Welcome to Investigation I, the start of Chapter 02 in-game! After finding strange coordinates from a recently-raided Command Post, Commander Becker decides to check it out, only to be dragged right back into HQ's shit because of it.

Anyways, thanks to the fact that I changed a few things for the story, I'm doing things a little differently, and once again, two fight chapters are happening back-to-back. On top of that, I ended up finding music from the famous Soviet rockstar Viktor Tsoi, or rather his band Kino, which makes me wonder if a certain rebellious Russian StateSec agent listens to his music often.

To Culture-Hunt3r, I thank you for your support, and I have no plans on stopping the story's progression. If you'd like, then I encourage you to check out my other works on this site. While I'm not sure they're as good as the Recollection, you may like them either way. And yes, there will definitely be more "fieldwork" (Commander on-site) chapters

Anyways, enjoy!


Station 794 Data Room, Sector 09

Ukraine, Neo-Soviet Union

July 10, 2062


Commander Ian Becker

"So, this is what you pulled off of the outpost, huh?"

A few hours after the previous operation, Ian and M1911 were currently stood in the Data Room, discussing the intel the latter acquired from their last mission while Kalina looked through it, sat in her chair and paying the other occupants of the room no mind as she worked on her new computer.

"Yup. It wasn't hard to do since they had only set up shop a couple days ago." the HG replied, shrugging her shoulders.

"True, but do you think they might've recorded something valuable in those two days?"

The blonde simply nodded, watching as Kalina came across a code of sorts and stopped on it.

"What is it?"

"A code... um, 835492260223..." the woman trailed off, causing Ian to remember a very particular set of numbers uttered by Scarecrow.

"...8354... 9226... 0223... I finally calculated the coordinates of M4A1's whereabouts at the last minute..."

No way...

"Kalina, open a line to Helian right away." he ordered firmly.

Without saying anything Kalina opened another tab on her new computer and opened a comms channel with Helian on the new tab, waiting for it to get through to her.

After seven seconds, Helian appeared on the monitor, somewhat exhausted-looking.

"Hello, you three." she greeted, taking a sip of coffee.

"Good to see you, Helian." Ian told her casually while M1911 offered a brisk salute and Kalina waved.

"Same to you. I'm guessing there's a reason you called me."

"Yeah. Is the code 8354-9226-0223 familiar to you?"

In response to his question Helian looked up at him with an inquisitive look in her golden eyes.

"Who's asking?"

"My troops led an operation to steal intel from a newly-established Sangvis outpost and destroy it, and we were analyzing that intel when those numbers popped up. If I remember correctly, Scarecrow mentioned them right before she blew herself up."

Now that had the Sub-Director's attention.

"Give me a moment, Commander."

As the grey-haired woman disappeared from the screen, the three Station 794 staff members waited with baited breaths as they heard the sound of a keyboard being used, then watched as she reappeared, placing her hands on the table as she stared them down.

"Those numbers were one of the only things we acquired from Scarecrow's memory unit." she explained. "And after I ran them through our systems, we came up with a set of coordinates. Commander, I would like for you to investigate the area in question as quickly as possible."

Soon, a set of coordinates appeared on the screen.

"Consider it done, Helian."

"Thank you, Commander. Don't hesitate to report anything you find. Helian out."

As the comms were cut, Ian looked to M1911 and told her to get her team gathered.

"Oh, don't forget to bring a recon drone with you!" he called out when she ran out the room, eager to carry his order out. Sighing, he patted Kalina's shoulder and followed M1911 out the room, silently reminding himself to not call his troops to the Command Room for the briefing.

"This better come up with something."


Tactical Doll M1911

Station 794 Armory

Holding an improvised recon drone built from repurposed Sangvis parts in her gloved hands, the blonde HG listened idly as she listened to her team's chatter, which to her sadness no longer included Sten, as the British Doll had wanted to be in a team with her old friends in it. Taking her place was their newest addition, Howa Type 64, who was taking note of the sheer variety of Station 794's arsenal, which now had twelve NATO-issued weapons including an MGL and a Browning M2HB (gifted by Commander Kamalov the previous day) of all things, while AK-47 told her about the weapons in the armory.

"So this is a SIG MCX SPEAR, also known as the XM-5 by the US military. It fires the 6.8x51mm cartridge, also called .277 Fury, and it features both a standard-issue suppressor and a very special optical sight that does the same thing a working Fire Control Core does." the AR in question was telling the rookie.

"Working?"

"Mine's trash, so I trained myself to shoot without it." she chuckled, setting the XM-5 down and picking up an AK-74M. "This is the AK-74M, a version of the AKM that fires smaller, but faster 5.45x39mm rounds, which were nicknamed 'poison bullets' by the Mujahideen back when the original AK-74 was issued. Speaking of 74M, I have a little sister who uses it, but she works in the military as opposed to Griffin, and the Soviets don't wanna lose her to a PMC."

"Do you two talk often?" Howa 64 asked.

"Eh, as often as we can. Oh, here's the FN SCAR-H, which fires 7.62x51mm like your gun does." AK-47 told her, picking the tan-colored rifle up.

"But it's not a reduced-powder version of the round, right?"

