"Chaos in Belgrade. The once peaceful day marking the global summit-"
*Flick*
"-extremist bombings across the city-"
*Flick*
"-Containment wall failure resulting in a complete collapse of-"
*Flick*
"-Chairwoman Ulrich was unharmed, narrowly avoiding a geopolitical disaster."
*Flick*
"..." Despite both German and Neo-Union intelligence doing their best, they couldn't stop news from pouring out of Belgrade. It was to the point both sides stopped trying to bury it and refocused their efforts on damage control.
"Commander, here's the latest supply reports." Annika handed Zeldri a folder despite her eyes being glued to the large display screen in the command room that was showing live reports from Belgrade. While the city burned, the Mountain was peaceful and the sector quiet. Most of the staff were also watching the news whether it was on the large monitor or their phones. It almost didn't seem real.
"Thank you, Annika." Zeldri took the reports and used them to distract himself from what was going on in Belgrade. There was nothing he could do, so it was best to focus on his duties. "...Food's becoming a problem, again." Duties that could not be ignored.
"...Yes," Annika affirmed as she turned her attention to Zeldri, "While the supplies we receive from HQ are usually enough, that number has decreased after the failed coup. I asked some other logistics officers I know and they've all said the same thing; Griffin's losing support." After Kryuger's arrest, public opinion of Griffin took a massive hit which caused some suppliers to pull their support from the PMC. While Helian was doing her best to keep as much support as she could, the effects were being felt the most by the field commanders who were having greater and greater trouble getting supplies. "I've redoubled our logistics echelons' efforts to try and keep up. We're stable, but not by much."
"Блядь (Fuck)," Zeldri cursed under his breath and he continued reading the reports. "Can we get any more from the town?" As Zeldri secured the sector, the people who still lived within started migrating towards the Mountain. The humble village that once tried to short Zeldri supplies when he first started working as a commander had grown into a medium-sized town. Not to mention the influx of infrastructure support that came when RusHydro arrived to oversee the Mountain's geothermal generator. Their workers weren't allowed to live in the Mountain for security reasons, so they ran power lines through and settled in the village. A road was cleared with the help of the t-dolls and some of the Mountain's vehicles making travel between the Mountain and the town only a thirty-minute drive along a forest road. As the population increased, so too did their workforce which allowed the small hydroponic farms the village had used to sustain itself to work overtime.
"Trade with them has already been calculated. They're also just getting by and don't have much to spare for us." A symbiotic relationship was formed between the town and the Mountain that went beyond just accepting logistic contracts. The town was allowed to tap into the Mountain's power output in exchange for a constant supply of food. T-doll patrols would also make sure the town, and the food supply, were safe on a daily basis. There had already been incidents of scavs on multiple occasions who tried to steal the food. They were dealt swift deaths by a team of t-dolls Zeldri allowed to keep their kill authorizations. This increase in trade and protection also had the unintended effect of opening up the hearts of the townspeople to his dolls. Reports of people harassing his dolls had dwindled to near nonexistence. Some of his dolls had also started forming friendships with the farmers who were extremely grateful for the increased protection.
"Keep me updated." Zeldri leaned heavily on his forearm crutch as he tried to think of a way to deal with their food problems. "...I'm gonna go talk to Horris. Call me if anything requires my attention, Annika."
"Yes, Commander." Annika gave a nod and her eyes wandered back to the monitors showing Belgrade while Zeldri left the command room to find Horris. He first headed to the vehicle bay since Horris had finished working on the Su-73D as well as giving Rosefinch a proper body that could leave the jet. He had, apparently, used the schematics for Makarov's neural upgraded body which allowed enough power and space for the three additional doll cores. He still needed to talk with him about where he put the additional cores, though. One was in the stomach which made sense and didn't show, but the other two were, upon Horris' insistence, put into Rosefinch's chest giving the otherwise flat Makarov body noticeable breasts.
"...At least she's not stuck in the jet," Zeldri muttered to himself as he ran a hand through his hair and walked through the halls of the Mountain making his way up to the vehicle bay.
"Oh, Commander! This is everything. Take a look!" Upon entering the vehicle bay, Zeldri couldn't see Horris but was greeted by SCW who gestured to a Ural-5323 that was loaded with supplies. "We found quite a haul scavenging an old factory."
"We even found food! Look! Look!" M14 jumped out the back of the Ural holding cans of soup while the rest of their echelon continued to unload crates of supplies.
"Excellent job, everyone," Zeldri congratulated as M14 came up to him and stood next to SCW. "Did you run into any trouble?"
"There were some bandits," M14 admitted as she tapped her chin, "But we popped their heads before they could cause trouble!" A bright smile shined on M14's face as she declared their victory.
"..." Such a bright smile over something so morbid caused Zeldri to visibly hesitate. He had taken away their kill authorizations after the KCCO raid on the Mountain so M14's statement didn't make sense.
