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.

7. Chapter 7: If This Is Vacation

0700. Friday morning. Three hours since I got home from the disastrous raid on the doll trafficking warehouse.

After Dad wandered downstairs at 0400 and scared me half to death, our little meeting had been broken up, M4 and UMP 45 tells me to get some rest if I can, S.A.T.'s food can wait until I get some rest. I had asked the dolls not to disturb me and they mostly agreed. So, I went to my room, alone, and proceeded to attempt to go to sleep.

Instead, I stare at the ceiling of my room, light filtering in through the window officially making it hard to sleep. Not that I spent the last few hours sleeping, despite how much I need to. Only a few hours before 416 roused me for heading out to the warehouse, and those weren't as restful as I wanted them to be, due to having to share my twin-sized bed with someone.

Now though, I'm alone with my thoughts. I'm sure if they wanted to, any of the T-dolls could break in, but after I announced I didn't want to be disturbed, they all seemed to respect my wishes, this time.

I had pushed all of the weaponry out of sight before I tried to sleep, but the smell remains, burnt gunpowder and oils of some kind. It's enough that I cracked the window open to try to air out the room, but it didn't seem to help much.

So, since I wasn't sleeping, I had instead pulled out the doll core UMP 45 and I had rescued the night before and started examining it. It's about the width of my palm, only a few hundred grams, it's completely silent and occasionally a small green light blinks on the side, maybe once every five minutes or so. It has to have its own power supply, or else it would be completely inert.

I can't exactly tell how it's supposed to be plugged into a doll frame. It's covered with little metal pads like you find on devices that use charging docks, but more than I'd expect. It doesn't fit into any charger I've ever seen. That's for sure.

UMP 45 told me it was sending a signal before she ripped it out of the body of the doll. I wonder if it's still broadcasting? Is the personality on the core still begging for help, or is it asleep, waiting to be put into another body?

I'm still examining the cube when there comes a knock on my door. "Hey bro, the fluffy blondie made eggs and bacon for breakfast. No pancakes though." Lexi's voice comes through the door. "You might want to eat before the food disappears."

I sigh. "Yeah, give me a minute." I respond through the door. I set the cube on my desk and scrounge around for clean clothes. The easiest thing to find is the T-shirt UMP 45 bought me… Whatever. It's clean, it'll do. I throw it on along with the pants I wore last night and leave my room.

Upon exiting the room I note that both HK 416 and AR-15 are stationed outside my door, one on each side, protecting the entrance. Possibly the only reason I was able to have some undisturbed time.

AR-15 pushes herself off of the wall. "Sleep well?"

"Nope."

"I can save you some food for-" 416 starts saying, but I cut her off.

"No, I'm… hungry. Just... don't get in my way, okay?"

She clams up, her only response a curt nod.

I descend the stairs to find the living room has been converted into a secondary eating area. Most of the T-dolls are eating breakfast while watching the news.

There's a reporter standing in front of the burnt wreck of the warehouse, now cordoned off with police tape. Several police officers, not ones I recognize, are standing in front of the warehouse. They look bored, if anything. I guess guarding an already destroyed building isn't that exciting.

Some of the dolls take notice of me as I walk down the stairs, but I ignore them in favor of heading for the kitchen. I kind of don't want to talk to anyone at the moment.

Especially not anyone in 404.

I know it's kinda irrational, but part of me is associating last night with them, and my mood takes a nosedive every time I think of any of team 404, UMP 45 especially. 416 is still following me, but she seems to be picking up that I'm not ready to talk to her at the moment. It's not any of their faults, but…

In any case, I entered the kitchen to find my dad and S.A.T. working. Dad's cleaning up the dirty dishes (Of which there are many) and S.A.T. is busy cooking more bacon. The table looks like it's been recently vacated by the rest of my family, so I'll be eating alone.

"Morning." I grumble to Dad and S.A.T.

"Good morning." Dad says. "Sleep well?"

I hold back on glaring at him. "Sure, dad."

"Some of the girls were talking about the explosion this morning. Apparently, their commander notified you all?"

"Yyyyyep." I lie. "Understandably, everyone at G&K is worried about nearby explosions. After all-" I grab a plate and put some eggs and strips of bacon on my plate. "-they were caught in the explosion earlier this week, at the KXD I worked at."

"I see." He rubs his chin. "It was that M4 lady, correct?"

"And me." AR-15 speaks up for the first time since last night.

I sit down with my food, seconds later, 416 sits on the left side of the square table and AR-15 sits on the right. They both have their own plates of food.

"Well, do you think this could happen again?" Dad asks pensively. "I'm worried about you getting caught up in another explosion."

I fork some eggs into my mouth to give myself a chance to think. "Well, I can't say for certain that there's not going to be anything else, but since the target is most likely MP Panagos, I should be fine." I take another bite and swallow. "Just have to stay away from her."

"Not as comforting as I'd like." Dad scratches his face, looking at my two breakfast companions. "Do you two agree with that?"

416 looks up with a passive expression. "Don't worry. I'm going to protect him."

AR-15 snorts. "Sure, believe that if you want to." She turns to Dad. "I don't think we'll have anything to worry about as long as we don't draw attention to ourselves. If we went out in full uniforms, it might become a problem." She shrugs. "Your son's not the target."

"Right." He frowns. "Well, it looks like the police have increased their patrols, so it's going to be harder for the terrorists to blow anything up."

I have to hold back my groan. "Maybe."

The conversation drops there and I continue eating for a time.

"So… What are your plans for the day?" Dad probes.

"Hadwin's taking us on a date." 416 responds instantly.

Dad blinks. "'Us'?"

I sigh. "I'm gonna take a few of them around Sector 3 for a bit. Probably going to the mall for a bit so they can look at the clothes and things. You know, a tour." I continue to pick at my food. "Tours are done in groups."

"Ah." Dad nods. "Well, you're allowed to take my car if you wish."

I look up. Dad's face looks innocent, like he just offered me a glass of water… but he loves that car. There's no way he'd let me drive it.

"Really?" 416 looks interested.

"Sure, why not?" Dad says casually. "Have fun."

The car is a sports car, it only really holds five people (and the back seats are kinda small) So I'll really have to pick and choose who comes along if I decide to bring the car.

If I'm driving, that's four others. I have twelve dolls that I want to show around, so maybe three tours?

In any case, Dad offering his prized car up is suspicious. I have to figure out what he's up to. I look down at my now empty plate. "Well, at least I ate something." I mumble.

S.A.T. steps up to the table. "Anything else, Hadwin?"

I look up at her and shake my head. "Thanks, but I'm good."

"There's more bacon…" She gestures to the new plate of freshly made food.

"Nah… I'll pass." I glance at AR-15. "You want it?"

"I'll be fine for now." She responds.

From the corner of my eye, I can see 416 also shaking her head.

"Well, if you change your mind." She leans in a bit. "You don't look so good." She says quietly.

I rub my face to avoid her gaze. "It's nothing." I turn to AR-15 "Well, I guess it's time to figure out our plans, AR-15." I turn and look 416 in the eyes for the first time since we were inside the warehouse.

416 nods simply. "Of course, Commander."

---

After a bit of debate that I was really not in the mood for, M4A1 had suggested we do it by squads. First, Echelon 11, then Anti-Rain, and finally 404. 9 and G11 weren't thrilled to be going last, but I don't want to have to deal with any of them right now. I figure after a few hours away, I'll be able to interact with them more normally.

By contrast, Echelon 11 is almost a dream to hang out with. They wanted to go clothes shopping first and Commander Gentiane had given me a bunch of money for them, so…

I'm probably not paying as much attention to the fashion show as I should, as one or another of the dolls looks for clothes and occasionally tries something on. Too busy watching the streets, looking at any police officer that walks by, trying to place a face.

"Hey, Haddy, does this look good on me?"

I sigh and look back at P90. "...Actually, yeah." She's got on a purple shirt and black jacket, black skin tight jeans as well. "Just a dash of color."

She nods. "I thought so." She turns to look back at the changing room. "Unfortunately, someone's here without a fashion sense."

"What are you-" I turn back and look at S.A.T., Tokarev and SV-98.

S.A.T. looks like she came out of a magazine for middle aged women, a nice, pale orange sweater, and tan knee length skirt. That's normal, if a bit weird for someone who looks 19.

Tokarev is wearing a simple blue blouse and a tight skirt. She still has the large ribbon in her hair as well.

SV-98, however…

"Uh, Esvie, maybe something less…" I trail off.

"Combat oriented." P90 finishes my statement.

"Why not?" She looks down at herself. "More pockets is always better."

"That's more pockets than pants." P90 says. "And Haddy said we're going someplace nice to eat lunch. With the camo sweatshirt and those cargo pants, you'll get kicked out."

"We're going someplace nice?" She asks. "When did we decide this?"

"Before we left." S.A.T. provides. "You need to pay more attention, Esvie."

She looks down at her baggy clothes and grumbles. "I was busy calculating things…"

"Well… You can probably get away with the cargo pants." I say. "Maybe have P9- er, Chloe help with the rest?"

Since T-dolls are illegal in Sector 3 and 'P90' isn't exactly a common name, I had asked her and the others to come up with more 'normal' names for the evening.

P90 had named herself Chloe, S.A.T. had mentioned she was called Belle once, and Tokarev chose Katiya. SV-98 had a hard time with it, so I just used what my sister called her, Esvie.

It hadn't escaped my notice that Sop also asked for a 'codename' so I guess I can look forward to that later. Maybe getting a human sounding codename for most of them would be a good idea...

"All done!" P90 announces, presenting SV-98, now with a nice green blouse that matches the grey cargo pants. She still looks a little less dressed up than the rest of us, but it'll be fine.

"Alright. That should be fine. Change back, let's pay, and we'll grab some food." I say.

Tokarev tugs on my jacket. "Do I look nice?"

I blink down at her. "Of course."

She smiles. "Spasiba."

"Oh! Me too!" P90 steps up. "I went for the classy office-lady-with-a-bit-of-daring!"

"Well… it certainly suits you." I pause. "I think."

"Well that's rude." She grumbles. The four of them head back to the changing rooms to put on their normal clothes. I busy myself with my phone, expecting them to take a bit.

"Dude."

I glance over to see one of the store employees looking at me with wide eyes. "Er, can I he...?" I ask on reflex, before realizing who I was talking to. "Is that you, Lucas?"

It is indeed Lucas. 1.8 meters tall, full beard and moustache and muscular, looks like he'd be at home in a log cabin aside from his nice black vest he wears as an employee.

"Damn Hadwin, I thought you were dead! Your workplace blew up and your face was all over the news."

"Yeah…" I glance at the entrance to the changing rooms. "I got caught up in some interesting problems."

"What I want to know is how you magically disappear for a day and come back with four really nice looking girls." Lucas also looks towards the changing room. "I've never seen them before, where are they from?"

"Well… outside the walls." I hedge.

"No shit, I knew that." He says, shooting me a look. "I mean, how did you meet them?"

