There was some form of peace amongst Exhibition Station as the situation with its citizens and the local fauna had subsided from everyone's mind. The occurrence of this small respite was welcomed and it had gotten to the point that the fighting had felt like it was almost forgotten. Many were brought out of their bliss and reminded when the airlock doors opened to reveal well-maintained trolly arrived on their platform.
Sukhoi had placed a lot of effort to make his first impressions as presentable as he could. After all, it was not just one of the many representatives of the Metro stations, but a representative of one of the major factions. Hunter and Artyom stood behind the station commander as the trolly decelerated into a halt. The young man glanced to his right to find that the man he admired was used to the procedures. In the meantime, Artyom carried a somewhat child-like hopefulness to learn more about the newcomers as they stepped off the trolley. After all, he idolized the men and their ideals of what they represented to the rest of the Metro.
A dozen heavily armored and well-equipped soldiers stood aside, their professional soldiery contrasting that of Exhibition Station's militias. The last man to step out was far older than the previous soldiers, a beard to compliment his facial features with tones of grey hair expressing his years of experience. Then he brought out his hand waiting for a response from Artyom's stepfather. "You must be Sukhoi."
The station's leader was quick to grab his hand and join the formal introductions. "Colonel Miller, I have heard a lot about you, but to see you in person is quite the honor."
"The honor is mine, station commander," He ordered, "Hunter has expressed the dire situation of your station. The Polis Council and the Spartan Order have heard your cry and have sent me to get a closer inspection of the situation," His gaze fell upon the man, "So, what have you learned while we were traveling?"
Hunter stepped forward, his back straightened with discipline and attention. "Sir, it turns out here is a lot more than Sukhoi and I anticipated. Exhibition has been fighting what seemed to be a new species of mutants."
"New species? I suppose nature has no qualms about our shortage of enemies," Artyom did not understand what he meant by that, but he did hear the Polis Rangers laughing at the phrase. Was it some kind of joke? "How dangerous are we talking about?"
Sukhoi reached out and grabbed his attention. "The mutants that our station has been facing appeared like a man turned inside out. They have been the most dangerous ones we've ever faced, more so than the Nosalises that roam the tunnels. I have lost entire platoons of marines from going insane."
"I can verify that," The Polis Ranger added, "Sukhoi's men and I did encounter them and they are a lot more dangerous than molerats with claws. It's odd, but they helped us deal with the other threat that recently showed up."
Colonel Miller's expression was confused at what was going on. "One of our threats helped you?"
"Yes. It is quite hard to believe, but if they wanted to kill us they could have. So somehow, they have enough mental capacity to leave us with the corpses of these green muscles."
"I suppose our scientists will have a field day when they find one of their bodies. What of the other mutants?"
Hunter was quick to reply. "The mutants we fought were carrying small arms and some makeshift rocket launcher."
The quiet young man noticed the faces of the Polis Rangers change the moment he mentioned that.
"The evidence is locked away in the station's armory, but I've checked them out myself. Some of them were lever-action while others were automatics of various designs."
The Spartan Commander began to stroke his beard. "You and I both know that we lack the manpower to keep soldiers at this station; however, if these threats remained unchecked the rest of the Metro will soon deal with them. This cannot be solved with a simple collapse of an entire tunnel."
Artyom spoke his thoughts on the matter. "If you do not have any spare men, how are you going to stop the Dark Ones or the new mutants that showed up?"
Sukhoi and Hunter turned around to be surprised at his question. Then the colonel replied. "Young man, if the Dark Ones can hold off their differences with the station to deal with the other mutants I think there is a possibility of some cooperation."
The station commander immediately turned around to reply. "Cooperate with the Dark Ones? Colonel, with all due respect, those creatures need to be stopped before the station falls."
"I did not say this relationship was going to be permanent. If they can hold their assaults to deal with our newest guests, I recommend we take advantage of that to ease the pressure."
"Respectfully, this is an insane idea you are proposing."
His head nodded back and forth. "That is true, but we need to be unconventional to get anything done," He glanced towards the youngest person at the platform, "What is your name?"
"Artyom, sir," He answered, "Do you need something?"
"Get word to the armory to bring out their best gear, we got an expedition to carry out."
A woman sat against the wall of her cell, she had been taken prisoner by the 'demons' at the bottom of the facility's basement. Ever since she had been trapped down here, she prayed for deliverance from this horrible situation, but that hope was meager. There was a possibility that the man she followed was coming down to save her; however, she was reminded of the terror that had fallen upon her group when they were attacked. It had been hours since she had been placed here, hunger and thirst was taking its toll upon her as she tried to maintain her existence in this life.
