Honestly sounds more suited for Gunduz (although Gunduz would go even further).
-
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Washed Up
Caspian Sea, Yavdi-Turkestan border - December 26
Waves rolled up against the sandy coastal beach, only briefly interrupted by the pounding of horse hooves tossing up wet sand. Almost two weeks had passed since setting out from Takomaan. The rocks and snow of the Urals had long since given way to the rolling grassland of the central Eurasian steppes, before those in turn gave way to dusty and arid flatlands and desert. It wasn’t that hot during their journey, both because it was the bottom of December and because of the nuclear winter, but it was still dry. To avoid dehydration, Wilhelmina decided to stay close to the Caspian Sea. Yes, the sea was still salty, but Izinchi surprisingly knew how to desalinate water with just a bowl, cup, and sunlight. She had picked it up at a PMS-sponsored climate march. It was coming in handy when they had to camp, though Wilhelmina preferred a town after what happened with the bear. Right now, they were on the move to the next town. Heidi led the charge, galloping across the beach with all of her strength. Wilhelmina made sure she, along with Friedrich and Ilyana, stayed on her back. Behind her, everyone else—except Gulichi—struggled to keep up on their horses.
“Oi, can ya slow down?” Izinchi said. “Think my horse’s getting tired.”
“I tried asking Heidi, but she refused. Sorry.”
“Ask again!”
“You know how stubborn she can get.”
Of course, Heidi chose that exact moment to stop in her tracks, slamming the kids against each other and her head. Wilhelmina would have fallen off had she not dug into her stirrups.
Frak, that scared me! Good thing I remembered that from the lesson.
“Whoa, Heidi! What’s the matter?”
Heidi neighed and pawed at the ground impatiently.
“Come on, Heidi. Sun’s going down, and the next town isn’t that far away. Come on, you can get all the hay and rest you wanted there!”
Heidi refused to budge. She continued poking at the sand.
“Is she digging?”
“Our horses tend to dig through snow to get to grass and water,” Gulichi said.
“Yeah, but this is sand, and the sea is literally right there.”
Wilhelmina heard Heidi’s hoof hit something metallic. She saw what looked like a gun half-buried in the sand.
“HK416 rifle,” Samir noted, “Roman model. Yavdi doesn’t use that gun, but Turkestan does.”
“So the gun belonged to a Turkish soldier,” Gebhard said, “Which means we’re in Turkestan.”
“That’s good, aye?” Izinchi said.
“I thought we were still a day from the border,” Wilhelmina said.
“Thanks to Heidi’s impatience, it seems we’re a little ahead of schedule,” Samir said.
“Look!” Friedrich said. “Over there!”
He pointed at the sea. Wilhelmina spotted something floating just off the beach.
“Is that…a body?”
She instinctively dismounted, her feet splashing in the shallow water. She initially hiked up her deel to avoid getting its bottom wet, but it was no use, so she stopped trying soon. Close up, she could make out more of the body’s features. It seemed to be a woman in a uniform. Turkish Army, judging by the Ghaznavid coat of arms—a…stylized peacock or antlers or wings or something? Wilhelmina could never tell—on her uniform’s shoulder. She was probably the owner of the gun half-buried on the beach. But what was she doing out here? Wilhelmina put a finger to her neck, checking for a pulse.
“It’s no use,” Gebhard said, “We don’t know how long she’s been there, she could’ve been dead for days…”
Wait! A pulse! Very faint, but it’s there!
“She’s still alive! Help me carry her!”
Izinchi and Samir got off their horses and ran over. Izinchi and Wilhelmina took the arms, while Samir grabbed her legs. Together, they hauled her onto the beach and set her down in the sand. Out of the water, Wilhelmina could see her condition more clearly. Her arms and hands looked horribly injured, with her hands bruised black in places. She saw no apparent gunshot wounds—she probably would have long bled out if she did—but there were a few small shards of metal shrapnel embedded in her side, likely from a grenade or something. Gulichi opened a first aid kit. The 53rd Battalion was supposed to have a medic who would have gone with them, but he was killed in the bunker, so they would have to make do until the next town. Gulichi set to work removing the shrapnel pieces and stitching up the wounds with a neat but not quite surgical precision.
“Wilhelmina, your power,” Samir said, “Can you use it to, I don’t know, heal?”
“Sorry, Izinchi asked me at Takomaan. You can ask her.”
Izinchi pointed at her stitched up wound. “As ye can clearly see…it dinna work.”
“I wish I could, though. I hate that my power is mostly for destruction. I hate destroying stuff.”
Unless it’s in a video game.
“Not true!” Friedrich said. “You used it to save me!”
“Yeah, but I hurt a lot of people in the process.”
“You also used it to cheat at shagaa.”
Can we stop bringing that up?!
“Okay, fair enough, but can we please stop bringing that up? I was just testing it out!”
“Which would open up a lot of ethics issues if this was a sport more popular than shagaa.” Samir said, “The IOC would probably explode if you joined the equestrian or fencing team like your parents.”
“Nae, IOC’s always been incompetent,” Izinchi said, “Scheduling the summer games in the fall? Scheduling the winter and summer games in the same year? At the same time? Holding the games a year late? A year early? We’re all aware of the bribery, but did ya all forget the times they chose at least two hosts at the same time? Or chose another host after already deciding on one? Or that one time they chose a new host every month for several months? Ethics’re the least of our worries when it comes to the bloody IOC.”
