Fomalhaut: Sissssssss, sisssssssss, ey sis
Vega: What's the matter Fomalhaut?
Fomalhaut: Hi~
Vega looked back at her sister, a look of disappointment yet intrigue displayed on her green big eyes, her sister noticed this but kept her smile as she waited for the hi she should receive back.
Vega: Why are you greeting me? Did your neural links get damaged? We just talked seconds ago
Fomalhaut friendly face dissipated quickly as her hands resting behind her back just went limp from disappointment, her blank eyes also displaying that disappointment her hands expressed with their action.
Fomalhaut: Tch... No, I'm perfectly fine dumbass
She said turning her body around and stopping to walk beside her sister, just getting a bit further than her so they didn't walk beside each other.
Vega: Huh?
Fomalhaut: Where are the others?
Said Fomalhaut ignoring her sister shenanigans now and just giving her a side look as she awaited an answer to her question, Vega shrugged off the strange interaction from earlier and just answered.
Vega: They for what I know should have been locked just like myself in their respective perimeters Fomalhaut
Fomalhaut: What a pain in the ass
Said Fomalhaut as her HUD displayed to her the only active section of the base, that one being Vega's she didn't even want to imagine how long it's gonna take her and the small squad she recovered to rewire back and kick start the other 11 reactors left.
Fomalhaut: Pop, pop, pop, pop... *Sigh*
Vega: What are you doing?
Fomalhaut: Are you blind? Making sounds to calm my stress
Vega: Why "pop"
Fomalhaut: I don't know, why you gotta be so stiff also ey?... *Sigh* You can be as stiff as you want as soon as we start our operations but right now? You bore me to death
She said with a cold voice that pierced right through Vega, this tone and glare would have made any soul stumble however Vega didn't even flinch just raised her eyebrow as she looked at Fomalhaut. Interested in more than anything in how her sister could have developed such a thing as an emotion of boredom.
Vega: Bore you to death?
Fomalhaut: You know, never mind, just let's get all this done and give me my original vessel back I don't want to spend these long weeks trying to explain to you how uninteresting you are from what I remembered
Vega: Ok then, the nearest reactor to ours now should be Sirius's
Said Vega as she kept walking through the hall with Fomalhaut who rolled her eyes before sending a signal to her mechanoids to go and clear debris while they go and reactive another reactor and release another bane.
·····
Nikolay: This has been a long week... *inhale*
It's been about a week since he woke up, and as he expected this week has been hell so far, from, explaining to G&K what happened and using trap cards to set a safe perimeter for himself and Julian to cover up this Polaris matter from prying eyes, to, dealing with his whole base going into a cold war between his well being, something he somewhat expected yet not to this degree, moreover...
MSBS: So this is our main office?
He totally forgot he ordered these girls from Periscaria as soon as he noticed their lack of intel gathering as he was planning this iron curtain on site 3, the mission in the end, being somewhat of a failure just because he couldn't know that their main enemy wasn't there anymore, just the junk left behind and more important he was somewhat salty about getting tricked by a dummy, to not have seen something like that coming, it now just burdened him as a commander with experience failing back on trivial things such as the first thing he learned in the academy, "know your enemy".
Nikolay: Yeah, hope it's big enough for ya three, let the girls know if ya need help or just want extra hands seeing for now we can't get specific personnel
Pr-15: Sounds burdensome, why is that?
Nikolay: I... I had to agree to some terms given to me but now I got to gamble my way out of them and give me the pass I need
MSBS: Hm, I thought you and Kryuger were well, boss and employee
Nikolay: It's a... Complicated matter to explain without much detail, let's leave it at affiliated for now, shall we?
MSBS: Hm, alright then, so we just gotta do our usual but in a new base, that sounds simple, any priorities right now?
Said MSBS turning around and staring at Nikolay who still was missing an arm but at least didn't need any support to walk for himself nor any medical equipment to keep him stable. Nikolay hummed and thought about it, what were his priorities now, keeping an eye on Polaris or calming down G&K surroundings? Both were important right now at that instant.
Nikolay: Say could ya three get me a bit more info on the surrounding G&K bases?
MSBS: We definitely could, what ya searching for?
Nikolay: Anything ya can dig out without making G&K commanders weary of my counterespionage
MSBS: Don't be loud about asking them, got it
Nikolay: What?...
MSBS: With the G&K forum I can get basically any info relevant or not as long as I can blend in with my profile and appeal to the others
Said MSBS getting out her phone from her pocket and login into some app, most probably going straight into what she was talking about.
Nikolay: You are... catfishing people to get relevant info?
