"All dolls were received and accounted for. We're still getting them into their echelons, but that won't take long." Zeldri was swiping through his tablet looking over the new dolls as he decided where they would go while on a call with Helian in one of the empty conference rooms.

"Good," Helian said as she marked something off on her own tablet, "Keep me informed on the security of your base, Commander, as your situation is rather special."

"Yes, ma'am."

"Have you picked an adjunct from your dolls yet, or should I continue sending reports to Annika?"

"No, I've made AA-12 my adjunct."

"...AA-12?" Helian raised a suspicious eyebrow at that.

"I understand how it sounds," Zeldri reassured her, "But, AA-12 is actually quite competent when it comes to her adjunct duties. She'll be fine."

"...Hm." A knowing smile crossed Helian's face. "Very well. I will trust your judgment, Commander."

"Is it that amusing to have picked her as my adjunct?" Zeldri was confused about her smile.

"No, it's just interesting to see your growth as a commander." When she saw Zeldri's continued confusion she clarified, "This is the first time you've called a doll something other than 'it' or 'they'. You called AA-12 'she'."

"..." Zeldri opened his mouth to speak, but words didn't come out. He hadn't even realized he did that. Dolls were just that; machine dolls. They weren't human so calling them by human pronouns wasn't appropriate. But...he couldn't deny that his t-dolls weren't changing his perspective. That, or he was suffering from mountain madness since dolls weren't people. One of the two. "I suppose I did." Zeldri aired his thoughts. "Is that a strange thing to do?"

"No," Helian shook her head, "As far as I know, you're the only commander we have who hasn't been calling our t-dolls by human pronouns. But, none of our other commanders have your kind of background so it's interesting to see your change."

"I didn't realize your hobby was people-watching, Miss Helianthus."

"It's not, but when you work with as many people as I do you pick up on things like this more easily." The atmosphere between them was rather casual which caused Helian to speak more freely than she otherwise would. "I look forward to seeing your continued growth, Commander Zeldri."

"Growth, or mountain madness?" Zeldri played into the growing mood.

"There's no such thing." Helian feigned annoyance at Zeldri's joke. "And, even if there was, you're surrounded by enough people, doll and human, to ward it off. I'm not giving you a vacation disguised as a medical leave."

"I'd never consider such a thing."

"Ahuh." The mood was casual and light enough that a thought wormed into Helian's mind. She glanced around to make sure no one was around in her office, and that her door was shut before looking back to Zeldri. "Though, speaking of your next leave..."

"Hm?" Zeldri noticed a shift in Helian's posture as she became slightly awkward.

"...Do yo-"

"Commander?" As Helian was about to ask her question, Annika opened the door to the conference room Zeldri was using to call her. "Ah, sorry. I see you're in a call."

"..." Helian quickly shut her mouth and returned to her more normal rigid posture. "It's fine, Annika. We were just finishing up." She glanced at Zeldri. "Keep me updated on your situation, Commander."

"...Yes, ma'am." While Zeldri was curious about what she was going to say earlier, he saw that whatever moment that brought it on was gone so he let it be. The call was cut and Zeldri turned to Annika. "Was there something you needed?"

"Yes, StG44's echelon just finished their logistics run and are doing a last supply check before returning. I was hoping to go over some budget spending with you while they did."

"Very well, let's move to the command room." Zeldri led the way as they went to the command room which was bustling with activity since they now had more dolls to manage. On the way, Annika pulled out a crossword puzzle and started filling it out. "You do crosswords?"

"Yeah," Annika said as she filled in a few short words, "Puzzles keep the mind sharp, and they're fun." She filled out a few more words before stopping. She tapped the pencil she held to her lips as she thought. "Though, sometimes they throw in unfair ones that I don't get. Are you good at puzzles, Commander?"

"I guess," Zeldri admitted as he shrugged, "It's been a while since I've done a crossword, though."

"Could you try this one?" Annika offered him the paper. "I can't get it."

"Sure." Zeldri wasn't sure why, but he accepted the paper and looked at the one that wasn't filled in. It was by itself with no other word connecting to it and it was quite long. He then looked at the clue. "Wait, this one's easy, though. You don't know it?"

"Could you try this one? I can't get it," Annika spoke the words again with the exact same inflections in her voice as if her speech was just repeated.

