Well, these are awkward times. Now that we have to deal with Corona, I realized just how many stories, movies and games use viruses as plot-devices. Not only Starcraft but pretty much, well, everything. I must admit that it's somewhat weird to play a game like The Division right now. Anyway, I do hope that all of you are doing okay. Let's entertain you a bit with another chapter.
Since there will be a lot of Stukov in this chapter, I'd like to point out that I actually don't like the character. I don't hate him either. It's just...I don't know, he offers nothing that makes him intruiging. At least for me. But I do understand that he's a fan-favorite. Like Dehake, some character I also don't really care about. Well, let's see if there will be a happy end for this old space-Russian. This chapter contains a flashback about Stukov's life back on Earth. Since there isn't any source-material (or at least nothing that I could find) this is just my version of the story.
Take care
Chapter 22
The Choices we make
Silence. It was the only thing it craved. Silence, and the sweet embrace of nothingness. Down here, forgotten by everyone and everything, it could rest, trapped between lucidity and madness. It was the only way to bare its current form of existence.
If it was awake, then the pain of its own body mutating, shifting and tearing itself apart over and over again was enough to drive anyone mad. And if it was asleep, then it would dream. Horrible dreams. Not of death and destruction, though those dreams were also present. No, the worst dreams were the pleasant ones. Dreams of a better past.
Of Earth. Its blue sky. Its endless oceans. The green grass. Soft hills.
You can't go home again...her voice echoed through its mind, reminding him of his place in this universe. Once they had looked up to it. To him. His men. But even then, it had been a life of servitude. He had been the lapdog of a faceless power. And yet, even though this power had vanished so long ago, he still missed it. Missed them. To see it all once more with his own eyes...
I have no place on Earth now...
Had those been his own words? He couldn't tell. Remembering was hard. His mind was like a fog. There were familiar shapes and forms, but nothing that made any sense.
He remembered...a woman.
Pretty. Kind. Resolute. The kind of woman that wouldn't take no for an answer, who would stand her ground and not let anyone tell her what to say or think. A wife. His wife.
These memories brought him nothing but pain. Aside from certain fragments he couldn't remember anything. Not even her name.
He couldn't even remember the name of the woman he had loved!
Children. Four beautiful children. Their faces...sometimes felt as if he could almost remember them. But it would always slip away, like a faint smell that you have smelled once but can't tell where. Or when. It was these memories that drove him insane when he was dreaming. Not the painful ones, but the pleasant ones. Because if he would wake up, the reality would teach him a harsh lesson.
They were gone. He was not.
Perhaps this pain was even worse than the physical one. And so, neither being awake nor asleep was an option. He had found some peace in nothingness, trapped between those two states. Not being awake and not being asleep. This was his existence now. In a way, it was like being undead. Not alive and not dead either. He couldn't really remember why he had ended up in this place. Had it been out of his own volition? Or had he been forced to do this?
He knew that no one had bothered him here for years. Decades. Centuries. So long, in fact, that he hadn't been awake or dreamed for ages. He had almost been...at peace.
And then she had returned...
Her arrival had been like a jolt running through his entire being. It had felt as if every cell inside his body had been invigorated by her having finally found him. The Zerg inside of him, ancient and hopelessly outdated, had recognized her immediately. And it had caused his body to regenerate. Against his will. Muscles, almost completely rotten, had become strong again. A heart, which hadn't pumped any blood in decades, had started to beat once more, only to pump the pain through his mangled body. There was a battle going on inside of him, both within his body and his mind. The fight within his mangled corpse was one of life versus death. And much to his dismay life was winning. He yearned to be human again. Not because the human existence was superior but because he would have perished a long time ago, and then the pain would have stopped. And the dreams and nightmares. He could be at peace.
Instead, the Zerg within his cells refused to just die. Cracked bones became strong again. Torn muscles regenerated. He had no chance to fight this. This body wasn't his own anymore.
Even worse than losing the battle of the flesh was to lose the battle of the mind. Suddenly his worst nightmares became reality. Now he was awake, which meant that he felt every agonizing moment of his own un-life. And he could remember. He remembered what he had lost. His family. His friends. His home. He had tried to avoid being awake and dreaming. Now he was both awake and couldn't stop these memories to haunt him, harass him, torment him.
It was enough to drive him mad with rage.
And all because of her return...
He didn't know why she had come here. But he knew that asking was pointless. She took whatever she wanted to. She was a queen after all, and queens don't have to ask for permission. At all.
It had all gone downhill from there. Nothing made sense anymore. At first she had been alone. Oh yes, there had been others with her, but they hadn't been any threat. Even that Protoss. But then things had become erratic. Suddenly it had felt as if Kerrigan had been all over the place. As if there was more than one...
...but how was that possible?
Whatever the reason, he would not submit to her. Not anymore. Maybe she had no use for him. Maybe she had come here to finally end him. To cut old ties? If so, then she would be the one to finally end his dreadful existence for good.
Yes...
Yes!
