Flapping in through the open window, the little bird carried more twigs into the place where it planned to build its nest. Hopping around the flower pot, the bird carefully placed the little sticks to make its new home. Every once in a while, it would stop and stare, carefully assessing for danger. Over the past few days, the free food provided by the dolls served to ingratiate the bird to them, proving their reliability as a food force. Every day, one of them would come and provide some of their spare food for the bird. Not once has any of the not-humans tried to harm the bird or disturb it. In fact, over the past few days, the one with the short blonde hair even whistled along with the bird, the two of them in a chorus that attracted a second bird of which to mate.
Now, the two birds hoped to create a home in this place of free food, feeling safe under the watchful gaze of the dolls. Of course, the one with long white hair who called this office her home had been missing, and the birds were unsure of where she went. Of course, so long as the blonde singing not-human kept bringing food the birds would stay and start their new family here. MP40 entered the office for the second time today, this time with some loose material she had in her hand. She placed the pile of string and hair near the potted plant. "Here's something for your new home." She said with a smile. "I'll go check on the commandant and let her know you decided to stay."
The bird fluttered down to the pile of material and plucked some hair out and flew it up to the developing nest. This should help keep both the eggs and his lover warm and safe. Pleased with this gift, the bird happily tweeted at MP40 as she grabbed some papers off the desk and left.
MP40 made her way through the base until she reached the repair lab where the Commandant had been staying since she had returned from her mission a few days ago. Kar98k had fractured one of her legs' internal skeleton, eventually forcing it to break as she tried to escape with MP41. No doubt the entire ordeal was very painful for her, not even considering the earful she received from engineer Fredrick upon their safe return. As a result of her injury, he put in a requisition order for a new lower chassis for her, hoping to give her an upgrade that could prevent this from happening again. More importantly, G&K command had finally finished analyzing the data the team retrieved and it was finally time to find out if all the work was even worth it.
As MP40 entered the repair lab, she was greeted by the Commandant as she tried to put her boots on. Apparently, she was having a hard time getting her boots to fit on the new legs. "Good to see you back on your feet, ma'am." MP40 gave a salute, glad to see Kar98k with a lower torso.
"Thank you 40," Kar98k returned the salute, "how do they look?" She pivoted on her feet, giving MP40 a good look.
"Like you could kick the head off an Aegis ma'am."
The Commandant smiled. "I think the butt is a little bigger, and the feet are a little too small. I'll probably need to get new boots."
Fredrick, who was washing his hands in a sink on the far end of the repair bay, spoke up. "These legs are for dolls that dance. She should be able to do more fancy footwork for longer periods of time without ending up in a wheelchair."
Kar98k nodded. "While it's not a solution to the cooling issue, it's certainly better than doing nothing."
"Good." MP40 smiled. "We're glad to have you back."
Fredrick walked up, wiping his hands on a rag. "Speaking of the new legs, who put in the req order?"
"P38 is doing the orders and logistics work." MP40 explained. "P08 is handling anything on base."
"Well can you tell her to please be careful what she orders?" Fredrick was straining to not raise his voice. "She made a tiny mistake on my order."
MP40 looked at Kar98k, who simply hid face in her hand. "What exactly is the issue?"
Fredrick sighed. "Well, when I asked for dancer models, I was hoping I didn't need to specify what kind of dancer. So now not only will her legs have a greater range of dexterity, but she should also be capable of-"
MP40 cocked her head. "I don't follow."
"It was an honest mistake on P38s part." Kar98k tried to interrupt, slightly embarrassed.
Fredrick laughed to himself. "Let it just be a reminder to listen to me when I tell you not to do something. You're lucky you were able to push yourself that far."
"Speaking of, we just got back the data analysis." MP40 handed the papers over to the Commandant.
Kar98k looked through them, quickly glancing over it. Based on the scowl on her face, she didn't like what she saw. "I don't like the idea of an undercover mission, but if we're the team to do it…"
"Just don't get yourselves caught and killed." Fredrick had a point, dolls were a dangerous choice for an undercover mission. Being deactivated was the least of their worries, especially if they were traced back to Griffin. "Especially you, Commander."
"What do you mean?" The Commandant asked.
Fredrick sighed. "If the Captain here dies I can restore her last recorded neural cloud backup into a new body. You, however, keep corrupting and failing to save. We think it has to do with whatever these experimental command upgrades did to you."
Kar98k scoffed. "When were you planning on telling me this?"
"After IOP got back to me this morning. There are some other dolls they have with similar command upgrades and similar issues. I think they just lost one not too long ago." Fredrick gave an exasperated sigh. He seemed to genuinely feel bad for giving information. He almost seemed like a doctor telling a family about a terminal illness. "There's no easy way to give bad news, I'm sorry."
The Commandant stood, stone faced for a moment. The silence was palpable and the tension in the air was so thick you could cut it with a knife. Death was always a concept to dolls, an idea for them to try and rationalize. They never feared death as a concept entirely, knowing that resurrection was a button press away. But to effectively have immortality and lose it must be difficult for Kar98k. Even MP40 was unsettled knowing that her friend and leader could be gone at any moment now. "Are you alright ma'am?" She asked, reaching out to put a hand on the Commandant's shoulder.
She was looking at the ground, still processing the news. "We won't tell the others." She tightened her fists as she tried to stay composed. "I won't let this affect our missions or how we do things."
Fredrick sighed and put his hands on his hips. "I'm not exactly sure which stage of grief you're in, but as long as you're not putting your own gun in your mouth that's progress."