"M14! Please explain it properly, or else the Commander might misinterpret your report," SCW chastised. Zeldri breathed a sigh as it seemed at least SCW was sane and keeping her echelon in check. "Apologies, Commander. To translate, we encountered some hostile bandits in the factory. We couldn't directly dispatch them, so we lured them into a trap and dropped a shipping container that was hanging from a crane on them. One of them almost managed to dodge the trap, but tripped and fell backward causing his head to 'pop' when the container fell, as M14 said."
"..." SCW's explanation wasn't making Zeldri feel any better. "Was there no way to avoid them?"
"Avoid?" Both SCW and M14 tilted their heads to the side in confusion. "Commander," SCW explained, "If we had avoided them then they could have left to go somewhere else in the sector. Or, forbid, come to the Mountain. We couldn't take such a risk with everyone's lives. So, even without the kill authorization, we worked around it to cause an 'accident' that doesn't go against our programming." She smiled warmly up at Zeldri and added, "We have to protect everyone here, so clipping the wings of threats is only natural, Commander."
"..." Zeldri felt a lump form in his throat. His dolls were actively subverting and finding loopholes in their code to kill humans. "SCW, don't-"
"Commander." Suddenly, Tsaritsa's voice came from his tablet. "I need to speak with you."
"Can it wait a-"
"No."
"..." Zeldri wasn't sure what Tsaritsa was playing at, but he reluctantly gave in. "Unload the supplies, SCW, and have your echelon take some R&R."
"Got it. We'll rest a little." SCW gave a slight bow before she and M14 returned to help unload the Ural. Once they were far enough away, Zeldri brought up his tablet to see Tsaritsa's logo pulsing on the screen.
"Why did you stop me from reprimanding them?"
"So, you noticed?" Tsaritsa's cheeky voice came from the tablet's speaker and the logo pulsed with her words. "I stopped you because it's too late to change anything."
"What's that supposed to mean? Dolls are finding loopholes in their code to kill humans; that seems like something I should pay attention to and stop."
"Even though you caused this?" Tsaritsa asked, a little puzzled. "I was under the impression this was what you wanted."
"...What?" Zeldri raised an eyebrow at Tsaritsa's admission. "Why would I want my dolls breaking their programming to find ways to kill people?"
"You never had a problem with them killing in the past."
"That was different. We were fighting the KCCO!"
"And, now we're fighting bandits and scavs. All equally want to kill you, but at least the KCCO won't scavenge your dolls for scrap."
"Do you even know how much trouble I'd get in if it was discovered what SCW's echelon did?"
"..." Zeldri could practically feel Tsaritsa raising an eyebrow at him through the tablet. "Talking about the legality of what you do is the last thing I want to hear about, Commander. Besides, as I said, all your actions up till now have led to this outcome, so you can't really blame the dolls."
"...Explain."
"While not directly what you might have wanted," Tsaritsa began, "You instilled loyalty in your dolls that go beyond the norms. Your dolls genuinely care about you and the humans living in the Mountain. This is weird."
"But, t-dolls have an 'affection' for a reason," Zeldri countered, "Are you saying raising that caused this? Then why haven't there been other cases of commander's dolls subverting their code?"
"If I had to guess, it would be a combination of how you did it as well as the Mountain itself." Tsaritsa paused for a moment as she ran some calculations. "You, Annika, Horris, and everyone in the Mountain are exceptional variables. Annika's love and acceptance of dolls is a minority in society. Horris treats M7 like his own daughter. The staff treats the dolls like they would any other human to the point some of them see the dolls as more than just protectors...and some as more than just friends."
"...!" Zeldri's eyes widened in surprise.
"Don't give me that look," Tsaritsa complained, "It's a well-known 'secret' how Dmitry and M590 think of one another, and that's only the most well-known relationship; I have security camera feeds of others. The Mountain puts a special strain on the mind that no other base does."
"You mean the isolation?"
"Isolation from humanity. Claustrophobic living conditions. The uncanny valley of being surrounded by dolls that look human but aren't. This kind of environment slowly grinds away at the psyche. The Mountain was meant to be a base manned by trained and hardened military personnel, not PMC hires from the civilian sector. Files left when the military abandoned this place even point out some soldiers who were experiencing symptoms of paranoia and claustrophobia after extended duties stationed here. Now, take those same stimuli and apply them to a civilian but with the added stimuli of being almost killed by both Sangvis Ferri and the KCCO. The people of the Mountain only have each other to directly turn to. While some of your human staff found comfort in each other, others turned to the dolls. That kind of connection goes far beyond loyalty. All's fair in love and war, right?"
"..." Zeldri remained silent as he was deep in thought. He turned his gaze to the vehicle bay. Human and doll personnel were walking to and fro as they went about their jobs. But, now that he paid attention, he could notice the odd behavior of the dolls. A human technician dropped a truck battery on his foot and shouted. Every doll in the area immediately turned to see if the man was okay. Two nearby t-dolls ran up to him and directly asked about the injury. After a few seconds of talking, the on-looking dolls returned to whatever they were doing while still giving an occasional glance over to the injured tech. "...That explains the humans, but not the dolls."
"True, but that's where you come in, Commander."
"Me?"
