"I had no idea Griffin had my vocal quirks in their database, let alone that you'd actually memorize them." Now that she no longer had to hide herself, Alchemist went to work straightening her hair that had gotten slightly tangled on the robes that dematerialized. "We never actually met, so you wouldn't have a reason to look into that. Unless…" She narrowed her eye and sat in a more seductive pose. "You read my file and it was love at first sight, Commander?"
"…" Zeldri wouldn't even humor that with a response.
"The silent treatment won't work anymore now that I know you can talk to me," Alchemist said as she pouted.
"…If you must know," Zeldri knew she would keep probing until he gave her an answer so he gave in, "It wasn't just you; I looked into every Ringleader after Scarecrow raided the Mountain."
"Ah, yeah I skipped a bunch of time after that since I only cared about the code," Alchemist admitted as she relaxed in her seat. "Who'd have thought that me skipping that would spell my reveal?"
"You're also the only Ringleader specialized in interrogation techniques," Zeldri continued as he glanced out the window of the suspended Black Hawk. "That makes you the most likely suspect for my interrogator. Though, I'm surprised that Sangvis can spare the resources on me considering you've been practically wiped out by the KCCO and Paradeus."
"How perceptive, Commander." Alchemist followed Zeldri's gaze outside the window. "However, you're not completely correct."
"…?"
"While I am the best one for the job of interrogation, I'm not here on Mastermind's orders."
"…Right," Zeldri looked back to Alchemist who had a tired expression on their face. "You're doing this for Him; whoever that is." Mentioning Him made a knot form in Zeldri's stomach and his rage started to boil.
"That would be Minx, Commander," a new voice spoke to his right.
"!?" Zeldri jumped and turned to see a small girl in a white dress sitting next to him.
"Greetings, Commander," Tsaritsa said as she looked up at him. "I'm glad I'm finally able to properly speak to you."
"Tsarit-?"
"Aw~," Alchemist whined and dismissively waved her hand at Tsaritsa, "You ruined my pronoun game."
"It's not a game if you're being forced to do it, Alchemist," Tsaritsa dryly countered and sent a glare at Alchemist. "For the same reason you had to hide yourself as the 'black-cloaked woman', Minx ordered you to not reveal who he was to the Commander."
"Killjoy."
"…Minx?" The throbbing in the back of Zeldri's head started to intensify as he tried to piece things together. "He helped us before…"
"While attempting to plant Zeratul personnel into the Mountain," Tsaritsa added. "He always made an effort to try and get you to accept his people as a means to infiltrate us. But, you always denied him. So, he had to resort to…extreme measures to get the codes to the Heart." Tsaritsa gave an annoyed sigh as she had to talk about Minx, and seemed uncomfortable elaborating what she meant at the end. "Though, to do this all for a nuke is-"
"He doesn't want the Heart," Zeldri interrupted her. His brain had been churning through what he knew and it finally connected the dots. "The Heart's the deterrent for the real prize of the Mountain; the Gavirul sample." He glanced over at Alchemist. "When I found the empty sample tube on level 01, you burst out laughing about how He would flip out if he knew. Zeratul is a pharmaceutical company, so they have plenty of resources to handle DNA samples. If he's with Paradeus that only makes more sense since they are heavily interested in Relic technology. A Gavirul sample would be invaluable to an organization like that. But, they couldn't risk its destruction via the Heart so they're using you, Alchemist, to get the code out of me which will let them take control over the entire Mountain without lifting a finger."
"…Again, you're quite a scary man, Commander," Alchemist admitted as she gave a chuckle. "When given the chance, you piece things together quite quickly."
"Even on however many drugs you've injected me with, I can still do this much."
"PFFT!" Alchemist couldn't contain her laughter which caused Zeldri to raise an eyebrow in confusion. "Drugs, he says? He thinks drugs can do this!? AHAHAHA!"
"…What do you mean?" Zeldri asked as he tried to understand Alchemist's outburst of laughter. "Hallucinogens can be strong enough to-"
"Then explain her," Alchemist retorted and gestured to Tsaritsa.
