10/04/2024

2100 hours

Siberia, Russia

"Pretty empty out here, huh," WA2000 observed as she glanced around the Russian tundra after disembarking from the helicopter.

"Of course it is. Just be glad that the weather is good right now," UMP45 said.

The rest of the T-Dolls, Ralph, and Kalina got off the helicopter as well, their boots crunching into the untouched, pure-white snow. The snow stretched out as far as the eye could see, though dense forests filled with snow-capped evergreens also made up a good portion of the landscape. In the distance, small mountains and hills poked up into the clear, starry night sky.

"This place is very pretty, actually. It's a shame we have to come here under such circumstances," Kar98k observed after the helicopter took off.

"B-But it's so cold," G11 complained, shivering slightly.

HK416 glared at her. "Then you should have worn thicker gear instead of those tiny shorts. Zip up your damn jacket."

"It's not too bad, eh? Not as long as you have some good vodka or kvas to warm you up," A-91 grinned, shaking her flask. "Want a sip, Commander? You humans must feel the weather much more than we do."

"I'm good, thanks," Ralph said, spitting a red stream of his chewing tobacco onto the snow. "I may have grown up in a pretty warm area, but I've been living in Russia for years now. I'm used to the winters here."

"The Siberian tundra is something else, though, isn't it?" UMP45 noted, stepping up beside Ralph. "It really is empty around here. If you get lost or separated from the group, you'll never survive."

Ralph eyed her warily. "Is that a threat?"

UMP45 smirked at him. "Did it sound like one? I was just bringing that up to show why we haven't found any of the Dolls or commanders who went on the previous mission to bring back the codes."

"Yeah, whatever. Weirdo," Ralph frowned at her before pulling out the satellite radio he had stashed in his coat pocket. "AR Team should be calling soon…"

"Ja, any minute now," UMP45 said, glancing down at her own satellite radio.

As second in command for this mission, she had been given a spare in case something happened to Ralph. Originally developed by the Spetsnaz during World War III, the radio device was outfitted with an antenna and a small screen displaying their position via GPS. It was a bit bulky, but given its ability to function in remote environments and send encrypted communications back and forth between users, it was perfect for a mission like this.

The radio crackled to life. "Hello? This is M16 of the AR Team. G&K echelon, do you read me?"

"We read you. This is Commander Ralphie along with Squad 404. We've just landed at the designated landing point," Ralph responded.

RO635 stood behind the commander, trying (and failing) to hide her curiosity about hearing the voices of the AR Team for the first time.

"Ah, so they sent you, sir? Interesting! And Squad 404 too? Say hello to 416 for me!"

HK416 merely scowled at that.

"Anyway, I've sent our coordinates over. Did you get them?" M16 continued.

"Confirmed. I just downloaded them," UMP45 told Ralph as she showed him the screen on her own radio.

"Yeah, we got them," Ralph relayed to M16. "So what is your status? You're not in any direct danger, I hope? It's going to take us a while to get to you."

"We're camped right outside the Sangvis Ferri base, but they haven't spotted us yet. I'm more worried about you guys, to be honest. You're going to be heading straight through areas that are firmly in Sangvis control, so you're probably going to run into some patrols. We also saw a raiding party led by the ringleader Gager leave the base earlier, so definitely avoid them if you see them."

"And here I was expecting an easy stroll through the tundra," Ralph joked. "By the way, our secondary objective is to find any of the missing Dolls and commanders that came through here earlier. You didn't happen to find any of them, did you?"

"Unfortunately our mission was to find the codes as soon as possible and then we got sidetracked by this Sangvis base, so we haven't been able to search for them. However, we did see a few strange blips on our radar while we were passing through, so it's possible that some of them are still alive. Sorry we don't have any more concrete info…"

"Eh, I guess that's just how it is. Like I said, finding the other echelons is a secondary objective, so we're just going to try and get to you as soon as possible."

"Roger that, sir. Well, in that case, I'll let you get to work. I've marked the path we took on the coordinates I sent you, so you can just go the same way if you want," M16 told him.