"That's right. In terms of the rifle, some people loved it, some people hated it. Either way, early twenty-first century shooter games really liked had the SCAR."

Setting the rifle down, she then went for the P90, picking it up and examining it.

"This here is FN Herstal's P90, a very compact SMG that was first intended for logistics crews and the rearline in general, but gradually ended up in counterterrorist units and civilian arsenals as time passed on. It fires 5.7x28mm rounds from a top-mounted box magazine and either has an intergrated sight built into it or a tri-rail system for attaching lasers or different sights on it, like this red dot here." the AR finished, pointing at the red dot sat atop the weapon.

"How do you know all this stuff?"

"Eh, we were encouraged to train with other weapons in the event we lost our normal ones or if they were ineffective against the current enemy." she explained. "Plus, G36 made me clean the armory up way too many times."

"Yeah, that oughta do it." M1911 cut in, storing the recon drone on her back as she made her way to the two other girls in the room. "Anyways, I think it's best if we get you a pistol in case you run out of ammo or you're in tight spaces."

Pulling a Colt M1911A1 pistol off of a rack, the veteran handed it to the black-haired rookie, who gently took it.

"How does it feel? If it's not your thing, we've got other pistols you can try out." she asked as Howa 64 examined the weapon, turning it around in her hand as she got a feel for it.

"It's nice, although some of the Dolls I met before coming here said it was irrelevant and useless..."

The comment pissed the blonde off, not because it was the new girl's actual opinion (because it clearly wasn't), but because of how the other Griffin members thought so lowly of her.

"Course they did. Howa, let me tell you something." she said lowly, grabbing the taller Doll by the shoulders and gently turning her around to face her. "I might not have a double-stack magazine and I might be a bit heavy and kick more than a nine-mil pistol, but there's a reason I've been used by the US Army for a century along with the years I was used in World War 3, so don't take what those jealous losers tell you for granted, because in the end, I've seen every war from the Great War to this one..."

In the corner, AK-47 couldn't help but chuckle as she watched her friend correct the rookie's mistake on her efficiency, because while the HG was nice to nearly everyone, nothing pissed her off worse than being called obsolete, and it was a lot like watching a yandere convince her love interest to not pursue other women.

"...so don't ever think I'm obsolete, yeah?" M1911 finished, her eyes half-lidded and her smile the slightest bit dangerous.

"H-Hai..."

Shit, didn't mean to scare the poor kid.

"Sorry if I scared you, miss." she apologized, patting Howa 64's shoulder reassuringly. "Anyways, is that your choice?"

Taking a minute to aim her secondary weapon, the Japanese girl nodded and attempted to put the pistol in her belt's pouch— only for M1911 to put her hand up and fish out a leg holster, fastening it onto her slender leg gently so it didn't dig into her flesh too much.

"Arigato..." she told her leader, properly holstering the pistol and then putting her black harness back on, blushing as it was wrapped under her bust again.

"Is there a way to make them less noticeable...?" she murmured embarrassedly, causing the two veterans to chuckle as she secured the garment.

"We could get you a ballistic vest, but that's a bit unnecessary because of your internal armor plating, so you're already set." her senior told her before checking if she was set up like she needed to be. "Drone, check... ammo, check... smoke grenades, check..."

As she checked her gear, AK-47 called for MP5 and FN-49, waiting patiently as the two came up, geared up and ready.

"We're good, but we can't find Frau Grizzly anywhere in the bass." the white-haired loli told them.

"Ugh, please don't tell me she and Cheeto are doing it in his Humvee again..." M1911 groaned, knowing full well what happened during the previous Griffin and Kryuger anniversary party when they got their hands on some liquor.

"Haha, very funny. We're waiting on y'all, you know." the aforementioned Doll told them, sending a live video feed showing the driver in question playing around on his phone as he waited for them.

"Right. We'll be right there."

Shutting the comms link off, she quickly made to leave the armory with her subordinates in tow when she heard a loud crash coming from the adjacent storage room.

"GOTTVERDAMMT, FNC!"

Never a dull moment.


Tactical Doll Grizzly Mk. V

Sat in the passenger side of a certain Humvee, Grizzly watched as Chester "Cheeto" Johnson tried to write a requisition form on his phone to e-mail to the Commander, his gloves curewntly sat in his lap as he texted out the form with a focused look on his face. Knowing her old friend, it was likely that he needed something like air conditioning or a better radio.

"That oughta do it." he said at last, putting his phone in his pocket and pulling his Mechanix gloves on, starting up his vehicle when he saw a team of five approaching them.

"Huh. Looks like 1911 indoctrinated that rookie real quicklike." the HG chuckled when she spotted an M1911A1 riding on the Japanese Doll's leg in a black holster.

"Shut up, she told me the people at the IOP factory said I was useless, and it's period-accurate, either way." the blonde told them when she got to them, opening the door for her teammates and letting the rookie in first, chuckling when she sat all formal-like while her teammates sat down more casually, although FN-49 was certainly more formal than the others that came before her.

"Where are we going?" Cheeto asked, shutting the driver's seat door.

"Here." M1911 pulled a slip of paper out of her pouch and gave it to the weathered man, who swiftly read it before pulling out of the garage.

