(07/10/2056 | 19:30)
Be it Toronto, London, Moscow or Kyiv, Hsu despised airports.
The noise, the crowds, the smells, the absolute irritation of a hundred people chattering on and on about the most banal topics never ceased to tick him off. It was a constant assault on all of his senses, and that was before he even got on a plane so he could spend eight hours having his eardrums get sucked into his head. Next to a hospital, airports were the last places he ever wanted to be.
Yet here he was, stuck in the city's international airport, sitting at a café table in an unassuming brown jacket and blue polo as radio chatter continued to sound off in his ear.
The VIP's flight had been delayed; they wouldn't be landing until nine o'clock. But of course that information hadn't been given to either Bren or Kalina until he'd already arrived at this den of misery. Heading back to the Griffin airstrip at this point would be a pointless endeavor, and he wanted to be there to greet their guest.
Oh well, he was being paid to sit and eat a sandwich. There were far worse lots in life. He could be outside in the pouring rain like the poor suckers waiting for a taxi.
The Commander pulled out his phone, switching to the radio app before activating the call. "Report."
"This is Chorno. Arrival looks fine." SVD informed.
"Marshal; nothing to report at ticketing." Grizzly followed.
"Anti-Rain is still on s-standby." M4A1 said, finishing off the trio of teams present.
He ended the call, settling into his chair as anxiety continued to overtake him. Men, women and children filed up and down the walkways as they made their way to their flights. The gate where the flight would empty out down the path and within his watch. Why the CEO of a large company would opt to fly business class instead of take a private jet, he didn't know. It would have made things less complicated, they could've simply landed at the Griffin airstrip instead of here.
"Excuse me, do you know the way to Gate Seven-D?" A voice asked him in accented English, causing Hsu to crane his head. Next to his table stood a shorter girl, looking to be in her very early 20s. Her light brown hair sported a single side ponytail among the mess of strands. She wore a blue and white long sleeve shirt, a striped scarf around her neck and a single scar cut across her left eye.
Hsu nodded his head, pointing down the path. "If you're looking for the flight to Frankfurt, it's been delayed."
"Shisse." The girl cursed. "You're waiting for it as well?"
Again, the Commander nodded, pulling out a fake boarding pass that the airport had been kind enough to print for him ahead of time. It was a good enough cover that meant he could avoid drawing attention. Hell, it was the entire reason he wasn't in his Griffin uniform.
"Most of the flights aren't going to be taking off with how terrible the weather is outside." Hsu said, pointing up to the glass ceiling above them as a clap of thunder roared. "We're going to be here for a while."
The girl pursed her lips, looking up and down the walkway before her gaze landed back on Hsu. "Well, would you mind if I joined you? Seeing as we're both ground bound for the foreseeable future."
Hsu's instinct flared, his gut telling him to wave this woman off. Soldiers never enjoyed the company of strangers. But his logic took over as he analyzed the girl, and saw she didn't seem interested in causing him trouble.
So with his permission, she sat down, setting her rolling luggage case next to her chair as an A-Doll came over and offered her a menu.
"You aren't from around here either, are you?" The girl asked him, putting the menu down on the table and paying it no mind.
"Accent gave it away?" Hsu asked.
"That, and you don't look very eastern European."
The Commander shrugged, knowing that he stuck out. But seeing as this was an airport, people from all over the world were mulling about. "I'm from Taipei. On a business trip."
"A long way from home, then." The girl mused. "What do you do then, Mister…?"
"Matthew. I'm a contractor." He said, making the story up as he went. Telling people that you worked for a PMC tended to skew a conversation. "My company is building a new skyscraper in Hamburg."
"Intriguing." She said, smiling innocently at her conversation partner. "My name is Riva, I'm coming home from some business as well."
"Things went how you hoped?"
"There were some issues with negotiations, but I have my ways of getting what I want." She assured, giggling to herself. The Commander offered no further rebuttal, not really interested in having a discussion. Though his company seemed hard pressed to have one despite his wishes.
"Interesting scar. How did you get it?" 'Riva' asked, gazing at the damaged skin that ran across his nose.
