Interlude 2-A: Home is a Great Place to Be
Archangel stepped out of the door from the Point Diamond vehicle bay, massaging her forearm where an auxiliary wing and rocket thruster was recently detached. She let out a short sigh, looking around the empty hallway before starting down one direction. As she walked down the hallway, she stretched her arms, absentmindedly thinking over the recent aerial patrol she just returned from. Thankfully, she didn't run into any Griffin forces this time around.
As Archangel uploaded her brief after-action report to the facility's wireless data terminal, she reached the main lobby of the facility. The well-lit room reminded Archangel of an airport terminal, its spacious interior stretching deep into the facility. Large light fixtures hung from the high ceiling, bathing the place with a bright yet never-too-harsh light. In the past it used to be filled with people and activity, but ever since the Butterfly incident the place seemed awfully deserted. Still, the home base of the Mobile Task Force never failed to fill Archangel with a sense of nostalgia and reassurance.
"Ah, well if it isn't Archangel!" a voice appeared from the side of the room. Archangel turned her head, seeing Kia standing next to a large table. Beside her was another member of the SFMTF medical team—Dagger 2-Delta, Maddie.
"Hello there," Archangel winked as she walked over to the group, "What'cha guys doing?"
"Come and see for yourself," Kia smiled, ushering the ringleader over. As Archangel approached, she noticed a large collection of plastic containers arranged on the tabletop.
"Hm, what's this?" Archangel mused as she picked up one of the containers; it was a small jar of some sort of medicine. "Don't tell me you guys were cooking blue meth in a trailer somewhere?"
"P-epoxyformoterol," Kia chuckled, "Powerful bronchodilator; unfortunately something we can't make here on-site."
"I see… Is this from that deal you struck with Griffin?" Archangel asked after taking a quick look behind her back, "That MX girl you've been mentioning, I meant?"
"Yeah," Kia answered, "Thank God there's still some shred of sanity left in this war. She's a good person, I tell you."
"I suppose it was," Archangel murmured, looking through the packages spread around across the table.
"It was worth the risk," Maddie replied, putting some of the medicine into a medical kit. "This medicine here is going to save people's lives."
"Yes, of course…" Archangel nodded, lost in thought.
"Actually, now that I think of it," Kia started, a smirk on her face. "What do you think is Agent's stance on us cooking our own meth?"
"What?" Maddie snorted, "I honestly don't think Agent gives a crap if we're doing stuff like that in our free time. I mean, she doesn't like us doing anything other than fighting, but I don't think she really cares what we're doing, does she?"
"I dunno," Kia shrugged, "It was just a thought, I kinda wanna try it now."
"Can a doll even get high off of drugs?" Archangel mused, "I mean, I know we can all get drunk off of alcohol and all, but that's a voluntarily programmed feature…"
"Eh, it probably depends from doll to doll," Kia guessed, "The main issue is you'd have to spend money adding receptors and stuff to actually detect the different chemicals, which would kinda be pointless—or actively bad—to most owners."
"Yeah, and besides," Maddie continued, "The police already have enough problem dealing with addiction in humans, imagine if they then had to deal with a bunch of crack-addicted dolls on top of that!"
"Pffft, fair enough," Archangel laughed, "Guess I'll have to have Venator do some experimenting in the future."
"Poor Venator," Kia chortled, "I haven't seen her around lately. Has she been cooped up in the intel room again?"
"Oh, well, you know how she is," Archangel shrugged, "Once she gets going, she really gets going, you know?"
"You're kinda like that too, you know?" Kia teased.
"Yeah, well…" Archangel smiled, "Yeah, guess so."
"By the way, Archangel," Kia said, "Can you do me a favour?"
"Huh?" Archangel asked, "Sure."
"Here," Kia said as she picked up a long plastic case from the table, "Can you go hand this to Acre? She should be somewhere in wing E."
"Of course. I'll be passing by that sector anyway," Archangel nodded, "What is it, by the way?"
"Oh, it's just a barrel cleaning kit," Kia smiled, "I left mine with Castle at Pyrite the other day, so yeah."
"Seems like you've been getting along pretty well with her," Archangel noted.
"I have," Kia agreed, "So has Castle. Acre is a great girl once you get to know her."
"That's a relief," Archangel smiled, reassured. "Anyway, I'll be taking my leave then. I'll see you guys around."
"Catch ya later!" Kia called out as Archangel walked off, "Oh, and say hello to Acre for me!"