"So what, did Sangvis build another friggin' outpost?"

"No, we're supposed to be doing a recon mission. At least we get to put that drone to good use."

Nodding in understanding, Cheeto drove to the gate at a steady pace, mindful to not leave his colleagues in the dust created by going too fast, got clearance from the guard, and drove out once the heavy gate opened, allowing them to finally begin their trip to the new mission area.


Now parked in front of an abandoned, desaturated-looking civilian settlement sat next to a forest, the team slowly got out of the Humvee after Cheeto pulled a gasmask on and parked, telling them the area was contaminated with Yellow Zone-level Collapse contamination. Taking note of it, the Dolls' tacmaps updated to highlight the area in yellow, a small part or the area lit up bloodred to show the heaviest contamination levels.

"Be careful not to enter that radiation hotspot." the driver warned. "You might not get ELID, but it'll still corrode your systems pretty damn fast."

"Understood." the newbie said as she got out the vehicle, her allies close behind as M1911 stood before her subordinates.

"Alright, everyone, since we don't know what's waiting for us out there, I'm gonna do some surveillance on the place with the drone, then we're gonna split up in pairs of two so we can cover more ground. In terms of what we're looking for, I'd keep an eye out for any kind of footage, tracks, or if we're lucky, a Doll armed with an M4A1 Carbine. Any questions?"

Nobody asked any questions, although Grizzly wanted to.

"Good. Let's go."


Tactical Doll M1911

After briefing her Echelon, M1911 pulled the makeshift recon drone from its bag and turned it on, lifting it into the air and using a tablet linked to it to begin its flight. Thankfully, it had been tested before getting sent on the field, which assuaged the HG's worries of it blowing up as it strayed away from the team, the active camera feed allowing her to get a birds' eye view of everything. Panning over the area revealed multiple squads of scattered Sangvis Dolls in the field, on the roads, and around a graveyard of wrecked cars, and if she wasn't mistaken, a group of grotesque ELID-mutated humans, called Walkers for convenience's sake, meandering in a small clearing in the forest.

The memory of the dead ELID reared its ugly head at the sight of the Walkers, threatening to make her throw up before she mercilessly suppressed it.

"Damn it, we've got confirmed Sangvis presence here." the blonde groaned as she tagged each hostile. "On top of that, we have unconfirmed ELID presence in the forest areas."

"That's gonna suck." Grizzly groaned with her.

Not saying anything else, she flew the drone east, tagging a couple more Sangvis Dolls and a pair of Scouts before seeing an old two-story house sat dead-crnter in a group of smaller houses, which she immediately marked as a point of interest.

"Got an interesting-looking house in the east. We'll definitely stop by and check it out."

As the other team members acknowledged her find, she continued to look around the region, finding a long-destroyed Manticore from WW3 half-buried in the ground near the house and finding a pair of Jaegers hiding out in the trees close to the forest, more or less utilizing their older tactics. A team of Rippers and Vespids were inside and outside the house, investigating the building before Griffin could get a chance to.

After tagging them all as well as a group of Prowlers in a clearing of the car field, she carefully flew the drone back to them and turned it off, placing it in her pack.

"I've tagged over twenty hostiles around the house and another twenty in the other areas. The only points of interest are that house in the east and the field of cars, and the forest to the west may have ELID presence, as well as multiple Jaegers in the trees."

"Understood." everyone else said.

"Okay, uh, me and Grizzly will look into the house, AK and Howa'll be investigating the field of cars, and MP5 and 49'll take the forest. Any questions?" M1911 told them.

And just like last time, nobody had any questions.

"Good. Let's move out!"


Tactical Doll AK-47

With Howa 64 behind her, AK-47 marched her way down to the car graveyard, careful not to make too much noise lest she draw the attention of the Sangvis on-site, specifically the Jaegers or ELID Walkers in the forest. At the very least M1911 had tagged any hostiles she found using the drone, and given that her current partner didn't deal with any lack of knowledge well, it was good for her as well.

Speaking of, it was rather fascinating how well she acclimated to battle compared to social encounters at the base, going from a nervous wreck to a calmer and more collected operator.

"Hey, Howa."

"Huh?"

"How come you know your way around fighting so well? You didn't seem too good with social stuff, you know." the Russian asked on Zener.

"Well, IOP made sure I knew how to fight right out of the gate, but all that data came at the cost of social aptitude..." Howa 64 replied.

"Huh. Hang on, we've got enemies nearby."

The blonde held her hand out in a halting motion as she stopped and crouched doen beside a car, causing the rookie to do the same, pushing her bow down to keep the brightly-colored item hidden. Standing mere feet away from them were a pair of Rippers tailed by a Scout, the flying drone untagged but the Rippers bearing red, inverted triangle indicators.

"1911, we've reached the vehicle graveyard, and you missed a few enemy units." she informed her leader.

"Thanks for pointing that out. Anyways, that's good to hear, 'cuz me and Grizzly are still en route to the house." the HG replied.

"Got it. AK out."

Watching the hostile units carefully, AK-47 had neglected to keep an eye on her rear, where a lone Vespid was going around the car and laid eyes on her, weapon going up to fire— only for Howa 64 to grab it, pull it down, and snap its neck, impaling the Doll's core with a knife as insurance.

