07/07/2024
2200 hours
Bangkok, Thailand
Ralph sat on the steps leading to the main temple of Wat Arun, a bottle of beer in his hand as he stared out at the muddy river that ran through the city of Bangkok. His gun, never too far from his person, was propped up on the steps beside him, and as usual, his machete hung from his belt in its sheath. It was now nighttime, and the monks staffing the Wat Arun had lit up the lights on the temple, giving G&K's base camp an orange glow in the summer night. It had stopped raining a few hours ago, and all that remained of the torrential downpour was the wet ground and the extra rage the river seemed to carry.
"Ah, there you are."
Ralph glanced away from the river to locate the source of the voice, and he suppressed a scowl as he noticed that it was Commander Kinkaid. The commander had a bandage encircling his right shoulder, but other than that, he seemed as good as normal.
"Commander. Can I help you?"
"You never gave your report," Kinkaid stated.
"I had Kalina give it to the League commander since you weren't at base camp when I got back. He should have a copy for you," Ralph informed him.
Commander Kinkaid's face remained passive behind his mask. "You assumed I wouldn't be coming back at all, didn't you?"
Ralph took a swig of his beer. "And so what if I did?"
"Hmph. I suppose it doesn't matter," Kinkaid decided. "Either way, I am impressed that an African chimpanzee and a squad of robots were able to infiltrate Sangvis base camp and take out their leaders. As much as I dislike you, I must admit that your operation threw their forces into complete disarray."
"Indeed. I probably saved all your lives."
"Don't get full of yourself," Kinkaid warned. "Now that the League of Nations has entrenched their position here, Headquarters wants us to move our permanent regional base to Bangkok as well. Make sure you behave so that our company doesn't get a bad name."
With that, Commander Kinkaid walked off, leaving Ralph alone again. The vice-commander frowned, taking another sip of the beer. How unpleasant… Can't I just enjoy my victory in peace?
After the day's fighting, Ralph didn't have the energy to go back into the city and look for entertainment, and most of Bangkok's attractions were closed anyway due to the fighting. That meant that sitting back in Wat Arun and taking in the night sky and flowing river was the best post-battle celebration he could get, so he definitely didn't need Commander Kinkaid coming in and souring his mood. He sat in silence for a few more minutes before he noticed a group of people approaching. They were Kalina and the T-Dolls, and surprisingly enough, both AK-12 and WA2000 were also in attendance.
Ralph raised his bottle in greeting. "Good evening."
"Ralphie! Why'd you leave all the administrative work to me again?" Kalina complained.
"That's 'Vice-Commander' to you. And I did all the actual hard work, so it's about time you pulled your weight."
Kalina stared at him blankly. "Oh, really? From what I was told, it seems like you had your ass saved by the T-Dolls, sir."
Ralph chuckled. "So is that what you girls told her?"
"We just told her the truth," WA2000 insisted. "You have to admit that we helped."
"I guess. How's the leg?"
"Oh, uh, it's fine now," WA2000 answered. "The medics here at base camp did a better job than those Sangvis ones, and T-Dolls heal quickly, so…"
"That's good." Ralph then looked at AK-12. "And even AK-12 seems fine despite being shot multiple times."
"Ah, yes, I am doing all right now. The League medics are highly trained," AK-12 said. "But I must apologize for being taken out so early in the operation… It was silly of me to not pay attention to my surroundings."
"Hey, everyone gets unlucky sometimes," Ralph said. So she was in too much pain to remember that I suggested leaving her behind? Convenient for me.
"How can you talk so casually to him?" WA2000 asked AK-12. "You know he threatened to just leave you there to die, right?"
Ralph shot WA2000 a look of disbelief. Why the fuck would you mention that?!
AK-12 wore a small smile. "That? I can't hold it against him. This is war, after all. Besides, he did help me survive in the end, so I think it's fine."
"Thank you. At least someone is sensible," Ralph said before glaring at WA2000.
"I think it was deplorable to even suggest leaving her behind," AN-94 interjected with a frown.
"Not you too!" Ralph stood up and slung an arm around AN-94's shoulders, much to her displeasure. "You all need to lighten up. Be glad you stayed alive through today."
