Chapter XXVIII: A nostalgic and frustration-filled trip to the Rookie Village

 Boris watched the on-going training sessions across the Meadow from the top of the administrative building. Just outside of it, Vityukha was teaching first aid to a group of former renegades. Outside of the factory area, in a small scrapyard, Dimuha was training the marksmanship-skills of other ex-renegades and bandits. And furthest from the factory, Toshka's group was maneuvering through the anomaly field. Toshka might be the worst shot Boris had ever seen, but he sure knew how to avoid anomalies.

Boris sighed. He had planned on leaving for the Outskirts yesterday, but his leg wound was still healing. Strelok would not be happy about this little foray, but at least Boris got to prepare his new faction up already. He had sent Dima as his diplomat to Sultan to negotiate a deal, and Venya, their only ex-Freedomer, had joined him. Boris meant to travel to Cordon and strike a deal with that fat bastard Sidorovich. But at least he could finally see Rookie village again, he had missed it during his days of forced exile. Dima would join him there, and they'd travel to the Outskirts together to join Strelok's group once more.

Rising up, he thought it best to head to Cordon. He holstered his AKMN at his back and started trodding towards Cordon, keeping an eye on the training sessions going on around him. Many of the Redeemed greeted him as he passed them, and Boris responded warmly. They were his soldiers now, and he was sure he could make them into something glorious. Nothing beat the enthusiasm of a man wanting to be respected and accepted into the wider society once more, to regain what he had lost.

His journey into Rookie village was mostly uneventful, he stopped by Xenotech to give him some tools he had collected and sell all the loot he had acquired during the battle for Meadow. Boris bought a brand new pistol off Loris, a Tokarev TT-33 in modern black colouring to complement his other weapons. Boris got to use this new weapon as he passed through the tunnel nearby, as group of boars attacked him.

Silent as ever, those massive creatures creeped towards him from a nearby bush, springing at him once he was too close to react properly. Boris was throughly surprised, and barely managed to dodge one by jumping aside it. He knew that fighting these things on flat ground would be his downfall, and he jumped on top of the nearby wreck of a truck to escape. The beasts tried to poke him with their tusks and take bites out of him, but Boris made it on top of the truck in the nick of time. From there, he proceeded to shoot the boars one by one with his Tokarev. The ancient pistol proved effective and shot after shot penetrated the resilient hides of the creatures.

Two loners had heard the ruckus and came to help, finishing off the last boar as Boris reloaded. The two loner rookies looked in awe at the massive Nosorog Boris was wearing, and took a firmer grip of their shotguns when they saw the merc badge on it. Boris leaped from the top of the truck and greeted them, getting a wary greeting in return. Boris offered for them to get the boar meat in return for their assistance and the men seemed to become a lot less taciturn. Loners sure were easy to make like you, Boris thought to himself as he left the pair, here's hoping old Sid won't be too bad himself this time.

Checking his watch, Boris saw that it was already quarter past midday. Dima would be in Dark Valley by now, hopefully having luck negotiating with the bandit king. Boris crested the hill overlooking Rookie Village and was overcome with waves of nostalgia. It had been so long since he had last visited this place, but it was finally time for that. Many of the rookies drew weapons when they saw Boris arrive in his massive battleplate and Merc markings, but Fanatic told them to put them away by a swift hand signal and greeted Boris, with a surprisingly friendly tone. Boris responded with similar tone, his good mood increasing.

He felt better than in ages. Despite being more severely wounded than before and having plenty of debts of gratitude to pay to multiple factions in the Zone, he was finally here, in Rookie village, as a neutral stalker, not an enemy. He saw Wolf up ahead and the legendary stalker leader greeted him.

• So it was you! The madman who shut down the Scorcher, in the flesh!, he said to Boris, clearly pleased by what Boris had done.

• Good day to you too. Sorry to be such a killjoy, I'd love to sit by the campfire and tell that story but I'm bit short on time. Sidorovich's in his bunker right now?, Boris replied apologetically.

• Where else would he be? He's probably glued to that chair of his by now, I'm not sure I've seen him walk even once, Wolf responded, and continued:

• You've got to tell that story of yours to those rookies at someday though, maybe that'll sober them up a little.

Boris thanked Wolf and promised him he would share his adventures. He headed down to Sidorovich's bunker and saw the old trader tuning his radio. It was blaring Duty propaganda at an unbearable volume. When Boris entered, he shut it off completely.

• A fresh face I see! But judging by your armour you're not fresh to the Zone. You the man I think you are?

• Depends, I'm not a psychic. But the name's Boris Unforgiven. I'm here to discuss some business.

• Well, that's the only thing we discuss here. What you need, money, weapons, ammo? I've got it all, for a real cheap price. I can even give a major discount to the man who shut down the Scorcher, it's doing wonders for business.

• Not what I'm after. I've got some pals in the Meadow. Couple dozen old renegades, bandits and mercs. They're under my leadership, and they will not harm you in any way whatsoever, as long as you keep out of there. Now, I know bandits probably said the same at the start of their reign, but I'm not an utter spineless bastard, my word is solid. If you've got any low-level jobs going on, those guys can help you on them too, just keep the rookies out of Meadow for the time being.

Boris had spoken this in a serious tone that allowed no complaints or bargaining, but Sidorovich was not a man you could just order around. He looked at Boris, intrigued.

• And what is this merry band of yours doing there? Why should I trust a complete stranger who barges in here and gives me orders?

• Because it is mutually beneficial. Meadow is of no interest to you or the loners at large. We'll stay there and stop the bandits from using it to enter Cordon, they'll have to move through Garbage and Darkscape and you don't need to guard as many places. You'll also get some muscle for missions, and some new trading partners. Hell, one time offer, I'll do a big job for you if you accept this. And I shut down the goddamn Scorcher alone, so you know that offer is solid, Boris said in a strong tone, he knew he had to press his advantage against this man.

• Alright. There is something you could do. We've got an ex-Freedomer in here, a woman no less, and she's bugging me day and night since she wants to start her own shop somewhere. Now, take her with you and show him around the Zone, hopefully making her realize that this place is a nightmare, and let me have a moment of peace. Besides, she's already agreed to do some pretty rough missions for me and Barkeep, you'll help her achieve those, Sidorovich said with a cunning smile.

• Babysitting duty? Sure, I expected something far worse. Just keep the rookies out of Meadow for the time being, if we catch someone snooping around the deal is off. I'll keep my end of the deal then, and we'll both be happy, Boris responded, relieved that it had gone this well.

With the new deal signed, he left the traders bunker and asked Wolf where he could find the woman Sidorovich had talked about. Wolf pointed her to him, and Boris made his way to her. She turned to face the merc, looking rather bored.

• Sidorovich told me to find you, apparently you've got some jobs that need doing? Name's Boris, I'm here to help with those, and whatever you might need to set up your shop.

• Alright. I'm Hip, ex-Freedomer as you can see. I've got a personal job first though, I've got this client who wants a TOZ-34 Bizon shotgun, could you fetch one for me? Obviously you'll get some of the profit too, she asked, the mask of boredom less visible now.

Boris agreed. A TOZ-34 Bizon. He had seen those somewhere, but wasn't really in the mood to look for those right now. Still, Sidorovich wanted her out of there now, so he would need to go looking for it right away. Hip told him that as far as she knew, there was one on sale at Garbage, but she couldn't really go there without a proper weapon. Boris groaned at the thought of having to go to that irradiated hellhole for a random shotgun, but he really had no choice. He told Hip to follow him and sent Dima a message to meet them at the Flea Market. It seemed that despite his haste to get back to helping Strelok, there would be considerable difficulties in the road ahead.