“Hey, once you’re done complaining about the Olympics, can you help me lift this lady up?” Gulichi said. “I’ve done what I could to patch her up, but I need to take her to a doctor to fully stabilize her.”
---
They arrived in town at sunset. It was a quiet coastal village on the beach. Most of the buildings were small wooden ones, aside from a temple which loomed over the others, the golden apple and sun crowning its top showing it was a combined Zunist/Slavic temple. None of them spoke Turkish, Uzbek, or Kazakh, but Gulichi got his point across well enough by gesturing to the unconscious woman lying on a horse, and she was soon whisked into a nearby clinic. In the meantime, Wilhelmina and the others settled into a restaurant. From where they sat, they had a nice view of the Caspian Sea and the setting sun casting its last light over the waves.
“I hope that woman is okay,” Wilhelmina said.
“From what I could tell, her wounds don’t seem that bad,” Gulichi said, “She’ll live.”
“When can we expect her to wake up?”
“Don’t know. Depends on how well the doctor here patches her up.”
“Why is she here to begin with? A Turkish soldier on the Caspian shore? Isn’t the front in Samarkand?”
“Maybe they were transporting troops to the front.”
“Yeah, but the Caspian is in the opposite direction from Samarkand,” Samir said, “They wouldn’t be here if they were going to the front.”
“Weird,” Gebhard said, “Unless there’s another front we didn’t know about.”
“Maybe the Baltic front? Heard they’re making progress in East Prussia.”
“Too far away. Russia’s too unstable to fly over. It would be suicide to go there.”
“They weren’t going to the Baltics.” The Turkish soldier suddenly sat with them.
Wilhelmina noticed two things. First, her arms were now bandaged, but they weren’t in splints, so they weren’t broken. She walked a little slower than usual, her legs shambling across the ground. No bones broken again, but she probably sprained some muscles. Her face was a little cleaner now, but there were still some minor cuts that were now stitched up. The second thing she noticed was Gulichi was staring.
“Uh…hey,” he said.
So predictable. Franz was like that once. As was Lisa, from what Joseph told me.
“Merhaba,” the soldier said in passable but accented German, “If you are concerned, the doctor said the only serious injuries were on my hands. I’ve got to thank you, uh…”
“Gulichi Juha, Takomaan militia.” Gulichi quickly but gingerly shook her hand.
“Private Samir Tetchu, Yavdian Army.” Samir merely saluted and rolled his eyes at Gulichi.
“Corporal Leyla Mala. Turkish Army.”
“What’s the Turkish Army doing out here in the Caspian? Shouldn’t you be at Samarkand?”
“You were on the right track, Private Tetchu. We weren’t heading to Samarkand. We were heading west, to Astrakhan.”
Astrakhan? Where did I hear that before?
“That’s in Yavdi, though,” Samir said.
“Yeah, it is,” Leyla said, “The Yavdian government is consolidating all of its remaining forces in the Volga Delta, and the CAC—specifically Turkestan—contributed troops to help out.”
So the rumors were true. They were doing something in Astrakhan after all.
“What for?” Gulichi said. “Propping up the government remnants? Even with the anarchy in the rest of the country, I doubt they would need all those troops.”
“No, their goal is to invade Jerusalem,” Leyla said.
What?!
Gulichi did a double take. “Come again?”
“After seeing how successful the Russians, Malians, and Ryukyuans were in the Baltics, Westafrika, and Sumatra, the Yavdians thought they could do the same. They want to liberate Taurica and put an end to the abominations happening in the camps. You’re Yavdian, you should know this.”
No wonder they chose to put their “safe haven” so freaking close to the border.
“Well, we’ve been off the grid for the last two weeks, Corporal. We haven’t exactly been in touch with whoever is in charge.”
“Then…who do you receive orders from?”
“Well, up until three weeks ago, we were directly under Tayisung and Amur’s command,” Samir said, “Then they died. Now? We answer to her.”
He gestured to Wilhelmina,
Never did I think you’d say that. Oh, am I up now?
She quickly fixed her glasses again and casually waved. “Hey. Your Imperial Majesty, Wilhelmina von Hohenzollern.”
It sounds so weird when I say it like that.
Leyla folded her arms over each other, unable to actually cross them. “Are you really the princess?”
“I get that a lot. I guess I am.”
“Don’t sound too enthusiastic about it.”
“I’m still getting used to this, honestly.”
Leyla looked around the table, looking at everyone’s faces.
“You’ve…assembled quite a…unique party. A Yavdian private commanding a squad where everyone outranks him. A village militiaman. A…Mexican woman?”
She looked confused. But Izinchi smiled.
“Aye, ye dinnae think I was a demon like the others! Izinchi Ochimeca, Imperial Senator. Of the Reich from before, if that wasn’t obvious.”
But Leyla had already moved on.
“A Roman general?”
“D’ye listen to what I said?!”
“That’s Megas Domestikos Gebhard Remmele to you,” Gebhard said.
“And…two kids?” Leyla looked baffled by their presence.
“You’re not even going to ask about my title? Or why I’m here?”
“Oi, what about me?!”
“Oh, this here’s my grandson, Friedrich,” Wilhelmina said, “I kind of had no choice but to bring him along for his own safety. It makes more sense in context. Say hi!”
“Hi!” Friedrich copied Wilhelmina’s wave.
“And that’s my…distant relative, I guess? Grand Duchess Ilyana Romanova, last survivor of the Hohenzollern cadet branch known as the Romanovs. Same deal as Friedrich. Say hi!”
“No,” Ilyana said, “But nice to meet you.”
