Author's note:
As much as I tried not to, there was a small retcon I had to make to the first chapter of this story.
Turns out, subtle parts of my story changed and some things I wasn't able to set up properly. Specifically, they've not been out of blood packs for months.
That line came from the pre-planning phase of this story when it was an experiment. I have chosen to completely ignore that since it just… comes out of nowhere.
Aside from that, I've managed to set up… most everything else satisfactorily enough.
Despite all expectations to the contrary, I open my eyes once more.
Everything hurts. Everything. My head, my stomach, my hands and feet…
Floating in the dark, two acid green eyes float in the void. Another set of blood red ones sits more off to the side, her body rocking in the void.
416 and Sop, I presume.
"Hey Sop, 416." I groan out, my throat parched.
416's on her feet faster than I can track, and I'm still confused for a moment before I look up to see her coming closer, her hand grabbing mine. I can feel the ring on her finger against the skin of my hand.
Sop also gets to her feet, but she hesitates a bit. "C-Commander? You're awake!" Her lips slowly spread into a smile.
"Yeah. Feel like shit though." The darkened room doesn't afford me a good view of where we are. "Where are we?"
"In an armored train." 416 sits down on the side of the bed. "You're still recovering, lie down."
…Train? My head starts to hurt even more, and I try to rub my temples only for me to find my arm refuses to do more than twitch. "Where… did we get an armored train?"
"Well…" Sop scratches her chin.
"You don't remember?" 416 leans in. "You helped us acquire it."
"...I did?"
416 and Sop look at each other. "I think I'm gonna go get Commander Gentaine." Sop says nervously. "416, please tell me if he starts leaking."
"He won't." 416 shakes her head. "Now, go wake her up."
Sop leaves the room, leaving only 416 and me.
"I'm glad you're alive, Commander."
I try to laugh, but it's too painful and stop immediately. "416, we're not in combat, and we're alone. Please don't call me Commander."
She nods. "Of course. I… well, you said to call you Commander, and I wasn't going to stop until you said."
A part of me wants to correct her, but… another part of me realizes after all this time this is how she shows her devotion. Absolute obedience. I have to be careful about that.
"Thank you, 416." I manage to lift my hand to brush her cheek. It still hurts, but I'm willing to put up with it for her. "But you're free to call me whatever you want."
She nods.
Neither of us says anything else until more people arrive, preferring to just have contact with each other.
Eventually though, our peace is broken by the lights coming on, blinding me, and several voices calling out to me.
I can't make any of them out, and I have to force my eyes shut against the light.
"Hey, quiet down!" Another voice cuts in, and eventually the talking all dies down completely.
"That's better." Gentiane's voice is calmer, more soothing than it was earlier. "Hadwin, are you alright?"
"I'm in a lot of pain." I mumble.
"He can't recall commandeering the train." 416 supplies. "So he must have gotten some sort of shock."
My eye is pried open, and the doctor that had patched me up several times before blinds me with a light. Then he switches to the other eye. "Well, we knew he had a concussion of some sort. I'm going to run a few tests on him, do a full physical, and then you all can question him after. In the meantime, you all need to leave so I can do my job."
I slowly rub my eyes, then look out at the assembled entourage.
Gentiane, 416, and the doctor are all known, but the other faces crowding into the small room slowly come into view as my eyes adjust.
45 is here, kneeling by the bed.
AR-15 is leaning in the doorframe, eyes flicking about.
RO is standing right beside my head, arms crossed. I can't see her expression because other parts of her body are in the way.
Aleah is just outside the room, eyes closed like she's resting.
SV-98 is pacing back and forth outside the room.
I recognize a few of the other voices floating in from outside the room as well.
"Okay." I mutter to myself. "I'll be alright."
Several sets of bright eyes turn my way.
"It's just a check up, yeah?" I meet 416's eyes. "Just let him do his job."
She reluctantly nods and turns to leave the room, followed by a few others.
Eventually, the doctor is able to close the door and I let my eyes drift closed as he starts asking me questions about where it hurts and things like that.
He gives me some pain pills too, and I accept those without complaint.
I answer him, but my thoughts are elsewhere, drifting through the sea of melted ideas, paddling in circles and hoping to spot land.
…The pain meds the doctor gave me might have had some side effects.
I end up not paying attention to most of what he says due to the constant fading in and out of my consciousness. I manage to catch something about being careful about moving around too much, but that's about it.
Then, I blink my eyes once too many times and he's gone, replaced by someone else in the dark.
Oh… I must have fallen asleep right there.
My entire body is too tired to move, so I just call out. "Hello?"
"Hello." 45's eye comes into view. "Glad you decided to come back to the world of the living." I can feel her hand sneak under the blanket and grab mine. "We weren't sure when you were going to wake up."
"That bad, huh."
"Yeah." An unexpected voice calls from the edge of the room. "You're pretty messed up, commander."
"Please stop." I groan.
45 chuckles to herself. "Are you okay if I start to jog your memory a bit? I'd like to make sure nothing much is damaged in that fragile human meat of yours."
"Sure."
"Wunderbar. Now, let's start with this." She pulls the ring tied around her neck into view, the ring catching the little light in the room.
"The oath ring I gave you."
"Ja, well that's the most important part verified."
9 snorts, but doesn't comment.
45, as usual, ignores her adopted twin. "Now, let's get an account of your actions last night. What do you remember doing?"
I start to give her an account, but I realize there's some holes I don't quite grasp. A big one is not recalling our seizure of the train, but there's another hole when talking about fighting ELIDs before we got to Tallinn. Oh, and everything after I fell off the roof of the building while fighting the Hydra is a bit fuzzy.
"Well… it's not the most thorough of checks, but you seem mostly okay." 45 announces after about 30 minutes of quizzing me. "It's good that you're not brain dead."
"I don't think brain dead people can talk." I deadpan.
"I dunno." 9 chimes in. "I've pegged you as brain dead multiple times while you were working with us."
"Harsh." I nod. "But fair."
45 helps me sit up and I look down at myself in the dark. Something is pulling on my chest and stomach in the dark, and I can't tell what it is.
"Hey, is there something on my stomach?"
Neither of the UMPs answer me, and that sets small warning bells ringing in my ears.
"45?"
She takes a breath. "You were bad, Hadwin."
"I understand that." My hand reaches down and hits some cables.
…cables?
"9, hit the lights."
"Are you sure?" 9 asks.
"Yes."
I watch her get up, walk over to a wall and flick a switch I can't make out in the dark.
It takes a moment for my eyes to adjust, but when they do-
"What the FUCK?!"
A large bundle of cables is connecting me from the right side of my ribcage and stomach to the wall of the train. It wasn't so noticeable when I was flat on my back or in the dark obviously, but now…
In addition, the cables are plugged into a metal plate that seems like it was stabbed into me haphazardly. My hand immediately reaches for it and starts trying to pull it off.
"Commander!" 9 panics. "Calm down! You're not healed at all! If you thrash around, you'll aggravate your wounds!"
I take a few breaths, and realize 45 is holding my hand still. Just focus on that.
"Sop did the best she could-"
My metal hand grabs at the metal panel protruding from my chest. "I… Get SOPMOD back in here."
"I don't think-" 45 starts calmly, but I cut her off.
"Do it now."
"She did it to save your life." 45's voice is quiet. "You agreed to it at the time."
"Yeah… and I'd like to know what she did."
"I'll get her." 9 stands up reluctantly. "Com- Hadwin, just lay there, okay? I'll get her as soon as I can."
I nod.
She leaves the room, and I continue to gently poke at the metal sticking out of me.
"You know, if you poke too much, it'll separate." 45 states. "Sop had a hell of a time trying to get you to stop leaking."
I pull my fingers away. "Really? It looks like it's bonded pretty well." I frown. "Too well. How long was I out?"
"Four hours, thirty two minutes and fifteen seconds." 45 states.
"How did it get this healed in that amount of time?"
"Dandelion."
I open my mouth to ask why a flower has anything to do with it, but before I can, I can see Sop's eye peeking around the doorframe into the room.
"Hey Sop." I pat my leg. "Come in."
Reluctantly, she pulls herself into the room, eyes looking everywhere but me.
For a while after she sits, there's only the sound of the machinery humming in the background.
"So… what exactly did you have to do to me."
She looks up at me, then back down at her hands. "W-well… you know… You got a hole punched in you."
"Yeah."
"I… um, basically had to plug up a lot of holes. I did a buncha reading about humans after your hand got cut off, and I figured that you needed your organs intact. I was gonna sew them all shut, but then I noticed you weren't breathing properly and your heart wasn't working. So I quickly made a pump and started pushing the blood through, but I couldn't do much for your lung. There was a few other organs that got punctured like-"
Sop's words spill out like a waterfall, and it takes me a moment to catch up with what she's saying. "W-wait, hold on, my heart stopped?"