"All right, we probably will. See you soon."

Ralph terminated the transmission and turned to his echelon and Squad 404. "Okay, you heard the plan. We'll follow the same route AR Team took until we reach them. I'm guessing they weaved through the forests instead of traversing the open tundra… Anyway, we're going to be moving constantly for the rest of tonight all the way until midday tomorrow, so hopefully you are well-rested. We will change who carries the packs containing the camping equipment every hour, but other than that, keep the talking and extraneous movements to a minimum."

"We'll be using the same area that the AR Team used to rest to set up camp," Kalina said. "From earlier patrols on both air and land, we know that Sangvis Ferri usually doesn't pass through there, which is why we've selected it. Unfortunately, like the Commander said, it's going to take us several hours to get there."

"Uuuu… Half a day with no sleep and I have to carry this heavy backpack?" G11 whined, having had the misfortune of being one of the Dolls saddled with camping equipment initially. "This is cruel and unusual punishment…"

"Come on, it's like a fun camping trip!" UMP9 tried to cheer G11 up.

"Yes, I love camping trips where we could be killed at any time," HK416 rolled her eyes.

UMP45 smiled. "You're all quite lively tonight. Good! We will need that energy."

"Ugh, I can already tell this is going to be annoying…" WA2000 complained under her breath.

"And you, my friend," UMP45 turned to WA2000, having somehow heard her, "I've got something interesting to share with you. It can wait until our break tomorrow, though."

"Uh… Okay," WA2000 managed, confused. Now that she thought about it, UMP45 had said something cryptic like that when they came back from the Pushkino mission too.

G36 walked up next to Ralph. "Sir, if you feel tired, please let me know and I will be glad to carry you again."

"Don't say that out loud! And how can you say that with such a serious expression!" Ralph cringed, hoping that UMP45 hadn't heard that.

"You make your Dolls carry you around, huh, sir?" UMP45 asked with a teasing smile, indicating that she had, in fact, heard him.

"I am simply taking precautions so that there is no unnecessary strain on Master," G36 said evenly.

"Oho, so you make them call you 'Master' too?"

G36 has to be doing this on purpose, Ralph frowned. "Care to take point, 45? Based on how god-like you make Squad 404 out to be, I'm sure having you on the frontlines will make this mission easy."

"Sure, I don't mind," UMP45 nonchalantly replied. "9, bring up the rear."

And so the procession went, with UMP45 and 416 leading from the front while G11 and UMP9 held towards the rear. Ralph's echelon was sandwiched in the middle, though the group didn't move in a single-file line and instead operated as a cluster.

They entered the first patch of forest, the densely-packed evergreens blocking out the moonlight from above. So far there had been no sign of anyone else, either friend or foe.

This is mind-numbingly boring, Ralph thought as they approached the half-hour mark. He had been on long marches before, but those were back in his militia days where the people he was marching with were lively and unpredictable, providing for some entertainment along the way. This time everyone was dead quiet, which admittedly was a rule he himself imposed, but since there were no enemies around, they probably didn't need to maintain complete silence.

As he walked, Ralph noticed that 416 kept glancing at him out of the corner of her eye. Out of boredom, he decided he might as well ask what she was doing.

"Can I help you, 416?" he asked the next time he caught her looking at him.

The silver-haired Doll gave him a sour, perplexed look. "How is it that you're able to move like that? You're walking right behind me and yet I can't hear the sound of your footsteps on the snow."

Ralph shrugged. "I used to do a lot of infiltration missions, so I trained myself for stealth. I guess I'm just too used to walking this way now and do it unconsciously. Shouldn't you be able to do it too? I thought 404 was a stealth squad."

"We are, but we focus more on electronic warfare and things like that to remove our footprint," UMP45 supplied.

"So like AK-12?" Ralph asked, glancing down at his weapon bitterly.

"Something like that, though not exactly," UMP45 just said. "It's definitely going to be interesting to have to go up against her soon. You're prepared for that, sir? After all, she used to be in your squad."

"Of course I am. I can't wait to teach that backstabbing bitch a lesson," Ralph growled, clenching his rifle.

