Girl's Frontline: Field Agent

by Johnny Wycliffe

Sometimes, life comes at you like an explosion through the storefront. Hadwin finds this out the hard way, thrown into a battlefield of robots and cyborgs. Primary characters are Team 404, Anti-Rain, and DEFY characters with a few others thrown in for good measure.

22. Chapter 22: Running Around in Circles

Beep. Beep. Beep.

I wring my hands together. Mind's going a mile a minute.

Beep. Beep. Beep.

"What do you mean you can't wake her up?" A voice filled with anger fills the waiting room.

Beep. Beep. Beep.

G36 kneels next to the hospital bed. For once, I'm not occupying it.

Beep. Beep. Beep.

The sound of the heartbeat monitor continues uninterrupted, a steady tick announcing that, despite not waking up…

Commander Gentaine is alive.

It's 0045, Thursday 'morning'. The doctors have been working on Commander Gentaine for the past three or four hours, and she's finally stable enough the doctors are sure she's going to pull through.

The other commanders and I are in the room, with the watchful eye of M4A1 making sure we're all safe.

Well, safe and not causing any more chaos. Not killing anyone else. I found I wasn't able to interact with any of them in a normal manner. One of them had just been trying to kill me, in all likelihood. Instead, I had spent the time stuck in the room with the three tucked in a corner, contemplating the device in my hands as Commander Gentiane's life was in the hands of the surgeons.

Something happened to Aleah.

I don't understand what, but she refuses to respond to me. I can still access Level 2, so she's clearly still there, but I can't actually get her to respond. I can't see her either.

So now I hold the headset in my hands, staring at the lights on the side of the cube, hoping to be able to magically deduce what the pattern of blinking lights means.

Eventually, I notice my hands are shaking. Just another symptom of my thoughts of the past hour.

I'm not cut out for this at all.

Yeah, that really shouldn't be news, but… the last few days have really driven it home. I've lost a hand and a foot, probably got someone erased, almost got Commander Gentiane killed…

What's worse is, I know that Commander Gentiane wasn't the target. According to the doctor, her entry wound was in her back, pointed down through her back. It's never good to be shot with a gun, but when the wound seems perfectly placed to miss her spine and any critical organs, it starts to feel a bit suspicious with how lucky she had been.

And given the words that only I heard in the simulator room, I'm likely the primary target.

I don't really understand why, but that means that it's my fault P90 was erased, that SV was almost erased, that Commander Gentaine's here. Possibly also the reason that Aleah's dead, depending on… on if I can try to restore her or something.

During the wait, I also contemplated how many dolls have… 'attached' themselves to me. Even those that don't personally know me seem willing to follow me for no good reason.

If this keeps up…

Commander Gentiane's words from yesterday come back to me again. "You could get people killed. You could lose more dolls unnecessarily."

Considering all I've accomplished since I joined Griffin, maybe I should just quit while I'm ahead.

RO's voice rings through my mind. "So you're gonna quit, just like that?"

"What choice do I have?" I mutter back, not caring that this is clearly an auditory hallucination. RO's not in the room, and the Linker is in my hands.

"You always have a choice."

"The choice is to stay here and keep getting the dolls killed, perhaps even the Commander, or to go back home and try to pretend none of this ever happened." I mutter once again.

"Oh, so you're letting us die on purpose?"

I look up. That wasn't inside my head-

UMP 9 is leaning over me, a fairly unimpressed expression on her face.

"N-no. I-"

"Save it." She sighs heavily. "M4, 45-nee told me she needs the Field Agent."

"Hold it." Commander Mikhail stands up. "Why does he need to leave?"

"None of your business." 9 glances his way. "It's important, though."

"If he's allowed to go, does that mean we are too?" Commander Ricardo asks. "After all, there's a reason none of us have been able to leave yet."

An uncomfortable silence descends on the room.

"9, you may take the Field Agent with you. However, you're not to let him out of your sight." M4 orders. "I will keep watch over these three."

"Don't let him out of my sight, huh?" 9 grins nastily, but M4 nods.

"If he goes to the bathroom, you should probably be in the stall with him." M4's eyes are just as cold as the last few times I had met them in the past few hours. "We won't be losing anyone tonight."

"...Understood." 9 grabs my arm and yanks me to my feet. "Come on."

I follow her, my arms and legs feeling even more sluggish than normal.

Once the door closes outside, 9 rounds on me, eyes glowing brightly in the near perfect darkness. "So."

I drop my gaze to the Linker in my hands, the LEDs on the cube blinking slowly, vibrating slightly in my still shaking hands.

"You wanna tell me what you're talking to yourself about back in there?"

"...I'm gonna get someone killed." I eventually spit out. "I can't deal with this. First P90, then SV almost died, next Commander Gentaine, and now Aleah-"

"Aleah? You mean that neural cloud that's been helping you with Level 2?"

I nod, hands once again playing with the Linker and the core. I dare not remove it, in case the Linker is somehow keeping her alive like life support, but…

"What makes you think she's dead?"

"She won't talk to me, and she doesn't appear when I go to Level 2."

"But you can still go to Level 2?"

I nod.

"...Yeah, that makes no sense." 9 sighs and turns, grabbing my forearm once more. "Hadwin, I'm gonna be real with you. You've been really, really weird ever since that mansion job. Like, one moment you're freaking out over seeing the new P90, then the next you get your foot blown off without seeming to care."

"I… ah, I think the doctor said it might be because I'm not eating right." I shrug uncomfortably. "I wasn't exactly paying attention to him." Not to mention S.A.T. was the one that brought it up to me later...

"So you need to eat more?"

"That's… not exactly-"

"Well, I'm sure I can get 416 to grab you something." 9 shrugs. "In the meantime, we need you to focus."

"9, I'm not… I'm not cut out for this."

She snorts. "What, it took you this long to figure that out?"

"I dunno. I guess I always thought that I was at least helping, but now…"

"People die all the time." Her tone grows hard. "Unless you're some sort of divine being that can be everywhere at once, you're not responsible."

"But-"

"Look, you're afraid we're all going to die, right?" She stops and once more turns to me.

"...Yes."

"Then figure out what this traitor is doing and who they are so nobody else dies. If you stop now, they win and P90's death is in vain." Her eyes narrow. "You lost your spine real fast. Where's all the talk of keeping us safe? Fail once and suddenly you're worthless?"

"I-"

"I'm not completely sure what 45-nee sees in you." She glares at me. "She's trying to hide it for whatever reason, possibly to protect herself, but it's really obvious. If you continue being such a verdammter vollidiot and hurt her, I'll gut you myself."

I can feel my expression harden. "I'm never going to hurt 45. I'd rather throw myself in front of a Hydra with only a knife."

Wait, did I just admit that out loud? I still don't know if she's the one-

A grin slowly splits 9's face. "See? There's the Hadwin we all know. Come on, we've got a long night in front of us."

I give her a contemplating look, but decide to walk a bit distance in silence.

9's not dumb, even if she seems to enjoying putting on airs that make it seem like she is. She's pretty fiercely protective of her family too.

"...You're a good person, 9."

"I wouldn't say that." She looks back at me with a mischievous glint. "9 may be a good girl, but Reina isn't, and I haven't entirely left her behind."

"I see." I fall in step beside her. "Thanks for setting my head straight."

"Anytime, Commander. Now, let's go see your lover."

I open my mouth to protest, but 9's already skipping away laughing to herself. I guess I'll have to follow her.

"...I don't think Reina left at all." I mutter to myself ruefully. "You just learned to hide her better."

---

Walking into the garage, I see first-hand the damage caused Monday night, just over two full days ago.

There's yellow caution tape stretched all around, guiding 9 and my path around fallen chunks of ceiling, cracks in the floor, and other debris blocking the path. Some of the damage from the fighting seems to have taken out the electricity to the large concrete structure, so I'm forced to slip the Linker on. It automatically switches to night vision mode as I mentally ask for it, and once more, I get a pang of dread thinking about Aleah.

9 keeps pressing forwards however and I'm not given too long to dwell on my thoughts. She leads me through the concrete maze to a smallish clearing in the heart of the second floor of the garage, lit faintly by some portable lights.

There, I'm greeted by about fifteen dolls turning my way, and I freeze up at the quantity of gazes looking my way. The goggles wash out under the amount of infrared light coming from those eyes and I have to wait for it to adjust before I can start to make out faces.

The rest of 404 is here, as was expected, but the rest of the party is an eclectic mix. Sop, 15, and RO are chatting together in a corner. S.A.T., Ithaca, and AEK are similarly discussing something while leaning against some of the rubble. Sitting on a sheet in the center of the room, NTW-20, M200, and Tokarev sit with the doll with cat ears I'd helped revive yesterday. A glow of pink-red from behind me alerts me to the presence of AK-12 and AN-94, who push themselves off the wall and join the main circle of dolls.

Including 9, that's fifteen of them.