"They're… friends of the people that rescued me from the attack." I say. "Kind of like a sisterhood of sorts."

"Makes sense I guess." He punches my shoulder lightly. "So, you got babysitting duty?"

"Not really." I say, whacking him back. "Just showing them around the city a bit."

"Hey, can I join?" Lucas throws an arm around my shoulder. "The tall blondie is really cute." He says in a teasing voice.

"Aren't you busy working?" I respond back. "And, which tall blondie?"

"I can take off, we're not busy today." He waves my concern away. "It's more important to celebrate you being alive!"

"Well…"

"Haddy, I'm back…" P90 tilts her head. "Um, who's this?"

"'Haddy'?" Lucas looks at me.

I ignore him. "Chloe, this is Lucas Vassos, one of my friends from middle and high School. Lucas, this is Chloe."

"Nice to meet you." Lucas extends a hand and P90 shakes it with amusement.

"You too. Haddy, here." P90 shoves a pile of clothes into my arms. "The others should be out soon."

"Okay." I tap my wallet in my pocket confirming it's still there.

"So, Lucas, is it?" P90 turns to my friend and adopts a thinking gesture.

"That's me!" Lucas grins.

I get distracted from their conversation as the three others come out of the changing rooms as well, looking between me and Lucas with wary eyes.

I shake my head slightly and they relax. Tokarev slides something up her sleeve. Something that glinted in the light.

SV-98 walks up to Lucas. "Hello."

"Hey, I was just telling your friend-"

"Hey Esvie, Lucas here wants to celebrate Haddy's safe return to Sector 3 with us. Are you fine bringing him along?"

I look back at Lucas, who has a guilty look on his face. "Seriously?"

"Hey, I figured it couldn't hurt to ask." He complains about my tone.

"I don't see why not." SV-98 says. "Are you two okay with it?" She turns around to Tokarev and S.A.T.

"Well…" S.A.T. looks in my direction.

I shrug. It's their choice.

"I guess." S.A.T. smiles. "I'm Belle, by the way."

"Lucas." He smiles and holds out his hand.

Yeah. I can see Lucas is smitten by S.A.T.

Tokarev tugs on my sleeve again. "Should we pay now?"

"Yeah." I say. "Hand me the clothes and I'll buy them."

"Oh, Hadwin, I'll ring you up." Lucas says, heading over with me to the register. "I'll get you my employee discount."

"Thanks." I grin at him. "It's nice to see you again."

"It's only been, what, a few weeks?" He laughs. "But yeah, that was seriously scary seeing your face up on the news."

We start sorting the clothes and remove the tags, the T-dolls all silently talking to each other in the corner of the store, occasionally throwing a look our way.

By the time everything's sorted into four bags and paid for, they had wandered over.

"Eh, Hadwin…" SV-98 starts. "Are we supposed to be changing back here again, or are we walking back to your house first to change?"

"Why not stop by my house?" Lucas asks. "Hadwin told me we're going to Old Man Hasapis' place, and I'm on the way."

"Old man…?" SV-98 blinks. "Who?"

"It's the name of the restaurant." I explain. "The man who owns the place used to be a butcher before he opened a restaurant. It's got another name, but everyone calls it that."

"Oh." She frowns. "Seems inefficient."

"You thought a blouse was inefficient." P90 rolls her eyes. "Stop calculating everything. We're in a green zone."

Lucas starts, and then gives me a glance. I raise an eyebrow at him, and he hesitates a moment before leaning in and whispering. "They're not used to green zones?"

I shake my head. "Not zones that almost qualify as white zones. For some of them, it's their first time ever."

"That's…" He frowns. "Well, let's make sure they enjoy their time here, then."

"Duh." I grin. "Why d'you think I was taking them to the best restaurant in town?"

He smirks. "Good point." With that, he straightens up. "Alright, time to tell my boss I'm out for the day."

The T-dolls and I head outside the shop to wait while he takes the rest of the morning off. As soon as the door closes behind us, SV-98 turns to me.

"We're not telling him we're…" her eyes flick around to make sure no one's in hearing range. "Combatants?"

"You can if you want to, just.. stick to pretending to be humans. Don't need to cause a panic that'll get us noticed. He's a trustworthy guy, but there's no need to burden him with bullshit."

"Got it." SV-98 nods.

"Also, Tokarev." I announce.

"Da?"

"Please don't stab people. Most people in a green zone are nice."

"Some of them aren't." She retorts simply. "But, I will restrain myself."

"Thank you."

A few seconds later, Lucas walks out dressed in normal clothes instead of his work uniform. "So, my house?"

---

Getting into the restaurant went smoothly. Technically, it's before lunch really starts, so we beat the rush. We got a round table in the middle of the room. Thankfully, the dolls act perfectly naturally as the waiter takes our order and deposits drinks.

"So, Hadwin." Lucas gets my attention from across the table. "Tell me what happened. Tuesday and Wednesday, your face was all over the news, yesterday nobody was talking about it all of a sudden, and then you showed up in my shop. I almost thought you must be someone else, but then I heard Chloe call you 'Haddy' and I knew it was you."

"Heh, well, it's a bit of a long story." I say.

"Terrorists!" P90 says. "They were going after the MP who was eating at Hadwin's place of work, and when they blew up the store, Hadwin swooped in to help."

"...Eh?" Lucas blinks.

"Yep!" SV-98 nods. "From AR- Er, Star's account, he was critical in ensuring the MP's safety. He also made sure that the people he could find were treated."

I give her a look. "How much did 'Star' tell you?"

My answer comes from Tokarev. "She and her teammate wrote a detailed account on the message boards."

"Ah." I sigh.

Lucas perks up. "You were doing first aid?"

I shake my head. "I wrapped her head in a coat to stop the bleeding from her scalp. She got hit with a chunk of roof." I laugh quietly. "I was panicking about trying to think of the next step but I couldn't stick around for very long."

"Well, I'm glad you got some good use out of my teachings!" Lucas laughs out loud.

"You taught Hadwin things?" S.A.T. asks, curiosity evident in her eyes.

As those two start to talk, P90 leans in. "Seems like a nice enough human."

"Lucas is the nicest person you'll ever meet. He's the kinda guy who rescues kittens in the rain." I nod. "I don't think he's ever hurt anyone on purpose."

"You're serious?" P90 looks like she's drawing a complete blank.

"Yep. Last I heard, he's learning to be a doctor. Gonna fix people up for a living. He was doing it even in high school." The smile slips from my face. "I wonder if I'll be sending people his way."

"Hey, none of that." P90 pokes my ribs. "We're supposed to be having fun on vacation."

"Some vacation." I grumble.

"Better than I've ever gotten." She shrugs.

The food arrives and I turn back to pay attention to the main conversation at the table.

Kinda wish I hadn't.

"-his heart had some abscesses that indicated early stages of ELID poisoning, so we were asked to provide reasons for it. After careful examination of his upper intestines and stomach, I found some ELID flesh in his stomach, and I concluded that he must have been so hungry that he figured eating the flesh of an ELID was his only choice."

I forgot that any time you hang out with medical type people, they start talking about stuff that will turn your stomach.

Of course, the T-dolls are fine, eating the fine food with gusto. They're not affected by human suffering like I am. I glance around and it doesn't look like any of the tables around us have people at them, so I relax. Still, I stare at my food with a sudden lack of appetite.

"Well, that's pretty cool." SV-98 says. "Do you do that kind of thing often?"

"Nah, it's usually studying how the human body works and a lot of reading. Still, soon I'll be able to work in a hospital for real, and start actually helping people." He rests back in his chair.

"Well, you're certainly doing well for yourself." I smile at him. "Not gonna stay working at the clothes store for all eternity then?"

"Nope. My poor manager will throw a fit when I leave though. I've apparently been enough of a model employee that he approved of me asking for a day off before I had the sentence out of my mouth."

S.A.T. swallows her bite of food. "Are you going to work as a doctor here in Sector 3, or are you going to travel?"

For the first time in the five or so years I've known him, Lucas seems to be genuinely hesitating. "Well… I was going to stay here, but… I was watching the news recently, and there's a lot of misery outside these walls. I want to see if I can fix any of that with my own hands, you know?"

He looks around the table, and to my suprise all of the T-dolls are smiling. It seems like they approve of his goals. It's a noble goal and I guess they understand it.

I wonder what would have happened if he and I switched places. He's the one with a sense of right and wrong, the drive to make sure people survive. He's seen some messed up stuff and takes it as a matter of course, but he's still optimistic. I can imagine him being that heroic general, leading his troops on the frontline, keeping everyone alive with carefully thought out orders and clever tactics.

"Haddy's making outside of the wall a better place too." P90 says.

My blood freezes. What? My tongue refuses to unglue from the roof of my mouth even as P90 continues to talk.

"He's been helping us destroy a threat to world order and he's already saved my life twice. He's always making sure we're okay and he's even helping out with the threat to Sec-"

"P- Chloe!" I finally blurt out.

She gives me a look, then blinks. "Oh. Oops."

"Hadwin?" Lucas gives me a look of confusion. "What's she talking about?"

"Well… I joined a PMC." I sigh. "There's these people who are trying to destabilize cities for some reason and I've been helping these girls with that."

"Hadwin's actually a fairly competent commander." S.A.T. says with a nod. "He makes sure to keep everyone safe."

Lucas stares at me. "You… you've been in combat?"

"Yeah." I look away, unable to continue to meet his eyes.

"Shit, dude." He sinks back into his seat a bit. "You said he's a commander?"

"Technically, he's a field agent." SV-98 provides. "So far, he's been in five engagements, and managed to get all of us out without a single casualty."

Not how I'd count it.

"When a building was collapsing, he rushed over to protect me, even though he was in danger for doing it!" P90 says proudly. "I'm really lucky to work under him!"

"He's actually gotten the respect of one of the least receptive groups we work with." Even Tokarev speaks up. "They hate working with outsiders, and they specifically followed him here."

"There's more of you here?" Lucas blinks. "How many?"

"Twelve of us at the moment." S.A.T. says. "Hadwin's parents are putting us up until the declaration tomorrow."

Silence falls around the table for a bit.

"...Wow." Lucas taps his fork on his plate. "You're pretty impressive, Hadwin."

"Huh?" I look up to see a look of genuine respect in his eyes.

He twirls his pasta with the fork. "I may be off base, but I think I have it." He puts the twirled pasta in his mouth, chews it, and swallows. "So, I heard a PMC was hired after one of the MP's retinue went missing two weeks ago. She claimed she was being targeted and hired some outsiders." He closes his eyes as he gathers his thoughts. "Then she goes missing in that same blast that you went missing in. So, it's likely you joined that PMC."

"Yeah." I confirm.

"I never knew you as a man to take action unless you have to, so I guess this is really that important." He crosses his arms. "You mentioned that the terrorists are destabilizing cities? Well, we've had two strikes this week, a major commotion outside of the wall, and now your PMC is here. So, they're trying it here?"

