The cold was bearable now. OTs-12 could walk around properly now, so that helped, but the lack of clothes did not. As long as she kept moving, it would be all right, but she had to move a lot for it to be of any help, and SV-98 and herself agreed that wasting the energy was not a wise course of action. They had no food, nor a battery to recharge from.

SV-98 had suggested that they huddle to share warmth, so they did, pressing their bodies against the other's. It was an odd experience, but enjoyable nevertheless. OTs-12 did not like the feel of SV-98's cold, dry skin underneath her fingers, nor her oily, matted hair, but they tried it nevertheless. OTs-12 had quickly come to the conclusion that it did little to help – they could barely heat themselves, let alone each other – but SV-98 seemed oblivious and Tiss did not have it in her to stop the blonde doll from clinging to her.

"Why do they even go numb in the first place?" OTs-12 asked once.

"I have no clue," SV-98 replied. Neither was particularly knowledgeable on their own physiology, nor did they have the ability to access their digiminds for the information stored in there.

Their minds had been tampered with, that was for certain. The splitting headache OTs-12 woke up with had not gone away, only faded, and when SV-98 revealed that she too had a migraine, the matter was decided. Both of them also lacked memories of the moments leading up to their supposed capture, and thus assumed that memory loss was part of the tampering. She did not know how much memory she had lost, however, and hoped that it was only a little.

The worst part of the cave was the darkness, though it was a blessing as well. OTs-12 was glad that she was unable to see her own body, surely a wreck, nor SV-98's. They had showered together as an echelon at the Griffin base, of course, but that was different than being trapped in a cave naked. The thought was unpleasant to the core, but OTs-12 thought about it every time her toes caught on a rock or her stomach brushed on a stalagmite by accident.

Accidents happened a lot less now, though. By experience, she had grown a great deal more familiar with the cave, and knew her way about as well as SV-98. It was not especially large, but it wasn't small, either. Neither she nor SV-98 had found an exit, however, only solid stone and thin crevices too small to pass through.

In many ways, the cavern reminded OTs-12 of the mountain base she lived and worked in. It too was underground, so many of the walls were solid rock rather than concrete or steel, and it shared the labyrinthine characteristics of the natural cavern system. There was a map somewhere, OTs-12 knew, but she found it fun to navigate it without one. Beyond the cafeteria, dorms, command wing, and training area, there were dozens of armories full of ammunition, storage rooms of canned rations and MREs, boiler rooms, closets, backup command stations, emergency bunkers, battery storage, auxiliary doll recharge stations, vats of extra coolant, and the halls upon halls of data storage used for the base's terabytes of information. A great deal of it was digitized, but yet more was on paper, for security reasons. OTs-12 was sure that there were more rooms in the depths of the S17 base, but had failed to explore them, either through locked doors or due to a lack of time.

Now she was starting to believe that she might not get another chance. The cave seemed quite inescapable, its rough rock walls feeling as if they were growing ever closer with each hour. They were rough to the touch, and reminded OTs-12 of the same walls in the sublevels of the Griffin base. The walls down there were hewn from the stone with the typical Soviet utility, unlike the smooth concrete or dull steel of the last Griffin base OTs-12 had been stationed at. Everything Soviet had a rugged style about it that OTs-12 could not help but feel comforted by. It was simple, but somehow right, like her gun. That had been a good piece of Soviet engineering.

But OTs-12 didn't have her gun. It was gone, nowhere in the cave, so she assumed that it had been lost when she was captured. She had asked SV-98 about it when she finally identified the gnawing sense of loss as missing her weapon. SV-98 felt it too, and they agreed that it was a result of the etching process. OTs-12 had never been truly separated from her gun, so it was the first time she had ever felt something like this. It wasn't that her gun was by her side every moment, but it had always been close – at a locker in the dorm or in the combat prep rooms. Kerr had originally spoken of security measures that required non-security dolls to keep their weapons in lockers when not in actual combat or outside of the base, but uproar from the entire base population put that idea to a quick end. Perhaps the only time she didn't get what she asked for, OTs-12 thought.

She felt as if an arm were missing. Her gun meant a great deal to her, so for it to be gone was like nothing she had felt before.

"It's no use worrying about it," SV-98 had said when OTs-12 voiced her complaints aloud. "They're gone, and probably won't come back."

The prospect was not something OTs-12 very much enjoyed. In enough time, however, the sense of loss faded away to a point where it was not the entire focus of her waking hours, and OTs-12 moved on.

She had a great deal of waking hours. They could not sleep because enough inactivity would allow the numbness to enter their bodies again. OTs-12 had an internal clock, but had it been scrambled somehow, so she had no idea what time it really was, and neither did SV-98. They had certainly spent more than a few days down in the cave, and the effects were starting to appear. No food or recharging meant that their energy was fading, albeit slowly, and OTs-12 knew that if either of them suffered any sort of injury, it would be very hard to repair it.

