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Gold Rat Blog Entry |
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September 16, 2022, 4:00:08 AM 9/16/22: r/SketchDaily theme, "Free Draw Friday." Two portraits today. This week's (first) character from my anthro WWII storyline is Corporal Gold Rat. Hm, can't think of much to say about him here, there'll be some stuff about him later in my art Tumblr and Toyhou.se. TUMBLR EDIT: Ratdog already has an entry, albeit not nearly as detailed as I've been getting into them lately, but I don't feel like rehashing things; that will end up on Toyhou.se sometime. So, Gold Rat. His story's not nearly as dramatic or developed as some of the others, but here it is anyway. Gold's real name is Arthur! He's one of the very few codenamed characters whose actual name I bothered to find out. (The other one I can think of is, incidentally, Ratdog, whose first name is Adel, though he frustratingly never gives his last name--Klemper is the one who asks his real name, and Ratdog replies, "Doesn't matter. I'm the last, it dies with me"--indicating that it's an unusual/very rare surname, so I'll probably never know what it is. Ironically, he's here making reference to his deceased son, and assuming he'll never have any other children, because he's unmarried and mostly interested in men rather than women (yep, his son was a drunken oopsie)...when in fact he does end up fathering two more children by Didrika. So, his name doesn't die with him after all. Anyway, after he refuses to give his surname, Klemper asks for his first name, and Ratdog tells him it's Adel. Klemper refers to him by his real name throughout the rest of the story, and is the only one to consistently do so.) Gold's mother must die when he's relatively young because his childhood is spent in just his father's company (I guess divorce is possible, though unlikely). His father isn't really father material, in fact he has a lot in common with Klemper's dad. He's frequently drunk, and when he's drunk, he gets mean. Klemper's father targeted him for being rather effeminate and for kissing a boy; Gold's father targets him because he's angry about Gold being "stupid." No, Gold isn't "stupid" the way Kolten Himmel is, but there's definitely something wrong. He's bright and friendly and sociable, but the grades he gets in school are just miserable. No matter how hard he tries to study, he keeps failing lessons and tests. Teachers express concern. Maybe he needs to see a doctor. Gold's father is just pissed. He has a low-paying job (Gold is basically a latchkey kid and sees him only in the evenings, when he's usually busy getting drunk) and so of course he can't afford any frivolities like taking his stupid kid to a fancy doctor. (He'd also never be caught dead using a word like "frivolities.") So he does the only other thing he can think of to fix the problem: beats his son to convince him to try harder. Gold does try harder. But it doesn't help. In fact his grades slip even further, and not only that, but he slowly becomes more withdrawn, isolated, and anxious, too. Not so chatty and sociable anymore, he keeps to himself, and goes out of his way to avoid connecting with others lest they see just how stupid he is. Because his father has yelled the words at him so many times--stupid--slow--dumb--lazy--idiot--that by now he fully believes himself to be so. Surely he should be getting good grades if only he wasn't so stupid. And surely he's lazy for his efforts to try harder to not be working. It can't be anyone's fault but his own. His father's voice is the only one he has to listen to on a daily basis; none of the teachers bother to take him aside and really talk to him (he would lie to them by now anyway, and say everything is fine), and he has no more friends. Of course he'd take these words--stupid--lazy--idiot--to heart; there's nobody else in his life to contradict them. A terrible incident is actually what leads to a silver lining. Gold's father gets especially infuriated one night and forgets, or doesn't care, to beat him and leave bruises only where nobody can see. Gold shows up at school with his eyes blackened. He insists everything is fine, but the school calls the authorities, and Gold is removed from his father's custody. It would probably be easy, considering the time period (children had very few rights) and the fact that Gold has no other family, for his father to merely raise a fuss and be given him back; but he doesn't. The way he sees it it's one less mouth to feed, one less hassle to deal with; he effectively abandons Gold to the custody of the state. Gold ends up in a sort of group home; he's not beaten anymore (maybe just a smack or a paddling now and then), but knowing that the father he tried so hard to appease no longer wants him doesn't encourage him any. He withdraws even more, becoming nearly mute. His grades don't improve, either, so now he KNOWS he's just an idiot. He barely ever notices the affluent, smart-dressed woman who often visits the home, looking over the kids and their work with great interest. Takes her a while to notice him as well, he keeps to himself so effectively. When she finally sees him, she approaches and asks what he's making; he'd been writing and doodling on a piece of paper, but he covers it with his hands when she tries to look. She wheedles him into