Quick note: There are two interleaved time periods. Italicized sections happen later than the un-italicized sections. Please note that this is not a continuation of the "flash forwards" from chapters 1-4. We'll get to those in due time.

The morning after Paradeus' attempted takeover of Sector 3, our three buggies tear across the rolling hills of Serbia, on the way to Ukraine. Every kilometer brings me further from my homeland, further away than I've ever been from home, and that number is growing larger by the second.

In the lead, skidding around dangerously, is Anti-Rain's vehicle. SOPMOD had wanted a turn at the wheel, and from the sounds they're making over the radio, M4 and RO are regretting letting her drive.

In the second, Echelon 11. Tokarev, despite being so graceful when doing literally anything else, sucks at driving. She's at least keeping the vehicle straight, which is more than I can say for Sop. I think Sop's driving crazy on purpose though.

Meanwhile, about a kilometer back-

I glare as UMP 9 leans forwards. "Hurry, we have to win!"

"He's already driving too fast." G11 complains "I can't get any sleep back here."

416, sitting directly behind me since 9 got the passenger seat, grips the headrest tighter. "We have to beat Anti-Rain. WE HAVE TO."

My eye twitches. "Do you THINK I'm in last on purpose?!" I yell at them. "It's not my fault you can't keep yourselves to any sort of schedule!"

"We showed up on time to save you from the Uhlan." UMP 45 points out maliciously. "I'd say we kept that schedule pretty well."

"Fuck off." I grit my teeth, watching as Sop swerves around something in the distance. Tokarev turns the wheel slightly and her vehicle just barely misses the object which looks like a crashed helicopter or something.

"Aw, come on, Haddy." 9 turns to me. "We told you what happened, right?"

"You sold me out and left me to die in a warehouse surrounded by Police."

"I knew you would make it out!" She replies. "We all did, right?"

"Na sicher." 416's face looks almost proud in the rearview mirror.

"I figured it was ten to one. Good job beating the odds." UMP 45 snarks.

"45-nee," 9's expression droops. "I'm trying to smooth things over."

"He pulled a gun on me and hasn't apologized." She responds.

"I shoulda pulled the trigger." I grumble.

"But then, you wouldn't have this lovely company to travel with!" 9 says, plastering the ingratiating smile back on her face.

"God forbid." I put as much sarcasm into my tone as I can.

"Look, I explained it, right?" UMP 9 pleads.

Unwittingly, I think back to yesterday...

"Need a hand?" UMP 45's voice reaches my ears.

I struggle to grab my USP from my tac vest and I barely have it out of my holster and aim before 15 twists to block my line of sight.

"Hey!" I yell.

15 ignores me. "What are you doing here, 404?" She spits the name like a curse.

"We're on a job." UMP 45 grins. "Why else?"

"All dolls, stand down." Commander Gentiane's voice comes through the radio. "They're on our side."

"Yeah?" I yell into the mic unnecessarily. "Well, I thought they were as well until they set me up!"

"I'll explain later." Commander Gentiane's tone is harsh. "You're not a T-doll, so here are your orders. DO. NOT. SHOOT."

"...Roger." I bite out with gritted teeth, reholstering my firearm.

"Someone get Hadwin medical attention." Commander Gentiane sighs. "M4, I need you down here with me. Bring 404. RO, please handle the cleanup."

More responses come through the radio, but I rip the earbud out and let it dangle. I glare as 404 passes by.

UMP 45 walks past without acknowledgement, UMP 9 and G11 have either heads down, but 416 looks me in the eyes. "Commander."

"I'm not your Commander, you fucking traitor." I spit.

Her face falls for a second before becoming a stony mask and facing forwards, eyes locked somewhere in the distance.

15 turns to follow them into the building and I close my eyes to avoid having to look at them. By the time I open my eyes up again, I'm laid on the floor, several people I don't recognize around me with medical equipment I don't recognize. They're treating my leg and my shoulder.

"How bad is it?" I ask the people around my legs. My voice is probably a little hostile, but I don't particularly care at the moment. My vision's swimming a bit from the pain, so I can't make them out.

"It's shattered good." The man shakes his head. "We're gonna need a splint."

"How about my arm?" I sigh.

"Hadwin, it's a third degree burn. It's not going to heal nicely." A familiar voice tells me.