9 joins her team as RO steps away from her teammates and clears her throat. "Field Agent Hadwin Galanis."

Something about her tone makes me stand up straight. "Y-yes?"

RO pulls out a clear plastic bag with a pistol inside of it. "Do you recognize this?"

I frown and lean in to see it better, removing my goggles and squinting in the dim light. "...It's a pistol. And it's got some blood on it." I shudder. "Is that-?"

"It's the weapon used to attack Commander Gentiane." RO stares straight into my eyes. "It's your gun."

"Eh?" I instinctively slap my chest, but my tac vest isn't on my body and neither is my pistol. Looking closer, the gun certainly looks like the same model.

Then, the implication hits me. "W-what?"

Behind me, 9's hands land on my shoulders, her doll strength able to hold me in place. There will be no running.

"Yes. Your gun was used to wound Commander Gentiane."

AK-12 steps up next to RO. "I verified that the only set of fingerprints on the gun were yours, Field Agent."

45 remains off to the side, but speaks up. "It was found and recovered by RO from right next to the Commander. We're going to have to wait for confirmation, but the bullet recovered from her sure seems to match the gun."

"But…" I blink at them. "It can't have been me! I was in a simulation the entire time!"

"According to the server logs, you were the first one to disconnect by about five minutes." RO states. "You disconnected immediately after you were killed in-simulation."

"Y-yeah, but that was…" I frown. "I don't know why I did. It wasn't on purpose. Aleah was having a hard time maintaining my connection to the server."

"Aleah?" NTW's passive face tilts to the side in confusion.

"The, um, neural cloud that's been helping me with logging into Level 2 and with the exo suit." My hands reach up to touch the cube on the Linker sitting on my shoulders. "Something forced her out."

"We'll get word from her later." AK-12 states, her eyes opening fully. "Right now, I want you to tell me what happened when you woke up."

"W-well… I was pinned in place by Ithaca." I lick my lips nervously. "She was covering me from the others in the building, the two that were looking for me."

"There's no record of these other two." 45 states, joining the other two leaders in the center. "In fact, every single security feature of that building went down as soon as you removed yourself from the simulation."

"But…" My mind starts to race wildly. "But, Ithaca and S.A.T.-!"

"This traitor we've been hunting," RO interrupts me calmly. "has already demonstrated an ability to alter T-doll memories. Now, humans are unlikely to be able to do that alone, so it's likely you had help from Aleah."

I sag a little under 9's grip.

"We need to question her anyway." 15's eyes are as cold as M4's. "Bring her out and we'll get her version of the story."

"...About that." I reach up to pull the Linker off and 9 relaxes her grip just enough for me to get it off before locking me back into place. "She won't talk to me."

A pause.

"Why not?" RO asks.

"I don't know. After I got kicked from the simulation, she stopped talking to me." I shake my head. "I didn't remove her core from the Linker in case-" AN-94 steps up and grabs the Linker, examining it as my stomach lurches into my throat. "Hey, be careful with her!"

Sop wanders over and starts examining it too, before she unceremoniously pulls the core out of the Linker without even switching it off first.

My heart sinks, but none of the other dolls seem worried. Sop places the core into a cradle and several of the arrayed dolls' eyes go blank as they go to Level 2.

RO's mismatched pair of eyes continue to stare straight at me, unblinking. "While we see what we can find out from her, why don't you explain exactly what happened to you in that Paradeus base when you were working with Sangvis?"

My panic turns to confusion. "The Paradeus base…?" I blink. "Oh, when I met Anisim."

"Yes. That." AK-12's eyes remain open and she stands perfectly still. "Please explain exactly what happened, in detail."

For the next few minutes, I carefully recall every detail of that encounter for all to hear. RO and AK-12 occasionally have questions, and I do my best to answer. Unfortunately, I was drugged up for a good portion of that. In fact, Anisim had injected the drugs himself, telling me what they did…

"-which actually might have been something else entirely." RO finishes the thought. "Field Agent, I'm sure that by now you've surmised that the purpose of this meeting is to see if you're the traitor." She holds up a hand before I can say anything. "Protesting your innocence isn't going to mean much right now. Even assuming you've been telling us the truth, we can't be sure your memories haven't been tampered with. Paradeus has some interesting drugs, as we've come to find out."

I leave my mouth open, my brain scrambling to think of a counter to her words, but… Anisim pumped me full of stuff that threw me off for a few hours. I have no idea what he did to me at that time.

"After your contact with Anisim, that's when the odd events started to happen." AK-12 picks up the thread. "P90 started to have problems with her projector matrix that couldn't be solved no matter how many times she went to the repair bay."

"Instead of letting 404 leave the vault with the diamond key, you told them to put it back, where Anisim recovered it and then presumably escaped with it." RO states.

I collapse to the floor. "But… but…" I blink up at the three dolls in the center. "You think he can control my memories?"

"It's a possibility." 45 shrugs. "One we're going to figure out here and now."

"How?" I try to get to my feet in desperation, but 9's hands sit me back down hard. "Please…" I can feel tears welling up in my eyes. "Please tell me I didn't kill P90 or Aleah."

AK-12 looks at RO, who nods.

"AN-94, give me the Linker back." RO orders. AN-94 hands the device back, and RO steps right up to me. "I'm going to connect to you on Level 2, ask you questions, and read your thoughts as you answer. As long as you consent to this, we'll begin immediately."

I silently hold my hands out for the Linker. The thought that I could unknowingly be the traitor sends shivers down my spine. If I am… it's best to know now than find out later after I get someone killed. Again.

RO plugs herself into the Linker and the real world fades away.

Instead of the typical world around me in Level 2, RO's mindspace is mostly white, with a light gray grid on the floor to provide a sense of scale and position. Aside from the seemingly endless room, there's just me and her.

"...What are you doing?" She asks hotly after a few seconds.

"Huh?"

"Stop resisting my probes." Her eyes narrow. "You agreed to this."

"I-I can't resist probes!" I protest. "You were there when I was trying to defend against AN-94!"

"Well, you're certainly doing it now. If you don't stop, we can just say that's proof of your involvement-"

I close my eyes and try desperately to feel out for RO's probes and try to accept them. I eventually feel something, and I tell myself sternly to let her in.

Just. Let. Her. In.

I open my eyes and RO nods. "Okay, I'm going to have you explain yourself once more."

I once more go through my explanation of when I was captured by Paradeus, before proceeding to my thoughts during the mansion party and then the night attack on the KCCO camp, finally wrapping it up with a scattering of the more recent events.

Once RO is satisfied, she tells me to disconnect and then we'll talk on the outside.

I linger for a moment, closing my eyes and feeling the air around me. RO's probes had felt so weak compared to AN-94's, but I had felt something else while we were talking. Somehow, it feels like I'm not alone, even in this empty space. A vaguely comforting presence, like a mother holding a child in her arms… or something poetic like that.

"Hello?"

I receive no answer.

Shaking my head, I tell myself to log off, and in the real world, I open my eyes back up.

It takes me a good few seconds to get my bearings, as during the time I was out, the entire attitude of the room has shifted.

RO offers a hand to me. "Congratulations, Hadwin. You've been cleared of all suspicion." A rare smile forms across her face.

I almost fall back to the floor in relief, the exhaustion of being tense for the past few hours suddenly hits me like a rock as the panic leaves me.

"Haddy's clear?" Sop's ears perk up. "So, we can work with him again?"

"Yes." RO nods.

"Yay!" Sop lunges and tackles me off my feet. "I knew you were not a traitor! Even if you use an M16 and drink Jack and act all mature and-"

AK-12's eyes close as RO pulls Sop off of me.

I climb to my feet and realize that all of the tension has left the room. Tension I hadn't really appreciated when 9 brought me in.

AN-94 walks over, handing me a datapad, which I accept.

A face appears on it and a voice emanates from it. "Hello, Commander."

It takes me a second to realize that I'm talking to Aleah. Instead of her mannequin appearance, she's adopted the straight pink hair and red eyes of the doll frame she asked me to get for her. The datapad has had a receptacle grafted on the back in typical Sop fashion to accept Aleah's core.

"You're okay." I sigh. "That's great. I was worried I accidentally got you killed."

"All systems functioning normally." She states.

"Did you tell them what happened?"

"Yes I did. I am also told that, with minor inconsistencies, our stories match. We have yet to determine the cause of our disconnection from the simulations server, but we can begin investigating that tomorrow."

"Well, I hate to rain on everyone's parade." 45 suddenly speaks up. "But we're not done here."

"Right." RO's face goes back to serious. "We need to discuss-"

"No." 45 cuts RO off, shaking her head. "First we need to evaluate the last suspect."

"The last...?" RO's face scrunches in confusion.

AK-12 turns to the smaller doll. "The last of the four suspects was Hadwin."

"There's five suspects." 45 states calmly.