If he couldn't find the sweet release of death himself, then she had to do it. He wouldn't ask. No, he would simply force her hand. He remembered that she would not tolerate failure. Or disobedience. So all he had to do was to be spiteful. If you're suicidal, then that's probably the best plan you can come up with. And so, amidst all that pain and confusion, he had tried his best to find his demise by her hand. There was only one slight problem with that...
"The paaaaaiiiiinnn..." the creature formerly known as Stukov howled.
"OH, I'M GOING TO SHOW YOU SOME PAIN, BROTHER!" the Protoss roared before he smashed his fist right into the tormented soul's side. The sheer strength of that punch was enough to break some of his ribs, puncture several of his organs, and make him howl in pain. It was truly amazing. Even though pain had become his constant companion, the punches of this Protoss were even more painful than what he was used to. His many limbs came around, adorned with claws and needle-like fingers, ready to smash his assailant into the nearby wall and then tear him apart.
He did succeed in smashing the Protoss into the wall, but all his opponent did was to laugh, grab some of his malformed limbs, and rip them straight out of their sockets. Piercing screams of pain echoed emerged from his many mouths.
"AW, STOP WHINING!" the Protoss screamed. "YOU GOT PLENTY OF ARMS LEFT!"
Why had they come here? Why now? He was no longer hers to command. Hadn't he suffered enough? If death wasn't allowed to come to him, couldn't at least nirvana be his?
"SUCK ON THAT, UGLY!" the Protoss yelled before smashing his fist straight into Stukov's malformed visage. Blood sprayed. Bones broke. Teeth flew. Excruciating pain caused him to stumble backward when the sheer brute force of that hit cracked his skull and drove pieces of bone right through his pain. But since he was cursed with a body who would not die, the damage was horrible without being lethal. The strength behind the Protoss' hit was enough to make Stukov lose his balance, and his opponent was formidable enough to push on.
"AGGGGGHHHHH!" Another pained scream escaped Stukov's many throats as yet another punch hit him right into what had once been his chest. More bones broke and he was choking up blood and bile.
"Is that all?!" the Protoss howled. "IS THAT ALL?! I'M NOT IMPRESSED!" Every hit was like a train smashing into him. He tried to fight back but his opponent wasn't just strong, he was also freakishly fast. No matter how hard Stukov tried to fight back, he was just no match for this warrior.
You cannot stand up to him...
That voice. He remembered it. A faint memory of someone he once had known and-
"Hey, no daydreaming!" the Protoss barked before he punched Stukov into the face once more. He scored another critical hit and as a result, the creature formerly known as Stukov howled in excruciating pain as his head was abused as a punching ball. And yet his body refused to let him die. This was, in the very sense of the word, hell.
It will always be like this, won't it?
"GHAAAAAA!" Another scream escaped his throat when the Protoss continued his onslaught.
He says jump. And you ask how high and how far.
It all became a blur. A haze of pain and memories that were ripped out of context. He was throwing his claws around, trying to get hold of the Protoss. But his opponent proved to be formidable. Brutal and savage but formidable.
Another punch. And that's when he heard her voice again.
You said that you were done with this life. You said that you wanted to start anew.
Pain. Not just physical pain, but the pain of a soul tearing itself apart. Guilt. Shame. The knowledge of having done a colossal mistake and having to live with it.
"COME ON! FIGHT BACK, YOU STUPID THING!" the Protoss yelled and landed another crushing blow to the head. It was as if every hit was causing another fragmented memory to emerge. As if someone was beating his old self back into his soul.
What about us? What about your duty towards your family?
Fam...ily?
"Hey! Head in the game, you bastard!" the Protoss barked before he smashed his fist into Stukov's face. Blood sprayed. Bones broke. His head flew to the side and the next thing he felt was how it made contact with the cold steel of the wall. And then-
"Hmmm..." Warm. The warm sun on his skin felt nice. The light that was falling through the windows was bright, yet at the same time gentle. It felt...right.
The light of the sun felt good. He felt like a plant but in a good way. A plant that had just received a healthy dose of sunlight and had been doused in water. And just like a plant hiding its roots in the soil, most of his body was covered by a thin sheet.
"How long are you going to just lie there?" A smile appeared on his face when he heard her voice. It had been late when he had arrived last night. So late that she hadn't bothered to stay awake. And when he had finally returned home, he too had yearned for some sleep. So their reunion had been a short one. His attempts to slip into their bed unnoticed had not worked, and his attempt to not draw her ire had been just as successful.
"You're late." she had told him.
"I know."
"The children waited all night for your return. You disappointed them." she stated coldly.
"I know." This time there was a lot of regret in his own voice.
"They even prepared a gift for you. To welcome you home." Yes, he had seen it.
"...I know." he mumbled.
"And the men that brought you here ruined the lawn."
"I...they did what?"
"Their boots. They ruined the lawn. You can fix it in the morning. Now sleep."
And with that the conversation had been over. He hadn't even tried to get closer to her. She would have kicked him out of the bed anyway. Even after all those years in service of the UED, there were still things even Alexei Stukov was afraid of. And one of those things was the woman he loved most. Even then sleep had come easily. The long journey, the time spent in cryo-sleep, the drills, all of that had taken its toll on him. He was not a young man anymore.
