"Come on, there has to be something you want to do?" SRS groaned. Honey Badger didn't seem to realize that MG4 did not want to be bothered, or that the continued harassment was only wearing down what little patience for her MG4 had left. SRS could tell that MG4 highly valued her quiet time, and even more she despised the attention, and thus having spent time being the latter, she desperately wanted the former. "You can't just want to spend all your spare time inside?!"
"And if I do?" An edge started to enter MG4's tone, the first visible cracks in her otherwise formidable patience.
"Well, that's boring." Honey Badger crossed her arms. Wincing, SRS pushed herself deeper into her chair in the vain hope of escaping serious injury when MG4 finally blew up. Hopefully she'd only yell, and she couldn't try and make Honey Badger eat her own legs. Hopefully. SRS didn't want to think ill of her sister, but she'd heard the stories. "You need to-"
"Badger." Air temperature dropped a few degrees. MG4 looked over, fixing the younger Doll in place with a glare. "Stop. Talking."
"Uh-" Predictably, Honey Badger's Neural Cloud did not keep up.
SRS spoke up, desperate to defuse the tension. "Honey Badger, please stop. I don't want to find out if MG4 can break you in half."
"She wouldn't actually-" Honey Badger stopped, looking over at MG4 and seeming to realize that danger for the first time. "Okay, maybe she'd think about it, but I've not done anything worth ripping my legs off over."
SRS thought she could see MG4's brow twitch. "Talking. Improper dress sense. Categorical stupidity. Keeping an actual badger as a pet." With every item she ticked off, MG4's eyes seemed to glow brighter.
"Hey! Betty is perfectly fine." Honey Badger crossed her arms, accidentally emphasizing why MG4 had a problem with her state of dress. At least, SRS felt reasonably confident that she didn't intend to do that. Honey Badger could be an idiot, but she was not petty. "And what's wrong with how I dress?"
MG4 huffed, lips pulled thin, her desire to speak exhausted. SRS ventured a guess, watching closely for a clue she'd guessed MG4's intent wrongly. "In general, wearing a jacket, bikini top and skirt is a rather unusual manner of dress."
"What?" Honey Badger turned, flaring her jacket and skirt as she did. "What's wrong with it? I can move more freely, and there's some saying flaunting what you're got right?"
SRS resisted the urge to put her head in her hands, or to say something rude. At least when KSG got back, she could claim that she tried. "I do not know of any such idiom."
"Huh, really?" Undaunted, Honey Badger powered on. "I mean, what's it matter if I-" Her eyes darted back to MG4. "Wait, you're not actually-" SRS took matters into her own hands, grabbing Honey Badger and pulling her to the side, hand wrapping around Honey Badger's mouth to muffle the next words.
Honey Badger licked her, which was gross, but SRS didn't care. MG4's eyes blazed, and SRS reminded herself that the furious stare was not intended for her, even if she'd put herself in the way. Putting up with rowdy teenagers and children made that easier. Although in those situations, the risk of violence remained low. "MG4-"
Whatever SRS wanted to say, MG4 didn't seem inclined to listen. Rising from her position, she took a moment to glare at Honey Badger and swept out of the room.
When SRS released Honey Badger, the SMG stumbled a bit, whirling on SRS and pouting. "Why'd you do that?"
"Do you want to find out if she would actually hurt you? Probably put a paperweight through your head?" SRS asked, then realized that was a dumb question. "Of course you don't, but you don't think she was going to, do you?"
"No?" Honey Badger shook her head. "She'd maybe throw me around or something but she'd not going to break my legs off or anything." SRS groaned. "I don't see what the big deal is anyway?"
"You were going to ask if she was jealous of your chest, and if that was why she doesn't like your clothing." SRS didn't mean it as a question, but Honey Badger nodded anyway. "MG4 doesn't care if your chest is larger than hers. She cares, Honey Badger, that you think that is something appropriate to wear in a fight, when it offers no protection, and might as well give someone a great big target."
"I haven't had many problems-"
"You got shot in the shoulder, and routinely run into danger." SRS countered. "And I realize that MG4 is infinitely patient with you, when compared to Alfa, but you have to realize that MG4 is not infinitely patient."
"You just said she is, and then that she isn't-"
"Honey Badger, my day job was dealing with teenagers for years." SRS backed it up with a furious glare. "And even outside of that, I like to think I'm capable of realizing when someone is on the verge of snapping."
"It's not my fault I have-"
SRS ignored what followed, and decided that, next time Honey Badger annoyed MG4, she'd let her shorter sister have her fun. Probably.
-Faded Glory-
"Honestly, you're doing quite well." They were hovering a short distance away from the base, PP-2000's hands well away from the controls, letting OTs-39 get a feel for how the airframe responded on her own.
"I am?" OTs-39 shook her head, eyes darting across the gauge cluster again. "I don't feel like it."
