Girl's Frontline: Field Agent

by Johnny Wycliffe

Sometimes, life comes at you like an explosion through the storefront. A young man, Hadwin Galanis, finds this out the hard way as his life is turned upside-down by a PMC and Paradeus, forced to pick up a gun and fight in a war fought by machines.

5. Chapter 5: Disconcerting Tranquility

Last chapter was action packed. This one... not so much. Hadwin needs a small break, don't you think? Not that it's really that peaceful...

---

"I assume you have a good explanation for this?" Dad asks pointedly.

"Well..." I scratch the back of my head. "I do, but..." I look back at the T-dolls, who are either angry, disappointed or mortified in varying degrees. "Uh, I might need to clean up a mess first."

"Bro." Lexi stalks up to me. "Who are those girls?"

"I promise I'll sit down and talk with you, just... hold on a second."

Mom swoops in and wraps me in a tight hug. I relax into it instinctively. "I was so scared." She murmurs.

"I know mom. But, I'm okay." I get a bright idea. "Mostly thanks to those girls back there."

The T-dolls perk up as I bring them back into the conversation. I notice that 404 is still looking hostile but SOPMOD at least looks contrite.

"Really." Dad pushes his glasses up his nose. "Fine. I'm willing to at least hear you out."

I sigh. Hear me out, like the time I scratched his car. Sure.

Commander Gentiane rounds the corner. "Uh... Ah! Hadwin's family!" She bows slightly. "I'm Commander Gentiane. I talked to you on the phone yesterday."

"Yes, I remember." Dad nods. "Do you have somewhere I can talk with my son?"

"I... can arrange something. I apologize, but you're over an hour early."

"One of the policemen recognized him. We put out posters asking for information." Dad says. "He radioed it in."

"Well... Right this way." Commander Gentiane points back towards the tent we had our meeting in. Mom lets go of her bear hug, but keeps a hand on my shoulder.

Lexi gives a rude gesture, palm out and fingers spread, to UMP 9 who sticks out her tongue and pulls down on her eyelid as she passes.

M4's voice comes over the radio. "I'll... try to get this under control."

"Same." UMP 45 grumbles. "Don't worry about us."

"Thanks." I whisper.

"Hmm?" Mom asks.

I shake my head. "Nothing." I tap the throat mic to deactivate it. No need to let them listen in.

Gentiane deposits us in the tent and three T-dolls, who I don't recognize, quickly bring chairs in so we can all sit down.

"So." Dad begins. "Who are they?"

I prepare to spin my story. Only as much truth as I can get away with. "...Almost everyone around here is part of G&K." I say. "Griffin and Kryuger. They're a, ah, PMC."

"A PMC?" Dad raises an eyebrow.

"Yeah. They're currently hired to protect MP Panagos and that's what they were doing when my workplace blew up."

"Ah, yes." Dad drums his fingers. "A terrorist attack. In our city!"

"It's not their fault-"

"Maybe not. Still."

Mom speaks up. "Hadwin, PMCs are dangerous people. You're not safe hanging with them."

"Mom-" I begin.

"Is that their uniform?" Lexi asks, pointing at my clothes. "That commander woman was wearing the same stuff."

"Not really. It's similar, but mine means-"

"It doesn't matter." Dad shakes his head. "We're going home."

I take a deep breath. "Can you please-"

"Hadwin." Mom's voice grows confused. "What's wrong?"

"I'm trying to explain-"

"Are they coercing you somehow?" Dad once again looks furious.

"No, they're probably trying to indoctrinate him!" Lexi says excitedly. "This is just like a spy flick!"

"No! It's not like that-"

"In any case, I'm glad you're home, and you don't have to worry about them anymore."

"You really need to let him talk." An all-too-familiar voice says from the tent flap.

I turn around, annoyed. "45, I thought you were wrangling the others."

"Gentiane told them she'll hold their pay if they interfere." She shrugs. "Nothing about me though."

"Excuse me, we're trying to talk to our son right now-" My Dad begins.

"Talk AT, maybe." UMP 45 sits down on my lap like it's nothing at all. I consider complaining, but... 45's not this friendly. She must have an angle. "None of you are letting him get a word in edgewise."

"...Go on." Dad frowns and narrows his eyes.

"Hadwin has spent the last thirty hours assisting us in securing MP Panagos. Without his direct intervention, we would have suffered a great many more casualties."

I want to object. I really should object. UMP 45 does not have good intentions.

I'm sure I'll regret it later, but I keep my mouth shut.

"In fact, he saved me and my sister from a giant robot just this morning. I assume you saw, heard or at least felt the explosions."

Lexi blinks. "That was you, bro?"

"...Yeah." I grunt. "And her sister." I gesture to the doll in my lap.

"Holy crap." Her eyes light up, thankfully not in the same manner as a T-doll's. I think it says a lot about the past few days that I checked.

"Already, a whole bunch of us have been saved by him in this short amount of time. That is why, much to my regret, my team was... overenthusiastic in not wanting him to be removed."

"That's one way to put it." Mom says. "The tall girl looked like she wanted to hit me!"

If only I'd be so lucky as to have it only be as mild as a punch.

"Again, I apologize. It seems my sister and the rest of my team may have fallen for our dear temporary commander."

"Oi, you're laying it on a bit thick." I finally speak up. "Tone it down."

Her evil grin returns. "Oh? Want me to lie?"

"How about you stop exaggerating." I peer around UMP 45. "Can you please just let me explain for a minute?" I plead.

"Fine." Dad's frown deepens. "I don't like this though."

"Alright." I take a deep breath. "So, I got caught up in an attack on MP Panagos, as I mentioned before. The two, uh, G&K members-" Have to be careful not to mention T-dolls. "-there told me that the enemy may have gotten an image of my face and put me under their protection until they figured out if I was in danger or not."

"He was, by the way." UMP 45 says casually, inspecting her nails. The effect is ruined by her checking the nails on her robotic hand, which doesn't have fingernails, or whatever T-dolls have to look like fingernails.

"They had my picture and G&K gave me the option to join up with them on a temporary basis, or stick with MP Panagos in their safe room."

"And you picked the safe room, right?" Mom asks.

"No, Mom." I sigh. "However temporarily, I'm technically part of G&K at the moment. The contract I signed allows me to break it if I need to without major consequences."

"Thank god." Dad says. "So, you can go and break it then."

UMP 45 clicks her tongue. "Ah, but we're still talking about the day of the bombing! We have so much more to cover." She wraps her good arm around my shoulders and leans in. I get that she's playing up the attraction thing, but this flirting is genuinely distracting. "He's already proven himself in several firefights."

Mom and Lexi Gasp, and dad's grip on the table turns his knuckles white.

I glare at her. "Gee, thanks."

"Any time."

"It's not that bad." I wince internally at the blatant lie. "I barely even fired any bullets. It turns out, I'm half decent at giving orders, so I was given a squad and gave them orders. MP Panagos was under attack by a very persistent foe. We finally drove them off this morning."

"For now." UMP 45 says. "Of course, when they attacked our base, Hadwin gallantly came with us to raid the enemy base and helped us shut down the enemy forces, those dirty robots."

Dad's eyes narrow. "Robots?"

"Oh ja, Paradeus is full of robots. Big ones with laser cannons and missiles."

I speak up before UMP 45 can make things worse. "I basically showed up and stood around as they did everything." I clarify.

"Mmhmm, but it was your orders to bring down a building on your own head."

This has the same predictable reaction of freaking my family out even more.

"That was an entirely-" I stare at the grinning T-doll. "Why are you like this?"

Her smirk disappears instantly and her tone turns to ice. "You should be bragging about your accomplishments, not playing them down to appease... civilians."

She was about to say 'humans' wasn't she. "And I'm trying to not give my parents an aneurysm."

UMP 45 rolls her eyes and her pleasant tone returns with her light smile. "I met you less than two days ago and you've managed to defend a critical server room with only one other person against a cyborg, uncovered a really crucial secret about our current enemy, and destroyed an entire platoon with only seven people. By dropping a building on the battlefield." She turns to my parents. "He's certainly being wasted as a... what was it, cook?"

"Is this true, Hadwin?" Dad asks.

"...There's a few people that think that." I grumble.

"Well." The frown disappears from his face and he begins to look thoughtful.

"This morning." UMP 45 says, clearly getting a kick out of terrifying my family. "We went and found out why Paradeus was able to track our position, and destroyed that. Hadwin was the only reason we were able to make it out safely."

"Oh, come on." I say. "You could have gotten that data out anyway."

"I'm glad you have confidence in me and my team, Hadwin." She says. "But no, HK 416 tells me that she couldn't have armed all of those missiles to explode in time. You were actually critical. Somehow."

"I'm not sure, HK 416 is exactly impartial in her reporting." I note sarcastically.

"So, I'd really listen to him. He has to make important decisions, including this next one." She lowers her voice back to ice and her face to a sneer. "I'd rather you didn't try to make it for him."

"45!" I shout.

She hops off my lap, hands in the air. "Okay, I'll leave you to it. If you leave without saying goodbye, we're coming after you." She leaves before I can get in another word.

"Alright son." Dad folds his arms. "Your friend is pretty intense."

"What's crazy is she's the one that hates me most. I think." I frown.

"She's a bitch though." Lexi mutters.

"Lexi! Language!" Mom says.

"So, I'm willing to listen. Just… tell me what happened since Tuesday." Dad folds his hands and puts his elbows on the table.

I give myself a moment to calm down. "Okay, so it's like this-" I proceed to give a highly edited version of events, leaving in only the basic details. Nothing about T-dolls, nothing about getting thrown around by explosions, nothing about how... how I killed someone. Still, there's clearly holes in my story.

