SUPER IMPORTANT NOTE AT THE END OF THE CHAPTER!
Chapter 20: Bipolar Disorder
Owen felt his legs buckle from exhaustion, and he strained to keep on his feet. Every fiber in his body screamed in agony as he struggled to stand. Slowly, he straightened his legs and back, and took a step forward.
Pain shot up and down his leg, but Owen grit his teeth and took another step forward. Sweat was rolling down his face, and his vision blurred. His head started to swim and the floor started to rock.
He took another step.
He had been through worse, he just needed to keep picking his feet up and putting them back down.
Owen's leg buckled again, and he watched the ground rush up to meet him.
- Physical Therapy -
- Three weeks after injury -
Thirty minutes later Owen was sitting in a plastic chair, guzzling down a sports drink while a too cheerful physical therapist told him what a great job he did that day.
He rolled his eyes, "All I did today was fall, a lot."
The physical therapist scoffed at him, "From what I've been told, you shouldn't even be out of bed yet so I would say you've made good progress."
Owen grunted, but said nothing and the two sat in silence until Colette walked into the therapy office with the one thing Owem hated more than anything.
He glowered at the wheel chair until he sighed in defeat, stood, hobbled to the chair and dropped himself down.
The therapist ignored his bad attitude and looked to Colette, "Same time day after tomorrow?"
"Sounds good, thanks Malina." Colette replied before she turned and wheeled him outside.
The base at S09 was busier than ever since Sangvis had stepped up attacks in the area. Combat echelons were constantly flying off and abandoned dolls from overrun G&K positions throughout the area were constantly coming in.
Outpost 17 was no exception either. The Misfits were always either on a combat patrol, part of a QRF, or helping out with logistics.
"And here I am stuck in a fucking wheelchair." Owen grumbled to himself.
"It could be worse, you could be dead." Colette teased.
Owen tuned her out as she kept talking.
"Hey, Sir grumps-a-lot, are you even listening to me?" Colette asked as she thumped him on the back of the head.
"What?" Owen snapped.
"I asked if you were hungry, but it seems like you already filled up on Asshole-Os." Colette said coolly.
Owen looked at the spot where Freya was, then sighed as he watched four Blackhawks fly overhead in formation, "I'm sorry Colette, I'm not trying to be a dick, I just got a lot on my mind."
"Uh huh," Colette said, "stop feeling sorry for yourself."
Owen clenched his jaw and kept quiet. Taking his silence as victory, Colette wheeled him towards the cafe, put him at a table, and waited for Springfield to finish up with another order.
"So," Colette began as they waited, "how'd it go today?"
"Fine." Owen grunted.
"Oh good, and here I was worried about you going into too much detail." Colette said.
After a few seconds of silence, Colette sighed and stretched her arms. Once she was done, she studied Owen, who was staring blankly at a spot on the table.
When Springfield arrived, she greeted them both with her usual upbeat attitude. When Owen grunted out no more than a monosyllabic greeting, she glanced over to Colette who just shrugged and ordered for them both.
After Springfield left, the two sat at the table in silence, which suited Owen just fine.
He didn't want to deal with Springfield telling him how great it was to see him today and he didn't want Colette trying to cheer him up.
Lunch felt like it dragged on for ages. Owen's food was bland and tasteless and Colette tried to force small talk out of him. After that, Owen was wheeled out to a waiting vehicle, where Colette drove him back to the Outpost.
Once there, Colette pushed him from the motorpool to his room and offered to help him get comfortable, which he declined. After Colette left, he slowly pushed himself out of the wheelchair, and hobbled over to his wall locker.
Owen hated changing his clothes, everything hurt when he did, but he refused to let anyone dress or bathe him ever since he started regaining his strength.
He finished changing into fresh clothes and felt exhausted from the effort. He turned to hobble over to his bed, and saw the outline of someone sitting on the mattress. He took a step back from the intruder, stumbled, and fell.
Owen rolled onto his stomach as fast as he could, his pulse racing.
When he looked back at his bed, it was empty. He let out an exhausted sigh as he tried to get his arms under him to get into the push up position.
With a grunt, he tried to push himself up and could feel his body slowly start to rise, his chest started to ache from the effort.
His arms started shaking uncontrollably as he tried to push himself up all of the way.
Owen gritted his teeth and pushed as hard as he could, only to fall back onto the floor. He felt what little energy he had left drained out of him and didn't get off the floor until Colette found him the next day.
This process went on for weeks, Owen would wake up, someone would take him to therapy, they would try to convince him that the world did nothing but shit out rainbows, then they'd bring him back to his room, where he stayed shut away until the next day when it was time to go back to therapy.
The teams started to worry that they would be reassigned. The team leaders, along with MP-40, shared the worry, but assured them that Owen would be back to work soon, and that there was nothing to worry about.
- Outpost 17 -
- One month later -
MP-40 waited at parade rest as the Griffin UH-60 touched down, the wind from the rotors whipping her hair around wildly. From the outside, she appeared completely calm, except for a subtle clenching and unclenching of her fists behind her back.
Everyone at the Outpost had been wondering when they would be getting a visit from higher ups ever since Owen had essentially dropped off the earth, but they had hoped that if they kept things running in his absence no one would notice.
They did.
The door on the side of the black helicopter slid open before the blades started slowing down and out hopped G36. MP-40 briefly hoped that it would just be Gentiane's adjutant here to issue a warning, but those hopes were quickly dashed as the blonde maid turned to offer her hand to Gentiane as she stepped out of the helicopter, followed by G36c.
