Chapter 15: Making Friends and Stacking Bodies

- Outpost 17 -

Owen stood beside Colette's Huey in full gear performing his favorite pre-combat ritual, putting a pinch of chewing tobacco in his lip, while Gentiane explained what she could about the situation they were about to walk into over a sat phone she had driven out to his Outpost. He was in his preferred combat uniform this time, jeans and a plaid button down shirt and his ratty camo hat. Comfort was king in his humble opinion. The only thing that labeled him a member of Griffin was the G&K patch on the front of his ranger green chest rig.

His new, to him anyway, sawed off M79, that Gentiane wouldn't let him bring on the exercise, was slung on his back. His M16A4 dangled in front of him, now outfitted with an ELCAN digital sight that linked to the implants in his eyes, and his trusty Walther PPQ was snug in its holster.

His teams milled about in front of him, preparing their gear and waiting for what little detail he could provide.

"We won't be able to assist on this one Owen," Gentiane was telling him, "We're going after a Sangvis ringleader's outpost so you'll be on your own."

"That's going to be tough," Owen observed, "Need me to cut one of my teams loose to give you a hand?"

Gentiane let out an amused snort, "I think we got this one covered, appreciate it though."

"Anytime." Owen replied.

There was a pause on the other end, "Hey Owen?"

"What's up?"

"Be careful out there and bring everyone back, okay?"

Owen grinned, "I'll do my best, and hey, good luck on your end too."

Gentiane thanked him and hung up. Owen placed his new sat phone in his pocket before turning to the human guard who had crashed their barbeque, "So what's your deal, you coming with us?"

The guard, who looked fresh out of highschool, shook his head.

"No sir, I was sent here to relieve one of the guys on the security team, his wife just went into labor."

The dolls, minus Freya, all started squealing in delight and even Owen grinned at the news.

"No shit," Owen exclaimed, "Frankie's gonna be psyched."

The young man nodded, "Yes sir, I'll be his replacement until further notice."

Owen shook his hand, "First of all, cut the 'sir' shit. This ain't the military." He gestured to the buildings around them, "Second, welcome to Outpost 17."

Owen checked his watch, "Frankie's on patrol right now, he'll be back at the guard barracks in about fifteen minutes." Owen pointed to the building in question and the guard, Mateo, thanked him and walked off.

Owen turned back to the teams and had to yell to get through the excitement. Everyone finally settled down and turned to face him. Nines gaze was particularly intense.

Owen tried to avoid eye contact at all costs, once everyone had quieted down, Owen gave them the situation.

"Shut up and listen up," Owen began, "At Oh-Seven-Hundred hours, Sangvis launched a full scale assault on a city at the edge of the Green Zone in the neighboring sector."

The dolls turned grim, Owen continued, "We don't know the size of the force, but we do know the city was big enough to have a sizable and well trained police force that was almost immediately overrun, so expect there to be a lot of bad guys."

"What has that Sector's Commander done in response to the attack?" G3 asked.

Owen stared at G3 for a second before he answered, "That's just it, nothing."

"How can you not know?" Sig-510 asked, a confused look on her face.

"Well," Owen scratched his chin, "The commander sent a team and almost immediately lost contact."

"And then?" Uzi asked.

Owen shrugged, "And then that's it. No other action was taken other than to ask for help."

The dolls traded looks, Makarov spoke up for the first time, "What is our job?"

"Our job is simple," Owen explained, "First, find the sector commander and lend assistance any way we can."

"That's it?" M3 asked.

Owen nodded, "That's it, don't forget, our job is combat support, we're not leading ops, or anything sexy like that."

With that, Owen nodded to MP-40 who clapped her hands together once, "We leave in ten minutes, perform any last minute gear checks, get to your assigned vehicle, oh, and make sure you backup your data," A wry grin formed on her face as she looked around, "Learn from my mistakes."

"Vehicle assignments, maps of the city, and the convoy ops briefing have all been sent out over the Zener network," She scanned the group, making sure to make eye contact with all of them, "Review them, dismissed."

With that, everyone grouped into their respective teams and moved to their vehicles.

MP-40 let out a sigh and turned to Owen, "How was that?"

Owen had an amused look on his face, "Very nice."

MP-40 beamed with pride.

"Anything we need to go over before we step off?" Owen asked.