"I keep forgetting how perceptive you are." I look back down at my food. "I wouldn't have been able to put that all together."

"Bull. You're a lot better than me at comprehension." He responds. "Anyway… you're here to protect us, Sector 3, right?"

"That's… not why I'm here." I say. "I just came back to see my parents before heading out again."

"But!" SV-98 interjects. "When he found out that the enemy is operating within Sector 3, he immediately volunteered to help!" She insists.

The other dolls nod.

"..." Lucas processes this information as a tense silence falls. "What happened last night?" He asks finally. "Not the official story, what actually happened."

Well, the jig is up. It's really hard for me to keep secrets from Lucas. "The terrorists, Paradeus, booby trapped a warehouse in an effort to draw out G&K, which is our PMC." I say heavily. "One of my teams actually tagged the building earlier as a base of operations and we went in to try to rescue the people being held there, which turned out to be those missing people from MP Panagos' personnel that you mentioned earlier. We managed not to trigger the trap, but… we were unable to rescue the hostages." I bite my tongue as bile rises back in my throat. "I failed."

Lucas takes a deep breath. "Wow, dude." He looks around. "Yeah, no, you have me beat."

"Beat at what?"

He gives me a wan smile. "I wouldn't be able to run into a death trap to save people." He looks at a TV displaying the news off in the sports bar area off to the side. "I was watching the news and I was wondering how many of the people that got pulled out of that warehouse explosion could have been helped if I was able to work in the hospital. Currently, there's three people in the hospital, so maybe I could have saved one of them." He stabs his fork to point at me. "You tried to save all of them, prevent it from happening."

"Someone had to." I reply. "Anyone would have, if they were in my position."

"No, they wouldn't." He says glumly. "I've taken psychology classes in medical school. Most people are more likely to run away or freeze than to leap up to volunteer. I've alway run from my problems, aside from medical school."

"Oh come on." I roll my eyes. "You're the guy who made sure the bullied kids got help and helped the poor kids with food."

"And you're the guy who made sure the bully was busy regretting his decision." He smiles. "Looks like you found a place where you can protect more people. You're trying to protect people before they get hurt, that's something I'm not able to do."

I look at my hands. "That's…" not true. I'm not doing this to help people. I'm just doing it because a bunch of pretty girls asked me too.

"Wow." P90 says, as if in a daze. "I need to post this info to Griffchan."

Tokarev scoots her chair next to mine and leans her head on my arm.

"Hadwin, I didn't know you were already a warrior." S.A.T. comments.

"I'm not. I just got in fights so the idiots would stop picking on the other kids." I said. "I usually lost."

"Didn't stop him from doing it, and he'd come back after his suspension with a broken or missing tooth and a grin, having gotten the bully in enough trouble to give the victims some peace."

I look away again.

"So, he's always been a protector." S.A.T. says as if to herself.

"Is that why you're always playing decoy?" Tokarev asks.

"I don't always play decoy." I reply.

"Let's see." SV-98 holds up her hand and starts counting. "You were in charge of Chloe's ambush in the first raid on Wednesday, you then went to the frontlines and played distraction for team 404. Then, you ran around a parking garage before bringing that building down on your head. Yesterday, you blew up a gas station to hide other people's presence, and then blew up another building to cover 404's retreat."

"That's more than half of the time." P90 says. "More times than you've been in combat, I think."

"Why is everyone ganging up on me?" I grumble.

"Why aren't you accepting your own part?" Lucas counters.

My thoughts go back to my dad last night, telling me I wasn't willing to accept responsibility. I accepted responsibility. A better commander might have figured out how to get the hostages out faster, or realized there were hostages, or had a plan… oh.

"I'm just… doing things. I don't have a grand plan." I bite out. "I'm going to get someone killed because I don't think fast enough, or react fast enough, or put someone into an enemy horde with no way out-" P90 blinks "-and I can't handle that. Not again. I'm not some genius planner, I just walk into the middle of a battlefield and run around like a chicken with my head cut off."

"Yeah, sounds like Hadwin alright." Lucas sighs. "You always insisted you didn't do anything when we were back in school as well." He shrugs. "Well, there's not much I can do for you on that front." He chews his lip. "Just… you're doing well, dude. I respect that."

"Thanks." I mutter.

An uncomfortable silence falls on the table. I can tell all four of the T-dolls are attempting to come up with a counterargument, but I'm not exactly a tactical genius. Still, silence reigns.

I look back down at my cold food. I'll have to get it wrapped for later.

In the silence, I can hear the TV from the bar area. It's displaying a news report on Sector 3.

"-talks are coming to a close. With the recent uptick in civil unrest, MP Florakis expressed concern that Sector 3 will not be upgraded to a white zone despite meeting a majority of conditions for application."

The video feed switches to MP Florakis, an elderly gentleman who looks like he's got a foot in the grave. "With all of these attacks, we need a stabilizing influence. The police are stretched too thin, we need a standing military!"

The reporter continues as his face reappears on screen. "Also, doubts about Mayor Mavros' position on the robot ban have come in at the worst time for the Mayor, as his re-election will also be decided tomorrow. He has refrained from commenting, though his opponent had this to say:"

The scene changes to a shot of MP Panagos. "This is a basic rumor. It should be easy to disprove, and to denounce it as a ridiculous claim. The fact that he hasn't means something is going on."

"It seems like tomorrow shall be an interesting day in the history of Sector 3." The report concludes. "Over to you-"

I stop paying attention. Well, UMP 45's plan's working to some degree, I guess.

When I finally pay attention to the dinner table, I find my food has been put into a small cardboard box, and the check's been paid.

"...I was gonna pay that." I say. "How much was it? I'll pay you back."

"Don't worry about it." Lucas wraps an arm around my shoulder, lowering his voice to be barely audible as the dolls prepare to leave. "Look, it sounds like you've been through some serious stuff in the past few days. If you need to call me, I don't care what time of day it is. If you need someone you don't know to talk to, one of my buddies at school is a therapist, I can give you her number."

"Thanks." I shake my head. "I'll be fine though."

"If you say so." He holds out his fist for a bump. "And seriously. I think you're doing the right thing. If you're in over your head, give me a call, okay?"

I bump it half heartedly. "Thanks. I gotta go back and take the next group out." I give Lucas a look. "You want to hang out with them for a while longer?"

"I can, if they want to. I'd like to hear more about life outside the walls, especially if I plan to leave after I get my medical license."

I turn to S.A.T. "Wanna hang out with him for a while longer? It'll be more entertaining than sitting around at my house."

"Well… Just make sure you don't do anything dangerous." S.A.T. says.

I sigh. "Not if I can help it."

---

It's a short walk back to my house to grab the Anti-Rain squad. S.A.T. had tried to climb into dad's car and it had creaked worryingly, so we decided to do something closer that we could walk too. The walk allowed me to think about some things and put my mind in order before I retrieved the next group.

Lucas is right. He usually is, so I shouldn't be surprised. I always rush to the enemy to get them out of the way, huh? He sees me a lot better than I do, maybe. I wonder if he was right about me trying to protect people.

Once I got home I informed my parents that Echelon 11 was hanging out with Lucas for now, checked to make sure 404 wasn't doing anything crazy stupid, and then warmed up the car in the garage.

Sop's the first one to come downstairs to the garage. "Hey, Commander!"

"Just Hadwin's fine." I say. "Oh yeah, we need to come up with nicknames for all of you so we don't draw suspicion."

"Oh yeah." She starts picking her teeth with her claw. "Hmm."

"Comm-, er, Hadwin?" M4A1 and AR-15 come down the stairs next. "What's this about nicknames?" M4A1 tilts her head.

"Well, you guys don't have human names." I state the obvious. "It's gonna draw attention, especially if someone's looking for you by name. They do know you're here, after all."

"Good point." M4A1 nods. "I wonder what a good name would be?"

"I'll be Ares!" Sop cheers. "I looked up Greek names and that one's from the god of war!"

"Nobody actually names their kid Ares." AR-15 sighs. "I should probably pick something American sounding…"

I laugh nervously. "Uh, for consistency's sake… erm, we were talking to one of my friends and SV-98 called you 'Star'." I raise my hands reflexively. "If you don't like it, we can pick something else, just what's already said."

She frowns and thinks for a second. "I guess Star works."

"What I want to know is why she named you that." I say. "I can't figure out a link."

"My full designation is ST AR-15." AR-15 says. "I've been called Star before, occasionally. It'll work."

"How about 'Hephaestus'?" Sop asks.

"Sop, do this seriously." RO635 comes down the stairs. "At least pick a female name."

"But I wanna be the god of war or the god of hell!" Sop whines.

"Why not the god of the hunt, Artemis?" I ask. "She seems like someone you'd like."

"Well…" Sop grins slowly. "Yeah, I'll be Artimis!"

"At least that's two done." I sigh. "Hop in, we'll continue on the way."

They all pile in the car, RO, AR-15, and M4A1 in the back, Sop in the passenger seat, and me driving. I put the car into gear and pull out into the street carefully.

Once again, this is Dad's precious car. I can't afford to do anything stupid. Still not sure why he was willing to let me use it… I've really only ever driven it when I was practicing for my license, and that was when he was with me.

In any case, there's not too much traffic today. It's around 1300 by now, so most people are back to work after their lunch break by now. Less stressful for me, so I'm not complaining.

"I guess I should pick something that starts with 'Ma'." M4A1 muses. "Mary, Martha…"

I glance in my rearview mirror. She seems deep in thought, while RO on the other side of the car looks exasperated.

"Can't I just go by RO?" She asks. "It's what everyone calls me."

"I guess." I shrug.

Sop turns to me. "She should go with Rose!"

I glance at the murder puppy before returning my eyes to the road. "Why?"

"Cuz she's beautiful but prickly!" Sop exclaims.

"Hey!" RO blushes slightly.

I have to bite my tongue to stop myself from laughing, AR-15 sighs, and M4A1 scratches her face.

"It does start with 'Ro'." M4A1 says. "If I go with Madison, that means all of us but Sop use our own names anyway."

"Wait, that's not fair." Sop twists in her seat. "I wanna use my name too!"

"Too late, you're Artimis." AR-15 says in a deadpan.

"M4…" Sop whines.

"As long as you decide before we have to tell anyone, you'll be fine." RO responds instead. "...Rose works."

"Rose, Madison, Star. Got it." I quietly wonder if these names are actually less conspicuous.

In any case, we arrive at our destination without incident. I pull into a parking spot and turn off the car. We all pile out of the car and turn to face our destination.

The sea breeze off of the Mediterranean sea blows past us, salty scent filling our noses.

"Whoa." Sop says. "So much water."

"It's not drinkable." RO says. "You'll rust from the inside out."

"I know that, I'm not stupid." Sop says. "I'm not eager to go through that again."

"Hmm?" I give the two a look, but they ignore me.

AR-15 takes off her boots and stuffs them into the car. "Well, I'm going to go stand by the water."

"I'll join you." M4A1 agrees.

"I… guess I'll take a walk." RO sighs.