"She almost shot you." the Japanese Doll explained curtly.

Huh.

"Oh, uh, spasibo."

"Doitashimashite."

"Uh, I think the proper word is 'pozhalustya,' but alright..."

Looking back ahead of them, the enemy Dolls had moved, allowing the two proceed safely, with AK-47 paying more attention to her surroundings as they began searching the cars for intel or clues of any kind, Howa 64 coming up on some spent 5.56x45 casings but nothing more. They looked too old to be recent, so the two just left them behind as they searched, coming up on another patrol, but with no Scouts and a Vespid alongside the Rippers.

"Hey, can you do that pulse thing you did last op?"

"Hai."

A golden wave enimated from the younger Doll, washing over AK-47 and giving her an odd sensation as it spread across the vehicle graveyard, tagging at least eleven hostile Dolls and four machines, all Scouts.

"Eleven hostile Dolls are present, along with four machine units." the Doll reported dutifully.

Counting that number, if they kept their stealth, then they could successfully eliminate the Dolls without drawing the attention of the other unuts in the area, and if they congregated the Scouts together, then an EMP grenade would take care of them.

"If we can, let's kill 'em all. Don't get spotted if you can help it." the Russian Doll told her partner, internally facepalming herself for suggesting stealth thanks to her innate hatred of sneaking around.

"Understood."

Pulling out their knives, the two Dolls decided to split up temporarily, tailing different groups of hostiles to the more inconspicuous locations in the graveyard to kill them, careful not to be spotted by the Scouts on-site as they moved.

AK-47 had her eye on a pair of Rippers that were investigating a pickup truck, rooting around it for something credible to bring back to their base. As they worked, the AR looked around extensively for any other hostiles before she crept up to them— and struck.

Covering the left one's mouth, she rammed her blade straight into her Core throhgh her back, then her ally went to open fire before she disarmed her and attempted to stab the violet-haired war machine, only for her arm to be grabbed before she could land it. As a result she immediately punched the Ripper in the face, then took the opportunity to stab her under the armpit, avoiding her internal armor entirely and landing it straight into her Core.

As the enemy Doll died, AK-47 immediately looked around to see if any hostiles had heard the commotion, and after seeing none, she retreated back into cover, pulling the bodies and weapons with her to avoid them being found.

Not quite how I wanted to do it, but it worked. Kind of.

Anouher golden wave shot outward from behind an SUV, highlighting six remaining targets in the graveyard, three of them searching the vehicles for evidence of the HVT their bosses wanted and the other three guarding them. The Scouts were all flying around the graveyard, looking around for intruders, and if the annoying drones even got a whiff of the Griffin operatives on-site, then they'd start firing, alert the other units in the field, or both. Most likely both.

"Corall the Scouts in one place, then we EMP them and eliminate the Dolls." the experienced AR told her ally.

"I understand. Getting them gathered now."

After a few moments of hiding, she heard a loud impact as something unfoubtedly hit one of the cars, and through the semi-truck's trailer she could see the four tagged drones fly over to check it out.

"Okay, make sure you're not in the EMP's radius or you'll be disabled."

Looking around the truck and priming the grenade, she watched as Howa 64 carefully vacated the area near the Scouts, and as the drones stopped to scan the area, she chucked her grenade and hoped for the best. Soon, a blue wave washed over a five meter radius and the drones sparked profusely, going down a mere second later. Soon, the Sangvis Dolls abandoned their previous tasks to check it out— only to end up landing right into AK-47's trap.

"Fire."

From their cover spots, the two Dolls quickly took aim and fired, Howa 64 being undoubtedly faster than her thanks to her FCC assistance but both Dolls successfully exterminating their targets, purple-black oils splattering the ground as the gunshots resounded through the field.

A pulse rang out a moment later to confirm the kills, and when no targets were detected, the blonde reported her progress.

"1911, Komandir, the vehicle graveyard's secure, but we've yet to find anything of value."

"Keep looking. If nothing's there, then be on standby to provide support to your team." the Commander told her.

"That's about fifteen less hostiles to worry about." M1911 reported. "Speaking of, me and Grizzly're close to the house, but they hsven't mobilized troops to go after you yet."

"That's good. Anything from 49 and MP5?"

"Not yet. I've got to go."

"Got it, AK out."

Cutting the comms link, AK-47 then turned to her partner and issued a command to keep looking, causing her to start rooting around the old cars for anything while the Russian went to the semi-truck to search it, ignoring the stench in the air from the dead, rotting bodies in the cars that she had just noticed.

We'd better find something here.


Tactical Doll M1911

Crouched low to avoid detection, M1911 and Grizzly crept around the abandoned, Collapse irradiated neighborhood at a snail's pace towards the old house, keeping an eye on the inverted red triangles inside the house and the hostile Dolls outside, keeping watch for intruders. Thankfully for AK-47's team, the enemy presence here remained unchanged despite the noise they made, but for them, it was troublesome, to say the least.

"Why are there so many of 'em?" Grizzly asked over Zener when she saw them all. "There weren't so many at the other houses we searched."

