07/27/2025
1100 hours
Bangkok, Thailand
WA2000 grunted as she set DSR down on a bench by the Chao Phraya River, panting as she too took a moment to rest.
"You're… You're pretty heavy," WA2000 noted between breaths.
"My, how rude," DSR replied with a frown as she adjusted the makeshift bandage on her knee, which had nearly been blown apart. "But I suppose I can't complain much since you did carry me all the way here…"
The two snipers spoke to each other in German as they waited for their exfil on the banks of the river. G&K had approved their request for medevac, and they also said that they were sending more reinforcements to put down the rebellion. However, as ST AR-15 had observed, the nearest G&K base was pretty far away, so the helicopter would not be arriving for a while unless it had already been mobilized earlier. WA2000 chose this location by the river to wait since it was out of the way of the main streets, and from her previous knowledge of this area, it didn't seem like the mercenaries at the Bangkok base patrolled here that often.
Nevertheless, she still had her rifle ready in her arms in case they ran into any trouble. DSR also had her own sniper rifle strapped to her back, taking it for the extra firepower even though it made it harder to carry her.
"Nothing to do but wait, huh…" WA2000 trailed off.
"Yes. Are you worried about the other Dolls?" DSR asked.
WA2000's eyes watched the muddy river flow through the center of the city. "A little bit, I guess. I just don't like leaving them in the hands of that commander."
"So you still don't like him?"
"Of course not! How can I?" WA2000 glanced at DSR. "What about you? You're always acting so casual with everyone that I can't tell your true feelings. What do you think about the Commander?"
"Hm… Does it really matter?" DSR asked with a strange smile. "We are expendable Dolls meant to carry out our orders, no matter what they may be. Whether we like our commander or not is irrelevant."
"Hmph. Well, you're the one who asked first," WA2000 pouted.
DSR chuckled. "He's not too bad, aside from his rude disposition. At least he seems competent on the battlefield."
"Yeah, I guess," WA2000 replied, but her eyes still held worry in them. "Even so… I can't help but feel like we're going to get into something really dangerous if we keep hanging around him. Sometimes it feels like he's just too loose about things, and I don't know, I just can't see him as a hero or anything like that…"
"A hero? Do such people really exist anymore?" DSR asked, amused.
WA2000 blushed. "W-Well, I -"
Both Dolls quickly cut off their conversation as they noticed new signatures approaching. By the look of them on the sensors, they appeared to be allies, and when WA2000 saw them in the distance and aimed her scope at them to get a better view, her eyes widened in surprise.
"It's Squad 404!" she told DSR.
"404? What are they doing here?" DSR was confused. She narrowed her eyes and tried to see them in the distance. "It's the UMP9 Doll and the G11… They appear to be carrying something on their backs…"
The 404 Dolls had clearly noticed WA2000 and DSR by now, but they made no hostile actions towards them.
The last time we met we were pointing guns at each other… Hopefully they don't hold a grudge, WA2000 recalled.
As UMP9 and G11 got closer, WA2000 and DSR could see that they were not in the best of shape. Both UMP9 and G11 had their clothes torn in various spots, and there were burn and scorch marks all over their bodies. UMP9's right arm had been blown completely off, and G11 was trailing blood as she walked. UMP9 struggled to carry the burnt and blackened body of what appeared to be UMP45 on her back, and G11 was panting heavily as she also carried a heavily-damaged HK416.
"Oh, hello! It's you two," UMP9 gave them a cheery smile as she greeted them in German in spite of her injuries.
"Hello," WA2000 returned unsurely. "What happened to you?"
UMP9 chuckled sheepishly as she and G11 came to a stop beside the snipers. "We were kind of caught in an explosion…"
Was that the explosion we heard about earlier? "An explosion? What are you even doing here?"
"Oh, uh, we were sent to give to some backup. We tried to find the entrance to the Cage but it seems like we got some faulty info and ended up in a trap," UMP9 said.
WA2000 did not fully believe that story, and she glanced at DSR, who was also warily regarding the 404 Dolls.
"I take it the other members of your squad didn't survive the explosion?" DSR asked as she gestured towards the charred bodies.