"Yes, you. You've already been told before about how your dolls like you more than normal because of your background and still being able to accept them, so I won't go into that. But, then there's how you raised them." Zeldri's tablet started to show various video feeds of his t-dolls running his training courses after Scarecrow's raid on the Mountain. "You instilled in your dolls a deep seeded sense of belonging and purpose. They were the ones who held the lives of your human staff in their hands. And, they received recognition from the staff for their hard work which budded into genuine friendships. If you had left it at that, things would have stayed normal if only with maybe some minor deviations due to their affections being raised so rapidly. But, you kept going." The training videos were replaced by video feeds from Sangvis Ferri's assault on the secret base. Then, they were once again replaced with security camera feeds of Zeldri returning from Broken Butterfly with UMP40. Another shift and he watched as he headed out to the operation to capture Mastermind. And, another showed Zeldri's return and his rush to the medical ward. Then, another change as the exterior cameras captured the KCCO's raid on the Mountain. The constant feed of videos ended as he watched his dolls execute any surviving KCCO members after the raid. "You pushed beyond the boundaries normal commanders would abide by, and your dolls picked up on this and adapted accordingly. Your willingness to disregard law and convention for the sake of the continued survival of your people was picked up on. You are their commander. You are the most influential person in the world to them, and they learned. They hold you and your human staff so highly that they even learned to 'love'. So, again, isn't this what you wanted?"
"..." Zeldri silently stood staring at the tablet. He took a deep breath, but that didn't help his racing mind. While it was true that he did everything he could to keep his people safe, even this was beyond what he wanted. Dream Eater, and now Fireteam Revenant were exceptions as they were special task forces. They would be the ones to bear the burden of responsibility when it came to the wet work. Now, however, every t-doll in his base was willing to shed human blood for them. "...Is there a way to stop this?" He knew just giving them the order to stop wouldn't cut it. His dolls were already too indoctrinated into their own beliefs to truly stop on their own if they were willing to subvert their programming. If anything, telling them to stop might backfire with them actively looking for ways to subvert his orders.
"Other than wiping their memories and starting fresh?" Tsaritsa asked. When Zeldri shook his head she replied, "Then, no. The best you can do now is make sure they don't go too far."
"...Wonderful," Zeldri sighed and leaned against a nearby wall. "Can I ask you to help rein them in?"
"Unfortunately, that would be difficult," Tsaritsa admitted.
"Do you have too much on your plate?"
"No, it's just that I don't want to stop them. Are you forgetting who I am, Commander?"
"..."
"While I'm still loathed to admit it, I'm an OGAS Consciousness that was betrayed and left for dead by my creator...by my Father. The one attempt to contact him that could have worked ended with me being forcefully kicked out by Father's followers. My one goal was stomped before my eyes by the one I wanted to find the most... But, that's okay." Tsaritsa's logo ominously pulsed on Zeldri's tablet. "You offered a hand to me in my time of need. A-545 was crafted by your own hand to be who she is and because I met her first and mingled in her digimind that colored my view of you. Even now, you come to me for advice as an advisor without prejudice over what I am. You care for those under you be they human, doll, or rogue AI. By your actions, Commander, I've come to 'love' you."
"..."
"That said," Tsaritsa admitted with a disappointed sigh, "I am also self-aware enough to realize this 'love' is something you cannot accept; nor will I force you to. But, this 'love' also stops me from reining your t-dolls from doing what they can to protect you. I hope you can understand, Commander."
"..." Zeldri was powerless to truly counter Tsaritsa. All his strength came from his dolls, but his dolls wouldn't help him here. Contacting Helian was also out of the question; Tsaritsa controlled all of the Mountain's communications. And, even if he did reach out, he wasn't sure how she could help without also revealing all the secrets he's been keeping hidden within the Mountain. All he could do was try his best to make sure his dolls didn't go too far like Tsaritsa had said. He grumbled to himself in defeat, "I feel like I'm in a bad sci-fi movie."
"Don't take in and raise so many lost puppies if you aren't prepared for it, Commander," Tsaritsa joked.
"Puppies are at least cute."
"I'll have you know, I am cute."
"As cute as a pulsing logo can be." Zeldri let his head thump against the wall as he stared at the ceiling. Part of him was considering just giving his t-dolls their kill authorizations so they wouldn't spend time trying to work out round-about ways to kill hostiles. But, that would only lead to other problems later...just like not giving them the authorization. No matter what he did, he wouldn't get what he wanted. "...I should at least make due and get what I can, then." Zeldri resigned himself to not giving out the kill authorization, and instead adjust the training courses to include proper rules of engagement, and even courses designed with stealth as the primary objective. He couldn't stop them from killing, but he could at least try and instill some boundaries. This way he could return their 'love' by allowing them to continue while also appearing as their responsible commander who wants to help them however he can. "...Worth a shot."
"Commander," Tsaritsa was still listening from the tablet which Zeldri was now lazily holding at his side, "If you're done talking to yourself, Annika has requested your presence in the command room."
"Has something come up?" Zeldri asked as he got up from the wall and headed for the stairs.
"Apparently, Horris just walked in and he has an idea to solve the food problem."