Once upon a time, she was far more beautiful and lived in better times. Everything changed when the Great War happened. She should have died back then, but the radiation played a sick joke on her and tore away at her beauty and into a monstrous sight to behold. It was a horrible life to endure and it was worsened when she tried to join the many societies that rose and fell in the apocalypse, but then everything changed when she stumbled upon Jason Bright. The man was charismatic and understood what she and many others had to deal with in life. So why seek for a life in a society where ghouls like her were hated, when they could create a new one. Perhaps she wouldn't live to see that day?
Heavy footsteps could be heard outside of her prison. The demons were brutes when they did show themselves, but despite their ability to hide in plain sight, there were some habits that made them a lot more noticeable the longer she listened. If only she had the key to unlocking the door and flee to Bright's safety. Instead, she was helpless and remained where she was for the rest of her time.
The footsteps did not stop when she heard one of them speak. "Intruders! Kill them all!" Battle cries bellowed out from her captors as she heard gunfire reply. The ghoul crawled forward near the door to see if her salvation truly came or was it just a disappointment waiting to come. Her body ached in pain as she laid herself beside the door to have a better hearing of what was going on outside.
Past the demon cries and the sounds of fighting, she heard the shouts of men screaming to the top of their lungs. However, she could not properly understand what they were saying as the voices and fighting seemed to get closer to her position. What was surprising was a sudden explosion that not only shook her room but her as well.
When the fighting was over, it was followed by a solemn silence. Then she realized that it only meant one thing, someone had won in the fighting and she had a chance for freedom. Deep within herself, she used up whatever strength she had left in order to call them strangers to her rescue. "Hello, is there anyone out there?" Her voice was not as it used to be, but hopefully, they would hear her cry for help.
There was more talk from that unknown language, but it did not matter. Someone had to help her.
"Please, someone help me. There should be a key on the demons." She waited and waited for a response. There was nothing, but silence. A part of her wanted to cry, but then she heard the mechanical workings of the door unlock. Could it be that her hope had finally come at last? The ghoulish woman struggled to stand up as she tried to make her ragged robes look presentable to her rescuers.
When the door slid open, she was not greeted by the usual scavengers of the apocalypse nor the members of the Bright Brotherhood. Instead, she found herself in the sights of a dozen armed soldiers in black armor ready to open fire upon her. Her hands were raised at the threat she could not fight nor escape from as she squeaked out a whimpering, "Don't shoot I don't mean any harm."
Her words seemed to confuse them as they slowly lowered their weapons one-by-one. A stranger from their ranks had taken the opportunity to approach her with reluctance. "Do you understand me?" Came his first words.
The ghoul nodded her head. "Yes, I do."
Another man spoke, but it was in a different tongue. The stranger who spoke to her replied back in the same language before he turned his full attention on her. "We are all wondering what the hell happened to you."
She felt offended. "What? You haven't met a ghoul before?"
It was a surprise to see him nod his head in answer. "My comrades and I have seen people mutated by radiation, but not in this way."
An awkward silence followed as she struggled to move past the door. As she stumbled, one of the men was able to rush to her aid and prevent her fall. "Does anyone have any water?"
The stranger who spoke had pulled out his canteen and handed it over to her. "Here."
She glanced up at him. "How did you get in here?"
"Does that explain anything?" He and the other armed men had stepped aside, only to point at a strange distortion in reality that pulsed every so often. That was odd, she did not see that before when she was down here.
"No, it doesn't explain anything really." Then she thought about it for a moment. "Are you saying that you came out of that thing?"
"Yes."
"So what did those blue fellows have with you? It seemed like they imprisoned you." The stranger wondered.
"They did. They ambushed me and the other followers on our way to prayer. I don't know how many demons are left since they are possibly moving onto the upper floors."
"It appears we have our work cut out for us." He spoke to the others in the foreign language, "We're going to clear the other areas of this building."
It was nice that she was being helpful after being so helpless and these fellows seemed nice enough to help the Bright Brotherhood. "If you leave the basement and start going up to the ground floor, do not explore the other parts of the facility. Head to the right and find the stairs up to Jason Bright's quarters. The others should be there if they did find out about the attack."
"Why don't you want us to explore the rest of the facility?" He asked.
She forgot about that detail. "There are others like me, but they are aggressive and will attack you on site. If you manage to get to Bright's quarters, he'll be able to send them elsewhere where they won't attack you and your men. It is safer that way."
"I suppose the colonel will need to hear that." Then he turned around and glanced at the other soldiers. "Boys, let's go."
