It was a sleepless night for everyone. Gossip travels faster than the speed of light, and by the time morning had arrived everyone was well aware of the impending doom on the horizon. A deep, dark gloom had settled over the base, with everyone afraid that each time they leave their rooms may be their last. Even the three figures that the girls relied upon the most for guidance had given up, locking themselves away to bide their time. The Captain sat alone in the maintenance bay, contemplating her sins. Fredrick had locked himself away in his quarters, trying to figure out a way to get them out of this mess. The Commander slept at her desk, head resting on her desk as she simply stared at the shadows of her office. Time was an enemy that none of them could fight, and the clock was ticking down.
By the time Kar98k moved, it was only to shift her position to stare in a different direction. She wanted to say something to the girls, but no words came to her mind. This wasn't a glorious battle, filled with showers of medals and honor; this was waiting to die. Deep inside, she wanted to take her girls and run away. To go rogue and fight for their own freedom against the rules that held them down, that was the dream she held on to. Perhaps it would even be seen as a grand revolution, forcing humanity to take dolls seriously as citizens. Why was it that dolls face the death penalty around every corner, while humans actively destroy their own homes?
Kar98k shook her head and slapped her own face, trying to beat the thoughts of rebellion out of her skull. This kind of thinking was just a leftover from FG42 and her meddling, a sign that Paradeus still had some poison left in her. She wouldn't let her feelings change her loyalty, even if it damned her. Despite this, she couldn't help but wonder if this was part of FG42's plan. After all, the Brigade had been sufficiently beaten down now to accept aid from just about anyone. Peter even had Angel on constant look out just in case anyone tried to make a run for it. Of course, that notion held quite a degree of faith in the Nyto to not let her friends seek freedom.
There was a knock on the door, breaking the graveyard silence. Kar98k ignored the knock, hoping it would go away. Whoever it was could go away, there was nothing she could do for them now. Another knock rang on the door, persistent that she opened up and let them in. Again, she ignored the knocking and kept staring at the ceiling. An override code was input into the door, and for a moment Kar98k expected Fredrick to come in and rant about whatever silly thing crossed his mind that moment. Instead, Angel trotted into the office with scythe in hand, bowing in apology at her intrusion. "Forgive me, Kommandantin," she spoke low and quiet, trying to maintain the somber silence, "but I've been asked to assemble everyone in maintenance."
Kar98k sighed away the slim elation she had. Did everyone have a damn override for her door lock? "A little early for the execution, don't you think?" Her voice was jaded and uncaring, knowing that the end was just a matter of time.
With a spring in her step, Angel moved over to pull Kar98k to her feet. Angel grabbed her arm with one hand, her grip similar to a closed vice. Despite her thin body and elegant motion, the Nyto was still leagues stronger than any doll. "I was warned you would be difficult," Angel spoke as she pulled her up, "my purpose here is benevolence."
"Oh, so it's a friendly execution," Kar98k rolled her eyes as she stood, straightening her bathrobe that she did not change out of since the news arrived last night, "maybe we can all go out for breakfast when it's over."
She didn't even bother with changing into her uniform, her professionalism gone out the window while she waited for the inevitable to come. The two walked through the halls to maintenance, neither wishing to speak. Kar98k was slightly astonished at how silently Angel walked, figuring that her pointed legs would make more of a noise on the tiled floors. Despite being at rest, she still strode like a predator on the hunt. Kar98k was mentally taken back to the moment when she fought Angel, preceded by a similar escort. She felt a quick burst of panic, her system momentarily forgetting where she was and fought the urge to swing at Angel.
Kar98k stopped walking, leaning against the wall as she composed herself. Angel, concerned, reached out to rest a hand on her. Kar98k smacked it away, straightening back up and moving to adjust the officer's cap that was not on her head. "Are you alright?" Angel asked, moving slower.
"I'm fine." Kar98k lied as they reached the doors to the maintenance bay. She did her best to keep a straight face as the doors opened and she was greeted with an array of frowning faces. The last to arrive, it seemed that everyone had the same idea to show up in their pajamas. Were they teenage girls, this would have looked like a slumber party.