showing it to her and his ears burn with shame as she examines it because he knows it isn't good. Perplexingly, the woman asks if she can have it. He nudges the paper toward her and she takes it and puts it carefully in her purse. Asks him his name, then says, "I'll be stopping by again the day after tomorrow. Do you think you could make another little story and drawing especially for me, Arthur? Pretty please?" He's mystified by the request, but whispers, okay. She offers a big bright smile and thanks and says, "It's been a pleasure, Arthur. I'll see you soon," and departs. He can't quite get over being called by his name rather than being called "stupid," but it sure is a nice feeling. He works extra hard to write the rich lady with the wide-brimmed hat and fur stole an especially good story and make good drawings to go with it. Just looking at his own work, though, he feels crushed inside. He knows it's awful because when he makes similar things in school, the teachers cluck and shake their heads disapprovingly. He tears it up and hides it away. When the lady visits again, though, she insists on seeing it, so he pulls out the torn pieces and meekly hands them over. She pieces it back together to look it over. He waits, head down, for her to criticize it. Instead, she smiles at him and says, "Oh, I love your little story SO much, Arthur. It's exactly what I hoped for. Could I keep it? Do you think?" Again he agrees and she takes the torn pieces. She won't be visiting again for a little while, but in the meantime, "I do hope you keep making these lovely little stories! I look forward to seeing some more when I return." Although Gold knows something is wrong with all the work he produces--the teachers always react with disapproval to the same sort of things the woman praises--he keeps at it. Because her words are just so kind, and it's the only sort of encouragement, positivity, and acceptance he's gotten...ever, really. He doesn't want to let her down. She's equally delighted with the new work he shows her, then says in a confidential tone, "Arthur, can I tell you a secret...?" He nods. She tells him that she showed his work to a friend; he cringes, but she hurriedly reassures him it's all right. She then explains what she's been doing. She noticed something in Gold's work that was familiar to her, had him make a few more pieces to be sure, then took them to her friend, a specialist. The long story short is that he isn't stupid or lazy, he just sees the words differently from other people. She can help him learn to adapt, but he'll have to come stay at her place to do so. Of course he agrees. This woman is well known for fostering "problem children" and works wonders with them, plus she has lots of money to donate, so the process for taking Gold in is significantly smoothed out. He's given various tests to rule out visual and memory problems before the specialist tells him what the woman did, that he isn't slow--he's actually quite smart, with non-reading-related tasks--he merely sees words a way others don't. No, he can't be cured or fixed. But yes, he can be taught how to deal with it and cope better. Gold still isn't convinced he isn't an idiot but he's desperate to do better, so he settles in to an entirely different mode of teaching. It isn't long before his marks on the mock tests they give him start to improve, and then his grades in school begin to go up, as well. The teachers in school are impressed because they don't know or understand these progressive teaching techniques Gold's tutor is using but it hardly matters--they work, and he gradually realizes that no, he isn't stupid after all. He finds his voice again, though it's a bit of a struggle. And when the woman asks if he'd like to stay with her, permanently, he again agrees. (Unknown to him, she'd asked the authorities if Gold hadn't any other family who might want to take him in. Nope, there was only his father, who liked to beat him--they were willing to return the child to him despite this, which she finds horrifying, but he never came asking for him. She decides to double-check that he's genuinely relinquished custody of his son to the state, and pays him a visit. Suspicion toward this well-off woman quickly turns to outright hostility as Gold's father believes she's criticizing and looking down on him. He doubles down on Gold being a "stupid little ingrate" he'd never even wanted. When she outright asks if he's truly abandoned Gold and won't be coming back for him, he says, "You know what, lady? F**k you," and slams the door in her face. So...that answers that question.) Well, long story short, this lady officially takes Gold in and raises him. He grows up socializing with the other children she fosters (most of whom go on to other family after she's worked her magic), and regains his former chatty, outgoing attitude, though he can never quite eliminate the thread of intense insecurity that winds through his interactions with others; as a result he tends to overcompensate at times, coming across as a little TOO chatty and friendly. He's especially sensitive to the word "stupid" being used as a casual insult, even if no malice is intended; it's like a mental slap in the face and he always has to pause and recover himself whenever and in whatever context he hears it. He makes sure to never, ever refer to anyone else by any