The engine of the MRAP hummed monotonously as it traveled down the countryside road. Behind the wheel was RO635, who was scanning the road intently for any signs of movement as she drove along at a constant speed. M4A1 sat in the passenger seat, navigating along the escaped prisoners' last known direction of travel. It had only been a short while since the escape, even with their enhanced speed and stamina, they couldn't have gotten far.
"M4...Are you sure it's a good idea to be bringing him along with us?" ST AR-15's voice sounded from the backseat as she motioned to the Commander, who was sitting next to her.
"No, but he gave us an order, and an order is an order." M4 replied bluntly.
"Commander, with all due respect, I'm having my trouble wrapping my head around why you're doing something so reckless. I mean, there are ringleaders among the escapees! Even we have trouble dealing with those. Even with that armor, even with your training, and even with your experience, you're really pushing your luck, and I'm worried that could run out at any time with how many close calls we've had recently." RO chimed in.
"There's nothing that can be done about it now, if we turn back we'll lose them for sure. We'll just have to keep a close eye on him while we complete the mission." M4's frustration manifested as she spoke.
"You four are my best, you've all dealt with these dolls before - some of them even multiple times. With the sorry state Sangvis Ferri is in right now, I'm confident that this operation will go off without a hitch. If I'm here to debrief the captives in person, I believe that the ride back will go a lot smoother. Some of them may even come back willingly without any resistance." The Commander reassured.
"And if they don't, I'll blast them to bits!" SOPMOD II's enthusiastic voice sounded from the gunner bay, giving her M203 a quick pat.
"Less-lethal force only, SOP-II, use the EMP grenades I gave you and nothing else." The Commander said sternly.
"Awwww, can't I at least tear off their legs so they can't run away?" SOP-II whined.
"...Last resort only." The Commander resigned reluctantly.
CLICK
"Griffin HQ to Echo-1, come in." The radio suddenly chimed.
"Echo-1, send it." M4A1 responded.
"Scarecrow and Architect have been spotted by drones less than five clicks from your position entering a large patch of forest. We've dispatched additional units to head them off and establish a quadrant, proceed to target location and begin searching, coordinates have been forwarded to your Zener Protocol. How copy? Over."
"Echo-1 copies all, proceeding to target coordinates, out." M4A1 turned to RO635. "Step on it RO. Let's hurry and catch up to them."
"Hang on." RO nodded as she pressed the accelerator down and the MRAP gave a sudden lurch forward as it accelerated.
Only a couple of short minutes had passed before they reached the target area.
"Pull off the road, we'll park here." M4A1 commanded.
RO nodded in acknowledgement and pulled the MRAP off to the side as M4 reached for her radio.
"This is Echo-1, we've arrived at the target coordinates. We're dismounting the vehicle and proceeding on foot, how copy?"
"Griffin copies all, Echo-1. Good hunting, out." Kalina's voice replied over the comms.
The doors to the MRAP swung open as the team cautiously dismounted the vehicle, extending the stocks on their weapons and training their sights on the entrance to the forest.
"There's a lot of ground to cover with just the five of us, are we going to split up?" SOP-II asked.
"What is this? Some kind of bad horror movie where the writer needs an excuse to have us picked off one-by-one?" STAR snidely remarked.
"These are ringleaders we're dealing with, SOP-II, we need to stay together if we want to get them to surrender. They'll try and take their chances for sure if they see it's just one of us." M4 explained.
"Come on, it's just Scarecrow and Architect. Architect'll surrender no problem if you wave a gun in her face, and even I could probably take Scarecrow with my bare hands." The Commander confidently boasted.
An awkward silence filled the air as the AR Team silently turned to face the Commander.
"Commander...I hate that I even have to ask this, but...are you sober?" RO finally asked.
"I uh...will be when we find them..." The Commander's tone was less than reassuring.
M4 groaned in frustration. "Alright, that's it. You're intoxicated and unfit for command, I'm taking control of this operation and -you- are staying by the car."
"Oh come on, I've only had-"
"You've had too much, you can either wait by the car willingly or I can have RO handcuff you to the steering wheel. Once Kalina sees your B.A.C. she won't have any objections." M4 continued, getting ready to seize the Commander by the wrist. Truthfully, she had been looking for any excuse she could get to override his orders and force him to stay somewhere safe, but him going into the field drunk was as good of a reason as it got.