Hsu scratched at the mark, the thing always felt itchy whenever someone brought it up. "Mishap with explosives. Yours?"
'Riva' smiled wider, eyes twinkling with delight as she seemed to dive back into that memory nestled deep in her mind. It only served to make the Commander uncomfortable, sensing the artificial pleasantness of this woman growing into a thick smog. Almost akin to an unhinged transient, though calculated and controlled.
"An angry drunk with a knife decided to pick a fight." She reflected, gleefully faux in her emotion. "It was a long time ago. From what I have heard, she's still just as pathetic now as she was then."
The Commander found that a bit strange, most people didn't try to keep tabs on someone who'd attempted to filet them. But as he opened his mouth to question the knowledge, his radio began to rumble. Shouted something in Ukrainian, almost deafening him with words he still didn't understand
The gunfire that followed was a universal language.
(19:45)
For SVD, guarding an airport was nothing new.
It was one of her most common duties after the war, her unit being stationed here to ensure that nothing happened to either air traffic or the people who flew in and out. She knew many of the people here. The Internal Troop soldiers who still had a station on the property. The airport director, whom she'd ended up guarding personally on several occasions. Even the lowly workers loading luggage on planes or working in the restaurants were familiar faces, though she hadn't seen many of them in years.
It was her connections here that got Sector 09 to operate without any issues. It was her experience that led to the Commander making her the senior Captain for this contract.
So when she saw a group of men in black boiler suits pop out of nowhere, she grew suspicious. Because of all people, she knew that the janitors at this airport didn't wear uniforms like that.
"Saiga, Seven-Four." SVD spoke, getting the attention of the two requested dolls as her team stood next to a flight timetable screen. "Go check that group with the hard cases."
Both dolls did as they were told. Mosin followed along, keeping a wide berth as she watched her teammates approach.
"Vy rabochiye tam! Stoy!" Saiga barked in Russian, ordering the suspicious pack of 'janitors' to stop in their tracks. Some turned their heads, but the rest of them continued to shuffle towards the escalator and head down.
"Prypynitʹ zaraz!" Saiga ordered again, switching to the local tongue to see if it'd have an effect. She and AK-74M caught up to two persons that didn't quite make it to their escape, with 74M grabbing onto one of their collars and yanking them back.
When the man spun around, she saw the collapsed stock of a submachine gun clear as day pressed against his chest.
The Russian doll's training kicked in as soon as she spotted the firearm, her weapon going up and finger depressing the trigger without even a warning or call. Five shots ripped out of her rifle and into the man's chest. Saiga trained her shotgun on the second man. When he pulled his own weapon out and spun around, he was greeted by three shells of buckshot knocking him off his feet.
Shouting began to fill the crowded terminal as bystanders scattered. A few gunmen by the escalator also pulled out their firearms, but each was given a bullet to the skull by SVD and Mosin's overwatch.
As Saiga and AK-74M inspected their kills, both markswomen ran ahead to check down the escalator. But they were met with a barrage of angry gunfire as SVD tried to report on what was going on.
That was when Mosin got a good… ish, idea.
"SVD, how much trouble would we end up in if we set a luggage cart on fire?" The sharpshooter asked her leader.
"I don't give a fuck if it gets us some breathing room!" SVD yelled back as she kept suppressing down the escalator.
Mosin laughed, running over to one of the derelict carts and sliding behind it. As more 5.56 flew past, she pulled the molotov from her leg and lit the cloth. The Russian lifted a hand, flashing the middle finger at the gunmen before kicking it down the escalator with the firebomb chasing behind it. The cart caught light, and soon it became a wheeled battering ram that screamed down into the hostiles below.
The cart made impact, flaming leather and cloth flying onto the shooters. Some ran, others got caught and began slapping their sleeves or rolling to put out the fire. All the while Mosin stood at the top of the stairs, laughing out loud at the circus below her.
"Ha ha HA! Dasvidaniya, SUKI!" She called out to the retreating men as AK-74M up from the casualties.
"Is she insane?" She asked Saiga.
The shotgunner shrugged, pulling open the boiler suit on the dead man even further as she found something. "She's from Siberia."