"And you tell us that now?" RO's hackles raise. "What have you been doing-"

45 looks at me, and her face grows soft for a fraction of a second. I realize what she means-

"It's her." I state aloud. "She's the fifth suspect."

Silence.

"What do you mean?" RO demands.

I sigh, all the happy feelings fading away as fast as they had come. "UMP 45 is in the unique position of not only openly having all of the skills needed to pull off every one of the traitor's stunts, but she's also been given near unlimited access to most of the data on base, if I remember correctly."

45 nods in confirmation.

9 grabs my collar. "Hey! I thought you said-" She snarls, but 45 cuts her off.

"He's right 9. Stand down."

"But-"

"Abwarten, 9."

9 lets go of my collar, but remains glaring at me.

"Why weren't we informed of this?" RO crosses her arms and glares at 45.

"What would you do about it if I did?" 45 shrugs. "I can erase your memories. Maybe I already told you about it several times, but deleted it before you could get too close to the truth."

Another silence.

"45-nee." 9 whines. "You're not the traitor though!"

"How can you be sure?" 45's eyebrow raises. "Hadwin's right. I'm the perfect candidate to be the traitor, and if I wasn't put in charge of the investigation by Commander Gentaine herself, I'd expect to have been locked up at the start of this whole mess."

"How are you going to prove your innocence then?" NTW asks. "If you can just wipe all of our memories, then what's the point?"

45 points to me. "If he's clear, he can be the judge. I can't alter a human's memories after all."

Every eye in the room looks my way once again.

I lick my lips again, noticing how chapped they are. How do I prove 45's innocence? Or, disprove it? What can I do…

I close my eyes and rub my temples. "Okay, give me a few seconds to think."

Is there any way to conclusively prove one way or the other?

The problem is that she's never been the direct victim of one of the suspected Paradeus attacks.

Sure, she's helped recover from some of them, but she could've only deleted important bits. She was first on the scene with SV-98 and she couldn't save the morning's data. She also is in charge of protecting the Project Theta files, which have lost some data due to constant erasures. She's the most suspicious by far, her abilities are a perfect match for her to be the culprit. She's always out of sight when everything goes to shit.

But, she pulled me out of the fire during the mansion job. It would have been so easy to leave me to die, and if that was her goal…

"...She'd have offed me a while ago if that was her goal." I mutter to myself. "And that's not what she's about."

"Hadwin?" RO raises an eyebrow.

"I trust her." I mentally cross out her name from the list of suspects. "It's not her."

"Heh." 45 barks out a hollow laugh. "That's not proof."

I look her straight in the eye. "I have all the proof I need. It's not 45."

"Well, that's that then!" 9 sighs. "God, pick a better time and place, 45-nee."

45 keeps her frown for a second before erasing the expression with her usual one. "Sorry." She scruffs 9's hair. "Force of habit."

"Next time, cut down on the drama." RO pinches the bridge of her nose. "No wonder she didn't want to participate in the proceeding on dealing with you, Hadwin. Had to keep this last heart attack ready."

"Yeah, I guess." I feel myself relaxing once more, though not as much as earlier, my brain now waiting for the next big surprise. "What's the doll equivalent of a heart attack?"

"Processor lockup." She shakes her head. "In any case, we've got more business to attend to, but maybe let's relax for a few minutes before then."

"Sounds good." The tension is once more leaking out of the room. "RO?"

"Yeah?"

"Thank you for clearing me. I'm glad you're willing to work with me."

She turns away from me. "It's not an issue, Hadwin. We're comrades, after all."

I tap her shoulder with my hand and turn back to the sheet laid on the ground.

Looks like S.A.T.'s been in the kitchen again, judging by the food being spread out.

I sit down next to the Italian doll. "Planning a party?"

"Well, I knew you were innocent, so I decided to make some snacks for once we were done with this whole mess."

"I see."

15 plops down on my other side, and I see 416 come to a stop in front of me. I decide not to look up to see the two glaring at each other even if I'm fairly sure that's what's happening.

All of the rest of the dolls find a place on the mat, and soon I find myself largely surrounded by chatting dolls and food.

I might've been joking, but it's really starting to feel like a party here.

I turn to 15 and realize that 416 had decided if she can't have the seat right next to me, she's going to sit right next to 15, facing towards me. They're both loading up plates and still glaring at each other. "So… why are we having this meeting inside the destroyed garage and not, say, in the dorms?" I ask.

"With the electricity out and the thick concrete, this is probably the most disconnected place on base." 15 says, putting a third sandwich on her plate.

"Perfect place to avoid incoming or outgoing signals." 416 elaborates. "Which, given the nature of-"

"Hey Hadwin!" AEK leans into sight. "Hand me the tablet with Aleah on it! I wanna talk to her!"

I pass the tablet over after checking with the doll on the screen and turn back to 416 expectantly.

She frowns at AEK, but continues speaking. "-given the nature of tonight's discussions, it seemed a prudent precaution."

"Huh." I shiver a bit in the cold. "Well, I can certainly say that nobody in their right mind would be hanging around here for fun."

"Aw, what are you saying?" 45's voice comes from directly behind me. She places a hand on either shoulder. "If we're not in our right minds, then what's the point of our meeting in the first place?"

I shrug, causing her to laugh. A light laugh. It seems like I'm not the only one to notice 45's unusual cheeriness, and I can see 9's face twist into an odd expression at the sound.

I could get used to this unburdened laugh, I think.

AK-12 suddenly sits down in front of me. "So, Hadwin."

"Yes?" I take a bite of a sandwich from the plate that had mysteriously appeared in front of me, fully loaded. I suspect S.A.T.'s handiwork.

"Now that you're clear of all charges, what's next on the agenda?"

"Find out who shot Commander Gentiane." I meet her closed eyes. "And then make them regret it."

"Speaking of, I asked Ribey and she said Commander Gentaine's stable for now." M200 says around a mouthful of sandwich. "We're not sure when she'll wake up, but in the meantime we can assume she's going to be alright."

I let out a sigh I didn't realize I was holding. That's one less person I got killed. I once more scan around the impromptu room, surrounded on all sides by concrete chunks and chatting dolls. It's kind of nice to be surrounded by friends. Allies.

RO gets up and claps her hands. "Alright, last order of business. Hadwin?"

"Yeah?" I look up from my plate.

"Remember when I told you I'd gather those who are willing to back you?"

I remember her saying something like that the day I learned P90 died. "Yeah."

"This is it." She gestures around the room. "With the exceptions of 404 who are impossible to keep out-" 45 and 9 grin, 416 just turns up her nose. "-I've personally determined that you can trust everyone here. I'm still trying to probe some others carefully without giving anything away, but for now, your guard is going to be made up from those in here."

"...Guard?"

She nods. "Two dolls at all times. Since there were two attempts on your life in the past 24 hours, it's prudent for you to have a guard. Normally you'd have an adjutant to assist with that, but seeing as we all have other duties, we've set up a schedule that doesn't interfere with our other duties."

"...Surely that's overkill?"

"You walked right up to a bomb." Ithaca reminds me gently. "I'm thinking two may not be enough."

Several of the dolls nod in agreement.

"Fine." I cross my arms. "A guard. Do I wait for them to show up at my door in the morning?"

A pause.

"No, I meant at all times." RO continues after a bit. "That includes when sleeping."

9's wicked grin returns. "So, this is just an excuse to get into Haddy's bed?"

"No." RO denies even as 416 turns to her teammate and replies "Yes."

I pinch the bridge of my nose. "Okay, fine. So if I said I wanted to go to bed right now…?"

"I'm not allowed to let him out of my sight." 9 chirps. "M4A1's orders."

"Since when do you listen to her?" 416 snorts.

"I volunteer." 15 raises her hand.

"Didn't you already get to sleep with him?" Sop asks curiously. "I thought it would be someone else's turn."

Apparently, this was news to several of the other dolls, judging by the looks 15 and I are getting.

"It's- It's not like that!" 15 snaps, convincing absolutely nobody.

Oh, this is just fantastic.

I glance at my phone, noting it's already past 0200. If I want to get any sleep, we're going to need to end this soon.

"Ah…" I draw attention my way. "Let's go with 45 and 9 for now."

"Eh?" 416 blinks, honestly surprised.

"I need to talk to them and also clear myself with M4A1 so she doesn't do anything drastic." I clarify to the room at large before a yawn overtakes me. "You can all sort yourselves out from tomorrow onwards."

There's nods all around. I thank S.A.T. for the food, grab Aleah's tablet, and gesture for the UMP twins to follow me out of the garage.

I have to put on the Linker again for night vision, and briefly wonder again how I can use it so easily without Aleah's assistance…

Eh, probably just got used to it like they said I would.

"So, where's M4?" 45 asks.

"Still guarding Commander Gentaine, I assume." I shrug. "Actually, we should head there first. M4A1 might want me to sit in the waiting room instead of going to my own room to sleep."

