Chapter 12: Separated but not divided
Sector 4, Supply Depot Mu 5. Time check: 1237.
After separating with Eagle's detachment, the G&K troop had departed from the riverside town for the closest Sangvis depot to disrupt their supply line, then proceeded to make a beeline for the next closest outpost to gather more intel on the enemy's main force. Due to the intensifying snowfall, on top of the fact that it is almost midday, they have taken a short rest after wiping out the outpost.
On the 3F.
In the Command Center, while all other Dolls were currently resting or having lunch, both Tiger and the AR Team were currently going through the data they have just extracted from the main terminal. Not only is the Ringleader this time a new model that does not exist in previous production catalogue, after going through just the transport log, the amount of troop under her command is also quite large, perhaps just as much as Hunter.
Because this is an ELID-contaminated sector, not many, both human and T-Doll, dared to venture deep into it, explaining how the Sangvis was able to mobilize such large number of troop right under the G&K nose. As the four was planning out the next course of action, Tiger received a radio call. Due to the distance and interference from the weather, there was a lot of statics.
"…Alright, copy that." When Tiger turned to her after answering the call, M4A1 immediately tensed up as she leaned her body forward.
"Good news, the last member of the AR Team has been safely extracted." the moment Tiger delivered the news, M4 immediately slumped on the table like a huge burden has been lifted off her shoulders. SOP-II excitedly jumped up and down and AR-15 simply let out a sigh.
"We will move out as soon as the plan is finalized. For now, head straight for the city and scope out the area. Try to be in touch." Due to the increasing interference from the worsening weather, the call was cut off prematurely, thankfully the new intel Eagle received managed to get through without any problem.
The ghost squad 404 was kindly enough to provide them with a layout of the city where Intruder had made it her base of operation, and also coordinate of potential weak spots in her defense. It seems they have already withdrawn from the area not after one of them, HK416, pulled a daring stunt on M16, according to Eagle. So these intel is supposed to be their leader's way of offering an apology. 'Rather tense' is just putting it mildly as far as the relationship between the two squads is concerned.
Squad 404, this will not be the last time they will be needing each other's assistance, and when the time comes some countermeasures may be required, Tiger noted internally.
Around the same time, on Eagle's side.
With the heavy snowfall slowly progressing into a snowstorm, their visual from the chopper was basically none so Eagle was acting as the navigator in the co-pilot seat. And in the back, M16 was warming up to the three new companions, mostly Skorpion and Springfield because G36's glare kind of scared her, not knowing that it was just her squinting because of bad eyesight.
"So you're M4's big sis? Heeh, you two are like the exact opposite to each other." Commented Skorpion after eyeing M16 up and down for about three times.
"Hahaha, while I get that a lot, do we really look that different from each other?" hearing that, M16 asked back with a laugh.
"Sure do. You have this air of 'cool' about you, whereas M4 is rather timid."
"Skorpion, it's not very nice to talk about our Commander like that." Seated next to M16, G36 calmly reprimanded Skorpion for her remark.
"Ah! But she has been much more proactive recently. She still tends to retreat into her shell every now and then, but when she doesn't, she's a very reliable teammate and capable leader!"
"Indeed. It is just as Skorpion said, Ms M4 has her flaws, but she's trying her hardest to meet the expectation of everyone around her. A large part of it is thanks to the guidance and help of our Adjutant and Advisor." Continuing after Skorpion, Springfield added in her own opinion.
"Now ain't that good to hear? As her big sis who has been watching her all this time, it sure is music to my ears." Said M16, a little bit exaggerated when she wiped her index across her nose like a doting father watching his daughter growing up.
After a solid 40 minutes of flying through this snowstorm, the city where Intruder made it her base was finally within sight. Approaching closer to the building with a helipad on the roof, they quickly rappelled down and have the chopper leave the area. From the city layout received from squad 404, this is a twin tower with two buildings of asymmetrical height. The one they have just rappelled down onto was the smaller tower, 50 stories tall with the other one 20 stories taller. Must have been some sort of commercial building or some international enterprise's headquarter.
Since the taller tower would give them a much better overlook of the area, after making their way over they split up into two teams, one head down to deal with any Sangvis presented, the other up to secure a good vantage point.
"Hey, you're called Eagle, right? I still haven't thanked you for all that stuff with 416. You guys really saved my ass back there." On the same team with Eagle, M16 put a bullet into the head of the Vespid being pinned on ground and another to the Jaeger sniping from behind the corner before thanking him.