UMP45 gave him an amused look. "Right… Just make sure you're not the one who gets schooled instead. You're lucky they didn't kill you last time."

"This time will be different since there won't be any sudden betrayals. Surely we're both in agreement about that, UMP45?" Ralph asked her in an accusatory tone.

"Haha! Indeed, sir," UMP45 laughed.

RO635 walked up beside the commander, nervously glancing at UMP45 to make sure she was out of earshot. "Um, excuse me if this is out of line, sir, but has something happened between you and Squad 404 in the past? The atmosphere here seems very tense…"

"To put it simply, Squad 404 are a bunch of traitorous cunts who you should never trust no matter what," Ralph replied bluntly. "That's pretty much all you need to know about them. Don't think they're your allies just because we're on this mission together."

RO blinked in surprise. "O-Oh, I see. I did not realize… From what I have heard, Squad 404 are a group of Dolls specializing in covert, highly-dangerous operations. I was told they had helped Grifon & Kryuger numerous times in the past, but…"

"Yeah, that's all bullshit. Don't trust them," Ralph repeated.

WA2000 sighed, overhearing their conversation. "Not that I disagree with any of that, but RO, you're better off not trusting the Commander either. It's not like he's much better than Squad 404, if at all."

"Woah. What have I ever done to you?" Ralph asked with a cheeky grin.

WA2000 glared at him. "You've done plenty of bad shit since I've been in your echelon! Maybe not to me personally, but I don't think for a second you wouldn't do it to me if you thought I was in your way."

"Aw, don't be like that," Ralph denied, but he couldn't wipe the shit-eating grin off his face.

"Ah, but if the Commander's Dolls can speak to him in such a bold and honest manner without fear of repercussion, he must be a fine commander after all," RO635 smiled.

"Hah! You get it, RO!" Ralph nodded.

WA2000 sighed again. "Forget it…"

"But still… I must admit, I am slightly nervous," RO635 said. "I have been assigned as the newest member of the AR Team, and though I have only heard good things about them, what if the truth is more complicated, similar to Squad 404's situation?"

"Luckily for you, the AR Team isn't like that, as far as I can tell," Ralph told her. "I don't know M4A1 or SOPMOD too well, but AR-15 and M16 are all right. For all their eccentricities, they're reliable and you can count on them in battle. I think you will be fine, RO."

RO635's expression lifted at that. "Thank you for that reassurance, sir. I just hope I can contribute to their squad."

The group continued on for about another half hour before UMP45 stopped, causing the entire pack to halt.

"There's a Sangvis patrol appearing on the edge of our radar," UMP45 said.

Ralph looked down at his own satellite radio, mentally cursing himself for letting the monotony dull his concentration. "It's showing about fifteen enemy units as opposed to our thirteen. We can probably take them out with no losses if we ambush them, which is a possibility considering our radar has a much longer range than theirs does."

"Um, I'll try to help, but…" Kalina looked nervous.

Ralph grinned at her. "Just stay behind me and you'll be fine. Probably."

"Right…" Kalina didn't look so convinced.

UMP45 gestured forward. "Past these trees here is a clearing with a large, frozen lake in the center. It's surrounded on all sides by forest. If we can somehow get the Sangvis patrol to pass through the clearing, then we can get them out in the open and easily eliminate them."

"And how would we do that? There is no way they would enter the clearing of their own volition," Kar98k said.

"Then clearly we need to force them out there," HK416 simply replied. "Maybe we can fire a shot in their direction? That might get them to cross through the clearing to get to the other side."

"Why would they do that? That would just further incentivize them not to leave the protection of the forest," Ralph stated. "We need to do something that will specifically make them want to go into the clearing and stay there."

"Then maybe we should use a decoy? One of us will stand down there or pretend like we're dead so that the enemy comes down to inspect us," DSR-50 offered.

Ralph shook his head. "That's too dangerous. It's more likely that if they saw a T-Doll, even one that looked dead, they would shoot it first to make sure that it really is dead. We'll use this instead."

