The Blind Remnant

2. Present

In the wide, antiquated interior with wood-grained pattern, there is just one button. It is pressed, and the elevator starts its sluggish descent, marked by grinding sound from the Soviet gears above.

Destination: OP-6 laboratory. The team stands in unnerving silence, anxious about what will unfold next.

Anya hums a song, a folk song. It reminds her of her grandmother and their home in the Valdai Hills.  The steadfast old lady would work in the ranch while humming that song, and tell Anya all is beautiful in this world.  She died when Anya was seventeen due to exhaustion and pancreatic cancer.

"How's the headache?" asks Sergei. As her leader, he routinely cares for her.

"Getting better," Anya replies. "Anti-rejection meds are a wonder."

She looks down and tries to conceal her sorrow. But her long, facial scar from the war reminds her to be mournful. The Revenants had a dream - to be noble and help liberate the common people. It was shattered when their previous mission went horribly wrong.

They were in Ashuria, airdropped behind enemy lines, tasked by the General Staff in Moscow to take out a Scud-D missile battery. Based on intel gathered by AI military intelligence, the target was autonomous, and no killing would be involved. The war had entered its second week, and the Russian offensive that started strongly was beginning to lose steam.

The intel led them to the missile vehicles. What it didn't indicate, however, were the eighty refugees hiding in the vicinity, fleeing war from a nearby city. By the time the Revenants spotted them, it was already too late. The artillery fire they called in was well on its delivery.

Mission complete. The high-explosive ordnance laid waste to the entire ground. Anya rushed in, foolishly hoping to save a child or even two, but not before a piece of flying shrapnel blinded her and knocked her out cold.

The next few months, Anya went in and out of surgery. Her injuries were extensive, the doctors had to prescribe bionics. So she received the neural implants first, followed by the augmented eyes. Facial reconstruction took the longest and kept her in bed the entire time.

While Anya focused on healing, she also dreamt of children dying. She wasn't alone; the tragedy took its toll on the whole team. Sergei blamed himself entirely. Tyoma held his Bible restlessly. And Roza, well, she hardly spoke anything.

After the mission, the Revenants broke ties with Moscow. They stayed in Ashuria as the war continued, and took odd jobs like escorting an American CEO and collecting debts for a local warlord. They make ends meet, but were ultimately without a cause. That was, until one day, someone called Eve offered a hefty sum to steal from the Hermitage.

A heist, in their motherland. It would mean life as a fugitive if they succeed. Still, the money was enticing. It would be their ticket out of this purgatory. They had already butchered eighty innocent people. Thievery wouldn't make them more sinful.

So they spoke with Eve. They knew nothing about her, yet accepted the offer on the speakerphone. The Revenants would split up after the mission and head separate ways forever.

Nearly there. The elevator is slowing and their feet become heavy. Sergei is weary, burdened by the guilt he reclusively carries. "We'll be rich after this gag. You can go find a new dream."

"No more dreams for me," says Anya. If the war has taught her anything, it is that dreams, no matter how noble, will inevitably diminish. All come from dust, and to dust all return. In the end, there is nothing new under the sun.

Tyoma turns around, notifies everyone with a hand signal. "Five seconds out."

"Okay team, get ready," says Sergei. "Keep your eyes and ears open. Revenants, move out."