"I dunno. That Doll must be pretty important to them if they're shelling out this many troops to find her."

"What, the M4 Doll you mentioned?"

"She's in charge of some kind of spec-ops team, and apparently she has something SF wants. That's all I can say on the matter."

Soon, they reached the edge of a storage shed, approximately twenty-seven meters away from the nearest entrance. The only problem? A Vespid was looking right at their position, and they did not bring suppressors with them.

"Fuck. You got anything to use?"

Rooting around for a rock on the ground, she soon found one and picked it up, careful not to make too much noise or reveal herself as she aimed it behind the Vespid, where it would land behind her and draw her away. After a moment of adjusting her aim, she exhaled and threw her rock, hitting the wall behind the helmeted Sangvis Doll and drawing her attention to it, leaving her open for an attack of sorts.

Grizzly went forth once she was sure nobody was watching, smashing the Sangvis Doll's knee joint with her foot before pulling a knife out and stabbing her in the throat, splattering purpleish oils across the wall she was facing.

"Now we go in." the brunette said, making sure nobody was looking their way before she went inside.

Following closely, M1911 was sure to not alert the other hostiles on-site as she entered the house, taking point wordlessly and going left from the foyer, activating her night vision to see through the darkness of the house. She also happened to notice that her signal indicator was cut, and this house wasn't anywhere near the Red Zone-level radiation pocket.

They've got a jammer... she realized.

"Comms are jammed, so don't try to contact our allies." she warned.

"Got it."

With how many hostiles were present, it was only a matter of time before they were compromised, a fact driven home when M1911 nearly faceplanted into a Ripper, causing her to jolt up before she dropped her with a couple .45 ACP rounds to the face, the loud booms immediately alerting the hostiles in the house to their presence.

"Shots fired, shots fired!" a Sangvis Doll yelled from upstairs as rapid footsteps resounded throughout the building, causing the Griffin Dolls to dart into the nearest room or take cover in a hallway, watching the stairs as two Vespids ran out, weapons trained down the hallways.

"Found a body." one of the Vespids said when she laid eyes on the dead Ripper— and prompted Grizzly to fire on her from the hallway, puncturing her helmet with a single well-placed shot and showering the other Doll in her oils as she fell.

In response the remaining Vespid immediately opened fire on the 5-Star HG's position as another Vespid and a Ripper joined her, filling the hallway with plasma bolts and forcing the Griffin Dolls into cover.

"Oh, come on!" M1911 yelled as she blind-fired from her cover, hearing the impacts of metal-on-metal from successful hits but if anything the enemy fire focused on her even more, causing her to prime an EMP and throw it down the hall. Whether or not it succeeded, she didn't know, but her attention was immediately drawn away from it by a plasma bolt going through the drywall from the outside, striking the blonde in the torso and causing a burning pain to spread through her body.

Grunting in pain and returning fire in kind, she was pleased to see a Vespid die on the other side through the holes in the wall, and unwilling to be shot through the wall again, she ran out of the room to see three dead Sangvis Dolls on the floor by the stairs, sparking profusely from the EMP she threw.

"You alright?" Grizzly asked when she emerged from cover, eyes falling on the new hole in her chest.

"Bastards tagged me through a wall. I'll be fine, nothing important got hit."

"Alright— fuck, they've brought reinforcements!" the brunette yelled as plasma fire tore through the hallway, forcing the two up the stairs as enemy infantry below fired on them. Returning fire again, they were successfully able to hit and kill at least two of the hostiles coming up the stairs before they reached the top, opening the nearest room up and entering it to find an emptied master bedroom.

"Explain to me why we came here again!" M1911 yelled, mag-dumping her pistol into a pair of Rippers before they could fire at them and reloading. "Because we really should have looked at this place last!"

"I dunno, you brought us here!" Grizzly replied as she killed a Vespid with a headshot, her other shots forcing the remaining hostiles down the stairs and allowing her to shut and board the door shut. Hearing footsteps in the adjacent room, she immediately turned her gun left and put a few rounds through the wall, two thuds resounding in the other room a second later.

Meanwhile, the hostiles downstairs were putting all of their efforts into destroying the bedroom door, every round they fired quickly reducing the barrier to charcoal and ash. And once again, they were just as screwed as they were when they had chosen to take on that patrol during their own patrol.

And of course the comms're jammed. Hopefully MP5 and 49're doing alright.


Tactical Doll FN-49

"RUUUUN!"

How did FN-49 and MP5 wind up being chased by a horde of sickness-inducing monsters, the young Rifle didn't know, but what she did know was that they were tough, even more so than the Sangvis Dolls she'd been fighting since she got here, and that they were infinitely more frightening than the rampant war machines were. From their sickly, swollen-up skin to their milky eyes and ripped-up clothes to the visceral howls they made, they were pure nightmare fuel, and the Belgian had no idea how a human soldier could have even stomached these things.

Oh, and did she mention that some of them were armed with military gear?

"To anyone who's available, we are being pursued by a horde of ELID and are in immediate need of backup!" she yelled into the comms as a burst of 5.45x39 flew over her head, causing her to duck down to avoid the enemy fire. A single round struck her shoulder-blade, causing her to stumble slightly before regaining her footing.

