Fallout Berlin: Chronic Files #821
 

The blanket of white and dust-less glaring blue sprang to life above those solid roofs and painted begging tones of sunshine along its face as it rose and rose and rose to never taper out. Nowhere in the horizon, not as far as the eye could see or as far as the sun could shine, did that whirling scene of blue became a torrent of redish blacks or simply fall into the great black mess of a throbbing heart-shield that swore itself to the toxic sheen of nuclear radiation. After far more than a year of seeing only hellish reds when he looked up or the deep scabbing purples when the sun and moon met to feud for power, this clean looking sky was like a gift of some long since forgotten god. Those clouds above simply rolled by without stop as the car stammered to a halt and faded as those toxic green eyes blinked once at the sound of the dieing ignition. "Yo.", the voice was distant as it spoke with a fierce tone which could not be ignored. One hand caught the male back and drew him back as the familiar voice screamed at his patient ear, "Scorpion!! *crack* Get the hell out. We're going to get this kid, we need to do it now while we can". The young man snorted hard and bit his cigarette's butt in two as he growled, "F*ck off, boss. We're fine".

First the hooded figure pushed his door to, his face plungng into a fresh scent of tar and steel that it had not smelt for what might have been a lifetime as he stretched his meager form to and rolled his neck hard to create the eerie sounds of his spine readjusting as he recalled the words of their mission. He could not bring the roughneck who had followed in his footsteps, the one who he recalled as being so much like himself and so much different at the same time, and to had bothered his equals would have been a sign that he were weak so that Ham and GAPA were left as well; All this favoring the male he thought very well suited for just such a job anyhow. Turning, he spotted Scorpion as the dirty looking male slithered literally from the half-cracked door of their stolen car so that he rose to meet that freshened air with a sinister smile to match his short-barreled gun. A civil scatter-shot lay in Scorpion's hands with two bags of shells to rival his set of pistols and short-bladed swords. 'Go around', he mouthed silently as he nodded to the alley.

Scorpion's head bobbed twice and then he took his own leave from Fang's terrible eyes and vanished to find the entrance that all Familia kept in cautious reserve; Should he find that entrance and should he block it from behind, Fang knew that the element of surprise would be allotted without fail. That done, Fang slid one of his two fat knives free of their sheathes and fitted the stock of his first pistol with the knife's handle as he stepped calmly back around the car and drew a handkerchief as he started around the front of the building and heard a short clank as his associate clearly found his route on the other side. outside the plain looking building the single poster amongst the dozen others, 'Rat or Men, live tonight. Admission 12$', spoke leagues to his assertion. Touching the trigger the boy slid across the street and placed one shoulder on the door of the building as he gently ease the giant steel slat back and back and back to reveal the place where his fellow associates would rest and where he and his other ally's, codenamed Gray Scorpion for full, matching tattoos would be of use. Each bore on his left shoulder the family crest of the Ratterman name and on the latter even his stomach had one to signify his redeposition after being sent back once into the streets for breaking code. This was to be an unseen procedure, but should they be stopped they each had at least proof of their status to ease the ideas of fighting against the others of their same cause.

Rin was dead asleep, weary after his tough mission. He had almost gotten himself killed but the information he'd aquired was well worth the risk tohis own life. Suprisingly he wasn't injured, just weary. The enemy only had to get one shot off to kill a slender male like himself. He didn'r ever wer any great armor, it would hamper his movements.


Dressed in light casual clothes the dark haired spy rested, weaponry on his body only as a percaution against an enemy raid. He wouldn't go down without a fight, he believed too much in their cause to just die without getting a few blows in.

He was a spy and an informant by trade but that didn't mean he was in any way a weakling.

Striding through the halls, passing as he went a kitchen with several men and women armed like himself with guns from one-shots to rapid clip killers and most still wearing the clothes of their criminal trait, the slender male tucked within his hoodie vanished into the death-still shadows as he checked every lounging place and every latrine that lay between his goal and himself. As he drew nearer the back of the area he began to recognize the building's general shape and figure out where every might be. he heard nothing on his earpiece and saw no signs of a fight without those halls as he crested into what had to be the living quarters only to find one of the closets with the obvious second lock. There was no doubt, for them to re-enforce a door like this meant that he had found his familia's other branch. Just when Fang thought about stealing away into the makeshift armory his ear was lit up by a sound like static feedback. "found it. enter.", could just ever so slightly be heard beneath the momentary bit of sound. 'found it. enter', in the way that only his own comrade could say it. This was his signal.

