Omake 3: Dinergate RO v2

Setting: Chapter 8, Paradeus defense

MC: Hadwin (Classic)

BLAM

I shy away from the shot from the Uhlan, eyes tracing the trajectory of the beam. Even before I manage to follow the beam to its final destination, I realize that someone just got hit.

Lying on the pavement is RO's corpse, missing half her head.

Even as 15 grabs me by the collar to haul me back to the building, Sop scoops up her teammate's corpse and drags it back as we all retreat. I'm unable to tear my eyes away for what feels like years, and by the time I can drag my eyes away, we're inside.

15 grabs my face and stares right into my eyes. "Hey."

I have to blink a few times to reboot my brain. "H-hey."

"She'll be okay. Focus."

"Right." I try to slow my breathing.

"Uh, M4?" Sop glances at her leader. "What should I do?"

"..." M4 bites her lip.

"Don't you have that robot with you?" P90 asks.

Hmm?

"I do, but RO-"

"How long does she have if we don't?" M4 interrupts Sop's concern.

"Well, I haven't charged recently, so if it was me… a few hours?" Sop responds.

"Do it." M4 commands. "I'll take the fallout."

"...Okay." Sop pulls something yellow out of her pouch and steps over to straddle RO.

I look away as Sop's claws go to work, unable to bear to watch the scene.

15 sits down next to me, shoulder to shoulder. "She'll be okay."

"Yeah… hopefully."

"In the meantime, we still need a strategy to take down that Uhlan." 15 looks out the front window, where the tank sits.

Watching.

Waiting.

"Well…" I look over my shoulder at the scared people in the back, clutching their weapons. "Have you taken one down in the past?"

15 snorts. "Yeah, totally. We had HOC support though. Without that, the shields are pretty much invincible. They're also pretty fast, so we might need to incapacitate it too. And even if we deal with those, we have to get through its armor."

I ponder this, thinking up a few separate scenarios in my head, bouncing ideas off of 15. Despite the situation, it's strangely nice just talking strategy with 15.

"Er, Hadwin?"

I look back at M4, who beckons me over. I reluctantly stand up, patting 15 on her shoulder as I turn away and head over to M4, where she stands with Sop and… a yellow robot.

The robot is small, currently balancing on Sop's shoulder and connected to a crystal on her clavicle. As Sop turns to look at me, the smaller robot does as well.

I spare a brief glance for RO's corpse before bracing myself and standing with the rest of the group. "What's up?"

"Well… we need a plan." M4 says. "You were working on one?"

"Yeah… we have the Anti-Material rifles if we can get the shields down, and I think we can immobilize it by blowing up it's tracks." I turn to Sop. "Do you have explosives left?"

"Eh… some." She pats the robot on her shoulder. "We also have her!"

I focus more on the robot. "Yeah? What's her name?"

The robot bounces up and down, flailing its front two limbs in the air. The iris of its camera lens pulses open and closed rapidly.

M4 sighs heavily. "That's RO."

The expression freezes on my face. "Eh?"

"I had to stuff her core into this Dinergate before, when we were cut off. It's not the best… but she can fight, and she's less likely to die."

I watch as RO beats her front forelegs on Sop's cheek. She doesn't seem thrilled with it.

"Can she talk?"

"Not to you, she doesn't have the ability to transmit at a frequency your radio can pick up." M4 says.

"Trust me, you don't want to hear it." 15 comes up beside me, holding her head. "She really hates that body."

I lean down and look into the lens of RO's current body. "Don't worry, we'll get you back to your normal body as soon as we can."

The lens rolls around in a fair approximation of an eye roll, but she seems to calm down. I resist the urge to pat her head.

"So, back to the plan." I try to refocus. "We can immobilize the Uhlan by detonating its treads, and once the shield is down we can shoot it dead via Anti-Material rifles." I look around as more of the T-dolls get up from whatever they were doing and join up, specifically M200 and NTW.

"But how do we take out the shield?" NZ75 asks. "That's an important detail."

"Well…"

"Oh! I have an idea!" Sop grabs RO and holds her out. "RO has lasers in this form!"

"...Lasers?" I glance at the overexcited doll and her captive.

"Yeah! A super powerful laser we can use to fry the shields, as long as we can immobilize it and fire at the emitter on the back!"

"Won't the shield stop the laser?"

"No, the shield is pretty much centered on the front of the vehicle." M4 muses. "This could work.

RO gesticulates wildly, clearly unhappy. I give her a sympathetic look, but-

"Okay, we have a plan. Time to execute." I take a deep breath. "Let's do this."

Several hours later, we're eating at my house, and I'm sitting down at the table.

"-and so I swooped up behind the Uhlan, RO on my shoulder, and we blasted the shield generator. It took a few shots, but DEFY kept it busy long enough for me to overheat the unit. Then, once the shield was down I was able to tear off the generator disk thing so the rifles could take their shots."

Sop's recounting the events of the day to an enraptured Rakim, the rest of the dolls in the building chiming in whenever they feel like it. Everytime they speak about something it gets embellished a bit more, which is funny given the footage playing on the TV.