"Better than I was with this much training." Listening to the engines spin up as OTs-39 pushed their altitude up, PP-2000 hummed. "Granted, they hadn't quite optimized the information packages, so I spent a few days out for the count as my Neural Cloud tried to figure out how to work again."
OTs-39's risked a quick look to the side, and they swayed in the air before she leveled out again. "That doesn't sound good."
"It isn't." Reflecting on her Neural Cloud trying to eat itself always presented a novel, if uncomfortable experience. "Although that was at a point when they were still using a lot of ex-military tech for training, and people forgot that civilian dolls didn't have the same hardware. Also, that we don't need to know things like how to control air to air radars and what the right interval to launch chaff and flares is." She still had some of that junk data buried in the depths of her mind, even if PP-2000 tried not to think about it. "You got a streamlined package with the knowledge for flying only." To her surprise, when PP-2000 brought the problem up, the Commander had been quite willing to assist in ensuring her own experiences did not repeat.
OTs-39 nodded, focusing on bringing them in a low circle back towards the base. Her movements were still stiff, and unsure, but at the very least, PP-2000 gauged her able to take off, land, and move point to point, without duress. "I don't think I'd want to fly someone where I'd be getting shot at."
"If you ever actively desire to fly into a combat zone, get your Neural Cloud checked." PP-2000 set a route on the network, leading them back to base. OTs-39 set off, making a slow but steady pace as she did.
The remaining flight passed in silence, PP-2000 keeping an eye on the instruments, and OTs-39 focusing on flying.
"You seem a lot happier." OTs-39 broke the quiet about halfway back to the base.
That caught PP-2000 off guard, and a few seconds to actively process. "I do?"
"Yup." 39's hair bounced under the flight helmet as she nodded. "Before you were, I guess just depressed? You obviously didn't really want to be a soldier, and whatever you did before Griffin didn't prepare you to be one. Tiss, me, we weren't really soldiers, but we did stuff that made sense to become a soldier." A pause, before then both laughed. "Well, I think Tiss did."
"She dealt with military things at least." PP-2000 could see the point, even if she never quite thought about it. "While I was a pilot."
"Yeah. Now, you're back to doing something you seem to like, and you're happier. And more confident." A giggle followed. "And you can handle SV-98 better than anyone who isn't Groza."
"I don't think being willing to let SV-98 get the stuffing kicked out of her by 74M counts as handling her." PP-2000 countered, even as her lips turned up at the memory. Petty or not, she enjoyed it.
"You'd have just hidden in a corner before when she started going at it with 74M." OTs-39 pointed out, banking into a low turn. "SV-98 actually respects you, at least a little bit."
"I don't think that's respect." If that qualified as respected, PP-2000 didn't know if she wanted it. "Accept, maybe. I don't think SV-98 respects anyone who isn't Groza or who can't beat her senseless."
"She listens to you." OTs-39 countered. "When you tell her to shut up, she'll be quiet more often than not."
"I don't think that's respect." 2000 repeated. "That's being afraid of Ballista."
To PP-2000's surprise that drew a frown from the other pilot. "What's up with her anyway? She's always hanging out with you, almost more than her team."
"Five-seveN annoys her, and without FAL to play buffer she prefers to stay away." It made perfect sense, as far as PP-2000 was concerned, Five-seveN seemed to be a bit of a menace.
"FNC and FN-49 mentioned that too." OTs-39's gaze drifted towards the approach base before she snapped out of her thoughts. "Do you know if Ballista ever actually called Five-seveN a 'ditzy whore'?" PP-2000 tore her attention away from the flight instruments, blinking in disbelief at the question. OTs-39 hastened to explain, likely sensing the confusion. "Something Tiss says she was told."
"While it wouldn't surprise me, doesn't seem like something Ballista would do." If anything, Ballista would have said something worse. "She's blunt but not usually that kind of blunt." OTs-39 gave her an odd look. Somewhere between confusion and awe. "What?"
"Just, well, you're the person both of the snipers on base who scare people talk to." OTs-39 shook her head. "SV-98's an absolute jerk with her head up her butt, but she mostly listens to you, and doesn't get mad when you let her get the snot beat out of her. Ballista just hangs off you, and you know what she means when she talks and stuff. It's weird."
PP-2000 spent most of the rest of the flight trying to come up with a good argument against that point. Unfortunately, even as the skids touched concrete, she continued to search.
Ballista stood waiting for them, expression especially severe. She'd slung her rifle across her back and had PP-2000 and OTs-39's guns with her, which was odd, given that none of them were scheduled to be off base. Based on her expression, PP-2000 figured she just wanted company on the range, to work off some frustration.
"What did Five-seveN do?" She pointedly ignored OTs-39's smug stare, keeping her eyes firmly on Ballista.
