Chapter Text
"Garbage? Why's this place called Garbage???" I asked, turning to One-Eye.
"There's garbage nearly everywhere! The diggers will dig it up if Fang didn't scare all of them 10 years ago."
"Did he?"
"Probably not. I think Strelok would be able to tell you more. I don't know where he is at the moment, though I last saw him in Prypiat before I left."
"Prypiat? Is that where some of the Corps are located?"
"Yeah."
One-Eye showed me to the Slag Heap, where most of the bandits are headquartered. Diode, the local tech, gave some supplies to One-Eye before we left. We then started making our way to Wild Island, when someone came running up to us.
"Have you guys seen someone with a scanner?" they asked.
"Skif, wasn't that problem already dealt with? The business with the Ward?"
"Yeah and what about the funding for SIRCAA? Did anything change in that regard?"
"I've talked with the governments funding us and they said that any Ward members willing to defect alongside all SIRCAA members would be able to work with the Corps," Dalin said.
"What happened to Korshunov? I heard someone threw him into a river..." Skif inquired.
“Yeah, this doofus here thought it’d be funny to throw Korshunov into the river because Korshunov decided to try and have a fistfight,” One-Eye sighed.
“I have a NAME!!!!!!” I whispered.
“Why don’t we see what we can get from the bandits here? Repair some of our weapons?” Dalin turned to me and asked.
“Yeah, that works. I think I’m gonna need more alcohol…”
“Alcohol?” Dalin inquired.
“Yeah, it has been a heck of a day.”
“One-Eye we’re going to get some supplies and some alcohol,” Dalin said.
“Alright, I’ll be there in a few minutes or so,” she replied.
“Here,” Dalin sighed, handing me an energy drink.
“Where’d you get this?” I asked.
“I have a bunch. Don’t worry about it. This rifle should do a bit of better damage than the one One-Eye gave you.”
We both walked up to Huron, the general goods merchant, and bought some ammo for the rifle Dalin had given me. Exiting the room Huron situated his shop in, we turned and walked over to the bar to buy a few vodkas and energy drinks.
“So, I was wondering..” I started, stopping at a table a good distance from prying ears, while fixing the Pip-Boy on the strap of my backpack.
“Is this about how I know One-Eye?” Dalin interjected.
“Yeah.”
“Her and I are siblings.”
“So is Degtyarev your dad too?”
“No, Degtyarev took her in when she was eight. Within the past year, I got into contact with the Colonel behind Korshunov’s back, and there was a deal that was mutual for both of us. I had to give her a prosthetic left arm a half a year ago.”
“What happened to her arm?”
“Had to get it amputated below the elbow because the lower portion was severely injured by rubble during the war that happened on the Mainland. She never likes mentioning it, though.”
“She seems to know every big name within the confines of the —“I started, before getting cut off.
“Noontide isn’t at their base of operations anymore since the whole Monolith debacle that the Wish Granter caused recently. Just before you wound up in the Zone. I kinda felt bad for them, ya know. They were trying to find themselves again after getting free,” One-Eye explained with a ping of sadness in her eyes, “Dalin… Do you know what happened with the Wish Granter?”
“The Regulatory Board said that they were going to do something with it, I never got to understand the details. They always ran things over my head and I’m just glad I got out from underneath their control, honestly,” Dalin replied.
“How about we go to Rostok or whatever?” I asked, “some of the people… seem suspicious in my opinion.”
“We can stop at Rostok, but then we are heading STRAIGHT to Yaniv Station. I have to give some stuff to Nor.”
“I doubt we’d need anything while in Rostok, but I have been hearing reports of Monolithians out in the Red Forest.”
“I’m sure the Monolithians have been taken care of,” One-Eye sighed.
The three of us made our way out of the Slag Heap when One-Eye’s PDA pinged.
“Who is it?” Dmytro asked.
“Nor. We have to hurry back to Yaniv Station because he and the rest of the Corps are expecting a package of more stock. The rest of it is going to Bison in Prypiat.”
“Bison?” I asked.
“The merchant we have at the Palace of Culture. Sells a bunch of advanced equipment like weapons, mods, armor, ammo and the sort. We also have a technician besides myself, and he can repair almost anything. Everything else gets funneled towards me.”