As sunlight shone through the open office window, a little bird followed the rays of light inside. Touching down on the rim of a flower pot, the bird curiously cocked its head as it investigated the room's single occupant. A human-shaped figure in a sharp dress uniform stood in front of a mirror, mumbling to herself as she adjusted her funny looking hat. The bird watched as the figure adjusted her hair, cocking the hat back and forth. Something seemed almost unnatural to the little bird as it watched; even though the figure appeared to be human, and her actions seemed to suggest human thought, little noises and motions and sounds suggested otherwise. The bird tried to ignore the exasperated human to pluck at the soil around the potted plant in a search for insects, but something just seemed off about the human. Curiosity got the better of it, and the bird looked up and sang a couple notes to the human.

Turning a round, her silver hair fluttering as she spun, the human figure faced the bird. Her face softened and smiled at the little birdie, holding her arm out as she approached slowly. The bird watched as the figure approached, feeling less frightened of this figure than any human it had seen before. The bird flapped its wings and landed on the outstretched finger that was offered as a perch for the bird. The figure spoke in a language similar to humans, but the voice didn't seem to come from a natural place. The bird tried its best to understand what it was looking at, but just couldn't see what was wrong. Confused, the bird was frightened back to the safety of the potted plant when there was a knocking on the door. The figure approached, doing something inconceivable by the bird's standards to open the wall portal.

"Commandant Kar98k," reported a new figure, a little shorter but wearing a slightly similar human outfit, "MP40 reporting for duty."

The two stood in a similar manner to each other and then slacked their stance. "I trust everyone is settling in well?" The Kar98k figure asked. The two made their way over to the desk in front of the bird and took seats on opposite sides from each other. The silver haired Kar98k with her back to the window, the sunlight illuminating her hair.

The blonde MP40 took her seat in such a way to keep the sunlight out of her eyes. She glanced over at the bird and smiled, before resuming the conversation. "Well, MG42 and MG34 are threatening to saw down the wall between their dorm so they can share, MP41 is trying to sneak around and test the different areas of the base for places to hide and take blackmail photos of everyone, and StG44 is upset that G43 spilled her drink all over her uniform and is now locked bare naked in the laundry room until it's all clean and pressed again." MP40 took a breath and glanced at the bird again. "Other than that the automated food dispenser in the cafeteria is awful, but we can hire a local human chef that needs work if you'd like."

Kar98k pinched the bridge of her nose as she leaned back in her chair. "Have P38 go and help 44 with her wardrobe malfunction, remind 41 that her camera is a privilege and not a right, and put P08 on getting a contractor to deal with the sisters dorm before 42 wastes ammo trying to shoot her way through the wall." She thought for a moment. "I'll have C96 come by later to look into hiring a few locals to help us out around here, starting with the kitchen."

MP40 nodded. "Other than that we're pretty well operational. FG42 reports that the training room and firing range work as planned, and I personally inspected all of our other facilities."

"How about the human engineer, what's his name again?"

"Fredrick, Ma'am." MP40 answered. "He's situated quite nicely, and is more than content to have a well paying job again. He's been quite consistent about kicking out MP41 unless it's important, so patient confidentiality will be maintained at least."

Kar98k gave a chuckle. "As long as he never fixes her camera for her I'm sure he'll be fine."

"Of course, Ma'am. He does insist on giving everyone a check up before we go on any missions however."

"Oh? What for?"

"Just to get acquainted with our parts and systems before we break or lose them." MP40 opened and closed her hand a couple times. "While I was there he tightened a finger joint for me. I believe I'll have better trigger pulls now."

Kar98k rubbed the back of her neck. "Maybe I'll have him check out this kink in my neck. Is that all?"

"No ma'am, nothing else to report."

The two stood as MP40 began to leave. She snapped a quick salute to Kar98k and left the room the same way she came in. Kar98k sighed and returned to the mirror, frowning at herself. The little bird tweeted at her dismay, clearly unaware of what troubled the not-human. Turning to face the bird, she approached again, bending over to look it in the eye. "Look at you," she said, her hands on her knees as she spoke to the bird, "singing away without a care in the world."