"She's becoming paranoid." 9 observes.

"Well, she's very attached to Commander Gentiane." 45 muses. "I would probably do the same for my Commander."

"So, Hadwin then?" 9 teases.

"Yes." 45 admits out loud.

I glance her way, and realize that her posture is the most relaxed I've ever seen, a slight smile gracing her lips. This seems to throw 9 off as well, as she stops teasing her sister.

Instead, she turns to me. "What was it you needed to talk to us about, anyway?"

"I wanted to talk about me getting disconnected from the sim server." I turn to 45. "Aleah wasn't able to stop whatever happened from disconnecting me."

"Affirmative." Aleah chimes in from her datapad. "It felt like the Field Agent was suddenly learning how to defend himself from cyberattacks and was indiscriminately applying it in all directions, cutting off my access and his own access to the server."

"Hmm." 45 purses her lips. "I'll have to look into the logs on the simulator."

"Tomorrow?"

"Tomorrow."

I grip the handle to the infirmary. "Okay, for now, let's just focus on convincing M4A1 I'm not a threat and I can go to bed."

---

Of course, it didn't go so well.

"No." M4A1's glare meets 45's as the two stare at each other across the room. 9 is standing to my side, and the other three commanders are still seated behind M4A1, sleeping in chairs that had been provided earlier by staff.

"Oh?" 45's earlier relaxedness is gone, replaced by her typical holier-than-thou attitude, complete with the snide smile. "Seeing as I'm in charge of the investigation, I think it should be alright."

M4 sighs. "Look, Commander Gentaine gave me strict orders on what to do if she was indisposed. Part of those orders was to keep an eye on all the others."

"Really. So you're just going to keep everyone here?"

I tap 45 on her shoulder. "Don't worry about it, I'll find a chair to sleep on."

She glances back up at me. "...If you're sure."

I nod. "It's not worth fighting over and I'm already tired enough to pass out standing up." my sentence is punctuated by a large yawn. "So, don't worry about me."

9 crosses her arms and steps a few steps up to come level with 45 and me. "If you're that worried, why don't you just throw all of them in cells?" She shrugs. "Seems easier than trying to maintain a 24/7 watch on them."

I resist the urge to glare at the younger twin, but she continues as if she's oblivious to my look.

"It's not like you can watch all of them at once anyway. You should just delegate it and be done with it."

I'd agree, but 9 just suggested sticking me in a cell block, so I'll refrain.

"You have a point." M4 looks back at the sleeping commanders. "Miss 45, do you have all of their rooms bugged?"

"Ja. Would you like access to the cameras?"

"Affirmative. I suppose that I can watch them remotely. We'll just have to put them under house arrest for the moment." She hesitates. "Well… we need to keep an eye on them at all times. I don't think I can order the other commanders to remain in their rooms."

"Sooooo…" I glance back and forth between them. "I'm supposed to go to my room and stay there?"

"Looks like it." 9 slugs my shoulder. "Man, I wish I could spend my days relaxing and doing nothing."

"Uh huh." I yawn again. "I just want some sleep."

45 raises a finger like she just remembered something. "Ah, can we make it so 9 and I can take turns watching Hadwin? She said that you told her not to let him out of her sight."

M4 sighs again. "Yes, of course. You know why I'm doing this, so just… be careful."

"If it's not too much trouble, keep me updated on Commander Gentiane's condition." I hesitate, before standing up straight and throwing up a salute. "Thanks for your work, M4."

Her eyes flick to mine and for the first time since Commander Gentaine got wounded, they're not glaring at me. "And you for yours, Field Agent." She turns to Commander Kylie and starts gently shaking her shoulder.

Having no desire to be there when the other Commanders wake up, we leave the hospital, one of the twins on either side of me.

"That went better than expected." 9 comments.

"Ja. I was expecting her to put her foot down." 45 muses aloud. "She must've been thinking along the same line, but didn't want to admit it."

"You think so?" I turn to the leader of 404. "I think she's just really disconcerted by Gentiane's near death experience."

"You give her too much credit." 9 snorts. "She's still a T-doll. It takes more than that to shake us."

"Although…" 45's eye flicks up to meet mine. "She's always been an odd one. All of Anti-rain's always been odd, actually. From what I understand, they're some highly customized models Persica whipped up, and there's always some crisis in and around them."

"...Come to think of it, it was M4 and 15 who accidentally dragged me into this mess, wasn't it?" I blow some air out of my lips.

"Speaking of 15," 9's eyes narrow and she starts walking backwards so she can look at me while we walk. "Why was she sleeping with you in the first place?"

"Ah…" I scratch my cheek. "She asked?"

"So if I asked, you'd sleep with me?" Her grin spreads.

"Sure, if you seriously wanted me too." I yawn once again. "But since you're just trying to tease me, no."

"Oh? So you're a playboy now, are you?" 45's evil smile is out in full force, she's clearly getting a kick out of this.

Dammit, why do I like these two?

"Hey, I'm still trying to figure out how I'm supposed to feel about dating dolls." I grumble. "With how forward 15 and 416 are, I'm just trying to make sure I don't hurt anyone's feelings."

"Yeah, you still don't get T-dolls, do you?" 9 shakes her head. "We're not humans."

"I keep telling him that, but he never seems to listen." 45 holds up her hands in a 'what-can-you-do?' gesture. "So, if you had to pick between 416 and 15, who would you pick?"

I give her a quick glare. "No."

"Aw, c'mon Haddy!" 9 wheedles. "How are we supposed to figure out your type if you won't even play along?"

I pause for a minute. "Well… If you asked me my type when I was back in sector 3, I guess I liked girls that had a lot of confidence. You know, those that don't take shit from anybody."

"...You just described like three-quarters of T-dolls." 9 says flatly. "Y'know, being combat androids and all."

"Maybe that's why I like it here." I smirk. "Nobody is sitting in the corner snivelling."

"Aside from you." 45 pokes me in the ribs.

"Aouch- Yes, yes, aside from me." I roll my eyes at her jab. "I'm the least manly person here, despite being the only dude on the battlefield."

"You haven't met some of the dolls we have out here that act like princesses." 9 shrugs. "Some of them are positively dainty."

45 snorts. "For all the good that does them in combat."

"Says the doll that can't hit the broadside of a barn." 9 jabs back at her sister.

I can't help but chuckle to myself as we reach my door and I fish out the keycard, only for 9 to tap her hand to the card reader without pausing her verbal sparring match with 45.

It's crazy how blasé they are about bypassing my security.

The interior of my room is empty, and my first order of business is inserting Aleah's core into the charging station so she's free to do whatever she likes. Her new appearance flashes on the screen briefly, giving me a nod before disappearing to do her own thing. I set down the Linker beside the charger and stretch.

"Alright, I'm gonna take a shower and go to sleep." I announce. "I guess you two can have the bed-" I start, hand already grabbing the backrest of my desk chair.

"-and you'll be on the bed too." 45 states. "You, of all people, need some rest."

"Seriously?" I laugh sardonically. "I think I get more rest than a lot of others around here."

"Dolls don't need sleep." 9 reminds me. "We only sleep to sort memories and conserve power."

"And comparing yourself to the commanders that are used to doing this, it's a good way to burn out." 45 admonishes me. "9, can you go get some night clothes for both of us?"

"Eh." 9 flops over on the bed. "I'm fine the way I am."

"9." 45's voice grows sharp. "Jetzt."

"Fiiiine." 9 hops up. "Hadwin, don't you dare hurt my sister. I'll be back in a few."

I watch her go in silence, then I grab a T-shirt out of my bag and head for the bathroom.

"So."

I glance back to see 45 in the doorway. It's not exactly surprising, but…

"Whatcha need?" I ask, pulling off my jacket.

"Oh… nothing in particular." She leans on the doorframe, and I notice she's once more relaxed a bit, her movements less stiff and precise. Some part of my brain reminds me that she's in complete control of her body and relaxing is just a way of moving for her. It's not actually relieving muscle pain.

Probably.

"Alright." I start undoing the buttons on my shirt, revealing the shirt underneath. "Something on your mind?"

"I guess you could say that." She straightens up and perches on the counter, legs a few inches off the ground. "Why did you say that you trust me back in the Garage?"

"Well… I do." I shrug helplessly.

"I'm not an idiot. I know that I haven't been a trustworthy doll, not since… well. I'm not someone you should trust so easily."

"Easily?" I bark out a laugh. "It's not easy."

"Then you should have told them not to trust me." She shakes her head.

"Eh. You've saved my life a whole bunch at this point."

"I was being paid too, if you recall."

I'm down to my undershirt and boxers as I glance back at her. "Alright, but who paid you to kiss me?"

"Emotional manipulation is a tool of the trade." She says, but her legs stop swinging back and forth. "I could have been doing it to confuse you."

