(18:06)
As the Commander and Sub-Director spoke on how to react to Scarecrow's final words, Garand sat and stared at the live feed coming from G36's stream.
Echelon 2 had already been surrounded, forced to dig into the central depot building while the returning bandits began to retake their contested territory. Their new foes had already begun firing potshots at their position, and it was clearly going to escalate even further.
Beyond that, Skorpion still hadn't been resuscitated. Her systems were locked in a forced hibernation state, and PPK still couldn't reverse whatever damage had been done by Scarecrow's 'enhanced interrogation methods.' Moving her wasn't an option, that might mean she wouldn't wake up at all.
Hsu looked over his shoulder, observing how distraught his assistant was, before turning back to Helian.
"Thompson's team is already headed out to find this special doll of yours." He informed, to which Helian nodded in response.
"This is priority one, Major." The Executive Officer insisted. "The information these dolls carry could save untold amounts of human life."
"From what, though?" Hsu questioned, his feet shuffling in place. "Ma'am, I'm operating in the dark right now. I don't know who I'm fighting, why I'm fighting them, or how big of a problem this is."
His superior scowled, stroking her chin as she became lost in thought.
"Griffin is under strict orders from the Soviet Ministry of the Interior to keep our engagements with Sangvis Ferri as clandestine as possible." Helian explained. "We were hoping to keep this compartmentalized. But with how Sangvis has already begun to breach this sector…"
The Commander sighed, rubbing one of his temples as he felt the beginning of a migraine begin to come over him. The Soviets were notoriously tight lipped about everything, and that was before the War. Now-a-days almost no information left the country without the Government knowing about it, censoring it, and putting a nice spin on things to save face.
Still, Helian weighed the options in her mind.
"...Officially, you and your staff will be briefed on the situation in the coming days." She decided, before turning to her left and pointing at something or someone. A doll in red and white could be seen striding behind her, with the hologram shimmering for a moment before she continued to speak.
"Your communications are secure, right?" She asked.
"Garand?" Hsu asked, to which the mechanic began to check their systems.
"Encryption's up. If you want, I can give us five minutes of complete alone time…" The doll hinted, smiling mischievously.
"Do it. Delete the logs when we're finished." Hsu ordered, letting the doll work her magic. After a few moments, she gave the man a thumbs up. He then looked back to his superior, allowing her to speak her mind.
Helian took a deep breath, then began to explain.
"...Four years ago, Soviet State Security and Sangvis Ferri carried out a joint exercise called 'Operation Butterfly.' It was one of Griffin's first contracts after the company was founded." She said carefully, her hologram pacing across the room. "Simple tactical maneuvers. Wargames. Comparing the ability between our dolls and those of Sangvis."
"Sounds normal. Defense companies test new toys all the time." Hsu observed.
"So you'd think. But something happened." Helian muttered, shaking her head before returning to normal volume. "Out of nowhere, the Sangvis dolls went rogue. They opened fire on everyone in the facility. Griffin or Soviet. Anything that wasn't a Sangvis android was slaughtered to a man. All the data was wiped, not a single trace of what occurred. Each team we sent in to investigate afterwards met the same fate."
Hsu stood there, dumbstruck. He'd expected to be told that Sangvis had been supporting some kind of seperatist group. Or that one of their factories had been hijacked. Not that the company had effectively turned into Skynet.
"How have the Soviets managed to cover all of this up?" He asked, incredulously.
"They claimed the area was swept over by a surge of collapse radiation. The Army evacuated the region, then cordoned it off." Helian said, waving a dismissive hand. "No one asked questions. People are too afraid of getting sick."
She stopped in her motions, pensive about the whole affair. "...I didn't join Griffin until a year later. Even then, even now, we still don't understand why Sangvis became hostile."
As the Scotswoman ended her explanation of the series of events that brought them to this point, she took note to watch what this new Commander's reaction would be. Most members of the company were unaware of the Sangvis situation. Only personnel who were assigned to containment were fully briefed. Their other field leaders were totally unaware, dealing with the problems of their own sectors.
Hsu's brain had immediately gone into overdrive. Mobs of roving, murderous robots were already a major problem. But his concern wasn't that, it was focused on the other people in the sector.
Well over a hundred-thousand settlers lived in scattered towns all over Sector Nine. They had armed guards and policemen present, but they couldn't even hold back the bandits. Military grade androids would massacre the lot of them.