MP-40 nodded, "Actually, I had a question concerning your stance on babies."

Owen said nothing, turned, and walked away.

"What did I say?" MP-40 asked his retreating back.

Owen made his way over to Colette and M2, who were talking about the mount installed for M2's weapon, making some last minute tweaks.

"Y'all good to go?" He asked.

The pair shooed him away without looking up. Owen shrugged, double checked his own gear, walked over to his vehicle, and slid into the passenger seat. Nines was in the driver's seat, and Freya was sitting in the back, staring out her window.

"I can drive, if you want." Owen offered.

Nines shook her head, "I don't mind," she turned to study Owen for a moment, "when we get back, I want to talk."

Owen nodded, inwardly wondering if it had anything to do with the earlier baby announcement.

God I hope not.

He was watching the rotors on Colette's Huey start to rotate when his Team Leaders called out that they were ready.

Owen gave Nines one last look before keying up his mic, "All Misfit vics, this is Misfit Actual, we're rollin."

Someone, probably Colette, turned on Jimi Hendrix's Voodoo Child as the convoy of four, a Humvee and three GaZ Tigers, rolled through the checkpoint of Outpost 17, with the Huey flying directly above, and towards their first actual mission.

A chill ran down Owen's spine.

We're really going to do this, he thought, just jinx the fuck out of our first mission like that.

Owen sighed and leaned his head back as Jimi wailed through the radio and fell asleep.

- Sector 12 -

- Outside City Walls -

As they neared the city, Owen told Colette to fly ahead and take a look around.

"You're not going to like what you're about to see." She had warned him after she gave her observations.

A short time later, the Misfits' convoy rolled to a stop near the entrance of the city. The first thing Owen noticed was that civilian first responders had set up an impromptu casualty collection point. The second thing he noticed was how hopelessly overwhelmed they were.

A few paramedics were guiding injured civilians to certain areas, while others were given a quick once over and told to move on. Those who were uninjured walked around in a trance-like state. One woman sat down in the middle of the crowd and stared into space. No one tried to move the woman, they just flowed around her.

A little girl was yelling at her sobbing father to go back and find her mom and puppy.

An old woman was screaming at a police officer whose face was wracked with grief. She wanted to know of her grandson, who was also an officer. He tried telling her that he was her grandson's friend, and that her grandson died trying to pull an ambulance crew to safety. The old woman began hitting the officer and asking why he was telling such lies. Tears started falling down the officer's face as he kept apologizing repeatedly.

"There has to be something we can do." Nines said quietly as she stared intently at a little boy sobbing over two bodies covered by a bloodstained tarp.

"Yeah," Owen said indifferently as he watched a firefighter do chest compressions on a paramedic who had lost the lower half of her body, "Our jobs."

Nines shot him a glare.

He shrugged, "That's all we can do right now."

Nines shook her head and muttered something under her breath.

A mix of regular police officers and Berkut riot control officers stood guard on the top of the wall or near the entrance. The officers on the ground watched as the endless stream of refugees fled the city. The local police had begun to take notice of the new arrivals and were starting to regard the convoy with what ranged from annoyance to outright hostility. He saw more than a few regular officers glass his convoy with their rifles.

The Berkut just ignored them.

"Orders?" G3 asked over the comm.

"Stay in your vehicles and be ready to bug out if shit goes sideways."

"What if the nice officers on the wall accidentally discharge a weapon in our direction?" Makarov asked with more than a little sarcasm in her voice.

"I would view that as hostile intent," Owen replied immediately, "If they shoot first, you make them regret it."

"Roger."

Owen grabbed his rifle and stepped out of his vehicle. He walked over to the nearest group of officers. One held a hand to stop him.

Owen raised his own hand and waved with a grin, the officer gave him an annoyed look.

"What do you want, mercenary?" The officer growled.

"Relax friend," Owen said, "I was called here to support the local Griffin commander with your little problem."

"Fuck you and fuck Griffin." The officer spat on the ground, "You take your robotic whores and go back to whatever fucking hole you crawled out from."

Owen gave the officer an appraising look, "Well look at you, all fired up." His grin widened, "Did something good happen?"

The officer swore and pulled his weapon on Owen. The officer's buddies did the same. The Misfits responded by aiming their weapons at the officers. The sound of safeties being switched off filled the air.