"Well then, it worked." I yawn yet again. "I've been super confused since I realized I had a few dolls that actually seemed genuinely interested in me. Though-" I rub my temples. "-I guess they could all be trying to trick me."

"Exactly."

"Nah, that's just too weird." I shake my head. "I don't think 416 is really up for pretending like that. The only one I think would be doing that is 9." I muse aloud. "And as far as you go, I decided I'll take whatever you give me and I'll do my best to return the favor."

She doesn't respond, instead fiddling around with a core-

"Er, who is that?" I point to the cube she's absentmindedly handling.

"Hmm?" She seems to come out of a daze. "Oh, this? Nobody."

"You just carry around spare cores with you?" I raise an eyebrow.

"Nein. Too expensive. Commander Gentiane gives us cores to pay us sometimes when actual cash is in low supply." She pockets the core. "At the beginning, it was kind of useful, but now it's a pain to get them sold on the black market, especially when we're on the run with the person who keeps using them as payment."

"Huh." I lean on the counter. "Can you use them as backups?"

"No. Well, some of us can, though it's a pain in the ass to do." She looks at the core ruefully. "I'm not able to."

"...Is your neural cloud alright? Or, are you like the Anti-Rain girls?"

"Neither." She gives me a twisted half smirk, full of regret. "The problem is that this is an IOP core."

"Okay?" I blink.

"...I'm not an IOP doll." She eventually gets out. "I'm actually a Sangvis DSI-8."

"...Okay?"

She laughs quietly. "DSI-8's are the cutting edge in hacking hardware, disguised to look like humans. Or, at least to look like IOP dolls. You'll note I'm not monochrome like Architect or Gager."

Now that she mentions it… "So, Sangvis cores aren't compatible?"

"Sangvis units don't have cores in the same way. We're built to be able to communicate more efficiently and have less of a personality. Well, usually." Her words turn bitter. "I'm the useless one of the lot, unable to fire straight."

"That may be so, but you're certainly the best hacker I know." I retort. "And… uh, do you mind?" I gesture to the shower.

"Oh, go ahead."

"I kinda meant-"

"I need to keep an eye on you." Her lips quirk up slightly. "M4's orders."

"'Since you decided it was convenient', huh?" I shake my head, realizing I'm not going to win this one, and toss the towel over the shower bar before stepping in and closing the curtain. "So, you're a Sangvis unit? I wouldn't have guessed." I turn on the water after stripping and damn it feels good.

"Ja. A rare model at that. I'm not compatible with most IOP parts. Otherwise, I'd have bought myself an arm and an eye by now." Her voice sounds slightly strained.

"Are you trying to tell me that you didn't choose the duct tape look on purpose?"

She barks out a laugh. "Nein, nein. My mechanic… I mentioned him before, he's the crossdresser. He's the one who built my new arm when I lost my old one. It's held together by tape, ja, but it's what he could cobble together on such short notice." She growls. "He still charged me for a new arm too."

"Well, when we're done with this mess, let's go get that money back."

"Kind of hard to do that when you're paying for services under the table." She laughs, with less stress in the undertones of her voice. "I'll be fine."

"If you say so."

I finish my quick shower and wrap the towel around myself before throwing the curtain aside.

45's still sitting on the counter, her legs once more swinging back and forth. "Done already?"

"Yep. Missed your chance to peek."

"Oh, darn." She hops down as I grab my change of clothes. She heads out of the bathroom, turning around just in time to see me slamming the door closed, locking it.

I probably bought myself all of five seconds, but-

I managed to get my new set of boxers on before 45 pops open the door in amusement. "Did you really-"

I place a hand on her shoulder as my foot gets caught in my pant leg and I almost trip.

"45-nee!" 9 bursts in. "I got the… clothes." She lets her shopping bags full of stuff fall to the ground as she sees me in my underwear, holding on to her beloved sister. "HADDY! What did I tell you about touching my sister?!"

"You said not to hurt her, if I recall." I finally get my pajama pants unstuck off of my foot and yank them up. "And I doubt she's so fragile that I could break her by leaning on her."

45 keeps herself facing away from her sister, probably to hide the growing grin spreading across her face.

"That's not the issue! Exposing her to your lewdness will corrupt her innocent mind!"

Silence descends on the room, before I burst out laughing, followed shortly by 9 starting to snicker.

45 just sighs. "Well, at least you two are getting along again." She pats my head. "So, it's time for sleep?"

---

Morning of Thursday comes too early.

Well, actually, noon of Thursday comes too early. I guess getting to sleep at 0300 means I can sleep in to 1000 sometimes.

My eyes slowly come to a focus on my ceiling, the light of the sun peeking through the curtains and landing on P90's core, sitting calmly on my shelf, inert.

Last night was peaceful, despite my two bedmates. 9 had just latched onto her sister like a large pillow and went into sleep mode. 45 seemed used to it, but she did end up grabbing my sleeve sometime in the night. She must have grabbed more since now I can't move my arm at all. I turn to look at the two-

Hmm? Where's 45?

9 has a death grip on my arm and is mumbling something about climbing trees. I push myself up onto an elbow to look around more, but she's not in the room.

"...45?" I call softly, but I get no response.

Okay then. I turn my attention to pulling 9 off of my arm, but I am once again reminded that T-dolls are many times stronger than humans. Her hands are like a vice.

After a minute or two of struggling, I allow myself to flob back down on the bed. I guess I'll get up later.

In the peace and quiet, I suddenly realize that I can hear water running. It seems to be coming from the bathroom, and I quickly surmise that 45's probably taking a shower.

"Mmm… 45-nee." 9 mumbles. "I dun' wanna get up." Her arm reaches over my chest and starts crawling forwards, half asleep-

She's a doll, she's not actually asleep.

...Right?

She gets halfway on top of me, her arm flailing around for a nightstand or something and clearly not finding whatever it was. After a second, her eyes bolt open and she looks down at me in surprise.

"...Hi?"

Her eye twitches. "You're not 45-nee."

"Nope."

She suddenly gets up, standing on the bed. I'm really glad she's wearing shorts instead of her usual skirt or this would be a dangerous angle.

Wait, aren't those my-

"Where's 45-nee?" She demands, looking around.

"I think she's in the shower." I point to the bathroom door, sitting up as I do so since I find myself free.

As I speak and we both look at the door, it opens, 45 stepping out into the room. "Ah, you're both awake."

"...Why are you naked?"

"I'm wearing a towel, thank you very much." She turns to 9. "Your turn."

"But… I don't need a shower?" 9 tilts her head. "Are you just trying to get him alone again?"

"Nein, natürlich nicht. Just get yourself clean while Hadwin and I discuss the plan for today."

"...If you say so." She sends me a quick glare and I roll my eyes.

As soon as the bathroom door closes, 45 steps over to me and sits down on the bed bedside me. "Good morning." She shifts so her hip bumps into mine, the wet towel transferring some of the water to my pajamas.

"Good morning." I reply dryly. "Put on some clothes."

"Nein. Well, not if you don't give me a kiss." She smirks.

"What kinda threat is that?"

"Well, if you don't want 9 to flip out again…"

I laugh nervously. "Well, when you put it like that-"

She grabs my shoulder and pulls me down to her level. I spend a second to psyche myself up, before leaning down the rest of the way to meet her.

It's quick. I barely had time to register the feeling before she pulled away, a look of smug superiority on her face.

"...I thought you said there was a turn order?" I ask after I gather my head back together.

"For everyone else, ja. I don't follow the rules." Her expression dims slightly. "I do need to talk strategy with you though."

I close my eyes for a second longer to remember how the kiss felt before I mentally switch over to combat mode. "Alright, what's up?"

"I took the liberty of asking Aleah about your schedule. You're scheduled to do some firing exercises with Commander Kylie after lunch, but until then, you're free."

"What, you asking me for a lunch date too?" I snark.

"Nein. I wish I was, but our turn as your bodyguards has ended. Those other two will be along shortly." She pauses. "Aleah also told me that her frame is ready."

"It is?" I blink. "How'd she get it so fast?"

"Griffin already had one, apparently." She shrugs.

"Huh. I'll add that to my list of things to do." I nod to myself. "Along with ingesting something, figure out what's wrong with my Linker, go hang out with a possible traitor, maybe finally read that damned T-doll manual, and obtain world peace."

"That last one might take a bit longer than a day." She smiles. "While I'm here, I should take a look at your Linker. It might have-"

The bathroom door slams open, 9 similarly dressed in a towel. "45-nee! What are you doing?!"

"Talking with Hadwin."

"But you're not dressed!"

"No, I'm not." She grins. "Your point?"

"But Hadwin's a guy!"

"Well, you took over the bathroom, so my only option would be to change in front of him."

9 starts making noises much like what I imagine strangling a cat might produce.

It's at that moment a knock comes on the door leading into my room from outside.

"Hey Haddy! We've come to get you!" Sop's voice comes through the door.

"Come in." 45 call cheerily.

