"... So, they got murked by an RPG shot to the side of their BMP?" Katja asked, staring the Soviet paratrooper force ahead of her dead in the eyes. Anna Ignatyeva, the radio operator of the BMP, looked to their fellow Russians, those who spoke English here, for a translation. However, her commanding officer, Nikolai Barno, a captain in the Soviet VDV, simply gave Katja a nod. The Pole hummed, then replied, "Ain't that a fucking kick in the nuts..."
"Happens when you're facing Mujahids, I suppose," Vic quipped, Vesna still hugging him tightly as she looked at the group of women ahead. Nikolai snorted at that, then took his helmet off, revealing his own greying hair, before pulling out a surprising cigarette pack, 'Kosmos'. He hit it twice on the butt to send out the ciggy, slid it between his lips and looked to Vic. He nodded, "It's fine. Window's open..."
The man gave a quick nod, pulled out his lighter, which looked like it was made out of a 12,7x108mm bullet casing and the hollowed-out lead-copper tip, flicked it open and lit the nicotine product, taking a long, hard puff of the item. He blew the smoke out toward the open kitchen window, then said, "It is strange to meet people from the Future. God bless, we never thought we would time travel from that hellhole."
"You're telling us, man..." Lita murmured, arms crossed to her chest as she glared at the soviet iconography.
"So..." He hummed, then puffed from the cigarette again, before looking to them, "What happened to the Union in your time? Considering the fact you all told me Romania is now in NATO and that your friends here are wearing the white, blue and red of the Pre-Soviet Era on their shoulders..." And he motioned to Lita and Ayesha, before quipping, "I take it something must have gone wrong with home?"
The entire group winced noticeably, with Alexi, the Bulgarian, speaking, "Yeah, you're all gonna wanna sit down..."
Nikolai seemed to worry nigh instantly as he motioned to his soldiers to sit down. He leaned against the counter and held his cigarette between his lips, softly puffing from it every so often. Everyone looked upon Victor to rip off the bandage, so, with a heavy sigh, the Romanian stood to his feet, his wife-to-be letting the embrace go for a moment. He looked to her, offered her a smile, then caressed her cheek, before looking to Nik. He cleared his throat, then said, "There's no easy way to put this. The Union disappeared in the '90s."
That staggered the entire group of Soviet soldiers, causing a couple to glare at the man, probably thinking that if he was joking, there'd be retribution, but the present NATO force that outnumbered them forced them to stay put. One was about to protest, though, but Nik lifted his hand and showed her to wait. He tilted his head toward Victor to continue and the boy did. He explained everything, from the Fall of the Berlin Wall, to the Revolution in Romania in '89 and to the dissolution of the Union in the '90s. Even brought out his phone to show them an article or two he had on his reading history.
Nik sighed deeply, rubbing his face, then swore to himself in a whisper and translated everything for his team. His comrades all looked as if they'd been hit by a hammer. Sure, some were a little happier than others that the Union collapsed, but they didn't show it out of solidarity for the few of those who had had decent, worry-free lives in the Union. Vic and the others could see it. The old man hummed, sighed and shook his head, "Oh, well... What happened after?"
"Huh?" The Misfits paused.
"There must be a reason you are all here. Something happened after the Collapse... Didn't it?" He inquired, looking at them. Within a moment, the mood in the room had dropped staggeringly hard, to the point the old man seemed to regret even asking. Victor, meanwhile, looked to his comrades, all of whom gave solemn nods to him. He turned to Nik and his team and began with the beginning. From 1993, to the Chechen Wars... And to Ukraine.
... If they were stunned before with the news of the Union being split at the seams, the War in Ukraine and Russia's subsequent second Collapse seemed to terrify them. A young woman who seemed to understand English, looked around at her comrades, trembling. Sammy asked her, "Ukrainian?" as she looked at her sympathetically. She nodded, pale, as she removed her helmet, revealing short, dark-brown hair. She covered her face and began to weep, her comrades, Russians or from the other SSRs entirely, hugged her. Even Ignatyeva joined in.
Nik sighed, taking one last drag from his cigarette before disposing of it in an ash tray that Dushman had brought him. He rubbed his face and murmured, "Times never change, do they...?" to himself. He shook his head and straightened up, "Your force must've been sent to secure the remaining Nuclear stockpile of the Russian Armed Forces after its collapse..."
