"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.
