(25/10/2056 | 15:47)

It was amazing how bad situations always seemed to topple over into something worse. But that was becoming something of a trend for Anti-Rain.

This particular series of unfortunate events began from a call by HQ. Kalina hailed them, saying that they had been ordered to break from their operations and return to the friendly side of no man's land. After almost a week of sabotage, raiding, reconnaissance and pathfinding, it all abruptly came to an end for a new task.

Headhunting.

It wasn't a task M4A1 was particularly familiar with. Since she was placed in charge of Anti-Rain, all of their missions were more focused on acquisition and retrieval. Combat was semi-frequent, seeking that combat out was not. Despite the capabilities and her and her siblings, being used as regular infantry was not their forte.

Which of course, naturally was what caused this mess.

First, they caught the attention of a Sangvis patrol. Easy enough to dispatch.

Then another came. Then another. As the aggro grew larger and larger, M4 made the call to break off and lose their assailants.

Which then caused a long pursuit, through no man's land and with a comically sized horde of Sangvis drones nipping at their heels. It was like an old cartoon, the band of heroes getting chased by an indiscernible mob of bad guys.

Now, the four of them found themselves standing their ground among friends. G36 and SVD's teams having been rerouted again to help bail the beleaguered Elites out of this complete mess. But even with the ten extra sets of hands, it was still hard fighting.

M4 and G36 shared a large, toppled over trunk. The rest of the dolls were spread out across their line, firing back as they desperately attempted to thin the oncoming herd. As usual, it was working. Without directives from a Ringleader, the Sangvis cannon fodder defaulted to the same basic tactics as usual.

As M4's rifle ran dry, she went to switch out a new magazine when the glint of an optic caught her eye on the far side. There, she could see a Jaegar aiming in her direction. Be it at her or G36, she couldn't rightly tell.

She didn't care, either, choosing to jump right and tackle her friend as a volley of purple bolts tore over their heads.

G36 grunted, pulling herself up ever so slightly as she saw the blast marks and coiling smoke from where the whiffed shots had landed. M4 helped the maid up slowly, ensuring that both their heads remained in cover.

"A-are you OK?" M4 asked.

G36 nodded, popping her arm back into place with the trunk. "Ja, ja."

"You two might want to stay down." Hsu advised the two Captains. "Cavalry's here."

As both of the dolls looked up, they could see their requested support's arrival. A lone Blackhawk, shadow casting itself down over the Griffin holdout line. Its frame rotated in place, left-hand door aiming itself squarely at the Sangvis squads.

"Guns, guns, guns." Santiago announced as the portside machinegun engaged. Green tracers screamed behind the bullets as they began to cut into the Sangvis lines. It was as if they had run headlong into a wall, the advance being brutally blunted by 800 rounds a minute. Rounds tore through like bolts of lightning, punching past the steel and kicking up dirt on the other side.

And if you caught it, over the sound of the gunfire and engines, you could even hear K11 having the time of her life.

The herd was eventually thinned, with the SF survivors yet again breaking off once their combat effectiveness had been torn to shreds. As the field cleared out, and the gunfire across both lines died, the helicopter lowered itself just above tree-level. From there, Grizzly and her team all hopped out, landing on the grass and kicking up some dirt. M590, MCX and VSK each taking a duffle bag off of their backs and setting it onto the grass.

"Five-Ninety, make sure they don't come back!" Grizzly ordered. Her second nodded, rallying the rest of the echelon before the four of them ran off in pursuit of the damaged enemy. Grizzly remained, looking to her fellow captains as they came close.

"So, the heck was that about?" Grizzly asked.

"Sangvis counter attacks. Our entire offensive has ceased, we are stretched too thin." G36 explained, dusting the tufts of grass off of her skirt.

"We've been dealing with infiltration units for the past hour." SVD followed up, glancing at the abandoned luggage. "Why the bags?"

"Ammo. One for each of your teams." Grizzly answered, before activating her ear-piece. "Commander, we're linked up. What's next?"

"We get back to work. Front needs to be shored up." Hsu explained, speaking to all four Captains at once. "Grizzly, your team's going to head east and take up firefighting duties. SVD, you're going back north for a perimeter sweep. Thirty Six, same to the south. The AR team is maintaining their original tasking."

The Captains all answered in their affirmations, each going to grab the bags marked for their echelons before lugging them over to the rest of their teammates. M4 set the duffle over by a tree, beckoning her family over. SOP immediately jumped at the 'present', rifling through it to grab replacement magazines and more 40mm grenades.