Leyla was absolutely horrified now. “So we have the heir’s grandson and a Russian duchess. What the hell’s going on here?!”
Sometimes, I ask myself that when I wake up.
“Not like I had a choice after what I went through just this month alone,” Wilhelmina said.
“I hope you have a good plan.”
“We’re going to Persia. So the opposite direction from Astrakhan.”
“Well, it’s not like they’re going to pick me up here. Even if there was someone to pick me up.”
“Why’s that?”
They heard a roaring noise outside. Everyone looked out at the sea and saw trails of smoke rising up from the sunlit horizon, arcing over the town and disappearing into the night to the east.
Leyla pointed straight up. “Missiles. Jerusalem constantly fires missiles from the Caucasus and Anatolia at Turkestan and Persia. While almost none of them get through Persia’s Iron Dome defense network, some do. One missile shot down my transport plane. I’m the only survivor.”
“I’m so sorry.”
Leyla held up her other hand. “And with my hands like this, I won’t be shooting guns anytime soon.”
“So what will you do?” Gulichi said.
“I don’t really know. Can’t contact anybody—especially with Turkestan’s satellites destroyed—but I can’t do much either.”
“You could come with us to Persia,” Wilhelmina said, “There you can get in touch with your superiors.”
“I don’t think I asked this before, but…how exactly did you get here?”
“Let’s say our method is…economical and eco-friendly.”
Heidi loudly neighed somewhere. Leyla took several seconds to process the information. Then she instinctively raised a hand to facepalm, only to stop, no doubt remembering how her hand was.
“You know there’s a train station a few miles from here, right? We can take that.”
“As long as we bring our horses.”
“I’m not sure if the trains here are equipped for that.”
“I’m not going to abandon our horses after they’ve carried us this far. Especially Heidi.”
Seriously, they’re going to make room for Heidi and the others. I’m the princess, and I should probably actually use my clout. They’ve got to deal with it.
“So I’ll take that as a yes?” Gulichi said.
“Not like I have a better choice.”
Wilhelmina smiled. She held out her hand.
“Uh, what’s this for?” Leyla said.
“Welcome to the party,” Wilhelmina said.
Leyla held up her hand again.
“…oh,” Wilhelmina said, “I totally forgot. Sorry.”
Leyla shook her head. “No offense, but what the hell did I get myself into?”
“Oi, d’she mention that time last week when she fought a bloody bear with a sword and won?!”
Baghdad - December 27
Josh’s transport drove through downtown Baghdad, taking one of the few highways still intact. Long after it had been nuked, Baghdad remained in ruins. The skyscrapers of downtown had been obliterated. They still hadn’t cleaned up after the flood from the Mosul Dam collapse. Everywhere Josh looked, he only saw empty streets covered in debris and mud. Not a single person was in sight. The rebels had been run out long ago, but the Crusaders had withdrawn as well.
There is nothing of value left here. Everybody got what they deserved.
“Alright, Watchtower has returned a definitive hit on our targets leaving Basra. Angelica Haus and her group of rebels are heading for the CAC border. They may have escaped our first attack, but we have the technological and moral advantage on our side. As we speak, our drones are pinpointing their exact location, and with our vehicles, we can easily overtake them. Although God is with us, be ready for a fight.”
“Got it,” Alder said.
“Copy that,” Volkard said.
“Ready to go,” Leo said.
“Understood,” Colmar said.
“Let’s give those rebel scum a traitor’s fate. As God wills it!”
They drove out of the city. Although the highway was still intact, it had barely been maintained. Potholes and cracks dotted the concrete, alongside the charred remnants of abandoned cars. As Josh took in the desolate sights, he thought he saw someone standing behind a car. He blinked, but he saw nobody there.
Weird. A glitch, or more rebels?
They passed the blackened chassis of what appeared to be a school bus. Josh’s eyes fell on the driver’s seat, and he saw someone sitting there. Oskar quietly looked back at him.
Impossible! You’re dead!
Oskar said nothing. His face did not appear angry, but rather disappointed. As if judging him.
I killed you myself, Oskar. I remember hanging you from that crane, listening to your pitiful pleas for mercy, watching your feet dangling in the air before you went limp. You are dead. You can’t be here!
You’re right, Josh. He can’t be here. As you say, you killed him.
Then why is he here?
I can’t tell you that. Perhaps he wants to tell you something.
Why should I care what a deviant like him has to say about a man like me?
Maybe that you’re going down the wrong path.
What gives him the right to decide how I live my life? What gives him the righ to decide what is right for me?
Have you ever stopped to think about what you’ve done?
Why should I?
The world doesn’t revolve around you, Josh. Despite what the committee says, you are only another person in this world. You’ve made a living profiting on the misery of others. Do you even bother remembering their names?
Why should I?
Anders, Angela, Diana, Theresa, Vincent, Olga, Oskar, Khulan. They were people too. They had lives, dreams, aspirations like you do. You stole all that from them.
Why should I care about those monsters? They’re my enemies. My job is to kill my enemies. Without hesitation. That’s what a true man is like. Unflinching, uncompromising. Doing what is right, whatever it takes.
Even if what is right requires the deaths of millions of innocents?
If that’s what it takes, then yes.
Then is it really right?
Josh thought for a moment, unable to come up with a response.
You sound like Alex. The cowardly unmanly traitor Alex. You’re trying to make me like him!
Maybe I do. Maybe Alex has a point.
Alex is weak! I killed his parents, and he ran like a crybaby instead of standing his ground and fighting me!