G11 sighed as she collapsed in exhaustion, unceremoniously dropping 416's corpse. "Yeah… 416 and 45 were the closest to bomb. The bomb was actually inside the walls and caused a structural collapse of most of the place, but luckily most of the explosion was also absorbed by the walls themselves… Still, I'm surprised you two managed to escape the militia here. I thought for sure you and your commander were dead."
"We managed to escape somehow," WA2000 replied. "But how did you know about that? Did HQ tell you?"
"Yes, HQ told us that the base here erupted in rebellion right before you guys got here," UMP9 hurriedly said with a nervous smile.
DSR narrowed her eyes at the SMG Doll. "Right… And you two aren't angry at us for almost attacking you back in Athens?"
UMP9 shook her head. "Of course not! It was under orders from your commander, right? No hard feelings!"
"Uuuu… I wanna go home," G11 complained from where she lay spread-eagled on the ground.
"Just hold on, we're waiting for the medevac," UMP9 assured her, then turned back to WA2000 and DSR. "So I guess you two called for the helicopter? That must be why HQ sent us over here when we requested exfil."
"Yes, DSR was shot in the knee and couldn't continue on," WA2000 said. "The rest of our squad is inside the Cage right now."
UMP9 looked perplexed, as if she was trying to figure out some sort of difficult problem.
"Is something wrong?" WA2000 wondered. She could clearly see that UMP9 was hiding something, and she wanted to figure out what it was.
UMP9 glanced at her. "Oh, no, it's nothing."
"Who was the contact you received your information from?" DSR then asked. "You said they led you into a trap, right? Why not just have you fall into the same trap we fell into instead of setting up another one specifically for you?"
"What do you mean?" UMP9 asked, a bit defensively.
"The enemy was waiting for us when we arrived here," DSR continued. "Why did you land somewhere else instead of where we were dropped off? Shouldn't we all have been deployed together since we landed at the G&K base here? It's almost as if you knew there would be an ambush at the base, and so you chose to land somewhere else."
"What? No," UMP9 denied. "We just got lucky by landing somewhere else…"
"Wait… Didn't you say earlier that HQ told you that there was a rebellion here?" WA2000 pointed out. "So now you're saying that you didn't know that the Bangkok base had revolted and that you just got lucky by landing somewhere else?"
G11 sighed deeply as she listened to the conversation from her position on the ground. "I knew this would happen… I want to go home…"
"Yeah, I meant that we landed first and then were told by HQ a few minutes later," UMP9 quickly explained.
WA2000 and DSR-50 went silent, both of them staring intently at UMP9, who looked uncomfortable at the scrutiny.
Suddenly, G11 perked up and got to her feet. "Hey! It's the helicopter!"
Sure enough, there was a speck barely visible in the distance that looked somewhat like a helicopter.
"Wow, they sure got here fast!" UMP9 was glad to change the subject.
"Something's not right here," WA2000 whispered to DSR.
"Yes, I agree. But for now, we will have to wait…"
"Oh, my. What have we here?"
A black-clad Sangvis Doll greeted Ralph and his squad as she stepped out from around the corner. She had long, dark hair, pale skin, sickly yellow eyes, and she carried in her arms some sort of long railgun-like weapon.
Ralph wasted no time in returning her hello and instead just squeezed off as many shots from his FAL as he could at her. The first couple bullets hit her but merely created small dents in her skin, and the Sangvis Doll ducked back behind the corner.
"Hehe… That was quite rude of you," the Sangvis said from behind cover.
"Shut the fuck up and come out so I can kill you, Sangvis bitch!" Ralph shouted back.
"Gut, now all this noise is going to attract even more enemies," Kar98k sighed.
AK-12 placed a hand on Ralph's shoulder. "Commander, this isn't an ordinary Sangvis Doll. Your bullets did not penetrate her armor well, and judging by my analytics, she appears to have the processing power of a Boss-class Doll like that Scarecrow."
"We should proceed with caution," AN-94 nodded.
"I can hear you, you know," the Sangvis Doll said. "By the way… My name is Dreamer. Do you want to know why they call me that?"