Hsu, meanwhile, spoke to each of them.

"I'm going to stick with you four for the duration of your mission." The Commander explained, voice filling the dolls' digiminds. "The others have instructions to keep an eye out for clues regarding Scarecrow. If they find anything, I'll tell you."

"What do we know so far?" M16 asked, stuffing a STANAG into her webbing.

"Her last known location is due south-west of your current Pos, bearing Two-Ten. She crossed a sensor trap we had laid out." He relayed.

"That… doesn't seem like her." M4 said, recalling the post-battle reports involving Sector 09 and Scarecrow.

AR-15 scoffed, swapping the magazine in her rifle with one from the bag. "What makes you think that? Sangvis are idiots."

"Scarecrow's more clever than most. She's good at baiting people out." Hsu explained to the team. Out of the three reconnaissance ringleaders they had taken out up to this point, Scarecrow was easily the smartest. Executioner relied a lot on her sheer strength, and Hunter was all about speed. But Scarecrow… Scarecrow was a schemer.

"So it's a trap!?" SOPMOD said with excitement, biting at the chance to square off against a ringleader.

Hsu was far less enthralled. "Could be. Head down there, see if you can pick up the trail."

"Yes, Commander." M4 confirmed, grabbing what she needed from the now emptied sack. M16A1 hopped between each of her siblings, making sure everyone grabbed what they needed before M4 gave the order to move.

As they walked off deeper into the backline, a thought came across the Captain's mind. When Hsu had initially told them about this assignment, he had joked about how after weeks of trying and failing to catch the AR team, now the AR team would return the favor.

Despite herself, M4 couldn't help but quietly smile at that joke now. A little payback, long since overdue.


(16:11)

As they approached their destination, the AR team fell into their usual positions of their usual diamond. M4 at the front, diligently keeping watch as they walked. AR-15 in the rear, walking with a bored and disgruntled expression. M16 holding the right, paying attention to nothing of importance at all, and SOP regularly hopping in and out of her spot to chase whatever caught her eye.

Hsu tried to stop her, with limited success. The doll really liked squirrels.

"So, Persica sent you on material recovery missions." The Commander asked, passing the time as well as taking the chance to dig up some dirt on the enigmatic Professor. "Was going in without backup common?"

"Yeah. If anything, having help was freaky." M16 answered, slipping a hand under her coat to pull out an old Army compass. "Made sense, though. When you're goin' that deep into red territory, more heads means more trouble."

"Most of Griffin would've slowed us down anyway. They can't handle quiet work." AR-15 threw in snidely.

M4 silently frowned at the insult slung at their comrades in arms, but Hsu pressed on with his questioning. "So Griffin never sent you any support?"

"No, it happened a few times." M16 recalled, thinking back to the rare moments where they'd had company during their escapades. "There's this one doll, her name was Eighteen-Eighty-Seven. She'd pass on scouting information, tell us where holes in the defenses were."

"Oooo, I remember her!" SOPMOD cheered, head popping out from the bush she'd dived into moments before. "She was awesome! Her whole body was from salvaged Sangvis parts!"

"Of course that's why Sop likes her…" AR-15 muttered.

"She was as stiff as a Sangvis doll, that's for sure." M16 continued.

Hsu's hum could be heard over the comms. The man went over the information, along with the stories he'd heard from M4's time here.

It felt strange, he'd known M4 for almost half a year now. The quiet Captain seemed to enjoy this environment, and she'd only grown happier since her sisters' return. But unlike IWS, the one of the few dolls he saw M4 regularly socializing with, she still seemed… well, unsocial.

Not out of a desire to be alone, if anything the opposite. She seemed to enjoy working with others. During the weekly command classes, she regularly jumped headlong into collaborative projects. During actual operations, she communed with other leaders before taking any unplanned actions. But despite that, despite the obvious desire to be with the other dolls on base, she still remained distant.

Though in truth, it wasn't that different from the rest of her family. M16, AR-15, SOPMOD, each of them were more casual with the friend groups they'd found themselves in. Even then, there was still a barrier. Something that stopped all four of these girls from truly settling down.

"So, is that why you all haven't settled in still?" Hsu said, throwing caution to the wind and popping the question. As usual, the man's bluntness hit the dolls like a brick. M4 in particular almost tripped over a root.