Still, when he woke up, he felt good. Fresh. Revitalized. Being on Earth always felt like a vacation.
"Get up. You can't just lie there the whole day." his wife berated him. Her voice sounded less cold than yesterday and slightly amused. "The children are gone; they are with my parents."
"All the more reason to stay in bed then. No one around that can ruin this moment and-" Before he could finish the sentence someone yanked the blanket away, exposing him to the surprisingly chilly air inside their shared bedroom.
"Get up, you goof!" his wife barked. "Breakfast is ready, and the coffee is getting cold. Don't make me call your mother." Ugh, the ultimate threat.
"Just five more minutes..." he mumbled, which earned him even more ire from his wife.
"My mother was right. Marrying a military man is more trouble than it's worth..." he could hear her growl before she left their bedroom for good. When he was certain that she was gone, Alexei Stukov rolled on his back and stared at the white ceiling.
"Welcome home I guess." he whispered. And that's when a grin appeared on his face. Oh, how he had missed this woman!
Breakfast. Some say it is the most important meal of the day, others skip it whenever they can. Frankly, Alexei could understand both sides. To him, breakfast depended on the quality of your surroundings. Whenever he had been on a deployment breakfast had been an ordeal. Get up, get dressed, get something into your belly as fast as possible. Sometimes even while under fire. The life of a soldier was a lot less glorious than those cheap holo-novels made people believe, and the same could be said about the meals. So yeah, he had skipped breakfast plenty of times in moments like these.
But that didn't mean that breakfast was always a nuisance. It could be pleasant. Especially if you share it with people you care about. Like family. To have everyone around you, enjoy the taste of fresh rolls and the smell of hot coffee...
Yes, the quality of breakfast depended on the quality of the people you shared it.
"Why are you smiling like an idiot?" his wife asked him. Only then Alexei noticed that he was grinning like a retard while holding a cup full of hot coffee in his hands.
"I was just thinking..." he mused.
"Pah. Must be some thoughts. About your little tin-soldiers polishing your boots, how they tell you "Yes, Sir!" and "Of course, Sir!" and "Thank you, Sir!" You miss them much?" Uh, someone was in a foul mood.
Alexei Stukov was what you would call a military-man to the very bone. But that didn't mean that he was a blockhead. Some of his comrades even argued that he would waste too much time on the finer things of life. Books, wine and (before he met his wife) women. Education, as his parents had used to tell them, was not a burden but a gift. And let's not forget that it was a book that had allowed him to meet this wonderful woman he called his wife in the first place. She had been impressed by the dashing young lieutenant sitting on a bench during a cold day in winter, too lost in thoughts while reading...
You don't remember the title, do you.
Alexei frowned when he heard that voice inside his mind. He looked at his wife, who was busy doing...something.
"Did you say something?" he asked.
"Oh, don't you try to switch the topic, Mister! You know damn well what I was talking about!" she snarled. He could hear the genuine frustration in her voice. And this time it wasn't the amused kind. She was angry. At him.
So, knowing that something was wrong, Alexei did the most reasonable thing, the thing men had always done in the centuries before and the millennia to come. He decided to make his ancestors proud by doing the age-tested thing called...
...beating around the bush.
"So, how are the children doing?"
Somewhere, in the afterlife (if that place existed) all men that ever had an argument with a woman were cheering on how Alexei was carrying on this ancient tradition. At the same time, all the women in the afterlife were groaning and cursing him for being just another blockhead.
"You would know if you had read all the letters and e-mails they kept sending you."
And that's how Alexei's sneaky plan ended the way how the plans of all men before him usually had ended: In utter defeat.
"I...uhm...was busy." he mumbled.
"Of course you were." she replied. His wife was washing the dish and had turned her back towards him. There was no need to do that herself. They got a dish-washer. Hell, they even got servants who could do that for them. Being a high-ranking officer within the UED-military had its perk. And with the power the military had over the government, a man of Alexei's rank was part of the socialite. His wife had never cared about that. She hadn't married him because of that back then, back when he had been a young and inexperienced lieutenant.
"Listen, I am sorry." Alexei said, trying to ease the tensions. "I can't tell you any details but they needed my expertise on some topics."
"Topics?" his wife asked without turning around. It was weird...as he was staring at her backside, he just couldn't remember her face all of the sudden...
You left them behind. So long ago. So how could you still remember her face?
A frown appeared on his face. Her face?
"The general staff had some questions. About...the feasibility of some things."
"Things? What things?" Her question caused him to sigh.
"You know that I can't tell you. All you need to know is that all these questions were strictly academic in nature. There's no new deployment waiting for m-"
"STOP LYING TO ME!" his wife roared and smashed her hands on the sink. But even then, she wouldn't turn around.
"What...what?!" Alexei gasped. "What's the matter?" Just when his wife was about to turn around, a new voice reached his ears. A familiar one.
"Am I interrupting?"
Alexei looked over to the door. A man stood there, wearing the uniform of an admiral of the UED. He knew those insignia well. As well as the man who was wearing the uniform.
