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"Yes, yes, let's skip the introductions and the hand shaking, shall we?"
He tried maintaining an aura of confidence as the squad of Monolith soldiers escorted him to their headquarters, while his men were made to wait outside.
The big bad himself had already his gaze fixated on him as soon as he emerged from the hall. He was sitting behind the desk as usual, all composed and stiff, wearing that heavy exoskeleton of his. Lukash wondered what the occasions were when he took it off, if he ever did to begin with. Was there even a reason to be protected from head to toe in steel here? In the basement, in Pripyat, where stalkers and mutants that dared to step foot in their territory had their heads proudly displayed on sticks adorning the entrances of every zone they owned?
Lukash knew very damn well they had no intentions of making small talk and hand shaking as he previously mentioned, but he had to lighten the mood for God's sake. The change of environment from the Freedom base to the Monolith's almost gave him whiplash. He almost missed having to yell at his men before they got high to death. Almost.
After a moment of consideration, the Monolith leader dismissed the patch of soldiers that accompanied Lukash with a small gesture of his hand, while two of them remained at Charon's side, weapons idly in their hands. Of course they'd do that—strip the Freedom leader and his men of their own weapons but keep theirs. Those bastards were the ever-protective. That's not how you treat guests at all.
Still, he took a seat facing the leader and precisely calculated what would be the most uneducated way to sit. The result was him leaning into the seat while the other half of his body was outside of it, legs crossed, with his arm resting on the upper part of the chair. He looked like a wannabe rebel student in middle school, but what could they even say? " "You shall not sit like that, because one of the Monolith's testaments—" "
"We summoned you to rework some sections of our deal and reach an agreement, as our informants may have told you." Charon said slowly with a stone cold tone, the voice muffled by the gas mask.
...Creepy. Now they were actually capable of forming sentences without mentioning their deity at least a dozen times. It has been almost a month since the Monolith apparently lost the guidance of their god-knows-who God that would repeatedly spew nonsense chants and mantras in their ears, and now, some soldiers barely managed to scratch the surface of what being a semi-functional being with autonomous will meant. The end product were the empty shells of what once were men led by unconditional passion, dedication and sacrifice, now overtaken by despair, confusion and misery.
And you really had to be desperate to make a pact with Freedom. Of all factions!
I mean, come on, the Monolith was starving their soldiers for four weeks before asking once more for their help alliance.
So selfish. Lukash knew he wouldn't let his lads go through a situation like that, look at him right now! Sticking his neck out in the Monolith headquarters just to put his men at an advantage!
Of course, the men in question weren't aware of all this- or at least not the majority of them- but that's not the point now, is it?
Regarding the man before himself with a face of concern, Lukash began wondering how the hell their Mikluha managed to come to terms with the Monolith when they were still.... like that. These meetings already happened twice or thrice over the course of Freedom's existence, albeit they've always been brief. He suddenly started feeling very grateful for the previous founders.
Having no idea on how to deal with something that retained only a meager fraction of what was once a personality, he opted for what he knew how to do best: act like the zone's most renewed clown.
"Ahh come on, don't give me that serious stare! Charon, bro, your face really looks better with a smile on it!"
Behind the impassive mask rested an even more impassive and unfazed face. He could tell of course, it was just of those things you knew from experience by reading the body language of a stalker covered from head to toe in armor.
"Sparkle up! What is this all about? Shoot, I'm all ears."
"...As you may know, we are facing some difficulties within the faction..." The leader was having trouble finding the right words. Or maybe he didn't have the willpower to say them. Interesting. "..due to-"
"Your God leaving you, yes?"
Lukash finished the sentence for him.
Charon suddenly perked up at his question, even if it was more of a statement. Why was he surprised? It was all the Monolith ever yapped about! Of course he'd know. Truthfully though, even after some time of being in contact with them, he still wasn't sure of how their hierarchy worked and he found himself wondering if some Monolithians blamed Charon for the disappearance, since he (apparently) was the closest thing to it. Or were preachers those who retained more contact with the Monolith? Damn if he knew. For some stalkers, this whole faction was a mystery to be uncovered, but to Lukash, it was to bury directly in the pits of hell and to never emerge again.
Charon just kept staring at him, and the freedomer suddenly felt a bit nervous. Had he crossed the line with that comment? You never knew the temper of Monolithians, and they were armed, he wasn't. Ultimately, the leader's monotone voice broke the silence once again:
"The Monolith may have left us, but our will has not. Our faith has not. Our allegiance has not." It felt as if he were delivering a sermon.
