Piter: The War

Piter: The War is the second novel by Russian writer Shimun Vrochek, written as part of the Metro 2035 Universe, a new line of books in the project. A sequel to Piter, this novel was released in February 2018.

Synopsis
Uber, the two-foot blue-eyed red skinhead, the sarcastic and arrogant chauvinist and racist, the "intoxicating bastard," as he was described by readers of the first Piter, is back! Unfortunately, the St. Petersburg subway is now teetering on the brink of war with the Vegan empire, which uses people as fertilizer, and Uber's unbridled antics worsen an already difficult situation. And now he has company, which Uber will have to spoon-feed, nurture, and lead out of the rear of the Empire's advancing troops. It's true that the vegans haven't quite realized who they're messing with, either...

Story
Piter: The War continues the storyline of "Uber and the Revolution" and is divided into three parts:

The fate of Uberfuhrer and his new companions after the communists' penal servitude;

Fisherman Artyom's adaptation in a traveling circus;

Tsar Ahmet's Escape from the Underground Railroad.

History of Uber
After two more months of hard labor, the Uberfuhrer, rescued by stalker Taran from the slavery of the Stellar Communists, comes to his senses at Vladimirskaya Station on November 6, 2033. The formerly independent station is now under martial law due to the growing conflict between the Great Underground and the Vegan Empire. The stationmaster, who calls himself "Sheriff", takes Uber to the general holding cell for a fight, from where he is soon transferred to a separate cell for criminals. Meanwhile, the Vegans, using a tame mutant named Lady, destroy the outpost at Dostoevskaya Station. The Vegan War begins. Civilians from the border stations begin to be evacuated en masse to Trade City. After the skinhead, who by this time has found a friend in the form of a second prisoner - an inconspicuous Asian man in rags, nicknamed Tajik - a nurse named Gerda arrives, who has penetrated into sympathy for Uber on the day of his appearance at Vladimirskaya. The fugitives don't have time to follow the villagers of the station, and find themselves in the rear of the advancing Imperial forces. In the tunnel, the trio witness Lord Vegan's subjugation of the captive sailor Chkalovsky by implanting a parasitic worm in his body. The enslaved sailor unquestioningly carries out the Imperial's orders, executing his fellow officers. The enslaved companions escape their pursuers by hiding in the service quarters. Hoping to get supplies and clothing, Uber goes on a reconnaissance mission. Slowly disposing of two sentry patrolmen, the skinhead clashes with another soldier, which turns out to be Fyodor Komarov - defender of Vladimirskaya outpost, who miraculously escaped from the lair of the Lady, thanks to putting on a vegan uniform.

Near Dostoevskaya, a small detachment meets Professor Vodyanik (see Piter), who is inexplicably in these parts, and exits to the station. At the abandoned base of the Maritime Alliance, the heroes are ambushed by bandits. In the commotion, Tajik and Gerda manage to escape, while Uber, Komar, and Vodianik are captured and kept tied up at the station for some time. The mercenary Varlak, who works for the bandits, unexpectedly comes to their aid, having slaughtered his comrades-in-arms in their sleep. Lingering at the station in search of supplies, the group is surrounded by a Vegan's squad that have arrived at the station. Their commander, declaring himself a judge by the presence of his whistle, sentences the heroes to be shot. Uber delays, which plays into the hands of the condemned: at the last moment Varlak shoots the imperialists, saving the heroes from death for the second time. Having lost the missing professor, Uber and Komar flee from Dostoevskaya, as they reunite with the other half of their group before coming to the surface in new equipment, previously stashed by Tajik.