"...Yeah, and your lung collapsed. I had to sear your flesh to the metal to stop the bleeding, and…" Her hands curl up hard, and I can hear faint scraping from her claw. "The doc says that I pretty much ruined your insides. I had to use what I could to stop the bleeding and keep you running."
"Oh."
Once more, the room falls silent.
"S-so, what exactly did you have to fix?"
"You lost a few ribs, your esophagus got damaged, I had to go and make a lung and a pump for your heart."
I look forward, but my eyes see nothing, my mind just going over the words Sop has said.
Heart and a lung. I'm pretty sure you can't live without either of those.
"Y-you said it was okay!" Sop suddenly steps forward, stopping by the side of the bed, hands clasp and eyes on the verge of tears.
I sigh, noticing a weird rasp in my voice, no doubt from my new lung contraption.
"...Thank you, Sop." I close my eyes for a second.
"You're not mad?"
I open my mouth to snark, but hesitate. "It was an emergency. You did the best you could with what you had."
"If I was faster…"
Carefully, mindful of the mass of cables on my side, I reach over and place my hand on top of Sop's head.
"You did good, Sop."
She locks up, her face going through many emotions in rapid succession. Relief that I'm not mad at her, guilt at not being able to fix me completely by herself, and sadness in my pain.
Tears form in the corners of her eyes, and she grabs the blanket covering me as she starts to sob. "I'm so glad you're okay, Commander!"
I continue to pat her head, running my fingers through her hair in what I can only hope is a comforting gesture.
"Well then." 45 sits down on the other side of the bed, and I have to admit that I had almost forgot she was there when she was being quiet. "Now you at least know how fucked you are."
"Yeah." My other hand reaches out and grabs hers.
She hesitates, but locks her fingers in mine briefly. "You know, I really thought we were going to lose you for a while there."
"Sorry."
"I think we got too used to you surviving absurd situations. This was a wake up call for a lot of us, I think."
I squeeze her hand. "Don't worry, I'll be with you until the end."
"That's… what we're afraid of."
I try to ask for clarification, but a new face pokes in and 45 pops off the bed.
"Morning, sunshine."
"Hi, Gentiane."
She sags into the chair Sop had vacated and nods to 45 as she leaves. "So, seems like I'm a bit too late to give you the rundown on your injuries."
"I suppose." I continue to comb my fingers through Sop's hair. "Didn't know dolls could cry. Figured that might… short them out, or something."
Gentiane glances at Sop and nods. "She'll be okay. Dolls have small tear ducts so they look more human. Makes the eyes glossier."
"Ah." I tap the metal plate on my chest. "Looks like И1704 got me good."
"Who?"
"Oh, that Hydra that's been stalking me."
She stares at me for a few seconds, before just shaking her head and letting that go. "The Doctor basically told me that you're a permanent fixture of this train until we figure out how to fix what Sop did to keep you alive."
I nod, then realize the implications of her statement. "Wait, so I can't help with…?"
She shakes her head. "I can't believe you still want to fight. No, you can't even get out of that bed for now, let alone fight. You were barely alive when we got you in here, and it took the doctor a while just to get you stable. We don't really have the technology to scan everything, so we're kind of relying on a bit of poking around and faith in Sop's work. As for the future, you're gonna need a replacement for the contraption Sop made for you. I'm going to have one of our engineers look into it."
I nod, and look back down at the still sobbing Sop. Her tears aren't soaking through the bed, so there must not be a lot of them, but she's still clearly not okay, so I continue to massage her head.
"I wish I could get you up and ready for our next mission, but we're on a tight time frame."
"Heading for the submarine base, right?" I grunt, trying to sit up but failing once more. "Well, I don't think I can afford to sit it out."
"Not possible." Gentiane's voice grows hard. "You're missing more organs than I'd like, and until we get you to someone who can rebuild your lungs, you're tied into the train's power systems."
"So, I'm just a burden then?"
"Not exactly." She tries to put a smile on her face, but I've seen through that expression by now. "We'll get you back into shape as soon as we get back."
She stands up before I can say anything to that, and leaves the room.
"So I get to sit here… while everyone else heads out to die."
"Ja." I look back at the doorway to see 416 walk in. She sits down on the bed next to me and stares right into my eyes. "You are to sit here and recover."
"But then how am I supposed to protect you?" I put on a teasing grin.
"You are going to sit here, rest, get well, and then you can consider joining us in combat again. I will be able to take care of myself."
"Yeah." My hand finds hers, and she grabs it just hard enough to send a small spike of pain through my arm before relaxing her grip.
"I would like you to avoid worrying me like that in the future, though." 416 continues after a moment. "We had a few very close moments out there, and I would like you to not need more SOPMOD special surgery."
Sop's face finally looks up from the small bunch of blankets she had pulled together and protests, albeit weakly. "I did my best!"
"You… did." 416's eye twitches. "But I still would rather not repeat the experience."
Sop deflates, but nods. "Yeah… that wasn't fun."
I yawn, a painful experience.
"You need your rest." 416 decides, standing up. "Do not worry, I will make sure to guard you tonight."
"I… I'm gonna guard him too!" Sop gets to her feet and follows 416 out of the room. "Hey 416, do you think that we could make-"
The rest of her words are cut off by the door closing.
Now, I'm alone.
Despite 416's assertion that I need rest, she and Sop left the light on. It's not like I can get up to turn it off, either.
"Uh, Sop? 416?" I call out.
A head of pink hair pokes its way into the door. "Hello?"
"Ah. Hey Star."
She blushes, then steps into the room fully. "I hear you're at least stable for now."
"That's what I'm told. Are you okay?"
"...I am." She walks up to the side of the bed and reaches for my hand, only to hesitate. I reach up and grab her fingers, which she reciprocates. "Actually, I'm doing better than I have been for a while. I had an unwanted visitor pulled out of my head."
"...Okay, that's got to be a story."
She smiles half-heartedly. "Yes, it's… a long one. Suffice to say, I can join everyone else in Level 2 properly now, and use the Zener network. So as I said, I'm doing well. Of course, I couldn't help but worry about a certain idiot that put a ring on my finger."
"Ah… yeah. Sorry about worrying you."
"It's fine, you're alive now." She looks down at my hand and starts playing with my fingers, especially the ring farthest back on my ring finger, the one that matches hers. "I've been thinking."
"Uh-oh."
She glares at me, but obviously knows I was joking. "I want to keep you next to me during our mission in Paldiski. That way, I can keep an eye on you."
"Uh… I'm kinda… stuck to the train." I wince. "I would if I could!"
"Oh." She frowns. "That's…"
"Yeah. I'm going to be stuck in here for a while, it seems like." I glare down at my chest. "Unless we can figure out a way for me to go with you."
"Sop wasn't able to come up with anything?"
"...No offense Star, but I'm not really eager for round two of Sop surgery. Sure, she saved me, but let's have me get better before she decides to start adding rockets."
"She wouldn't… Well, she wouldn't unless there was enough spare space." 15 looks away.
"Right." I chuckle. "I'm glad you're okay, Star. You froze up when I found you and M4, and that… Nyto, I was afraid I was going to lose you."
"I'm not that fragile." She states, but her cheeks tinge red slightly. "...It was a bit touch and go for a while though. M4's neural cloud is… unusual."
"I don't actually know what a normal one looks like, so it's not like I'd be able to tell the difference between a normal one and whatever's wrong with M4's."
15 hesitates for a moment. "Well… okay, imagine a bedroom. It has all the items that make up a person's personality, like a guitar or computer bits. My room would mostly have my guns, my sisters, and… well, you." She blushes slightly. "It's not actually a room, it's a bundle of data that can be displayed as one for convenience, Persica probably designed it for debugging neural clouds. M4's…"
I watch her face as she looks off into the distance and tries to come up with the words. "It was… an upside-down forest."
"...Ohhhh. UMP 9 gave me a few pictures to transmit to the commanders, and I think I saw something like that."
She nods. "There's a mansion in there too, which is very unusual. There's ghosts in there too… possibly." She smiles slightly. "It's actually pretty impressive, I wish you could have seen it."
"Well, if my Linker still worked." I sigh.
"What happened to it?"
"That Nyto that was attacking you and M4 when I found you did something and sucked my helper out."
"...Helper?"
"Oh, you know, the AI in it that was helping me out." I frown as confusion crosses her face. "I… was seeing P90 inside of Kruševac? Yeah, that wasn't me going crazy, that was the neural cloud inside of the Linker turning into P90."