I blink. "Lucas?" I turn my head and indeed, it's my friend. "What are you doing here?"

"Dude, we showed up to watch the debates. It's open to the public!"

"What the- You were HERE?!" I try to sit up but both Lucas and 15 keep me pinned. "Why aren't you in the vault?"

"I was." He says placatingly. "When Commander Gentiane got the message that you were injured, she asked if there were doctors present. I stood up in case I could help."

"Well… that's fine, I guess." I try to calm down.

"Ah, you're… Hadwin, right?" An unfamiliar voice approaches from over my head.

I look up and see a portly man in his fifties walk over to me. "That's me." My view of him is upside down as I'm lying on my back. My eyes are still swimming, making his features indistinct.

"Are you the man that was in that warehouse that MP Panagos mentioned before the shooting started?"

"...Yes, I am." I grit out as the doctor moves my leg. Now that the adrenaline is wearing off, my body is flooding with pain. Both legs, but especially my right shoulder, there's cuts and scrapes all over… "Can you walk around? My neck hurts."

"Oh, of course, of course." He apologises, walking around the doctors to stand at my feet. "That was an impressive show, young man."

"Thanks." I respond. "Who are you?"

"My name is Adrastos Kokkinos." He nods. "Chief of Police for Sector 3."

All of the T-dolls around me tense up, and I reach for my pistol, but the man looks unperturbed. I also reached with my right arm, sending a spike of pain through my shoulder and arm, causing Lucas to grab my wrist and slam it back down to the floor.

No moving that arm. Got it.

"No need for that. I came here to congratulate you."

I continue to glare.

"You performed admirably and discovered that there was an uprising among my staff. I truly thank you for your efforts."

"Yeah…" I relax slightly, snarking "I shot a few of them too."

"I wouldn't blame you." He says. "Self defense, I'm sure. I know your father quite well, and I feel like he'd win any case involving his son. I wouldn't even think of trying to press charges in this climate." He chuckles to himself. "You and your, erm, robots-"

"They're T-dolls." I cut him off. "And they're not mine. They're their own."

He capitulates, raising his hands in surrender. "...Right. I misspoke. Your friends the T-dolls and you performed magnificently. I'm impressed with the way you took charge and led them into battle. Several times at that."

"How do you know that?" I ask suspiciously.

"Hadwin, I've been standing over there since you shot the ceiling to get everyone's attention." He points to where some of the men still sit, shell shocked or something. "I was one of those that 'can handle a gun for the second line of defense' as you put it."

"...Ah." I scratch my chin with my left arm. "Well… that explains that."

"Furthermore, there's a news crew here, a news chopper… I dare say everyone in Sector 3 saw your exploits."

"...Seriously?" A cold chill goes down my spine. "That's not good."

"Why not?" He grins. "I think you and your friends deserve their recognition."

"Because, that means my parents saw." I grimace. "Oh man, they saw the photos of me in the doll chop shop…"

My phone buzzes in my pocket. I awkwardly fish it out and stare at the screen. So many texts. As I watch, a new call comes in. Dad.

"I don't want to answer this." I mutter.

"Then don't." 15 shrugs.

"Bad idea…" Lucas trails off. "Cameras are pointed this way."

I sigh and accept the call. "Hello."

"...Hadwin." Dad's voice is subdued.

"That's me."

"Was that you on the TV?"

"Nope."

"Don't lie to me." His voice changes to have an edge of hostility. "Tell me, was that you?"

'...Yes. Probably." I sigh. "I don't know what you saw, I was busy."

"You were busy. I see. Busy." I can imagine him nodding ever so slightly, the way he does whenever he's trying not to explode at someone.

Usually me.

"So, Hadwin. How many offenses do you think you committed today?"

"More than ten?"

"More than fifty." He confirms. "I stopped counting. They're all on tape too."

"Yep."

"You could go to jail for a really, really long time."

"Yyyyep." I close my eyes. I'm too tired for this…

"Well… I can see you're okay… ish. Lucas is there, he can be trusted… We'll be arriving soon to come get you."

"Dad-"

"And also." He cuts me off, voice lowered to a whisper. "I'm proud of you, son."

He hangs up before I can respond.

I look at my phone. The notification flood from mom, dad and Lexi has stopped, so I guess they're in the same area. I'm getting a lot of messages from Rakim though. And a few other coworkers, and some more high school friends.

