Miller’s unit was being relieved, though to all of their surprise, the new unit didn’t have a HOUND of their own. They were probably going to be ok, as they made up for that shortfall with an array of anti-armor weapons. As they handed off responsibilities, the men from the other unit looked upon Delta’s mechanical form with envy. 

Miller only needed to push out and ambush a convoy that was going to come their way. Apparently the rebel forces, that Delta at this point still didn’t know the name of, had finally gathered enough mechs and armored vehicles to launch a surprise attack on their FOB. Thankfully it seemed that there was a leak within the enemy, since they had already made it to the forest ravine before the rebels had left their own base.

Delta sat patiently, in its now fully repaired form, as it awaited the orders to begin the attack. The enemy were moving slowly, apparently not willing to spring their hidden trap. Delta began to fidget as it wanted to fulfill its purpose. Miller had finally made his way back to it as the two now peered down the road.

Sensing its unease Miller rubbed the mechanical hound’s back. “They’ll be here soon.” Miller cooed.

The two could make out through the mess of trees the beginning of the long column. The front of the column had several armored vehicles, oddly enough several soldiers were already dismounted as they walked along the sides of the road.

“Alright Delta, I’ll need you to take out the rear vehicles. The guys further down will take out the lead. Then you’ll mop up the rest, remember don’t get hit ok?” Miller smiled as he finished patting its back.

Delta nodded its mechanical head. It then began to dread hearing the familiar voice that would pull at its mental leash. Its orders would probably counter whatever the men around it actually needed, and then threaten it with more punishments. It began to wonder if its Handlers even knew that their system didn’t work anymore than triggering its past memories.

As if on cue the voice finally called out to it. “Delta this is Handler…” A foreign voice on its leash kindly tugged, but not unfamiliar. Delta shot its head over to look at Miller, a wide smirk blessed his face. Pressing down on his throat mic, he continued. “Fuck em up, you’ll be rewarded~” He hummed happily.

 

Fuck em up (0/1)

 

Delta’s bound fingers spasmed, its heart singing with joy inside its metal form. A rogue message left a jumbled collection of characters to its new Handler, that Miller could only replicate with headbutting a keyboard. Delta eagerly sprinted off towards the enemy column, a new purpose to please its ideal handler. If it was good enough then maybe this change would be permanent. 

Miller could’ve sworn he heard its mechanical jaw loudly yipping as it burst towards the soon doomed enemy. Its transition into its subsystem flowed like water as its instinctual need to carry out its handler’s wishes flowed through its limbs. 

Coming into view on the rear of the column, two mechs were the first to react. The infantry around it looked around ignorantly as their bird watching lasted a few seconds longer. Its two loaded shots snapped their peaceful stroll through the forest, as two of the mechs splintered into a thousand pieces.

Delta could feel its warm praises, as its remaining conscious mind tried to figure out just what rewards it would receive from the strong man or maybe even men.

Lunging into the middle of the infantry, who were now very stunned and looking for cover, Delta picked one of the anti-armor infantry by its neck. Bounding away without pausing, it trilled as it threw the ragdoll at a tree with a sickly splat. The rebel was already dead before it hit the tree, the soldiers once near him felt the attack more than he had. Delta could taste the iron on its mechanical lips as it hungered for more.

All hell broke loose as the marines opened up with their own weapons. Automatic fire, rockets, grenades, anything they could throw at the rebels as they quickly scattered for what limited cover existed. Delta hovered on the outskirts, outside of any clear shot, only to charge forward picking off another unsuspecting soldier, or fire its newly charged rail gun at a retreating vehicle. It wasn’t stupid, it was going to allow the marines to have their fun, and only risk enough to please its Master.

Before it could engage any more of the vehicles, the gentle tug on its mind sang its praises. “Delta~ this is Handler, be a good girl and fall back, we’ve done enough here.”

While it wanted more, its conscious mind was fully pulled back into reality, allowing it to understand why they were done. It followed its orders as the enemy attack began to turn back, its Handler probably wasn’t willing to risk any of his men or HOUND to pick off a few more. Besides, the wounded would just clog up their enemy's supply chain.

Reaching its Handler, Delta bowed its mechanical head low as it pushed into his hand for ear scratches. His hand shuddered as he slowly began to pet the docile monster wrapped around his fingers. “Settle down there Delta.” His laugh was shaky as his eyes hadn’t left its crimson stained mouth. “Your reward will be a bit of RnR when we get to the airbase.”

I look forward to it. Delta simply messaged, its body longed for the man. It was probably an unhealthy mix of wanting to serve its Master so he wouldn’t want to leave, and actually longing to be closer with him.

“We’ll just need to keep you inside that body for a while longer, ok?”

Delta nodded softly, as its head was still low begging for more affection. As it received its continued reward, it began to realize that for the first time it might actually prefer its soft body. While it could still feel joy and pleasure inside this one, it began to actually look forward to being outside.