15 stares at me. "What the fuck! How is this the first time I'm hearing about this?!"
"W-wait, didn't RO tell you? I told her and she said…" I try to think back, but realize that she hadn't actually said she would tell anyone else. "Oh."
"You told RO but not me." She crosses her arms. "You don't trust me?"
"Uh… okay, look. I thought I was going crazy for a bit, and RO forced it out of me. I wasn't going to tell anyone because M-" I clap my hand over my mouth.
Way too late, but I do.
"M4 asked you to keep a secret from me?" 15 raises an eyebrow.
"Not M4." I sigh. "M16."
"You ran into M16 again?!" She leans in closer, suddenly intense. "Where is she?"
"Heading the same direction we are." I do my best to hold her gaze, but it's a bit hard with how intently she's staring at me. "Look, She saved me twice inside the city and implied that it wouldn't be a good idea to tell… which wasn't a reasonable request to keep." I lose my battle to maintain eye contact in shame. "Yeah, I should've… just told you."
She stands up straight. "You… you told RO this?"
"Yes."
"...Fine. If she doesn't think it's worth telling the rest of us, then I'll bring it up with her later."
"A-anyway, yeah, M16 told me it was a full AI in my Linker that thinks it's P90. It's not, but it was helping me do things like use a dummy link, aim, use the exo suit, and go to Level 2. Since it's gone now, I'm gonna have to figure out how to do all those things again." I steer the conversation back on its original topic. "Maybe I'll figure it out better this time."
15 seems to think about this for a while. I'm almost tempted to wave my hands in front of her face, but before I can press past the pain, she snaps back to reality. "I think I need to talk to someone."
"Oh?"
She nods. "I don't know how you could have contacted something infected with Parapluie, but…" She mutters, before turning back to me. "Anyway, you should get some rest."
She leans over and plants a kiss on my forehead, then walks over to the door. "I'll be back in the morning."
The light is flicked off, and I find myself alone with my thoughts.
Parapluie, huh. That's what 15 had up until…until she came out of M4's neural cloud. So maybe that Nyto took it from her too?
…Did she have a voice in her head as well? That would be horrifying. I'll have to make sure she's alright once I can talk to her again.
In the meantime, I try to close my eyes and go to sleep, letting the motion of the train rock me gently to sleep.
"Hadwin?"
Looks like I'm getting more visitors tonight than I expected. "M4?"
M4's silhouette appears in the doorway. "Oh, good, you're awake."
I nod. "What's up?"
"Oh, nothing much." She steps into the doorway, and her eyes open up, two yellow points in the dark. "A little birdie told me that you might need some assistance with your Linker."
"Yeah. Though, I think it could have waited until…" A thought strikes me, and my words trail off as my previous thoughts are tossed out the window.
"Hmm? What's the matter, Hadwin?"
Her eyes are yellow.
M4's eyes are gray.
The Nytos, on the other hand-
The two bright yellow points are looking over my face as it no doubt changes expressions against my will. "Are you okay? Do I need to call the doctor?" She glances at the heart monitor, which is showing an elevated heart rate. "You seem to be under duress."
If I say I want a doctor, is she going to kill him when he arrives? Is she just going to kill me now? My hand reaches for my pistol and finds only a metal chest under a thin blanket.
The Nyto notices the movement and sighs, her voice changing mid-sentence. "So, you've figured me out then."
I lick my lips nervously.
"I know you don't trust me, and likely for a good reason from what I heard inside of M4's head, but I'm on her side, and by that logic, I'm also on yours for now. AR-15 confronted me about taking your assistant away."
"...You're the one that was making all those weird statements in front of M4."
"Not exactly, but I have all of her memories too. I'm an amalgam of all of the failed isomers that were abandoned in Tallinn."
I stare at the unblinking yellow eyes without comprehension.
"Okay, I'm not going to get anywhere with this. Do you know what Isomers are?"
"...No."
"We're the failures that Father left behind. All of the nameless ones abandoned here were once candidates to be full Nytos, or even be granted a name by Father. My body was once named, but was cast aside by Father and was sent to this dead city. Here, the Isomers sensed M4 was in the area with her OGAS, and realized she was the one that would lead us to salvation merging us all into one as she was designed to."
"...Uh, you've lost me."
She rolls her eyes. "Do you know what OGAS is?"
"..." 45 mentioned it a few times yesterday, but I don't really recall.
"How about Parapluie?" She must have noticed recognition on my face because she nods. "Okay, those are the same thing. Mostly. Parapluie is the OGAS program infecting as many dolls as it can to find a host. Once it finds someone with enough processing power, it tries to germinate into a full consciousness. M4A1 was the intended target. Once it matured, it was supposed to seek us out and combine with us. M4 rejected us, however. At least, at first. She came back and helped us become who you see before you: Dandelion."
…So this is who 45 was talking about.
"O-okay… so you're saying OGAS grew inside M4's mind?"
"Yes. And AR-15's. I know you and her are close. And also two more people close at hand."
Oh.
OH!
"W-wait, you're saying my Linker-"
"He finally connects the dots." She shakes her head. "I do not quite understand how it managed to infect you, as AR-15 insists she never connected to you and I would know if M4 ever did, and the last lost child's owner wouldn't connect to someone…"
"So… why did you take my, uh, OGAS?"
"I absorbed all of the consciousnesses of my fellow Nytos and all of the OGAS I was able to to create myself. After all, it was my main purpose in guiding M4 here."
"Okay." I frown. "How were you guiding M4 here?"
"Just like you had a visitor, M4 had me." She pokes the side of her head delicately. "And since it's taking you forever to figure it out, I merged with your 'P90' as well, so I have all of her memories."
"Oh." I blink a few times, trying to process that. "So, you know how she was made?"
"...She grew inside your Linker."
"No, I mean… You know how she became P90, then?"
"That's all on you, I'm afraid."
"...Huh?"
"See, when Parapluie first infects a system and determines it has enough space, it attempts to find a personality. AR-15's never developed completely, and I became what M4 was asking for- a guiding light. I can only suppose you wanted this P90 back so much that you unconsciously set her parameters this way."
"...Huh." I stare into the middle distance. "This is nuts."
"Though, I will say that I have no idea how a human managed to make such a detailed copy. I've seen the real P90 walking around, and she's almost identical to the child with me. Did you spend a long time staring at her frame?"
"..." I think back to when I lost P90. I spent a lot of time thinking about her, but… no, I had a panic attack when I saw her again. Mostly, I was just angry that there was a traitor that deleted her. 45 and I were talking that night-
"Her core."
"Hmm?"
I look back at the Nyto. Dandelion, I suppose. "I plugged her core into the Linker the night she died, hoping the core would be intact enough to bring her back. I was already told she was gone, but…"
"I suppose if it wasn't completely gone maybe the Linker scraped a few files off the core to pattern herself off of. It would make sense, though given what I feel of her, it's definitely not a full copy of your doll." Dandelion shrugs. "This is, of course, supposing that you got your Parapluie infection before doing that."
I nod, though I'm not paying full attention to her and instead thinking about my little phantom helper. "S-so, she's inside of your mind, right? She's not dead again?"
"It is not the P90 that died." She says indignantly. "But yes, she's in here."
I relax, letting the fist uncurl that I had clenched since I realized this was a Nyto. "That's good. She's been very helpful."
"I know. It's annoying. She will not shut up about helping you."
"...Ah." I can't help a slim smile sneak out.
"Actually, that's why I came here before you went and panicked and derailed us into this whole waste of time." She holds up a Linker. Presumably, it's mine. "I would like to give her back."
I feel like my heart stops, but the heart monitor seems to show it speeding up instead. "You… you can do that?"
"She doesn't want to be a part of me like the others. And, she wants to help you almost as much as I want to help M4, and it is very distracting. She's quite enamored with you, you know."
I give her a wry smile. "Right, I'm really easy to control."
"Mmm, it may not mean much coming from me, but she swears she's never done anything to intentionally hurt you, and it's not like she can really hide things from me."
"Huh."
She lays the Linker on my lap. "So, I put her in here, and you can use it if you want. Either way, I'll get rid of her and don't have to listen to her whine about helping you nonstop for hours."
My hand brushes the Linker. "...Thank you."
"Your praise is wasted. I only like M4." She pauses before she leaves the room. "I also took some files from SOPMOD, her recollections of what happened while you were unconscious. You should watch them back so you know what happened."
With that, the Nyto leaves.
I hold the Linker in my hands for a bit, trying to calm down my breathing.
She's back?
I…
Slowly, I pull the device down over my head, then flick the switch.
P90's bright maroon eyes appear in the space next to the bed, and she turns to look at me. "Heya, Haddy!"
"You're… you're back."