"But what if the Ringleaders find me here alone?"
"Echelons 2 and 3 will be here in a couple of minutes to establish this section of the perimeter, and they'd have to get through us to get to you - nothing's going to happen to you here, now stay put. We'll be back with the prisoners soon."
M4 signaled her team to fall in to formation and began advancing towards the forest.
"Have fun, Commander." STAR smugly remarked as she turned to follow her leader.
"Great...Valet duty, huh?" The Commander sighed out. Ever since he'd joined Griffin, being stuck at the rear giving orders behind a screen had made him stir-crazy. He had hoped for the opportunity to get out in the field and show the girls he could keep up with them, both for him to let off some steam and also so that they wouldn't be so nervous whenever he got close to the fighting. He should have known that M4 of all of them would take any reason she could get to keep him out of danger, and he had given it to her on a platter.
Oh well, it couldn't be helped now. The rear guard would be here in a few minutes, all there was to do was to kill some time.
The Commander strolled over to a pair of empty oil drums sitting close to where they had parked, and had attempted to lean against them when suddenly they toppled over against his weight, sending him tumbling to the ground with them. The Commander sat up to find that right where the two drums had been standing were Scarecrow and Architect, sitting motionless in the fetal position. An awkward silence filled the air as both ringleaders slowly turned their heads toward him. Architect innocently smiled and hesitantly waved as the Commander continued staring, completely dumbfounded and taken off-guard.
Finally, Scarecrow broke the silence. "Okay, new plan...GET HIM!"
Even though they didn't have their weapons with them, they still had one tool at their disposal - Sangvis CQC. Images of the incident with R93 and P38 flashed before the Commander's eyes as the duo rapidly sprang towards him before he could raise his gun.
"NO NOT AGAIN!" The Commander groaned out as he was knocked to the ground and relentlessly beaten unconscious by the two ringleaders.
A few moments later, the familiar hum of the MRAP's engine faded in as the Commander slowly regained consciousness to find Scarecrow and Architect sitting up front, while he had been cable-tied to a rail in the back.
"So, where are we taking this Commander anyways?" Architect inquired
"To the FOB, for questioning." Scarecrow answered
"What for? We got him, can't we just, you know, kill him now?"
"Dreamer wants us to bring him alive, something about having plans for him."
The Commander groaned internally as the gravity of the situation sunk in. This day was about to get a lot longer for him...
"This is Echo-4, we've arrived at the first marker." UMP-45 informed HQ over her communicator.
"Copy Echo-4, proceed on mission." The reply came in.
45 turned to the rest of 404. "Alright, it's time to earn our keep, ladies. Nine, 416, you're with me, we'll aid the AR Team in their search. G11, you'll provide overwatch out here and make sure no reinforcements sneak up on us from behind, or our strays don't slip out behind us."
"Wait, you're leaving G11 out here alone?" 416 protested.
"Questioning orders again, 416?" 45 asked sardonically.
"Yes! Yes I am! You know what G11's like, is your neural cloud acting up?!" 416 shot back.
"Alright then, me and Nine can stay out here, and you can go into that forest and bring those two ringleaders back yourself - alive of course, I'd expect a pretty hefty pay-cut if you brought the Commander back two lumps of scrap metal."
416 rolled her eyes and let out a resigned sigh before turning to G11. "If I come back and catch you sleeping, I'm deleting all of your saved games."
G11's eyes widened at 416's threat. "No! I promise! I'll be wide awake! Nobody will get past me!"
"I'm going to hold you to that." 416 replied sternly.
The three Dolls fell into formation and began cautiously advancing into the forest, 416 turned, pointed her fingers at her eyes and then pointed them to G11 before disappearing into the thickets.
G11 slowly made her way to her overwatch position and dropped down into the prone position, letting out a long yawn as she stared at the target area. Minutes passed, nothing was moving, it didn't take long for her to grow bored. The grass and trees softly swayed as a gentle breeze blew over her, the air was the perfect temperature, like she was enveloped in a nice big omnipresent blanket, the soil beneath her began to feel softer and softer...Nobody would notice if she just rested her eyes for a couple of minutes...