"So that is a yes." 74M said, turning to see A-545 clear out the duty free store behind them. SVD pulled back to the two that had kicked off this mess, loading a new magazine into her rifle as she watched.
"Find anything?" The Captain asked.
"Da. Look at this." Saiga said, waving her leader close before letting her see where the buckshot had landed home. Beyond the red liquid and twisted skin, a layer of metal and wires were now clear to the eye. The internals of an android, not the organs of a human.
"Well, this just got interesting." SVD chimed, taking hold of the photo ID that rested in the dead doll's lanyard.
"Explains why they did not go through ticketing. Where do you think they got the worker passes?" Saiga asked.
"A few bribes, a few threats." The Captain rationalized. The underground businesses in this city were almost as abundant as its legitimate ones. Kyiv had become the criminal capital of the Soviet Union after the war, you could buy anything you needed if you knew the right person.
SVD stood up, looking around to see that the onlookers had begun to coagulate. More than a few of them pulled out their phones, taking pictures and streaming the site for the whole world to see. Bringing attention that she very much did not need, especially seeing as there were still likely gunmen in the building.
"We need to lock the airport down. You three, get the civilians somewhere safe." She ordered, pointing at the forming crowd.
They agreed, the other three dolls spreading out and beginning to guide the onlookers in a direction away from where the shooters had run. SVD activated her radio, beginning to rattle off information over the channel about what had just happened and what direction the enemies were last running.
It was up to Grizzly's team now.
(19:56)
M590 was really, really starting to get sick of this sector.
Grizzly had told her that volunteering for this transfer would be a step in the right direction for their 'career.' More opportunities to move up, more chances to get paid, less time stuck in Samara counting trees and guarding toll booths. Some actual action, the whole reason they'd left the States and come to the oh so powerful Russian motherland.
At first, she'd enjoyed the change of pace. New jobs every day, actually fighting Sangvis instead of guarding against them, decent benefits and a really nice cafeteria. Then the jobs kept coming, and coming, and coming… for two months straight they'd been running ragged. Maybe, if they were lucky, they'd get a few days off a month. But the new missions kept shuffling down, Griffin was so hellbent on making up the money they'd lost over the summer.
The others didn't seem to mind. Grizzly and MCX loved having something to do, meanwhile VSK-94 and MP-448 weren't the types to complain about anything. Neither was she, especially if it meant dragging her best friend down from cloud nine.
Now they were stuck in this mess. Active shooters in an airport, for crying out loud! This would have been considered a nightmare scenario when she was still with the Troopers!
But despite that, she kept quiet like a good Lieutenant. And as the five of them were lying in wait at the now lifeless baggage carousels, she and MCX remained crouched behind the one closest to the direction that SVD had alerted them from.
"Times like this I wish I had a riot shield and some tear gas." M590 lamented, watching the group of gunmen as they unknowingly came towards their ambush.
"Well you could try shooting the ceiling and yelling real loud." MCX joked.
"Good idea." The shotgunner said, racking a slug into her weapon as the Brit squeaked in fear. M590 craned her head around their cover, counting six men running closer. Each of them now brandishing a machine pistol or a sub-machine gun, a few looking over their shoulders. Some of their clothes were burned off, revealing cybernetics beneath artificial flesh.
M590 held a finger to her ear, pressing in her earpiece. "What's the plan, Grizz?"
"VSK, drill that guy carrying the P-Ninety first. Four-hundred, push up with me after Five-Ninety engages." The team Captain instructed.
"But rude of her putting us right in the line of fire, innit?" MCX inquired.
"Here I thought you Counter-Terror types were more ballsy." M590 responded.
"Hard to be more ballsy than someone who stood on riot lines for a living." The Brit quipped. "You aren't as aggressive as I expected."
"I'm plenty aggressive, I just know how to turn it off." The shotgunner assured, before going back to Zener. "We're all set here, Grizzly."
"Wait until they're close, let's wipe these guys out quick." Grizzly instructed.