Owen raised his hands, grin still on his face, "Guess so."

"Last chance, Griffin dog," the officer warned, "Get the fuck out of here, we don't need your hel-"

"WHY DO I SEE MEN AIMING AT SOMETHING OTHER THAN A VALID TARGET?" A voice boomed nearby.

The officers in front of Owen froze as an absolute mountain of a man in a Berkut uniform stormed over, "YOU WILL STAND DOWN, ALL OF YOU, OR I WILL TAKE THOSE WEAPONS AN- Sergeant Owen?"

Owen turned to the giant and saw him staring at him through squinted eyes.

"Uh, yeah?" Owen answered.

The giant man laughed, "It's me, Grigori!"

Owen blinked hard and lowered his arms, "Holy shit, hey man -hrk."

The Ukrainian bear scooped Owen up in a hug, "I knew you would survive anything that evil witch did to you!"

"Good... to see you... too buddy." Owen managed to wheeze out.

Grigori set him back down and let out another booming laugh, "What brings you here?"

Owen readjusted his gear and hooked a thumb behind him to gesture to his convoy of confused T-dolls, "I work for Griffin now."

Grigori's face darkened a little, "You would not happen to be here to replace the current Commander, would you?"

Owen shook his head slowly, "No, we're here as reinforcements," he frowned, "Should I be replacing him?"

Grigori studied Owen, "Come with me, I will explain everything soon."

Owen looked back at his teams, Grigori noticed and placed a large hand on his shoulder, "Not to worry, I will have my men escort your troops to the Griffin area, I've already directed your helicopter there so she can refuel."

Grigori spoke into his radio and led Owen to a tent that had a metal table with a map of the city on it and nothing else. Once inside, Grigori told everyone to leave except for another man in a Berkut uniform.

"Artem, look," Grigori said as he gestured to Owen, "Sergeant Owen was the one causing the commotion by the main gate."

Artem, who Owen remembered as one of the soldiers in Grigori's team he had met during the war, gave a single nod before turning back to the map.

"What's the deal with the Griffin commander?" Owen asked.

Artem and Grigori shared a look, "He's worthless." Grigori explained, "He claims to be helping, but all his troops have done is sit in their staging area as he poses for the media."

"The trainee seemed competent," Artem noted.

Grigori nodded in agreement, "He did seem very capable."

"Is the competent and capable trainee dead?" Owen asked.

Grigori shook his head, "We lost contact with his team shortly after Sangvis pushed towards the city center."

"So," Owen motioned to the map, "What happened?"

"For reference," Grigori began, pointing to a point on the map, "We are here, at the Eastern Gate." Then his hand moved to the opposite side, "They breached the Western Gate during shift change and started with usual targets."

Artem took over, "They took out the main power station for the town and police HQ." He pointed to the two locations of the map, "Then they split up, a smaller group sprinted towards the city center, killed the police and private security that were guarding the mayor and his family. They're still dug in at that location." Artem finished his explanation by tapping his finger on a large red circle at the center of the map.

Owen frowned as he studied the map, "Why?" He asked aloud, more to himself than anything.

"We do not know," Grigori answered, "But they have set up quite a defensive ring." He gestured to the red ring, "This ring represents their anti-air capability."

"How'd you get the range?" Owen asked.

Artem and Grigori shared a look before Artem answered, "Trial and error."

Owen winced, "Ouch." Then he sighed, "guess we'll slog it on the ground."

Owen stared at the map, thinking, "Where did the trainee go missing?"

Grigori pointed just inside the red ring, "Here, he was trying to extract the mayor and his family by helicopter, but was shot down before it could reach them."

"Family still alive?"

Grigori pointed at a pair of red X's also in the red circle, "Unknown, we sent two convoys in, none came out."

"First convoy was simply lost with no indication as to why," Grigori tapped the X's absent mindedly, "The second convoy reported contact with the first convoy, then went radio silent," He looked to Artem, "How long ago was that?"

"Four hours ago." Artem replied.

Owen studied the map and noticed a cluster of buildings south of their location with yellow pins stuck in them, he tapped his finger on the buildings, "What's going on here."

Artem and Grigori shared a sour look, "That's the original reason we called your fellow commander here."

