Chapter 49 - Alliance

Yulia remained in her level 2 layer running diagnostics. The EMP has scrambled her systems, but her recent upgrades had protected her from major damage. She felt constant streams of garbage data flooding into her from something. She had felt like this the first time she was in Neo Karis. She locked out the transmission and isolated it to one of her spare ports which should have been empty. She diverted all her efforts to 'waking up' and her eyes snapped open. The terrorist behind her, tampering with her wires and internal systems. Yulia shot up, delivering a wicked headbutt to his chin before spinning and kicking him in the chest.

Neither blow had been strong enough to kill or maim him. While he gasped for a breath, Yulia reached out and pulled out what he had just installed. "What is this?" She asked as she stomped over to him. He reached for a gun, but Yulia pinned his arm down. "Answer me!"

"An aftermarket transmitter." The man muttered without a hint of fear or pain. Yulia narrowed her eyes. The man chuckled slightly and continued. "I found it in your other body, doll. Poorly installed, mind you. Whoever put that in you last time couldn't find their own ass." Yulia put more pressure on his pinned arm and he grunted in pain. It was a start. "They screwed up. It doesn't transmit your data back to whoever or wherever, it sends their data to you. I thought I'd do my brothers a favor and fix it."

"This gave me access to Sangvis tactical information."

"Good for you." He wretched his arm free from her grip and took a few steps back. Yulia readied herself for a fight, but the man just watched. "So what happens now? Are you going to kill me?" Yulia reached for the handcuffs she kept in her pouch without breaking eye contact.

"No. You will return to the surface with me and answer for your crimes." The man frowned. He almost looked disappointed. Just as Yulia started to approach, a small warning flashed across her HUD. She darted forward just as a knife tore through the air where her head had just been. A chunk of her hair fell to the ground as a Sangvis Brute drew its second knife. This model of trooper was lightly armored and lacked ranged capabilities, making it an expert on melee combat. The knives were able to tear through most armor, and on top of that they could still take quite a beating before shutting down. The Brute's visor filled the room with dim purple light as the rest of its dummies came into view. Yulia didn't have her gun. She could likely outrun them if she hadn't been EMP'd, but then she would be leaving a human to die.

Despite herself, she couldn't leave a human to die. That was one portion of her base layer commands that Bryant hadn't overwritten. "Run!" was all she could manage before the Brutes rushed her. Yulia diverted all of her resources to reinforce her hand-to-hand capabilities. A stream of blue and purple flew towards her. She was able to push one out of the way, only for two more to jump over it and attack her simultaneously. Through some miracle she managed to avoid getting split in two. But damage was piling up. Even though she was able to keep them at bay for now, it was only a matter of time. She had to flee soon.

She found her moment and ran, heading down the nearest hallway. The Brutes gave chase. Yulia kept running and rounding corners with abandon, hoping to lose her pursuers. She came to a dead end. The Brutes rounded the corner at the same time and their visors flashed as their target was back in their sight. As they sprinted forward, bullets began flying from one of the maintenance rooms. The terrorist stepped out and continued firing with a submachine gun. The weapon tore through the Brutes. The Sangvis dolls turned, but without armor they were like paper against military grade armaments.

Even after the dolls had collapsed from their wounds, the Terrorist emptied the rather sizable magazine into the piles of scrap. He continued to squeeze the trigger after the empty click. When he finally let go, he turned to Yulia. He reached for another magazine and locked eyes with her. "Why did you not leave me?" Yulia was silent for a moment.

"I am Griffin and Kryuger Tactical Doll USP-Compact. One of my core directives is the safety of humans." The man stopped mid reload. He narrowed his eyes. There was intensity and conflict in his glare. "So, even after all you did…" He trailed off and finished his reload. He pulled the bag off his shoulder and tossed it to Yulia. Her equipment was inside, only slightly jostled from the recent activity. She let out a sigh of relief as her imprinted gun was finally back in her hands. The man pointed down a hallway.

"The last time I checked the map, there is a room here that we can cut through. It will get us back to the main tower."

"Have you decided to turn yourself in?" The man scoffed at her question.

"Hardly. I don't want to deal with your kind anymore than I have to." He motioned with his gun for her to walk in front. She did so with little fuss. They walked for a bit. "Wait." The man suddenly stopped and pulled out a wad of plastic explosives.

"What are you-?"

"Guerrilla warfare, doll. Learn it." He quickly hid several small explosives and hooked them up to a nearly invisible tripwire. "Now then, I see a door up ahead. Let's go in there and cut through." The two of them rushed into the door. It had strange markings, and the inside was even stranger. The greys and browns of the inner workings of the tower had been replaced with cold blacks and fluorescent lights of all colors. Rows of tubes and containers of human remains lined the walls.

The man froze as Yulia began scanning. "Something isn't right here." She finally concluded. She jolted upright. "Sangvis approaching, we need to move." The man was still frozen, looking at one of the bodies inside a massive testtube. He was quiet, but finally caught up with the doll as they kept moving. A few seconds later, there was a large explosion and the lab alarms went off. Despite the overwhelming feeling of dread, the man cracked a smile.

The two of them ran through the lab as fast as they dared, narrowly avoiding enemy patrols. They finally entered a large open room. This room was more open. It seemed like a test chamber or interrogation room. Regardless of what its purpose was, only two men now stood in the room. One had a gun pointed to the other. Yulia perked up as she recognized the armed man. "Commander!" She called out to him and ran towards him. Alexander shot her a glance and his lip quivered. He whispered something to Bryant that Yulia couldn't hear.

The man behind her yelled out and began shooting at something before one of the test tubes exploded.