"We've been fully integrated into this sector's operations." AR-15 inferred, keeping the topic on a professional level.

"Only enough that you're accounted for. Not as a permanent asset." The Commander pointed out.

"We aren't permanent assets." Star said, some bite to her words.

"Star…" M4 said, bringing the whole formation to a halt. Both she and AR-15 entered a face-off, the latter getting rather perturbed over this topic.

"What? We're going to leave eventually. We always do." The sharpshooter reminded. "Don't tell me you're getting attached to this place. You know we never stay somewhere for too long."

"This is the longest we've ever stuck to an assignment." M16 pointed out. SOPMOD slowly slinked back over to her siblings, watching in concerned silence.

Again, AR-15 scoffed. "A fluke. Sooner or later Persica's going to call up the Commander and tell him she wants us back. Then we'll leave, it'll be like we were never here, and we'll forget about this place."

"B-but-." M4A1 sputtered, as she always did whenever she went against her sister. "I don't want to leave. I like it here."

"We're soldiers. We don't pick where we go, we get told." AR-15 shot back, annoyed at the demure girl's softness and sentimentality. She then glanced to her right, over at M16. "Talk some sense into her."

M16 didn't respond immediately, mulling the topic over in her digimind before piping up. "Persica tell you anything about us, Commander?"

"Who you are, or how long you're staying under my Command?" The man asked, wanting clarification.

The veteran doll shrugged. "Both, why not?"

"That you're all one of a kind, you can't get backed up if you die, and to take care of each of you." Hsu said, listing off the basic directives the Professor had given him. He decided to not mention the extra stipend 16Lab was sending his base to keep them there. "Far as I know, she isn't planning on redeploying you any time soon. But she seems to like surprising me."

"Sounds about right." AR-15 quipped. "Still don't know why she's kept us here so long, anyway."

"Do you want to leave, Fifteen?"

"Like I said, we al-" She began, before the Commander sharply cut her off.

"That isn't what I asked. Do you want to leave?" The Commander insisted, trying to get a straight answer out of the girl that wasn't backhanded jokes or jaded observations.

"What we want doesn't matter." AR-15 answered, holding firm with her stance. "We're Tactical Dolls. We always have been. The other dolls on base used to be civilians, but that was never the case for us. We've always done this! We've always been on our own! And we're going to be on our own again, it's what always happens!"

Her siblings grimaced, but none had anything to offer as a counter. Everything AR-15 said was true; none of them knew anything but wandering. That's what their life was. Training at 16Lab, leaving for missions, finding what they were supposed to find, coming back. Rinse, repeat, over and over again. Just as a robot should do.

"...I'm going to ask one more time. And this time, you're going to respond with 'yes' or 'no.'" The Commander said, tone firm. "Do you want to leave?"

"...No." AR-15 admitted, to the visible surprise of M4 and SOPMOD.

"Then until Persica says otherwise, you won't." Hsu promised to all of them. "Far as I'm concerned, this team is one of my teams. I won't treat any of you like transplants, neither will the other dolls. Now get moving."

Taking the directive as a way out of the awkward topic, M4 waved the team on. The four of them returned to their march, not speaking another word as each of them stewed in their thoughts over the Commander's question. Over Zener, though, M4 sent the man a simple text.

'Thank you.'


(16:30)

Soon after, still a ways off from the alerted sensor, another event pulled the AR team in. Yet another Sangvis strike team, this time unaware as the four Griffin dolls hunkered down and quietly let them fester.

The Commander wasn't too surprised. With the hole in their defenses left by Grizzly's team and their escapades, it gave the enemy an opening which they were happy to exploit. The hole was sealed now, but they still weren't sure how many enemies had filtered in. It was why he'd dedicated two teams to simple search and destroy missions.

"How're we gonna get past these things?" AR-15 asked, still following the patrol through the lens of her scope.

"Just send Sop." M16 offered, the team's demolitionist perking her head up as she heard her nickname.

"By herself?" M4 asked, uneasy at the odds.

"Sure. Here-." M16 said, scootching over next to SOPMOD and pointing a finger at the column of unsuspecting Sangvis dolls. "Hey, Sop. You still need fingers for that dollhouse, right?"

Realizing what her elder was implying, a wicked grin appeared on SOP's face before she darted out of formation and dove headlong into the patrol. The sounds of 40mm grenades began to fire off, accented with the grenadier's wild and anarchic laughter.