"An evac site that became cut off after the Sangvis forces split apart," Artem explained, "Our men there have been under constant assault, but have held firm." Artem scratched his neck and continued, "The forces there are large enough that they can repel our attempts to reach the evac site as well as keep pressure on the defenders there."

"We were hoping the extra firepower from Griffin would be enough to give us a breakthrough and get everyone out." Grigori told him.

Owen nodded, "Guess I need to go see the other Commander."

- Griffin Operations Center -

The Griffin area was completely different from the entrance to the city. It was clear that Griffin wasn't helping with the wounded. Owen looked at the dolls standing guard. Judging by the looks on their faces, they weren't happy about the situation. Other staff were walking this way and that, no one seemed to be worried for their safety.

A fuel truck was pumping fuel into Colette's Huey, while Colette and M2 were talking about maneuvers they wanted to try with a SPIE rig.

At the center of the Griffin area was the command tent, and in front of the tent, was a man dressed in an absolutely spotless Griffin Commander's uniform. His black boots were polished to a mirror shine, his beret was placed perfectly on his head, and absolutely nothing was out of place.

At his side was a tall curvy doll that SKS had informed Owen, with more than a little bitterness, was named DSR-50. She had apparently been an escort doll before joining Griffin.

He was talking to a group of reporters, and had apparently told a joke, because everyone was laughing.

DSR-50 had a professional smile on her face.

"He's so..." MP-40 paused as she thought, "Spotless."

"I hate him," K11 said, "It would be so easy to just launch a grenade over there and..." She made an explosion sound with her mouth.

"You are not to launch any sort of explosive at a member of Griffin without Owen's approval," Sig-510 scolded her as she looked at the Sector Commander with a look of contempt, "But I agree, he doesn't look like he would represent a great loss if you did."

Everyone around the Tiger nodded in unison.

"He doesn't even have a weapon on him." SVT noted.

"Then there's our commander," AK-47 said as she nodded her head at Owen, who was having a meeting with his team leaders at the Humvee while they waited for the sector commander to finish with his fifth press meeting of the day.

"Definitely needs help with his fashion choices, he looks homeless." MP-40 said.

"I hate his hat." M3 stated.

"I know, I want to set it on fire." M2 agreed.

Everyone giggled at that, causing Owen to send a confused look their way, which made them start laughing. Owen shook his head and turned back to the group of dolls around him, as they looked at the crude drawing of the town Owen drew on the hood of the Humvee with chalk.

"So, I'll take one team to push into the enemy held area and try to get the VIP and his family out," Owen was saying, "The other two teams will link up with Grigori and the Berkut to break out the stranded evac site."

G3 turned to look at the Sector Commander who was still mingling with the press, "Do you think we'll get any assistance from this guy?"

Owen snorted, "Oh I doubt it, I'm going to let him know what we're doing as a professional courtesy and see if he has any intel we can use."

Makarov also looked at the Sector Commander, then at Owen, her eyebrow raised, "Really?"

Owen grimaced, "I know, but it's worth a shot."

"So you must be the infamous Commander Owen, Griffin's newest Action Hero." The commander said with a too loud booming laugh as he waved Owen over.

Owen put on the smile he reserved for asshole officers and MPs that had come to arrest him, "I guess I am."

"Well," the commander said, his demeanor faltering a little, "What can I do for you?"

Owen stared at him, he didn't say anything, just stared, until the commander shifted a little and nervously cleared his throat. The doll at the commander's side smirked a little when she realized what was happening.

"I heard that you have a man trapped in the city, I'm just here to see what you've already done to get him back and what we can do to help." Owen finally said.

"Ah, well," the commander rubbed the back of his neck, "Yes, I uh, told him not to go, but…" he trailed off, looking at Owen's convoy.

The Commander's eyes then fell to Nines, who was standing behind him, and the look there was unmistakable.

Nines suppressed a shiver.

The look DSR-50 gave her commander was hard to miss, she said nothing.

"But what?" Owen snapped his fingers, an edge in his voice.

"I had already lost a helicopter and the local police lost two convoys trying to get to the area where he went." The commander shook his head.

Owen assumed it was supposed to be a remorseful gesture, but it didn't look like it.

"I'm sure you did everything you could." Owen stated flatly.