"So you just stood around on an active battlefield and the first hint of danger was a building falling down on you." Dad summarizes.

"Yes."

"A building you told your squad to bring down." He continues.

"...It wasn't my finest moment."

"How were you close enough to the battle to be in range of the collapsing building, but far enough away to not be in danger?"

I open my mouth, but no words come out.

"Bro, you suck at lying." Lexi grumbles.

"What do you want me to say? I charged in, guns blazing, and survived by sheer chance?" I ask sarcastically. "I was too close because they pinned us against the building. I only brought it down once we knew that it was doing that or getting blasted by a missile barrage." I hold my head in my hands. "I didn't want to be there either, believe me."

"Then... why don't you want to leave?" Mom asks.

"Because... Well..." My frustration grows as I search for the words to express what I want. It'd be easy if I could mention them being robots. "They... they were really happy to have me in their ranks. Even if it was only a day or so, they treated me like I was one of them."

"Oh honey." Mom sighs. "That's how cults get you."

"Griffin & Kryuger is not a cult, mom."

"But it is a PMC." Dad says. "It's a recruiting technique. And they're probably not above hiring anyone they can to throw at the enemy."

"Dad." He looks at me, fully paying attention. It feels like the first time he's ever truly listened to me. "They hired me as a cook."

Silence in the tent.

I take another breath and continue. "We got attacked at 4 in the morning, I was with the other commanders deep in the base to keep tabs on the situation, and it turned out our communications were being monitored. Commander Gentiane asked me to run a note to a group... and UMP 45 thought I was backup. We got ambushed and they had to drag me with them on the next part of their mission."

"And how did this lead you to going on further missions?" Dad asks.

"Commander Gentiane was impressed with my performance and asked if I'd give her a hand with an easy thing. That thing was supposed to be simple data retrieval and it ended up... not."

Lexi snorts. "They were impressed with you standing around?"

Oops. "...I guess."

"Well, it's clear to me that there's things going on that you're not willing to talk about. However, I'm willing to defer judgement for the moment." Dad concedes. "Still, I have more questions."

"Alright, shoot."

"You keep referring to UMP 45." Dad pushes his glasses back up. "You are aware that's a weapon, correct?"

"Uh... All of the ground forces of G&K use their favored weapon as a codename." My misunderstanding is suddenly coming in useful. "You can basically tell who's a combatant or not by if their name is a name or a series of letters and numbers. UMP 45 is the one that barged in here earlier."

"Okay." He rubs his chin.

"Hey, why are they all girls?" Lexi demands.

"..." Now this I'm really at a loss for.

"Cyborgs."

My entire family, including me, turns to see Commander Gentiane entering the tent.

"Excuse me?" Lexi blinks.

"Most of them are girls we rescued from bad situations and gave them augmentations to make them combat effective." She had brought her own chair with her and sets it down to give herself a place to sit. "It's distasteful, but most of them were in situations that meant either join or die. I assume you saw UMP 45's arm, SOPMOD's arm, and possibly M4A1's stomach and shoulder, and those are just the ones in the immediate vicinity."

She relaxes into her seat, closing her eyes wearily. Actually, she's probably been up longer than I have at this point, and I got naps. I'm surprised she's still awake to be honest.

"Oh. That's horrible! To think, so many of them need that." Mom says.

"They are soldiers." Dad reminds Mom.

"Not as many need extras as you might think. Also, we do let them 'retire' after they've paid themselves off, and a lot of them are non-combatants working for the PMC. I'm sure you know, putting machines inside a human body is really expensive. So, you don't have to worry, I'm honestly trying to do my best by them."

As I listen, I realize quickly that Commander Gentiane is carefully picking her words. Nothing she's said is an outright lie, I think, but she's certainly not giving a good representation of the truth.

Not that I'm particularly complaining.

"Anyway, I came here to introduce you to... Hey, come in." Gentiane calls out at the tent entrance.

MP Panagos enters, followed by M4A1 and AR-15. M4A1 makes eye contact with me, then taps her throat subtly.

Dad and Mom recognize the MP's face and they stand up to greet her respectfully. I turn the microphone back on once I'm sure they're distracted.

"Status?"

"They think you're cyborgs and they're not planning on dragging me away kicking and screaming yet."

"That's good news."

"What happened with SOPMOD?"

"She's reflecting. You may need to deal with 404 though."

"Wonderful." Dad turns to me and I realize that he had just called my name. "Uh, sorry, I'm a bit tired. Can you repeat the question?"

Dad sighs.

"I was just complimenting you for your help in rescuing me last night. Very brave of you to stay behind and cover the rear instead of retreating to base." MP Panagos beams. "I will be recommending you for a Cross of Valour once this is over."

Dad gives me a look. "See, that's not what he said happened."

"Bro, you really need to learn to lie better." Lexi chides me. "I'm better at it and I'm six years younger than you."

"Next time, arrive on time and maybe I'll have a coherent story." I grumble. My parents are never going to believe another word out of my mouth.

I sit in silence as Mom and Dad talk with MP Panagos.

M4 moves next to me and places a hand on my shoulder.

I look up at her questioningly, but she just shakes her head. AR-15 subtly moves to the opposite side of me, eyes fixed on my family.

From my position near her hip, I notice that the knife she has strapped to her leg is tied to a string that goes up under her skirt. Not sure where to, but… if she wants to keep the knife attached, shouldn't it be tied to her coat?

I give her a look, but she's too focused on my parents for the moment.

Commander Gentiane claps. "Okay, I have an army to run, so let's wrap this up."

Dad agrees. "Of course. Hadwin said his contract can be cancelled easily so-"

Gentiane holds up her hand. "Yes and I realize you're the kind of parents that want it in writing. With his permission, I'll send a copy of it to you. However, I really don't want to lose him as an agent, so here's what I'd like to do, Hadwin permitting. He's an adult, so he gets to make his own decisions."

Dad crosses his arms. "Well... I'll hear you out."

"How is this my own legal situation and yet I'm not part of the proceedings?" I grumble into the microphone.

"Commander, are you sure you're not some bizarre male T-doll?" AR-15 deadpans into my headset. "We never get a choice in life either despite how much others insist we do."

I wanted to retort, but the conversation moves forwards once Gentiane collects her thoughts. "We're going to be in the area until Saturday. We can give Hadwin until then to decide if he wants to leave. This will allow you to get a better understanding of things, he will get some much needed sleep, and have a chance to think things through."

Dad glances at me.

"What?" I ask.

"What do you think of that?"

"Uh... I'm all for taking a nap first." I say. "Passing out for a few hours could do me some good."

"Alright." Dad turns to Gentiane. "But I'm afraid we'll have to insist that he comes home with us."

"Oh, would you? Less people to find a bunk for." Commander Gentiane waves her hand away.

"Excuse me, Commander." M4A1 speaks up. "Are we still assigned to guard him for the interim? Where are we supposed to bunk?"

"Well, you'll just have to go home with him!"

I stare at Gentiane. Her smile is almost as evil as 45's in that moment.

The tent flap flares inwards and I see a flash of red and black, before hearing an "Urk!" and RO635's voice on the radio. "Sop, what did I tell you!"

"But... I wanna see Commander Haddy's home too!"

"Wait, we get to see the commander's home?" HK 416's voice comes through.

"Ooooh! Me too!" P90's voice comes in next.

"How are you two on this channel?" RO635 sounds exasperated. "Is this your doing, 45?"

"Who can say?" Said hacker responds.

I tap my throat to deactivate the radio. "T-dolls are fucking crazy."

"Mmhmm." AR-15 agrees with me. "And you haven't met the ones that think they're idols yet."

---

Sector 3 isn't actually that big. Everything inside the walls can be walked to, if you have a spare hour or two. The farthest two points inside the walls are only five kilometers from each other as the crow flies. Still, there's a lot of people here. The buildings are all built to be at least four stories high. They're not exactly skyscrapers, but since Sector 3 was built vertically, we have a pretty high population density. High populations crowded into a small space practically demands public transportation, and yeah, there's several options available.

However, our group isn't exactly inconspicuous.

Dad and Mom are bringing up the rear, content to watch the insanity unfolding in front of them. I'm in front leading the pack.

And it is a pack. M4A1, AR-15, RO635, and SOPMOD had been assigned to guard me, P90 had convinced Commander Gentiane (read: fast talked until she got a headache) that I needed Echelon 11 around in case of emergency, and of course, 404 does whatever they want, which in this case is following me home.

So now I'm leading twelve T-dolls to my house. Thankfully, the weapons are hidden, much to the T-dolls chagrin, as we'd rightfully be causing a panic right now otherwise. Some weapons were disassembled and stuffed into bags and I know AR-15 kept her knife on her. It's already lunchtime since several of the T-dolls had to get rush-repaired before they 'deployed', during which time I was getting a quick bit of medical attention for my calf. At least now M4A1 and P90 look less robotic, but UMP 45 and Sop still have robotic appendages uncovered.

Most of Echelon 11 is looking around curiously, only Tokarev walking quietly. UMP 9 is teasing Lexi, even though I asked her to stop. Twice. HK 416 took up her new favorite position on my left side, and AR-15 takes my right. Both of them scan the area looking for threats. HK 416 is also carrying a sleeping G11 on her back.

M4A1 and RO635 are currently sharing information between themselves, given how they keep making expressions in time with each other every time I look back. S.A.T.8 is having a pleasant chat with my mother about lunch, her physical shields not present. SV-98, P90, and SOPMOD are excitedly discussing how a firefight in here would go (Please don't start anything) and UMP 45...