"Yeah," Vic replied, "And to help disarm the remaining RuAF forces in the place..."
"We managed with quite a few," Quipped Dushman, a smirk on his face. Sofia, though her expression was understanding of their Soviet friends' plague, elbowed him in the shoulder and he blanked, then noticed some of the sad smiles given to him by Lita, Vera, Ayesha and Vesna. With a sigh, the man rubbed his arm and added in with half-a-mouth "We didn't get to all of'em in time..."
Vesna stepped up to Vic and wrapped her arm around his left, hugging him tightly and leaning her head against his shoulder. He smiled softly and leaned his head against hers, which seemed to get a few smiles out of the Soviet women in the room. Nik himself commented, "Then you died securing our country's WMDs... A noble death, I have to say... And my condolences..."
"It is good to see love blooms, however, even between what one would think are foes..." The Ukrainian that was being comforted by her mates commented, her accent heavy, as she wiped her tears. She looked to Vesna and spoke to her in clear-cut Russian that Vic understood as, "From a citizen of the Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic to a Russian of the Federation... We forgive you, comrades. It was not you, but the leadership, that threw you into that war... At least you find your lover here today..."
Vesna's hug around Vic's arm tightened as a few tears welled in her eyes. She nodded, before replying softly, "Da..." as her own comrades walked up to her and put reassuring hands on her shoulders. Ayesha chuckled, then hugged Ves. Li and Vera followed suit, with Vic also hugging his wife-to-be. Nikolai gave a nod of approval, putting his hands in his pockets.
He looked to Sam and said, "War is a bloody Lottery... Your people and us have met for a reason, comrade Lieutenant."
"I certainly hope it's a peaceful one, comrade," She replied, then chuckled, "I hope y'all won't mind a few people bullying you for Communistic views."
"A few of us probably will," He quipped, looking to two young women who probably followed the word of Lenin and Marx to a T, while Sammy looked over to Hassan, who had his arms crossed to his chest, standing there like a US Military Policeman, then the Military Policeman himself, Robert, who had slid his rifle onto his back to keep it out of reach and simply leaned against the wall, and to Jim, who was... To nobody's surprise, too busy ogling the girls of the Soviet VDV Troop to even bother being angry about commies.
Sam smiled, then shook her head and said to him, "Maybe it won't be a problem."
"... Even if it is, I would like to ask something of you, Lieutenant," He told her as he walked up to her. He was a head taller than Sam, but the two seemed equal, both in poise and professionalism. The Chinese Lieutenant tilted her head slightly to the right, curious. Nikolai then told her, "While it is obvious the news of our home's Dissolution twice-over sadden us a great deal, I am afraid we left that world long before all of this came to pass. We've no interest in returning, even if we could..." and he turned toward his comrades, all of whom seemed to know what he wanted to ask. They gave him their silent approval and, with him being satisfied with that, he turned to Sam once more. "... We would like to learn more of this world alongside you and your comrades, be they French, Romanian, American or whatever other god-forsaken nationality..."
Sammy chuckled, then looked around at everyone. Despite Kat's best attempts, the young woman's frown was noticeable. It was clear she wasn't gonna swallow working with Reds, much less the same type of Reds that kept Poland under occupation. The blonde GROM soldier, however, stunned everyone as she hummed, sighed, then turned to Sam and gave her a nod, much to the surprise of the Chink and her Hungarian childhood friend, who was sat right next to her.
The Chinese woman smiled, then nodded back. Turning to face Nik, she asked, "Take it you want to become Misfits yourselves, then?" all while smiling. The old man gave her a nod... And Sam wasted no time extending her hand to the Soviet. The Soviet officer didn't wait, shaking her hand and offering a curt, small smile to her and her teammates. They all smiled back, though some were a tad more tense than the others.
"My thanks..." The man said calmly, "Now, then... If you'll allow us, we'll pack our bags and depart for whatever dormitory your troops have slated. I will also be leaving Sergeant Ignatyeva with you. She knows a little English, so she should be fine. If she can learn more from your men, all the better..."
