"Where's Konrad?!" Dmitry demanded, having gotten a rude awakening.
His head was pounding, but—
It wasn't the usual everything-is-overflowing-with-psyonic-energies kind of pounding.
More like someone smashed his head against the wall for some reason, and—
When he opened his eyes, his friend was gone. Only Major Degtyarev was around, dragging him along the ruined corridors. And judging from a line in the dust on the wall and ground—
Yeah. He dragged him way too close to those extruding parts.
Explained the headache. Not the situation they've been in.
"He went to face off against things I can't even imagine," the Major scoffed, almost as if quoting verbatim. "He said we should evacuate and draw the remaining Monolith troops away."
That explained a lot more now, but plenty of blanks remained, still.
"Never once said thanks, by the way," the spy grumbled, pausing to catch his breath.
What did Konrad say about him? Tsundere?
Must have been an Otherworlder thing, but he sure liked to play the cold.
"I passed out in the reactor chamber," Dmitry mumbled, more to himself. "Where are we now?"
"Back the way we came from. The PDAs are working again, too. Look," he said, grabbing his and showing a green dot right around the corner. "That must be Sokolov. We're almost there."
Holy—
He dragged him all the way around?!
No wonder his head was pounding. Who knew how many times he smashed it against the wall.
"Wait," the Captain grunted. "I'm good now. And yeah, you guys should evacuate. Save your aircrews, and get Yuri back to the Garbage. I'm sure Sokolov will help along the way, but—"
"No buts," Degtyarev cut him off. "You're coming with us as well."
And yeah, that would have been the logical thing to do.
But knowing Konrad—
He would have been doing something crazy dangerous again, and without him—
"I'll be fine," Dmitry said. "But I need to see this to the end."
"I'm not talking about whether you're fine or not," the Major grunted, giving him a stern look. "I mean, you come with us, so I can interrogate you and get you back to your post."
Ah. Right. Their goals here didn't exactly align.
"Fair. And you'll get my full report," the Captain offered. "But I'd rather report you on how we eliminated this incomprehensible threat. And not how I let the Monolith take over our country."
The Major's expression shifted.
Rather than stern, he seemed like he was looking at a delusional idiot.
But he must have considered it, because—
"It's not like you could slip past me once this is over," Degtyarev said. "Unless you get yourself killed. But then, I'll even deny you a military funeral and will erase you from the records, get it?"
Was that some weird threat?
Or did he think that Dmitry had only done this for the fame and whatnot?
He couldn't care less. But he wasn't about to explain or argue with his spy now that he said yes.
"Understood," he grunted, straightening his back and giving him a proper salute. "You'll get the juiciest details once the battle is over. That's a promise."
One he wasn't sure he could ever follow up on, knowing what they had been facing, but—
"Good. And I'll organise a counterattack with the National Guard to clean up the mess," the Major sighed. "Because someone has to deal with this either way. Dismissed."
***
Once he jumped through the last portal, Strelok was finally inside.
Where exactly, he wasn't sure yet, but—
The place was giving him the creeps.
And considering how much he had been through and how many places he visited—
Yeah, this was telling something.
It could have been a barracks of some sort. One the Monolith repurposed inside the CNPP.
But no soldiers waited for him inside. None that was alive, anyway.
And the corpses that littered the floor, still wearing full military uniform—
They must have been decaying for at least a year or two by now.
Untouched, unbothered, despite the room looking rather well-used.
Not clean by any means.
Dust was everywhere, but also fresh footprints and a still-smoking cig on one of the tables.
Yet, whoever was using this place—as a staging area? Or for transfer—didn't give a flying fuck.
"That's the Monolith for you," the Stalker grunted, trying not to shiver. But now that he thought about the words of the parallel brain? Yeah. He could imagine what state he'd find his sister in.
'Yeah, you'd better be ready for the worst,' the voice claimed, making him jump.
And now, it was somehow different again.
A woman?
'You don't even recognize it? Uhh. I guess you've been apart for way too long.'
"Paula?" he yelped, blinking around, but it was useless.
She was still only a voice, but the voice of his long-lost sister regardless.
'Yes. Sorry. Audio only,' she admitted. 'Though I also contain her memories now, so you could say I'm a perfect copy of your twin, except—the real thing's up ahead. Fifty paces. Two stories."
That was all she had to say, and Strelok no longer cared about the place.
He gripped his Krinkov and ran, straight across the dust and the corpses.
Left. Right. Right again and up the stairs.
Two Monolith soldiers, unaware of him until he sprayed them with bullets.
The sound of his barking AK did seem to alert the rest, though.
'They'll come chasing through that door. If you're fast enough, you can bypass them and run straight across. Then another set of stairs, and you're there. She's in the control room.'
Ugh. He was starting to feel his age catching up, but running, he could still do.
He'd only passed that door by a few steps when it flew open, and soldiers yelled after him.
But they didn't shoot him for whatever reason.
And thus, he no longer cared.
'They've strict orders to capture you alive,' Paula's voice explained. 'In fact, Konrad had the right idea. The fastest way to your sister would have been to surrender from the start.'
As if he could do that. With his stubborn determination and pride—
Although, if it was about his sister?
'Speaking of whom, Konrad is about to enter the control room from the other side.'
Good. So the kid hadn't lost his way, either.
Not like he knew anything about what they were about to face inside, but—
With that otherworlder by his side, they could figure something out.
'You'd better. It'll be nasty,' the voice whispered. 'That's where they set up their stupid Joint Consciousness. And they finally managed to suppress Paula's mana-corruption, too, so—'
He heard the words, but they made no sense to him.
Not like he didn't care. But he was way too overwhelmed, being this close to his sister.
Anything mana-related, he'd have Konrad take care of it anyway. All he wanted was to save Paula and shoot everyone who'd stand in his way. Damned be the consequences.
Even if that was the last thing he did in his life, although—
He did promise to help that kid out against Lucifer once they finished here.
Whatever. If Konrad needed him, he'd better keep him alive. Strelok was already on the final step and about to kick in the door, expecting the most serious enemies—
But what he had actually found made him freeze, stunned.