"Gerard?" Alexei asked, dumbfounded by his comrade's sudden appearance.
"Apologies for interrupting. I let myself in. I hope I didn't interrupt you in your-"
"No!" Alexei's wife interrupted the Admiral. "This isn't for my ears anyway. Am I right?"
"Darling..." Alexei muttered.
Darling? That's how you call her? But only because you can't even remember her name!
"...whatever." she snarled and stomped out of the room without throwing another glance at her husband. Or Gerard. "Do me a favor..." she growled as she walked past the Admiral. "...do what you have come here to do. And then leave my home."
"It is good to see you too." Gerard chuckled. He waited until she was gone, and then he flashed a smile at his old friend. "I forgot how lively she can be. You are a blessed man, my old friend."
"Funny..." Alexei growled. "...right now, I feel as if I'm cursed. To what do I owe the pleasure, old friend?" Yes, Gerard DuGalle was one of his closest, maybe even the closest friend Alexei had these days. Before the good Admiral could say anything, the sound of someone slamming a door shut echoed through the house.
"I remember that she had quite the temper. It is good to see that she hasn't changed at all, no?" Gerard teased Alexei.
"Spare me your sarcasm. She's mad because of you. You know how much she hates it when you come into our home. Especially like this." he said and pointed at Gerard, who decided to play the ignorant fool.
"Like this? What are you talking about? Is there dirt on my uniform?" the Admiral asked and looked down at himself. That was of course impossible. His uniform looked pristine.
"No. You came here to talk business." Alexei growled.
"Ah, yes. I suppose you are right about that." Gerard sighed and sat down next to his old friend without even asking for permission. Well, he wouldn't offer Gerard some coffee. And it was way too early for alcohol. Even though he could use a stiff drink right now. Usually, Alexei was always glad to spend some time with his old friend, talk about this and that. But not now. Not here.
Alexei Stukov had always prided himself on being a man who knew how to handle his priorities right. When he was at work, when he was wearing the uniform, then he was a soldier. The only thing that mattered then was the task at hand, the orders they gave him and the orders he was giving. But when he was at home, when he would take off the uniform, then he would be a husband and a father. "Bringing work back to home will only result in a short marriage, my son. Remember that." Those had been his father's words. It was one of the few lectures that he had truly embraced and tried to live after. That, and "always wash your hands after going to the bathroom".
"What do you want?" Alexei growled. Even though Gerard was his friend, he was in no mood for any of this right now. It made his whole "don't take your work back home"-policy useless. And the worst thing was that Gerard knew that.
Which meant...
"I wouldn't have come here if it weren't important, old friend." Gerard confirmed his suspicions.
"I was afraid you'd say that." the Vice-Admiral mumbled.
"I relayed your numbers to the general staff's office. Their reply was...interesting. To say the least."
"I thought we agreed that we would keep those numbers to ourselves. At least until the general staff had made up their minds." Alexei growled. These numbers...were about a plan. An insane plan some would claim. Personally, Alexei couldn't care less about the lost colonies of Earth. He couldn't understand the need of the UED to conquer some ancient colonies no one could even pronounce. Korpulu? Korup? Kopopo? How did you even pronounce that name?
Koprulu. That's the name of the place that ruined you.
"What did you say?" Alexei grunted and looked at his old friend.
"I said: I relayed the numbers to the general staff. It caused quite some heads to turn."
"In anger I suppose?"
"Some of them, yes." Gerard mused. "Some of them wanted to have you demoted immediately."
"I'm too old to be a captain again." Alexei mused.
"Oh, they didn't want to make you a captain." the Admiral chuckled. "But rest assured, I would have taken most of the blame. At least they would have let you off the hock. Apparently, some of them wanted to send me to the penal unit and find a war-ravaged world where I could spend the rest of my miserable life fighting for the honor of the United Earth Directorate."
"Sounds lovely." Alexei sighed. "Yet you aren't on your way to a penal unit and I'm still a vice-admiral. So, I guess your plan has rattled them enough to consider it?" Sometimes you suggest something knowing full well people won't accept it. But that way you showed everyone that you are willing to pull your weight and that you are taking your job seriously. No matter how powerful the UED claimed to be, its strength was finite. And it had enemies. Many enemies. Freedom was a poison, one that men like Stukov and DuGalle had sworn to fight.
To put down uprisings was something that had turned into something quite ordinary for someone working from the UED. Yet men like Alexei and Gerard knew a world beyond all the propaganda that the government was feeding them. They knew that every uprising, every campaign, every dead soldier was a burden that the UED could no longer afford. So why not find a new goal? A remote, long-lost colony. People that were easy to conquer and that would promise new stories that they could feed to the people of Earth and her colonies.
You were looking for easy prey. Instead, you found a place full of madness and destruction. Nothing could have prepared for what you found out there...
That's when Alexei finally realized why his old friend had come here. His eyes widened in shock and surprise.
"Don't tell me..." he whispered.