"...You know what I'm going to say, right?" He told Helian, making the woman huff.
"An echelon from Headquarters is flying here as we speak." The Sub-Director informed. "Each of them are grade-five tactical dolls. After assisting you with finding Em-Four, they'll be under your command permanently."
"You're trusting me with androids this valuable?"
Helian nodded, gesturing back towards the command center. "You've done exceedingly well with limited resources. I'd be a fool to not invest more capital into your operations, Major."
The Commander didn't know how to respond to that. It was the first genuine compliment he'd gotten since the start of his tenure here. From what he was able to piece together, Helian didn't seem like the kind of person to praise thoughtlessly.
"Secure Em-Four. I'll be traveling to your base once this is all over to find out what she knows." The officer informed. A revelation that made Hsu shift uncomfortably, having the harsh woman physically present in his domain.
Her hologram flicked out of the room before he could respond.
Hsu sighed, looking over to see the GPS tracker for Santiago's helicopter. The Chief Aviator was already well on her way to where this 'wonder doll' was supposedly hiding. Thompson's team was aboard, short one riflewoman. He'd given them a rough briefing of what they should be prepared for, but not much else.
It was going to be a quick recovery. Find M4A1, grab her before Sangvis arrived, and get out. Anything else would almost certainly end in disaster.
"Um… Commander?" Garand chimed, standing up from her chair. The man looked at her with some annoyance, expecting even more bad news. "Thirty Six is trying to hail you."
Assuming the worst, Hsu moved to his console and tuned the frequency to G36's personal comm. As the audio connection was re-established, some traffic came through before he heard the sound of solemn silence.
"Reporting, Kommandant. We may finally have found out how to rouse Skorpion." The maid told him. "Papasha is going to try and scout her digimind, 'wake her up' in a way."
"Aren't you the one with the Electronic Warfare module?" Hsu recalled.
"...Skorpion was her leader. They are… good friends." G36 lamented, tone revealing some conflicting emotion over this path. "She insisted on being the one. I cannot deny her this."
Hsu sighed, cursing the sentimentality. Even if their emotions were simulated, these androids seemed to act on them with as much intensity as normal people.
"Alright. And what about the bandits?" He inquired.
"They think we're responsible for killing their friends. I can hear them hurling insults at us, along with hand grenades." She commented dryly, her sense of humor still intact after all they'd been through today. "They've already surrounded the building. I've had the others take up positions."
"How many of them have you taken down so far?"
"None." She said, Hsu raising a brow in confusion. "Remember that we are still civilian dolls, Kommandant. Harming humans goes against our central programming, even if they are attempting to terminate us."
"I've seen Thompson's team frag these thugs without batting an eyelash." Hsu recalled skeptically.
"Because you were in harm's way." Garand pointed out from the sidelines. "The rest of us only shot because you gave us a direct order. We can't hurt people otherwise."
Hsu's face soured further, once again being reminded that he was working with second rate tools. Firearms or not, all of these girls were still jury rigged combat androids. Even the ones who had seen military use were repurposed, modified so from their original specifications. It wasn't just their weaponry that was behind the curve, they were as well.
"Thirty Six, your orders are to evacuate Skorpion to Sector Headquarters. The echelon will hold until exfiltration is available." Hsu said carefully, looking to Garand out of the corner of his eye. "Failure is not an option. Do you understand?"
"Commander-" G36 began to speak.
"Do. You. Understand?" The old soldier affirmed harshly, not having any of these excuses.
"...It will be done, Sir." The maid ensured, before cutting off the communications channel. Hsu spun around, directing his gaze back at his erstwhile adjutant. Garand shuffled uncomfortably in her chair, pulling her brown coat tighter over her shoulders.
"It looks really bad down there, Chief. With Ninety-Seven scrapped, Fourty-Four damaged and Papasha focused on repairs, they'll only have three guns." The analytical doll said, bringing up the damage report for the Commander to see for himself. M1897's portrait had faded to black, and indicators showed that StG44's mobility was beginning to deteriorate.
"If we redirect Thompson now-" The mechanic began to suggest.
"Not happening." Hsu said, shutting Garand's request down immediately. "You heard what Helian said, we can't risk losing this other doll."
"What about the team flying in from Kiev?" Garand desperately asked.
