Verse 3: Stormguard
The gang within a day manages to find a small neighborhood to approach a house surrounded by fortified walls and sonic defenses.
"Here we are, at his shop," Alisa said as the trio get out of the truck with Bom guarding the vehicles.
They approach the gate to see a slit slide open to reveal a pair of bright brown eyes. "Oh, the lovely Alisa Seung, you are not dead yet," the man said in a light-hearted tone.
"I am pretty hard to kill," Alisa said as the man looks at the petite young teenager.
"Hey there Natalia, I like the goggles," he said as she taps the goggles amidst her short blond hair.
"I just got them, old man," Natalia said as the merchant looks upon a 21-year-old young man beside Alisa.
"So, you got a boyfriend or something?" the old man asked making the duo blush in unison.
"He is a friend who is tagging along with us back to Winterfell. We picked him up in the Moscow Metro," Alisa said.
"Oh; I see, others manage to get out of that hellhole in the ground," the man said.
"I see, others went off on their own," Artyom said.
"So, what is your name son?" he asked.
"Artyom," he said as the old man raises his eyebrow at that name.
"Very familiar, anyway my name is Vlad. Please to meet you, son. I am a well-respected merchant around these parts. I sell weapons, gear, food, and supplies while I get your wares to give your Marks," he said.
"Marks?" Artyom asked.
"It's the currency you can get for trading with merchants across Russia," Natalia said as Vlad unlocks the gate allowing them inside.
"Please come on it, I see you have gotten some spoils to sell," Vlad said to see them holding bags of goods with them seeing twin dogs barking at them. "Heed boys," he commanded as they stand down for them to go inside to see various amounts of stuff within the house.
"Wow, so much stuff sorted here," Artyom said looking at all the weapons on display from common revolvers to very rare AK 2012s.
"Indeed son, I have all kinds of stuff. I want to see what you got," Vlad said as they drop their goods onto the table.
"Anything crazy happening lately?" Natalia asked.
"Well, there is a new bandit group in the area becoming quite the problem," Vlad said looking at the Makarov pistol to see the pearl white grip and engraving on the barrel to smile at the design.
"What are they called?" Alisa asked.
"The Stormguard, they have a Neo Nazi type feel to them, especially with their leader. She is quite the racist towards Asians, so you two be careful," Vlad said.
"We will keep that in mind," Natalia said.
"Speaking of those assholes, they manage to steal a shipment of my a few days ago. They hoard it over to the old relay station on the other side of the town. I would get it but I am getting too old for that," Vlad said.
"We will take back your wares," Artyom said.
"Yeah old man, we will beat those Nazis' asses and get your stuff back to you," Natalia said.
"Of course, we will get your items back and we better get a discount," Alisa said.
"Well, I tell you what little missy. I will give you that discount and a 20% increase in your Mark exchanges for your goods," Vlad said.
"Thank you; Vlad, we will be back with your stuff in hand," Alisa said.
"Also keep watch of our caravan," Natalia said.
"Alright, be safe out there," Vlad said.
"He seems nice," Artyom said.
"Well, he used to be a business owner of a shop before the bombs dropped," Natalia said as they go out the door for they go into the caravan to grab their weapons.
Artyom, Natalia, and Alisa are wielding AK-74s with PK-AS Holo Sights and dual magazines. They unhook the caravan off the truck as they go inside to drive left leaving the caravan in the care of Vlad.
"A bunch of Neo Nazi bandits, that is not good," Artyom said.
"That is a gross understatement. I wonder who is running them," Natalia said.
"Hopefully we don't get mixed up in their crap," Artyom said.
"Indeed," Alisa said to drive towards the old relay station with Bom sitting beside Natalia in the back as they look around to see a building in the distance for it an old relay station with a big radio tower on top.
They approach the building to see a few Stormguard grunts protecting it. "They look like the guys we fought not too long ago at the plane crash," Artyom said looking through binoculars.
"Yeah, same getups," Alisa said as both groups were wearing green.
"No problem," Alisa said for them to park the truck in a secure place to wield their weapons and Bom baring his fangs.
"Encircle the area and draw their attention," Artyom said.
"Aye captain," the two girls said playfully as they split up with Bom tagging along with Natalia.
Artyom is holding onto his rifle to aim for the first guard on top of the roof to put a quick shot onto his head to see him drop onto the roof.
Alisa draws up her AK-74 and puts a round into the head of the guard for the other were on attention. "Shit, we got Gook girls here," the guard said as they open fire on the sisters with Artyom not being detected.