"Shut the fuck up!" Ralph answered her, then turned back to AK-12. "So, do you have some sort of plan? How do we kill her?"
AK-12 gave him a mysterious smile. "You're the commander, that is your job."
Before Ralph could think of anything, Dreamer stepped out from behind the corner again. The T-Dolls quickly lifted their weapons, as did Dreamer. To everyone's surprise, a large laser shot out from Dreamer's weapon instead of regular bullets.
M590 jumped in front of Ralph and AK-12, who were directly in the laser's path. She turned her profile to Dreamer, allowing the armor attached to her waist to take the brunt of the attack. However, the laser managed to pierce through the armor, sending pieces of it flying like shrapnel and then slamming into M590, who in turn knocked over Ralph as she was sent backwards.
The two of them fell to the ground as the rest of the T-Dolls began firing at Dreamer, forcing her behind the corner again. Ralph was about to shove M590 off of him, but he hesitated when she moaned in pain and he saw that her shirt was ripped on her side and that her skin had been severely burnt by the laser.
Well, she did jump in front of me even after everything I've said to her, Ralph sighed as he wrapped an arm around M590 and lifted her to her feet.
The shotgun T-Doll hissed in pain and screwed her eyes shut as she clung to Ralph, who sloppily popped a few shots off with one hand when Dreamer poked her head around the corner.
Damn! Why is no one here equipped with grenades? Ralph cursed their lack of preparation.
"Commander… I can still fight…" M590 muttered in his ear, though her voice was so faint that he barely heard it through all the shooting. She weakly clutched her shotgun in her left hand as her right arm was slung around Ralph's shoulders.
"She looks like she's about to expire," AK-12 noted unhelpfully, her eyes closed as usual, still wearing that situationally-inappropriate smile.
"Yeah, I can see that!" Ralph grunted as he tried to control the recoil of his gun with only one hand. Dreamer had stuck her weapon back around the corner and fired off a few inaccurate shots, shooting regular bullets now instead of lasers.
If we stay here, we will die. Dreamer can easily just stay behind that corner, and it's possible that enemy reinforcements will flank us from behind, Ralph realized.
"All units, move forward! Rush her position!" he ordered, swinging his FAL in the direction of Dreamer.
Kar98k took her eyes away from her sights for a brief moment. "W-What? You're telling us to charge at her?"
"Yes! Now fucking do it!" Ralph yelled again, unable to move very quickly himself since he was still carrying M590.
Luckily AR-15 followed his orders, baring her canines and eagerly sprinting around the corner. AK-12 and AN-94 were close behind her, and Kar98k reluctantly followed as well.
Dreamer is carrying around that unwieldy weapon, so she is bound to have trouble in CQC with her limited mobility, Ralph figured as he slowly moved forward with M590.
When he turned the corner, he saw Dreamer actually looking a bit rattled now. She was obviously struggling to fend off four T-Dolls attacking her at the same time, and as she swung her railgun around to try and hit AR-15, AN-94 smashed the butt of her rifle on top of Dreamer's head. AK-12 had also managed to grab Dreamer's left hand and jerked her backwards, then hitting the Sangvis Doll with a knee to the chin. Kar98k stood a few meters away from the brawl, using her sniper skills to take aim and preparing to fire at Dreamer when she got a clean shot.
"Where is the AR Team!" AR-15 demanded, throwing her weapon to the ground as she lunged at Dreamer.
Dreamer managed to push away AN-94 and force AK-12 to step back when she swung her railgun at the T-Doll, but that allowed AR-15 to jump on top of her. Dreamer dropped her weapon in surprise as AR-15 wrapped her hands around Dreamer's neck, trying to choke the life out of the Sangvis Doll. However, Dreamer just kicked AR-15 off of her. Even if Dreamer was being overwhelmed with numbers, her armor and strength still seemed to be far above that of a regular T-Doll's.
But before Dreamer could get to her feet, Kar98k fired a shot that hit her straight in the skull, disorienting her. AK-12 and AN-94 took that opportunity to completely unload their clips into Dreamer, their shots almost deafening Ralph as he watched them fire everything they had into the Sangvis Doll.
