characteresque



character :: Sasha Novikov

In the beginning, Sasha, unlike most other children his age, was spared the haunting images and the overall brutality of the on-going war between the United States and Russia. The papers painted a grim picture as both sides fought relentlessly but being so far away from the capital and war posts, in the rural parts of Northeast Russia, meant that the losses weren't so heavily felt on the small family and the rations, casualties and blockades hardly affected them. Sasha was content growing up relatively isolated from the general population, taking in the freedom that the wilderness had to offer and basking in the attention he received from both his parents, when they were feeling particularly kind. Aleksandr, Sasha's father, provided well for the three of them through plain and honest hard work with hours spent hammering away on their cracking roof, clearing snow from their walkways and hunting or fishing to load up the freezer before the ice glazed the forests and hills during the unbearable winters. Sasha idealized his father's no-nonsense personality and his unbreakable strength but Sasha's mother Margarita, a shrill and mouthy shrew, tolerated him at best.

Aleksandr would leave under the premise of temporary work and disappear into the nearest city, returning home days later in either a drunken stupor or with proof of infidelity covering his body or clothes, facts that Margarita made no secret of when asked by a young Sasha where his father was.
"He is probably getting drunk with some floozy and before you know it, another whore will show up on my doorstep with a new bastard child for me to care for." Sasha thought little of his mother's rambling and even less of her opinion about his father until he witnessed it first hand, following a fight between the two that landed her on the floor and his hungover father storming out in a rage. Sasha helped his mother to her feet and looked to her helplessly:
"Могу ли я перейти охоты с отца?"
"Нет, Саша. Он является ублюдок." But even through the bruises, she would smile. "Но вы можете готовить блюда со мной, малыш."

Alongside his mother, Sasha learned all he could but with his father sobering up, the happy times were about to end and with it, a hard dose of reality was to come. Aleksandr hated to see his only child, (his son, no less!) forced into 'women's work' while he still lacked the basic survival skills that Aleksandr had hoped to teach him; the following summer, Sasha was pulled from the house and, with his father by his side, taken on an extended trip into the wilderness that would 'turn him into an honest, real man'. The trip was brutal between the frigid temperatures and nights of cramping hunger pains but through Aleksandr's tests, Sasha remained strong, fighting through the trials to stand on his own two feet against his mountain of a man father that tormented him for weeks. And on their final day, as the two returned home, Aleksandr gave him a final ominous warning:
"Америка проиграет России. Россия должна побеждать, и вы должны сражаться."
The words meant little to Sasha initially, even as his conscription began following his eighteenth birthday, but it would be his service that would become the turning point.

Training seemed like a breeze for Sasha given all that his father had already done: the runs were simple, the drills were basic and even the obstacle courses were nothing for Sasha who found himself more bored than challenged by his military service, much to the bitterness of his fellow conscripts.

But even with the officer's praise and his strong will, nothing would protect him from dedovshchina. The senior conscripts bided their time until late in the night, springing on the unsuspecting rookie only three months into his service who took the brutal beating with little more than a single tear and, upon interrogation, refused to give up the names of the offenders. Even as they returned in the following nights, Sasha didn't cry out but took the hazing with pride until he received a letter days later in which a meeting had been requested between himself and the Starshina, one that Sasha feared would mark the end of his military career. Much to Sasha's surprise, the Starshina had heard about Sasha's bravery and ceaseless vigor in the face of his peers and was impressed by his seriousness even in the face of death, a trait that was valuable given the wartime efforts. The Starshina then offered Sasha a choice: to give up the remainder of his conscript and climb the official military ranks as a potential candidate for the SSO VS RF or to continue with his conscript until completion. For Sasha, there was only one choice and the first time in his life, he would be faced with the true, uncensored horrors of the U.S-Russia war.

Sasha worked his way through the lower ranks, pushing himself to the point of physical exhaustion and past emotional breaks to complete his new training when unexpected news came late in the night: deployment notices for all recruits to the newly claimed Russian territory (previously Canada), effective immediately. Unaware of what he was in for and with no choice of his own, Sasha packed the few things he had to his name and hopped the next plane out of Russia to his new home, his new encampment, not that there was much to see. Bombs, missiles and foreign troops were commonplace in the area surrounding theirs but the resulting rumbles below the Earth were unnerving, distracting, even. But there wasn't time to settle in as training resumed immediately and Sasha picked up where he had left off as though nothing had changed, but it had. Raids became a real threat practically overnight, what with the sea no longer separating the warring nations, forcing all of the recruits to sleep with one eye open and with their guns tucked to their chest. One such raid claimed a number of Sasha's comrades and another reduced their supplies to a trickle but they continued on with the fight until they could no longer and he, too, became a prisoner of war. Sasha declined to comply with his captors, his adamant silence a testament to his training even as he watched the executions and dismemberment of his companions one after the other, days ticking by with nothing more than his eyes darting around the room to keep him sane as he puzzled a way out. It would be only Sasha and one other man that would escape alive, under the shroud of the night, the two were hailed as heroes and celebrated as the keys to winning the war if they would accept their new role as a spy for the military. Sasha's fellow friend declined, wanting nothing more than to return home to his family, but Sasha leapt at the opportunity.

For years, Sasha was pushed to the mental extreme, his psyche broken and repaired again using only the most inhuman and militarized tactics while his mind was exposed to the worst that humanity had to offer until he was no longer afraid or nauseated by what he saw. By the time Sasha's training was over, his name was known throughout all of the camps in Russia, making him a prime target for the enemy - if only they could ever see him coming before their own demise.

Mission after mission, Sasha completes in secrecy with the U.S none the wiser to his presence all while Russia quietly gains the upper-hand in a seemingly never ending war. But with his current lead refusing to talk and his superior breathing down his neck, Sasha has no choice but to take on his most risky mission yet: going undercover in plain sight. Word around the base is there is another lead that might have the information they're looking for and this one might be easier to break. Or maybe...this one might just break him first.

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