"That should be everyone." Peter and Fredrick were leaning the far wall of the maintenance bay with a projector. As Kar98k took a seat on one of the maintenance benches, she looked over her girls. StG44 was the only one in uniform, but even that was in its most basic form without the array of bits and baubles. MP40 sat on her maintenance bench in a paper gown, holding her knees tucked up to her chest as she tried to avoid eye contact with everyone. G43 sat as far from the Captain as possible, still horribly shaken. Conversely, the sisters were huddled together as they waited for everything to fall apart. MP41 was finally without a camera, although that might have been Angel's enforcement. P38, C96, and P08 were even here, the three of them just as confused as everyone else. Probably the only person absent was MG34s boyfriend that had been staying with them since Paradeus destroyed most of the town where he lived.
Peter nodded to Fredrick, who cleared his throat as he began to speak. "I'd like to give you girls a run down on the current situation."
"I think we all have a decent idea." Kar98k rubbed her temples, wishing she wasn't here right now.
Fredrick ignored her, turning the projector on. Displayed on the wall was a photograph of a young man who had just graduated from basic army training. Even with the difference of age and scars, it was quite clear that this was a young Fredrick. Interestingly, his wedding ring was worn on his neck with a chain in the image. "This was me way back when I was young and filled with piss and vinegar," he explained, seeming impressed with himself, "I was a maintenance tech in the Soviet Army. I fixed vehicles, robots, and dolls for the war effort."
The next image that was displayed was vastly different. The young man was covered in bloody gauze and medical bandages, hooked up to life saving machines. "Despite being in a back line position, the Americans dropped a highly illegal collapse bomb on us for some damn reason." Fredrick took a deep breath before he continued, remembering an unhappy time for himself. "You can find the reports if you want, but what's important is that I was one of the lucky ones; I was sent home a shaky mess that could barely fucking walk. The Army doctors threw my ass to the curb to become one of many poor refugees in a yellow zone."
Fredrick gave a quick dance move to show that he managed to recover. The next image showed the freshly burned and scarred Fredrick standing with a doll nurse. The girl was clearly an older model, simply going from the age of the photo alone. There was no way she'd ever end up working for Griffin. "My father wasn't happy with that and made sure I got my own doll nurse to give me medicine and sponge baths." Fredrick smiled as Kar98k coughed at that comment. "I made a full recovery and joined the civilian job force."
"I'm sorry," C96 interrupted, "but where are you going with this?"
Leaning against the wall, Fredrick rubbed his chin as he searched for the next few words. "Dad has always been there for me," he explained, "and he doesn't want to see me screwed over by something that wasn't my fault. Way back when the Army tried to put some bullshit charges on the Commander, he made a few phone calls. People listen when a pissed off Soviet Admiral starts chewing you out on the phone while you're eating dinner with your family."
"Fredrick was kind enough to bring this up to his father," Peter spoke up, "who was more than happy to call the head of my department in State Sec. My guess is that more than a few people were met with very angry phone calls at an unhealthy time of the morning."
"If I was awake, so could they." Fredrick chuckled to himself as he took a sip of his bitter coffee concoction.
Peter glared at the engineer. "I'm quite aware how favors of this sort work," he continued, "and you can't call for help every other day. His assistance in ending this investigation comes with certain caveats to ensure it will never happen again."
At this point, everyone in the room began to look around with new hope. It was as though the lights had been turned on, and everyone had emerged from the dark cave. Optimistic, eyes turned to Kar98k as though she knew what direction to take them next. "Don't look at me," she shrugged, unable to contain a smile, "I had nothing to do with this."
"I wouldn't be so sure about that, Commandant," MP41 whispered a little too loud, "you were more influential than you may well think."
"After I wipe Smiles' memory," Fredrick spoke to call attention back to himself, "everyone is off of active duty until I have a chance to comb through every inch of your neural clouds for any irregularities. This may take a few days for each of you, because I'm only human and can't use any automated systems for this procedure."
"Despite no longer being active duty," Peter added, "you won't be able to leave the base. This is not a true vacation."