derogatory or minimizing terms, because he knows just how small that can make a person feel. And he does still struggle occasionally with writing and especially reading, but he manages, and has his other skills to fall back on as well. He enlists in the military, and when rumors of war in Europe start rumbling, he prepares to ship out. An experimental battalion called the Trench Rats has recently suffered devastating losses and is recruiting new members; Gold obtains the position of corporal, or second in command. (This is a rather weird battalion composed of low-ranking NCOs and enlisted men, I'm assuming because the people in charge originally assumed they'd all end up as cannon fodder. They weren't entirely wrong. This is the retcon I'm going with to explain away my ongoing difficulty understanding military ranks and duties. *shrug*) He decides to pay his father a visit before he leaves. He runs into him on the street before he can reach his old home, which means he doesn't have to knock and introduce himself. The two haven't seen or communicated with each other since Gold was taken out of his custody; it's obvious his father doesn't recognize him, and Gold decides not to inform him. They share a few words of smalltalk (something Gold has gotten skilled at). Gold realizes just how small and empty and miserable his father is, and rather than the anger or anxiety or hurt he'd expected to feel, he just feels sad. They part ways and he returns to his foster mother to tell her how the meeting went and wish her farewell. She makes him promise to write her (he rolls his eyes and gives an exaggerated sigh), and he heads out. (Gold's father, BTW, belatedly realizes who was the young soldier he was talking to. And like Gold, all he has left in him is to feel sad.) Gold receives his new nickname and an odd Prussian-style uniform (this has been explained in previous entries). He's introduced to Sergeant Black Rat, who'll be in charge. Like the previous sergeant and corporal, the two are quite different, with Black being introverted, serious, and taciturn, meaning the two of them often disagree over how to do things, yet this also means they often compromise and agree on a middle road which is more suitable. The main difficulty they have to deal with is the distrust of the "first generation" Trench Rats who survived the German attack on Headquarters; they're used to the previous sergeant and corporal. Plus there's remaining resentment on the part of one of their more well-known members, Lance Corporal Silver; when the Trench Rats originally formed, Silver and LC Indigo were the two with the combined highest rank and time served in the military, meaning they felt they should be in charge rather than newcomers. Indigo was satisfied taking a medic position, but Silver is still rankled, especially when ANOTHER two newcomers assume the lead ranks. So while he grudgingly tolerates and obeys Black, he never really gets along with Gold, especially since he, like Black, isn't the terribly chatty sort. One odd task Gold acquires is "coaching" his sergeant on how to properly interact with others, since something about Black strikes him as being "off." Though Black isn't malicious or outright rude, he does occasionally come across as inappropriately unconcerned or disinterested during situations that require the opposite, and as distrustful and borderline hostile during situations that shouldn't elicit such a response. (One example is when he draws his gun on a target who turns out to be a young child, yet even after this is revealed, he keeps his weapon drawn. Gold coaxes the child out and picks him up, then says to Black, "What're you doing?--he's just a kid." "They let kids fight for them, you should know," Black says, to which Gold replies, "Yeah, well, obviously that's not the case here, so cool off.") He's good at giving orders and commanding obedience, but he's not good at the whole camaraderie and inspiration thing. Gold knows diplomacy and mentally disarming people is a far more effective approach than accusatory confrontation, so he manages to gradually figure out that Black's odd behavior isn't him just being an a-hole, like 2nd Lt. Burgundy (the surgeon) often is. Black genuinely seems to not know how to act toward others. Gold usually ends up taking charge of such things in the hopes that Black will pick up some pointers, and it seems to help somewhat, as well as leaving the sergeant more opportunity to act behind the scenes, something he's MUCH better equipped for. So Gold effectively becomes the public face of the Trench Rats and engages in most of the diplomatic measures they need to secure the assistance of the various resistance groups. (What exactly is going on with Black? He's a high-functioning sociopath. He literally doesn't "get" most of the emotions and experiences of other people because he can't put himself in their shoes. His lack of empathy is why he often comes across as unconcerned or reacts with unwarranted distrust. Unlike the common stereotype of sociopaths, he's not interested in taking advantage of others--not out of any innate sense of decency, but because he's just not interested--though he does get easily bored and lacks the ability to experience most strong emotions, including fear. He knows he needs to blend in with others, especially in his role as sergeant, so he learns how to