"...Annika?"
"Yes, Commander?"
"I've said I won't do it again."
"I know, Commander."
"So, can we-"
"No." Annika and Zeldri were walking through the halls of the Mountain as they headed to the command room. Annika's face held a stoic expression.
"But does it have to be her?" Zeldri glanced behind them at the t-doll that was leisurely following behind them. Upon hearing her be mentioned, she gave a smile to Zeldri.
"Aww~, don't be like that, Commander!" MDR said while still texting on her phone. "This is a very important position I've secured. Those fools on the Anonymous Message Board are so jealous!" She chuckled to herself as she took a selfie showing her following Zeldri up the hall.
"..." It had been four days since Zeldri had awoken, but this was the first day he was allowed to return to his duties. And, in the time he was out, Annika had been managing the Mountain and ordered more t-dolls; one of which turned out to be MDR. She had also made an executive decision to place MDR as Zeldri's chaperone. "Why would some dolls on a forum be jealous of you getting to follow me?"
"Geez, Commander," MDR teased, "You're the current talk of most boards."
"...What?"
"Yeah!" MDR tapped away at her phone as she went through some threads. "A lot of dolls, both on and off the base, really enjoyed those speeches you gave. The fact you went into the field for StG44's echelon is also going around. You've got quite a few admirers~. You lucky dog!"
"You make it sound like other commanders are actively mean to their dolls if I'm some shining beacon." Zeldri rolled his eyes at this entire conversation.
"No no, not like that. Other commanders are good, but it's more of how you've grown on us, you know?" MDR scratched her chin as she thought of a way to phrase it. "Like, what feels better: a known nice person being nice to you, or someone indifferent actively opening themselves up to and being nice to you? It means more when you do it."
"That's quite a stretch those dolls are making. And, actually..." A thought occurred to Zeldri as he went over MDR's words. "You said speeches earlier, but I don't recall ever giving a public speech like that to the dolls."
"Yeah, but, I mean," MDR scrolled to a post, "The one about wanting to make sure we all got home. That one's really popular! And fresh!"
"When was...?" Zeldri thought back to his time in bed and when he spouted out such a thing. Only two people were in the room at the time; AA-12 and Annika. AA-12 didn't seem like the type to bother with this so that only left one person. Zeldri glanced at Annika who was now deliberately avoiding eye contact.
"Probably just someone wanting things to turn out for the better," Annika said innocently.
"Ahuh," Zeldri said as he sighed while Annika gave an innocent smile. "Well, forums or no forums, I don't need a babysitter."
"Apparently, you do!" Annika snapped. She was never going to let what Zeldri did go. "And, since AA-12 has other duties, I chose MDR because then I'll always know where you are. All the staff agrees with me, and this was also approved by Miss Helian."
"Helianthus knows?!"
"She knows you personally went against a ringleader and returned unconscious and heavily injured." Annika glanced at Zeldri with a hint of annoyance. "I didn't mention how you got injured, though. So, be thankful I left it at that."
"...Right."
"She was actually really worried about you, Commander."
"She was?"
"Yeah!" MDR jumped into the conversation. "Say, Commander, can I get an interview from you on that one?" She got really close to Zeldri and her fingers hovered over the buttons on her phone in anticipation. "What's the relationship between you and the Ice Demon? How'd you melt that heart?"
"...Блядь (Fuck)," Zeldri cursed to himself and ignored MDR.
"Commander~!" MDR pouted but didn't push beyond that since she saw Zeldri wasn't playing ball.
"Anyway..." Zeldri really wanted to move on. "How goes the efforts on scouting the remaining locations of interest?" While he had been confined to a hospital bed, Zeldri asked Annika to send some of the dolls out on recon missions to the remaining locations they hadn't searched yet. They had secured the military outpost and now that Scarecrow was dealt with, at least temporarily, they had some breathing room to know their surroundings better.
"Things are going much smoother now that we have more teams." Annika swiped at her tablet. "Most teams have checked in already, but we're still waiting on SVD's team." She gave a nervous laugh as she added, "I hope I found all the vodka bottles before they left..."