"So no missions or logistics can be completed until these procedures are complete." Kar98k summarized. It made sense, they needed to know how best to plan around the issues each girl had laying under the surface.
Fredrick nodded in agreement. "Priority number one will be our command staff, starting with the Commander, the Captain, and Pop Star."
"I'm returning to active duty?" MP40 asked, mouth agape. She had expected to be terminated for what she had done, not given a slap on the wrist.
"You will no longer be allowed to head out on your own, unfortunately." Fredrick rolled his eyes as he informed her of the condition, betraying his true feelings at the statement. If he was in charge, he would no doubt deploy her as before.
"MP40 typically handles our low priority missions," Kar98k was a bit confused on how they would continue moving forward without the Captain handing their side duties as part of a PMC, "that doesn't leave us much options for command protocols. We also lack the proper roster size at the moment to consider a promotion; we might as well consider giving everyone independence at this size."
Fredrick shrugged. "I can do that."
Before Peter could protest giving the entire base full command over each other, Angel spoke up. "I can operate on my own."
All eyes turned to face the Nyto, who had remained quiet until now. While she was skilled enough and more than capable of heading out by herself, there were still too many unknowns to send her out on missions without accompaniment. What if Paradeus made a move on her, or what if she went back to them instead. Everyone wanted to object, but nobody wanted to be the first to say no. Fredrick, instead, agreed wholeheartedly. "We gotta trust you at some point, kid."
Peter side-eyed Fredrick, unwilling to have the important conversation of trusting Angel just yet. "Optimism aside, there's still another matter to discuss." He trailed off towards the end, hoping Fredrick would take the reins again.
"My father decided to spend the weekend here on an inspection," Fredrick explained, "and I won't be allowed to begin your neural cloud combing until he gives me full approval."
Kar98k clapped her hands for all eyes to train themselves on her. "That means I want you ladies on your best behavior," she instructed, "and I want these floors so clean that 44 would be willing to eat off of them."
"But she doesn't even use the same plates as the rest of us!" MG42 protested.
StG44 chuckled to herself. "I guess you better get scrubbing then." She said with a feigned coldness in her voice.
"That's all girls, good luck." Fredrick dismissed the room, his shoulders sinking as he felt a weight lifted off of them. "I'd like to discuss some further details with the Commander, Captain and Angel."
The room filtered out, abuzz with newfound happiness as they all prepared for their stay at home vacation. Things were looking up for the girls again, the Brigade feeling shiny and new with good fortune. As the four were left alone, Fredrick sat on one of the maintenance beds and took a deep sigh of relief. Kar98k joined him in the motion, the group taking a moment to soak in the moment. They had emerged from the dark tunnel, but still had a road ahead of them before things could remotely return to normal. "So is your father actually coming to inspect our base for his seal of approval?" Kar98k asked.
"Hell no," Fredrick laughed, "he just wants to spend his birthday weekend with me and the closest thing I have to a family. I just don't want any of these little brats to scare him away."
"Did he really agree to help me?" MP40 asked, still meek and clutching to her legs that were pulled up to her chest.
Fredrick nodded. "I had to cry and beg a little, but you're right as rain now."
There were tears in her eyes as she kept staring at him, in disbelief that her sins could be absolved with the snap of one's fingers. "But, how? I-"
"Captain, I don't give a shit who you killed or why," Fredrick explained to her, "my trust and love for you girls goes farther than my empathy for some people I have never met and hopefully never would. Besides, how many people has Angel killed, and we trust her to carry the big scary knife."
"Theoretically speaking, I don't need my holy blade to kill any of you." Angel stated.
"See, she's batshit crazy." The group laughed at his joke before silence fell on them again. Fredrick laid down on the maintenance bed and stretched his arms. "You're cleared to get dressed and leave, Captain."
"Shall I show her our new addition in the cafeteria?" Kar98k asked, referring to their new piano.
"Angel can do that," Fredrick answered, "I need to do your neural cloud check up before anyone else's."