As I watch, she glances at an advertisement board and it suddenly starts displaying an image of my hotel room door at the old griffin base, with the text "Door killer" written over it in a horror font, dripping in red.

With this massive group, we're attracting a lot of stares. The colorful clothes and manner of dress of the T-dolls stick out like sore thumbs and it doesn't help that UMP 45 keeps screwing with things as we pass.

I stop in place and the T-dolls look my way in curiosity. "45."

"Don't call me that. We're not friends." She replies, changing the sign to instead show an image of me in my G&K uniform, with several T-dolls standing behind me and the text "Join the crazy train" and a phone number. After a second, she adds a Doppelsöldner in the background looming over everyone.

"UMP 45, then. Stop that."

"Nah, I'm bored, and this place is too peaceful."

I give up and switch to the next issue. "9."

9 Stops teasing my sister and turns to me. "Yeeees?"

"Can you stop harassing my sister?"

"Yep, totally can. Not going to, but I can."

"Hey!" Lexi cries angrily.

"SV-98, P90, can you talk about, I don't know, civilian topics for now? You're scaring people."

"Uh..." P90's expression blanks. "What do civilians talk about?"

"What about me?" Sop asks.

"You're a lost cause." I say without missing a beat.

"Idiots, all of them." HK 416 mutters.

"Careful." I say. "You're on the shit list for trying to intimidate my Mom."

"I didn't know she was your mother. Otherwise I wouldn't have done such a thing."

"D'you think it's okay to do that to any other civvie then?" AR-15 snarks.

The two glare at each other from either side of me.

Is this what happens when you don't give them a clear goal? I continue walking forwards, sincerely wishing that some of these T-dolls would act calmly, like when they're on a job.

What if I gave them a job?

In my pocket is a bunch of money, apparently partly my combat pay, and partly a food stipend for the twelve T-dolls. Still, leaving aside food expenses, there's sleeping arrangements that need to be made, and... I don't know if any of them have changes of clothes, or toiletries, or... how much of that stuff do they even need? I'm not going to ask but I should really make sure.

I stop again, and this time I turn to M4A1, SV-98, and UMP 45, pointing to indicate them. "Hey, do you and your teams have things to stay away from base? Toothbrushes, a change of clothes, stuff like that?"

"No, not really." M4A1 says. "It's never really come up before."

"We usually get cleaned up back at base. It's a waste of time and resources to drag that stuff with us on missions." SV-98 points out.

"You think I have that luxury?" UMP 45 snorts.

"Okay, there's a general store over there. Can you get some stuff for everyone?" I sigh and pull out the envelope of money. "Lexi?"

"Yeah?" She snaps, redirecting her anger from UMP 9's incessant pestering.

I glance around and, while we're still getting stares, nobody is looking directly at me. I carefully open the envelope and count some bills out. "Can you help these three get everything the group needs to stay over?" I hand her a chunk of the money. "Just lead them back home afterwards. Don't let them sucker you into buying stupid things."

She stares at the large sum in awe. "Uh, s-sure."

M4A1 turns to RO635. "Can you get everything?"

RO635 nods. "Leave it to me."

UMP 45 turns to HK 416. "Hey, go pick out... no, nevermind."

HK 416 raises an eyebrow. "What?"

"If you went in, I'd have to drag around G11." UMP 45 shakes her head. "I guess I'll go."

"Um, let me verify everyone's preferences." SV-98 turns to Tokarev and starts whispering.

I turn to Mom and Dad, who are giving me strange looks. "Mom, what's the bed situation like?"

"I think we have an air mattress." She says. "Plenty of spare blankets in storage though."

Dad pipes up. "Both of the couches fold out."

"That's... not quite enough." I bite my lip. "Okay, Tokarev?"

She looks up. "Da?"

I hand her a bit of the money. "Take P90 and follow those four and go looking for air beds. We only have beds for five, maybe six of you right now, so we need more."

Tokarev blinks a few times. "Okay, I understand."

"Thanks."

Lexi leads the five T-dolls towards the general store.

I glance back at Mom. "Do we have food at home? Commander Gentiane-"

"I'll be making food with this lovely young lady." Mom says, indicating to S.A.T., who beams. "We should have plenty at home, your father got a week's worth of rations yesterday."

I look at Dad. "Are you guys going to be okay if I give you some money for food?"

"...We'll figure something out." He gives me an appraising look.

Sop tugs on my sleeve before I can say anything back to Dad. "What do you want me to do?" Her eyes sparkle in anticipation.

"Why don't you ask Dad about cars? He's into mechanical stuff too."

"Hmm." She loses some of her enthusiasm, but quickly perks back up. "Okay!"

Dad again gives me a look, but grudgingly starts talking to the overexcited murder puppy.

"Skillful." M4A1 comments.

"Efficient, too." AR-15 agrees.

9 pouts. "You took away my toy."

"She's my sister, not your toy." I reprimand her. "And seriously, just let it go. She's 14, she's not going to back down. Be the bigger woman."

9 looks down at her chest. "That's not going to be hard."

HK 416 snorts.

I sigh and continue walking, the small-but-still-unusual group on the move once again. I can't wait to collapse into bed-

"H-Hadwin?"

I turn to find Rakim staring at me like he's seen a ghost. He seems to have dropped his bag by accident, but he doesn't notice it. "Hey Rakim."

He leaps at me, patting my shoulders and arms to check to make sure I'm real. "Dude. I thought you were dead!" He starts laughing crazily. "Dude, holy shit, I'm so glad you're alive! You went missing and the police couldn't find you in the wreckage and-"

I notice out of the corner of my eye that HK 416 already has a hand on her concealed pistol, UMP 9 reaching into her pouch, S.A.T. is eyeing Rakim, and AR-15 is clutching the knife on her thigh that I noticed earlier. G11's eyes are open and that's never a good sign.

"Rakim, slow down. I'm good, I swear. It's been a weird few days." I pat him on the shoulder. "Don't worry, nobody here's in any danger."

AR-15 and S.A.T. pick up on the hint faster than the two from 404. HK 416 eventually follows AR-15's lead and UMP 9 reluctantly relaxes. I'm so glad some of the T-dolls can pick up hints.

Rakim calms down somewhat, noticing that he dropped his bag. He picks it up and looks around. "Hey, aren't these two-"

I cut him off before he can shove his foot in his mouth. "Yes, they're the ones who were eating at our store when it blew up." I turn to M4 and 15. "This is Rakim, my coworker."

"Former coworker." He says. "Not really a job to go back to."

"I remember you." 15 says. She doesn't sound that happy to remember him though, her hand still on her knife, but more subtly than before.

"You said I was cute, right?" M4A1 says thoughtfully.

"Er... yes." Rakim blushes. "You are."

"Well, thank you." M4A1 smiles at him.

Uh-oh. I glance at my former coworker and watch as he suddenly, and completely, falls for the T-doll.

He leans in close to me. "Dude, you gotta set me up with her."

"You're... probably not her type."

"Oh, come on, give me a hand. We're bros, right?"

"I... I guess." This can only end poorly. I turn to my parents. "Can you guys head home? I need to catch up with Rakim here for a minute. HK 416, UMP 9, go with them to drop off G11. Sop-"

"I wanna see the car!" Sop vibrates in place.

The rest of them give me a look, one that asks why I'm giving orders.

"Please? I'm not going to be too long." I say. "I promise I won't spend more than half an hour."

"I'll keep you to that." HK 416 says.

"Don't worry, we're used to guard duty." M4A1 says reassuringly.

"Well, let's go prepare lunch." Mom says to S.A.T.

"Does that mean I get to see the car?" Sop's almost jumping up and down in excitement.

Dad gives her an amused look. "If you'd like, sure."

I watch as Mom and Dad start down the road home, with SOPMOD, S.A.T., 9, HK 416 and G11. "Okay... anyway, Rakim, this is M4A1, and AR-15."

His eyes light up. "Oh, like those firearms! Awesome!"

"You like guns?" M4A1 asks politely.

They start talking about things that quickly dwarf my knowledge on the subject. After a minute of trying to follow along I give up and turn to AR-15 instead, tapping my throat mic on. "Please don't stab him. He's just an idiot."

"I know." She replies non-verbally, finally dropping her hand from where her knife is hidden by her skirt. "Though I'm seriously wondering if I shouldn't have dragged him into the freezer with everyone else. Maybe being left outside would have made him realize he was unimportant."

"Harsh." I reply.

"Hey, it's not like I'd use him as a body shield. I'm not UMP 45."

"Yeah, but it was still harsh."

Rakim points his fingers like shooting pistols and makes gunshot noises with his lips.

"Harsh, but fair." I amend. "Dude, catch a clue."

"How'd you even meet him? You don't seem to like him that much." AR-15 observes.

"We just worked together for a few months. I get the feeling he doesn't have a lot of friends and kinda felt sorry for him, so I talked with him."

The conversation had shifted as I talked to 15. "So, do you go to school around here?" Rakim asks M4.

M4 blinks. "Commander?"

"If you want to pretend to be human, you can just say you're from out of town."

"I'm from out of town." She says.

"Oh. Well, while you're here, if you want to hang out, I'm available most days." He fumbles in his pocket for his phone. By the time he has it out, M4 informs him she doesn't have a phone, but she can borrow one.

"He's desperate." 15 comments through the radio.

"He's not even out of high school yet." I comment back. "His only interaction with girls anywhere close to his age is customers at work and my sister when he comes back to my place."

"Still, he's really coming on strong."

"Could be worse. He could assume she's just going to go along with it and plan out a wedding."

"I guess." AR-15 gives me a sidelong look. "Do people do that?"