 

The platoon hiked a few kilometers away from the successful ambush. Thankfully they didn’t have to wait long for the dropship to finally pick them up. The trip itself was uneventful for the most part, instead of just listening to the conversations of the marines from afar, Miller sat atop its strapped down form and gently pet it. While part of it still longed for the drip of chemical bliss, this seemed more rewarding. It didn’t feel like a mindless drone in an unforgiving organization, begging for just a drip of pleasure, it was just part of a family.

When the dropship finally landed the tightly knit group disembarked onto the gray tarmac. Delta could make out the uniformed Artemis techs that were scattered about the dozen or so hangers that ran alongside the runway. It could see several of its siblings being worked on, though none of them were in their soft form. 

The more it thought, the more it realized it hadn’t actually been outside of its pod, except for in the bleak hallways of the Artemis bases. You would’ve never seen a HOUND pilot out in the open, most only saw them on their way to its personal inspection, if they ever saw one.

There was one hanger that was out of the norm, white sheet barriers created a private hanger that none of the techs seemed to approach.

“There it is Delta, our own home away from home.” Miller finally let some of the weight off his shoulders as he breathed out a deep sigh. “You won’t have to see many of those techs.” Miller offered as he held back a yawn.

Thank you. Delta quickly replied, earning a warm if not tired smile from the marine.

“Well…don’t thank me just yet…we don’t have anyone in the platoon with enough medical experience that you require. You’ll have a physical evaluation tomorrow, but I’ll be there for you, ok?.” Miller offered what little consolidation he could.

Delta nodded softly as they finally made their way into their newest makeshift home.

“Alright men, relax, take a load off, get some showers, maybe something edible. We’ll be off for the next few days.” Miller announced as a mediocre cheer resonated with the rest of his men. Relief painted their faces, but without the energy to cheer any louder.

Do you know what they’ll do? Delta brought their conversation back up. The only memories it could sift through, left its stomach in agony.

“Take blood samples? Check how that cute body is working out for you.” That last comment eased the turmoil in its stomach a bit, and afterall he would be with it. “Listen, I'm sure it’ll be ok.” He reassured it before he became more apologetic. “I’m needed elsewhere, so just relax and I’ll be back to properly reward you ok?” Miller ended the conversation short as he began to jog off towards the admin side of the hanger.

The large hangar was empty, off to one side appeared to be a set of makeshift cots for its marines. The side closer to it held a creche for Delta to dock into. Scattered around the dock were the familiar tools it had always seen the techs use on its mechanical form. The closest wall of the hanger was the admin side of the building, though it appeared there were several doors that also led outside. The other half of the hangar was empty, it supposed it was for another HOUND team if needed, but the marines would just probably take advantage of the extra space for sports. It could learn how to get used to this new, easy part of its life.

Delta locked into the creche as it began its shutdown procedure. A few of the marines had stayed behind to help it out, Harris was the only name it actually knew. As its cockpit lowered, the marines pulled out the restrained and soaked pilot. They began to release the dozen or so straps that held it tight, one of them mentioned that they should just make a quick release for the whole system. The others began to argue about this new proposition as Delta just wanted to stretch out its limbs. 

Disconnecting its umbilical cord from its neck it began to feel the strain the mech had put on its mind. There was something about controlling more than one form, even if the second was only a bunch of internal organs. To its disappointment it felt as though this was starting to get harder on its body. It was old for a HOUND, all of its generation were, the only other being Zero-one-two C that Delta itself hadn’t actually met yet. It knew about the other HOUND, and how it seemed to be a demigod among mechs, and inspiration for all to look up to. It had sprinted through its calibration phase, outlived and then out-killed all of its generation. Rumors between the HOUNDs, before it was separated, was that it was going to be on planet. One of these days It would have to find and share a link with it.

Delta realized it had blanked out in thought, as it went to pull off its helmet. For some reason its visor wasn’t depolarizing, it’d have to talk to Miller about that. 

When its helmet was clear of its head, the world was bewildering, as it was still pitch black. Panic began to grasp at its heart as it could feel the wind upon its face, but no matter how much it blinked it never turned to its expected blurry vision. Its coolant always partially blinded it after getting out, but this wasn’t blurry, this was just nothing. It couldn’t even see any light that passed through the soft skin of its eyelids.

Please turn on the light, not funny. Delta messaged to the group.

“Uhh Delta, the sun’s still up?” One of the marines nearby said as he bent down in front of the pilot.

Delta could sense that someone was there, but nothing appeared. It could blink its eyes but no matter how many times it tried, nothing appeared. Its world dropped out from under it as that all too familiar ghostly wind struck. The pilot began to shake as it sat up, looking around wildly, its arms reaching out to something, anything nearby.

“Oh fuck-” The marine jumped into action as he wrapped it up in his arms. “Hey it’s going to be alright, we’ll figure out what’s going on. Hey! Someone get LT!” The marine shouted as the pilot in his arms began to spiral out of control, the room around it dissipated as the ringing in its ears drowned out the sudden bustle of the hangar.

