Richtofen's Revenge

The Doctor Finally Gets His Vengeance...



Those were the words that adorned the loading screen for an unexpected DLC, but I'm getting ahead of myself.

My story begins in a Black Ops 2 match with one of my friends. Both of us were fighting against an endless supply of NPC soldiers in Nuketown 2025 and talking about what's been going on, especially with Zombies.

All of a sudden, both of us received a message from what seemed to be one of the bots (the given username was "DVonderhaar".) It read:

"Hello! Since you seem to enjoy playing Zombies quite a lot, put this code in the Playstation Store for some more fast-paced zombies action!"

The message came with a seemingly random code. As an avid fan of Zombies, I jumped at the chance to experience something new. After all, Buried is on the way, and it would be nice to have something in between. At the same time, though, I found it incredibly strange that the game seemed to know how much I loved Zombies...

Both my friend and I agreed to enter the codes we were presented with in our messages.

I went into the Playstation Store and put in the code I received. The code worked, surprisingly enough, but the title of the matching DLC was rather bland: "Call of Duty: Black Ops DLC #5". The provided image was the cover image for Black Ops 1, and there was no description at all, except for the correct information, including the proper copyright information and other such pieces. The DLC was free of charge, so I downloaded it after around an hour of waiting: the standard wait period for installation.

I messaged my friend, questioning how the "latest DLC" was available for a game that was released in 2010. He provided an explanation that perhaps it was fan-made and a tribute to the ever-loved legacy of Zombies.

Both of us booted up Black Ops and we were surprised to see a new stage come up in the Level Select Menu, titled "Richtofen's Revenge". The description read, "After years of waiting, the fool gets what's coming to him... This game mode is exclusively for two players."

I was a bit puzzled at first, since there were a few characters I could think of that could be "the fool", but many of them were easily ruled out.

My friend started the game (he was the host of the private session) and we were greeted to a comic book style loading screen, a staple in Black Ops Zombies. In the comic book, one of the most prominent features was the title, which I provided above. There was also a few pictures of Richtofen's head in two poses, including fear and a determined grimace. The first panel showed Richtofen looking slightly scared as a ghost seemed to be speaking to him, saying:

"At last, your time has come... make him pay..."

The second and last panel showed Richtofen's head with a gun held parallel to the bridge of his nose, with him saying:

"Very well..."

Richtofen looked determined, yet somehow sad. There was also a third panel, but it was small and hard to make out. It looked like Richtofen sticking something round into his pocket.

Finally, the game loaded, and the first noise that was heard was teleportation, as if Kino Der Toten had started. Both of our characters spawned in what seemed like the fog-littered ruins of a city. These two characters were Nikolai (me) and Richtofen (my friend). As soon as they were done spawning, they began to converse.

Nikolai: "Richtofen... why would you bring me here, of all the places? Where the f@*$ are we, anyway?"

Richtofen: "Ah, do not worry, my friend, I only want to show you something that will help us defeat the zombies.  Trust me, you'll love it!"

Nikolai: "Grrr... I despise you, Richtofen... however, I will give you a chance, but only this once!"

After the short conversation, Round 1 began.

After killing zombie after zombie, something strange happened.

As soon as the round counter was about to reach 6, it vanished, followed by a brief message from Richtofen.

"Excellent, the zombies seemed to have stopped coming. Right this way."

My friend and I followed what seemed like a linear pathway through the foggy city and everything seemed rather ordinary, until I came to a startling realization.

As I approached a decrepit sign that had fallen off of a series of posts, I could barely read what it said:











BERLIN







Richtofen had taken Nikolai to the ruined streets of Berlin, immediately after the Russian invasion of the Reichstag from the World at War campaign. I wanted to retreat and told my friend what was going on, but as I turned around and ran back, I noticed that the fog seemed to block my way, and there was no turning back.

Eventually, both my friend and I approached what looked like a large building, easily the Reichstag. The Russian flag planted atop it was snapped in half, the flag itself in tatters. Nikolai lowered his weapon and gazed at the building. "What the f@#$..." He said, cut off as Richtofen bashed him in the back of the head. Both our screens went black, and in a few seconds, I heard muffled screaming and growling.

We were inside the ruined Reichstag, with zombies chained to the parliamentary desks, hissing and growling at Nikolai as Richtofen crudely dragged him along the ground. Nikolai's point of view was blurry as all of this happened. Eventually, Richtofen stood Nikolai up and commanded him.

"Move."

I made Nikolai limp over to what looked like a chair, where Richtofen tied him down and made him face all of the zombie "audience". Both characters began to speak again.

Richtofen: "Do you know why I brought you here?" *Punches Nikolai*

Nikolai: "You... f***ing... Nazi... pig..."

Richtofen: "A year ago today, you Russian DOGS invaded this building and destroyed what semblance of government we had. Now then... where were we... ah, yes! Vengeance!"

Richtofen pulled out and primed a pistol, a Walther pulled straight from World at War. He pointed it at Nikolai's head, gently wrapped his finger around the trigger, and whispered:

<p style="text-align: center;">"So long, you drunken bastard..."

<p style="text-align: center;">A single gunshot was heard as the screen cut to black.

<p style="text-align: center;">However, Nikolai's eyes opened. Richtofen slumped over to the left and collapsed. Two figures could be seen walking down the aisle: Dempsey and Takeo.

Dempsey: "We came at just the right time, eh Tak?"

Takeo: "I still feel like this is a waste of my time."

Dempsey held a revolver in his hand and gunned down all of the zombies while Takeo untied Nikolai, complaining throughout the entire procedure.

<p style="text-align: center;">"Dempsey... you're a f***ing hero..."

Nikolai breathed as he stood up again and walked over to Dempsey.

The three characters marched through the aisle and over to the exit, conversing.

My friend was still watching through Richtofen's point of view, and commented that everything seemed to be turning red. All of a sudden, I heard a bloodcurdling noise that sounded like a combination of Richtofen screaming and a zombie roar. Richtofen suddenly charged at the three characters, his eyes completely red with anger and blood dripping from his bullet hole. Dempsey punched Richtofen, who immediately got back up and shook his head before looking around and acting surprisingly docile. Dempsey grinned.

<p style="text-align: center;">"Ooh-rah... I have an idea..."

He mused as he grabbed the now zombified Richtofen by the arm and carried him along. Takeo was furious.

<p style="text-align: center;">"You wouldn't dare..."

Takeo said to Dempsey.

<p style="text-align: center;">"Oh, I would..."

Dempsey replied as the screen slowly faded to black, and the game ended.

The following was what the screen read:

<p style="text-align: center;">"Vengeance Complete"

<p style="text-align: center;">"You Survived 6 Rounds"

<p style="text-align: center;">

Both of us were then brought back to the menu screen, but now "Richtofen's Revenge" was faded in grey and impossible to select. As a result, we decided to go play some Kino Der Toten, again, just the two of us. I was Dempsey, and my friend was Richtofen. However, both of us noticed something strange: Richtofen was still zombified. In terms of actions, he was the same. The only real differences were that, obviously, he looked zombified, and instead of speaking, he only made noises like Nikolai's burps and some occasional grumbling.

Eventually, the game was over and both of us went down. It was late at night, and both of us had to go to sleep. I turned off my Playstation 3 and went straight to bed, thinking about the amazingly weird adventure I had been on.