AR-15 frowned, glaring over at the resident alcoholic. "You really need to stop enabling her."

"But it's funny!" M16 said, as if it was the only defense she needed.

"Let her get it out of her system." Hsu said, resigned to letting this play out. Once SOPMOD started on one of her rampages, she wasn't keen on stopping no matter what anyone did.

So the four observers watched as the sadistic doll ripped and tore through the squad like butter. It was over as quickly as it started, the patch of trees now covered in scorch marks and purple splatters, along with more than a few SF limbs getting strewn apart.

Once the carnage had ended, SOPMOD happily picked up the exact items she needed while the rest of the team approached. As M4 came up, she gleefully held up a detached Vespid head for her Captain.

"M-Four, M-Four! I left this one's processor!" She said, offering the item to her sister.

Seeing what SOPMOD was implying, M4 took the head in her hands. M16 gave her marauding teammate a pat on the head, congratulating her while AR-15 continued to look out for any more incoming hostile dolls.

Pulling her interface out from her arm, M4A1 jacked herself into the decapitated head. There was a jolt of pain as the connection was established, but as her digimind went in she began to parse through the latest information that had been stored before the doll had been unceremoniously destroyed.

"Scarecrow's… running somewhere." M4 told her team. "She's sent a distress beacon. That's why all of these squads keep trying to push through."

"Get a destination." Hsu ordered. M4 complied, sitting down on the ground as she tried to shuffle through the data.

"Why would she be running?" AR-15 asked the team.

M16 shrugged. "Maybe she got hurt. That logistics convoy she hit was armed."

"It was staffed by humans, not dolls." AR-15 reminded.

"We can defend ourselves too, you know." Hsu threw in. "I haven't gotten to interview the survivors, yet. One of them could've managed to damage her before they were injured."

AR-15 fell silent, nothing else to say on the topic while M4 continued her work. The Captain dug and dug, having done this before thousands of times. Kill a drone, rip the information, use it to ghost patrols. Except now it was being used to run right into an enemy instead.

"Got it! Sending the coordinates, Commander!" M4 said, pulling out her direct connection as she sent the information back to Hsu.

There was more quiet as the Commander set the location of the data, M16 giving M4 a hand off and out of the grass while SOPMOD continued to stuff odds and ends into her small rucksack.

"...Map says that this is one of the Sangvis outposts we overran yesterday." Hsu told the team. "We already emptied it of all the inactive enemy dolls. Stripped it of it's computer, too."

"Maybe she thought she could find some spare parts. Or siphon energy from the core." AR-15 offered.

"Most likely. We left everything else alone." Hsu said, placing a marker on the HUDs of each AR doll. "SVD"s team is closer, I'll have them set up and wait for you. Get going, double time."

"Yes, Sir!" M4 assured, kicking off and breaking into a sprint towards their new objective. The rest of her siblings followed her, each doll running at breakneck speeds now that their target was well and truly marked.


(17:12)

The outside of the outpost was quiet. Quieter than any of them liked. The structure itself was planted at the edge of another clearing, walls facing out towards the grassy field while it's back was nestled firmly against the treeline. The field itself was scarred, the bodies of Sangvis that had been destroyed by the main force still laying strewn across. Signs of what had initially been a lopsided battle in favor of Griffin, now showing cracks as Sangvis tried to lash back.

The AR team crept to the treeline's edge, close to the back of the outpost. At the front, the doors of the structure had been blasted shut, rended metal laying uselessly on the ground.

"Boo." A voice came from behind M4, causing the doll to shriek in surprise. All four dolls whipped around rifles aimed high at the tree branches as they began to rustle. Moments later, SVD hopped out, landing on her feet before the armed and aggro'd elite dolls with a smug grin plastered on face.

"Ah, ah, ah~. Guns down, ladies." The Ukrainian doll insisted.

M4, SOP and M16 did as was requested. But AR-15 remained rigid, clearly unamused by the prank. "You know we could've shot you, right?!"

SVD tapped her lower lip, growing inquisitive at the idea. "Maybe. But that would have ended poorly for you."

"You think you can take us?" AR-15 interrogated, insulted by the thought.

"Not quite…" SVD admitted, before lifting a hand to her mouth. "Vstavat'!"

At that command, the other Soviet dolls appeared, shaking off the foliage that covered them. Mosin jumped down from another tree, meanwhile Saiga, AK-74M and A-545 emerged from different bushes. Each held their weapons at the low ready, bar Saiga, her shotgun leveled right at AR-15's left side.