Because he’s no fighter. He knows that. He knows there are other ways to succeed in this world beyond killing. Beyond stomping on others to raise yourself up.
That’s what a coward would say. Someone deluded enough to think the world can run on love and trust. No, the truth is, you have to take what you want to get anywhere.
You’re taking the easy way out.
It’s the truth!
It’s not. If you only look out for yourself and leaving everyone else to die, then you’ll live a lonely life. You’ll only see people as pawns in your game. Transactions to be made. Means to an end. Instead of as the humans they are.
You’re a fool if you think that way. Or maybe you’re a glitch.
Maybe I am. I won’t tell you.
What, you’re not going to force it on me, like the party cartel forced its political correctness down our throats?
No. You refuse to see it, but we never did that. We have always allowed people to believe what they wanted. Sometimes to our own detriment. Guess that’s the paradox of tolerance. If you tolerate all beliefs, you tolerate the intolerant and give them the chance to enforce such intolerance on the rest of us.
You’re making it all up. All this talk about leftist propaganda. Now I know you’re a glitch. A hacker? What have you done? Give me back my mind!
Not until you finally stop and think about what you really want. What you’ve done to the world. Oskar saw who you could have been years ago. Yet you’ve gone out of your way to reject him every single time he reached out. And for what? What has that gotten you? Wealth? You barely have enough to support yourself and the kids. Power? You’re still another Argus pawn in Theodor’s game. Fame? They call you Argus’ best soldier, but they’re secretly scared of you. Even Theodor is scared of what you’ve become. They won’t give you the really good stuff. They won’t make you even more powerful and prominent. You know that. It’s time you asked yourself the real question: who are you, and what do you want?
Shut up, shut up, SHUT UP!
The voice stopped. It did not come back.
- 2
Oskar being the representation of the small part of Josh that recognizes he's a monster is perfect.
- 2
I think a lot of us cheered when we saw that at the beginning and the sign to confirm it.
I like Leyla already.
What!?!? That sounds like some Call of Duty or Michael Bay type of stuff.
I mean common being a princess should have some advantages right?
Most likely the ride of your life.
I agree with @TheAnguishedOne in that the little voice in Josh's head being Oskar is a great choice.
I agree with AnguishedOne as well, fitting that Oskar represents the last traces of whatever morality Josh still has left beneath his 'macho man' persona, though I fear he's gonna crush this tiny voice in the end when he confronts the rebels and possibly Alex's group once and for all.
Leyla looks to be an interesting addition to Willhelmina's group alright. Also the HK416 rifle made it to this timeline too? That's a cool minor detail tbh, I wonder what other OTL gun made it as well, the AK series was probably another one, used by the Commune and then Russia. I take it the M4 series were the Reich's main gun before the Committee took over?
Leyla looks to be an interesting addition to Willhelmina's group alright. Also the HK416 rifle made it to this timeline too? That's a cool minor detail tbh, I wonder what other OTL gun made it as well, the AK series was probably another one, used by the Commune and then Russia. I take it the M4 series were the Reich's main gun before the Committee took over?
Well in OTL the HK416 is being introduced as the main rifle of the German Army and is based off of the M4. I know that during the war in Mexico Zen used OTL American army photos' that had M4's but I guess he could say those were early prototypes of the HK416? Also I think it is safe to assume that the AK series made it and is still being used in TTL's 2030's. That gun is every ware from the modern era to space (like in Call of Duty: Infinite Warfare) as well as timelines in were Russia no longer existed like in The Man in the High Castle you see African-American rebels are armed with Chinese style AK's according to internet movie firearms database. I do wonder what weapons' that China is using, like if they used OTL's weapons' like the QBZ-95 and upcoming QBZ-191, Taiwanese weapons' like the T91 rifle (a rifle that also uses features from the M16 and AR-18) or Japanese weapons' like the Howa Type 89 or the upcoming Howa Type 20?
Both Oskar and Alex at the same time, reminding him of who he once was and who he could have been.
We’re not out of the woods yet.
She got so much better in editing when I added her “why am I here” mentality. She’s kind of like the grown-up who joins a band of teenage JRPG protagonists.
Not enough explosions though.
Samir: “Are you sure about that?”
Hope she gets paid.Most likely the ride of your life.
But will Josh listen to his conscience?
I mean, Alex didn’t listen to his own voice, which doesn’t bode well for Josh…
The AK series was definitely used in Soviet times. I think I specifically mentioned it a few times back then. The Reich probably used the M4 series alongside European models
To be fair, in MITHC they messed up a lot of weapons, vehicles, and ship designs even though they initially put in a lot of effort trying to “modernize” OTL Nazi designs. For example, in later seasons the Nazis use Soviet tanks from the Cold War, and the AK series (particularly the Chinese models) only came after WWII. So I don’t really consider these details canon to the show since they’re inconsistent and at times even anachronistic.
China probably uses a mix of Taiwanese and Japanese weapons instead of PRC designs which never existed here.
- 1
I mean to be fair some weapons' like the German MP5 and the Japanese Howa Type 64 are pretty realistic in that they both came out in the 60's. I also think that since those weapons' would still be fairly new by the time of MITHC it would make sense to only give those weapons' to groups like the SS and Imperial Guard. However I do agree that most of the weapons' (especially the Soviet ones) can really mess with the believability of the world since the Soviet Union is long gone by that universes 1960's. I guess you could make a case that the AK style guns are STG-44's and that your average viewer wouldn't know the difference but I fell like that would be a stretch since the AK is so recognizable and different to the STG-44.