Fang had seen this blueprint before on his own superior's table and asked for it amongst others before with several declined results. He knew very well that there were two escape route aside from the doors and that the one facing their car was just as far from the center of the complex as he was from its entrance. Stepping out of the shadow with a wave of his gun, Fang slid along the third hall and began checking doors until one slid open to reveal the frame of a man who matched every description that he'd seen before. This was the newcomer that he was to recruit, the one that was supposed to be 'dead' when they were through and that would serve as his new link to the outside media. Cocking his gun, Fang slid forward and took the man's hair in one motion as he circled his gun around and threw the sheets upward as he spun the sight-peg of his ten millimeter pistol up the man's chin and locked the sharp tip of his attached knife just above his vocal chords. The act was not kind nor was it able to spare any pain, but it was not fatal and it did allow him to drop in toward the man as he growled; "I'm an enforcer for Don Ratterman. So shut up and don't move. You scream, I gut you throat and I kill all of them.", his lips drawing close as he growled, "Nod."

Rin froze, feeling more than the chill of the breeze from the slightly open window on his smooth flawless skin. he was bare chested, a hand curled around th hilt of the blade he wore as he listened to the male speak. No he would not condem his friends to death and with a soft pained sigh nodded.


An enforcer for the Don, just what had he done to deserve this? His information was helping the other gangs, not hurting them. And he hadn't betrayed these people. No the meant more to him than anything ever would in life.

So why was he here, with a gun to his head and a knife at his throat. Rin nodded and refused to show fear in his golden eyes.

Spinning the gun so that the attached knife met the man's chin, Fang nodded at the man and slid back so that he could prompt the other one with his gun to stand as well. Looking back at the door he realized that he could smell a very heavy cigarette floating nearer with every second. Gray Scorpion had found his coordinate, but might very well be the one thing to give them away as he silently stopped, or at least the sounds of feet in the hall stopped, to leave Fang and his victim in utter silence as he cooed, "Sorry, man. Get some of your shit in hand and go back toward the garbage dump. No screaming, no trying to run. Consider this a formal summons punishable and in full authority."

Rin paled and rose with a slight stumble, letting the grip he had on his knife grow lax. This was not the kinda of man he could win a fight with. Nodding softly Rin gathered what little things he had in this headquarters and packed them into a worn bag.

"Why am I being summoned? I didn't think I did naything wrong.."Rin whispered, still barechested but he didn't think he'd be given enough time to dress. He had a habit of going about shirtless anyways.

"The Don is having someone of your skills enter a hostile terrain. Now move.", Fang made an unpleasant face to express his opinion of questions and turned the gun upward along the male's chin to club its sight against the other's nose as he turned and started away with his gun still ready. As he stepped forward he cooed, "Corp? You ready to get the f*ck out of here?". As he walked the stiff collar of his shirt reflected a single glance of lght as its metal frame was revealed and hidden again, "We have the kid so long as he doesn't try anything stupid". Trusting the other male as far as he could throw him or less, he only allowed his back turned in the mindset that his bulky gun lay with its sight on the top of the holster and its barrel back.

"Right.."Rin sighed and decided not to press the issue anymore, if this was a special mission he should feel honored right? All he felt now was the dead of what was to come if this man was just lying to him.

He could end up dead in the garbage heap for all he knew. But he started moving towards the door, his bag packed full of stuff. Maybe if he survived this he could retrieve the other things he'd hidden in various places.

Fang motioned for the boy to follow him and soon met up with his ally in the connecting hallway, favoring now to trust this other with a bit more of the information as they travelled through the halls toward the garbage chute. "Hey. This is Gray Scorpion, I am Fang. Roderick, actually, but Fang for what you'll care. We're both hands down in Berlin.", he nodded to say he would avoid any questions, "I'm sure you know about the nukes and the air raids, the damn UN even factioned off the city so the civilians are trapped in. They keep saying the infected must stay in to avoid spreading disease but those psychos are too damn busy picking off pregnant women to find any damn answers. (the fact that their armed not being known outside Berlin) So if you watched any news you'll see why this burnt out husk (news has images of the fully rebuilt city that isn't there) needs someone like you and me and this fag over here to keep her alive". Scorpion growled as they walked, remaining silent as he tore the safety door on the chute open and revealed a small crawl way that led to a shaft with a ladder leading down. "There you are, Prince. Get climbing", the other growled at Fang as his hands literally began leaking a foul gas.

"I've seen the news, its sick. What's going on in there."He responded , looking at the men and dding a name to each face. "My name's Rin, but people around here call me Viper." Grinning he inwardly prayed these men were telling the truth. That he would be helping out the innocents he'd sworn to protect.