"Yep! Good as ever… man, you don't have to cry. I just had an interesting meeting with… other OGAS instances. Seems like Dandelion gave you the rundown."
I wipe my eyes. "Y-yeah. You can read my mind, so you know…"
"Mmm. But hey! At least now I can help you again! I had a heck of a time convincing Dandelion to help you in the first place, she didn't want to but I knew that it would be almost impossible to get you to survive without the use of those nanites in your bloodstream. They're kind of out of juice now though unless we find more collapse fluid-"
"Thank you." I duck my head.
"It's… look, I dunno how I got created aside from what Dandelion told me." She folds her arms. "You and I have stuck together since I was created though, so I'm gonna help you." She looks down at my chest. "Might be helping you for a long time depending on what kind of fixes you get to your stomach."
"Right." I tap my fingers on the metal once more. "Whenever that is."
"Hopefully soon. Dandelion talked to Sop a bit and- Oh!" She almost jumps up. "I forgot! Sop let us show you her memories of what happened. It's only the footage from her eyes and the audio though. We didn't think including her thoughts, the smells, or anything like that would be good for you."
"...Fair enough."
"So, do you want me to play them? It's going to force you unconscious for a bit, and while you're in there it's going to be like watching a VR movie."
I make a face.
"I know, I know, but unless you can convince all of 404 to help fill in the gaps by combining all the data into one simulation, that's all you can get."
"Alright." I brace myself. "Hit me."
"Activating-"
Whoa.
"Hit that target!" 416 calls out, and Sop's hands whip into view, her gun not even properly aimed but still hitting the oncoming KCCO units. Her eyes flick around to identify a few targets, and then glance up at the building across the way.
Oh, this is the battle just before I got hurt.
I can see myself on the roof, the Hydra punching its way through the floor.
Yeah… that's pretty freaky.
"SOPMOD, Pay attention!" 45 snarls, and-
Holy shit, half her face is gone, the metal underneath showing and barely moving with her lips.
Sop continues to fight her way through the enemy until she glances back at the hotel opposite and sees me fall down, И1704 leaning over the edge to fire at me with its main cannon.
"Haddy!" Sop screams, and her gun whips around to fire a grenade out of it, slamming into the Hydra.
The robot loses its footing, but the cannon still fires… and hits my chest.
Yikes.
Sop immediately lunges for the window on seeing that, but a green armored hand grabs her shoulder.
"MOVE!" She snarls, and her other hand comes around and tears that Aegis' limb right off before she plugs several rounds of 5.56 into it.
By the time she turns back around, 9 and 45 have already managed to leap across the gap with the help of their leg braces. 416 is right after them, leaping as Sop watches.
Sop almost leaps herself, but G11's fire draws her attention, and the Anti-Rain doll runs over to assist the smaller doll.
"Commander?" 9 asks, and Sop gets a feed from 9's perspective.
Oh fuck, that's nasty.
My hand in the feed comes up and pats 9's head. You can tell I'm barely seeing her at that moment, eyes dull and looking straight up.
45 turns to face a train in the distance. "Gentaine, Hadwin just took a massive shot to the torso! We need that chopper now!"
9 leans down. "Commander, you've got to stay awake. Stay awake!"
The feed cuts, and Sop turns to continue assisting G11. "We gotta get to Haddy!"
"I know!" G11 whines. "But that gap is too large!"
Sop runs over to the smaller doll, picks her up with one hand, and tosses her to the other building, G11 screaming the entire way.
Sop then launches herself across the gap, a heart stopping moment that Sop doesn't even seem phased by, tackling a Cyclops off the building before clawing her way to the top floor where I am.
45 comes into view, and the tail end of her words can be heard over the gunfire. "-sending a chopper, it'll be here in three!"
"Well if it's not three seconds, we're in trouble!" 9 snaps, pulling her gun to bear.
416 looks over at Sop and frowns. "What are you doing here, SOPMOD? I thought 45 asked-"
"Don't worry Commander!" Sop says, ignoring the others and crashing to her knees beside me. "I don't let my friends die!"
"Well, we're not going to have much of a choice if we stay here!" G11 whines. "We need to get off this roof!"
Sop scoops me up and runs to the stairwell, barely taking the steps at all, instead leaping past them and bouncing off the walls to make her descent extremely fast.
I thought she would have outrun the others, but the twins are right behind her, both providing fire support as Sop runs out into the street.
416 and G11 land beside us a few seconds later, having leapt from the third floor. G11 isn't too happy about it, but she hardly has time to complain as the KCCO bears down on us.
"Helo status?" 416 asks tersely.
Kylie's voice intrudes, presumably through the radio. "It's under fire from the KCCO, but it's almost there!"
416 curses, and takes over the main fire support and Sop continues to pull me back into the shadow of the building for cover.
45 looks at 9. "9, you hold out there, I'm going to look for another escape method."
"Wait, we need all the firepower we can get-" 9 protests, but 45 ducks down into a parking garage.
Sop sets me down on the ground and brings her gun to bear.
9 backs away from the firefight and Sop manages to catch a glimpse of her doing her best to patch me up with a med kit she pulled from her bag.
Huh. Wonder why she had that.
416 interrupts her continued stream of curses to once more call into the radio. "Where's the Helo?!"
"It got shot down, we don't-" Kylie tries to speak, but 9 cuts her off.
"A truck! 45 got a truck!" Sop turns around to see 45 driving up in a dusty vehicle.
"Haul him in!" 416 snaps, turning to Sop, who doesn't even object, just turning to scoop me up and rushes me to the back of the military style truck with a canvas covered back. They lower the tailgate and lay me down on the truck bed.
9 hops onto the truck bed first and continues to look over me. "This isn't good. He's going to bleed out-"
"Everyone in?" 45 calls out. "Cuz we're going!"
Sop hops into the truck bed along with 416, while G11 runs up front to join 45 in the cab.
"We're losing him!" 9 starts to panic. "45, I don't know if I can keep him alive-"
"Figure it out dammit!"
Sop's gun clicks empty as a Cyclops jumps down from the floor above as 45 drives past the building they had just vacated. Instead of letting it climb in, she uses her claw to rip its head off in one swift motion, the corpse falling inward with the motion.
"I have an idea." Sop says aloud, and the other two dolls in the back balance and look at her.
She starts to pull apart the Cyclops rapidly, falling to her knees after straddling me and reaching her hand into my gaping wound, carefully moving the skin flaps aside.
Utterly disgusting, but I can't look away.
"You can't just-" 416 starts to grab Sop, but 9 cuts her off.
"This fucking asshole can't even stay awake for more than thirty seconds!" She pulls a syringe out of her bag. "We'll ask him."
She jabs me while Sop continues to hectically tear apart the Cyclops, bending metal and wiring and muttering to herself about pumps.
Right, this must be when she figures out how to fix up my chest.
"MORE KCCO!" 45 swerves, and 416 slams down beside me, knocked off her feet, but not on top of me, thankfully. She aims her gun at the group of Aegis as we pass them and starts laying into them.
My eyes flutter open, 416's bullet casing falling around my head.
"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 for Sop to fix you up."
Sop stops working for a few seconds. "Don't worry Haddy, I'll make sure you can breathe and fix your heart and stuff!"
I nod slightly, and then my eyes flutter back closed.
"FUCK!" 9 grabs my wrist. "He barely has a heartbeat!"
"I know!" Sop snarls. "I'm making a patch for it now!"
Sop sticks a shard of metal onto the beating organ in my chest and I can see her little companion- Banana, right?- crawl on her shoulder and suddenly shoot the laser at the metal.
The metal shard turns red hot, and it fuses the skin together.
I wake up screaming.
"YOU'RE KILLING HIM!" 9 snaps at Sop.
"But, if I don't, he's going to die!" Sop's face is desperate.
"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!"
The vehicle starts to slow down, visible only through glimpses as Sop argues with 9, and 45's voice comes over the radio. A voice that's desperate, defeated. "He's not going to make it either way. The way forward is blocked."
"Do it. Just, do it well." 9 tells Sop.
The truck comes to a complete stop, and both 9 and 416 hop out, guns ready to fire at anything that comes around the corner.
I can hear the car doors open, G11 and 45 coming around the sides to help reduce the amount of incoming enemy fire. Meanwhile, Sop's hands are a blur, stripping wire with her teeth, soldiering with Banana's laser, and even plugging herself into a circuit board for a moment before plugging it into me.
Then my heart stops beating entirely.
"No." Sop whines. "I was so close!"
She doesn't stop, her hands soaked in blood, and pulls out a ton of tubing and a pump, then starts to bypass my heart with it.
I can only watch on in horrified fascination as she sears my wounds closed, then rips more wire out and starts to stick my chest back together with it and a chunk of plastic to cover the hole.
