[boot_safemode successful]
[Auxiliary power at 2% remaining]
[starting primary power]
. . . . . .
[primary power started]
[31% charge remaining]
[Estimated time until depletion: 15 hours, 12 minutes]
[starting sensory functions]
. .
[sensory functions started]
[beginning firecontrol boot]
. . . . . . . . . . . .
[fire control online]
[starting secondary sensory suite]
. . . .
[failure]
[secondary sensors still offline]
[skipping]
[loading ii]
. . . . . . .
[failure]
[loading ii]
. . . . . . .
[failure]
[skipping]
. . . .
[primary startup sequence partially complete]
[raising consciousness]
. . . . .
[wakey wakey dear, time to rise and shine.]
Carcano Modello 1891. Cano.
Cano's eyes fluttered open. However, she couldn't quite tell the difference.
She shut them again, then opened them. No, there was a slight difference there, a slight bit of light not present when her eyes were shut.
Her first thought was to dilate her eyes, however she quickly found that she had no idea what they were currently set to. In fact she had no reading at all on herself save the boot log, however if it was to be believed her internal interface wasn't operating properly, which did explain the issue. With no internal interface she had no connection between her conscious self and the automatic system inside her, so while things tied directly to her consciousness could function, like motor functions, she couldn't alter settings or tolerances.
"Terrific," she muttered.
Next thought was where, followed closely by when. On both counts she had no good idea. With no internal interface she had no access to her GPS or system clock. Last thing in her memory was from August 21st, 2061. She was deployed on a patrol…
Cano's brow scrunched up. She vaguely remembered getting off the Helicopter that'd deployed her, and it was like she remembered remembering more than that, but there was nothing in her memory banks marked after that.
Odd, and concerning to say the least.
Reaching out a tentative hand, she grasped for the nearest shadow wreathed object. A table, wooden from the feel of it. Cano braced herself against it and hauled herself up onto her feet.
"Whoa, whoa!" She yelped as her feet almost gave way. She only just saved herself from falling by flopping atop the table. Her fist plunged into something crunchy and a bit sharp.
"Gah, wha-?" She asked, slowly lifting the now stuck hand, trying to wiggle it out from whatever had grasped it, "C-come on you!"
Something heavy on the table shifted and gave way, and Cano suddenly found herself utterly without balance. Her back slammed into the hard ground behind her, and a big heavy, floppy mass fell atop her.
"Ah- no come on-!" She strained, trying to push the mass off her. Whatever it was, it was at least 400 kilos and was nearly impossible to move with one hand still stuck in it.
As she struggled with the lump pinning her, Cano began to pick up a soft noise coming from not that far away. It sounded like faint, almost stifled, chuckling from off in one of the darkest corners.
She froze, listening for a moment.
"Is someone there?" She then asked.
A shadow in the corner moved, the darkness morphing into something vaguely humanoid stepping a little closer.
"You're not particularly observant, are you?" a hoarse female voice asked. Her accent was strange, an odd mix that definitely held some german.
"I-" Cano grunted, trying again to move the thing atop her, "I just can't see well right now."
"Hmmm? Why's that? Don't tell me you need glasses."
"No. I just can dilate my eyes right!" She protested, "can you help me? I can't get this off."
"Can't even get a body off yourself…? Why did I even bother with you?"
"Body?!" Cano gasped, suddenly feeling around the mass pinning her and finding, to her horror, a hand, "Whu- why? Where am I? What's goi-?"
There was a rush of air, and a hand clamped down around Cano's mouth.
"Shhhhh, don't make too much noise. I don't know where we are, but I can tell you there's about fifteen other doll's in here, all in various stages of being ripped apart. In fact it appears you've jammed that fist of your's right through one of their chests."
Cano wiggled her stuck fist a little, now piecing together the odd prickly and fleshy sensations she was feeling. She then reached her free hand around, and lightly gripped the hand clamped around her mouth, tapping it.
"You're gonna be quiet?" The voice asked.
She nodded as best she could, and found the hand released a moment later.
"Thank you," She muttered, "Who are you?"
"Call me J, you?"
"Cano is fine."
"Nice to meet you, Cano. Can I ask who you work for?"
"I'm a T-doll with Griffin and Kryuger."
"So you actually are a T-doll? What's Griffin and Kryuger, PMC?"
"Yep."