"Down, mutt." Saiga ordered, wagging her shotgun to flag the angry operator.

"Not bad…" M16 complimented, meanwhile AR-15 steamed even more at the gloating. No one liked being shown up, but the sharpshooter liked it even less than most. SOPMOD growled, getting ready to pounce on the shotgunner that dared to flag her sibling.

"All of you, stand down." Hsu ordered, forcing Saiga, AR-15 and SOPMOD to retract their aggression. "SVD, report."

The sniper snickered, happy that she'd managed to ruffle AR-15's feathers. "Scarecrow entered ten minutes ago. She was injured, bleeding rather badly. Still armed, however."

"You didn't engage?" M16 asked, surprised.

SVD shook her head. "Our orders were to hold and observe. The Commander wants her alive, my team is not suited for taking prisoners."

"Sounds like you were scared." AR-15 muttered, earning an embittered glare from A-545.

"Comrade Captain, can I shut her up?" The KCCO doll asked.

"Tempting, but no." SVD told her subordinate, before looking over to M4A1. "Ignoring your sister's disrespect, I must warn you. The only thing more dangerous than a cornered animal is a wounded one. It is extremely rare that a ringleader is ever captured, and they will use any means necessary to avoid such a fate. Are you ready for this, young one?"

M4 shuttered, before looking over her shoulder at the rest of her family. M16 grinned like a bandit ready to raid a convoy. SOPMOD looked beside herself with excitement. AR-15 quietly nodded, checking her rifle over one last time.

"...Yes. I'm ready." M4A1 promised, confident as she ever was.

SVD smiled at the girl. "Then good hunting. We shall remain here, on watch for any guests who wish to interrupt your work."

With that, and their plan set, the teams separated. SVD's group blended back into the foliage, their signatures disappearing as they re-entered their quiet state. Meanwhile, the AR team rounded the corner, stacking on both sides of the destroyed entrance before filing in.

The layout for this outpost was the exact same as all the others, even the ones that M4 had cleared months ago across the Moon's Face. Tall walls and ramparts surrounding an open air park filled with weapon caches and power nodes. Though unlike the last time she'd blitzed these with Echelon 3, there were no hostiles to greet them upon entry. No surprise plasma bolts, no ambushes. Simply the bodies of assorted Sangvis, ridden with bullets.

First they swept the outer area, checking every cubby for a trace of Scarecrow. When they found nothing, they moved to the drone storage shed. In there, where there were usually dozens of hibernating on hooks, was nothing. Though SOPMOD noticed that more than a few bodies had been cannibalized for parts, and there were several missing coolant canisters. There was only one suspect for such things.

Which left the final building. The central hub, where the outpost's mainframe was housed along with an assembly point. Each of the four girls set up on the doorway, M16 taking point while M4 unlocked the system. And as they slipped inside…

…The found who they were looking for.

Scarecrow, eyes shut and hung against a wall. Several robotic arms working to repair a severely damaged torso, gears and wires being replaced. All four of the girls kept their rifles aimed at the injured ringleader, but their target didn't react. The only movement was her body shifting as the arms pulled components out and stuffed no ones in.

"Freaky…" M16 observed, looking around the room. "How is this even working? I thought the main teams shut these places down."

There was a bit of shouting over the commlink, Hsu's voice loud and angry as he demanded an answer from the other Commanders in the room. There was back and forth for a few minutes, as M4 went over to the main console and reactivated it.

"She's… using herself as a conductor for the outpost's power." M4 informed everyone, typing away as she pulled up the base's electrical patterns. "And she's amplifying her distress call as well."

"How long until we've got more Sangvis, then?" AR-15 asked.

"Not long at all." M4 observed, trying to find a way to reverse Scarecrow's work.

"Let's just rip her down! That'll shut her up!" SOPMOD deducted, slinging her rifle and bringing her claws up as she advanced on the doll.

"Don't!" M4 ordered, turning around. "If you touch her, the power might route into you!"

SOPMOD balked, realizing that grabbing onto her prey would be the same as latching onto an electric fence. She jumped back, hiding behind AR-15 as the sharpshooter kept her weapon on the hostile leader.

"Should we cut our losses and just shoot her?" AR-15 asked.

M4 hesitated, trying to come up with some kind of plan. She looked back at the console, thinking back to the last time she'd jacked into such a device. Splicing around the ringleader would be difficult, to say the least. Especially if she'd directly lodged herself into the outpost's network.

