The next day, Adam woke up early after quite an eventful night with the addition of Tina within the group.
He prepared and suited up before heading to the military base along with Winter who was also going to participate in this battle. Though, Adam is really worried if Winter will hesitate against her former comrades.
"Are you sure you will really be able to participate in this mission? You don't have to force yourself." Adam advised.
"No, please let me participate!" Winter insisted again as before.
"Haah, fine. But I hope you will be able to perform your job when the time comes." Adam says no more and lets her be.
The reason why Winter insisted on participating was because she felt she was useless on the recent Contract and felt inadequate. That's why she wanted to participate in this mission. She wanted to prove herself to Adam with her own merits.
"Anyway, we arrived." Adam said as he saw the jeep stopped inside the military base.
Agent is standing by the door when the jeep stopped and opened the door for him.
"Let's go, Master. Everyone is waiting for the briefing to start."
Adam grunted and followed behind Agent as she led the two into the base and into a meeting room filled with soldiers that wear tactical gears oddly similar to his own in appearance. Not just that, they also seem to have some kind of exoskeleton suit, fully geared for battle.
"Oh, the president is here to give us the briefing!" Few exclaimed and others whispered to each other.
"Silence. The briefing will start now." Agent hissed with an unfriendly tone but the soldiers didn't seem to mind it much as instead passing on rumors.
"Hey, I heard the Prime Minister was the President's secret lover. Do you think it's true?"
"I heard the Prime Minister is an actual maid or why else would she dress like that?"
Adam has better hearing that even whispers can be heard very clearly. Agent is the same. But she seems to ignore the rumors while trying to suppress the smile appearing on her face.
"Alright , everyone. Pay attention to the briefing." Agent said as she stood on the podium. The room went dark as the projector showed the entire battle plan from start to finish and alternative plans if the current plan failed.
The soldiers were surprised at first that Adam wasn't the one giving the briefing. They were even more surprised when they found out Adam was participating.
It was unheard of for the leader to take the frontline. Normally, they will be the one assuming command over the entire operation from the war room.
"Any questions?" Agent asked after finishing giving the briefing.
"I do!" Someone lifted his arm high.
"Go ahead." Agent gave her permission.
The soldier that lifted his hand just now immediately stood up and asked, "Is it true that Mr President will take part in the battle? I don't think this is a wise decision." The soldier had his doubts and he was rightfully so because Adam had no official military achievement to qualify for his position as the commander. In his eyes and the eyes of others, Adam is just an ordinary politician without experience in military operations. Which isn't false either.
"You dare dou-"
"It's alright Agent." Adam stepped up and calmed down his over dedicated maid before blood started spilling.
Adam stepped up to the podium overlooking the entire room and scanned his eyes through every soldier in the room.
"Hmn. I understand all of you have doubt in my skill and experience to lead a military operation as important as this. Don't worry, I will not take offense to it." Adam added when he saw some of the soldiers were worried that they offended Adam with their action. "If you all cannot trust my ability to lead. Then surely you all will recognise the ability of the infamous Ice Queen of Atlas."
"Eh, me?" Winter points at herself in disbelief when Adam suddenly pulls all attention to her.
Immediately, the crowd recognised her and all agreed that a veteran like Winter can be trusted. However…
"Doesn't she belong to Atlas? Why would she be here?"
"I heard she resigned from the Atlesian military after the Battle of Reach."
"Do you think she is a spy?"
Various murmurs broke out amongst the crowd which made Winter worried this will negatively impact Adam and cast doubt and strife within the group.
"Silence!"
A loud slap was heard and when they all turned to the source of the noise, they saw the metal podium bent and broken by Adam's palm.
"The loyalty of Winter Schnee will not be doubted anymore. She had officially resigned from the Atlesian military and joined us. She will be the commander of the operation." Adam said menacingly and silenced all the rumors immediately.
"Do you all understand?"
"Yes, Mr President!" Everyone answered with a salute.
"Good, now we can proceed." Adam sighed.
He feels like it is a mistake to use this newly formed military. As he said before, only Atlas has a proper and functional standing military force. Vale didn't and these soldiers are mostly militiamen formerly working as garrison troops in the frontier settlement that evacuated to the city of Vale.
They have experience working as one in an organization. However, they lacked the discipline and respect for authority like a proper soldier would. They are very laid back compared to a real soldier. After all, they hadn't been baptized in battle yet. However, this is what he has and he has to make due with it.
Meanwhile Winter is shocking. At how easily Adam can resolve this situation with his charisma alone, he has this overbearing presence like a real leader. An aura that can dazzle others and sway them with words alone. She also feel warm inside her heart that he would defend her this much but also worried how he willingly ceded his position as commander to her.