fake emotional responses by observing others, such as Gold, though he never quite masters this skill. So he's content to let Gold deal with this business.) I already mentioned Gold's tendency to overcompensate. One aspect of this is being overly flirty with women, in a manner that nowadays would at least border on sexual harassment. The only female Trench Rat, a relatively new recruit, is a British nurse named Lyndsey Skye. She works alongside Burgundy, and the two secretly crush on each other, but since she's the only woman, she bears the brunt of Gold's obnoxious attention. Fortunately for him, she puts up with it and knows how to put him in his place without offending him (Gold has a thick skin for any insults other than being insinuated to be stupid or slow), but hers is a rare case. He oversteps his bounds with other women a few times, though he does know how to back off, even if it takes him a bit to figure it out. For example, he flirts with Mirela, a rescued Roma woman, which she REALLY despises; he pushes his luck one too many times until she explodes at him and then he lets her be, genuinely sorry for making her uncomfortable. He also tries bantering with Didrika, the Roma leader of a resistance group; this is especially awkward, as Didrika has a habit of "testing" the men she comes into contact with by propositioning them. Men who accept, she may follow through or not, but she regards them as weak willed and loses respect for them. Men who decline, she treats respectfully. When Gold flirts with her, and she actually flirts back...he has NO IDEA what to do. He's literally struck dumb for a moment, before hemming and hawing and REALLY backing off. The truth is, he's not that interested in actually hooking up with any of these poor women he hassles, he's just overdoing the whole friendly thing. So of course when one of them takes him up on it, it just confuses the hell out of him. (Didrika can read men pretty well, and she'd already quickly figured this out about Gold. So her flirting back was more of a prank than anything.) Gold makes a few efforts to get along with Silver, but is constantly rebuffed; Silver's attitude rubs him the wrong way, so he decides to mostly avoid him. Burgundy grudgingly tolerates him though Gold's chattiness and tendency toward jokes exasperate him. He ends up working alongside LC Mahogany Rat more than once; Mahogany is rather socially awkward, tending to think of people more as names or numbers, which sometimes doesn't sit well with the rescued prisoners and refugees who pass through Trench Rat custody, since the Nazis tend to think of them as numbers, too. Mahogany means no harm by this, and often misses social cues expressing disapproval, so he feels awful sometimes; Gold takes it upon himself to "translate" Mahogany's tone-deaf actions and others' offended reactions to try to help him minimize his embarrassment, since he knows how it feels. They don't exactly become fast friends, but they get along pretty well. The Trench Rats' primary function is to gather intel on the Nazis' "Project Doomsday," a medical experiment focused on increasing the subjects' intelligence, strength, stamina, and endurance, in hopes of creating a race of super soldiers. The Trench Rat Doomsday, or D-Day, underwent this treatment and displays various signs of the serum having worked, but it's successful on only a very rare blood type, and the people it's worked on can literally be counted on the fingers of one hand with room to spare. The Trench Rats succeed in capturing another test subject, Kolten, who is greatly feared even by the Nazis for his hulking size and hair-trigger temper, not even mentioning what the serum has done to him. The circumstances of his capture, however, are odd. D-Day was involved in keeping watch over him, as it was thought he might be the only one who could subdue him if need be; when the Nazis arrived, they showed signs of wanting to kill Kolten themselves. D-Day threw himself in front of Kolten just as they fired their guns and was grievously wounded. Kolten reacted...by turning on the Nazis, hurling them around like toys and bellowing in a fury. The other Trench Rats returned to the alarming scene and aimed their own guns at Kolten, who was standing in an old trench with the unconscious D-Day at his feet; when they started discussing how best to retrieve D-Day for medical treatment, Kolten picked him up and handed him to them. He didn't protest being put in restraints, even though they broke--twice--when placed on him, and placidly followed the Rats back to Headquarters, where he was placed in a cell and kept under strict watch since the Rats weren't sure if the bars would hold. Anyway, Burgundy informs Black that he can't do much to help D-Day without a blood transfusion--and D-Day has like the rarest blood type there is. They reason that Kolten should be a match, so Black goes to ask him if he'll help. Kolten speaks simple, stilted English; when Black starts to mention D-Day, he asks if the "little Rat" is all right, seeming genuinely concerned about him. Black explains that D-Day needs blood in order to live, at which Kolten sticks his arms through the bars and announces that his "magic blood" can help. He's brought to the medical ward and hooked up to an IV along with D-Day for a direct transfusion. (Oh neat, I Googled to see what this is called