"Some people are pretty bad at social relations."

"Well, we'd better get back. Hadwin's parents are expecting us for lunch." M4A1 says politely. "It was nice meeting you."

"Nice meeting you too." Rakim says. He turns to me. "Say hi to your parents for me!"

"Sure. You do the same." I wave as he walks away.

"He has remarkably strong opinions on guns for never having fired one." M4 comments.

"Yeah... too many video games." I say. "Though, I play most of the same ones, and I'm not exactly up to snuff on my firearms."

"We'll help you with that." 15 asserts. "And hey, if I need to demonstrate how a gun operates, I think we found a target dummy."

---

By the time I get home, Mom and S.A.T. are already cooking. S.A.T.'s wearing my sister's apron over my mother's clothes, which... suit her remarkably well. UMP 9 seems content to wait in the kitchen and watch them work. HK 416 and G11 are sitting on the couch. 416 watching the door, waiting for my arrival and G11 is passed out, hugging one of the cushions. Sop and Dad are nowhere to be found.

HK 416 gets to her feet as soon as I enter. "You're back."

"Yep." I respond, kicking my shoes off. "Miss me?" I throw out a joke.

"Yes." She responds seriously, giving me pause.

"Uh... Okay."

AR-15 smirks. "Hadwin, where do you want me to put my stuff?"

"Hmm... I guess we can dump your gear in my room for now." I say. "Follow me."

Our house occupies two floors of a six story building (floors three and four), actually really spacious considering how cramped this sector is. Dad's job allows us to have a better than average standard of living, it's been a while since I really appreciated it, and with the occupancy going from four to sixteen, now is definitely one of those times.

I lead the three T-dolls to my room and gesture around. "Go ahead and dump your things wherever. Just don't leave any weapons in plain sight."

15 starts peeling off armor plating and setting her weapons on my desk. M4A1 follows suit, covering the pile with her raggedy coat once finished. HK 416 begrudgingly doffs her coat and pulls out...

"HK 416, why do you have grenades?"

"...You never know when we're going to encounter an enemy." She says defensively. I watch as she carefully moves her thigh holster higher to make sure it's covered by her skirt and then I realize where I'm looking and look away.

For my part, I drop off the backpack, and pull off the throat mic and radio, setting them carefully down on top of the backpack. I'm covered in dirt and dust, I want a shower... I settle for grabbing a fresh change of clothes and tuck them under my arm. I'll change in the bathroom. I leave the coat and tactical vest in the room, gun hidden from plain sight, tucked into the vest.

"I feel naked." AR-15 comments as I close the door.

I give her a look.

She blushes slightly, still frowning. "I never go around without my armor plating or weapons. It's just an odd feeling." She elaborates.

"Actually, I kind of feel the same way." M4A1 says. "It's been a while since I wasn't active."

"Well, barring extreme circumstances, I don't expect violence here." I say. "Just try to relax and enjoy it."

"'Relax' he says." HK 416 grumbles. "I've been on the run for years."

"Have any of you been to Sector 3 before?" I ask.

"No." M4A1 responds. "Never had cause to."

"Same here." HK 416 says.

"Well, I'll have to take you on a small tour later. We've got some nice views of the Mediterranean sea."

"I'm looking forward to it." HK 416 responds.

"Looking forward to what?" UMP 9 pokes her head out of the kitchen.

"A date." AR-15 says without missing a beat. "You're not invited."

9 sticks her tongue out.

Mom pokes her head out of the kitchen and notices the bundle of clothes under my arm. "Hadwin, can you get each of them a change of clothes? Mine won't fit any of the others. Also, show them how to use the shower and grab some spare towels from the closet."

"Lexi should be back with spare clothes-"

"Just offer them yours. You're taller than them, so it should be fine."

"Mom... that's kinda..."

"Well, they're pretty girls. You shouldn't keep them from being clean just because you're squeamish."

"That's not..." I glance at the T-dolls, who don't appear to mind. "Well, I guess you should all follow me."

We head back upstairs and I grab some loose stuff from my dresser, like sweats and T-shirts. I set my own change of clothes down too, I'm probably not going to get a turn to change for a while. "Here you go, pick from these." I say. "Uh, HK 416-"

"Just call me 416 already." She says.

"...Okay, 416, can you grab something for G11 too?"

"Of course, Commander."

"And you all need to stop calling me Commander, especially when we're here." The T-dolls proceed to start picking through the clothes and I realize what's missing. It's weird, but they might be uncomfortable otherwise...

I hesitate, but then open up my underwear drawer. "If you want, go ahead and take a set of underwear." I grimace, I think my flush is probably glowing. "Just, take whatever you are comfortable in. I'll be outside." I exit the room quickly and take a bunch of deep breaths to calm myself. They're just borrowing clothes. It's nothing weird.

Stop imagining things.

They all exit my room after a minute or so with some clothes tucked under their arms. I motion for them to follow me and direct them to the bathroom. I briefly show them how to operate the shower, quietly confirm that they can take showers without shorting anything, and then go to fetch more towels.

416 went back downstairs to grab G11 while M4A1 takes the first shower.

AR-15 follows me to get the towels. This is the first time I've been alone with the pink haired T-doll since I met her.

She speaks up once out of earshot of the others. "Thank you."

"Hmm? For what?"

"Clothes. This vacation." She shrugs. "This is the first time I haven't felt like I'm obligated to chase M4A1's tail or like I'm being hunted."

I open the closet, start pulling towels off the shelf, passing them back to 15. "Glad to be of service, I guess."

Her hands tighten on the towels I've passed to her. "So, we're actually going on a date tomorrow, right?"

I glance in her direction. "Uh, it's not really a date. It's more of a guided tour."

"Oh." She frowns slightly. "Okay."

"Did you want it to be a date?"

"I... don't know." She frowns. "That's what normal people do, right?"

"Normal people get tours too, y'know." I note her arms are full and start collecting the towels myself. "So, you want a normal life?"

"...For a long time, I had to just follow M4A1 without any say in the matter. I hated the feeling of not being able to do what I wanted to. Acting like a human seems the ultimate 'fuck you' to fate." She shrugs.

"Well..." I scratch my face. "If you ever decide you want to try a date, I could hook you up with someone."

"Oh please. I already met Rakim, and he's not my type." She rolls her eyes.

"I have other friends." I say defensively.

"Sure you do. SOPMOD's more RO635's type." She turns around. "I'll bring these to the bathroom."

"Yeah, I'll be back in a second." I grab the rest of the towels out and close the door to find UMP 9 standing behind the door.

"Hey, lover boy. Breaking more hearts, are we?"

"What are you talking about?"

"Denying a lady her date! And she even came up to you to ask for it."

"That's not what happened."

"It's what it sounded like to me!" She says in a sing-song. "Commander Hadwin, the heartbreaker!"

"I'm not breaking anyone's heart." I close the closet door and glare at the girl.

9 crosses her arms. "Are you dense? AR-15 just basically asked you for a date."

I glare at her. "Ha ha. She only called it that earlier to get under your skin."

"Then, why did she bring it up again, hmm?" She drops her sarcastic tone. "I know 416 likes you since you saved her life against the Nyto, you keep giving AR-15 the answers she wants to hear, even got her a vacation, and G11 seems to think you're her new hug pillow..."

"Uh, no offense, but-"

9 smirks. "You're the one that made that embarrassing declaration that you'd protect everyone in Springfield's cafe. From the combat reports, it sounds like you went out of your way to rescue P90 too, and I'm sure that won you some points. Your deeds have been spreading through Grifchan like a wildfire."

"What's Grifchan?"

"G&K's message boards. I'm not really supposed to be able to access them, but, you know. In any case, you're a popular subject."

"This is weird. I met you all two days ago!" I protest.

"Okay, someone really needs to give you a crash course on T-dolls." 9's smirk disappears. "Pay attention."

I shift the towels around so I have a good grip on them. "What?"

"T-dolls are designed to, kind of, 'imprint' on their owner. It's one of those things like how we all look like girls that I told you about before. If we fall for our owners a bit, we're less likely to be thrown away, and a lot less likely to go rogue and kill our owners. A few T-dolls came out without this 'imprint' and they mostly hate people."

I can read between the lines a bit. "...I'm not anyone's owner."

"Technically. Most T-dolls end up falling for their Commander if anyone due to the nature of the job. You've been doing a lot of commanding, and what's more, you're actually there saving us with your own hands. That's going to accelerate the process a bunch."

"So what you're saying is, that AR-15 and 416 are being coerced by their programming to like me."

"Not just them and... that's not... correct." She scratches her head. "It's less like being coerced and more like the suspension bridge effect."

"...What?"

"Humans that get into stressful situations together are more likely to fall in love." She shrugs. "Something about elevated heart rates and mis-attribution of said heart rate. In any case, there's a reason, and it's not like they're being forced against their will. It's built into our software, it's not like a set of handcuffs holding us to something."

"I... well, that's... I don't like it." I say lamely.

"You don't have to." She shrugs. "It's not going to change that it's happening."

"Can I stop it?"

"Well, yeah. Quit G&K."

"...Okay, I'm too tired to think about this."

"No problem!" She returns to her usual chirpy self. "By the way, I like your underwear." She holds up a pair of my boxers. "I'm going to wear this pair."

"I- Okay, sure. Have fun with that."

"Aw, are you embarrassed?"

I stuff the towels in her hands. "Just go take your shower." I'm gonna head downstairs to get away from all of this.

"Okay. No peeking!"

I shudder. "No worries on that front."

"Hey, you don't have to sound like it's that unappealing..." She grumbles.