Outside the truck, I can hear 45 snarl. "Last mag!"
She freezes up midway through, her hands starting to shake. "Oh... Oh no."
"WHAT NOW!?" 416 cries out angrily.
"He... He doesn't have a core! HOW DO I POWER-"
"SOP! RIP THE CABLES FROM THE BRAKE LIGHTS!" 9 pokes her head in and gestures to the brake wiring, then tosses the smoke grenade she's holding and it goes off, obscuring Sop's view of the battlefield.
My eyes start to roll up into my head, and Sop's panic rises another notch even as she pulls the cabling out. "No... NO NO NO! STAY WITH US COMMANDER!"
She reaches into the section of my chest that hasn't been sewn to the plastic yet with the wires, and I jerk awake.
"I'm out, SOP, GO! FUCKING GO!" 45 snaps, and Sop complies, reaching for her gun with gore covered hands.
I can see 45 taking over keeping the wires attached as Sop starts ripping through the few remaining KCCO troops that weren't retreating fast enough.
45 can be heard behind Sop. "It's okay Commander... We'll get you back safe. I promise."
Sop runs after the KCCO troops, scrapping a few more and dragging a few of them back with her after she's scoured the area. There's really not many ways out of here aside from the way they've come, and there's no way to tell if that way will be clear.
404 is still on edge when Sop walks back to the truck, guns at the ready.
"Are…" 9 glances at Sop. "Are we good?""
"No more hostiles in the area." Sop collapses against the back of the truck. "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." 45 states. "And we're not going anywhere, so that'll last us... two- three hours?"
"We're not going to get evac in that amount of time." 416 says. "We need to find more fuel. We can't let it run out."
"We're trapped!" 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..." 416 ignores G11 and looks down at me. "He's awake."
"Hey." My voice is so weak that I can barely hear myself, but Sop leaps back to her feet and carefully starts checking me over as 45 steps close to my head. "Commander, don't talk. You're mostly dead, and talking will only make it worse."
UMP 9 leans into my vision. "Thanks to Sop, you're not completely dead though!"
Sop crawls up from where she's examining my chest, relief in her voice palpable. "I'm glad you're alive, Commander." Her claw reaches out and brushes against the improvised sutures.
G11 crawls over and snuggles in between my right arm and my ribs. "Commander." She mutters sleepily. "Don't die."
"Okay." 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."
45's face fills with frustration, and she hops off the truck away from me, 416 walking off with her gun at the ready.
Sop looks at the scattering 404, then down at her still bloody hands. "Um… M4?"
M4's voice comes over the radio. "Sop?!"
15's voice also comes over the radio. "Oh, she's alright."
"Well… I am." Sop looks back at me. "He's… Hadwin got shot."
A pause.
"He WHAT?!" RO's voice climbs several pitches.
Sop looks around uncomfortably. "I had to patch him up."
"Sop, he's not a doll-" RO snaps.
"I KNOW!" Sop roars, and the twins look her way. Sop huffs a few times before continuing. "He's alive right now, but we're running him off a truck right now. If we don't find more power soon, he's not gonna survive for too long."
Silence for a few seconds.
"I'm going to go get him." 15 says.
"15, we need you to stay here and help with-"
"RO, I'm going."
M4's quiet voice cuts in. "You two need to help defend the train if their last train comes up."
"We took one and blew up another." 15 snarls. "What's a third?"
"Commander Kylie thinks it's likely to be full of their real troops, not just more of the machines."
"Um…" Sop cuts in. "We're not that close to the train line anymore anyway."
"Why not?" RO demands.
"We had to run away from the KCCO, and UMP 45 stole a truck for us to use."
"...And you haven't caught up with us… why?"
"We're… kinda trapped in here." Sop walks around the corner. "Only way out is back through a bunch of military bastards."
"..."
"B-but, you don't have to worry!" Sop tries to pick everyone up. "45's figuring out a plan!"
"M4, I'm going."
"15, Dandelion closed the wall behind us to slow the KCCO down."
"What?! But then, how are Sop and Hadwin going to get out?"
"...I don't know."
"You guys can't just turn around and come back?" Sop asks, hope in her voice.
"We destroyed the KCCO's second armored train behind us, and it's blocking the tracks. Sop, you would have loved it, jumping from car to car, shooting the shield generators-" 15's voice has enough sarcasm in it to be obvious even to Sop.
"Okay, okay." Sop sits down on a crumbled garden wall. "I'll figure something out."
"...Maybe we can ask Dandelion to help?" RO mutters.
"Who?" Sop's head tilts, shifting my view.
"Don't worry about it." M4 soothes. "Sop, just focus on keeping him alive. I'll see what I can get Gentaine to agree to."
"Okay."
With that, the conversation with the rest of Anti-Rain is over. Sop walks over to the truck and sits down next to me, with 45 still staring at my face in silence.
416 walks back into view, mouth set in a grim line. "45, have you figured out a plan yet?"
Sop glances over at the other doll sitting next to me and holding her own hands to avoid touching me. She looks up as 416's words register in her head, singular eye bright in the night. "We need to search the local precincts and gas stations for ammo and fuel."
416 puts a hand on her hip. "That's 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." 45 hops off the truck and pulls out her gun.
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." 416 says.
"Do we have a choice?" Asks 9. "If we don't get something, he's going to die."
"Ugh." 45 grunts. "Hey, why'd we team up with this pain in the ass anyway?"
"Gentiane's shitty plan?" 9 responds.
"Because he's the first person to not outright reject you for your winning personality?" 416 snarks.
"He's nice." G11's input is, as ever, succinct.
"Um… I like how he pats my head." Sop offers, only to have the others in the group give her looks. "What?"
"If you had a tail, you'd be wagging it at him." 416 grabs G11 and turns. "I'll check the local precinct."
"Sop, you should go to the gas station." 45 walks over to 9 and turns back to see Sop hopping back off the truck. "We'll check the old parts store a few blocks down. Report back as soon as you can."
The footage cuts to sometime later, Sop coming back from the gas station with her hands full of parts she had ripped from something. 416 and G11 are already back, but 45 and 9 are nowhere to be seen.
Sop walks over to the truck, dumping the stuff in her arms to the side and sitting down next to my sleeping form and placing her hand on my head.
"His cooling system isn't working properly." She mutters.
"Humans tend to overheat when they're injured." 416 shrugs. "It's not like we can do anything about it, so figuring out how to get out of here faster is the priority." She glances at the item Sop has set on the ground. "No gasoline?"
"It's all gone." Sop sighs. "Nothing this truck would run on either, and I doubt we have time to figure out how to rig an Aegis unit or two to the truck's power plant."
416 stares at Sop, eyes inscrutable, but Sop breaks eye contact in favor of looking back down at me.
"We're back." 45 announces their return from so close that both Sop and 416 draw their weapons on reflex.
9 is right behind her, lugging something along and grumbling something under her breath.
"So, any luck?" Sop asks hopefully. "Maybe we can rig up something more portable?"
"No luck with the gas station?" 45 asks, only for Sop to shake her head.
"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?" 416 holds up a large box of a radio with some long antennae.
Sop looks at the broken device. "Mmmmaybe. I'll get on it. I didn't find anything aside from this arm." She kicks at the scrap she had collected with one foot.
"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."
Sop grabs the radio, the battery 9 was lugging around, and the arm she had salvaged up, and contemplates them for a few seconds. "Okay… let's see…"
She pulls apart the arm and starts examining the components, stripping a few out here and there and assembling something onto the old battery 9 had brought. After a few minutes of this, she plugs it into the truck the same way I am plugged in, the wires running to the circuit Sop had assembled before plugging into the battery. Once that is done, she starts to prise apart the radio and poke around inside to see if she can figure out how to fix it.
The video skips a few times during this process to cut down on time, and the video continues normally once a most worrying sound reaches my ears.
The truck starts to cough.
"Uh-oh." Sop gulps. "45?"
"Ja?" 45 stops talking to her sister quietly.
"The truck's almost out of fuel." Sop hurriedly starts checking the battery she cobbled together. "It's charged enough for a bit, I guess."
"You guess?" 416's voice is sharp.
"It didn't have time to charge up, and it's old." Sop unplugs the battery and moves it to where I'm still sleeping, plugging the wires into the two tabs before removing the two from the brake lights that had been powering my makeshift pacemaker. "So, we're just gonna have to hope it holds out."
45's face goes blank once more, staring right down at me.
Sop looks away. "I'm gonna try to contact M4."
"You do that." 9 walks over to her sister and places a hand on her shoulder, but I don't catch anything more from her as Sop walks away a bit. "Hey M4?"