"...Alright." Zeldri brushed the strangeness of her repeated speech aside and returned to the crossword. "It's a date which makes it easy since not much happened that day otherwise. It's November 05."

"..." For a moment, everything froze and all sound stopped. It was as if the world was processing what he had just said. The staff who had been typing away at computers appeared as still as mannequins. The hum of the computers was deafened. Annika's eyes, usually full of life, appeared vacant and dead as she stared at Zeldri. A tear rolled down her cheek.

"...Anni-?"

"Thanks, Commander." Just as quickly as the world froze, it sprung back to life. Annika took the paper from Zeldri and looked it over before putting it away. Zeldri blinked and saw there was no sign of her tears. He continued staring at her which caused her to raise an eyebrow at him. "Something wrong, Commander?"

"...No. It's nothing." It was probably nothing. He was probably just tired. He didn't need to dwell on it. So, he moved on, "Anyway, let's get StG44 on the-"

"Commander!" One of the staff called out from their computer terminal. Their face held a grave expression.

"Report."

"There's a large enemy force converging on one of the unexplored military outposts; the largest we've seen, yet. And, there's a particularly strong signature that matches a Ringleader's!"

"...!" Ringleader; Sangvis Ferri's command units. From what he'd read, the Ringleaders were adept at commanding their mass-produced units and also given enough firepower to stand up in a fight. Zeldri thought he was lucky in that they hadn't met one in his sector, but for one to suddenly emerge with such a large force? "Do we have an ID?"

"Signature ID matched as Scarecrow." Was this the same Ringleader that was causing the Sangvis units to explore the sector in a search pattern all this time? From what he knew, Scarecrow was a reconnaissance unit, so what could be so important for them to personally enter the field...

.̵̨̤̍͠.̵̣̹̈́.̸̞̹̋̾N̷̥͈̏ǒ̷̗͔v̸̺͇̍͠e̶̤͓̓m̴̛͈͋b̷̡̛̠͌e̵̯̾r̵͇̊̀.̸͎̍.̶̺̯̆.̶̧͘Z̸̝̀e̴̦̋͐ř̵̰̈ǫ̷̟͌̿.̸̛̭̘̉.̸͍̌.̸̲̔F̷̛̯i̵̙͝v̴̢̽͛é̷̘̖.̶̢̃̄.̷̢͗.̸̖̠̏Ả̴̟l̶͓͙͝ṕ̸ͅh̵̨͐ȁ̵̗̬.̸̜̠͑.̴̢̘̃.̸̻̲̓

"...Блядь (Fuck)!" Zeldri cursed as it clicked in his head. He frantically turned to Annika. "Who's the closest team!?"

"StG44's is the closest," Annika saw Zeldri's worry and was frantically tapping through her tablet, "But, they aren't fully equipped to handle a Ringleader!"

"They'll get reinforcements after they arrive! StG44!" Zeldri connected to his echelon.

"Yes, Commander?" She sounded worried at Zeldri's frantic tone.

"I'm sending you some coordinates. A large Sangvis force led by a Ringleader is headed there and we can't let them get their hands on a package that's there! I need your team to get there and delay until reinforcements can arrive."

"Sofort, Kommandant (Right away, Commander)!"

"Annika, I'm leaving you in charge of the base," Zeldri said as he made his way to the exit.

"Commander!? Where are you going?"

"Getting StG44 some reinforcements."

"But, who will-!"

"I'll still command as I go, you modify! I trust you!" Zeldri exited the command room and, as fast as his limp would allow, made his way towards the garage. He put in his earpiece and used his tablet to put a call through. "Horris!"

"GAH!" There was a startling thump as Horris' head hit something metal. "Don't startle me! Блядь (Fuck)!"

"I need your pet project and one of the Tigr-M's ready, now!"

"Now?!" The sounds of Horris shuffling through his toolbox could be heard over the call. "There's a Tigr with a Kord auto-turret that just needs some gas, but the Koali-"

"Make it work! I'll compensate for the ammo I know you found."

"...Give me five minutes."

"You have until I get there."

"So ten minutes, got it." Although Horris joked, he could tell Zeldri was stressed and got M7 and some of the surrounding personnel to help him get things ready.

"..." Zeldri cut the call and focused on moving. His speed was causing his leg to scream in defiance. It gnawed at him.