"Oh! Me too!" Sop turns to me. "Come with us!"

I look at M4A1 and AR-15. AR-15 seems like she's about to say something, but shakes her head. "Well, I'll go for a walk with you two, then I'll make sure to hang with you two for a while, okay?" I ask, looking back and forth at the two groups.

"Sounds good to me." M4A1 agrees.

"Sure. Don't take too long." AR-15 says.

I hand M4A1 the key. "Lock your stuff in the car. You can hand them back when I get back."

"Roger." M4A1 pockets the keys.

I turn and walk over to where RO and Sop are already starting to walk along the beach.

"Wow, sand is hard to walk on." Sop comments, turning around to look at her footsteps.

"No firm footing." RO agrees. "It'd be hard to fight on."

"We're not here to fight." I remind the two. "We're here to relax."

"Sop's always relaxed." RO grumbles. "And I'm too busy scanning around for anything out of the ordinary to relax."

"Why?" I watch Sop and she spins around, dragging her heel to make a pattern in the sand.

RO glances around. "I'm hoping you didn't forget what happened this morning."

My expression darkens somewhat. "I don't think I can."

"I just don't want to be caught unaware." She shakes her head. "Well, I'll try to put that aside."

"RO! Look!" Sop calls.

RO and I look over to see Sop had drawn a three meter heart in the sand with her foot and written "RO + SOP" inside of it.

"Wow." I comment. "You forgot the '4 lyfe' part, though."

"Sop, we're supposed to using codenames." RO turns to me. "And there's no need to encourage her."

"Hmm… it is missing something." Sop says. "And you didn't call me by my codename either!"

"Okay then, Artemis." RO crosses her arms and stares at Sop.

"Ugh." Sop shrinks under RO's gaze. "T-then, Sophia? That's all I could find in my databanks."

"Works for me." RO shrugs. "Hadwin?"

"Sounds good." I shrug. "So, what's missing?" I address the murder puppy.

"Oh, right!" She moves to the end and uses her human hand to move some sand around. "There!"

"'RO + SOP + M4 + 15 + 16 + HAD'." RO reads aloud. "Well, that's sure to get some people wondering if they see it."

"Eh, someone will kick it out by accident before long." I continue walking down the length of the beach. "I wouldn't worry about it."

Privately, I wonder who 16 is.

"Alright." RO takes up a position to my right, much the same way AR-15's been doing lately.

Sop continues to run back and forth, enjoying the wide open space while RO and I walk in silence for a while. It's relaxing, to be honest. Nobody's attacking me, nothing's exploding… I cross my fingers in an effort not to jinx myself. Eventually, Sop starts picking up shells out of the sand and carrying them around.

"Soooo…" RO breaks the silence after maybe ten minutes. "Have you thought about what I asked you?"

"Hmm?" I wind my brain back. Yeah, she asked me if I wanted out of G&K. "Oh, right." I take a deep breath to buy time. "I think I'm going to stay on." I finally answer.

"Are you sure?"

"Yep. I'd feel really bad abandoning you to this fight yourselves." I nod, looking out over the water. "I met one of my friends from school earlier and he said some things that I can't really deny."

RO looks at me expectantly.

"He's a great guy. Practical, smart… I always thought he was a lot cooler than me. He was the guy helping the kids that got bullied, getting them on their feet and patching bruises. What he reminded me of was that I was the idiot who went to the bullies and tried my best to beat them up."

"Seriously?" RO gives me a look. "You don't look the type."

"I never said I won." I scratch my face. "All I achieved was distracting the bully long enough that the teacher noticed the fight and suspended both of us."

"There wasn't retaliation afterwards?" RO asks.

"Not that I saw, no. Nobody screwed with Lucas, so once he had someone under his wing they got left alone, at least as far as I knew." I shrug. "Anyway, the point is that if I ditch you guys, I'm gonna feel like crap. Sure, it's not pretty, and it's probably gonna be even worse sometimes…" I pause here, trying not to imagine worse scenarios. "...But, I realized that I need to protect you all."

RO gives me a look. "We don't need protecting."

"Maybe not." I shrug. "But if you ever do, I'll be there to do it."

She snorts. "Good luck. If a T-doll can't survive a situation, there's little hope you could."

"All the same." I reply resolutely.

For the first time since I met her, a look of genuine mirth crosses her face. "You should've said this to AR- Star. She'd laugh at you, but she'd believe you. Earn some points with her too."

"Earn some points?"

"Oh, please don't tell me you haven't noticed." She gives me another look. "She's not good at expressing herself, but you should see what she posts on Griffchan."

"What?"

"Stuff like, 'Hadwin was very impressive! He didn't order us to go distract the Doppelsöldner, he went and did it himself!' and 'He's gonna take us to the beach tomorrow! So excited!"

"Nah, that's… that's gotta be someone else." I shake my head. "She's, like, abrasive."

"Haven't you heard of Tsunderes?" RO asks.

"...No?"

"Oh, you poor innocent human." RO smiles slightly once again. "Look it up when you get home."

"Okay." I think for a second. "How would I access Griffchan?"

"You can't, not without a special device." She replies. "Do you know what level 2 is?"

I shake my head.

RO once again looks around to make sure we're alone. "Dolls have three consciousness levels. Level 1 is what you see here, our personalities and us physically moving our bodies around. Level 2 is closer to sleep or unconsciousness, and dolls can interact with each other on this level similar to how you would on the internet, but more. Also, whenever we engage in electronic warfare, we go to level 2."

"Huh. So when you and AR-15 said you were going to level 2 on the bus a few nights ago-"

"We had a conversation, but our bodies were basically asleep." She nods. "It's a lot faster and easier to talk, since we can dedicate less bandwidth to moving about and more to just communicating."

"Huh."

"Griffchan can only really be accessed through level 2." RO continues. "It's not that humans can't access it, but like I said, you need a special device called a Linker. We'll get you one when we're back with Griffin. When I was talking about the map this morning, that's what you'd need to have to see projections and the like." She shrugs. "It also works like a set of AR goggles and a head's up display."

"Oooh, now I really want one of those."

"I think we have a few things we're going to have to give you when we get back some more of our resources." RO says, looking off into the distance. "Most of it should be moved to the temporary base, but-"

"Haddy! Rose!" Sop interrupts RO and comes to a stop in front of us, her eyes sparkling. "Look at all these cool things!" She's cradling an armload of shells against her stomach.

I look at her collection of shells. "Oh cool. You found a lot of shells, huh?"

"Yeah!" She starts sorting them carefully. "Here!" She hands RO a small orange and tan shell with black specks in it. "This one's for you."

"...Thanks." RO gingerly takes it, examining it. "I think."

Sop ignores her and instead turns to me. "This one's for you!"

She hands me a spiral shell that crabs like to live in. I take it and look inside of it, confirming it's empty. "Thanks, Sophia."

She blinks. "Wow, that's weird. Anyway, let's head back to M- um, Madison and Star, I wanna give them theirs."

I look at RO, who nods. "Okay then."

As we turn around to head back, Sop continues to poke through her pile. "I found all kinds of neat things!" She holds up some more shells. "These ones are all transparent, and this one looks like it was split in half-"

"What are you going to do with all of those?" RO asks.

"Well…" Sop pauses. "I wanna keep a few but I should probably put most of these back." She looks down at her pile. "But they're all so cool!"

"Want me to help you sort?" RO offers.

"Sure! You too, Haddy!"

We spend the next few minutes on the way back sorting through the shells, awkwardly turning to face the doll with the red stripe in her hair as we walk. By the time we got back to AR-15 and M4, Sop had picked five shells. One each for AR-15 and M4A1, and three for herself.

When the two Dolls come within shouting distance, I notice that M4 had also forgone shoes and the two of them are standing where the waves periodically sweep over their feet. They both look out over the water.

AR-15 notices us first. "They're back." She announces.

M4 turns and waves. "Was the walk fun?"

I jog the last few meters towards them. "Yeah. Sophia collected a bunch of shells."

"Look!" Sop proudly displays the remains of her collection. "This one's for you and this one's for you!"

"Thank you, Sophia." M4 says quietly.

AR-15 eyes the shell suspiciously, but takes it.

"Well, Sop and I are going to head back to the car for a few minutes." RO suddenly declares. "Can I have the keys?"

M4 hands RO the keys and steps back onto the smooth sand denoting the tide level.

"We are?" Sop looks confused, but when RO grabs her arm she doesn't resist.

"I see you two are enjoying the water." I say, watching the next wave come in. Maybe I should take off my own shoes…

"I've never seen water this active." M4A1 says. "It's always been ponds and streams, but this one sweeps in and out constantly. It's kind of… soothing."

"I agree." AR-15 says. "It's a shame it's so cold out, I want to try swimming."

M4 smiles slightly "Are you sure you're waterproof?"

"...Okay, I might have to get waterproofed first too." AR-15 grumbles. "Still, it would be nice to try."

"I thought you two were waterproof?" I look back and forth between them.

"Water resistant, more like." M4 says. "I don't do too well when submerged, but rain isn't a problem."

"Huh." I make a decision and yank off my shoes and socks, tucking them under my arm as I walk up next to the two dolls. A wave washes over my feet and I shiver. "Wow, it's cold this time of year."

"It's probably under a meter of snow right now where we're from." 15 comments. "I'd take this any day."

"It certainly is nice.' M4 agrees.

We fall into comfortable silence, the midday sun on our faces and nothing but the sound of water washing in and out.

Suddenly, M4 sighs. "I'll be back in a second."

"Hmm?"

AR-15 responds to my wordless query. "RO just radioed in. Madison can take care of it."

"Alright."

I once again look out over the water. If I squint, I can see some cargo ships on their way into port. I used to watch them coming and going closer to the docks, at the other end of this beach.

AR-15 takes a step closer to me.

"S-so." She says after a moment. "This is a nice place."

"Yeah, quiet. At least, when it's not crowded with people." I agree.

"Do… Do you want to come back here with me, when it's warm?" She squirms about a bit. "Maybe you could teach me how to swim."

"I don't see why not." I say. "The waters should be warm enough in two or three months."

"I'd like that." She says. "Oh, and… something else."

"Yes?"

"If you want, you can just call me 15. If it's just the two of us though…" She trails off before taking a breath. "If it's just the two of us, you can call me Star any time."

"You don't dislike the name?"

"No, it's… special. I guess." She shrugs. "I'm fine using it as an alias, but it's more important to me than that."

"Well then, Star, I'll make sure to do that." I nod to her.

A second later, her head rests on my shoulder. I glance down at her to see her eyes are closed and her face has turned the same pink as her hair.

I wonder how that works without having blood. Maybe the orangish coolant or whatever is pumped under the cheeks? I once again make a note to ask a human how T-dolls work. Maybe get a guidebook.

I'm still looking at her face when her eyes snap open. Her flush immediately deepens, but she straightens up. "Madison is telling me to get you. There's a problem."

"Great." I sarcastically grumble. "Well, it was nice while it lasted."

