Captain Khan of the UNISG second task force leaned on a windowsill and sighed. In the building ahead, the large greyish white apartment block, their enemy laid low somewhere. The famed stalker Strelok, who had been assigned as Khan's bounty target by his employers. When UNISG, the original one led by Major Hernandez, was liquidated, to Khan's dismay they had uncovered very little actual information he needed. But Strelok? He had been an advisor for official Ukrainian state researchers, and if the stories were true, he knew more about it than anyone else. Capturing him would be a jackpot, and Khan desperately needed one. His unit was a mere shadow of its former self, the blasted Redeemed had killed so many of his men, even his second-in-command Clarke had died in those reed-covered swamps by the crimson-armoured bastards.

Not that Khan really cared. Only Clarke and Bauer had been long-time co-workers of his, pushing along the Belt and Road initiative in Central Asia and dealing with potential hiccups in a very subtle ways, or running heavy-handed security on the mines owned by their benefactors in Asia. But neither was someone he considered a friend, in this line of work such was rare, and Khan was here merely to make money. The rewards were astronomical, but trapped here in an empty city, their allies having abandoned them and no clear way out even if Strelok was caught, Khan was beginning to wonder if those rewards were worth all this.

His clients wanted to gather as much information of the Zone and possibly blackmail Ukrainian authorities into co-operation, but every passing day a successful mission seemed less likely. Still, Khan was not one to give in so easily, he would see the mission through out of sheer boneheaded determination. Growing up in the vast and harsh Mongol steppe had not made him a quitter, and he had earned the nickname Khan among his peers for a reason. Khan sighed as Sergeant Němec entered the room to inform him of the squad being ready. Nine men left alongside Khan. They would have to be enough, for he did not know if their mysterious allies would ever return. Taking his rifle, Khan followed his Czech sergeant downstairs to begin the mission of a lifetime.

Not far from the UNISG hideout, Redemption squad that had caused them so much harm was on the move. And while Khan was not aware of his survival, the greatest menace to UNISG so far marched on with them. Never in his, admittedly short life, had Dimka been anticipating a fight this much. All the feelings of being tricked, betrayed and used built up to a crescendo of wrath boiling inside him, and Dimka could feel himself bursting from seams. Finally, after all this hide and seek bullshit, Dimka would face Khan in battle and hopefully kill him, avenging his fallen comrades and perhaps allowing him to find some information that made him, Sevka and Maus free men once more. Yet now was not the time to get all giddy with excitement over it, getting to that point would require winning the battle rapidly drawing closer.

"Dimka, you alright? You look a bit, eh, anxious.", Sanyok asked, walking beside Dimka.

"Sorry, it's just... We are so close to getting some closure. It's been so long that I've held my breath, being sure I would never leave the Zone alive."

"Ah, makes sense. Reminds me of the battle against Sin at the Generators, so much at stake...", Sanyok reminisced.

"And I missed it because of some Sin fucker decided to smash my arm to pieces! Suka blyat!", Dimuha groaned.

"You did get to mastermind a jailbreak of a century afterwards. And shoot bandits, which is super fun.", Dima noted.

"Aye, giving Livid the good news was satisfying, but had I been there at War Lab, perhaps... Perhaps Micha would still be alive.", Dimuha sighed, and Dimka could feel a shift in the group's mood.

"No, you would not. None of us knew what would happen there, and we all knew Micha's fate could have been our own. Had you been in his stead, we would still be inside that spatial anomaly.", Boris explained, and Dimuha seemed to ponder on it for a second before hesitantly nodding.

"Past is not something to dwell on too much. Hindsight is a wonderful tool but also a trap of thoughts and hypotheticals.", Meeker chimed in, having marched in silence beforehand.

"Robot man is right. There's things I'd wish I had done differently, but ultimately there's little we can change. Sometimes the best we can do is take heed from those events.", Rogue remarked.

"Indeed. And make those responsible pay.", Boris muttered quietly.

They continued on in silence, the conversation having turned sour for many of the veterans of the northern campaign. Dimka took the chance a look around him more carefully now, given that this could be one his last days in the Zone. They were travelling down an overgrown road, building blocks reaching for the clouds around them. A couple vehicles had been abandoned by the roadwalks, including a bright yellow DU-47 paving machine. Weirdly enough, moss had began to grow on parts of it, even those seemingly completely metallic. The Zone's flora was a wonder in itself, and especially out here in the Pripyat it seemed to take bizarre forms. Dimka felt some sadness about leaving, this truly was the frontier he had always wanted to find. But he had duties elsewhere... Or at least, he thought he had. Perhaps they would turn him into a desk jockey after this epic of a failure, Dimka pondered.