"Welcome to Outpost Seventeen Frau Kommandant." She said as she came to attention and snapped a salute, "What can I do for you?"
Gentiane gave a tired smile and motioned for MP-40 to put her hand down, "Please MP-40, you don't need to be so formal, I just came to check in on Commander Owen."
MP-40 lowered her salute, but went back to a crisp parade rest. She could see G36 give a subtle nod of approval and felt an immense burst of pride followed immediately by a sense of dread at the other Commander's words.
"Of course, Frau Kommadantin, I'm sure that Kommander Owen will be happy to see you," she nervously bounced on her feet, "however, he has been very busy, and may not be ready to receive company."
Gentiane studied MP-40 for a moment before letting out a sigh, "How bad is he?"
MP-40's demeanor faltered a bit, "Are you here to take him away?"
Gentiane blinked in surprise, "Of course not, why would we?"
G36c stepped forward with a reassuring smile, "We only came by to make sure that he is okay, he hasn't been showing up for his physical therapy and we haven't heard from him in a while."
MP-40 faltered a bit more as her gaze drifted down to her boots, "He's in his room, I'll take you to him."
Gentiane and the G36 sisters shared a look as Owen's adjutant turned to lead them to the Commander's quarters. MP-40 led the group through the newly renovated Outpost and to the living quarters.
As they were walking through the common area they saw K11, Olena, and Uzi joking and playing cards while a radio blared loudly. K11 was the first to notice the group and reached over and turned the radio down. At first Uzi and Olena protested until K11 nodded to the newcomers.
K11 and Uzi eyed the group warily while Olena sneakily swapped her cards while no one was looking. K11 gave MP-40 a look, who just shook her head slightly in response. K11 leaned back in her chair, and Gentiane had to wonder what the exchange had been about.
MP-40 led them to Owen's quarters where Nines was standing outside like she was guarding the room. Nines scanned the group before her gaze finally settled on MP-40 who seemed to just deflate.
"How is he?" She asked Nines.
Nines looked at the rest of the group again, "Not ready for visitors."
Gentiane raised an eyebrow, "It's okay, we can wait."
Nines narrowed her eyes to study the three, and G36 stepped in between Gentiane and Nines, glaring at the Russian doll.
Gentiane moved to stand beside G36, who kept her gaze on Nines, "I'm not here to fire him, or arrest him or anything, I just want to make sure he's okay."
"Maybe she can help him with whatever is bothering him." MP-40 insisted quietly.
Nines' icy stare studied Gentiane, then G36 and G36c. She gave a single nod before she turned and raised a hand to knock on the door. She paused, lowered her hand, and turned back to Gentiane.
Gentiane noticed that there was an entire shift in the 9A-91 doll's demeanor.
"You need to understand that he's never been this bad." She explained quietly, though Gentiane could hear the uncertainty in her voice. "He was able to snap himself out of whatever this is before, but it's never been this bad, and never gone on for so long."
Gentiane nodded, "I understand."
Nines studied the other commander for a long time before she finally turned back around and knocked on the door.
Gentiane could hear a muffled voice through the door and Nines turned back to Gentiane with a nervous look in her eyes before she opened the door and moved aside. Gentiane braced herself for the worst and stepped through the threshold of Owen's quarters.
It was pretty much a twin of her own quarters, though it seemed to be a little smaller.
"Owen?" Gentiane called.
She was met with silence and she felt a sense of dread form in her gut.
"Owen, it's Gentiane." She called out again.
That time she heard a heavy thud come from the next room.
"Shit." She swore as she rushed towards the sound.
She was met with the sight of Owen laying on his back in gym shorts, covered in sweat and panting heavily. He looked surprised when he saw Gentiane and took out a pair of wireless earbuds.
"Oh, hey boss," he panted as he looked up at her from the floor, "how's it going?"
Gentiane blinked in surprise, "Um, it's uh, good," she turned back to point at the door, "I wanted to check on you."
Owen tried to do a sit up to lift himself off the floor, but fell back with a thud.
Gentiane offered a hand, but Owen declined, rolled, pushed himself onto his knees, and then stood. This simple action left Owen sucking wind.
Once Owen regained his composure he hobbled over to his kitchen area and grabbed two bottles of water. He offered one to Gentiane, then hobbled over to a chair and dropped down, taking a drink of his water as he did.
"Why'd you want to check on me?" Owen asked once they were both sitting.
"I've," Gentiane paused, "heard things."
"Like what?" Owen asked with a raised eyebrow.
"Mainly that you've been locked away in your room for the past month, and your dolls are only running logistics missions." Gentiane told him.
Owen nodded, "Yeah, that sounds about right."
"You do realize we're basically at war with Sangvis forces, right?" Gentian asked, trying to keep irritation out of her voice.
Owen nodded again, "Yup, and I've been sending plenty of supplies your way to help."
Gentiane rubbed her temples in frustration, "Is there a reason why you're not doing any combat patrols or reconnaissance?"
Owen gestured to his body, "I'm not exactly combat ready, if we're being honest."
"Owen, you do realize that the purpose of your job is to command your dolls, from a control room." A loud crackling noise was heard as Gentiane squeezed her water bottle, her eye twitching as she spoke through gritted teeth. "You can even do it from a fucking chair."
"You seemed stressed." Owen observed.