I did say they tried with some historically accurate designs, and I'll give them credit for those. Just wanted to point out the designs that made little sense, though they're really a minor detail most people, including myself, would pay little attention to.
Unlucky
Jerusalem-Persian border - December 28
It was a quiet night in Mesopotamia, which was surprising given the circumstances. The quiet part, that was. A dusty truck rolled up the hillside road. Inside, Angelica sat behind the wheel, driving as fast as she could. Tania was riding shotgun, her rifle at her side as always. Everyone else in their group was sleeping in the back. They’d picked up the truck in Kirkuk, which was one of the few Mesopotamian cities still under rebel control following last year’s nuclear attacks.
Much faster than taking the trains or traveling on foot, and now the border is within sight. Not much longer now. That is, if Angelica didn’t take the long way around.
“I’m telling you, we should’ve taken the abandoned tunnel. They wouldn’t be monitoring it.”
“And I told you, the tunnel isn’t driveable. I saw rubble at the entrance. We wouldn’t have been able to drive through it.”
“We have a large truck. Shouldn’t we be able to just…plow through?”
“You forgot two things, Tania. First, trucks aren’t as durable as in the movies. And second, I’m not licensed to drive a truck. None of us are.”
“I hope they aren’t monitoring the pass.”
“We don’t have a choice. If they’re there, we’ll have to fight our way through.”
These are not good places to use a sniper rifle. Come on, we’re almost there…
Angelica reached the pass, and the road leveled off. Her headlights found nothing out of the ordinary.
“Coast is clear, at least from what I could tell.”
Tania scanned the area with her scope. “I wouldn’t be sure of that.”
The headlights illuminated an Argus barricade they were about to hit.
I stand corrected.
“Yebat. We should’ve taken the tunnel.”
Angelica instinctively…floored the gas pedal.
“What are you doing?!”
Angelica shook her fist. “Come and get me, you Argus motherfrakkers! This is for Bloody Tuesday!”
---
Angelica’s truck appeared at the top of the hill. The glare of its headlight would have briefly blinded Josh, but his Panopticon dulled the brightness so he didn’t even need to blink extra. He simply raised his hand, and his squad readied their guns.
They’ve fallen right into our trap. Now it’s time to squash these bugs for good.
“Ready…”
“Uh, Josh? They’re not slowing down.”
“I can see that.”
The truck continued barreling down on them.
Now.
“Fire!”
The squad opened fire, sparks flying off the grill and bumper as bullets struck them. The windows shattered, but Josh couldn’t see anyone behind the wheel.
Where’d the driver go? Did they…duck? Then how were they driving?! Oh wait…
“Get out of the way!”
The squad scattered to the left and right just as the truck slammed through the barricade and continued on its path. Josh got to his feet and watched it drive away.
“Don’t let it get through!”
---
Angelica got up from ducking and was instantly blasted with cold nighttime countryside air. The windows had been destroyed by the gunfire.
Doesn’t matter. We’re almost there anyways. Only thing that matters is being able to drive.
“Ouf! I can’t believe that actually worked!”
Tania sat up. “What the hell did you mean that actually worked?”
“I thought the barricade would be too sturdy, or the truck would fall apart. Turns out the movies didn’t get it all wrong.”
They heard shouting from outside, followed by bullets zipping past. Someone knocked on the back of the cab.
“I just woke up, and why are there people shooting at us?!” Ruby said.
“Sorry, we ran into a…roadblock!”
Technically true.
Tania facepalmed. “Liggja þig.”
“Anyways, can you help hold them off? We’re almost to the border.”
“I just wanted a good night’s sleep, for once…” Ruby said.
---
Argus rushed to their vehicles, waiting motorcycles. Josh eagerly got on his motorcycle and started the engine. It took two tries for the stupid old machine to start up, but he soon sped off, his squad behind him.
Why did the Franks bother with such an inferior outdated vehicle? They could have easily chosen a superior one, but they stuck to this one. At least I’m putting it to better use now.
As he closed the distance to the truck, he raised his rifle with one free hand and fired. The rest of his squad also fired, raking the back of the truck. Leo commanded his drones to swoop down and begin shooting the truck from the sides. The truck’s back doors swung open, and Ruby, Billy, and several other rebels returned fire. Josh and his squad swerved to avoid the gunfire, making sure not to fall too far behind. Josh gunned the accelerator and closed the distance even more. He fired again. Billy and Ruby took cover, but some of their comrades weren’t so lucky. Two rebels were shot in the head and fell out of the truck, tumbling onto the road and disappearing into the darkness. He would have shot more rebels, but his gun clicked. It was empty, and he couldn’t reload as long as he was driving. So he shouldered his rifle and prepared his new weapons.
I can finally use these properly.
---
Billy looked behind him, making sure the smallpox sample freezer was still safely secured. At that moment, he heard a scream from the guy next to him. He looked back in front and saw a metal cable embedded in the rebel’s chest. Before he could react, the cable retracted, and the man was pulled screaming out of the truck to his death. A second cable pinned another rebel to the wall by her hand. Electricity then surged through the cable, electrocuting her to the point where her arm blackened and gave off smoke. The cable then also retracted, and Billy followed it back to the young man leading their pursuers.
“Concentrate your fire on that guy!”
---
Drones repeatedly approached the cab, trying to get a clear shot at Angelica and Tania. Tania took Angelica’s pistol.
“Hey, that’s mine!”