"Scarecrow...I know we're in one of their vehicles, but is that going to be enough? They're going to have patrols out looking for us, what if one of them sees us driving?"
"Just uh...smile and wave, Architect. Smile and wave."
It was clear she hadn't thought that far ahead, or ahead at all, not that Architect had a plan or thought herself able to come up with one. She'd simply resign herself and see what fate had in store for her, just like she usually did. There was no point in stressing over things she couldn't control.
Scarecrow innocently whistled to herself as the MRAP continued steadily down the road, straight past the silver-haired doll that was laying in a bed of grass on a small perch near it, snoring peacefully as the vehicle rolled straight past her and disappeared off into distance.
A while later, in an unknown location...
The voices of his captors faded in and out sporadically as the Commander blinked in and out of consciousness. The Commander could only coherently make out what appeared to be the end of a conversation as his senses finally began to return to him.
"Are you sure about this, Dreamer? The last I saw before I got captured, our forces were in shambles, do we even have enough units to defend this base?"
"Relax, Scarecrow, I found a place called that gave us fantastic deals on spare-parts - they even delivered it no questions asked. When Elisa and Agent get back from their scouting, they will return to find Sangvis Ferri restored beyond its former glory!"
Scarecrow's expression faded. "The forces defending this base have been developed from parts?..."
Dreamer continued oblivious to Scarecrow's change in attitude. "Everything from the units, to the weapons, to the automated systems, even me and Destroyer have replaced some parts that got damaged during the last battle. They've given us all we need to be operating at full capacity."
"And uh, what did M16 have to say about this?" Scarecrow inquired hesitantly.
"Who cares what that drunk thinks? She's been so busy sulking in her room that I'd doubt she's even noticed."
Scarecrow awkwardly rubbed the back of her neck. "Well, Dreamer...it's been nice catching up and all, I think I'm going to step out and check the place out for myself."
"Yes, see our newfound might for yourself. I'm going to entertain our guest here...or more appropriately, our soon-to-be comrade."
As Scarecrow exited the room in something of a hurry, Dreamer turned to the Commander, who had been bound to a chair, and smiled sadistically. "Long time no see, Commander..."
"Dreamer...Of course a slippery weasel like you would still be alive."
Dreamer cracked another menacing smile. "Despite both you and the Military's best efforts."
"You'd know it if I was giving my best effort, Dreamer. My clients screwed me over - I'm no longer being contracted to deal with you. As far as I'm concerned, you're no longer my problem. I have no idea what you're planning to do, but if you don't release me soon, that's going to change for the worse."
"Is it, now? Are your precious dolls going to charge in to save you? Is that what's going to happen."
"Do something stupid like keep me tied up and you'll find out."
"Oh, don't worry about that, Commander. I'll be setting you free soon enough...And then, you will be leading us to victory."
"The hell I will."
Dreamer cackled sadistically. "You see, Destroyer and I have come across some interesting literature while we were out scavenging, top secret classified files, in fact. Parapluie is an excellent tool for bolstering our ranks, but there's only so much that mere fodder can accomplish, so we've been looking for ways that we can bring in more, shall we say, strategic elements. Thanks to what we've discovered, we now have the means to bring Human Commanders into the fold, and you are going to have the honor of being our first subject..."
A feeling of unease washed over the Commander. Just what did she discover? Files from some sort of top secret mind control program? Some experimental drug? Were they going to jam a computer inside his brain and hack it? A dozen nightmare scenarios flooded the Commander's thoughts before he saw Dreamer pull out a small pendulum, and dangle it in front of his face...
"Try to relax Commander, and listen to the sound of my voice...You are getting sleepy. Yes, very sleepy..." Dreamer spoke mystically as she swung the pendulum back and forth.
The Commander, however, was completely unaffected by the display. Was this girl for real? Is this actually what she had in mind, or was it some kind of trick to get him to let his guard down? The Commander watched Dreamer's expression, not a hint of jest was to be found - she was serious. She was actually doing this thinking it would work...
The Commander was just about to think of a snide remark before his brain screamed at him internally.
No, you dumb fuck! This is your chance! Play along!
"Oh...so sleepy..." The Commander groaned out.
Dreamer's eyes lit up with glee, she was buying it. "Yes...very good...Now we can begin..."