The commander looked gravely to the sky. The doll beside him locked eyes with Owen, and when his gaze flicked over to her, she gave an almost imperceptible shake of the head. Owen scratched his nose with his thumb to show he understood, he hoped she got the message.

"Ah well," the commander said, "You know how inexperienced soldiers can get, thinking they can save the world with nothing but a rifle and a set of balls, am I right?" The commander said with a knowing grin as he slapped the front of Owen's chest rig. His eyes flicked back to Nines.

Owen leaned in close, "You eyefuck one of my dolls again, and I will break your fucking legs and leave you naked in a red zone. Understood?"

The Commander gulped and nodded.

"Good." Owen growled.

The curvy doll cleared her throat, "Commander," She purred, "I believe you have a phone call in the command tent."

"Ah," the commander said a little too urgently, "Of course."

He turned to Owen, "If you'll excuse me." the commander turned and hurried off.

As soon as he was gone, DSR pulled Owen in close, and brought her lips close to his ear, "Commander Jakoby is lying, the trainee and his escort are still alive."

Owen felt her hand slip into the front pocket of his jeans, "Last burst transmission was ten minutes ago, here's the coordinates."

She leaned back, planted a long, lingering, kiss on his cheek, and stepped away.

"Good luck~" She purred and walked towards the command tent, hips swaying the entire way.

Owen watched her go, trying to regain control of his body. He turned back to his team and saw everyone staring at with a mix of pity and amusement, except Nines. She was walking towards him with hate in her eyes.

On an unrelated note, he noticed her thumb was caressing the fire selector on her weapon. Owen shook his head, dug a hand into his pocket to pull out the slip of paper DSR had put there.

It simply said, 'Save them' in neat cursive, followed by the set of coordinates.

"What was that all about?" Nines asked when she got close, trying, and failing, to act nonchalant.

Owen shook his head, "No idea," he held up his hand, the scrap of paper between his fingers, "Got a location for us to scout though."

Nines snatched the piece of paper out of his hand and looked it over.

"Coordinates." Was all she said.

"Very good," Owen said as he pulled the can of tobacco from a pouch on his vest and started packing it, "Keep this up and I'll promote you to intel officer."

"Fuck you..." She muttered in Russian.

"Well, if you insist." He replied and spat.

Nines blushed, then scowled, "That's disgusting." She told him.

Owen shrugged, "We're about to go into combat, forgive a man his vices."

Nines shook her head and walked away.

And that's when his sat phone started ringing.

He pulled it out and answered, "Yes master."

"Darling, you have no idea how happy I am to hear you call me that~" The voice on the other end responded in sensual delight.

"Ah, shit." Owen coughed in surprise, "I thought you were..." he paused, "How the fuck did you get this number?"

"Not important," Alchemist responded with a hint of urgency in her voice, "Are you in sector 12?"

"Nah, I'm in my room," Owen responded as he double checked his rifle, "Researching."

An amused snort, "I doubt that, I'm in your room right now" the sound of a keyboard, "And by the way, I've seen your research."

Owen's blood ran cold, "What did you do to the guards…" he said, knowing the reason he was worried was not the guards.

"Relax darling, unlike you, I'm good at my job and can actually sneak into a building without levelling it, also, this...research," she paused, her voice appreciative, "We should have dinner sometime."

Owen suppressed a shiver, "Why the hell did you call me?"

"Ah, right, I wanted to warn you."

"About?"

A pause.

"Alchemist?"

"Just know that there's someone there commanding the assault, someone who is not to be underestimated." She said and Owen swore that he heard actual genuine concern in her voice.

"Ok, uh," Owen didn't know what to say, "Thanks."

"Don't die Darling~" she purred into the phone as the sound of a mouse clicking followed by loud moaning was heard in the background, "I have so many plans for you." With that, Alchemist hung up.

Owen shook his head and put the phone away.

He missed the Army.

Five minutes later, Owen was back at the convoy going over last minute details of the operation with his teams. Colette and M2 were there as well, the two had actually become fast friends ever since M2 was put in charge of the helo's door guns. They were looking at a paper map spread over the hood of the Humvee.

"According to Grigori, AA coverage is thick," He explained, "So we'll take a Tiger and haul ass to the VIPs last known location."

"From there, we'll try to drive out of the city, but if we can't, we'll drive to this park that's outside of the AA coverage and radio for CASEVAC." He said, pointing to a spot on the map and looking at Colette.