The commander pulled out the satellite radio. "It's a valuable piece of G&K equipment, so they'd probably want to take it for themselves. I'll put it on the setting where it emits a signal so that the enemy is drawn towards it."

"That would probably work. Throw it down into the clearing before they get here," UMP45 agreed.

Cocking his arm back, Ralph threw the radio like a football, watching as it sailed through the air and past the trees and lodged itself into the untouched snow of the clearing.

"That thing was pretty sturdy. Hopefully that throw didn't break it," he mused.

"Let's get into position now. The enemy patrol should be passing by just about now," UMP45 said.

The T-Dolls and the two humans lay in wait for the Sangvis forces to emerge into the clearing, their guns trained on the satellite radio. UMP45 watched her own satellite radio as well, keeping a close eye on the position of the enemy troops.

A few minutes later, a squad of four Sangvis Ferri units left the forest and headed out into the open snow to investigate the radio. There were two vespids and two rippers, and as they made it to the radio, the other eleven enemies in the area were nowhere to be seen.

Looks like they didn't send their entire squad out to the clearing. Makes sense, but that fucks up my plan, Ralph sighed internally. Well, whatever. As long as we can reduce their numbers, it's a win for us.

UMP45 shot him a look as if to ask him if they should proceed with the plan, and he gave her a thumbs up. Ralph raised the sights of his AK-12 at the ripper in the lead and fired, the bullet hitting true and splattering the enemy Doll's blood onto the snow. Numerous other shots then cracked through the air, and within the span of a few seconds, all four Sangvis units had been killed.

"Prepare for contact. The other eleven should be coming this way," Ralph warned his echelon.

Now that they had given away their position with their gunfire, they had no choice but to eliminate the remainder of the enemy forces head-on. However, they were no longer at a numbers disadvantage.

"45! Get over here," Ralph motioned to the SMG Doll as he stood beside DSR-50. "We need your radio's radar. Let's see which direction they're coming from so that our snipers can hit them before they actually get to us."

"Jawohl. Seems they're running at us from the northwest," UMP45 supplied, letting Ralph and the three sniper Dolls see the radar.

"All right. You three, lie in wait for them here and try and see if you can get any of them before they get close enough to return fire," Ralph ordered. "The rest of you, pick a tree trunk and stand behind it until the enemy arrives. 45, let me know if they change direction."

Ralph himself also stepped behind a tree trunk as he reloaded his weapon. He then went into a prone position and waited, watching through the iron sights of his gun in the direction where the enemy was supposed to come from. Though they had lost the element of surprise, they still had the advantage of taking up a defensive position since now the enemy was moving to eliminate them.

DSR-50 took the first shot, her massive rifle booming as its bullet tore through the crisp Siberian air. WA2000 and Kar98k followed up with their own shots, but then the enemy began returning fire. A Sangvis bullet lodged itself into the tree trunk right next to WA2000's head, causing her to jump and slide behind cover as wood chips flew into the air. Kar98k and DSR-50 got behind cover as well.

"I think we only managed to get one of them, sir!" Kar98k warned as the enemy's return fire increased in intensity.

"Fine!" Ralph yelled back. "All right, everyone, fire at will!"

The rest of the T-Dolls started shooting back in the direction of the enemy, though most of the shots coming in and going out hit the trees in the dense forest rather than a body. After about thirty seconds, everyone stopped shooting, including the enemies.

Ralph peeked his head out from behind the tree trunk. I can't see the enemy from here, so they're probably taking cover just like we are. I guess they realized that a reckless frontal assault against us would be suicidal.

He glanced over his troops, at least the ones he could see from his position, and found that no one had been injured. No casualties on our side yet, and there should only be ten of the enemy left at most… Let me go over to UMP45 and see if she has their positions.

The only problem was that UMP45 was several meters away, which meant that he had to leave cover and sprint over. Nevertheless, that was what he did, and he leapt out from behind his tree trunk and tried to run over to UMP45. To his chagrin, he saw a vespid peek her head out at the same time.