"They agreed with your assessment of feasibility. And they intend to give us the resources we need to make it happen." And that's when a grin appeared on Gerard's face, a rare thing to happen. "We are going to the Koprulu Sector."
The place of your doom.
"I..." Alexei started. But his voice failed him almost immediately.
"They offered me the position as force commander. Of course, I told them that I would require a second-in-command that I could completely trust. They weren't too happy with me dropping your name." the Admiral explained.
You should have said no! You should have stayed with your family. In your home. Gerard's death was bound to happen. But yours...
Admiral DuGalle offered his friend his hand.
"What do you say?" It was all so much. Alexei knew what he should say. He had promised his wife that he would turn his back on the military-life. There were many jobs for someone like him. The UED would find him a good spot, a well-paid spot. His family had sacrificed a lot for his career. His children were always unsure wherever they should greet him or salute to him. To them, he was less of a father and more like a superior officer.
It was not something he had ever wanted...
You promised them to be there for them. Always. You failed them...
Alexei knew what he should tell Gerard. "Get lost". "Get out of my home". "I'm no longer interested". He knew that. And when he opened his mouth...
"When are we supposed to leave?" he asked, cursing himself on the inside.
You claimed to have loved them. Yet you were willing to abandon them for just another adventure, weren't you? Perhaps it is better that you don't remember their names, their faces. You don't deserve their love and respect.
The smile on Gerard's face turned into a vicious grin when he realized that he had been successful.
"I told the general staff that it would take roughly 5 months to prepare. Once we are done with that, we could leave at once." the Admiral explained. Alexei realized that none of his loved ones would celebrate their birthdays during the next five months. It was wrong. All wrong. And so...
...he grabbed his friend's hand and smiled.
"Like old times, my dear friend."
That's when suddenly Gerard's face vanished and was replaced by the face of a dark-skinned man wearing a beret.
"You shouldn't have left your home, Vice Admiral!" Samir Duran chuckled. Alexei's eyes widened in shock and terror.
"No! You!" he gasped. Memories emerged inside his mind. Duran. Narud. Amon...
And then...
"Stukov!" a new voice barked and he looked to the side, where he spotted another nightmarish creature from his past.
The Queen of Blades...
"Stop this nonsense at once!" the queen of the Swarm declared. "You belong to me. Never forget that. The Swarm requires your services once more. We march. To war!"
"No..." Stukov gasped, stood up and stumbled back. "NO!" He bounced into someone right behind him. When he turned around, he looked into the dead eyes of his old friend Gerard. Blood was running out of the hole on the side of his head.
"You betrayed me." Gerard declared with cold words.
"NO!" Alexei screamed again and turned away, only to face none other than Arcturus Mengsk.
"Tsk. Earth. I expected more, honestly. You were probably the least-formidable foes I ever had to deal with." the long-forgotten Emperor of the Terran Dominion sneered.
"You are dead!" Stukov barked. "I was there when Kerrigan killed you!" Yes, he remembered. Augustgrad. How he had led Zerg into battle. How he had served the Swarm. And more than that...
The Koprulu Sector. Duran. The Sons of Korhal. Edmund Duke. Zerg. Protoss. It all came back. Alexei grabbed his head and screamed in pain and agony. Too much. It was all too much.
"Stukov!"
"Vice Admiral!"
"Alexei, my friend..."
"Husband..." It was the voice of his wife that caused him to turn around once more. He had to look into her face, had to tell her how sorry he was. He should have stayed with his family, should have ignored Gerard's offer. But it had been his own choice. His family had died a long time ago, never learning what had happened to him.
"I'm sorry. So so-" But when he finally faced the love of his life, what he saw...
...was the horribly mutilated face of an infested terran.
"Father!" another familiar voice screeched. "Why?" The monstrous creature in front of him screamed in pain and agony while its multiple heads were looking at him. Even though they were mutated beyond recognition, Alexei still knew who they were.
A father would always remember his own children.
The thing about nightmares is that they don't have to make sense. What he saw was impossible. His family had never encountered the Zerg. Those who had traveled to the cursed Koprulu Sector, Alexei, Gerard and all the others, they had perished there without anyone on Earth ever learning the truth. So yeah, none of this made any sense.
That didn't mean that it didn't freak him out.
Because it did.
"No! This isn't real! None of this is!" he screamed in terror as he watched how the creature in front of him, a blob made out of tentacles and rotten flesh, with five heads attached to it, screamed and howled in untold agony.
"Father!"
"Husband!"
"Why have you abandoned us!"
"It hurts!"
"No! NO! Get away from me! This isn't real! THIS ISN'T REAL!" he yelled. That's when suddenly something huge burst through the wall. It was enormous and gray, and Alexei could see two glowing eyes. Their golden shimmer was both beautiful and horrible at the same time.
He remembered this creature. He did because he had fought them before.
Protoss...
As if the Zerg hadn't been horrible enough, the Koprulu Sector had offered another alien species unlike anything the people of Earth had ever met before.
