Chapter Text
The lighthouse was silent as she packed her gear. Her father told her not to go on this mission. She knew her father needed the information on the drive, but he didn’t trust anybody to go get it. They were at an impasse because of that. The only way for them to proceed was with her going, so she will.
Her father constantly had her train with the Cultists in order for her to get strong. He wanted to know that she could protect herself if necessary. She enjoyed the thrill of combat because of that, especially the way of the Cultists. Their quick and silent movement intrigued her to no end.
The girl sighed as she grabbed her bag. She already had a note written on her desk so they knew where she was going. Hopefully her father wouldn’t be too mad at her. All she has to do is get in, grab the data, and get out. Should be easy enough.
She traveled down the staircase carefully before opening the lighthouse door. All she had to do was get past Zryachiy and his followers, which hopefully wouldn’t be too hard. She already had a DSPT and the keys to one of the cars at the end of the land bridge.
She quickly snuck away from the lighthouse and into the slight forage in front of her. At this time, it should only be one of the followers awake. It shouldn’t be too hard for her to sneak by just him. The only issue was that she had no clue where he was.
The land bridge was now right in front of her, as soon as she started walking she knew he would be on her ass. She pulled out the DSPT and double checked that it still said ‘Encoded’. With a quiet huff, she took the first step on to the bridge.
Three steps in she heard a familiar cackle behind her to the right. She turned to look at him, spotting the cultist crouched on the rocks a little too close for her liking. He had his gun pointed at her, his stance alert and guarded.
“Where do you think you are going, Little Light.”
His grating voice sent a shiver down her spine, him being this close was dangerous. She needed to play this right, or else her plan might go down the drain.
Little Light took another step on the bridge, maintaining eye contact with the man. He let out another chuckle as he holstered his gun and began his descent down the rocks. She was so f*cked.
Panic bubbled in her stomach as she quickly turned around and continued. She refused to look behind her, keeping her eyes trained on the car at the end of the bridge. Little Light moved as quickly as the situation allowed her to, which wasn’t very fast.
The man behind her bellowed her name through the night, drawing out the last syllable. He ended it in a twisted cackle before going completely silent. She always hated how f*cking creepy these guys were.
Little Light was almost at the end of the bridge when she felt the man's cold fingers slip around her wrist. She let out a startled gasp as she stuck the DSPT in her rig. Her fingers wrapped under his cold fingers as she tried to rip them off of her. All the man did was laugh as he started dragging her back towards the lighthouse.
His fingers tightened harshly as she let out a pained yelp. She brought her elbow back towards him, which he dodged easily. She attempted again before he grabbed her elbow and held it in place.
“Uh-uh-uh. Remember who trained you Little Light? Your little tricks will not work.”
The girl let out a frustrated growl at his disgustingly condescending voice. She thought about what to do, getting even more frustrated as her mind came back blank. All her ideas wouldn’t work on him, he was much too strong at close combat.
She had to try something, anything at all. She planted her feet against the tire of one of the many cars, preventing him from dragging her any further. The girl reached forwards and grabbed the handle of the car door. She then swung it open and hit the cultist. He stumbled backwards from the impact, unable to catch himself. He proceeded to fall and hit his head on the hard concrete below them.
Little Light watched his chest rise and fall for a moment. She then looked back towards the lighthouse, spotting Zryachiy at the entrance of the bridge. As they made eye contact, she felt a shiver travel down her spine once more. His cold white eyes bore into her as his whole demeanor screamed danger. Oh f*ck, she had to leave right now.
Without another thought, she quickly turned around and continued to the car. As soon as she crossed the minefield, she sprinted to the vehicle. She grabbed the car keys from her pocket, instantly unlocking the door. The girl instantly shuffled inside before locking the door. Zryachiy was halfway across the bridge at this point, his ghostly eyes never straying from her.
Her shaky fingers struggled to turn the car on, her thoughts scrambled because of the man approaching her. The car’s engine screeched to life as she reversed somewhat recklessly. As soon as she could, she quickly turned the car around and stepped on the peddle.
Little Light watched the man stop right where she just was, watching as she left. She let out a shaky breath, focusing solely on the road. The journey in front of her was long and dangerous but she could do it. She believed in herself and her skills.
✦ . ⁺ . ✦ . ⁺ . ✦
She had finally reached the city. The people that came for her father always told her stories about the Streets of Tarkov. She would always listen intently, imagining what the different sections were like. When it was just her and her dad, he would let her read the maps and study them. The mall, the hotel, TerraGroup, and a bunch of other locations. He knew about the lab location, deep inside the city. The experiments and sensitive information kept there were valuable, along with the medication.
Thankfully, she knew how to get there quickly. It was currently early morning, the sun still not out. It would be easy for her to sneak in quickly, the route she could take was a relatively hidden and clear path. As long as she didn’t run into any USEC or BEAR’s that is.
Little Light parked the car in a driveway, getting her gear ready. She grabbed a facemask, making sure to keep her identity hidden. If she did stumble across anybody, it would be better if they thought she was a male.
The girl left the car, making sure to keep track of where it was. She had her silenced MCX out, ready to shoot if necessary. Little Light only needed to walk for about 20 minutes before reaching her destination. It was a rather hidden spot, only noticeable to those who knew about it.