Cursing, Ralph had to change his plan as the vespid began firing at him. He dove behind the nearest tree trunk he could find, which happened to be the one DSR-50 was crouching behind. He tumbled in the snow and accidentally landed on top of DSR, burying his face into the T-Doll's sizable bosom.

"Commander, now is not the time for this," DSR-50 giggled as she gently pushed him off. "But now that the enemy has revealed herself…"

DSR-50 swiveled out from behind cover and pointed her rifle in the direction where the enemy fire was coming from. Though the vespid had gone back behind the tree trunk, DSR now knew which tree the Sangvis Doll was hiding behind, and the German sniper fired her weapon at that tree. With a loud bang, the DSR-50 bullet smashed right through the tree trunk and hit the vespid behind it. The vespid slumped out from behind the trunk, dead.

"That makes two kills for me," DSR-50 smiled. "Are you all right, sir?"

Ralph brushed the snow off himself. "Yeah. Nice shot."

HK416, apparently having had enough of this waiting, stepped out from behind the tree she was using as cover.

"Hey! What are you -" was all Ralph managed to get out before 416 fired a grenade from her underbarrel launcher.

The projectile sailed through the air and landed in between a few trees nearby the vespid's corpse. It exploded and sent slivers of tree bark and clumps of snow flying everywhere, though it didn't appear as if any Sangvis Ferri Dolls had been hit.

Ralph glared at her. "Don't just randomly -"

Once again he was interrupted by 416's grenade launcher, and this time she chose a different spot a few meters to the right. This second grenade shot exploded another tree trunk, and a pair of rippers emerged from behind it, one of them limping and the other outright crawling due to her injuries. Both were summarily dispatched with a quick couple bursts from G11's assault rifle.

"Now there's seven left," 416 said simply, heading back behind cover.

Okay… While that seemed to be effective, it also drew a lot more attention to this area than our gunfire already did. 416 also has a limited number of grenades and probably doesn't want to waste them all here, Ralph figured, trying to find a way to eliminate the remaining enemy units as quickly and efficiently as possible.

Following the loud chaos that 416's grenades had caused, UMP45 managed to slip away from her tree trunk and head over to Ralph and DSR-50.

"Look at this." UMP45 showed them the satellite radio, which depicted the seven remaining dots moving away from the site of the firefight.

"They're running away?" DSR-50 frowned.

"Guess they decided it's best to cut their losses and just report their sighting of us back at their base," Ralph assumed.

"Ja. What do you say? Should we chase them down?" UMP45 asked. "Personally I think it is better if we ignore them. Our mission is to meet up with the AR Team, not to fight Sangvis Ferri patrols. If we chase after them, not only do we go off course, we also run a higher risk of sustaining casualties, which would hinder our movement speed."

"Won't Sangvis Ferri send out even more patrols to hunt us down if we let them get away?" DSR-50 worried.

"Yeah, but they'll probably mainly look around this area. If we keep moving down the path the AR Team laid out for us, we won't be sticking around long enough for any patrols to find us," Ralph said.

"That's wishful thinking," UMP45 sighed. "But luckily, we have a solution to that. I know a place where Sangvis patrols don't pass through, and unlike the the safe haven we were originally planning to set up camp in, this one is much closer to our position."

"All right, let's get moving, then. Let's just cut through the clearing since it will be faster and I need to recover the satellite radio I threw," Ralph decided.

Once the Sangvis patrol had fully retreated, Ralph relayed the plan to the rest of the echelon, and the T-Dolls and Kalina emerged from their cover and began heading down into the clearing.

"Whew… I was hoping we wouldn't run into any patrols," Kalina sighed, walking beside her commander.

"Eh, we weren't supposed to, but shit happens," Ralph shrugged. "Maybe they sent out those patrols because they knew the AR Team was in the area? Either way, we slipped past them this time with no injuries, so all we lost was a bit of time and ammo."

They then passed through the clearing, recovering the satellite radio along the way, and then headed back into the forest on the other side. They continued onwards towards the mountains in the distance.

"We're going into the mountains?" RO635 questioned.

