"Commander?"

I absentmindedly pat UMP 9 on her head.

UMP 45 is currently spitting into her radio... I can't hear what she's saying.

She shouldn't need a radio? She's... She's full of computers.

HK 416 and G11 are holding off... uh, the army. Military. The green ones.

It hurts to think.

"Commander, you've got to stay awake." 9 looks really worried for some reason. I am awake though?

Why is everything a question?

UMP 45 runs up to me, but I can't see her face. No, wait, half of her face was shredded earlier. Metal skull, glowing eyes.

Always the glowing eyes.

9 is yelling something at me, but I can't hear her over the gunfire. Which sounds kinda dull... it should be louder, I'm right next to it.

The sky darkens quickly, and the battlefield fades from sight, my mind drifting back to the first time I had seen the glowing eyes...


Boring, dreadful, 9-5 job.

I smile for the next customer in line, and offer them the same thing as every customer.

"Would you like to add a cookie for half a credit?"

The dignified woman hesitates, before shaking her head. "No thank you." She's wearing a business suit, has the air of a politician about her.

I nod and ring her up, handing her the receipt before gesturing for the next customer in line.

Both of the oddly dressed young girls ignore me and follow the woman to her seat. Interesting, they're not going to eat?

I ring up the next three people in line and then sit back waiting for new customers to come in. Coincidentally, I glance back at the strange trio. I swear I've seen the older woman before, maybe on the news. The other two are behaving oddly, looking around the store at intervals, as if waiting for something.

"Dude, d'you think the green one is hot?"

I glance to the side. "What?"

My greasy teen of a coworker, Rakim, points at one of the two girls. Slightly taller than average, she has black hair with a green strip in it, and a sweater with a coat tied around her waist. Her eyes meet mine as she sweeps through the restaurant and Rakim and I quickly look away. Her eyes, from what I could see when she looked at me, are pure grey.

"Oh shit, she saw us looking!" Rakim laughs to himself nervously.

"Dude, you need to stop creeping on the customers."

"Well, yeah." He tugs at his uniform. "But she's super cute!"

"Am I?" a quiet voice comes from behind us.

Slowly, I turn around, trying to keep my face neutral. This is bad, I can't have another customer complaint on my profile.

"Er, uh..." Rakim looks like he's about to choke.

"Yes, miss." I say in my most businesslike voice. "I apologize for our rudeness in staring."

She blinks. Once. Slowly. "Okay. Can I order fries?"

"Oh, of course!" The customer smile returns and I successfully complete the transaction.

"Rakim."

Beside me, Rakim turns around to face the manager. 50 kilos of rage, our manager. What she lacks in height she more than makes up for in sheer malice. He's about to get a royal chewing out, in front of the other employees and customers, and I dare not be in the vicinity, since I have no desire to be caught in the explosion. I face directly forwards and try to send my mind as far away from reality as possible.

The young lady's fries are placed on a tray and I hand the tray to her, still trying to go to my happy place.

I come back down to reality as she jerks her head around to face the entrance, dropping the tray and her food even as she reaches under her coat and withdraws a large gun.

"Oh, fuck me."

Then the front of the building detonates inwards.


I must have lost consciousness, as the next thing I knew, I was lying on the ground, staring at a burning ceiling, with really loud fireworks going off inside the building.

Or, actually, not fireworks. My eyes slowly come into focus and I can see the girl from before firing her gun at... something. The gun is making the popping sounds that are hurting my ability to hear anything else.

Her friend runs past me, also holding a gun, and dragging the distinguished woman along with her with one hand, aiming behind herself with the other. As I watch the younger girl push the woman into the freezer, grab a chunk of rubble and jam the door open just a crack before turning around and firing her own weapon.

The girl with the green stripe in her hair stops firing and runs up next to me, crouching down and mouthing some words at me.

"I can't hear you!" I say. I think

She shakes her head, and hauls me to my feet, an impressive feat for a girl her size, and she shoves me away from where she was firing earlier, and I stumble behind the fryer, which already has a bunch of worrying scorch marks and melted parts.

What... happened?

I peek around the fryer after a second or two of disbelief. The two girls are hiding behind the counter and trading fire with someone I can't see. I turn back around and find Rakim and our manager on the ground, knocked out by what looks like a chunk of the ceiling. Another of my coworkers is bleeding from her scalp.

Suddenly the younger fighter pops up next to me. Pink hair, blue streak, and eyes the same pink color.

"Hey, can you hear me?" She asks, her expression harsh.

"Y-yeah."

"Good." She pulls a second gun from under her jacket. "Use this."

"Huh? I don't know how to use this!" I cry.

"Ugh." She places my hand on the grip. "Safety's off. Point at anything white over the counter, squeeze trigger. Try not to dump ammo into the air, we're kinda cut off."

"No, no no no, I'm not cut out for this!"

She grabs my shirt. "We don't get choices, and now you don't either."

And then she throws me back towards the counter.

Green stripe looks down as I hit the counter beside her. "Are you okay?"

I clutch the gun to my chest and start hyperventilating. "N-No."

"Alright, but, I kind of need help." She stands up slightly and fires a few rounds before crouching back down and turning to me. "We need to hold off Paradeus until our backup gets here, and you're the only one up and about."

I look back.

The girl with the pink hair is dragging Rakim to the freezer, his eyes blank. As I watch, something hits the panel near the girl's head and melts the metal of the heat duct.

"O-okay."

I grip the gun in my hands harder, so hard it feels like the plastic bit in my hands is distorting.

Green pops up again and fires another burst.

When she drops down, I carefully stand up and poke the gun over the counter.

For a second, I don't understand what I'm seeing. Four people on stilts, dressed all in white? Also, there's a metal beam on their backs...

One of said tubes swivels my direction and starts to glow.

I duck back down in time to avoid the blast, but the heat makes my neck feel like I fell asleep in the sun.

I wait a few seconds, trying to stop my heart from popping out of my chest, but it's no use. I peer around the side, not daring to look over the top again.

The white things are human shaped, but clearly not human. They have lights on them, the joints are far too small to house arms, and the stilts are actually their legs that end in wicked points. They're slowly advancing, but stop whenever Green hair pops up to fire back at them.

And then one of them notices me and points their canon in my direction once again.

Fear grips my heart, and both of my hands squeeze, incidentally, pulling the trigger on the rifle in my hands. It jumps and bucks, spraying bullets everywhere. I squeeze until all of the bullets come out and the gun stops firing with a soul crushing click.

One of them finds it's target, and the white thing aiming at me topples over, and I notice a bunch more of the white units have already fallen over.

And then the three remaining white machines point their weapons at me.

Green hair pops back over the counter and sweeps her weapon around, bringing the three remaining things down.

And then, silence.

For like three second before the stress gets to me and I puke out my guts.

"C'mon, get up." Green hair walks over to me. "You need to hide."

My only response is to puke a second time.

"M4, just give me a hand." Pink calls. "If he's too stupid to get to shelter, it's no skin off our teeth."

Green, or, M4 I guess, reluctantly heads to grab another person. Huh. Almost everyone's been shoved into the freezer by now, thanks to Pink. In fact, after M4 grabs my manager, everyone else is out of sight.

I try not to think about anyone trapped under the rubble.

I scramble to my feet and head for the freezer, getting in just as Pink and M4 drag the manager inside.

They close the door mostly, careful not to let it lock all of us inside, reducing the light inside to just a crack from around the door and a few holes scattered around, slagged from whatever those cannons are firing. I can see some wires sparking from where they were damaged.

"What's going on?" I ask the two.

They turn to me, and my blood chills.

Since they're standing in front of the door, All I can see is their silhouettes. Or, that's all I should've been able to see.

Instead, I see two sets of glowing circles where their eyes should be, grey for M4 and pink for... Pink.

They look at each other.

"Our client was attacked." Pink shrugs.

"We're sorry to drag you into this mess." M4 says. "But, thank you for your help."

"N-no problem."

"Oh, can I have that back?" Pink holds out her hand for the weapon, and I gladly let her take the surprisingly heavy device from me. "Thanks." She ejects the magazine out of the bottom and slides in a new one.

"Are we safe?"

"Not... yet." M4 says, peering out of one of the melted holes. "One more incoming."

The two girls seem to hold a conversation with those creepy glowing eyes, and then they each press themselves against one side of the freezer door.

Pink looks at me. "You might want to pretend to be dead."

I quickly lie down on the floor in a manner that I can watch the two and the door as we wait.

We don't have to wait long.

Slowly, I can hear rhythmic metal ping sounds getting closer and closer.

And then the freezer door is ripped off its hinges, and light floods the interior of the structure.

One of the white machines is standing in the light, for a brief moment before three guns point at it and unleash fury.

The cacophony in the enclosed space is positively deafening and I can't help but cover my head with my hands.

When the noises stop a moment later, there's a loud THUMP against the back wall.

I look up to see that Pink has been thrown into the rear wall of the freezer hard enough to deform the metal. M4 is knocked down by the entrance, and it appears like she's partially caught on some rubble.

The machine advances to Pink, stepping over me in the process. I dare not move as it stalks up to pink, who is still moving, much to my surprise.

She shockingly brings one of her guns to bear and points it at the machine, but it bats the weapon away, dashing that hope away.

"15!" M4 calls out.

15 fumbles around with her jacket, looking for something.

She pulls what looks like a grenade.