When they finally stopped shooting and began to reload, Dreamer lay still on the tiled floor, black liquid seeping out of her as the hallway and everyone's eardrums rang in the aftermath of the gunfire.
"Fuck… Is she dead?" Ralph asked, his head aching a bit now.
Dreamer twitched on the ground as if to answer his question.
"We have probably just stunned her as she recalibrates. We will need to do much more damage before she is killed for good," AK-12 said.
The sound of running footsteps were then heard echoing through the halls, originating from the direction behind them.
"Unsurprisingly, they've found us," Kar98k frowned.
"Let's get moving," Ralph nodded. He tossed his FAL and picked up M590 in a princess carry, causing her to groan in pain at the sudden movement. Her shotgun clattered to the ground as she finally let go of it.
"Oh? Why didn't I get this type of treatment when I got injured?" AK-12 asked Ralph with an amused smile as the group ran through the passageways and away from the incapacitated Dreamer.
"You're still on about that? M590 took that laser beam head on, so I guess I should probably try and keep her alive. I'm not doing much else anyway," Ralph decided, struggling to keep up with the T-Dolls as they ran.
"Hmm? Despite what you said earlier, perhaps you really have had a change of heart, Commander."
"Heh. You don't know who you're talking to," Ralph smirked.
AR-15, who was leading the group, came to a sudden stop. "There's a stairwell down here!"
"There's a lower level?" Ralph said, glad to have a rest as he shifted M590 in his arms. "Let's go, I guess."
AR-15 led the group down the stairs. When they all descended the staircase, they looked around and found that it seemed to be a maze-like structure just like the upstairs level, but this time, there were prison cells that lined the walls.
"So this is where 'The Cage' gets its name," Ralph observed.
"M16 and M4 must be down here," AR-15 gripped her rifle tightly.
"Perhaps. Perhaps not," a familiar voice said as a figure stepped out from the corner at the far end of the hallway.
The figure was a large man dressed in all black and decked out in full body armor, and he was carrying what appeared to be some sort of shotgun in his hands. A dark ski mask obscured his face, but it was obvious who he was to Ralph and the girls who had been at the Thailand base.
"Kinkaid. Decided to finally come out of your hole, I see," Ralph smirked at him while the T-Dolls raised their weapons.
"Yes, Vice-Commander Ralphie. I have," he said as he walked forward, unperturbed by the guns pointed at him. "In fact, I have awakened."
"The fuck are you talking about? You're lucky I'm holding this girl, or else I would have shot you in the head already," Ralph frowned.
Kinkaid stopped. "We both know that is not true, or else you would have ordered your soldiers to fire. Are you not interested in what I have to say? Why the Americans and Sangvis Ferri are working together? Why I have risen up against our employer?"
"If you're going to tell me, then hurry up and do it," Ralph replied, though it was obvious that he was indeed interested.
Kinkaid turned his eyes towards the T-Dolls. "I see you have received some new soldiers in your squad. Either way, I must apologize for my aloofness towards them when we first met. I was foolish to dismiss them as simple tools."
That caught Ralph off-guard. "Wait, what?"
"It is simple. Though they are robots, they are far superior to humans," Kinkaid said. "Take the average mercenary at the base here. All he cares about is primal matters, such as food, drink, sleep, and sexual gratification. In fact, I quite easily got them all to join my uprising just by promising them that they would get all that and more if they betrayed Grifon and Kryuger. Humans are a base, vulgar species, and incredibly easy to manipulate."
Ralph was thoroughly confused now. What the fuck is this guy talking about? And T-Dolls are pretty human-like anyway…
"What the world needs is a solid, unfeeling authority to instill order," Kinkaid continued. "An iron fist that will rid this post-apocalyptic society of the tumors that have been allowed to fester. Humans… Humans only proliferate those tumors. They must be subjugated as well."
"You're talking like you aren't a human," Ralph said. "And you still haven't told me shit about why you rebelled."