“Sorry, I’ll have to borrow this!”
“What for?!”
Tania fired at any drones getting too close to the cab. Despite having no scope and barely any visibility, she managed to get off a few hits, but that wasn’t her goal. Once the drones had been forced back into a small cluster, she loaded an EMP round into her rifle and fired, disabling the entire cluster in one shot.
“For that.” Tania smugly put down her rifle.
---
Leo’s tablet suddenly went to static. He tapped furiously on it, but it was no use. He couldn’t contact his drones.
“Damnit!”
---
“Damnit, damnit, damnit!” Angelica pounded her steering wheel.
“What is it?” Tania said.
“That last shot of yours…it kind of took out our own electrical systems.”
“Like what?”
“Oh, nothing major, just our goddamn headlights. What, you didn’t notice?”
Oh…I just realized. The headlights are out. The EMP went off too close.
The only sources of light now came from Argus’ motorcycles. They were driving completely blind.
“This isn’t good. If this road turns, I won’t know.”
“Then what do we do?”
“Hope there isn’t a turn.”
Of course, just at that moment, the truck crashed through a safety railing and careened off the road, lurching and tumbling down a rocky hill. Angelica and Tania bounced in their seats.
“Oh come on!”
Why’d you have to say that?!
The truck entered a wooded area. Angelica tried to swerve around the trees, but she couldn’t avoid them all, and eventually a tree slammed into the cab engine dead center, bringing the whole vehicle to a halt.
“Well, there goes that,” Tania said, “Everyone out!”
The rebels vacated the truck and turned on flashlights. Tania looked around, trying to get a sense of where she was. There were initially no defining features about the woods, just the usual trees and bushes. But then her light fell on what looked like the wreck of a car.
“Wait, what’s that?”
Angelica illuminated the car with her flashlight.
“Huh, by the looks of it, it’s been here for a while. Vintage model too, on top of it.”
“So you’re saying it’s been here for decades?” Julian said.
“Oh, no, if it was, it would be even more beaten up. I’d say it’s been here for a few years. Maybe they were fleeing Red Christmas this way. Though I wouldn’t know who’d take a vintage car on an escape tri…oh no…”
She stopped talking. “I…I recognize this car.”
“So do I,” Billy said.
“Me too,” Ruby said.
“Wait, you do?” Tania said.
“This is Angela Hansen’s car,” Angelica said, “No doubt about it. A black Impala, 1967 model. Can tell from the headlights and general shape. And if I were to look at the license plate…”
She went to the front. “It…it is her car. So this is where she ended up, didn’t she? Last I saw of her, she was driving the Impala out of Bremerhaven, planning to go pick up her family in Damascus and then escape into Persia. Guess they never made it.”
“They could’ve gotten out of the car,” Tania said, “There are no bodies here.”
“The bodies could’ve been dumped in a ditch.”
“Or it could be another al-Dud situation,” Julian said.
“Hey, not f-funny! Let’s not talk about that!”
“Well, I know for a fact this is her car, and it clearly took a beating,” Billy said, “Crumpled up, looks like it got flung around and flipped over several times, burned as well. If they survived all that, they probably died to whoever was responsible.”
“It’s just like with my mom,” Angelica said, “I always wanted to learn what happened to Agent Hansen. And to think she died in these woods, so close to freedom…”
“Hey, this talk is sad and all, but I think we should stay on the move,” Ruby said, “Maybe turn off our flashlights so they can’t spot us?”
“Don’t bother,” Julian said, “Their Panopticons can still spot us anyways. And we need the flashlights so we at least know where to go. We’d be blind sitting ducks otherwise.”
“Okay, let’s move,” Angelica said, “If I remember correctly, the border shouldn’t be that far east of here.”
“The border doesn’t really mean much these days,” August said.
“Actually, it should still mean something. The Persians reinforced the border as much as possible. It’s how they’ve been resisting any incursions from Mesopotamia these last two months. We should expect to run into some fortifications there.”
“Unfortunately, you won’t get there,” Josh said.
Argus charged in from the west, guns blazing. Bodies dropped like flies before anyone could react. Within seconds, Billy and Ruby were the only survivors of their cell. They dove for the ground, using the bodies of their fallen comrades for cover.
Angelica raised her pistol. “Merde! Return fire!”
“Julian, August!” Tania said. “Take the sample and run!”
She handed the freezer to August, who ran east with Julian. She loaded her rifle, but it was impossible to aim in total darkness. Everyone else took cover behind the trees, occasionally taking shots which all missed. They could not see without any light, and they couldn’t safely aim their flashlights. Meanwhile, Argus could easily see them through their Panopticons.
Why did we have to spend too long chatting in front of the car?
Tania looked at Angelica. “Angelica, tell me you know how to get us out of this one.”
Angelica shook her head. “Sorry. Looks like this might be the end for us. Guess I spent too long at the car, and now I’ll die right where my namesake did.”
“Don’t say that. We can still survive.”
“We can’t even aim!”
Tania looked at her rifle.
Let’s see…think, think. I took out those drones back there. Wait, aren’t the Panopticons an electrical device? And didn’t my bullets have some effect on those soldiers in the camp?
“I don’t need to aim.” She loaded an EMP round into her rifle.
“What, blind firing? What good would that do here?”
“No, not that, I don’t know how to do that. But I need you to draw everyone into the same area.”
Angelica nodded, realizing what she was planning. “I’ll try.”