The machine stops.

"Yeah, that's right. You can't afford to kill this one outright, can you? Have to get her out alive?" She quickly jerks her hand away from the grenade, pulling out the pin. "Good luck."

The machine stops moving completely for a few seconds.

In that time, M4 frees herself from where her foot had been caught and quietly steps up to me and hauls me to my feet once again, finger on her lips.

She then points at me, then herself, and then the machine.

I try to give her a look that says "What?" but she holds up three fingers, then drops them.

Then holds up a single digit, then two.

On three, she bolts at the machine, and I instinctively bolt with her, and we both crash into the white robot and shove it as hard as we can.

It's stupid heavy, but it was trying to turn to us and it was off balance, allowing us to shove it against the wall.

Where it makes sharp cracking sounds and starts releasing smoke. The smell after a lightning storm mixed with toasted electronics, and I realize we had tackled the device into the exposed cabling.

It stops moving, and all of the lights on the exterior shut down. Not dramatically, one at a time but all at once.

I take a second to catch my breath.

"Now, we should be good for a few minutes." 15 says.

"I'll call Angie to come get us." M4 says, before turning to peek out of the freezer.

"...What the hell just happened?"

"Congratulations." 15 says sardonically. "You just survived your first terrorist attack." She looks down at the primed grenade in her hand and sighs. "What am I...?"

I look down at my shaking hands. "Oh... Oh god. Rakim!" I turn to the six or so people strewn about the freezer.

The distinguished looking woman is actually up, looking around warily. Aside from her, Rakim, my manager, my coworker with the bleeding scalp and two other people who were eating at the building. I can't help but notice four people I know are not in here, but probably buried under the rubble.

I step up to Rakim and gently try to shake him awake, but he's unresponsive. I press my fingers to his neck and feel a pulse, so that's good.

I check the other five unconscious people and aside from the coworker with the bleeding, they all seem fine. She on the other hand is starting to look really pale.

I pull off the top layer of my uniform and wrap it around her head to slow the bleeding down. Then...

"Uh... What... what do I...?"

Through the panicked haze of my mind, I can see M4 walk up to the distinguished lady. "Ma'am, we have to go."

I jerk my head up."You- you're just going to leave?"

15 glances over at me. "Honestly, you're in more danger if we stay here. Paradeus is looking for us, not you." She's no longer holding the grenade, so she must have put it somewhere.

"As long as none of them sent back a report of his face." M4 says.

15 and M4 look at each other for a second before looking back at me.

"...I'll contact the commander." 15 sighs.

"What?"

"Well..." M4 looks down. "Since you actively fought off the Paradeus units, they may be looking for you too."

"...More of those are coming for me?" I sag to the floor. "I-I can't fight those!"

"Should we bring him with us?" The dignified lady asks M4.

"15 is asking the commander right now." M4 asserts. "Hopefully we'll have enough space-"

15 turns back to us. "Commander says to drag him in. He's already seen too much anyway."

I can't help but get especially nervous when she puts it like that...


"Commander! Commander!"

"He keeps slipping away! We need a new blood pack!"

"We're out! We've been out for weeks!"

"Griffin's sending a chopper, it'll be here in three!"

"Well if it's not three seconds, we're in trouble!"

So noisy.

Through the blurry haze of my vision, I can see... is that Sop?

"What are you doing here, SOPMOD?"

"Don't worry Commander!" She says, ignoring the others. "I don't let my friends die!"


A tank of some sort rolled up to the restaurant, and M4 and 15 made certain I was inside. I get the funny feeling that they're not doing this because of my personal well being.

M4 at least seems apologetic about it.

"I do apologize for dragging you into this mess. I do appreciate your help though."

"It's... it's not a problem." I say, trying not to sound terrified. "Where are we going?"

"To, ah, where our Commander is currently." She says evasively.

The distinguished woman holds out a hand to me from where she sits across the small gap. "I, too, appreciate your contribution. May I have your name?"

I hesitate. "Hadwin. Hadwin Galanis." Saying so, I shake her hand halfheartedly.

"Wonderful. I'm Thea Panagos."

Hearing the name triggers something in my brain. Member of Parliament, Thea Panagos. "Oh. Nice to meet you."

She nods. "If only it was under nicer circumstances."

The back of the tank thing grows quiet aside from the rumble of a powerful engine of some sort.

Eventually, I can't stand it any longer. "I'm not going to be allowed to go home, am I?"

M4 shakes her head. "It's not safe for you there. Once we determine that Paradeus doesn't know who you are, we'll... probably send you back."

"Ah." My shoulders slump.

"Cheer up." 15 says while looking bored. "Our commander is a softie. She's not likely to have you shot."

MP Panagos eyes her... well, I guess bodyguards? Not my movie driven expectation of men in black suits, but I saw firsthand how effective they are. Anyway, she eyes her bodyguards. "I wish you two would lighten up a tad. You're scaring him."

"I don't do cheery," 15 says. "That's SOPMOD's field of expertise."

"SOPMOD? Oh, the one with the antennas on her head." MP Panagos says.

M4 gives a wan smile. "Don't say that to her. She'll snap at you." Then she turns to face me. "Commander Angelia is nice. She'll probably give you a room to hole up in for a few days while we verify you're not registered in the enemy's database. Commander may want to talk to you and ask what happened too, but nobody's going to shoot you."

I can't bring myself to respond, my tongue glued to the top of my mouth. Instead, I nod before staring holes into the floor.

"Paradeus is getting bolder." 15 muses aloud. "Those were fully armed units, in broad daylight."

"Up to now, they've only attacked at night or with some sort of disguise so they weren't so obvious." M4 continues the thought. "That they just strode up to the front of the building..."

"Not to mention that they did some sort of street clearing. There's no way the street was magically empty so they could waltz up."

"I would have expected screaming, to be quite honest." MP Panagos says. "We had no warning though."

"I'm beginning to think we took on a really troublesome job." 15 groans.

I glance upwards at 15, sitting across and diagonally away from me, and M4 who sits right next to me. In the dim light inside the tank, their eyes glow faintly, almost looking like they're just catching the light. They both react to me examining them by returning the favor. After a few seconds of staredown, I break eye contact and look down at the floor.

These girls are creepy, trigger happy, and apparently professionals despite their age. Despite their reassurances, I can see many ways this could go wrong, I doubt I can make it out of this alive. I can feel my rate of breathing increase as I continue to imagine new scenarios. Maybe they'll silence me for everything I know, or stick me in a cell to rot for the rest of my life, or torture me for information-

"Hadwin, was it?" M4 asks. Upon my affirmative grunt, she continues. "Have you had any firearms training?"

I do my best to calm myself down and shake my head. "N-no. That was the first time I've ever held a gun. I didn't even know what I was doing."

"M4, I had to show him where the trigger was." 15 shakes her head. "He's as civvie as civvie gets."

"Do you have any particular skills?" MP Panagos asks. "Any hobbies?"

I force myself to focus on the question, which has the side effect of distracting me from my panic. "I can, um, cook a little. I like to read." A shiver runs through my body as the adrenaline passes through me. "I... I guess I can sew too."

"Sewing? What kind?" MP Panagos asks.

"Mostly repairs to patch up clothes." I say. Funny, I'm a lot calmer now. Thinking about other things is really helping. "I sometimes do cross stitches."

"Huh." M4 looks at her tattered cloak. I hadn't looked at it closely before, but now that I know she fights with a gun, several of those small holes are probably from bullets. "What is... cross stitching?"

"Um... it's sewing a pattern to a bit of cloth. Each of the individual stitches are in a cross shape, so-"

The tank suddenly brakes, throwing us sideways into our restraints.

M4 and 15 both grab their weapons and point at the door, while simultaneously undoing the straps holding them in place to stand in front of MP Panagos.

"What's the matter?" MP Panagos asks.

"Unscheduled stop." 15 announces curtly. "Stay down."

I can feel the panic building like a pressure in my skull, making each heartbeat uncomfortable.

M4 and 15 aim their weapons and brace.

The door unlatches and cracks open. Light from the outdoors is blinding compared with the dim interior.

Then the door swings open with a smooth movement, revealing two figures.

"M4!" One of them leaps forwards and tackles M4 off her feet, thankfully missing falling on top of me.

15 lowers her weapon. "Oh, it's just you."

The other figure steps up to the door frame. "G&K has been put in charge of Panagos for now. Ange is heading this way."

M4 pushes her assailant off of her and stands up. "Yes, SOPMOD, it's nice to see you." She turns to the woman outside the tank. "Why were we not informed?"

The woman grimaces. "Someone's been intercepting transmissions. It's not Parapluie, we checked. It's not Zener messages, but comms traffic. In fact, we think it was one of those communications that led Paradeus to you earlier." I notice, silhouetted as she was, her eyes glow, one orange and one yellow.

"That's unfortunate." 15 tucks her weapon away. "Alright, I'm going to get a sitrep from the local commander."

"I'll escort MP Panagos inside." M4 turns to look at me, and then everyone else suddenly looks at me. "As for you...

"Who's he?" Says the girl who pounced on M4. She puts her face right up to mine and sniffs.

"He's, ah, a civilian we picked up." M4 says, her eyes tracking the MP as she exits the tank. "For now can you please bring him somewhere he can sit? Angelia wants to talk with him."