"Yes. We are safest from Sangvis patrols in there," UMP45 stated.

"Isn't it dangerous to go there? There has to be a reason why Sangvis Ferri doesn't venture that way," Kar98k asked.

UMP45 shrugged. "Is it really more dangerous than staying here and waiting for an SF patrol to eliminate us?"

"Why do we have to work with such weakling Dolls," 416 scoffed.

"What was that?" Kar98k frowned, not taking kindly to that comment.

"And they have bad hearing too," 416 smirked.

"Urgh… What an uppity brat," Kar98k scowled.

"Oh? If you have a problem with me, why not try doing this mission by yourself without us here to babysit you?" 416 continued to taunt.

"Quiet, idiots," Ralph barked at them. "Keep moving. Let's not waste any more time."

UMP45 led the group further away from the forest and closer to the mountains. They were back out in the open, snowy tundra, plainly visible to any passing Sangvis patrols. Luckily, the backup that the previous SF group that they ran into requested had not arrived yet, so the the G&K squad was able to safely reach the base of the mountain range.

"We'll continue through here for a bit," UMP45 pointed towards a barely-visible, beaten-down path that snaked in through the tall peaks surrounding the group.

"Hm, so we're not actually climbing up any of them? Not bad, then," Ralph mused.

"Sangvis Ferri patrols don't come through here because of how out-of-the-way it is," UMP45 explained as they continued walking. "Naturally, they don't suspect that anyone would take this long way around rather than just cutting straight through the tundra."

Barely five minutes passed before G11 started complaining. "416… I'm tiiiiired. Can you carry me?"

"Shut the hell up," came 416's curt response.

"Eeeeeeh?" G11 whined. She fell in stride with Ralph "Commander, will you carry me, then?"

Ralph laughed. "Haha! My T-Dolls carry me, not the other way around."

"Oh… You're lucky," G11 drawled.

"Don't listen to him. It's only G36 who takes pity on him and babies him like that," WA2000 provided. "And weren't you just telling G36 not to say that stuff out loud, Commander…?"

416 turned to glance at WA2000. "Funny. I guess all WA2000-model Dolls are tsunderes."

"Wha -! I am not!" WA2000 protested, blushing.

"I'm surprised you even know what those are. You must have been called that before, right?" UMP9 grinned.

"T-That's besides the point!" WA2000 continued to deny. "And what do you mean by 'all WA2000-model Dolls'? There's another version of me?"

"Hm? I thought I remembered telling you this already," UMP45 said. "You aren't the first WA2000 T-Doll. There was another one built before you."

Suddenly, WA2000 recalled the conversation she had with the two UMPs when she first met them back at Headquarters.

"Oh… I think you did tell me that before, actually," WA2000 acknowledged. "That Doll died, right? That must have been why they built me…"

UMP45 shrugged. "Yeah, she's listed as MIA in Grifon's official database."

"Good thing too. The last thing we need is another annoying cunt around here," Ralph said, spitting a stream of tobacco onto the snow as they walked.

"Hahaha! You jinxed it, sir!" UMP9 laughed.

"Huh?" Ralph replied, confused.

The group came to a stop as UMP45 halted at the head of the pack. In the distance and sheltered underneath one of the mountains was a small, wooden shack. The area was so remote that it was hard to believe that anyone was living here, but smoke was emanating from the chimney of the house and faint lights could be seen from within the windows, indicating that it was indeed occupied. Several meters away from the house and out in the open, snowy field was what appeared to be a heliport. Someone was clearly maintaining the heliport as all the lights still functioned and it had been cleared of any snow.

"Here we are," UMP45 presented. "This wasn't really part of the plan, but we'll rest here for tonight."

"Woah, there's a helipad out here? That's not listed on our maps…" Kalina blinked, confused.

"It doesn't get much use. The only people who really use it are us when we're doing missions in this area, along with the ones living in that house," 416 gestured towards the cabin.

"Who would live out here?" DSR-50 asked.

"Those who have no other choice," UMP45 smiled mysteriously. "Come on, let's go."