Avoiding encounters with the mutants that populate the city, the group stops to rest at a place called the Coffee Cup, where Ahmet, who fled from Uprising Square and was wanted by his former concubine Ilyusa, later wanders in. With the curb-crawler nabbed, the team continues on to Admiralteyskaya Street, bypassing the swamp that has formed on the site of Mikhailovsky Palace. On Belinski Street, the heroes begin to pursue a huge creature, dubbed "Barmaley" by Uber, and Tajik distracts the mutant by hiding in the building of the Great Circus. After hiding in the building across the street, the skinhead goes in search of his friend, taking Komar with him as support. Avoiding the fate of being devoured by rats and peacefully parting ways with the circus owner, the partners find Tajik in the office of the artistic director. On their approaches to the Winter Palace, the heroes notice walking on their heels a large group of Vegan and Uber decides to go through the anomalous Hermitage. On Admiralteysky Street they are separated from the group by Ahmet who has started to swim on the Neva River by a pleasure boat.

To avoid being caught by the vegans, the companions walk to the subway through the burnt-out Alexander Garden. At St. Isaac's Cathedral, the heroes discover themselves and Uber tells the others to take shelter in an apartment building, while he diverts attention onto himself. On the roof of the building, Gerda, Komar, Tajik, and Uber, who has caught up with them, prepare an ambush on the Vegans. In the ensuing firefight, all the Vegans and the sailor Chkalovsky, who was leading them, are killed, whose body disappears from view as the roof collapses along with Uberfuhrer, who was standing nearby. Those who thought their unspoken leader was dead, the survivors continue to move toward the subway. In the Admiralteyskaya area, the team is stopped by the military diggers of Zvezdnaya. Their commander, Theophanes the Greek, who at first took the Vladimirites for spies of the Empire, after a conversation with Tajik shows the way to the station and assigns his man to them. The digger refuses Komar's request to check St. Isaac's Cathedral for the presence of the Lady's lair, citing a more important task. At the subway ventilation shaft, the group is tracked down by a huge varan, another hand-held creature of the Vegans, and immediately kills the red guide. The unequal battle with the remaining Vegans is won by the Uberfuhrer, who has finished off the adaptant chaser and his pet. Reunited, the half-living squad descends underground with a special password.

In the subway, Uber's team is ferried to the next station.

Uber's team is transported to Sadovaya, where they live in the guise of refugees. On November 25, Uberfuhrer leaves the shopping mall for a few days and pays a visit to the Flyer, who turned in the skinhead to the Communists after their joint escape from hard labor a few months earlier. Uber takes revenge on his former accomplice by stabbing him fatally in the stomach with a pickaxe, after which he quickly leaves the Flyer station before being discovered.

Artyom's story
Suffering from unrequited love for fortuneteller Lahesis, eight months after his first meeting with her, Artyom runs away from his native Gorkovskaya and finds himself on Sennaya Square, where he catches a circus performance. Artyom is reluctantly accepted into the circus, at first being appointed a janitor and apprentice to Akopych, an old retired acrobat. After learning a few tricks, on November 26, Artyom performs solo at his first performance before the population of Electroforce as Mimino the Clown. The finale of the successful performance is interrupted by an attack by a vegan landing force. The circus performers become soldiers, receive weapons, and go into their first battle. In the battle for the station lobby several performers die, including circus star Lana, the founder of the troupe Akopych and acrobat Askar. After the defense reveals the presence of the Imperial spy among the defenders, who gave the signal to attack. It turns out to be one of the circus performers - the dwarf Gosha. With the help of the strongman Python, Artyom finds the traitor's lair and kills the midget. At the same time Artyom condemns himself to death, as he has abandoned his post and deserted. He is instantly found by members of the counterintelligence service and taken to court martial as being accused of spying on Vegan. Thanks to the timely intervention in the case of Viktor Terentyev, the measure of restraint is changed from execution to a disciplinary punishment. In front of his friends from the circus and other jurors, Artyom is taken to prison.