"Of course I'm stressed," Gentiane snapped, "The entire damn sector is a Sangvis hotzone, I have refugees and abandoned dolls going through my base all the damn time, and my base has construction going on twenty four seven." She slumped in her chair, and gazed at Owen through weary eyes, "What little time I do have for sleep is interrupted by Pasha and her damn construction mech."
Gentiane slumped further back in her chair, "I know you prefer to fight with your teams, but I really need help taking the pressure off while you recover."
Owen fell into silence and studied his water bottle, his jaw clenched.
Gentiane sighed, "I get it, your last mission didn't go as well as you had hoped." Owen snorted but stayed quiet. "But you of all people should know that these things happen, so you need to do whatever you need to sort yourself out."
Owen blinked and looked at the young commander in surprise.
"Were you expecting a pep talk?" Gentiane asked mockingly, "Tough, I don't have time to babysit a combat vet while he tries to work through his sad feelings about losing dolls during an operation."
Gentiane stood, "Get your shit together Owen, I need help, and if you wont give me that help, I'll tell Helian to go ahead and send out the replacement she has lined up for you, and I can almost guarantee that he won't give two shits about what happens to the dolls at this outpost."
With that Gentiane opened the door and paused, "Oh, and G36c requested a transfer at your outpost, make sure you take care of her or you'll have to deal with her sister." With that she left and Owen sat in stunned silence.
After a few moments there was a polite knock on his door.
Owen sighed, "What is it?" He called.
The door opened and G36c stuck her head in, "Ah, Gutentag, Commander," she said with a bashful smile, "may I come in?"
"Fuck it," Owen griped, "why not."
G36c seemed confused by Owen's answer, but entered and quietly shut the door behind her. She walked over to the chair that Gentiane had previously vacated and motioned to it, "May I sit?"
Owen shrugged, "Knock yourself out."
"Danke." G36c said as she sat on the edge of the seat and fixed her red skirt.
The two sat in silence for a while, G36c stared expectantly at her new commander as Owen studied the ceiling.
Finally, Owen became annoyed and leveled his stare on the doll in front of him, "So, what can I do for you?"
G36c gave him a smile that he couldn't figure was friendly, or seductive, "Actually, it's what I can do for you."
Owen blinked a few times as he tried to figure out her intentions.
"Look," he began, "I'm not sure how you've done things with other commanders in the past, but I uh…" he faltered as G36c gave him an expectant look.
"Ja, herr Kommandant?" She asked as her chest stuck out just a little bit further. Owen couldn't tell if she did this intentionally or not. Her entire mannerism threw him off, no matter how hard he tried, he couldn't get a read off of her.
"I don't engage in relationships with personnel here at the outpost." He finally managed to inform her as he looked at her eyes, and only her eyes.
He watched her red eyes go from confusion to understanding as she worked through what he was implying.
She gave an approving nod, "That's good," she said, "I wouldn't want to become romantically involved with anyone I just met either."
"Right." Owen agreed, "I'm glad we see eye to eye on this."
G36c gave another node, "Of course, that's not why I'm here though." She explained
"Oh?" It was Owen's turn to be confused, "then why are you here?"
"I used to be a physical therapist's assistant before I joined Griffin and Kryuger." She explained.
"I already have a physical therapist." Owen informed her.
"Ja," G36c agreed pleasantly, "I heard that you made her so angry that she refused to work with you anymore."
"I don't seem to recall that." Owen remarked.
"Your therapist sure does." G36c said with a giggle.
Owen couldn't tell if the giggle was genuine or flirty. This was maddening.
"So starting tomorrow, I will begin a physical therapy program that will definitely put you through your paces." She informed him with a wink.
With that she stood, straightened her skirt and walked out without another word. Owen sat in his chair and blinked rapidly as he tried to make sense of what just happened.
He shook his head and thought about his conversation with Gentiane. He knew he couldn't just run logistics forever, especially with the Sangvis push Gentiane had mentioned.
Owen had been tracking the former doll manufacturing group's spread across Sector Nine. It looked like they were doing an aggressive land grab from a central point that looked to be their headquarters.
Owen briefly wondered how hard it would be to insert behind Sangvis lines by himself and cause as much chaos as he could until they found him and put him out of his misery for good. A sort of last hurrah, make his last moments mean something.
Owen shook those thoughts out his head. It would a while before he would be up to doing something like that. Plus, he was pretty sure that if he spent a lot of time in Sangvis territory, Alchemist would track him down, capture him, and chain him up somewhere for her amusement.
Owen stretched his legs out with a groan and thought about Gentiane's suggestion of taking pressure off while he recovered. He closed his eyes and imagined the map again.
The attack on Sector Twelve had been an isolated one, they were after whatever Owen had been sent to recover and that was it. Which was probably the reason Agent was there with Lilith, though Owen was unclear on their objectives.
If all they wanted was whatever was in that case, then why try to take the entire city?
"The whole thing didn't make sense." Owen grumbled aloud.
With that, he slowly made his way to his desk, booted his computer, and started drawing up patrol routes, and areas to scout out in the coming days to help gather intel on Sangvis movements to send to Gentiane.
As he studied a map of Sector Nine, he spotted the name of the small village he had met up with Colette right after he had been thawed out. He frowned as he studied the map. He had completely forgotten about the place.
Shortly after he had awakened from his coma, Persica had paid a visit to explain that she had been forced to deactivate a lot of the augmentations he had.
She also told him that she had found evidence that augmentations had been impairing his cognitive abilities without him knowing it and no one she talked to could figure out why.