"Sergeant Diana will lead you to it," Sammy nodded, then turned to Di. The woman smiled and saluted, before showing the Soviet troops to follow. The departure was thankfully uneventful, compared to their arrival. Vic sighed deeply, relieved as Sammy stepped up to the front and stated, "Maybe we should all get some sleep. This week's been something else."
"Cold War Vibes going hard," Hassan murmured, garnering a few laughs out of his friends.
"O' Cheri, Cheri Lady..." Jim chuckled, elbowing his friend in the shoulder. Saila and Anja both chuckled, sharing in a few private whispered words as they walked together to their own dorms, weapons slung over their shoulders. Sofia grabbed Dushman and walked off with him, probably to stare at the stars from the garden. Ayesha and Lita looked to Jim and Hassan, with Ayesha gently elbowing Lita in the shoulder and motioning to Hass.
Whiskey...
She'd fallen asleep. On the couch. Victor, Vesna and Robert stared at her, with Victor stating, "We should just let her sleep it off..." before pointing at the three empty bottles of Whiskey. The two beside him nodded in agreement, Vesna gently wrapping her arms around Vic again and staring at the sleeping Dutch beauty on the couch. Robert sighed deeply, pinching the bow of his nose.
"We can't let her just 'sleep it off' on the couch, Vic... She needs a bunk or something..." The MP replied, slightly exasperated. Vic shrugged as Vesna tightened the hug, making him smile, to which Rob stated, "I swear, I'm glad you and Vesna finally decided to mutually get together here after everything, else I fear the unresolved sexual tension between you two might've fucking made me shoot myself..."
Vic snorted, "Sorry, man..."
Robert waved it off, "Least keep it in your pants for a while longer... It's bad enough having to hear Hassan and Ayesha..." which made the two in question blush. He sighed and shook his head, "Fine. We let her sleep it off then find her a bunk..." and he murmured to himself as he walked away, "Why did a Dutch woman dunk so much Whiskey in one go, though... Ignoring the name...?"
Next morning...
Katja had decided to follow Paul a bit from afar. And what does one know, it lead her all the way to his teammates. The Not-French Legionnaires greeted Paul with waves and nods of the head, some extending him cigarettes as one of them, a young woman with tan skin and black hair, worked maintenance on the VAB. Hidden behind the corner, the young woman could see Paul sit himself down next to them as they started talking in French, surprisingly enough.
... He didn't look like himself. At all. His usual shy jovial attitude that she and everyone else had known him for was replaced by a glum-looking face as the young man sat somewhat distanced from the others, beside the VAB. He handed the tools to the working gal as they spoke. He puffed from a lit cigarette and blew the smoke away from her as the others laughed and chatted, though they, too, looked worn down by the War.
She was tired of calling it a peacekeeping operation. It had pretty much been a war to those who fought in Russia. Their own Chechnya, Afghanistan or post-Invasion Iraq. It had felt like a somewhat pointless conflict to many, including a good bunch of people in her own unit, but she had always felt it a righteous cause to rid the world of the Russian menace for good...
... Doubts and cracks formed, however, when her friends started winking off her radar one by one.
Even worse was when he'd stopped responding, in Omsk. Who had known that she would wind up meeting the fruits of that cursed city's labor only a few months later, within the heart of a nuclear blast alongside the rest of many of her fellow Krakowian citizens. She wondered if, or perhaps quietly prayed to God, that her parents were still alive. That her own sister was still alive.
Though with nuclear fallout, one never knows where their loved ones would be when it washed over them. She at least prayed that her mom and dad had died quickly, not due to radiation poisoning... No, no, that was defeatist thinking. They were alive. All of them. And her sister was probably fighting the good goddamn fight against the Black League and the Neo-Soviet Union as they stood within Vale's confines, waiting for a sign from their own world.
And there was Paul. Someone she thought she'd lost thrice now, once when leaving Hungary for home, once when KFOR split and each went back to their respective military and the latest, when she had heard he and his unit had been caught in the blast. With a sigh, she leaned against the wall beside her and slid down it, her own face glum, eyes tired. She thanked the lord continuously for bringing him in the same general area as her.
After a few moments, the young woman sighed and stood to her feet, casting a glance toward Paul and his team and thinking of whether she should walk over or not. She sighed, then decided that, yes, she should. So, taking up the walk in stride, a smile on her face, the girl approached the team of French Legionnaires. Paul had been the first to notice her, putting on a smile as soon as he saw her.
