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The title is more or less temporary. Yeah, I'm making this up as I go really. Anyway, hopefully this'll be a plausible explanation as to why Elise Konig bears scars. Probably some holes and typos here and there I'll get onto those tomorrow, I need sleep now.
+ + +
'This won't take long corporal, just try to sit still this time.'
Doc Smith carefully peeled away the gauze, studying Elise’s head for a moment.
'Looks to me like things will heal up quite nicely, scars withstanding. Any pain or bothers from the eye?'
Elise shook her head, trying not to wince. She was still woozy every now and then, plus the healing wounds ached from time to time. But those were just minor nuisances, she wanted to get back into the action, or at least partake in squad exercises again.
'Okay, that's a good sign then. Give it a little more time and I think you're ready for the field once more.' Doc Smith bent his knees slightly so his eyes were level with hers. 'Elise, how are you doing up there? You've been through hell haven't you? Tell me, are you really okay?'
Elise closed her eyes as she unwillingly thought back.
+ + +
'Hey, you okay?' Elise awoke with a startle, her gaze shooting across the dark interior of the store she had used for cover. When she recovered her lasgun from her previous skirmish she decided to hide in a ruin for a moment, catching her breath. To her shame she must've dozed off and now it could cost her dearly. Standing at the blown open wall was a soldier, aiming his weapon at her. She could vaguely make out the boxy helmet and compact lasgun. Hoarsely she used one of the three code phrase assigned to all squads.
'I've scaled the reaches.'
'And I've brought back a flower,' the trooper finished. Whoever devised the code phrases needed to learn a thing or two about shortening them, blurting them out in enemy territory was not a great way of quickly identifying friend from foe.
Cautiously the soldier approached, his weapon still at the ready. Elise slowly raised her hands, showing no harm. As the soldier got closer he saw who she was, lowering it. 'Hey, you're that Elise right? It's kind of hard to miss when you're about the only girl in the company.'
Elise sighed in relief as she nodded, trying to but failing to show appreciation and happiness for finally linking up with one of her company members. She didn't recognize him one bit, nor could she make out his platoon number, dust coated the fellow drop trooper from head to toe.
'Eddie? What’s going on in there?' Someone hissed from the street. The drop trooper named Eddie turned to face the street, letting out a click with his tongue. After a moment two more drop troopers carefully entered the ruined store, both of them taking up position facing the street. They were coated in dust as well, probably deciding that going through the ruins is better than the fast route along the streets.
'Where is the rest of your squad?'
'Dead,' Elise sighed. 'Dead before they even hit the ground. AA or something tore our bird apart, I was the only one who got out.'
'Damn, talk about some damn bad luck. You can tag along with us, we've been trying to link up with the others for some time now but the vox is still out.'
Eddie pointed at the other two dust caked troopers.
'Guy with the vox is Manfred, the small guy is Benny and there's me, I'm Eddie.'
He stuck out his hand, which she accepted. Eddie pulled the weary Elise up. She checked her lasgun and adjusted the strap of her helmet.
'What's the plan?'
'Plan? We're making this up as we go.' Eddie chuckled. 'Best we can do now is head for the noise and link up with any other strays.'
'Sounds like a plan to me, best one I've heard in days.'
'Tell me about it. Come on.'
Benny took point, Manfred falling in behind him, Eddie beckoned Elise to fall in as well, while he took up the rear. Slowly the squad picked its way through the rubble, staying away from the streets. To Elise their progress was at an excrutiating slow pace, she wanted to object but decided against it. That was how they advanced to the centre of the city, slowly traversing the blocks as the precious hours ticked away.
Somewhere around noon they hit the border of the district they were in, a large debris strewn road some ten metres wide between them and the next district. A quiet argument came about as to how best to move on.
'We should move back a bit, see if we can find a more dense section to use for crossing,' said Benny. 'This could be a potential death trap.'
'We move!' Elise hissed with barely concealed agitation, she was fed up with the slow advancing, the overly cautious movements, the needless wasting of precious time. 'The longer we idle the more time the enemy has to do something about the main zones.'
'It could be dangerous out there!' Benny hissed in return.
'Tough, we are at war, sometimes risks need to be taken. Either we all go or I'll go on my own, I've had it up to here with this pathetic display of soldiering. Have you lost your guts on the way down?'
Benny shot a look at Eddie, then Manfred. Both didn't say a thing in their defence. With a huff Benny sighed and nodded, relenting. Eddie motioned them to form up, with Manfred carefully peeking across the street for several long moments.
'I bet you'd make a good sergeant,' Eddie whispered to Elise.
'She'd make a better hangman' Benny retorted angrily.
Manfred waved "all clear" and they burst from cover, running as fast as they could to the other side of the street.
Almost there!
Something nearby screamed and exploded. The force lifted Elise off her feet, casting her across the remaining stretch like a rag doll. Her head connected hard with a wall, the crack of the helmet hitting the wall the last thing she heard and felt before all went dark.
+ + +
'Father would be proud of you..'
'Foolish girl! Why would you do something like that? Do you have a deathwish?'
'Go on, go away, don't you ever come back!'
'WAIT!'
+ + +
She cracked her eyes open, half her vision gone. Slowly she got up, dazed and confused. There were training sessions that drilled many things into a soldier, even sessions on how to deal with a confused soldier. However, those sessions normally rely on there being several soldiers to hold the confused subject down until he has regained his senses. Elise stumbled for a bit, wondering why half her vision was blotted out. Pain lanced through her as she ran a hand along the side of her face. Looking down she saw blood, her own blood, drip to the ground. She could feel it dribble down her neck. With some effort she managed to pull her helmet off, casting it aside clumsily. More gingerly she probed her face, trying to find the wounds. At least the pain drove off the drowsiness.