MSBS: Or scrolling through existent threads~ Did ya know Julian plays Tetris at general meetings on her phone? Because I didn't but now I do
Nikolay: ...
MSBS: I mean if it works it works, not as we can actually just infiltrate their bases without getting caught, this seems like the best bet
Nikolay: I'm not against it but I really don't want G&K getting into our internal network somehow so be extra careful
MSBS: Mam to szefie (Got it boss)
Said MSBS as she kept scrolling through her phone, looking at all the posts around, the other two dolls sighed as they stared at their comrade as always trying to take the lazy route to do anything.
Pr-15: Don't worry, we will go and spy on other bases, maybe try and catch 2 or 3 frequencies
WIST-94: Tak (Yes)
Said the both of them looking at Nikolay to reassure him they would do some more standard technics to gather a bit more intel. Nikolay smiled a bit and nodded at the both before excusing himself off the office and walking down the corridor towards the stairs to exit the main building and go to the dorms area. Having put one nail into the bridge he just needed to lay down the planks again and put the other nails to use.
Nikolay: Let's see with that done... I need to put the quadruplets to work
·····
Ann: *Sigh* ... Who of you three did the laundry yesterday?
Alex and Julie gave a side look to Fang who looked back at them telling them to screw off with her glare, well at least trying to. Ann pinched her nose and inhaled before speaking up.
Ann: For how long did we have this new uniform, Fang?
Fang: ... Just 3 days...
Ann: Aha, now when you do the laundry, what did I tell all of you about putting white underwear with bright fucking cheap red underwear
Fang: To never put them together...
Ann: And what did you do?
Fang: Nothing...
Ann: You put them together for fucks sake
Said Ann lifting the bra which was supposed to be a pretty white and simple bra, however, now it was badly tainted pink from that other bra that was put into the washing machine with the rest of the clothes.
Julie: At least it's kinda cute...
Ann: It's, a uniform, it's supposed to be white and plain for the sake of simplicity and easiness not fucking bright ugly put pink!
Said Ann inhaling a good bunch of air as she gave a side look to the basket in which their clothes were and then at her sisters.
Ann: Now, how am I supposed to clear up this mess hm? You three expect me to walk up to our commander and say "Ey yo Kolya, Fang messed up the laundry and now our uniform is kinda ruined lol" and lift my shirt and skirt to show him?
She said looking at them a bit annoyed quite clearly this mess up not ringing her bells in a good way, Fang looked away and muttered a maybe making Ann stare at her in disbelief she was suggesting to actually do what she said.
Ann: Did you hit your head now? Perhaps so much vodka left your cognitive systems damaged in the end?
She said and wanted to continue her scolding before the door opened after two knocks could be heard, entering inside the dorm Nikolay with a document in his hand, his eyes lifted up and saw the scene of the three sisters sitting on the couch and looking at any other direction that meant not facing their sister Ann directly.
Nikolay: ... I guess I'm interrupting something so I will come back later I guesssss...
He said as he clearly noticed how Ann was holding and pointing aggressively at the bra in her hand, the four sisters were silent as Nikolay just kept prolonging the guess and closed the door behind him as he got out. Ann quickly dropped the bra and dashed towards the door opening in quickly and poking only half of her body while keeping the rest of the door hidden from the outside.
Ann: No, no, no, no, and no commander you are not interrupting anything... We just, eh, they just, she just... Eh, Fang has... uhhhm, is something the matter?
She said quickly recomposing her tone and posture in the end as she changed topic realizing she was going anywhere with that rambling and trying to explain they ruined part of their uniform. Nikolay turned around and faced Ann with an awkward smile but nonetheless nodded at her change of topic and extended his arm offering the document to her. The doll quickly took it and looked through it before lifting her eyes and staring at Nikolay as his lips unglued from that smile and said something.
Nikolay: New mission I got for y'all and as always I expect a great job from ya four
Ann: Oh yeah... Sounds right, we will do our best
Said the doll as she looked back into the document and tried to see where is it specified what the mission is about. Nikolay hid his hand inside one of the pockets of his trenchcoat and said a final thing before turning around and walking towards the main building again.
Nikolay: If you have any doubts about the mission or want to ask for something specific for it leave a note in my office and I will see what I can do tomorrow alright?
His words pierced her ears quite slowly, the info settling in a tad bit late for her to say something as when her gaze raised from the paper her commander was already walking away.
Ann: Understood... *Looking back into the document again*
·····
Nikolay: Take a seat R6
Said Nikolay to the doll who nodded a bit shyly and obliged sitting down on the pod signaled by Nikolay, she already had been in this pod, right before the operation on site 3 when he installed those devices into them, which came quite in handy for the time they had them.