The plus side was that Owen felt like he was thinking clearly for the first time since he woke up. The downside was that he had forgotten a lot of things during that time, and often had to be reminded of things that happened.
Owen suddenly felt like he was being watched. He tried to ignore it, but he swore he could hear someone breathing behind him.
Owen spun around in his chair, but no one was there. His head started to throb and he began to hear a buzzing sound in his head. He grabbed some water, downed a lot of ibuprofen, hobbled to his bed and crawled under the covers.
He tossed and turned for what felt like hours before he finally drifted off to sleep.
Owen knew he was dreaming before he opened his eyes. He opened his eyes and confirmed that he was in the same Blackhawk he was always in. In the same seat he was always in, except this time, there was no one else here.
Owen unbuckled himself and got out of his seat so he could look in the cockpit, only to find it empty as well. When he looked out of the helicopter, he saw that the other two Blackhawks were nowhere to be found.
He could hear a faint voice but couldn't make it out over the beating of the helicopter's blades. He heard it again, along with a hiss of static. His eyes darted around the cockpit for the source of the noise until he found a headset sitting on the empty pilot's seat.
He grabbed the headset and put it on.
"-wen, I need you to remember. You promised you would."
Static.
"You're coming in broken, repeat?" Owen said.
"You need to remember, I need you to remember." The voice repeated, it was female.
"Who is this?" Owen asked as the helicopter started to rock violently.
"OWEN!" The voice roared through the headset, and Owen ripped it off of his head.
The helicopter dropped into a freefall and caused Owen to briefly float in the air before he slammed back onto the deck. He scrambled back to his feet and when he looked out of the windscreen of the helicopter, he saw the ground rushing up to meet him.
Just before he struck the ground, his eyes shot open and he was greeted by Nines hovering over him, murder in her eyes.
"Uh, hey." He croaked out in a raspy voice.
Nines froze, then the cold facade melted away to relief as she jumped onto the bed and grabbed him into an awkwardly positioned hug.
As he sat there, head now shoved into Nines' assets as she sat on top of him, his mind tried to process how to feel, going immediately from the dream to where he was now. He was going to say something before something embarrassing happened, but Nines let go and climbed out of the bed, leaving Owen in his whiplash of emotions.
"Good morning." Nines said quietly.
"Mornin." Owen said after he gulped down the rest of the water he had left on his bed side table from the night before.
Anything to get his mind off of how Nines woke him up.
Owen paused, and turned to the door to see that it was, indeed, open and unlocked. G36c was walking by and stopped to wave awkwardly at Owen when she stopped to see why the door was open.
"Hey, Nines?" Owen asked as he returned the wave.
"Yes?"
"How did you get in?"
Nines climbed off the bed, and stared in confusion at the door before turning back and giving him a feeble smile, "I let myself in."
Owen stared at the doll, "You picked my lock, didn't you?"
She nodded with a little more confidence, "I was worried."
Owen sighed as he dropped his head back on his pillow and closed his eyes, "You can't just break into my room every time I don't open the door when you knock."
"Why not?" She asked, puzzled.
"What if I'm naked?" Owen said.
Nines blushed, dropped her gaze back to her feet, and mumbled something.
Owen cracked an eye open and looked at Nines, "Come again?"
"I don't think…it wouldn't…I mean, I'd be okay with…and besides I can tell you'd like…" she trailed off as her eyes traveled up from the floor, towards his bed, and settled on where he was still lying under blankets.
Owen looked down at the blanket and saw what she was looking at.
"Ah hell."
Nines dropped her gaze again, her face bright red.
"Let's not talk about that." Owen said as he covered himself with his pillow.
Nines nodded, "Alexander wanted to see you, do you want me to go get him for you?"
"Not particularly." He told her in the same calm voice.
Nines nodded again and started to leave, but stopped, "You know, we could um, if you wanted, I mean, we have some time and…"
"Out." Owen said with a finger pointed to the door.
"Okay." Nines said with a third nod and scampered out of the room.
Owen fell back on his bed with a groan and layer there for a while. Finally, he reached under his bed and grabbed the bottle of whiskey he kept there. After a few gulps he flung the covers off and shuffled to the shower, bottle in hand.
As he was in the shower, he heard the door to his room open again. He heard footsteps approach the bathroom and stop right outside the door.
"Nines?" He called out, annoyed.
A pause, "Da?"
"Did you need something?" He asked.
"Nyet, I forgot I left something in your room." She answered in Russian.
That was weird.
"O-kay then." Owen said, letting his confusion show.
Nines didn't say anything else, and left.
Owen reached out of the shower, grabbed the bottle of whiskey, and pulled it into the shower with him.
It was going to be a long day.
An hour later, he was on the ground in front of G36c in his now too large work out clothes struggling to finish his pushups.
"Thirty!" G36c cried victoriously as Owen collapsed in a heap, once again gasping for air.
G36c didn't let up however and helped Owen to his feet.
"All we have to do now is a short two and a half kilometer run, and then we'll be done for the day!" She told him as she offered a water bottle.
Owen couldn't speak, but nodded and grabbed the offered bottle. He took a few quick gulps and started jogging in place. His lungs felt like they were on fire and his muscles screamed, but he ignored them and followed G36c as she led him on a jogging path she had prepared.
It took half an hour for him to complete the course.
"You did very well today." She complimented him as he tried his best not to pass out.
"Thanks." He managed to wheeze, "not… my best… though."
G36c shook her head, "I disagree, Kommandant. You gave your all today, I can tell."