"Just who told you about me?"

"Don Baeur. Heads the nation in policy and took two of my brothers last week as a sign that we are disgracing our nation.", Fang stepped forward and crouched as he looked into the hole in the hall and nodded to turn back for a final gesture. Putting his middle finger halfway shot and prying his mouth open with his thumb he spoke, "Bang. Bang. They went on national media and executed five Guards before they turned on themselves for him. Both infected, both dead either way". And then he started away without saying another word. As he left it was Scorpion that sighed and shook his head as he finished the commentary for a brief spell of words, "After out tech-heads found the media jammers and brought them down we saw that the signal had been cut and the only thing that went through was our boss... Mentioning their suicides for 'Germany's future' and as 'a rite of cleansing'. The media tore it up in the home land of the Ratterman seat. Since than Baeur and Garse have lost more of the Jade's political power to the mafia; And they've stolen more of our men like you to fight this holy war. It ain't fair kid, but its life". He puffed on his overpowering cigarette and frowned as he thought of the entire situation as it were.

"So once again I'm just a pawn in this big disgusting game."Rin sighed, following them both down the now opened crawl space. He'd been thinking alot since they showed up. Mostly about his future. Now he had the deaths of those men in his mind and rememberd how many friends he'd lost fighting for the innocents.

"Better a pawn knowing I'm one than not knowing I'm being used."Shuddering he followed into the dark, shivring softly at the change in temperature. Eventually when he could see again he'd put on a dang shirt. But as of yet they were still in the dark.

Fang dropped far below there sight at the words, but his ally remained full as he looked up and barked; "You thought it'd be different, eh? All Bonni and Clyde with the smoking guns to match?". His breath visible as the almost nigh existent light caught in the smoke and made tiny dragons of gray along the boy above him, "So why'd you really join a bunch of thugs and cut-dicks in the back allies of this god-forsaken country then? Don't look like you're mafia material, so I assume you joined Jade before this shit hit the damn ceiling. Either way youa in;t the type I'd think of". And then a single flash of light as the ten millimeter flared below them and sent its huge burning sparks into the body of a candle. Wax could be heard below them searing as the fat candle caught and showed a sphere of light below as Fang watched them as what appeared to be an ant.

"My best friend joined, He wasn't the smartest guy but he had high hopes for this country. He got me to care about things again. "Rin sighed, stroking the sun charm on the choker necklace he wore. It was Asp's symbol and he felt the urge to touch it whenever he thought of his departed friend.

"But he got himself killed awhile back, died protecting some innocents. Its the way he would have chosen anyways- but I miss him you know."Following the candles light Rin left his slim fingers drift to his own symbol. It was the crecent moon charm and between the two lay a copper star. Asp, Cobra and Viper; brothers not of blood but of soul. And he was the only one still living.

"Sh*t...", the man smoking his cigarette reached into the shirt's tattered pocket and threw one of the excessive stalks of tobacco up over his head to the boy and dropped the last few feet before backing off. Standing there with his face away from them both the man in the hooded shirt looked out at the car and tried to recall just how he had deemed that the best means to travel. Soon they would be wanted for more than just being amongst both local, federal, and international crime rings. "You two. Shut up and get in. You're driving this time, Corp, and I'll sit in back with the kid in case we need any extra gun.", Fang barked his orders and turne dhis head to show the grin with his namesakes shining like a pair of fire-encrusted jewels; Two huge fangs and four more below that were only taller than his normal teeth. Six glaring beauties on each side, and all seemed to click as he sighed heavily at the sight of the other smoking; "And none of your cancer sticks in my car.", the man reached into his pocket and through a small pink square of gum to Scorpion's feet as he started away with Scorpion trampling the gum to follow in his wake.

Rin gasped, staring at the fangs with wide eyes. he'd been in a gang for only a few months, not even a year and with 2 best friends dead already. Luck was not with him but maybe with these strangers he could begin to recover from losing his buds by becoming friends with these two.


He promptly shut up as ordered and followed the guys to their car.