"They don't have our encryption, and hailing them over an open channel will give our movements away to Sangvis." Hsu deducted. He didn't expect to get any word from this new force until they arrived at his base in person, and he wasn't going to risk an intelligence leak.
The Commander stood up, walking over to Garand and towering over the blonde's form. She deflated into her chair, despair taking hold of her functions.
"Engineering has backups of their digiminds saved." Hsu reminded, trying to comfort his impromptu advisor as she seemed ready to slip into a depression.
Unfortunately, his words seemed to have the opposite effect. Garand visibly cringed, making Hsu once again quite confused.
"...The only dolls who've had their backups done recently are me, Fourty-Four, and Papashaw." Garand finally informed, unable to look the man in the eye. "And that's only because Khan had to get us new bodies. The others haven't uploaded their neural clouds since the last maintenance period."
Hsu took pause at this news, disappointed but not surprised. Regular maintenance was expensive, after all. And with how little action the dolls saw, there was little point to putting them through the procedure regularly. But he'd seen the logs. The last maintenance period was in March, well before he arrived. Three months of memories, gone in an instant.
M1897 wasn't even going to remember who he was. Nor would G36, if she met the same fate.
The Commander shook his head, digging out his radio and turning the dial. As Garand remained in a defeated slump, he began to transmit a message to Kalina. The two went back and forth for a moment, but eventually he shut the device off.
He then gave Garand's chair a kick, making the melancholic doll stare up at him.
"Get to the armory. Grab your gear and a demolitions kit, meet me at the helipad." He ordered. Garand stared up at the man, not sure if she was really hearing what he just said. Hsu merely nodded his head at the door, visibly annoyed.
She didn't waste anymore time, sprinting down the halls faster than she had ever ran before.
(18:21)
"Almost there, ladies! Everyone ready?"
Santiago looked back into the transport canopy of her Blackhawk, the four androids preparing themselves for the coming drop. BAR and M14 sat at opposite edges, rifles leaning out and scanning for anything of note. Springfield was combing over her recovery equipment, having brought a repair kit in case their objective was critically damaged.
Thompson, meanwhile, spoke to a projection of Hsu that was standing in the center of the helicopter's blood tray.
"The Dontesk ruins've been abandoned since the end of the War." The Commander relayed, giving the team leader what little of a briefing he could offer. "It's a ghost-city. The Soviets abandoned the reconstruction effort before it even started. Hotbed for Stalkers, though. They poach pre-war tech and sell it on the market."
"You thinkin' they'll give us trouble?" Thompson asked, itching to finally get into a scrape.
Hsu merely shook his head. "Doubt it. But Sangvis has a head-start, so expect resistance. It'll be awhile before your back-up arrives as well. Focus on the objective, don't get kill-crazy."
"Psh." Thompson dismissed, giving the man a crooked grin. "Don't even bother with the cavalry, Chief. We'll be home with this prima-donna chick by dinner."
Hsu looked unimpressed, turning around to look into the cockpit fully. "Santiago. You're acting Command, Kalina'll be giving you support from here."
The pilot extended her hand, shooting the man a thumbs-up to show his message had been read loud and clear. Meanwhile, BAR turned her head away from the outside to look at the man in confusion. "Kalina? What about Garand?"
"Garand and I are going on sortie." The Commander said, his words drawing Springfield and M14's attention now as well. "Thirty-Six's team is taking casualties, they need an exfiltration."
"So you're going?" Thompson questioned, leaning forwards. "You got a death wish or some shit?"
The Commander shrugged his shoulders nonchalantly, choosing to not give the Captain the answer she wanted. BAR sighed, shaking her head as she returned to her overwatch. Thompson grit her teeth, but then rolled her eyes and leaned back in her seat.
"Fine, fine. Just don't get yourself killed over that Sauerkraut." The submachine gunner requested.
"Don't die, please!" M14 also said from her post.
"We could divert and assist you, Sir." Springfield offered the man, taking the same train of thought as her junior sharpshooter had before.
"You have your mission." Hsu said quickly, shutting the idea down just as fast as he had before. "Complete it. There's a lot riding on this one."
Thompson chuckled evilly, a manic grin spreading over her face. "So we're finally in the big leagues then. About fuckin' time."
Hsu grunted, giving the team one last look before his projection flickered away. Each of the four girls returned to their previous duties, though Thompson's mood had gotten exponentially better. If the Commander was leaving her in charge of the echelon on an important mission, that meant she'd gained his approval. Which also meant that her position was now completely, totally secure.