The Captain took her time changing out of the paper gown, tentatively returning back to what she had considered normal. She was afraid of what she had done, and was terrified of what she would do next. Kar98k hoped that mixture of fear and regret for her actions would help temper her in the future. Of course, she had full confidence in MP40 despite this hiccup in her service record. The unfortunate reality was that this made her more like any human soldier than the rest of them, and that was what scared the humans the most. If a machine could think and feel like a person, then eventually it would break and have an accident as well. This would be a difficult time of growth for everyone involved.
As MP40 and Angel left, Fredrick sat back up and stretched again. "Damn am I tired." He muttered as he held his arms over his head while his shoulders made a popping noise.
"So you expect me to just believe that this whole ordeal was just swept under the rug?" Kar98k asked, sitting next to him on the bench. Humans wouldn't just ignore a doll killing people for no reason, some sort of punishment would be enacted at some point.
Fredrick let out a sigh as he stopped stretching. "Dad took a big risk for you girls," he explained, "the military and the government aren't on the best speaking terms. I think Saint Peter clamoring to his bosses sincerely helped us out, but there isn't much my father will be able to do for us from here on out. He's already the one that kept us from getting shut down after the last incident."
"I was unaware of that." She gave him a blank face stare, having been kept in the dark for much of the aftermath of FG42's grand show of betrayal.
"That's just the most recent thing he's done for us," Fredrick tried to rub his tired eyes, "so after this weekend we're going to be on our own. I don't want State Sec to think Dad is going to go rogue like the army did."
"Is there anything that I should be aware of for his visit?" Kar98k asked.
"Don't talk about politics, don't talk about history, and don't talk about guns." Fredrick thought for a moment about what else he needed to add. "Also don't make a big show out of him being here. This is a casual visit, not a full military service."
"I guess we should get my neural cloud work done quickly then." Kar98k hopped off the bed to get herself ready.
Instead of getting up, Fredrick laid back down on the maintenance bed. "I don't know about you," he pulled a sheet off the end of the maintenance bed and draped it over himself, "but I didn't sleep last night."
"You can't be serious right now." She put her hands on her hips and shook her head.
"Do you want a sleep deprived man poking around your brain?"
To the outside observer, Angel would appear to be performing a complicated dance number with her scythe. She moved with a level of grace and poise that only a talented ballerina could match, each swing of her blade a delicate part of the dance. In her eyes she was fighting a gruesome battle with a simulated version of herself, a self matched shade of herself that knew her every move. Angel used this simulator to try and identify any weaknesses in her form, and to perfect her prowess on the battlefield. If she really was to head out on her own and perform missions for the Brigade, she'd need to be operating at top shape. While Kar98k was confident enough in her to pin an Iron Cross medal on her chest, Angel still wanted to feel like she would never let them down. Where Paradeus saw a failure, Griffin would see an angel.
Too preoccupied with her own training, Angel missed the car pulling up to the gate. As she pranced through the grass, P38 remotely unlocked the gate from the command center to allow the visitor to pull up to the base. After finding a place to park, a man stepped out of the car and looked over at her. He watched from a distance for a minute before approaching out of curiosity. Still unaware of his presence, she continued her display of skill. He stood at a short distance and watched with his arms crossed, curious about the motions of the Nyto. As she avoided another invisible attack, she finally noticed her audience and quickly ended the simulation. With curtsy and a bow, she addressed the man. "Guten Tag, er, good afternoon," she introduced herself, "my name I have chosen is Angel, and you must be Fredrick's father."
The man looked like a much older version of Fredrick, standing tall and strong despite his age. The way he stood and moved was rigid and orderly, showing his long time devotion to the military and its traditions. Angel wouldn't have been surprised if he was born in his uniform. Even with his more casual dress and demeanor, he would be impossible to mistake for anything but a soldier. "It's a pleasure to meet you Angel," he even sounded like an older and gravely Fredrick, "I've heard about you."
"All pleasant I hope." Angel felt her face flush, not expecting to be part of anyone's list of conversation topics.
"I hear you're a good kid," the man smiled at her, the muscles in his face warming with the motion, "especially after the girls beat some sense into you."