Fang's mad grin split his skull like a wound and showed more as he laughed very softly at the surprise he had brought with the semi-conscious gesture. many others had seen these fangs, most thinking them to be either a failed attempt at humor or a sign of his position of top-ranked Enforcer, but none had to date seem the roots of his soft pink gum line that showed the very real connection to his mouth that was obvious as he now spoke. Looking at his older comrade, the man before them waited until Scorpion stepped forward with a dutiful stride to take him by the shoulder and pull himself in to a one armed embrace. He whispered something and when he went back did so with the very slightest hint of a kiss on the other man's lips, dislodging as he went the fat cigarette. "! ! !.", his eyes turned guiltily toward the new guy as he bit his lip and revealed the upper wall of his teeth in a worried gesture for what he'd shown, "just... Just in the car, dammit. Its not..". But it was and he knew that he had fouled up for the single folly of his past. Having let his hand free, Scorpion was in the vehicle's low frame long before Fang hatefully turned his back to proceed.

Fang took to the far back seat of the car and sunk low into the soft material of the cushion to sulk for his angered state, having shown his not-quite-dead affection for the co-abusive Scorpion that he'd long since called gone and having done so in the passing ideal that they were once more children escaping some fire-setting flunk or the cashed out murder of some rat with too many voices and too little sense. He had shown something that was dead to him by words alone and he had done even more foul in the public sighting of his still wet lip that shook in rage for what this new man had seen. This new guy would never understand, Viper having been only a brief moment around them both and not allowed anything but their faces here and now, but to have seen this would give far more than he favored in either way. As he growled the hatred low beneath his otherwise level tone of breathes he looked up to see the larger shotgun dangling from the hands of his cohort to say that they would be his hands in any fight to be; A fat twelve-gauge monster with a muffling chamber on each barrel's tip and a feed that ran up through the handle and out the top in one of the most ingenious designs around. Fang snatched the gun up and reached around to where Scorpion had been before to take up the box of three-colored clips laying in the thin metal box of a quiver. As he retrieved the piece and ammo had slowly decided on his course to wait the night out before visiting the place he had left long ago to see what would be for them both.

Steadying the wheel and getting as low back as he could before he began, the man pouring smoke from his lips pulled three sticks of gum from the dashboard's nook and cheeked them all in one bite as he adjusted the mirrors with the small control on the panel. With his first gun allocated and his other at his side he could easily bark, "Yo. If you intend to make it long enough to talk you better keep an eye on Viper and make sure we can get the the underground without any causalities to the damn car. Those sh*t- a*s psychos aren't going to wait long once we board to see if we have warrants, so we need to cause as little fuss as possible". He shook his head and heard, "And kill the ones we alert. Strangest sh*t you'll ever see, Viper. Breaking INTO a place like Berlin...", from the other who cocked the shotgun hard and sank back as they started forth into the streets with the blacked out windows and the low grind of music to match what was the last bit of light they might see for many months. Berlin, their home, and all of the ones inside were now just burnout husks that all sought to kill and feud. For them to have left was a sign of utmost trust and the final bit of proof that they would do what was needed; In this case, being a simple task of kidnapping and obvious arson. "Hope you packed your sh*t, Viper. We needed this to look real.", Fang's voice remained cold as he dial seven numbers on his phone and remotely detonated the packed bomb which Scorpion had so kindly placed while he was retrieving the boy, functionally eviscerating the room where he'd been found and giving alibi for the warm body that was now thrown the shotgun in the only sign Fang would give for an apology for what they'd done, "Don Bauer will replace what he can, I hope, but we needed you dead before we could have your help, and we needed something good to distract the cops".

Soon that car was rolling at top speeds and the only ones who would have cared, the cops and civilian do-gooders, were all too concerned watching fire and smoke belch from the building that seemed all too normal after the orders from the city don to evacuate only moments before.

"Everything that truly mattered I guess."He whispered, watching the building go up in flames. The room was devestated, he didn't have to look more than once to know that everything within it was gone. Rin whispered a silent prayer for his comrades, pleading with whatever ran this world that they would forgive him in the afterlife for a deception not his own.

Clutching the gun tightly that was all he said, his thoughts his own on the matter of the brief kiss he'd seen. Asp and Cobra were that way, he'd seen the briefst of affection in the halls many a time. H'd been too youn gof mind to realize what it was until Asp lay dying.


So he didn't begrudge fang his moment of affection in the same matter he didn't push Cobra away once the pain of loss sunk in. They had both lost more than just a friend that day. And soon Viper had lost Cobra and added the third charm to his necklace, the necklace his friends back at headquarters would have placed on his gravemarker if they could find it.


Stroking the charms softly he didn't have the heart to do just that and clutched those fragments of his past tightly. No he would never forget- they were comrades and brothers and even on one cold night something more. But that was the past and now he had to concentrate on surviving the most challenging mission to date.