The gunmen continued to trot forwards, unaware of the ambush. VSK remained crouched behind a derelict luggage cart, her rifle aiming through the slit between two suitcases. It was strange how comfortable she was with this weapon, having never used such a rifle in her previous occupation. Yet that was the power of imprinting, now she could easily adapt around her namesake despite the lack of experience.
Once the target group got well within the killbox of M590 and MCX, she opened fire.
The first doll's head snapped back as the subsonic round drilled between his eyes, falling to his knees and clutching at the wound while the rest of his comrades tried to figure out where the shot had come from. Then the second shot came, another doll clutching his chest and collapsing. Still unawares, the dolls still standing ran forwards, trying to go for the nearest shelter.
That 'shelter' was the carousel where both MCX and M590 were waiting. MCX greeted the group with a catty wave and a sway of her hips. M590 did it with a magnum slug cutting into the side of another gunman and tearing their arm clean off.
Grizzly and MP-448 soon joined the fray themselves, handguns blazing as the unfortunate dolls were now caught in a crisscrossing hail of bullets. Most fell dead on the spot. Some managed to limp into something resembling cover. One fled to a far wall, where the carousel lanes brought out freshly unloaded suitcases and baggage.
"I'm going after the runner!" M590 announced, breaking from her position and darting after her newfound prey. All the while the rest of her teammates continued to unload until everything in their path stopped moving.
The gunfire eventually stopped. As the Griffin dolls reloaded their weapons, all of their erstwhile opponents had been cut to pieces. Most were dead, some were crawling across the tilework as they tried to find something resembling safety.
Grizzly herself walked out from her refuge, signaling for the others to advance and clear the area. The Russian dolls came up, checking the androids that were still twitching as MCX grabbed one of the more conscious survivors and hoisted him up.
"Come on, you used up Johnny. Get on your knees." She demanded, hoisting her captive up as she produced a set of iron bracelets. "Oi, Cap. What're we doing with the leftovers?"
"Save who's savable and throw them to the real cops when they finally get here." Grizzly instructed, looking around to see the damage that they'd caused. The ex-Detective frowned, never having been a fan of collateral. It was half the reason why she didn't get along with military dolls.
Despite that, she pulled out her radio once more, reporting to all that could hear her that the group of gunmen had been pacified.
(20:22)
Hsu stood in the door of an airport bathroom, keeping watch on the now lifeless terminal as he waited for the proper authorities to come and take over.
When the shots went off, he acted on instinct. Yelling for people to hunker down somewhere out of sight and out of danger. Some listened, most kept sprinting around in panic. The ones who'd heeded his warnings, he'd corralled into this bathroom while he stood guard and kept watch for any more bad guys.
The AR team was already sweeping the whole building, each of the sisters having split up to cover more ground faster. If they were a human squad, he would have been against something so counterintuitive. But each of them had already proven that they could handle the likes of Sangvis with ease on their own. Some regular A-dolls with traditional firearms would be even less of a threat.
All the while Kalina and G36 continued to chime in his earpiece as they scoured for information on who was behind something this brazen. He'd assigned a security detail to the airport more as a formality, a way to show their employers that Griffin had the connections and the manpower to keep them safe. An actual firefight here was never on the cards. But at the very least, the safety net had paid off.
Goes to show, it always pays to have a backup plan for your backup plan.
At the moment he was looking for someone. That 'Riva' girl that he'd been speaking with before had run off once they heard the gunfire. Part of him was concerned, but more of him was suspicious. She was… fast. Far faster than someone her height should be. And she didn't seem to be augmented.
This was what he was worried about when he first came here. Damned robots hiding among humans, planning God knows what and no one being able to tell them apart. This was why back in the URNA, all of them had to be registered and marked as dolls. So if one went rogue or did something dangerous, they could be dealt with.
"Commander, I'm almost at your location." M4A1 reported, prompting the man to pull his phone out.
"Guessing things have actually calmed down." He deducted. "Where's the rest of the AR team?"
"Star and Sopmod are keeping an eye on the driveways to watch for anyone coming in and out. M-Sixteen went down into the luggage area." The elite doll responded.
That last tidbit caught the man's attention. "Why's she down there?"
"One of Grizzly's teammates chased an enemy inside. M-Sixteen wanted to give her some backup." M4 explained.