"The enemy forces actually seemed surprisingly weak, apart from Scarecrow," Kar98k noted. "We weren't exactly very stealthy when we infiltrated their camp, and yet we managed to basically overcome all their defenses."
"That's actually due to the fact that the League of Nations sent more reinforcements than we thought they would," Kalina explained. "Russia sent some battalions in addition to the remnants of the Kunming army, so Sangvis Ferri had to divert a lot of manpower to fend them off."
"Russians? So did you two know about that?" Ralph asked, turning to AN-94 and AK-12.
"We were sent to Kunming from Grifon and Kryuger's Irkutsk base, so no, we were not told about the movements of the Russian government," AN-94 answered, finally breaking free of Ralph's grasp.
"Yeah, it seems they mobilized at the last minute," Kalina said. "Anyway, those reinforcements combined with your operation really helped us out. I'll admit, I didn't think we could really win after hearing your first plan…"
"Yeah, yeah," Ralph waved her off. "Anyway, what are you all doing here? Were you looking for me?"
"No, the T-Dolls just wanted to see the inside of the temple," Kalina told him. "It's not like there's much else to do around base, so I thought I'd bring them here."
Ralph scoffed at that. "You're seriously going to celebrate our victory by visiting a temple? How about we hang out in my room instead. I'll provide the refreshments."
The vice-commander held up his bottle again, waving it tantalizingly.
"Um, I think I'll pass…" Kalina said.
"I wasn't talking to you, obviously," Ralph replied, staring at her flatly.
"If you are suggesting what I think you are suggesting, then I will also have to decline," AK-12 chimed in. "I don't think my body is healed enough for that."
"Fine, you can sit out due to injury, but the rest of you have no excuse," Ralph decided. "Well? Don't tell me you're actually content with just sitting out here and doing nothing."
WA2000 had enough. "Just shut up already, sir! Do you have to be so crude all the time?!"
"Damn, calm down," Ralph smirked. "You sure you're going to pass, then? You look like you need to work off a lot of stress."
"Vice-Commander, please stop harassing them," Kalina sighed. "You know we're not supposed to do that stuff with the T-Dolls."
Ralph shrugged. "Not like I'm going to get caught."
Kalina didn't bother responding to that. "Come on, girls. Let's just go inside. The Vice-Commander can sit out here and drink alone."
The T-Dolls and Kalina walked up the stairs, leaving Ralph by himself once again. The tangerine-haired man sighed softly as he drained the rest of his beer, then leaned over the staircase and stared out at the river. The lit-up night skyline of the city of Bangkok was right in front of him, but for some reason, he thought it looked really lifeless.
These lights and the lights I see in my dreams… They're completely different.
He had long wondered why what was. Though he had been to many different cities in his life, for some reason, that city from long ago remained stuck in his mind. Whenever he thought of it, a comforting feeling would overcome him, a feeling that he almost never felt in real life. If he could just get back to that city, Las Vegas, maybe he could finally understand why he kept thinking about it…
Ralph yawned, then stood up and stretched before heading down the stairs and back into the main base camp. He tossed the beer bottle into a nearby trash bin, then continued making his way towards the main command tent that the League commander, General Zhang, had set up in the compound. Now that the battle was over, he figured he might as well try and see if he could get some more information about the missing T-Dolls. After all, AR-15 had wanted him to dig up their whereabouts, so he hoped the League of Nations would be able to point him in the right direction.
When he entered the tent, he found that it was bustling with activity. Unlike Ralph himself, General Zhang was heavily involved in the administrative duties of command, and he was responsible for fortifying the city and establishing a permanent League and G&K base in Bangkok. He was also supposed to help with the repairs of the parts of the city that had been damaged by the fighting, so he was undoubtedly starting plans on that as well. Nevertheless, the middle-aged Chinese man looked up when Ralph approached, momentarily pausing his duties.
"Vice-Commander. Was there something else you needed?" Zhang asked in slightly-accented English.
"There is. What do you know about the Griffon T-Dolls that fought at Kunming?" Ralph questioned.
Zhang raised an eyebrow. "The AR Squad? It's best that your company forgets about recovering them. They were not in the Sangvis Ferri camp, and none of the mercenaries we interrogated had any information on them. Even the mercenary commander did not seem to know. It is probable that they are dead at this point. Perhaps they were lost in the wilderness, or killed by a stray band of rogues or raiders."