"...Yeah."

I start jogging up the beach, 15 on my heels. When I round the rocky dunes to see the parking lot, I can see Sop, RO, and M4A1 arguing with a bunch of guys, and much to my dismay I can see that a police officer is there as well. He has his back to me, so I can't tell who it is.

Still, I don't have time to hesitate. I grit my teeth and stride up. "What's going on?"

Everyone stops and looks at me.

The officer turns around, annoyed, but stops when he sees me. "Hey, you're Hadwin, right? Damian Galanis' son?"

I don't recognize him, but I remain cautious. "Yes?"

"So, this is your dad's car, right?" He gestures to the car behind him.

"That's correct."

"Yeah, well, these girls are trying to get in, and these men came over to try to assist but one of the women-" He looks down at the tablet computer in his hands. "-apparently growled at him."

I cover my face with my hand. "Dammit Sophia."

"Hey! They were gonna take your Dad's car! They asked all sorts of questions!" Sop complains.

"We just wanted to look at it." Says one of the guys. Slightly younger than me, probably Rakim's age. "You don't often see a Merc anymore."

"Yeah, and I asked her what the engine was and she acted like she was gonna bite me!" Another of the guys shudders.

I look at the officer. "The girls are with me. Did they actually do anything we're gonna need to work out?"

"Nope." The officer turns off his tablet. "I was called for a possible theft in progress. As far as I'm aware, they didn't do anything." He turns to the guys. "Am I correct?"

"Yeah, they're scary but they didn't do anything." The last of the guys says. "Sorry for wasting your time, officer."

"Not a problem." He touches his hat. "I'll be going."

"Er, hold on a second." I say. "How did you know who I was?"

He chuckles. "Kid, there's not a cop in sector 3 who doesn't know your face and name. All of us were looking for you for two days until your dad told us to call it off, you'd been found. I'm not sure the chief's removed the poster we put up in the office yet."

"Oh."

"Well, then, I'll be going. Don't do anything crazy now."

"Yeah, bye." I mutter, staring off into space.

The rest of the gathered crowd continues to look at me curiously.

Every cop. Every. Cop.

Including Andre?

My blood chills.

"Hadwin?" M4 calls out.

"Oh, yeah." I blink and return to reality. Turning to the guys. I gesture to the car. "Go ahead and look, I'll make sure Sophia doesn't bite."

They laugh and get close to the vehicle, admiring how shiny it is, or something. I never really understood car people.

In the meantime, I turn to the assembled T-dolls. "So, what's the problem?"

"We couldn't get in." RO reports. "I put the key in the lock and turned it, but the doors didn't open."

"Really? Can I try?"

RO hands me the keys.

I step up to the car door, glancing at the guy currently hanging around the front bumper, chatting. I put the key into the lock and turn it.

The car opens.

I turn back to them.

"What did you do?" M4 asks.

"Turned the key in the lock." I reply. "What did you do?"

"Let me see." RO steps up behind me. "Do it again."

I lock the car. Pull out the key, tug on the door, and then put the key back in and twist.

This time, it remains locked.

"Hmm?" I try it again. "That's weird."

"Maybe the battery in the key is dead." One of the guys pokes his head around the car. "If it's not working properly, the car can't get the unlock code from it."

"But… I have the key." I hold it up.

"Yeah, but it emits a small radio signal so you can't just duplicate the key." The guys explains. "Keep trying it, it worked a second ago."

RO sighs, before whispering to me. "It'll probably work now."

I insert the key and try again. "Hey, it worked." I turn to the guys. "Thanks."

"No problem. Hey, can you pop the hood? I wanna see what she's got."

I reach under the steering wheel and pull the lever to open the hood. It clunks open and I climb back out of the car. "What's going on?"

She leans in. "I was blocking the signal passively, sorry. I make sure to block all radio emissions coming from me as a matter of course."

"Makes sense." I nod. "Oh well." I turn to M4 and 15. "Come get your shoes."

They both brush the sand off their feet and start pulling their socks on as I turn to Sop, who keeps glancing at the guys looking at the engine. "What's up?"

"They're talking about the engine." She says. "I wanna join. Your Dad told me all about it."

"Yeah? Why don't you?"

"Well…" She taps her fingers together. "I did growl at one of them."

"Well, apologize and ask if you can join."

"O-okay!" She makes a fist. "I'll just apologize…"

"Hadwin."

I turn to RO. "Yeah?"

"What was up with you and that police officer?"

"Oh." I frown, look back at the guys, seeing Sop apologize and them waving it away. They're not gonna overhear. "Well, he said my face was all over, right?"

"Yes?"

"Well then, the one that saw my face in the warehouse probably also got a good look at me." I say. "How hard is it going to be for a police officer to trace that back to my family?"

"Uh-oh." RO's face pales slightly. "I'll send a message back to 404. Hopefully they'll do something, or at least be prepared in case something happens."

"Thanks." I shudder. "I wasn't thinking about that."

"It does make sense though." RO contemplates. "You were recognized by a police officer in G&K's camp, and they notified your parents. They clearly have some contact with each other."

"Now I'm really worried."

RO nods. "9 said she's gonna check some things, they're at least aware."

"Thanks." I pat RO's shoulder. "You're a lifesaver."

She blinks. "I appreciate it."

One of the guys walks over to me and I straighten up from RO. "Dude, Sophia's great! She's been talking nonstop about the engine, and like, she's even been talking about improvements you're dad's done." He looks around comically, obviously to look for observers. "Does she have a boyfriend?"

...Why does everyone want to date a T-doll?

Out loud, I ask a different question. "Why don't you ask her yourself?"

"Ah, I'm kinda…" He looks back. "I guess I can."

He plods back to the front of the car and starts nervously shifting around as he waits for a moment to break into the conversation.

"...Why does everyone want to date you guys?" I ask RO and M4 as the latter stands up with her boots on.

"Nobody wants to buy an ugly doll, so IOP doesn't make ugly dolls." RO comments dryly. "And they think we're just pretty girls, not killer robots."

"Also, we tend to give humans at least a little bit of respect in any case." M4 says, joining the conversation now that her feet are shod. "Since we don't look down on anyone, that gives people an ego boost."

"Unless you're M870." RO says.

"Yes, unless you're M870. Or MK 48."

"I have no idea who those two are." I say.

"Yeah… we should keep it that way." RO replies.

Before long, we all piled back into the car. Sop waves goodbye to her new friends as we get underway.

Sop had taken the back seat with RO and M4 on the way back, 15 in the seat beside mine. Sop had been humming to herself since she sat down, looking at a scrap of paper.

Inevitably, my curiosity gets the better of me. "Sop, what are you waving around?"

"Oh, one of those guys gave me his number!" She says.

"Oh. So you have a phone?"

Silence in the cabin. I glance in my rearview mirror to see a look of confusion. "Why would I need a phone?"

"I guess if you have one built in-"

"No, I mean, why would I call him?"

Beside me, 15 sighs and palms her face. "Sop. What do you think that number is?"

She looks at the paper. "Ohhh. It's a phone number. It's not formatted so I thought it was his serial number."

I snort. "Wha-"

"Humans don't have serial numbers." RO shakes her head. "You should have realized that."

"But…" Sop looks confused. "Commander Gentiane told me she has a special number so the government can track her and she said it was like a serial number, everybody gets their own. Um, S… Snails?"

"...SNILS?" RO asks.

"Yeah, that."

"We're not in Russia at the moment, it wouldn't make sense for him to have a SNILS number, Sop." M4 responds.

"So are you going to call him back?" 15 asks, bringing us back to the original topic.

"I… I dunno." Sop looks genuinely mystified. "Why would he want me to call him?"

"Are you kidding me?" 15 grumbles.

"Sop…" RO covers her eyes. "Remember when we talked about Commander Jakoby?"

"...Yeah?"

"Remember how I said that if he tried to lure you to his room, to tell me?"

"Yeeeah?" Sop blinks. "He's trying to lure me into a trap?!"

I glance at 15 and speak in a low voice. "How does she not-?"

"She knows about it." 15 cuts me off, the blush returning to her cheeks. "She's just bad at making connections when not paying attention." She twists in her seat. "He wants to date you, numbskull."

Sop suddenly freezes, her voice cutting out as her face goes red. "Nnnnno, I don't think that's going to happen. I mean, I barely know his name." She tucks the paper into her pocket.

"Well, that was awkward." I mutter.

"Hadwin." RO forcibly changes the subject. "What's the plan?"

"...Honestly, I have no clue." I say. "I'll have to ask UMP 45 what she's already done and work from there."

"That's a good point." M4A1 drums her fingers on the windowsill of her door. "We need to see if the Paradeus faction has plans to do anything and make preparations if they're doing anything to your family." Her voice has a solid edge to it that was missing all day. "I don't like relying on 404, but they've been pretty agreeable recently."

"I really hope Commander Gentiane was right when she said that Paradeus doesn't target families." I cross my fingers.

---

"Hmm? They're gone."

I stare at UMP 45. "Eh?"

"Your parents are gone." UMP 45 repeats. "I made them a reservation for an overnight spa. Told them it was you repaying their hospitality for putting all of us up."

"Why?"

"Because this building is a target, and so are they." UMP 45 says. "None of us are going to be here."

"W-What about my sister?"

"Friend's house. Gave her a hundred credits, told her to have a party with her friends." UMP 45 continues.

Echelon 11 is currently sitting on the couch across from mine (Aside from S.A.T, who's standing). 15 and Sop are on my couch, M4 and RO are standing on either side of it. HK 416, G11, and UMP 9 are sitting on chairs from the kitchen.

45 is the only one standing in the center of the room.

"Okay, so… how do we know the Paradeus faction isn't going to track them down?" I reply.

"We don't." UMP 45 says bluntly. "We have to trust that they're secondary or tertiary targets. In any case, right now we have to worry about ourselves."

Silence descends on the room.

"So, to start off." UMP 45 turns to M4. "Can I ask that you four be on standby somewhere?"

"You can certainly ask." RO responds instead, a bit of an edge in her voice. "We don't work for you."

"Trust me, I'm aware." UMP 45 turns to me. "Echelon 11 works for you, so you have to give them their orders."

"Okay." I blink "What orders?"

UMP 45 sighs. "Okay, I guess I'll explain from the start." She starts pacing back and forth, her one good eye flicking around. "You and my team are going to move to an abandoned warehouse outside the wall. You are going to be seen leaving. We will not. It'll seem like you're alone. We'll set up distractions, making it look like you went somewhere else, and you can hide."

"...Okay." I mull her words over. "Continue."

"Since you're going to be outside the wall, you'll need someone you trust to watch over your family. I recommend sending Tokarev and SV-98 to watch over your parents, while S.A.T. and P90 watch over your sister. SV-98 can find a good perch to watch from with Tokarev as support. P90 and S.A.T. will probably have a harder time finding your sister, but they're the friendly sort so it should be easy for them to get included in a gathering of girls."

Echelon 11 looks my way.