Though… that also gave her an opportunity.

"You have a plan." Hsu observed. M4 nodded quietly, sending the idea over to the man. "Do it. The rest of you, cover her."

With his permission, M4 jacked into the mainframe directly. Her body seized up, taking on a surge of energy that racked her wires. But she kept her feet planted firmly, fighting through the shocking pain as she did her work, finding the points where Scarecrow's cloud was connected before attacking it directly. Hitting the cloud and ripping it's connection to the mainframe out.

The mechanical arms working on the ringleader stopped moving soon after, slumping over as they powered down. The hooks that held Scarecrow's body retracted, letting the still unconscious doll fall to the floor with a 'THUMP'. M4A1 also fell, the shock to her system hitting her like an out of control semi-truck. Her head hurt, her body hurt, her digimind hurt.

M16 rushed over, grabbing her sister by the arm and gently sitting her up. "Hey, hey! M-Four, you good? Talk to me!"

"Ugh…" The Captain said as she was pulled up, unable to stand under her own power.

"What did you go and do now…" M16 lamented, half-carrying her youngest sister away from the console. "Commander, what did she do?!"

"Forced a disconnect on Level Two. Her neural cloud's scrambled." The Commander relayed. "Get her outside, lock the door."

"What about Scarecrow?" SOP asked.

"She disabled Scarecrow's ports, her hover thrusters, weapons, and self-destruct core." Hsu continued to inform. "Get outside, lock her in there until M-Four recovers."

M16 nodded, ushering her other siblings back outside to the open area. Each followed suit, with AR-15 exiting last before she locked the door firmly shut behind them.

"I can't believe it. How did she do all of that?" AR-15 wondered aloud.

M16 chuckled, beaming down on the dazed Captain with pride as she tried to make her comfortable. The eldest AR doll pulled her own connection jack from her wrist, slipping it under M4's shirt and into the doll's AI core to help stabilize the girl's digimind.

"Because she's our sister, that's why." M16 boasted, getting to work as she triaged M4. "How did you know she could do that, Commander?"

"She told me she could."

"You took her word, just like that?" M16 asked, surprised at such a choice.

"...I had faith in her. It was enough." Hsu told them. M16 couldn't help but smile, glad that someone finally was starting to take M4A1 seriously.

Though the joy was cut off as gunfire began to blast outside.

"Shit." M16 cursed, maintaining the connection to M4. "Star, watch the door. Sop, head up front and help SVD's team."

SOPMOD perked up at the permission to enact more violence, sprinting back out and over to the outpost's front. She quickly clambered up the ladder, pulling herself up onto the rampart to see the firefight before her.

A sizable group of Sangvis had made their way over, no doubt responding to Scarecrow's distress signal. Squads of prowers, rippers and vespids pushed against the defensive line now set up by SVD's team. The Soviet dolls held, but they were in poor posture. Each of them having abandoned the treeline to physically place themselves between the Sangvis attack wave and the outpost where the AR team resided in, using the bodies of larger dead Sangvis as cover.

"You need to give them an opening so they can pull back behind the wall." Hsu instructed, his voice echoing in SOPMOD's head. "Can you suppress the drones?"

"Um…" SOPMOD said aloud, looking down to her assault rifle. Capable of automatic fire as it was, the meager 30 round magazines wouldn't provide too much overhead fire. Her grenade launcher was also an option, but that had a bigger risk of hurting her friends. SOP didn't like doing that, friends were nice. And now that the Commander had promised them he would let them stay, she didn't want to ruin her chance off making more friends. Even with someone mean like Saiga.

So, she turned around, her eyes fixating on a dead bruiser and it's minigun. With a glint in her eye, she hopped back to the ground and went over to her new toy.

SOPMOD hefted the large weapon, spinning the barrels as evil ideas began to infest her mind. She then leaned forwards, ripping the Bruiser's arm off of it's corpse and decoupling the hand. After pulling the sleeve of her hoodie up, she then pressed a release, letting her own arm fall to the ground before shoving the poached paw into the newly vacated socket.

She felt a sharp jolt, her own digimind reformatting to adapt the new hardware. After a few seconds, she wiggled the fingers of her new hand, then grabbed the trigger group in the back of the minigun. The Sangvis weapon then glowed to life, falsely registering SOP as its now dead former owner.

Joy was all she could feel as the sound of a target rich environment stomped outside the gates.