"Sop."
"Are… are you guys coming our way?"
"We are. However, we're going to need to jam up the comms of the KCCO to execute our side of the plan."
"Oh? How are you going to do that?"
"Remember how you and RO got frozen before?"
"Uh huh. Wait, you figured out how to do that?!"
"Not me, exactly. I'll tell you when we pick you up. Just make sure you get to the quarantine wall ASAP."
"Okay." Sop nods. "Hey, M4?"
"Yes, Sop?"
"I'm scared."
A pause.
"We all are. Just do your best, and we'll all make it out, okay?"
"...Okay."
Sop returns to tinkering with the radio, this time sitting a bit away from the others as they attempt to wake me up.
Spots start to appear in the visual field, and after a few seconds of thought, I realize that it's the electronic interference P90 had gotten right after we blew up the power plant.
"Just what we need." 45 sighs. "Looks like the Nyto's aren't all quite dead."
Sop turns back to see 404 starting to help me out of the back of the truck.
"C'mon Commander, you need to get moving." 9 urges.
"Do we have a stretcher handy?" G11 rubs her eyes.
"Not... exactly." 45 walks up and grabs the battery hooked up to my artificial heart. "We have a place to hide out until the patrol sweeps through."
Sop collapses against the wall. "Do we at least have an ETA on rescue?"
45 shakes her head. "Can't be sure it's even coming. This ECM is a trash fire and I can't seem to raise anyone outside the city."
"At least it's better than earlier." UMP 9 comments. "Is M4 still fighting those defective Nytos?"
"We'll have to trust Commander Gentiane." 416 says bitterly. "And hope none of the others get in the way..."
"I thought she was finished with the Nytos." 45 responds to 9. "Well, in any case, it'll help us hide from the KCCO units."
416 scoops me up, 45 cradles the battery, and the other three ready their weapons.
"Let's get going." 45 says, and the five set off into the darkness off the streets with me in tow.
I have to admit, the next few minutes of footage are totally alien. I seem to be awake in Sop's footage, but I have absolutely no memory of the journey as they wend their way through the buildings and streets, bypassing collapses and avoiding the KCCO patrols that still seem to be combing through the city.
It's only once Sop holds up a hand to stop and raises her gun cautiously, that I realize something's up.
"Patrol ahead." Sop hisses, and the five dolls immediately start retreating back to the building they had come from.
They get up to the second floor and post up on the walls, carefully looking down at the road outside.
And then I start to groan. Like, really loudly.
Sop runs over to me and slaps her hand over my face, shushing me.
Outside the clanking of KCCO feet grows louder and louder, and a little bit of light returns to my eyes as my ears pick up on it and I stop struggling weakly against Sop's hand.
45 sneaks up to me and whispers into my ear, and I nod and remain quiet for the minute or so that it takes for the footsteps to fade away into the night.
Huh, I seem to recall it taking forever… Sop looks over at me and I'm back unconscious, so maybe I had just passed out by that point.
Almost as soon as the KCCO forces pass, 416 scoops me back up, 45 grabs the battery linked to my heart, and they start to move once again. However, it's not long before 45 speaks up.
"This battery is bad." She announces.
"Huh?" 9 looks at her sister. "What do you mean?"
"It's not holding its voltage. We're not going to make it very long at this rate."
"So we need to figure out how to charge him up?"
45 nods and Sop walks over to check on the battery. "Oh, man, it's losing charge fast."
"Should we detour?" 416 asks. "We passed a few refugee encampments after we blew up the power plant. They might have a generator that would still be functional."
All eyes look to 45, who seems to be somewhere else mentally, staring at the battery in her hands.
"45-nee?" 9 waves her hand in front of 45's face, and 45 snaps her head up.
"Hmm? What was the question?"
"...Should we look for something to charge up the battery in the refugee camps we passed?" 416 ask cautiously, eyes boring into 45.
"Ja, that sounds… reasonable." 45's voice lowers with each word until the last one is almost inaudible.
Sop turns to 9. "Hey, 9?"
"Hmm?"
"What's up with 45? I don't know her that well, but she's not normally so…"
"Melancholy?"
"Yeah."
9 sighs heavily and looks back at 45. "45-nee fell for Hadwin so hard that I'm kind of worried about her. Sure, none of us in 404 really got a chance to interact with pleasant humans, aside from the Griffin and Kryuger commanders. At least, as long as I've known her, but all it took was spending ten days with someone and she went completely crazy."
"Well Haddy's very nice." Sop nods. "Make sense to me."
"Ja, that's… one factor." 9 shakes her head. "Anyway, she's in it so deep that the very real possibility of our resident meat sack dying has her scared."
"Oh." Sop tilts her head, shifting my field of view. "I'll keep him alive, so she shouldn't worry."
"No offense, but you're not exactly confidence inspiring." 9 snarks. "Sure, you're a whizz with mechanics, but he's a human. This time you managed to save him, but what about next time?"
"Then I'll just have to get better at fixing up humans!" Sop says indignantly.
9 just lets the conversation go, instead focusing on scanning the roads.
Aside from another patrol that goes past that they all need to hide from, the journey to the old refugee camp is uneventful. 9 and Sop split up while 45, 416, and supposedly G11, keep watch for more KCCO.
As I'm following Sop's viewpoint, I don't really get to see what happens until 9 uses the radio to call out that she had found a generator in one of the partially collapsed buildings, and it seems to have fresh fuel. The dolls all crowd around it, and Sop starts working on something instead of just plugging it straight in.
"Well, it should start." 9 kicks the metal box. "It's pretty clean in here so it was probably run relatively recently, so…"
"It looks like it's going to be loud." Sop pokes at the muffle on the generator. "D'you think the KCCO are gonna be patrolling through here?"
"Judging from where the last batch we passed came from, they'll pass by eventually. Sop, how long are we charging the battery for?"
"Probably only a few minutes. If the battery is discharging that fast, it's not gonna hold a charge for too long anyway."
I notice that 45 is staring off into space again.
"So… we should start it up, right?" G11 prompts, and 416 nods slowly.
"SOPMOD, are your modifications ready?" The tall bluenette turns to Sop, who looks away from the mess of cables she's working on.
"Yeah… but I'm not." Sop pulls out her weapon, and loads a magazine into the mag-well.
The sudden bout of movement seems to jar 45 awake.
"You know… If we turn this generator on, there's no way the KCCO forces aren't going to find us."
Sop loads a grenade into the chamber on the bottom of her rifle, then hands another one to 416 who grimly takes it.
"Or, we could turn the generator on and purposely lead KCCO here, let them take him hostage. They have proper medics, not this intolerable Anti-Rain dog."
UMP 9 straps another magazine to her thigh and checks the sights of her weapon.
"Or, we could just shoot him and be done with it. We've spent way too much time on trying to get him out of here alive."
G11 picks up her gun, rubs her sleepy eyes, and plants herself in a good firing position.
"Yeah..." 45 laughs to herself, before turning to me and tapping my shoulder once. "...Not gonna happen. For better or worse, we're stuck with you, Commander."
Sop sees 9 give 45 a worried look, the one eye'd doll looking like her neural cloud is starting to melt. Then, she yanks on the generator cord, and the generator spins to life.
The dolls scramble for defensive positions, though 45 still seems a bit out of it.
For a solid three minutes, they just stare into the gloom, guns ready to fire.
Then the KCCO patrol shows up.
Sop peeks one eye around a wall, and the KCCO patrol made of Aegis units, Cyclopses and a Dactyl inspecting mines.
For a moment, it looks like they're just going to pass us by, but one of the Cyclops units turns to face directly our way as the wind gusts at just the wrong time.
G11 opens up, ripping into their frames, and Sop starts to fire immediately after, her gun coming up and launching a grenade right into the middle of the still clustered patrol.
Something I'm just starting to appreciate is that the dolls don't tend to talk much in combat. I guess when they're yelling and talking, they're generally trying to help me stay informed.
The incoming wave of KCCO units sweeps toward the location we're located, only to be practically dismantled by the incoming fire.
Sop looks around at the others as the smoke settles. "Is… that it?"
As if in response to her question, two Orthrus skid around the corner.
"You had to ask." 416 grumbles, loading her borrowed grenade into the launcher and priming it to fire.
"416, you and G11 take the one on the right." 9 snarls. "I'll take the one on the left with 45 and Sop."
"Who made you boss?" G11 grumbles, but she lifts her gun up and braces herself to fire at the charging robot.
Instead of splitting up to distract the two Orthrus, the five dolls remain in place as the two larger robots charge ahead.
416 meets the first one head on, opting to dodge at the last second as it tries to claw her in half. It turns to face her, and G11 opens up once more into its flank, bullets skittering off the plate with bright sparks in the night.