The Commander thought for a few moments, looking at the crowd as they watched him expectantly. He thought it over in his head, before deciding that a third set of hands down below would be more useful than hiding up here.
"Tell M-Sixteen I'm going down to lend a hand. I'll send the civvies here down towards you." He said, turning to the others as he began to direct them back outside. As the small pack ran off towards M4, he drew his Hi-Power out and went for the nearest escalator.
(20:35)
M16A1 had only been here for ten minutes, but it felt so much longer.
These back pathways were always bigger than she expected. Doubly so with her checking each corner to avoid getting jumped. Each twist and turn, her sensors focusing on anything that seemed suspect. These long, winding hallways screamed death to her. But she could handle it, she was one of the best Griffin had to offer. Easily the best fighter on the AR team, at least.
People often wondered why she didn't lead the squad. Her younger sisters each had quirks that made them out to be mediocre leaders. Once upon a time, when Griffin had first been founded, M16 did have her own echelon to command. Back when she still wore an outer vest, had short hair and two working eyes.
But that was a long time ago, now. Each of those dolls had been sent off to new assignments, just as she had. Vector, Zas and, NTW all moved on. Hell, a few months ago had been the first time she'd spoken to NTW in years. And all either of them could talk about was 416 resurfacing again.
416… her old Lieutenant. The same arrogant, annoying, self-centered brat she'd trusted with her life. She hadn't changed a bit.
No, that was a lie. She'd gotten worse. UMP45's corrosive influence made sure of that.
Maybe that was why she preferred letting M4 lead. Her youngest sister was a shy dope, but she had boundless potential. She was the whole reason why the AR team existed, being the golden child of Miss Persica. After the blank spot that was Butterfly, watching over her family felt safer. And it wasn't like anyone else would be able to put up with their eccentricities.
Those thoughts continued to buzz in her mind as she kept pushing through, until she came to a pair of double doors. M16 pushed one side open, locking it in place while she scanned the new room with her rifle.
It was another conveyor area, the air colder than the hallways as one side opened out to the still damp outside. All of the belts had shut down, all of the workers had run off. Abandoned suitcases and duffle bags rested stationary. At M16's feet, a Mossberg shotgun lay unused. A trail of red led further inside.
Resting against the carousel, M590 sat slumped over. Red coolant pooled at her legs, while the body of one of the gunmen was sprawled out with a chunk of metal missing from his chassis. An AKS was still clutched in his hand.
Seeing her injured comrade and the dead enemy, M16 advanced forward. She put three rounds of insurance into his back, breaking his AI core before moving to assist the injured shotgunner.
As she lifted M590's head, the wounds were clear. Five rifle rounds, three of which seemed to have avoided her plate skirt and dug under the ribs of the shotgunner's endoskeleton. She hadn't been like this for long. After all, Grizzly said she'd remained in communication up until five minutes ago.
There was one problem, the blood around her entry wounds was dry. Someone had externally shut off her coolant valves.
"No. Sudden. Movements." A familiar voice demanded. M16 sighed, realizing she'd fallen for bait.
"Put your rifle on the ground." The voice ordered further. M16 complied, setting her weapon down and lifting both hands up. "Now stand and face me."
"Gonna ask me to strip next?" M16 joked as she rose from her kneeled stance, mocking the voice. "I know it's been a while since you've seen my abs. Been toning'em lately."
"Shut up, and turn." The voice demanded. Ever diligent, M16 did as she was told. She turned around, hands high, to see none other than HK416 now standing in the open with her rifle up.
M16 smiled, not able to believe just how rotten her luck must be to end up in the same position all over again. "I don't see you for two years. Now I see you twice in two months. If you miss me this much, we could just trade numbers."
"If I didn't see you in two centuries, it would still be too soon." 416 spat, not having any of her former Captain's pleasantries. "Now, stop testing my patience before I kill you like that other Griffin dog."
M16 looked over her shoulder at her fallen comrade, then back at her other 'fallen' comrade. "Killing other T-Dolls. Wow, this is a new low even for Four-oh-Four."