Perhaps it was planned?
But the fact remains that she feels uncomfortable to take away his position as commander just like that.
"I have an objection!" Winter immediately tries to fix this situation and return the position back to him. But…
"Objection denied. You are not allowed to decline." Adam immediately shut her down.
Then he turned back to the soldiers. "The operation will begin in less than an hour. Prepare yourself and that is all. Everyone is dismissed."
After everyone left, it's only Adam, Agent and Winter left in the meeting room.
"It is alright to change the plan just like that, Master?" Agent didn't look worried about the changes at all.
"It's not a problem. Besides, the reason why you put me as the commander is because I have several skills that can buff the soldiers and better awareness to lead because of the minimap. But babysitting those soldiers isn't good. How will they grow their capabilities if I make everything easier?" Adam reasoned with the Agent who was unable to refute the logic given by Adam.
"Besides, it's better if I work alone to secure the objectives in case they fail. I work better that way." Adam said as the soldiers definitely cannot keep up with his pace and will end up endangering themselves to keep up.
For those reasons, Winter is better suited to be the leader. She understands their limits better and is rich in battle experience to effectively lead the soldiers.
Winter who heard the reasoning given by Adam also couldn't help but agree. What he said is indeed true. She soon abandoned the thought of changing Adam's mind and proudly shouldered the responsibility given to her. She will definitely make him proud and acknowledge her.
Winter cheered herself up and went to make her preparations. After she leaves, Agent suddenly asks Adam about Winter's recent behavior changes.
"So, you believe that she finally has someone that she can trust. Why is she opening herself to me and actively seeking my approval?" Adam felt weird out. "The way you describe it was as if she sees me as her father or something. I'm still a virgin damnit, how can I have a daughter older than myself?"
"No, Master. She has a preference for older men. I am 89% sure she harbors romantic feelings for Master." Agent frowned a little when she said it.
"Isn't that even worse? I'm possessing her little brother's body." He voiced his concern.
"I don't think Master needs to worry about that. With Master's evolution and Nanites, Master wouldn't need to worry about genetic defects for Master's offspring as you are almost a different species than human." Agent answered.
"How would you know?" Adam shot a suspicious look at Agent. She immediately turned her head away to avoid the gaze.
'Something is suspicious indeed.' Adam whispers in his mind before changing the topic.
"How about you?" He asked with a riddle-like question.
"Me?" She tilted her head in confusion.
"You really think I wouldn't notice? You and other T-Dolls except Executioner. She is a little weird but the rest is quite obvious about their feelings for me, especially Alice." Adam asked but met with silence. "Well, I wouldn't force you to answer if you feel uncomfortable about it."
"I'm not!" Agent replied immediately with a slight blush on her pale cheek. "It's just… we are T-Dolls. A relationship with our master will yield nothing unlike humans." She looked defeated for once and bore anger to be born a machine instead of human.
Then she suddenly felt a wide hand placed on her head and pushed it upwards. Her defeated eyes meet with Adam who sighed at her.
'Of course he would feel disappointed…' Agent thought and her eyes lowered further to look away from Adam.
"Hey, look at me." Adam demanded. "Do you really think I care whether you are able to make babies or not? I in fact do not care and rather not." He said which reignited her hope.
"You didn't know the horror of having a baby. As the eldest of a siblings of six, I can confidently say I rather not going through those torture again. Besides, those girls we saved. We can simply adopt them if we haven't already." Adam added after remembering one of the girls sparked this idea that Adam is their new father and he couldn't win against thousands of puppy eyes which left it ambiguous as he neither agreed or disagreed.
He has really become a pushover lately. Thinking about this made him sighed another time.
"Anyway, just don't think too much about it." Adam tried to cheer her up and said, "Besides, I don't think I can survive long without you by my side with how much convenience you had made for me."
The horror of handing an entire government is not something Adam would even dare to imagine. He would really die of stress if not for Agent.
"I see. Then, I will strive for even better, Master. I will make sure Master can't live even for a second without me." Agent jokingly said as her confidence regained.
"Oi, you shouldn't embark on the path of yandere girlfriend." Adam felt all the hair on his body stood up for a moment looking at the innocent yet creepy smile on Agent's face.
"I don't know what you are talking about, Master." Agent feign ignorance. "Anyway, shouldn't you do your final preparations? The operation will start in another 10 minutes." She changed the topic and sent Adam away.
—————
(How is it? I tried my best damnit! Romance is just so damn difficult to write. Fk.
Anyway, I feel the destruction caused by the Virus Outbreak isn't enough. Should I kick it up a notch?)
If you readers feel generous or want to appreciate my work and effort, feel free to tip me here.
https://ko-fi.com/lazy_kat_aoi