Maybe Springfield was right. Soldiering was better than being a normal civilian doll. Though the stuff she'd gotten up to after the war was anything but civil. But it wasn't like anyone here knew about that.
As the Captain bathed in victory, M14 looked over the destroyed high-rise buildings that they were now soaring over. Cracked concrete and rusted steel beams. Various signs hanging limply over stores, surrounded by broken windows and overgrown plant beds.
The city had seen quite a fair share of hell. In the last year of the war, a Turkish force had punched through the Black Sea and carved their way through eastern Ukraine. The bombardment they'd thrown was merciless, rockets and barrel bombs battering it into a bloody pulp. Everyone who'd ever lived here was either dead or long gone.
Which is why M14 grew confused when she saw a lense-flare come from a far-off rooftop.
Without warning, three beams of purple light cut through the air. The twintailed doll ducked for cover, but the shots went wide. She hadn't been the intended target.
That had been the rear rotors of the aircraft.
As the sound of the rear engine died, the entire helicopter began to lurch wildly to the left as the rotor's torque whipped the whole vehicle to the side. Springfield grabbed hold of M14, strapping her down into a chair while BAR did the same for herself.
Thompson stumbled into the cockpit, strapping herself into the co-pilot seat and beginning to check the instruments. Alarms rang through the canopy, an orange light flaring.
"How bad?!" She asked Santiago, the only human on the craft trying to wrestle control back over her damaged bird.
"Could be worse!" Santiago answered honestly, planting a foot to lock her flight-stick in place. "Ever been in a helicopter crash before?"
"Yeah! It sucked dick!" Thompson quickly pointed out. She'd been in several helicopter incidents in the past, and had already resigned herself to this being yet another one for the list.
Santiago laughed at the declaration, flicking a series of switches to try and level them out during their inevitable descent. "Well you've done that plenty of times, right?"
"Fuck you too, Ines!" Thompson said, earning a roar of laughter from the pilot as the helicopter began to stabilize itself somewhat. Tentatively, the aviator managed to coax her down at a more steady rate, aiming the craft for the center of the road below them.
As they came down, the top rotors of the Blackhawk dug into the concrete of the buildings that flanked it. Sparks flew, until finally the top blades snapped apart and the rest of the helicopter's body ungracefully flopped onto the asphalt with a deafening thump.
After a few moments, realizing she wasn't dead, Thompson groaned as her operating system recovered from the shock. Her H.U.D flickered back online, and she regained control of her motor functions.
Santiago wasn't any better. The pilot looked to her arm, rolling it up to reveal a massive bruise on the elbow. Still, the pilot crossed herself, muttering a prayer in Portoguese before turning to check on her passengers.
"Everyone OK? If you're not dead, say you're OK!" She called out.
A chorus of voices all returned the request, letting Santiago finally relax as she unstrapped herself and physically melted into the cushions of her chair.
"This is why I still go to church." She said, relief sinking into her bones. Thompson chuckled at the mention, before removing herself from the cockpit and walking back into the transport cabin.
BAR looked scruffed to hell and back, but any damage she suffered seemed cosmetic at worst. The same went for Springfield, having already pulled herself out of her seat and gone to check the condition of the equipment they had brought along.
"Anythin' broken?" Thompson asked their temporary technician, walking over and leaning against the frame of their ruined transport.
Springfield shook her head, beginning to slip pieces back into their slots. "The diagnostics showed no damage. We're lucky, I doubt I could have fixed these if they were seriously damaged."
"I thought you knew how to work this gizmo." Thompson asked, removing her submachine gun from it's rack and inspecting the weapon. Functional, but the wooden stock now had a large crack going towards the receiver.
"There's a reason why Assad has Garand help him in the engineering bay, not I." Springfield pointed out, her normally jovial tone holding a bit of an annoyed edge in their words. Something that Thompson caught, and smiled.
"Someone's jealous." She observed, wearing a shit-eating grin as the marksman looked up to glare death at her.
Pleased enough with the report, she looked out to the perimeter to see M14 already set up further down the road. The twin tailed T-Doll was set up on top of a rust-covered trash bin, her rifle aimed downrange as she kept watch for any movement.