Sure, keep repeating that to yourself. Slowly, he got up from his seat and began wandering around the room, prompting the soldiers near Charon to grip their weapons tighter.
"And what about your men?" Charon followed Lukash with his stare as the latter walked back and forth, not sure where he was getting to. "Did they also stay?"
Once again, silence. Did the cultist's battery occasionally run out or was he always such a ray of sunshine? Should he take it as a bad sign? Still, trying his luck, he continued. "I received a report from my patch back at Yanov, saying they got quite the peculiar request from a troupe of ex-monolithians."
"Are you aware of their names?" This time Charon didn't spend one second hesitating.
"are you aware of their names-" Lukash stopped and turned, "-or any of your men's, for that matter?"
"We are all equal under the guidance of the Monolith. Names are merely identificatives used to distinguish between different roles. We are children of the Monolith and as such, we ultimately function to serve him. No brother is more or less important than the other."
Figures.
Lukash let his hopes die down. Maybe it wasn't time yet. How could the leader of the Monolith expect to identify the squad of men gone rogue if his own faction didn't bother giving an identity to them? They couldn't even use any sort of magic witchy voodoo thing now that the Monolith really was gone. Or whatever it was that they did. Charon didn't even deign him of using an angry tone of voice!
"Is that why some soldiers are sent out to die in the field, with cold and hunger rattling their very bones while you have these cells to sleep in?" He made sure to strengthen his point by kicking one of the metal bars with the heel of his boot. "Still quite sad if you ask me, though."
"At long last they will be reunited with the Monolith forever. And I am not the only one sending them."
"Hm?"
"I am certain that I am not the only one sending unknowing men to face off death in the Barrier, only to make this all the more believable." Charon pointed out with the slightest hint of emotion is his voice. Okay, he got Lukash here.
With a shrug, the freedomer walked up to sit on the desk, facing him.
"Look, I ain't no Saint either," Oops. Bad choice of words. Again. "But when you're in a position of power and responsibility, you will find yourself facing choices you never dreamed of taking. I'm sure you can relate. But at least my faction doesn't use deadly psy-fields and antennae complexes to keep its people in check. My soldiers are also not obliged to starve or end their lives in the event of getting caught by the enemy,"
Charon got up. "That was blasphemous. We use vessels to bring us closer to the shining light of the Monolith. Our dedication to the cause is of utmost importance and we shall treasure that. This discussion is going beyond its scope in this moment. This is not the reason I summoned you."
Glancing at the ground, Lukash noticed the Vintar BC that was leaning on the desk. With extra carefulness, he reached for it and started idly playing with the handle. The two soldiers didn't seem pleased with this choice, in contrast to Charon, who seemed startled at first, but relented. After all, Lukash would've dropped dead on the spot if he made one wrong move, they were all aware of that. He chose to quickly get to the point, lest the situation should escalate.
"...'Kay. You supply us with weaponry and equipment; we provide food and... assets, yes?" The word clung heavily on his mouth.
He still didn't tear his eyes off of the firearm.
Charon seemed a bit confused by the quick change in subject, as if he were expecting Lukash to keep arguing.
"Yes, that was our original arrangement. However, we recently came in need for intel, too."
He looked up. Well, wasn't that intriguing. "Intel? About what?"
"Everything." For once, Charon really looked unsure whether to continue or not. "Because of a... fault in our system-" the two monolithians at the back seemed uncomfortable. Not that their leader was any better. "-we are currently experiencing a shortage of agents. We require more information about non-believer communities."
Taken aback by the discovery of how close a human can get to the definition of talking like a "frustrated soulless robot", the freedomer stopped playing with the rifle. Oh, and Charon basically just called him a sinner. And then Lukash was the mean one.
"According to our data, Freedom is currently the second most numerous faction within the Zone-"
"Hah! Be careful or we might need to switch numbers soon!"
A moment of quiet fell in the room. No? Not funny? Alright, he might need to wait one more month before the sect would add the word 'humor' in their vocabulary. Still, he wanted to make it clear:
"Be glad you're not dealing with those Duty scums right now, and that you have me," he almost nudged Charon with that. He awkwardly stopped mid action.
