…
With M4A1 and M16
0157 Hours, Zulu Time
…
"Fifteen? SOPMOD? Come in, status report!"
"Damn, we must not have a good signal down here. Miss Persica promised that our set would work well, too…"
The other two members of the Anti-Rain Team were in a similar predicament; with no communications, M4A1 felt traces of worry creep into her digimind. Along the entire operation, they had found next to no resistance, the hallways oddly empty of their expected Sangvis denizens.
The oil stains and puddles of fluid haphazardly splattered over the floors didn't make the situation any better.
The older AR doll noticed the team leader's worry, and stroked her hair. "Hey, c'mon M4, let's keep moving. Scanned schematics show the control room just ahead of us, right? Don't worry, those two are tough, and they'll survive."
"Okay. If you say so." M4 grit her teeth, knowing her senior was right. "There should be a universal physical access port soon."
The only way through, was forward.
...
With M4A1 and M16
5 minutes later
0202 hours Zulu Time
….
"Finally, we found it!"
Still wary, M4 knelt down in front of the access port. They were inside a dusty control room once made for human use, before SF went rogue. M16 was setting up scanners and looking for anything of use, when she turned to M4.
"Hey, it should be safe enough to access, you've got more than enough ability to override their firewalls.
M4 slid down against the wall, port connected to her systems, and smiled at M16. "I trust you to cover me, M16."
The older T-Doll merely smiled, one eye crinkling, "I've got your back. Count on me, just find anything you can."
"Leave it to me!"
With that, she closed her eyes, entering the simulated world of the Sangvis Database. Pixels danced and formed together, creating a ruined cityscape.
'Just like usual.'
Weapon raised, she moved down the streets, getting more and more worried.
'There's usually at least some sort of basic firewalls! Was this place wiped and abandoned?'
A voice interrupted her musings.
"...elp...9-! Sect- how co-...Alchemi-."
Hesitantly, M4 spoke. "Whoever you are, identify yourself"
She strained for a moment, hearing more garbled words.
"...-oreign virus-...intruder...locked systems, I'm in the-...ouse!"
'What in the...a Sangvis... calling for help?'
She looked around the ruined digital cityscape, searching for the source, or any other defenses in the Network she might have missed.
"...EY YOU! Griffin Doll! I see you-...-et me out of here, I'll do-"
Panicking, M4 disconnected. Identified by an unknown Sangvis doll, there was absolutely no chance of continued stealth. Forces would be converging on them in masses typical to Sangvis doctrine, and her team was still split up.
Pulling the wire connected to her port, M4 turned to M16.
"Nee-san," M4 breathed, "we need to leave. Now."
M16 helped pull M4 to her feet and returned her rifle. The older T-Doll shot a cheeky grin, "Then let's get going. I'm sure the others will be alright!"
The leader of the AR Team checked her datapad. They had mapped their route through the defunct Sangivs facility, and before they had split up, M16 had issued a rendezvous point, for the possibility of dark communications. It was nearly time for them to regroup, and the sooner they could do that, the better.
"Looks like I still have a long way to go, M16 'nee," she sighed, walking behind her older sister. "There's so many things that I haven't accounted for that you've already taken care of…"
She hesitated to say more, but M16 got the point.
Instead of replying, the older T-Doll sent her a smile of understanding, nodding her head. "Yeah, you're right...but that'll change someday, and until then, you have the rest of us to back you up! Now come on, let's get to that meeting point before SOPMOD gets carried away."
A smile lit up on M4's face.
"Right!"
"Shit! Shit shit shit shiiiit!"
Things were not going as smoothly for the other half of AR Team.
"Fifteen! Behind you!"
Not even close.
"Shit, cover me, I'm reloading!"
The moment SOPMOD had left the room with the strange sarcophagus, this had started.