She ran from behind the tree and fired randomly. As soon as she drew Argus’ attention, she backtracked and ran the other way. Volkard and Colmar took the bait and moved closer to Alder and Leo’s positions. All four concentrated their fire on Angelica, forcing her to take cover behind the Impala wreck.
“Billy, Ruby!” Tania said. “Target the straggler!”
Billy and Ruby fired on Gustav, forcing him to take cover behind a tree near Colmar. Josh, though, didn’t take the bait. He looked at Angelica.
“Angelica Haus. You were named after Angela Hansen, weren’t you? Well, wouldn’t you like to know how exactly she died?”
Angelica gripped her gun with both hands. “Shut up!”
“You should know I was there. That day, exactly four years and two days ago. I put a bullet between Angela Hansen’s eyes myself. The look on her face when she realized she had failed to protect everyone she cared for, when her hope collapsed into complete and utter despair…it was a glorious sight. I felt a sense of pride and accomplishment.”
Angelica fell for the bait. She ran from the Impala. “YOU WILL PAY!”
But her gun clicked. It was out of ammo.
“…merde.”
This went horribly wrong. Improvising!
Tania fired at Josh. Josh noticed her movement, presumably with the Panopticon’s aid, and stepped out of the way just as a bullet zipped by, embedding in a tree behind him.
“Your bullet…it missed me.”
He stood there, quietly. Several tense seconds passed, but Josh didn’t move.
“Uh…” Angelica said. “Weren’t we…in the middle of something?”
“What—what did—did you do?!” Josh demanded. “I can’t move!”
“We can’t move either!” The other Argus men also seemed similarly paralyzed.
The tree Tania hit turned out to be right in the dead center of Josh’s squad.
It…IT WORKED?!
“I…can’t believe that worked!”
“I—I’ll kill you!” Josh said.
“Not while you’re paralyzed.” Tania reloaded her rifle and prepared to shoot him, but her gun jammed.
“OH OF ALL THE DAMN TIMES IT COULD’VE JAMMED, IT PICKED NOW?!”
WHAT THE HELL, DOLA?!
“Everyone, shoot them while they’re down!” Angelica said.
“Wait, I’m out of ammo!” Billy said.
“Merde, so am I!” Ruby said.
“Wait, how are we all out of ammo at the same time?!” Angelica said.
“And I’m not out of ammo but my gun jammed?!” Tania said.
From extremely lucky to extremely unlucky. What the hell is happening, Dola?! Does this have anything to do with what happened in al-Dud?
“Well, only one thing to do, then. Run!” Tania took off.
Angelica nodded, following close behind. “Let’s catch up with Julian and August!”
Josh could still grimace despite being paralyzed. “This isn’t over! Don’t act like you can just walk away from me like that!”
They left their paralyzed attackers behind. Tania tried her best not to listen to Josh’s many curses and slurs. It was actually pretty easy once they had gotten far enough away. The remaining four of them quickly put distance between themselves and Argus. Soon, they were alone again.
My Dola betrayed me. At the worst possible time.
“Well, that was…stupid of me,” Angelica said, “Sorry. I was caught up in the moment.”
“We’ll talk about it later,” Tania said, “But for what it’s worth, I probably would have fallen for it too.”
“You would have?”
“If that man had said the same thing about my aunt, there would be nothing holding me back either. By the way, was that guy telling the truth regarding Angela Hansen?”
“Did I tell you he was responsible for killing my squad and Director Frank in Bloody Tuesday? It wouldn’t be a stretch to assume he then killed Angela. I hate Josh’s smug face. I hate that he always gets away with it.”
Tania patted Angelica’s shoulder. “Hey, don’t worry about it. Once we get the sample to Persia, we’ll be safe.”
At that moment, a squad of soldiers emerged from the bushes and surrounded them.
“You just had to jinx it, did you?” Angelica said.
“Why is it we’re so lucky and unlucky today?!” tania said.
Can I get new Dola?
One of the soldiers stepped forward. Recognizing the rebels’ outfits as clearly not those of Crusaders, he took off his night vision goggles. “Salâmo alaykom. You must be the rebels we heard from young Mr. Julian.”
Julian appeared behind the soldiers. “Sorry about the welcome party. I explained the situation to this patrol, but they’re a little tense lately. They don’t want peace to be upon Jerusalem.”
“Uh…hello,” Tania said, “Admiral Tatiana Kirova, Scandinavian Navy, ID number 668536. Yes, it’s a long story about how I got here, but you can verify my ID by getting in contact with the Scandinavian Admiralty. I can vouch for the others.”
The soldier nodded. “Understood, Admiral. We’ll do that as soon as we can. Please, if you’ll follow us, we’ll take you to a safe location for debriefing.”
“What about the freezer Julian had?” Angelica said.
“We are well aware of the biohazardous material you brought. “It is in quarantine right now, along with the individual August von Schweinfurt, who was presumably with you, until we get a specialized team ready to handle it.”
“Oh, thank goodness!” Angelica hugged Tania excitedly. “We did it!”
“Let me be the first person to say this: welcome to Persia.”
But at what cost?
---
I know it's a contrivance, but I couldn't figure out how to have Tania and Angelica narrowly escape an ambush like that without killing Josh and his squad, so the Worm shenanigans continue.
- 2
Thank goodness!!!! Now that I think everyone is in one place the true counterattack can begin.
I was going to say that everything that Angelica's group was going through sounded a lot like what her mom and Alex went through.
Really I thought the EMP round worked. In that case can I just say that for once I am actually grateful for an eldritch horror appearing for the first time in this entire mega-game?