"...yes, we can appreciate that." Huh? "At least Freedom does not actively try to harm the Zone, instead choosing to preserve it. Even if we do not agree upon the free access... it is most fortunate that your actions focus more on fighting the enemy than opening the way for them and others."
Lukash looked distraught for a minute before chuckling. Choosing to ignore that the other man's comment could've been interpreted as saying ' you're doing a shit job ' and ' we lowered our standards', he talked with strange optimism.
"You wouldn't be saying this if I weren't betraying my own faction right now." He would have gotten paranoid about saying this if he hadn't had all his possessions taken away by the Monolith squad the moment he entered- PDA included.
"Be aware that may the need arise, we will not hesitate having to fight off an additional opponent. An oath has been made to the Monolith, and we shall maintain it and fight to his content." Charon warned him.
"Likewise," Lukash smiled. Then he frowned. "but I don't think you could afford that."
"Elaborate."
"I don't think that, as of now, the Monolith can afford that. I really don't mean to be rude, but I'm gonna be brutally honest with you. What happened to you guys? Just one month ago y'all looked like you could've raided all of the Zone in one fell swoop. And now..." He vaguely tried to get the message across by flailing his hands.
"You are aware of what happened."
"I do, but..." Ugh, this was painful. "Look, man, what I'm trying to say is that I'm sorry. I know this is favorable for almost everyone else, and that this should be pure business for us, but I really hope you will get uh, better?" An attempt to be reassuring has been somewhat made.
Hearing no response and feeling an immediate need to fill in the silence, being still a member of Freedom, he continued, "I mean, besides that, where would we get all our weapons from? We're one of the only factions that lack any contact with the military after all."
"...Thank you. That was very thoughtful."
Not knowing whether that was serious or not, Lukash decided to settle on honesty since the cult didn't apparently know how to do any sarcasm. Well, that was satisfactory. It was also time to head back.
Hopping lightly off the desk, the Vintar BC was gently placed on its surface by Lukash. "We have a deal, by the way."
With a small smile, he brought his open hand forth. "t' was nice."
After a small beat of what looked like stupor in the other leader's stance, his skin was met with cold steel and a firm handshake.
He pretended not to notice the small flinch of Charon's hand at the contact. Jesus, how long was it since he touched someone?
A funny image of Monolithians praying hand-in-hand materialized in his mind.
Lukash looked back up at the taller man. Charon's gaze was still on their hands. For such a brief moment, it surely felt like an eternity.
"...I agree."
"This meeting has served its purpose, then." They let go.
As he exited the basement, he noticed a few glimmering stars adorning the night sky.
At the sight of their leader, one of his men immediately perked up and approached to retrieve him. After collecting their firearms and belongings, they set off in silence for the Army Warehouses. The road back to their base proved to be uneventful, a few mutants here and there- nothing out of the ordinary.
After being out of Monolith territory, a freedomer finally spoke up, directing the light from his helmet to the man. "So? How'd it go, boss?"
Lukash glanced at him and simply snickered.
"Very well, chief. Report to Mikluha."
At the end, it seems like he really did manage to make small talk and hand shaking.
Alone in the headquarters, Charon found himself deep in thought. Looking at the map of the Zone plastered on the wall, he reflected on today's events. Even though the Freedom leader had proclaimed himself worthy of disrespecting the Monolith like that, he looked full of life. How could it be? Only those who followed and honored the deity's shining light could be deserving of such vitality. Why did the unbeliever take up so much space in a room, when no one from above had given him permission to do so? Why did he laugh, what purpose did it have?
Now that the Monolith was gone, what was the difference between them if they both sent people to die for the mere purpose of holding up a lie?
No, wait. It was not a lie. Yes, he would eventually come back, they just needed some aid in the meantime to hold on onto.
Aid from sinners...
Pointless. At this rate, he would be the leader of an incurable faction, and he can't believe he just thought that. But it was true.
Finally reaching for his Vintar BC, he carefully placed his hands where Lukash's own were just hours ago. They were still tingling from the contact.
Why was this all confusing? He used to be so sure of himself- no, the Monolith- all the time, back when his voice could be heard. Then one day, him and his brothers got hit all at once. Before that, his consciousness failed him and it was all a haze; memories of whispers so persistent they'd try to crawl beneath his skin, massacres, screams, cold, praying, praying and more praying came forth from the blank spots in his mind.
He also remembers making deals like this one, but with another man. Although he doesn't recall letting himself be touched at the time.
He felt his head starting to hurt.