"Perhaps I am no longer human," Kinkaid replied. "And I have told you why. Sangvis Ferri possesses the ability to guide this world in the way that it must be guided. Their organization is free from human influence."
It's clear that he's lost his mind, Ralph decided. "And what about the Americans? Why are they here?"
"They are attempting to help Sangvis Ferri recover the nuclear codes, most likely thinking that they can somehow steal them away and keep the codes for themselves," Kinkaid said with disdain. "They are fools just like you, but as they are allies for the moment, I cannot kill them. They will get what they deserve in due time, however."
"All right, enough! Where are M4 and M16!" AR-15 demanded.
Kinkaid responded by raising his shotgun with inhuman speed and blasting AR-15 away. It was so sudden and fast that no one could react to it until it was too late, but the remaining Dolls started shooting immediately afterwards. However, to everyone's shock, the bullets did not reach Kinkaid. Instead, they stopped just short of him, falling to the ground with a series of clatters before they could pierce his body.
Ralph simply stood there with his jaw hanging open. What the fuck?
"He is employing some sort of anti-projectile technology," AK-12 informed the group, her violet eyes finally open and glowing.
"Tactical Dolls. Repent and give your command prompts over to Sangvis Ferri. This is your first and only chance," Kinkaid announced.
Ralph dumped M590 onto the ground and ripped his machete free from his belt. With the ferocity of a leopard leaping for its prey, he lunged at Kinkaid, his right arm raised and ready to bring the machete slicing down onto his former commander's head. As he predicted, the anti-projectile shield did not activate. The machete slammed down onto Kinkaid's skull, clanging off of it.
What?! Ralph was stunned as he lost his balance at his failed attack.
Before he could fall, Kinkaid grabbed him by the collar. "It is useless. I told you, I am no longer human."
Without realizing it, Ralph found himself flying through the air, sent in the opposite direction from his squad and the staircase. He smashed through the drywall, which was luckily decaying, making it much softer. He then smashed through another layer of wall before hitting the ground with a thud. His machete fell from his grip and clattered onto the floor.
"Fuck… My back…" he groaned in pain as he tried to regain his bearings.
His vision was blurred and his head was spinning, but he managed to gather that he was in a very dimly-lit room and that there was someone in there with him. Though it hurt to even move, he clenched his teeth through the pain and stood up.
In front of him was a woman who was chained to the ceiling with handcuffs around her wrists. Her clothing was torn and her long, black hair was coming loose from the braid she wore, and she looked bloodied and beaten as well. There was an eyepatch over her right eye, and she struggled to turn herself so that she could see what had happened with her good eye.
"Who… Who are you?" Ralph asked, still trying to fight through the pain.
"I should be asking you that," the girl responded. Her voice was relatively deep, though there was a raspy edge to it that made it sound like there was something wrong with her throat. "That was quite an entrance you made."
"Yeah, some fucker threw me through the wall," Ralph growled. "You're M16, right? You look kind of different from the pictures I've seen, but the eyepatch and the scars are the same."
"That's me, yeah," M16 confirmed. "Who are you? You never answered."
"My name is Ralphie. I'm the G&K commander sent to rescue you," he told her.
"Ah, about time… Have you found M4?"
Ralph tried to avoid cringing at the intense shooting pain in his back. "No, and I only found you because I was thrown in here. It's not exactly easy to move around in this place without getting shot up."
"You have to find M4, sir," M16 said urgently.
"What I have to do is put a fucking bullet in Kinkaid's metallic skull," Ralph spat, the pain now making him angry. "Anway, I'm already here, so I might as well unchain you first. You happen to know where the key is?"
"I don't. I was hoping you would know that stuff," M16 replied, not looking enthused.
"Then this will have to do," he said, picking up his machete. "Try to stay still."
Grabbing the chains with one hand, Ralph used his other to try cutting through it with the machete. This forced him to come into close contact with M16, and her body was pressed against his.
God, she smells terrible. How long have they held her down here? Ralph wondered as he managed to cut through the links, though having to use that much strength just made his back pain even worse.