"A gamble with your life on the line?" The black-cloaked woman appeared next to Zeldri and was easily keeping pace with him. "It would have been safer to send a doll, you know? Just give it directions and you're done. There was no need for this kind of plan. Unless~..." Although he couldn't see her eyes, Zeldri only needed to see her twisted smile to know how much she was enjoying this. "This is just an excuse for a lame soldier to feel the thrill of combat, again? For that rush that makes you feel alive? For the self-validation that your leg hasn't made you just a lump of useless meat-?" As she tried to continue taunting, Zeldri was fed up with it and momentarily stopped to swing his forearm crutch at the black-cloaked woman.

"...!" It connected. The crutch struck the woman in the head which caused her to fall back against the wall. She limply slid to the floor, but still smiled.

"Struck a nerve, Commander?" Zeldri had no time for her taunts, so he ignored her and continued to the garage. The black-cloaked woman lazily sat up and wiped the corner of her mouth despite there being nothing to wipe away. "Oh~, I'm liking you more and more each time, Commander~."


"...Hm." Scarecrow slowly advanced with her amassed units as she hovered above the ground. One of her Scouts had potentially found the package she was looking for. She knew the importance of getting the package, so she wasn't taking any chances and was personally going to retrieve it. Griffin had acquired additional t-dolls which only showed the fear she had instilled in this 'Commander' they had sent. Even if it wasn't the package she was after, she calculated that revealing herself personally would add to the fear within Griffin's ranks. Only twelve squads were with her consisting of Vespids, Rippers, Guards, and two Dragoons since she wanted to reserve the bulk of her forces for when she finally attacked their Mountain. Such a force was, also, more than enough to crush any resistance Griffin's dolls would put up to stop them from obtaining the package, which they most definitely would attempt to do. "Your chances of victory are at zero." As the abandoned military outpost came into view, Scarecrow raised her conductor's baton and flicked her wrists forwards. "Begin."

"...!" The mass of Sangvis units rushed into the outpost. The chainlink fence that marked its border was long eroded away leaving only the hollowed carcasses of the cement buildings. There were a few buildings, a large parking lot half-covered with a metal roof, and even a short runway with plenty of space for helicopters. It was such a perfect location that Scarecrow originally didn't believe that Griffin passed it up as the location for their base in the sector. But, when she learned about the Mountain, she immediately understood their decision. Even humans had their moments of intelligence, it seemed. As her units entered the outpost, Scarecrow's sensors picked up the distant sound of a helicopter.

"So, you've arrived, Griffin." All was within her calculations. Next, they would touch down some distance away and advance on the outpost; such was their standard tactics. "...Hm?" Or, at least, that was supposed to be their standard tactics, but the sound of the helicopter kept getting closer. She also couldn't see the helicopter in the sky despite how close it sounded. "Where is-?" As Scarecrow was about to air her thoughts, it appeared. The outpost had a tall hill on its eastern side which blocked the view of the horizon. The Black Hawk had been flying low enough to hide behind the hill until it burst over it and began moving in a tight circle around the base's central courtyard. "What are they-?!"

"Commencing clean up!" Nagant opened both of the Black Hawk's side doors to reveal that M2HB along with her three dummy links had set up their machine guns inside the helicopter, two on each side. As the helicopter continued to circle low to the ground, the four machine guns opened fire raining lead down on the gathered Sangvis units. Galil and StG44, both with all four of their dummy links, also began firing out the open doors.

"A possibility...that I didn't account for?" What the hell was Griffin doing? Scarecrow was at a complete loss for words. Such a reckless move was inconceivable from all the data she'd collected about Griffin and its past commanders. "Blast it out of the sky!" Now wasn't the time to be baffled, though. Half her forces had been eliminated within the first few seconds, but the remaining troops rallied under Scarecrow and targeted the helicopter.

"Woah!" The pilot, a human, picked up the speed of his circle maneuver as he attempted to avoid the incoming plasma rounds. "Things are getting too hot for me, ladies. This is your stop!"

"Acknowledged! Here we go!" Stg44 and her team braced as the helicopter did one final pass that almost touched the ground. "Los! Los! (Go! Go!)" The t-dolls bailed out of the still moving Black Hawk and rolled along the ground except for AA-12 who, along with her two dummy links, deployed and dug their shields into the dirt ground. They were the only ones who landed on their feet and their shields provided a defensive wall to allow her teammates to safely get up.