To be completely honest, Ralph was fine with leaving it at that, but he doubted AR-15 would be. "Is that all you know? That doesn't tell me much."
Zhang frowned at him. "That is your problem, not mine. I can only tell you what the enemy commander told me."
"Then can I at least interrogate him myself?"
"... No."
"Why not? I was the one who captured him."
"I do not know how to put this, but to speak plainly, I have heard tales of your barbarism," Zhang said. "We need him alive, so if you go in and torture him or kill him, it may be bad for us in the long run."
"I promise I won't kill him," Ralph smirked, raising his right hand as if he were taking an oath.
"We cannot take that risk, Vice-Commander," Zhang stood firm. "But your desire to interrogate him is pointless, as we have already done that. He said that if anyone were to know about such things, it would be the Sangvis Tactical Doll that you killed, not him."
"Fine," Ralph conceded. "But I still want to know what happened to the former vice-commander and the T-dolls, and the specific circumstances surrounding their disappearance."
"I am afraid we do not know that either," General Zhang shook his head. "In the chaos of the battle, our troops were too busy retreating to take stock of the whereabouts of your Grifon commander. However, that does mean at the very least that he and the Dolls were not in formation and had gone out in a different direction."
"And why would they do that?" Ralph pressed.
"How should I know? Do I look like a mind reader to you?" Zhang replied sharply. "There are many reasons why a unit can get separated in battle. Most likely it was due to poor communication between the lines. Anyway, that is all I can offer you. But before you go, one more thing: about the T-Doll leader you killed… What did you do with her corpse?"
Ralph thought about it for a second. "I'm pretty sure I just left it lying there in the mud."
"I see. Well, it was no longer there when our troops arrived."
"Huh. Maybe the medics I left alive threw it into the river or something to protect Sangvis technology secrets," Ralph posited.
Zhang nodded. "That sounds plausible. Anyway, thank you again for your assistance, but I must get back to work now."
Ralph strode out of the tent, barely any more knowledgeable than he was when he first walked in. AR-15 isn't going to be happy about this… Whatever.
He had done the most he could, and it wasn't his fault that the Sangvis commander had no information… Though it was his fault that the other Sangvis commander who did have the information was dead. Either way, nothing could be done about that now. AR-15 would just have to come to terms with the fact that her comrades were gone forever.
"Ayy, it's the Cannibal Commander!"
Ralph glanced over to see a group of G&K mercenaries grinning at him. He recognized the three of them as being from his base, and judging by the way they were acting, they were clearly drunk.
"Find any tasty corpses tonight?" one of them asked as the others cracked up around him.
"Not yet, but I think I'll turn you into one," Ralph shot back.
"Oho? Come at me then, Mr. Cannibal!" the merc said, swaying as he held up his fists in a mock boxing stance.
Ralph, already in a sour mood, finally snapped at the provocations. In a flash, he dropped his gun and unsheathed his machete. With practice quickness, he leapt at the mercenary and slashed his throat open. The other two hooted with surprise and shock, but before their inebriated bodies could properly react, Ralph had already buried his machete in the second one's skull, pulled it free, and slashed at the third one. The third mercenary managed to step out of the way in time to avoid having his neck nearly torn off, but Ralph's blade still nicked an artery, and blood came pouring out at a rapid pace as the man limped away. He would probably be dead soon.
Snorting to himself at the ill-fated mercenaries, Ralph sheathed his machete again and walked off towards the temple, even as shouts of alarm came from behind him. League personnel couldn't really get Ralph in trouble since the altercation only involved G&K employees, and Ralph doubted that Commander Kinkaid would care that he had killed a few degenerates. That, combined with the added fact that Ralph had been a vital part in today's victory, basically gave him immunity, which meant that those mercenaries were incredibly stupid to have picked a fight with him.
Sure enough, nobody bothered to follow Ralph as he headed back to Wat Arun, and once he arrived there, he took up his position at the stairs again, simply staring out at the river and the city lights beyond.
07/09/2024
1300 hours
Bangkok, Thailand
Ralph sat at one of the open air tables on a street in Bangkok, right by the main road. Life in the city had gone back to normal, and crowds of people and the occasional vehicle or rickshaw passed through the busy streets. A cup of tea rested on the table in front of him, and he himself was busying himself by flipping through a local newspaper, though he couldn't actually read the language it was printed in. After a few minutes, he looked up when he noticed someone approaching.