and it turns out it's called direct blood transfusion, haha. Well then.) D-Day begins to recover, and after a while Kolten is returned to his cell. Gold goes to visit him there. He'd been quite wary of Kolten when he was first brought in, even expressing alarm when Black decided to speak with him. Something about Kolten's oddly passive demeanor has piqued his interest, especially considering how fearsome he was believed to be, that even the Nazis would rather kill him than bring him back with them. And there's what he did to the Nazis themselves--obviously, the stories about his massive strength haven't been exaggerated, but he's directing it at the wrong people. Gold finds him huddled back in the corner of his cell; he asks if the little Rat is doing better, and Gold says yes. He doesn't say anything more, so Gold rolls an apple into the cell, repeating what Black had done when visiting earlier; Kolten grabs it and eats it in two bites, core and all. Gold introduces himself--Kolten slowly repeats his name as if to remember it, offers his own, and Gold repeats it in return. He then notices the prisoner ID badge Kolten has sewn onto his striped shirt, which Burgundy had attempted to remove earlier, only for Kolten to protest so stridently--"Nein! Mein Winkel!--mein!"--he had to give up. (Holy Jeez you wouldn't believe the twists and turns I just had to take to figure out what the Germans called those things. Thanks, German Wikipedia...and Google Translate.) He asks what it is and Kolten says, "It tells what I am." "What are you?" Gold asks, and Kolten points out the word on the badge, Blöd, sounding it out a few times until Gold gets it. "What's it mean?" Gold asks, to which Kolten proudly replies, "It means I am stupid." This hits Gold like a slap in the face, and he actually cringes back a little. Not just the word itself, or the fact that Kolten is being made to wear it like it's a crime just to be stupid (to the Nazis, it is), but Kolten's own reaction when announcing the meaning of the word, like it's something to be proud of. He's obviously had it instilled in him so deeply that by now he doesn't even question it, it's just a fact that he's stupid, it's literally his identity. All of this is just a little too familiar. After attempting to convince Kolten he doesn't have to believe that he's stupid, Gold goes to Skye and asks for a favor. ("Not THAT kind of favor," he grouses when she raises an eyebrow.) He returns to Kolten with a new embroidered patch and offers to trade it for Kolten's triangle. "What does it say?" Kolten asks curiously, and realizing that he can't read, Gold points to and sounds out the letters: "K-O-L-T-E-N." "It says what you are," he explains. "Now how about you give me your 'stupid' badge and I give you this? Even trade?" Kolten mulls this over a moment before tearing the triangle off his shirt and handing it through the bars, taking the KOLTEN patch in return. Gold leaves him looking over the little piece of cloth admiringly while quietly sounding out his name, and stashes the STUPID badge away out of sight. (Much later, he gives this patch to Kolten's father.) After Kolten is determined to not be the threat to the Allies that they'd assumed he was--Burgundy estimates that, despite his savantlike abilities and the influence of the serum, he basically has the intelligence and mentality of a child around five or seven years of age, and far from being a killing machine, he just wants to make drawings, look at picture books, and build things with blocks--the Trench Rats arrange for him to live with a couple out in the country for the time being. Gold is glad he won't be in a cage anymore. Not long after, however, while attempting to confiscate documents from Project Doomsday headquarters, Silver Rat is captured and tortured for information (which he doesn't provide). Another subject of Project Doomsday (though the Rats don't know this yet), Jakob Wolfstein, assists in Silver's escape, and they miraculously make it out of the city and into the countryside, where Didrika's men come across them and take them back to their camp. The Trench Rats are contacted and send a small contingent to retrieve Silver. Despite being allies, relations between the different groups are always strained and fraught with suspicion, so the Rats try to be on their best behavior to avoid triggering any unpleasant reactions. (There IS one awkward moment, when LC Skye warns Didrika not to dare hit on Burgundy when he arrives; not used to being warned, Didrika makes a risqué quip, and Skye responds by slapping her across the face. EVERYONE freezes, eyes wide; even Didrika's right-hand man, a hulking Red Army deserter named Boris (who really dislikes the Rats, and is involved with Didrika), doesn't dare say a word. Skye and Didrika stare each other down for a moment before Didrika storms off (Boris quickly steps out of her way).) Didrika refuses to let Silver leave with them until he's well enough to get around on his own; Burgundy (whom no one ever informs of the incident between Didrika and Skye) arrives and confirms Silver is in pretty rough shape and shouldn't be moved just yet. Gold walks on eggshells to keep on good terms with Didrika. Silver finally insists on leaving himself, and Wolfstein insists on accompanying them. Gold attempts to express concern for the other Trench Rat's wellbeing, but