"You don't have to, since we're just following order." Eagle replied while skillfully disarming the two Rippers before him before they could fire their weapon then emptied his handgun in the center of their chest.
"No need to be so modest. After all, orders don't mean jack when the one carrying it out is incompetent."
"Seem like you know your stuff, which shouldn't come as a surprise considering the weapon you're partnered with has seen its fair share of conflict." Sheathing his knife, the two continued their sweep and their casual conversation.
"You could say that. Anyway, on another topic, is it true that you guys appointed my baby sister as the Commander? Any particular reason?"
"Well, while we're hired to help the G&K, it was on the condition that we will be excluded from their chain of command. So all we really need was just someone from G&K itself act as the medium with the higher command."
"Then wouldn't Ms Helian have suffice?"
"Yes, she would have. But then, when we heard about this 'T-Doll with a nigh-perfect free will', Chief added the condition of choosing our own Commander so in the end, the decision was solely his whim."
"Maybe because he saw something in Ms M4 that he decided to choose her, or perhaps it's because of how impressive her method of asking us for our help was that we just couldn't turn her down."
15 minutes later, the duo finally reached floor 66, which is good enough to scout out the area. The Sangvis security was by no mean lax, but their resistance wasn't particularly fierce either. Since this place holds great strategic value, Eagle was expecting at least twice this amount of troop. And their positioning was all over the place, like they were looking for something rather than guarding this place so there's definitely something afoot.
Deploying the bipod, Eagle began scouting out the area, noting down the important points of interest and troop patrol route. The snowstorm has intensified even more since they arrived so the process is taking longer than usual. Hopping onto the table next to the window, M16 set down the large case on her back and listened to Eagle continuing their convo.
"Ms M4, she has lots of potential to her growth, and the fact her DigiMind isn't bound by a preset set of directives like her peers is also a great bonus. The only thing holding her back is her timidity, so making her the Commander and us her aides is Chief's way of helping her improve her strong points and overcome her shortcomings."
"Then why don't you just 'fix' her personality? As you've already know, a T-Doll's personality is preset by the factory to fit the customer's desire, with a press of the button we can act and behave however human wanted us to. So isn't that the more efficient way to do, just get rid of the defective and replace it with something more desirable?" M16 asked, trying to hide the underlying tone in her voice. Eagle, after a brief minute of silence, then spoke up.
"Not really, no. I mean, if history is of any indication then you can already tell that humanity cannot fix thing worth a damn."
"With every conflict, we pushed the world closer to its ruin and 17 years ago, we finally did it. Even then we still learned nothing from it, we continued to repeat the same mistake. Even when many outstanding individuals came together to make the world a better place, mankind as a whole is bound to go down the same path."
"You could say at this point we're already fed up with trying to fix things." Having completed a detailed map, Eagle then turned on his feet and walked toward the stairway, leaving behind a slightly dumbfounded M16. His answer completely caught her off-guard, and it took a while to get up and follow him. As the two went down the stairway to regroup with the other team, Eagle suddenly stopped and spoke up without turning around.
"Ms M16, I know that you're worried for Ms M4 and that worry is not unfounded, I can understand. We're two complete strangers, mercenaries that aren't even affiliated with G&K. But it is precisely because of that, we follow only Ms M4's order long as the contract still stands. I won't ask you to not worry, but instead to observe and discern for yourself whether we're trustworthy or not."
Seems like he realized that what he said just now was a tad bit much, so now he tried to reassure her. Hearing that, M16 couldn't help but burst out laughing while rapidly slapping Eagle on his back.
"Hahahaha! Alright alright I get it! My baby sisters will be in your hands and I'll be keeping an eye on you guys so rest assure!"
"…Well, it's good that you understand-" suddenly, there was the sound of a large collision reverberating throughout the entire building, followed by the sound of gunfire. Immediately after that was a distress call from G36, along with Skorpion's shout as well.
"Mr Eagle, we require your immediate assistance!"
"Tell him to hurry up! This thing just eat bullet like SPAS wolfing down her meal every day!"
"We're down on the 32th Floor, please hurry!"
"Copy that, we're on our way." From the 66th to the 32th floor, that's more than 30 floors away. Even if they were to run down the stair with all their might, it'd still take too long even without accounting for possible collapsed section and debris blocking their way. Nodding to each other, Eagle and M16 then ran straight for the central elevator.
Jamming his knife into the crack between the metal doors and pried them open. Quickly, they each attached a hook onto the cable holding the elevator and jumped down the shaft.