"And you want Anti-Rain on standby?" I ask.

"Just inside Sector 3's walls. That way, if we need help outside the walls, they can hurry over and if either of the Echelon 11 groups need help, they're close enough to support."

I frown. "...It seems like a solid idea." Something's nagging at me, and I can't place what it is.

"Obviously, details need to be worked out." UMP 45 claps her hands together. "So, does it sound good?"

I hesitate. "What exactly are the Paradeus faction's plans at the moment?"

"From what 45-nee and I gathered," 9 speaks up. "They're currently planning on raiding this building after dark. I hope we're gone by then."

UMP 45 picks up where 9 leaves off. "Paradeus has been using the doll trafficking routes to bring in Strelets and some Rodeleros. Thankfully, none of their better or more specialized units, or we'd be in trouble. It's in everyone's best interest to not be here."

"Not to mention, Paradeus has a history with explosives." 9 says sheepishly. "Not a good idea to risk it."

I glance at 416 and G11. Neither of them seem to be paying attention. Then, I look at RO and M4 in turn. They both appear to be thinking, and I return my gaze to the one-eyed doll. "I can agree on that point." I say.

"Hey Haddy." P90 calls out. "Where'd you go on your date?"

416's eye twitches, and Sop answers. "We went to the beach! I got a lot of shells and met some guys that like Haddy's Dad's car."

"That's it?" P90 blinks. "Wow."

"It was a nice walk along the beach." RO says. "Good enough for us."

15 at my side seems to disagree, but doesn't do anything aside from shifting in her seat.

"If you say so. We need to compare notes." P90 says.

UMP 45 glares at the cheery doll. "We're discussing important things here."

"Yeah, well… I'm not good at this stuff, so I'm bored. Can't we leave all the planning stuff to T-dolls with command modules?"

Beside her, SV-98 nods.

"I guess." UMP 45 shrugs. "I'm not your boss."

Sop springs up. "Well, I'll leave the complicated stuff to you guys. I wanna talk to P90!"

Echelon 11, Sop, G11, 416 and 9 leave the room, leaving UMP 45, 15, M4 and RO.

"...I wish Hadwin had a Linker." RO sighs once again after a brief pause.

"Are you looking at VR stuff again?" I ask.

"Not VR, AR." UMP 45 clarifies. "Turn on the TV and I'll send it a signal."

I fumble around for the remote before locating it between the cushions of the couch and turn on the TV. A news program plays for a brief moment before the image is replaced with a map of the city.

"Hadwin, your parents are staying here." UMP highlights a spot on the screen. "Good sniping positions are here, here, and here. I'd like you to choose." She looks at me. "We can't really do any support for S.A.T.8 and P90, since we're not sure where they're going." She hesitates a moment more. "I know where her best friends are from her call records, so I can at least narrow it down to a few spots."

I watch as more dots appear on the map, this time a pink in contrast to the sniping spots being green. "Alright."

"As far as Anti-Rain is concerned- should you so oblige me- You could position yourselves here." More blips, this time an orange, show up along the wall near the main gate into the city. "As I mentioned earlier, this will allow you to be either inside or outside the city as need be. I'd recommend staying in the walls to avoid getting stopped on the way in if there's an emergency."

M4 and RO exchange a look, but don't say anything.

UMP 45 sighs. "What's wrong? Just spit it out, we only have three hours before we need to have a plan finished."

"Why aren't we splitting up?" 15 asks. "Sop and I can go with Hadwin, M4 and RO can stay here and help with operations."

"From your combat history you tend to work best as a team." UMP 45 says. "I don't think this is the time to break that up."

"I see." M4 says. "Well, for now, it seems like it's a good idea to go along with UMP 45's plan." She turns to her teammates. "Agreed?"

"For now, yes." RO's face looks fairly unimpressed. "So, what's your plan outside the walls?"

UMP 45 nods. "Well, we have several different places picked out. Three warehouses, two old groceries, and two fuel stations. We get out there, go to all of them and pick the best one for our needs. The rest can be set up as decoys."

M4 nods. "Makes sense. What time do you want to head out?"

"Honestly, the later we leave, the longer we have to work with. They're going to need to prepare things as well, and the more we disrupt those plans the better it'll be for us." UMP 45 pops a clock on screen. "Sundown's at 1828, so moving out around six should work."

"We have three hours until then." 15 comments.

"Well, Hadwin promised us a tour of the city." UMP 45 says, her evil grin growing wider. "I haven't had my turn yet."

15's hackles are up. "This is more important-"

"They're not going to do anything rash at this point." UMP 45 cuts her off. "We can enjoy our evening before the next mission starts."

15 calms down a bit, but remains frowning.

"But, we can wait for an hour before we leave." UMP continues. "So, I guess we're done for now."

She releases control of the TV and the news program comes back on.

"-Mayor Ellis Mavros said this earlier:" A reporter says before the scene changes to a recording of central hall, where the Mayor makes speeches.

The T-dolls filter out of the room even as I remain watching the broadcast.

"The accusations against me are ridiculous. I introduced the robot ban and I intend to stick by it. We will be one of the ever growing number of white zones where you don't have to worry about a robot sneaking up on you in the night to kill you, or pretending to be your loved ones." Mayor Mavros says, before looking back down at his notes. "In light of the recent disturbances, I have enlisted the help of some outside forces to ensure there are no issues tomorrow."

A man steps up to the podium. "Thank you, Mayor. My name is Anisim Zaytsev. I represent Paradeus, an organization committed to peace. In search of that, we have developed these:"

The screens behind him light up with a picture of a Strelet and a Rodelero.

"Do not fear: while they appear to be robotic, they are indeed flesh and blood people inside, prepared to do anything to protect this great city."

The news switches back over to the reporter. "This claim comes on top of a declaration by the Mayor that an underground robot smuggling ring was operating in the city. The explosion last night was allegedly the headquarters of the operation and the police are currently looking into the possibility that those recovered from the explosion are connected."

"Thanks, Rachel. And for those just joining, with all of the new information surrounding Mayor Mavros, will he have a chance at election? We discuss this and more in-"

The TV shuts off.

I glance back to see S.A.T. had wandered back into the room and shut off the broadcast. "Let's not dwell on them, okay?" She asks kindly.

I take a deep breath. "Yeah, at least for now."

"Good." She hesitates. "We're having a discussion in the kitchen that I'd like your help with."

I shrug. "Whatever you need."

"Thank you." I follow her into the kitchen, where most of the T-dolls are hanging around.

P90 looks over. "Ah, good! Now we might get something done."

"Haddy~" Sop draws out the sound. "They keep telling me to call back Chris."

"The car guy?" I look around the room and see a few nods. "Why?"

"She said she would." SV-98 responds. "So she should. I know Anti-Rain dolls aren't as obedient to humans as the rest of us, but come on, just call him back."

"She doesn't want to." 9 says from her perch on the edge of the counter. "You should let it go."

"It's not very romantic to ignore it." Tokarev says quietly.

"I don't think Sop cares about romance." I pat the small girl just above her ribbon. "Sop, is there a particular reason you don't want to call him?"

She tosses her hands in the air. "I don't like him! I'm not gonna date him, so why should I?" She calms down a bit. "Even if I did, we're leaving in less than a day. It would be kinda cruel to get his hopes up."

All of the dolls present (Aside from 9) frown slightly.

"You… could call him and apologize for the misunderstanding." I say. "Then he won't be waiting for a call and think you're leading him on."

"Hmm…" She brightens a bit. "I guess." She looks around. "So, does anyone have a phone I can borrow?"

I draw mine from my pocket and hand it to the overexcitable doll. "I assume you know how to use it?"

"Eh… I just need the hardware. I already know how to encode the signal." She stares at my phone and I realize she's already using it.

"Since when did Sop have hacking skills?" I look around.

"Since she picked up that." RO walks into the room, now dressed in the clothes she had bought for herself yesterday. Grey sweatpants, grey sweatshirt. Hair's still wet. I guess that explains where she went. When she says 'that' she points to a yellow box on the table.

Sitting on the table, a bright yellow and black box moves around on four stumpy legs. It has a megaphone on its back, painted with the same color scheme. It orients towards me with a shiny red lens pointing in my direction. A bluish-green ribbon cable connects from the back of the device and snakes its way around to a crystal embedded in Sop's sternum.

"What… is it?" I ask cautiously.

"It used to be a Dinergate, which is a small Sangvis robot." P90 says.

"This one was modified on the battlefield for… other purposes." RO says, her eye twitching again.

"They're so cute." S.A.T. beams. "Dinergates that lose their command network make very nice pets."

"So, that's an enemy robot?" I ask.

"Well, they're usually grey and purple." SV-98 says. "Also, the megaphone isn't standard."

"Yeah." RO grumbles. "That was mine."

"You used to have a megaphone?" I ask her, raising an eyebrow. She hardly ever shouts… wait, she's the only T-doll here I haven't seen in any sort of action.

"I have a new one, but that one used to be mine before Sop got her hands on it." RO glares at the little yellow device.

"It's name is Banana." Sop says. "I outfitted it with a beam laser too, but it uses way too much power to use regularly." She hands me my phone back.

"How'd the conversation go?" Tokarev asks.

"Well, he took it well I think." Sop says. "I told him I misunderstood what he was asking for and he said okay."

"Well, that's nice." S.A.T. says. "All's well that ends well."

"Yeah, but how about you?" P90 asks. "Didn't Lucas ask you out?"

"Eh." Sop turns her head. "Really?"

"He didn't, he didn't." S.A.T. calms the others down. "The only thing he wanted from me was to keep an eye on Hadwin for him." She nods.

"...Huh." I scratch my chin. "Okay."

"Are you sure about that?" P90 asks. "Maybe you just weren't paying attention?"

"I think I was." S.A.T. frowns. "Nothing he said could be misconstrued as asking for a date either…"

"Well…" SV-98 folds her arms on the table and rests her head in the crook of her elbow. "I think I'm done with the love talk for a while. It's exhausting." She looks up and whines. "I wanna shoot something."

Banana moves over and pokes SV-98.

"Oh no you don't." 9 hops off the counter and crouches down to where SV-98's eye level is currently. "You need to tell us what happened last night."

"Last night?" She asks.

"Oh come on!" UMP 9 throws her hands in the air. "You and Hadwin were alone in the same room from 2000 to 0200! Something happened, and I wanna know what."

"Oh." SV-98's face sinks back into her arms. Her next words are slightly muffled. "Well… it was disappointing."

Oh boy.

"What do you mean, disappointing?" P90 leans forward.

"Oh lay off." Most of the T-dolls glance in my direction. I raise my hands defensively. "I slept on the computer chair."

"Booooo." 9 jeers. "No wonder this wasn't opened."

She tosses the unopened condom box onto the table next to where Banana is poking SV-98's arms with its stubbly foreleg. The small robot turns to look at the box, then pokes it.

"Why." It wasn't a question.

"Because you left me all alone here all day and I was bored." 9 crosses her arms.