as usual Silver brushes him off; he can't really take offense this time, as it's obvious Silver is preoccupied with what just happened. Everyone heads back to HQ. (Sort of an aside, this is described in an out-of-date adult scene I wrote--the exact circumstances will be changed but this detail still holds, I believe. Gold accidentally learns that Silver has gotten involved in a relationship with another Trench Rat in his company, LC Reseda--a male Rat, of course. Gold finds this weird but decides not to out the two.) Well, I'm sure there are various incidents I will remember later. (For example, I just remembered an EARLIER incident, how Black Rat loses his eye to General Schavitz and sustains other injuries. In an older version of the story, it was basically Gold who was to blame for Black losing his eye, getting his ear torn up, and being partially crippled in one leg (um, yeah...I kinda overdid it on beating the crap out of poor Black); I think Schavitz did still shoot out his eye, but the rest of it was from Gold recklessly driving his motorcycle and sidecar into a pile of wood which weirdly exploded (hahaha, yeah, I had fun pretending this scene by the brushpile behind our garage when I was a kid), and Gold felt immense guilt over this. This has since been modified; I think Gold bears no responsibility for Black losing his eye, though I'm unsure. Black still ends up with at least one slash to one ear (this is in his artwork, though recall the ear markings in my art are conjectural in most cases); he does NOT suffer permanent injury to his leg, though he might still suffer a temporary injury, and I think in fact Gold is connected to this, again, possibly a motorcycle accident. Gold is torn up (metaphorically) over it but Black shrugs it off. Oh, regarding this motorcycle--which Gold jokingly calls a Goldsmobile, mwaha, mwaha, mwahahaha--it plays an indirect role in endangering the Trench Rats, so maybe this is how Black gets injured and Gold feels responsible. It turns out German sniper Lt. Ratdog has been informed--i. e., lied to--by Gen. Schavitz (actually his chauffeur/fixer, Sgt. Eisen, but Schavitz makes great use of the lie) that a pair of Trench Rats in a motorcycle with sidecar were responsible for running down and killing his toddler son, when in truth it was Schavitz and Eisen themselves who did this. Whenever Gold and Black go out with this particular vehicle, they're effectively wearing a giant target on their backs, and Ratdog fires at them whenever he sees them. So it's safe to say this is how they get into an accident. Takes them a while to figure out why Ratdog holds such a grudge against them.) But let's get going. Further along in the storyline, Black and Schavitz confront each other, and after Black ends up disarmed, Schavitz shoots him in the forehead at point-blank range. (In a possibly related incident, Gold is injured and loses sight in his eye--similar to both Black and Schavitz.) Gold witnesses this from too far away to help; he attempts to chase Schavitz, but Schavitz escapes. Black is brought to the medical ward but Burgundy can do nothing for him, and he dies soon after. Gold is racked with guilt but doesn't have any time to process what happened; as the former second in command, he's promoted to sergeant and abruptly thrust into a position of authority for which he's not entirely prepared, and it almost overwhelms him. (Mahogany prods him along a few times.) He has to drop his former cheery, chatty attitude--and at the same time, shove down his grief and desire to withdraw--and become responsible for some very important tactical decisions, since by now the war is coming to a head. He's asked to appoint a new corporal and after a little thought he names Silver. Silver is especially caught offguard by this, he's so used to being overlooked for promotion and figures by now that Gold hates him, but accordingly steps up. Not long after, Gold, Ratdog, and Schavitz confront each other atop a train (don't ask me why, I haven't figured it out yet); Ratdog aims at Gold, but Gold deliberately drops his rifle--the Rats have figured out that (to Schavitz's annoyance) he has a particular code of honor and follows certain self-imposed rules that include not shooting unarmed people. "Pick it up," Ratdog orders, then yells, "Pick it up! Pick it up!" Gold refuses, saying, "We didn't have anything to do with that (his son's death)." Ratdog refuses to believe him until something (maybe a noise from the train) jars his memory: Although he never saw the motorcycle and sidecar that ran down his son, he did hear the distinctive sputter of its engine as it sped past. He's seen (and heard) the "Goldsmobile" and it has a relatively smooth-sounding engine. A bit earlier in the story, he'd heard Eisen start up Schavitz's motorcycle, and it had let out a distinctive sputter--Ratdog had a startle response, glancing at it but not quite able to figure out why the sound had that effect on him, or why Eisen reacted by widening his eyes and hurrying off. Now, he remembers. He looks at Schavitz. Schavitz gets fed up and snaps, "Oh, move on! What sort of father lets his stupid kid run around in the road, unless he doesn't want him? I probably did you a favor getting rid of the brat." He then abruptly kicks Gold's rifle out of his reach and takes aim at Ratdog right as Ratdog takes aim at him. After