Meanwhile, on 32F.
"Argh! Just die already!" in charge of drawing the attention of the enemy, Skorpion had her two dummies kept the…thing, at bay with a hail of bullets while she herself lit up a Molotov and lobbed it toward the thing. In the back, Springfield and G36 was also helping in keeping up the pressure, but no matter how many bullet they fired, even when covered in blazing fire, that one single enemy still refused to fall down.
Raising one of its tendril-like arm, that thing then swung it at Skorpion, instantly taking out on of her dummy. It then swung the arm again, this time aimed at the main body.
"Alright, that's as far as you go." Appearing in the nick of time, M16 blocked the dreadful and covered in burning thermite with her large weapon case then Eagle quickly severed it with a single well-placed shot.
"What took you two so long?! My whole life just flashed before my eyes!"
"Don't you mean 'eye'?"
"Jokes aside, anyone mind telling me what the hell is that thing?" nonchalantly breaking a joke even when the tension is high, M16 then immediately brushed it aside as her 'eye' was focused on the enemy before them. Under the light produced by the flame, the identity of their enemy was revealed…or so they had hoped.
A malformed and grotesque figure, with what described as the 'body' is both the head and the torso fused into one. Its face is titled completely to one side, empty eyes with the pupils no longer visible and some sort of green goo was dripping out from the corner of its mouth. Beside the two tendril-like arms, there was still another one growing out from its back. One of its two legs is bent in an abnormal angle at the knee so in order to keep its balance while moving, was replaced with just a large lump of grey flesh. On its body pieces of ripped clothing still remained, suggesting that it was once a human being.
An ELID-infected. Reports of them still roaming the area all dated back to before the war, and it's just their luck to have encountered one. On a closer look, littered on the floor around it was many Sangvis corpses either ripped into halves or tear into pieces, with many of its wounds seem to have been caused by their plasma cartridge.
So maybe it really was just the devil's luck that they happened to stumble upon this thing while it was having fun ripping and tearing down Sangvis troops in this building. Looking at its severed limb laying on the ground, the ELID-infected let out a low roar as it swung all three of its tendril-like limbs at the group.
"Spread out!" quickly scattered to dodge the incoming tendrils, the group then kept their distance without engaging for the time being.
"I hope you have some kinda plan for this kinda thing, Advisor!" shouted M16.
"I do have one, but it's a gamble a best!"
"We'll take it!"
"Even as ELID-infected, they still have a brain and a heart. Take both out and they will fall. But as infected, they're messed up both in and outside so everything we know about human anatomy? Out of the window. Did that thing show any particular reaction when fighting you ladies?"
"It was pretty aggressive when I shot it in the back, but I can't tell exactly where!"
"Good enough. Ms G36, Skorpion and Ms M16, spread out to keep the infected distracted and also keep a lookout and where is it keeping it guard up the most. Ms Springfield, we'll be in charge of taking out the organs!"
"Roger!"
Following Eagle's command, M16 and G36 then split up to the two sides. Having to deal with three targets at once, the ELID-infected began to swing its tendril wildly at the two within its sight first. While it was distracted, Skorpion then once again flanked around and shot it in the back. Hit with a surprise attack and in the soft spot, the ELID-infected immediately retracted its tendril and turned around to attack Skorpion, completely ignoring M16 and G36.
Rinse and repeat, after a few minutes of using the same tactic over and over again, they finally identified where the two organs could be. Right below the base of the back tendril and to the right of its chest.
"Cover your eyes and ears!" M16 shouted as she lobbed at the ELID-infected a stun grenade. The cylinder shaped object, after bouncing off the ground once then exploded into a blast of blinding white light. Taking the full brunt of the blast, the ELID-infected let out a screech as it stood in place, paralyzed.
"Now, Advisor!"
In the very back of the room, Eagle lying on the ground with his rifle deployed then fired a blue-tipped with a light blue ring bullet at the ELID-infected. Upon contact the bullet exploded and gouged away a large chunk of the ELID's right shoulder, revealing its deformed heart.
Kneeling on one knee next to Eagle, Springfield stilled her breath and took the shot. The bullet pierced cleanly through the ELID's heart as it screeched in pain. Deeming Eagle as the current biggest threat, the ELID charged straight at him despite the hail of bullets unleashed at it. Knowing that it's coming for him, Eagle then led it away from the group and stopped before the central elevator shaft.