"…" Tsaritsa remained silent in her seat.
"She…" Zeldri tried to think of a way this would work but was drawing a blank.
"Or, better yet, can you explain the loser and those snakes!?"
"…Who?" Zeldri lost his train of thought at Alchemist's question. The world stuttered.
"Alchemist…" Tsaritsa glared at the Ringleader but was paid no mind.
"You know, that creepy t-doll you got, A-545? The snake? She's been rather persistent in trying to stop me, and has been far more successful at it than your pet OGAS, here." Alchemist threw in an insult towards Tsaritsa before tapping her chin as she looked deep in thought.
"Alchemist," Tsaritsa barked but was again ignored.
"Then, the loser-"
"Alchemist!" Tsaritsa practically shouted causing both Zeldri and Alchemist to jump in surprise.
"Wha-?" As Alchemist was about to tell off Tsaritsa, something caught her attention outside the window of the Black Hawk that Tsaritsa was looking at.
"…?" Also noticing her gaze, Zeldri looked out the window of the suspended Black Hawk and saw an impossible sight. Despite the world being frozen, and all time being stopped, Zeldri saw the Mountain's 2S35 Koalitsiya-SV slowly driving along the forest floor. The artillery piece was being escorted by Dream Eater. "What are-?" The 2S35 raised its barrel and aimed at the helicopter.
"FUCK!" Alchemist dove out of her seat toward Zeldri and grabbed his head in her hand. "Take a rest, Commander, you lo-" But, before Alchemist could finish her sentence, the 2S35 fired a round that engulfed the Black Hawk in a fireball. Alchemist's command was interrupted causing Zeldri to-
-stay awake as he found himself back in the Mountain's command room.
"…What?" Zeldri blinked a few times and leaned heavily against the center console.
"Commander?" Annika was standing next to him and looked up from her tablet at him. "What are you waiting for?"
"Waiting?" Zeldri turned to Annika who seemed not to notice the panic that was clearly evident on his face.
"The chopper's all fueled up and is waiting for you on the helipad in the lot, Commander," Annika repeated her lines from the day he left the Mountain.
"…" Zeldri rubbed his face as he tried to get a grip on what was happening.
"D̵̽͜o̵̩̽ñ̷̢'̶̳͊t̷̳́ ̷̗̅ģ̶̅o̶̧͋.̴̯̽"
"…" Dropping his hand away from his face, Zeldri saw Annika's eyes were vacant and cold with fresh tears running down her face. "Anni-?" As Zeldri reached out to wipe her tears away, the door to the command room opened causing Zeldri to pause. Dream Eater, led by A-545, filed into the command room. This wasn't what happened.
"…" A-545 had the visor of her Lynx helmet down so Zeldri couldn't see her face. Though, the rest of Dream Eater all had the same vacant expression Annika had. "I̸'̸l̷l̸ ̶f̵o̸l̴l̴o̴w̸ ̷y̷o̷u̷ ̶w̷h̷e̷r̶e̵v̸e̵r̸ ̴y̴o̷u̶ ̵g̷o̴.̶" A-545 spoke in a voice distorted by radio static as she, and the rest of Dream Eater, raised their weapons.
"Commander!?" Suddenly, Tsaritsa emerged from the large monitor mounted on the wall and tackled Zeldri to the floor just before Dream Eater opened fire. The command room was lit up and Zeldri couldn't hear anything over the cacophonous roaring of their guns. Blood splattered against the walls and floors as the staff was mowed down. Annika's corpse fell to the floor next to Zeldri; her eyes blankly stared at him.
"Damn it! I don't know if it'll work if I do it, but…" Tsaritsa cursed before cupping Zeldri's face in her hands. She had no idea what Dream Eater was doing, but she wouldn't risk finding out. "Wake up, Commander, you're screaming again!" Zeldri instantly felt his consciousness fading as a wave of exhaustion hit him like a truck, but something didn't go according to plan.
