Girls' Frontline Fanfiction: Tsar of the Mountain

You Shouldn't Have Trusted Him

"Good. And, the fact I seem to be losing hours of my life?" The world stuttered.

"..." Annika didn't respond as her eyes became vacant. The footsteps behind him grew closer and Zeldri's heart started beating faster from...fear?

"How's A-545's condition?"

"Her parts are practically exclusive to her," Annika spoke as the world resumed, "We don't expect her to return to fighting condition until the end of the week."

"Did we find out why time was skipping during the last operation?" Now that he was forcing himself to think about it, he'd noticed that the last operation seemed to go faster than it should have.

"..." Again, the world stuttered. The footsteps were practically right behind him causing Zeldri's heart rate to spike.

"Any news from Zeratul!?" He practically shouted the words out of fear. What was he afraid of?

"No," Annika spoke in a calm voice as if she hadn't heard him scream at her. There was no one behind him. The pain in the back of his head subsided.

"..." Zeldri swallowed a lump that had formed in his throat as sweat started to run down his face and back. He looked to Annika who was seemingly unaware of his current condition. She stood silently and sipped some coffee. "Let's...continue to the command room. I'd like to ask Minx if his people encountered Paradeus when they were leaving Daugavpils."

"I'll send them a message and let you know when they respond, Commander." Annika rested her tablet on the arm that held her coffee and typed with her free hand.

"...Good." Zeldri stopped to breathe before continuing to walk down the hall. His thoughts were becoming a jumbled mess as he tried to sort through what just happened. Idly, his hand reached into his pocket and looked at his phone. The phone was still on.

***

"I'm terribly sorry to hear about what happened, Commander Artyomavich," Minx said while displayed on the command room's large monitor. It looked like he was on a plane. "Luckily, my people didn't run into any 'Paradeus' while returning to Germany. From the sounds of things, we would have lost our entire team had they met."

"I'm also grateful that none of your people were lost," Zeldri agreed with Minx, though he found it odd that they didn't run into a single Paradeus unit despite how many descended on his girls. How did they not meet any?

"If you'd like, Commander," Minx waved someone away off-screen before returning his attention to Zeldri, "I could offer you something to ease your situation. T-doll repairs probably aren't cheap, and Griffin's still not viewed in a good light by many so you're bound to get price gouged. Zeratul covers a wide range of products, and our cybernetics division utilizes a-dolls for our research into possible human limb replacements. I can pay you in parts for your dolls, directly."

"..." Minx's offer was beyond generous, which caused Zeldri to pause. "Are you allowed to just give away research materials?"

"It's not 'giving away', Commander, it's payment rightfully due." A businessman's smile overtook Minx's face. "The data we got from Daugavpils was more than we expected! Just letting you have the basins would be an insulting amount of compensation; Zeratul always gives proper payment to our partners! I could easily send you some doll parts. I'm actually on my way to Moscow, now, for some business. I'll personally see to it you receive the parts."

"Your generosity is always appreciated, Mr. Minx." Zeldri put in some flattery and gave a respectful bow to not seem rude. "But, if it's alright with you, I would also like to personally see to the parts." Minx raised an eyebrow at Zeldri so he continued, "I'll be heading into the city, myself, for some physical therapy. I couldn't possibly take up too much of your time since you're coming for your own business, so I'd like to confirm the parts myself and let Griffin handle the transportation to the Mountain."