I'm preoccupied, not joining in on the reverie. 404's betrayal, S.A.T.'s core and the increasingly large amount of blood on my hands.

Oh, and a broken leg.

But the thing currently on my mind is RO, her small Dinergate form sitting in my lap.

Sop had disconnected RO from the power core on her clavicle since RO's not supposed to be using the laser right now, and we had also removed the Megaphone since it made it harder for her to get around. RO had wandered around a bit before deciding to just sleep on my lap.

I keep finding that I accidentally started petting her like she's a cat in my lap, but each time I catch myself I'm reminded that there's a person there that's not happy to be in this form.

"Hey, 15?"

15 looks over from her seat next to mine. "Hmm?"

"Do Dinergates have sensors on the outside of their bodies? Can they feel it if you touch them?"

"It's capacitive, like the touchscreen on your phone." 15 confirms. "And RO says she doesn't mind."

"...Ah." I can feel my cheeks reddening, but I return to stroking the yellow casing. "Don't worry, RO, we'll get you a real body back as soon as possible."

RO's eye opens, looks up at me, then at 15, and then closes again.

"She said she's gonna hold you to that." 15 translates. "And she says that you have to take responsibility."

"...For what? Getting her a body? I mean, sure."

15 sets her chin in her hand on the table and stares straight ahead, and I realize her voice is tense. "No, she just likes your massages. A lot."

"Ah." I wouldn't call brushing my fingers over her frame a massage, but who am I to question it? "I guess, as long as she's in less distress than I'm fine with it."

15 shoots me a look. "I'm not sure if I should kick you for being so insensitive or praise you for taking care of her better than Sop did."

"Sorry?"

She sighs. "No, it's fine. I-"

"And then BAM!" Sop's fist slams down on the table, and I think I hear wood splintering. "We blew up the second one with the main turret of the first Uhlan, and we won!"

"Sop, be more careful." M4 chides. "We're guests here."

"Ah." Sop calms down and shrinks into herself a little bit. "Sorry."

"No problem." Dad waves it away as no consequence. "So, tell me more about this Paradeus group."

Sop launches into more explanations that veer far away from politics and straight into the unit design, and I check out of the conversation once more.

Beside me, 15 sighs heavily. "She doesn't even have boobs in that form and she's still winning."

"Hmm?"

She shakes her head. "Nothing."

That night, I went to bed a bit earlier than normal. I'm so exhausted from the events of the day that I don't even bother removing my clothes before flopping down on the bed, careful of my leg. The clothes are still mostly clean since I took a shower like three hours ago, but still.

I really should've checked though.

15 sits up, blinking. "What… Oh."

"...Oops." I scratch my face, and turn away from her. "I didn't see you there."

"No problem." Out of the corner I notice as she realizes the strap of her nightshirt has slipped over her shoulder and she quickly corrects it. "So, going to sleep?"

"Well I was, but I didn't realize you had already claimed my bed." I stand my crutches up and prepare to haul myself to my feet. "I'll find somewhere else."

"Ah!" She reaches out, her hand bumping into my shoulder. "I mean, I… I don't mind sleeping together."

"Eh?" my brain short circuits.

15 is blushing, her cheeks matching the color of her hair. "S-So, just lie down." She suddenly raises her voice a little. "No funny stuff! Just, sleeping, okay?"

"I… sure." I carefully lie down, keeping a lookout from the corner of my eye to make sure she's not going to suddenly get mad or change her mind.

When I finally get myself into a position to sleep, 15's body shifts over so her back is touching my arm.

I lie there, staring at the ceiling, and think about the back touching my arm. I can hear her breathing, but her back hardly moves unlike a human. She's warm, but still slightly cooler than a human. There's no rhythmic pulse from a beating heart.

Curiously, none of that is a downside. It's just a bit different.

So, I have a girl in my bed.

...I don't think I'll be able to get much sleep.

I'm still awake half an hour later when the scratching starts.

At first, it's more like a gentle knocking, but it rapidly turns into a dragging sound, coming from the bottom half of my door.

I sit up and see from the light under the door that something is moving around behind the door, occasionally shifting around and scratching on the door.

Either I had suddenly gained a cat, or…

"Hey, I hear you. Give me a minute." I say quietly, and the scratching stops.

Carefully, I climb out of the bed trying not to disturb 15, and grab my crutches once again. I plod over to the door and open it carefully.

On the other side is RO, as I suspected. However, I hadn't expected her to have numerous things tied to her. It looks like she managed to get tangled in some string, an electrical cord, and is somehow wearing a small necktie. A party hat was also perched onto her frame at a jaunty angle. I trace the string back with my eyes, and it disappears down the stairs.

"...Uh, come in. I'll get you untangled." I say quietly, stepping backwards awkwardly to let her through.

I glance back down the stairs to where the party is still going, and wonder why none of them would help. Maybe they're all drunk.

Maybe she's running away from whoever put the necktie on her.

