1980
East Berlin
He roamed the East until he found the right alleyway. The moon gave him light to read the markings on the sewer lid as he slid it across the ground before he covered it back up.
He had his Redeemer in hand while he used his cyber core to see in the darkness. His feet splashed against the shallow river of flowing water. "Did you just get back from Afghan?" He asked, feeling Stone's presence behind him. "I need a favor from-" he turned around, lowering his weapon when Stone fired a few bullets into Anthony's chest. The bullet fire lit up the sewers long enough for Stone to see the body collapse.
Anthony coughed up blood as Stone dragged him deeper into the sewer system. "Nice... fit." He managed to say. Stone's shiny new metallic skeleton mask matched his red balaclava well along with his coat and the rest of his clothes.
Stone tossed the body against one of the walls of the abandoned subway train that he had turned into one of his many "homes". He looted the Redeemer off Anthony's body. "How did a twat like you end up with a weapon like this?" Stone chuckled, observing the pistol.
Anthony had a small coughing fit before he felt one his bullet wounds closing. Stone turned around to his work table and got his tools out, giving Anthony time to recover. Stone heard his coughing stop, figuring he was dead. Anthony snuck up behind the man, slamming his head against the table and taking his pistol back. He held him to gunpoint from behind as he had his other arm around his throat. "Do you know who I am, Harry?"
"I'v never met you until just a few moments ago when you broke into my safe house!"
"Just tell me where your ammunitions are at." Stone walked them over to the next subway train where it was loaded with guns and ammo. Before he could try and attack again, Anthony knocked him unconscious with the stock of his pistol. He grabbed a duffle bag and some clothes he hoped would fit Polina.
The team lowered their weapons when they realized it was just Anthony crawling back through the window, duffle bag in hand.
"What happened to you?" Ruin greeted him as he handed out comm pieces to the others. Blood stained Anthony's clothes.
"I fell..." he mumbled, Ruin sat the matter aside.
"Here." He handed Anthony a pack of cigarettes. "Regards from Mason." He said.
He took the pack and tossed it out the window. "Regards." He scoffed. "Just tell me what our mission is so we can get the hell out of this place."
"We need to find Samantha Maxis. Allegedly she has been into this Dark Aether before and even at one time had power over it. Mason believed that these important pieces of intel that were no longer in our time of 2065 would help, hints why she sent you all hopping around time to look for anything that might help the science team back home. But now that we have discovered the existence of Maxis, why even bother with the intel when she knows how to control the Dark Aether itself. If we capture her we will have control over the undead. We can kill them." He held a leather journal in his hand.
"Whats this?" Anthony took the journal, scanning through it.
"I found it on one of the dead bodies when we were recovering our weapons just before we jumped." Polina explained. "Its an early formula for the nova 6 gas."
"Keep that safe. Tomorrow we'll head to the West side. Maxis and the rest of her team will be on an op. Mason told me to inform you all to gather around the bar and the hotel that they will be near. And when you see her capture, we want her alive." He gave everyone the address. "Petrov,while you were gone I had Reaper quickly gather photos of the area." Ruin tossed polaroids onto the bed.
"Walsh I want you and Reaper stationed on the rooftops. Castillo, you will be near the subway entrance. Polina I want you outside of the hotel in case she walks into the bar, follow her. I'll be on the sidewalks as a guard. If anyone questions you, you'll just have to improvise. We don't have time to get fake IDs and backgrounds. Once you have her meet back here. Any questions?" Anthony looked around the room. "Good, now lets get some sleep."
They scored big on their hotel rooms, each room having 2 of their own separate rooms. Anthony had his own bed as did Ruin while Reaper went into sleep mode in the front door area.
He was anxious about tomorrows mission. Even though they were a year ahead of the events of 1981, it still made him uneasy that they were going to be operating in the same place that he and his former "team" already did, or will... He let the thought go as he drifted off.
He sat up in a pile of snow. Floating jellyfish roamed the dark purple sky. From behind he heard four zombies as they charged towards him. He stumbled to his feet in time to kill them all. He ran until he found a wooden box, a question mark carved into the wood. He hesitated to open it before he gave into his craving curiosity. He was gifted a FARA 83 assault rifle. He knew he had to be dreaming when he found it had the same paint job as the race car he and Elena built when they were children.
He was interrupted when swarms of zombies flooded him. There were too many to handle at once. He had to shoot and run, being cautious not to stay turned around for too long.
"Why do you run?" A deep, roaring disembodied voice rang through his head.
"Why have you brought me back here?!" He shouted as he killed more zombies.
"You don't belong there in their world Anthony."
"No! I'm getting out of here and we will never speak again!"
The zombies suddenly became idle as they stood there parting the way for a massive creature and two hell hounds to accompany him.
"What do you want from me?" He raised his voice at the zombie in its bulky metallic suit.
