by Troy Dukart
“Alright, listen up duraki! Now that we have special help from Salvator headquarters, we can now finally save the day! Thank God!”
The fellow Salvators applauded.
“In all seriousness, this is going to be a dangerous mission. I can't promise your return. Nobody will call you a coward if you stay, except me of course.”
We all stood still.
“Good! Humanity will erect stone statues of you, comrades. Not you over there though, too ugly. HA! You're probably wondering what we are going to do? I'M GETTING TO THAT!” Sergei joked, “We will take tunnels to reach underneath the mighty Kremlin. Once there, we will change into civilian clothing and enter St. Basil's Cathedral. Then, we take the secret entrance into Federation headquarters.”
“So we'll get into their base through a church?” I asked.
“Yes, comrade, shitty as it may be. That place is full of Russian pride. Let us pray no bastards try to fight us there. I don't mind fighting in the bar, but a church, ah, Jesus wouldn't approve,” Sergei acknowledged with a snap of his fingers.
Zixin cracked his knuckles, “Won't matter if they do.”
“What about the Whiteclouds?” Karma asked.
“Oh shit, my love. You are right. They will go a different route yet still meet us near the Red Square. They must stand-by until we need them. Russian Police will try to kill or capture them if spotted. Fur coats are VERY popular in Russia. Maybe we go in on the deal?” Sergei kidded.
Goliath tilted his head.
“Sergei, what if we are stopped by the military or a guard? None of us speak Russian,” she said.
“Glad you asked konfetka! Here, we will upload the Russian language to you. It's super simple and takes only seconds.”
Sergei brought us to a machine. Grabbing me by the shoulders, he sat me down in the chair and pulled down an eye scanner.
“Strafe, thank you for volunteering to be our guinea pig,” he slapped my back, “So, anyone who wishes to learn the greatest language in the world, you've come to the right place. I won't have such funny accent anymore when I talk to you. Our team has identified how to tap into the area of your small brains that controls speech. We can get you proficient in any language.”
“Well shit, can't we download every one?” a Salvator member added.
“Unfortunately, we tried that and it made a man's brain melt. Turned ugly like Boris over there. Some humans can handle up to 50-70 languages. If you wish, we can download the maximum recommended, which is around 35,” Sergei explained.
“Why do you have an accent if this machine works as you say?” Zixin questioned.
“I spoke English before we made this ditya. It can't overwrite an existing language.”
“Ah ha,” I tapped my temple.
“So, we give you a try Strafe? Thirty-five languages?” Sergei asked as he typed commands into the computer.
“As long as this doesn't fry my brain!”
“You're American, your brain already fried!” he chuckled.
I rested my head on the two eye-cups of the scanner. I heard a few clicks of keys before a bright light flashed into my eyes. It blinded me so bad I fell out of the chair and onto the floor. Goliath ran up to me, along with Zixin. They sat me up. I had to keep my eyes closed for a while, it felt like a needle had been rammed right into my skull.
Once I rested for a minute, in Russian, Sergei said, “Can your American brain handle this much information?”
“Yeah, but I might need a shot of vodka,” I responded in Russian. People gasped in amazement.
Karma walked over to me. Trying to see how well it worked, she spoke in Tibetan. I didn't understand that language, but when she used Mandarin, I could.
She grabbed my arm, “Wow Strafe! How many languages can you speak!?”
“I don't know,” I rubbed my eyes, “Guess I have to hear it first to know.”
After I moved out of the chair, the entire crew volunteered for the language implantation. To my surprise, Zixin stepped up.
“Can you download all the Native American languages, along with all European?” he asked.
“Sure. Never had anyone request that. But you are my guest priyatel, so it's our pleasure,” Sergei admitted.
Zixin performed the procedure like the rest of us. He didn't cringe or fall to the floor, just rubbed his eyes. In fluent Russian, he got up and said, “That's it?”