"URRA!" Five voices rang out as the BTR-90 rammed through a dead tree sending splinters of wood everywhere.
"Another one! Three o'clock!" Simonov was poking out of the top hatch of the BTR's decommissioned turret. A half-empty vodka bottle sloshed in her hand.
"Полный вперед (Full speed ahead)!" AK-47 and A-91 yelled in unison. Empty vodka bottles were held in their hands.
"Bow to me, bugs!" SVD drunkenly activated her skill despite not holding her weapon and being the driver. She floored the gas pedal as she drove the BTR into the next dead tree.
"Ara~ Araaa~" DP28 was barely coherent as she finished her bottle while strapped into her seat in the troop bay.
"Man! This mission's the best!" AK-47 laughed as she grabbed a new bottle and took a swig. "It's too bad Annika made Horris remove the turret before letting us take this."
"I'm just glad he had data that lets me drive this!" SVD chimed in as she drove up a hill. Horris was a man of many talents, and his ability to "obtain" things was unmatched. Somehow, he had numerous data packages that worked with a t-doll's digimind which contained operating data on most Russian military vehicles. Even M7 had some installed as she was the one who drove the 2S35 during the fight with Scarecrow. Because of this, the doll echelons assigned to scouting duty were given a vehicle from the garage as their personal transport; SVD's echelon drew the straw for the BTR.
"Say!" Simonov called from the hatch, "Do you think Horris has any-WAAA!" The BTR violently shook as it drove over something solid. "SVD! Watch where you're driving! Блядь (Fuck)!"
"I was!" SVD slowed down and stopped the BTR. "What did we hit?"
"Ummm..." Simonov swiveled in the hatch and faced the rear of the vehicle. "...Metal."
"What?"
"...Metal."
"..." While SVD was drunk, her team was more drunk. "Let's go look." The echelon dismounted the BTR, after some difficulties, and walked to the rear to see what they hit. Poking out of the ground, almost covered by dirt after years of neglect, were two metal rails. DP28 had a moment of clarity.
"Are those train tracks?" she asked while kicking some dirt away to reveal wooden beams spaced beneath the metal rails.
"Do trains go through here?" AK-47 was sobering up a bit now that something interesting was found.
"No." SVD checked her map of the area and there were no train tracks marked anywhere.
"So..." A-91 tossed the empty vodka bottle to the side. "Where do these go?" Looking down the tracks and using their internal compasses, the t-dolls found that the tracks traveled west to east. The west didn't appear like anything interesting as they only saw more forest that the tracks disappeared into. But, to the east, there was something that caught all their eyes as it was impossible to miss. The Mountain loomed over the eastern horizon.
"...Hm." SVD was originally given orders to check an abandoned shanty town, but this seemed more important. "Let's follow them." The t-dolls loaded back into the BTR, and SVD drove alongside the tracks. Simonov still poked out of the top hatch as they drove to check if the tracks ever diverged. But, they never did. And, after half an hour of driving, the team followed the tracks to a tunnel that was dug into the Earth as the elevation of the surrounding land rose to begin meeting the mountain range. A large steel door blocked their path and an old-looking terminal was embedded into the wall next to the door. Simonov hopped out of the hatch and approached the terminal. "And?" SVD asked through their echelon link.
"This reminds me of the one at the base's main door." Simonov reached towards the keypad on the terminal and started punching in all the door codes she knew. "Though, I doubt that-" After finishing one of the codes, the terminal chirped three times and a green light appeared. The sound of ice shattering echoed around them as the door forced itself to rise revealing a long, dark tunnel that stretched into the Earth. The tracks continued inside.