"Sure!" Her eyes also glow in the dim light, but this time it's a most unsettling red. "Hi! I'm M4 SOPMOD II, but you can call me Sop!"

"H-Hadwin."

"Alright, follow me!" She turns around and bounds out of the tank before turning around to make sure I'm following, like a pet dog.

On her head is a headband that makes her look like she has antennas, or possibly dog ears given the previous analogy. She wears mostly black, has blond hair with a red streak in it... and her left hand is completely mechanical. It doesn't look like a prosthetic, but more like something cobbled together out of a destroyed robot. The fingers look wicked sharp.

Sop tilts her head. "What's wrong?"

"N-nothing." I shudder.

"Okay, then let's go."


"Where's the Helo?!"

"It got shot down, we don't-"

"A truck! 45 got a truck!"

"Haul him in!"

I'm lifted off the ground... I think. I can't feel anything below my hips.

Then the gray sky is replaced by an olive drab tarp that serves as a roof.

9's face appears over me. "This isn't good."

"Everyone in?" 45 yells "Cuz we're going!"


Sop leads me to what probably used to be a hotel lobby, but is now more or less a ruin. Bullet holes riddle most surfaces that would have once been considered "nice" if not "opulent." From there, we go up three floors and into a large room filled with military-looking crates. I had expected her to point me to a place and tell me to sit there until someone came to get me, but instead she sat down on a crate opposite of me.

"Hey."

"Yes?"

"Why do you smell like food?" She tilts her head and picks at her unnervingly sharp teeth with a metal finger.

"I work at a fast food restaurant. Worked." I grimace. "It's rubble now."

"Oh. That makes sense. Hey, I'm hungry. Do you want something to eat?"

"I... sure." I shrug.

She leaps to her feet. "I'll get Springfield to whip something up. You sit there, I'll be back quickly!" And then she sprints out almost faster than seems possible.

"Phew. For a moment there I thought she was going to bite me."

"She may have been thinking about it." The woman with the orange and yellow eyes steps up beside me. "Sop's a little unhinged, but her heart's in the right place." She holds out a hand and I stand up to shake it. "I'm RO635."

"I'm Hadwin." I hesitate. "So, what's going on?"

She sighs. "I'm probably not supposed to be telling you this, but we actually aren't doing so well right now. As you heard earlier, all of our communications seem to be compromised, so for the moment nobody's talking to each other." She sits down on the box Sop had vacated. "I asked M4 about her concerns, and it looks like you got dragged into our mess. I'm sorry."

"Er... thank you." I say. "I'm guessing I'm going to be here a while then."

"I'm afraid so. I'm not really allowed to make the call, but I don't see us being able to clear you when we can't even talk to headquarters. In the meantime, you're free to wander the building. Just don't go anywhere marked 'restricted' and don't leave. It's for your own safety." She gives me a wan smile. "I know you're probably in way over your head, but I promise someone will explain everything. If they don't, ask for me and I'll do my best to fill you in."

"O-okay."

"Now, I have to go do some more running around. I've asked Sop to keep you company, and told her not to bite you." RO635 cracks a smile. "Despite how she acts, she'll keep you safe."

"I... I guess I'll trust you on that one."

"Alright. I'm off. Sop should be back soon with food."

I wave as she walks away.

Wait, when did she ask Sop not to bite me? They never talked-

"Heeey Haddy!"

Sop appears in front of me and places a plate in my hands. I look down at the food and... it's a small sandwich. Better than nothing to be sure.

"Here's food!" She continues. "Springfield's busy, so I had to make it myself."

"Thank you." I take a bite, and... it's lacking in the vegetable department, but otherwise it's tasty.

"How is it?"

"Good." I swallow. "Lotta meat on here."

"I like it better that way." She sits down across from me again, leaning forwards as if in anticipation. "Are you the new Commander?"

"Um, no." I shake my head. "M4 and 15 were guarding MP Panagos and the place I work at g-got shot up and... now I'm here."

"Aw, that's a shame." She leans back. "Maybe I can ask the Commander to make you a Commander as well!"

"...Huh?"

"Oh, right, you don't know Commander Gentiane. She's our Commander right now, so basically everyone here answers to her. I'll introduce you to her later."

"Okay..." That's not what I was confused about, but I decided to let it slide. "Did you say your name was M4 SOPMOD II?"

"Yep!" She puffs out her chest. "I go by Sop to my friends though."

"Does everyone around here get weird nicknames?"

She gives me a look of confusion. "Is 'Sop' weird?"

"Not exactly... Ah, nevermind." I'll ask RO635 later.

"Alright. Hey, do you wanna take a tour of the base?"

"I guess."

"Awesome! Let's go!" She grabs my arm with her claw.

Sop then proceeds to literally drag me all the way around the derelict hotel.


Things I noticed on my 'tour':

1) There's a lot of teenage girls around. Some of them might even be pre-teens. All of them are dressed oddly and most of them are wielding firearms. This is immediately concerning, but I'm not really in a position to comment at the moment. In fact, none of them talked to me, and Sop just kind of ignored them.

2) The cafeteria area is on the second floor, along with most of the empty rooms with beds. Sop mentioned I'd likely be placed somewhere on that floor.

3) There's a firing range in the basement.

4) This building used to be an upscale hotel before "Sangvis Scum" got a hold of it.

5) I'm the only person here without a firearm somewhere on their person.

6) Everything over floor five is restricted.

That last point is why I'm currently panicking, since RO told me specifically not to enter the restricted areas and Sop had again literally dragged me through the door. She's stupid strong, and those claws on her left hand are sharp enough I don't feel like struggling.

Sop brazenly shoves open another door. "Hello!"

All eyes in the room turn to look at the two of us. RO635, M4, and 15 are present, along with several silver haired women I don't recognize standing in the shadows behind everyone else. A woman who looks like she's been severely burned is standing at the table in the center of the room along with another woman in all red, with silver hair and red-purple tips.

For a moment, I think I see bright reddish pink circles from the dark, but they disappear quickly. I can't see M4's, 15's or RO635's eyes in this light, so my initial guess doesn't make much sense.

"Sop..." RO635 groans.

"Who's this?" The woman in red asks.

"I think that's the young man who M4A1 and AR-15 dragged along. I want to know why he's here."

"I was giving him the grand tour!" Sop announces. "I wanted to show him the control room... which, now that I think about it, isn't the best idea right now."

The woman in red pinches her brow. "Yes, Sop. That is correct."

M4 steps forwards. "I'll take them away-"

"No, he's here and we aren't getting anywhere, might as well get some introductions done." The woman in red sticks out her hand. "Commander Gentiane."

"Hadwin Galanis." I shake her hand.

The woman with the burns extends a hand of her own. "Ange."

I shake her hand too. "I apologize for bursting in."

"Not to worry." Gentiane says. "I've worked with Sop long enough to know that it's hard to change her mind on things."

"So, what're you talking about?" Sop looks down at the table and I follow her gaze. The table has a screen built into it and it's currently showing a map with lots of arrows drawn everywhere.

Gentiane and Ange look at each other, then at me. "Nothing you need to concern yourself with."

"Aw..." Sop pouts. "Oh yeah, are we going to make Haddy the new commander?"

Gentiane looks at the girl beside me. "That's... not something I was thinking of doing. Why would you think that?"

"Well, we lost Commander Jakoby last month, and I figured we'd need a replacement." Sop says casually. "And Haddy seems like a good person!"

The room is entirely silent as everyone, including me, stares at Sop.

"I, uh, I don't know what it takes to be a commander, but I'm pretty sure I don't qualify." I say to Sop.

"He's just a civvie, Sop." Ange shakes her head.

Sop's face falls. "Okay."

M4 steps up. "Hey Sop, why don't you take him down to the firing range? Find a spare rifle, and use some of my spare ammo. I haven't had a chance to practice recently, so there should be a bit of surplus."

Sop perks up. "Yeah! Alright, let's go!" She starts tugging on my hand.

"Just a second, Sop." Ange turns to me. "We'll be out of this meeting in an hour or two. I'll answer some questions then."

"Okay." Sop's claw is starting to hurt my shoulder. "Er, bye then. It was nice to meet you."

"Likewise."


Silver-blue, with a hint of green... ah, that's probably HK 416. Why's she lying down on the floor?

Our faces are less than a half a meter away from each other. Normally, she'd have a blush on her cheeks from the proximity, but today she's focused, her gun aimed behind the truck.

Bullet casings eject from the side of her gun, flying around me like a rain of gold.

I can't move, or I'd probably be dodging them. A casing can burn if it lands on your skin.

Looking back upwards, I can see SOPMOD, covered in oil and blood, straddling my chest and working on something frantically. Her normal cheer is replaced with the grim determination she only shows when truly invested in something.

"Looks like the adrenaline shot worked." UMP 9 leans into my view. "Hey, Commander. Um, please don't panic... but..." She wrings her hands. "You're dying... and the only way to stop it is-"


"No, you have to brace it like this!" Sop holds her gun up and sights down it before pressing it back into my hands.

Sop has been drilling me in the finer arts of firing a gun for the past half an hour now. Keep my finger out of the trigger guard unless I want to shoot something, only point the gun at what I want to shoot, assume the gun is loaded... breathing techniques, stances, and posture too.

I haven't fired any bullets yet.

There are more girls at the firing range. All of them appear to be around sixteen to nineteen years old, but all of them appear to be experts with their weapons. Right now, most of them have long since stopped shooting and instead have decided to sit around watching and talking among themselves.