ST AR-15 sat down across from him, silently pulling out the chair and fixing him with a stare from her blue eyes. Her assault rifle was on her back as usual, and since there were plenty of soldiers and mercenaries still milling about the city, her weapon didn't make her look out of place.
"You're a bit late," Ralph noted, glancing up from his paper.
"Do you have anything for me?" AR-15 said, cutting to the heart of the matter.
"I should be asking you that," Ralph countered.
AR-15 wore an uncomfortable look. "There was nothing of any substance in the region. None of the Thai government officials knew anything."
"Well, then that doesn't help me much, does it?" Ralph frowned, taking a sip of tea. "... You know what our deal was."
AR-15 grimaced. "Look, I'll… I'll find something soon. I'm planning on going back to Grifon HQ soon, so -"
"I'll be going there too," Ralph cut her off. "My commander and I were actually just reassigned there since the League is handling things here. So I don't really need you to gather information if you're going to the same place I am, right?"
"You think you can do better than I can? Good luck, then," AR-15 spat. "You still need me. You'll never get into America by yourself."
"At this rate, you're no help," Ralph dismissed. "Give me something of substance, or our deal is over."
AR-15 grew angry. "Then why did you even call me here in the first place?"
"Because I thought you had information for me. If I knew you had just been sitting around doing jack shit for the past few weeks, I wouldn't have bothered. And why didn't you tell me that you had nothing over the phone?"
AR-15 didn't answer, and instead just looked down at the ground.
"So you came because you wanted information from me despite you having nothing to give in return?" Ralph summed up. "That's pathetic. What do you think I am?"
"Just… Just tell me what you know," AR-15 said softly.
"Yeah, right. Suck my fucking dick."
AR-15 lunged across the table and grabbed Ralph's collar before he could react, knocking over his teacup in the process. The sudden motion and noise caused the other patrons to look over in alarm, some of them muttering among themselves at the sight.
"Let go, you bitch," Ralph grated through clenched teeth, his hand reaching for his machete.
To his surprise, AR-15 actually did let go of him. The T-Doll put her hands on the table, her bangs covering her eyes.
"Please… They're all I have…"
Ralph regarded her with a strange look. He had always known that AR-15 was a melancholy and serious girl, but she really seemed desperate to know about the fate of her comrades even though she had been much more collected back at their prior meeting. Realizing that a cornered animal could be dangerous, Ralph decided to just tell her.
"They're probably dead. General Zhang of the League Army said that the Sangvis commander didn't know about them, and that there were no captured documents suggesting what happened to them either. He also said that they did not participate in the League retreat at Kunming and instead went off in a different direction, which means they're probably dead. Nobody survives out in the wilderness in this day and age."
"... So their bodies weren't recovered?" AR-15 said, looking up at Ralph. "Then they could still be alive. I'm going to look for them."
Ralph raised an eyebrow. "The fuck? Did you not hear what I just said? You won't find them. And what about your dumb vengeance quest?"
"That can wait," she hastily replied. "This is more urgent at the moment. I guess I'll start from Kunming and -"
"You've lost it," Ralph frowned. "What is wrong with you? Just forget about them."
"I can't!" she shouted in his face, emotion filling her eyes. "I just can't… After what happened, they were the ones who were there for me… Like I said, they're all I have left…"
"Well… You still have me," Ralph joked.
Judging by the look in AR-15's eyes, she didn't find it funny. "I'm going to look for them whether they're dead or alive. Your help would be appreciated, but if you're not going to bother, then I understand. Goodbye, Ralph."
The T-Doll got up and began walking away. Ralph sighed in frustration. Normally he would be glad to leave her to her fate, but since she was his best chance of getting back into America, he needed her alive and mentally sound.
"I'll help you, I guess," he said, standing up as well. "It's going to cost you, though."
She turned around. "Cost me what…?"
"After we find them, dead or alive, you will focus all your efforts on helping me get into America," Ralph laid out his terms. "From that point on, you will work for me and me alone until that goal is accomplished. Only afterwards will I help you with your other quest."