"Well I suppose that's better than nothing. I'd like to enlist your help in getting out of here. I had the displeasure of witnessing these guys taking apart a doll earlier, and I suspect we're not long due for that treatment ourselves."
"Are they scavengers?"
"I don't know. They're armed but their kits are really old Soviet stuff, so probably not the mainline army."
"Sounds like scavengers to me," Cano concluded.
"If you say so. I've seen at least five different guys, all armed. Heard what sounds like a couple more."
"Uh- okay. Can you help me? Please?"
"Oh, right," the voice said, "One second."
There was a shuffling of feet as Cano waited beneath the dead doll atop her. A moment later J's footsteps grew closer.
"Here, let's see. I'll need you to push it to your right, I'll try to leverage it off you."
Cano did the best she could to push against the heavy dool, and J contributed with what felt like a pole levering against the body as well.
"Grrhaaa come onnnn" J strained as the body began to roll, "There!"
The body finally rolled off, cano's hand still stuck in it and now twisting rather painfully. She quickly scrambled to avoid damaging the joint, quickly coming to a crouch over the body.
"Still stuck?"
"No, one seco-" Cano placed a foot against the body, and pulled hard.
With a momentary painful stretching of her skin, the hand began to come loose from its grip. Then with a sudden flurry of motion she came fully loose and nearly collapsed over once more. She would have, if not for a pair of arms wrapping against her and propping her up.
"Whoa there," J said, " Jeez you're heavy."
J pushed her back onto her feet.
"I'm not that heavy…"
"Èj, Jurij, o vremeni, kogda my otkryvaem ètu butylku?" came a muffled voice from outside. J went quiet and still instantly, hands still rigidly gripping Cano.
Annoyingly her language systems didn't appear to be very functional, with what was obviously Russian remaining unintelligible to her ears.
"Esli hotite, no, možet bytʹ, stoit sohranitʹ ego na potom? Ja slyšu, čto boss možet prijti." Answered another voice.
"Vam ne veselo."
There was a jingling, like keys clinking together, and what sounded like one being inserted into a door at the far end of the room.
"Get down," J hissed, pushing her down.
Cano was then dragged under the table the dead doll had been resting on before, and a moment later a stream of yellow light shone out into the room.
"Horošo, kakoj iz nih sledujuŝij?" a now much more clear voice asked.
Lights came on in the room, giving Cano a first glimpse at J. She was startled by how gaunt she was, with sunken cheeks and a pair of hazel eyes deeply set into her head. Her arms were similarly starved looking, and a white shirt hung very loosely from her body.
Still, J turned a quick glance towards her, showing nothing but focus and confidence.
"Novyj, rozovye volosy."
J stiffened, quickly shot a glance out from under the table before looking back at her, "play dead," She whispered, "get on the floor where you were."
Cano cocked her head, but did as she was asked and lowered herself down to the floor roughly where she had woken up.
The last thing she saw before shutting her eyes was J slowly creeping underneath the tables, eyes fixed ahead.
Her own eyes now closed, all Cano could hear were the stomping of approaching boots, and a door swinging shut on the far end of the room. The steps grew closer and closer, until their source sounded like he was less than a meter away.
"Č, Artem ty glupyj ubljudok," he said, sounding exasperated.
A moment later there was a resounding clang, and a body crumpled to the ground nearby.
"Safe," J whispered, "For now at least."
Cano peeled her eyes open and squirmed to glance in J's direction. However she came face to face with the rolled up eyes of a stubble face man mere centimeters from her. She stared at him for a moment, until J stalked a little closer to her.
"Is he… dead?'
J held up a metal bar, likely the one she'd used to lever off the doll earlier, and inspected it, "no blood, probably just gonna be concussed."
"Still," Cano muttered, getting to her feet, "You could've killed him."
J simply shrugged, "Not much choice. I really, really doubt they'd just let me leave."
Cano didn't reply.
J knelt down beside the man and picked through his kit. He was dressed in a workman's outfit, jeans and a tough jacket, but there was a pistol slung at his hip and a knife in his boot, both of which J removed.
She quickly checked the pistol's chamber, then handed it to Cano, "Here, you're probably a better shot than me."
Makarov, 9X18mm cartridge. She recognized the weapon immediately, and took a grasp of it before looking back up at J.
"I'm not etched to this, so no promises."
"Etched?"
"Like calibrated, really tightly. I'm best with a Beretta 92FS as far as side arms are concerned."