Ballista's lips thinned. "Not what. Who." OTs-39's 'I told you so' look melted into a worried frown, and PP-2000 let out a long breath. She really didn't want to know what that meant, but she was about to find out.
-Faded Glory-
AR-15 knew she would regret letting herself get dragged into this situation. More specifically, letting herself get dragged into a room with Five-seveN, Ak-Alfa, and SV-98. While the previous days had been quiet, without the various Echelon leaders on base, and she did want to escape both SOPMOD and M16, she'd want to spend time on the range, or by herself, not getting roped into whatever stupid antics these three were up too.
"You can at least pretend you don't want to shiv me." Ak-Alfa didn't seem all that bothered by the idea of AR-15 trying such a thing, all things considered, which probably should have been an insult in and of itself. "Unless your idea of bonding time is violence."
"If you are going to stab her, please stab the side facing away from me, getting fluids out of my jacket is a bit of a pain." AR-15 didn't want to know what went on in the mind of a woman more worried about her coat than someone getting stabbed. Even SOPMOD didn't go quite that far.
SV-98 huffed, obviously disgusted, or at least annoyed by the Belgian. "You act like you'd actually clean it and wouldn't just buy a new one." AR-15 didn't consider herself an expert, but the sniper seemed far too tense for such a casual situation. Five-seveN flashed an innocent smile that none of them bought.
"I'd much rather shoot you." AR-15 cut across the squabble, already tired of it.
"How kind." Ak-Alfa rolled her eyes, obviously not taking that seriously either. AR-15 glared, which didn't intimidate the white-haired doll in the least. "You sure you've got the guts for that?"
SV-98 produced a pistol from somewhere. "We can always find out?" The Russian's tone all but dared her agree. AK-Alfa's eyes lit up, and AR-15 doubted that taking that offer would end well for her.
Shooting one of her coworkers, even if it was one that she really did not care for, would probably count as some kind of infraction. "I'm not some puppet dancing for your amusement."
"Sure." SV-98 didn't make her agreement convincing, but she let the subject drop, pistol vanishing into her coat again, before she rounded on Five-seveN. "You got everyone here, what did you want?"
"Well, our illustrious leaders are all off having a nice little bonding session, and it seems like we should do the same, no?" The Belgian's smile didn't inspire confidence. AR-15 didn't see why she'd want to 'bond' with any of these Dolls. They were by far the most annoying bunch of people she'd ever had the misfortune of meeting, and that was when she didn't have to interact with this for a long period of time. "After all, we're tasked with making sure they don't cause too much trouble."
"Speak for yourself." Ak-Alfa leaned against the wall, pulling her jacket tight around her body and crossing her arms to keep it there. "KSG's good at staying out of trouble. Pretty sure SV-98 needs more helping staying out of trouble than Groza does." Her eyes drifted to AR-15, holding the pink haired Dolls eyes for a while. "That one…maybe."
"The hell is that supposed to mean?" AR-15 snarled.
"That M4 seems like she needs a little kick to actually get things done." Ak-Alfa didn't seem bothered by the hostile tone. "No offense but you got a real wallflower for a squad leader." Grunting in agreement, AR-15 backed down. "Unlike, say, FAL, who's full of insane plans." Ak-Alfa cocked her head. "I'm sure that makes your job fun."
"I believe that is no longer my job." The smugness rolling off Five-seveN made her even harder to look at than usual. "Groza has taken over that role."
"Like hell she has." SV-98 cut in.
"I'm pretty sure SV-98 has a monopoly on Groza's emotional support skills." Ak-Alfa agreed, as SV-98 nodded, before seeming to change her mind, flipping Ak-Alfa off instead. The American waved her off. "No thanks."
"What, not good enough for you?" Almost sneering, the Russian's eyes flickered to Five-seveN. "Prefer someone more like her?"
If it were possible for a Doll to turn green, AR-15 suspected Ak-Alfa would have. "Nope." Shaking her head in thought, she glanced at AR-15. "If that one wasn't a massive try hard, maybe."
"What?" AR-15 expected some mocking jibe to follow, or a sudden reversal, but Ak-Alfa just held her gaze with her usual nonchalance.
"I can insult you and call you cute in the same breath." Ak-Alfa shrugged. "I'm told it's part of my charm." Now that, AR-15 knew to be a joke. It had to be a joke. "Granted, we aren't working with a high bar, considering how low that one sets it." Ak-Alfa nodded back at Five-seveN who continued to smirk in the corner.
AR-15 couldn't really if she was being messed with, but she wouldn't take it lying down if she was. "I'd consider finding a better means of introduction than insults if you want to ever actually get anything out of that 'charm'."
Snarking back might have been the wrong choice, as Ak-Alfa settled back with a growing grin. "Believe it or not, I am quite aware that I'm a total bitch who talks without much consideration of the consequences." Letting her head roll back, the white haired doll shrugged. "It's what they expected outta me as a soldier, and it's what I'm used to. Makes things easy for me, and it's not my job to be likable."
