrider, her cyber core to send out the deadly swarm of insects. Polina followed their lead and wrestled a few of the soldiers to the ground with her hands still bound as she pulled a smoke canister from their belt.
Anthony hid within the smoke taking each soldier down one by one, picking up even more smoke canisters along the way. All the hundreds of soldiers were dispersing and freezing still, waiting for something to happen.
There was only sound of blindly shot bullets and collapsing bodies hitting the snow. He was able to regroup with the others as they all stumbled upon one another, nearly scaring each other to killing the other by mistake.
"Smokes about to clear, we can't take them all. Even with our gear, it'd be more trouble than its worth." Outrider glanced towards the cloud of smoke separating them from the other hundreds of men.
"So then we go recover our gear." Anthony nodded. "You go with Polina back to the trucks." He pointed to the remains a few feet to their left. "..while Reaper and I go look for the son of a bitch that took mine." They all quickly dispersed into their groups seconds before the smoke cleared.
He scanned the area as the smoke rose, finding the man with his pistol not so far away but still surrounded by a decent chunk of men. "That one, there." He pointed. Reaper used his own scanners to see who he was talking about. "Target sited." The robot responded, deploying his scythe.
Together they laid waste to the men their weapons touched. But unfortunately in the grand scheme of things they had only chipped off a small piece of the massive army that faced them. "I've missed you." He held up his reacquired pistol with a smile.
He saw their tanks come around the corner of the mountain, their cannons turning to stalk them. Anthony quickly deployed more smoke. "Come on!" He shouted at Reaper to follow him as he used his boost pack to leap the distance towards the others.
As he landed he began to see grenades and bullets fly past him. "Guys we've got to go. Now!" He shouted at Polina and Outrider who had just retrieved their own weapons.
They all ran using their boost to leap away as far as they could. Polina piggy backed a ride from Reaper as they traveled.
"Shit, our boost is low!" Outrider said.
"Mine too. Just keep running!" Suddenly a massive shell landed near them sending them all flying in the same direction. Anthony was quick to his feet, ignoring the the shard of metal in his shoulder. "Get up! Keep running!" He helped the others to their feet. "Mason get us out of here!"
"Copy." She responded.
They continued to run on foot bullets flying past them. One happened to chip a peice of Polina's flesh in the back of her leg.
"Polina?!" Anthony turned around rushing towards her as he heard her scream in pain. "Sorry, we don't have time." He said as she tried to stand and walk on her own. He carried her across his shoulders and kept running with the others.
"Mason! What's the problem?!"
"Working on it!"
"Well work faster!"
"Incoming shell!" Outrider yelled. Anthony took a quick glimpse behind him to see not one, but three shells coming their direction.
"Mason now! Mason!" He yelled, feeling the explosives inch closer towards them. "Mason if I die... I'm gonna be pissed!"
They all yelled for the bracing impact of their deaths when suddenly they felt themselves go weightless. It was quiet. There was no more bullets. No more screaming Nazis. The explosives were gone. He sat up on the bank of a flowing creek. It's waves were violent, telling him that a storm must have recently passed.
"Mason..?"
"Oh good, your alive." Samantha sighed with relief.
"Well yea we almost didn't!" He scolded. He stood to see the others come out of the woods behind him.
"Sorry about that, had some technical problems."
"Well it better not happen again. So tell me where the hell are we and why are Reaper and Outrider's comm pieces still broken?!"
"1980." She fell silent as did he.
"No, Mason. Get us out of here. We need to regroup and resupply." He said sternly.
"Sorry Commander but we can't do that. Not yet. With the current situation here I'm only able to send in Ruin. I need the rest held here to defend the facility. Yesterday we lost about 8 men. I need as many soldiers here as possible. Ruin will have their fixed comm pieces. You'll have to resupply on your own. We don't have enough to spare."
"Why haven't-" he was cut short when he heard something stumble from the woods behind them. It was a noise that he had only heard once or twice before.
They all immediately fired their weapons on the 3 zombies that charged at them from the green forestry.
"Mason, why don't you explain to me why we're standing here looking at 3 dead zombies" Anthony asked, reloading his Redeemer.
She hesitated to respond at first.
"Mason!" He demanded.
"It was only a theoretical possibility. It's not something we were sure would happen but I guess it can."
"What Mason? I'm tired of these riddles just tell me." He sighed.
"In order to jump back and forth through time and into other universes you have to pass through the Dark Aether."
"The what?"
"It's another dimension. It's where the undead reside and every zombified beast you can imagine. Stepping foot in there will drive one mad. But it's been done before. Somehow. That's why I've sent you to this time period. Go, find supplies and whatever else you need. Ruin will meet you there with your briefing."
"Mason wait we-" she cut their connection temporarily. He let out a heavy sigh.
"What's happening?" Outrider asked.
"I'll explain on the way." He said, leading them as they followed the stream. "Oh and be sure to cloak yourselves in the right clothing." He reminded them.
1980
East Berlin
"And she just expects us to be okay with this? This isn't how we planned things." Outrider was frustrated just like the rest of them.
"So this is the future.." Polina glanced around as they came out of the woods and into civilization."
"After the second world war this is what became of Berlin. The Allies took the West while the Soviets took the East. And of course we had to land in the East."
"And the Nazis?" She asked.
"They went into hiding. Most were captured and interrogated. Some they let rot in prison while others were killed. And there was a slim number of those who were lucky enough to remain in hiding until they eventually died."
"Steiner?"
"I can't speak on that."
"Why?" She scoffed.
"You can ask Mason when she brings us back." He ended their conversation when they reached the back of a hotel. They discreetly used their thrust packs to climb through a window of the building, securing themselves 2 empty rooms.
"We'll need some supplies. Polina I'll go get you clothes to fit in while I'm out. Reaper, make sure nobody goes anywhere. Hopefully I'll be back in time before Ruin arrives." He hoped back out of the window, using his thrust to land him before cloaking it once more.
Luckily he knew a contact that just so happened to be in the area around this time.