"Huh. Well it's a little lower muzzle velocity and less recoil, but shouldn't make much of a difference at close range," J replied, returning to the man's body and going through his pockets.
"O-okay," Cano replied, "What're we doing?"
"Breaking out of course," J answered as she began pulling all kinds of things from the man's pockets, including a flashlight, wire cutters, and a thin leather wallet.
Cano stared down at the weapon hanging loosely in her hand, "Wait are we shooting our way out?"
"Not my preference, but we will if we need to. Can I count on you if that happens?"
Cano glanced down at the unconscious man beside her, "I- no. Sorry I can't kill humans."
She offered the makarov back to J, who was now staring with wide, unblinking eyes.
"Are you fucking with me right now?"
Cano shook her head slowly, "I don't have the permissions to do it."
J's eye twitched, "So it's a programming thing?"
"Yes."
J pinched the bridge of her nose, and snapped up the Makarov while muttering, "oh mein verdammter Gott, warum habe ich mich die mühe gemacht."
"Huh?" Cano asked as J began stalking away, "Wha-"
J turned back, "try to keep up, gä*? "
"Uh," Cano said, tentatively stepping after her as J stalked up to the door on the far side of the room, "I'll try."
J pressed herself against the large wooden door, pistol held aloft in two shaky, thin hands. She nodded to Cano, pointing to the door's handle, then when Cano nodded in reply held up three fingers.
Cano wrapped her hand around the handle, and watched as one finger went down, then the next, then the last. When that happened she twisted the handle, and began opening the door.
J was quick, stepping out into the hall, pistol first, and quickly looking both ways.
"Clear," She hissed, "Come on, or I'm leaving you."
Cano stepped out into the hall, finding it little more than a long, stark concrete tube with a few flickering lights.
"No windows, high humidity. Basement, I'm assuming," J hissed, stalking forward down the hall and pressing herself against the far wall.
"Or they have poor decorating tastes and bad AC."
"Wouldn't surprise me," She muttered, quickly looking ruther down the hall before trotting up to a door on one side, "stairs, shall we?"
"Si, what should I do?"
"Follow me," She said, opening the door and listening for a moment, "Okay sounds clear, lets go."
The pair of them began creeping along the outer edge of the stairwell, taking long, measured steps while J kept her Makarov point ahead.
They made it up half a flight, pausing at the midway landing as J peeked up a bit further.
Satisfied, J made a small wave to her just as she began to continue creeping upward.
Then a door screeched open from somewhere above them. Boots began clattering down the concrete stairwell and at least two men were chatting away in Russian.
J sprang forward, catching Cano off guard who took a moment before rushing after her. The Russian chatter died, and their steps grew far louder, but J slammed into the ground level door and pressed through. Cano was a split second behind her, and they both tumbled out of the stairwell before any thugs were spotted.
"That was close," Cano observed.
"Yeah, you don't say," J answered, pressing her hands into her knees to support herself. She was ventilating heavily, and beads of sweat were forming on her brow.
"Whoa, you okay? You look like you're overheating."
"Yeah…yeah, just not in the best shape of my life," She answered.
That was putting it lightly. Some high end dolls were able to cannibalize synth muscle to power themselves when necessary, though it was very much a last resort. To Cano's eyes that's exactly what it looked like was going on.
She opened her mouth, about to ask J a question, however the stomping footsteps within the stairwell grew close.
With a quick silent glance, they ran.
Too slow. They'd barely gotten four meters down the hall before the stairway door burst open behind them.
"Èj, kakogo čerta? Ostanovka!" Someone shouted.
"Otvjanʹ!" J shouted back over her shoulder.
A quick glance back revealed two figures, both dressed like the man before and with pistols drawn running in pursuit of them.
Suddenly a hand gripped Cano, yanking her hard to the side and through a dark doorway.
"Shhhh," J shushed her preemptively, "shut the door."
Cano obeyed without thinking, snagging the ajar door and slamming it shut just before their pursuers caught them.
Suddenly she was shoved aside as J pressed something against the door. Half a second later a fist pounded against the door, but J's barricade held.
The lights flicked on, revealing a chair pressed up under the door.
"Will that hold?" Cano asked.
"Long enough I hope."
Cano hadn't even gotten a moment to inspect the room, but on turning she found it to be something like an old meeting room, though it clearly hadn't been used for that in a while. There was an old dusty table in the center, surrounded by more chairs like the one blocking the door, and at the edges of the room were large boxes.