"He's right," MP40 tried to cheer the Commandant up, "you were chosen for a reason. I can't imagine they wouldn't give this amazing opportunity to a doll who would throw her life away."
Fredrick walked over and put a reassuring hand on the Commandant's shoulder. "Listen, Kar, it's alright. Maybe you should head over to the cafeteria and get yourself some wine; I hear Frenchie has one hell of a stash."
The Commandant took a breath of composure, closing her eyes as she gathered herself up. "You're right, I should enjoy myself. Hell, we should all enjoy ourselves, let's throw a party!"
"For what occasion, ma'am?" MP40 asked.
"Now that I'm back on my feet, the mission is officially complete." Kar98k finished putting her boots on and made for the door with MP40 in tow. "Our first real mission as the Iron Cross Brigade, with me as the tactical commander."
"This is a momentous occasion, and I'm sure our new cook Pierre would love to cater for a party." MP40 took a look back at Fredrick, who watched them leave the repair bay. More specifically, he seemed to be watching the Commandant. He amusedly shook his head with a small smile on his lips and got back to his work. MP40 couldn't help but mentally dwell on what he said before they left. Fredrick had always referred to the girls and most everyone by some sort of nickname, claiming that the Griffon habit of naming dolls after guns was ridiculous and only made it easier for a human to watch a doll die. When she had asked him about it before, he said that giving them names made the work he does feel much more personal. Most interestingly, he referred to the Commandant not as 'Commander' like he usually does; but he called her 'Kar'. To MP40, it almost felt like he was trying to make a personal connection with her.
The implications behind that were far too much for her to really wrap her neural cloud around it without short circuiting. However, when he reached out to her, and she responded, something had happened. He was no longer an engineer working in a lab and she was no longer a machine that needed repairs. The Commandant had become a human, her feelings hurt as she faced mortality for the first time. Fredrick no doubt recognized this and reached out to her as a fellow human. The idea that the Commandant was becoming human troubled MP40 in a way she couldn't comprehend. What if she was right to be wary of who or what the Commandant was becoming? What if they really did lose her to humanity?
MP40 pushed those rebellious thoughts out of her head and purged any more that cropped up. The Commandant was chosen because she wouldn't falter or fail. So long as MP40 and the others stood by her, she'd forever remember who they were. None of them were human, none of them wanted to be human. So long as the Iron Cross Brigade sticks together, they'll never forget who they are. As the Commandant and MP40 walked through the halls of the cafeteria, planning a grand party to celebrate their victory, she knew that together they had nothing to fear.
Some time later, Kar98k sat alone in her office, the only light coming from a computer monitor. The resident birds sat snuggled in their nest, holding close to each other for warmth in the cool air of the night. Insects of the night sang their songs now, the world finally feeling at peace. Despite it all, Kar98k couldn't shake her fears, she couldn't escape what troubled her. Thinking back to the last mission, she couldn't help but consider everything that could have gone wrong. Every way she could have failed, every way she could have died. Had she died, no doubt her team would be thrown into disarray. Without a proper leader they would fail to come up with complex plans, stumbling in the dark until they were all hunted down and eliminated. And she would be dead.
With a sigh she grabbed one of her pens and pricked her finger with it until it broke skin. Looking at the open wound, she was reminded she was still more machine than human. A human would have begun bleeding all over the desk, most likely cursing as they went for a bandage. However, here Kar98k sat, staring at a hole in her hand with a contemplative look on her face. She wasn't human, she was something better. A mix of everything that made both humans and dolls great, and with a little more refinement she could become something even better. She could become the ultimate-
"No." With a scowl, Kar98k banished that thought. What was she thinking, she wasn't some sort of super soldier. She was Kar98k, Commander of Griffin and Kryuger forces, manufactured product of IOP Industries. Her job was to lay down her life to protect what few humans were left on this planet. Having wiped themselves out through ecological disaster and world war, it is her job as a doll to shepherd what few were left to keep more from wiping themselves out. Her duty was thankless, but necessary. She was not one of them, even if she could think like one.
There was a knock on the door. Kar98k stood up to let them in, not expecting anyone to visit her at this hour. It was StG44, doing her night time patrol duties. "Sorry ma'am," She said, giving a salute, "I saw someone was in here and thought that you had gone off to sleep."
"It's alright, it's actually convenient you stopped by actually." Kar98k motioned for StG44 to enter, keeping the light off so as not to wake the birds. In low light they could both see reasonably well enough as it is anyway. "I'm working out the plans for our next operation, and I was thinking of bringing you along."
"I could never say no to you Commandant." Even if she wanted to.
Kar98k smiled. "Good, it's an undercover operation being approved by the government of the sector. I just need to know how you feel about operating around humans."
StG44 thought for a moment. "Well, they're too squishy. They die too easily. Way too many of them are lazy and filthy and expect us to clean up after them. A lot of them forget that we have emotions and feelings like they do and only think about us as objects, I can't tell you how many times I've had to pull some drunk off of me in the local town on my time off."
"It seems you're not too fond of them."
"Don't get me wrong, Commandant, I would still do everything I can to keep a person safe if you told me to. All of my issues with them are minor, there's a lot of really great humans out there."
Kar98k laughed to herself. "Don't worry about it, I'm sure there are too. Now get back to your patrol."
StG44 gave a salute and left Kar98k alone in the office again. With a yawn, she walked back to her desk and rested her head on her arms. So long as her team kept their heads on straight, she would keep hers on as well. None of them had anything to worry about, the little voice in the back of her head telling her otherwise grew silent. The next mission would no doubt go off without a hitch, and they would once again come out on top. Any issues were minor, all was good and quiet on their front.