"...Simonov, mount up." SVD was completely sober, and her team was quickly following suit. Once Simonov was back in the turret hatch, SVD activated the BTR's headlights and drove into the tunnel. This triggered some kind of sensor as, once the BTR was inside, the door closed behind them. "..." Now, the echelon was completely sober and on high alert. "Let's continue." Unlike the Mountain's main tunnel, this tunnel had no lights embedded into it despite having finished-looking concrete walls. It was also wide enough that the BTR could easily drive alongside the tracks without any difficulty while still having plenty of room to maneuver. The tunnel seemed fairly flat, though SVD knew that they were going under a mountain range so they were, relatively speaking, deep underground. And, according to their GPS system which, somehow, was working, they were almost back at the Mountain. SVD kept an eye on their position and once they were practically at the Mountain proper she saw the tunnel ahead open up into a massive room. The lights were all off, but the BTR's headlights revealed enough for her to get a feel for how large this room was. Surprisingly, there was a ramp next to the tracks that led up to a raised platform. A platform that surrounded an old train as it rested on the tracks.
"Woah~." Simonov's jaw dropped as they drove up the ramp and the BTR's headlights illuminated it.
"Dismount," SVD ordered and the echelon filed out of the BTR. They left the headlights on to keep a reference on their position and took some flashlights from the BTR. Shining their lights around, they found that the room was far larger than they originally thought. Multiple metal shutter doors lined one of the walls which likely led to storage pods, and the platform around the train was fairly large allowing for multiple vehicles to potentially be there.
"Where do you think we are?" Simonov asked as her eyes scanned the room.
"Who knows?" AK-47 checked her weapon as she led the group. "Maybe sub-level five? Or, four?" What looked to be a crane was attached to the ceiling and silently watched them as they walked along the platform. Eventually, they found what looked to be a tower embedded into the back wall with a personnel door leading inside. While their GPS said they were within the Mountain, the t-dolls still approached the door with caution. The door wasn't locked, and inside was a stairwell leading up into the observation deck of the tower. Computers lined the observation deck's far wall whose windows looked out over the dark room.
"...Hmmm." DP28 approached one of the computer terminals that had a glowing red button on it and the words 'Мощность системы (System Power)' written above it. So, obviously, she pressed it. The whirring of machinery coming online filled the observation deck.
"What the-!?" SVD raised her weapon in alarm as the lights started coming online. "DP28?!"
"I did it~," DP28 happily said as she raised her empty vodka bottle into the air triumphantly.
"Commander!" One of the staff at a terminal in the command room gave a shout.
"What?" Zeldri stopped looking at his tablet and approached.
"I'm reading a major power spike from the generators."
"A power spike? From where?"
"It looks like... Sub-level four?" The staff member raised an eyebrow as they followed the spike report to the source and found that sub-level four was now drawing power from the grid.
"I don't recall anyone from IT mentioning getting through tha-"
"Commander, do you copy?" SVD's voice came over his radio interrupting his thoughts.
"I read you, SVD. Wait one whi-"
"Come meet us on sub-level four."
"..." Zeldri's eyes widened at SVD's words. They were supposed to be investigating a shantytown to their west, so why was she saying to meet them on sub-level four? Checking his tablet, he found that SVD's echelon was, according to their GPS locators, back at the Mountain. "I'll be right down. Annika, with me."
"Yes, Commander!" Annika quickly followed Zeldri and the two made their way down the stairwell towards sub-level four's door. And, waiting for them in the open doorway, was SVD. She gave a salute when she saw them.
"Everyone made it back, Commander."
"How did you get here, and why is the door open?"
"We opened it from the inside. As for how we got here, you should see for yourself, Commander," SVD said as she led them through the hallway and into sub-level four. The hall linked into a large tunnel that, much like sub-level five, had two doors with one that connected to the freight elevator and the other that led into a large room. The lights were all on which meant Zeldri and Annika saw it well before they entered the room proper. The massive room was a miniature underground rail yard. The 'ground floor' they were on was a platform for personnel and vehicles to maneuver around on and ramps led down to the level the tracks were at. A tower with an observation deck looked over the entire room. Three sets of tracks split off from one main track which stretched out into a dark tunnel. These three tracks were divided by concrete platforms for vehicles to maneuver between the trains. Two tracks were empty, but the furthest track still had its original occupant. A large train with three cars silently sat on its track; one car was meant for passengers, likely troops due to the Mountain's nature, and the other two cars were flatbeds that sat empty.
