"So how do we sneak in there?" Konrad asked. "And uh, not even sure where exactly?"
Strelok told him to meet in Pripyat but never specified the place.
And now that he saw the actual town—
Wasn't this place huge?!
"Yeah, it won't be easy," Dmitry said. "They built it as a showcase city, so it's way bigger than it needs to be. Huge prefab buildings to house the CNPP workers, wide streets for marches—"
"And for tanks," Konrad grunted, still eyeing that T-72. "How the hell did they get one?"
Or, better yet: how did they bring it here through all those Anomalies?
"You'd be so surprised," the Captain smirked. "Old Soviet-era stuff was, like, thrown away everywhere. If you were in the right place at the right time—you could even grab a nuke."
Ugh. He hoped they didn't have one.
'What an interesting world,' the parallel brain pondered. 'And for some time I thought living in the lab was hell. But the more I learn from the outside—'
"Okay, let's leave philosophy for another day," Konrad said, waving him off. "So? Ideas?"
What Dmitry said was true.
The streets were wide open and full of these Monolith guys.
White camo and decent firepower—he saw what they did when the other group tried to enter.
And sure. Nature might have reclaimed much of the town, but—
They cleared out anything useful as cover on their approach.
The only exceptions were around Anomalies, and oh, boy, this place had plenty.
Konrad noticed sparks, an eternal flame dancing in the air between tall buildings, and—
Was the top floor of that prefab actually floating?!
"This place is crazy," he sighed. "I swear, it might be easier to go straight for the CNPP."
"Wasn't that the first thing Sidorovich told us?" the Captain grunted. "You can always see it in the distance, but you can never reach it. Besides, your target is Strelok, not that place, right?"
Well, true. But this place?
The longer he looked, the worse it got.
'Yes, those seem to be Bloodsuckers,' the voice confirmed what he had only surmised. 'They must be covering the riskier approaches where the soldiers couldn't do much.'
Of fucking course.
Because those researchers made all the mutants for these guys.
It felt surreal.
'So how about I make you two invisible?' the parallel brain offered, and—
"Wait, what?" Konrad froze, his mouth hanging open. "You can do that?!"
"Do what now?" Dmitry asked, but he waved the Captain off.
'I mean, we already established I could do most of the stuff those mutants did down in the lab. Even if I couldn't get your magic back yet, I still have mine, remember?'
"And you let me stress about this when you already had a solution," he grumbled.
Of course, invisibility would work.
It reminded him of the good old days when he helped that bastard, Vargas, escape Ejtyangard.
His first-ever spell was invisibility, too, and it almost ended up in a disaster.
'Hey, now,' the parallel brain warned. 'If philosophy had to wait, nostalgia will have to as well.'
"But hold on," Konrad paused. "Can you make Dmitry invisible as well? And will we both see?"
He was very much aware of the downsides, all from that nostalgic memory, after all.
'Sight? No, it shouldn't affect your sight—it's a Psyonic power. It'll affect everyone else's.'
Right, right.
It was almost like illusion magic. But rather than creating an image to fool others—
These powers would fool the viewers into hallucinating those images instead.
Or in their case, the lack of them.
"Okay then, here's what we'll do," Konrad explained the plan to Dmitry, and yeah, he could tell.
He had to work hard to suspend his disbelief, even after everything he saw.
"Let's stay clear of those Bloodsuckers, though," he suggested. "You said those guys are impossible to control, or read their minds, so I'd imagine fooling them would be hard, too."
'You're not as hopeless as I thought,' the voice noted.
But before Konrad could yell at him, he realized that the Captain was gone.
'Whoops, wait, I overdid it. You still need to see each other, right?' the parallel brain said, adjusting its power. And now, a semi-transparent Dmitry appeared next to him as well.
"Holy shit," the Captain muttered. "Is this actually real?"
"No, it's an illusion," Konrad smirked. "Or more like hypnosis. But considering our purposes, you're invisible. And not inadible—so stay close and keep quiet."
Yeah. This was way too nostalgic no matter what.
And efficient as well.
They spent almost an hour theorizing about possible routes in, and now—
Two minutes of walking in an almost straight line, and they had entered the city.
"Slow, even breaths," Konrad whispered. "I can almost hear your heartbeat, Captain."
Not that this impossible situation wouldn't fry his brain, too, but, well—
This wasn't his first rodeo.
'Oh, how cool and reliable,' the voice boomed to mock him. 'If you keep it up like this, I'd even believe you're an actual hero or something. But pay attention to your own breathing, too.'
Yeah, that was him trying to suppress an offended scoff.
But yeah, he had to focus.
Strelok never said where in Pripyat they would meet up. He couldn't even be sure if he was here. But to search for him, they had to comb the entire city while avoiding those patrols, and—
'He's in the sewers, two blocks ahead and one to the right. It's in front of an old laundromat.'
"You have to be kidding me," Konrad seethed, but he had to keep it quiet.
Why didn't he tell him sooner?!
And how would he know, anyway?
'Because I was already with you when you first met. What. Are you senile? I know your body is eighteen years young, but your old soul—and of course, I can recognize his as well.'
Ugh. Sure, sure.
He couldn't start yelling in the street after they made it this far.
All he had to do was to let Dmitry know where they were heading, and—
'Okay, I'll tell you this ahead of time,' the parallel brain interrupted again. 'Your Strelok guy is on the move, and he's not alone. Best bet would be to meet them at the laundromat, but—'
"But what?" Konrad whisper-shouted, despising this game he played.
And wait, not alone? Did those monolith guys already catch him?!
"Look," the Captain whispered, pulling on his jacket. "Another downed helicopter."
And those winter-camo guys were all over it.
Wait. Could it be—
'Yes, he has the surviving aircrew, but they're about to run into an escaped Controller.'
Fuck.
This was not an ahead-of-time warning, then.
They were seconds away from a disaster.
"We gotta run," Konrad grunted, grabbing Dmitry's arm. "And get your Gepard ready."
"The one you told me to leave 'cuz I ran out of ammo?" the Captain scoffed.
Double fuck.
Was he actually this senile?
He could've beheaded it with his sword, too, but to use it in front of random people—
'While I keep you invisible?' the voice reminded. 'You worry about the wrong problems, old man. I could take care of something so insignificant by myself, anyway.'
Yeah, okay. For some reason, it was, in fact, harder to concentrate than usual.
Almost as if an annoying parallel brain kept interrupting his every thought.
But even Konrad knew he had to focus on the immediate task at hand.
He'd drown that stupid parasite in sarcasm later.