After exiting the world, Welter gasps and regains his breath. He takes a minute before summoning the Ranger and the Combat Medic.
[System: You have 220 points to spend.]
Welter goes to the shop and clicks "Unlock New Units."
[System: 120 points left.]
[System: The units you have unlocked are from the Garry's Mod / Half-Life games.]
• 2x Combine Soldier — 20 Points1x Combine Suppressor — 30 Points5x Combine Grunt — 10 PointsDeal: If all are bought, you will get a free APC and an Elite Overwatch Combine.Welter looks surprised that the system gives deals, but he clicks buy anyway. He feels the new units enter his system inventory.
[System: You have 60 points left.]
Welter clicks on the Metro sub-tab.
• 1x Polis Ranger — 20 Points4x Bandits — 20 Points2x Lurker — 10 Points1x Small Rail Car — 20 Points1x Nosalis — 10 Points1x Combat Medic — 20 PointsWelter buys two Rangers and a Combat Medic.
[System: 0 points left.]
He spawns them in the room, gives them heat masks and heat packs, and starts to speak.
"Okay, in this world you don't need a gas mask. The surface is safe to breathe, but it's extremely fucking cold. It's 'frostbite in five minutes' levels of cold, so keep those heat packs warm and they will warm you. How do you warm the heat packs, you may ask? It's simple. It absorbs others' body heat, so simply take it off and put it against a freshly killed monster or bandit. Take the bandits' heat packs and cut open the monsters—the heat is inside the monsters. The stronger the monster, the more your heat pack is charged. They all have a few hours of baseline heat, but it can go beyond that if charged more. Any questions?"
"What's the surface terrain like, and are there any environmental hazards other than the cold?" a Ranger asks.
Welter responds, "Yes, there is the wind. The wind speed on average is 40 mph or 64 km/h, which is very fast, but this can change. Low-wind zones are normally made into an exit and a small checkpoint. High-wind zones from 60 mph or 97 km/h are danger zones, which make everything unstable. With that info, I'll show you how to use a heat pack and a heat mask, and then we will go up."
Welter teaches them. He climbs the ladder up, moves the manhole cover, and climbs out of the hole. He is immediately hit by 40-mile-per-hour winds as he breathes in the fresh air. He looks around, seeing only abandoned buildings and ruins; the fierce wind speed does not allow for large vegetation.
Gun at the ready, he stands guard as his squad climbs up. A mutant hound is watching them from the shadows. "Hounds!" Welter warns. "Big dogs, kinda like Watchmen but smaller, and they die easily."
The Rangers form a circle and slowly move down the street. Hounds close in, rushing out from the buildings on both sides of them. The air fills with barking and the sound of the hounds closing in on the squad, but the team expertly headshots each hound.
Welter aims for the biggest hound, assuming it's the alpha. The big hound gets a bullet right through its head. The other hounds stop, then scatter. Without an alpha, the hounds can't work effectively as one.
The squad checks their gear and charges their heat packs. After they charge the heat packs, Welter spawns the Combine APC. Welter drives while a Ranger takes the gunner position, and they drive down the street with no more interruptions.
They get to a concrete bridge, but the wind speed here is going 60 miles per hour, making the bridge slowly degrade over time. "I don't trust this bridge," Welter says while putting his APC back into his inventory. The squad falls on their butts from the sudden shift, and they all get up.
They go onto the bridge, but it's blocked by cars and debris. "We have to go under the bridge through the catwalk." The squad goes to the side and climbs a ladder down onto the catwalk.
The catwalk creaks as the squad walks. The first Ranger Welter summoned is at the front of the squad. Suddenly, the part of the catwalk he is standing on gets hit by a sudden, strong wind of 80 miles per hour. The Ranger jumps and makes it across, but he is now completely cut off from the squad. Welter tries to put him back into his inventory.
[System: Unit is too far away. However, you can promote the unit to Captain to give them:]
1. A NameIncreased speed, strength, and intelligence.Welter promotes the Ranger, and his new name is Feodor. Welter looks across the gap at Feodor. "I can't un-summon you. Continue forward. We will find a way back up and regroup at the bridge."
Feodor nods and walks down the catwalk. The rest of the squad climbs back up the side ladder to the top of the bridge to move the cars and debris out of the way. Welter summons the Combine units to help, giving them heat packs since their regular armor cannot survive in the below-zero temperatures for long, though the Elite's armor can survive it fine. The team starts moving the debris, using the APC to haul big rocks and vehicles.
───
To Feodor
He was at the front of the squad when the catwalk started to break. The wind was so fast it took a small section out of the middle. He was standing right on that middle section, so he had to jump to the other side, leaving him separated from his squad. His boss tried to un-summon him but he was too far away, so his boss promoted him instead.