Archangel walked down the hallway of one of the home base's wings, the plastic case in her hand. She was still looking for Acre, having nearly reached the end of the corridor. As she put her hand on the doorknob to one of the rooms, she paused, hearing muffled piano music coming from within. Archangel silently opened the door, the sound of music pouring out of the room as she watched Katana 2-Delta—Bluebell—playing away; Acre sat on a chair beside Bluebell with her back to Archangel, watching her teammate with rapt attention.
"Welcome, Archangel," Bluebell smiled as she finished her song, elegantly placing her hands onto her lap. The doll was wearing one of her signature white dresses, its simple yet pure design perfectly coordinating with her fair skin, chestnut hair, blue eyes, and of course the bluebell flowers sat above her right ear.
"Huh- Archangel?!" Acre exclaimed, swinging her head around and snapping her posture straight.
"At ease," Archangel nodded with a casual smile, leaning on the door frame.
"What brings you here today?" Bluebell asked as Archangel walked over to the duo.
"This, actually," Archangel replied, holding up the plastic case.
"Oh, that's my barrel kit!" Acre noted, "You didn't have to go out of your way to bring it to me, Archangel."
"Don't worry about it, it was on the way," Archangel smiled, "And besides, if I didn't come, I wouldn't have been able to hear Bluebell's exquisite performance."
"Oh, it was nothing," Bluebell blushed, brushing her hand over the piano in front of her. "Was it really that good?"
"I'm not exaggerating," Archangel insisted, "But still, I never knew you played the piano so well. I always thought of you as a violin kinda girl."
"A good musician doesn't limit themselves to a single instrument," Bluebell grinned, "The piano does have it's advantages, its massive playing range being one of them."
"Indeed it does," Archangel muttered, looking at the instrument.
"You should learn it someday," Bluebell suggested, "I've been trying to convince Acre to pick it up, but she's just being so tsun about it!"
"I'm being what now?" Acre retorted, "I told you, I don't have time for something like this. Besides, I prefer simply listening to you play…"
"Don't we all," Archangel laughed, "You know, Bluebell, I actually used to play the piano before."
"No way?" Bluebell gasped in amazement, "How come I've never heard of it before?"
"Ah, well that was quite some time ago, haha…" Archangel chuckled, "I stopped playing ever since the Butterfly incident."
"Oh, I see…" Bluebell acknowledged, her smile fading. "It's a shame, isn't it?"
"It truly is," Archangel nodded with a bittersweet smile, "All of it…"
An awkward silence descended upon the trio. Bluebell—like Acre—was only activated after the Butterfly incident, although she was still over a year older than her purple-haired partner. Bluebell never got to experience life before the war, but having read and heard countless accounts of it, she was determined to one day be able to experience that joy and freedom first-hand.
"Well…" Bluebell piped up after a while, a faint smile on her face. "It's never too late to pick it back up, you know?"
"Alright, point taken," Archangel flashed a wry smile as she moved over to Bluebell, who got up from her seat. "I'm warning you, though, I'm probably rusty as hell right now, and I was never that good to begin with."
"That's quite all right, hearing the mighty Archangel play anything at all would be a wondorous treat," Bluebell beamed as she walked behind Acre's seat and leaned forward, wrapping her arms over Acre's shoulders. Acre turned her head, seemingly wanting to say something, before deciding against it.
"Anything at all, huh," Archangel smirked as she experimentally tapped out a few notes before starting to play a simple tune.
Bluebell's expression instantly changed to one of horror and disbelief, she placed a hand over her mouth as she tried to suppress a gasp.
"W-what's wrong?" Acre asked in confusion, looking between Bluebell—who looked like she just saw a ghost—and Archangel—who had a sinister smile on her face.
"Fuck!" Bluebell shouted, placing her hand on her forehead.
"Huh?" Acre questioned, bewildered.
"Acre, we've just been RICK ROLLED!"
Interlude 2-B: Team Dynamics
"Holy fuck, we finally found a match!" Howl shouted as she turned her head to one side, "Magic, get your ass over here, RIGHT NOW!"
"Jeez, calm the heck down, Howl," Magic chided as she jogged over to a computer beside Howl, clicking a button on-screen before sitting down and putting on a headset.
"It takes so fucking long to find a match these days," Howl complained as she watched the loading bar on her computer slowly fill up, "Nobody fucking plays de_rail these days."
"Yeah, 'cause it's a shit map," Axiom replied, rolling her eyes as she adjusted the location of her keyboard on the desk. The three dolls were alone in one of the computer rooms in Point Quartz—now gathering dust ever since the Butterfly incident—trying to have some fun during some well-earned downtime. The three were queued together for a match of the fan-maintained port of the video game Counter-Strike: Reforged, a game that was known for its competitive gameplay during the years before the Beilan incident.
