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After an intense fight with the Molten Warlord and His minions, the towers were finally able to take down the monster and watched him explode to pieces. Right as they were about to celebrate their great triumph like usual, Commander commanded them to pick up at least one of every kind of the molten soldiers and load it back into the truck. This, of course, makes everyone confused. Why would Commander or anyone else want the corpses of these damned moltens. And why only now Commander asked them to do such things? But nobody dared to ask him, since he looked pretty tired and stressed after their battle. Not to mention, the moltens are able to make the surroundings temperature increase significantly, which didn’t make it any better for everyone.
Minigunner picked up the last pieces and loaded them into the truck. All the towers sighed in relief, as they finally were able to get some rest. Commander guided everyone back into their respective humvees group, making sure no one was left behind. After he is sure, Commander gets into his humvee. Inside, Scout, Minigunner, and Mortar were already waiting for him. He sat in the back seat and closed the door, then he gave orders to the drivers that they were ready to leave the battlefield through his radio. All the humvees then proceed to leave the battlefield, along with the corpse loaded truck in the back, guarded by two tanks and two gunner-humvees.
The ride back to the base is pretty long and silent, as everyone is tired from the battle they have fought. Scout has already fallen asleep, Minigunner is checking his M61 gatling, making sure it was fine, since it’s his most treasured weapon, and Mortar is just watching the scenery pass by. Mortar then looked at Commander, who seemed tired, yet guarded, ready to tackle any obstacle that may come through. He decided to brace himself to ask about the corpse thing earlier. “Sir.”, he called through. “Yes Mortar?”, Commander answered, his tone strict just like the usual, but lacked the fire he had before. “I wanted to ask about the corpse thing, why do we have to bring them back? And why specifically one of each kind? We have never done this before.”, he tilted his head slightly, waiting for Commander to answer. Commander looked at Mortar for a bit before answering, “Oh, it’s just a request from V, she said there is so much to study from these moltens.”, he answered. Mortar replied with a long “oh” and nodded. “I told her “no” on the radio, as it means extra work, but I don't want to disappoint her, hence why I still asked all of you to do it.”, Commander continued. His response got Mortar confused. Commander isn’t the type of guy to fulfill someone’s specific request, especially after a battle. But nonetheless, he just shook it off.
After they arrived at the base, the driver parked the humvee and turned off the engine, followed by the other humvees too. Some crews came out of the base to pick up the corpses from the truck to send them to the lab. Commander looked at Scout, who was still sleeping. “Hey kid. Wake up. We’re here.”, Commander shook his shoulder a bit hard. “Huh….”, Scout whispered weakly as he slowly stirred awake. “We’re back at the base. C’mon, be quick.”, he said a bit louder. Scout eventually gains consciousness and straightens himself up, before leaving the car without saying a word. The others followed, along with the other towers from the other humvees. They walked back into the base, happy that finally they could rest with another triumphant result. But, unlike the others who went straight to their room or hanging out with each other, Commander walked up to the lab, which is where professor V usually is.
Arriving at the lab’s front door, he scanned his card at the scanner and did all the biometric requirements. After he’s done, the lab’s door opens for him, revealing professor V who seems to be working on some kind of substance, along with the duck on her head. V is surprised and jolted a bit when she hears the lab door open, but quickly gains her composure when she sees it’s just Commander. “Evening Sir…” She greeted him weakly. “Evening V. I know I told you won’t bring back the “samples” you asked for but…I ended up doing it…”, Commander smiled sheepishly, which he rarely did. V’s eyes instantly went wide as she ran up to Commander. “A-are you being for real?”, V looked at him with a hopeful expression, her voice excited. “Y-yeah, the crew will arrive soon, bringing back the corpse. We brought one of each kind, I hope that’s enough.”, he answered. One of each kind?!, that’s more than what she asked for! She only asked for one or two but she got more! “REALLY?! THANK YOU SO MUCH!!!”, she screamed happily, which made Commander chuckle a little. Even though she’s a scientist, she can be a bit child-like sometimes, and Commander finds it endearing. “I will inform you after I’ve done my research. Again, thank you so much Commander!”, She smiled happily. “You are welcome. I’ll take my leave, alright?”He walked to the door. “Okay, take care Sir!”, she waved goodbye to him as he left the room. Soon, the crews arrived at the door, V let them in happily to let them place the corpses inside. After all the corpses are distributed, the crews leave the room as she starts to arrange them one by one into some kind of capsule so she can do her research more easily and safely. As for the Commander, he went straight into his room, he just wanted a good night's sleep after everything he went through.
