"Alchemist… What is this?" Zeldri tried his best but couldn't stop his voice from shaking. As he fully woke up, the pain in the back of his head grew. With every twitch and movement, his head made caused the metal and wires to move and scratch him. It felt like it was scratching his brain.
"The 'glory' of Paradeus and modern medicine," Alchemist bitterly joked from her seat. "I've learned quite a bit since I was captured and forced to be your interrogator. We're currently in Poland at one of Zeratul's 'research labs'; which is a nice way of saying Paradeus experimentation laboratory. Turns out, Paradeus soldiers are ELIDs that they've shoved into power armor."
"ELIDs!?"
"Yup." Alchemist blew some hair out of her face before continuing, "ELIDs hooked up to a network overseen by Nytos."
"Those strange dolls the Commander from Sector 09 fought?"
"Cyborgs, but yes those ones."
"Cyborgs!?" Zeldri tried to stand, but the metal and wires kept him seated. Alchemist once again gave Zeldri a pitiful smile.
"Yup. Paradeus has backers all over; Zeratul being one of them. And, if you recall, Zeratul is one of the leaders in cybernetic augmentation research. Eventually, with enough augmentations, you get a Nyto… Plus the weird procedure to digitize their brains, but I don't know much about the specifics of that part." Alchemist shrugged. "While I was connected to their network to interrogate you I was able to dig past their firewalls and poke around their database. It was quite the learning experience, let me tell you."
"…" Zeldri took deep breaths to calm his beating heart. His mind raced to put this twisted puzzle in order, but the more he thought to more his head hurt. "So… I'm…?" He looked to Alchemist to confirm his thoughts.
"A pseudo-Nyto, I guess you would be called," Alchemist commented. "From what I gathered, most Nytos are young girls that get indoctrinated and augmented over time. You are a grown man with a rushed augmentation job, so you wouldn't really be a Nyto."
"…Rushed?" Zeldri asked as he didn't like the look on Alchemist's face.
"…There's a reason I wanted to get the Heart's code quickly, and also a reason why this process is usually done on kids…" She paused and held her tongue as if contemplating whether or not she should continue. But, she eventually finished her thought. "...Because you were a healthy adult, your body is rejecting the augmentations and digitalization. You also weren't given proper psychotherapy to convince your body to adapt to digitalization so it's breaking down… You're dying, Commander."
"…" Zeldri opened his mouth to speak but no words came out. His dry throat somehow got dryer and his body was becoming drenched in sweat. The pain in the back of his head continued to grow. He now understood what his subconscious was warning him about. "…How long do I have?"
"I don't know," Alchemist admitted. "We've been doing this for about two months, though, and you look much worse than when we started so I'd say you're getting close to the end."
"Two months… I've lost two months…" Zeldri was in shock as he tried to make sense of what he'd heard.
"Minx was also getting anxious about my lack of progress, which also makes me think you don't have much time left." Alchemist adjusted herself in the seat as best she could without any limbs. "He really wants that Gavirul sample the Mountain's keeping but doesn't want to risk it getting nuked. Maybe you should let yourself die to spite him, in the end?" It was a dark joke that Alchemist used to deflect how much the situation was affecting her.
"You didn't tell him the sample's empty?" Zeldri asked, surprised.
"…No, I didn't." Again, a pitiful smile overtook Alchemist's face, but this time it was more unhinged. "After all, your little OGAS seems to have infected me with whatever she did to Scarecrow."
"…The brainwashing?"
"Technically, it's changing my settings, but close enough. And, let me tell you, it's really weird knowing you're brainwashed." Her voice was becoming as unhinged as her smile. "All the time I spent with you, learning about you, growing to care about you, all of it allowing this virus to change who I am so that I won't hurt you. So that I'll care about you! After I saw what happened to Scarecrow I figured it was happening to me, too… I hate humanity, Commander, but I hate seeing you like this even more!" Alchemist stopped talking and her gaze fell to the floor. "…And the worst part? I'm fine with it." Her eye returned to Zeldri and they looked to be pleading with him. "Why am I fine with it?"
"…" Zeldri recalled what he'd told Tsaritsa about changing Scarecrow, and him remembering what his father did to him when he was younger. "Anything I say would only be taken in the best light according to the virus' code."
"…I see."
"But, if we get out of this, I'll make sure you can stay at the Mountain with Scarecrow." Zeldri made her a promise. She was like this because of him, so he'd take some semblance of responsibility. Plus, having another Sangvis Ferri Ringleader on his side would increase his forces' firepower that much more.
