Cold War: Aftermath

Chapter 20: Moscow

March 30, 1981
Perseus Base
USSR, Moscow

"Sir, wake up!" Stitch felt hands shaking his shoulders as he quickly regained consciousness.

"We have what you requested, sir." The rebel said reaching for papers inside his jacket.

"Directly from the CIA?" Stitch asked, as he stood up taking the file and examining it himself.

"Yes, we received word that they had tried to get rid of all evidence on this case, however they weren't able to destroy all of it. So what your holding is all thats left."

"I can make due with this. Where is she?" He asked tucking the file into a pocket.

"Upstairs." Stitch could hear the frantic noises of footsteps as his partner recognized the gas above.

"Very well." He said pulling out a pistol and shooting the man. As the body collapsed he smudged the blood over his clothes. "The rest of you, continue as planned." He said as he busted open a nearby window.

Anthony could feel his lungs collapsing as he fell to his hands and knees. "Wait!" He shouted, as he saw Perseus shoot a few enemies and flee out one of the windows. He tried to gather enough strength as he crawled to a window, coughing with watery eyes.

Nearly making it outside, he was stopped when he felt someone grab him from behind and placing a firm grip around his throat, making the ability to breathe even more difficult. He saw a woman step forward before he saw black.

When he had awoken, he found himself on the first floor of the building. His coughing and small wheezes alerted everyone that he had regained consciousness. He had little time to think when a woman marched towards him, picking him up the the sleeve and placed a knife to his throat. With his back against the wall there was very little he could do.

"So you must be the ringleader who loves to cause mischeif." Anthony chuckled as he observed the symbol imprinted on her shoulder. It was far different and unique than the rest.

"This isn't mischeif, this is getting rid of people who are hungry for power, people who are too dangerous to be kept alive." She countered. "Now tell me, which one of you leads Perseus!" He recognized her, the look in her eyes was familiar, but not enough for him to pinpoint it.

Anthony wouldn't speak. He just stood there, smiling. He may not have been able to remember her in the moment, but he had the feeling that she wasn't going to kill him, that she couldn't.

"You could have your victory now. Just kill me. Why not? Whats one life against thousands ever meant to anyone anyways?" He smiled as he toyed with the enemies mind.

Suddenly the doors busted open and smoke filled the room. Taking the oppurtunity he drew his pistol and shot the woman in the abdomen. "Over here comerade!" He heard Perseus shout as they both made their way back outside.

"I have us an exfil, already waiting for us over this hill. The last of our men are therr defending it. Come, we have to make haste!" He said removing his gas mask and placing it on his belt.

"Comerades, I got in a bit of a hold up,where are you!" Stitch said over comms as bullets filled the background.

"Kuzmin, meet us near the heli pads. If you do not make it in time we will be forced to leave without you." He said into comms.

"Understood." The man replied.

Making it to the other side of the hill, they could hear the sounds of roaring helicopter blades. As they saw their exfil they sprinted towards the heli. Thinking that Stitch wasn't going to make it, he happened to pop out from Anthony's peripheral vision just in time, unfortunatly.

As they were all three being shot at, they managed to board the heli as it began rising off the ground to take the far away from here.

"That was a pretty nice plan Petrov", Stitch spat.

"Look I know that didn't go to plan but at least we're alive! Plus how would they have even known to have come from the other direction?" He shouted.

"You wanted to test their knowledge. I think we did just that!" Stitch matched his tone.

There was a moment of silence between them all as they settled.

"Did you at least leave the intel you were supposed to?" Anthony sighed as he asked.

"Yes, they have the locations for some of our insignificant outposts and trade routes."

"Good, we can use that to draw them out once more." Perseus chimed in.

"Draw them out?" Stitch sounded almost stunned. "Sir, but you do not realise that we led them to one of our most vital locations. Some of our best soldiers were slaughtered."

"Kuzmin, I may look weathered down, but I am no idiot. Of course I realize this. But I think you forget that we still have a massive advantage. That location was just one of many filled with talented soldiers. Verdansk will hold three times as many men as that place ever did."

The rest of the ride was silent and Anthony couldn't help but feel like he knew that woman. Perhaps he had run into her during his time with the CIA, or maybe she had been a face he'd seen in his early training at Perseus. He knew he was going to feel like a fool when he was actually able to remember her.

As the heli finally arrived above Verdansk, Stitch felt his jacket for the file he placed in it. Feeling it was still there, he smiled underneath his mask as he knew he was getting closer and closer to his glorious reign.

AN: I know this was a shorter chapter but this story is closing up soon with one more chapter to go. Sorry for the long wait, I'v been quite busy and sometimes it can be difficult to get that creative feeling to write. But if you havent feel free to check out my latest story about Warzone and my other story covering alternate timelines of this story. Thanks for being patient!