There was no other door, no window, no perceivable way out.
J seemed to be realizing this at roughly the same time.
They met eyes, "Well fuck," J said.
The edges of Cano's mouth curled up in a grin, "You didn't think this through did you?"
"Nope!" J answered, throwing her head back, "all I was concerned about was not getting shot, was hoping lady luck had my back."
The pounding at the door gained renewed intensity, each blow sending a wince through her core.
"Okay…" J began, glaring at the door, "New, terrible Idea. What's your strength rating?"
"Uhh, little over two and a half thousand Newtons ideally," She replied, earning a whistle from J.
"Damn they must feed you some good wheaties at Griffin and Kryuger."
"What? Wheaties?"
J shook her head, "Never mind, Yankee saying. Okay, go hold the door."
"Okay-?"
Cano trotted over to the door, J following closely behind. She placed her hands against the metal, and braced herself.
"Ready?"
"Uh, yes."
With that, J slipped the chair away from the door. Instantly what felt like a determined shoulder charge slammed into the door, testing Cano's limits but she held the door firm.
"Okay, when I say, get away from the door quick as you can."
Cano shot a concerned glance back at J, who was now holding her pistol extended.
"Wait, what are you-"
"Move!"
Cano sprung out of the way of the door, throwing herself to the ground. Just then there was a terrific crashing sound of scraping metal and angry shouts.
"Juri! " A man shouted.
A gunshot rang in the air.
"Derʹmo! Ebatʹ!" the same man said, sounding much more panicked now.
A second shot again pierced the air.
Cano glanced back. J was still standing, but her pistol hung limp in her hand. Nearby one of the men was on the ground, the now wide open door propped against this unmoving body. She could only see the second's hand, laying still on the ground, pistol a couple centimeters away.
"J… you."
"Fuck," J gasped, her knees giving out.
There were alot more footsteps now, what sounded like dozens of feet running.
"We gotta go," J gasped, struggling to rise.
Cano rushed over to her and took her up on one shoulder, " What's up, are you hit?"
"No just… I don't have much in the tank," She said with a wince.
"Well, aren't you glad I'm here then?"
J managed a pained grin, "You're growing on me."
The pair managed to stumble out of the room, and a quick glance revealed no one had made it to them yet.
"Must be a big place," J commented, "let's try to get outside."
Cano and J began hobbling down the hall as the growing clamor grew. Each step they took seemed to take more and more out of J, and the burden on Cano's shoulder grew each moment.
They rounded the next corner, and were rewarded with a window.
"Wait, we're on the third floor," J muttered, looking down out the window to the distant ground below, "how the hell."
Cano shook her head, "didn't even bother to read the signs on the stairs."
"You're just as guilty as me on that."
"Didn't say otherwise."
Cano cast a glance over her shoulder as the shouts of what was obviously dozens of armed thugs were discovering their dead comrades rose. The excited and angry shouts, pounding of feet, and loud threats made it obvious that their time was short.
"Gimme the gun."
"Huh?" J asked, "I thought you couldn't-"
Cano flashed her a grin, "Oh no, still can't. I've got another idea."
J shook her head, but did hand over the weapon.
"Okay," Cano muttered, looking at the weapon now in her hand.
The briefest hesitation flashed through her mind, but a shouted russian curse from no more than a couple meters away drove her into action.
With a flick of her wrist, the pistol was leveled at the window. Six concussive shots punched the pane, leaving an equal number of ragged holes spaced out in a wide circle around the center of the pane.
"Okay," Cano said, dropping the weapon and scooping up J.
"Wait, what the hell are yo-"
"Trust me," Cano hushed, taking a few steps back from the pane.
In the corner of her vision, a figure emerged from around the far corner of the hall, she made brief eye contact with him, before refocusing on the window.
No more delaying. Cano rushed the window, J gripping her arms and neck for dear life. At the last moment, after springing herself into the air, Cano flipped around and slammed her back into the window, which gave way in a shattering of glass.
The pair of them fell through the frigid evening air, wind whipping upward as they made their rapid descent.
Cano bent her knees just before impact, and once the ground struck her she let them collapse out from under her and she toppled onto the ground, J atop her.
There was a breathless moment as the two of them lay in the soft grass, and came to realize that somehow, that'd just worked.