“You know comrade, we should probably fix your eye too. Unless you like looking like a pirate,” Sergei said before leaning over to Karma, “Do you think the patch is sexy? Maybe he should keep it?”
She shook her head.
“How?” Zixin said.
Sergei pulled a few drawers in a metal desk before saying, “YES! Here you go, Captain Jack! It will only take ten minutes or your money back.” He held a robotic eye in his hand.
Glancing to me, he asked, “What do you think?”
“As long as it's sterilized, why wouldn't you want your full sight back? Our robotics nowadays are highly advanced. Had you not regenerated your arm I was going to suggest that to you as well. These things have a high success rate,” I said.
Thinking for a moment before crossing his arms, he nodded in agreement. “If it doesn't screw up my other eye, works for me. I've missed my vision.”
Sergei and other Salvators took Zixin into another room. Half an hour later, he returned without his patch. Opening his left eye, I could see it had a greenish tint before it matched his other one's color.
“Well? How do you feel?” I asked.
“Guess you can call me a cyborg now,” he joked, “Works perfectly.”
Now that we could pass off as locals, we prepared for our infiltration mission.
CHAPTER 20
Strafe
Not only did I know more languages, but I felt, smarter. Anything that made me more well-rounded I welcomed.
We changed into civilian clothing, t-shirts, jeans, and coats. Sergei gave us backpacks to carry our equipment in. Luggage would've drawn too much attention.
“Alrighty, here's where things get interesting,” he said, “There are going to be three teams. Team one I will lead, team two will follow Karma, and team three...” he said before being interrupted.
“I'll take the Whiteclouds,” Zixin volunteered, “And meet you inside St. Basil's Cathedral.”
“Alexei, my next in command, will accompany you. He knows the way,” Sergei agreed, “As for the rest of us, to infiltrate into the Kremlin undetected, we will take a tunnel to underneath Dormition Cathedral. From there, we will walk over to St. Basil's Cathedral. Do NOT talk to anyone unless spoken to. Do NOT make a distraction. Most importantly, ONLY use Russian. They don't need to know you aren't from here. Trust me, I am the 'Fearless Leader.'“
“Roger!” all of us replied.
“Good. Stay on me, comrades.”
I peered down at the God Blade. The orb flickered white light. That meant we were safe. Red glow meant danger neared.
We split into the teams. The “Fearless Leader” led us down a series of tunnels underneath the heart of Moscow. The rumble of the cars above us vibrated to the floor. Zixin nodded to me as he and the Whiteclouds followed Alexei.
After about a five-mile walk, we made it beneath the Kremlin.
“Remember, only speak Russian and when we reach the other Cathedral, put on your equipment. Mama, forgive me if I swear in the church,” Sergei said.
There was a rusty ladder that led up to the Dormition Cathedral. One-by-one we climbed up. After making it to the top, I saw we were in some old dusty room with stone walls.
“Are we trapped?” a Salvator asked.
“No comrade, we are in the right place,” Sergei smiled as he patted him on the shoulder.
He walked over to the wall and pushed. It slid open, like a revolving door, “Quickly!”
We rushed through before anyone noticed us. The wall then closed by itself. Upon exiting t
he cathedral, we found ourselves in the heart of the Kremlin. A bright blue sky welcomed us. Many tourists were walking around, which alleviated my tension.
“Karma, did you make it?” Sergei asked over radio communication.
After a few seconds of silence, she responded, “Yes, we just made it out of the church. We will follow you as planned.”
With maintained eye-sight of each other, we kept our distance. The beauty of the Kremlin overwhelmed me. We walked by the Presidential Palace, Church of the Twelve Apostles and the Tsar Cannon to name a few of the wonders found on the premises.
Casually the group strolled through the Spasskaya Tower entrance which brought us to the Red Square, the heart of Moscow. Here, people strolled by, enjoying the sites and getting to where they needed to go.