The scenery changed to a small park. There was interesting, cacophonic statue standing on a yard of a tall and dilapidated building. It was made with the finest Soviet visual styles, meaning it was as blocky as a gopnik's Lada and almost as filled to the brim with depression and broken vodka bottles. Boris signaled for everyone to spread out, and Dimka joined Sevka and Meeker on the left flank. They moved quickly through the bushy area, passing by a couple blind dog corpses. The gunshot wounds on them indicated that either Strelok's entourage had finished them off or the uninvited guests had made their way here before Redemption. Thankfully the former turned out to be the case, as a man in Sunrise/exosuit hybrid waved his hand at them. Seeing Rogue and Stitch among the squad, the man breathed a sigh of relief.

"Thank the Zone, we thought you were goners. Quickly, come inside, Strelok is on the second floor.", the man said.

"We're not that easy to kill. Ran into a few hiccups on the way, that's all.", Rogue replied.

"Like locking yourself into a metal closet.", Dima mocked.

"Alright Kamaz, let the others in but keep this one out. He is a threat to our sanity above all else.", Rogue ordered, and the stalker acting as welcoming committee scoffed.

After some back and forth insults and jokes, the entire group, Dima included, made it inside. Boris ordered Dimuha, Dimka and Dima with him to Strelok's hideout. On the way, Dimka noted that the legendary stalker seemed to only have two men with him, the Kamaz fellow at the door and Yakut, a man in a SEVA suit, guarding another entry into the building. Strelok was not a fan of security, or just confident in his abilities, then, Dimka wondered. On the second floor, Boris led them into a room where Strelok was sitting on an antique, ruined sofa. Dimka was quite surprised at seeing the legend himself, the man was nothing extraordinary by the looks. In fact, had Dimka ran into him in the Big Land, he would've probably taken the man for some lowlife, given his scrawny appearance.

"Boris! I am glad to see you again. I heard Rogue and Stitch got here alright, yet the international agent problem persists?", Strelok asked.

"Indeed. And on top of that, there is a Secret Service force looking for us and them here in the city. Led by Degtyarev of all people.", Boris answered, and Strelok's expressionless face contorted.

"I see. I'm fairly certain he isn't here only because of the interlopers. He's here to bring me back to the Institute.", Strelok sighed.

"Care to elaborate? What beef do you have?", Dima questioned.

"I deserted my post there. Too much oversight yet too little reaction to when I notified the higher ups of alarming development. The complacency of Ukrainian Ministry of the Zone of Alienation is incredible, I warned them years ago that the source of emissions could be utilized as a weapon and they repeatedly denied funding to an expedition to find it. So I took matters to my own hands. I am sure Alexander would have approved personally, but he also has to fulfill his duties. Now, it seems that those duties have brought him to capture me.", Strelok explained.

"If so, you can trust on us to keep your back. I respect the Colonel, but you and I are stalkers while he is a jarhead.", Boris said in a solemn tone, but Dimka did wonder that part of this declaration had to also be related to the two UNISG fugitives within the ranks of Redemption.

"I thank you, Boris, you are as steadfast ally as ever. I hope it does not come to violence, but if we must face him in battle, then so be it. But now, let us prepare for those... UNISG, was it?", Strelok said, and they quickly formed a plan based on Dimka's insight of Khan's character, Strelok's knowledge of the surrounding terrain and Dimuha's battle instinct.

Twenty minutes later orders were barked and battle stations mounted, but just as they were rushing towards the battlefield, an announcement on PDA network made all of the group's devices beep. Pulling out his PDA, Dimka looked at the message and a picture next to it. The SSU cross clearly visible on it, the message ordered Redemption and Strelok's group to stand down as the building was surrounded. Dimka shot a glance outside, seeing men in dark blue Berill and Skat suits mount up weapon's nests and sniping spots.

"Chyort, they got here faster than expected!", Boris shouted in anger and frustration.

"There's a launcher on them, get down!", came a shout from Yakut downstairs.

"This is your last chance. Surrender now and you will face no charges of treason.", Colonel Degtyarev's voice rang in the cold morning air.

"Do we resist? What do we do now?", Sanyok asked.