Fixing Alfa with a long stare, SV-98 shook her head. "Even I struggle to believe you're capable of that level of introspection."
"Unlike you, I don't enjoy the taste of boot leather, I merely consider myself right, and everyone else wrong." The tone took out most of the sting of those words, and explained so much about their previous interaction. "And it's my solemn duty to make sure my crayon eating leader doesn't get ideas above her station."
"I'm afraid you've lost me." AR-15 figured that it was a safe time to ask. "What do crayons have to do with any of this?"
Ak-Alfa's smirk only widened. "Marines. You have to give them constant attention, or they start getting ideas. And a Marine with an idea is significantly more dangerous than a Marine without an idea."
"I will have to assume this is a weird American thing, and that I should be glad to not be involved" SV-98 looked to Five-seveN for help and got a shrug in return.
"Given the average state of the Russian 'Marines', yes, it is." Ak-Alfa took a minute to gather herself. "But, if we're going to sit here and trade historically charged barbs all night, we'll leave her," A nod to AR-15, "Out, and that is no fun at all."
"I'm more than happy to not get dragged into this." AR-15 meant that, she did not want to spend the night getting insulted. And, frankly, if this was what military Dolls were like, she'd rather stay with Persica and 16Lab.
"I'm sure you've happy to not get dragged into it, but this is bonding time, and that means everyone insults everyone." Somehow Alfa made that sound like a cheerful event, and worse still the other two were nodding along. "It also helps SV-98 feel less like she's being held hostage by the enemy."
"How would not getting insulted leave her feeling like a hostage?" AR-15 made a note that she needed to move this conversation back into topics she knew, because asking questions did not make for an enjoyable experience. Five-seveN seemed to understand, based on the concealed giggle.
"You seem to be under the impression I enjoy being insulted." Leaning forward, SV-98's lips were drawn thin, the first sign of genuine anger AR-15 had seen.
"Enjoy? Nah." Waving that aside, Ak-Alfa forged on. "But you aren't going to tell me that being in a military outfit doesn't insult you and doesn't scare and confuse you."
"And just because I know it, doesn't mean I want it." A small bit of heat underscored that, suggesting the American struck a nerve. "Or would you like to return to living in a cramped metal deathbox with a big gun?"
"Unlike you, we design our tanks to keep the people in them alive." Ak-Alfa shot back, her own tone gaining a bit of an edge. "And is that really a fight you want to start?"
When SV-98 dipped her head in agreement, AR-15 realized she'd missed an entire conversation. How they'd gone from being told that Ak-Alfa would date her if she wasn't a 'tryhard', whatever that meant, to insults about tanks and history AR-15 still couldn't quite follow.
"It's quite inspiring to see such reconciliation between former enemies." Five-seveN took the chance to jump in, flinching back when both former soldiers rounded on her.
"Says the woman who they both have a problem with." AR-15 muttered. She regretted stepping in this room at all. "You seem like the last person to be judging others for their friendship making skills."
"Maybe." The words rolled off Five-seveN with ease.
"She's just interested in betting on FAL's love life and seducing our logistics officer." Despite Five-seveN's best attempts to look offended, SV-98 remained visibly unconvinced. "Kalina's a gold digger, and you're the practical definition of the capitalist whore who would lead men to ruin." The last bit came out with a far more pronounced accent than usual, giving the distinct impression of parroting back the party line. "Or, whatever that old Soviet tripe was."
"I feel as if I should be offended by association." Before Five-seveN could reply, Ak-Alfa cut in. "At the very least, don't lump us all in with her."
Shrugging with a degree of melodrama, Five-seveN tossed her hair back over her shoulder. "It is not my fault you don't enjoy the finer things in life."
"Right." AR-15 drawled, as the other two nodded along. The moment of unity felt odd, as they stared down the Belgian Doll.
Said Belgian deflated with seemingly genuine disappointment. "I expect such things out of the Russian, but you two?" Her eyes flickered between Ak-Alfa and AR-15.
"M16 claims to 'enjoy the finer things in life'. That translates to drinking herself stupid and being a menace." AR-15 crossed her arms. "Not exactly a ringing endorsement."
"Enjoying the finer things in life sounds like a quote from someone in Florida would say after getting arrested." Pausing for a theatrical shudder, Ak-Alfa went on. "And there is an unspoken agreement that KSG and I will do our best to conform to exactly none of the stereotypes about our home state."
"Western decadence degrades morality and the Russians spirit." SV-98 delivered her decree with the same tone of wisdom that M16 used when trying to extol the virtues of whiskey, and AR-15 didn't buy it, but it abused Five-seveN, and that counted for a lot, in the moment.