a tense moment Schavitz smirks and lowers his gun, holding up his hands and saying, "You won't even shoot an unarmed man, will you?" Ratdog hesitates, when a shot suddenly strikes Schavitz through the head; he topples and Gold, who had managed to pull out his pistol unnoticed, says, "I would...stupid." He and Ratdog shove Schavitz's body from the train and Ratdog returns Gold's rifle. They disembark the train to go their separate ways but one thing is obvious now, Ratdog will no longer be taking potshots at the Trench Rats. Then comes the Trench Rats' raid on Project Doomsday headquarters. This time, they're armed with knowledge of the layout of the complex, gleaned from Kolten, Wolfstein, and Silver, and the assault is successful, the Trench Rats taking over command of the complex, capturing its lead doctor (Kammler) and the SS officer overseeing the project (Capt. Himmel), and freeing the remaining test subjects, which include PFC Teal Rat and the Trench Rat whose place Gold had taken, Corporal Drake Rat. Dr. Kammler doesn't last long--while he, Himmel, and Teal are waiting in a study for the raid to complete, Teal stabs him to death in a rage. Himmel is brought back to Trench Rat Headquarters and placed in a cell like Kolten had once been while Drake and Teal--Teal's striped shirt still covered in Kammler's blood--are taken to the medical ward. Teal himself doesn't last long, either; he's had the Trench Rats' suspicion on him for years, as the possible leak which revealed the location of HQ to the Nazis (leading to the raid which killed a third of their number and got Sgt. Camo and Cpl. Drake captured), but he insists he wasn't responsible for this. He DOES, however, assume blame for Silver's capture (his reasoning for ratting out Silver, no pun intended, to the Nazis is simply "Better him than me," hinting that he'd undergone much the same sort of torture Silver did), asking Burgundy to give an apology on his behalf before jamming a scalpel in his neck. He bleeds out before Burgundy and Skye can save him; Drake, who witnessed this from the neighboring bed, has to promise the rattled surgeon that he won't attempt the same thing himself. While Gold and Mahogany are transporting Teal's body through the woods to find him a resting place, a mysterious figure in a gas mask and German uniform--whom they've come across earlier, and despite his appearance seems to be assisting the Allies--confronts them, looks at Teal, then leads them to a suitable location. He reveals that he's Camo Rat, who escaped the Nazis not long after his capture and has been aiding the resistance effort since. He returns with them to Trench Rat Headquarters. They go to question Himmel about the project. After it becomes clear he's long had a hand in attempting to sabotage the project from the inside, Himmel promises to tell them everything he knows, but only if they let him see Kolten, first; they reluctantly agree and take him to where Kolten has been staying. They're startled to learn that Kolten and Himmel are very familiar with each other, not just from the project--Kolten is Himmel's son, whom Himmel's been attempting to protect from the other Nazis, who often kill off the mentally disabled. Once he's sure Kolten is safe and well cared for, Himmel bids him goodbye and returns with the Rats to Headquarters. Here he explains not only the project but his role in it and how it stalled after Kammler was unable to modify the serum for use on more blood types (a direct result of Himmel's sabotage); the Trench Rats' raid, and the approach of the Allied forces, will surely spell the complete demise of the project. He claims his own work is done and all that's left is for him to stand trial and accept his sentence. Gold and Camo effectively assume joint command of the battalion in the war's final days and afterward. As the camps are being liberated Gold comes across a familiar face--Mirela. She'd joined Didrika's partisans for training and is by now quite skilled at defending herself, but she never had any luck locating her missing father, who was captured by the Nazis while both of them were attempting to flee, and she's more desperate than ever to find him. Mirela, remembering Gold's overly flirtatious attitude, isn't thrilled to see him again, but he's changed quite a lot--new rank, new uniform, new appearance (his blinded eye), and especially a new, much more subdued personality. He's glad to see her again but he doesn't flirt, doesn't joke around or banter (even when Mirela herself makes a slight sarcastic comment that leaves the door wide open for a joke response, his reply is quite toned down). She's rather surprised by all the changes. When he finds out she's still looking for her father Nikolas, he offers to help. He and Mahogany do a little sleuthing and manage to track down Nikolas's last location to the nearest camp, which has just recently been liberated, most of the SS guards having fled; the commandant, however, is in the Trench Rats' custody, in rather rough shape but alive. Wolfstein, who earlier spent time in his camp, informs them that he has a tendency to make bargains when it suits him, so he may be willing to help them locate Nikolas. Gold visits the commandant, Maj. Konstantin Klaus, in the cell where they're keeping him. His eyes are blackened and swollen, a rib broken, and his knee smashed--his inmates beat