"We've always had the clearance to eliminate dolls that interfere with our business." 416 said dismissively, the act not seeming to weigh on her conscience at all. "Now what are you doing here?"
"Pretty sure I should be asking you that question." M16 said.
"Good thing I have the gun, then." 416 countered.
M16A1 laughed, not really having anything to beat that logic. Still, she was astounded at just how far down the rabbit hole her old partner seemed to have tumbled. The doll she knew might have been brash and even a bully, but she still looked out for people. This really was a new low.
"Can't we talk about something else? Like how you've clearly been hitting the cake pretty hard." The one eyed doll poked playfully, keeping her captor's attention focused on her. "Probably that one with the berries and the chocolate icing you always had after missions-."
Her insults stopped when 416 squeezed the trigger, sending a round flying next to her head. M16 stared back at her captor, friendliness disappearing as she tensed up. A near miss was still near, and in spite of herself, M16 still felt fear.
"Since when did you grow a pair?" M16 said through grit teeth.
"Since I stopped being 'sentimental.' That's what you called it, ja?" 416 retorted, clearly mocking her prisoner as she now took aim at M16's head. "Now answer the question."
The one eyed riflewoman sneered, frustration beginning to build at how insolent her old partner was being. "Treading on mighty thin ice."
416's frustration seemed to be growing as well. Her patience was being drawn ever thinner. "I'm sorry, what part of 'I have a gun' seems to not be registering in your head?"
"The part where you try to kill me."
"You think I can't do it!?" 416 interrogated, infuriated that even now her resolve was being questioned by this layabout drunkard.
M16 shook her head, still staring straight ahead. "No, you can't. If you could, we wouldn't be talking about it." She assured. Neither of the dolls seemed to have expected that admittance. Even M16 herself seemed somewhat dumbstruck that she said it out loud.
Which was when she then nodded her head to her right. "See, him? He doesn't give a shit."
As 416 turned her head, M16 dove away from her carbine's muzzle. A single shot from the abandoned M590 went off, slamming into 416's side and causing the rogue doll to fall on a knee. 416 brought her rifle up just as the ghastly 'CH-CHUNK' of the pump action was ran, before another magnum slug dug into her shoulder and knocked her clean onto her back.
M16 rushed forwards and disarmed the other doll. The Commander advanced, cycling the shotgun again. But this time, 416 chose the smart path. She picked herself up and began to run, sprinting for the opposite door. Hsu brought his weapon to bare, aiming at the fleeing doll and ready to put the final shot in her back…
…Until M16 broke his line of fire, firing at the fleeing doll with 416's own rifle while standing in the Commander's way. The shots all missed, rounds bouncing off the nearby conveyors until 416 rushed through the door and slammed it behind.
"Damn it!" M16 cursed, lowering her current firearm. Hsu's aggravation spiked, but as he saw M590 still unconscious, whatever plans he had of pursuit disappeared quickly.
"Grab your rifle and grab her, we need to head back up top." The Commander ordered, pulling his communications device out before telling whatever dolls were available to try and cut off the airport exits.
M16 did as she was told, gathering up the injured M590.
(23:11)
An hour after it was supposed to, the plane finally landed. At that point, police and Internal Troops were swarming the entire district as they tried to hunt down any stragglers from such a 'brazen act of terror.' At the very least, that was the story that the local Government was running with.
Local authorities still weren't pleased with a shootout at one of the last functional airports in Eastern Europe. As a show of good faith, Hsu had given law enforcement copies of each doll's video feed that had been at the airport. But even then, the Commander had debated at length with the local Police Inspector over the next course of action.
Despite the Inspector's, and also Hsu's personal desires, the VIP insisted on being escorted to his hotel. Being a good contractor, Hsu argued on his behalf, throwing his weight around until the man policeman finally caved and let them leave.
So now their customer sat in his luxury penthouse suite. Echelons One, Three and Four were stationed at the hotel. Each was on high alert, having taken over the entire floor where the suite rested. IWS sent a report back to base every hour, but nothing seemed to be going on.
