Prologue | 3. Despair

"No." Viktor growled. "How fucking dare they." his bloodshot eyes lost the last morsel of hope and the emptiness was slowly starting to fill with rage. "Konstatin, I don't care if I even fucking die in the process, I'm going to kill all of them."

Konstatin stared at Viktor, his expression devoid of all emotion.

"You don't believe me, do you?" Viktor looked at him angrily. "I'll fucking show you. No, I'll show THEM." He started pacing about. "I'll kill all of them. I...I....wait..." Viktor's eyes lit up. "KONSTATIN! They-they're in a fucking armory, right??"

"....yeah..."

"So, they have grenades and explosives and a fuck ton of exploding things right??!" Viktor stared at his friend like a hungry dog.

"Well...yeah. Of course they do."

"Hahaha!!! Then we don't even need anything strong! just one small nade will do! I'll just have to go in and throw one grenade!! Tell me I'm right, Konstatin. Please fucking tell me I'm a genius!!!"

"Well...with the type of unholy shit armories store, if you can get all the explosives to explode, the armory will become a crater, no matter how strong their walls are....but back up, Viktor. How- how do we get into the armory in the first place??! If we get close to the armory, the automated defence system will kick in and turn us into pieces of meat."

".....wait... what the fuck?!" Viktor had another lightbulb go off. "The armoury's automated defence system is located on the tower thingy, right?? we have a rocket launcher!! Why did nobody try to shoot the tower down with the rocket launcher?!"

Viktor recalled studying the images of the armory. It loomed like a massive fortress, its towering walls encircling a group of buildings including a tower rising thirty meters into the sky. Satellite imagery had provided detailed aerial views, revealing the purpose of each building.

"We haven't gotten that close. Plus, the tower is definitely blast proof. I'm confident that it can stop armor peircing projectiles, grenades and even a fucking railgun shooting bullets seven times the speed of sound. There's a reason armories nowadays can confidently keep the heart of the automated system in the top of a tower." Konstatin muttered, but the feeling of despair was slowly starting to subside. Thinking felt better than despairing.

"Fuck." Viktor looked around. "Okay, okay. Forget going through the south entrance, what about the other entrances? What about the east, west and north sides? I'm guessing only the north side has the automated defence problem."

"Well...no....all four sides rely heavily on the automated defence system. There's a reason the army rarely steps out, with all the combat AI-vision advancements, the computer controlled turrets on the walls will probably do a better job than humans. "

Viktor got silent. If he can just get into the armory without the automated turrets ripping him to shreds, find out where they store all the explosives, then throw one grenade to the pile..... he hoped that at least one of the entrances would be easier to sneak into. Ideally the west side, since that's where Camp C faces.....

Camp C!!! 

Viktor started shivering with excitement. Eureka! 

"Konstatin. If the automated AI system is down, can you take control of the turrets? Yes or no?"

"...." Konstatin looked at Viktor and sighed. "If I manage to get to the top of the walls....and have a few people with me...well..yes. Easily. It's got controls for manual use, man. You're talking to a combat technician, I know my shit. IF the automated system is down, and IF you can actually get me to the armory walls with nobody spotting us.

But...if you can already get inside to the tower, you can get inside to the explosive storage area, you don't even need me. You can just throw a nade into the explosives and get out of there."

"Chill for a sec, Konstatin, my friend." Viktor grinned. "If you and a couple others get control of the turrets, you guys can kill everyone both inside and outside the armory, right? We don't even need to blow up the armory! We just...take their shit-"

"-And we can use their weapons against them!!" Konstatin chimed in. "Dude, if we get control of the turrets, we might be able kill everyone. We might actually take their armory!! They'll be too stunned to even know what's going on....but how? Wait, wait wait wait, I know that fucking grin. What's your plan? How can you possibly sneak into the camp and-"

"Who said I'm sneaking in?"

"....what are you going to do?"

Viktor started at Konstatin for a bit, trying to swallow how ridiculous and frankly -stupid- his plan sounded.

"Konstatin, my friend. I'm going to crash a jet into the tower." Viktor grinned.