AR-15 looked less than enthused at the proposal, but she accepted nonetheless. "Fine. Then I also expect you to put all your effort into finding the rest of the AR Team."
"Then we have ourselves another deal," Ralph grinned. "Oh, and it's probably best that you let me be in charge. It'll be easier to find them that way."
"How?" AR-15 asked, skeptical.
"Well, to start with, we're not going to rush straight to Kunming," he began. "We'll first head to G&K HQ as planned, see what we can find out there, and then plan out our next moves."
"But -"
"No complaints. You'll do as ordered, or you won't do at all," Ralph insisted. "The two of us alone can't accomplish this. We'll need the help of whoever else we can get, including more T-Dolls. I have a feeling this isn't going to be easy."
AR-15 nodded, albeit a bit reluctantly. "Fine, then. What do you want me to do first?"
"Nothing. We'll just wait here until the plane to take us to Russia arrives, and that's when we'll truly begin the operation."
07/17/2024
2200 hours
G&K HQ, Moscow, Russia
Six T-Dolls, Ralph, and Kalina stood in the spacious lobby, waiting around for their next orders. Ralph, wearing his standard white shirt and black slacks, stood with his hands in his pockets, a casual air about him despite being in the G&K HQ building.
"Um… Are you sure we should have brought them?" Kalina said quietly to Ralph, shooting a sidelong glance at the T-Dolls.
"Huh? Yeah. I told you already that it's no big deal," Ralph assured her.
"But… Only you, me, and the Commander were reassigned here. They didn't say anything about the T-Dolls…"
"Exactly, which means there were no express orders to have them remain in Bangkok," Ralph pointed out.
"I don't think that's how it works, but whatever you say," Kalina sighed. "And you still never told me what AR-15 is doing with us."
"You'll know in due time," Ralph replied.
The clack of high heels on the tiled floor alerted the group to an approaching figure. She was a tall woman with black hair and piercing red eyes, though a monocle covered her right one. She wore a red military uniform along with a serious expression, but her face betrayed a hint of surprise when she saw Ralph and the T-Dolls.
Kalina and the T-Dolls immediately stood up straight when Helianthus walked over, but Ralph remained as cavalier as ever.
"Ralphie, Kalina. Good to see you two made it back safely," she greeted, then glanced back at the T-Dolls. "And what exactly are all of them doing here? I don't recall ever reassigning them."
"Them? I kind of need them for something," Ralph said.
Helian glared at him. "For what, exactly? What reason could you possibly have had to bring all of them out of Bangkok and back with you to Headquarters?"
"Right… About that," Ralph's turquoise eyes glinted. "I want to be put on the search squad for the missing AR Team, and so do these T-Dolls."
All the T-Dolls save for AR-15 wore quizzical looks, not knowing what the hell their commander was talking about.
"Excuse me? There is no 'search squad' for the AR Team," Helian told him, cautiously eyeing AR-15 as well.
"So G&K is just abandoning them to die?" Ralph pressed.
"No, but we don't have the luxury of diverting resources to a search with no trail whatsoever," Helian shot back. "And since when have you of all people cared so much about looking for missing comrades?"
"But the AR Team is the strongest T-Doll squad that G&K has," Ralph said, ignoring her question. "Surely it wouldn't be a waste of time to go looking for them? I mean, I guess we could rebuild them from scratch, but that would be insanely expensive and the new Dolls would lack the combat experience that the old ones have."
"Look, I can't make that decision," Helian bluntly rejected him. "And I don't know why you're suddenly so obsessed with this. It's almost as if you enjoy pursuing futile endeavors."
"Futile? I don't think so."
Helian sighed. "Is this in some way related to your impossible desire to infiltrate America? Because if so, I already told you that -"
"'Impossible'?" Ralph repeated with a deep scowl.
Helian closed her eyes and took a breath. "... You know what, we'll finish this later. I'm very busy right now, so I just came to tell you to go back to your quarters and await further orders. It's the same rooms you used to stay in, so you know where they are. As for the T-Dolls, we weren't expecting them, so keep them with you for now. I'll see you later, then."
"She looked kinda angry…" Kalina noted nervously once Helian had walked off.