"We got you, 49!" AK-47's voice rang through the comms. "Where are you, still in the forest?"

"Oui! Just hurry!"

Whatever the Russian said next was disrupted by yet another round of gunfire, this time nearly hitting FN-49 in the calf. This caused MP5 to turn back and throw a frag grenade at the horde, landing it right in the middle of it. However, as the SMG had neglected to cook it, the ELID horde had moved away from it, causing only the ones in the back to get killed by ths grenade's explosion, bits of gore flying from the force of the blast.

And even worse for them, they had fallen within range of the Jaegers, the thought accompanied by a pair of high-powered particle beams lancing into the horde and killing a pair of Walkers with ease.

At least they saw the horde and not us... the brunette thought, remembering how agonizing it felt for one of those bolts to pierce her chest, how she could hardly breathe or hear anything, how hurt AK-47 looked when she saw her get shot.

Back in present day, she and MP5 had finally found a decent place to stand their ground and set up, her rifle propped up on a fallen tree as she took aim, her sights landing on a Walker's head beford she fired, blowing a hole through its head and splattering irradiated blood onto its allies before she selected another target and fired, busting another head and repeating the process, slowly thinning out the horde, one bullet at a time.

However, this caused some of the horde (or rather a lot) to ignore the Jaegers and go after them, including some of the surviving former gunmen. In response MP5 immediately started firing once they were within range of her submachine gun. However, thanks to their hardened layers of skin her 9x19 Parabellum bullets were a bit ineffective against them, and when they got near she was forced to put her shield up to keep them safe from the gunners' fire— and not even a moment later two high-powered particle beams struck and bounced off of it.

After looking up and killing the Jaegers with headshots before the white-haired SMG's shield failed, FN-49's weapon clicked empty, and the horde was still twenty members strong.

"Merde!" she swore (a rare thing for her) as she let her rifle hang on its sling and drew her Hi-Power, retreating back as she and MP5 tried in vain to hold the horde back, and the Rifle could help but think they'd die— before a golden wave washed over her and the Walkers closest to her were suddenly exterminated with high-powered bullets.

Looking to her right, a wave of relief washed over her when she laid eyes on AK-47, Howa 64, and a blonde Doll in dark clothes wielding a G3 battle rifle as they fired into the horde of Walkers.

"AK, you made it!" she yelled in relief, taking the time to reload her primary weapon as the new arrivals ripped through the horde before joining in again, eliminating the last hostiles in the area with unerring accuracy.

When another golden wave washed over the area to ensure no hostiles escaped death, their saviors carefully approached them, and FN-49 was able to get a better look at the G3-wielding Doll.

Her pale blonde easily hung to her waist, framing a heart-shaped face with violet eyes, and her slender, but filled out figure was covered by a collared bolero jacket over a strapless, tight-fitting dress and underbust corset, all three garments colored black and lined with red. She also wore a golden cross around her neck, a brown bag around her waist, a leather strap around her left thigh, and black boots with red lining. Strangely, two small, pyramid-shaped communications modules, colored black, sat behind her ears.

"You two alright?" AK-47 asked them, checking the rookie for injury.

"Oui." FN-49 replied. "You came just in time."

"That's good— uh, MP5?"

The SMG in question was currently staring the G3 Doll down, a weird look in her eyes as she regarded her.

"Leah, is that you...?" she asked slowly, causing a look of recognition to flash on the other German's face.

"Ida...?" she trailed off— right before MP5 jumped up and gave a bone-crushing hug, tears of joy leaking from her eyes.

"Mein Gott, it's been so long!" she yelled happily as G3 returned the hug, smiling warmly at her with lidded eyes.

Both FN-49 and Howa 64 were completely and utterly confused at the turn of events, but AK-47 seemed to understand, leaving the two Germans to it before turning her comms on, attempting to contact someone on them. Either way, when they broke apart and MP5 noticed the newer Dolls' awkward gazes, she immediately went to explain what the deal was with her behavior.

"Oh, this is G3, my sister, who I haven't seen in two years."

"Hallo." the taller blonde greeted softly, waving demurely.

"Uh, bonjour, G3." FN-49 said, waving back and about to say something else when AK-47 cut her off.

"1911's not responding, and Grizzly isn't either." she reported, face grim. "We have to go right now."

As she left the forest to contact thrir driver, FN-49 decided to contact the Commander.

"Commander, we have a problem."

"Is it about 1911, 'cause she's not responding to my calls, and SF put up a signal jammer somewhere in that neighborhood." the man told her, just as rapid gunfire sounded off in the distance.

"Oui, I think she just engaged the enemy!"

"Get over there ASAP, 49!" he ordered sharply, jolting the Rifle into action.

Running as fast as she could, she was so focused on reaching the house that she hadn't bothered to watch where she was going, emerging from the forest only to nearly get ran over by Chester's Humvee, the man in question quickly braking and stopping mere inches away from the Belgian Doll.

"Hey, watch it!" he yelled angrily, having nearly ran her over.

"Sorry!" she apologized as she took her seat alongside her allies, and once he was sure everyone was present the driver immediately took off for the old neighborhood with one singular goal in mind: save M1911 and Grizzly as quickly as possible.