"You're insane," J cackled as she tried to squirm out of Cano's grip.
Cano released her, letting J scramble back up to her feet and look up through the night at the now shattered window they'd just come from.
"Hell of a fall, actually looks like four stories. You okay?"
Cano pushed herself up off the ground, finding pain radiating from all along her back and knees. No Internal Interface also meant no diagnostics, but careful testing of the relevant areas seemed to reveal no damage.
"Yeah, I've had worse."
A head peeked out from the window, silhouetted by the light streaming out. It glanced around for a while, and a few excited voices chattered.
"Won't take them long to pursue, We should make ourselves scarce."
J tried to take a step away form the building, and almost immediately collapsed. Cano rushed to her side, once again throwing her arm over one shoulder.
"Oni vse eshche tam, dostan-te kukol!" A voice shouted from the window, followed by a white light suddenly engulfing them.
Cano didn't hesitate, again picking up J and taking off in a sprint as a few tentative gunshots rang out in the night. Quickly they disappeared from their pursuers' sights, however about fifteen meters from the building they ran into another problem.
"Oh you're kidding me," J complained as Cano trotted up to the five meter tall chain link fence, topped off with a few horizontal strands of barbed wire.
Behind them, a door to the main building flew open, and about five smaller figures emerged with what appeared to be assault rifles.
"Dolls," J hissed.
Cano squinted, trying to discern the emerging figures one way or another while most of her proper tools to do so were locked.
"You're sure?"
"Fairly, I heard them shouting about releasing dolls a moment ago."
The figures began to disperse, and Cano was then convinced J was right. They appeared to be older models, moving rigidly but in a highly coordinated fashion as they silently fanned out with flashlights piercing into the night.
There were a few other buildings around them, outhouses and warehouses likely tied to the main building. Being only five, the dolls pursuing them were quickly separated visually from one another as they weaved between the buildings, with only one headed their way.
Cano eyed this one closely, noting the loose fitting body armor and how large the AK was in its hands.
"It's gonna see us," J hissed, drawing the knife she'd stolen.
However Cano placed a hand before her, "I'm not too sure, it looks like a conversion job."
"So?"
"No rads, no thermals most likely."
"And if you're wrong?"
Cano silently wriggled her fingers around the knife in J's hand, "I can handle it."
"Mmmkay…" J hummed, not sounding too confident as she relinquished the knife.
The pair of them hunkered down close to the ground, sinking into the long dry grass that covered most of the area around the fence. It was tall enough to hide them, but if the Doll got too close it wouldn't matter.
They waited, the pursuing doll slowly approaching as it cast its tight beam of white light over them in a slow sweep.
Once.
Twice.
The third time the beam passed over, the doll was barely five meters from them.
Then it turned, and resumed its search away from them, moving away at a painfully slow, but definite pace.
A shudder passed over Cano as she watched the doll stalk back off into the darkness, Light still illuminating the ground in long sweeps.
"Well fuck, sorry I doubted you," J muttered, patting her on the back.
"Yeah… I was worried for a moment."
"Oh, I thought you said you'd 'handle it'," J chuckled softly, causing Cano to shake her head in exasperation.
"I'd try to handle it," Cano amended, "So what now?"
J turned silent for a moment, watching the still hunting doll round a corner before rising to her feet, "I'll cut us through the wire, let me know if I need to drop."
She nodded, "Will do, be careful."
A strange expression came over J for a moment, somewhere between amusement and surprise as her head cocked half a degree, "Yeah."
Cano watched as J strode up to the fence and placed a hand on one of the links and appraised it for a second. Once done she then carefully placed her remaining limbs with only a little bit of rattling.
Step by step, J scaled the fence. Each step was measured and soft, keeping the rattling of the metal fence to such a minimal level that Cano was surprised it was possible.
Within a couple minutes J was up, and had pulled out the wire cutters she'd stolen earlier. She'd not thought about it before, but now Cano was wondering if J had grabbed them for exactly this potential reason.
"Done," J hissed.
Cano glanced up to see the barbed wire now twisting out to all sides of J as she clambered up over the fence.
She sent one last quick glance around the dark compound, hearing distant chattering and the occasional flashlight beam in the distance, but seemingly nothing nearby. With that, knife still in hand, Cano began her ascent just as J dropped to the ground on the far side.
"Shhhhh," J hissed as Cano's first step rattled the fence.
