Helping a Friend

Report #103 2014, March 14th

On the day of my previous post, I received a video message from a man called Dimir a.k.a. The Oracle of Moscow. When I saw the video, I saw Alexandria tied up in the middle of some big room (Looked like a warehouse at the time) gagged, she didn't seem to be hurt. I couldn't quite see him, but the voice off screen introduced himself as Dimir, he said that he captured Alexandria and he wanted me to arrive to the warehouse, pick her up and then leave Moscow, since I was interrupting his business here, he gave me an address and a date, and a stipulation. If I came to pick Alexandria up earlier than the date given, he would kill her, if I came later, she could end up killed. So I had to wait until a certain date and only then, could I pick her up.

Ignoring the rule, I took my leave towards the warehouse non-the less, however, I didn't go in, I kept my distance, scouting the area for the past three days for any traps, for any ambushes, etc... It was obvious that this was a trap.

Finally the day has come, all the people which were guarding the warehouse, started packing and leaving the place, both from the outside and inside. Soon enough, about 4 cars left the area and through the window, I could only see Alexandria, in the middle of the warehouse, still sitting there.

Taking my M-16, my Desert Eagle, My battle knife and two of my smoke grenades, I went towards the Warehouse's back entrance. I was prepared for everything, my senses on edge and then I heard him:

"Who the fuck are you?"

A man was pointing an AK at me, as tall as me, packing strong heat. With no hesitation I point my Desert Eagle at him as well, it is obvious he wanted answers, otherwise he would have shot me right from the beginning, kept my left arm behind my back, on one of my smoke grenades.

"That's something I should be asking you." 

After stalling for a little bit, I released the smoke grenade from behind me, in a matter of seconds, smoked filled up the place, giving me a chance to take cover, which I did so. He did the same thing, now that there was smoke everywhere, my eye sight was limited, questions were running through my head, but I had to block them out and concentrate. I realized that while my eye sight was limited, that also meant, that he's eye sight was also limited. I could use that to my advantage, all I had to do was not give away my position, something, he didn't think about, since he yelled out:

"Packing some serious heat there, huh?  So you're fucking armed to the teeth and you're hiding your face and you came in through the back. You got something to hide. So. You. Answer."

While he was yammering on, I unwrapped my M-16 from my back and aimed at the location where his yells were coming from. And I shot in the direction of where the sound was coming from,I don't know if I hit him, but after about 20 seconds of spraying the direction I was aiming at with bullets, I had to take cover again.

While reloading, I should have moved, my mistake, he used the sound of gunfire as the source and shot in the direction of where the gunfire came from, but instead of shotting at my cover, he shot at the lights which were right above me. Didn't have time to move, put my right arm in front of the light, covering my head and eyes, second degree burn marks on my arm, glass impaled into my skin, bleeding from my arm, top it all off, it was dark now. The eye sight was impossible to operate in, I had to stay smart, which is why I put the M-16 back onto my back and took out my battle knife, realizing full well, if one of us shot, we would give away our position.

Sitting in one position, was also not making me any favors, so I started sneaking towards the location where this man previously was (I assumed). As I was sneaking, I stumbled upon a figure in the middle of the room, I was about to attack, however, this figure was lot more smaller than the man and then I remembered why I was here:

"Alexandria, if it is you, give a quiet hum."

She did as I said.

"Stay quiet, there's some nut case with an AK here." 

I cut her ropes loose and gave her a Desert Eagle.

"I assume you still remember how to use these?" 

She whispered to me.

"Yes. Thank you." 

She tried to get herself together and remain strong, but it was clear that she was terrified, I knowa look of terror when I see one. And then from a distance I heard:

"Come on motherfucker, if it was your daughter in danger, you'd do whatever it fucking took to save her."

Alexandria immediately aimed a Desert Eagle in the direction of where the yell came from, she was shaking, she wouldn't be able to take an accurate shot "It's him."
 It didn't take me long to figure out who this man was, Artsyom, her father, now it all made sense, Dimir must have invited him as well, so we would wipe each other out, however, now I had an advantage, he didn't know who I am. I signaled to Alexandria to give me the gun and whispered to her after she gave it to me:

"Give me the gun and play along." 

Then I put her in front of me and pointed a gun at her head, I hated doing so, but it was obvious that he wouldn't let her die, he is obsessed with her, I had to press his buttons.

"I have your daughter at gun point! If you want me not to unload a bullet in her skull, you will show yourself right now, no tricks." 

Alexandria played along.

"I'm sorry! I'm fucking sorry! OK? Dad? Just... don't let him hurt me... please."

Then I saw a hand appear from a counter which he was apparently using as cover.

"If you're making it a me-or-her decision, go ahead and shoot her."

He was stalling, he was planning something, he was thinking, I had to interrupt that thinking, had to make him think more vividly. So I whispered to Alexandria to fall down after I shoot, as I explained that to her, I wiped my blood, from my previously injured arm, all over her head and then I shot in the air, then I let her go, for her to fall down, pretending as if she was dead. Then I quickly got out my M-16 and aimed at where his hand was.

And then he dived out of the cover, aiming at me, he saw her "dead" body.

"Whatever you wanted from her, you coulda just asked me; my prices don't sting, you know. 'Course, now I gotta fucking kill you now, haven't I?"