"Hold the line. Strelok, get the hell out of here, he wants you captured, but we may be able to bargain with him. Rogue, Stitch, Kamaz and Yakut, cover his ass.", Boris ordered.

"But the place is surrounded!", Kamaz protested.

"Not the tunnels below. I used them once before, and I checked this place before. There is an access hatch here. Stalkers, on me, we'll flee for now. Boris, I cannot thank you enough.", Strelok said, gratitude strong in his voice, and Boris only nodded.

"What now?", Dimka queried, looking anxiously at the outside.

"Now, we go out there and convince him that it's not worth his while to be fighting us.", Boris said, grinning, and Dimka gulped.

"That's in-...", he started, but the exoskeleton frame of Boris had already disappeared through the door.

Dimka watched Boris walk over the courtyard. The SSU agents pointed their guns at him, but lowered them once the familiar helmetless Skat-wearing man stepped between them. Degtyarev looked at Boris disapprovingly, as the hiss of his exoskeleton servos and powerpack faded between the husks of buildings. Boris raised his hand as nonchalantly as possible, stopping on his tracks a couple metres from the line of various special operative weapons.

"Good morning, Colonel.", Boris greeted.

"I presume you've come to surrender.", the secret service agent said, raising his eyebrow.

"Not really. You see, we were sitting here, on a picnic, and then you decided to pop in and ruin the fun. How very rude.", Boris replied in a mockinly paternalistic tone.

"Cut the crap, Boris. You disobeyed my orders, breaking the agreement we made in Zaton. And now you're actively helping a fugitive. I know you and Strelok have history, but me taking him back to the Institute is for the best of us all.", Degtyarev said, infuriated.

"I broke the agreement? Colonel, we agreed to be allies. Then you spat on that by telling me that my men were no longer welcome, after we had fought and bled for your cause. We have been nothing but loyal this entire time, yet we are discarded us the second we had done our task.", Boris retaliated.

"It was becoming harder and harder to keep it under wraps, especially when I had to bail your man out from Zhurov's custody. He lost a lot of good men in Cordon, I was in boiling hot water afterwards. But you are right, I should have been less blunt about it. And I apologize. But I also know you are stalling. As a sign of goodwill, hand over Strelok and your men can return to Meadow unharmed.", Degtyarev proclaimed.

"No deal. Strelok himself told us that he was merely shackled by the Institute, not allowed to combat threats to the Zone and Ukraine due to big shots withdrawing funding. Yet ever since coming to the Zone, he has led an effective raid against the resurgent Monolith, blocked Sin's grand plan and is now allowing us to finally cut down UNISG by voluntarily acting as bait.", Boris countered, adding the last point as a little white lie.

"That may be true, but I have my orders, orders which I have had to bend far too much already. I'm sorry, but it has to be this way.", Degtyarev sighed.

"Then it must. Cut me down then, for I will not abandon my allies. Unlike you.", Boris spat, and he could see even Degtyarev's facade of calm splinter slightly as he flinched at the insult.

Boris held his breath, knowing that death was staring at him from the rifle barrels of Degtyarev's men. The colonel hesitated, torn between duty to the government and personal feelings towards the inhabitants of the Zone. It was as if he was reconsidering the entire fabric of his being, and what he had actually been sent to the Zone to do. Boris would never learn what his decision had been, as the rightmost SSU agent was struck by a bullet cracking his helmet open. Two grenades landed on the feet of the group, and Boris lunged onward by instinct, kicking one of them further away. The blast from the other one tossed him to the side, his Absolver armour sheltering him and the special forces operators from worst of the blast. They were disoriented and stunned by the explosion, however, and gunfire rained on them. Two more SSU agents died, when Boris began pushing them towards the building, out of the fire.

"It's UNISG, they found us!", Boris shouted over the fire as the six survivors of the ambush darted across the yard towards the building.

Sniper fire struck the ground around them, and finally the foes showed themselves. Two UNISG troopers from Khan's squad, clad in looted Monolith Nosorog armour, jerked upwards from a nearby basement and began advancing. Their movements betrayed inexperience with exoskeletons, moving too quick and risking injuries to themselves or others around them, but the venerable armours would still protect them greatly. Dimuha led a charge out of the building block to buy some time for the retreating SSU, Sanyok and Sevka blasting at the UNISG stormtroopers while Dimka, Dima and Meeker kept the heads of the snipers down. The Nosorog battleplates took a beating, but given that their armour was thicker than a renegade with brain damage, they continued on unhampered. One flicked the launcher sight on his rifle and took aim, Dimka realizing a second too late what he was attempting to do.

