Berlin, Germany
December 16, 2063
0956 Hours

The cold wind continued to blow ferociously, causing the snow to be blown roughly to the ground and pile up.

The sound of metal scraping against metal echoed throughout the garage as a man approximately in his early 20's does a maintenance on his exo-suit, doing minor repairs on various parts of it.

While he could just send the exo-suit to nearby military bases and get a new one, he didn't bother doing so as the damages were light and could be repaired even by a normal soldier.

He is no ordinary soldier, though. The man is a member of the 1st Special Forces Operational Detachment – Delta, simply referred to as Delta Force.

He's assigned to a special squadron within the Delta Force to deal with the Sangvis Ferri, codenamed Squadron Zero.

The operators assigned on the squadron have been trained to operate alone or with a fireteam, but in most occasions they go with fireteams since their primary objectives are raids and special reconnaissance. There have been times that they go solo, but those missions were rare.

The man's lips curled into a small smile, showing satisfaction of his work. He gathered his tools, placed them back on his case, then puts the case under the table.

He wore his exo-suit and began doing a series of tests on it. He broke rocks, bend metal tubes, and most of all, the thrusters on the back of his suit. The thrusters worked perfectly, and all he has to do is eat his snack and wait for another mission, since his one month leave for vacation ended yesterday.

And he didn't have to wait long.

His phone rang moments later. He grabbed the phone from his pocket, tapped the answer button, and pressed the phone against his ear.

"Hello?" The man said, his voice a bit deep and coarse.

A pause as the one he was speaking to explains what his next mission would be, except it wasn't a mission he would expect.

"Couldn't you find someone else to do it?" The operator asked.

"I'm sorry, but the other Commanders were newly grads and very inexperienced, and others who have been in the battlefield for years were deployed on other bases across Europe where heavy fighting are taking place." The man on the phone explained. "You're more than qualified for the job. I've already sent your files to Griffin. They've accepted you and are waiting for your arrival."

At this point, the operator has no choice but to agree because it was already approved. But there's nothing wrong with that, he thinks it's time for a little change.

"Do I get to fight with them?"

"Of course. What do you expect? Sitting in the office all day until you get fat?"

"Yes."

"Well, paperworks are unavoidable but you can still fight with them." The man said.

The operator smirked. "Fuck yeah."

"They've sent a Blackhawk to pick you up. They should be arriving soon. Gather your things."

"Yes, sir."

"Good luck, soldier." The man said his farewell and ends the call.

The operator began preparing his things, leaving behind those that were unnecessary. He took his service rifle, an M4A1 with a red dot sight, flashlight, and vertical grip. After checking his rifle, he went to the garage, opened the door, and waited for the helicopter.

Thirty minutes later, he heard the chopper slowly getting closer and closer, until it landed seventy meters away from his temporary house, blowing off snow from the ground.

A woman with a red beret carrying an AK-47 came out from the chopper and approached the operator. "You (Y/n) (L/n)? Delta?"

"A-firm." He replied.

The woman stood in attention. "AK-47, ready for duty, sir!"

AK-47? Why would a girl be named after the gun she was carrying? Oh, right. The base he was assigned to – from what his C.O. told him, is full of Tactical Dolls or T-Dolls for short.

He wondered on why they were named after their weapons, but he concluded that their creator is either lazy to think of names or did it on purpose to address them more easily instead of calling them by serial numbers.

T-Dolls have been helpful within the war against Sangvis Ferri. They are an AI-piloted android originally designed to serve as an easily replaceable fire platform for military operations. Early generation dolls were unmistakably robots, but the standard form of Tactical Dolls came to be that of humans as the need of easier human-machine interaction appeared.

After seeing heavy use in World War Three, Tactical Dolls were made available on the civilian market after the war and non-combatant dolls were made commercially available. As of 2062, most T-Dolls are manufactured by IOP and can be found in use by national armies, police forces, PMCs, security companies, civilian companies and private citizens. Griffin and Kryuger combat forces exclusively employs T-Dolls.

Early combat dolls and unarmed civilian dolls are usually called 'Autonomous Dolls', while privately employed civilian could also be called Domestic Dolls.

"At ease." The operator, now known as (Y/n), said to the T-Doll, who dropped her salute and gestured him to the Blackhawk.

"Come on, командир. Let's go to your new base." AK-47 smiled brightly.

---

Griffin and Kryuger Base – Sector 141
Zakopane, Poland
1155 Hours

The Blackhawk touched down on the snow covered helipad after an hour and a half of traveling. (Y/n) opened the door and got out first, while AK-47 followed last and closed the door as the chopper took off.

The T-Doll followed close behind and contacted every T-Doll present on the base to come gather on the mess hall.

The moment (Y/n) and AK-47 entered the mess hall, five T-Dolls were present, standing straight with their rifles held like how Marines would do during ceremonies, except for the one that had a pistol.

The T-Doll on the very left had a long brownish hair tied in a ponytail using a white ribbon. She had green eyes, and wore a dress similar to the girl (Y/n) saw on an anime.

The one next to her had a blonde hair with a green band tied on her head secured by a white ribbon with very thin green stripes on the back side, alongside a green hat that was worn on the side of her head. She wore a brown leather jacket with WWII style polo underneath, green necktie with a gold clip, blue skirt, black stockings and shoes.

The middle wore a rather polo similar to that of a school uniform which had a desert brown color, dark blue skirt, white thigh-high socks, and brown shoes. She had a dark brown hair tied in twin ponytail with each having blue diamond things sticking out. Perhaps her most notable feature is her yellowish-gold eyes and her long cowlick.

The fourth one was smaller than the rest. She had back-length white hair and a pair of blue eyes, and her outfit consisted of a simple blue uniform with pouches attached on it, and she had black sleeves that covered the entirety of both of her arms. She had a white dress underneath, black thigh-high socks, red scarf, and black tactical shoes. On her left thigh was a knife case with the blade inside it, a tool that could become useful when the situation deems it.

The last one was a bit taller than the fourth, but still shorter than the previous three. She had an all black outfit with hints of pink on some parts.

They introduced themselves in order; Springfield, M1 Garand, M14, 9A-91, and Glock 17.

(Y/n) nodded. "Nice meeting you all. By the way, where are the the others?"

"Actually, it's just the six of us since this base is just newly built." Glock said. "There will be other echelons sent here, so don't worry."

"Hey, Commander!" A cheery voice called out.

(Y/n) turned to the direction where the shout came from, only to see a friend of his. "Long time no see, Kalina."

"You two know each other?" Garand asked.

"Griffin had several joint operations with Delta Force and S.A.S, which includes direct action, raid, sabotage, and combat rescue." Kalina elaborated. "We've met several times in the past before he was assigned to another squadron. How long has it been? Twenty years?"

"Twenty-five, actually."

"Well then, shall I give you a tour around the base?"

"That would be much appreciated."

Kalina smiled. "Great! Let's go, then!"