Hsu sat in his office, nursing his headache with hard liquor and dueling with unpleasant thoughts. G36, ever dutiful, was there alongside him. Though for the time being she had simply been answering phone calls, scheduling a gauntlet of inquiries from both the City Counsel, the local police, the National Guard and the FSB.
"Griffin will be happy to cooperate with any Government agents, Sir." G36 spoke into the receiver, watching as the Commander stared out of his window and at the starless sky. "Yes… yes. I'll be sure to tell him… good evening to you as well."
As the maid ended the call, the phone began to ring all over again.
"Hang up." Hsu ordered, knocking back more of the sauce as G36 did as instructed. With the digital 'pip' ending the ringtone, she then whisked away the whisky bottle while it was still half full. The Commander offered no protest, simply continuing to glare outside.
"Five-Ninety's injuries were lighter than expected." The adjutant reminded. "You saw her leave the repair bay, all she needed was a coolant refill and a rib replacement."
"She's lucky. Everyone got lucky." The Commander pointed out, words beginning to slur as the third glass of whisky began to hit him.
G36 tutted, knowing that the man was well and truly drunk at this point. "According to her report, that unknown female doll wasn't even the one who attacked her. Why do you think she took credit for an assault she didn't commit?"
"I dunfuckin' know." Hsu said, unpleasant thoughts rising to the brim after such an unpleasant evening. "This whole night's been a complete fuckin' fuckfest. As if this day didn't start off stupid as shit."
G36 grew displeased. For starters, she rarely heard her Master speak with such a foul mouth. But the slight directed at her younger sister was not lost on her. While she too was still unhappy with XM8's larceny, listening to someone else lash out prompted her protected instinct.
"I am sure that Five-Ninety will learn from this error." She said calmly, turning the conversation towards what she hoped to be a more constructive topic.
Hsu bitterly laughed, finding the idea as funny as it seemed useless. "They'll just forget about this and go back to being idiots before the end of the month."
"If you wish, I can discipline them on such behaviors after this operation has concluded." His adjutant offered. She knew that the Commander wanted to be upset at this juncture. At least, the liquor wanted him to be.
Confirming her suspicions, Hsu threw a hand up in the air. "Don't know why we bother. Shit goes in one ear and out the other."
"We've seen plenty of other dolls in this sector grow after failure." G36 insisted.
"I don't want to keep dealing with failures."
"What do you want to be done, then?"
"I want you to do your jobs right!" Hsu demanded, temper finally boiling over. After everything that happened that day, after having a perfectly good plan almost go sideways, after having to guard panicking civilians who were afraid of getting murdered by a bunch of criminal androids, the old soldier had finally had enough. With this contract, with this day, with this whole damned city.
G36 remained quiet. She let the man's temper settle, having expected this to happen ever since he returned from the airport. Even for someone as calm and stoic as Hsu, he had a limit. Today's series of absurd events seemed to have finally made him reach his.
Thankfully, the man's flare of fury burnt out as quickly as it had been lit. He turned around, putting the empty whisky tumbler on his desk as he massaged his forehead.
"Thompson, Grizzly and M-Sixteen. Make sure they're all here by nine in the morning. We need to find out who sent those dolls." Hsu instructed, a beam of clarity coming from the soldier's drunken stupor.
G36 stiffly nodded, grateful that the wave seemed to have passed. "As you wish. Anything else for tomorrow morning?"
"Get me a meeting with Helian. I have a lot of fucking questions." He continued, before sinking into his leather office chair.
The maid curtsied, taking the empty glass and placing it onto her cleaning cart. She was planning to leave next, until the phone began to ring in G36's hands once again. His base urges told him to keep ignoring it, but he was still sober enough to know there was work to be done.
So with a nod of his head, G36 answered the call and his holoprojector hummed to life. In a flurry of pixels, a middle aged woman appeared in the center of his office. She sat in a swivel chair, with unkempt hair and a slovenly worn lab coat. Bags under her eyes and… mechanical cat ears poking out from her scalp.
"Evening, Commander." The scientist said through a yawn, chugging away at a mug of coffee before grabbing a pot from off a nearby table. Hsu already felt his headache come back, recognizing the voice. The same voice that had been badgering him to find the AR team during the summer.
