Igor Medved was considered a rather troubled kid, from a very young age it was clear the kid had some demons running loose in his head, a fire resting in his soul that could never be truly extinguished. The orphanage had a sneaking suspicion of why this may be even at such a young age, even though the child wasn’t directly aware. They were certain that this was caused by his father’s death serving in Afghanistan, who was known for his lack of control in the emotion department, and the death of his mother during childbirth which doctors said may have been because of the grief of her husband’s death on top of going into labour was what killed her. And so he ended up in an orphanage, where he was without a challenge of the most disrupting child out of them all. As he grew to the age of six, he didn’t care how loudly the superiors shouted at him, to him they might as well be talking gibberish. Because he saw no reason to listen to them. However despite how it sounds, he wasn’t a cruel boy in the aspect you imagine. He was only cruel to those that dished out what he himself served. Revenge, you could say. But he didn’t get his own revenge, because nobody really wanted to mess with him. But instead he’d pick fights with the boys that would pick on others. Treating others how you want to be treated was how he took their actions and so he’d treat people with the exact way they treated those below them.

At the prime age of six years old, he wanted to start earning a little bit of pocket change to simply buy his own snacks, or what was considered snacks in the small Russian village. And so he asked people door to door if they needed any work done. However one old lady always accepted his help despite his aggressive reputation. Giving him always a little extra then what he originally asked for. Once he even tried to push it by asking for much more, an absurd amount and she did what she always did, gave him a little extra. This left him dumbfounded, he could just rob her blind for doing a tiny bit of work. One day he did ask her why she always did this and she simply answered, “Because I know you have a heart малышка, I can tell by the look in the eyes you wouldn’t cheat me out of all my money.” Something about this Igor didn’t quite understand, but what did understand was his heart, he felt it twinge slightly. And before he knew it he was doing free work for the old lady and staying in her home instead of the orphanage. With one extra catch.

There was another infamously disturbed individual from his orphanage that the old woman had won over as well. She was a small girl, brown hair with pretty blue eyes. But the first time he met her, even at that young age. He looked in her eyes and saw something different than every other pair of eyes he’d ever looked into. Igor was not a smart boy but the one thing he would always trust was his instinct to judge a character. And he took one look at this girl to see the fire that rested inside her, like him. Except, hers was cold, a true phenomenon. He began to talk to this girl, learning that her name was Katya. She used her head a lot, she would think of the best solution for everything. Making her a champion at most card related games. She tried to teach him how to play a card game and whilst Igor tried his very best to learn the rules, he gave up after a few days. But she at least seemed happy he tried. They ended up becoming fairly good friends. For his friend’s 13th birthday he and his old lady would carve out a handmade dart board for her, along with some makeshift darts.

A few years passed, Katya and Igor were now 15 and 16 respectively, him being a year older than her. Both were very close to the old lady and had learnt a lot about her, including her old profession, an FSB agent that served for her country over 20 years. Making a lot of enemies throughout her time. On one normal seeming night, Katya and Igor were out buying the old lady’s groceries, when they returned they heard two male voices inside. Katya had planned to wait, knowing the lady’s past. But Igor entered without thinking, his heart racing. All Katya could do was sigh and plan to help him if needed, so she went around to an open back window and climbed into one of the bedrooms to enter from the other way. He found the old lady with blood running down her throat. The two men began to talk to Igor. Igor argued with the man closest to him, he was an American and understood little of what Igor said, due to it being in Russian. The men were obviously getting annoyed, this is when Igor saw Katya sneaking up behind the other man. She crept closer and closer until she made one wrong step, the house filling with the sound of a floorboard creek. The man she was creeping toward began to turn, drawing his pistol as he did, it took only a second for her to estimate her odds if she rushed at him. It was most likely he would shoot before she could reach him. And so she flipped her knife, catching it via the blade, drew her arm back as he began to raise his gun. She tossed the knife with as much force as she could muster, it spinning through the air and landing on its mark. Between the man's eyes. As soon as the man dropped Igor tackled the other man. A quick brawl occurred resulting in them wrestling for the man's gun, multiple gunshots being fired during which. But ultimately Igor was able to wrestle the pistol to the man’s chin, forcefully pulling the trigger, blood splattering on his face.