"HAHAHAHA!" the Protoss screamed in joy. "FOUND YOU!" Instead of attacking Alexei, the huge alien threw himself on what had once been the man's family, tormenting them with endless numbers of punches, each one able to kill a human outright. It was madness. Pure and undiluted madness. Alexei was forced to watch how his tormented and infested family was beaten to death by a rage-blinded Protoss.
"LEAVE ME ALLLOOOOOONNNN!" the creature yelled. And that's when the voices changed. Instead of hearing the voices of his family, what Alexei heard was his own. Mangled. Transformed. In excruciating pain. Five heads were staring at him. Five horrible versions of himself, warped beyond recognition by time and despair.
You abandoned them. This...is your punishment.
"Stukov!" The Queen of Blades was suddenly right next to him. "You belong to me. It is time to serve me again." No. No! He was no longer anyone's servant. Alexei grabbed his head and screamed. And when he looked at the mutated creature in front of him again, he finally realized the horrible truth...
...he was looking at himself.
"HAHAHA! OH, THIS IS FUN!" Tesson screamed as he slammed his fist into the shapeless blob that was this creature. He knew of Stukov. Living alongside Sarah, he had heard pretty much every story at least one hundred times. But did he care about this man?
No, not one bit.
All he knew was that he had found the ultimate punching bag.
Although he wished this thing would offer a bit more resistance. Seriously, that was no challenge at all. This "Stukov" tried to fight back, throwing one of its barbed extremities at him. Tesson ducked, grabbed the appendage at its base, and yanked it out of its socket. Though it was hugely satisfying to live out his violent tendencies, it was also rather pointless since this Stukov-thing had arms and legs for days. And the other appendages he had ripped out or broken were almost completely healed again.
This thing was in pain, that much was obvious. Sarah had told Tesson to not kill him. But that didn't mean that he couldn't have some fun.
Still, for some odd reason it seemed as if this thing's mind wasn't in the game. And if there was one thing that Tesson hated, then it was if people didn't take him seriously.
"No!" the creature gargled as it received even more punishment from the reckless Protoss. "NO! LEAVE ME ALONE! I WANT TO FORGET!"
"Oh, I'm going to make sure that you remember this beating, you FREAK!" Tesson yelled and pulled his fist back, ready to deliver another brutal punch. His fist shot forward and-
"GHA!" the Protoss yelled when suddenly the creature catapulted itself forward and smashed into him. Tesson was heavy, and he knew how to take a beating. Still, the raw strength of this monstrosity did catch him by surprise. Even though it was mostly a shapeless bundle of muscles, it was still that: A bundle of muscles. Tesson had just enough time to brace himself before he was smashed into the cold and hard wall behind him. Pain shot through his back yet he refused to yield. Within less of a second the whole fight had turned from a nice training exercise into a fight for survival.
"GET OFF ME, YOU SLIMY BASTARD!" the former Nerazim screamed.
"I WANTED TO FORGET! I WANT TO BE ALONE! LEAVE ME! LEAVE ME BEEEEE!" Stukov howled as he used his many limbs to shower Tesson with punches. No matter how talented and experienced the Protoss was, there were just too many claws and limbs to fight back. Claws tore his thick skin and blue blood was splattered everywhere. And yet he still managed to fight back, punching Stukov several times into his face. He could feel how something broke, but he wasn't certain wherever it was Stukov's face or his hand. The pained howls of the creature would suggest that it was the face. Or what was left of it.
"Haha! Good you good, didn't IIAAAAAAA!" Before he was done boasting, Tesson was grabbed by Stukov and thrown away like some piece of trash. He smashed into a bulkhead, and when he landed on the cold and dusty floor, he groaned while blood was dripping from countless wounds. It was nothing deadly and he had survived worse. But still, he knew that right now he was doing a piss-poor job at doing what he was good at.
"You don't look so good." a new voice suddenly caught his attention. He looked up and saw into the eyes of...
"Hey Sarah." he groaned. Sarah Kerrigan had her arms crossed in front of her chest and looked down at Tesson, a cocky grin on her face.
"Having fun down there?" she asked while Stukov was screaming behind them. Instead of going after them, he threw himself against the nearby wall, smashing his head against it as if he wanted to remove his own brain. And from the looks of it, he was about to succeed.
"As a matter of fact: Yes. You done?" the Protoss groaned.
"Almost. Decided to speed things up. You need some time with him? Or can I take care of Alexei?"
"By all means." Tesson replied. He would never admit it, but that last punch to the guts had hurt like hell. "He's all yours. I softened him up for you."
"I'm sure you did." Sarah chirped before she looked at the raging monstrosity that once had been Alexei Stukov. "Well, time to end this." And then everything came crashing down on them.
"We should do something!" one of the students mumbled. "We can't just stand here and do nothing!"
"Did you see those people? They got a Protoss with them. A Protoss!" another student replied. "And it was really scary."
"He was probably just trying to impress you." someone else mumbled.
"Well, it worked. I am impressed. I don't want to find how a Protoss-fist to the face feels like." The students and scientific staff continued to argue about the right course of action. In the end it didn't matter. All they did was to talk for the sake of more talking. None of them wanted to go down there and see what was going on inside the Hyperion. Most of them just wanted to go home. No, that wasn't right. All of them wanted to go home. It was just that some of them wanted to bring the Professor back with them.