"Wait! Don't-!"

The door opens, letting Sop and RO into the room.

I groan and stick my head in my hands as I notice Sop's cheeks start to turn red. "Are we, um, interrupting something?"

"45…" I groan again.

9 shrieks and ducks back into the bathroom, slamming the door behind herself.

"Hadwin, if you're… done," The disgust in RO's voice is almost palpable. "We've got to get going."

"I wasn't doing anything." I snap back.

"Sure." She turns away. "I'll be outside."

Sop give me a curious look. "What were you doing then?"

45 stands up casually. "Nothing an innocent girl like you would understand." She opens up the bathroom door and walks halfway inside of it. "Hadwin, you might want to get changed before going out." She then closes the door behind herself, leaving me alone with Sop.

"I'm not an innocent little girl!" Sop protests to the door.

I look down at myself because of 45's words, realizing I'm still in pajamas. Yeah, she's probably right.

Five minutes later, I walk out of the apartment complex with RO on my left and Sop on my right.

"No, Sop." I groan, reaching for the last vestiges of my sanity. "45 was pulling your leg. It's what she does. Haven't you known about this for a few years now?"

"Well… I still wanna know what she's implying." Sop huffs. "Nobody ever gives me a straight answer."

I have to bite my tongue to keep from saying 'When a boy and a doll love each other very much, they give each other a very special hug...'

"I'll tell you later, Sop." RO sighs.

"When?" Sop's eye's light up.

"When it's relevant." RO says firmly. "For now, we have important things to do." She turns to me, still scowling slightly. "Did you figure out your schedule for today or were you too busy?"

I bite back a retort. "I was busy discussing my schedule with 45. I have a decent idea of what I'm doing today."

"Right." RO closes her eyes and takes a long breath to calm herself. "So, we're going to head to the medical ward to see the Commander first. After that, lunch, then head to work with Commander Kylie."

"Can we pick up Aleah's body somewhere in there?" I hold out her core.

"We can. Lunch might be short though."

"Aw… I wanted a long lunch." Sop grumbles.

"...Why?" I turn to the excitable doll.

"Longer lunches means more time hanging out!" She exclaims, running ahead and turning around. "I haven't gotten time to hang out with Haddy recently, aside from when I was fixing his hand and foot."

"And I wasn't much of a conversationalist during that second one, due to being unconscious." I smile at her. "Thank you again for your work, it's working wonderfully."

Her face once more beams like I just told her I bought her a pony. Or, a personal riding Hydra. She'd probably rather the Hydra. "Awesome! I spent some time reading up on human wiring, which was weird, but I figured out how to get it to work properly. The doctor said that this design was a lot more compatible than the first hand I designed."

"Oh?" I grin. "Are you gonna start making prosthetics?"

She blinks at me. "Huh. I hadn't thought of that." She frowns to herself.

RO turns to me. "Is it really that good? Cybernetics tend to be fairly complicated to get right."

I lift up my foot and shake it like that would prove anything. "I have very few complaints."

Sop snaps out of her thoughts. "Didja find the hidden function yet?"

"...I now have one more complaint." I mutter to RO. "No, Sop, what did you add to my foot?"

"Well… I want you to find out for yourself." She says craftily.

"Sop…" RO sighs.

"It's fine, RO. She already put something in my hand, it's not an issue."

"She did?" RO gives me a look. "What did she do?"

I raise my left hand and intentionally flex my fingers away from each other until the six inch blade stabs out.

I'm not sure exactly how it fits in my hand when it's closed, but I think I see where the blade has a seam. It probably telescopes inside of itself, or something.

"It never loses reception!" Sop grins.

Ignoring Sop's odd comment, RO glances between my hand and my face. "And you're okay with this?"

I shrug. "Is there a reason I shouldn't be?"

"Yeah!" Sop butts in. "It's really cool! The next thing I'm gonna add is-"

"Sop, relax." RO commands. "If he asks for more, you can make him more, for now-"

Ah, we've arrived.

The visit is quick and solemn, even Sop's enthusiasm seems to have a damper on it as she sees Commander Gentaine's state. She still hasn't woken up, but she's stable and seems to be fine. The doctor assures me that she should be physically fine in a day or two, but until we know why exactly she's not waking up, we have no idea when she'll be up and about.

M4A1 and G36 are still by Commander Gentiane's side. M4 makes eye contact with her teammates and me, nodding once, and going back to her vigil.

Once we were done with that, RO led us over to the repair bay.

I'm not sure where I was expecting to pick up Aleah's new body, but I guess that makes sense.

When we arrive, Sop greets Vance with a tackle hug, the same way she does when she sees me, but Vance is beefy enough to catch her and spin her around once before setting her down. It kinda reminds me of a dad playing with his daughter. Once he sets her down, he turns to the two of us.

"So, what brings you lovely ladies here?" Vance smiles at RO. "Do you need a tune up?"

"Not me this time, Vance." RO smiles back at him. "You should have a doll body for this core, if Hadwin's info is correct." She pokes me with her elbow and I produce Aleah's core.

"Oh, right!" He beckons with his hand. "Follow me."

He leads us past dolls in various states of dress and assembly, all of them with the dull unseeing eyes of a deactivated doll. When he stops, we're in a section with a bunch of doll frames that are already dressed, assembled and standing perfectly still in a line, presumably waiting for a core.

I almost have to ask which one I'm supposed to be looking for, but then I remember pink hair and red eyes. Only one of the frames standing here matches that description, but instead of the picture from the catalogue with the straight hair and plain white dress, this one is elaborately dressed. Her hair is done up with a ribbon in the back, braided on one of her bangs, and the clothes she wears are all blue and white.

She also has a large gun in her hands.

"Is this someone's backup?" I ask.

"You don't have to worry about it." Vance waves my concern away. "She's not here on this base, so we've just had it around as it is."

"...Huh." I frown. "I hope Aleah's okay with it having this design."

"If not, she can change it." Vance shrugs. "Go ahead and plug in the core, and let's make sure she's not gonna run into any connection problems."

"Okay…" I frown, pulling out the core. "How do I put it in?"

Someone laughs behind me, but by the time I turn around, they all have serious faces.

Vance steps forwards. "It goes in the center of the chest. In this model, there's a hatch at the base of the spine which will allow you to place it in."

"Right." I step up to the frame, walk around behind it, and lift up the white jacket-

All of a sudden, looking at the skin on the back of a doll, something feels wrong.

Up until that moment, somehow I had a mental block that had the frame of the doll as an inanimate object, a thing like a mannequin, whereas I realize that the dolls are conscious and I probably shouldn't be looking at them naked without their permission.

Right now, I'm yanking up the shirt of a doll that, in a few minutes, is going to be walking around and talking to me should all go well. I'm about to jam my hands inside of her chest cavity.

Vance gives me a look as my hands freeze in place. "Hadwin?"

"Er… It's nothing." I shake my head to clear it.

Sop steps up next to me. "What's up, Haddy?"

"I dunno, it just feels… like I shouldn't be touching her like this." I poke my finger at the only blemish I can find on her back and a hatch pops open, the seam revealing itself as it pulls open, invisible before I had opened the hatch. "Like I'm being a creep."

"Oh, like Commander Jakoby?"

"Yes." I grimace. "I feel like I'm acting like him."

"Nah, you're good." Sop places her claw hand on my shoulder. "Everybody I know gets that when you're in the repair bay, you get touched in weird places. Just stop once she's awake and she'll probably be fine about it."

I glance at the large weapon in her hands. "I sure hope so."

"Oh! I know! You've been in the medical rooms right?"

I can't help but smile. "Sop, we were just there."

"Yeah! The Commander's wearing those robes right? You wore them before, those aren't exactly decent, and the doctors sometimes touch you in weird places. Think of it like that."

"Doctors are trained professionals with codes of ethics." I turn back to the frame in front of me. "I'm a burger flipper with a gun."

"Nahhhhhhh." Sop grins. "It's someone you know, she probably trusts you."

"Yeah. Probably."

With Sop and Vance's help, I quickly get the core in place, close the hatch on her back and tug her clothes back in place.

She still looks a bit disheveled as Vance heads over to a computer to boot up the frame, but she's decent. Looking around as I wait for Vance to do his work, I realize that I recognize a few of the frames standing up. There's Tokarev, over there's a S.A.T.8. They look so different without their personalities inside, they're still 'things' rather than 'people'.

Suddenly, Aleah's eyes glow red, and starts to look around. Once her eyes meet mine, she stops surveying the area and nods to herself, before reaching down and unhooking herself from the harness holding her up. Now under her own power, she steps up to me.

"Negev, reporting for duty."

"...Aleah?" I tilt my head. "That is you, right?"

She nods. "I decided to sign up with G&K, partially to pay for this body and partially so that I may continue to protect you. From now on, you may refer to me as Negev, as that is my designation." She hefts her weapon.