"Spoken like a true Soviet." Ak-Alfa grumbled, receiving another rude gesture for her trouble.
"Unfortunately, a few of the idiots who served seemed to think that the USSR was the good old days." Something that SV-98 did not agree with, based on her scathing tone. "Then again, those idiots died ever faster than the rest of us."
"Impressive." AR-15 couldn't tell if that was a sincere statement or a mocking on.
"Quite." SV-98's clipped tone killed any chance of asking for an explanation, as well as the more companionable atmosphere. AR-15 pushed herself further into her chair. She'd try and leave, but someone, probably on purpose, put her furthest away from the door, thus requiring going through three other Dolls to get away.
"You could at least pretend that you aren't planning your great escape." Five-seveN apparently caught on to her thoughts.
"I'm stuck in a room with people who I actively dislike, who actively dislike me, and at least one of whom has expressed a desire to express that dislike with violence." AR-15 nodded towards Alfa, getting a raised brow in return. "Forgive me if I want to spend my time doing other, and better things."
"And here I thought we were making progress." Over exaggerated pouting would not convince AR-15 that the Belgian was sincere at all.
"If someone here is going to actually attack you, it's probably me." That felt unusually self-aware of SV-98 then again, AR-15 would admit that she'd misjudged the other sniper, slightly. "That one's a tanker, she'll talk big, but if something needs punching and she can't do it from a safe distance, she'll find some poor infantryman to take the blame."
"Speaking from experience?" When SV-98 shook her head, Ak-Alfa threw out an over dramatic sigh of her own. "Meanwhile, Five-seveN there would find someone way to make one of us do it, and think it was our idea." The Doll in question didn't even deny it.
"So glad that I only need to be worried about a sniper with violent ideas."
"I mean, it's worth worrying, she took a swing at 74M." Five-seveN chimed in.
"Yes yes, laugh at the woman who thinks she can fight a Spetsnaz." Again, a bit of heat started to enter SV-98's tone "I'll see you do better."
"Been there, don't want to repeat." True to the earlier accusation, Ak-Alfa bowed out at once. "I've got sisters for that."
"I know my limits, and I have a team for that." Five-seveN agreed, before all three turned to AR-15 in an eerie sync.
"What?"
The very fact she had to answer the question seemed to offend Alfa. "You're the one who thinks she's hot shit."
"You're talking about 74M." AR-15 asked to stall for time to think. SV-98 nodded. Friend with M16, which meant AR-15 didn't like her chances. "Assuming that being friends with M16 doesn't mean that she takes a side, sure."
"She's friends with who?" Eyes narrowing, SV-98 leaned forwards.
"M16. Saw them talking." AR-15 paused. "And telling M16 that her taste in liquor is apparently awful."
"The hell is your sister doing associating with someone like her?" SV-98's eyes were shadowed. "74M's alright, but that's not a good bunch to hang around with."
"What, you end up in a body bag?" Alfa said it as a joke, AR-15 could tell. The sniper however didn't take it as such.
"Usually because they put you there." SV-98 nodded. "Got any idea how your sister ended up friends with one of them?"
"No." Admitting that she didn't know much of anything about her sister seemed like a bad idea. "She doesn't talk much about whatever happened before the AR team was formed."
"Small wonder if she's cavorting with that lot." SV-98 flopped back, intensity fading once again. Her eyes turned to Ak-Alfa. "You got a clue?"
"Nope." The American put an odd emphasis on the p. "Spent my time in France, then Germany, then ended up in Minsk as KSG's errand girl before we got shipped out into fighting again." Rolling her shoulders, Ak-Alfa offered them a small concession. "I'm sure some of them are familiar with me, but we never got cozy, that I know of."
"Smart." SV-98 seemed to realize that she'd ended up the center of attention, mouth shutting tightly as she pulled back.
AR-15 didn't want to let it go at that. Even a vague hint as to what M16 kept from them would be more than she'd gotten elsewhere. Even if she had to get it from one of these three. "So, what kind of thing would she have gotten tied up with M16?"
"Something hush hush, and that we don't want to know about." Even for Ak-Alfa the reply came off as dismissive.
"I'm sure I couldn't figure that out on my own." AR-15 snapped back.
"It's the best answer you're going to get, because those sorts of jobs nobody talks about, unless they're about to put on in the back of your head." Unfortunately, she'd chosen to pick a fight with someone equally verbally combative. "Figured you'd be aware of that, given how hard you try and act like that's your thing."
"I don't-"
AR-15 didn't get to finish her protest, Ak-Alfa cutting her off with a dismissive wave. "Yeah, sure. What's the deal with you lot? You're got a psycho with makes sculptures of her enemies, you're some wannabe hardcase, a drunk with one eye, and a leader who might as well jump at her shadow." Counting them off on her fingers, the white haired doll gave it a beat for someone else to interject. "Bit weird, ain't it? I get the new officer scared of her shadow, but usually they don't turn about and tenderize a murder bot with a sword using a stolen handgun. And I think it's long since proven that putting people who actively enjoy tearing limbs off in a SOF unit is stupid."