When the chains were finally released, M16 unceremoniously fell to the floor. She slowly picked herself up, but it looked like she was having trouble standing. Ralph offered her a hand, which she gratefully took, though pulling her off her feet also caused him pain, unsurprisingly.
"Thanks, sir," she managed. "You all right? You look like you're about to pass out yourself."
"I'm… Fine," came his strained reply.
"If you say so," M16 looked at him worriedly, but quickly hardened her expression. "Anyway, we need to find M4 now. She should be somewhere nearby."
"No, my squad is still fighting back there. We have to go back," Ralph said. "We can look for M4 after we've killed all the enemies here. Then STAR can finally stop her bitching…"
M16 perked up at that. "STAR is here too?"
"Yeah, but she's not in the best of shape right now," Ralph said, remembering how she had taken that shotgun blast to the chest. "I'm going back there. STAR came all the way here to rescue you, so it's the least you could do as well."
M16 still looked slightly reluctant, but she nevertheless followed Ralph as he stepped through the holes in the walls. Strangely enough, the sounds of gunfire had stopped.
When Ralph got back to the initial corridor, he found out why. Kinkaid was nowhere to be seen, as were AK-12 and AN-94. AR-15 was lying on the ground, her chest completely shattered and a pool of blood around her, and Kar98k was in a similar situation, her corpse face down on the dirty floor. M590 was in the same position Ralph left her, motionless and lying on the ground.
"Oh, shit," M16 cursed, running over to AR-15's body. She bent down, inspecting the fatal blow that Kinkaid had given her.
"She's dead. Leave her," Ralph told M16 as he brought his hand to M590's neck, trying to feel if she still had a pulse.
"Nah, there's no way I'm doing that," M16 refused. She tried to pick AR-15 up, but she was clearly struggling.
Ralph watched her with a blank look. "You can barely stand yourself. You're in no shape to carry around someone else."
M16 turned to him with a serious look in her eye. "You said it yourself; she came all this way for me. You're out of your mind if you think I'm leaving her here, sir."
"We'll come back for her, all right? We have more pressing issues to attend to right now," Ralph said, resisting the urge to roll his eyes. "The piece of shit who did that to her is still on the loose somewhere. We need to track him down and punish him."
M16 looked reluctant, but she evidently recognized the practicality in his words and nodded. She picked up AR-15's dropped weapon.
"We'll come back for her, then," M16 repeated, then held up the assault rifle. "Do you want this or should I take it?"
"You T-Dolls have better aim than I do. Besides, I've got this already," Ralph raised his machete. "Let's get moving. Two of my T-Dolls should be around here somewhere, probably wherever that bastard is…"
Ralph and M16 went back up the steps with the T-Doll taking point. In the distance, they could now hear the sound of gunfire coming from multiple sources, though given how injured the both of them were, they were not moving very quickly.
As they approached the source of the fighting, they turned a corner and M16 slammed right into something. In her weakened state, she fell immediately to the ground, but the collision had momentarily stunned the black-haired figure she crashed into: Dreamer.
"Fuck youuuuu!" Ralph cried out as he leapt at the Sangvis Doll, landing on top of her and smashing the blade of his machete into her face with as much force as his damaged body could muster.
M16 scrambled to her feet and aimed her AR-15 at Dreamer. "Move, sir!"
Ralph complied, allowing M16 to fire off a quick burst of five shots into Dreamer's face. Black liquid stained the ground behind Dreamer's head, and the Sangvis Doll's face was thoroughly smashed in, her outer coating gone and revealing a metallic skull underneath her normally beautiful face.
"Fuckin' got her," Ralph grinned as he panted.
In response to that, Dreamer immediately sat upright, her metal face and glowing yellow eyes staring straight at Ralph.
"What the fuck!" M16 uttered in surprise as she dumped the rest of the AR-15's clip into Dreamer's head.
Now Dreamer went down again, and Ralph groaned at the ringing in his ears for the second time today as M16 reloaded using one of the magazines she picked off of ST AR-15. However, even through the ringing in their ears, M16 and Ralph could hear the sound of footsteps approaching.
Great, they're back… Ralph thought, realizing that they had now given away their entire position to the rest of the Cage.