the s**t out of him before the Americans intervened--but he listens attentively when Gold outlines the situation; the guards took most of the camp records with them when they fled, so the Allies have no way to determine who passed through or even still is in the camp, without it possibly taking a very long time, and many of the inmates remaining aren't physically well off, themselves. Gold promises to help Klaus avoid execution and serve a prison sentence instead if he helps them. Klaus has a wife and two little boys, so he agrees to help. It turns out he has a lot in common with Mahogany and while he's no good at remembering his "sticks" (prisoners) by their names (a note, I know I read somewhere that the Nazis sometimes referred to the Jews as sticks or bundles of wood--as in something nonhuman, which you stack up and burn--morbid I know, sorry--but after a quick Google search I can't locate this at the moment), he's VERY good at remembering numbers, dates, and locations, and he manages to narrow things down to Nikolas's most likely location still within the camp. As Gold turns to go, though, Klaus advises him to hurry, as his Zigeuner (Roma and Sinti) inmates weren't in very good shape last he saw of them; he adds that killing them off would have probably been for the best. Gold bites down his anger at this callous comment and leaves. Klaus's flagrant racism notwithstanding, his memory is flawless, and Gold, Mahogany, and Mirela manage to quickly locate her father in the camp, very ill with tuberculosis and infected feet but overjoyed to be reunited with his daughter, whom he'd feared was dead. Gold and Mahogany force an opening through the fence to get at him more easily, and Gold orders a stretcher to be brought to transport him to their medical ward for treatment. As Burgundy gives him antibiotics and prepares to work on his feet (one needs to be amputated), Nikolas notices the way Mirela keeps looking at Gold, immense gratitude--and something else--in her eyes. He hints to Mirela that he doesn't mind if she's interested in a gadjo (non-Roma); Mirela denies it at first, but it's true, Gold's interest in her in the past piqued her own interest a little and now that he's gone to such lengths to help her and her father, she finds that she's developed feelings for him. She assumes he isn't interested anymore, though. She decides to directly confront him about it, asking him if he likes her. Gold is caught offguard; he hasn't thought about it much, assuming as well that it wouldn't be reciprocated, but he realizes he feels the same way. When Mirela accuses him of never saying anything about this, Gold exclaims, "You never asked!" Gold decides, along with a handful of other Trench Rats, to remain in Germany following the war and help with sorting out the records the Nazis left behind. He's dismayed to learn that several of them are still alive and free, apparently continuing work on Project Doomsday under a new name, Ultima Thule. He and Camo call for those still remaining in the area to report in to discuss the matter. Himmel, who was stripped of his military rank at trial but then set free to go live near Kolten, identifies one of the missing Nazis as his former boss, Maj. Jäger, to whom he reported on Project Doomsday; although Jäger was good to him, despised the camps, and even called for the punishment of an Einsatzgruppen unit which committed an unauthorized massacre in his jurisdiction, Himmel believes that, being slavishly devoted to the SS, he's the one most likely to have stolen Project Doomsday records to use in the rebooted project. The Allies determine the project has been relocated to the Alpine Fortress, which was supposedly just a creation of the Propaganda Minister but turns out to be genuine. Camo and the women remain behind to man the radios and keep in touch with Gold, Himmel, Ratdog, D-Day, and the others who go up into the mountains; they find that the focus of the project has shifted from creating a super soldier to conferring immortality, with Jäger himself having taken the serum and now taking up the mantle of project leader. The Allies again manage to crush the project and miraculously reclaim one of their own (Lance Corporal Indigo Rat, who had been killed by shrapnel near the end of the war and his body then confiscated by the Nazis, was resurrected by the project, yet then rehabilitated by the Rats), though at great cost: After Jäger's likely death ("immortality" lasts only so long as the brain remains intact, and Jäger is presumed crushed to death in an ice collapse), his wife Magda, devoted to the last, murders their nine children and then kills herself (she's pregnant at the time, making this eleven deaths in addition to Jäger's). Himmel, who had been fond of the Jäger children, is particularly devastated--"Why did they do this?" he weeps at the sight of the dead family, "I would have taken them." Everyone heads back down out of the mountains, victorious yet heart heavy, and returns to their respective homes, though most of them do keep in touch. Gold and Mirela live together and help care for Nikolas, often going to visit Himmel and the Wolfsteins (along with Kolten and the various children Himmel has adopted), and Ratdog and Didrika, at Himmel's home; they have no children of their own, but are content. [Gold Rat 2022 [Friday, September 16, 2022, 4:00:08 AM]] |