In the part of my brain not currently trying to be very careful with the gun in my hands is wondering about the massive disparity in male-female ratio in this building. I had seen a few men before, all of them in mechanics gear. Oh, and the driver of the tank thing (I was told it was an APC) was also a guy, but the vast majority of the people here are women and girls.

"Okay, that's it!" Sop claps her hands, which makes an odd sound due to her claw, like slapping a metal sheet. "Now aim, disable the safety like I showed you, and fire at the target!"

"...It's loaded?"

"I told you, always assume it's loaded." Sop raises a finger like she's lecturing me. "But no." She hands me a magazine. "Put that in and rack it, then do those other things."

I carefully press the magazine into the hole in the bottom of the gun and pull back on the charging handle. Man, this is making me nervous. This is a controlled environment, I'm not going to hurt anyone, and definitely safer than it was when I was under fire earlier, but now I have the time to think about it.

I disable the safety and aim at the target that's actually pretty close, only about four meters.

I pull the trigger and-

BANG

The gun jumps in my hands and the bullet flies downrange, hitting the paper target square in the appendix. I had been aiming for the head, so... not impressive.

Still, Sop seems happy. "You hit him!"

I set the gun down on the bench and Sop reaches over to snap on the safety. Oops. "I wasn't aiming that low."

"Eh. It'll stop most humans. Nobody likes being shot."

I pick the gun back up and turn off the safety again, then proceed to fire a few more rounds.

Sop steps in to correct my posture a few times, and by the time the magazine is empty I at least hit where I was aiming at once or twice. As I set the gun down once again, this time with the safety on, I turn to Sop. "So, what's this gun called?"

She blinks at me. "It's my gun?"

"...Yeah, but what is it?"

"It's an M4 SOPMOD II." She says. "It's how I got my name."

"...Huh?"

"Yeah. All us dolls are named after our guns." She points at a few of the spectators. "There's Tokarev, AK-47 and P90."

I glance at each of the girls indicated. Sure enough, AK-47 is holding the named weapon, and the same with P90. I'm not sure about Tokarev, since I don't recognize that gun at all, but... I guess they all use their weapon of choice as a codename?

"Okay. So this is a SOPMOD." I inspect the weapon, but it's just a hunk of metal to my eyes. No idea about the quality of it.

AK-47 steps up to me. "I haven't seen you around before."

Sop speaks up. "He's new! M4 and 15 brought him in."

"Well... nice to meet you."

I set down the gun and shake her hand. "Likewise."

"Me too! I'm P90." The girl with hair buns pipes up.

"Tokarev." The girl with the blue ribbon says quietly.

I've met so many people today, I'm going to start forgetting names and codenames. "Nice to meet you."

"Is this our new commander?" AK-47 asks Sop.

"Commander Gentiane doesn't think so, but I like him."

"Sop, you like everyone." P90 leans against the wall and grins. "You already got the tour?" She asks me.

"Yes I did. Sop showed me around."

"Cool. How long are you staying?"

I shrug. "I don't know. M4 and RO635 seem to think it's dangerous for me to leave, so I guess until nobody's going to shoot me for leaving."

AK-47 and Sop laugh. I hadn't meant it as a joke, but that's alright.

"He's funny." P90 laughs, then pitches her voice to something masculine. "Until nobody's going to shoot me for leaving." It's probably supposed to be me, but my voice isn't that deep. Then she returns to her normal voice. "So, what's your name?"

"...Had-."

"Haddy!" Sop proclaims.

"Haddy, huh?" P90 stands on her tip toes and looks right at my face, like she's trying to save a mental image. "Alright. I need to report back now, see you around." She turns and leaves.

"Sop." Tokarev looks slightly miffed. "He doesn't even know how to fire a gun."

"Which is why I'm letting him use mine!" Sop taps the weapon.

"Er, Tokarev, right? I'm actually just a civilian that was in the area when M4 and 15 got attacked."

Tokarev looks at Sop. "You were on a mission today?"

"He means AR-15 and M4A1." She replies. "Seems like DEFY's around for the same reason we are."

"Ah." Tokarev smiles slightly, an adorable little smile that makes her look like a porcelain doll. "In that case, welcome to Griffin and Kryuger. If you ever need my assistance, you have but to ask." And she daintily grabs the hem of her dress and lifts the edges slightly while curtsying.

"L-Likewise."

She turns back to her firing station and unloads a small pistol, tucking it into a small handbag before bowing and leaving.

"Hey Sop." AK-47 says. "Are you sure he should be learning on your super-complicated weapon? AK-47's have been used forever because they're just that good."

"Eh... but M4 told me to use her spare training ammo. You don't use 5.56, right?"

"Nah... but I do have a bunch of 7.62 spare. In fact, I was told to burn through it."

Sop sighs. "I bet you just haven't been practicing again."

"Nope!" AK-47 seems almost proud of that.

"Well... Haddy, what do you want to do?" Sop turns to me.

"I... I still haven't figured out SOPMOD's gun, so I'll hold out until I get a hang of this." I sigh. "Looks like I might be here a while."

"Fair enough." AK-47 shrugs and turns back to her firing station before turning right back. "Hey, why don't we make this a competition?"

"A competition?"

"Yeah!" She presses a few buttons on the screen mounted in the station and the target appears about 15 meters away. "We'll each fire on our own target, and use the scoring system. Whoever has less points has to buy the other lunch."

I have a little bit of money, but suddenly I realize I may not be getting any more anytime soon. Instead of that, I voice my secondary objection. "But you're a lot more experienced at this than me."

"Right, so I'll use half the bullets. I get fifteen rounds, you get thirty." AK-47 grins easily.

I look at Sop. She looks super excited. "You can do it, Haddy!"

"O-okay." I look at the gun on the table. "Can... can you show me how to reload it?"


"YOU'RE KILLING HIM!"

"But, if I don't, he's going to die!"

So much pain.

"Did you forget? He's not a doll like us! He'll DIE!"

"I know how to make stuff like this! I've done it before!"

A third voice, desperate, defeated. "He's not going to make it either way. The way forward is blocked."

A few moments later, the first voice: "Do it. Just, do it well."


Of course, I lost handily.

AK-47 hadn't even visibly tried, not aiming but firing with the gun held low. Still she beat me by ten points. Not many, but given she had less bullets and I was actually aiming...

AK-47 and Sop chat as we head up to the cafeteria for lunch. It's a late lunch, about 3 PM, but still. I'm hungry.

"-was going to head out, but since we've all been recalled for the moment, I guess I'm going to watch a movie later." AK-47 says.

"I might join you." She looks back at me. "Wanna watch a movie?"

I shake my head. It would be rude to invite myself, after all. "No thanks."

Sop turns back to AK-47. "Maybe."

AK-47 snorts. "Too enamored with your new pet project?"

Sop grins, exposing disturbingly long canines. "Mmmmmmaybe."

"Move."

I jump out of the way of the person who had stated that in a frigid voice.

Silver-blue hair, small stewardess hat, purple coat. Acid green eyes.

Behind her, what looks like sisters... maybe twins? and a young girl that looks half asleep.

"I-I'm sor-"

"Just stay out of the way." One of the twins sighs with exasperation. "Unlike you, we're busy."

The other twin gives me an apologetic smile before they disappear into the elevator.

"Who-"

"Team 404. They're... not very social." AK-47 says.

"They're not that bad, really." Sop says. "They're really helpful sometimes."

"As long as you're paying them." AK-47 snorts.

"It's the same for us... We're a PMC too, they're just not the same PMC." Sop says.

"Yeah, but you'd pick up a stray human if you saw one." AK-47 points at me. I open my mouth to protest but she continues. "They wouldn't rescue you unless you paid them one arm and one leg... And maybe your core."

Core? "So, Team 404, what do they do?"

"Primarily counter-intelligence." Sop says. "Infiltration, all the fun spy stuff. OH!" She perks up. "They're probably here about the radio tapping!"

"Yeah, best keep that to yourself." AK-47 deadpans. "Don't want them to visit you at night if you can help it."

I step into the cafeteria after the other two and find it mostly empty. A woman with brown hair smiles at the three of us as we enter. "Good afternoon."

"Hey Springfield!" Sop calls. "Here's the guy I was telling you about earlier."

"Oh." She turns to face me. "Springfield, at your service. I run this coffee shop."

"Hadwin, nice to meet you."

"My. SOPMOD, can you do me a favor and get a bag of flour from storage?"

Sop hesitates. "Wellll... sure. Haddy, you stay here, okay?"

"Sure?"

Sop nods and bolts from the room.

"Make sure not to puncture the package with your claw!" Springfield calls.

"Okay!"

AK-47 follows the rapid disappearing girl with her eyes. "Are you sure she can locate the flour? I don't want a repeat of what happened last week when P7 was helping."

"If you're concerned, why don't you go after her?"

AK-47 sighs. "Yeah, I'd better."

After AK-47 leaves, Springfield sets a mug of coffee in front of me. "On the house."

"Thank you." I take a sip. It's better than I expected. "It's delicious."

She beams. "Glad to hear it."

"Man... there's a lot to take in around here." I sag down to the counter.

"Yes, it's wonderful how lively everyone is. Your arrival has stirred things up!"

"Really?" I raise an eyebrow.