With another screech, the ELID charged through every piece of furniture in its way straight at Eagle. The moment it was only an arm length away from him, Eagle then leapt into the air and over the ELID, using it as a foothold to gain himself some distance while also kicking it into the elevator shaft, and for the finishing touched, he fired another explosive bullet right at the base of the back tendril, taking out its brain in the process.
With a death throe, the ELID fell down the elevator shaft and that was the last they've seen of it. Well, the last of this one, anyway.
"Now it should stay dead for good. But we can't stay here any longer. With all this noise we made, either the Sangvis will be storming here any minute or another one of these will come. All units, move out!"
Half an hour later, at the entrance into the city.
It has been more than an hour since they departed from the last Sangvis outpost. The journey here was uneventful, but the snowstorm was much worse they anyone could have ever imagined. Even with the winter gear they got, their advance was still impeded much longer than Tiger would have liked.
According to the coordinates Eagle received from squad 404, Intruder's main force is positioned mostly on the other side of the city from where they currently are, with only very few patrol troops on this side so for the time being they should be safe. Heading further into the city, the group then took shelter inside what appears to be an art museum.
While Echelon 1 and 2 split up to secure the perimeter, the AR Team then made a beeline for the tallest building. The moment they entered the city, Tiger has been trying to contact Eagle to no avail. His sensor is still picking up a faint signal coming from that tallest building so even with the interference from the ELID particles in the air, at this range the call should be able to get through without much issue. As such, M4 had decided to take SOP-II and AR-15 with her to check on the situation.
Moving through the small alleyways then crossing the snow-covered street, the trio soon arrived the entrance into the building which is now blocked by debris. Circling around, they found the emergency exit. Weathered and battered after many years without maintenance, the rusty metal door easily unhinged itself from the frame with just a light push.
"We're coming up on the signal. It should be around here somewhere." Inside, they tracked down Eagle's signal through the scope and it took them to the reception desk in the main lobby. But all they found was only his earpiece, tucked and hidden away under a small pile of rubble.
"Mr Tiger, there's no one here but we found Mr Eagle's earpiece." M4 contacted Tiger and as expected, their call got through with little to no static at all.
"Explains why he isn't responding. But Eagle wouldn't just leave his earpiece even if it was to fall off. He must have left a message with it." Hearing that, M4 then noticed that the earpiece was indeed blinking with a dim blue light. Pressing on it, the earpiece projected a holographic map of the city, with meticulous details of Sangvis troop's patrol routes, points of interest and other essential information that might give them an edge over the enemy.
And the message he left behind with the earpiece was-
"There!" AR-15 suddenly turned around and shot five times into the air. A second later, a Scout came crashing down and immediately after that, the siren was sounded.
"I'm sorry, Mr Tiger! We got seen!"
"Never mind that, just get out of there!" Dashing back to the emergency exit, the trio exited the building just in time for Intruder to make yet another broadcast.
"I have been waiting, G&K troops. For a bunch that proudly declared they'd be coming for me, your punctuality could really use some improvements."
"But that no longer matter. Welcome, all of you, to my holy ground. As promised, for such a special occasion I've prepared a present just for you, my dear guests. I hope you enjoy it and your stay here." The moment the broadcast ended, multiple explosions simultaneously occurred at different locations of the city. Following that, was many screeches that belonged to neither human nor beast.
"W-what was that sound just now? Mr Tiger, what just happened?"
"The worst case scenario. Through whatever method, Intruder seems to have rounded up all the ELID-infected in this area and turned them into her personal army of abominations."
"But even if she somehow managed to put a leash on these ELIDs, there is no way to actually control them. The earpiece must have been Eagle trying to warn us about their presence, but now that situation has progressed to this state, they're the one in biggest trouble."
"No, big sis…"
"Now listen, Eagle should have left a hint or something about their next destination along with his message. Use that to track down his team and regroup with them."
"What about you?"
"We will cause as loud a commotion as possible to draw the ELID away from you. Now go! We will where Intruder will be, so let's meet up there for the final showdown!" Not letting M4 have any chance to retort or second-guessing, Tiger cut off the call on his own. As M4 was still hesitating, from all direction, both on the street and on the roof of the buildings, hundreds of ELIDs had already started to converge toward the direction of the art museum.
"We must go, M4." Placing a hand on her shoulder, AR-15 hustled.
"…Right. Godspeed to you, Mr Tiger." Looking over her shoulder, M4 bit her lips and the trio then ran off toward the opposite direction.
A little early, but to you guys who do celebrate it, hope you have a happy lunar new year.