I pinch the bridge of my nose. Maybe now would be a good time to leave, before things get any worse. Or weirder. How to change the subject… Oh yeah.

"Okay, so… we have a plan laid out." I say, grabbing the box of condoms from where Banana was trying to push them over to Sop. "S.A.T.8, P90, you're going to look for my sister. UMP 45 has a few locations to try to make it faster. Please keep her safe. SV-98, Tokarev, you're on watch over my Mom and Dad. Again, UMP 45 has sniping positions you can use."

"Roger." SV-98 perks up with an odd look on her face. "I'll go ask her now."

"Wai-" P90 tries to stop her but SV practically dashes from the room, face red.

RO gives me a look. "Smooth."

I glare back at her and cross my arms. "Well, I guess I better get ready too."

"Just be warned." 9 says. "45-nee and I were very bored and decided to do some redecorating."

"...Wonderful." I groan.

---

"I still can't believe you managed to tape my chair to the ceiling." I grumble. "It was hard getting it down too."

UMP 45's evil grin is back in place. "I used the good stuff like they used to use on spaceships and space stations. At least, according to one crossdressing imbecile."

I look at her robot arm, which has the same sort of tape on it. "Should I ask why you got stuff to repair yourself from a 'crossdressing idiot'?"

"Because he's our primary mechanic." UMP 45 states. "The crossdressing thing is new, actually. Back when I got this made, he was just the resident doll fucker."

I glance around furtively, but there's nobody around. We're in a relatively secluded corner of the only park inside the walls of Sector 3, eating the ice cream we got from a vendor we had passed on our way to get actual food.

We're sitting around a round wooden table. 416 is sitting to my left, 9 to my right, and UMP 45 in front of me. G11 had insisted on being in my lap, since I had promised her this morning that I'd reserve it for her for dinner. I had tried to argue that ice cream wasn't dinner, but she had started to pout and I gave up.

"There's something wrong with him." 416 grumbles.

"Uh…" I scratch my head. "Why don't you get a better mechanic then?"

"How easy do you think it is to get someone with the resources to fix some out of date, illegal dolls?" UMP 45 says. "Not to mention, 416 over there is unique, and we're so full of random junk he's the only one able to maintain us with likelihood of success."

"Oh. That sounds like a sticky situation."

"We take turns going to level 3 so it doesn't get to that." 9 shudders. "I don't like the way he looks at me."

"He's always nice to me…" G11 says around her ice cream cone.

"That's because you look like one of his maids." 416 says. "He really would take you in and strap you to a bed permanently."

G11's free arm grips mine tightly, and she hides her face in my shirt. Undoubtedly getting ice cream smears all over it, but I'll let it slide. Probably.

"In any case, let's stop talking about him. He's annoying." UMP 45 changes the subject. "Instead let's talk about that cube in your pocket."

I have to think for a moment before I realize she's talking about the doll core she handed me.

I withdraw it and set it on the table in front of me and G11. "Here."

She takes the cube. "Well, it's still active, so it's emergency power hasn't drained yet."

416 looks at the cube. "Commander, where did you get that?"

"Hmm?" I glance at 416.

"When did you ever get access to an active Doll core?" She elaborates. "They're not exactly common."

Wait. I got it when UMP 45 and I were breaking into the doll chop shop. 45 told me not to talk about it, so why would she bring it up now?

"I gave it to Hadwin." UMP 45 says easily. "I forgot to mention that a loose core needs to be charged roughly every 40 hours or the personality dies." She pulls a small device out of her bag and plugs the core into it.

"Oh. That sounds like something you really should have told me up front." I watch as the light blinking on the side of the cube changes to a reddish orange. "So, whoever's on that core, they're still alive?"

"Well, kinda." 9 pokes the cube with a finger. "Whoever it is, they can't communicate with the outside world, they can't perceive anything either. They're on level 3."

"Level 3, huh."

"Yeah. Dolls have three levels of consciousness." 9 switches to lecture mode, but the effect is greatly diminished by the pink mustache of ice cream on her upper lip. "Level 1 is meatspace, Level 2 is cyberspace and level three is the definition of the phrase 'I have no mouth and yet I must scream.'"

I look at the cube. "Yikes."

"It's not actually that bad." 416 also pokes at the cube. "If a Doll body is damaged beyond reasonable repair, the Neural core here needs to be extracted. The doll enters Level 3 and isn't able to come out until a technician wakes the doll up. It's a safety feature in case of a rogue doll that doesn't want to leave a dangerous body or tries to hack the technician's computers."

"When we get upgraded by the crossdresser, we have to go to level 3." 9 pounds her fist into her palm. "Ah! It's like going into a medically induced coma."

"So, this doll here is currently in a coma?" I ask, looking back at the tiny cube.

"For all intents and purposes, yes." UMP 45 confirms. "As long as it remains charged, it can remain that way indefinitely. Much the same way a human in a coma can live on life support for years." She pulls the cube out of the device. "All done."

"Wait, that's it?" I take the cube back.

"It doesn't have a very large battery." UMP 45 says.

I tuck the cube back into my pocket. I'll have to tuck it safely into my tac vest once I put that back on.

Currently, all of my combat gear is tucked into my backpack, resting at my feet. I can't exactly wear it all around in public, but I certainly need it. We're not going back to my house, but heading straight outside the gate. No point in backtracking, apparently.

I finish up my cone and wipe my hands on a napkin. "Okay, so what next?"

"Hmm?" UMP 45 licks her own ice cream slowly.

"Well, I don't suspect you guys are full on ice cream."

"Unlike you, I ate food earlier." UMP 45 states. "And we don't really get hungry."

I stare at her for a few seconds and she continues to slowly, methodically lick her ice cream. "What do you mean by that?"

"Well, strictly speaking, T-dolls don't need to eat. The only reason we do is to fit in better with humans. It was originally an emergency measure, in case we couldn't get our charge in any other way, but it's useful in a lot of other situations."

"So, what do you do if you don't eat?" I ask.

"Plug into a charge port." 416 says.

"Huh."

I wonder where the electrical contacts are. I have a feeling that question would get me eviscerated though.

"The efficiency of food isn't actually that good." 9 says. "It's much more efficient to plug us into a generator."

UMP 45 and 416 wince at this, and I decide I don't want to pursue it further.

"Anyway." UMP 45 says around a few more licks of her dessert. "I've decided what we're doing tonight."

"I thought we were going to leave Sector 3?" G11's ice cream drips and I wipe it up with the napkin I have yet to let go of.

"Well, yeah, but it's going to be boring sitting there as they fruitlessly look for you." UMP 45 says. "So, I decided to come up with some training for you."

"Joy." I deadpan.

"Question: How many enemies have you killed?" 9 asks.

"Um… I don't know." I respond slowly. "I got that one the first day with M4A1, the man from Paradeus-"

"And that's it." 9 states. "You order a whole bunch of robots killed, but it's usually someone else pulling the trigger. We need to change this."

"Even the Doppelsöldner you took down wasn't technically your kill." 416 says. "The intolerable Anti-Rain dog blew up the building, you just told her to do it."

Intolerable…? She must mean SOPMOD. "Okay then, what do you want me to do?"

"Give us all of your money." UMP 45 responds immediately, extending her hand out.

"Oh!" 9 jumps up. "I want a new jacket!"

"Can I get headpats?" G11 asks.

"I want you to stay by my side." 416 says quietly.

"I… what." I sort through their requests, and start gently stroking G11's head. That one's easy. "9, I already told you bad children don't get bonuses."

"I don't care. You asked what we wanted, and that's my answer!" She plants her hands on her hips.

"Also, I'm not gonna give you all of my money." I glare at UMP 45. "I'll try to get you guys some decent recompense, but I need to eat. Unlike you guys, apparently."

"Hey, I don't see any charging stations around here, do you?" 9 waves her hands around. "I need food too!"

"Well, I suppose that's acceptable." UMP 45 retracts her hand and continues to lick her ice cream.

"Are you eating it that slowly on purpose?" 416 snips.

"Whatever do you mean?" UMP 45 says innocently, thus confirming our suspicions.

416 turns to me. "So, how about my wish?"

"Well… I can try to stay by your side for a while." I start. "Do you mean, during this mission?"

"I meant more permanently than that, but that would be a good start."

"Oooooh." 9 plants her elbows on the table and sets her chin in her hands, dopey grin on her face. "416's serious."

"Shut up, dummkopf." 416 snaps, then she turns back to me. "I've been a good child, right?"

"Okay, it was funny this morning, not so much now." I shudder. "And…" My thoughts drift back to the warehouse. "No, nevermind."

"Oh come on Hadwin, share with the class." UMP 45 smirks.

"Yeah!" 9 insists as well. "Why would you reject our lovely, elite coworker's advances?"

I look at the twins. "I was wondering if I can count on you guys to be there when I need it."

"Why, I'm shocked." UMP 45 holds her free hand to her breastbone in mock consternation. "What could possibly have put you into such a state as to doubt our willingness to work with you?"

I stare her right in the eye. "We left people to die this morning. I was just wondering how likely it's going to be for it to be me next time. You told me that you'd have my back if I had yours, and now I'm wondering if you're going to keep your end of that. I know I did."

"Of course, of course." UMP 45's grin grows wider. "Why would we go back on that? It would break poor 416's heart."

"Oh come on, Hadwin, we wouldn't just abandon you on a whim." 9 says.

"Sure you wouldn't." I grumble. "Whatever, can we go? I don't want to be here anymore."

UMP 45 suddenly shoves the rest of the cone into her mouth and ruthlessly crushes it in three bites. "Done. Let's go find us a practice ground."

---

UMP 45 had told me to leave Sector 3 normally. I'm not quite sure how to do that when "normally" people need to apply to be allowed outside the walls, and "normally" nobody leaves at dusk.

I'm staring at the door, contemplating my options or startling lack thereof when someone approaches me.

"Hey, Hadwin." 15 greets me. "Heading out?"

"Yeah. Didn't expect to see you here." I say. "What's up?"

"I don't know." She shakes her head. "I'm just getting a bad feeling. Here." She pulls a radio like mine out of her pocket. "See this frequency?"

"Yeah…" I memorize the six digits. "Why do you have one of these?"

"Ah…" She thinks for a few seconds. "I… can't actually access the zener network right now. I have to use this to talk with everyone."

"Seriously?"

"Yes." She adjusts the frequency to match my radio's current setting. "I'll be listening on the other frequency. Don't tell anyone what it is. Turn your radio to match the new frequency if you need me."

I look around. "Thanks, Star."

Her face flushes. "I, ah, It's not a problem." She turns and points at the gate. "I verified that none of the guards there are directly tied to Paradeus, at least from what UMP 45 listed as culprits. You should be able to walk up the guards and ask to be let outside. You might want to mention working for G&K and having official business outside the wall."

"Wouldn't that be extremely bad?" I say. "Commander Gentiane would be furious with me."

"She'd understand. She only plays by the rules when they make sense." 15 says. "Be careful."