"Go get them, boy," Natalia said as she fires her rifle into a guard with Bom leaping over the debris and pouncing on the guard to rip open his throat. "Good boy; rip those assholes a new one," she said giving her dog some covering fire.
Artyom is burst firing to silently take down the guards with quick yet precise headshots.
"Done, I can get some deserved rest," Alisa said as they go through the door to see the crates of supplies that Vlad was talking about. "Now, let's get this stuff and get out of here," she said as suddenly a series of rattling freaked out Bom.
Artyom points his Rex at the corner to see a closet that is shaking around. "What the hell?" Natalia wondered if they hear vehicles outside.
"We know you are there, Gooks," a soldier said on a megaphone.
"What the hell is a Gook?" he asked.
"Oh, it's a racial slur for Asian people like Koreans," Alisa said as Artyom feels embarrassed for uttering the word.
"I am sorry, I didn't know," he said.
"It's okay, you are not a dirtbag like these guys," Alisa said as they look around to see something they can use to even the odds.
They find a weapon's crate to find a Medved grenade launcher which has all 3 rounds for the gun. "Why is there a Metro-made weapon here?" he asked to take the weapon.
"Oh; that is easy, people left the Metro and spread these guns around. They are homemade so others copy them and spread them around. The Bastard is a favorite among bandit groups," Alisa said.
"Sweet to me," Artyom said as he goes up against the door. "Here we go," he shoves the door open to lob a grenade to destroy one of the three trucks blasting it up for its turns into a fireball.
"Shit; take cover," the grunts spread out with the trucks having mounted machine guns as they are pouring shots at the group's position.
Bom is running to draw their fire as he fires another grenade to take out a group of soldiers turning them into a bloody paste. Alisa is using her AK-74 to blast away incoming bandits coming out of their vehicles.
An enemy grenade falls right by Artyom for the blast knocks him into the dirt. He drops his AK-74 which gets destroyed in a grenade blast.
"Hey, you okay?" Alisa asked sounding worried on the radio earpiece.
"I am fine, Alisa," he said as he fires the remaining shot to destroy a truck and another squad of bandit thugs. He drops the launcher to draw out his Rex handgun to pop shots taking out the gunner on the mounted gun.
A bandit comes up with his rifle in hand, but Artyom rolls in to catch him by surprise and stabs his trench knife into his chest killing him instantly with blood pouring onto his blade and onto the grass.
He gets onto the mounted machine gun on the truck for more enemy trucks are coming in as he is mowing them down. A hail of bullets cut through the vehicles with ease as screams and blood filled up the cars with pure excess.
"That should be the last of them, hopefully," he said as they go back into the relay station to hear the closet still moving for him to go up to the radio set up to hear a woman laughing.
"So, Artyom it's been a while since I saw you," the woman's voice said on the radio.
"Who are you?" he asked.
"Oh boy, I got reports that you were tagging along with some Slits. Sadly, that is true right," she said.
"Who are you?" he asked sounding very confused.
"Oh my, you don't remember me Artyom. Well I will have my men go get you and your little sluts will be my men's playthings," the woman said as she cuts off the radio.
"Great, more of these Stormguard assholes," Natalia said as they hear the closet moving again. "What the hell is that?" she asked as she pulls out her auto pistol pointing at the closet as Bom is barking at it.
"Better find out," Artyom said to go up to the closet to be beside it with his handgun at the ready as the sisters nod to be ready.
He unlocks the door for a bag and flops onto the ground bouncing around like crazy. He opens the bag to see a tall well-built man in his mid-30s with her mouth taped shut. "Hey, are you okay?" he asked to get rid of the tape slowly for the man is very happy to see you.
"Thank god, you came man. I thought I was a goner," the man said to get him into a bear hug with great strength.
"Okay, you two can be gay later," Natalia joked as the older man let's go to slap Artyom's back in a friendly gesture.
"Sorry, I'm just happy to be alive. What is your name?" he asked.
"Artyom," he responded.
"I am Anton Petrov at your service. I was just helping out the old man Vlad but I got caught and put into this closet to be sold into slavery," he said as he looks over at Alisa to eye up and down her figure. "Oh, who are you, you are seemed equipped for combat," he joked looking at her overly busty chest looking noticeable against her white top.
"These melons are attached to someone with a name, Alisa Seung," she said.
"Sorry Alisa, I get loose to a pretty face," Anton joked.
"I am like that too sometimes," Artyom said lightly looking at Alisa as she blushes at this comment.
"Well seriously, good thing you came. It's my luck," Anton said.
"We can use a hand fighting off the Stormguard," Artyom said.