The silent coughs of their etched (and silenced) rifles and the plinking of bounced bullets nearly drowned out the more abrasive AR doll's curses. Running down yet another hallway at random selection- because who the hell would have time to actually plan out an escape like this?!- the duo continued to empty their weapons into the pursuers.
Ugly, rusted, and heavily armored pursuers that looked more like an estranged 1930s SciFi flick than anything else. Hopping, clanging, and blocking every damned bullet AR15 sent their way, the strange machines were relentless.
The first enemy, the small one they had destroyed outside the breached chamber, was exactly that. The first- and easiest- of many.
"They're coming again, Fifteen!"
The duo, still pushing the hovering sarcophagus, came up to another intersection, still firing backward with lethal precision.
"That one had a shield?! This is ridiculous!" Making a snap judgment, AR15 thought to the satchel of explosives she had prepared beforehand. Though she hadn't thought she would need it for anything other than opening doors, she was a survivor.
She would make do, and always would.
"Brace yourself, idiot!" Fifteen called, even as she emptied another burst of .300 Blackout into the stubby machines. "This may or may not bring down the roof on us. Move!"
Not even noticing the halfhearted insult, SOPMOD grinned. "Affirmative! I'll keep pushing this treasure, do your stuff!"
Rifle hanging on it's sling, AR15 slowed down just long enough to slap the brick of Semtex to the wall. Checking the fuse while simultaneously drawing her weapon once more, the elite T-Doll nodded with a critical eye.
"Charge set!"
Not two seconds after slowing down, she sped up again to catch her wayward team mate.
Three seconds later, the timed charge on her 'present' went off, creating and audible 'whumpf' in the enclosed space. Not that AR15 looked back.
No, she was an elite doll used to the wonderful feeling of explosions, and it just wasn't cool to look back at them.
Evidently, she decided, SOPMOD didn't get the memo, because she was laughing that loud, obnoxiously insane laugh she always did whenever something died violently.
'What a hopeless child.'
Breathlessly, they charged up the next set of stairs, device in tow.
"Hey, uh, 15?" SOP grinned.
"What is it now?"
"I'd say now is a good time~"
The thuds and clanks behind them started to grow louder again, but this time from the ceiling above them.
'Shit, that's not good…'
A brief check on her datapad told her all she needed to know, and that she was very near the rendezvous point that M16 had set up. It was actually their last stairwell to traverse, and they would be home free at the exit.
But…
What about their pursuers?
'Sure, we can run, but they'll just follow us, unless…'
An idea came to her head and she almost smiled. Soon, they'd meet M16, who no doubt would have prepared backups in the eventual case of destroying the base.
"M16, this is Fifteen." She called into her comm system. "Come in, damnit!"
"M16, this is Fifte-psh-..ome in, damnit!"
The squawk of the radio startled M4 out of her worried daze. The entire return through to the upper levels, the leader of AR Team had been growing more and more worried at the radio silence. Should it have been the other way around, where frequent checks were required for her team? What if they were caught in a trap?
She looked to her grinning older sister, who nodded and replied. "Yo, AR15, it seems the connection is returning. What's-"
"Spare me the pleasantries, I need to know, did you set a backup plan on that power source you two found?"
That...didn't sound good. She frowned, wondering what could possibly have gone wrong.
After a brief hesitation, M16 spoke back with worry clearly evident in her eyes. They were very close to the originally forked corridor, with a fresh breeze coming through the damaged hallways. Oddly enough, there were no more corpses of Sangvis Ferri, though the damage corridor remained the same.
"Yeah, I did, but what's going-"
"There's no time! If you're clear and by the entrance, we need to you blow it ASAP! pShh- hey, watch where you fire that grenade launcher, dummy! 16, just do it, we're out of ammo and almost out of grenades!"
There were multiple coughs of gunfire, like just barely louder than odd clanking. Like a child playing with pots and pans.
M16 frowned but tugged M4 to move faster. "Alright, I'll set it off in one minute, that's all we need to get clear. Just where the hell are you at- WOAH!"