Ahmet's story
Simultaneously with the attack on the central section of the subway, the Vegan Empire attacks the Mayakovskaya - Ploshchad Vosstaniya station junction on November 6. The administrator of the Uprising, King Ahmet II, takes advantage of the general panic and leaves his former possessions through a secret tunnel, killing the Ambassador of the Maritime Alliance and one of his loyal nukers on the way. On the passage to Chernyshevskaya, Ahmet is taken prisoner by the Resistance rebels, organized by his mistress Ilyusa. For his crimes against his people, a bounty is put on the head of the kerd and the best subway assassins, the Twins, are sent after him. For the sake of her old love, the girl lets the king get away and gives him some back-up time. From his old servant Mustafa, Ahmet gets survival gear and leaves for the surface. Wandering through the dead city, Ahmet notices a group of people and begins to follow them. At their first stop at the Coffee Cup, Ahmet reveals himself to the strangers and learns that their commander is the skinhead Uberfuhrer, who was tortured by Ahmet during the war with the Seaside Alliance by tearing out all the nails on one hand. Uber, who had promised not to kill Ahmet or his bodyguard Ramil, allows the "commoner" to remain in the squad in exchange for unquestioning obedience.

Over the days spent with Uber's team, Ahmet grows to loathe the skinhead's team, the mockery of the Uberfuhrer, the execution of his orders and the route he chooses, which seems suicidal to Ahmet. At the city waterfront, the king decides to go his own way and separates from the squad, jumping onto a small pleasure boat. The strong current begins to carry Ahmet farther and farther down the river, and greatly excited by the adrenaline rush, he doesn't notice how the rotten floor breaks beneath his feet and he falls into the hold of the ship. Inside, the king discovers the ship's mistress, a strange-looking middle-aged hermit woman, who is sailing from the city to the Gulf. While taking inventory of his equipment, Ahmet finds a seemingly inconspicuous plastic card, the purpose of which his new companion immediately determines.

Finale
On the night of November 28, a truce is signed between the Great Underground and the Vegan Empire for two weeks. On the morning of the same day, Uber is attempted to be arrested by Commerce City Security for the disappearance of the head of the Flyers. On the spot, it turns out that the order to capture him was given personally by Tajik, who turns out to be one of the secret intelligence officers of the Greater Underground. Surrounded but not broken, the skinhead has no intention of giving up without a good fight.

Main characters

 * Andrei "Uberfuhrer" is a "red" skinhead. The protagonist of the novel.
 * Artyom "Mimino" is a fisherman in New Venice, and circus performer (clown).
 * Antonina "Gerda" Gerda - a nurse from Vladimirskaya station.
 * Ahmet - former king of curbside workers.
 * Flyer - the head of the Narvskaya flyers. Protagonist of the story "Uber and the Revolution".
 * Fedor "Komar" Komarov - postman of the Seaside Alliance on Dostoevskaya.
 * Tajik - Uber's partner, a smuggler from Vladimirskaya Street. Trade City intelligence agent.

Secondary Characters

 * Alexander "Theophan the Greek" Theophanov - commander of the Red Diggers of Stellar.
 * Viktor (Andrei) Terentyev - head of Trade City, leader of the anti-vegan coalition.
 * Vodyanik - Professor of Technolozhka.
 * Chkalovsky- sailor of Chkalovskaya.
 * Empire Vegan Gosha - dwarf, an agent of the Empire in the circus.
 * Vartuman - a man from Feofanov's group.
 * Konstintin "Junta" Bolotko - warden of the Red Way.

Interesting Facts
Питер. Война
 * The working titles are "Piter 2", "Piter 2: Uber and Everything", "Piter-2: Uber and Company."
 * The previous novel in the series, "Piter", was published in 2010.
 * The novella "Uber and the Revolution" (2011) was part of Piter: The War.
 * The novel was the first book in the "Metro 2035 Universe" premium line.
 * The "Metro 2035 Universe" was expected to launch in June 2017, but there were design difficulties.
 * The designer of "Metro 2035 Universe" is Pavel Bondarenko.
 * The long-awaited Vegan War begins for readers.
 * Translated into Polish.
 * The reflection in the gas mask depicts the star of the MSU high-rise, which in reality is in Moscow.