This whole situation would have gone on forever if a certain newcomer hadn't arrived. These people were so scared and agitated that they didn't pay any attention to their surroundings. So the arrival of a buggy had stayed unnoticed. Right until the driver had climbed out of the vehicle and joined the bickering group.
"Just what the hell is this?" the man barked and all eyes turned towards him. Most were actually relieved to see him.
"Marshal!" someone gasped. "You are back!"
"You sound as if that's something to be amazed of." Dan Bowski growled before he looked around. "Where's the Professor. Sirella? Where are they?" And then he squinted his eyes and asked the most important question. "And where is Kerrigan?" Honestly? He didn't expect an answer at all. Yet when he received one...
"Depends which one you're looking for." the amused voice of a woman behind him asked. Dan froze, but only for a second. Then he turned around and squinted his eyes.
"You..."
"I must admit..." Sarah Kerrigan declared. "...I didn't expect you to show up again. And this fast! You must be either really brave or horrendously stupid."
"I'm a sucker for punishment." the Marshal declared.
"Hmm, sounds about right." Sarah mused. "Anyway, now that you are here, you can make yourself useful. How're your guts? Are they trying to eat you?" The casualness of this whole conversation was highly unnerving but Dan was too angry to care. The students and members of the scientific staff, however, was just too scared and confused to listen to reason.
"She took the Professor! Now she's here for us!" someone yelled. Left alone, without anyone to tell them what was going on, these people were no longer on the edge. They were well past it.
"They are slavers, I tell you! Slavers!" That's when suddenly one student turned around and ran over to the buggy which Dan had used to come here. The young man grabbed the steering wheel and looked at his colleagues. "Come on! We have to go! Or they will kill us! Or enslave us!"
"Oh boy..." Sarah muttered when she saw that. Some of the group actually ran over to the buggy and climbed inside. Soon there were more people in it than there were seats. The only two who weren't panicking were Sarah and Dan.
"You know, there once was a show where they would ask stupid questions like "How many people fit inside a car?"." Dan yelled. "You goons totally should try to participate!"
"Why isn't it working?" the driver barked and hit the steering wheel over and over again. That's when Dan held something small high up in the air.
"They are called car-keys! Maybe you don't have them on Korhal, but out here we do!" Bowski told them. When Sarah saw them, she snickered.
"Car-keys? Those things still exist?"
"As amusing this is to you, I haven't come here for more bullsh...shhhh...shhnnnnnn!" No matter how hard Dan tried, the four-letter-word would just not pass his lips. He looked at Sarah, an expression of frustration on his face.
"One day, Mister Bowski, when you have children of your own, you will understand." Sarah simply replied. "On a side note: You do possess a very good timing. I was just about to end this whole show. It has been going on for far too long for my taste." When Dan heard that, he wondered if this was some sort of threat.
"Sorry, that sounded more like a threat, didn't it?" Sarah mumbled when she realized her own poor choice of words. "Anyway, it's good that you are here. You can do me a favor."
"And why should I do that?" Bowski snarled. "I should lock you and your giddy group of misfits up, call the Ministry of Defence in Augustgrad and let them deal with you."
"Heh, that would be hard to explain." Sarah chuckled. "Don't worry, what I'm asking of you isn't very hard. I just ask that you look after someone until he has settled in."
"He?" Dan mumbled. "Who the hell are you talking about?"
"Oh, you see soon enough." the redhead chirped. "But first...let's deal with these guys." And then she sighed when she realized what she had just said. "Gosh, that too sounded more like a threat, didn't it?" She shook her head and took a deep breath. "Anyway, here's the deal: I take all of them off your hands, and you take care of one man for me...ech, why does everything I say sound like a threat today?"
"I don't think that-"
"Great! I knew I could count on you." Sarah beamed before she looked at the buggy where the people were still trying to get away. "Everyone! Please just calm down. Your greatest wish will come true. I will send you to a peaceful place!"
"You're doing that on purpose, aren't you?" Dan asked. "Anyway, where are the others? Are they still down below? And where's the Professor?"
"He's fine." Sarah replied. "Well, not fine really. Right now, he's probably suffering an existential crisis of untold size. But hey, that's life, right?"
"What? What did you do to him?!" Dan demanded to know.
"I gave him what he asked for. He wanted to know about the past. By now Joseph should have told him everything up to the point where I met my daughter's namesake. Depending on how many details he added. If he started about how he met Izsha, then they probably didn't get far."
"So you want me to take care of the Professor?"
"What?" Sarah asked, only to shake her head. "No. No, he is fine. I think. Slightly traumatized maybe, but who isn't these days?" An almost devilish grin appeared on Sarah's face. "No, I'm talking about this guy." At first nothing happened. Until she raised her hand and snipped her fingers in an overly dramatic fashion. That's when-
"What's that?" Dan mumbled when he heard something in the distance. No, not something. Someone...