Tactical Doll M1911

"Shit, I'm out of ammo!" M1911 yelled as her weapons' slides locked back disconcertingly, her magazine pouches filled with empty mags as well but over twenty dead SF laid in a trail leading to her current position. By the looks of it, Grizzly was also nearly out of ammo, and with Sangvis guns electrocuting all unauthorized users who attempt to fire them, they were completely fucked.

And the worst part of it all? All they had found was a disabled transponder in the housd, which was completely dead.

"How many of them're left?!" Grizzly yelled, sporting fresh injuries across her arm and torso, as well as a set of torn-up, bloodied clothes.

Looking out from the barricaded window of the shed they were holed up in, she saw at least seven Dolls left on the field, sporting gunshot wounds of their own but still fighting despite them.

"Seven. How much ammo do you have?"

"Two mags' worth." the brunette grunted, poking her head out to fire a couple shots at the remaining Sangvis forces, and only hitting one of them with her shots.

"Fuck."

At the very least M1911 had found a smoke grenade on her person, and with a new plan in mind, she primed it and threw it.

"Grenade out!" she yelled as the grenade left her hand and detonated a good twelve meters in front of them, creating a dense smokescreen, obscuring the hostiles forces' vision, and granting them the opportunity to escape. "Let's go, Grizzly!"

Taking advantage of this, the HGs immediately ran out of the shack before the Sangvis started firing again, and as the signal jammer was still active, they resolved to destroy it— if thry could find it. Otherwise, they'd just get the hell out of there. With that in mind, their first order of business was to lose their unwanted pursuers.

And with the enemy units still firing at the shed, that was trivially easy to do, and after escaping their sight, they resigned to get out of the settlement and reunite with Echelon One.

"So, what's the quickest way to get out of here?" Grizzly asked.

"Um, we're close to the eastern wall, which currently has a hole in it. We can use that to escape, and since the jammer's range just happens to be as big as this town, we'll be able to call for help." M1911 replied.

"That's good— wait, what the hell is that music?!"

The distant-sounding music in question sounded distinctly Latin American, and accompanying it was the telltale sign of a motor roaring as a vehicle drove around the settlement.

"God, I hope some idiot's not blaring music while there's Sangvis here—"

"COME ON, MOTHERFUCKERS, I'VE GOT A FEW HUNDRED ROUNDS OF NICE, HOT BRAINLET-REPELLANT JUST FOR YOU!"

"YEAH, SUCK IT!"

"FOR GRIFFIN AND KRYUGER!"

The immensely loud yells, combined with an insurmountable anount of gunfire, immediately told them of who the people in the unknown vehicle were, and the damaged M1911 couldn't help but laugh as a wave of relief washed over her.

"Holy shit, they came for us..." she laughed.

"Yeah, but what's up with that music?" Grizzly asked, curious as to why the hell the members of Echelon One would willingly telegraph their presence with such loud music.


Tactical Doll AK-47

"COME ON, MOTHERFUCKERS, I'VE GOT A FEW HUNDRED ROUNDS OF NICE, HOT BRAINLET-REPELLANT JUST FOR YOU!"

"YEAH, SUCK IT!"

"FOR GRIFFIN AND KRYUGER!"

For the record, AK-47 was having the time of her life. Sat in the gunner seat of Garage 04's Humvee, where a shiny new M2HB was mounted, she was raining complete and utter hellfire on the enemy Dolls ahead of them. Concerning why it wasn't Chester's Humvee, the Commander had immediately sent Echelon Two in another Humvee (which belonged to a driver named Luka) to their position, armed with the aforementioned M2HB and ready to provide fire support to the besieged M1911 and to continue the search for evidende in the region while Echelon One recovered.

"HOW IS THIS EVEN A LEGITIMATE TACTIC?!" Howa 64 yelled at the top of her lungs from her seat in the vehicle in order for her to be heard over the thunderous roar of "Ma Deuce."

"I DON'T THINK IT IS, BUT IT'S FUN AS HELL!" AK-47 yelled back, blowing a Vespid to pieces with the heavy machine gun she was told to use.

"Whatever." the Japanese Doll replied before opening fire on the enemy units before them and decimating them with her allies' help, clearing the field nigh-instantly.

After seeing the lack of hostiles on the playing field, she immediately ceased fire with the M2HB and slipped out of the Humvee, grabbing her AK on the way out. The neighborhood itself was trashed now, with Sangvis pieces scattered everywhere and oils splattered in a similar manner, massive bullet holes put into the buildings and ground.

And on top of the house was what looked like a signal jammer.

"Hang on, how'd they miss that?" the blonde AR asked, getting back into the Humvee and into the gunner position, taking aim at the device and firing a burst of .50 BMG into it. While it was a bit small, the explosion caused by its power supply taking a hit was still good in its own right, and at once, the comms signal was restored, as well as the IFF tag system, showing a blue dot and a green star behind a faded blue house as a result.

"Hey, 1911, can you hear me?"

"Yup. Thank God for you coming to save us." M1911 replied, sounding somewhat tired.

"Are you hurt?"

"Took a couple to the chest, but given that there were like fifty of those bastards here, it was kind of inevitable."