With confidence and swagger, Sergei led the way. St. Basil's Cathedral was on the other side of the square. My eyes scanned for any police or shady individuals. No matter how much I wanted to shake it, I couldn't help the feeling of being watched.
About halfway to the church, Zixin and Alexei joined us. They said the Whiteclouds were secure and ready to fight if necessary.
We entered in staggered groupings. The hallways and rooms inside were a bit narrow but highly decorated in religious paintings and artifacts. Sergei got a head-count before we moved forward. He told us inside there would be a guarded passageway, but he had a plan for that.
After our group turned a corner, we entered a room with a picture of Jesus's mother Mary. Two guards stood on both sides and wore silver and purple garb.
“Shit. The Federation,” I cringed.
To my surprise, Sergei walked straight towards them and gazed at the painting. He gave a big sneeze before turning around back to us. The guards didn't react until one of them fell to the floor. The other one tried to help, but in the process, he went unconscious as well. He rushed us over to the painting and pushed a button hidden in the frame to reveal a staircase behind it. Before any other tourist could say anything, we dragged the guards in and shut the door.
“What the hell was that?” Zixin asked.
“Special sleeping aroma developed by the Russian military. Very strong,” Sergei explained as he brushed his hands together. “Weapons ready, be prepared to fight.”
They gave me a pistol. My brother refused a weapon, said he didn't like guns.
All down the staircase, neon white symbols of various kinds adorned the walls. It reminded me a bit of the cave I found the God Blade in. We made our way down with caution.
Our group eventually reached a sturdy metal door. It had no keyholes or place to input a password.
“Shit. What do we do?” a Salvator said.
“I don't know comrade. Ibrahim never said anything about this door,” Sergei shrugged.
A flash of light in the corner of my eye caught my attention. The God Blade had started to pulse white. Everyone looked at me as I walked toward the door. I held the blade up to it; a few gears clicked and then it swung open.
“Some tool you've got there,” Sergei marveled.
“Been like a guardian angel to me,” I said.
Some sort of control center laid out in front of us. Green glowing cables stretched everywhere along the computer monitors. At the far side of the room stood a voluminous cylinder tube full of water and bubbles.
“Did they take a lunch break?” I joked.
Sergei stepped forward and cocked his gun, “Get your heads in the game duraki, we need to access their networks and shut this place down.”
His team went to work as they began hacking into the Federation systems. It was funny to think a room this small acted as their headquarters. Didn't seem right.
The cylinder tube called to me. I walked over and put a hand on the glass surface. Suspended in the water, a person slept with a breathing apparatus around their face, but I couldn't make out who.
“Incredible comrades! This is their central command! Any order we want can be sent here!” Sergei noted in excitement.
“We need to input the protocol from Ibrahim,” Karma insisted.
“Yes, once the data purge is complete my love.”
Zixin walked up to me and gazed into the tube. His eyes widened.
“St-St-Strafe,” he stuttered.
I turned around and looked inside. Some of the bubbles cleared, allowing us to identify the individual. No mistake about it; floating in the water was our mother.
“Mom!?” I gasped while covering my mouth.
“Is that. . .” Zixin said in disbelief.
“Hey Sergei,” I called, “Can you open this?”
“The tube? Give us a second,” he said.
After a few keystrokes, the water drained and the tube rescinded into the floor. She had a black wetsuit on and had her eyes closed. Both of us rushed over to help her up. I couldn't believe after all this time she was here. We had fought so hard to find her. Emotion overcame me. She was alive!
“So this is her?” Zixin asked.
I put my arm around his shoulder and said, “Yes, she'll be so happy to see you.”
The God Blade began to flicker red. Something or someone dangerous was approaching. “Hey! We gotta go! It's not safe here!”
“We're almost done Strafe!” Karma informed me.
“There's no time we've. . .” I tried to explain before the room dropped in temperature.