They were walking around when OTs-12 felt a rumble in the stone. It was minor, but her core went into overdrive at the shaking. "SV-98!"

"Maybe a tremor."

OTs-12 tightened her hand into a fist, wishing she had her gun to hold onto. It was comforting. "Well, let's just hope we aren't too far down for it to affect us."

"Aye." SV-98 sounded preoccupied. OTs-12 could hear her pacing around the room, feet flapping on the stone floor. There was something else, too, a thumping, but she couldn't quite place the sound. Rocks falling in a nearby cavern? She made her way to one of the crevices she and SV-98 had found earlier. This one they had felt air from, a faint breeze, gentle to the touch. OTs-12 put her hands to the stone and felt for it again.

"SV-98!" Last time, she had barely been able to fit her hand through it, but as she reached for it now, her arm could slide through. Footsteps came on the stone floor. "What's taking you so long?" she shouted.

"I'm right here," came SV-98's voice, right next to her ear. OTs-12 nearly punched the doll out of surprise. The footsteps were louder, booted.

"Then… what…"

The wall OTs-12 had her hand on fell away, and her gaze was filled with white light. SV-98 yelped at the brightness, but OTs-12 restrained herself, throwing her arm up while she ordered her optics to adjust. Booted footsteps. Sangvis!

Before her eyes were done changing to fit the light, a set of hands seized her by the shoulders and hauled her upright. OTs-12 kicked and felt her foot connect with a hard visor before it was gripped by another hand, and soon she was held tight. With her arms forced away from her face, she had no choice but to look into the light.

"Bastards!" she hissed when she saw the grey-helmeted Vespids, but they made no indication of hearing her. SV-98 was held between four of them as well, and as OTs-12's eyes adjusted she could make out the other doll's nude form. Incorrect behavior. She looked away, back at herself. Her eyes stung from the harshness of the light and filled with tears, but she could still stare at her battered form. Bruises spotted her legs from bumping into rocks and walking barefoot, and her skin was crisscrossed with tears. IOP longevity be damned. The Sangvis dolls looked similarly worn, and OTs-12 wondered if they had been standing guard in some hidden area this entire time. SF products had always been hardy things.

The Vespids started marching at a steady pace. It was a narrow corridor in the rock, all natural, so they went single-file with their captives. The flashlight was turned forward, so OTs-12 was plunged back into darkness as she stared at the ceiling. Her old ache was returning, spreading through her body, but she craned her neck anyway to look forward. One of the purple-haired Ripper units was leading them, flashlight pointing the way. OTs-12 wondered if she could operate Sangvis weaponry.

She tried contacting SV-98 via Zener, but had no luck. Sangvis jam, she thought, or something of that ilk. Perhaps they had done something to her body when she was captured.

They had been walking for ten minutes when the passageway opened up into another cavern, this time better lit. Large, portable lamps were set along the walls, though their dim orange glow served as poor illumination. It was at least a little warmer, though not enough to stop OTs-12 from shivering. She looked around her and saw more Sangvis, dozens of them, all standing in perfect rows between the lamps. The cave was still quite dark, so OTs-12 suspected that what she saw were only the front few ranks of entire companies of dolls, with hundreds more behind them. Guard units stood with their shields in the ground, still as statues, with rows of Vespids and Rippers behind them. The two Griffin dolls and their escorts were the only ones moving in the entire cavern.

They approached the far end of the cave, cloaked in darkness. A few deactivated lamps were nearby, and the Ripper moved off to turn them on. The Vespids holding OTs-12 reoriented themselves so that she was upright, staring off at the inky black shrouding the end of the cavern. SV-98 was put up next to her as well. The Ripper started dragging the lamp over to the two captives to illuminate them.

"A warm reception," OTs-12 said, turning her head to SV-98. "Sangvis rolled out an entire division for us–"

"Silence," intoned the Vespids holding her, speaking in unison. Unnerved, OTs-12 looked forward, watching the Ripper drag the lamp forward. Its orange light spooked the darkness hanging about, edging it away, until OTs-12 could see what sat at the end of the cavern, formerly shrouded in darkness. A matte black carapace in the vaguest form of a female, similarly dark hair free-flowing down its back. It was in a crouched position, knee to the ground, and OTs-12 wondered if it as asleep, until she noticed the thick cord running into the small of its black. The Ripper pulled the other lamp over to the little gathering before standing at attention.

Slowly, the black doll stirred. First, it unfolded its arm and reached around with unnatural flexibility afforded by robotic joints and no synthetic skin. Its hand coiled around the cord and pulled, disconnecting with a single tug. It got to its feet with a careful ease that frightened OTs-12. She had fought thousands of Sangvis, even Ringleaders, but nothing like this. It had no real face, only a mask as black as the rest of its body.

The Ringleader – OTs-12 supposed it was a Ringleader, only they had unique bodies – took a step towards her. It walked as naturally as any other doll, she would give it that, though it only discomforted her more.