"Fuck..." AK-47 sighed, getting out of the Humvee again to find her allies. "Of course they got you. Can you at least walk?"

She heard the HG hum in affirmation, and as she passed by three small houses with dead Sangvis outside of them, she found the faded blue house and turned to her right to see M1911 and Grizzly— their bloody injuries making her wince. Like the former said, multiple holes dotted her stomach area and below her collarbone, nearly strikng her Core, and numerous bloody bandages were wrapped around her torso. Grizzly was a bit more intact, but her clothes were damaged to the point that they showed a lot more skin than intended, and bloody gashes lined her torso and arms.

"Come on, I'll get you to the Humvee..." she told her, helping her to her feet and to the Humvee.

"Hey, AK?"

"Hm?"

"Don't go all 'depresso expresso' and shit just because I got shot, 'kay? You gotta set a good example as the base's senior AR, you know?" M1911 told her, cracking a grin at the last part.

"Hey, that was just once, you know?!" AK-47 whisper-yelled when they reached Chester's Humvee and wrenched open the door, causing the driver in question to take a look at them.

"Shit, they did a number on you." he said, his gasmask slightly obscuring his voice. "Grizzly's gonna be pissed."

"Yeah, yeah." the blonde HG laughed it off when she sat down, as Grizzly was similarly injured.

Afterwards, Grizzly herself and Echelon One's other members approached and entered the Humvee, the 5-Star HG in particular covering herself thanks to her clothes' near destruction, her intact underwear being her only saving grace.

"Fuck this shit." she groaned, buckling up her seatbelt.

"Oh, don't be like that, at least you're not an involuntary Swiss cheese imitator." M1911 told her crossly as AK-47 took a set beside her. Unfortunately for them, thanks to the Humvee's limited carrying capacity, it was a tight fit, even with Griffin's modifications to be able to hold six passengers.

"You all seated in?"

A chorus of affirmatives answered him, and he put the Humvee into drive, quickly leaving the contaminated area as fast as he could without running Echelon Two over. And as they drove off, AK-47 only hoped that Echelon Two found something useful.


Commander Ian Becker

"Did you find 1911 and Grizzly?"

Standing in the Command Room and slaving over the holotable with a cup of coffee in hand, Ian watched as a single Humvee drove away from the combat area, heading back to his base at a steady pace.

"Yeah, but 1911's in urgent need of repair and Grizzly needs repair as well. As for the mission, they found nothing except for a disabled transponder." Chester "Cheeto" Johnson replied grimly.

"Fuck. I hope Springfield's team finds something."

"Yeah." the designated driver agreed. "Anyways, we're heading back and we found yet another stray."

"Who?"

"MP5's sister, G3." AK-47 cut in. "Her base got destroyed by SF and she wound up hiding in the vehicle graveyard me and Howa searched, where we also found some spent 5.56 casings— don't get your hopes up, because they were fired from an HK416."

Fuck, a dead end.

"Course. Are you hurt?"

"Somehow, no. Anyways, be ready to clear the way to the Repair Bay when we get back."

The Commander then opened a private channel to the Russian, intending to ask her something.

"Are you doing okay, because last time 1911 got hurt..."

"Yeah, I'm fine." she said abruptly, sounding somewhat pissed by him bringing up her depressive episode back on the Fourth of July. "Gotta be a good role model for Howa, you know."

She's more pissed than dejected, but it's better than self-hatred. he noted idly.

"Oh, how'd Ma Deuce feel to use?"

"It. Kicks. Ass. I mean seriously, it literally rips them to pieces like it's cardboard, and after the bitches took shots at our mutual friend, it was just the thing to get back at them with."

Chuckling at the AR's exhilarated tone, the dark-haired man took a sip of coffee and sighed contentedly.

"It is a proven fact that you can't stay sad while firing a big gun, especially if it's a Browning or the Kord." he told her. "Anyways, I've gotta make preparations for your return, and then I've gotta stick around to see if Springfield's team finds anything useful."

"Got it. Do 'svidania."

When the line clicked dead, Ian sipped the last of his coffee and set the cup down, turning to leave before turning to his adjutant.

"Hm?" she hummed inquiringly when she noticed his gaze.

"Uh, you mind coming to my dorm so we can talk about some stuff?" he requested as the Command Room door parted open for him.

"Oh~?"

"In the literal sense." he told her. "I don't think it'd be good for either of us if the Dolls saw us—"

"That's enough out of you, Komandir!" Kalina squeaked, cheeks flaring red from embarrassment before calming herself down. "But I don't mind if I do. I'll even bring the Xbox if you want."

"I'd like that." Ian told her with a chuckle before he left the room, leaving her alone next to the holotable and with one thought in her head.

"He's such a weird guy..." she trailed off softly.


Sorry if the end of the chapter's subpar, but I was really getting burned out on this chapter and I had to finish it ASAP. Unfortunately, I won't be completing Origin Story before the year ends, by the looks of it. Fuck.

Anyways, I finally reached 100k words, after almost a year of writing this, and I'm only just now getting to Chapter 02 in-game. God, it's such a drag. Note to self: stop biting off more than you can chew and focus on one story.

Anyways, I'll see you in the next chapter.