"Now that you say it." SV-98 started nodding along. "Even at our worst we didn't deploy officers that were scared. So what's the story?"
"You think I know?"
"She's your sister." A brow rose, a question, concern, and statement wrapped into one. "And your direct superior. Pretty sure that's damn near your job."
AR-15's eyes flashed with a sudden anger before simmering down again. An irrational desire to beat that idea out of the other Doll rose up, pushed down by the fact she didn't think she could take all three of them. "I don't see what being her sister has to do with it?"
The other two looked to Alfa. The American huffed, a flash of what might have been genuine annoyance flashing across her features, before being replaced with acceptance. "Just because I'm a massive bitch doesn't mean I don't know how my sister's think and work." Her features twisted, in some sort of internal debate. AR-15 couldn't tell why, but the subject appeared to genuinely bother the white-haired Doll, before she rounded on Five-seveN.
"I'm afraid I'm not much help." She did not sound apologetic in the least.
Muttering insults, Ak-Alfa took another moment to gather her thoughts. "Look, surely you know things about those three that…" She trailed off. "Right you don't deal with other people." AR-15 got the impression of disgust, albeit not with her, for once. "I talk a lot of trash, but MG4, KSG, and I, we're all very aware of our faults. Half of what we do is play interference when something is a little off for one of the others." A beat. "Or when Honey Badger exists. SRS is getting her crash course in sisterly love dealing with that problem."
SV-98 crossed her legs. "How so?"
Ak-Alfa snorted. "You know that Honey Badger just, completely pisses me off right?" All of them nodded. Even the blind could tell that. "Well, MG4 usually runs interference to make sure I don't break someone, but her patience is running out, and I don't think an impulsive adrenaline junkie is going to realize that until she gets to experience one of many inappropriate uses of a bipod." SV-98 turned a bit green, and AR-15 bit her tongue, not wanting to find out that answer.
"I have a suspicion that you mean something different than what comes to mind." Five-seveN tried to look innocent with absolutely no success.
"And you wonder why Ballista thinks you're a ditz." SV-98 gave voice to AR-15's thoughts nicely, although without knowing that particular bit. "I would rather not know what things a German did to my countrymen with an improvised weapon."
"I don't know the finer details." Alfa did, AR-15 could tell from her eyes and tone. Mercifully she didn't elaborate. "Regardless, we're a dysfunctional mess as 'families' go, but we try to take care of each other. That seems like the paradigm you four are going for, so, spill." The American turned her attention back to AR-15
"Nothing to 'spill.'" AR-15 bit out. "M4's indecisive."
"Doesn't sound like nothing." Five-seveN seemed to have found her time to reenter the conversation, elbow on her knee, a partially hidden smile before the hand she rested her chin on. "I don't think I need to list off all the things that SV-98 finds annoying about Groza, I assume KSG annoys Alfa-"
"KSG's existence is an annoyance." Alfa confirmed.
"-And anyone can tell you that FAL and I have a mutually antagonistic love affair."
"More antagonism, less affair." SV-98 corrected. "Fortunately."
"Details." Five-seveN waved her aside. "Point is, we all have some complaints about teammates and siblings, and we're not going to hold those against you."
AR-15 glared, harder. Sadly, that didn't have much impact, the Belgian continuing to stare her down with the look of smug satisfaction that AR-15 really wanted to remove.
-Faded Glory-
"Commander? Commander!" Kalina's voice drew him from his musing. "You're zoning out."
"Ah. Sorry." He shook off the musing. "Guessing they've gotten tired of waiting for me to finish this mess." Poking vaguely at the pile of folders at the corner of the desk, Ian didn't really need Kalina's amused nod. "Understandable." He had, after all, been putting this off, and putting it off.
"What problem has you so focused?" Kalina fell into step as they left his office.
Plenty. Most that didn't involve her. "Realizing that I need to put in requests for a lot more personnel than originally planned."
"Oh?" One of Kalina's brows rose. He could see the gears turn as she tried to think about where that money might come from.
Nodding, Ian held up a hand. "Just to list the basics, we need someone to actually handle our base armory, because letting people carry weapons twenty-four seven is a bad idea. A proper engineer to help with repairs, and maybe if we're lucky double as a medic for us humans, if we're lucky they could help with helicopter repair, but I'm not holding out hope there. PP-2000 needs to be replaced in Groza's time, as 74M is technically a replacement for OTs-39." Count off again, Ian sighed. "That's just what I've thought up immediately and that I consider priorities."
"No love for me?" For a minute he couldn't tell if that was a joke, but the mirth in her eyes gave it away.