Slightly hesitantly, the group followed UMP45 as they walked towards the cabin in the distance. A light snowfall began, soft, white flecks drifting downwards from the night sky.

"This isn't some sort of trap, is it?" Ralph asked suspiciously.

UMP45 chuckled at that. "My, so untrusting. Of course it's not a trap, sir."

"We'd never do anything like that!" UMP9 assured Ralph cheerily.

"Yes, I'm sure I imagined that time in Thailand where you almost got my entire squad murdered," Ralph pointed out sharply.

"That was only because you got in our way. Just don't do that again and you'll have nothing to worry about," HK416 replied with a smirk.

"We're all on the same side this time, so there's not going to be any of that," UMP45 assured the commander. "After all, though this is formally a G&K mission, it's your father who's paying for this operation. Surely he wouldn't like it if we killed you along the way?"

I don't know about that, Ralph thought. I'm sure if Squad 404 made my death look like an accident, Mr. Asterid would not give two shits as long as he got those codes. Better if I don't tell them that, though.

UMP45 knocked on the door of the cabin. A few seconds later, a familiar-looking face answered the door.

"Squad 404," the WA2000 T-Doll said upon opening the door. Her crimson eyes narrowed mistrustingly as she looked at the large group behind 404. "Who are they?"

"What!? It's WA2000!" Ralph blurted out, amazed.

"So this is what the point of that story about the old model WA2000 T-Doll was," Kar98k noted.

"Yep. Everyone, meet WA2000. The first WA2000 Doll commissioned by Grifon, to be exact," UMP45 introduced. "She goes by 2000, so you can call her that to avoid confusing her with our own."

"Hah!?" Ralph's WA2000 pushed her way to the front of the group to get a better look. "W-What the hell? She's me!"

The WA2000 in the cabin scowled. "Actually, you are me. I'm the original."

"Hey, 2000, is something the matter?" a man's voice came from somewhere within the cabin.

"It's Squad 404! And they've brought a bunch of T-Dolls too!" 2000 shouted back into the cabin.

"Who are you talking to?" Ralph asked curiously as he poked his head in.

"Hey! No one gave you permission to enter!" 2000 shrieked, pushing Ralph out of the cabin.

Ralph grinned. "Woah, you really are WA2000. Your outfit is a little different, but that's it."

Sure enough, unlike Ralph's WA2000, the WA2000 in the cabin was not dressed in the G&K-issued uniform. Instead, she was wearing jeans and a thick sweater, and her hair was completely down instead of being up in a side ponytail. Aside from that, the two WA2000s looked and sounded exactly the same.

"So, can we come in or what?" 416 asked impatiently.

2000 glared at her. "Why are you even here in the first place? We were never told that you were coming."

"You know how the nature of our work is. We don't exactly have everything perfectly planned out in advance," UMP45 told her. "But, since we've been helping you out, surely you can do us a favor this time?"

2000 crossed her arms and shot an unfriendly look at Ralph and his squad. "If it's just you four then maybe, but who are these guys? Don't tell me they're from Grifon…"

UMP45 shrugged. "What can I say? We're on a mission with G&K right now. But don't worry, this has nothing to do with you, so just let us stay for a bit and then we'll be on our way like we were never here in the first place."

"You think that's going to convince me? You can't bring them to a place like this!" 2000 declared angrily. She then glanced again at WA2000. "So they really made another Doll like me, huh…"

WA2000 frowned. "I was told you were dead…"

Before 2000 could reply to that, a man appeared in the doorway beside her. He was about as tall as Ralph, and he had light brown hair and weary green eyes. He looked young, probably in his early thirties. He was dressed in a sweater and black slacks, and a faded scar ran across his left cheekbone.

"Oh, what's this? We sure have a lot of visitors tonight," the man greeted in a slight Russian accent, surprised. "It's Squad 404 and… Who are the rest of you?"

"I'm Ralphie," Ralph said simply. "Who're you?"

"My name is Osip," the man said. "Former commander in the PMC Grifon & Kryuger. Nice to meet you, Ralphie."