Nikolay: When you lie down let me know and I will start the connection
R6 hummed in agreement as she finally laid down inside the pod and looked straight onto the ceiling above them, a ready was all she said before her systems went into stasis, her whole body going a bit limp from its usual stiffness as some of her power was sucked off into a secondary grid for the analysis Nikolay wanted to do.
20 minutes passed by as R6 just relaxed while Nikolay did his thing, he mentioned something about memories so she just kept cool and enjoyed the feeling of the pod, a chilly and comfortable as snow feeling around her whole body as her eyelids were in a semi-open position from which they didn't change until Nikolay takes her out of stasis.
Nikolay: Alright it's done
He said as the power that was sucked off suddenly fluctuated back to her quickly, regaining her corporal heat and all of her senses, eyelids bursting wide open as she stretched her arms up into the air and then clumsily got out of the pod, sitting on its edge and looking at Nikolay.
Nikolay: Go take a sit on that sofa now I will get to you in just a sec yet again...
He said looking through the new files in the computer, R6 now wondering if those files were in fact as she suspected her memories copied and imported into this network. Either way, she followed his order and took a sit on this newly placed sofa down in his personal workshop, and it was clearly new as just 4 days ago when they got removed that Persica's device the sofa wasn't there or well at least she didn't notice at first.
As she waited for Nikolay to get back to her she tried to keep her mind blank and at ease for whatever he wanted to do now, but it was quite hard knowing you got your commander quite near you, and even after missing an arm he just kept his cool, no reprimands to her or her sisters, no sadness showing up on his usual self not even a slight change in his tone of voice, it was like it never happened, all this gave her a sense of fear that pilled up down her heart, what if he is gonna dismantle them once and for all, what would she do? Perhaps she was right and this is why he chose her first knowing full well she won't fight back not because she doesn't want to but because simply she can't.
Nikolay: Alright
He said taking out his phone after putting his chair near her, right in front of the sofa, after that she snapped out as soon as a wireless connection was asking to connect to her those code being the one of Nikolay's phone, she could already recognize it from just seeing the 3 first digits. Guaranteeing him access he stelled his phone down for a second and hummed as soon as it finally connected lifting it back up again.
R6: Uhm... So what is the matter Kommandant? (Commander?)
She said with a calm tone even though her nervousness was about to implode on her.
Nikolay: It's about y'all, ya know R group
He said which made R6's throat become a knot from the anxiety those words just gave her, this is exactly how all her superiors started their talks with her every single time they wanted to scold, punish, or guilt-trip her.
Nikolay: I wanted to go through a special session with each one of you, hope you don't mind me wasting your time, it will just be some questions and well, monitoring nothing major so don't worry about it
As his words reached R6 she calmed down in an instant yet she now had her fear replaced with doubt, a session? Questions? He really isn't angry at them? Her confusion escaped from her as those words of his hit her and showed up slightly on her face. Nikolay sighed at her reaction as even if he couldn't distinguish it from the outside, his phone was recording as well as not to mention he was monitoring her emotional module through the link she let him do.
Nikolay: To put it simply take it as a therapy session
He said lifting his eyes from his phone and staring at R6 who got even more confused, without really thinking spitting out a question.
R6: Therapy for what?
Nikolay: You really think I haven't noticed the change in your behaviors and how half the base went insane or ballistic from not having me around?
R6: But... But I mean, you were hospitalized for our incompetence if anything this doesn't prove anything other than we regret our actions...
Nikolay let her finish speaking and as soon as he noticed she finished his lips let out a simple phrase.
Nikolay: Don't lie to yourself
R6 stared back at him surprised at his reaction, she wasn't lying, she said what she really thought, be it in panic or not she still said the truth she saw, yet Nikolay stared back looking at her, did she mess up? Did I upset him? It what she thought but before she could continue and descend into confusion and even more doubt Nikolay kept speaking.
Nikolay: There is a big difference between snapping out and caring for someone in this situation, while you, well at least some of you might care for me, the reason for all this happening doesn't reside in me but all of you, I'm just a detonator that was used for an internal problem that was lingering painfully slow from long ago, or am I wrong?
R6 just stared blankly at him not knowing what to say here without messing up, this felt worst than a scolding for her for some reason, maybe because she didn't want to admit her
perfect sisters messed up or even could be the fact she just wanted to avoid these facts.
Nikolay inhaled deeply before speaking up again and looked at R6 with a calm face.
Nikolay: R6, relax, I need you relaxed and being yourself alright? I need this conversation to go bilaterally, not unilaterally, I won't get mad nor will I scream at you at any moment these next hours, I just want to talk and get a grip of understanding what's wrong with you and your sisters and hopefully find a solution for the problem, are you alright with that?