"…" Zeldri opened his eyes to find himself leaning against a windowsill. Looking outside, he saw the battle-scared outpost where the secret meeting on Parapluie was crashed by Sangvis.
"Looks like the sector 09 commander's done it again," Sara idly stated as she read the latest update. "The AR-Team's destroyed the command post Sangvis was using, so we're no longer on high alert."
"We should still keep our girls by the gate, for the time being though," Anto added as he set down his tablet and took a sip of water from a water bottle.
"…You guys…?" Zeldri still remembered. He turned to Sara and Anto, his two dead comrades. "You're-"
"Oi, what gives!?" Suddenly, Alchemist appeared next to Zeldri, grabbed his shoulder, and forced him to face her. "I swear, that OGAS is going to mess everything up!"
"…?" Zeldri looked back over at Sara and Anto only to see them blankly staring back at him. Their eyes appeared dead and vacant. "…What's going on, Alchemist!?" This was too lifelike to be a hallucination. Thinking back, even Annika's corpse lying next to him just moments ago was too realistic. The world stuttered.
"Nothing that pretty little head of yours needs to wor-" Alchemist's deflection of Zeldri's question was interrupted as a bullet pierced the window next to them and put a hole through Alchemist's head. As she fell, her body was distorted by image fragments and dissolved into smoke before it hit the floor. Zeldri recognized the crack of the sniper firing as Mondragon.
"Get down!" Once again, Tsaritsa appeared to tackle Zeldri to the ground as a second round cracked through the window that would have nailed Zeldri in the head.
"Tsaritsa!?" Zeldri pushed her small body off him as he pressed himself against the wall. Sara and Anto stood motionless and silent despite the situation. "What the hell's going on!?" Heavy footsteps in the hallway outside rapidly approached the room.
"No time!" Tsaritsa once more grabbed Zeldri's face as the door to the room opened. A-545, MDR, and UMP40 stormed into the room with their weapon's drawn. "Wake up, Commander, you're screaming again!" Zeldri's consciousness faded but refused to slumber as he watched Tsaritsa's small body get pelted with bullets.
Again, causing him to remember.
"Of course it is," Scarecrow retorted. Her drones flew down and tried to get in Zeldri's face, but he brushed them aside and stood a mere three feet from the Ringleader. "Your government wouldn't hand over an active nuclear weapon to a PMC. You can't bluff your way out of your death, this time, Griffin Commander." He was back to the time Scarecrow raided the Mountain.
"…" Zeldri grit his teeth in annoyance. The back of his head was pounding and he was, seemingly, getting thrown around time like some ragdoll. "This is getting ridiculous."
"Agreed, Commander," Alchemist said as she walked in front of him and instantly grabbed his face. "This is my show, and we've gotten distracted enough!" Zeldri tried to reach up and break free of Alchemist's grip, but she was too strong. "Now, be a good little human and work with me, here. Wake up, Commander, you're screaming again." The exhaustion was stronger this time and threatened to engulf him. But…
N̸̞͇̣̿̄e̸͎͈̹̰̓͌̄̈́ǵ̶̝͎̟̭͑̑̄l̶̛̮̼̀̇i̵̻̓͜g̴̤͔̚e̵̢͉͂̎̅n̶̖̣̄c̶̙̙̖̑̃̔e̷͚͈͆̇̃͝,̸̡͙͍̣̈́̚ ̷͉͚̺͘ȏ̴̭̫̲͉̔h̵̥̤̠͑͌ ̶̛̮̩͓̐V̶̻̄͒͗ạ̷̠̟̓̎̒͠n̸͇͆̈́͠y̸͕͆́a̷̛͈̝͝,̷̲̿ ̵̡̫̊̈̊͘ͅa̵̼̒́̇͜l̵̫̿̋̿͘w̶̧͒̒̋͐ả̸̙͐̎y̶͓̏̔͑͜s̷͈̒͑̂̎ͅ ̸̢̡̣̝͌̈́̄͝ẏ̷̼̝͖̎͘̕ȉ̴͔͙͔̬̑ẽ̸̠͎̭͓̽̈l̶̟͋͆̚d̴̢̻͆̓̓͝s̶̟͈̞̞͒̃̚ ̵̛̞͚̳̾͌͐ͅa̶̙̔̓͑n̷̛̺̻͇̔̚ǹ̶̞̮̞̾͠͝i̷̧̡̥̻͠͠h̶̡̘͕͔̅̏̆̔i̷̜̗̎́̀ḻ̴̬͇̀̊̂a̸̞͙̞͂t̴̨̞̟͒ͅḭ̴̡̮͍̔̌̇ȍ̴̘̣͍̉̂̇n̵̙̙̓̀͗͝.̷̞̙̱̙͛̀
"Oi, Zeldri, wake up!" Zeldri's eyes snapped open as he felt someone shaking him awake. Looking up, he was met with the face of a rather gruff-looking man in his mid-twenties. "Had a nice nap?"