Thompson kicked herself off the helicopter frame, putting two fingers in her mouth and whistling sharply. M14's head shot up like a sheepdog, turning around to see her leader waving for her to return. Without hesitation, she hopped off her post and began to jog her way back to the crash site.
Another shot rings out, purple trail streaming on from above and piercing through M14's form.
The doll fell to the ground like a bag of bricks, screaming out in pain. As Thompson prepared to run out, a volley of fire rained down upon her as she's forced to dive back into the Blackhawk's smoking carcass for cover. Springfield and BAR both recoiled back inside as well, making themselves small to avoid catching the fire.
Pinned in place by the enemy assault, Thompson could only watch in frustration as M14 remained still on the ground. Her IFF was still active, which likely meant she was simply playing dead to avoid taking even more damage. But the fact of the matter remained; she was out there with no cover.
At this point, Santiago stumbled out from the cockpit. The pilot now had her MP5k in hand, slapping the bolt closed before taking cover behind BAR. She then dug into the munitions box aboard, removing a few hand grenades and tossing them in all directions around the aircraft.
"Thompson, grab her! You two, we're making a run for the shop!" She ordered. The gangster was about to fire back a dismissal, before Hsu's final directive came back to her mind. Santiago was the one who was really in charge.
With that, the echelon leader darted out before the smoke filled out the area. Her deflector shield came online as she slid in front of M14's still form, body-blocking the oncoming fire before grabbing her downed friend and bridal-carrying her back.
Once they all regrouped, and white plumes blinded rose to blind their unwanted watchers, all of them made a break for the building.
Once they went inside, BAR busted through the back door and yelled for them to follow. The four kept running and running, staying within the buildings and out of view as they traversed the concrete jungle.
M14 stirred in Thompson's arms, hoping the others were better off than she was.
(18:39)
As Hsu pulled his utility gloves over his hands, he actively wondered what the hell he was thinking. Going out on a patrol was one thing. He could avoid combat easily, and the point was to get the lay of the land. Understand his new posting, get his feet wet. Try and make sure he wasn't stumbling in the dark.
This? This was face-planting into a rake that had been lying on the ground.
It had been years since he'd been in a real shootout. Even his aim engaging the bandits before was sloppy. Now he was rushing headlong back into it. Doing the one thing he'd promised himself he'd never do again. He was supposed to be a civilian now, living a peaceful life. That was the whole point of even signing on with Griffin, it wasn't supposed to be this complicated.
And yet here he was, doing it willingly. Like a complete moron. Going off to get himself murdered in the ass end of Eastern Europe.
But he had to go. He'd never been able to walk away from a fight, it was his problem. He could never leave well enough alone. It was why he had the scar on his face, it was why he'd never been promoted past Major in the Army, it was probably why he'd really signed on for this job. Because despite himself, he had to stick his nose into other people's problems.
The man sighed, stepping into the Blackhawk and sitting down. He let his C8A3 rest between his legs, waiting for his back up to arrive.
Eventually, Garand did. However, she had a plus-one.
Along with the blonde, Khan was marching along. The engineer wasn't in his jumpsuit anymore, the man was in a set of Griffin combat fatigues. A maroon beret topped the Brit's head, along with a filled out combat rig and an L85A3 rifle.
Hsu looked at them both, silently demanding an explanation. Garand laughed nervously, going to sit down next to the Commander.
"He wouldn't take no for an answer." Garand said, deflecting the responsibility to Khan. He laughed, wearing his usual smile as he sat across from his superior.
"I said, I would only take a 'no' from Commander Hsu." He clarified, gazing at the man in question expectantly. Hsu grunted, then gave the frame of the helicopter two hits with his fist.
"Kravchenko! Get us going!" The Commander ordered, Khan and Garand giving each other a thumbs up as the rotors on the transport helicopter began to spin.
As they pulled through the air, things were mostly silent. Garand seemed to focus on the repair kit in her hands, while Khan rested back and relaxed in his seating arrangements. Hsu explained the plan, namely centered around the brick of SEMTEX she'd brought along.
They were going to dismount half a kilometer south from the depot, with the helicopter remaining in place while the three of them moved in on foot. Once the depot was in sight, he'd have Kalina re-establish communications with G36's team. From there, they'd make their way into the rear of the compound and blow a new doorway for the dolls to escape through.
Then they would all make a break for the helicopter and leave before the bandits realized what was going on. Infiltration and misdirection.