"Grenade, spread out!", he screamed, but just that second he saw one of the SSU agent's Skat armour take a direct hit.

Dustcloud settled over the entire yard, and gunfire continued. Through it, Boris emerged to the half-circle formed by Dimuha's trio, dragging Degtyarev behind him. Another SSU agent limped out of the blast zone as well, holding a butchered but alive operator alift. Rest of the UNISG force had appeared, and they now pushed over the yard. Dimuha's armour took a hit, yet he soldiered on despite a broken rib and kept shooting at the advancing Nosorog pair. One of his shots lodged itself between the ceramic plates, keeping enough momentum to break through and strike the man's heart. Sergeant Němec breathed his last sigh and fell down.

"Fall back inside, we can't fight them in the open at this state!", Boris ordered as Degtyarev started to come back to his senses.

"We were fools, letting ourselves get ambushed like this.", the colonel muttered.

"Well you are special forces, alright.", Dimuha growled and shot his last burst as the machine gun ran dry.

They stumbled inside, where Meeker took the wounded SSU trooper further in for emergency treatment. Seeing the ex-Monolithian after such a long time, Degtyarev gave him a slight nod and Meeker smiled faintly. The others took positions on the windows, trying to remain in cover while the building was peppered by bullets. Dimka tried to spot Khan among the attackers, but the swarm of angry lead mosquitoes made it difficult. The lone Nosorog trooper lumbered on, struggling to control the suit. Boris told Dimka to focus on him with the Vykhlop, given that it had the best chance of punching through, while the others kept pressure on the other infiltrators zigzagging between cover towards the defences.

Dimka did as ordered, waiting for the agent to make a mistake. He was clever about using cover, only exposing himself for a brief second, but his inexperience with the large machine wrapped around him showed. When darting between a broken car and the corner of commieblock, his exoskeleton shot upwards with too much force. Shocked momentarily by the strength of the machine, this second of confusion gave Dimka enough time to center the scope. Aiming between the breastplate and Spartan helmet, Dimka squeezed the trigger and felt the kick of his rifle. Blood spurted from the wound, and the man slouched down like a powerless automaton. Yelling triumphantly, Dimka cycled the bolt of his rifle and took another target. With the armoured spearhead of UNISG broken, their attack slowed down, giving the initiative to Redemption.

"Target left, Dima and Sanyok, hose it down. Dimuha, Sevka and Degtyarev, on me, let's counter-attack!", Boris shouted.

"Since when are you ordering SSU officers around, stalker?", the lone surviving SSU trooper asked angrily.

"Since when my men did not run into an ambush and require the assistance of the men they were supposed to arrest.", Boris retorted and Degtyarev groaned.

"We wouldn't be in this situation if you had surrendered.", Degtyarev commented.

"Or if you had allowed us to ambush the UNISG.", Dima replied.

"Shut the hell up, all of you, and let's drive the fuckers back.", Dimuha ordered in turn, and this time everyone shot back into attention, realizing the folly of bickering in the middle of a battle.

Boris' Absolver ran through the dust and smoke, followed by Degtyarev, Sevka and Dimuha coming out of the building guns blazing. Dimka managed to squeeze a shot between car windows into the shoulder of a UNISG rifleman, killing him on the spot. The shoe was in the other foot now, with three heavily armoured stalkers bearing down on the internationals' force, Sevka giving fire support behind the spearhead. Three UN troopers keeled over after a sustained barrage of sniper and shotgun fire, all the while Boris and Dimuha suppressed the others with their machine guns. Degtyarev was not idle either, having used the suppression to flank around using the dense bushes. He was now at the same monument Dimka had admired earlier, and his Abakan racked up a tally of two more spies when he sprung the trap. These two had been hiding behind a rusting hulk of a ZAZ car, when two bursts from the odd rifle struck them down. That was when a pack of blind dogs and pseudodogs burst from the foliage, attacking Boris' group. They had to redirect their fire towards the mutants, with Dima and Sanyok opening up on the last hideout of the remnants of UNISG.