The bird kept moving its head back and forth, trying to get a good look with both of its eyes. Kar98k was clearly human, she had to be. The bird, however, could not see the same life in her eyes it would see out of other living creatures. It knew something was wrong, but it did not understand what. It had seen humans that were alive, dead, or twisted and burned by radiation. The thing before the bird was not human, it was like a living statue. It almost seemed like one of the human machines, a complicated contraption that the bird didn't even conceive of as a thing that could exist. Kar98k reached into her desk to retrieve something, and crunched it on her hand. The bird fluttered over and pecked away at the crushed cracker, pecking the inhuman hand covered in food. "I'll have something better for you next time." She promised the bird.

The promise meant nothing to the bird who did not understand. Having finished its meal, the bird turned and flew back to its home, making a note to return for more free food. Kar98k watched as the bird disappeared into the distance before taking another look at herself in the mirror. She wasn't happy with her appearance, wondering if her new position would require her to dress a bit more formally. Perhaps a dress skirt was too much, and pants were something she should start wearing. With a sigh, she remembered that her model has a slight issue with her leg joints overheating and cracking if they were overly exerted, and the air flow from a skirt was more function than form for her. Of course, being a sniper helped mitigate that issue with minimal movement, while being a field commander forced her to balance mobility and positioning for both herself and her team. Her legs did feel a little stiff lately, perhaps it was time to have the new mechanic take a look at her.

Leaving her office, Kar98k made a point to stop by the laundry room to have a chat with StG44 before heading off. Stopping at the door, it was locked to keep anyone else from walking in on 44 while she cleaned her clothes. With an exasperated sigh, Kar98k pushed a button on the doors controls to page inside the room. "I would appreciate it if you'd unlock this door so I don't have to override it."

After a moment her response came back, a bit meek. "I would, but I'm a bit indecent, Commandant." Well, that confirms MP40 was right about StG44 being that much of a neat freak.

"Unless you're hiding some sort of tribal tattoo or male body parts I think I'll be fine, just unlock this door please so we can talk a bit more formally." There was a pause as StG44 weighed her options. After a few moments the door locks disengaged, allowing Kar98k into the laundry room. She was immediately greeted by 44 as she tried to both cover herself with a piece of paper and salute. "At ease girl, why the hell didn't you change into another uniform?"

StG44, clearly embarrassed, nervously swept a strand of hair out of her face and looked down as she answered questions. "G43 tripped and fell on her way back to our dorm from her check up with the new mechanic and was still adapting to her new leg motors. She spilled her drink all over me and my uniforms I was trying to fold and organize."

Kar98k crossed her arms. "What exactly was she doing in your dorm again?"

"We were assigned a double dorm, ma'am." 44 looked a bit confused. "I thought you knew and assigned that."

"No, I didn't. I'll be switching you two with the MG sisters. You can have the choice of MG42 or 34's dorm and they get your shared room. Everyone is happy."

StG44 smiled at the news. "Excellent! I'll head over there as soon as I get my uniform issue fixed."

"P38 will be by soon to aid you with that, let her in please when she does arrive. I don't care if you're nude or not." StG44 gave a salute as Kar98k left, a little more confident having received the good news.

Kar98k understood her troubles, having spent about an hour making sure her own uniform was perfectly straightened and aligned. It wasn't easy finding antique medals to fit her own deeds, especially considering the army that distributed them was defeated and rebuilt well over a hundred years ago. Looking at the empty halls, she considered what they should decorate them with to give a less dreary, militaristic atmosphere. She made a point in the back of her mind to look up the requisition office and see what they had. Even lame propaganda would be better than whatever this ugly yellow paint is.

Passing by the cafeteria, she ran into one of her machine gunners, FG42, on her way out. "Ah, if it isn't our grand and noble commandant," she said, a hint of sarcasm in her tone, "have you come to patrol us lowly Dolls as we do our duty?"

Kar98k raised an eyebrow. "Is there a problem, gunner?"

FG42 laughed and adjusted her uniform. "Oh no, of course not," There was no reassurance in her voice, "as a Doll I could never have a problem with a human. It's just not in my programming."

"I'm no more human than you are, gunner," Kar98k defended herself, "just because I have more responsibilities doesn't make me more of a person."

FG42 shrugged. "Who knows what extra things they plugged into you to make such a promotion possible. Do you have some human organs now? Should I be ready if your appendix bursts during combat?"