She moves into the room fully and I carefully balance on a leg and one crutch to lean over and drag the rest of the stuff into the room so I can shut the door. After that's accomplished, I walk over to my desk and sit down in my desk chair. I turn on the lamp to a dim setting, hopefully dim enough it won't wake 15, and turn back to RO. "Come here for a sec."

She drags herself over, and I reach down to pick her up, only realizing what I'm doing right before actually grabbing her.

"Er… would you rather I picked you up here, or rather I work on the floor?"

Her single eye looks around a few times before looking back at me.

Right. She can't talk. "Uh, touch my right hand for up, and left for down." I say, offering both of my hands at her level.

She hesitates, but taps my right hand.

I gingerly grab her frame and set her on the desk, immediately removing the hat. "Okay, let me see…"

She stands in place, eye focused on my face. Unlike T-dolls, the Dinergate frame doesn't fake breathing, so the only movement is the slight adjusting of the lens as I move around.

I start tugging on the string. Looks like it's from one of Mom's projects. "Hmm, I'm gonna have to cut that… the tie can come off easily." I stick my finger into the knot and pull it loose, sliding it over the 'head' portion.

Then, I check the electrical cable, which… has been tied to the green ribbon cable that Sop used to plug into to power RO. "Did someone try to charge you like this?" I mutter largely to myself. "Turn around for a second." She complies, and I undo the knot, and then toss the cable aside, then unplug the green ribbon cable so she's not dragging it around either.

"Anyway, last thing is the string." I grab a set of scissors and show them to RO, who turns back to face me. "Are you okay with me using these?"

The eye continues to stare into my soul.

"...Okay, step left for yes, right for no. My right, not yours."

She steps to my left.

I take a deep breath. "Alright." I first snip the large trailing portion of the string, freeing her from the majority of the crap. Then I gently tug at where it's tangled into the joints, trying to find a place I can unwind it a bit.

It takes a little bit, but I eventually manage to free her entirely.

"Uh, I don't have a hand mirror, but…" I open up the camera on my phone and turn on the forward facing camera. "See? All good."

She turns herself side to side a bit and evidently is satisfied. She ducks slightly in an impressive imitation of a nod, and I tuck my phone away.

"Alright, do you want me to lift you down, or can you jump? Left for carry, right for jump." I hold out both of my hands once again.

Instead of either option, she walks over and hops into my lap like a small dog.

"Er… okay." I stroke the metal casing absentmindedly. "But I need to get to bed soon."

She pops up on her back legs and the front two land on my chest so she's looking up at me, again like a small dog or a cat does when it wants attention-

She's not a cat or a dog, she's a T-doll. A person in a small body. DO NOT treat her like a small animal.

"W-well… I wish you could talk to me." I frown. "And I know you clearly would rather be in your normal body too. Er, you can sleep on the chair, or I can let you sleep on the bed with me and 15 if you'd like, or I can get you a pillow on the floor…"

I could have sworn her camera eye narrowed slightly at the mention of 15, but both of her forelegs are still on my chest, and the right one lifts off to tap me twice.

"Hmm?"

She taps me twice again.

"...Number two then?"

She jumps slightly.

"Okay. Um, please hop back onto the desk so I can stand up."

Instead, she leaps to the floor and scrambles around a bit. I get to my feet, puting the crutches under my arms.

She skitters around some more, tapping on the desk with a leg until I turn off the lamp then moving over to the side of the bed, where she sits down to wait.

Seems like, T-doll body or not, RO's still RO. Diligent to the end.

I carefully walk over, once again sitting down cautiously, this time bending over to carefully pick up RO and set her down beside me.

She immediately turns and walks up to and onto 15. 15 fails to wake up from this.

I pull myself further onto the bed and almost lie down when I see RO backing up to jump onto 15.

I barely have a hand out to stop her before she lands on the unsuspecting doll, who immediately wakes up, hand scrambling for a weapon that's not there.

"...RO?" 15 mutters after a second of frantic action.

RO stares straight at 15, and 15 returns the favor. It takes me a few seconds to work out they're having a conversation.

I finish lying down, careful not to lie down on top of RO.

After a few more seconds, 15 turns to me. "RO says thank you. Someone gave Sop alcohol, and she got victimized."

I glance at the small robot as it climbs onto my chest and lies down. "You're welcome."

15 looks particularly irritated as she continues. "Also, RO says that she'll need recharging in the morning. And… I'm not repeating that." 15 glares openly at RO, whose camera eye rolls.

"Okay, I'll make sure you get a good charge in the morning." I say to RO, yawning. "For now… sleep."

"...Yes." 15 lies down, facing me this time, and she grabs my sleeve with one of her hands, and closes her eyes. "Sleep."

RO continues to watch my face, and doesn't seem to be planning on looking away.

I close my eyes, and wonder if she's planning on staring at me all night…

Whatever, I'll deal with it tomorrow.

Beta Reader Notes: Welp, 15 just got cucked by a fucking dinergate, lol