She nodded and leaned over to tap two other spots, "If shit goes sideways, these will be the alternate pick up sites."

Owen grunted approval.

"What if we get s-separated, or air support is out of the question?" M3 asked, "Should we go into standby mode until someone comes and gets us?"

"Why would you go into standby mode?" Owen asked, confused.

"Standard Griffin protocol states that, in the event you get abandoned behind enemy lines, you enter standby mode until friendly units can come to retrieve you." MP-40 explained, "Sangvis won't mess with us when we're in standby mode."

Owen paused as he digested the information given,"If you get separated, do one of two things."

He held up a finger, "First option is to make your way back to the insertion point and sit tight, worst case scenario, we'll push through the city with the convoys," he held up a second finger, "Second, if you can't readily make the insertion point, fight your way back to the staging area, if you can, raise some hell along the way."

Owen looked around the group and made eye contact with everyone before saying the next part, "I will not leave anyone behind, understand?"

Everyone nodded.

He looked back at the map and pointed to a school, "Grigori also said there's a gymnasium that doubled as an evac center at the start of Sangvis' assault that's still under siege here. The other two teams will take the vics and link up with a Berkut convoy that's going to get them out."

He scratched his chin before he continued, " So," he pointed to G3 and Makarov, "They want us to run point on the convoy and basically do the heavy lifting."

G3 nodded, but Makarov raised an eyebrow, "How do you wish for us to proceed?"

Owen looked at the map, then back at Makarov, "Perimeter security, unless you find a weakness to exploit."

"And if we do?"

Owen grinned, "Exploit the ever loving shit out of it."

- 15 Minutes Later -

Owen looked at the burning wrecks of the two Burkut convoys that had been ambushed near an abandoned police roadblock His eyes scanned the mangled cruisers and still burning assault vehicles. They fell on the many, many bodies of Berkut officers that had died at the hands of the Sangvis. It was clear from how the position of the bodies that battle was fast, and the defenders had almost no time to respond.

The weird thing was that most of the bodies had stab wounds on them.

They were still about a mile from their objective.

He spat and repressed the annoyed sigh he felt trying to escape.

"We're pretty close to where they lost the first helo," He announced, "We're dismounting and going on foot the rest of the way."

"A mile isn't too bad." M500 said in a cheerful voice.

"You'd be surprised how bad a mile can get." Owen snarked as he exited the vehicle. He stepped out, walked over to the barriers, pissed.

"You are the most uncouth Commander I've ever worked with." K11 noted in amusement.

Owen belched and raised a thumbs up behind him, causing the dolls all to laugh. Once he was done, he turned back to Nines and pointed to an empty bit of sidewalk, "Let's back this fucker in here, in case we need to haul ass with some urgency."

After the vehicle was parked, the team formed up in a wedge formation and began moving to the mayor's house. In the first quarter mile of the patrol, the mood of the team went from positive and optimistic, to glum and silent. It was clear the fighting was heavy here at one point.

Death and destruction was everywhere. The remains of buildings smoldered, a smoky haze filled the air and mixed with the smell of burning vehicles, buildings, and bodies.

Owen was scanning the buildings, thinking about the fact that no one had attacked them, when M500 let out what sounded like a strangled whimper.

"Oh," MP-40's voice followed, sounding like she was suppressing a sob, "Oh nein."

Owen turned around to see the team huddling around what was left of a bus. He looked in the windows and saw a lot of charred bodies that looked too small. With the exception of Freya, the dolls looked on the verge of tears.

Shit.

"Come on," Owen said, his voice stern, "We are still in a fucking war zone."

"But Commander…" Uzi began, her voice low, "They were just kids."

"Yeah, they were," Owen said, "Now they're dead, it sucks, but we still got a job to do, in a city full of people who want to fucking kill you."

The team, once again, minus Freya who's bored gaze was scanning their surroundings, turned to glare at Owen with pure loathing.

Owen met their gazes with his own cold stare, "Nines, get your team back in formation, and get moving."

Nines glared at him, "Understood, Commander," she turned to her team, "Third team, on me."

Owen turned, nodded to Freya, and moved ahead for the group.

"I thought we were supposed to be soulless robots." K11 said loudly.

Owen ignored them and stopped to check his map.

