(30/5/2056 | 17:06)
The saddest part about this was that it wasn't the first time Hsu had been blown up.
It was all familiar to him. The ringing of his ears, his vision turning into a muddled soup of colors and blur, along with the panicked screaming of everyone who hadn't been caught in the blast wave. With enough exposure, even the most extreme things can feel boring and mundane.
Not to say he enjoyed the experience. In fact, he could safely say that his whole day had just been ruined.
"Pull him out. Pull him OUT!" BAR commanded as she and Springfield took hold of the Commander's semi-conscious form. The LMG toting echelon leader sent her foot flying against the door, smashing it open for them to maneuver him out.
Hsu groaned in pain and confusion as he was dragged from the vehicle, then set up against the MRAP's tire. He looked up to see Springfield's face creased in concern, already trying to pull him from the brink of passing out completely.
"Commander? Commander, can you hear me?" The doll asked him, keeping his head still as he remained in a daze. BAR and Thompson scrambled about, forming a protective circle around the wounded man with their weapons raised.
"Garand, Fourteen, sound off!" BAR yelled over her shoulder, scanning her vector with a newfound focus.
"I'm good!" Garand announced.
"MY HAIR!" M14 shrieked, inconsolable from the assault on her good looks. "I JUST DID IT THIS MORNING! AUGH!"
"Yeah, she's fine." Thompson added with a derisive snicker, before looking to Springfield and the Commander. "How's the dead meat? We gonna need a replacement this soon?"
Springfield was about to retort, when Hsu groaned and began to pull himself up from against the tire. She tried to help him, but he refused with a slow shake of his head, going to lean inside the vehicle and remove his rifle from within. He did a quick clear of the weapon, ejecting the round from the chamber and readjusting his boonie.
Satisfied with the return of his motor skills, Springfield brought her weapon up and took watch in the direction the vehicle was facing.
"I thought the military swept this area of mines." She recalled, this area having been marked safe for civilian rehabilitation.
"They did. I was there!" Garand yelled back, moving to stand on top of the vehicle's flatbed to check for any topside damage. The beret wearing blonde took a knee, running her hand across the unblemished steel. "This whole region should be clear of U-X-Ohs. We had a truck use this road for a supply run this morning!"
"Maybe they got lucky?" M14 offered, staying at the back of the truck.
Hsu grimaced, grabbing his head as the world kept spinning in spite of him. If anything, he'd gotten lucky. His head could've easily cracked open from a wreck like that, probably would have if it wasn't for his seat-belt. A headache was the best case-scenario from a jump like that.
But he could still think straight, and he didn't believe that getting blown up was ever just 'bad luck.'
"Any of you know much about cars?" He asked the group, to which Garand's head popped over the roof's edge to meet his.
"I used to be a mechanic, actually." Garand informed him with a smirk. "Never fixed an armored one, though."
"Not asking you to fix it." Hsu clarified, before pointing down at the ground. "Go under, tell me what you see. In detail. "
"You're gonna regret asking her for 'detail.'" Thompson quipped, earning another pout from Garand. She grinned at her friend, then returned to her guard.
In spite of that, Garand took to her task. She popped down and slid herself under the vehicle. Both of her eyes flickered as she began to analyze the blast-pattern left behind from the detonation, tracing out the residue and determining the area of effect's central point.
Holes were peppered across the underbelly, penetrating the steel in a distinct and tight cone. Black oil could be seen leaking, dribbling along until it pooled at the base of the front tires near the engine. Judging from the smell, the gas-line had also been nicked, but that wasn't seeping outside just yet.
She grabbed the opposite edge, then pulled herself so she slid next to the Commander's feet. "Lot of shrapnel, but it's controlled. I didn't see any perforations on the roof, so I don't think it penetrated too far."
"Point was to disable, not to destroy." Hsu deducted, going on a knee and offering the girl a hand up out of the dirt. "Were the holes all about the same shape?"
Garand shook her head, taking her rifle back in hand and patting her coat clean. "They all looked different."
"IED, then. Shaped charge and some nails." Hsu deducted, now also noticing the puddle of black liquid starting to seep out the front of the car. The engine was probably unsalvagable, and even if it wasn't, none of them had the tools or the ability to perform repairs.
Hsu then leaned back into the vehicle, going underneath the wheel well and removing the paneling with his knife.
"Keep up the perimeter while I work." He ordered.