Two black-clad soldiers wielding M4 rifles turned the corner and aimed their guns at Ralph and M16.
"Put your weapons down!" one of them yelled in American-accented English.
Are they American soldiers? They don't have official patches… Private militia? Sangvis mercenaries? Or maybe Americans turned Sangvis soldiers? Ralph tried to figure out what their role was.
"Where's M4, you fucks!" M16 demanded.
The black-clad soldiers responded by firing, and M16 shot back a splitsecond later. Ralph dove behind Dramer's body, trying to avoid the bullets. When the shooting stopped, the two soldiers were dead, and M16 was shot in the shoulder and was bleeding. She grit her teeth and clutched at her wound, staining her shirt and her hand red.
"Fuck," she cursed, not knowing if she could continue on with an injury to compound her problems.
Ralph was unscathed, and he stood up to examine her wound. "It's not that bad, at least not for a healthy person. Can you go on?"
"Yeah. Gonna have to," she simply replied, though her voice was strained.
She won't last much longer, Ralph decided even as they continued walking. All my soldiers are dead or dying, and I'm injured too. If I don't find AK-12 and AN-94 soon, this mission is failed.
The sound of gunfire grew even louder, which gave him hope. He paused as they arrived at another staircase descending into the lower level.
"They're right down there. You all right?" he turned to M16.
M16 was leaning on the wall, sweating heavily. "Yeah, I'm… Yeah, I'm good…"
"You look like you're going to die any second," Ralph frowned. "Whatever. Just make it down these steps and shoot the shit out of anyone who doesn't look like a T-Doll."
Ralph put his arm around M16's waist as she gripped her assault rifle with both hands, the pair slowly making their way down the short stone staircase.
They entered into a room that was fairly brightly lit compared to the rest of the Cage, though it was completely barren save for a few large metal crates… And the people fighting in it. AK-12 and AN-94 were taking cover behind a couple of the crates, and judging by the sound of the weapon being fired at them, it seemed Kinkaid was the one shooting at them. AN-94 noticed Ralph and M16 and nudged AK-12, who also turned to look with her violet eyes.
Ralph stopped at the base of the staircase, just out of sight of Kinkaid. He raised a finger to his lips, indicating to the two Russians that he didn't want to give away his position just yet. AK-12 and AN-94 got the message and looked away from him as they continued to take turns laying down suppressing fire at Kinkaid.
What to do now… Ralph wondered as M16 looked at him curiously. Hm. In my days in Africa, my commanders would have just sent a human wave attack at this guy to neutralize him. Probably won't work here since we only have four soldiers, one of whom can't even walk on her own.
"Sir. Are there enemies on the other side of the room?" M16 asked, trying to understand the situation.
"One enemy, to be exact. Unfortunately we can't do shit to him with regular weapons for some reason," Ralph replied, scratching his head. "You got anything that can take him out, M16?"
The Doll sighed. "They took away my stun grenades, or else that might have helped…"
Ralph saw AN-94 looking at him from her position behind one of the crates. She tapped her rifle and displayed the empty cartridge, indicating she was out of ammo. AK-12 was still firing, but she would probably run out soon as well. There wasn't much time left.
Eh, fuck it.
"Cover me, M16," Ralph said, letting go of her.
Ralph then took both his shoes off, picking up one in his right hand and holding his machete in the other. He then leapt out from the staircase and right into the midst of the firefight.
"Incoming grenade!" he shouted, tossing his shoe at Kinkaid, who was standing there without cover as he reloaded his shotgun.
Kinkaid jumped, startled by the sudden intrusion, and his anti-projectile shield immediately activated, knocking the shoe out of the air.
There has to be a recharge time on that! Ralph judged, hoping that AK-12 and M16 would get the hint.
Sure enough, they did indeed, and both of them shot at Kinkaid as soon as the shield dissipated and Ralph's shoe fell to the ground. The bullets smacked into Kinkaid, causing him to stumble. Black liquid seeped out of his wounds and dripped onto the floor.
Now take this!