"Eh, she's always angry," Ralph said. "And I'd bet she'd be even angrier if we both weren't adopted children of top G&K donors. I'd hate to be a regular footsoldier on the receiving end of one of her lectures."
"I doubt she takes the time to give them lectures. She'd probably just order them sent to solitary confinement or something if they pissed her off," Kalina said with a cheeky smirk.
"Um, sorry to interrupt, but who was that woman? She looked important," Kar98k spoke up.
"That was Helianthus, or Helian for short," Ralph answered. "She's a pretty high-ranking figure in G&K, in part due to her shrewd intellect and also because she's the daughter of Mr. Asterid, a really rich guy who's one of G&K's main financial backers."
"She's that important? Then why the hell were you talking to her so casually!" WA2000 yelled in disbelief.
"Well, since Mr. Asterid also happens to be the man who became my guardian after G&K took me from Africa, I guess that makes her my adopted sister," Ralph answered. "I've known her for eight years now, since before she was a big shot here."
"Yeah… I think the only reason we were able to get away with bringing you girls here is because of that," Kalina chuckled.
"We're going to have our work cut out for us regardless," Ralph sighed, folding his hands behind his head. "I doubt even I can convince Helian to let us go off on our own and look for the AR Team."
"About that, sir," DSR-50 cut in, "this is the first we're hearing of this. Why are we suddenly going looking for them?"
Ralph glanced pointedly at AR-15. "Because our friend over there wants us to."
The other T-Dolls began staring at AR-15 as well, making the assault rifle-type Doll shift uncomfortably.
"Not to be rude, but… Why exactly are we listening to her? Just because she wants us to look for them doesn't mean we have to do anything," WA2000 said.
"Yeah, normally I wouldn't give a fuck about this, but I kind of need her for something, and if we don't go with her on her stupid-ass search, she's going to go off on her own and get herself killed," Ralph explained.
"That doesn't really explain why we five specifically are going, though, especially since we were never formally reassigned," Kar98k clarified, referring to the German snipers and the Russians. "This sounds like a problem between the two of you, Vice-Commander."
"Actually, it's just 'Commander' from now on," Ralph corrected with his usual smirk. "Now that Commander Kinkaid has also been reassigned,, that puts the five of you under my direct command. And my first order is to go find the AR Team, so that's why you five are here."
The five T-Dolls in question looked at each other unsurely.
"Um… Are we allowed to just change our chain of command like that?" WA2000 questioned, clearly skeptical of the whole thing.
"Of course," Ralph answered with a triumphant grin. "I can just have someone here at HQ manually overwrite your command protocols, but since you've all already taken orders from me before, I don't think that will be necessary… Unless anyone has a complaint…?"
None of the T-Dolls said anything, so Ralph nodded in satisfaction.
"Good. Then from now on, this is our new echelon."
"Uh, Ralphie, how do you know Helian or someone else here who outranks us isn't just going to take the Dolls away and reassign them?" Kalina asked, clearly not too enthused by this side project either.
"Yeah… That's why I said we need to try and convince Helian first," Ralph frowned. "I guess I can't really stop them from doing that, but let's hope that doesn't happen."
"This feels sort of wrong," WA2000 said sourly, still unconvinced.
"Get that stick out of your ass. This will be a good experience for you," Ralph assured her. "Better than hanging around in Bangkok, that's for sure."
"So then, where do we start?" AR-15 spoke up for the first time.
"Right…" Ralph had almost forgotten about that. "I've got no clue. If anyone has suggestions, say them now."
As expected, he was only met with silence.
AR-15 grew impatient. "This is ridiculous. While we're back at HQ wasting time, M4 and the others could be -"
"Woah, calm down," Ralph stopped her. "Show a bit of class. These five other T-Dolls have all gathered here to help you out, and you're just popping off like some sort of spoiled brat."
AR-15 clenched her fists. "That's only because you forced them!"
"And you basically forced me to come along with you," Ralph replied nonchalantly. "The circumstances don't matter. If you need our help, you shouldn't be complaining about the way we go about things."
That only made AR-15 angrier. "Fuck you. I shouldn't have asked you in the first place."
She then turned to leave, but she was stopped by AK-12, who put a hand on her shoulder.
"Settle down, comrade," AK-12 wore an amused smile. "We will find them, don't worry. I was at that battle as well, so I am interested in what happened to them too."