"…How could I when you keep shaking me like some faulty computer, Peter." Zeldri shoved Peter away causing the man to fall back into his seat and a hushed chuckle escaped from the rest of the people around them. Zeldri was currently sitting in the back of a KamAZ-63968 Typhoon personnel carrier driving down a dirt road through a forest. Zeldri looked down at his right leg which was completely fine. He did some test stretches with it and found it felt completely normal…why wouldn't it? Of course his leg was normal, nothing had happened to it to make it not normal. So, why was he concerned?
"This is Дворник (Janitor)-32," the radio crackled bringing Zeldri out of his thoughts, "We're about to clear the woods. We have a visual on the AO."
"…Roger, Дворник-32. Once we're clear, have Дворник-21 dismount and continue on foot."
"Confirmed, Дворник-11."
"…" Zeldri re-hooked his radio to his vest and cracked his neck one last time. Maybe he was just getting pre-patrol jitters? After all, he was on patrol through a ruined city to go scav hunting which wasn't anyone's favorite mission to do. After telling everyone to dismount, and form a loose formation, Zeldri and the convoy slowly made their way into the city proper. Blown-out windows stained the sidewalks with their glass, piles of concrete debris stood as gravestones for former buildings, and the burned-out remains of cars littered the road. Even if a building hadn't collapsed, it was still littered with bullet holes, scorch marks, or had holes from explosives. Zeldri…was getting the strangest sense of déjà vu, but couldn't put his finger on why.
"We got movement to the south!" Дворник-23 had opened the roof hatches on the Kamaz and were using it as a vantage point.
"…The corner store?" Zeldri asked through his radio as he looked down the street they were passing.
"Yeah," the soldier replied and pointed to a store that was three blocks down from where they were.
"…" Silently, Zeldri motioned for Peter to follow.
"Let's go!" Peter gave a shout and his squad followed Zeldri toward the store. "Looks like there's movement near the back."
"…Put a burst in the street."
"Shouldn't we call out to them, first?" Peter asked cocking an eyebrow at Zeldri.
"Just do it."
"…Okay." Peter gave a reluctant shrug and brought up his rifle. The air cracked as the AN-94 fired off two bursts into a car wreck. As the crack died down, two figures dressed in mismatched clothing dove out the window and bolted down the street. "Fucking scav," Peter remarked as he watched them go.
"Why don't we go after them?" one of the newer soldiers asked.
"Because," Peter turned to the man, "If we arrested every-"
"Enough," Zeldri interrupted Peter. He wasn't sure why, but seeing Peter was making him feel…angry? But, Peter was his best friend. Why would he be angry with Peter? The soldier and Peter exchanged a nervous glance but remained silent. "…We have the whole rest of the town to patrol, so let-" As Zeldri was talking, he was interrupted by the echoing sound of screams followed by the cracks of automatic weapons. Then, the air went silent.
"Дворник-11!" Zeldri's radio crackled to life, "What was that?"
"…Cracked?" Zeldri silently muttered to himself.