She could hear gunshots in the distance, not close enough to be of any threat to her. The girl had already made it inside and was making her way to the elevator. Blood and other random junk was scattered around the room. Although the blood looked old, it still made her rather nervous. She proceeded to follow the path she memorized, finally finding the elevator in the back. A pair of bloody hand prints dragged down the metal door before leading into the room across the hall. That was a good sign, it was rather threatening.
A beep left the console as she pressed the keycard against it. The green arrow appeared on the top of the elevator, showing that the elevator was on the way up. She moved to the side, getting ready to shoot if necessary. The elevator eventually stopped, the doors slowly sliding open. Since it was empty, she stepped inside.
As the door opened, she could feel the difference in the atmosphere. This place had an eerie feeling, as if danger was right around the corner. There was always a chance for raiders to be down here, who were heavily geared. She had to expect anything and anyone. With a silent reassurance to herself, she stepped outside.
All she needed to do was get to the manager's office and then get out. She knew how to get there from here, so she slowly traveled the underground hallways to avoid potential danger. She kept going until she came out right at the bottom level of the recreational area, specifically at the reception desks. Little light then slowly went up the staircase, looking around for any sign of life.
It was eerily quiet, not a single noise besides the soft ambient buzzing. She continued to her left around the conference room before she heard a bunch of footsteps below her. In a panic, she ran into the kitchen area next to her. More footsteps were then heard from the door to her right. She looked around before finding a walk in fridge and quickly ducked inside.
She could hear them talking as they made their way towards her. The men were talking about the different medication they needed and how they needed to find more fighters. The people to her right then stepped into the small storage room. She could hear them pick up different objects, stuffing them into their bags.
One of the men approached the fridge door, laughing with his buddy. She can take them, she practiced for this. Just aim for the head and shoot them. As soon as he opened the door and walked in, she did just that.
Little Light watched as the body dropped to the floor, his teammate yelling for backup. She quickly stepped around the body and peeked at the other guy. As soon as she peeked, a bullet whizzed past her head. She waited for the shots to stop before peeking and sprayed him down.
The other men were now in the kitchen. She was f*cked. They were one hundred percent watching the doorway in front of her. The only thing she could do was fight them head on, which would be very difficult. She quickly reloaded before bracing herself. It was now or never.
She quickly peeked at the angle, shooting at the first man she saw. They instantly shot back, a bullet grazing her right shoulder. She hissed at the sudden burn, ducking behind the door once again. The girl quickly reloaded before peeking once more.
The instant her gun became visible, the men shot at her once more. She instantly felt a strong impact at the barrel of her gun, which caused her to lose her grip. The gun went flying to the right, it hit the wall and then clattered to the floor. Oh f*ck. f*cking hell, she was screwed.
Little Light knelt against the wall of the fridge, her hands shaking. If she went for the gun, she would get shot. If she ran across the hallway to the staircase, she would get shot. There was no clean or easy way out of this situation.
Her head snapped towards the door as she heard the men suddenly push through. She heard them pick up her gun, laughing to themselves. They stopped right in front of the fridge, one of them shifting right outside the door.
“Seems like you got yourself stuck in there huh.”
She didn’t reply, too scared to somehow piss them off. The girl shuffled slightly, getting herself in a position where she could retaliate if they walked in.
“I see your gun is damaged, that’s too bad. If you played that better you might have been able to get out of here. You even killed Bogdan and Kiril.”
The other two men snorted from laughter farther behind him. These guys were f*cking assholes and it pissed her off. If only she had brought another weapon, she’d kill them in a heartbeat.
“Come out with your hands up, any sudden movements and we will shoot.”
f*cking hell, she had no other choice. Maybe she could try and steal one of their guns. No, they don’t seem to be that stupid. They were talking about some kind of arena earlier and their duty to it. They were guards of some sort, heavily geared guards.
With a sigh, Little Light stood up completely. Complying was her safest option here, she can worry about what happens later. Begrudgingly, she put her hands up and slowly walked towards the door. As soon as she walked out, her arms were yanked behind her and quickly bound in duct tape. The girl was then shoved to her knees, guns pointed directly at her face.
“Search him, see if he has anything dangerous on him before we continue.”
The two other soldiers approached her, searching her pockets and patting her down. Since they didn’t find anything, they dragged her up by her arm and shoved her in front of them. Little Light was forced to follow one of them as they dragged her outside of the facility. The men proceeded to shove a bag over her head and shove her into the back seat of a car.
It felt like she was in there for hours, the silence was killing her. The men only talked about mundane topics, seeming to dodge anything that could give her intel. After what felt like another hour, she felt the car stop.
From the feeling of it, she was brought inside. She could hear the cheerful screams of groups of people yelling somewhere to her right. It also sounded like an announcer was boasting about some poor man's death. That means they did bring her to the Arena.
The men stopped abruptly, causing her to stumble slightly before catching herself. She felt them rip the bag off of her head, instantly shoving her into a room. She fell face first onto the floor, grunting at the impact. Little Light struggled to turn around. All she could catch was the smirk of a man, then the slam of a door.
She awkwardly fumbled onto her knees, only now noticing the presence of another man. He was in the corner of the room, eating some kind of soggy oats. The man grimaced at her before shoving another bite of the gross gunk into his mouth.
“So, how did they catch you?”