I head back down the stairs to find 416 picking up the still sleeping G11. She nods to me, a faint blush on her cheeks.

Don't think about what 9 said.

Just. Don't.

I plop down on the couch as she heads upstairs. I figured I'd get a little sleep in, but before I can even close my eyes, Sop bursts in, my Dad right behind her.

"I'm here!" She declares.

"Hey, Sop."

She turns to me. "Commander! Your dad has lots of cool things!"

"Yeah. Hey, go ask M4 for a change of clothes upstairs, and go take a shower." I point to her human-ish hand, which is a lot greasier than earlier. "Assuming you're not going to short circuit your arm."

She looks down at herself and giggles sheepishly. "Okay. I should be good, I waterproofed it. Hey, M4! I'm back!" She calls as she leaps up the stairs two at a time.

She heads upstairs and Dad turns to face me. "She's pretty knowledgeable about machines. She wanted to, and I quote, 'tear apart the engine and make it run soooo much better.' and also suggested a bunch of ways to do that."

"Yeah, I hear she's built some crazy things." I reply halfheartedly.

"She's a little excitable, but I think she's a good person." He nods like he just dispensed some sage wisdom, sitting down beside me on the couch.

"Dad."

"In fact, I think she'd make a good daughter-in-law. Everyone should have a wife that can rebuild an engine."

"Can Mom rebuild an engine?"

"Well son, nobody's perfect."

I wait a second to make sure Mom didn't hear that before continuing. "Dad, Sop's the crazy one of the group."

"What? No, that can't be right. She's so sweet."

"You saw how her one hand is literally a claw? She uses that in combat to rip open the enemy robots."

"A noble goal."

"DAD!"

"Okay, okay." He laughs. "So, which one do you like?"

I glare at him. "I met them the day before yesterday."

"I know." He says. "But come on, they're all cute. You must have a favorite."

"...Fine. SOPMOD."

"Oh, you're just saying that because I like her." Dad says. "Come on, tell me."

M4A1 and AR-15 come down the stairs, M4A1 in a green T-shirt and shorts, AR-15 in a navy blue hoodie. "Oh, hello Mr. Galanis."

"Please, call me Damian." He says. "I'm going to get myself cleaned up, you two make yourselves at home."

"Thank you." M4A1 says.

Dad leaves, and the two T-dolls sit down on the couch on either side of me.

I give them both a nod before closing my eyes and trying to drift off to sleep. Don't think about how they look. It's bad for your health. Also, there's a whole other couch?

The front door opens again and Lexi's tired voice floats through the house. "We're baaaack."

RO635, UMP 45, and SV-98 walk in loaded with bags. Behind them, P90's holding two airbeds, and Tokarev has a third and some more bags.

M4A1 gets up. "I'll show them the shower."

"Thanks." I wonder how much we're going to owe for water this month. Better give dad some money for that too. "Lexi?"

"What." She plops down on the chair opposite me.

"Thank you. I appreciate it."

"Where do you find these girls!" She suddenly bolts upright, miffed. "Row and Esvie just checked that a piece of clothing fits whoever they're buying it for and made sure it wasn't expensive before grabbing it, disregarding style, and scarface over there wanted to grab these garish puce and purple pajamas for her teammate. If I wasn't there, everyone would be wearing lime green and pink!"

UMP 45 doesn't react to the 'scarface' comment. "If you wanted fashionistas, talk to the french group."

Collectively, all of the present T-dolls make a face. Mental note: Avoid the 'french group' whoever they are.

RO635 turns to my sister. "As I mentioned-"

"'It's more efficient', I know. That's not how you're supposed to pick clothes though!"

RO635 looks perplexed, but M4A1 distracts her before anything more can be said, and the group of T-dolls heads upstairs, leaving me, my sister, and AR-15.

"So." Lexi begins. "You're... Ayar?"

"Just call me fifteen." AR-15 says.

"Bleh. Code names are so stupid. Why can't you have a normal name like, I don't know, Amy?"

"Amy?" I blink. "Where'd that come from?"

"She has pink hair."

Oh. OH. I Hold in a snort.

AR-15 looks between the both of us. "What? What?"

"Nothing." I manage to get out.

"It doesn't seem like nothing." She narrows her eyes.

Before I can say anything else, HK 416 and G11 come down the stairs, HK 416 in a plain white T-shirt which has been hastily tucked into a pair of my sweatpants, and G11 is wearing another of my hoodies. It's so big on her it serves as a dress.

G11 walks over to me, contemplates AR-15 for a second, and then crawls onto my lap and promptly falls asleep.

HK 416 takes her position at my right, content to sit next to me- not. She leans her shoulder against mine and closes her eyes. "Just a quick nap." She murmurs.

"A nap sounds good." AR-15 yawns and curls up. "Wake me when food's ready." Glancing down, I see that her foot is just barely brushing me.

T-dolls sure do like physical contact.

Lexi stares at me from the other couch.

"What?"

"You're just going to let them sleep on you?"

"Why not?"

"It's... weird." She finishes lamely.

"Plenty of weird going around lately. I'm going to get some sleep too." I yawn. "I feel like I haven't slept in a few days."

Before she can protest further, I stop resisting sleep and let the blackness overtake me.

---

By the time I wake up, the sun is no longer shining through the window.

I blearily pull my phone from my pocket and glance at the time. Half past six. I think I might have missed lunch.

Looking around, HK 416, G11, and AR-15 aren't in the room anymore, but instead, SOPMOD is sitting on the floor with her arms around my waist, head on my lap. UMP 9 has a hold on my left arm, and S.A.T.8 is sitting to my right.

Sop's dressed in a red T-shirt and black hot pants. The shirt still has the tag on it from the store. 9's dressed in a bright yellow hoodie and a black skirt. At least they're not going to steal all of my clothes.

I violently quash the thought of whether 9 decided to use my boxers after all. She'll say she did in any case to get under my skin.

"Buonasera, Commander." S.A.T. says, apparently the only T-doll awake.

"Good evening." I echo. "I guess I missed lunch?"

"You were completely out." S.A.T. confirms. "We saved you some food though."

I pry Sop's arms off of my waist and stand up stiffly, prying my arm out of 9's grip as well. "I think I'll grab some of it then."

S.A.T. follows me into the kitchen. "Here's your portion." She pulls a plate out of the fridge and puts it in the microwave.

"So, what's going on? Where is everyone?"

"Your sister, P90, Tokarev, and SV-98 are in her room playing a video game. M4A1, RO635, and AR-15 are currently surveying the block to check how secure it is. G11 was moved to your room to sleep. HK 416 is busy pretending she's not following M4A1's group around the block. UMP 45 has planted herself near your router and seems to be doing something... Probably less than legal, knowing her."

"...Well then." I grab the plate from the microwave and grab a fork before sitting down. "Is this scouting party causing any problems?"

"None so far. Most of the M4 series dolls have good heads on their shoulders, Sop notwithstanding."

"That's good." I take a few bites of my food. "This is so good."

"Grazie." S.A.T. beams. "I helped."

"I know." I swallow and grab another bite. "So, what did you say UMP 45 was doing?"

"I'm not sure, but she's been using a lot of bandwidth. Nobody's been able to use the internet since she started."

"I guess I'll go have a talk with her." I munch a bit more. "Mmm, where are my parents?"

"Damian and Velma Galanis are currently out on a drive."

"Uh huh." I finish off my plate and stand up to rinse it. "Thank you for the food. I think I'm gonna go yell at UMP 45, take a shower, and go to bed."

"Of course, Commander."

"And seriously, call me Hadwin. I'm not commanding anyone right now."

"Yes, Hadwin."

She follows behind me as I head to the room near the center of the house where we keep our router. UMP 45 looks up as I open the door and flick on the light. "Finally woke up?" She asks.

"Yes. What are you doing?"

"Oh, nothing important." She stands up and stretches. A black and white striped sweater and a black skirt to match her sister.

"I have a hard time believing that, because, y'know, it's you." I say. "What were you doing?"

"I was just checking the security cameras in the area. Can't be too careful." She says nonchalantly. "Oh, I also made an offer to buy out your neighbors both above and below you, so we can use those floors as defensive areas. I checked the delivery and facilities schedules so any unexpected packages or unplanned stops by garbage trucks can be flagged as suspicious. I set up a program to track your family members as they walk around the city, and if anything suspicious happens around then, it'll alert me."

"...What the..." I blink. "Most of that isn't public information!"

"Sector 3 has very lax security." She comments. "I may have also given the infrastructure workers a wake up call."

I hold my head in my hands. "Why me?"

"Because two idiots from DEFY picked you up off the street." UMP 45 says. "Ah, I also leaked to the press that the leader of the anti-robot faction, you know, the mayor? He has a robot fetish, and I have the pictures to prove it."

"How."

"Idiot leaves his computer on and connected to the internet."

"Okay, I'm going to have to ask you to stop."

She gives me a look. "Do you have something better for me to do?"

"You could just relax-"

"I'm bored." She cuts me off. "This town is too peaceful and I don't like it here. The doll smuggling ring here is small and barely worth crushing, there's no major organized crime here yet, and the most corruption I've found was that the mayor likes his sex toys a little more sentient than he'd admit out loud."

"I- doll smuggling- A lack of corruption is a good thing!"

"Not if your business is to worm your way through the cracks in society." She sighs. "Fine. I'll stop, on two conditions."

"Yeah?"

"One." She holds out her thumb. "You allow 404 to go out and destroy the doll smuggling ring here before we go."

"...Do you honestly believe I could stop you?" I ask.

"If you asked HK 416 not to go, she probably wouldn't." UMP 45 shrugs. "That would make this... well, it's a small ring in any case... Nevermind. Just don't do anything to actively hinder us."