"Oh boy, we can help each other out of this mess," Anton said as they hear more trucks coming up the dirt road. "More Stormguards, grab some things from the stockpile, and let's get messy," he said to take his sidearm which is a homemade Bloodhound 8-shot revolver to put in his holster. He takes a VSSK Anti Material Rifle off the gun rack to go up the ladders to head to the roof.
Artyom looks at the gun rack to see a DPM LMG modified with a PK-A Reflex Sight, foregrip, and flash suppressor as the girls grab some more ammo for their rifles
"Time to roll," Artyom said.
"Got your back," Alisa said as they go outside to get behind cover with a bunch of trucks with mounted guns. Anton is sniping his targets leaving big bloody holes in their heads as Natalie is putting in rounds into the chests and heads of the bandits.
Artyom tosses a grenade to flush out enemy grunts to puts heavy bullets into their chests dropping them onto the dirt. Artyom reloads the LMG to always find the disc-shaped magazine to be quite odd.
Alisa starts lobbing grenades to take out trucks as Bom leaps on top of a bandit to make him fall onto the ground and get his throat ripped open by Bom's fangs.
Natalia throws out her fire grenades to hit the grass ahead letting it catch into flames blocking the enemy's path to the relay station for the moment. She fires her rifle to pierce the bandit's head seeing him drop to the ground.
Anton is sniping turret gunners with his VSSK AMR as Bom laps onto a fallen bandit grunt to tear out his throat.
Artyom is burst firing his DPM as he sees a grunt rushing at him to put rounds into his chest with him tossing his grenade takes out more Stormguards.
Anton fires a heavy round into the truck's engine seeing it explode to destroy the last truck. "Well that's the end of that," Artyom said as they put away their weapons to meet with Anton.
"Well you three are quite capable, even the dog here is taking some names," Anton said to put his rifle away.
"Those guys are quite the customers," Artyom said feeling out of breath from constant combat.
"Indeed, these bandits are no joke," Alisa said slinging their weapons onto their backs.
"Well thanks again, send the old man my regards," Anton said as he takes off for the others to wave goodbye.
"Will we meet again?" Artyom asked.
"We will, I am a drifter. We will meet and come across each other sometimes," Anton said to disappear into the ruined town.
"Well time to pack these goods and return to the old man," Natalia said as they carry the boxes into the back of their truck to drive back to Vlad's shop.
Soon enough they reach Vlad's shop to bring in Vlad's goods. "Oh, you came back and you have all my supplies," Vlad said as Artyom drops the last crate onto the floor.
"Yep, a deal is a deal," Alisa said.
"Yep, discount and an increase in value to your trades," Vlad said.
"Thank you, Vlad," Alisa said as they gather supplies, ammo, and some attachments for their weapons as well as a few weapons like an AKS-74U, a Dragoon which is a pre-war hunting lever-action rifle which is based on an M1895 Russian rifle and a Vepr 545 which is a semi-auto AK style hunting rifle converted into a sniper rifle which has a default 20 round magazine.
"Sweet," Artyom said.
"Good, time for us to bounce out of here," Natalia said to restock their supplies.
"Thankful Anton got away from those cruel bastards. Would have put him in one of their worker camps," Vlad said.
"What does he do?" Artyom asked.
"He is a drifter who goes out and collects items from the old world to sell them to desired parties for a fair price," Vlad said.
"Oh, he is like a Stalker from the Metro," Artyom said.
"You will see him again on his travels. Well, I hope you have a safe trip back to your home," he said.
"Thanks, stay safe out there," Alisa said for them to attach the caravan onto the truck and drive off going back to their goal.
Elsewhere, a woman is within a Stormguard camp based within an old hotel by the road. There is a group of people in the middle of the courtyard with the woman looking down onto cowering men and women. "Please have mercy," the woman said as the female leader looks on with disgust to see this group is a family made up of Mongolian Russians.
The Stormguard leader pulls out her Bastard carbine to put a bullet into the woman's head. "Yeah and you dirty this beautiful nation, not on my watch," she said to spit on her corpse.
"You bitch," the young man said to put a round into his head dropping him onto the dirt.
"Anyone else wanted to be a hero?" the female leader asked to make them watch as each of their family members die one after another with the woman having a cruel smile on her face.
"Madam Artyom along with the slit eyes manage to kill our guys at the relay station," the grunt said as a big smile creeps onto her face.
"Oh Artyom, it's been so long since I got kicked out. It did me good," she said to pop a bullet into an elder man with his brains scattered across the grass. "I think it's time for us to have a proper reunion," she said as she let her dogs begin to devour their fresh corpses as she begins to plan her reunion with Artyom.