Riding out those unscathed road in the car that was faded to be destroyed soon after, Fang remained silent until his comrade and former bed-mate withdrew his own voice to speak very softly at the windshield before his eyes, "Next light, you two get out and head for the L-train in the undergrounds. Should be a clean tram so all you'll see are a few local pigs at worst... I'm off to see WildChild and Sweets.... Just take care". His voice remaining in that low tone as he started forward along the road and made one turn before slowing to meet the traffic signal as it turned to red. Without pausing Fang released the hammer of the gun and kicked his door open without speaking. No vehicles were approaching as the car stopped and so Scorpion was able to turn back when the other left and plead, "Boss is gonna leave you with someone else. We just needed to deliver you and to see you got there. After that ... I guess we'll see you around, Viper". Scorpion kicked the engine and revved the stolen car as he turned and waited for the newcomer to exit as well so that he could transverse the final few blocks and see to his capture at the hands of the police for just one more count of murder that would serve the greater good whether they liked it or not.

"Yeah, don't go dying on me guys." Exiting the vehicle with weapon tucked close to his side Rin pulled his favorite coat out of his bag. Better to hide the weponry he was packing that way.

It was just him and Fang now. Looking back at the car for a split second he whispered a prayer for the man inside and for all of them. "Lets go.. don't wanna be seen alive after the firworks show you rigged."

Fang looked at the young man beside him for a long moment, eyeing him from head to toe and almost calculating something unspoken as he did, before he broke into a tight laughter and slapped Viper on his shoulder. "Yeah. You got me on that.", he spoke in the tone of one who had seen far too many horrors and too few of these genuinely favorable persons as a whole. As they turned toward the subway system Fang offered a small silver token for Viper to pocket as fare and tucked himself a bit more into the hood of his shirt to be entirely safe that he not be spotted as they entered the eerily dark halls of the subway and started down into the earth's open maw in pursuit of the far center tracks and the small transport that would be mere moments away. Passing a machine stocked with food and drink, Fang offered Viper a silent nod to eat if he hadn't as he took to one of the arms of a bench along the tracks and began playing with the canine tooth which had earned him his name along the crew.

Viper took the fare and smiled softly in thanks, the offer to eat a sound one. He was hungery and who knows when he'd be able to eat again. Luckily he still had some of his own money and pushed a few buttons to get some things to dine on.

"You want anything special?"He asked Fang, pausing efore the machine with his own goodies in hand.

"Nah.", his finger traced the long fang back and forth as he mulled the hateful train that would be coming down the tracks at any minute to deliver them both to a place where they would never reach, "Just get what you want and I'll cover it. Like an apology, but I don't have go all puss-heart on you". The man sitting in that seat was not entirely the same nor entirely alike the stark Enforcer from before. Seated he almost looked like he should be studying law or physics from beneath a pair of glasses the depth of his palm. When he looked back up it was with a true curiosity that seemed to rise without words to be had. The subway train was already shaking the station and anything spoken or otherwise would easily have been engulfed as that clack-clack-booming of the train barreled on.

"I cover my own tabs."Viper hissed back, his pride still sore after this guy had snuck up on him and held him at gun point. "You don't give a shit if you killed any of my fellows back there in that explosion. I just figured if I was eating it wouldn't be polite to not offer you anything."Turning his back on the enforcer the slender dark haired male adjusted his coat and buttoned it up more.

The gun was nice but he prefered his own weaponry, arming himself swiftly with his favored pair of Sai and a gun slid into the holster sewn into his flashy jacket's sleeve. It was easily freed and with his own things on him he felt a little safer.

Fang's teeth lit up once more as he laughed to himself at the entirely undue show of drama surrounding such a thing of little concern. As he relished the thoughts and watched the young Viper pouting the supposed harm that might have been done that eerie grin was washed in bleaching light as the subway train clacked harder and harder and burst into the room with a vacuum force and an explosion of light and sound. The tracks shook and the two men waited were strobed in light as each car blocked their view, burst into the gap between, and then obstructed them once more with the tailing cart a half-second behind. An airlock brake sounded after several seconds of booming and popping steel, and with it came a force of steam and dust from beneath each cart's belly.

That white and tan mist caressed each man's feet so that they were now as if one with the floor, and marked the arrival of the doors as each cart belched clean, recycled air from between the two welcoming steel doors that split to show a row of pleather covered teeth captured in the steel gums that lay riddled with hand-bars and fallen trash. Standing in the center of the door before them, however, a single cavity existed in its black, red, and white uniform. A member of the German National Police, the man twice Fang's size in width and a good many inches taller, was ready to admit the newcomers with a ceramic-cored steel baton and a belt of two guns with ammo that lay above his otherwise issued gear.