"OTs-12. Tiss. Yew. Team leader. AR-type T-doll, in service for three-hundred twenty-one days." The Sangvis's voice was rough, as if its creator didn't bother to install a full-spectrum voice module. "Reconnaissance mission, long-range."

Memory extraction, OTs-12 realized. The Sangvis had some sort of module allowing for it to remove her memories and read them. There was valuable information in them, Griffin operations and base layout! The Sangvis was approaching her. OTs-12 jerked against the Vespids holding her limbs, but their grip was rock solid.

"SV!" she said, looking to the other doll desperately, but SV-98 was in no position to assist. The Sangvis Ringleader reached a hand out towards OTs-12's chest. My external access port. OTs-12 bucked her chest away from the Sangvis's inquisitive hand until it rested its other hand on her shoulder, holding her still. It was freezing cold, and its grip so firm OTs-12 felt that her shoulder was going to break. It was all she could do not to scream in pain, let alone stop the Sangvis, so it got to the access port easily. One fingertip peeled back to reveal a jack that slid inside, and OTs-12 suddenly felt the Sangvis's electronic presence. It was as cold as its hand, but now it froze her mind as well as her body. She lacked any electronic warfare module, so the Sangvis broke past the firewall and into her digimind with ease.

Before she knew it, the Sangvis had taken its finger out of her chest and stepped away. "Bastard!" shouted OTs-12. "Thief! Scrap metal!"

"Silence," repeated the Vespids. The Ringleader turned to SV-98.

"OTs…" said the doll, panicked. OTs-12 could not even reprimand the doll for not saying her name right.

"Get away from her! I'll rip your damn head off!" The Vespids were hard pressed to hold her steady, but no matter how hard she pulled SV-98 was no closer to her. The Ringleader wasted no time with SV-98, holding her steady with one hand as it jammed the jack into her chest with the other. SV-98 went limp as her digimind was invaded. "SV!"

"Silence."

The Ringleader pulled its finger out. SV-98 sprang back to life, but only hung in the Vespid's grasp, defeated. OTs-12 stared at her partner for a moment before her stare went back to the Ringleader, which was standing stock still. It was nothing like the Ringleaders OTs-12 had seen or read about. They boasted and bluffed, flourished and monologued, no matter their real nature. But this one only stood, and its voice was not meant for speaking. OTs-12 supposed it was analyzing the data it had stolen from the two dolls.

"Freak" was the only insult OTs-12 had left, so she shouted it at the top of her lungs. "Freak doll! Worthless Sangvis scrap! Die!" The doll had taken her team from her, then her freedom and modesty, and now the Griffin information she carried. She had let her team down, and she had let Kerr down. The burning guilt in OTs-12's stomach turned into rage directed at the Sangvis. "I'll kill you! You'll regret this!"

"Silence," said the Vespids, but this time the Ringleader took notice. It came to stand in front of OTs-12, leading forward uncomfortably close. Its eyes were black pools melded with its face, utterly inscrutable.

"Bitch!" OTs-12 shouted, hoping to startle the Sangvis. It made no reaction. OTs-12 spat on its face, though it hurt her chapped lips to do so. To her pleasure, the Ringleader recoiled at it, raised a hand and trying to wipe off the saliva. Its molded fiberglass hands were ill-suited to the task, however, only spreading it across its mask of a face. OTs-12 grinned as it probed with the finger. "Guess you aren't good for that, huh?"

"Silence," said the Ringleader, and OTs-12 could no longer breathe. A cold hand had taken a grip on her neck, firm and unyielding, and OTs-12 started to thrash as she tried to reach for the Sangvis's arm and pull it away. The Vespids held her still as the Ringleader tightened its grip. OTs-12 felt her gaze start to fade as her systems lost air. The Sangvis gripped ever tighter, uncaring of her gasps or spasms.

Suddenly, the Ringleader released, and OTs-12 managed a single gasp of air before the side of her neck was torn open with a swipe of the blade that had appeared in the Ringleader's hand. Coolant gushed forth and ran down OTs-12's shoulders and chest. Fiery pain mixed with the freezing air to teach OTs-12 a new type of agony, one that made her breath stop in her chest.

"OTs-12!" shouted SV-98. The Ringleader plunged a hand into the tear, up to the knuckles, and OTs-12 felt its fingers wrap around her voice box. With a yank, the device separated from her body and the Ringleader stepped back. "TISS!"

You got it right, OTs-12 thought as her voice box disappeared into the Ringleader's body, to where she could not see. The Vespids released her and she dropped to the ground in a rapidly expanding pool of her own coolant. Her face was pointed away, towards the rows of Sangvis troops.

"NO!" she heard SV-98 shout before the doll screeched in pain and fell with a dull thump. OTs-12 tried to work her voice to call out, but could say nothing. The loss of coolant was starting to affect her, despite the cold of the cavern, and she lost consciousness just as she started being dragged out.