M4A1 and M16 cleared the corner and nearly got ran over by a large, man-sized hovering device. Comedically, SOPMOD happened to be kneeling on it, aiming behind her, while AR15 pushed it from behind.
In a typical fashion, Fifteen was glaring daggers at SOP, laughing maniacally. The look didn't soften when she saw Sixteen. "About! Huff! Damn time! Now hurry, huff, run for it!"
The countless training simulations kicked into gear, focusing M4's neural cloud away from the sheer ...weirdness of the entire situation.
"Sixteen," AR15 growled as soon as they came to the final stretch, "blow it and seal the damn place off!"
Rather than argue, the old T-Doll nodded, but not before shooting a 'you'd better explain later' glare in return.
Setting her timer to appear on the entire team's datapads, she continued to pull them away from the deceptively labyrinthian outpost. "C'mon ladies, the entire place is gonna go with what I put down there."
Oddly enough, there were no snarky remarks from Fifteen, and even the insane laughter of SOMPOD was diminished compared to normal. Instead, the duo sent each other worried looks.
Something definitely happened down there.
The oldest T-Doll tucked that information behind into her data mind for later. Now wasn't the time though, because it was about the right moment for the 'cleaning party' to go off. She pulled out an old fashioned detonator, high powered so as to have a better chance of reaching the underground detonator.
By now, AR Team had reached the original treeline where they had started the mission, though the moon was soon to be replaced by the dawning Sol.
"Alright, we're half a klick away. That should be good enough~!"
Fifteen and SOP shared another look, and the former stepped forward, away from the hovering device.
"I really hope you've got something good down there. Make sure it's all gone." AR15 spat, glaring towards the seemingly innocent entrance to the stricken Sangvis outpost. Now that they weren't running to escape the upcoming blast, M16 noticed that both the other T-Dolls were...ruffled. A scratch here, misplaced hair, and a severe shortage of magazines, grenades, and even Fifteen's prized explosives satchel.
Not showing her concern, M16 grinned. "Don't worry yourself, I've got quite the gift for them, though I'd certainly like to know what the infamously 'cool-headed' AR15 is afraid of."
There. That ought to get a reaction out of- ...or not.
Fifteen grimaced, not even taking the bait for what it was. "You don't understand, Sixteen. There's things down there that I'd rather not fight without a dozen machine guns backing me up."
Timidly, M4 looked to Fifteen with worry.
"W-well, what did you find down there? Was it a Ringleader, or those controlled Aegis units?"
"We'd rather not talk about it here, M4." Oddly, it was SOP who spoke up, voice low. "Even I didn't like fighting them."
AR15 shivered, not knowing what was scarier. Agreeing with SOPMOD or the enemies they had faced down there, enemies who had been eating(!) the disabled Sangvis corpses. Glowing eyes, cannibalism, and those insane, insane laughs...
...she fought the urge to erase the memory as soon as it was tactically possible. If everything worked out, she'd never have to see those things again.
"Would you do the honors, AR15?" M4 asked, blissfully unaware of Fifteen's internal fears.
Of course, M4 wasn't blind and knew that something was wrong, but the lone wolf AR was determined not to voice them, for her team leader's sake. It wasn't worth it.
Grabbing the detonator, she turned to look at the outpost one last time. Those things hadn't followed them, but that also meant that they were still down there.
Not for long!
She thumbed the safety and grinned darkly. "Boom."
Author's Notes: I am really, really surprised and grateful for all the followers, and of course, the reviewer from Cypher. Turns out, they had actually seen the rough draft of this story some time ago. Much to my shame, it took me this long to get it rolling.
Though I have the basic goals set for this story, I'd love and accept any suggestions that you have for the story. Want a specific Raifu in the inevitable commander's introductions? Perhaps specific battles from the story, or events, that you think that our mysterious futuristic android should be in?
Can anyone guess who the Ringleader is, that was 'trapped' in the base?