"All day, dolls have been coming in telling me about you. Mostly physical description, but P90 was in here briefly."

"Oh. I met her at the shooting range."

"I see."

"...dolls." Springfield's the second person to use that word.

"Hmm?"

Before I can elaborate on my confusion, Commander Gentiane bursts into the room. "Is SOPMOD in here?"

"No Commander. I sent her to get me flour a minute ago."

"Ahhh..." The Commander deflates. "I might as well wait for her here then."

"What's the matter?" I ask cautiously.

"Oh, Hadwin. Right, I wanted to talk to you too." She grumbles and sits down beside me. "Springfield, can you turn on the TV?"

Springfield dutifully grabs a remote and turns on the TV hanging on the wall.

"-explosion of some sort." A new anchor speaks to the camera in front of the wreckage of... hey, that's where I work, or, used to work. "So far, 10 survivors and 14 bodies have been recovered from the wreckage."

Another reporter, back at a studio of some sort, starts talking. "Fredrika, I'm told there's some mysterious things going on?"

"Indeed, Elias. Not only were several employees and customers found inside the large freezer on site, but a large quantity of bullet casings were found on the scene. While authorities initially informed the news that they had suspected a gas explosion, it appears that story has now changed to a terrorist attack."

"Scary. Well, we'll keep you informed, here on channel-"

Commander Gentiane mutes the TV as the news goes to a commercial break. "I need to apologize."

"I... I'm pretty sure it's not your fault you got attacked."

"No, but it was our intelligence that said your sector was safe. To be honest, I didn't expect Paradeus to show up in such a peaceful sector, but they've surprised me before." She rubs her eyes. "So, yeah."

"Well... I guess." I shrug.

"Also, we're going to have to keep you for a while." She lays her head down on the desk. "I've got some experts working on getting rid of our leak, so when that's done we can make sure Paradeus hasn't started looking for you specifically."

"...Oh."

"Hey Springy, coffee please." Commander Gentiane orders.

"One coffee, coming up."

While Springfield makes another cup of coffee, the commander sits back up. "Personally, I think it's unlikely that they have your identity from the combat log, but I'd err on the side of caution. Though, since we don't have any legal authority over you, you can just go if you want."

Really? That's... comforting, I guess. Less comforting than I'd like though.

"So it's like this. We can't really have civilians running around the base, so you have three options. Leave, which isn't exactly recommended. Relegate yourself to one of our safe rooms like MP Panagos until we figure out your status with the enemy..." Springfield hands her a cup of coffee. Gentiane sips it carefully a few times. "Third option is joining G&K on a temporary basis."

"Like, be a commander like Sop keeps saying?"

Commander Gentiane's eyebrow twitches. "No, not a commander. SOPMOD needs to keep her mouth shut. No, I haven't picked out a fitting position for you yet, but this way you get paid, can walk around unrestricted, and even attend low level meetings." She rolls her eyes at my look of disgust. "I know, I know. Working with us gives you the most freedom for the moment, but it's your decision." She leans in. "Personally, I'd go with being locked in the safe room. Working for G&K can become a real pain in the ass sometimes."

"A-ah."

"Well, I'll give you..." She looks at her watch. "Until tomorrow at 0800 to decide. Do me a favor and don't feed any weird ideas to my troops, but otherwise you're free to move around for now." She downs the rest of her coffee. "Just try to avoid the restricted areas if SOPMOD isn't dragging you into them."

"Got it."

"Huh? Did somebody call me?"

"Ah, SOPMOD." Gentiane stands up and walks towards Sop with a measured pace. "Just who I wanted to see."

"Um..." Sop looks at the bag of flour in her arms. I notice that she has flour dust coating portions of her black coat and that AK-47 behind her is also a lot whiter than before. "What's up Commander?"

"I hear you've been telling everyone that Hadwin's going to be the new Commander, huh?"

"I, um..." Sop sets down the bag of flour carefully on the counter. "Oops?"


I didn't really take long to come to a decision. Commander Gentiane was willing to give me a very lenient contract, easy to break by both parties, but that would be official enough that it wouldn't get anyone in trouble with the higher-ups should they find out about it.

After I had told her, she had sighed and told me to follow her.

I was sat at a desk, and a woman named Lee Enfield was assigned to the room to watch me and answer questions.

And then I was given a stack of paperwork.

I was expecting paperwork like I had to fill out when I was hired at my fast food job, but this is more like a high school test, but scary. I barely understand a lot of the terms!

"You and an ally are wounded in battle, and there's only emergency medical equipment for one of you, what do you do?"

"What is the best formation for breaching a building?"

"You are protecting a VIP from an attack. What are your priorities?"

I once learned a trick for tests: Just skip over everything you don't immediately understand and do what you can, then struggle and fret after solving all of the easy things.

I was going to skip that last question, but... I was in that situation this morning. What did M4 and 15 do?

Well, 15 grabbed everyone she could and stuffed them in the freezer so they would be protected. That included MP Panagos. In fact she was the first person in.

I write down:

1) Make sure the VIP is out of the line of fire

2) Make sure nobody else is in the line of fire

During that time, M4 was busy firing back at P... P... Paradelia? The enemy. She was...

3) Keep the enemy away for as long as possible

That seems to make sense. I frown at the paper. Then...

4) Destroy the enemy to clear a path for escape

5) When clear, get VIP to escape.

6) Try not to attract attention while escaping

If I think about it, it's kind of like a video game escort mission. Clear their path, don't let them get shot, and keep moving unless surrounded.

Having that thought, I look back at the other two questions. This is a PMC I'm joining... Mom would be so mad. But anyway, PMC's are small armies, or wannabe armies. Just think of all the tactical shooters I used to play! I can treat these problems like I'd approach those!

"Maybe only the 'realistic' ones though." I mutter out my thoughts.

"Hmm?" Lee Enfield looks up from her work, a notebook of sorts.

"Oh, sorry. just had a realization."

She nods, and sets her notebook down. "Are you having trouble?"

"Nah. Just, I was expecting less of a test and more signing of legal paperwork."

She gently takes the stack of papers from me and pulls the last six pages out from the back of the pile. "Of course. This is that part of the application process." She smiles kindly, like a schoolteacher. "The aptitude test is something we made to ensure you get placed in a place that makes sense inside of the organization." She sets the questions back down on the table beside the application paperwork.

"Uh... I used to work at a fast food restaurant. shouldn't you be putting me into the cafeteria?" I glance at the questions again. "And, I doubt that you'll get 'kitchen duty' as an answer to these questions."

"If you wish, you don't need to take the test." She shrugs.

"Really?"

"It would put all of Sop's work to waste though."

"..Huh?"

"Sop, RO and M4 all spent time coming up with this. It's not a usual thing to hire someone to an unknown position, and the Commander ordered them to come up with some placement questions."

"Hmm." I look back at the paperwork. "Are... Are you sure Sop should be making these questions? She doesn't seem like she's either impartial or... uh, capable of deep thought."

Lee Enfield cracks another small smile. "All the same, here we are."

I tap the pencil to the paper a few times. "Do I have a time limit?"

She cocks her head. "I have to go on watch in two hours. I'd appreciate not being late."

"Okay." I go back to the question about a wounded ally. "Might as well give it a shot."

Lee Enfield nods and returns to her seat.

I take the rest of the test, getting more and more into it as I complete the questions.

Once I finally sit up and set down my pen, Lee Enfield looks at me curiously.

"Did you finish?"

"Yep."

She grabs the stack and starts scanning through it at lightning speed. "Interesting."

"Everything in order?" I ask nervously.

"Yes, it appears so." Lee sets down the paperwork. "So, are you sure you want to work in the kitchens?"

"I... I don't know. Why?"

Once again, that teacher smile. "Well, according to your results..."


"Last mag!"

"Oh... Oh no."

"WHAT NOW!?"

"He... He doesn't have a core! HOW DO I POWER-"

"SOP! RIP THE CABLES FROM THE BRAKE LIGHTS!"

A smoke grenade goes off, and my already hazy vision is rendered completely useless. I'm so tired... I think I'll close my eyes for a moment.

"No... NO NO NO! STAY WITH US COMMANDER!"

My heart suddenly feels like that time I accidentally touched the prongs of an electrical socket while it was halfway plugged in.

"I'm out, SOP, GO! FUCKING GO!"

45 crashes down beside me. "It's okay Commander... We'll get you back safe." She touches my face with her good hand. "I promise."


I wake up to an alarm going off.

I quickly pull on the uniform, but get as far as shrugging on the coat before the door to my new room opens of its own accord. RO635 pokes her head in. "Hadwin, are you okay?"

"Yeah, just give me a few seconds-"

"Where is he?"

I freeze in place and turn around to find an angry Commander Gentiane.

RO635 turns around. "Commander, he's just gotten up-"

"Yeah, well, stuff happens. Hadwin, I need you up in central command."

"B-but I was hired for-"

"Yeah, that was yesterday. Right now, we need everyone capable of ordering dolls around up there. RO, escort him. I have to grab others."

"Roger!" RO grips my wrist and almost yanks my arm out of it's socket

I run after the young woman as fast as I can, but she's still practically pulling me off my feet. "What-" I stumble on a book someone dropped. "What's going on?"

"We were tracked. Right now, Paradeus is outside and we're setting up to defend the base."

"Oh. Oh shit."

"Yeah." She suddenly jerks to a halt. "P90!"