"What?" Peter asked as he and his squad took cover behind an upturned truck that was nearby. Everyone had their weapons drawn and trained down the street where the sounds came from. The same direction the scavs ran off to. "Zeldri, get into cov-"
"Plasma weapons don't crack…" As far as Zeldri knew, plasma weapons, like the ones used by Sangvis Ferri, made a distinct sizzling noise when fired. Only conventional firearms made the air crack. But, when the two scavs ran away Zeldri didn't see any weapons on them. So, who fired those shots?
"Sangvis Ferri!" Peter called out the Scout that was hovering on the rooftop of the corner store, and all hell broke loose. Bursting around the corner of the store, a group of Dinergates sprinted towards them. "Zeldri, get to cover!" Peter shouted at Zeldri as he took out a Dinergate. "Oi, are you liste-" Zeldri suddenly sprinted towards the approaching Dinergates. "ZELDRI!?"
"…!" Zeldri tossed his service rifle to the side and broke into a full sprint. This wasn't right. The throbbing in the back of his head only intensified as he ran. Yet, that merely pushed him to run all the more. A Dinergate leaped toward Zeldri and was on a collision course with his chest. "…!?" Only to phase right through it as the Dinergate's body was distorted by image fragments before dissolving into smoke. The world stuttered, and Zeldri continued to sprint down the street while ignoring Peter's cries. He eventually approached the street the two scavs had run to and Zeldri hugged the building as he rounded the corner.
"C̶̪̆ö̷̩́m̶̮̊m̷̘͝à̸͓ṋ̴̋d̵̩͝ė̸͍ř̸͕.̵̰̊" Zeldri skid to a stop on the sidewalk and was greeted by the radio static distorted voice of A-545 who, along with the rest of Dream Eater, was standing over the bodies of two dead scavs. A pair of Sangvis Rippers, the original culprits of the scav's deaths, stood by and vacantly stared at him. "I̶̧͘ ̶͚̌ẁ̸̱i̵̱̕l̶̥͌l̴̲̆ ̸̭̕a̵͕̕l̷͊ͅw̴̙̉ǎ̶͈y̸̱͛s̷̿͜ ̵̣̀b̶̩̏ȇ̵̺ ̷̞͆ẃ̶̼i̵̱͛t̷̓͜h̵̗͝ ̴̧͂y̸̹̏ȯ̴̢u̵͍̓.̴̥͛" Dream Eater raised their weapons at Zeldri.
"FUCK OFF!" Alchemist stood on the roof of the building and sent a torrent of plasma down on Dream Eater. Mondragon and MDR turned to return fire but had their arms blown off. UMP40 and AR-57 took the plasma directly as they tried to shield A-545; who still took considerable damage despite using the two dolls as shields. With Dream Eater temporarily incapacitated, Alchemist dove off the building and tackled Zeldri to the ground. "I tried to be nice because it was you, Commander!" There was a dangerous edge in Alchemist's voice as she squeezed his head with her hand. "But, if you wanna play it this way, then we'll play it hard! Wake up, Commander, you're screaming again!" Another wave of exhaustion struck Zeldri as his consciousness faded, once more.
…
…
…
"Tch, damned snake." Alchemist spat off to the side as the world around her distorted with image fragments to change locations. "To think you had embedded yourself even into that early of a memory? You're making me go further than I should. Just what the hell are you?" She stood up as the world around her started to stabilize. Zeldri was laying unconscious next to her. She looked down at him and mumbled to herself, "…Honestly, I wish there was another way, Commander. But…I don't think either of us will get what we want when this is over." She somberly ran her hand through her hair. "Hmm. I need some time to think, so just behave yourself in…this…?" As the world finished stabilizing around her, Alchemist found herself in a place she'd never seen, before. It looked like a bedroom you'd find in a house. The bed was twin sized, so this wasn't a master bedroom, and there was a gaming computer silently sitting on a desk against the far wall. A chest filled with toy blocks sat in the corner.