"...Ты должно быть шутишь (You must be joking)," Annika said as her head fell into her hands. This base held way too many surprises for her liking.
"I mean," Zeldri eyed the train with interest, "I don't think there are any laws saying a PMC can't own a train, right?"
"...Gaaah!" Annika tried to think of one, but couldn't so she couldn't refute Zeldri.
"Commander!" AK-47 ran up to them. "Can we keep it!?"
"Does it even run?"
"We found a massive tank of diesel and it doesn't look that bad!" AK-47 was getting very excited about the prospect of driving a train. "Simonov found some keys in the tower, so we-" As she tried to explain, the dormant train suddenly roared to life and its headlights turned on. The engine sputtered for a bit before shutting off. Simonov poked her head out the window of the engine.
"I'd feel better if Horris took a look at this before we tried anything!"
"...The fact it even turns on is a miracle," Zeldri bemused. A pair of footsteps could be heard approaching from behind and Zeldri already knew who it was. "What do you think, Horris?"
"Well," Horris began as he scratched his chin, "I've never worked on a train before, but I'd be willing to try. I'll ask around if any of my old friends have the schematics for one of these laying around that they'd let me take a look at."
"Why would train schematics be 'laying around'?" Annika asked as she finally took her head out of her hands.
"Why would an entire train be laying around?" Horris responded and walked over to the train with M7 following close behind with a toolbox in hand. "I'll see what I can do and give you an update on what I find. M7?" The firefighter t-doll set down the box and started setting up a work area next to the engine.
"..." Zeldri's eyes wandered around the room and eventually landed on the crane that was attached to some rails on the ceiling that looked like it could travel across. "Does the crane work?"
"We think so," SVD affirmed. "I think there are controls for it up in the tower, but I have no experience operating one so I had my team leave it alone."
"I see." The crane was silently sitting above a floor access door that was embedded into the far side of the platform next to the train. Ports in the corners allowed its four chains to run through it into the space below. Zeldri recognized the door as being the other side of the ceiling access door on sub-level five. Which meant they were currently standing above...
.̶̭͉͉͚̺̏̋̉̒́.̶̜̙̮̋̀́͑͘.̷͕̲͓̘͖͌̏N̵̢̰̜͐ọ̴͇̪͔̈́̿̎͋v̸̺̻̉́͝ͅe̸͕̓̚m̵̳̩̃͒b̷̊̓̆̆͜ȩ̶̣̬̼̻͉̌̎r̷̜͙̪̠̲͒̇.̴̛̙̦̱̯̙̒͋̿.̴͙̍.̸̝̬̾Z̷̝̓̈̎̓e̵̯̫̙̙͘r̷̬͖̭̀̑ó̸͇̹͊.̴̖̹̺̒̅̔͠͝.̷̫̙̦̘̱̲̈͑̿͠.̵̛̲̫̥̭͕̔̌̎͂ͅF̶̼̥͙̗̭̹͒͗̀̐͋̕í̶̬̗̉v̶̡͈̟̭̒ë̷͈́̾̅.̴̬̱͉̠͈̈̾̉͘.̷͎͔̩̽̉.̴͕̣̼͔̫̳̈́̊́̚A̶̲̞̘͔͚͂̀͊͠ͅl̷͔̪̜̉p̶̳̱̐͒̈́͒ĥ̶̨̳̮̳̱̗̏̈́̉͂͝ả̸̞̲́.̷̼͖̘͛̄̀͝ͅ.̵̢̬̈́̈̀̆.̵̧̘͎̯̽̐͠͝
"...The crane's operation can wait. Just leave it be, for now."
"Acknowledged, Commander," SVD said and gave a nod. "So-!" As SVD tried to speak, alarms started blaring around them.
"What the!?" Annika was looking around in a panic.
"Commander!" One of the staff in the command room's voice came over Zeldri's radio. "We need your orders!" And, as if on cue to explain why, an announcement was broadcast over the loudspeakers.
"Alert! Sangvis Ferri forces have breached the perimeter of the base! This is not a drill! Alert! Sangvis Ferri forces have breached the Mountain!"