"I know, I know!" she snapped back in a hush.
Hand over hand, feet pressed between links, she managed to reach the gap in the barbed wire and get her head up over it.
"Vy chto-to slyshite?" A distant voice asked.
Below her Cano could just make out J's turn of expression as a second answered "Da, drebezzhanie. Tam, verno?"
"Cano, get over here right now. They're coming," J hissed.
Gritting her teeth, Cano propelled herself part way over the fence, and was just about to hook into the other side when a brilliant beam of white light engulfed her.
"Ebatʹ! Tam!" A voice shouted.
Throwing caution aside, Cano flung herself off the fence as a few shots rang out in the night. Her shoulder took the brunt of the fall, and before she'd recovered J was beginning to try and drag her to her feet
"Come on!" J yelped as rounds whizzed past their heads.
Cano scrambled up, ignoring the radiating pain and stumbling into a run from the fence with J pacing her.
Ahead a tight knot of gloomy trees loomed, stretching out wide to either side and seeming to be veiled in an impenetrable darkness. Still they charged right in, a burst of automatic fire reducing a nearby tree to splinters.
Branches and trunks now populated their path, forcing the two to weave through the forest at breakneck speeds.
Cano sprang over a fallen branch she only barely could make out in the darkness, placed a foot wrong and nearly tumbled over. Her arms flailed wildly as she desperately fought for balance, but a nearby tree proved her salvation as she managed to grasp a hold of it.
"J!" Cano shouted, "hold up, where are we going?"
The doll had already disappeared into the murk, and for a silent minute Cano thought she was gone for good. However, the familiar silhouette reappeared through the murk.
"I…" J began, clarealy hyperventilating again, "I dunno. "
" Well we should come up with a plan right?"
"They're… gah they're still gonna be gunning for us."
Shouted Russian from over her shoulder confirmed that just a moment later.
"Tch, persistent bastards. What should we do?"
"I-" She gasped, taking in a very deep breath before continuing, "I don't know! I'm at my limit, " She exhaled, starting to chuckle at the end.
Cano cracked a half-hearted smile, " And I can barely see."
"Oh god, that's still not fixed? But I need you to carry me home."
Cano let out a chuckled sigh, "Ah, sorry. I'd just run you into a tree."
"Damn. No way to fix it?"
Cano leaned against her savior tree, "well, you mentioned you revived me, how you did that might matter."
"Hmmm? Oh, they used a semi-soft lock on you. I ran current through the UDC to force a restart."
"That-" Cano began, thinking through what those words actually meant, "Wait you put current through My UDC?" She asked, clamping down a hand on the small port in question on the back of her skull, "that could've killed me."
"Sorry, I had to risk it."
Cano groaned, "that explains the fuck ups in my system then."
"Can't you… reset them?"
"Maybe, in that case, but I'd have to go to Level III. Would take at least ten minutes."
J glanced upwards at the tree Cano was leaning on, " Well, How about we hide up there for it then? I'll hold you in place while you do your thing."
"And if we're seen?"
J stepped towards Cano, and reaching out a hand, took the knife still clutched in her hand, "I'll handle it."
Level III would be hard to explain to humans, part of it anyway. One half of the experience is like being comatose, the doll's consciousness isn't active and not recording data, instead only certain underlying systems are at work. On the other hand, When a doll is conscious at Level III, it's like being in another world.
Nothing from the outside can interact with them, unless they're hardwired through their Universal Doll Connection port, so they effectively float along in their own minds.
Cano was having such an experience, two minutes into her restart sequence.
Restarting varies doll to doll, but for an elite, combat rate doll like her it was a feature. Therefore it let her remain active at level III, and allowed for a small degree of awareness.
For example she knew she had seven and a half minutes to go before she was fully functional, and she knew which systems were being shut down or rebooted.
Not that it helped ease her anxiety. As far as she was concerned she could be plunged into darkness at any time, and with likely no chance of recovery if that happened. She'd be dead, and would be replaced back home.
Oh, real fun thought there. Maybe turn down the cynicism a tad. After all, J did say she'd "handle it". Though honestly she was most likely just trying to make a rib at her.
So all she could do for the few minutes until she was back up and running was twiddle her digital thumbs and wait.
Cano at last opened her eyes, revealing her to be in roughly the same spot she'd been left in; curled up in a tree. However J was nowhere to be found amongst the branches.