Jason Bright thought about his next steps for a long time, but being stuck inside this one part of the old REPCONN facility was not helping. The Great Beyond needed to happen, but with those demons lurking in the basement, it was impossible to actually reach that moment. He looked around the room to see his followers were trying to keep themselves busy; however, they were all concerned about their future. They could not live the rest of their lives stuck in this section, they had to act. The problem was their lives meant a lot to him and losing them in a fight was unacceptable. Yes, they were armed, but size also mattered when their opponents could smash them into the ground.
Someone approached him, but he was not like the others. The bald man in the labcoat wanted to believe he was a ghoul, but Jason knew that he was just a mere human. Perhaps it was a good thing that he came to the brotherhood since his technical expertise was quite impressive in getting to the Great Beyond. As the man stopped, he expressed his concern. "People are getting antsy and they're worried about the others."
He was genuinely happy he was not the only one who thought the same. "I know, it's quite normal to be worried," Silence followed after when he thought about his next steps, "Chris, how is the door?"
"After the demon's message, it's been silent, but I am not sure if they're watching or not. It's not like we have cameras to check on them."
That is worrying. "I know, but we have to do something. The Great Beyond cannot help those who cannot help themselves."
The conversation and the rest of the room became silent when they heard two loud knocks. "Someone's at the door, it could be them. We have to check on them."
Chris was first to rush towards the door to this section of the facility and Jason followed after him. As they made their way to the main door, there were several ghouls with energy weapons who followed after them. If the demons were going to break in, it seemed like they were going to die trying.
When they arrived at the door, Chris slowly approached the hand speaker on the right side of the hallway as Jason stood behind him. Another pair of knocks could be heard from the other side of the door, but they both remained cautious and did their best to avoid the urge to open the door.
The technician pressed a button and spoke, "Who is it?"
They waited for an answer, only to hear a scratchy voice reaching out for them on the other side. "Chris, is that you? Boy, it's good to hear your voice. Is Jason and the others alright?"
Jason felt he recognized that voice. He knew that this ghoul was different from the others. The man was not a true believer, but he joined the Brotherhood for its company. "Harland, I am glad that you are alive. I thought you and the others in the basement were dead already."
"I never thought I would say this, but it is good to hear your voice as well. Yeah, we were the first to get attacked, but my girl and I had managed to escape from the demons," Harland replied, "We're the only survivors."
"We will pray for the others," It was not a total disaster, at least there were people who did survive their attacks, "How did you get out?"
"You would not believe me, but apparently there some kind of portal-thingy that we've ignored during the morning prayers. Someone came out on the other side and killed the bastards through surprise. They finished killing the rest of them and so we ran up here as quickly as we could."
The prophet was glad to hear good news for once and wanted to thank his helpers. "Are they with you right now?"
Harland's voice was quite positive in his presence. "Yeah, they sent a translator to accompany us since they don't talk our language."
He turned to Chris and nodded his head. "Open the door. I think we're safe."
The human eagerly stepped away from the speaker and began to open the door while the followers behind him were readying their weapons. Jason could not blame him if this was a ruse of some sort, but as the cracks in the door and slowly expanded, he could see that the demons were not present. Instead, he saw five men clad in black armor, standing behind Harland and a female follower. They looked more like soldiers than the typical prospector in the wasteland.
"Greetings, stranger. My name is Jason Bright, I am glad to meet my rescuers."
One of the men raised his armored visor above his eyes. "Mr. Bright, I am quite glad to meet you. My name is Sam Taylor, I am the English translator for these Russians."
It had been a long time since Jason ever heard of those people when he was once a human. Part of him wanted to react strangely to these foreigners, but there was a sense of familiarity. "It is good to meet you, Sam Taylor. So what brings you to the old REPCONN facility?"
"Security. Those demons you were referring to had just attacked a nearby settlement and we were checking out their hideout to deal with them personally. It's just…"
"Just what?" He wondered.
"We did not have this in mind."
Now that the situation had changed for the better, Jason knew that his people had to tend to their more aggressive kin lest they get out of control. "I would like to thank you and your people for helping us get rid of the obstacle in getting to the Great Beyond. You have no idea how much this means to us, but now we must go and seek out the rest of our flock before your men meet them first."
Author's Note: I'm working on a sixth chapter as of right now since I am more or less updating the fic of whatever I typed up years ago.
Da Lone Ranger: You are welcome.
ghostlalalala123: You, reader, are going to be in for a treat.
Imperial Stormtrooper: Good to hear. I'll be honest, I'm surprised no one really tried their hand at a Metro/Fallout crossover. It's weird being one of the few authors who managed to have that many chapters and words out there, despite how terrible it is for me try again.
Ghostly: Fallout mutants are dangerous but Metro has other ways of being just as terrifying.