"Fuck, I sure hope we don't get 2 bots on our team again," Howl snickered, impatiently tapping her finger on the table as her computer finished loading the map.
"Howl, stop tapping," Axiom irritatedly said as she entered the match. She looked on-screen at the other two players on their 5-man team; she didn't recognize either of them.
"Hello everyone~!" a cheerful voice suddenly appeared over the in-game voice chat.
"Wait a second…" Magic muttered, "This RFBae girl sounds kinda-"
"Aw, fuck, it's her!" Howl rolled her eyes, rubbing her forehead.
GeT_FuCkD: gg
"Hey! What was that for?" the player named RFBae asked.
(Enemy) Chill Bill: ? lol
GeT_FuCkD: 2 bots on our team
"Who are you calling a bot?" RFBae—who was clearly RFB from Griffin—demanded, "Are you calling us bots?"
(Enemy) Chill Bill: easy win then?
GeT_FuCkD: no fuc k iwill anal u fuckers
"Hey uh… RFB?" Magic awkwardly asked.
"Ohh… It's you guys," RFB muttered, realising she recognised the voice. "Awk-ward…"
(Enemy) I eat spoons: are you ok bro
"What are you guys doing here on CS:R anyway?" another player named glock user (clearly Glock 17) asked, "Shouldn't you all be busy committing war crimes or something?"
"Shouldn't you two be off in silver or something?" Howl retorted while repeatedly stabbing RFB's in-game character with a knife.
"You wish," Glock 17 replied "We're pretty much the best in Griffin, you know?"
"So all of Griffin is shit then," Howl smirked.
"We'll see about that," RFB teased, "I've got 20 bucks that says RFBae gets more kills than GeT_FuCkD this game."
"Dude, I will literally shoot you in real life the next time I see you," Howl growled.
"Come on now, let's keep it together," Axiom urged as the warmup period ended, "Let's try to win this game."
"Yeah, whatever," RFB muttered.
"Alright, how about RFB and G17 hold B then," Magic suggested, "Just so we don't step on each other's toes."
"Nah, fuck that," Howl replied, "I'm going yard."
"What?" RFB asked, "But G17 usually plays yard…"
"So do I," Howl nonchalantly said, "So fuck outta my way."
"Okay, okay, whatever," Glock 17 interrupted, "I'll go A, I can play checkpoint or truck."
"Go checkpoint," Axiom ordered, "Magic, go gate and help me mid. I don't care if we're enemies in real life, we either win together here or we lose together."
glock user: glhf
(Enemy) GIGACHAD: glhf
(Enemy) Chill Bill: hf
Magician7: hfhfhf
(Enemy) I eat spoons: glhf
GeT_FuCkD: gl shittrs
RFBae: hf~~
(Enemy) calybrn top 1 2063: have fun
(Enemy) stupidfuckingrat: u guys is fantastic, just needs to work on communication, aim, map awareness, crosshair placement, economy management, pistol aim, awp flicks, grenade spots, smoke spots, pop flashes, positioning, bomb plant positions, retake ability, bunny hopping, spray control and getting kills
GeT_FuCkD: fuck off 0head
"Oh boy," Magic sighed as the first round began, "What have we gotten ourselves into..."
"Dude, what the fuck are you even talking about?" Howl complained over the voice chat.
"You've been fucking throwing the entire match!" RFB retorted, "Who the hell force-buys and rushes alley with a deagle 3 rounds in a row?"
"I'm entrying," Howl scoffed, "Their alley player is dogshit. Their entire A defense is dogshit."
"Why do you always fucking die then?" RFB questioned, "You-"
"Guys, shut up!" Magic exasperatedly shouted as she concentrated on her screen, "Ah fuck! They've pushed graffiti, watch out!"
"You could've held graffiti if we just ran a normal default…" RFB sourly muttered to Howl, both of their characters already dead.
"Shit," Glock 17 muttered as she narrowly won a duel on another part of the map, "Axiom, I'm too low, we gotta save."
"Again?" Howl questioned.
"Damn it, you're right," Axiom reluctantly agreed, retreating back towards their spawn. "What a mess."
(Enemy) stupidfuckingrat: lol saving again
*DEAD* Magician7: If only you could hear our comms lol
(Enemy) stupidfuckingrat: mald mf
*DEAD* (Enemy) GIGACHAD: solo queue?
*DEAD* Magician7: nah just shit friends lol
*DEAD* GeT_FuCkD: fucker
*DEAD* glock user: .-.