Angel gave a nervous laugh, remembering her time with Paradeus and the circumstances that led to her joining Griffin. Sometimes she wasn't sure if this wasn't all an illusion in her mind as her dying brain tried to imagine a future where she wasn't bleeding out in the mud and rain. "Penance may forever lie beyond my grasp," she spoke, staring idly into space, "but I'll serve my saviors with devotion."
He smiled at her and nodded, happy to see someone in this world still understood loyalty. "Would you mind showing me where to find that son of mine?" He asked, wishing to see more of the base.
"Angel, is this old man bothering you?" Neither of them had noticed Fredrick walk up, hands in his pockets as he approached. The two men hugged, showing their love for each other with an embrace. "You don't have to talk to everyone you see."
Standing back apart, the two men shared a hearty laugh. "How could I resist front row seats to a show like that?"
"Oh sure, she seems cute and innocent now," Fredrick crossed his arms as he spoke with an exaggerated tone of voice, "but give it an afternoon and she'll tell you all of your dirty little secrets."
Angel laughed with them, well aware that she knew more about everyone on base than even the sneaky MP41. She knew everything down to the dolls serial numbers, and could even pull up Fredrick's school transcripts from when he was a child. All of this knowledge was given to her by Paradeus, none of which she needed. "One day I'll find the right buyer for all of these little secrets." She hoped her tone of voice wasn't too threatening, but the following laughter eased her thoughts.
"That's how I know you're still human," Fredrick poked her shoulder, which was mostly mechanical, "you have jokes."
She cocked her head, unsure of what he meant. "The dolls are also capable of comedy."
"It's different, dear." Fredrick's father put his arm over his son's shoulders to lead him away. "It's been my pleasure to meet you, Angel, but I think it's time I let the Commander know that I've arrived."
Angel gave another curtsy and a bow. "Please enjoy your stay, sir."
Out of all of the activities that Kar98k expected to be the pillar of bonding between Fredrick and his father, a gambling card game was fairly low on the list of possibilities. The Admiral, who was also named Fredrick, had a deep seated love and appreciation for card games and tricks. She was somewhat impressed in his ability to perform sleight of hand shows with a regular deck of playing cards, many of which even she was unable to keep track of. Despite knowing that these were merely illusions and tricks based on common misdirection, even she found herself falling to the childlike allure of magic as she nearly burned out her core trying to process many of these tricks.
What really got to her, was when the two men began dealing the cards out for a game of poker. They were polite enough to include anyone that was interested in playing, seeing it as a bonding opportunity for everyone. Many of the girls found card games too slow and boring for their tastes, leaving just Kar98k, Angel and Peter to join in the gambling fun. Everyone would be playing with their own money; except for Angel, who was playing with MP40's allotted pay.
The game went well, flowing in an almost perpetual stalemate until Peter received an important call from his bosses at State Sec. He regretfully backed out of the game, knowing that he wouldn't be able to return for some time. As the group settled into their new dynamic, Fredrick and his father began to show their true knowledge of the game. "This is why I love cards," the Admiral explained, "numbers don't matter when you fall for a bluff."
Angel raised her eyebrow. "Are you likening a simple gambling game to that of warfare?"
"It's not that deep, kid." Fredrick laughed as he dealt out the next hand of cards.
"Just look at the Commander," the Admiral smiled as he pointed at Kar98k, "she'd be sweating right now if she could."
Kar98k nervously adjusted her collar. It was true that she had been struggling through the game, falling for what were obvious traps that she didn't recognize. Angel has not fared better, but she was at least being whimsical about losing the money that wasn't even hers. "I may have made a few tactical blunders." Kar98k tried to laugh away her shame. "I guess the odds are not in my favor."
"Cards are more than just numbers and probabilities," the Admiral leaned back as he reveled in the hand he had been dealt, "a winning hand is not always a good hand."
"There's another doll that learned that the hard way." Fredrick mumbled as he took a sip from his drink.
"I would hesitate to call her plans good," Angel's voice was cold as she spoke of FG42, "she left too much room for error compared to what my sisters would have preferred."
"She had us by the metaphorical balls." Fredrick rolled his eyes, remembering how he was held at knife point.