"I already got you a helper, don't get greedy." They fell into a comfortable silence for most of the rest of the walk. Watching her, Ian couldn't tell if the relaxed attitude, and unusual spring in her step were performance, or a genuine change. "You holding up alright?"
"Yeah." Nodding, Kalina shot him a sideways look. "You've dug up my past." Not an accusation, just a statement. Not a great start, but not the worst one.
"A bit. Not far given that your records run out surprisingly quickly." He knew she was a war orphan, but that didn't say much. It might be easier to list children in Europe who weren't orphaned than those that were. "Enough to guess that you've been through a certain kind of hell." A solemn nod followed. "Hence the question."
"I'm fine, Commander. This is a normal kind of stress." Despite the words, her eyes didn't quite return to the previous brightness. "You owe me a raise though."
"And you've seen my budget." She probably knew the budget better than he did. "So unless you can talk someone into taking a pay cut, I'm afraid that some things are beyond my power." That brightened her expression, as they stepped into the room that had been set aside for the human staff to relax. A place Ian rarely visited, in part due to being eternally busy, and partly, because he made himself busy.
"Commander." Aleksander raised a glass as they entered, apparently not content to wait.
"Starting without me I see." Ian took a seat. "And just use my name. we're off duty, and my head hurts enough as it is without having to parse rank."
The Ukrainian shrugged. "Whatever you say boss." Ian suddenly realized he didn't know what the legal drinking age was, or if Kalina met the threshold, then immediately decided he didn't care. Anyone wanted to argue about it, he had a private army, and blackmail material.
"Careful, he might actually slash your budget, if that glare is anything to go by." Lena's own drink appeared to already be empty, that or she'd decided to wait for him before starting. Likely the former.
"Tempting, but alas." Not bothering to look at the bottle, Ian poured himself far more than generous drink. This conversation would be awkward no matter what but being halfway to drunk might help. "Ask away." He waved the drink, suppressing a wince when the first sip burned.
From the quick look around the table they'd made some arrangements beforehand. Aleksander settled back in his chair before speaking. "How'd you end up in the military?"
"Wanted out of Ohio. Joined up as soon as I could." While the man seemed willing to buy it, Lena did not, her eyes narrowing, questions clear without ever speaking. "No bullshit. Ohio's a cesspit of a state, and I lived near enough to Cleveland that the general miasma of misery from the city wafted over in my general direction."
"General miasma of sadness." The dubious tone asked Kalina's question better than she could have.
"A factory of sadness, that is what Cleveland is." Without any American to back him up, he couldn't really find a way to carry on that point. "That, and the Army paid better than any offer I could get straight out of school."
"Right. American. Actually paid soldiers." Aleksander groused. "And post war?"
"Wandered around. Did odd jobs. Made good money that way." He took another, longer drink. "Germans wanted brains and paid handsomely for them."
"West?" Lena. Ian nodded.
"East gave us all kinds of hell, they didn't exactly take the mess at the start of the war kindly and wanted to make sure everyone knew it. Caused all kinds of domestic unrest, kept me employed for quite a while." That would probably be the limit of what he could reasonably say.
"Never came over to our side of the border?" While Aleksander's question seemed innocent, Ian could see the trap waiting.
"I spent some time on the eastern side of the border, if that is what you're asking." Ian drummed his fingers against the glass, still drinking as he did so. "How do you think I met Kryuger?"
"Figured you got hired the same as anyone else, needed money, and had the experience." Aleksander's cocked his head. "You saying the man himself hunted you down?"
"Spent a couple years trying. Wanted to stay out of the military world if I could, so kept telling him to stuff it."
"So what changed?" Lena asked the question this time.
Wasn't that a question, a grimace tugging at Ian's lips. "Don't suppose you'd believe me if I said that Kryuger finally made a good point?" All three of them had a look that said they did not. "Figures." He finished off the drink. "It's largely true. Kryuger raised some reasonable points, and I couldn't wander forever. Man can only spend so long running before he needs to stop and breathe. Not that it made the bastard listen when I asked for a quiet, out of the way posting."
"Sector 9 is supposed to be quiet and out of the way." Kalina's smirk did not make that statement sting any less.
"You've had how many Commanders shot out here?" Pouring more liquor, Ian shook his head. "This is quiet in the same way that a bomb shelter is quiet."
"Colorful analogy." Lena mused. "Experience?"
"A bit." Ian admitted. "Less bombs, more artillery, but same idea."
"Not sure there's much difference." Lena took a sip of her own drink, eyes narrow. "Soviets dropped enough of both to flatten half a country." Ian hummed, curious where this was going.
"Didn't do them much good." Aleksander shot back. "Blowing up half of Poland did about as much as the invasion."