"Guys, how have we lost 6 rounds in a row?" RFB asked, "Like seriously, how-"
"Can we not talk so much during rounds?" Axiom muttered, annoyed. "Why can't we just run a normal default for once? We just need one more round here."
"Ask Howl!" RFB exclaimed.
"Fuck that shit," Howl snorted, "I'm AWPing."
"Seriously?" RFB questioned while watching Howl's character on her screen. "Why are we running a 3-AWP setup? On the T-side?!"
"Fuck off," Howl muttered, "I buy what I want."
"Oh my God, we choked so hard this time," Glock 17 sighed, shaking her hands. "We had such a great CT-side, only to throw it all away…"
"Yeah," Magic admitted, "But hey, you're a pretty good A anchor, you know?"
"Haha, I never noticed," Glock 17 chuckled, "I always play B with RFB on this map, so…"
"Alright guys, let's keep it together here!" Axiom urged, "We can still win this!"
"I dunno man," RFB muttered as the freezetime ended, "Not if Howl keeps going braindead mode."
"No," Howl curtly replied.
"Come on, Howl," Magic pressed, "Can't we save the beef for after the match?"
"One yard," Glock 17 reported, "Fuck, they double-pushed it, there's still one there."
"Got her," Axiom said, killing the enemy who over-extended. "There's two dead B, rotate."
"Shit, there's one on truck," Magic muttered as her in-game character got killed, "Howl, you have bomb, go B."
"Howl, go B" Axiom repeated, "What are you doing?"
"Fuck!" RFB exclaimed, "There's one connector already, what the fuck is Howl doing?"
(Enemy) stupidfuckingrat: gg ez
"Rotate, Howl," Magic urged to no avail. Howl continued creeping towards the A-bombsite on the other side of the map.
"Oh, for fuck's sake, I'm coming A," Axiom sighed, "Howl, wait."
Suddenly, Howl got two quick kills on the entry to the A-site.
"No way," RFB muttered, staring at her screen as she put her hands on her headset.
*DEAD* (Enemy) calybrn top 1 2063: wtf
*DEAD* (Enemy) I eat spoons: ok sure
*DEAD* Magician7: lmaoo
Without much delay, the last remaining enemy defender swung past a corner, and Howl made a wild flick towards the enemy's position, landing a long-range noscope and instantly ending the match in her favour.
*DEAD* (Enemy) GIGACHAD: tf
(Player stupidfuckingrat has disconnected from the server)
*DEAD* (Enemy) Chill Bill: gg
*DEAD* glock user: gg
*DEAD* Magician7: gg
*DEAD* (Enemy) calybrn top 1 2063: gg
*DEAD* (Enemy) Chill Bill: aimlock?
GeT_FuCkD: get fcked
*DEAD* Magician7: bruh
GeT_FuCkD: shitters
GeT_FuCkD: so ez
(Player GeT_FuCkD has disconnected from the server)
"Jesus Christ, what the fuck did I just witness," Glock 17 chuckled.
"She does that sometimes," Magic shrugged.
"There's no way that isn't an aimbot," RFB joked.
"I'm telling you," Magic grinned, "Howl's just hard to handle like that!"
"Hey, Howl, what's your DPI?" Glock 17 asked.
"She DC'd already," Magic replied, "Hey Howl, what's your DPI?"
"Sixty-nine sextillion, fuck you you owe me twenty bucks!" Howl's distant shout emanated from Magic's voice channel.
"Hah, she sure sounds like a handful," Glock 17 chuckled as the others gradually left the lobby.
"It's fun," Magic shrugged, "Sometimes."
"Uh huh," Glock 17 said, "You know, you're a pretty decent person."
"Same goes for you, I guess," Magic laughed, "Looks like we're both the sane person in our friend groups, huh?"
"Guess so." Glock 17 agreed, "It's a shame we gotta fight each other in real life."
"Yeah…" Magic muttered.
"Uh, anyway," Glock 17 continued, "I gotta go now."
"Yeah, catch you later, I guess," Magic nodded, "Not on the battlefield, I mean."
"Mmhm, definitely," Glock 17 agreed, "Here's to hoping our battles remain on the server, and not in real life."
Magic watched as Glock 17 left the lobby, letting out a sigh as she saw her username alone on the computer screen. She looked around; both Axiom and Howl had already logged off, and Magic didn't want to keep playing by herself. Howl closed the game, leaning back on her chair as she tried to soak in what just happened. Just as she was about to close the computer, Howl saw a notification appear from the corner of her screen:
New friend request: glock user