"...I'll tell them to duck." Was all Hsu said, giving SOP all the permission she needed. The doll then stomped over to the outpost's front gate, activating the weapon's power back as the barrels began to spin on their own. A wild cackle began to build in her throat, escaping her before she even pulled the trigger.

Though it only grew louder once she did.

SOPMOD's sadistic laughter spilled out as fast as the plasma bolts, both soaring over the heads of the now hunkered Soviet dolls as her destructive device went to work. Several Sangvis dolls met their end at the hands of their own technology, getting blown apart by bolt after bolt while the others scattered or hit the deck.

Seeing the opening, SVD yelled at her team to retreat. All of them ran back towards the gate as they made a great effort to avoid the manic elite doll's arc of fire. For what it was worth, SOP did keep her spray consistent. She left clear openings for them to flee to her, remembering why she was doing this.

Well, besides killing Sangvis. That was usually her main priority.

As the last of her allies slipped inside, SOP followed behind them and took cover as the enemy finally began to fire back once more. Mosin laughed, slapping the AR team doll on the back jovially.

"That's what I'm talking about! Giving them their own medicine!" Mosin cheered, pointing over at AK-74M. "See? This is how you fuck up those brain-dead drones!"

"Your choice in role models disturbs me, Comrade Mosin." AK-74M observed blithely, following SVD and the rest of her team up to the ramparts as they continued their defensive action. Seeing as her work was done, SOP dropped the minigun and picked her arm off of the ground, jogging back over to where the rest of her family rested.

Her siblings were still as they found them, though now M4 was finally back on her feet. The Captain was still a bit dazed, but mostly had her wits about her. M16 was running a final diagnostic, while AR-15 kept an ear to the door.

"The target awake?" Hsu asked AR-15.

"Yeah, she's awake. And upset." AR-15 confirmed.

M16 shook her head. She'd expected this, seeing as they'd left her in there. But M4's safety was a priority, and Scarecrow was still plenty vulnerable.

"Sop, pass your old arm over here." M16 instructed. The grenadier did what she was told, giving the limb over to her sister. M16 then took a small coil of wire and her four remaining flashbangs, strapping them against the arm fastening them tight to it.

"What are you doing?" AR-15 asked, watching the bizarre arts and crafts session.

"Trick I learned during the war." M16 explained, hefting the makeshift club as she double checked the knot. "You know how some Sangvis dolls can eat stun grenades?"

Star nodded her head, staying stacked up on the entrance to the hibernation bay. Inside she could hear movement, further confirmation that their target had woken up during the previous firefight.

"Some of'em can shake off one or two. Haven't met one that can take four to the face." She explained with a grin. "Green Berets call it a Four Loko. Hits almost as hard as one."

"Funny, we called'em Pole Dancers." Hsu followed up. "Making me nostalgic."

M16's grin only grew, pleased at some sense of comradery. "See? Someone appreciates it. Ever use one yourself, Commander?"

"Once. Krakow. Bunch of Soviets were holed up in an apartment and wouldn't leave." He reminisced with a snort. "Dumb bastards should've listened, cost'em their ears."

"People always have to learn the hard way…" M16 lamented, taking her position next to the door and looping a finger through the pin's ring.

As the others set themselves into position, M16 gave AR-15 the signal. The sharpshooter then pressed the button, unlocking the door. M16 threw the bundle in immediately after, pulling the pin before the toss. The device slapped the ground once before exploding, Scarecrow's vodicoded shriek piercing all of their ears before they funneled inside yet again.

Upon entry, they found the ringleader shutting her eyes and covering her ears, stunned by the battery of light and sound that overwhelmed even her strong dampeners. Taking no pity, AR-15 drew her knife and lunged forwards, tackling Scarecrow and pinning her to the ground. She pressed her knife harshly against her prisoner's neck, piercing the skin and drawing more purple coolant.

"Sop, get those cables and help me tie her!" AR-15 ordered. As SOP did as she was told, she kept her eyes firmly set on Scarecrow's face. "Don't you dare fucking move. I swear I'll take your head off, don't think I won't."

Seething, Scarecrow hissed through her mask, wringing around in her captor's grasp as she was brought up. "You… dare… you DARE TO TOUCH ME-?!"

Unfortunately for her, the ringleader's vengeful tirade was silenced as soon as it began thanks to a smack across the head from a glass bottle.