"You too, Star." I grin as she flushes once again and I walk out to the gate.

Predictably, one of the gate guards steps up and gestures for me to stop. "Hey kid, where are you going?"

I grab the arm of my uniform and turn so he can see the G&K logo on the arm. "Urgent Griffin and Kryuger business."

"That's…" A look of recognition crosses his face as he looks from my badge to my face. "You're that Galanis kid, right?"

"Yeah." I sigh. "Can you please let me pass? I need to get this done soon or we may have a real problem on our hands."

"I… Okay. Be careful out there, I hear there's rogue robots around."

Yeah. 404.

I give him a nod as he escorts me outside the gate. The massive iron door closes behind me with a clunk that reverberates and I look around the area outside the gate in the evening light.

It's super creepy, to be frank. Empty buildings with broken glass windows, signs faded from lack of maintenance. Scraggly plants grow here and there, and every street light remains off. This is my second time looking at this scene and the first time I was kinda busy with 404.

Speaking of… "404, do you read?"

"Loud and clear, Hadwin." UMP 45 responds. "We're in the nearest fuel station we indicated earlier."

"Roger. I'm going to head there now." I consult my mental map and cross my fingers that I remember the location accurately. It's about a half a kilometer away, so it shouldn't take me too long to find it. I trudge off in the direction I believe will lead me to the warehouse.

The only sound out here is the sounds of my boots hitting the concrete. The sound echoes through the artificial canyons lining the road, making it sound as if an army is marching through. The fading light makes the shadows grow and the chill in the air sends shivers down my spine.

"If this was a zombie movie… I'd be about to be ambushed." I mutter. Looking over my shoulder, just in case, I recall the description of ELIDs that Sop had been all too eager to give me when I had asked her. Most of them amble around like you see in bad zombie movies, but then you have ones that still use their guns and massive hulks that can smash a T-doll to bits.

I imagine I'd get turned into a paste.

Nah, this isn't fun.

I adjust my radio. "Hey, Star?"

"Hadwin? Are you already in trouble?"

"No, I just need someone to talk to, and it's creepy out here." The shadows seem to be stretching out to grab me, and I nervously eye the alleys waiting for something to jump out at me.

"Oh." She waits a few seconds. "Well, what do you want to talk about?"

"Hmm. Well… how about your sisters? Anti-Rain squad, all of them."

"Well…"

She and I chat about the squad for the next few minutes. I learned some interesting things, like that RO's a newer addition to the team and that they used to have a member named M16. Star didn't elaborate on the reason M16 isn't still with them and, given how hard her tone was, I didn't feel like asking at that point.

About halfway to the fuel station, it got dark enough to warrant the use of the NVGs. Now, instead of the deep shadows, I have dark green blotches where the goggles can't see because the surroundings are still too bright, but it's still an improvement.

After we exhausted the topic of her teammates, which was mostly her complaining how incompetent they can be sometimes, we switched over to talking about their weapons specifically. Apparently, everyone from Anti-Rain uses a derivative of the M4 in some fashion, which is why they all use the same bullets and magazines, and many of the parts are interchangeable.

"However, I also have a way to rechamber my gun to .300 BLK ammo, but I don't have that mod with me at the moment. That ammo is harder to come by, so I switched it back to 5.56 NATO so it'd be easier to come by while I'm working with the rest of the AR team."

"Huh." I kick aside a pebble in my way. "Do… you ever not work with Anti-Rain?"

She laughs dryly. "Technically, I'm a rogue doll at the moment. I joined team DEFY after I… well. Have you been told about Parapluie?"

"Not really. I remember RO mentioned it when we came out of that APC thing the first day."

"She did. It's a Sangvis Ferri Virus that allows them to take over a T-doll. I… well, I got infected with it, and I barely managed to avoid being taken over by it. However, by that time I was on the run from G&K and couldn't join back up with them. The reason I have this radio is because I had to lock down all of my access ports so I couldn't leak anything more through the zener network. I still have it, it's just stopped trying to take me over."

"Damn."

"Yep. I've learned to deal with it though. DEFY's not so bad, you probably met some of them back at base. Angelia's the leader in place of a commander, and right now AK-12, AN-94, and M4 are working there with me."

"M4 also went rogue?"

"No, she's… well, she's special. KCCO wanted to kill her specifically, and they almost succeeded, I had to pull her out of it. She's been with DEFY for about six months now."

"Sounds like you keep getting the crap end of the stick."

"We do, but that's the life of a T-doll." Her voice turns bitter. "We get told what to do and we die at the whims of others."

"Hey, I'm here to make sure that doesn't happen!" I try to cheer her up. "I'll make sure to get you out."

"That's assuming you survive." She says, her voice a little bit softer. "You're not exactly a tank."

"I'll still try my best."

"Thanks." She replies simply.

"And, while I'd love to continue talking to you, I'm at my destination." I see the fuel station ahead of me and there's a few forms moving inside. "I'll talk to you later, okay?"

"Okay." She hesitates for a moment. "Don't die."

"You either." I adjust the frequency to the one 404 is using. "Can you guys see me?"

"Yeah." 9 says. "You're so freakin' slow."

"It's time to go." UMP 45 pushes herself off the wall. "We've picked out a warehouse for us to practice at."

"What are we practicing? You never actually told me earlier." I complain.

"Target practice, but with moving targets. I made some things from some old electronics I found in your room."

I glare at her. "You modified my stuff?"

"I was bored."

I give up and fall in step behind her. 416 pulls up beside me, her weapon sweeping around.

"The dark makes you nervous too?" I ask her.

She starts. "N-Nein. Just making sure we're alone out here. This is supposed to be a green zone, but I still don't trust there's no ELIDs around." 416 continues to scan around.

"How well can you actually see in the dark? I notice none of you ever use NVGs."

"I basically have a set built in. My eyes are cameras, remember."

"Right." G11 tugs on my sleeve and I turn to face her. "What's up?"

"The ice cream was tasty."

"...You're welcome?" It's kinda odd that she's bringing it up now but-

"Alright ladies," UMP 45 stops and turns to us. "416, G11, You know what to do."

"Roger." 416 straightens up. "Good luck, Commander."

"Where are they going?" I ask, even as they both turn down a side street.

"They need to set up some decoys." UMP 45 waves unconcernedly. "We're going this way."

I spend the rest of the walk in silence, watching the UMP twins aiming their weapons around, scanning for targets.

I'm starting to get really tired again. I didn't feel it as much when I was inside the walls of Sector 3, but then I also wasn't on edge from just how creepy it is out here.

When we arrive at the warehouse, UMP 45 pulls the lockpicks out, and has the door open in seconds. I really need to learn that, it's so cool when she does it.

I trudge inside, looking around at the peeling paint and moldy carpets. "So…"

"We're heading into the warehouse floor. According to the shipping records I found, there's supposed to be lots of crates in here. Perfect for a game of cat and mouse."

"Okay…" I follow them into the main area of the warehouse, pitch black without the goggles. Thankfully, there's a full moon tonight and the roof isn't what I'd call intact. Actually, the wall has a large gash in it as well. I quietly wonder what happened to this building in the past to put it there.

UMP 45 reaches into her bag and pulls out a few items. "This is some special ammo, it shoots a laser out of the tip and reciprocates the slide on your pistol." She hands me three magazines that look like the ones I have for my pistol. "This right here is a set of AR goggles I made up. Not as powerful as a Linker, but it has a bunch of the same functions. It'll provide you with fake images like you're firing at actual targets."

"Cool." I say. "And what's that last one?"

"It's a shock vest. You put it on, and whenever one of the enemies shoots you, you get an electric shock. It's good training because you're not going to forget it."

"...I guess." I shrug off the G&K jacket and tac vest before slipping the heavy vest on and putting the rest of my clothes back on. Despite the chill in the air, with this many layers I'm starting to overheat a bit.

"We're gonna head out so we don't get in the way." 9 says. "We'll be in the lobby, watching for threats."

"Got it." I strap the goggles to my face, removing the NVGs in the process, and swap the ammo from my pistol to be the new stuff 45 made. "How do I start it?" I also tuck the earbuds on the side of the goggles into my ears, removing the radio and tucking it into my pouch.

UMP 45 reaches up and flicks a switch, and suddenly the warehouse is lit up like it's daytime. "It should be overlaying an image of a daytime version of the building." She tells me. "Combat starts in one minute, until then, stay here."

"Got it."

I wait as a timer appears in front of me, counting down until the practice starts. It's kind of like a video game, now that I think about it. Just a scary one where if I get hit I actually get hurt.

The countdown goes to zero, and I start moving around carefully. Sure enough, anywhere I try to touch, there's actually a floor there or a crate, but it's lit up like it's day. I take a chance to remove the goggles once and find it's still completely dark without them.

The first target I see has his back to me and I carefully line up the shot and pull the trigger. The headphones give me the sound of a muted gunshot and my pistol jerks slightly. Nothing like real recoil, but it's still some nice feedback.

The headset feeds me audio of men yelling, clearly having heard the gunshots.

Looks like it's game time now.

I carefully move around the warehouse, peeking around corners and carefully picking off the enemies. It's a lot harder than I expected, since they don't stay still and are actively searching, moving kind of erratically. I get about a magazine and a half into the simulation before one of the NPCs shoots me in the chest, sending a small zap into my sternum.

"OW!"

The goggles display "You Lose!" message.

The rest of the NPCs freeze in place and I sigh. "Man, this is going to get tiring. So, I guess I should go again?"

No response. Oh, right, I turned off my radio. Also, if I want to go again, I will need to locate all the discarded laser rounds…

I pull the goggles off to be greeted by…

A chill goes down my spine. All across the ceiling, through windows and the torn side of the building, red and blue flashers spill into the building.

"What the fu-" I scramble in the dark to pull the headset out of my tac vest, turning it on. "Hey, UMP 45, 9, what's going on?"

No response.

"45? 9?" I wait a few more seconds. "416? G11?"

Still nothing.

I scramble to get my night vision goggles on. "What's going on?"

From outside, a police siren suddenly wails once. "HADWIN GALANIS. YOU ARE UNDER ARREST. COME OUT WITH YOUR HANDS IN THE AIR."

"Oh… Oh fuck." I curse. "45, what happened to the decoys?"

"I'm sorry Hadwin." UMP 45's voice comes through finally. "404 works for the highest bidder."

"What… what are you saying?"

"Goodbye."

I stand in place for a few seconds.

"HADWIN. YOU HAVE ONE MINUTE TO COMPLY." The loudspeaker outside blares once more.

Numbly, I turn my radio to 15's frequency. "Star?"

No response.

"Please." I choke on my own words. "Don't do this to me."

The radio stays silent.

Looks like I'm all alone.

"HADWIN, YOU HAVE 30 SECONDS."

I don't know if I can make it out of this. I'm not equipped to deal with this!

But, I have to.

"I'm sorry, Star." I mutter, and load my pistol with the real bullets from my vest. "Not sure if I can keep my promise."