"All due respect, Professor, it's been a long night." Hsu said. In his mind he was begging, pleading, that this night wasn't about to get more complex.
Unfortunately for him, no one seemed interested in listening to his pleas. Least of all Persica.
"Oh, I've heard. That's why I called." Persica said, voice bored and apathetic. "It seems that some people I hired came into contact with yours."
That got both Hsu and G36's attention. The Commander snapped up, eyes boring into the still uncaring scientist as alarms began to fire off in his head.
"Did you put a hit out on our VIP?" Hsu asked, which only got a quirked eyebrow from Persica.
"Huh? What hit?" The scientist asked, sincerely confused at the bizarre mention. "I was talking about that white haired doll that tried to capture M-Sixteen."
G36's jaw dropped, and Hsu's expression seemed to grow even more stressed. The man seemed to be aging whole decades within minutes, both the previous head pains and alcoholic self-medication mixing to be a disastrous combination as Persica proceeded to flashbang him with words.
"Professor…" Hsu managed to say. "It has been a long night and I've been drinking a lot of liquor. So please, explain this slowly."
"Suuuuure." Persica said, not really understanding why the man was upset. From what she'd been told, all that had happened were some antics at an airport. Why was he getting so uptight over something so banal?
"Right, so, remember the problems you had during that Sangvis attack during the summer? Zener, I mean." She asked. Hsu nodded his head, using all his remaining brainpower to follow along.
"Well, I finally figured out the kinks, so I decided to send one of my engineers to upgrade the hub in your city." The professor continued. "The thing is, with tech that's proprietary like mine, I like to hire… 'insurance.' You know how it is. Corporate espionage, kidnappings, harassment. Stuff that I'd rather not put my employees through. So I hired a team I know to make sure no one tried anything funny."
Hsu took a deep breath, suppressing the ever growing urge to scream. Questions upon questions built up in his already punished mind. But two seemed to be the most important.
"And why, dare I ask, did you not just hire us?" He asked, words stilted and forced.
"When I asked Headquarters, Bren told me that you were already occupied for the week." Persica said, tilting her head. "She said something about it being a really big contract. So I figured you wouldn't notice anything anyway."
That did it. That finally pushed what composure Hsu had off a cliff, past some spiked rocks, into a volcano and straight to the center of the earth. The Commander collapsed, fainting onto the ground behind his desk with a pathetic 'FOOMP'. G36 winced, but all Persica did was lean forwards ever so slightly in her chair.
"Is he going to be OK?" The middle aged catwoman asked.
"Absolutely not." G36 said honestly. "Thank you for clarifying this, Professor. The Commander has been quite stressed after the evening's events."
"Yeaaaaaah, it's been pretty crazy over there hasn't it?" She said, stating the obvious before kicking back and relaxing again. "Oh, right. I send some money into his personal account. Hopefully that'll tell him I'm sorry."
"How do you know what my personal bank account is?!" Hsu yelled, still laying on the floor as delirium started to set in.
"I spliced your checks from Griffin's payroll." Persica said, to which all Hsu could do was wail in response. G36 facepalmed, wondering how the scientist could go from using the proper channels to nicking the man's information in something so brazenly illegal.
"We gratefully accept your gift, Miss Persica. But I do believe the Commander needs to retire for the evening."
"Oh sure, sure. I get it." Persica said, shrugging innocently. "Good luck with that hit squad or whatever."
With that, the call ended. Persica's form disappeared in a cloud of bluish cubes, leaving as quickly as she came. Like a wrecking ball with cat ears and a caffeine addiction.
G36 walked over to the desk, standing at Hsu's head and leaning forwards. The man stared back at her, laying on his back and glasses having been knocked askew from the fall.
"Kill me." He begged.
"Later." She dismissed, hooking her arms under her fallen master and helping him walk to his room.
The circus had ended for the night. Tomorrow's act was still to come.
A/N: I really torture Hsu more than he deserves, don't I? Guess he wasn't ready for the combined batshittery of 404 and Persica. But no one would be.
Next chapter, the final bit of this mini-arc.
o/