Thompson snorted, keeping her scan up. "You gonna hotwire a busted engine?"
"No." Was his only response, plastics rummaging about as his hands dug into the car's electronics. Once he was finished, he popped back out and motioned for the group to follow his lead.
"Uh, where are we going?" M14 asked, confused as they began to walk back in the direction they were initially driving towards.
"Shelter." Hsu informed, recalling the layout from the TACMAP. Before he left, he made a point to study their travel path. The route ran through a few abandoned pre-war settlements. They were slated to be torn down so new housing could be rebuilt in its place, but that wasn't for a few more months.
He rummaged around in his plate-carrier, before removing a handheld plunger and offering it to BAR. The echelon leader looked to the device in confusion, knowing what it was but not why he had it.
"Don't press that until I say so." He ordered, keeping up his moderate pace. "Springfield, send a wire back to the base. Tell them we've lost transport but we haven't taken any losses.."
"Should I call in for a pickup at this 'ruined village?'" She asked, bringing her hand to her ear as she prepared to transmit the information. To which Hsu shook his head.
"We're not going home yet." He clarified. Springfield took a pause, but complied. She fell back to the rear of the formation and activated her communications module.
"You still want to go to that town!?" Thompson said, not believing what she just heard. "It's halfway across this whole sector! It'll take us all day just to get there!"
"Five hours, three minutes and twenty one seconds at our current pace." Garand corrected, cradling her rifle in her arms as she looked towards the Commander. Though not as vocal as Thompson, her expression also didn't seem to agree with this path of action.
"We'll spend the night there when we arrive." Hsu affirmed, not leaving the matter up for debate. Garand and Thompson both shared a look, but neither decided to say anything else.
The group continued to walk on for another five minutes, until the Commander held up a hand and spun around. The girls formed up at his flank, forming a line as they all looked back in the direction of their old vic. A rather fair distance, easily a hundred meters out.
"Bar. Squeeze." Hsu ordered, before locking his rifle back to his chest and covering both of his ears. Catching on to what was about to happen, the whole group took a knee on the ground to shrink their profile.
BAR activated the plunger, and the vehicle erupted in a large fireball. Roof blown clean off, with shards of the hull flying about and blackened smoking bits raining from the sky. Each of the dolls turned down their volume receptors, and even with his headset pressed tighter over his ears Hsu could feel the effects of tinnitus.
Once the show was over, he stood back up and began to walk once more. The rest of the group scrambled behind him, forming a V as they marched down the road.
(19:16)
It had taken them almost two hours to reach the ruined village. Most of the buildings were rather intact, but scarred. Bullet holds and blastmarks painted their sides, shattered windows haunted the streets and decades old tank tracks frozen into the dirt.
Hsu laid down on a stained mattress, his pack acting as a pillow while he read information off his tablet. The dolls were off doing their own thing; searching through the town or holding the perimeter. The sun was beginning to dip down, leaving him in the dusk lighting on his lonesome.
This wasn't how he planned to spend his first day, but he also didn't mind much. Roughing it was something he was used to, almost more than civilian life.
He'd spent two years out of the Army, trying to live something of a normal life. When that failed, he'd ran into the rocky mountains and locked himself in a cabin until one of his old colleagues told him about Griffin.
At first he'd refused. He never liked mercenaries, they cared more about a paycheck than anything else. All the experiences he'd had in China with PMCs had been nothing short of nightmare-ish. Half the time, they caused more damage than the virus.
Hsu didn't want to be a mercenary. He didn't want to be anything anymore. He wanted to be left alone, away from the world and away from all the problems that it faced. For years, he'd done his part. And all it had gotten him was scars and bad memories.
Yet, here he was. In the ass end of the Ukraine holding a rifle. And he had no one to blame but himself.
A knock on the wall pulled his attention, and his vision was filled with the sight of Garand standing in the doorway.
"Um… I'm not interrupting, am I?" The girl asked, something square held in her hands
"You aren't if it's something important." He responded, looking back towards his tablet and flicking through more reports about the area. Namely where the bandits had their highest concentration.
Garand walked further into the room, her rifle slung over her shoulder. In her hands, she held one of the MREs that she'd packed regularly into her kit. The doll observed the man with trepidation, not entirely comfortable with him or his general aura.