R6: ... I... I don't know...
She said her tone changing suddenly from calm to clear doubt, Nikolay exhaled sharply and gave a quick look at his phone to get a confirmation on R6 emotions right now.
Nikolay: I will put it more simply, do you want to talk about it and express yourself R6 or you prefer to keep silent about the matter and avoid the topic? Both choices are fine but I need an answer now okay?
R6 kept the silence in between them for a good bunch of time thinking about what she should do, this silence, however, didn't last long as she finally cleared her mind and spoke up her answer to him.
R6: I wouldn't mind talking about it...
Nikolay nodded at her and revised the questions written in his phone's notebook.
Nikolay: Let's start then if ya don't mind
·····
Alyona: Hm... It's been a while since you do this but may I ask why?
She said looking at Sveta who stared back at her, Sveta scratched the back of her neck and admitted her actions.
Sveta: Yeah it's been a while since I do one of your simulations but I thought now that Nikolay is setting his foot down maybe a bit of training to de-rust myself off a bit would well do me good
Alyona: Hm... I remember you didn't like the simulation tho...
Said Alyona a bit skeptical about Sveta's reply, it wouldn't be the first time Sveta lies to her, not to mention she could always be her to pull off a move on her.
Sveta: *Sigh* Aight you got me, Raisa bothered me again about testing my cores and modules...
Alyona: Now that makes more sense, why don't ask Nikolay to do it tho?
Sveta: He is occupied with the R sisters
Alyona: Now that makes even more sense... *Sigh* Come in I guess, I will set things up
Said Alyona letting Sveta inside her dorm, both sisters settled down as Alyona went and grabbed a special device she used for this thing that Nikolay made exactly for them to recalculate their systems in a simulated training ground without his help, the system basically is powered by Alyona's memory of sceneries and perfect mapping calculating the device just lets her connect someone up to her mapping grid so they can use it as a training ground.
Alyona: You ready?
Asked Alyona as she sat beside Sveta who laid on the sofa waiting for the connection to be guaranteed to her. A swift nod from her was all it took for her to connect to the simulation, both dolls systems went into saving power mode and locked their ability to move, putting their full power and thinking power into their cognitive systems.
Sveta: Here we go...
Muttered Sveta as she closed her eyes to start up the thing and get it done as quickly as possible.
·····
Pr-15: So found anything interesting?
Said Pr-15 looking over MSBS shoulder to get some sight on what site she was scrolling through, MSBS kept silent as she silently scrolled and read through a thread on the forum.
MSBS: Did you know people around are skeptical of our base?
WIST-94: You mean?
MSBS: This thread talks about how our base has been on lockdown for a good while... At least some users are clearing up things for us so not so worrisome
Pr-15: Such as?
MSBS: I think I saw a commander or two post a message here discussing Nikolay and the operation, seems like they kept it under a curtain with great success... Hm...
WIST-94: Since when do you even have an account tho?
Said WIST as she walked up to them and as Pr-15 did, looked over MSBS shoulder, not comfortable with the view she just settled her head and rested it on her shoulder.
MSBS: I'm in incognito, can't post anything tho... Nor download things but screenshots should do
WIST-94: Talk about being lazy...
MSBS: It's called adapted to the times, aka use ya goddamn phone boomers
Pr-15: Said the pyromaniac
MSBS: Explosions are cool and so is fire, besides what the hell does boomer have to do with being a pyromaniac?
Pr-15: Nie mam pojęcia (No fucking idea)
WIST-94: Wait a sec, scroll up a bit
MSBS: Hm?
WIST-94: That thread seems interesting, "Upcoming big joint operation"
MSBS: Huh... Hmm, this from like a week ago tho?
WIST-94: Still that means it probably is happening or already happened, we can get good info from all this, terrain and location wise
Said WIST as she read through the thread as MSBS scrolled down for her.
Pr-15: Hm... Shouldn't we be doing more irl things, I mean we can intercept some frequencies without a problem
MSBS: We can do that later, besides don't wanna get intercepted by any convoy or something like that, they would probably alert everyone of our presence, let's leave it for the night
WIST-94: You sure ain't just procrastinating?
MSBS: No shut the fuck up
Pr-15: *Sigh*
·····
Nikolay: Hm... So that's how it is, could you tell me more about why you think the S variants are so closed?
R6: ... I mean... R2s and R3s definitely weren't as closed as they are now, that's for sure... However R1s, I don't really remember... Like, the three of them are really hardworking, they try to strive for the better path and are dedicated each one of them with their own will, I really, I guess I admire them somewhat but... I just feel like the methods they use are just... wrong
Nikolay: Can you go a bit further and explain how are they wrong?