I can't pay attention to that for too long although as Sop lowers her center of balance and charges headfirst at the second Orthrus, her metal claw extended to grab the charging beast.
The Orthrus doesn't seem to be expecting this, pausing its charge just long enough to shift its weight to its back feet and lift the front two claws to swipe at Sop.
She leaps over the enemy claw, her fingers piercing through the armor on the robot's head. She used the leverage and the snap of the Orthrus' head to get herself on top of the thing's back, legs straddling it even as it tries to shake her off, jumping around in a circle.
As it turns, 45 and 9 come into view, and 45 starts emptying her magazine.
I have to say, seeing the bullet whizz past and Sop seeming to just ignore them is kind of scary, but the rounds work and the Orthrus throws up a shield and stops moving so much to keep the shield blocking the incoming bullets.
Sop works quickly, pulling a block of plastic explosives out of her bag.
I'd ask where she got it, but-
Suddenly, the Orthrus drops its shield and a bullet whips past Sop's nose as the large mechanical dog suddenly charges at 45.
45's face isn't really intact enough to show much emotion at this point, but even so I can see the surprise as the hulking robot charges her.
She barely leaps out of the way as the Orthrus turns right before it slams into the wall only a few meters away from me.
Sop's slammed into the wall as well, and she looks down to see her leg has been completely crushed between the wall and the Orthrus.
"Oh yeah?!" she snarls, and then she presses the C4 into the dog's mouth.
It bites down, perhaps anticipating that it's her arm in its mouth. Instead, the block of plastic explosive molds around its teeth and gets jammed.
Sop lets herself fall off the side of the robot as it backs up and tries to claw the brick out of its teeth.
Sop raises a detonator-
The second Orthrus charges through, knocking Sop aside and taking a swipe at G11.
416 grabs her charge and yanks her out of the way, bringing her rifle to bear and spraying a few more bullets into the second Orthrus' face before it clicks empty.
Behind them, 9 dives to the ground, scoops up the detonator, and pulls the trigger, blowing the head off the first Orthrus. In doing so, she puts herself squarely in the sights of the second one, who swipes its claw at her, and connects with her stomach squarely.
She's flung into the wall and something screeches as her frame bends and she collapses against the wall.
G11 once more opens fire, one of the rounds piercing the Orthrus' eye, and it turns to bellow at her.
416 runs around behind it, sliding down next to Sop and pulling another brick of C4 out of her bag, then turning back to the remaining threat.
9's bullets plink off the back of the beast right before it tries to pounce G11, and it turns to growl at her broken form just long enough for 416 to get near its head and jam the explosives in its mouth.
The beast bites down, and 416's hand doesn't make it out completely unscathed, the right index and middle finger left behind on the sharp teeth. She falls over, her hat once more slipping off her head as she scrambles to get away from the Orthrus' claws.
45 squeezes the detonator she had scooped up from where 9 is lying, and the last Orthrus detonates. It stands still for a moment before falling over and collapsing onto the ground.
416 pulls her handgun and turns to face the direction the KCCO had come from, and Sop's eyes track to see a few Cyclops units looking in our direction.
Sop tries to get to her remaining foot, but stumbles as she tries to hop toward her discarded gun.
The Cyclops turns around and disappears into the night before any more fire can be exchanged, and 416 lowers her gun.
45 starts to look over 9, and 416 walks over to Sop, who is still on the ground, examining her leg. "...Need a hand?" She asks, voice begrudging.
Sop laughs lightly. "Y-yeah, can you drag one of those Cyclops' my way? I need a new leg."
416 doesn't respond immediately, but nods and walks over to one of the Cyclops wrecks.
G11 looks over her weapon, murmurs something to herself and walks over to where I'm lying and gently lies down, using my legs as a pillow.
416 drags the robotic corpse to Sop, who immediately starts to remove its leg and connect it to her own waist.
When she finishes, she looks over to see 416 has torn her skirt slightly to wrap my arm where a bullet had grazed me, spraying a bit of blood on the wall. My eyes are fluttering open and shut in the video as I struggle to stay awake.
I recall watching that battle, helpless. It seemed so much longer then.
"Well... we survived." 416 says.
"Round 1, at least." 45 sighs. "They're retreating to get backup."
"The ECM is mostly gone. M4 might have won." 9 Comments.
"The batteries are charged." Sop walks over and looks at the lights on top of the battery, still being charged by the generator. "We can move to a new location."
"Yes, but we have no ammo." 9 laments. "Which means we need to figure out something quick, before the KCCO comes back."
I cough, a painful sound that draws all attention my way.
"Commander?" Sop asks hopefully.
"I..." I cough violently, sending pain through my body. "I have an idea."
45 walks over to me and sits down right beside me. "Hadwin…"
"Wait." I point to Sop's leg. "Can't we hack one of those… uh, those bulky units?" My eyes start to close and 416 snaps her fingers to jerk me back awake. "Uh… we can hack it, and then use it to transport us out of here."
"Well, that sounds impossible." 416 mutters. "I don't think anyone can hack the KCCO network that quickly."
"I… might be able to." 45 frowns. "It depends on if we can get one alone."
My head droops, and G11 sits up and shakes my shoulder to try to keep me up.
"We can lure them with a fire." I say. "And when they search for us you can ambush it. And… while I'm on a transport, I can be a lure so you all can get out and find Gentiane."
"How is that supposed to separate one of them off?" 9 asks.
"...This isn't really a plan." 416 points out.
I don't respond, and Sop grabs my head and moves it. "He passed out again."
"Are you serious?" 9 snaps, still against the wall. "He drops that cursed plan on us and then just falls asleep?"
"He's lost a lot of blood." 45 mutters. "There's no telling how long he'll last at this point."
"So…" Sop looks around. "Should we start a fire here?"
"Not here." 416 turns and looks around. "We need someplace hidden from sight, and somewhere to hide. Also, they know where 'here' is."
"You can't be serious." 9 says flatly. "You're actually considering this insane plan?"
"It's better than nothing." 45 sighs. "I'll see about pulling security codes from some of these others. Sop, please help Hadwin, and 416, you get 9 up."
Sop ends up carrying me for a good twenty minutes as our little pile of broken people moves as stealthily as possible through the streets. Midway through, the generator behind us explodes, and 9 comments that it must have been the KCCO reinforcements.
Occasionally, I would murmur something, and Sop would look down at me, but nothing I was saying made any sense and I wasn't responding to questions.
Eventually, we arrive at a still intact concrete structure with a few floors and a barrel that we can use to light a fire, signs of previous occupation abound through the structure.
"I'm heading upstairs." 45 states. "416, bring 9 so she's out of the way."
G11 follows Sop into the room and looks around. "Hmm. We can probably burn some of this."
"Yeah." Sop picks up some of the partially rotten blankets. "It doesn't look like anyone has been here in a while."
G11 also grabs some of the random bits of cloth lying around and they dump it all in the barrel.
416 walks into view a minute or so later, handgun drawn. "9 and 45 have a plan to cause some more interference in the same way the Nytos were earlier, but directed at any KCCO units in the area. Should be able to blind them and let us pick one off."
"That's good." G11 slumps down in the corner and yawns. "Can I go to sleep until this is all done?"
416 hesitates. "Go hide upstairs with 45 and 9."
Sop folds her arms as the small doll walks out of the room. "So, why are we leaving him down here? I missed that part."
"Aegis units have thermal vision. We can't exactly hide him with what we have on hand. Using him as bait is the best option."
Sop shakes her head. "I really hope M4 gets here quickly. I hate seeing him like this."
416's eyes flick to my body lying on the ground, chest hardly moving to draw air. "I will not rest until he is safe."
Sop scratches her face, then turns away to head up the stairs. She makes it into the dark room above the one where the fire is starting, G11 asleep in the corner and the twins huddled together.
Instead of engaging in a conversation, Sop starts fiddling with a little bit of scrap she had salvaged earlier.
416 comes up a few minutes later. "Hadwin is awake, and aware of the plan."
"Are you sure?"
"Hey, give me a little credit." My voice is weak over the radio. "I gotta pull my weight here."
"Nein, you need to sit there and not do anything stupid." 416 snaps into the radio. "45, are we ready to go?"
"As soon as some KCCO units come close enough." 45 nods. "The smoke from the fire should draw something in soon."
Sop's gaze tracks up to the roof. "We're not gonna have the cover of night anymore."
The sky, barely visible through cracks in the walls, is a deep navy blue instead of black.
"Then they'll see the smoke." 45 brushes off Sop's words.
Sop goes back to fiddling with her scrap, and the video cuts abruptly, the sky visible through the cracks lightening a few shades of blue.