"You don't act like the other Negev." Sop steps forwards. "She's all crazy."

Aleah- well, Negev, I guess- turns to me. "Would you like me to adopt the other Negev's personality?"

"No?" I blink. "Did you have to get your personality modified to join?"

She shakes her head. "I am already acquainted with the language from my time as a civilian doll. I know enough about the culture that, after a brief data download on the weapon and it's handling characteristics, I should be effective with it."

"That's good. I still don't like the memory modification stuff." I shudder. "Anyway, are you experiencing any issues? Anything hurt?"

"No, everything appears to be functioning normally."

Vance gives me a thumbs up from behind her. "Looks like everything's gone well. Miss, if you encounter any problems, report back to me and we'll get you all fixed up."

"I appreciate it." Negev hefts her weapon again. "Commander, we should get going."

"Glad to have you with us, Al-, er, Negev." I pat her shoulder, and she smiles briefly before returning to her usual stoic expression.

"Either is fine, Commander. Though it might be prudent to refer to me by my weapon during combat."

"Got it."

And with that, the four of us minus Vance go to lunch. Seeing as Aleah's upload into a body went well, we actually have time to sit down and eat before we need to head to the training field that Commander Kylie's supposed to be training me at.

As I watch Aleah interact, I realize that she wasn't lying before, it's still her in there. It's just that she's more expressive, and I wonder if that's because she's autonomous now and doesn't need to remain passive inside of my brain space, or just a product of being loaded into a doll frame.

Either way, I think it's a good thing for her to be able to smile.

Though, Sop had spent the past half an hour regaling us of the times she worked with another Negev that's still around, but not currently with our group. The main impression I got was that the other Negev is more than a little unhinged, and I should probably avoid meeting her if I can.

Funny how often I think that and then end up meeting the doll in question.

All too soon, lunch comes to an end, the time for training.

Aleah has to go grab ammunition and some other provisions now that she's got a full form leaving Sop, RO, and I to participate in Commander Kylie's training.

Or so I thought, until I actually got there.

Commander Kylie's not in the usual red Griffin and Kryuger uniform, instead wearing baggy track pants and a T-shirt. By her feet are two backpacks.

"There you are!" She waves to me as I approach. "I was getting worried you weren't going to show up."

"What? Why?"

She laughs sheepishly. "Well… with all the talk of traitors going around and not to mention Commander Gentaine's condition, I'm starting to get a bit paranoid, and I think everyone else is too. I figured you had a fifty-fifty shot of showing up."

"Well…" I bite my lip as I think for a second. "I'm not gonna say I'm not, but I figure getting some training can't hurt."

"Excellent!" She turns to RO and Sop. "Are you two joining us?"

"I will not." RO shakes her head. "M4 needs my help with running the base. SOPMOD will be joining you."

Commander Kylie smiles at SOP. "Well then."

"So, what exactly are we doing?" I ask.

"Commander Gentaine told me to get you into shape. I've got a workout routine set up." She gives me an appraising look. "Though you don't look too out of shape."

"I guess not." I shrug uncomfortably. "I don't do anything special, not since highschool ended at least."

"Hmm." She shrugs after a few moments of consideration. "Well, I can just increase the workload if what I already planned was too easy."

"Right..." I look down at myself. "I'm not exactly dressed for PE."

"You can get some stuff from the gym." She points to the building behind me, clearly labeled 'Gym'. "Just ask the doll doing reception. Oh, and here." She tosses one of the two backpacks at me.

I catch the bag, noticing that it's definitely not pillows in there judging by the weight. Maybe a boulder or two.

"You'll need that for later, so keep a hold of it."

"What about me? Sop asks.

"Do you have workout clothes?" Commander Kylie returns with a question of her own.

"I usually just wear this." Sop looks down at herself.

"If you want, you can go in with Hadwin and grab yourself a set of workout clothes." She shrugs. "Hadwin'll have to let you in though."

"Okay!" Sop turns to me. "Let's go!"

"Alright." I push open the doors to the gym and am immediately hit by the smell of chlorine and sweat.

Once again, I am forced to wonder how on earth this is supposed to be a temporary base. Maybe it was just an old military base that we're repurposing?

The doll doing reception ends up being a pleasant looking girl in a black uniform. I think I recognize her, but- "Greetings, Commander. How may I assist you?"

"I'd like to get two sets of workout clothes." I gesture to Sop and myself.

"Really?" She looks at Sop. "Why does a doll need workout clothes?"

"...Is she not allowed to have a set?" I ask in confusion.

"Nein, there's nothing in the rules against it, but…" She seems to think for a second. "Ah, it should be fine. Do you know your sizes?"

"I'm a large, extra large in the legs." I turn to Sop. "D'you know your sizes?"

"Yep!" She smiles at the receptionist.

I turn back to her and realize that I have seen her face before. "You're MP-40, right?"

"Ja." She beams. "Let me get you your clothes and you can change in the locker rooms."

"Wonderful."

I involuntarily think back to high school and getting shoved into a locker…

She comes back with the clothes and I grab my set, including a pair of running shoes I'm sure I didn't actually request, but will be easier to work out in than boots. She and Sop must have been talking on level 2, as MP-40 returns with a set of clothes for her too.

I wander back towards the lockers, find the men's side, and walk in.

"I've never been in here before." Sop muses from behind me.

I resist the urge to sigh, turning back to the curious doll. "Sop, you're supposed to go into the women's locker room."

She tilts her head. "No? I'm supposed to keep an eye on you."

I glance around, but the locker rooms are empty at the moment. "You know what, fine." I point to the lockers that separate the room into two halves. "You go back there and change. I'll make sure nobody else goes back there."

"But…" She frowns. "How am I supposed to keep an eye on you?"

"Sop. Think." I place a hand on her shoulder. "We're changing clothes."

"Oh." Her face colors. "Right."

Someday she'll get a clue.

Hopefully.

We both manage to change without incident. I end up stuffing my clothes and the provided towel into a locker before heading back outside to where Commander Kylie's standing and chatting with a doll I recognize as her adjutant.

"Got the backpack?"

I heft it up in front of the Commander as she asks about it. "Why's it so heavy?"

"It's to help build endurance." Commander Kylie pushes her own bag to the side. "First we're going to do stretches."

The doll beside her glances my way, eyes scanning me intensely. I nod to her even as I start mimicking Kylie's stretches.

Beside me, Sop also starts copying Commander Kylie's moves.

"Er, you don't need to stretch, Sop." Kylie says.

"Eh?" Sop blinks. "Then why are you doing it?"

I turn my head to her, as one of my legs is currently being held in my hands. "We're human."

"Right, but…" She still looks confused.

"Humans need to stretch their muscles or we can accidentally rip them." Kylie explains. "Think of how you have to stretch rubber things a few times to make sure they don't tear, like balloons."

Sop seems to consider the explanation, but doesn't actually stop stretching with us. Commander Kylie's adjutant watches the three of us in amusement as we prepare to do… something.

"By the way," I eventually straighten up and turn to her. "I don't think we've really met."

"MP7, at your service." She nods. "You're the new Field Agent."

"Unless there's been another hire in the past two weeks, yep." I return her nod.

"Alright! That should be good enough." Kylie finishes stretching. "You warm?"

"Yep." I hop on my toes a few times. "So, what's the plan?"

"Put on the backpack, and we're gonna do a few laps around the base."

I wince. "A few laps with that?"

"Yeah. Don't use all of your energy though. We're gonna do more after we finish our run."

"...Fantastic." I grumble.

Sop steps up to me. "Why are we running?"

"To build up stamina… I guess." I shrug on the backpack, which already feels way too heavy to run in and I haven't even started yet…

"Okay…" she turns to the Commander. "We're just running around the base?"

"Yep!" Commander Kylie taps her wrist, which I notice has a small device on it. "Starting in three, two, one!"

Given the amount of weight on my back, my 'run' was more of a jog. The base doesn't feel that big when walking around it normally, but then again, I rarely have to go around the airport during typical days.

I barely made it around the entire base once, struggling to keep up with the other three for the entire 3 kilometer stretch around the runway and back.

To add insult to injury, the other three spent the entire time talking.

It makes sense that the dolls aren't out of breath, this is hardly strenuous enough to make them overheat, but the fact that Commander Kylie seems to have no problems either as they chat. Most of the words exchanged are explaining to Sop how human muscles work and why we have to exercise to remain physically fit.

I would've paid more attention if my PE teacher hadn't already drilled the same lecture into my head a thousand times in school and if I was able to hear their words more clearly over the sound of me gasping for air.

I'm more out of shape than I thought.

Sop, for her part, seems to be completely oblivious to the amount of strain I'm putting out, sometimes stopping to talk to someone we're passing by for a brief moment before absolutely tearing past me to take up her position by the Commander, or running backwards without effort. I've seen her truly run before when we were in combat, and I realize she's pretty fast, but it's kinda irritating to see just how much better she is than me.