"You." The being let his two dogs attack him. Anthony fought one of them off until the other got the best of him. He heard a click in his gun, no more ammo. The dog jumped him as he fell to his back. There was a sharp pain in his side. He looked down to see a chunk of his own flesh missing and his blood pouring out.
The undead metallic man lifted him by the throat and dragged him to the center of the crowd. He sat him down and stood behind Anthony as the man struggled to stay still without a fight. "Go ahead, try and save yourself." The zombies rushed at their sitting duck. The other dog making first contact while the other zombies tore pieces of his flesh. He screamed, tears flowing from his eyes until the pain went numb and the only thing he could feel was the hand on the back of his neck forcing him to watch. The being laughed and suddenly his head felt as if it were spinning.
"Commander." Reaper shook the man's shoulders.
"Commander."
"Commander..?"
Anthony shot awake, drawing his weapon on Reaper, his eyes wide.
"Stand down, Commander." Reaper had his own weapon drawn.
"Sorry." He took a deep breath. "I just.. had a very vivid dream."
"No need to worry Commander. It was just a dream." Reaper patted the man on the back.
"Please... don't touch me.." he mumbled throwing his feet over the side of the bed. "Make sure you and everyone has everything they need. We'll head out later today."
"Copy." The robot responded, leaving the room.
He waited for the door to shut before he got up from his bed. He felt his side for any wounds or markings, anything indicating injury. All he found was his own cold sweat. He hadn't even run into anyone yet and there was nothing else he wanted more than to be gone from this time.
He walked by himself into a field far enough that any gunfire wouldn't be loud. He told the others he would be back before they left out in a few hours for tonight's op.
"I used to be quite the athlete when it came to football." He recalled her telling him.
"Really? You? A soccer pro?" He could feel the smile form on his face as if he were still there.
"I don't think you could beat me, you'd probably break your other ankle." She teased.
He tried to push her out of his mind as he threw his knife into one of the nearby trees. He went to retrieve it once it landed on one of the targets he had carved into the bark. On the first try the knife wouldn't budge and his emotions and patients got the better of him. He began punching the tree, each punch with greater force. His cybernetic hand could take the repeated punches. He paused feeling a presence.
"Unfortunately you get that from me." Polina had told the others she was going to follow him.
"What? My badass precision." He joked trying to avoid the obvious.
"Well that too but I meant your emotions." They both sat against the tree.
"I ran downstairs to tell them something one night." He kept his eyes to his feet as he sat with his knees curled towards him. "I overheard them arguing... about me. Papa didn't like it when I got angry. Used to I believed he disciplined me for my temper because he didn't want my future commanders and higher ups to discipline me themselves. And now I realize... he did it because he didn't want it to get out of control. So much so that one day I might hurt them... or someone else. He was afraid that one day I would kill someone I held dearly to me. I may not be fond of the old man but I can at least appreciate his effort for trying to tame a killer.
"Theres someone here you don't want to see. Isn't there."
He only looked up at her with a confused but saddened look on his face. He didn't know what to say.
"I just want to get out here, before anymore zombies come." He sniffed, looking away into the field.
She laughed.
"What's so funny?" He shot back.
"It's funny because we kill, sneak, and lie for a living. You cannot deceive me Plymyannik." She patted his back.
"She must have been something if your shedding tears like a little suka on me."
"I'm not." He said sternly.
"Yes you are. See look." She poked around his eye where there was a tear.
"Ow!" He swatted at her hand.
"See. Wet tears." She showed him her finger with his tears on it.
"Well that because you just poked my eye!" He sighed from frustration, not wanting to talk about this.
"Your not running away from it this time Anthony. I can tell you've been living with this for a while now. Why does she have you like this?"
"We don't have time for this." He began to stand up.
"Actually we have four hours." She placed a hand on his shoulder and forced him back down.
"Fine. If I'm going to tell you, I might as well start from the beginning." He began to explain his life from as far back as he can remember, how he was recruited by Perseus and how the CIA abducted him. When he asked about everything with the CIA he had to go into great detail about what happened, what they had done to him and how it still plagues him even now. It pained him to speak about her... and all their "adventures" they had up until her and Elena's deaths.
"Sometimes I wonder had I listened to Papa, that maybe they would still be right next to me."
"Even if you had, it wouldn't have made a difference Anthony. You have strong emotions that sometimes can be a harmful weapon that is unforgiving. But it makes you forget about the good ones. It means that when you care for your close friends and family that you care with a deep passion. You will never be able to tame your human feelings." She let out a breath. "I have tried. Sometimes acting upon them can save lives, and sometimes it takes them, even your own. You just have to be weary of what may happen if you make that gamble."
Tears fell down his face as he held his head low. It felt great to sit with someone who knew what it was like to not have control over his own heart. Who knew what it meant to hurt, deeply. After he had confessed, she did as well. She shared what had scarred her own heart. It had been decades since he felt this connected to someone. It was a strange feeling. And so they sat there, grieving together everything they had lost.