Chapter XXII: Operation Minotaur, Battle for the Yubileiny

 Entering Yubileiny service center, a derelict husk of building, Boris took good care to be as silent as possible. He switched out his guns for a simple melee weapon, his trusty kukri. Crouching to lessen the noise his massive Nosorog would make, he crept onwards, prepared for anything. The bottom floor was quite disorientingly built, rooms and corridors streching everywhere, every little bit of waste space filled by some purpose. Boris could hear the telltale shambling of Zombified stalkers in the other rooms. It sounded like a lot of them, but Boris was fine with that. Zombified stalkers were more of a bump in the road than actual adversaries. There could be Monoliths in the building too, he thought, but so far he did not hear anything like that.

Sneaking behind one of the former humans, he penetrated its skull with the kukri, collapsing it to the ground. Another one was slowly making its way down a corridor, and Boris surprised it with a stab of his weapon, ending it before the thing could fire a shot. Two more got decimated by Boris, one having its throat slit from behind and the other one being stabbed to the chest as it tried to turn. In the other room Boris' honed eyes heard something. The sound was hard to pick up through the thick walls of the building, but it was very much a sound Boris knew. He was rather sure Dima had arrived, and was now picking the human husks with his Val rifle. Boris rounded the corner, and almost received a 9x39 round to the face. Dima recognized just in time and his finger stopped on the trigger.

Dima noticed Boris' bloodied kukri and remarked quietly, Imagine having to get close and personal to not make a sound, how uncivilized. Boris responded that his kukri was a weapon for a more civilized age. Dima shrugged, and reloaded his Val. There was much to be done. He told Boris that he had observed the elevator to the lab, and apparently it had no power. This was surprising, since most Zone buildings still had electricity. Perhaps it was intentional this time. There could be a generator somewhere here, Boris said, after a brief pause, and Dima nodded, pointing upstairs. Boris nodded back and they headed up.

The second Boris got up the staircase, all hell broke loose. A Monolith warrior was patrolling the corridor, and both Boris and Dima raised their weapons at him out of reaction, Boris having switched to his MP-133. The Monolith warrior raised his weapon as well, but Boris and Dima both opened fire. The warrior screamed horribly as buckshot hit him in the face and 9x39 penetrated his abdomen. The body had not yet even hit the ground as Boris and Dima were moving forward. The corridors were too big for them two, so they split up, Dima switching to his KS-23. Boris rounded a corner and his shotgun roared, sending blood flying from the unprepared Monolith fanatics. In the other room, the KS-23 thundered, followed by groans of pain.

Boris moved from room to another, shotgun raised. A Monolith warrior charged him in one of them, his AK-12 blazing, but his aim was wide and Boris pumped a slug at his skull, caving it in. Another Monolith warrior flew out of a door, hit by the massive shrapnel fired by the KS-23. The floor seemed clear, and Boris reloaded while Dima patched his arm up. It was simply a flesh wound, and he could go on just fine. When they were ready, Dima nodded and they charged up another staircase, Boris leading in his heavy armour. A Monolith in X-18 suit with no helmet tried to stop them, and Boris tackled him down, swiping his throat with his kukri and moving on. Dima had continued down the corridor and fired all 4 shots from his massive shotgun at two Monoliths, both falling on their backs, dead and decimated.

Boris yelled that he'd take left, and Dima confirmed this, continuing down the corridor. Boris leaned over the corner to check the room, and was greeted by 9 millimetre bullets shot with automatic fire. They dented or bounced off his armour, and Boris responded with a thermal grenade. The heat scorched his skin even inside his armour, and it burned the Monoliths to a crisp. More poured into the room, and Boris, having switched to his AK, shot an angry burst at them, killing them on the spot. Following this up he stormed the room they had entered from, and kept firing his AK like a madman. Two more Monoliths were cut down, but one managed to scrape his helmet with a round from a SCAR. Few millimetres to the left and Boris would be dead meat.

Dima entered the room after the carnage had ended. Boris could hear no more panicked yelling from Monolith, and took of his helmet for a second. Dima followed suit. Dima remarked that he had never seen someone fight with such fury outside of the ranks of Monoliths. Boris told him that while he hated killing, with the Monoliths and Zombified it was more about setting them free at last. Dima seemed to satisfied with the response and turned his Boris could feel the pain of the Monoliths and Zombified, he had been chained to his past as a renegade almost as badly. But he was not yet sure whether to reveal this to Dima. The two men took a short break, Dima smoking a cigarette and Boris taking a swig of purified water and eating a protein bar.

After having rested, the men set off to find the generator or some way of restoring power. Among the corpses of the Monolith they found a body of a fallen mercenary, his PDA having an entry on the source of power to the service centre. With this newfound intel, they quickly located the generator. Dima tried getting it running, but it refused even every plead and act of violence directed at it. There seemed to be no issues with it, and in a bout of frustration Boris kicked it with his steel-tipped boot. The engine sputtered, started choking like a dying old man, and continued this for quite some time. Great, Dima said in a sarcastic voice, the old magic touch working its charm I see. Boris gave him a hostile look which turned to a signature look of superiority as the engine started running.

Dima shrugged and crushed the cigarette under his boot. Beginners luck, he said. Boris told him to catch him downstairs, and dropped into the elevator few floors below him, his exosuit smoothing his landing. Dima yelled at him to stop showing off, but moved downstairs to follow his companion. Boris forced the elevator doors open, and the pair could finally head into the lab proper. The first battle for lab X-8 was over, but it would not be the last.