As if from thin air, P90 appears beside us. I'm too surprised to say anything. She appeared from thin air!

"Yeah boss?"

"Take 1911 and Ingram and cause as much confusion at the entrance as possible! If you see team 404, tell them they're hired at their usual combat rates."

"Alright!" P90 pops out of existence.

"What-"

"I know I said I'd answer your questions, but we're kind of under attack." RO continues to drag me through the hallways. "In here."

She shoves me into the restricted room SOP had dragged me into before. This time, there are three people I don't know around the central table along with Angelia. They glance up as I arrive, before quickly returning back to the screen.

RO turns to me. "Hadwin, follow their lead. From right to left: Commander Ricardo, Commander Kylie, Angelia, and Commander Mikhail." She turns back to the others. "This is Hadwin. You were briefed last night."

They all nod and make some space for me to stand at the table.

It takes me a few seconds to figure out what I'm looking at. The table is a screen, black background with colored shapes scattered on it. I notice that there's three different main colors: a white color for the enemy, surrounding the building; red/pink for our forces, scrambling around to reinforce doors and secure rooms; and green for the structure itself, detailing several floors of the building.

"Echelon 1 to zone f-13." Commander Kylie orders, and some of the pink arrows divert.

"2 and 3, are you in position?"

A box with the number "SV-98" pops up and a voice comes through the console. "Echelon 2 in position. We have a good angle on the approaching units."

Another box with the name "NTW-20" pops up. "3, we're busy moving filing cabinets out of the w-"

A loud crash comes through NTW's comms and I can hear two other girls squabbling as the rest of the room falls silent.

"I told you not to move it that way, P7!"

"Yeah, well, I shouldn't need to tell you to keep yourself out of the way of a moving-"

"Shut up." NTW says. "Sorry Commanders, we're almost ready."

"4, report."

This time, the popup reads M4A1. A familiar voice comes out of the speaker. "We're holding the entrance, Commanders." She says quietly. "Ammo green, no sign of activity."

Angelia smiles. "She's ready."

I look around the labels on the screen and find RO currently moving down a hallway. Then I look some more and find P90, Ingram and 1911's tags at the front of the building, hiding behind some pillars.

"Uh..." I clear my throat. "P90? Are you, um, ready?"

"...Is that you, Haddy?"

I wince, and the other Commanders look at me. I shrink down. "Yeah. RO's heading your way."

"That's good!" P90's chirpy self sounds a little strained. "Because there's a whole lot of them, and we may need more bullets."

A video feed shows on screen, and we can see lots of white units stacking up outside the hotel.

Okay... I look around at the other Commanders. "Um, RO sent those three down to cause a distraction to buy time." I point to the trio on the map. "I was just checking... I guess."

"Right." Commander Ricardo drops a hand on my shoulder. "A good Commander checks on his troops!" He gives me a big smile. "Echelon 8, please shift forward to assist once Paradeus recovers from Echelon 11's attack."

Commander Mikhail laughs. "11?"

"Well," Ricardo shrugs. "An unofficial echelon for an unofficial Commander."

"I'm... not a commander though." I say quietly. "I'm a-"

P90's voice comes back through the radio. "So, Commander Haddy, when are we striking?"

I drop my previous line of thought. "...Um... Wait until they're closer, I think. Can... can you do the thing where you turn invisible?"

"Yep! It's my specialty!"

"Okay, then can you sneak behind them and start shooting from the center of their ranks?" Everyone looks at me. I look around at each of them in turn. "What?... What?"

Angelia squints at me, but nobody says anything.

"Well, yeah, I can do that. Do I at least get smoke cover?"

"If you have smoke grenades." I say.

"That's why RO had me grab 1911 and Ingram, after all."

"Okay, then throw those first. Um, make sure to leave yourself an escape route?"

"Of course, Commander! I'll sneak around, and fire in three." Her voice channel clicks off.

"That's... an interesting tactic." Commander Kylie says.

"Well, this is a distraction." I say, once again shrinking into myself. "Wait, did I do anything wrong?"

"No... just, not a usual tactic." She looks back at the screen. "Is Echelon 8 even going to make it to cover them in time?"

Commander Ricardo looks at the table. "Hmm. Maybe we could redirect Echelon 3 to rain down some fire on them until 8 gets there?"

I quickly get lost in the discussion, each of the commanders pointing out different tactics with increasing urgency. I didn't see it appear, but a timer is counting down from 3 minutes in the corner of the screen.

As the Paradeus units march forwards they march around a broken statue that P90's marker has perched upon, rapidly surrounding her.

When it reaches 30 seconds, I suddenly have a sense of foreboding.

"Uh, P90?"

"Yes, Commander?" She says quietly.

"Can you get out of there?"

"...Not really. Why?"

"Because." I swallow, my stomach threatening to flip as my brain connects the small scraps of info I know. "Aren't they intercepting our transmissions?"

A pause, one that seems to spread to the whole battlefield. Ricardo and Mikhail's eyes go wide in realization.

"Fuck." P90 curses.

The Paradeus units swivel as one to aim at P90's location, and her arrow disappears.

Even through the walls separating us from the firefight, I can hear what sounds like the world ending all at once. Multiple reports start coming in from all around, and the Commanders start issuing rapid-fire orders to several teams, the red arrows scrambling around to recover.

Smoke grenades go off, represented by grey patches in the middle of the white arrows of the Paradeus forces. Echelon's 2 & 3 start firing from what looks like the top level of the hotel, but I'm not exactly sure from the way the map is laid out on the 2D surface.

A few of the Paradeus units go down immediately, but then the arrows are surrounded in a blue glow. "They raised shields." Angelia reports grimly. "Do we have any HOCs handy?"

"Not right now." Commander Kylie says, frustrated. "We just had them out for cleanup along the wall, and they're in no shape to operate."

"Echelon 4, status?" Mikhail demands.

"I've got a bead." M4's voice comes through, harder, like she is focusing. "Entering combat... Now."

On the screen, a security camera feed opens and I can see SOPMOD charge out of the hotel foyer and launch... something out of her gun in an arc.

It turns out to be an explosive. It detonates in the middle of the Paradeus troops and scatters them. Some of the ones that fall over are shot repeatedly and subsequently don't get back up.

Others... well, way too many of them get back up.

The other commanders start to have grim looks pass their faces. It looks like this battle isn't going well. They keep ordering position changes, but... Paradeus can hear our moves. They're monitoring radio transmissions, somehow, and that keeps them one or two steps ahead of us.

"They must have a control node nearby." Angelia murmurs. "They're reacting too quickly."

"Probably in this building." Mikhail points a few buildings over, a path completely choked with Paradeus units.

"If we could get units there... but no. We can't spare defensive forces-"

I think my eyes glazed over at this point, and I stopped paying attention to the words and instead started studying the map.

Wait a second. I notice that several of the white units have disappeared all by themselves off on the side, where we have no units stationed. I tug on Angelia's sleeve. "Uh, Commander? I think the Paradeus forces are sneaking around the side."

"Hmm?" She looks where I'm pointing. "No, they don't have stealth models..." A few more arrows disappear, and she narrows her eyes. "Okay. I think I know what's going on." She takes a deep breath, then pulls some paper out of her pocket and writes on the back of it hurriedly. She hands it to me. "I need you to get to that section and hand the girl there this paper. Don't read it. After you give it to her, please come back as fast as you can."

I take the paper and stuff it in my jacket pocket. I never closed the jacket up properly...

Angelia grabs my shoulder. "Might need this too." She hands me a pistol. "Good luck."

I nod, mentally trace the route once more along the map and turn to sprint out of the room.


"Are... Are we good?"

"No more hostiles in the area." Sop collapses somewhere close. I can't see her, but I can hear her clearly. "I only have a mag and a half left."

"I only have two mags myself." UMP 9 laments. "And most of us are bone dry."

"How much fuel is in the truck?"

"About half a tank." UMP 45 states. "And we're not going anywhere, so that'll last us... two- three hours?"

Quiet.

"We're not going to get evac in that amount of time." HK 416 says. "We need to find more fuel. We can't let it run out."

"We're trapped!" UMP 45 snaps. "We can't get more fuel from anywhere, we're hiding from all those KCCO assholes."

"No radio either." G11 grumbles from somewhere. "Nothing to watch on TV, no reason to be awake..."

"Yes. Of course. But I don't want to lose..." HK 416 ignores G11 and looks down at me. "He's awake."

"Hey." I manage to get out with my scratchy throat.

"Commander, don't talk. You're mostly dead, and talking will only make it worse." UMP 45 states.

UMP 9 leans into my vision. "Thanks to Sop, you're not completely dead though!"

Sop crawls into view. "I'm glad you're alive, Commander." She touches me with her claws. Gently, without doing any damage to soft skin. It's amazing how deft she is with those.

Lastly, G11 crawls over and snuggles in between my right arm and my ribs. "Commander." She mutters sleepily. "Don't die."

I open my mouth, but UMP 45 glares at me once again. Instead, I tap the young T-doll with one of my fingers, the most comforting gesture I can provide.

"Okay." HK 416 says. "I'm going to do a quick perimeter sweep. 45, I expect you to have a plan by the time I get back."

"Who's giving the orders?" 45 snarks.

"If you don't..." 416 shrugs. "We're dead anyway."