Now, the last two UNISG troopers were visibly panicking. Having expected to smash the defenders in a calculated ambush, they had missed the Redemption squad in the building and paid for it. They took off in a desperate last ditch attempt to escape. Dimka was watching them through his scope, angling for a shot yet failing to get a proper view of them through all the junk and flora dotting the field ahead. He was sure Khan wasn't dead yet, and seeing the battle draw to a close, the hotheaded part of him let loose. Anger gripping him, he left the Vykhlop on the windowsill, grabbed his handguns and stormed out with vengeance on his mind. Dima yelled after him but Dimka was already far ahead, racing across the asphalt to be the one to strike the final blow. Memories of the betrayal, his dead comrades, the framing of his allies as traitors and the attack on the checkpoint in Jupiter flooded to his mind and quickened his pace. Gripping the guns, he made it past Boris, Dimuha and Degtyarev who were still fighting the mutants.

"What the hell are you doing?", Boris shouted to him.

"Getting my payback.", Dimka replied quickly and continued.

He heard Boris shout something more, but more gunshots masked the order. Dimka continued, unwilling to let his most hated adversary escape. The two survivors were running ahead, towards the grocery store, when Dimka opened fire. He was using both guns simultaneously, so the fire was as accurate as that of a drunk bandit, but using the time old classic tactic of "throw enough shit at the wall and some of it will stick", he managed to cut down one of the UNISG troopers. Bullet hole in his back, the man fell down face first like a ragdoll. The last survivor made it inside, jumping over the makeshift barricade and forcing the wooden doors open.

Dimka was hot on the man's heels, and soon stepped inside as well. Turning on his night-vision in the dark corridor, he found the store to be a mess of doors and small rooms. A proper labyrinth. He continued down the corridor, guns trained on any possible ambush location. But the further he went, the more nerve-wracking the experience became. He saw no sign of his enemy, yet every shadow, every dark corner, seemed to hide him. Then, crossing one corridor, three shots rang out and Dimka felt sharp pain surge into his brain like a sledgehammer striking it from the inside. Dimka dropped to his knees, blood flowing down his leg. Khan stepped through the door, where three bullet holes had now appeared on the old wood.

"Torodov? You traitorous bastard, you're helping the enemy?", Khan said in an astonished tone.

"You would know traitors, you lapdog. The blood of my comrades is in your hands.", Dimka growled.

"So? You're soldiers, we're soldiers, our task is to kill one another by any means necessary. You got bested, and now the last of your company of idiots will die.", Khan replied calmly.

"Wrong.", someone else said, and a shotgun blast struck Khan in the centre of his torso, tossing him against the wall.

Sevka stepped out into the corridor and saw Khan attempt to reach for a sidearm despite his grievous wounds. Dimka, wounded and bleeding yet still sound of mind, fired him in the limb. Khan screamed in pain and let go of the pistol.

"It's your company that meets its end here.", Sevka said, and raised the shotgun.

"Perhaps... But... We are not the only ones after Strelok. You'll... see.", Khan replied, barely able to speak due to the agony of his wounds.

Dimka had had enough, and his revolver fired once more. The last of UNISG infiltrators died with a simple sigh and .45 ACP bullet in his skull. Major Hernandez's men, the original unit of Dimka and Sevka, had been avenged. Sevka stepped next to his friend, stuck a stimpack into his arm and bandaged his wound. Once colour began returning to the Bulgarian stalker's cheeks, Sevka sighed and reprimanded his comrade.

"I thought you learned from that scuffle with Skull that rushing off alone gets you killed."

"I'm a slow learner, alright?", Dimka argued, grinning.

"That much is clear. Now, let's check his pockets for our "get out of jail free" card.", Sevka proposed, and Dimka nodded.

They went through Khan's belongings, checking through the various pockets of his Mk. II suit. There was little to find there, but in his backbag, there was a document detailing some of the mission parametres set by Khan's employers. The liquidation of original UNISG was mentioned among them, and Dimka also pocketed the encrypted PDA of the traitor, hoping that Maus could decrypt it.

"That alone should help, but this here might be a jackpot. Alright, Mr. De Luca, seems like we're off the hook now.", Dimka commented, shaking the PDA.

"Let's hope so. But what do you think Khan meant when he said there are others looking for Strelok?", Sevka asked.

"Those men in black suits perhaps? I wouldn't worry, they ran with their tails between their legs when we stormed the hideout yesterday.", Dimka scoffed.

Sevka nodded hesitantly, looking at the dead captain laying on the floor. Yet Dimka's comment was quickly revealed to be dead wrong, when the sound of a helicopter engine echoed through out the city. Outside, Boris and Degtyarev raised their eyes towards the sky, and the black helicopter they had seen leave before now approached yet again.