Had he kept walking, the beam from the Jaeger's rifle would have passed through his skull, instead of striking the road in front of him.

"Damn." He muttered after he dropped behind an abandoned vehicle as the rest of the team scrambled to find cover.

"Contact!"

"Was Owen hit!?"

"He went down behind that car, I can't see him!"

"Sniper at ten o'clock!"

"I see her," Freya announced coolly, "marking target."

A red tick appeared above a shimmering figure above a burnt out rooftop. Immediately, everyone mag dumped on the figure and K11 ended the engagement with an airburst grenade directly above the red tick.

Everyone stayed in cover until they determined that the Jaeger unit was alone.

Owen stood and dusted himself off. The rest of the team stood and looked to him shakily.

"Are you…" Nines began, but Owen held up his hand.

"Anyone hit?" He barked the question out.

No one was.

Owen nodded, "That's why we don't get hung up on every depressing thing we find in a fucking combat zone." He snapped before spitting on the road, readjusting his gear, and continuing the patrol.

"They know we're here," He called to them, "Move your asses."

Nines took one last look at the bus, then to her team, it was clear they weren't happy with Owen's careless disregard for the dead, but MP-40 seemed to take it especially hard.

"Are you okay?" Nines asked her friend.

MP-40 wiped her eyes, gripped her subgun, and nodded, "Ja, I'll be alright," she said and smiled at Nines, "Danke."

Nines gave her a quick squeeze on the shoulder and motioned for everyone to follow her.

Once they were up and moving, Nines jogged to catch up with Owen.

"If I may, Commander, I want to talk about-"

Owen held up a hand.

"What the hell are those?" He asked before he raised his rifle and viewed them through his ELCAN, "Looks like they have some pretty impressive stab sticks." He pointed out in amusement.

Nines turned towards what he was aiming at and saw dozens of figures sprinting towards them, jumping over debris and vehicles with ease. Nines noticed that each figure indeed held a long blade in each hand.

"Brutes." Freya stated calmly, then she froze and gazed into the distance.

"What's up?" Owen asked.

"I'm picking up a weak Griffin signal." She told him.

"Prepare for contact!" Nines yelled and got her team into a quick defensive posture.

Freya turned back to look at him.

"Go check it out, do what you need to do to get back here safely." He told her.

She nodded and took off in a flash.

The team took up positions behind cover and waited. The only sound Owen could hear was the sound of the approaching enemy.

"Hold fire until I give the signal." Owen said as he watched the range of the enemy rapidly close through his rifle sights.

300 yards.

200 yards.

175. 170. 160. 150.

"Light em up!" Owen gave the order and the Misfits opened fire.

The first wave of Brutes folded under the wave of incoming fire, tripping a few of their comrades up, but not enough to slow the tide. Owen pulled his M79 out of its holster and thumbed the barrel release.

"K11, HE round left side of the road 75 yards out, on my mark," He dropped a round in and snapped the breech closed.

"Air burst ready!" K11 called.

Owen aimed his launcher, "Mark!"

With two thumps, the grenades detonated opposite each other just behind the front line of charging brutes.

"Keep em coming!" He yelled and fired another grenade.

Owen reloaded the sawn off M79, holstered it, and swapped to his rifle. K11 launched grenade after grenade in pure glee. Uzi and MP-40 supplemented with their thrown grenades.

"Contacts now thirty yards and closing fast!" Nines called.

Owen was firing so fast, his bursts sounded like full auto fire. Each burst dropped an enemy, but every time a Brute fell, it seemed that two more would take its place. The wave slowed, but still sprinted forward.

"Get ready for close quarters!" M500 yelled happily.

Owen snorted in amusement as he reloaded.

A few seconds later, her shotgun roared and Uzi's weapon went cyclic. Both weapons clicked dry, then MP-40 and K11 took up the slack. MP-40 fired point blank into a group of Brutes that had targeted her, while K11 finally switched to 5.56, and dropped three Brutes with successive coreshots.

"Sangvis in the wire!" Someone yelled jokingly, he realized it was him.

Owen kept up a barrage of accurate fire until one took a swipe at his arm. He slammed the butt of his rifle into the face of the Brute, stunning it. He snatched one of the blades from the Sangvis unit's hand and drove it through her chest. He raised a boot and kicked the Brute to the ground, pulling the blade free.