"But.." Owen began.
"Hush," the word was gentle, but firm as was her expression.
Owen gave her an amused look, but said nothing.
"Your previous physical exploits should be a goal to reach for," G36c explained, "but not a standard to hold yourself to right now."
"Oh really?" Owen asked, still amused.
G36c gave a determined nod, "Ja, really, there is no way you would be able to run the marathons you did before you were injured, your body isn't ready."
"You've been spying on me?" Owen teased.
"N-nein," G36c blushed and began fidgeting with her hands, "I just wanted to see where you were physically before the incident. A few of the girls at the outpost knew your training schedule and…"
"Relax," Owen told the doll before her core had a meltdown, "I was just teasing."
"O-oh, well, you did very well today, I want you to know that." She told him, concluding his workout.
Another shower and he hobbled his way into the command center that had been recently rebuilt. Owen thought back to the first time he was in this building. It had been where he found Uzi surrounded by a pile of dead Sangvis units. When he entered, MP-40 stopped what she was doing and stared at him in surprise, while Nines ignored them both.
"Who's up today?" Owen asked no one in particular as he sat down at a desk with a computer and SINCGARS radio set.
"Well," MP-40 started with a confused look to Nines, "Makarov's team is almost at their check-in coordinates before they start the mission proper."
Owen nodded and looked up at the large display that showed a drone feed of Makarov's team bumping along in an old commercial. The fact that all of his combat vehicles were total losses during the operation in the city was something that still irritated Owen.
He made a mental note to get with AK-47 and SKS so they could 'liberate' a few vehicles from Gentiane's base.
Owen booted up his computer, then started filling out requisition forms for various things he wanted and knew would probably be denied, including combat vehicles.
He finished filling out the requisition forms, forwarded them to MP-40 so she could double check them and send them along up the chain.
Owen leaned back in his chair and watched Makarov's van continue on its journey. He tapped his finger on his desk impatiently.
"Is something wrong?" Nines asked, slipping into Russian with the last word
Owen didn't miss the slip up, and turned to Nines, who was glaring at him.
"How about you?" He asked with a raised eyebrow, "Everything alright?"
Nines' glare disappeared and was replaced with a thoughtful frown. "Yes," she said finally with a nod, "I'm just not feeling quite myself right now."
Owen said nothing and turned back to the video feed. The van slowed to a halt outside of an abandoned town.
"Control, this is Misfit Two-One, we are at the staging area and about to enter the town." Makarov's voice crackled through the radio.
Owen keyed the handset, "Copy that Two-One, relay drone will be on station for another five mikes until it is bingo fuel."
"So expect trouble in six minutes, got it." Makarov's almost amused voice replied.
Owen grinned, "I'm feeling optimistic, better make it eight."
"Seven it is, see you at the next check in Control." Makarov responded.
"Stay safe Two-One, control out." Owen set the handset back down and watched as the van started moving down the street, slowed, then backed into an abandoned structure.
The drone loitered long enough to see Makarov's team leave the structure and begin their patrol. The drone did one final lap above the team and MP-40 directed it to return home, which was Gentiane's base.
From there it would refuel, take off, and make it back to the area Makarov's team was currently in. At that point, Makarov would radio in whether or not she found any evidence that Sangvis was operating in the area.
If not, she would come home.
If she did, however, find evidence, she would then relay what she found to the Control Center, which was staffed with a Team leader, that specific team's second in command, and/or Owen. Whoever was operating the control center would then make the call as to whether or not the mission continued or was scrubbed.
Owen leaned back in his chair and checked his watch, the drone wouldn't be back over the area for another two hours. He then turned to see that Nines was occupied and gestured to MP-40.
"Ja, Kommandant, is there anything I can do for you?" She asked as she approached.
Owen motioned for her to lean in closer as he kept an eye on Nines, "Have you noticed anything wrong with Nines?"
"What do you mean?" MP-40 asked.
Owen gave a half shrug, "I'm not sure, she's not acting like herself."
MP-40 turned to glance at Nines, then back to Owen.
Well, if we're being honest," she began, "you haven't been acting like yourself either since you came back."
Owen felt a surge of annoyance, and glared at MP-40.
"That's what I mean," MP-40 said, referring to Owen's annoyed glare. "You've been like this the past few weeks, it's been impossible to talk to you."
"It has not." Owen replied.
MP-40 gave him a look that asked if he was being serious. When he didn't reply she sighed in resignation. "You realize this is the first time you've been in the Command Center since your injury, ja?"
Owen shrugged, "You don't need me to babysit the monitors."
MP-40 nodded slowly, "True, but this is the first time any of us have actually seen you work since your injury." She paused, then frowned, "Actually, this is the first time most of us have actually seen you period since you stopped going to therapy."
Owen was about to defend himself, then realized she was right.
"Well, I've been exercising in my room." Owen grumbled out.
MP-40 gave him a weak smile, "Which is great, but everyone here needs to see you doing something, anything."
Owen held up a hand, "I'm doing something now, aren't I?"
"Ja, that you are." she conceded, "and I hope to see you doing things around the rest of the Outpost as well."
"Alright," Owen said with a hand raised in defeat, "I get it."
"Excellent," she said brightly, "We don't need you to babysit the monitors anyway."
"But to answer your first question," MP-40 paused thoughtfully, "Ja, she's been acting odd for a while, but it's been getting worse in the last week or two."
"How so?" Owen asked.