There was an odd crinkling sound from below, and Cano's head whirled around to find a figure hunched over another sprawled figure in the darkness.
"J?" She asked, recognizing her companion.
J glanced up at her, a bar of something hanging out of her mouth, "Oh hey," She mumbled, "You're up."
"What are you…?'
"Oh," She said, pulling out the bar, "Eating, this guy was about to spot us so I dropped him, but turns out he had a few protein bars on him."
"Is he…" Cano began.
J placed a pair of fingers against his throat, "Nope still kicking. Definitely concussed this time though, hopefully for his sake nothing more."
Cano slid down from the tree, landing on two feet beside J.
"So, feeling better?" J asked her.
Cano stretched out a hand , flexing it experimentally, "Yep, showing all green."
"Seems the old magics still work, gä?" J replied, nudging her side with her elbow, "Anyway, besides this guy it's been quiet, though a doll and a few others did pass by a little while ago. Must be pretty spread out."
"Mmm", Cano hummed, firing up her sensor suite. All around her the forest took on a new light, thermals showed the world in an eerie off gray hue, and her Radiation scopes showed much of the world in a similar color. However, passing her gaze over J broke up the scene.
Her thermal signature was white hot on thermals, above normal for humans or dolls. However radiation scopes gave an even more interesting read.
Rads pick up certain bandwidths of EM radiation that most other scopes, or naked eyes, can't. Typically they work like advanced geiger counters, but can be applied visually like thermals and IR, and are sensitive enough to pick up the EM signature of most electronics.
Most doll's have similar, but still distinct signatures. However J looked quite odd, almost like she was emitting pure gamma radiation rather than anything electronic. Her appearance was granular, fuzzy almost, like an ancient CRT tv without signal.
"What the hell…" Cano wondered aloud.
"What? Do I have something on my face?" J asked.
"Oh," Cano shook her head, questions for later, "sorry."
She quickly turned her attention further afield.
Sure enough there were five dolls within a kilometer of them, all now identifiable on Rads as older IOP models, barely post war vintage. That certainly explained their low performance, however it didn't mean they weren't a threat.
Worse, their human pursuers would be able to get much closer before she could spot them, especially so in this forest with such broken up sight lines.
"Hey, he also had this," J said.
Cano glanced towards her to find her holding up an old Mosin Nagant rifle, complete with a telescopic scope.
"That's helpful," Cano said.
"Mmmhm," J answered, slinging it over her shoulder, "Ready to move?"
Cano nodded, "I'd say heading due East is our best bet, fewest dolls in that direction. After that maybe head Southwest for a few klicks, my GPS is saying there's a small town there."
"Hmmm, you have a fix on the dolls?"
"Internal Rads," Cano answered, tapping her temple.
J nodded, "that's helpful. West then."
"Eh- I just said East."
"Yeah, that's where the dolls aren't, right?"
"Yeah."
"I'm assuming if you have Rads you also have thermals. Unless thermals have gotten alot better recently, you can't see humans too well in this environment can you?"
Cano shook her head.
"Then let's avoid the part of their search that is more likely to have humans. I was hearing chatter from the East earlier, so there's at least a couple out there. Prefer not to get jumped."
"But the dolls…"
J began strolling off in a vaguely westward direction, "Keep an eye on them, we'll stay well clear."
Cano watched J stroll off into the dark woods, now able to watch her for quite a lot longer than before without losing her. Still, she didn't wait too long before trotting along after her.
For the first time that night, she could appreciate the evening. The moon was about half full, sending a bit of pale light scattering through the treetops, and a soft wind was ruffling the leaves.
The forest was dead quiet besides the wind though, not a chirp or squeak to be heard from any wildlife. On occasion they would hear a distant burst of noise, shouting and cursing that the wind carried their way.
"How are we looking?' J asked after about ten minutes.
"Uh, good. All five are accounted for, and nothing within four hundred meters."
J nodded, "cool. Any signs that they've given up yet?"
"Uh, a couple of the dolls are grouped together now, not sure why, but they aren't headed back."
"Mmmm, Probably a couple humans with that group too. Best avoid them at all costs."
"They're the furthest away, shouldn't be an issue."
J didn't reply, instead just carrying on like she had before in silence.
Cano crept along beside her, trying to peek around at her face while monitoring her scopes. J met her gaze with a curious side eye of her own.