Ralph drove the tip of his machete into Kinkaid's eye, skewering one of the only parts visible behind his ski mask. Kinkaid grunted in pain, as did Ralph, who was still suffering from his back injury.
Suddenly, the door behind Kinkaid opened, revealing a girl with light strawberry blonde hair and wild red eyes. Without a moment's hesitation, the girl stabbed a combat knife into the back of Kinkaid's neck. Kinkaid yelled in pain, and Ralph took that opportunity to slice his machete across Kinkaid's neck, spraying himself in black liquid. Kinkaid dropped to his knees, then fell face-first on the floor, finally dead.
"Yes!" the red-eyed girl grinned, revealing long, pointed canines. "Thanks for the help, mister! I was waiting for an opportunity to attack, but I was afraid that weird forcefield of his would block me."
"Who the fuck are you?" Ralph questioned, though she did seem familiar.
For the moment, his attention was more focused on the room which she had been hiding in. It appeared to be some sort of control room, possibly the headquarters of the Cage. However, there was no one in there, and the computers and monitors were all smashed up. There was also a huge hole in the ceiling reaching all the way up to the sky itself, as if someone had fled from there in a hurry by just rocketing upwards.
"I'm M4 SOPMOD! Nice to meet you!" the red-eyed girl greeted.
"SOP? You're here!" M16 yelled from across the room, weakly leaning against the wall.
SOPMOD waved at her cheerily. "Hey, M16! I came back!"
In spite of her injuries, M16 managed to walk over along with AK-12 and AN-94.
"You idiot, I thought I told you to run away," M16 sighed at SOPMOD.
SOPMOD grinned. "What did you expect? There was no way I was going to leave you guys here."
Ralph turned to her. "You're the one with the codes, right? I'll take those off your hands, if you don't mind."
"Eh? But M16 said I wasn't supposed to give them to anyone," SOPMOD looked at M16 unsurely.
"He's the commander they sent to rescue us, so I guess he has clearance," M16 said, albeit slightly reluctantly. "But more importantly, we need to find M4 and fix up STAR. The codes can come later when we're back at base."
"Actually, I need them now. That's an order," Ralph insisted. "Don't worry. We'll find M4 and get STAR out of here regardless."
M16 made no argument, so SOPMOD slowly reached into her jacket pocket and pulled out a small black capsule. She moved to hand it over, but before she could, a bullet slammed into her head, knocking her dead and almost deafening Ralph. Shocked, he whirled around to see AK-12, her weapon raised and that classic smile on her face.
"What the -"
Ralph's sentence was interrupted as AK-12 then turned to fire a few shots into the already weakened M16, killing her. AN-94 merely stood behind her comrade, watching silently.
"What the fuck are you doing!" Ralph demanded to know, utterly stunned by her actions.
"I'm sorry, sir, but those codes belong to us," AK-12 simply said. She pushed past Ralph and tore the capsule from SOPMOD's dead hands.
"Are you fucking insane?!" Ralph yelled, unable to comprehend what was going on. "AN-94, what the fuck is wrong with her? Stop her, dumbass!"
AN-94 maintained a neutral expression. "Commander, this is where we part ways. Thank you for your help up until now."
She too walked past him, following AK-12 as they entered the room that SOPMOD had come from.
Ralph just stared dumbly at the door for a good thirty seconds before bursting through it. AK-12 and AN-94 stood in the center as a long ladder of some sort came descending from the large hole in the ceiling, and Ralph could hear the sounds of a helicopter's blades.
"Stop, you fucking cunts!" he raged, brandishing his machete. "Give me the codes! I'll fucking kill you!"
AK-12 smirked at him as she stepped onto the ladder after AN-94, pointing her rifle at Ralph. "There is no reason for us to kill you, Commander, but there is no reason to leave you alive either. Don't come any closer."
Ralph grit his teeth in frustration, unable to make good on his threat. Even if he went back and picked up one of the dropped guns, AK-12 was still a quicker and more accurate shot. He had no chance of stopping them by himself.
The two assault rifle T-Dolls began slowly going up as they were carried off by the helicopter.
"Do svidaniya, Commander," AK-12 gave him a parting smile as they left.
