Southern Germany, a few weeks after the formation of the Union of Rossartrist Nations Coalition...
The hard, cold floor beneath him, his back and neck flaring up in pain from the awkward position he was in - those were the first sensations the Commander was greeted with as he slowly returned to lucidity. His mouth felt dry, his eyelids heavy as he forced them open to the blinding, blurry world.
"Urgh..." The Commander groaned out, rolling over onto his back to be met with the sight of the ceiling of the MBV Elmo's Combat Information Center as he tried to find something to fixate on until the world stopped spinning.
The clanking of footsteps approached, RO635 emerged from his peripherals as he heard an empty glass bottle roll past the top of his head.
She gazed down at her Commander as he lay sprawled out on the floor. "Happy new year, Commander. How are you feeling?"
The Commander grunted as he dreaded having to move. "Like I've been hit by a freight train...It's the new year?"
RO raised a brow. "We had a small celebration, M16 brought out the stash she swiped from our office before it was taken over...Don't you remember?" She recounted as the Commander sat himself up against a nearby console, brushing aside an empty bottle of Beluga.
The Commander rested his throbbing head into his palms. "I remember...Star and I jacked a car...Then we microwaved Griffin's tea...and ended up killing him with that...then he came back as a hat...and started chasing us...then...corn syrup?...We all jacked the Elmo to get away..."
RO sighed, merely responding by holding out a bottle of water, which the Commander accepted.
"Thank you..." The Commander breathed out groggily, unscrewing the cap and thirstily gulping it down.
"It all coming back to you now?"
"Yeah..." The Commander's eyes turned to Groza, working away at the navigation systems. "Groza, What's our current position?"
"We're on the edge of the contamination zone just outside of Regensburg. Collapse storms barely touch this area, but the URNC appears to be focused on the green zones first and foremost." Groza called back.
"Figured as much...If they planned on chasing us into the contamination zone, we'd already be dead..." The Commander unsteadily rose to his feet.
RO's cast her eyes aside hesitantly before speaking again. "...Commander...What are we...going to do now? We've been navigating the yellow zone for weeks..."
The Commander sighed. "...Keep going, that's all I can really think of for now. Maybe we should cross over into Czechia just to be safe. I know M4 isn't happy, but...well, what can we do? We don't even know where Griffin is, let alone how we're going to take a shot at him, or who else is involved besides him."
"Do you think she's right, Commander? That the Prometheans are real? She's been pretty rattled ever since she came back..."
The Commander turned his head thoughtfully. "...Everything else she's said has come true in one way or another. I knew Griffin was bad news the second I laid eyes on him back in Berlin, even before Ange said the things she did. I don't doubt that he's planning on picking up where William left off...The question is, who's running him?...Or who is he running?"
RO nodded. "The strings he was able to pull for us in Berlin...He had way too many connections for just being a majority shareholder of a single company, especially in a nation like the GDR."
"We've pissed off some powerful people..." The Commander sighed once again. "RO...I hope you know that you don't have to do this."
RO shook her head. "The AR Team was formed to protect M4A1, Commander. If Griffin gets hold of her, who knows what he'll do to her Neural Cloud...And even if that weren't the case, I still wouldn't abandon you. Everybody here feels the same way."
Before the Commander could say anything else, a guttural grinding resounded from the engine bay. Warning klaxons blared oppressively before one-by-one, the consoles around the CIC began to lose power. The Commander, RO, and Groza lurched forwards, struggling to steady themselves as the Elmo rolled to a halt.
Regaining her balance, RO glanced at the now offline terminals surrounding them. "The Elmo's stopped..."
"Thanks, RO." The Commander deadpanned.
"No response from the engine." Groza called out.
"Are...Are we under attack?" RO nervously uttered, her hand finding the grip of the submachine gun in her bag.
Unholstering his Glock, the Commander turned to the CIC's exit. "Stay here with Groza. I'm going to go find the others."
Leaving the CIC, the Commander made his was through the corridors of the Elmo. Reaching the common area, he was met with the sight of the rest of the AR Team hastily filing towards him.
"Commander, what's going on?" M4 asked urgently
"We don't know, the engine just gave out." The Commander replied.
"Sabotage?" M16 chimed in.
"Assume yes, we can't take any chances in our current state. M4, M16, head topside and check for boarders. SOP, head to the CIC and back up RO. Star, with me, let's check the engine room."
"What about our prisoner? We just going to leave her in the brig?" M16 raised.
"Well, if we hear a shot coming from there, we'll at least get some warning that we're under an enemy attack." The Commander dismissed.
"Commander." STAR held out her PDW as she shifted her SPR into her dominant hand.
"Right." The Commander shoved his handgun back into his holster, taking the rifle from STAR.
The Engine room door flew open, STAR rapidly filed through the doorway and lurched to the side, The Commander followed immediately afterwards with his sight trained on her blindspot.
"Clear." STAR's voice called from the far side.
"Clear." The Commander called back.
Lowering their guns, they stepped closer to the engine to examine it.
"Ack!" The Commander coughed, wafting away the cloud of smoke. "Well, it's blown alright..."
STAR nodded. "Yeah...Too much left of it to be anything deliberate though, not detecting any residue of explosives, for whatever that's worth."
"I guess Soviet Engineering just isn't what it's cracked up to be, then..."
"When was the last time this thing's even been serviced?"