"Sure, why not." I cross my arms. "And number 2?"

She holds out her index finger in addition to her thumb. "...Training."

"Training?"

"We'll give you some training later and you have to learn it."

"...As long as it isn't..." I was going to say illegal, but their presence here's illegal. "As long as it's not going to kill someone."

She shrugs. "It shouldn't. Not directly, at least."

"Okay." I'm tempted to pat her shoulder or try to shake her hand, but she doesn't look to be in a particularly good mood at the moment. Not that she ever does. "I'm gonna take a shower."

"Oh?"

"Mmhmm. I'm still covered in crumbled building and explosions."

"Do you have a set of clothes to change into?" S.A.T. asks. "You lent out a lot of clothes earlier."

"I should have something." I say.

"Oh, don't worry, you definitely do." UMP 45 says cryptically. "S.A.T, can you please grab my sister for me?"

I leave the doll to do whatever they want and head for my room. I almost barge in, before remembering that the room is currently occupied by a sleeping G11. Sure, she's a deep sleeper, but I don't need to barge in all rude-like.

I gently knock and get no response. Well, here goes nothing. I open the door slowly and carefully walk inside.

First, I verify that G11's asleep on my bed, she is, and she's hugging my pillow the same way she usually hugs her gun. It's kinda adorable, really. Then, I start opening my drawers.

Somehow, they're all empty.

The UMP twin's snickering faces fill my head. I have more clothes than they took... Thankfully, there's still clean underwear left. "UMP 45 said something about having a set of clothes, though?" I muse aloud, before looking back at my bed and noticing that there's a shirt and pants set out. Upon closer inspection, they still have tags on them, so they're new... but it's too dark in here to properly make out what they say on them. It's too late to care about that, I think.

Whatever.

I grab the clothes and head for the bathroom.

"Commander?"

I turn around to see G11 up and rubbing her eyes. "Hey, are you doing okay?"

She yawns. "Mmm... Yes." She gives me a sleepy smile. "Are you going to bed?"

I hold up the clothes. "I gotta take a shower first. I've still got dust in my hair."

"Okay." She nods and slides off the bed. "Let's go."

"Uh..." I scratch my cheek with my spare hand. "Where are you going?"

"To the showers?" She says, tilting her head in confusion.

"...Nnnno, you should probably talk with UMP 9 or 45. Oh, UMP 45 mentioned that she had a mission for you." I respond, cold sweat breaking out over my back.

G11 blinks and pauses for a second. "She said that I can go."

"No, I-"

"What's up, Commaaaaaander?"

I turn to find 9 behind me. "Hey, can you entertain G11-"

"Nope."

I give her a look. "Please?"

"Why should I?" UMP 9 says. "She just wants to join you in the shower."

I resist the urge to raise my voice. "Because she's..." I glance at the young T-doll. "She's a little girl!"

G11 pouts, and UMP 9 grins. "Oh, and I suppose 416 would be fine?"

"416 would not be fine... either way that's just creepy." I can't resist a shudder. "G11's not old enough."

"I'm older." G11 grumbles.

"...Eh?"

"I was initialized before 416 was." She says louder. "I'm older."

My mind goes into overdrive with objections, but I quickly realize that these are robots. They'll look identical to the way they do now in ten years. G11 could be older than dad, presumably. Still... "You don't look older."

"Funny thing." UMP 9 raises a finger, clearly enjoying the moment. "G11's possibly older than the rest of us."

"Nuh uh." I voice my disbelief.

"Yep! 416 and 45-nee are newer T-dolls. I'm... well, in the middle." 9 giggles. "It's impolite to ask a lady's age, so don't."

"You... but..." I can feel my brain resetting like an overloaded computer. "I'm gonna go take a shower."

"Me!" 9 jumps up.

"No! I asked first." G11 says

"Neither of you. Nobody. Nobody watches me shower. That's creepy." I stalk out of the room, 9 hot on my heels.

"But, how are you gonna enforce that?"

"I'm going to lock the door." I grit my teeth.

"Uh..." She stops and gives me a look. "Comm- Hadwin. I'm the one who was gonna teach you to pick locks."

"Well, then... I'll..." I sigh. "Please?"

---

I got through half of my nice, hot shower (rushed as it was due to 9's words) before the door makes a loud click and someone walks in. Can't immediately tell who, since the shower curtain is opaque.

"Dammit, 9, I asked nicely-"

"I'm not 9." Comes UMP 45's voice.

I sigh. "Okay then. Why are you here?"

"I figured, since you're just so curious about T-dolls and keep prying into everyone's past, I'll answer some questions." She closes the door and I hear it re-lock. "Undisturbed."

"I dunno, this is plenty disturbing." I mutter.

"So, ask away!" She says in a carefree manner, which sets warning bells off in my head, but... what could her objective be? I need more sleep to go against a crafty T-doll.

"Nah, I'm good."

"Hadwin."

"I'm good." I reiterate. "I'd much rather have a Q&A session somewhere else. Like, I dunno, back at G&K's base?"

"Yeah... I'm not going to do that. I don't trust G&K. Actually, I don't trust anyone."

"Then be super suspicious of me and have a Q&A session some other day when you trust me more, or just don't." I turn off the water so I don't have to shout to be heard over the falling water. It's kinda chilly though, and my towel is on the other side of the curtain...

"Here's the thing." She says. "My little sister and 416 have been telling you anything you ask of them. While that's oh-so-wonderful if you're all allies on the same team." Her tone lowers an octave. "But we're not. You're some random dude that's luckier than a four leaf clover who's working for a PMC that's hiring us temporarily. We're an elite spec ops unit that happened to be hired around the same time you got thrown into a meat grinder."

"What's your point?"

"I'm going to tell you things. I'll tell you whatever you want to know, so you don't ask questions and have them spill some crucial secrets. I have secrets in my past- in 404's past- that I don't want you to know."

Water drips from my skin and hair as I contemplate her words. "So... you'll leave if I tell you I have no more questions and won't ask any more?"

"Nooooope. Again, I don't trust you."

"Fine." I peek my head around the curtain. "Can you hand me the towel?"

"Sure." She hands it to me and I close the curtain back while drying myself off. "Alright then. Ask me things."

There's nothing I want to ask right now though. Well, maybe, but it's not really digging into her past or anything. "...Is there a way to tell if a T-doll is over, I don't know, eighteen?"

"Really? That's what you ask? It has nothing to do with our past." She snorts. "Fine, but there's a bunch of answers to that question. On one hand, Doll chassis' can be swapped out completely with about fifteen minutes of preparation. P90, her body's only a few hours old right now. If you're talking about 'mental age' or what we appear to act like, then that's kind of arbitrary. 9 told you the G11 is older than you thought, but also she acts like a child because of her programming. She could act more mature... probably. Our personalities can change gradually just like a human's would with time, but you could just rewrite her completely to suit yourself. If you're talking about how she looks, well... We can transfer to new bodies that look older or younger. I know some A-dolls and even T-dolls do it to suit their commander's preference."

"That's... odd."

"Especially since most of those secondary ages are children." 45 agrees and makes it that much worse. "What you're talking about though, is age since activation. For humans, it's all the same. You get a body, consciousness, and a default personality configured at birth, and you gradually rewrite it over time, so you just use your age to refer to all of those. You look as old as you've been activated, and your body changes with time."

"Okay, so then... maturity then. How do I tell that?"

"How do you know for humans? Get to know them? Maybe see how they react to certain situations? There's no guideline."

"Ugh."

"But since you're not willing to say it out loud, I'll ask it for you." She clears her throat and deepens her voice. "How do I know if she's old enough to have sex?"

"That's NOT something-"

"Yeah, yeah. The thing is-" Her voice gets harder. "We're. Not. Humans. You could grab any random A- or T-doll and most of them are equipped and ready. I know you're having trouble separating us from you, but we're not anything the same."

"...Bleh." Another shiver runs down my spine and I wonder if I'd be cold sweating if I wasn't hot sweating already. "Still... you look too much like a human."

"Uh huh." She sighs. "You need to, and I mean this, you need to realize that a T-doll can roll off an assembly line and hold a conversation seconds after activation. No period where we're helpless infants to be coddled and raised. We're not humans with a bunch of tech shoved into our skulls. We operate on different rules. If you're going to work with us, treat us like we're robots. Tools."

"But... but..." I shudder again, remembering 416 and the day I met her. You know, yesterday. "You all look like you're teenagers! 9 also said that you guys all do some imprinting thing, and that's so creepy!"

"Hey, if you have enough credits to buy me a new frame, I'll get one from one of the machine guns. Those girls are stacked." She pauses. "And you don't really have to return that affection, you know. It's an automatic response, like the way that your creep of a friend fell for M4A1 earlier."

"You heard about that?"

"Yep."

"...I... I don't know."

"Well, Let me tell you this. Romantic attraction to a T-doll isn't rare, but it is frowned upon. After all, humanity's trying to rebuild itself. It can't afford to lose a significant portion of its population to doll fuckers." Her voice turns a little bit thoughtful. "There is that aftermarket upgrade-"

"I really don't want to know." I cut her off. "Okay, so now I'm super uncomfortable, I can't tell how creeped out I am supposed to be when some of these T-dolls decide to come onto me and you want me to just ignore them?"

"Hey. All I said was that you can ignore them, but If you find a T-doll that you wanna do it with, and they agree to it, have fun! Unlike young humans, T-doll's know what they're getting into. Usually."

"I feel disgusting. I want another shower." I whine.

"I'm not stopping you." She sounds like she's shrugging. "So, what else do you want to know?"