"Well," she turned to look at Nines who was staring blankly at the screen in front of her, "She sometimes acts like she's not in control, and during the battle with Lilith, she would start broadcasting warnings in Russian over the Zener network before swearing and giving orders."
"What would cause that?" Owen asked, but MP-40 shrugged.
"I'm not sure, I asked the other team leaders and none of us could figure it out, but with how things have been lately…" she trailed off and Owen held up a hand to cut her off.
"Maybe ask Alexander?" She suggested with an apologetic shrug.
"Alright, I'll be back." Owen told her, "keep an eye on things for me."
MP-40 gave a determined nod and went focused on the monitor in front of her.
Owen glanced at Nines one last time and saw she hadn't moved, he also noticed her lips were moving slightly like she was talking to herself.
Owen limped and hobbled until he made his way to the doll repair bay, where Alexander was working on the arm of an injured dummy link for SKS.
He looked up as Owen entered the room and did a double take.
"Holy shit," he said in disbelief, "you're actually alive."
Owen raised an eyebrow, but said nothing.
Alexander set his tools down and wiped his hands on his mechanic's coveralls. He then made his way to a mini fridge behind his desk and grabbed two beers, one of which he offered to Owen who accepted.
When the two men got settled Alexander took a sip and studied his can.
"So," Owen began in an attempt to get information, "Nines said you needed to see me, what's up?"
Alexander exhaled and took another drink.
"Well," Alexander began hesitantly, "It's about her actually."
Owen frowned when he heard the mechanic's tone, "What about her?"
"Well, for starters she hasn't seen me to back up her memory to our server." Alexander told him.
Owen shrugged, "She's been pretty busy lately and I'm sur-"
"Ever." Alexander cut him off, "and I thought the same thing you did at first, that she was busy and just didn't find time." He shook his head, "but even MP-40 finds time to get her memories backed up, so I don't buy that excuse."
Alexander took another drink and leaned back in his chair, "That's not the only thing," he said as he looked up at the ceiling, "I keep an eye on all of the girls here right?"
"Man, I don't need to know what you do in your free time." Owen said with a grimace.
Alexander looked at Owen in confusion until he realized what Owen was thinking.
"No no, not like that!" Alexander reassured him.
"Right." The word wasn't very convincing.
"Man look," Alexander sighed and leaned forward, "She's not behaving normally, she's…" he trailed off.
"Different." Owen answered for him.
"Right," Alexander agreed, "honestly, I just really noticed in the last week, and if she was human, I'd say she was bipolar."
"Why didn't you say anything sooner?" Owen asked irritably.
"To who," Alexander snapped, "you?"
Owen said nothing.
"You realize that while you were off moping in your room, shit was still happening right?" Alexander leaned back in his chair again, "We had all pretty much decided to run this place until the higher ups decided to shit can you and send someone else.
Owen finished his beer, "Yeah, that's the vibe I've been getting."
"So, if I'm going to bring you in to help me, I need to make sure you're actually going to be around to help." Alexander told him.
Owen nodded.
"Good," Alexander said with an appreciative nod.
"So, what do you need?"
"Honestly?" Alexander sighed, "I need to run a scan, I honestly don't even know who manufactured her."
Owen slapped his knees and slowly stood, "Done."
Alexander smirked, "It's not as easy as you think it will be."
"She'll be here within the hour." Owen told him.
"Oh, we'll see." The mechanic clearly didn't believe him.
"Thanks for the beer." Owen said as he hobbled away.
"Anytime, as long as you're actually around to earn it." Alexander told him.
Owen waved and gimped his way back to the Command Center.
He pushed through the door to find MP-40 and Nines exactly where he left them.
"Hey Nines," Owen barked as soon as he saw her.
"Yes?" She asked with a hopeful expression.
"Go see Alexander, get your memory backed up and get a scan done to make sure you're good to go." He ordered.
"I'm afraid I can't do that Owen." Her entire demeanor shifted as she spoke in an icy tone.
MP-40 looked nervously from Nines to Owen, "But," the adjutant spoke up, "that's an order from the Kommandanten, you have to."
Nines flicked her gaze to MP-40, "I don't when it comes to my personal well being."
"How exactly is going to get a check up bad for your well being?" Owen asked in a tone to match Nines'.
Nines turned to study Owen, and for the first time, he noticed that her eyes were different from how they usually were, they looked more calculating.
Dangerous.
Owen suddenly felt like he needed a weapon, which was a first when dealing with Nines.
"Did Lilith knock something loose when she kicked the shit out of you?" Owen asked.
"Not nearly as much as when she wiped the floor with you." Nines shot back.
Owen tensed as Nines glared daggers at him.
MP-40 slowly started to move between the two, but Owen pushed her back as they watched Nines tense up.
"Nines," Owen spoke slowly, "what the fuck are you doing?"
Nines blinked and shook her head, when she looked back at Owen she looked normal and had tears in her eyes.
"I…I'm not sure, I'm sorry." She wiped her eyes, "I'll go see Alexander now." She said meekly and rushed out of the room.
MP-40 and Owen shared a look after she left.
"How close is the next check in?" He asked.
"A little under an hour." MP-40 replied immediately.
"Alright, I'm going to go with her, can you handle things?" Owen asked.
MP-40 nodded, "Ja, of course."
"Thank you," Owen frowned, "actually, can you send a message to G36c, explain the situation and tell her to meet me outside the repair bay, with her weapon."
MP-40 paused, "Jawohl."