'Easy now.'
She flinched at the voice of the enemy. The accent gave it away. Slowly she turned, slightly swaying on her feet. Facing her was a lad. No, not a lad, but a boy. He wore the same uniform as the other enemy soldiers, his rifle slung across his back. He was smiling, nothing wicked, leering or cocky, just a kid smiling. He held up his hands in a disarming manner.
'It's okay, I don't want to hurt you. Come on, I can take you to a doctor, we have one not far from here, we've taken your friend there as well.'
He half turned and pointed to a small yellow flag fluttering from a tall chimney. Intel had made a note of the enemy using flags to denote certain strong points and locations. It wasn't that far off thankfully.
'See, not that far.'
Elise made a step forward but stumbled. The boy caught her gently, supporting her.
'Easy now, let me help you with tha-'
The knife was in his throat before he could react. He blinked once, tried to scream, tears rolled down his cheeks. His eyes looked at her accusingly.
Why?
That's what his eyes seemed to say. Elise simply looked back with her remaining eye, watching as life left his.
Because..
It was easy. Natural even. Sergeant Striker was right, when you were pushed far enough killing was as easy as breathing. She twisted, then wrenched her knife free, dropping the limp body to the ground. Without a second thought she stepped over him, retrieved her lasgun and made her way to the yellow flagged building.
She saw Eddie laying on the road, dead. Someone or something got him good, his chest torn apart by something. No sign of Manfred or Benny, though she did spot a mangled lower leg. It appeared to have been torn off, probably by some sort of explosion. The ragged boot on the end of that leg was a standard issue drop boot. Could the body have been flung aside? She didn't know, nor did she decide to care. As she stumbled on she saw the body of Manfred, his vox missing. He seemed to be okay. She carefully toed him over, instantly regretting it as a mutilated, destroyed face looked up at her. It looked like he was hit up there by something heavy.
Elise resumed her stumble towards the building, deciding that people would pay..
Screams and cries of anguish came from the building. A lone sentry was looking in through the broken door, probably enjoying the torture taking place there. As quietly as she could Elise closed in on the man, her knife once more in her hand. She could've gone for her lasgun, but stealth might be more appropriate at the moment. The pain in her face dulled as her heart pounded in her chest, adrenalin filled her system, her senses seemed clear again. She stood behind the enemy, trying her best to keep her breathing quiet. Kicking at the back of the sentry's knee she pulled him back, ramming the knife into his chest several times until it got stuck. Elise pulled her knife free, dropping the body unceremoniously.
She was really getting the hang of the knife work, reminding herself to thank sergeant Striker when she saw him again, his drills and lessons on the matter had proven quite useful.
The slick and blooded knife still in her hand she entered the building, following the cries of pain.
'Now then, Ben wasn't it? About those positions..'
'I already told you, check the red grids on the map. You promised you would ease my pain.'
'I will Ben, I will. Now about this transmitter, what is the decryption key?'
'159783645! Please stop the pain now!'
The doctor or whatever the man was didn't do anything of that kind, instead he checked the vox, keying in the decrypt. It after a few crackles it hissed back into life, Elysian comms traffic filling the room.
That filthy traitor..
Elise stepped into the room, the knife held by her side. She called out, startling the doctor, who dropped the vox in surprise. She'd look like a terrible thing, Elise thought to herself as she took a step towards him. The doctor looked round for something, anything to use as a weapon. In the corner were the discarded lasguns of the others. He tried to make a run for those but Elise got to him first, ramming the knife into his chest, twisting it as the guard prevented her from going any deeper. With a planted boot she pulled her knife free, panting from the exertion.
Benny wasn't pleased as punch by her rescue effort.
'You dumb b***h, he was going to help me! Ease the pain, help me survive.'
She looked at him for a moment, resisting the urge to shake her head. Both his legs were missing, each stump tied off with a belt, his gut and groin were a mess of bandages and compression packs. He wouldn't be getting out of this in one piece alright. Elise leaned against the wall, feeling woozy again. Nor could she carry him in this state. Not that she would.
Or should.
'Benny,' Elise straightened herself and stood besides the table, looking down on him. 'You just crossed the line. You betrayed us. I heard you squeal before I barged in, it's a good thing there's no vox around for them to use. Otherwise they might be exploiting those markers and codenames you gave away just now.'
'The pain! This hurts, I'm in a lot of pain, he promised me! He would ease the pain, surely you can understand that?'
Her eye hardened, her hand went over his mouth, her knife in the other. She leaned in close, her voice a whisper.
'I will send you to the Emperor and ease your pains in the process. If it were up to me I'd let you suffer here for your treason, but you'd be a liability then, you could be found by the enemy again, made to talk once more.'
He tried to shout, thrashing against his restraints, shaking his head wildly. Fear in his eyes. The smell of urine mingling with the blood as he released his bowels in fear. She slashed his throat, forcing herself to not look away, witnessing the final moments of a comrade slain by her own hand.
She needed to sit down for a moment, things were getting hazy.
She just needed to rest for a bit.
+ + +
A hand shook her shoulder gently, it was Doc Smith, concern etched on his face.
'You can tell me, I'm a doctor, I can help. I promise that everything discussed here will remain amongst the two of us.'
Elise declined, as she had with John some nights before. Doc Smith sighed and shook his head.
'I can tell that there's something going on in there, I'm only trying to help, I don't want someone like you to suffer because of it. These things can eat you up, break a person to a thousand pieces.'
She declined again, more politely this time as she got up and left his office. This was something she would resolve on her own.
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