Girls' Frontline Fanfiction: Tsar of the Mountain

For Their Future

Artyom stood in the center of the FSB command room with a grim expression on his face. His fists were clenched to the point that his knuckles were white. The room was deathly quiet despite all the personnel inside as they did their best not to make any noise. No one wanted to set Artyom off. No one dared make a sound after what they had all just heard from Artyom's call with Zeldri.

"..." Ivan shifted uncomfortably from his place behind Artyom. On one hand, he wanted to congratulate Artyom on becoming a grandfather. On the other, Ivan didn't want to get punched in the face. So, he took a different approach to try and change the mood. "Should I have a team dispatched to keep watch on Mrs. Helianthus?"

"...Yes." Artyom's voice was gruff and almost monotone. He was doing his best to handle his swelling emotions. "They are not to make contact. Their only objective is to observe."

"I'll have them dispatched immediately," Ivan replied and gave a bow before turning to leave.

"..." Artyom kept replaying his conversation with Zeldri over and over in his head. For two months the FSB was completely unable to find a single trace of his missing son. And yet, a group of Griffin members were able to both find and extract Zeldri from a Paradeus facility? Not to mention the fact that Artyom could clearly see Sangvis Ferri troops in the satellite images he was looking at of the facility he'd just pulled up. But, as far as he knew, Zeldri didn't have any Sangvis troops working for him. He had confirmed that fact with his backdoor into the Mountain's systems with the old Soviet OGAS. Unless... "The OGAS lied..." Artyom mumbled to himself as his brain churned through information and theories. He turned his head to one of the agents in the room, "Pull up all the old transcripts we have of our interactions with the Mountain's OGAS system. Preferably before Zeldri took over the facility."

"On it, Sir," the agent replied and quickly got to work. After a few seconds of searching, the main monitor of the room displayed a text log of the FSB's and military's interactions with the Mountain's OGAS.

"...So, that's how it is." The logs showed the OGAS giving only simple responses with little more than a sentence. Compared to the current OGAS which would give entire paragraphs of information when asked, it was clear that something had happened. Artyom remembered Zeldri had said that UMP40 was clean of Parapluie infection and that her systems were normal when he retrieved her. But that, too, now seemed like a lie. "...This is getting dangerous." While Artyom was a Rossartrist, he only liked technology when he was aware of it. This new Mountain OGAS could be a problem. But, it also found and brought his son back. "..." Artyom made a mental note to keep a closer eye on the Mountain, but wouldn't act just yet. After all, he had more pressing matters to attend to; like the coming death of his son, and the news that he would be welcoming a new member into his family. Artyom took out his phone and looked up information about Helian's schedule before muttering, "...I should see when Sofia is free for dinner."

***

"...Mmm." Zeldri cracked open his eyes as his phone's alarm rang on the nightstand next to him. He tried to reach for it, but his arms wouldn't listen to him. As the days passed by, it was getting harder and harder to move; especially when he first woke up. The phone's alarm continued to blare until a metallic hand reached down and turned it off. Zeldri turned his head and saw Prizrak standing next to the bed. Since she didn't seem to want to leave his side, Annika had allowed them to continue following Zeldri and assist him whenever possible. "...Morning," Zeldri spoke in a weak voice as he tried to rise from bed.

"..." Prizrak gave a silent nod before helping Zeldri up. She also brushed his teeth, combed his hair, and helped him get dressed. The night prior, she had even helped him take a shower. Zeldri could only grit his teeth in frustration at how useless he felt. Was this his fate? To waste away without even being able to do something as simple as brushing his own teeth by himself?