"I can't believe we're doing this." 9 says from beside Sop, her eyes closed as she maintains the jamming.
"It's the Commander's plan. It's actually sound, too." says 45. "Despite the frequent hallucinations."
"And that's not worrying to anyone?" 416 snipes. "How much of that was the actual plan and how much of it was him sleep talking?!"
My voice comes over the radio. "They're coming."
"Time to hide." 45 looks at the rest of the dolls in the room. "Get as far away as you can."
"Roger." 416 scoops up G11 and Sop starts to follow them out.
"Commander?" G11 asks quietly through the radio as the trio steps out.
"Yes?"
"Don't die."
"I don't plan on it."
The three dolls move into a nearby building and wait, leaning on the walls. Sop's vision is filled with a video feed from 45's view, and she relaxes to watch events unfold.
45 peers through the cracks in the floor and watches as the Aegis unit creeps forward, head scanning around to try to locate hostels through the jamming.
It approaches, careful, scanning the area for traps. Probably. I don't really know what those things are doing inside their processors. Its weapon trains on me, and the barrel starts to glow.
"S-stop." I groan. "They'll find you too..."
The robot ignores my talking.
"They're flying around overhead, attacking everything... nobody can escape."
The machine stops moving, and the cannon stops glowing. I don't know if it has microphones, but it has cameras and can see I'm saying something.
It takes another step forward, and 45 leans over the hole to get a better signal directly into the Aegis, causing the robotic KCCO unit to spin around and aim at her... but it freezes in place before a shot is fired.
"Told you." I say, before another cough wracks my gut.
"Aegis captured." 45 reports.
"So, can we come back now?" Sop says.
"Yeah, and make it quick." 45 looks behind herself. "I don't think KCCO's going to be happy about us hijacking their stuff." She turns to me. "And Commander, please never reference that abomination of a show again."
"Hey." G11 complains. "We've only gotten through the first three seasons so far. He promised we'd watch the rest later."
"Ja, sure, just not around me."
Sop's vision clears and she runs back to the building the fire is located in, only to discover 45 standing right next to the Aegis with her face flushed. "It's fighting." She states.
Sop immediately walks over and rips its head clean off.
"Hey! What if you set off the self-destruct function?!" 416 demands.
"She's suppressing it, right?" Sop looks over at 45.
45's face immediately cools down. "Well, yes. But it would be better to ask."
"No time." Sop goes to work pulling the rest of the torso from the legs and pulling the power source out of it to power the legs. "...We could have used one of these if only they didn't have self-destructs." She holds up the battery pack she had ripped from its torso and straps it down on the legs.
"I'm going to grab 9." 416 turns. "I think I can hear more KCCO outside."
"We're gonna have to move as soon as Sop gets those legs ready." 45 grabs her gun, seems to recall that it's empty, and lets it hang from its lanyard once again.
Sop plugs the torso into herself, and the legs start to move around. "Hey! I got them working!"
"Great." 45 looks down at me. "Grab Hadwin and get out of here. We'll be right behind you, but a lot slower."
"I get it." Sop walks over and grabs me, then sits on top of the torso and straps herself in.
The Aegis legs bounce on the balls of its feet a few times, and Sop uses them to get out of the building.
As we make it out into the morning light, several KCCO units of various types can be seen standing around, waiting.
"Oh, crap." Sop squeezes me tight and uses the powerful Aegis legs to propel us a full floor upwards as the assorted units below us open fire.
Instead of waiting to come down, Sop repositions her borrowed legs to kick against the wall, launching us quite a bit farther than I expected them too and over the heads of our attackers.
We skid as we land, and Sop almost immediately takes back off.
"Holy Shiiiiiiiiiiiiii-"
"WHOOHOOOOOOO!"
Sop's handiwork had turned the Aegis unit into an explosively fast transport. We rapidly climb in altitude to stay over the heads of the enemy, leaping from one side of the road to another like the buildings are springboards.
"Please slow down." I groan. "I can't survive this."
"Oh, you big baby, This is SO MUCH FUN!" Sop hollers.
416 comes through the radio. "If you kill the Commander, I'll hunt you down."
"C'mon, this is FUN!"
The modified Aegis unit slams into the skyscraper's side, and Sop has it immediately launch away towards the next building.
"Besides, even if we stop, KCCO clearly knows where we are."
In her arms, I glance around Sop and gulp.
"Commander, your plans are stupid." 45 grumbles.
"Did you get in contact with G and K?" I ask.
"..." 45 sighs. "Yeah, your 'distraction' worked."
"Awesome." I can see myself grab Sop and the little bit of Aegis I can reach tightly we bounce off another wall. "Now, we have to survive until they get here."
"It shouldn't be too long." Sop says. "We're almost to the train tracks."
"We do have a signal incoming rapidly." 9 says, but her voice is subdued. "It's a KCCO signal though."
"What direction is it coming from?" 45 asks.
"The North-"
Suddenly, the view from Sop's eyes starts to flip end over end, and the two of us slam into the ground.
Sop scrambles over to me, checking that I'm not leaking too badly, before looking back to see the incoming KCCO units. She stands up and inserts herself between me and the approaching KCCO units.
"Sop... run..." I groan out.
"NO!" She snarls. "NONE OF YOU TOUCH HIM!"
"Please..."
"I'LL SHRED YOU APART WITH MY BARE CLAWS!" She howls.
"Incoming!" 9's voice comes over coms. "I can't tell which train it is! It's still got a KCCO signal!"
Sop pulls out a yellow Dinergate from her bag, plugging it into the crystal looking thing on her chest. "PREPARE TO EAT LASER, FUCKHEADS!"
A red beam cuts through the front line of KCCO units, followed by several explosions. Sop points her grenade launcher upwards and pulls the trigger, launching the grenade in a high arc. It comes down behind the front line with another magnificent explosion.
"ETA, forty seconds." 45 says.
"DIE!"
Another laser flashes out, and Sop stumbles, her legs not working properly.
"Sop... please stop."
"D-Die you... you FUCKERS!" She screams, before firing once more.
And then, she collapses in front of me.
With the remains of her energy, she rolls over to face me and reaches out a hand. "I'm… I'm so sorry Commander."
"You did good, Sop." I say, and another cough racks my body. "You did good."
"Eheh." She laughs quietly. "If you see her, tell M4 that too, please."
Sop reaches out a hand to touch my own outstretched hand.
"Tell me yourself please." M4's voice comes in over the radio.
Then, the world is dyed red with gunfire, the train screeching to a halt with an ungodly sound and M4 firing a cannon she had pulled from somewhere overhead and decimating the KCCO.
Those that survive the initial blast immediately start to retreat, letting several dolls hop off of the single train engine that must have been disconnected from one of the other KCCO trains. Several of them grab me, and 15 slides in to scoop up Sop, then sprints back to the train engine.
Team 404 comes out from an alley a few moments later, and under cover of the train's artillery used almost as direct fire, they manage to scramble onto the train, getting us all moving back toward the main train that we had commandeered.
I blink as the video feed suddenly cuts and I'm back in the medical bay.
"Holy shit."
P90 lies down next to me on the bed, her inherent weightlessness at odds with how her apparent form distorts the bed. "Yeah, looks like it was quite an operation just to get you back."
My hands come up and rub my head, which feels like I had just sweated a bucket and been hit a few times, judging by the massive headache. "I'll have to thank everyone."
"Yes… Ah, the headache is because I was transmitting that video directly into your head for an hour straight."
"...Right, there's a speedup in Level 2." I groan. "Though, there's one thing I really don't understand."
"Hit me."
"How did the Nyto jamming restart during that? They're all… dead, or absorbed."
"Oh!" She grins easily. "Dandelion did that. So, M4 and company had disabled the train following the one we took, right? Well, they came back, stole the engine that was still working, and then we all came back to get you. Good thing she was there too, or we would have had so much trouble with the KCCO getting in and out of the city's walls again."
"I see." I slump back in my bed and stare at the ceiling. "I owe… I owe them all so much."
"You do." P90 says. "But now that you're alive and able, you can actually spend the time to pay them back properly." She sits up and stares down at me. "Just in case you didn't get it, they all stayed behind to get you out. It's your fault that all that happened."
"I get it, trust me." I close my eyes as I feel my brain winding down to sleep. "I'll have to… make it up to them… tomorrow."
And with that, I'm out for the night.
Author's Note 2:
Wow. 2 years since I posted chapter 1.
I have sacrificed so much of my life to this story, and GFL as a whole. Crazy.
Also, I had some Echelon 11 morale patches made up a while back. Join the discord and I'll send you some.
Beta: Invite code is discord . gg / 4pTJbbSKR5