Owen left the Command Center and made his way as fast as he could to Alexander's repair bay. A small voice in the back of his mind berated him for letting Nines get this bad.
Persica had been telling him to send Nines to visit her, and he was starting to suspect that this was the reason why. He kicked himself for letting so much fall through the cracks.
"No time like the present to unfuck yourself." He grumbled to himself.
G36c was waiting outside the repair bay with a grim expression as Owen approached. From inside, he could hear Nines yelling obscenities in Russian.
"Orders?" G36c asked tensely.
"Stay out here until I say otherwise," Owen told her, "I don't know what the hell is going on, so I want you as backup in case shit goes sideways."
G36c nodded and Owen went into the repair bay.
Alexander had Nines hooked up to a machine that was spewing smoke and Owen could smell the tell tale sign of melted plastic. Nines continued to spew obscenities until she saw Owen.
"What the fuck is going on?" Owen yelled.
Alexander spoke frantically as he was trying to disconnect the burning machine as fast as he could, "I have no clue, as soon as I turned on the machine it locked up and then caught fire."
Nines glared at Owen, "Go fuck yourself amerikanskiy."
Owen straightened his back as he locked eyes with Nines for the second time that day.
"G36c, come in here." He barked, not taking his gaze off of Nines.
"Jawohl, herr Kommandant?"
Owen clenched and unclenched his jaw, "If she tries to get out of that chair, shoot her."
"Why don't you do it yourself, coward?" Nines spat in Russian.
"Not worth it." Owen replied as she gestured to Alexander to follow him out of the room.
When they were in the hall, Owen grabbed Alexander by the collar and shoved the mechanic against the wall' It took all of his strength to do so.
"What the fuck happened in there?" He spat.
Alexander looked genuinely confused, "I'm not sure, she came in crying, and was telling me what was going wrong. She was acting herself until I hooked up the diagnostic machine."
"Which is when she pulled an emotional Crazy Ivan and fried your diagnostic machine?" Owen stated as he released the other man.
Alexander rubbed his shoulder and swore, "You think she's an old infiltration doll?"
Owen exhaled, "Call Persica, tell her what happened, I'm going to spin up one of the teams and have her locked up until we know what's going on."
Alexander nodded and went back into the repair bay as Owen half jogged/half ran to the dolls living quarters where he found G3 and SIG-510 standing over a combat simulator and running through a scenario.
"Hey commander," SIG greeted with a wave as he entered, "what's up."
"Get your team geared up, now."
The two leaders of Team 1 traded a look, "What's the job?"
"Prisoner transport from the repair bay to the holding cell." Owen said as calmly as he could.
"Did Makarov's team bring back a stray Sangvis doll?" SIG asked in amusement.
Owen shook his and swallowed, "It's Nines."
G3 immediately started herding the members of her team as SIG started grilling Owen for details. In less than three minutes Owen and G3 were leading the combat ready team to the repair bay.
"Who's with her now?" G3 asked as they moved quickly with rifles in hand.
They had even given Owen a ballistic vest, which made him struggle to keep up, a fact made painfully obvious by his labored breathing.
"Uh, G36c." Owen said, trying not to show how out of breath he was.
G3 nodded approvingly, "Sehr gut, she's excellent in close quarters."
As they approached the repair bay door they saw Alexander standing outside holding the side of his face. The closer they got, Owen saw blood trickling out from under his hand and down his neck.
SIG swore and motioned to the rest of the team to get ready as Owen moved to check on the wounded mechanic.
"What happened?" Owen asked.
"She found something to throw at me." Alexander said in annoyance.
"Did G36c….," Owen began but Alexander shook his head.
"She just smacked her with the butt of her rifle." Alexander assured him.
Owen turned to G3, "Get her moved, and be careful."
"Lethal force?" G3 asked.
Owen and G3 stared at each other for a long time before Owen nodded hesitantly, "If necessary."
G3 turned to and entered the repair bay with her team. From inside they could hear Nines screaming in Russian like she was possessed, and seconds later, they emerged into the hallway with Nagant holding one arm, SKS holding the other, and Garand aiming her rifle between Nines' shoulders.
SIG led them away with G3 trailing in the back. As they moved past Owen and Alexander, Nines spat another swear at Owen as G3 gave an apologetic smile.
Owen let out a sigh, suddenly aware of how exhausted he was. He turned to Alexander who was looking at the blood on his hand in annoyance.
"Did you get a hold of Persica?" He asked.
Alexander wiped his hand on his coveralls and shook his head, "Apparently she's busy with something with some team of special dolls."
"AR Team," Owen grunted in annoyance, "Yeah we won't be getting any help from her then." Owen ran his hand over his face, "Is there anything you can do?"
"Maybe?" Alexander shrugged, "I've never dealt with an infiltration doll before, and if even half the stories are true, I'm definitely not as knowledgeable as Persica is."
Owen leaned against the wall and hung his hands on the collar of his ballistic vest, "So all we need to do is find someone who's a prodigy with dolls and not afraid of doing sketchy shit."
Alexander frowned as he thought about what Owen said.
"Actually," Alexander began, "I might know someone."
"Who?" Owen asked.
Alexander looked at Owen with apprehension, "A kid that does under the table repairs on dolls, supposed to be a certified genius, runs an operation with his, well, I think it's his sister."
Owen raised a skeptical eyebrow, "You met him how?"
"He doesn't run with doll traffickers, if that's what you're worried about." Alexander said.
Owen sighed, "Is there anyone else?"