Said Nikolay getting a look back at the device measuring R6 emotion module, R6 sighed and hummed trying to get the right words on the tip of her tongue to explain herself.
R6: It's... R3s just... Doesn't take herself into account sometimes, as long as everyone is alright and the mission has been done she will be as happy as a dog but she won't even take into account herself until the very end where she will start regretting things... R2s, R2s its the opposite, forget everyone's safety and emotions, if she achieves what she wants she doesn't mind spitting some harsh words at us, she wouldn't let us down but it can get out of hand sometimes...
Nikolay: What about R1s?
R6 stared back at him in silence, almost as if she didn't want to say the answer just because it felt wrong most probably, yet she knew it was the truth.
R6: The end justifies all means...
Nikolay: Hm... No need to specify further...
He said getting a good glance at the device and noticing she was quite disturbed about how to feel with her own truth, perhaps she remembered something but that wouldn't make sense, he clearly wiped out her memory from that time they got rescued, even Nadya suppressed and modified some of her memories to calm her down which could only mean something, she had some distant memory of an old experience left behind in her deepest memory core, he will have to check that later on he thought as he gave a small glance towards the computer in which he stored a copy of her entire memory life neatly distributed in files. Getting his eyes back on her he decided to ask a final thing to her seeing the recording in his phone was almost reaching its limit.
Nikolay: Well let's start wrapping it up with a final question okay?
R6 snapped from her thoughts and nodded repeatedly at him as she prepared herself for it.
Nikolay: Seeing how much we talked about your sisters, which I don't blame as it got off topic really quickly
He started off and took a glance at his phone to check on her emotions.
Nikolay: I would like to get back on track even if it's the final curve and ask, how do you feel about yourself and your new life?
The question startled R6, she was expecting something more about her sisters, maybe something about R2 or R1s to get a third view on what was happening but instead he went for the critical hit she tried to avoid. Her eyes settled on the ground as she hummed softly so much so that it didn't even quite reach Nikolay's ears, her eyes then closed and she stopped her humming, Nikolay sensed a bit of instability in her emotions and a clear and big peak of sadness was warned to him about her emotional state through his phone.
R6: You know... Being honest...
She started suddenly, Nikolay quickly unglued his eyes from his phone and stared at R6.
R6: ... Sometimes I feel like a third wheel... No, not even the third... The fourth, the fifth, the ninth, the tenth or the twelfth wheel of the cart...
She said with a clear tone of slight disgust on her voice, however to whoever that disgust was directed to wasn't clear.
R6: I get tossed around, I get pushed about, I get thrown into the fray... I got mind broken, I got heartbroken, I have even been broken to my very core...
Her words echoed around the room, the hint of disgust turning into hatred as she most probably remembered her bitter memories while being a FAK puppet. Her words were filled with venom she wanted to lash out you could feel it in her tone, her aura, she wanted to torture the ones that did her wrong a lustful tone for revenge.
R6: But...
She said, her emotions suddenly going blank back into their normal state.
R6: But... I'm quite happy my beating around ended up landing me here today, even though I may be quite blank and lacking personality, or I guess just being a doll... I'm quite happy with the result, and that I ended up under your command
As she stopped to catch a bit of air her sadness raised back, and her lips unglued again to finish speaking up her mind.
R6: However... I would be happier if my sisters would also smile upon the harsh path, I guess that's why I feel like an extra wheel, I would like for them to ease themselves and clear their hearts and smile through it... That I as simple and weak am, saying this may seem... Unpleasant or perhaps a better word to phrase it should be ironic, out of character even... But I do believe in reality that if they would smile through it we wouldn't need to keep catching up to the misery, no need for more walls around... I'm certain they think they same but just can't say it, guess that's why we are sisters after all...
Silence came in as her eyes were somewhat teary but she quickly recomposed herself and tried brushing everything off with a slight smile and a change of topic.
R6: Heh, well that's how I see everything at least! I guess I can go now, I will see you around for dinner commander
She said getting up and walking to the door quickly opening and closing it behind her as she left Nikolay alone, he sighed and looked down at his phone.
Nikolay: A good enough answer to my question...
He muttered as his fingers slid down the control panel in his phone and looked at the notification that lingered since R6 started talking.
"Recorder: Your recording was cut off due to insufficient storage space, please clean some files before starting a new recording or editing the current one."
Nikolay: *Inhale* I need a separate device for the next recordings...
A giggle escaped his mouth as he cleared the notifications in his phone and stored it back inside his pocket.