"I was uh, wondering if you'd eaten." She said, moving to the bed's side and holding the box in front of her waist. "We have a lot of these war rations around the base. They were made for people more than us, so…"
"So your old programming's still kicking." Hsu said, looking at the box then at the face of the woman holding it. Garand pursed her lips, not responding as the Commander sat up on the bed and motioned for the package. She handed it off, and Hsu opened it to reveal it was a bunch of warmed perogies. Unknown filling, but by the scent he figured it was chicken or turkey.
"What's the other dolls' status?" He asked, taking one of the dumplings and popping it into his mouth. Tasted starchy and dry, but it was food.
"Bar is on the roof of this building, keeping an eye on the road. Springfield and Fourteen and trying to fix the village's electric generator."
"They know how to do that?"
"Fourteen knows. She used to work for a power company. Springfield's just there to make sure she doesn't wander off." Garand explains.
Hsu grunted, tossing another dumpling into his maw and swallowing it near-whole. "And the last one?"
"Thompson's doing a foot-patrol around the town's perimeter. Said she needed to be alone." Garand finished, taking her beret off and holding it in hand. The explosion from earlier had almost made her lose her favorite hat, but thankfully it was just covered in dust like everything else.
"If she wanted to be alone, she could just put herself on standby in a corner." Hsu commented dismissively, not paying any real attention to the doll or it's gestures. Instead he just waved his hand at her, not looking up from his meal. "You can go now."
Garand gaped at him, not expecting to be given such a frigid treatment. At first she felt hurt, but that hurt was quickly supplanted by annoyance at her wounded pride. Even if she was just an automaton, she didn't enjoy being pushed around like a vacuum cleaner.
That was when she remembered something from earlier.
"I still want to use my questions." She told him, a reminder of his offer that knocked Hsu off his guard. "You let BAR and Fourteen ask theirs, even Thompson got one in. I never got a chance."
Hsu huffed. She didn't get a chance because someone blew a hole in their engine, not because he'd stopped her. But that wasn't either of their faults.
The Commander frowned, but nodded. He was a man of his word, even to a robot.
"Do you have a problem with dolls?" She asked, not beating around the bush and getting to the heart of the issue. Hsu laughed, curtly and harshly, but that only seemed to make her become more despondent. "You said I could ask you anything."
"I did, didn't I?" Hsu replied cheekily, but Garand remained firm in her demand for an answer. The Commander grimaced, never having liked being put on the spot like this.
"I don't have a problem with dolls. I have a problem with dolls that think they're people." Hsu clarified, a statement that only seemed to rile Garand up even further. The blonde growled in frustration, leaning down so they were directly face-to-face.
"We don't think we're people." She pointed out. "We're all very comfortable with what we are."
"Really? Then why do you act like us. Dress like us, have our hobbies-" Hsu continued to list, but not before Garand popped in.
"Do you think humans have a monopoly on enjoying themselves?" Garand demanded. "Just because we're made up of wires and cables doesn't mean we-"
"The only reason why you even want to is because we programmed you to." Hsu said, trying to take control of the conversation back. "Everything about you and your friends came out of a factory, designer tailored. From your look, to your voice and your personality. The only reason you have this job is be-"
"We joined Griffin of our own free will. We weren't bought and sold at a swap-meet." Garand told him, dropping the information like a brick on his head. Something that brought her no small amount of joy, seeing the man stumble as he was put into a logical corner. Something that his opposite was able to notice.
"You didn't know that, did you?" Garand observed, pressing her advantage as she leaned further into the Commander's personal space. "You thought we were forced to do this."
Hsu didn't respond. He did think they were forced into this. Bought off the market and then retrofitted into becoming combat units. The idea that these dolls had made a choice of their own accord was alien to him.
"Well, here's a newsflash for ya Chief." Garand said, standing back up straight and folding her arms over her stomach. "We're not Griffon property. All of us are company employees. We get paid a salary. Just like you do. Even if unlike you, I didn't sign on just to sight-see."
"So why did you sign up for this job?" Hsu asked, not truly giving a damn but deciding to humor the girl.
"Because I can count the companies in Europe that don't treat us like sentient toasters on one hand." Garand tells him, as if it was the most obvious thing in the world. In truth, it was. Dolls being treated like the dredges was common practice. "This is the first job I've ever had where I wasn't forced to wear some gaudy uniform. Do you realize how hard it is to find a jumpsuit for my size?"