Luckily, that seemed to calm AR-15 a bit, and the American T-Doll returned to her normal, broody self.
"Right then, if everyone's done throwing their tantrums now, I think we should head back to our rooms," Ralph decided. "We can't plan this operation without food and rest first."
No one argued against that, so they followed Ralph as he walked through the enormous facility and headed towards the living quarters, climbing up a few flights of stairs to get there.
"Ugh, I'm so glad to be back here after living in that filthy base for so long," Kalina said.
"Yeah, that place was a shithole," Ralph agreed with a grin.
Ralph stopped at a door in one of the hallways. "Well, this is my stop. See ya."
"W-wait, where are we supposed to go?" WA2000 asked.
"Don't ask me. Go stay with Kalina," Ralph shrugged.
"I can't keep all six of them in my room!" the redhead protested.
"Fine, whatever. Three of you come with me, then."
"We're supposed to share a room with you?" AR-15 raised an eyebrow.
"HQ doesn't have living quarters available for you yet, so yeah," Ralph simply responded. "Or you could always find your own living arrangements somewhere out in the city."
"We don't get paid enough for that…" Kar98k sadly noted.
"Then sucks for you," Ralph held his door open.
Reluctantly, AR-15 and the two Russians entered, leaving the Germans with Kalina.
"This place kind of looks like the hotel room back in Bangkok," AK-12 observed, opening her violet eyes.
"G&K probably based the design off a standard hotel room," Ralph said. "It's a bit smaller, but it's got everything I need, so I'm not complaining."
The room was stocked with a television, a bed that looked much better than the cots back at the Thailand base, a small private bathroom, a nightstand, a couch, a dresser, and a window with a view out onto Moscow. A few of Ralph's personal belongings were also strewn about, including a laptop on the nightstand and a jacket that was draped over the sofa.
"Where are we supposed to sleep?" AN-94 asked, eyeing the lone bed in the room.
"Again, don't ask me," Ralph replied. "I'm taking the bed, so unless you want to sleep with me - which I have no problems with, by the way - you get the floor."
"What a gentleman," AR-15 sarcastically spat.
Ralph smirked. "Come on, you've known me long enough to realize that by now. If we sleep close together, I'm sure there's room for all three of you…"
"I think I'll pass," AR-15 decided. "I'll just sleep on the couch."
"I'm fine with sharing the bed," AK-12 said with a grin.
"As long as you keep your hands to yourself, sir," AN-94 added firmly.
Ralph sighed, but acquiesced nonetheless. "Well, since we are at HQ right now, I think I'd get in massive trouble if I tried anything, so sure."
The commander then went into the bathroom to prepare for bed after grabbing a pair of pajamas from his dresser. When he re-entered the room, he saw AR-15 already asleep on the couch and AK-12 and AN-94 sitting on the bed.
"You're going to sleep in those uniforms?" he asked, confused.
"It's not as if we have anything else to wear," AK-12 pointed out.
"I mean… You could just take those off…"
"I think we will be fine in these, Commander," AN-94 immediately rejected the idea.
"Suit yourself, then," Ralph smirked. "But actually, I do have some spare shirts and pants if you want them. Probably more comfortable than sleeping in your combat uniforms."
The T-Dolls looked hesitant, but they then accepted his offer, deciding that he may well be right. Ralph loaned them each a pair of shorts and a t-shirt, and after changing in the bathroom, they came out with apprehensive looks.
"This is a bit large, isn't it?" AK-12 said, tugging on the collar of her shirt.
"I don't have clothing for women lying around here, so that's the best you'll get," Ralph replied.
"T-Dolls are designed to be able to sleep in their uniforms… This certainly feels strange," AN-94 added, glancing down at her shorts which were much longer and looser than her usual ones.
"Just change back if you don't like it," Ralph simply told them as he lay down under the covers. "And turn those lights off when you're done. I'm tired as fuck."
Ralph closed his eyes, and a few moments later, the lights in the room were shut off and he felt two weights press down on the bed on either side of him. He had strategically chosen the middle of the bed to lie down because that way he could be close to both of them, but they seemed to be on the very edge of the bed in order to avoid him as much as possible.
He smirked to himself again. Can't blame them. Can't blame them at all…