"How to stop T-dolls from doing this imprinting thing." I say. "And can you give me my clothes?"

She passes the bundle of clothes to me and I set them on the edge to finish drying myself off. "You can't really. There's a few T-dolls that don't particularly care for humans because their imprint portion of their personality is small, but it could still happen eventually. There's a few T-dolls without it completely like TEC-9, but she's difficult to work with since she's terrified of humans."

"So, T-dolls that don't do the imprint thing hate humans?" I ask.

"Not necessarily. Look, I told you we can rewrite our personalities somewhat. We can write that out if we want to." She shrugs. "You'll notice that most T-dolls don't really mind it."

"It still feels like brainwashing or hypnotism to me." I sigh. "Well, I guess, at least you can change your mind." I start sliding on my clothes. "I guess you probably removed that part of yourself long ago."

Her voice becomes lighter. "Finally, a personal question! As a matter of fact-"

A knock on the door interrupts her. "Hello?" My sister's voice comes through the door.

UMP 45 answers before I can say anything. "Yes?"

"Oh, Scarface. Have you seen my brother around? I can't find him."

"Of course." UMP 45 says. "He's taking a shower."

"Alright." Lexi says, and there's a pause as her brain processes that. "WAIT! WHY ARE YOU IN THE BATHROOM WITH HIM?!"

"Lexi, she's weird, and she can pick locks." I sigh. "I tried to keep her out, but-"

"Let me in RIGHT NOW!"

"Sure." UMP 45 unlocks the door as I go "Wait, no!"

Lexi bursts in to find a grinning UMP 45 and me peeking from around the shower curtain. She suddenly looks lost, like she wasn't expecting to actually be let in.

"You want to join the Q&A session?" UMP 45 asks.

"N-No." She says. "Bro, what are you doing?"

"Trying to take a shower in peace." I growl. "Can you all get out?"

"Hey, what's going on?" P90's voice drifts in as she pokes her head around the corner. "Meeting in the bathroom?"

"What meeting?" SOPMOD peeks in from the other side. "What's with all the yelling?"

A few more T-dolls poke their heads around and I duck back into the shower. I ignore them and they all start talking to and over each other, trying to make sense of what's going on. I instead just decide to put on my clothes.

The pants are some sort of joggers, and they fit nicely. Then, I pick up the T-shirt.

"UMP 45, what is this?!" I yell.

Everyone quiets down. "What do you mean?" 45 asks innocently.

"Why does my shirt say 'If you think my guns are impressive, you should see my girlfriend's'?"

"I wondered why Scarface was buying that." Lexi muses aloud. "Wait, are you two dating? I thought you were dating the tall silver-blue haired one-"

"No, Lexi." I sigh. "I'm not dating any of them."

"But that could change!" Sop says hopefully.

"Maybe, but it's not gonna be you." UMP 9 retorts.

This starts an argument, and I go back to looking at the shirt in my hands. Well, it's either this or go shirtless...

---

We may have a decently big living room, but cramming sixteen people into it is a bit overkill. More laps are filled than not. It's kind of funny to see Sop in RO635's lap and 9 in 45's lap, but less amusing is AR-15 in M4's lap. 15 looks ready to bolt from the room, in rage or embarrassment I don't know.

Mine's occupied by Tokarev at the moment. The doll-like girl had claimed it a second before G11 could, and the young- um, smaller girl is currently pouting from 416's lap across the room. Tokarev has been humming quietly, just enough that I can feel it through our contact.

Lexi's sitting on a dining chair she had dragged from the kitchen. S.A.T. stands behind her.

"Okay, so what's all this about?" Dad says from behind Mom. "Em... M4A1, was it? You made it sound important."

"Yes." M4 nods. "As I understand it, you two are the final authority in this building?" She indicates both of my parents.

"Well, mostly V here." Dad says. "And I thought you all answered to Hadwin?"

"You seem to outrank him." RO635 comments. "He defers to you, at the very least."

"It's normal to respect your parents, at least a bit." I object. "And Dad, only one third of them is actually my squad, the other two are just assigned here."

416 opens her mouth to object but gets a light whack on the shoulder from UMP 45.

"I see." Mom ponders. "In that case, yes. We are in charge here."

"Okay." M4 pokes one of the deflated beds I had Tokarev buy. "Can you decide on sleeping arrangements? We're having a hard time agreeing to anything."

I put my head in my hands, Tokarev giving me a questioning look.

"That's... something you should decide among yourselves." Mom says cautiously. "What's the matter?"

Sop springs up and speaks up before RO635 can slap a hand over her mouth and pull her back down. "Well, we need to decide who gets to sleep with Haddy!"

Silence.

"Well son, you got popular fast." Dad comments, only for Mom to slap him.

"I must be having some fever dream." Lexi mutters.

"SOPMOD, you need to learn to keep your mouth shut." AR-15 snipes.

"She hasn't learned 'till now." RO635 sighs. "Look." She addresses the room at large. "Here's the situation. S.A.T.'s going to need a couch to herself, so we have three people on couches. The airbed you have is for a single person, so that's four. Tokarev and P90 bought three beds total and they'll all hold two people. So, that leaves two, one, if HK 416 is willing to sleep with G11."

I glance at the T-doll in my lap. "Why'd you buy three and not four?"

She blinks her pretty ruby eyes at me. "I assumed someone would be sleeping with you."

"Why?"

"I bet it was P90." SV-98 sighs.

"Guilty as charged." P90 grins. She has a bag of popcorn from the kitchen and is munching it happily.

"Also." M4A1 speaks up. "We need to figure out where to lay out the two other beds, they're not going to fit in here with the couches folded out and the first two air beds."

Mom turns to S.A.T. "Why can't you share a bed?"

S.A.T. pokes her fingers together in embarrassment. "I'm... a little heavy."

"These couches aren't that weak!" Dad laughs. "A slender girl like you couldn't weigh that much."

Her face illuminates a bright red. "I'm actually close to the weight rating, I looked it up earlier. I'm, uh... made from a lot of armor plating."

That explains the buggy's shocks yesterday.

"Oh." Dad's face flushes a bit in sympathetic embarrassment. "Then, you get a couch to yourself."

Mom turns to Lexi. "Lexi-"

"I'm not sharing my bed." Lexi says. "It's too small for me already."

"If it's an issue, I'm willing to find a hotel-" RO635 starts but Mom cuts her off.

"That's a waste of money."

Dad muses aloud. "Stores are closed already."

I sigh. "Alright, someone else can use my bed. I'll figure something out."

"Eh." P90 jerks. "Aw, but that's not fun!"

Mom gives Dad a look. "Damian, can you take Hadwin to grab some things from the pharmacy?"

"Right now? But-" Dad blinks. "Oh, sure."

Mom stands up and walks to the counter, scribbles a few things on a post-it, and hands it to Dad.

I look at the arrayed T-dolls. "...Any of you need anything?"

"A map of the immediate area." UMP 45 says.

"A sleeping mask." P90 says. "I forgot mine."

"Pancake mix?" S.A.T. says as if she's unsure.

"Pancake mix." Mom affirms.

"Okay Hadwin, Let's go." Dad grabs the post-it and his car keys.

"In a sec." I look at Tokarev, still camping on my lap. "Can you please get up?"

"If you insist." She says, and slides off my knee to the side.

"Thank you." I get up, patting her head as I pass her on the way to the door. I realize what I did halfway out the door and glance back, but she doesn't seem unhappy about it.

"That's... quite a group you got there." Dad chuckles as he opens the car.

I climb into the passenger side and buckle in. "They're a lot more forward than I'm used to, that's for sure."

"Do they not interact with other people their age much?" Dad starts the car and I wait for the engine to quiet down a bit before continuing.

"Not really. I'm under the impression that most of them spend most of their time firing a gun at people that are trying to kill them. They're all soldiers."

Dad hmms. "So they're just socially awkward?"

"I guess that's a bit of it. I'm also the first human- uh, unmodified human that's been out on the battlefield with them recently. I'm trying not to treat them differently because they're cyborgs, since they get so much of that already."

"That's my boy." Dad ruffles my hair with his free hand. "Still, it's weird how many of them fell for you already."

"That's not it." I shake my head. "I think most of them just don't get that people can be friends. They mostly stick to assigned squads, and as I said, I'm the novelty right now." I frown. "I mean, I think 416 likes me, she's been kind of obvious about that, but she's had it especially hard from what I can surmise so... not sure if it's some kind of defense mechanism."

"She also dotes on that G11. I wonder if they're sisters? They have similar hair colors." Dad pulls the car to a stop as we get to a light. "You treat those two delicately."

"I do?"

"I'm surprised you let G11 or that doll-like girl crawl onto your lap. I would have expected you to push her off."

"I... guess."

Silence for another minute before dad speaks up again. "I wonder what I missed."

"Huh?"

"On Monday, I was talking with you about your plans for going to college, and you tried your best to dodge the question. Then, your workplace goes up in smoke, you disappear... and when you come back, you've become someone reliable."

"Oh, come on." I roll my eyes.

"It's true! I know you haven't seen it, but every single one of the girls looks to you whenever you speak. When you were sleeping, M4 organized a rotating watch to, and I quote, 'ensure his safety'. The entire time S.A.T. was in the kitchen, she was asking about recipes you would like."

"Wow... that's kinda disconcerting. You'd think they'd be more curious about life inside the walls."

"I know you don't really want to tell me what happened for whatever reason, but you must have done something to get their implicit trust." Dad finishes. "I'd be so lucky to have the same level of loyalty at work and being a lawyer is rarely a life or death affair like their PMC."

"I guess." I scratch the back of my head.