"Plans like this make me feel like I'm in the Paras again. At least I won't be tugging around a squad of fresh Troopers this time." Khan observed, scratching his trimmed beard while holding onto the rails of his rifle. It was supposed to be a lighthearted quip, but the Commander leveled a discerning glare at the man.
"Something the matter, Sir...?" The engineer questioned, caught off guard by the sudden hostility.
"...You said you were with the Twenty-Third in the war, right?" Hsu interrogated.
"I did." Khan replied, narrowing his own view. Garand poked her head out, noticing a chill that began to emanate from the Commander's side of the helicopter . "Don't tell me you've got a problem with Airborne, now!"
Hsu remained deadpanned, not biting at the man's attempt to make a joke out of the situation. "Engineers are called 'Sappers'. Not 'Troopers'."
The engineer cocked a brow, before realizing his error. The Englishman then began to frown, letting go of his weapon and sitting up to his full height. He squared himself away, as if he was preparing to dive into a fistfight.
"You'd be right, Sir. Suppose I misspoke." Khan admitted, though still sitting at the ready.
The two old soldiers kept glaring death at one another, with Garand becoming more and more concerned at the scene. The doll had no idea what was wrong, or why both of them had suddenly become so hostile with one another.
"Uh… guys?" She probed, hoping to draw either of their attention. "Is this really the time? We're sorta flying into a gunfight."
The Commander hummed, dropping the issue as he sat back and closed his eyes. As Garand and Khan began to chat amongst themselves, he pulled his boonie hat down over his eyes and began to drift away with the white noise from the rotors.
It'd be a while before they arrived, regardless.
(19:02)
PPsH had never gone into another doll's digimind before.
The cyberscape was like nothing she had ever experienced. Green electronic veins pulsating across blue walls. She walked through a vast, empty plain of data and pixels. The whole environment seemed utterly alien to the world outside. She could feel this pull taking her in certain directions. Leading her through different gateways and portals, going deeper and deeper into her old friend's neural cloud. She'd known Skorpion long before she came here. That knowledge helped to navigate her mind, knowing how her former leader thought for the most part
Regardless, the small girl was scared beyond her wits through all of this, but she felt compelled all the same.
When G36 had returned without M1897, it had been a stunning punch to her senses. Even though PPsH had been with Griffin for well over a year now. Even though she herself had been killed in action before. Hearing it happen to someone else never got any easier. Especially when that someone was a friend.
And to think it had happened to a higher value doll than she.
It was hard, being a lower quality android in the company of more robust peers. Being only a grade-two doll often meant that she fell short of much of the other employees in Griffin. Be it in speed, strength, technical ability, intelligence. Androids at her level tended to lack any specialized use, which made them rather expendable.
It was a blessing and a curse, being able to be rebuilt so easily.
But PPsH carried that mantra with pride. She could fall where others couldn't afford too. Buying replacement parts for a model like G36 could cost thousands, for her it was a fraction of the price. And at the end of the day, being easier to maintain was a pretty good benefit for being of lower quality.
She could help people in her own special way. Just as she was doing now.
Though her new team leader was better outfitted to handle work like this, she was the only one on the team who had a fundamental understanding of who Skorpion was. Her likes and dislikes, how her train of thought tended to run. She could find the path of least resistance where PPK couldn't, and where it could take G36 time to track.
Time they very clearly didn't have, with the local ruffians bearing down on them in force.
As she finally passed through one last gate, the world around PPsH began to morph. Suddenly she was standing in a regal bedroom. Ritzy, plastered from wall to wall in luxuries that were far beyond the Russian's paycheck. Which meant she was probably in the right place, given Skorpion's 'noble' airs.
...Speaking of, the doll in question was laying against the bed frame, snoring away in her combat gear. PPsH came forward, crouching in front of the sleeping Czech.
The Russian rolled her eyes, having dealt with this plenty of times before. Skorpion was a heavy sleeper, and had a tendency to need… 'motivation' for her reboot to cycle. An outside jolt, so to speak.
So without any fanfare, she lifted a hand, clenched it into a fist, and decked her old boss straight across the nose.
In a split second, PPsH was ripped out from the cyberscape and back onto the concrete floor she had been sitting on next to Skorpion's prone body. Skorpion herself shot up straight, frantically looking around.