After that first round, Commander Kylie told me to open up the backpack and drink some of the water in there. Sure enough, the backpack has five one-liter bottles of water sitting in there, weighing down the pack.

I gratefully start drinking, careful not to send any down the wrong pipe.

"It still doesn't make sense. Why would you rather hurt yourself instead of getting a prosthetic?" Sop waves her claw about. "You could be a lot stronger!"

I turn to Sop and reply to her as I catch my breath. "Because not all of us... want to lose the... sense of feeling... in our limbs."

I gulp more water as she turns to me. "Huh?"

With the bottle of water now empty, I crush the bottle in my metal hand. "I can't feel things in this hand... the same way I can... with this one." I lift my human hand up.

"I don't have any prosthetics myself." Commander Kylie chips in. "But from talking with Angelia, sometimes you can still feel pain coming from limbs that have been cut off and replaced."

"Oh." Sop turns back to look at me. Or, more specifically, my hand. "So I need to add in some sort of touch sensor array?"

I shake my head. "It's fine, I'm getting used to it." I stand back up and zip up the backpack. "Round two?"

"Mmm… Nah, I think we'll move onto the next part." Commander Kylie sets her own bag down and pulls out her own bottle of water, takes a swig, and swallows. "It's a nice day out, so let's do some bodyweight exercises."

I close my eyes for a brief second. Man, can't I just quit? I'm about to protest audibly when mental images of running around in combat replay in my head and start wondering if I could have been just a bit faster or stronger.

"Okay." I follow the Commander with a renewed determination. "Let's do this."

She smirks. "That's the spirit!"

---

After we finished what turned out to be a grueling 45 minute workout not including the run, Commander Kylie had done some cooldown stretches with me before telling me to hit the showers.

Thankfully, she and MP7 also are changing and dragged Sop into the women's changing room. Sop protested, but gave up when I pointed out that once she changed she can watch the entrance of the men's room, since it's only got one. She's not gonna lose sight of me.

Then again, I guess I hadn't considered the idea that the locker room would have someone inside.

"Hello Hadwin."

I look up at the beefy man wrapped only in a towel, skin still glistening from his recent shower. "Hello, Commander Ricardo."

"Hey, just call me Ricardo." He grins. "I saw you making a loop around the base."

"Yep." I step up to the locker I had stashed my clothes inside. "Need to get in shape."

"Keep it up." He grins. "Never know when you may need to run."

"Like, away from a falling building, away from explosions, away from enemy T-dolls trying to gun you down, or away from tanks?"

"Exactly! You should also incorporate a weightlifting routine into your exercise program, since you never know when you're gonna need to lift something heavy. Like a doll."

"Most of them are pretty light."

"Okay then, moving something that is trapping a doll." He shrugs. "I'm just saying that you should really make sure you keep your strength up."

I tug off the last of my clothes after wrapping the towel around my waist. "Well, talk to you later."

"Of course." He pauses. "Oh, right. Have you had a chance to look at the training module I sent you?"

"Not yet."

"Well, make sure you do. I think it'll really help with combat going forwards."

"Thanks." I nod to him. "As long as nothing blows up, I'll check it out."

He waves goodbye as I head for the showers, glad that for once I'm not in any hurry and I don't have anyone sitting outside the curtain waiting for me to get out. Well, Sop's outside, but not directly outside.

I manage to finish up, pull on my uniform, and walk outside with the dirty clothes stuffed into a clothing bag also provided.

This gym is really well stocked.

Sop pushes herself off the wall as I exit, walking right over to me. "Hey! You don't smell anymore."

"Generally, showers do that."

"Hey, Hadwin." I turn to see Commander Kylie also in her uniform, stepping out of the women's side. "Are you doing anything before dinner?"

I shake my head. "I wasn't sure what we were doing today as it was, so I should be free."

"Do you want to go over some tactics?" She raises an eyebrow. "My specialty is smaller scale combat like what you seem to find yourself in, judging by the reports Commander Gentiane has me filing."

"Uh…" I glance at Sop who just looks back at me. "Sure. Though, if you don't mind, can I call RO back? She's been helping me with strategies for a bit, and I think her input would be valuable."

"Sure." Commander Kylie nods. "We'll head to the command center for this. Sop, can you contact your sister?"

"Sure!" Sop's eyes glaze over slightly.

MP7 glances at Commander Kylie. "Isn't RO busy?"

Kylie snorts. "Of course not. She just didn't want to have to run around or exercise."

"..." I recall RO's fairly weak excuse and silently agree.

"Okay." Sop's eyes snap into focus. "She'll be in the command center in ten minutes."

We head in that direction, MP7 and Commander Kylie chatting together in low tones. I turn to Sop beside me. "So, how much do you actually know about humans? I thought you were doing research."

"Well, it's mostly been centered around making you that hand and foot." She admits. "I learned about nerves, which are kinda like really inefficient wires and also learned that there's certain metals you're supposed to use to avoid causing infections or having your body reject it." She pokes my hand with a finger. "I didn't even think about infections until the doctor pointed it out when I made that hand for you."

"Huh. Glad he did."

"Me too. I don't want to hurt you." She grabs my hand and looks at the edge, where flesh meets skin. "There's nothing wrong with it, is there?"

"I already told you, it's fine." I reach over and ruffle her hair. "You did a good job. It works fine, I haven't noticed any problems after I got used to how strong it is."

"Good!" Her smile returns before she lets go of my hand.

We get to the Command center and move into one of the rooms. I take a seat at the screen table, Sop sitting beside me. Commander Kylie and MP7 sit across from us, and MP7 connects to the screen.

"Alright, let's see…" Kylie starts looking around. "Okay, let's pick the battle from monday."

Familiar footage displays on the screen, and I lean forwards to pay as much attention as I can.

"Obviously, any time you're reviewing stuff after the fact it becomes easier to spot, so while we're gonna discuss tactics and stuff here, don't get discouraged if I point out something that was a bad idea, okay? It's a learning experience."

"Got it."

We start pouring over the footage and a map updating with known positions and some estimated positions updating along with the video. RO eventually arrives, sitting on the opposite side of me from Sop.

After about half an hour of discussion back and forth on tactics (most of which was more 'next time, make sure to think about what you're doing and don't just start commanding everyone to shoot'), I spot something that really rubs me the wrong way. In one of the video feeds from before the battle started, I can see the approaching KCCO forces.

I hadn't thought much of it at the time since I was busy, but the KCCO are split into three groups that had split at the start of the battle. We only ever fought the first group.

So what happened to the others?

"Hey, do you see this?" I point to the video in the corner.

"Hmm?"

"At the start of the battle, there were three groups." I state aloud. "What happened to the two that didn't attack us head on?"

"Well… I don't know." She frowns. "Let's see if we can pull more data about that."

RO's jacked into the table, and she blinks as a ton of data is barfed onto the screen in short order. Some of it looks completely irrelevant, like the weather report at the time of the attack, but the majority of it moves by way too fast for me to register what it says.

Eventually, the flood of information is cut down and RO moves some files in front of my eyes.

It's a video from a drone, the camera swiveling around to look at the three different groups of KCCO. It follows all three groups for a while, up until the fighting starts, at which point the drone remains focused on the main combat. When the drone eventually scans in the direction of one of the other groups, there's nothing to be seen. It's a sweeping arc, so it's not like it should have been able to miss them… right?"

"Was the footage tampered with?" I ask RO.

"It's hard to tell, but I don't think so." RO shakes her head.

Commander Kylie frowns. "Are you sure? If they're real, then they disappeared without a trace. I think it's more likely they were projecting something to make us split our forces instead of letting us focus on the central, main attack."

"They didn't know the terrain," RO comments. "So that is plausible. However, I don't see any artifacts of tampering."

"Don't we run patrols?" I ask. "Maybe someone saw the tracks they left?."

"Hmm…" Commander Kylie taps her fingers on the table. "MP7, load up the patrol footage from this area." She pokes the map. "RO, please load up the footage from the other side and work with Hadwin. Let's see what we can find."

I buckle down and start reviewing the footage, the jerky footage of dolls looking around, chatting with each other, and otherwise doing patrol things.

What quickly becomes apparent is that there is a trail leading from where the two side groups had split off from the central group, but at some point the trail dead ends. I just can't be sure where since the patrol routes aren't exactly thorough. None of the dolls seem to have followed the path to see where it leads, just crossing over it as they do their circular patrol.

Eventually, I realize something important.

If the 'ring' of a patrol route intersects the path of broken vegetation at one and half kilometers radius out from the base, but the ring that's one kilometer out doesn't see the same trail-

"There's still active KCCO in the woods." Commander Kylie announces grimly.

---

Author's Note:
I may have to skip the next upload. Please don't freak out if it doesn't update in two weeks. Instead, I'll try to post something else I've been working on the Healing Chapters. We'll see what I end up having time for.