"That is enough gross accusations FG42." Kar98k straightened her posture and stomped her foot. "You were informed of the purpose of this experimental upgrade when I selected you as a member of the brigade. If you'd like to be transferred out due to a lack of interest or jealousy let me know now so you don't waste my time any longer."

FG42 laughed. "Relax, Commandant, I'm just busting your balls." She gave her shoulder a playful shove and was met with firm resistance. "Of course, I guess based on how sensitive you are about it I guess they gave you a completely different organ." She giggled, gave a half hearted salute, and left when the only thing given back to her was a grim scowl from Kar98k.

Where did she get off making such gross accusations and insults? Even if it was an attempt at comedy, it was still at her own expense. Most troublesome was whether or not it was based on sentiments held by the rest of the Brigade. A command module installed so a Doll could become a more effective leader without a human command officer overseeing the operation was one thing; it happens quite often and MP40 was even given one to serve as second in command. In Kar98k's case, she was given a once in a lifetime opportunity to be the test for a much more experimental promotion to full commander. She would be in charge of the base top to bottom, delegating different operations to her hired staff. Everything so far was hand picked by her, and she had final say in just about everything. The upgrades to be able to handle such a promotion was quite extensive and mildly irritating, but without them she would probably have fried or shut down the second she began trying to run any operation. It was also quite expensive for the company, requiring G&K to put a lot of requests into the government to allow such an operation to legally happen in the first place. Needless to say, there was a lot on Kar98k's mind right now, and petty insults from a machine gunner were not what she needed.

Arriving at the new repair and mechanic bay, Kar98k hoped her newly hired engineer would be about more receptive to her then FG42 had been. She found him sitting at a bench listening to decades old music while reading a comic book that looked older than he was. Most notable, however, was the obvious burn scars she could see on his neck that seemed to spread down under his shirt. No doubt this former military engineer had seen combat before, reassuring her that he wasn't going to be like the average civilian Doll mechanic and would actually know how to work on a combat model. He kept his feet rested on a chair in front of him as he flipped the page in his comic and gave a slight salute, letting it down before she had a chance to return it. "Here for your physical commander?" He asked, keeping his eyes on the page in front of him.

"You must be Fredrick," Kar98k did her best to ignore his informality, hoping it wasn't a sign of something worse, "yes, I'm here for your checkup."

"Good, I was waiting to see you." He put a bookmark in his comic, placing it on his table and picking up a touch screen tablet. "I read through your model number and any recorded upgrades and repairs. Most important to me right now is to test your vision, and tune up those legs of yours like I did to the Klutz earlier."

"The 'klutz'?"

"Yeah, the blonde one that spilled all that sticky shit on the table despite my no drinks policy."

"I'll have a word with G43 about her soda problem." Kar98k sighed, this was the second complaint.

Fredrick shook his head and muttered to himself about orange soda. "Do me a favor, change into the paper gown so we can do this nice and easy."

Kar98k raised an eyebrow. "I thought this was just a checkup?"

Fredrick sighed. "You guys and your wannabe Third Reich uniforms have a lot of clanging medals and buttons and bullshit that make it really hard to listen to the important parts underneath your skin. I need to be able to hear straining pistons and gears with my stethoscope, not some hundred year old Iron Cross."

"Understandable, but I've never had to do this before."

"Yeah and neither did Princess earlier who insisted I wash my hands and wear gloves while I did my job." Fredrick typed something into his tablet as he spoke. "I'm not one of those weird civilian Doll mechanics that treats you guys like actual childrens dolls or sex objects. This is about as professional as I can be and I take my work very seriously. That's why Smiles and her camera were kicked out and all the security cameras were unplugged."

"You unplugged the security cameras?"

"Wasn't that hard to do. Now are we going to do this or should I wait for one of the others to barge in?"

Kar98k sighed and removed her coat. After all the effort she put into straightening her outfit and uniform here she was stripping it all down. "So, you were a mechanic in the War?" She asked, trying to make small talk.

"Yup, fixed everything from Dolls to tanks." Fredrick kept reading and typing on his tablet, not looking at Kar98k as she changed. At least he was holding true to his statement to remain professional and not ogle her like some people would.

"So what made you want this job?"