"Yeah, we do. Cry about it." M16 answered, looking at the now broken bottle and tossing it over her shoulder with a shrug.

AR-15 watched the throw, following the arc until it smashed on the ground. "Why do you have a bottle of Jack on you?"

"Never go into a fight sober, sis." M16 told her, as if it was words from an ancient sage.

AR-15 looked back over to M16, befuddled. "I-. What? WHAT?"

"Focus. I sent the helicopter your way when you arrived, it should be here soon." Hsu told the team. With a huff, AR-15 held her still as SOP ripped a cable out from the wall and used it to hogtie their target. Through it all, Scarecrow still attempted to resist. But as her vision cleared, and her mind finally registered just who it was putting her in binds, her fury boiled over.

"No, no, no! I refuse to be taken by vermin! You rats, you filth!" She yelled as SOPMOD began to wrap the industrial cable around her arms.

Sick of the dramatics, M16 stomped over. She grabbed a tuft of Scarecrow's hair, yanking the ringleader's head back so she could glare down into her eyes. Scarecrow yelled in pain, but it didn't matter.

"Insult my family one more time." M16 spat, voice steady and cold. The veteran doll's gaze pierced into Scarecrow's own, breaking it down through sheer force of will as she lorded over the impertinent prisoner. "Do it. Do it."

Scarecrow didn't do it. She didn't do anything else, M16's terrifying presence shocking even her own sisters. They'd never seen this side of her before.

Satisfied, M16 let go of Scarecrow's head. She let SOPMOD finish her work, before going over to M4A1. "Let's get out of here."

M4 bobbed her head, leading the four back out front as the shootout continued. A small layer of brass had begun to form at the base of the ladders, spent casings rolling down and raining onto the ground.

Soon enough, the helicopter's rotors could be heard. As the dolls looked up, the Chinook could be seen flying towards them, coming to a halt and turning it's rear towards the hostiles attacking.

From the rear, BAR began to fire down on the remaining Sangvis dolls with the M2 machine gun. A sleet of .50BMG fell, piercing anything and anything unfortunate enough to be in her target area. Even the more heavily armored dolls stood no chance, chunks of metal getting torn off their body before they met their end.

"...How do we load her onto the helicopter?" M4 asked as she tightened the binds on the ringleader's arms.

"I know!" SOP said, jumping up onto an aegis' corpse. "We'll break her legs!"

M4 yelped, but Star spoke up first. "No leg breaking."

SOPMOD pouted at the dismissal, looking over to M16 for some support. The oldest doll tapped the stock of her rifle. "...I mean, it'd-"

"No. Leg. Breaking." Hsu repeated through Zener, his voice rattling all of their ears.

The coast was clear soon after, the last of the interdicting force having been laid to waste by close air support. Hsu, looking down from the helicopter's gunners' view, informed the team that the coast was clear. Slowly, the Chinook lowered itself as the Griffin dolls came closer. BAR in particular looked especially pleased, detaching her machine gun and setting it to the side to give them room to walk up the loading ramp.

"Well, well, well, if it isn't the floating murderhobo." BAR mocked as she approached the AR team, SVD's group walking past and boarding the helicopter. The machine gunner came close, looking at the captured ringleader's face. "Remember me, bitch? The doll who's knee you blew off?"

Another hiss left Scarecrow, but no words came.

"She's all yours. Be careful." The Commander instructed.

"Oh, I'll take good care of her." BAR promised as she carried the hogtied ringleader up the Chinook's ramp and over her shoulder.

"We need her alive, Bar. And awake." Hsu reminded.

The machine gunner frowned, sneering at Scarecrow before pulling the Sangvis doll's gasmask off. "...Can I at least break her legs?"

"LEG BREAKING?" SOP called, activated by the chance of violence.

"No leg breaking!" Hsu ordered through comms once again.

Disappointed and dejected, SOPMOD walked up the ramp and into the belly of the bird. AR-15 and M16 soon followed, with M4A1 looking out to see what was being left behind. The sight was grisly, despite their victory. Different than she was used to, with her usual missions involving minimal combat and minimal casualties. As she stepped inside the helicopter, she thought that over. How she seemed to be gaining danger as well as friends.

It felt like a worthwhile trade. But a pit formed in her processor as she thought of what was to come. With this action, retaliation was inevitable.

But for now, she tried to enjoy her success.


A/N: Next chapter will be a slower one, a break before the final stretch for this arc. Expect it... eventually.

o/