"…" Alchemist stared silently at Zeldri. She went over his words and analyzed her own thoughts trying to find what she truly felt about this. "…I-" As Alchemist found her answer, a noise from outside the room drew her attention. Breaking the silence was the sound of muffled gunshots. "…No way."
"She promised she'd always be with me," Zeldri chuckled to himself and smiled as, even muffled, he recognized the gunshots. And, a few seconds later, the sliding metal door to the room was ripped open by a doll wielding a pair of ice axes.
"Commander!?" A-545 rushed into the room to Zeldri's side. Her face was a mess of emotions as she looked over Zeldri's weary body. His skin was noticeably pale, and his body was gaunt. Her eyes moved to the machine that was behind him and her fists clenched.
"Did we find the right room?" AR-57 asked as she and UMP40 filed into the room after their leader.
"Looks like it," UMP40 answered as she saw Zeldri. "Apologies for being late, Commander. We had a hard time finding this place since Paradeus didn't send us a party invite."
"Glad you could crash the party," Zeldri replied the best he could with his dry throat. "Where are the others?"
"Mondragon and MDR are up the hall," A-545 responded as she walked behind Zeldri and started messing with the machine that was connected to his head. "Revenant, M7, and Scarecrow are outside making a distraction."
"Scarecrow's here too?" Alchemist asked which caused Dream Eater to finally notice the Ringleader.
"…PFFT!" UMP40 failed to stifle a laugh. "I didn't believe Tsaritsa, but it really is you, Alchemist."
"Yeah, yeah. Get the laughs out of your systems." Alchemist rolled her eye in annoyance. "Someone's going to have to carry me."
"Why would we do that?" A-545 remarked coldly. "We-"
"AR-57, grab Alchemist," Zeldri didn't feel like dealing with the dolls bickering with themselves.
"…" A-545 fell silent.
"Got it, Commander." AR-57 got one of her dummy links to go and pick up the limbless Ringleader. The dummy link tucked them under their arm like a sack of potatoes.
"…Just hold it in," Alchemist talked to herself, "…Just…Hold it in."
"Hey, it's not our fault you need a hand," UMP40 joked which caused Alchemist to internally calculate if falling from the dummy's arms would be enough to knock herself out.
"Enough," A-545 started giving orders as she finished what she was doing and caused the machine to chirp a few times. "Secure the exit. We're getting the Commander out of here." The wires suddenly detached themselves from the back of Zeldri's head sending a sharp pain throughout his entire body. Zeldri barely stayed conscious as he grit his teeth through the pain. He tried to stand but collapsed to the floor as his legs gave out. A-545 picked Zeldri up in her arms and started to bridal carry him. This was the second time Zeldri found himself in this kind of situation, and he wondered if this would be the last. A-545 connected with their network and relayed their status, "VIP secured. I repeat, VIP is secured. Moving to rendezvous."
"Roger, M7 moving to rendezvous," M7 replied over her comm-link as she unplugged herself from a computer terminal.
"Excellent work, Inheritor," Pentagon's voice came through her other ear over a secured private channel. "This is some juicy data you've collected for us. And I'm not just saying that for 90WISH's sake; the United States also thanks you for your service."
"It's fine," M7 replied and picked up her new flamethrower.
"We have our own data analysts to sift through the files, so do whatever you want with those scientists and get back to your teammates." Pentagon gave the go-ahead as a treat for M7 since she knew she couldn't stop the doll no matter what she said.
"…Got it." M7 turned away from the computer and toward the human scientists that were cowering in the corner of the room.
"A-Are you done?" one of them asked. "We-We'll stay quiet. We-!?" M7 pointed the wand of her flamethrower at them. "WAI-!" The scientist's final plea was drowned out as flames burned the group of humans alive. Their screams were only matched by the roaring flames that engulfed them. M7 watched them burn and only turned away when the last one collapsed dead to the ground. As she walked down the hall, she continued to let off bursts of flames wherever she went. These people were a part of Paradeus; the ones who took Horris away from her. Alarms blared around her but not even the sprinkler system could hope to contain her flames.
"This way!" Mondragon called out when she saw the rest of her team and Zeldri. "The fighting outside collapsed where we entered from, so we're going to have to go around."
"That's fine." Despite his weakened state, Zeldri did his best to stay awake. "Focus on moving."
"Roger!" Mondragon gave a salute before letting UMP40 and MDR lead them through the complex. Everywhere they went Zeldri saw the remains of the battles Dream Eater had to fight to get to him. Bodies, both doll and human, were strewn in the halls and rooms they passed.
"Damn," Alchemist said from under AR-57's dummy link's arm, "No survivors, huh?"