"Far as I know, this thing was practically shitcanned before they dug it out of storage when Sector 9 got raised...I'm amazed this thing even started up to begin with." The Commander recounted before moving his hand to his Communicator. "M4, report status."
"It's clear up here, Commander. No sign of any hostiles." M4's voice sounded.
"RO, how's the Command deck?"
"All quiet, Commander." RO replied.
The Commander turned to STAR. "Well, False alarm, but..." He turned back to the engine, his arm motioning towards the pluming smoke. "Not really...Anything you can do?"
"I'd need to do an actual damage assessment first."
"You can't just, bypass the compressor or something and get it started again?"
STAR hissed out a sigh, shaking her head. "Shut up."
"...Alright, leave the assessment for later. We'll do one last sweep of the place, then let's assemble everyone in the CIC and bring them up to speed."
A short while later, the Elmo's crew assembled into the CIC, where the Commander reported on the status of the engine.
"So...where does this leave us?" Groza spoke up.
The Commander sighed bitterly. "Well...From the top - The URNC has risen to power and repossessed just about everything I've built over the last three or so years, except for everybody in this room right now, and this rusted up tub we jacked from them and escape into the badlands with. Kalina's gone completely crazy, tried to kill me and Star because I refused to let her stuff me in a mech and take on contracts from the firm she started behind my back, then signed on with the new G&K without hesitation. Our temp office? Gone. Our safehouses? Compromised. All the resources I had saved up over the years? Cleaned out. Helian and Kryuger? Missing."
"And now the Elmo's broken down and stranded us out here..." STAR added.
"Makes me wonder if they just let us take the damned thing so they could write it off. Let's face it, without an entire armored division and air support backing us up, this thing's going to be nothing more than a giant coffin in the face of an actual military. It's no wonder why you don't see these things around anymore after World War Three, most of them were either destroyed or scrapped."
"I wonder what they were thinking when they built these. Something like this goes against every lesson learned during the second world war..." RO pondered out loud.
"I guess some bigwigs wanted to look like royalty rolling onto the field, and telling a Soviet Officer the word 'no' tends to shorten your life expectancy dramatically. Colonel Ivan wants a fortress on wheels? He's going to get his fortress on wheels, and anybody that tries to tell him that every artillery gunner and A-10 pilot on the other side of the curtain is going to be jumping for joy when his signature pops up is obviously a Western Saboteur." The Commander surmised.
"So we're fucked, I get it. What do we do now?" STAR interjected.
"Well, we're not going anywhere until we get this tub up and running again. As much as I hate this thing, it beats walking to Czechia through the yellow zone." The Commander avoided M4's gaze, though he could feel her eyes boring into him from his peripherals.
"And how are we going to do that?"
"That's a question you should be asking yourself, since you're the closest thing to a grease monkey onboard, you've just been voluntold."
"Great..." STAR grumbled, silently gritting her teeth. "Do we even have the tools for that on here?"
"Do a damage assessment and take inventory. We may very well have to 'borrow' some things from the local scavs."
"So, we're raiding bandits for their supplies now instead of the other way around?"
"Such are the times we're in, Star. We're going to have to do a little 'enterprising' to get back on our feet."
"To think we were driving a Ferrari just a couple of weeks ago...Tch, should have sold that thing off instead of just ditching it."
"Why don't you call up the police and turn yourself in while you're at it? Way too much heat attached."
"And where would the fun be in that?" A familiar Russian accent sounded.
The group turned to try to place the source of the sound, only for AK-12 to suddenly flash into existence next to the Commander as she disabled her cloak.
"Jesus!" The Commander recoiled back. Amongst the crowd, hands reached to the grips of their weapons. Regaining his composure, the Commander shook his head. "...Twelve...we've gotta stop meeting like this..."
"And you need to stop making it so easy to let myself in. especially with how popular you've become lately." 12 shot back. "Couldn't have hurt to leave some coffee and donuts out, and be a more considerate host if you're so willing to have visitors."
Footsteps suddenly sounded from near the CIC's door as AN-94 slowly stepped inside. "Sorry to intrude unannounced, Commander." She greeted apologetically.
The Commander turned back to AK-12 with a sigh. "I take it Zelinsky isn't singing my praises through the halls of the Kremlin?"
"Oh, he's your number one fan right now. So much so that he is just dying to meet you for an autograph." 12 cracked.
"About what I'd expected...Are you here to arrest me?"
"Ange has sent me to conduct a very long, grueling investigation of your whereabouts. I'd imagine it's going to be quite some time before I can report back with any news."
"Same trick as Belgrade, huh? Is that really going to work?"
"You have more friends than you know, Commander. It isn't too hopeless as long as you don't do anything stupid...And I suppose that's where I come in."
"I'm not sure how much that's worth coming from Ange's protégé. She isn't known for her natural grace and finesse."
"Right, says the man rolling around in this lumbering mountain. Tell me, do you want me a paint a bullseye on your head while we're at it?"
"I never claimed I was either, why do you think we got along so well?"
"Mhm...Well, since I'm going to be in the blast radius of whatever missile that gets launched at you, I may as well help you with your little engine problem."
"And how are you going to do that? You never struck me as a mechani-" The Commander was interrupted by the sudden buzzing of his communicator. A call was coming in over the secure channel.
"I'd answer that if I were you, could be important~" 12 teased.
A step ahead of everyone. Despite her "antics", the Commander was at least glad that she was still on his side.
The Commander picked up his Communicator and patched through the call, it didn't take a lot of thought to figure out who it could be.
"Hello, 45..."