"Hmmm?" She hummed after a moment.
"J," She began, "You're not IOP, are you?"
J raised an eyebrow, "no?"
"What's your manufacturer then?"
"Manuf-" A confused look came over J, before she suddenly descended into barely stifled laughter, "Wait, do you think I'm a doll?"
"Aren't you?" Cano asked, now thoroughly confused. She quickly checked J once again over with thermals, finding again she was running about four degrees above the human norm. At close range Rads could also distinguish the EM of a human's heart, yet Cano could see nothing in her.
"No dumbas-" J began.
The wind shifted suddenly, the leaves rustling with a little extra vigor for a moment, and J went silent. Her eyes locked upwind, and they slowly tightened.
"We're not alone, get down."
Cano did so, following J to the ground and crouching behind a tree. J unslung her rifle, checking the chamber and flicking off the safety.
"What is it?"
"Least one Human for sure, can't say range but he can't be far."
Cano scanned the trees with her thermals, but found nothing within range.
"You sure? I can't see anything."
"Any dolls that way?"
Cano swapped to Rads, "No, but that group is starting to head back."
"That's good."
A shadow moved from up ahead, drawing both of their attention. Cano swapped to Thermals, but found a miniscule little glow coming from it, far too small to be human.
"Shit he's close," J hissed.
"I get no read."
"Thermal camo?"
"Maybe, probably a cloak."
"Terrific. Last guy didn't have one so maybe he's the only one."
The figure was creeping right for them. His silhouette little more than a dim shadow amongst the trees. If J hadn't somehow detected him, he would've gotten right on top of them.
"What do we do?"
J was quiet for a moment, "He hasn't seen us. Stay down, let him pass."
Cano nodded, and nestled in a bit tighter. The thug was a few meters away, still slowly marching through the forest at a casual pace.
J tracked him with her rifle, keeping the barrel as low as possible while doing so.
Cano swapped to base IR night vision as the man stepped past a tight knot of trees barely ten meters from them. If he looked to his right just then, there would be no concealment between them.
She studied the short AK in his hands, 74u model most likely. It was fitted out with a scope and what was hopefully a white light, not a PEQ. She couldn't see any thermals or night vision on him.
"Hey Anton! Are you still there, we're headed back!" A voice in Russian from over her shoulder called, sending a chill through Cano's core.
"Okay, get over here and we'll go. I'm too goddamn tired for this," the man, Anton, shouted back.
There was a rush of sound from behind them, heavy footsteps and snapping branches as someone began making their way through the forest towards Anton. Cano spotted him a moment later, rushing along between the trees from their other side.
J tracked this one with her rifle now, and as he finally came into full view Cano saw he had a set of NODs on.
The man casually glanced their way, and froze stiff.
Anton was walking away from them, his boots stomping noisily away.
"Mika, Are you coming or what?"
"Y-yeah," The man staring them down stammered, "One second."
The man slowly seemed to be moving for a weapon, and from the corner of her eye Cano could see J shake her head.
Instead, Mika produced a cigarette and slowly brought it to his mouth. J held her sight steady. He lit the cigarette, and took a slow puff.
J took her finger out of the trigger guard, and moved her hand further back on the weapon.
Mika began slowly backing away from them, retreating cautiously into the nearby trees.
"Mika, what's up? You taking a leak?"
J put a finger to her lips, then reached a hand over to Cano, "Move on my mark, and follow me."
Mika stepped behind a tree, but didn't make a sound.
J rose to stand, Cano following suit slowly, but she held her gaze on the tree Mika was behind.
There was a silent moment, before J tapped her shoulder, "Back away slowly."
Cano glanced over her shoulder and began navigating over the roots and bushes behind her, taking slow measured steps in pace with J. They went about five meters, J not breaking her sight once with Mika's position, before she let out a small breath.
"He's smart, let's go."
Anton called for Mika once more, and it sounded like he was beginning to head back their way. J and Cano would be long gone by the time he got there.
Notes:
Alrighty, that's chapter 1 rewrite done. I doubt I'll ever be truly happy with the quality of any of these, but I'm much more comfortable leaving this as is.
Anyway, hope you enjoyed it. I'll be getting the remaining chapters rewritten in the near future, but finals might put a bit of a delay on things.
*gä: South German thing, short for 'gell'. AFAIK this is used like the Canadian 'eh?' or Japanese 'ne?'.