Hsu answered this by leveling his gaze at the doll's rather ample bosom. It looked like someone had strapped two croquet balls to her chest, then filled in the empty space. Garand reflexively moved to pull her coat tighter over her front, cheeks turning rosy.
"...What do you want me to say. I'm sorry?" Hsu asked, looking back into the blonde's large blue eyes.
"I want you to start treating my cousins and I with some respect." Garand requested.
"Cousins?" Hsu questioned, to which Garand rolled her eyes.
"Springfield, Fourteen and I were all made by the same designer. So we call each other cousins." Garand laid out, as if she was talking to a child. "Bar and Thomspon are the same way. And yeah, we know we're not really related. Doesn't make us feel any different about it."
Hsu mulled this over, thinking back to the vehicle. The dolls had all been rather familiar with one another. It was clear that they had known each other for a long time, longer than just their station here at this base. If anything, he was the outsider of the group.
And he was nothing if not self-aware.
He looked at Garand one last time, before going to his feet pulling his own hat back on. "I'll take it under advisement."
It wasn't the answer she wanted, but it was probably the best she was going to get. She turned to move towards the door, when Bar stepped in with her weapon in hand.
"You're both gonna wanna come up."
(19:27)
"What's their ETA?" Hsu spoke into his headset, Garand and himself now having joined Bar on her little rooftop crow's nest. Both the dolls had their weapons prepared, aimed down the road towards the sound of motors and gunshots.
"A minute, tops!" Thompson answered, the sound of weapons fire accenting her transmission. "They're following me in a truck! Machine gun's set up on the flatbed!"
"Lead them back here. Don't engage." Hsu ordered.
"What!?" Thompson yelled. "Come on, Boss! I could frag these assholes with my eyes closed!"
"That's great. Lead them here." Hsu ordered again, cutting his connection and switching frequency over to the dolls still in the village. "Springfield, are you both ready?"
"On your order, Commander." Springfield answered.
"This is gonna be great!" M14 declared over the comms. "How many are there? Ten? A hundred?"
"Six. Wait for our shots." He ordered, before shutting his headset off entirely. The engines could be heard, rolling closer and closer as a dust-cloud began to form. Meanwhile he removed the magazine loaded in his weapon, checking it's contents and ensuring there wasn't any stoppage.
"So what's the play?" BAR asked, toggling her machine-gun to rapid fire. Garand stayed closer to the edge, keeping observation on the approaching group.
"Disable the engine. Garand, Springfield and Fourteen clear out everyone sitting in the back." Hsu explained, loading the magazine back into his weapon. "Spare who you can."
"Gonna be hard if they're all clumped together." BAR points out, slipping her aviators into the collar of her shirt. She placed the stock of her weapon against her shoulder, rolling her neck.
"Bandits are only interested in loot. A stray wind and they blow over. Or a hail of bullets." Hsu assured.
"Sounds like you're speaking from experience." BAR observed.
"Unfortunately." He replied, not going into further detail. It was then that Garand tapped the roof with the butt of her rifle, signaling that the pursuit was closing in. The trio slipped away from the edge, going on their stomachs and lying in wait.
Thompson was sprinting down the road, her giving away her inhuman nature with how she was able to keep her distance from the pursuing truck. Behind her, the bandits could be heard roaring in Ukrainian as the man on the gun continued to squeeze off bursts in the fleeing doll's direction.
She wasn't happy about this, running away with her tail between her legs. If she wanted too, she could turn around and drop every one of these suckers without even using a percentage of her battery power. Thompson had the want, the gear and the skill.
But she didn't have the orders. Because even though she was an elite doll, they didn't put her in charge.
Load of shit, that was.
As she ran into the village square, Thompson pivoted on a foot and jumped through the door leading into the building that Hsu was waiting on. The truck rolled up in front, and it's occupants all began to hop out par the driver.
Each of them was holding a battered old kalashnikov, easily from the old Soviet Union. Their outfits were motley and unkempt, ranging from camouflage to mud covered overalls. The leader of the group, wearing a peaked Soviet cap and an overcoat, began to bark out orders as Hsu crawled up.
"He's saying he wants her alive for parts." Garand translated, stopping as they all reached the edge. "Also something about Thompson stealing his wallet."
"Sounds like Tommy, alright." BAR mused with a smile, looking to Hsu for the go-ahead.
The Commander nodded, and the three of them stood up.