"...aa..aaa...aaaaaAAAAAAAAHHHH!" Only in the last moment he realized that the sound was coming from above. He looked up, just in time to see how something big and gray and screaming and alien landed right on the hood of the buggy, nearly smashing it completely. The students who were still trying to squeeze themselves into the vehicle shrieked in terror and abandoned the car even faster than they had tried to board it.
"A...Protoss?" Dan whispered when he looked at the groaning alien. It was indeed a Protoss. And it was a familiar one. It wasn't Sirella, this one was much bigger and bulkier. And judging from the groans it emitted, it seemed to be a male. Another thing Dan noticed was the fact that the Protoss' whole body was covered in bruises and cuts. Seeing blue blood was weird. What was even weirder was the fact that he seemed to remember this Protoss though he couldn't really say why.
"Ehhhhhhh..." the huge Protoss groaned and turned his head around until he was looking at Sarah. "...was that...really necessary?"
"Probably not." Sarah mused.
"You want me to take care of him?" Dan asked in disbelief.
"Don't be ridiculous." the redhead replied. "And ignore his whining. He's just frustrated. The big guy hasn't received a proper beating in ages and it hurts his pride that Alexei did that."
"Alexei?" Dan wanted to know. "Who's that?" That's when he suddenly started to feel how the ground beneath his very feet started to, well, vibrate. "What is that? An..earthquake?"
"No, that is actually the main-reactor of the Hyperion spinning up after a couple of hundred years rusting away." Sarah explained. "Oh, and a Zerg tunneling its way to the surface." When Bowski heard that, he honestly didn't know which was worse. The fact that the main-reactor of this old wreckage was still able to be powered up was impressive. And scary. The thought of a huge mushroom-shaped cloud came to mind. As for a Zerg tunneling to the surface...
"Wait, Zerg can do something like that?" Dan asked.
"Heh, shows how much you know about us." Sarah snickered.
"Us?!"
"Them. Never mind. Brace yourself, here he comes." she explained.
"What are you ta-DEAR LORD, WHAT IS THAT?!" Dan screamed in terror when suddenly something broke through the surface a couple of dozen meters away. It was...big. And fleshy. Tentacles adorned with sharp claws danced around erratically as a creature straight from a horror-movie emerged from the hole in the ground. The Marshal's face lost all color when he finally recognized that thing.
"Oh God...it wasn't a dream?" he whispered. Suddenly all came back to him. The pain, the darkness, the fear of being chased through a dark labyrinth beneath ground. How his own body had tried to consume itself...
"Keeeerrriiigaaaaaaaaaannnn!" the creature howled and threw its mangled head around until it spotted the woman standing right next to Dan. Behind them, the students screamed even louder and decided to run for their dear lives. Who could blame them? This was a goddamn nightmare. The Marshal pulled out his pistol, the spare he had brought along. His other gun was still...hell, he had no idea where it was.
"Get back!" he yelled. "BaWHAT?!" Just as he pointed the gun at the horribly mutated creature, ready to empty the entire clip into it, he felt how an invisible force grabbed the pistol and simply yanked it out of his hands. He watched in horror how it landed in Sarah's hand, who simply threw it behind her.
"Sorry, but he has suffered enough." she said as if there wasn't a horrible monster around. "We are about to leave. But I doubt that he would be happy to see me again. So I will leave him in your care if you don't mind."
"I DO MIND!" Dan shouted at her. "I DO MIND VERY MUCH!" That's when the creature screeched and started to charge towards them. Now that it was out in the open, in broad daylight, it looked even more terrifying, with its muscles exposed and its mangled limbs carrying it forward. It was truly like a scene from a horror movie.
Even though this thing was a mishap of limbs and tentacles, it moved faster than any normal human could have. Within seconds it had almost reached them.
"I WON'T SERVE YOUUUUUUUUU!" it screamed, directing all of its rage towards Kerrigan.
"You don't have to, Alexei." Sarah whispered. She raised her hands, and when the monster had finally reached them, she flicked again.
The result was...
...messy.
"GHAAAAAAAA!" A pained scream escaped the creature's throat. And that's when its whole body suddenly exploded from inside out.
"HOLY HELL!" Dan shouted and stumbled backward. He fell on his own butt and watched in horror how the monster was turned into a cloud of red mist. To call this thing gory would have been the understatement of the century, and Dan felt the urge to vomit. And who could have blamed him? However, that was not the end of this madness. From the mist of blood emerged something, a figure. For a second he thought that something of this creature had survived and was now in reach to kill them.
Something had indeed survived. But it was no monster. Forced forward by inertia, the figure that emerged from the carnage was a man.
"Gha...ack...egh...!" he coughed before stumbling and falling on all fours. He was completely naked, though it hardly mattered because his entire body was covered in blood. A gruesome sight, yeah. But that guy in front of them was just that: A man. He coughed again and again until he had managed to calm down a bit. He raised his head and blinked in confusion. And when he noticed the woman standing right in front of him...
"Ke...Kerrigan?" Alexei Stukov whispered.
"Hello, Alexei." Sarah replied with a soft and sad tone in her voice. "It has been a while."