Igor sat on his knees, staring at the expression on the dead man’s face. His lifeless stare, his mouth slightly ajar as if silently screaming. Igor had beaten people before, many times. But the colour drained from a dead man’s eyes was different: an empty stare into his soul condemning him for everything he had done in that moment. Realisation of his own actions washed over him, the metaphorical and literal blood of his sins soaking his hands, never to be washed off until his own demise. This is all that was going through his head in his moment. He felt a soft hand on his shoulder. Katya spoke, telling him she was gonna leave the village and learn more about these people. Strangely Katya appeared to be rather unaffected, Igor wondered if she was really stronger than him mentally. Although, he was already aware of that when he met her. She didn’t ask if he wanted to come with her and it was clear she had made her mind up before telling him. And so he did the same, standing up and telling her that he was going with her. He watched a soft smile appear on her face. They spent some time burying their old lady, in which Igor struggled to hold back the tears. They gathered what they would need and ventured out of their hometown.

Throughout the course of a year they would travel throughout Russia. Becoming practically con artists in their own rights. Igor would place more physical bets that he knew he could win and if he couldn’t he would use own techniques to ensure his own victory. Meanwhile Katya used her wits to learn how to play things like poker and would use her brain to ensure that she always won. This would be how they made their money to survive. But they never stayed in one place for a month at most. Usually only around a week they would stay in one area. As for the people that realised they had been conned out of their money, well that’s why they kept the pistols. Usually they only used them for intimidation but a few times they had to use them and only killed when threatened. Towards the end of a year of being these con artists they began to get a bit of a name of “Волк и медведь” meaning the wolf and the bear. Reminiscent of the meanings of their respective surnames.

Eventually this caught the attention of the same mercenaries that killed their old lady. It didn’t take them long to match them to the people at the scene that killed two of their own. Both Katya and Igor would be outnumbered and slapped in handcuffs. Given an ultimatum, either work for the mercenary business as grunts, similar to those that they had killed, practically replacing them. Or, being locked up for 20+ years for all of the crimes they had committed. Including 1st degree murder. They both picked the obvious option and began a year of gruelling training. Unlike the normal training program which was 4 years for people in their mid 20’s which was the normal age people would sign up. The two youngest members did that training in a year, with little rest. However, they did it. And so they began respective mercenary work for a year where they would travel the world to either take a person dead or alive, sometimes would vary or sometimes they’d have the choice of either.
The new virus didn’t really affect his work too much. At least not the initial variants, so for the next two years he continued to do mercenary work as per usual.

For his unknowingly last official deployment as a mercenary, he was sent to take a rich political figure alive in Norway along with 10 other associates. One of these being his close and best friend Katya.  And the country was locked down as AVM-FLA-19 began to worsen. Either way they began the operation, however it went horribly wrong. Overall throughout the ambush and shooting, six of the mercs were killed. And Katya was shot in the leg and captured. Igor was forced to retreat, another mercenary grabbing him by the arm and forcing him out of the building while bullets whizzed past them. But all Igor could focus on was his friend writhing on the floor in pain, both hands pressed on her leg. He struggled but knew if he did something now they may just kill her. And so he grudgingly retreated, for what felt like days he told the 3 other mercs they had to go back. It’d been a whole 11 hours, they’d waited too long and he was sick of being told to wait. He told them that he was going and either they fuck off out of his sight or go with him. One man, named Gregor. He was Ukrainian, and had worked with Igor on two past assignments. Agree’d to help Igor on this obvious suicide mission. If 11 people couldn’t do it, 2 probably wouldn’t be able to. The other 2 mercs, one younger and one older, went their separate ways in Norway.