The Frenchies seemed confused for a moment, before turning to see Kat approach. Several of them either snorted or started out laughing as they watched her come close. She greeted, "Bonjour, ladies and gents. Hello, Pali," and she smirked at the guy. He took a moment, however, registering the fact the young woman was clad in only a tank top and her cargo pants and boots.
"Hey, Kat," Paul offered her a kind smile. The other men gave various greetings, with the women grinning and talking to each-other. The Frenchie under the VAB pulled herself back out from udner it, revealing a rather cute face covered by oil stains. She seemed surprised to see Katja there, turning to Paul and asking something in French. Paul nodded, to which the girl grinned and jumped to her feet, wrapping her arms around the Pole.
Kat yelped in pure surprise as the French girl began speaking in English, "So you are Kat! Bonjour, mon amie! Paul spoke very often of you!"
"Uh... Hi...?" Katja blanked, then looked to Paul, who simply snorted and covered his mouth. The black-haired girl pulled back, crossing her arms to her chest, one hand holding a wrench. Her dog tags were clearly visible between her breasts, which Kat could appreciate were of a medium size, kind of like hers. The two women were boob-to-boob, pretty much.
"Glad we got to meet properly, my girl," She stated, "My name is Annette Lavigne, caporal in the Legion and a good friend of Paul's over here," And she motioned to Paul. Katja cast a glance toward the Hungarian, who raised his hands defensively, before Annette smiled at Kat rather brightly and added, "I sort of 'oped I would get to meet his childhood friend. I have to say, you certainly don't disappoint."
"Annette, maybe slow down a tad," Paul told her, standing up.
"Ah, true, true, excuse-moi..." Annette chuckled. Katja wasn't sure if she was jealous or not, yet. Annette elbowed Paul in the chest and she suddenly started feeling a hint more jealous... But she was dumbfound to hear the French woman say with a smirk and a teasing voice, "She is quite cute~..." which just seemed to be like a backhand to Katja's face.
The other Legionnaires let out laughs, with Paul snorting and clapping a hand onto Katja's shoulder, "Good luck, Kat. You got the platoon Fruity Gal on you." words which only made the laughs intensify. Annette snorted and gave Paul a light slap on the chest. The boy chuckled and said, "Right... I'll go get that piece you needed for the repairs, if it's anywhere within the local garage. Be back later, Kat."
"Meanwhile, I could use a hand down here. The boys are being useless again," Annette quipped as she sat herself back down. Kat was a little hesitant, but, with a sigh, she sat down and slid under the machine with the Frenchie. The two started looking at possible damage and stuff to replace, with Annette stating, "Y'know... I've never seen him light up like that..."
"... He usually as down in the dumps as I've seen him just before coming in...?" The Pole asked with half-a-mouth.
"So, you did see him..." Annette hummed, then sighed, "I figured that was you in the corner, staring at us." and the two exchanged glances quickly. Annette pointed to Kat's right and told her, "Pass me that spanner..." and, as Kat did as asked, Annette told her, "His face with us is the same one you saw him with before you came up to us to talk. He doesn't hide his pain."
"Pain..." Katja sighed, then swore to herself in Polish, before adding, "He told me nothing..."
"I don't think he wants to worry any of you. You're his Misfits, after all," The Frenchie quipped as she used the spanner on a piece that needed it, before setting the tool aside, "His platoon of lunatic friends whom he even went into Russia for... He could've sat nice and pretty in a barracks back in 'ungary if he so desired, but he chose to follow all of you..."
"Yeah," The Pole replied, then let out her frustration by hitting the bottom of the vehicle with her fist. She shook her hand quickly to disperse the pain, before covering her face with both hands. She murmured, "If that idiot would learn to speak instead of just pretending everything is fine, though..." her voice muffled, but obviously filled with her irritation.
"Maybe you should try confronting him when you two are alone," Annette suggested, tilting the wrench in her hand toward Kat. The blonde registered and saved the suggestion in her brain as she started using the wrench on a particularly-tight nut. She also took a moment to process it, lowered the wrench and looked to the Frenchie with the most dumbfound, but affirming look in the world. Annette grinned and raised her fist. Katja bumped it, then got to work.
She had to have a talk with Paul. It was going to happen, no matter what.