"Pissed us off is what it did." Guttural and low, that growl spoke of unclosed wounds. Ian made a note to avoid work in Poland in the future. "Not that it made you American's show up any faster."
"In our defense, some psycho thought blowing up the middle of our country with a WMD would be a fun way to spend a weekend." He knocked back another drink. "And our dear Soviets friends decided that letting us ship troops over the Atlantic might not be a good idea."
Lena grunted, eyes narrow, and obviously unconvinced by perfectly reasonably military truths. "Seems like a feature of the Americans, doesn't it? Fucking over Eastern Europe?"
"Can't comment on things that happened before I was born." Well, Ian could, in theory, given that he had access to those materials, but there were more important things to handle at the time, and frankly he never thought to go looking.
"Never stopped Americans before."
He was not drunk enough to have a conversation about the mess that was early 2000's foreign policy. "I'm not exactly the person to talk too about the poor choices of my home country. And I'm not going to sit here and claim they made good ones." That earned him a pair of huffs, but they let the point go. "And I remember something about some bastard in Polish FOBs?"
-Faded Glory-
AR-15 didn't know quite what to think. The atmosphere between them as a group remained tense, and there were more barbs traded than friendly remarks, but it settled into something approaching comfortable. Or as comfortable as AR-15 could get when she was sitting between a Soviet and an American who were in the process of comparing military accomplishments. Five-seveN had asked a vaguely leading question and down the rabbit hole they went.
"All I'm saying," Alfa leaned back, "Is that you couldn't beat a bunch of crayon eating meatheads with limited supplies and support, what the hell made you think you'd do well when they got the help?" Based on SV-98'd glare, AR-15 thought that Ak-Alfa might have had a point. "Then again, you did have weirdo's making Dolls like her, and her sisters so maybe there was a secret plan all along?"
AR-15 leaned forwards, voice dropping in anger. "What are you trying to say?"
"That whoever made you, and your sisters had a sick sense of humor, and needs to be checked for mental instability." That lined up with previous statements but AR-15 still didn't like it. "Shoot me pink hair, crippling confidence issues, crippling violence addiction, and crippling drinking problems? I know I said someone wanted to get you in particular killed but maybe they were trying to off all of you."
SV-98 beat her to a retort. "I thought sending them out into that mess alone without help was proof enough of that already. Doesn't matter how you are, getting thrown into that disaster without any backup is asking to get shot." A pause, as the sniper looked back to AR-15. "Glare is impressive thought, I admit."
"Don't be too hard on her, it's not as if we could have done much better." Faux sympathy seemed to be a specialty of Five-seveN, as AR-15 didn't find her sincere in the least.
"Speak of yourself." Alfa muttered, to an agreeing nod from SV-98.
"And how do you propose to do better?" All of the backhanded talk and double references were getting the best of her, and AR-15 wanted a straight answer.
Some silent negotiation happened between them, which SV-98 evidently won. "There are five of us, and four of you, which is already an advantage. More of us are battle tested, which means we aren't going to panic." Building up some momentum the sniper started kept up before AR-15 could interject "Less likely to split up, more likely to perform basic tasks such as overwatch. Not going to send a sniper into a confined space which they can't make use of any of their advantages. Experienced commanders, who are used to working in a mess."
AR-15's eyes flashed, a bit of a sneer starting to creep onto her lips. "I seem to recall a sniper coming down into a confined space to find me."
"I am, in fact, capable of hand to hand." SV-98 paused, then took back whatever she was about to say. "Then again, I'm also capable of the basic act of not losing my weapon and getting captured."
"It was-"
"A shit plan." The Russian snapped.
"Definitely what SRS would consider a failing grade." Alfa confirmed. AR-15 snarled, being treated like a child only making the situation worse. "Hell, I've seen Russians with better plans than that."
"I too have seen Russians with better plans than 'I get captured as a vector to assassinate the enemy officer'." Five-seveN joined in. SV-98 flipped her off, and was ignored.
"We have plenty of good plans, just really trash officers." SV-98 grumbled. "And then you think fighting a Ringleader hand to hand is a good idea?" Her eyes narrowed on AR-15.
"Worked, didn't it?"
"I usually figure that brains and boobs are inversely related, but you sure seemed set on proving that wrong." The words were carefully calculated to travel just far enough for AR-15 to hear them. She rounded on Ak-Alfa, who didn't seem repentant in the least. "What? Going to try and tell me I'm wrong?"
"Bit rich, coming from you."
"You think that's gonna hurt, you need to spend more time in the infantry." Her eyes flashed. "Oh right. You're not infantry. You're some wanna special forces." SV-98 sucked in a breath, rising in a futile attempt to stop AR-15 from diving at the American. Instead, they both careened into her uncontrollable, as AR-15 fumbled for her knife, and the two other Dolls scrambled to prevent things from escalating further.
AN: I regret nothing. Branded encouraged it.