"I can't believe that still works." PPsH said, grabbing her sub-machine gun as she heard the gunfire rage from the other room
"Ugh…" Skorpion moaned, grabbing her head as she felt the after-effects of the headache wash over her. "...Papasha? You're alive? Am I dreaming?"
PPsH chuckled happily, offering the still confused android a hand. "Don't be silly, can we even dream?"
Skorpion took the hand, hoisting herself back onto her feet. Without warning PPsH wrapped her arms around her old companion, tightly wrapping her in an embrace. "Don't worry, everything's fine now."
Skorpion was about to return the embrace when, sadly, their reunion was interrupted by someone being thrown across the outside hallway. Remembering that they were in a warzone, both androids ran outside to be greeted by a grizzly sight. Several bodies thrown all over the place, riddled with gunshot wounds and blade injuries.
Footsteps came from the right, and they soon saw a very bloodied PPK. One hand still carried her namesake, the other was playing with her now well used butterfly knife.
"Ah, so she finally wakes~." PPK mused, pacing past the two and motioning for them to follow. "Wonderful. Let's go tell the others, ja?"
PPsH and Skorpion shared a fearful look, but followed without protest.
It didn't take the trio long to arrive at the front area where G36 and StG44 were still making their stand. Both Germans looked worse for wear, the former sporting several new bullet holes that had gone straight through the torso and the latter having their left arm stripped to its robotic skeleton. Spent casings coated the floor, all across each window that the rifle-wielders had been using as firing ports.
"Ammo check!" G36 called.
"Three magazines!" StG answered, looking behind to see their new arrivals. "Oh thank heaven…"
"S-Sturmgewehr?" Skorpion asked, even more surprised. "How did… I saw you die! How are you here!?"
"I… got better?" StG tried to explain, not sure if she could really tell the story of how she got here. Or why she was in such a disgusting state. First the oil, now her own body was starting to come apart at the seams.
Seeing the return of her fourth member, G36 sighed with relief and scanned outside once again. The surrounding area of the building was riddled with fresh bullet holes, the corpses of dozens of bandits strewn about in a haphazard motion. They'd been lucky so far, they'd come on piecemeal and in a disorganized fashion. But judging from how PPK looked, they were starting to look for new ways inside.
"Papasha, take Fourty-Four's place." G36 commanded, looking at the polymer magazine of her rifle to see she still had about twenty rounds left. The two dolls switched, PPsH-41 resting her submachine gun on the windowsill as she steeled herself for what was soon to come.
StG44 walked back, going in front of Skorpion and drawing none other than a vz. 61 from under her coat. The shorter blonde balked at the gift, but StG smiled despite having to hold a germ-covered gun she'd looted from the ground.
"I'm glad you're alright. Sorry to ask, but…" She said, offering the machine pistol and some magazines. Skorpion took it without hesitation, grinning from ear to ear as she flicked the safety off.
"Are you kidding? These jerks had me locked up here for days! One of them even used me as a table!" Skorpion proclaimed, extending the stock and jumping up and down. "Come on, lemmie at'em! I gotta vent some steam!"
"Take her to the east wing, make sure we don't have anyone else sneaking in." G36 countermanded, kicking the wind out from under Skorpion's sails. The Czech began to verbally protest, but was dragged away by the cape as her elder complied with the directive.
Her jeers faded away as they went back into the hallways of the building, while PPK hummed as she wiped her knife clean.
"I take it they breached the western wing." G36 observed, seeing as all the white lace that made op PPK's outfit was now a stark crimson.
"Oh, yes. But do not fret, I showed them the error of their ways." PPK promised with evil glee, showing off her sharpened claws that tore through her black glove. "I've been waiting for a chance to test these out~."
"Please stop, you're scaring Papasha." G36 requested, the Russian doll squeaking as she was mentioned by name. PPK giggled, but relented with her usual antics. Instead, the doll simply went behind a table, sitting down behind it and re-activating her sensor equipment.
As the data appeared on G36's HUD, the android noticed another set of dots advancing from her twelve o'clock. The German pointed forwards, directing PPsH's focus down-range.
Where-ever their ride out of here was, she hoped it would come before they ran out of rounds.
A/N: Almost at 50 follows and this fic's only been up a few months. I'm smiling quite a bit.
Thanks for reading, everyone. All the traffic, favs, follows and reviews are much appreciated.
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