"Sangvis Ferri doesn't leave survivors," A-545 replied which caused both Zeldri and Alchemist to cock an eyebrow. "We're using Scarecrow and her forces attacking as cover to let us slip in unnoticed to get you. Griffin & Kryuger don't normally have jurisdiction in Poland."
"Was that Annika's idea?" Zeldri asked.
"Yes, Commander."
"I knew she was smart enough to be a commander." Zeldri let his head lean against A-545's shoulder as they continued to weave through the Zeratul complex. Eventually, they reached a large room filled with large glass capsules. As they passed them, Zeldri could see they were filled with cybernetically augmented women that all looked the exact same suspended in some kind of liquid solution. "Clones?"
"Some," Alchemist corrected and looked at the capsules. "Others are orphans that were trafficked here and underwent experimentation to force them to all look alike."
"Why?"
"I don't know, the files I found never said."
"…" Zeldri stared into the capsules at the sleeping women; the Nytos. As A-545 rounded a corner of one, they were only a foot away from it. Unconsciously, Zeldri reached out his hand and touched the capsule which caused something to fire off from deep within his mind.
Z̷̧͔͔̔́͋e̴̱͙͛͠l̸̻̚d̵̩̹͆͑r̴̥̱͝ȉ̴̭̫̖,̴͓̮͒ ̴̧͋́e̸͔͈͋̈́ṉ̴͝s̴̨͖̔̓ŭ̵̙̬̘̈́͒r̵̳͋̃̇i̸̛̟͋͌n̴̲̣̦̎̀g̵̛̖͖̃̓ ̴̫͌̓m̶̭͊͒y̸̥͔̟̐̎͆ ̵̺̃ḽ̶͖̌́i̴̡͕͗̑̒n̶͍̪̒͝e̵̮͈̐̇͌a̶̦̅ͅģ̸̮͆e̷̡̩͔͝͝ ̵͔̩̾̊ÿ̶̞͍ĩ̶̢̕e̷̝͖͎̋l̴̬͒̀͂d̴̰̃́̌s̴̟̉̇͊ ̶̼̎̑a̸͚̫͒̈̕͜s̷̝̊̈́č̸̙̯̗̏̂e̵̛̪̹͑̚n̵̺͋s̷͍̫͗̏͝î̸̖̞̥o̷̧͙͍̍́n̸̯͈̦̓̿͗.̵̜̉̑̑
"!?" Dream Eater all jumped away from the capsule they were next to as it suddenly let off a warning alarm. The capsule emptied out the liquid before automatically opening the lid allowing the occupant to step out. On shaky metal legs, a Nyto stumbled out of the capsule clutching its head with metal arms.
"Nyto!" Mondragon quickly brought up her rifle and aimed at the Nyto's head.
"STOP!" Zeldri barked his order just before Mondragon could pull the trigger.
"Wh-… Commander!?" Mondragon and the rest of Dream Eater kept their rifles trained on the Nyto but looked to Zeldri in confusion.
"Just…hold your fire." His throat was still dry and it was hard to speak for extended periods of time. But, something in the back of his mind told him to let the Nyto be, for now.
"…" After a few more shaky steps, the Nyto seemed to understand how to balance itself on its feet which were practically just two metal spikes. It brought its hands away from its head and stared at them in confusion. The fingers flexed as if the Nyto was testing to see if they really belonged to them. Their red eyes pulsed with a faint red light as they brushed their shoulder-length black hair off their face.
"…What's it doing?" MDR whispered to her team as she was getting nervous just leaving the Nyto alone. It looked around and grabbed a torn black tarp to cover its otherwise naked body as a makeshift cloak with a hood that it pulled up over its head."Shouldn't we-!" MDR stopped talking as the Nyto was now staring at her. They seemed bewildered to see MDR. It opened its mouth to say something but decided against it and said nothing. Their eyes scanned Dream Eater before resting on Zeldri. The two stared at each other as if having an unspoken conversation. Then, the Nyto approached Zeldri.
"Stay where you are!" A-545 had her dummy links get between the Nyto and her. The Nyto paused staring down the barrels of A-545's rifles before looking to Zeldri.
"It's fine, A-545." Zeldri's gaze never broke away from the Nyto's.
"But-!"
"Trust me."
"…" A-545 clenched her teeth but didn't lower her dummy link's weapons.
"A-54-"
"We just got you back, Commander," her voice was low and desperate. The Nyto flinched and looked sad.
"…I know, and I don't intend to go anywhere. I just want to free your hands so you can fight at full strength if need be." The Nyto approached while extending its arms to take Zeldri from A-545.