Meanwhile, I kicked my right boot, which had a hidden knife in it's heel pocket, so Alexandria had a weapon just in case.

"So you're Artsyom." 

After that, I opened fire,aiming at his legs, thinking that the shock of the bullet wounds, would make him fall and drop the weapons, my big mistake. I hit him but...

"The one and fuckin' only." 

He opened rapid fire in my direction, assuming that Alexandria was dead, he was reckless, that is something I didn't think about, I took two shots in the chest, my Kevlar protected me, however Alexandria ended up getting shot in the shoulder. That made her gasp and yell out of pain, showing that she is alive. But it wasn't complete failure, because that yell stopped him.

"Do you have a particular reason for pretending to kill my daughter? I mean, it's not too late to just say what you want and I'll tell you the price." 

He sounded shocked to see her alive, whatever the emotion he was going through was, it bought me time to run up to him and kick the gun out of his hands and aim my M-16 down his skull, without taking my eyes off of him I yell to Alexandria, asking if she was ok, I didn't get an answer, only the painful moans. Then I saw that smile on his face.

"I'll give you two options. Option one is, I leave. Peacefully. I will not disturb you unless I run into you again, better prepared. Doesn't take a genius to realize I underestimated you. Option two is, you pull the trigger. Like every instinct is telling you to. So shoot, let the noise send Alexandria even deeper into shock. By the time you dispose of my dead body, by the time that fuckwit sends in his cavalry, she'll be dead."

I'm not quite sure who he was talking about, but he was right about the gunfire noise, sending Alexandria deeper into shock...

"That's why I will use a knife, rather than a gun." 

I took out my knife, took him by the shirt and pulled him towards my knife, all I had to do was cut his throat, I saw his eyes, they were not of fear, rather they were of surprise, as if he saw something, he never saw. As I was about to cut him, a flash of light happened in front of me, blinding me and then some sort of force pushed me away from Artsyom, making me fall on my back, forcing me to do a roll backwards to get back up to my feet. As I adjust my eye sight, I see him...

"I'm afraid I can't let you do that Incogny, this is Minxie's trophy."

Kelevra... Every instinct in my body was telling me to shoot him, I saw him exchange some words with Artsyom for a second, didn't care, had to shoot, however, realizing that I wasn't prepared for such an encounter, and much more importantly, realizing that Alexandria was hurt, I rushed back to her, I knew that Kelevra wasn't there to kill me, I didn't find all the tapes yet, he was there to stop me from killing Artsyom. As I reached Alexandria, I asked...

"You ok? It's just a bullet wound, you had worse."

That was the truth, when I first met her, she had a much worse bullet wound, this one was less dangerous, however, I stall had to mend it.

"I'm - fine." 

She didn't sound like she was, however, that must have been the shock and fear speaking, getting shot is always scary. I picked her up, I had to take her back to my Van and mend the bullet wound, but before leaving, I left a nice little warning for the two future dead men behind me

"As for the both of you, I will kill you later." 

As I said that, I heard a faint beeping becoming louder inside the Warehouse, didn't take me long to figure out, that the place was rigged to explode, that was his plan, to wipe all of us out, in one swift blow.

I started rushing towards the exit, but I was just too slow, the fire was about to engulf both of us, I don't like using it, but I had to, so I told the substance inside of me, to stretch four tentacles out of my back and push us out of the Warehouse, it did so by sticking itself into the ground as I was running and literally pushing both of us through the front entrance, we got out, just in time.

As I looked at Alexandria, she was coughing from the smoke, from the explosion.

"Fucking... hell... he was trynna... kill all of us..... honestly.... I didn't expect anyone to... turn up."

"I don't abandon people in need." 

And then I carried her to my Van, which was parked not too far away, as I put her down on one of the seats inside the Van, she said...

"Maybe now... you see why I fucking hate Artsyom..."

I went to the back of the Van, to get my Med Kit.

"He is cocky, over confident. He thinks he has control over you. Use it to your advantage. Surprise him. Don't do what he expects and always expect him. And next time you see him, just kill him, no hesitation." 
I finished treating the bullet wound.

"I'll try..." 

The enthusiasm she had when we met for the first time, she doesn't have it anymore, this is proof enough that this game corrupts everyone, she is becoming cold, maybe it is for the best, as long as she doesn't cross the line, I will always be willing to help her. Vikady would probably be able to make her smile...

"You've... seen the Archangel before... right...? Like... one or twice?"

I did, The Archangel saved me two times, first time by shooting IT in the head from it's rifle. Second time by shooting the crabs which were about to rip me into pieces, when I was trying to help out Owly.

"Why are you asking?" 

"Need to... get it to follow me."

I don't know, how smart that idea is, however I always said, stupid is smart in this game.

"Can't help you there." 

I put the Med kit back inside the Van.

"You can sleep in my Van over night, in the morning I will give you some weapons, some money and I'm afraid I'm going to have to leave you, I have a very important lead I need to follow, alone." 

She looked at me, with an understanding and quite frankly not caring look.

"Understood."

The next day I dropped her off where she asked me to, gave her enough supplies to survive for a month and gave her the weapons of her choosing.

This girl, she went through so much shit, the life and passion she had in her eyes when we first met, this person, that I saved, this is someone else, this game corrupts all of us. Sickens me.

Report #103 Ended.