Angel shook her head like she had heard something ignorant. "She left too much room for you to make your own choices and decide your own fate," Angel explained, "Father would never have allowed you to choose. I believe she even ignored many of his gifts that she felt were too intrusive to you."
Fredrick scoffed. "So she stabbed us in the back with a smaller knife, what's your point?"
Angel sighed and shook her head. "Despite being as vain and treacherous as she was, there was an attempt at compassion."
"Oh, is that so?" Fredrick slapped his hand on the table, shaking all of the glasses and cards. "Commander, may I see your hand?"
"I hardly see how that's necessary-" Kar98k stopped speaking once she realized what he was asking for. Slowly, she placed her left hand on the table. All eyes shot to the ring she wore ever since FG42 gave it to her.
His point made without speaking, Fredrick crossed his arms. "Does that look like fucking compassion to you?"
His father spoke up, low and quiet as he tried to calm his son. "What you're saying, is not what I'm seeing."
"What are you talking about?" Fredrick's face was colored with confusion. Out of everyone there, his father should be the one to recognize the ring and to whom it originally belonged to.
Ignoring his son's outburst, the Admiral looked to Kar98k. "Would you take her back?" He asked.
"Absolutely not." Fredrick answered, causing his father to hold up a hand to request for him to be silent. Grumbling, he slunk into his seat like an upset child.
Kar98k thought about the question for a moment. As hurt as she felt about the betrayal, and as horrified as she was about FG42's reasoning; if she was willing to take in a repentant Angel, then there was no reason why she should say no. That level of hypocrisy was unforgivable, and she'd find herself in robot hell for such a crime. "We took in Angel despite her crimes," she looked at Fredrick as she spoke, "we'll take her back too, if she'll have us. Everyone deserves a second chance."
The Admiral smiled at her answer as he gave his son a playful shove. "There's your second chance, boy."
Fredrick only gave a depressed sigh in response, looking at his cards as he continued playing the game. He was distracted for the night, looking only at the cards he was dealt and nobody else. Even Angel, in all of her blissful aloofness, managed to outplay him. Something about his attitude didn't sit right with Kar98k, who felt concerned about the man. His father seemed to feel the same way, and at some point they both exchanged a look to decide who would be best to handle the situation. Silently, they both agreed it would be best to avoid pushing him any further. Eventually, things were going to reach a high water mark and boil over, but for now they would enjoy what little fun times they had left.
Sister Lilith clapped her mechanical hands together in amusement as she watched the footage. Recently, they had managed to access the old Paradeus monitoring system that had been installed all across the base of the Iron Cross Brigade. While some of the cameras were no longer operational, no doubt due to Angel's meddling, at least a few of them were able to resume their primary function. Lilith and Seraph had spent a considerable amount of time pouring over the backlog of footage that had been stored since State Sec raided this hideout, and they were eager to finally catch up. Watching the game of poker, the two of them found themselves bemusedly watching the events unfold.
Ecstatic, Lilith grabbed her sister's shoulders as she sat next to her on the couch and shook her in jubilee. This kind of close relationship between Nytos of differing rank was practically unheard of back in Avernus, but such restrictions were unheard of this far from Berlin. "Did you hear that, sister?" She asked in excitement.
"The human clearly has unresolved feelings," Seraph reached over for a file, "my guess is that-"
Lilith shook her head. "Not that, but what the Commander said."
A small smile traced across Seraph's lips. "Everyone deserves a second chance?"
"Yes!" Lilith shouted before taking a deep breath to compose herself. She had been enjoying her new freedoms as the head of their little Nyto coven, her feelings running wild like mustangs. She often forgot that she still needed to be somewhat in control of herself if she wished to expand their operation in the future. She made a mental note to do some breathing exercises in the coming weeks. "Yes, I do believe we found someone worth looking into."
"Shall I task Sister Revenant with tracking down this FG42?" Seraph asked.
Lilith thought for a moment, considering the possibility of offering the doll back to her comrades as a show of good faith, but ultimately decided against it. Such a gift was bound to be rejected, as they had proven before to FG42 herself. "No," Lilith shook her head, "this calls for a more elegant solution. May I see that military file?"