The hallways of the derelict hotel are not the prettiest, and yesterday I didn't mind the darkened conditions of every few lamps, one being empty or flickering.

Now, with a firefight going on, the darkness hides invisible enemies and the flickers hide muzzle flashes.

I still run as hard as I can, adrenaline letting me beat my previous high school sprint record by a significant amount. I run, praying to whoever's listening today that there's nobody in the shadows, nobody firing at me.

I barrel headlong to the area Angelia and I had marked on the map, turning the corner blindly.

It wasn't the smartest decision, I realized a bit too late as I looked up at the white Paradeus unit that I had almost bumped into.

"Dummkopf."

A hand grabs my collar and yanks me down just as the Paradeus unit fires, the heat from the weapon oddly reminiscent of yesterday.

I slam into the ground and a few bursts of gunfire go off, reducing the white robot to sparking scrap on the ground.

I look around at my savior, and my heart sinks a little. The Silver-blue haired girl from Team 404, scowling darkly at me. "What are you doing here, Dummkopf?" She repeats the insult.

"I- I was told to give, uh, this-" I fish the paper out of my pocket. "To... I guess you guys."

She snatches the paper away, reads it. "A receipt for lo mein?"

"Huh?" No, the handwriting."

She flips it over and scowls. "Oh. 45."

One of the twins steps forwards and grabs the paper with an arm made completely out of metal, held together with red tape. "Looks like we have some orders." She turns to the other two, her twin and the sleepy girl- well, she's not so sleepy now, scarily staring into my eyes with an intensity I would expect from a rottweiler. In the dim light, those eyes also glow.

I can't keep from shivering.

"Okay, let's move out-"

"Watch out!"

Silver-blue yanks me back off my feet once again, and fires her rifle with one hand, destroying another robot before it could aim at us. "We have no time! GO!"

"W-Wait-"

"NO. TIME."

The four move well as a group, despite the tallest of them literally dragging me through the hallways. So much stronger than me, it's amazing. They eliminate any Paradeus units they come across in short order, keeping up a pace I wouldn't have thought imaginable.

Before I can get a word in edgewise, we're already outside in the early morning air. It's like, 3 or 4 am right now, and the sun is barely threatening to rise at this point, most of the area is still dark.

"Uh, I'm sorry, but I was told to head back-"

"Are you stupid?" Silver-blue hair snarls at me. "That's a death trap back there."

"...What?"

"So useless." She shakes her head, then snaps around and drags me down once again, this time behind a small retaining wall. "Shhhh."

I hold my breath as the four girls of Team 404 ready their weapons. A shadow appears over the small wall, clearly a Paradeus unit, searching for us.

My heart is beating so hard I expect it can be heard for miles. However, despite my heart, the Paradeus unit leaves shortly. It heads in the direction of the hotel, which is now away from us, rather than past us. In fact... I try to recall the map from earlier.

"Are we heading to the Paradeus control center?" I ask timidly.

"Ja, you figure that out all by yourself?" Silver-blue asks me sarcastically.

"Look, I'm new." I shoot back. "I don't know what's going on."

"New people are liabilities." She says coldly. "And here I just figured you were new to actual combat, but were at least a competent commander."

"...Sorry."

"Cut the chatter, you two." Says the leader twin. "We're here."

I look at the unassuming building. Oh, well.

"Alright, check your magazines."

I obediently pull out my pistol and fiddle with the controls, trying to eject the magazine.

Silver-blue spots me doing this and snorts. "Can't even handle a gun."

"I've never held a pistol before in my life... so... well." I finally get the magazine to eject, but- "Wait, it's empty?"

"You didn't even load-"

"Someone handed this to me!" I snap back. "She handed it to me, along with the paper, and told me to run."

Silver-blue takes a deep breath. "Fine." She pulls a pistol out of the leg holster on her right leg. "Use this. It's got 12 rounds, it's ready to fire. Safety's disengaged. Point at what you want to hit, and never at us. You point it at me, I put you down."

"...Okay."

I grip the pistol tightly, and point it at the ground like in movies. Hopefully, some of my training from yesterday comes in handy...

We enter the building.

The leader twin creeps around, dodging patrols expertly. I spend all of my mental effort in keeping my steps quiet, and as a consequence rapidly get disoriented. I didn't even notice we'd gotten to our destination until silver-blue hair speaks.

"Is this it?"

I look up to find a massive server rack on one side of the room, and a bunch of monitors and keyboards on desks scattered around the rest of the room. Despite the three active air conditioners running, the room is still impressively warm from all the computers.

The leader steps up to one of the computers. "Looks like it." She starts pressing keys on the computer faster than I can track.

"Well, that was easy." The other twin sighs and rolls her shoulders. "I was expecting to have to go scrambling around an alerted hub."

"You still might get that chance." Her sister says. "Looks like there's another section we have to get to." She sighs heavily. "This is going to suck."

"When does it ever not suck?" Silver-blue asks sarcastically. "Just what's going on?"

"There's two control centers. This is the secondary one. We have to activate it, and then go to the main one to shut down the signal getting out. Of course, once we activate this console, we're going to alert the whole base."

"Can't we just activate it at the same time?" Her sister asks.

"Nein, unless any of you is any good at hacking."

No response.

"So, suicide mission as usual." Silver-blue snorts.

"Ugh." The second twin blanches. "Why don't we get the easy jobs?"

"It's going to be hard to take the center room... and harder to hold off the units coming in while I'm breaking into the system." Leader states. "I can't fire straight when I'm hacking-"

"Or ever." Silver-blue says quietly.

"-so, I need at least two of you with me. Whoever gets left behind to guard this area is basically dead."

I look at the pistol in my hand. What... What am I even doing here? 24 hours ago, I was dreading waking up to my morning shift at work. Now, I'm standing here with a gun. I'm so far in over my head... I take a deep breath. "I'll... stay here."

The leader rolls her eyes. "I'm not including you in the calculations."

"Yeah... Okay. But I'll be here."

"You realize she just said it's suicide, right?" Silver-blue scorns. "You're better off heading out with the main group, especially since you're not a doll."

"Yeah, but... I'll slow you guys down." I shrug. "And having your entire team together should make getting to the main room easier, right?"

The leader looks at me for a long few seconds. "You think you can hold them off for ten minutes?"

"Maybe. Probably not." I shrug. "But I can hold them off for three."

"You're not a doll." The non-leader twin says. "You're not gonna come back." She looks thoughtful. "I guess none of us either..."

"We're not going to get it shut down in three minutes." The leader says, ignoring her sister's incomprehensible doll ramblings.

"But, you can take the main control room, probably." I sit down on one of the office chairs. "Which... I dunno, might allow you to shut off the robots before coming back here and grabbing my corpse."

They all look between each other.

"...Fine." Silver-blue snaps. "I'll stay too. You three better be done in five minutes."

"But..."

She pokes a finger into my chest. "You're so unreliable that we can't count on you. From now on, your job is to protect me and not get in my way."

"...Right."

"Okay ladies, everyone ready?" The leader asks.

"Um..." The sleepy one raises her hand. "What's your name?"

"...Hadwin."

She smiles. "I'm G11."

The non-leader twin jumps up. "I'm UMP 9!"

"UMP 45." States the leader.

I glance at silver-blue. Her eye twitches, but she speaks. "HK 416."

"Alright." UMP 45 says. "Time to dance."

On cue, all throughout the base, alarms start ringing. In the red glow, four grim faced girls and one boy stand in the room, guns at the ready.


"...not a plan, that's a sentence. Maybe even a death sentence."

"Yeah, but we only have an hour left, and two, maybe three places we could check for gas."

Sop stops tapping my rib cage for a moment. "We can split up. I'll go to the first one, and you four can split into groups of two."

"We don't exactly have a good track record with splitting up." HK 416 says.

"Do we have a choice?" Asks UMP 9. "If we don't get something, he's going to die."

"Ugh." UMP 45 grunts. "Hey, why'd we team up with this pain in the ass anyway?"


UMP 9, UMP 45 and G11 had sprinted out of the room a few seconds after the alarms started, and I had ducked behind one of the desks. I didn't see where HK 416 had ended up, but it's probably better than literally hiding under a desk.

I hold my breath and try to count seconds to myself, waiting for the inevitable reinforcements.

A hand lands on my shoulder, and I almost choke on my tongue. I look back to see HK 416 had crept up behind me. She puts her mouth right next to my ear. "Worse than I thought. Nyto."

I turn to her and mouth the words "What's a night-o?"

"Advanced human cyborg thing. Hard to kill, especially if it's one of the named ones."

"Seriously?" I resist the urge to groan.

"I know you're in here." Comes a new voice, cold, mechanical. I thought HK 416 was cold, but this new arrival beats her attitude by a mile. "Come out before I blow up the room."

I look at 416. She pinches the bridge of her nose, then stands up quickly, bullets spraying across the room. An energy blast is tossed back across the room, whizzing past HK 416 and she sprints around in a circle. I peek out from around the desk to watch.

The Nyto continues to fire blasts of energy at HK 416 as she dances around, doing frankly impressive acrobatics to stay away from the energy beams. "I've caught you."

"Haven't caught me yet." 416 snarls.

"No, I definitely have." The Nyto asserts. With a wave of her hand, the door out closes and locks with an audible latch. "You're in my territory now."