Igor rushed to the place and they began their assault at first with stealth in mind, but Igor couldn’t hold it in. Seeing one of the guards all he saw was red, no matter that Gregor attempted to tell him to wait. He ran at them, an involuntary roar escaping from him. He tackled the guard, who was too surprised to react quick enough, they struggled like wild animals, Igor picking up a brick and beating the man's head in, watching as it became more and more deformed. Only stopping when Gregor grabbed him, lifting him away. He slapped Igor once, making him realize he had to be quick now, otherwise they may kill Katya. And so he picked up the man's gun and he and Gregor went floor to floor, clearing the guards with no mercy. Using any dirty trick they can manage. They came to the final room, this being the only place left they could have her. Igor went to kick the door off its hinges, but Gregor stopped him, the look in his eyes told Igor that Gregor didn’t want him dying here. Gregor charged through the door, checking a corner where the hostage taker would most likely be sat. Instead he saw Katya tied to the wall, a gruesome sight. But this distraction would prove to be the only mistake he would be allowed. As a gunshot wrung out and a bullet ripped through Gregor’s throat. Gregor stumbled, collapsing to the floor. However this told Igor exactly where the man was sat, Igor walked in with a fury and rage displayed upon his face, he shot the man in stomach twice, approaching him, looking at Katya only once and then at the tools on the table meant for her torture. He picked up a hand drill, kicking the man in the jaw before screaming, “Ты, ублюдок, я тебя сейчас выебу!” Driving the hand drill through the man's right eye, drilling it into his head. Once he was done with his handiwork, he released the restraints on Katya, before helping her up. Whilst walking away, the two of them stopped to comfort Gregor who was bleeding out on the ground. Neither of the two knew much about medicine and so could only painfully watch. His last words being “Сожгите это место дотла для меня, друзья.”

And so they did, before leaving they poured gasoline throughout the building, tossing a match, they then laid 50m away watching the building rise in flames. Something about the open flames, it had a power that made them barely able to tear their eyes away. Igor was overall thankful Katya was alive, but could not help feeling that he waited too long, she was fucked up, he knew just by looking at her that they’d messed her up real good and he couldn’t help but think about Gregor, a man that came with him despite having no true reason to other then being a good man, dead, because of him, in this moment all he could manage to think clearly about was that she was alive, everything else had become blurred. They heard sirens but did not have the energy to move. And upon arriving people wearing uniforms and ambulances, fire trucks.

Igor sat beside Katya’s hospital bed for an entire day until he decided that he needed to get her something, something to take his mind off of his own failure to keep her safe. He headed out to a flower shop, buying nice and expensive flowers, bringing them back to find Katya awake, examining a PLIKT poster. Something about the look in her eyes looked different, softer? Perhaps, he couldn’t tell. But he sat beside her, doing a forced chuckle. Telling her that those were some politicians pretending to be soldiers. She turned to him, saying words to him that prior to that he was able to pretend that he was his usual self. But those words soured his expression. She said she wanted to sign up, she wanted a purpose. He could not tell if she was joking, but one look into her eyes answered that question. She wasn’t. He began to argue with her, to plead with her to not become a bird trapped in a cage. A soldier stuck in a uniform. A human without freedom, to Igor’s eyes. Was akin to killing them. He didn’t understand soldiers, a fake duty. A duty to that which gave no fucks about them. The argument ended in him storming out of the hospital, Katya adamant on at least trying.

He found himself in bars for a few months. On one particular night, while he was staring at the TV, something caught his eye. A news report on the bombing of Oslo. Killing many and according to the facts at hand. Nobody inside of Oslo, even the soldiers stationed there made it out of the place alive. He felt his teeth grit as he heard more and more cold blooded facts of the bombing. His attention got grasped once again by two men sitting near him at the counter. They were talking about PLIKT, one then mentioned something that peaked his interest. A small militia formed to destroy PLIKT, seeing it as an evil organisation that must be stopped. After seeing the news on the bombing. Igor couldn’t help but see their point and agree in a sense. And so he went out searching for them, after a month or so he found them. Offering to work with them. But not for them. Telling them he was a mercenary and is willing to assist in their cause because he believed that it was a cause worth fighting for. They agreed and offered a contract. Truth be told, Igor did not care about the pay in the contract, only his pride that made him refrain from wanting to work for somebody. And so he got ready to fight against PLIKT. In the back of his mind he constantly wondered about Katya. Hoping she was still okay. Sure he thought her decision was dumb but she was still his little sister. All he could do now is hope, that he doesn't meet her on the battlefield.

Shoutout to @ImUnii for the story