"Ready, fire!" Nagant and her four dummy links were the first to get up and activate their skill to start suppressing the Sangvis units which further allowed a safe setup for her team.

"M2HB, start mopping up the Vespids and Rippers!" StG44 rolled behind a concrete divider for cover as she relayed the incoming orders. "Nagant, keep up the suppression! Galil, help me take out those Dragoons! AA-12, stay with M2HB to give her some cover!"

"Roger!" AA-12 started to slowly move back closer to M2HB. Despite their unorthodox entry, the Griffin echelon seized the upper hand in the battle.

"You better realize my ability!" Nagant shouted as she reloaded. "The old soldier of the Empi-!" However, her skill activation line was cut short as bolts of green plasma destroyed three of her dummy links. "WOAH!"

"Nice to meet you." Scarecrow entered the battle. "Please die." With a flick of her wrist, the drones that circled her began firing on Nagant's position. The two Dragoons also stopped evading and focused on attacking Galil and StG44.

"Nagant, keep your head do-GAH!" The Dragoons charged Griffin's line and started shredding through StG44's and Galil's dummy links. "Get away from me!" StG44 and her remaining dummy link fired their grenade launchers. While one of the Dragoons fell, the blast was too close and her last dummy link was destroyed. Galil wasn't fairing any better and was down to her last dummy before the last Dragoon was taken down with the help of M2HB diverting some fire onto it.

"Your resistance is within my calculations," Scarecrow taunted as she focused her drones on M2HB, "It's futile."

"Tch!" AA-12 moved to intercept the drone fire, but that allowed two Vespids to blindside one of her dummy links. "Oi, M2HB, focus on the grunts!"

"I'm reloading!" M2HB was moving as fast as she could to get a new belt into her machine gun.

"..." Her three other teammates were critically damaged, and M2HB was behind a concrete barrier. "I'm moving to help the others. Don't you dare die!"

"Don't worry, just go!" M2HB was only down a single dummy link, so she could afford to be without AA-12's protection for a bit.

"...Hm?" Scarecrow raised an eyebrow at the now advancing AA-12. "What, not happy with this?" Her drone's focused fire on the t-doll. "Please, fall like the worthless puppets you are."

"Stop acting all high and mighty!" AA-12 loaded a fresh magazine and activated her skill. Utilizing her shotgun's spread, she and her remaining dummy started taking out the drones that were flying around Scarecrow.

"Futile." Scarecrow quickly floated away behind two Guards before calling new drones to rapidly replace the ones AA-12 was destroying.

"Tch!" The drones concentrated fire on the ground around AA-12 causing her to lose her footing and fall to the ground. "I lose to this kind of enemy...?"

"I told you," Scarecrow gloated as she ordered her remaining units to assault M2HB's position, "This is your only possible fate." Galil, StG44, and Nagant could only hide behind the concrete barrier as plasma threatened to finish them, and M2HB couldn't leave her cover to open fire. AA-12's hand clenched into a fist as she glared across the courtyard at Scarecrow. "Now, if you could please di-" Scarecrow's taunt was cut short as the sound of the chain-link gate being broken open caught her attention. Griffin didn't use ground vehicles that often, so she was curious to see what it was. And, she got her wish as a Tigr-M rounded the corner of a building, and its auto-turret swiveled to life. "What!?" 12.7x108mm rounds poured out of the Kord auto-turret to shred the remaining Vespid as the Tigr raced towards the courtyard.

"...?" AA-12 propped herself up with her arms and watched as the truck floored it directly towards Scarecrow.

"Enough!" The two Guards took the brunt of the Kord's fire and fell, but they gave Scarecrow enough time to divert her drones to pepper the vehicle. Two drones focused on the front tires which blew out causing the truck to swerve and crash into a concrete barrier. The auto-turret continued to fire until it, too, was taken out by the drones. However, it had done more than its job as Scarecrow now found herself alone on the battlefield. "..." Silence reigned over the outpost as all eyes were on the Tigr. After a few seconds, the driver's door opened, much to the t-doll's shock.

"Commander!?" AA-12 couldn't believe her eyes as she watched Zeldri step out of the Tigr, forearm crutch in one hand and a briefcase in the other, and face Scarecrow.