The sun rises from the horizon. A warm orange light goes through the window, giving the room a welcome warm sensation. Commander slowly stirred awake as he rubbed his eyes. He slowly sits on his bed while leaning into the wall, trying to gain consciousness. He had fallen into a very deep sleep last night, right now he feels energized and well. After he felt ready, he stood up and put on his hat, ready to leave his room. Surprisingly, when he opened the door, he was met with professor V, who seemingly had been waiting for him. “Morning Commander…”, she said tiredly. “Morning V. On what occasion have you come here? And why did you look so tired? You didn't spend the whole night doing your research did you?”, he asked with a worried face. "Hehehe..I kinda…do…", she looked down in embarrassment for a bit. “As to why I'm here, I want to report about some of my findings to you Sir…”, she continued with a yawn. “Are you sure? I think it's better if you get some rest first, you can report it to me at any time.", he said to her. “No no no no! I wanted to show it to you right now!", her voice is still weak, but a bit insistent this time. “Okay then, if you insist", his voice still worried about her well-being.
They both walked to the lab together. Passing some towers and crews along the way. Some people saluted Commander when they saw him, to which he always responded back with either a salute or a polite greeting. Arriving at the lab, Commander was greeted with corpses inside the testing capsule, limbs on the dissection table, and lots of weird drawings on the whiteboard. "Damn, she really went all out when it comes to this kind of thing huh?”, Commander thought to himself. V took a sip of her coffee, which gave her barely enough energy to explain her findings to Commander. “Okay Sir. I'm sure you've known that the moltens are a warrior based society. Their societal ranking is based on how many wars they've won and their strength.", she looked at Commander expectantly. “Yes, you told me yesterday through the radio when we were fighting them," he replied. “While they live with brawns, it looks like they also have a brain too.", she said with a surprised tone. She guided Commander to one of the capsules where there's a molten, with a black and hard rock corpse. "As you can see, unlike the other corpses which still show some faint lava markings, this one is totally hard rock. After some research, I've found that some of them have compressed water inside them, just the right ratio to freeze this lava. When they die, the compressed water will explode, literally turning them into a rock shield from inside out. It is still unknown how this can be done, I'm still looking for the answer to it..", she looked at the corpse, then back at Commander. “Ohhhh, that's..somehow a pretty smart way to shield themselves from the blazing leads..”, he nods 3 times. "I know right! This could revolutionized everything!", she said excitedly, but her voice is still slightly weak. Commander doesn't exactly know how these findings can revolutionize anything, but V’s findings have created Medic a literal healing ray, so he just dismisses the thought. V then guides Commander into the "corpse” of the molten hound, which is placed on a table, rather than capsule, which makes Commander a bit confused. “Uhm, why’s the dog not in a capsule like anyone else?", he asked with curiosity in his eyes. V laughed a bit. “Well after I looked deeper into these molten hounds, they are literally just robot dogs. Not something that's alive. I will send the broken molten hounds to Engineer later!, who knows she can fix it and help you on the battlefield or around the base!”, her voice more excited than before, but the bags under her eyes can't lie. Commander smiled at her excited nature. “I guess they could provide a good help around here, if they're fixed though.", he smiled at her. V responded with another long yawn, she stretched her body a bit. “You looked like crap. Your hair is messy, there are bags under your eyes, and your face is just a mess. You should go get some rest, V.", he said with a slightly strict tone, still laced with worry. “No…i-im fi-” "That is an order by the way.”, his tone is leaving no room for arguments. "Oh finee..fineee…”, she frowned a bit. She walked away for a bit before going back to Commander, quickly poking his nose. “Boop!", she chuckled softly. “H-hey!", Commander blushes a bit. “Okay that's enough! You're going to rest V!", he said playfully. V continued to laugh, then it was cutted off by another yawn. Looking at it, Commander finally guided V back into her room.
He's being patient by matching her slow pace, as she's really tired. Not to mention, she's holding his arm for support, the whole time, which only makes his face even more red. When they arrived at V’s room, V slowly let go of his arm and held the door handle for a bit. She turned to Commander and looked up to meet his gaze. "Thank you Commander. For always supporting me and fulfilling my wishes, even though they can sound stupid most of the time…and thank you for always putting up with my mad scientist-like personality. Some of the towers find it annoying, but you don't…", she smiled at him. “Oh it's nothing…don't mention it alright? Thank you for your findings too, all of them are helpful and will surely contribute a lot for the organization. Make sure you get enough rest next time, don't forget to take care of yourself.”, he said with a very gentle tone. “Awwwwwhhh…I never knew you could be so sappy and sweet~”, she teased him lightly, which Commander replied with rolling his eyes. "Can you come down to my level for a bit?”, she asked, which Commander complied without hesitation. Without a warning, Commander felt her lips on his cheek. Before Commander could respond to the situation, he already finds V nowhere to be seen. Seemingly had entered her room to get the rest she deserves. So there he was, standing there, a blushing mess who had fallen with the maniac scientist.