416 growls. "You may think I'm trapped in here with you-"

"Oh, spare me the bad movie quotes." The Nyto taunts. "It takes a whole squad of you outdated Griffin dolls to take one of us down, and your backup is too busy taking over the other control room. Or should I say, attempting to take it over?"

More bullets and energy blasts. I duck behind the desk and clutch the pistol tightly.

"Then, how about-" A muffled thump and a split second later, everything in the room explodes. The desk, and consequently, me, got blown away in the explosion, slamming me into the wall, buried in chair parts and a desk or two.

All of the lights got blown away, and compared to the last time I was in a building explosion... which was less than 24 hours ago... this one did a lot less damage. It didn't feel like it, but none of the walls have fallen down. Maybe it's all reinforced. I peek around prying myself out of the rubble carefully. HK 416 is slumped against one wall, flesh cut to shreds from her own grenade. The Nyto looks like it took the shot straight on and is looking pretty bad.

I rush up to HK 416 and press my finger to her neck. After a few seconds, I still feel no pulse. Oh... Oh god. Also, her blood is an odd consistency, way too thick, but I don't have a chance to see the extent of her injuries.

"Are... who are you?" I spin around, to see the Nyto standing back up unsteadily. "I couldn't sense you. You're not a doll... how did you get in here?"

"I wandered in by accident?" I say automatically.

"That's funny. You managed to get into the most secure building in the area, by accident." She laughs, but there's no mirth in it. "I suppose you were walking your dog?"

"No... just curious about all the knights in white armor." I have no idea what my mouth is saying, but I'm desperately scrambling for a plan, a way to get out of this. I start edging towards the door.

"Haven't you heard the phrase, 'curiosity killed that cat?'"

"Yeah. I try not to stick my nose in things." I blink. "I've been doing a poor job of that recently."

"A very poor job." The Nyto readies an energy blast, before hesitating. What's causing her to hesitate?

I look over my shoulder. 416 is still down. so that's not it... the computers!

Behind me are the racks of servers. She can't shoot those! I raise my pistol.

"Oh, don't worry. It's a pain to restore these servers, but it's not impossible. If I have to blow them away with you, I will." She says.

...Shit.

I fire the pistol anyway.

For a second, I wondered if I got her, but then I noticed the bullet had splattered in the thin air in front of her. A faint reddish ripple goes through the air, delineating a force shield of some sort.

Oh yeah. The other commanders had said the Paradeus faction had shields.

Fuck.

I duck as she fires another blast right where my head had been, punching right through one of the servers.

Oh crap, oh crap oh crap oh crap ohcrapohcrap-

She fires another blast, and another, and I scramble around the room on all fours trying to escape the scorching heat. I glance her way to see where the next shot is going-

I plant my feet as the beam goes right where I was heading. She's leading shots now.

"I've caught you." She says, exactly as before. I step back a few times as she advances slowly. "Any last words?"

I try to peer around the Nyto. HK 416 is still slumped against the far wall... but.

I can see a cold, acid green glow from her eyes.

I point my pistol right at the Nyto, who laughs. "Do you really think you can kill me with that inferior weapon?"

"No."

A hail of bullets rips through her, HK 416's weapon firing every last bullet left in the magazine. The bullets rip right through the Nyto's torso, and if not for her own shield they would have gone straight through me as well.

"But she can."

"I..." The Nyto turns around to see HK 416 standing up carefully, tucking... something back into her torso. "I thought I killed you."

"I got better." She snarls, already loading another magazine. "Now, stay down."

More gunfire, then silence, aside from the wailing alarm, but that barely registers anymore.

"I thought I told you not to aim my gun at me." 416 accuses me.

"I'm sorry."

"...Don't be. I wasn't finished with the reboot, and my calibration was off. I got data from the pistol's location... Well, in the end, she's dead and that's all that matters."

"Is it?"

We both look at the door out of the room as it opens, revealing three more Nytos, all with identical faces. They slowly move in, as if stalking their prey.

416 grabs my arm. "Verdammt, we can't beat three of them."

"Shit. SHIT." I curse.

"We've caught you." All three of them intone at once, an identical smile on each of their lips.

I raise the pistol and fire the remaining eleven bullets at the one in the center, but she already had her shield up, and the bullets do little more than decorate the air briefly with metal shards.

The Nytos continue to advance-

And the alarms shut off.

The Nytos look up in unison at the alarm beacon that had been dyeing the room red for the past... four minutes, then back down at each other.

"Surprise, bitches." UMP 45 slides right up to the leftmost Nyto and slips her gun through the armpit and under her chin before blowing her skull open, the rightmost one has UMP 9 attempting to sever the neck with gunfire, and the one in the center-

G11 kicked out the knee of the center Nyto, bringing her down to G11's height, and then G11 plants her gun against the larger woman's head and pulls the trigger.

"What, you can't even take out a Nyto on your own?" 45 says to 416 as three corpses hit the floor.

G11 almost immediately sinks into the one intact office chair and goes to sleep.

"I was... delaying." She says. "Did you get it done?"

"I wouldn't be back here if I wasn't." 45 grins maliciously. "I wanted to grab your stuff to sell. It's a shame they didn't off you completely."

"Yeah, yeah." 416 slumps back down. "Shouldn't have fired that grenade."

"Oh, shit." I look around, and find the federally mandated medical station on the wall. I rush over and pull it out of it's slot, but 9 grabs my hand before I open it up. "Don't bother."

"Huh? But 416's hurt!"

"I'll be fine." She says.

"I saw you tucking your guts back into yourself! There's no way you're fine!"

"I'm not so weak as to die like a shitty human." She grumbles. "I'll be fine if I can demand some repairs for G&K before we leave."

"W... s-shitty human? Repairs?"

Four sets of eyes glow in the dim light. One acid green. A set of yellow-brown, and one for the one-eyed twin, and one set of gray, half lidded with how sleepy she is.

"You... are aware we're not human... right?" UMP 45 asks.

"I..."

416 lifts up her shirt- and a good chunk of her skin, to reveal a few bundles of cables. I had assumed those were intestines before.

"We're Tactical dolls. T-dolls for short." UMP 45 elaborates. "Combat androids."

"Well... that explains the eyes." I mumble.


"I found a battery, but it's kinda old." UMP 9 says. "Maybe we can use that?"

"We found a broken radio. Maybe we can get it fixed up?" HK 416 holds up something that would look right at home in a humvee.

Sop looks at the broken device. "Mmmmaybe. I'll get on it. I didn't find anything aside from this arm."

"Are you still collecting body parts?" 416 looks a bit sick.

"I wasn't, but I needed more scrap, since I used most of the stuff I had collected on... well." She finishes lamely. "Hopefully I can scrape together something."

"I hate to say it... but we're counting on you." UMP 45 says. "Next time, I have to be faster-"

"Shhh." UMP 9 calms her sister. "What's done is done. For now, let's make sure the Commander survives."


Less than ten minutes later, a squad of... T-dolls, I guess, sweeps in to secure our location. The one in the lead, with long blond hair and a massive shotgun, introduces herself with a cheery smile. "S.A.T.8, at your service."

I bow my head, wary of the massive fidget spinners mounted to her waist that seem to move of their own accord. "Hadwin-"

"Yes, Commander Hadwin." She turns to Team 404. "Thank you for keeping our Commander safe. I have been told to inform you that Commander Gentiane has authorized repairs for damage caused in this fight for you four, free of charge."

"Well, that's a relief." UMP 45 states. "I can barely hold myself back from ripping the rest of 416's guts out. If they're sewn back in place, I'll have the temptation removed."

"You'd be dead without me." 416 stands back up. She doesn't seem to have trouble moving, but she has to keep a hand under her 'rib cage' to keep all her wires in. It's a creepy sight.

She walks up to me and holds out a hand. Confused, I reached out to shake her hand. She snorts at me. "My gun."

Oh, right. I still have a death grip on it. I hand it back to her carefully. She drops it into her leg holster, after releasing the top bit of the gun, and turns back to me.

"I'm not saying that I wouldn't have survived without you there... but you helped. Danke." With that she turns on her heel and leaves the room.

"Whew, she must like you." UMP 9 sidles up to me. "She doesn't compliment anyone."

"Oh please. She gave me more death threats than the Nyto." I reply.

"It's called flirting." She says. "Well, looks like we'll be hanging around G&K HQ for a while longer, so you two have plenty of time to sort out your feelings."

"...She actively wants me dead."

"Flirting!"

The three other team members of 404 leave, G11 being dragged by UMP 45, 9 waving at me as they turn the corner.

A few more unknown faces file in, then one I do recognize. Commander Gentiane.

She crouches down in front of me, and I find I can't lift my gaze to hers.

"Not so good at obeying instructions, are you?"

"Sorry."

"No, you did good. Without your help, we might still be fighting this battle." She pats my head, twice. "A little above the paygrade you placed yourself on your new hire paperwork, but you did what you needed to do."

"I listed myself as a kitchen officer, Commander." I say. "If this is normal kitchen duties, I wanna quit."

"Well, that's too bad. I had Lee Enfield tell me the results of your test I had Sop, M4 and RO draft up."

"Wait, they actually made that? I thought-"

"Who else would put a question about how much you liked scavenging from your enemies?"

"...I thought that meant ammo and rations, and stuff like that."

"I know. See, Lee Enfield was right." I finally get the courage to look at the Commander. She's got a proud smile on her face. "You'll do fine as a field agent."