"Generally there are more civilian Dolls than there were civilian tanks."

"Well with the laws on civilian weapon procurement I'd imagine so."

Fredrick laughed. "And then here comes IOP, slapping hundred year old guns on civilian Dolls and selling them to Griffon and Kuyuger to go fight in wars." He looked over to see Kar98k struggling to tie her gown in the back. "That's a kids size, Commander, I have those for the smaller models. Try one for the adult size pile. Fucking ridiculous I have to say those words on a military base." He shook his head as he put the tablet down to pull out a couple tools.

"They may be smaller but they're still just as effective as the rest of us."

"Doesn't matter how big you are, using repurposed civilian dolls such as you guys always felt like using child soldiers to me." Fredrick placed his stethoscope over his neck and stood up, stretching his arms before he got to work. "Barely off the production line and you were handed a gun and told to shoot at whatever your boss told you to shoot. I don't see how it's much different from how those kids out in the yellow and red zones are living. I'm just here to make sure you make it to your 18th birthday. That is why I'm the best man for this job."

Kar98k raised an eyebrow as Fredrick approached her with his tablet and a handful of tools. "So you're going to treat us like a bunch of children then?"

"Yes, now stop asking scary questions humans don't like to hear from AI and you'll get a lollipop." He looked at his tablet again. "I'll need you to place one of your feet on the exam table so you're standing on one foot, I want to hear the support work in your legs."

Following his orders, Kar98k watched as he wordlessly listened to different areas of her leg, concentrating on areas with specific functions or parts. He wrote down any information on the tablet and made sure to circle some spots on a rough blueprint of her model. Fredrick then had her shift to the other leg, making different notes and comparing them to each other. "I can see where you've had some work done for sure, real shoddy work. Nothing I can't fix, let me just check your emergency cooling real quick just to be sure."

Fredrick put the stethoscope to her back and had her breathe deep. He listens to multiple locations, then listens from the front as well. "Just as I thought."

"What is it?" Kar98k asked, a little concerned.

"Well, your legs are pretty typical for your model, nothing a little tuning can't fix." Fredrick scrolled through his notes he took. "But your emergency cooling is complete shit. Whatever those upgrades they gave you are way too taxing, so they compensated by having your cooling systems focus on keeping your head from fucking exploding under duress."

"Exploding?"

"An exaggeration, you'll just shut down and need a hard reboot." Fredrick put his tablet back on his tool bench and leaned against it. "The problem comes from the jury rigged upgrades. Whoever did this working was trying real hard to stay close to IOP standards for Doll models, and they really fucked it up. Guess they were trying real hard to not make you into one of those Sangvis Ferri Dolls."

"Are you saying I'm not combat ready?"

"Oh no, you are. You just can't overtax any of your other parts during combat or you'll overheat." Kar98k continued giving him a look of disbelief as he rolled his eyes. "You should be fine in regular combat, but don't strain your body or push it too far. You're operating at 100%, but you can't risk pushing past that because you're already running such a big neural cloud upgrade that you weren't built for."

"So, what do you suggest I do with this information?"

"You're a commander now, use your troops to push themselves so you don't slag heap yourself in combat. Personally I would recommend shutting down non essential functions and systems to keep the strain down so you don't catch fire or something."

Kar98k reached to untie the paper gown and get down. "Right, are we done here then?" She asked. Fredrick nodded and got back to reading his comic book.

Getting dressed, Kar98k couldn't help but feel a little distraught with this new revelation. She hadn't expected the command upgrade would inhibit her from pushing herself too far in combat. Her team was small, and this only meant that they would need to stay on much less demanding combat missions just for her own personal safety. It didn't feel right to her to force them into less glorious objectives for her own safety, but the whole experiment relied upon her staying alive to do it in the first place. Maybe FG42 was right to hate her for being too human, here she was concerned about her own mortality.

Kar98k mentally slapped herself for thinking that way, deciding that she was no different than any of the Dolls below her. She would prove to them that she was no better than anyone else in the Brigade; and that it was her actions that distinguished her, not upgrades. As she left she didn't bother to fix and adjust her uniform, she had much larger concerns than what angle her hat was. Instead, she stopped by the cafeteria and picked up some more crackers for the birds. At least they didn't care if she was human or not.