Another Brute charged and he barely had enough time to bring his rifle up and fire two quick bursts from the hip. The bolt locked back and the Brute fell. Another charged him, blades up.

"Fuckin hell!" He yelled in annoyance as he let the rifle hang from its sling.

Owen pulled his pistol with his left hand and shot the Brute repeatedly in the face. Another Brute struck his pistol with the hilt of her blade knocking the weapon to the ground. The Brute then brought her second blade down trying to cleave Owen's head in two. He brought his own blade up to block and was knocked onto his back. The Brute stared at him through her visor as she kept pressing down.

"You're a whore." Owen grunted to her as they struggled.

"Whoa- Hold on Commander!" M500's voice called out and her shield slammed into the side of the Brute's, head sending her flying.

The Brute struggled to get back to her feet, but Uzi kicked her in the face and fired full auto into her visor.

"Now who's the brainlet!" She cheered.

Owen made a note not to insult her intelligence.

"You owe us one!" M500 told Owen happily as she helped haul him to his feet, her tail swishing excitedly.

"Deal!" Owen said, M500s good mood lifting his own spirits.

She laughed merrily as she yanked one off of Nines, threw it on the ground, pressed the barrel of her shotgun into the Brute's chest, and fired. The Sangvis doll jerked once and fell limp.

Another Brute leapt through the air, blades swinging. M500 yelped and brought her shield to the front. Nines yelled something in Russian, grabbed the Brute by the hair and yanked backwards. The Brute's head snapped back and fell to the earth, Nines fired once, killing the enemy doll, snapped her rifle up, and dropped five more in rapid succession. As she reloaded, another Brute charged, but was stopped by a burst from MP-40.

"Spasibo!" Nines called out as she finished her reload and continued firing.

MP-40 waved to Nines before picking another target and firing.

MP-40 and K11 had stacked up so many bodies, they were able to use the pile as a barrier, one would duck behind the pile of dead dolls to reload while the other provided covering fire.

It was a good system until K11's gun jammed.

"Jigeum-eun andwae ssibalnyeon-a!" She yelled furiously as she worked to clear the jam.

"Reloading!" MP-40 called out as the Brutes pushed their advantage.

"Friendlies approaching from the east." Freya's voice came through the comms clear and calm.

The boom of a large caliber rifle sounded over the battle in rapid succession and Brutes started dropping like flies. Then Freya's shotgun roared to life.

The battle was over a few seconds later.

Owen checked his watch and saw that whole thing had only lasted less than ten minutes total.

"Check your ammo, reload your weapons, and stay ready for another charge!" Nines commanded her team as Owen walked over to meet Freya, who had returned with a new face in tow.

"Thanks for the dramatic save," Owen said with a grin before he turned to the newcomer, "I'm assuming you were the one with the rifle?"

The new doll who cradled her M14 in front of her nodded wearily, her gold eyes looking at him with distrust, "We were."

"We?" Owen turned to Freya, "There were others?" He asked.

Freya shook her head, "M14 apparently refers to herself in the plural."

M14 nodded, "We do," She explained, "So we never forget our companions."

Owen nodded slowly, "O-okay."

M14 allowed herself a small smile, "We understand that it doesn't make much sense, but that's alright."

"Fair enough." Owen said before pointing to her uniform, "Are you Griffin?"

M14 nodded.

"Were you with the Commander in training?" He asked.

"We were," M14 said as she lifted the bottom of her shirt to show a large hole in her midsection, "But we were thrown off from the helicopter after it was hit, we had just got done repairing ourselves when Miss Freya showed up."

"It should be noted that M14 had dispatched a large number of Sangvis troops before I showed up." Freya informed him.

"Impressive," Owen said with a nod, "Do you know what happened to the rest of your team?"

M14 nodded sadly, "We were in radio contact with them not too long ago, they were engaged with two ringleaders and were trying to get in touch with our Commander for a rescue."

"That's why we're here." Owen explained, "Commander Gentiane sent me here to help your Commander."

For the first time, M14's eyes lit up, "Commander Gentiane sent you?"

Owen nodded.

"That's great, we really like her, so you must not be bad either!" She said with a self satisfied nod, "Let's go!"

With that M14 took off and Owen traded a confused shrug with Nines and the Misfits ran to keep up.