"Also, I watched you take charge of the situation when we first entered the city, when we were walking back from the wall. Your team was getting rowdy, you gave them all tasks to split them up, distracting Lexi from her argument with the twin with the pigtails. I was at a loss on how to avoid causing a scene and you just-" He sweeps his arm around. "I'm actually impressed."

"I don't feel like I did anything special... I just tried to make sure they didn't do anything crazy. I mean, you saw how UMP 45 was already changing signboards."

"And you accomplished that."

I chew on his words. I didn't do anything, though.

"We're here." Dad comments as we pull up to the convenience store.

We go into the store and Dad hands me the list. "I'm going to grab some beer."

"Sure."

I grab all the items on the list (Minus pancake mix, that's something I'd get from a supermarket) and head up to the register where Dad is chatting with the guy behind the counter.

I set the stuff down and Dad claps a hand on my shoulder. "In fact, Hadwin here brought home a whole bunch of girls back with him!"

The clerk smiles at me. "I saw you on the news. Glad you're okay."

"Thanks." Who is this guy, and why is dad talking to him?

"Anyway, Hadwin's going to need those." Dad points behind the counter.

"What are you talking-" My throat locks as the clerk sticks a pack of condoms on the counter.

Dad pulls out his card and pays for the lot before I can unglue my tongue from my throat. "Why-?"

"Look, I just don't want any accidents." He says. "You need to be careful."

"But-" I bite my tongue. I want to protest that they're all robots, but that's not going to go well is it? "I'm not gonna... They're all like, fifteen!"

"Not all of them, surely." Dad shrugs. "Still, it can't hurt to have some insurance."

I splutter a bit, but the clerk throws everything in a bag and Dad and I are out the door.

I was about to protest further, but Dad changes the subject as we climb into the car. "I do have to apologize to you though."

I glance at him.

"When I was showing SOPMOD my car, she was really eager to talk about your exploits." He says with guilt lacing his voice. "I asked her about the whole building thing. She told me that you ordered her to rig up a bomb that would bring down the building, while you went out to be decoy."

"..."

"That's mighty brave of you, son. From everything I've been hearing from those around you, you've become a great person."

I can't help but let out a hollow laugh that elicits a raised eyebrow. "I'm just doing what they're all asking me to do. Commander Gentiane needed a Field Agent, M4A1 needed reinforcements, 404 needed more manpower." I shake my head. "I wouldn't have gone into any of those situations without someone asking me to."

"Maybe." Dad shrugs. "But most people I meet that got into a gunfight once are terrified of it happening again. I'm told you charged back in, when you didn't need to, because Sop asked you to."

"...So, she told you that part too, huh." I puff out my cheeks. "She needed a driver."

"Is there a reason you don't want to accept any praise for this?" Dad asks. "You've been pretty hostile to the whole praise thing and I know you weren't like this a week ago."

"...I don't know." I eventually get it out. "I feel like it's all a lie, or, I don't know, the D- girls are all lying for my sake to make me seem like some big shot."

Dad nods his head a few times, digesting this. "Don't want to take on all the responsibility?"

"That might be it." I grudgingly admit after a few moments of contemplation and a sinking feeling that he might be right.

Dad nods. "It's hard to take someone's life and well being into your hands. As a lawyer, I have to do that all the time."

"Yeah."

"I'm not going to say it's the same thing, but it's similar. You're in charge of lives not your own."

"You make it sound like I just had kids."

"That young one, G11, you take pretty good care of her." Dad muses. "Maybe not kids, but you certainly got a new family."

G11 had told me I was part of her family, Sop too, and now here's Dad, saying similar things.

"Maybe I did." I take a deep breath. "But if I did, it's a rather large one."

"And maybe a bit too violent for my tastes." Dad laughs.

---

By the time we pull up to the house again, Mom is outside next to the front door, smoking. Smoking means she's particularly stressed.

No prizes for guessing why.

She puts out her cigarette as I climb out of the car. "How'd it go?"

"No pancake mix." I announce, careful not to raise my voice too high since it's pretty late. "Other than that, we got everything."

She holds her hand out for the bag and I hand it to her. "That's too bad. S.A.T. offered to make breakfast. She's an adorable woman."

"Yyyyeah, sure." You haven't seen her with a shotgun and an agenda. It's more confident than adorable from what I've seen in combat. "Anyway, speaking of S.A.T., did you figure out... uh..."

"Everyone has a place to sleep." Mom nods. "Though, upon protest, you'll be sleeping in your own bed with the blondie."

Blondie. But, S.A.T., Sop and SV-98 are all blonde? Which-

"Also, they said that they had something to discuss with you when you got back." Mom shrugs and starts rifling through the bag. "Go ahead and talk to them for a minute. I want to talk with your father."

I can hear Dad and mom cracking open a beer each as I walk up the stairs to the entrance to our floor. I wonder how long they'll be talking out here. It's clear out and if it was a warm night in summer they could sit out here for hours talking. It's kinda nice to know your parents get along.

Anyway, I open the door to find UMP 45, M4A1, and RO635 standing in the hall. They all glance my way when I open the door.

"Hadwin." M4A1 says. "We need to talk to you."

"Okay."

"In your room." UMP 45 clarifies. "Privacy, or the illusion of it."

"...Okay."

As we pass the dining room on the way to the stairs, I notice all of the non-404 T-dolls are currently crowded around a game of scrabble being played between my sister, Tokarev, S.A.T., and AR-15. Tokarev appears to be winning.

I turn to UMP 45. "Where's 9, 416, and G11?"

"Resting." She says.

"Big night tonight." RO635 mutters.

"Shh." M4 chides her teammate.

We remain quiet until I close the door to my room behind me.

M4A1 sits on the edge of my bed, UMP 45 takes the desk chair, RO635 sits on a large speaker Dad had given me when I was interested in music, and I lean on the closed door. "So, what's going on?"

"UMP 45 told you about the T-doll trafficking?" M4 asks.

"She said something like that was happening, yeah." I shoot UMP 45 a look. "You told them?"

"I did." UMP 45 nods.

"M4, SOPMOD, and I all went for a perimeter sweep." RO635 says. "We found some disturbing patterns."

M4 nods. "Same as in Belgrade. It looks like Paradeus is disguising themselves to infiltrate and are planning something big."

"Wait." I hold a hand up to forestall further conversation. "Paradeus is here? In Sector 3? Also, what does this have to do with the trafficking?"

"Yes, Paradeus is here. We'll cover the trafficking in a minute." UMP 45 says, no sign of teasing in her tone. "Did you hear about Belgrade?"

"No." I shake my head.

"It wasn't pretty." M4 says. "Lots of people died."

"But..." I blink a few times. "O-Okay, so, we have to stop it."

UMP 45 smirks and RO635 looks resigned for some reason. M4 faces me directly. "I already contacted Commander Gentiane. Given the similarities between this incident and Belgrade, she told us we're free to use force if required."

"Can we get the police involved?"

"Maybe." UMP 45 says. "The problem is that it looks like Mayor Ellis Mavros is probably in on the scheme. I did a bunch of digging earlier after I felt a bunch of A-dolls in the city. You said androids were illegal, so I was curious."

"You... felt?"

She stares at me with her one eye. "I sensed them through electromagnetic emissions. Humans, even heavily modified ones, don't have the same general pattern."

"In any case, it looks like we're going to have to do something." M4A1 looks drained all of a sudden. "Hopefully it's not like last time and we can protect more people than we can't."

"Alright." I stare straight ahead while considering that Sector 3 might become a war zone. "Can we stop it?"

"There is no 'we'." RO635 sighs. "When M4 and I contacted Commander Gentiane, she told us to make it clear to you that you shouldn't be participating in this."

"Why?"

"It's your home. While some would say that's a great reason to defend it... this is likely to go very poorly." RO635 elaborates. "If you are recognized as fighting either with or for androids like us, you're not going to be welcomed here anymore."

"Also, your family is here." M4A1 says. "You don't want to drag them into danger."

I drum my fingers on my arm. "So, you're telling me I can't help."

"No one's telling you anything." UMP 45 says. "It's just a recommendation." She looks straight at me, holding my gaze. "I'm going to make this clear for you. If you want to return to your normal life, we're going to leave tonight and we're not coming back."

"You can't continue with us past here." M4A1 affirms. "It's too dangerous to risk a civilian."

They all stare at me.

It's time for the decision.

On one hand, I've been dragged around, almost been killed a bunch of times, and I've had to shoot someone. They have that imprint thing, they're all on the run from the law, and they're all weird. If I stay with them, I can't stay at home, for multiple reasons.

On the other...

I find I've already made up my mind.

"I... I can't abandon you all now." I say, looking between them. "I guess I'm in."

"I told you." UMP 45 glances at RO635, who scowls. "He's not the kind of person who would back down in this situation."

"I see that." RO635 grumbles. "Well, I hope you don't live to regret it."

M4A1's face breaks out into a small smile. "Well then, we'd better get planning, Commander."

A knock on the door.

All three of the T-dolls instantly reach for their weapons.

I'm tense too as I cautiously open the door a crack.

Dad's standing outside. "You forgot these."

"Uh-"

He shoves the box in my hands and turns away.

I step back into the room and close the door, looking down at the box of condoms.

"When she said planning, I don't think she meant family planning." RO635 says.

UMP 45 falls flat on the bed laughing. "Oh man, you work fast!"

"It's... not what it looks like." I sigh. "Can we just get back to figuring out how we're going to get ourselves killed?"

"Of course." M4A1's smile dims. "So, as we said, Paradeus has a presence here, and they're currently facilitating the import of A-dolls..."