Alexander shook his head, "Not on the level we're dealing with."
Owen sighed, "Okay, call him up, and if he accidentally kills Nines, I blame you."
Alexander gulped and ran off leaving Owen alone. He leaned his head back against the wall and realized how exhausted he was.
With a groan he pushed himself off of the wall and turned to see G36c standing there with her rifle and smiling at him.
"You smile too much." He told her.
"And you don't smile enough." She told him, "Come on, they're ready for you at the holding cell."
She reached out with her free hand and grabbed his then led him through the building. Owen didn't know how to feel about that, but was way too tired to argue and just tugged his hand G36c's grasp.
When they arrived at the detention center, G3 and SIG-510 were standing guard.
"How is she?" Owen asked as soon as they were in the detention room.
G3 shook her head, "Not much has changed since we brought her here, she injured SKS, then she settled down."
Owen stared grimly at Nines who was sitting in the middle of a large clear cell. When Owen approached Nines looked up and when he saw her eyes, almost opened the door to let her out.
"Nines?" He asked.
"Owen," her voice started to shake, "I… I don't know what's going on."
"I know," he told her, "We're working on something to help you out, I promise."
"It won't work." Her voice turned to venom, "I won't tell you shit Amerikanskiy."
Owen looked and saw that her expression was pure hatred and murder. He matched her state with one of his own.
"It will" he replied nonchalantly, "And then I won't have to deal with whatever you are."
"I will do everything I can to fight you and your western allies, you won't get a thing from me, capitalist whore."
"You're fucking joking." Owen said in surprise.
Nines face spread into a sadistic grin, "Don't worry, I'll be out soon, and I will bring the wolves to your door. It will be too easy for my unit to come in and level this pathetic excuse for a base."
Owen shook his head in disbelief, "Which unit are you with?"
Nines flee faltered a bit, just a bit then her grin returned full force, "The KCCO."
Owen blinked repeatedly, stood and turned to look at G3 and SIG.
"Where's Alexander?" He asked.
"Making a phone call," SIG answered, "Why, what did she say now?"
"Get the rest of your team here now, I want eyes on her at all times, if she tries to break out, put her down." Owen ordered.
"Isn't that a bit much?" G3 asked.
Owen shook his head, "She's a military doll who thinks we're still in the fucking war." He said as he walked out of the detention facility.
"Wait," SIG said in surprise, "what?!"
G3 and SIG turned to see Nines pacing her cell like a caged tiger.
Owen almost literally ran into Alexander as he left the room.
"Did you get a hold of your guy?" He asked.
"Yeah, he's agreed to meet us tomorrow, I'm waiting on him to send me coordinates." Alexander replied.
"Coordinates?" Owen asked.
"He's very security conscious since not all of his dealings are exactly above board." Alexander explained as he tried to look around Owen. "Did anything happen with Nines?"
"Well," Owen began, "she thinks the war is still on, and that I'm here to extract information out of her, oh, and she was with the fucking Spetsnaz."
"Wait," Alexander said, "what?"
Owen scratched his forehead with the back of his thumb, "Yeah, so if there's anything you can do to get Nines back to normal beforehand, I'd appreciate it."
Alexander studied the floor as he thought, "Sorry boss, I don't think there is." He finally said.
"Okay," Owen exhaled, "Can you sedate her or something?"
"I can," Alexander answered and had an unpleasant look on his face, "but I'd rather not."
"Yeah," Owen knew what he was thinking, "I get it, but we may need to."
"Is it really that bad?" Alexander asked.
Owen leaned against the wall and gripped the collar of his ballistic vest, "Yeah, if she gets out, we would be in for one hell of a fight."
Alexander said nothing and walked back in the direction of his repair bay.
"That one's not as innocent as she lets on." A voice echoed in the back of his mind.
Owen frowned as he tried to remember who told him that.
A polite cough interrupted his thoughts and he turned to see G36c smiling warmly at his side, her off hand still holding her weapon.
"You look exhausted," she said gently, "let's get you to bed."
Owen nodded and let her lead him to his room. Once there, she helped him take his ballistic vest and boots off.
"Need help with your pants?" She asked coyly.
Owen snorted, "I got those, thanks though."
"Anytime, just ask." She teased.
Owen mumbled a reply as he repositioned himself on his bed. Instead of taking his pants off, Owen instead fell back on his bed, and passed out.
G36c smiled and went to leave, but Owen called out to her when she opened the door.
"Ja?" She asked.
"Coulyouhangroundwhile?" He mumbled from his pillow.
"You want me to hang around?" G36c repeated in confusion.
"Mhmm, Nines was hovering this morning." He said sleepily.
"Of course." G36c responded, "I'll watch over you."
Owen's immediate snoring was all the thanks she needed as she snuggled up next to him.
A/N: This was originally supposed to be a fluff chapter, but my A.D.D. demands I write what it gives me.
So, no shit there I was, fucking around on Myspace, arranging my top 8 friends, listening to MCR on my walkman and I get a message on AOL Instant Messenger.
I check it and behold! It's none other than John Wycliffe, author of the prestigious fic Field Agent.
He told me that the he had created a discord server for Girl's Frontline fics!
There you will find quality authors of outstanding fics who are much smarter than me.
These authors include: Johnny Wycliffe
Clearly Invisible
Soulmuse
Vector
Anyway….Here's the link: discord. gg / 4pTJbbSKR5
Remove the spaces, obviously. Dork.
B/N: More like his procrastination… What? I didn't say anything~!