I am really glad that none of the "important" characters made it and it did not end up like the "A Long and Dark Night" updates with one hero dying to save the rest.
The best part being I think this was the second time Josh was stopped. The first one was when he was stop by Olga from almost killing Alex and his group during the Committees initial rise.
It’s time we got some catharsis out of Josh finally being literally stopped in his tracks.
Wilhelmina isn’t quite there yet though…
Are you talking about Angelica’s mom Theresa Haus or Angela/Alexandra Hansen? To clarify, Angelica has no blood ties to any of the X-Division agents or their descendants. She’s only named after Angela.
The EMP round did work, but I was talking about how our group couldn’t capitalize on Josh and Argus being frozen to kill them once and for all.
We may not be as lucky again in the future…
That was the other incident I was thinking of when I wrote this (funny enough, both times Josh got stopped happened in exactly the same place). The ambush here, like back then, was overwhelming and completely in Josh’s favor. The only thing our protagonists can do now to save themselves is use the EMP bullet to freeze the enemy, since there’s no one like Olga to save them again. But that introduces another issue as because they’re frozen, the logical thing to do is to kill them all while they’re down and end their threat for good. But I need Josh alive for future parts of the story, so I had to figure out a way for Tania/Angelica to escape Josh without killing Josh. Since I couldn’t find a logical way, I decided on a literally illogical way.
The pieces are falling into place, the board is set for what I fear to be a final confrontation. It's nice to get callbacks to previous chapters, even if said callbacks are tragic. Also Josh getting denied yet another kill and being angry over definitely put a smile on my face, satisfying alright. Of course, the Worm having something to do with it is a very bad thing. Who knows what sort of things it has been manipulating to get to this point. Very bad times, especially since Willhelmina's group looks to be almost close to Persia.
I reread that part and it was Alexandra Hansen who I was referring to. I also remembered that Alex is the son of Diana Frank and Anders Humboldt. Also isn't Angelica that girl that Anders and Angela saved in Normandy?
This makes me think that someone from Wilhelmina's group still has a chance of dying. I also realized that surely Elias or Theodor know that both Angelica and Wilhelmina's groups are heading to Persia and Alex and his group are already in Persia so once they are all in one place cant the Committee just nuke Isfahan and kill them all in one strike?
Specifically, Angelica's mother was the girl Anders and Angela saved in Normandy in 1992. Angelica herself was born around 1999 and named after Angela.
True, but that's assuming the committee is still competent. Elias' ego is probably so big he'd want to march into Isfahan himself and kill Wilhelmina personally. Same goes with Theodor on Thea and Alex, and he'd bring Josh to be sure. Also, Persia's nuclear defenses are really strong. There's a reason Persia was the only targeted nation to escape the nuclear attack completely unscathed (Ryukyu wasn't targeted at all).This makes me think that someone from Wilhelmina's group still has a chance of dying. I also realized that surely Elias or Theodor know that both Angelica and Wilhelmina's groups are heading to Persia and Alex and his group are already in Persia so once they are all in one place cant the Committee just nuke Isfahan and kill them all in one strike?
I'll be amused if by the end of all this madness, Ryukyu is gonna be the one leading the planet into the space age. That's assuming everyone doesn't nuke themselves to oblivion first, or Han gets any more funny ideas.
Would be very ironic if at the end of this, the most forgotten and overlooked nation becomes the one leading the planet into a skyward future.
Happy to see Angelica's group made it to Persia without losing a main character. Hopefully Wilhelmina's group catches up, that way we can catch up so we can have all three of our protagonist groups meet and interact in Persia.
Love seeing Josh lose for once, even if Worm gave him plot armor to survive this encounter. I'm really interested to see what Josh's breakdown and defeat will be like, as I think the odd's of him listening to his inner conscious and atoning for his crimes are non-existent and unbelievable.
I do wonder if the Panopticon of Josh's squad, including Gustav being disrupted means they will realize Jerusalem's conditioning and, in the case of Gustav, restore their memories. I think a funny outcome of this would be if Josh's entire squad mutinies against him and defects to the anti-Jerusalem forces because of this.
Knowing that Elias and Theodor's conspiracy masterminded the Uberbowl incident, I now have to wonder if they also had a hand in the following mass shooting in Adamshaven. Even if this theory is a bit of a stretch with little evidence, it definitely seems like something they would do, especially if they sent Josh in as the shooter, and it would explain things like the shooter’s access to the bombs they detonated.
Love seeing Josh lose for once, even if Worm gave him plot armor to survive this encounter. I'm really interested to see what Josh's breakdown and defeat will be like, as I think the odd's of him listening to his inner conscious and atoning for his crimes are non-existent and unbelievable.
I do wonder if the Panopticon of Josh's squad, including Gustav being disrupted means they will realize Jerusalem's conditioning and, in the case of Gustav, restore their memories. I think a funny outcome of this would be if Josh's entire squad mutinies against him and defects to the anti-Jerusalem forces because of this.
Knowing that Elias and Theodor's conspiracy masterminded the Uberbowl incident, I now have to wonder if they also had a hand in the following mass shooting in Adamshaven. Even if this theory is a bit of a stretch with little evidence, it definitely seems like something they would do, especially if they sent Josh in as the shooter, and it would explain things like the shooter’s access to the bombs they detonated.
I should probably add that a Nuke probably won't work against Wilhelmina's powers too, seeing what happened to Han's nuke when Wilhelmina's powers activated.
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