 

By the time LT was found and retrieved, Delta was unresponsive. It was detached from the world around it. It could feel being handed off, though it couldn’t bring itself to care. The new marine, or at least it assumed was a marine, placed its forehead on its own. Their hand pet its head as they were slowly dragged back into its body.

“Hey-hey now, its going to be ok.” Miller repeated as Delta could start to feel his heartbeat. It was erratic, not like it normally was.

I can’t see. Delta shakily moved its fingers.

“Don’t worry about that, well figure out what’s going on.” Miller pulled his head off of his HOUND as he looked away from it. “Find me the manual, and see if it can still see through its sensors.” Miller tried to keep his tone level.

What’s going to happen to me?

Miller returned his attention back to his patient. “Nothing, you’ll be alright, we’re going to figure things out ok?”

“Found it LT!” Harris burst into the hanger, from what Delta remembered was the Admin side.

“Find something on Pilots, or processing units? Fuck what did they call Delta?”

“Internal processing unit!” Harris answered as he found the section. “Uhh uhhh, washing procedure, upkeep, uhh Oh here it is, troubleshooting.” Harris began to murmur to himself as he searched. “Faulty secondary sensors? Fuck why does this all have to be so impersonal…Hound onset optical reje-” The staff sergeant stopped himself longer than Delta wished, it could still hear him muttering softly as he read.

“Say something Harris.” Miller snapped softly.

“Huhmbhh- oh fuck, I can’t fucking do this.” Harris sickly muttered as he stumbled, several items dropped onto the floor as he crashed towards an exit.

“Someone close the god-” Miller was interrupted by the sickly marine, who decided he didn’t care for this morning's MRE.

The door in question was quickly slammed as Delta began to sob, its stress finally overwhelming it. Miller continued to read the documents as he tightly held onto the quivering pilot. It only got worse when it could feel Miller tense up. He then looked towards someone Delta couldn’t see.

“Carter, Garcia, keep Delta company alright? I have to go discuss some things with Harris.”

Two accents sounded as Miller once again passed the detached pilot off to another. It hated this, it felt like a sickly inverted version of how the techs treated it. No one ever had any answers, no one bothered to tell it, and while they weren’t rough, it still hurt. The tears began to slow as it once again grew numb to the world, the two marines did their best to comfort Delta, but nothing at this point would.

While detached its ears couldn’t help themselves but follow Miller out. It was muffled as they tried to keep their conversation as private as possible, but nothing could hide what was going on.

“Fuck Harris! You can’t lose your bearing in front of Delta like that.” Miller began to raise his volume.

“Miller…did you read the fucking document?” Harris shot back.

“Yeah…” Miller couldn’t help his verbal footing fall through.

“Then don’t fucking talk to me about loosing my bearing…fucking seventy percent after two thousand flight hours? How long does it have right now? Fuck!” Harris belted that last comment into the sky.

“Hey-fucking keep it down.” Miller curtly reminded him.

“Why, whats the point, go ahead, what was the recommendation once it becomes permanent?”

Delta’s heart lurched, not willing to actually hear what the rest of its life was to be like. Thankfully, or not, the next words from Miller were unrecognizable. Miller was at least kind enough to mutter its outcome as Delta merely laid its head limply against one of the marines. At this point it wasn’t sure if it was Carter or Garcia, in the end it didn’t matter, at least they were the closest thing to family it knew.

“Yeah. We thought it was bad enough when we found it inside…oh fuck me, I can’t do this right now, Delta’s a fucking person, I can’t keep treating it like THEY do.”

“We do it because we both know it makes its life tolerable, its a simple thing to ask.” Miller answered softly.

The two paused before Harris matched his friend's tone. “So what are you gonna do when it's permanent?” Before he once again got fired up. “No, actually what the fuck are you going to do when it isn’t? Put it back in? And have it keep going until it is?”

“I don’t know.”

“Well we better think quick, because they’ll just scrap it, because all they care about is numbers, and data and-and…man, what kind of sick fuck thought this was ok?” Miller remained silent as Harris took that as he would voice both of their frustrations. “Fuck it, when those suits come down here again, I’m lighting them up, I don’t care if they drop a truck from orbit. They’re not getting out without a bloody mouth.”

“We both know those suits aren't making the decisions. The ones up top will just replace them, us and Delta. The only reason why we’re even here is because they decided to make us the, Oh dammit, I don’t remember what it's called, not a control group?”

Delta was suddenly brought back to its own body as the two marines began to prop it up on its feet. “Hey Delta wanna go into the other room?” One of the two asked as they had apparently realized that Delta could hear mom and dad arguing. Delta nodded softly as its numb body was escorted into another room, the tug on its physical leash was the one ray of comfort it could feel while its vision was still blank.