BAR opened fire first, dumping the magazine of her machine gun into the front of the car. The bandits immediately panicked, breaking apart and scurrying for cover. Hsu put a round in the leader's shoulder, blowing him clean off the flatbed of the truck.
The gunner whipped his weapon around, firing a burst of rounds up towards their roof. The three of them dove back, concrete debris being blown off and peppering them. Below, footsteps could be heard as those who hadn't yet been injured began to storm the building.
Just then, the door to the roof was kicked open and Thompson rushed through. She flashed a grin to the three as they leveled their weapons at her, then ducked to the door's side. More angry yells could be heard as the raiders moved up the stairs, all the while BAR replaced the magazine in her weapon.
As the first man stepped onto the roof, he only had a moment to realize his mistake before Garand fired a round into his chest. But he was followed by friends, friends who whipped around to the source of the shot and wildly returned fire.
Hsu and BAR quickly dove out of the way, but Garand wasn't so lucky. Her head snapped back as a round caught her, wires and metal flying about as she was sent tumbling onto the roof.
As Garand's body crashed into the hood of the truck, Thompson tore out from the corner she was hiding behind. A hail of rounds spewed from her SMG as the two remaining hostels were shredded. A handful punched through, tagging BAR a few times in the arm.
Hsu and BAR stood, going over to the carnage as Thompson's unfortunate targets lay lifeless in a large puddle of their mixed blood. The Commander didn't look at the bodies, in fact he seemed to go out of his way to avoid looking at them as he traversed down the stairs.
BAR was less passive. She marched over, grabbing Thompson by the collar.
"The hell was that!?" The echelon leader yelled, a new bullet hole present in her elbow. Nothing lethal, but it stung like hell. Damage warnings run in her neural cloud like alarm bells.
"Oops." Thompson said, feeding her 'leader' a shit-eating grin while smoke curled up from the muzzle of her weapon. "Sorry, cuz."
Meanwhile, on street-level, Hsu was greeted by the sight of M14 binding the survivors and Springfield pulling one of her juniors into cover. As the Garand's rifle laid on the street, the leader kicked and screamed, trying to resist the detainment. It was fruitless, he couldn't overpower the strength of a doll, but he didn't seem keen on giving in.
"Ebatʹ vas, Suki-roboty!" He screamed, paying no mind to the Commander as he approached them. "YA budu ebatʹ tvoyi durni rota zatknuty! Todi ya vidtyahnu tebe i prodayu na chornomu rynku!"
"Gag him." Was Hsu's only command, M14 soberly nodding in compliance as she un-did the scarf around her neck.
Hsu walked on, going towards Springfield as she was working on Garand's form. As he crouched next to the damaged doll, her head tilted so she could see him with her eyes.
Well, eye.
Half her face had been blown clean off. The artificial skin that acted as a protective layer between her electronics and the outside world was gone. A chunk of the top of her head was missing, red seeping out across what remained of her face.
"Com...mander…?" She said, dazed and confused as her digimind barely continued to function after taking so much damage.
"Don't talk. Conserve your energy." Springfield said, tearing the sleeve off of her coat and wrapping it around the blonde's head. She looked to her right, her expression pained and distraught. "She needs to go to the repair bay. Now."
"I… I can fight." Garand assured, trying to stand back up, only to be pushed back down by Springfield.
"You are resting." Springfield ordered, hand keeping her firmly pinned in place by the older doll. Springfield looked to Hsu again, her eyes pleading for him to back her up.
Hsu looked on, freezing up at the sight of more red. With the damage now covered by Springfield's field-dressing, the scene took an uncanny new setting. It looked like real blood, even if the smell was off. It was too greasy, too light. No iron in the scent.
But everything else was too real. Everything looked exactly like the War.
"I can fight. I can fight. " Garand kept insisting, trying again to stand up. Except this time, Hsu's hand went out and grabbed her. He didn't push, but he held her still, averting his gaze.
"...We're leaving." He ordered, releasing his grip and going to his feet again. "Get her stable and get us a bird back to base."
Springfield sighed in relief, nodding in compliance as she eased Garand back against the wall. Hsu looked back up to the roof, new shouting overtaking the area as Thompson and BAR began to enter their own verbal sparring match. M14 kept going person to person, tying up their new prisoners and making sure they wouldn't die anytime soon.
Hell of a first day, this was.