The clacking of footsteps on a metal grate on the upper level caught my attention. There was also the sound of gnawing, like when an animal eats its prey.
Up top stood a man, holding up another person's head and eating their face. The person finally stopped munching and dropped the head down off the rail to the floor. It was Tiras. “Nice to see you again,” he chuckled.
“Tiras,” I said, lowering my brows and gritting my teeth.
Blue and grey veins protruded all over his face. Something differed about him. He wiped the blood off his check and pulled out a remote control. The Salvators drew their weapons and aimed at him, which made him grin.
“You look so disappointed.”
With the God Blade pointed at him, I said, “Is that really you or someone pretending to be?”
Tiras clapped his hands and began walking around the railing, “Who else can be me, but me? I've got unfinished business here Strafe. It's time to spread the infection and you're in my way.”
“The data has been purged!” Karma cheered.
Zixin had our mother in his arms, “Hey, we need to get her out of here!”
“Go!” I waved at him, “I'll make sure he doesn't follow.”
He picked up our mom and ran off. Alexei and another Salvator followed him while the rest of us stayed behind. Tiras didn't try to stop them.
“Why did you kill everyone here SK? I thought you only were after us?” Sergei questioned.
“I work for myself, hehe,” Tiras snickered. That laugh seemed so familiar, but not to him.
“So what's the end game?” Karma added.
Tiras turned toward her, “To enact revenge on a world that rejected me and return humanity to its rightful place. Goodbye Strafe.”
He clicked a remote and black ooze began to flood the room from vents in the floor. Out of instinct, we jumped back to avoid it. We failed to account for the dead bodies at the back of the room as the ooze made its way over to reanimate them. Upon contact it transformed the bodies into the same creatures we fought back in Tibet. They attacked right away.
The Salvator team began to fire at them. I slashed one across the face with the God Blade. The blade was short but sharp as hell and easily defeated the Slates. Again, unlike Eternia, it didn't shatter them but left a glowing white mark on their body.
The black ooze kept spreading and we had to leave. Tiras had already escaped.
“Comrades! Let's move!” Sergei shouted.
The door began to close as we raced toward the exit. I tried to hold it open but wasn't strong enough.
One of the Salvators didn't make it through and we heard his screams as the ooze transformed him into a Slate.
As fast as possible, the survivors of our group exited St. Basil's Cathedral. Everything remained normal until the ground started to shake.
The entire Red Square shook which caused widespread panic. To my surprise, it wasn't a Slate Tower that emerged but an aircraft buried underneath. It resembled a Navy Carrier in size.
“We've gotta stop that thing, he's gonna try to pollute the world with that ooze!” I told Sergei.
He disagreed, “No, we need to escape comrade, this intel can bring the Federation to justice!”
“There won't be anything left if Tiras's allowed to execute his plan! Something has corrupted him, he won't stop.”
“Karma, take this back to the hideout, contact Ibrahim, and let him know what we did here,” he gave her the hard-drive of data.
She nodded and escaped with another Salvator as we ran toward the aircraft carrier. Zixin and the Whiteclouds ran up to us.
“You're safe!” he cheered as he hugged me.
“Where's Mom?” I asked.
“Alexei took her back to their hideout.”
I grabbed his shoulder, “Listen bro, we've got to board this ship and stop him.”
“I'm with you.”
The city was in chaos. The ooze was leaking out of the massive hole in the ground. Anyone who came into contact with it began to turn into Slates. The Red Square descended into madness with Slates killing anyone in sight. Sergei, Zixin, the Whiteclouds, three Salvators and I jumped on top of the carrier as it lifted up into the sky.
By now, the Russian Air Force had closed in. Some of them wore their own Space Suits but the carrier's defenses shot down anything that got close, even missiles. It had highly advanced weaponry.
“We've got to go inside before we get too high!” I told Sergei.
“Right, comrade!” he said.
Something shiny in the sky descending towards us. Military personnel in Space Suits.