The newly named Feodor feels a small surge of power run through his body. Remembering the final words from his boss—"I can't un-summon you. Continue forward. We will find a way back up and regroup at the bridge"—Feodor nods and walks down the catwalk. However, he quickly sees that the exit ladders are broken.
"Dang," he mutters.
Fortunately, there is a door that leads into maintenance tunnels, which are actually a lot like the Metro tunnels of Moscow. Feodor slowly walks into the maintenance tunnels. They smell of death and decay. Feodor takes his heat pack off, as well as his heat mask. He checks his AK-47 and continues forward. Everything feels like a familiar process to his life in the Metro, except here it is the cold and not radiation.
He is walking through the small tunnel when he hears the sound of rats behind him. When he turns around, a mass of rats is blocking the way, and the swarm is running straight toward him. Feodor sprints down the maintenance tunnels.
"That's a lot of fucking rats!!!"
Feodor runs around a corner, hearing the mass of rats hit the wall as they continue the chase. Up ahead, Feodor sees a break in the ceiling that lets in a beam of surface light. When he runs past it, the rats chasing him run right into the light and are burned to a crisp instantly.
"Burn in the sun, hmmm... interesting," Feodor notes.
Feodor continues down the tunnels until the pathway opens up. It's a ruined camp. He sees people standing hunched over as he steps into the room. It really is a camp.
Suddenly, Feodor hears footsteps coming from behind him. He whips around, but his AK-47 is knocked completely out of his hands, clattering to the floor. Feodor looks up to see a bandit run at him and throw a punch. He ducks the blow and punches the bandit square in the gut, making the bandit clutch where Feodor hit.
Giving his opponent no time to rest, Feodor kicks the bandit in the balls. To his shock, the bandit doesn't even flinch. Instead, the figure slaps him across the face.
"Stupid bandit, you hit like a girl," Feodor grunts.
The bandit looks confused. "I'm not a bandit, and I am a girl, asshole."
Feodor stops. "Not a bandit? Then why attack me?"
The girl looks annoyed. "Because a few bandits took my favorite gun, and they were wearing black."
Feodor looks interested. "I'm sure I could help you if you join me and my boss."
The girl looks at him with suspicion. "Fine. But my name is Le. What's yours?"
Feodor walks over to his gun on the floor. "Feodor. Nice to meet you."
Feodor bends over to grab his gun and suddenly feels his ass get smacked.
"Nice to meet you as well," Le says.
Feodor is surprised. He grabs his gun and slings it over his shoulder. "Jeez, forward much?"
Le chuckles. "Not every day you meet a good-looking guy on the surface."
Feodor looks her up and down. "Not bad yourself."
They both laugh and keep walking, trying to find a way out. After a bit, they find a manhole cover. They put on their heat masks and heat packs, open the hatch, and climb to the surface. They are instantly hit by the high wind speeds of 45 miles per hour.
Feodor feels his mental link to his boss and heads in that direction. After a while of walking, they see the bridge ahead, along with a small gas station occupied by bandits wearing black.
Le points at them angrily. "Those fuckers took my gun!"
Feodor looks up at the bridge. He can hear his squad still working away at the debris, so he knows he has some time before they make it across. Feodor grabs Le.
"Le, act like I captured you."
Le nods, immediately starting to fake-struggle in his grip as he pulls her along to the bandits.
The bandit boss comes out with a machine gun. "Well, well, well, look who it is," the bandit leader says, his gang walking out with him. There are only four bandits plus the boss.
Feodor suddenly grabs his rifle and shoots the four bandits in the head. Le shoots the bandit boss with a pistol. The bandit boss falls back and drops the machine gun. Le happily grabs it and unloads the gun into the boss bandit with a deranged smile and laugh.
The duo charges their heat packs, and Le gives a sudden kiss on the cheek to Feodor. Le smiles, a less insane one this time, and asks, "What now, Feo?"
Feodor looks away. "Now, we wait for my squad to get through the debris."
───
Back to the squad / Welter
While clearing the debris, they hear gunfire, and as quick as it started, it ends. After more time passes, the debris is finally clear and they see a gas station. Feodor is waving the squad over, so Welter un-summons the Combine units and jogs over to Feodor while a Ranger drives the APC over to the gas station.
"I say we camp in the gas station, so gather stuff and fortify it," Welter orders his units. He then looks at Feodor and Le. "Who's she?"
Feodor looks at Le, who is hugging her machine gun while standing very close to Feodor. "I found her, and she wants to join."
Welter nods. "That's fine. Rest, and we will move tomorrow."