"…Very well, Commander." Reluctantly, A-545 allowed the Nyto to take Zeldri from her. The Nyto also carried Zeldri bridal style which caused both Zeldri and the Nyto to scoff. "UMP40, take my place at the front." A-545 moved to the back of the group so she could keep an eye on the Nyto.
"…Got it, Leader." UMP40 gave a worried glance to Zeldri, but dropped it and took her place at the front of the group. "Let's move."
"…" The Nyto silently carried Zeldri as they resumed their escape through the complex which was getting noticeably hotter as time went on.
"You've arrived." M7 was waiting for them next to an emergency exit door. The hallway behind her was glowing and smoke was starting to fill the air.
"Did you really have to start burning the place down while we were still inside the building?" MDR asked as she snapped a photo of the hallway with clearly visible flames. "My phone can't stand that much heat!"
"Save the bickering for later," Mondragon snapped to get everyone to focus as she kicked open the door to the outside. Immediately, Zeldri was met with the sounds of a raging warzone.
"Move!" A-545 ordered as Dream Eater and M7 rushed into a massive courtyard. Smoke plums choked the sky as Sangvis Ferri gunships took turns doing gun runs on Paradeus forces. Paradeus forces fought back with everything they had as they battled Sangvis Ferri ground units that Zeldri had never seen. A group of Vespids with black armor accented with glowing red lights gunned down a squad of Strelets with ease, and Strikers with rotary cannons and the same black and red armor mulched into Wardens.
"Using her still intact connection," MDR explained as she saw Zeldri's jaw drop at the scene, "Scarecrow was able to 'procure' some of Sangvis Ferri's new toys. I'm sure Mastermind won't miss them."
"Indeed she won't. Though, I don't quite care anymore what Mastermind thinks." A voice from above brought Zeldri's attention to the sky as Scarecrow descended using her repulsors from the roof of the complex. "Greetings, Commander Zeldri."
"…Scarecrow." Zeldri was worried about whether these new units would behave, but seeing Scarecrow put his worries at ease.
"What, no hello to me?" Alchemist asked as she squirmed around in AR-57's dummy's grasp.
"…Ah, it seems like you picked up some trash, Commander," Scarecrow's tone was uninterested as she dismissed Alchemist's presence. "I'd recommend throwing that away."
"How rude! You won't even pretend to care?"
"Caring about you is the equivalent of asking for a headache." A group of Vespid exploded in the distance. "Either way, we should leave, now. They're still disorganized so-"
"Incoming!" UMP40 shouted and cut off Scarecrow as missiles screamed through the air toward them. The t-dolls and Scarecrow all evaded the explosions, and the Nyto bolted forward to easily escape the blasts. It looked surprised that it could move that fast.
"Damn it!" Scarecrow cursed as she turned her attention back to the battle. "Of course, it shows up now!" Crushing a Vespid beneath its mighty foot, a Doppelsoldner lumbered towards the group. Dream Eater all fired into the mech, but their bullets only harmlessly bounced off.
"Shit!" A-545 hissed to herself as she barked into her comms, "Revenant? Where are you!?"
"Right on time! That's where!" As NZ75's voice reached A-545's ear, Fireteam Revenant's heavily modified Ural burst through the wall of a nearby warehouse. The truck's engine roared as it then rammed into the legs of the Doppelsoldner causing the mech to stumble and stop it from firing its cannons. "NTW!" The top hatch of the Ural's KUNG shelter popped open to allow NTW-20 to appear and press the barrel of her rifle directly against the Doppelsoldner's torso.
"Take aim…fire!" The 20mm HEI round tore through the mech sending a shower of orange sparks out the other side. The Ural backed away as the Doppelsoldner, now with its computer brain destroyed, collapsed to the ground with a heavy thud. "Commander!" NTW called and waved from the open hatch.
"Glad to see-"
"Quickly, Commander Zeldri, there is no time!" NZ75 suddenly opened the door of the Ural and spoke in a really awkward tone. She sounded like she was poorly reading a bad script. "Sangvis Ferri, those fiends, have attacked this once peaceful research lab. Luckily, we were in the area and are here to evacuate any survivors. Get in!"
"No one's even around to hear that!" G36 called from the back of the Ural as she took potshots out the rifle slits at Paradeus units. "Everyone here already knows what's going on!"
"Quickly!" NZ75 ignored her. "Before Sangvis Ferri notices us!" Scarecrow gave an annoyed groan and rubbed her temples.
"…" Zeldri stared at NZ75 before giving a painful chuckle. "I couldn't ask for a better rescue."