I turn off the screen after turning it to silent and jam it back in a pocket.

P90 leans over into my field of view. "Everything okay?"

"Peachy." I frown. "Everyone accounted for?"

"Yeah. Tokarev is back with S.A.T.'s core, everyone else is mostly intact." She grins. "I have a new hole in my arm. Souvenir of Operation Icy Hot?"

"Let's not call it that." I groan.

"Tooooo late." She sings out. "Anyway, I need to debrief to Commander Gentiane. 15, you're supposed to come with."

15 looks at Lucas. "Keep him safe."

He grins at her. "That's your job. I'll make sure he recovers though."

She gives him a cold look, but he's unfazed. Nevertheless, she leaves along with all of the rest of the T-dolls in the room.

"Anyway." The chief of police coughs to clear his throat. "I appreciate your service to Sector 3 and I wanted you to know that your good deeds will not go unrewarded."

"Yeah…" I sigh. "Thanks."

Another police officer walks up and I tense up again. "Hey Chief, we've got that list from Panagos' team." He ignores me entirely, handing the chief a datapad. "The Lieutenant checked it, we have those on the list under arrest."

"Good job." The chief replies, handing the device back after scrolling it once. "I'll look it over later." He turns back to me. "So-"

"Here we have Hadwin Galanis, the boy who went missing earlier this week and comes back as a fully fledged soldier." I look up once again to see more people have approached. Looks like a news reporter about my age, a man holding a large camera, and another with a microphone.

The reporter turns to me. "Hadwin, your performance today was breathtaking!"

"...Thanks." I wince as Lucas pours some alcohol on my shoulder burn.

"Do you mind if I ask you some questions?"

I look at Lucas and the other man treating my wounds, but they don't provide answers. "I guess."

She gives me an exasperated look, like she expects me to be excited for this, but the look disappears quickly. "How did you get mixed up with them, the robots?"

Alright, I already don't like her. "Paradeus blew up my workplace." I snark. "The T-Dolls are the ones that made sure everyone made it out."

"Okay then. Were you aware that they were robots when-"

"T. Dolls."

"Fine, were you aware they were 'T-dolls' when they recruited you?"

"Yes." I respond before recalling that I actually didn't. I signed on before the first assault by Paradeus and only learned they were mechanical once 416 was gutted.

"Why are you working with them now? You wear the same uniform as the leader of the PMC they work for."

"Because there was a plot to take over the city by a group that's willing to blow up a restaurant just to get to one person, they happened to already be going after said group, and had just saved my ass from said explosion." I glare at her. "And if you think that was a bad idea, Paradeus just tried to kill everyone here. The T-dolls are the ones that made sure you survived."

The reporter appears unimpressed. "Well-"

"I'd appreciate it if you'd leave my employees alone." Commander Gentiane strides into the room. "He hasn't been debriefed, and as you can see, he's in no shape to answer questions." She crouches next to me. "You don't have to respond to reporters." She admonishes softly.

"Sorry, Ma'am." Lucas scratches his cheek. "I gave him some stimulants, so he might not be thinking clearly."

I glance over and see there's a syringe lying on the floor beside me. Huh. Stimulants.

"Even more reason for him to not be talking to a reporter." Commander Gentaine affirms. "Please kindly point that camera somewhere else."

"Tch." The reporter clicks her tongue and moves onto her next target.

"Thanks." I mutter.

"Anytime. I hate reporters." Gantiane sits down next to me, knees tucked under her chin. "I want this to be overrrrr." She complains.

Lucas blinks at the woman seemingly taken aback by her sudden lack of commanding aura.

"You and me both." I pull my beret over my eyes with my good arm. "So, Lucas. What's my actual prognosis?"

"This burn's deep enough to see the bone, dude. It's gonna leave quite the scar."

"Chicks dig scars." The chief of police chimes in. Honestly I had forgotten he was there for a minute.

"Even the robotic ones?" I ask sarcastically.

"I bet Sop will want a picture." Gentiane confirms. "She might frame it."

The other doctor speaks up. "Your leg needs to have the bone set and put into a cast." He says. "I can't do that until the ambulance arrives, so don't try to move from this spot."

"Bleh." I let the beret cover my eyes again.

"Honestly, you're lucky you're even still alive." Gentiane comments. "You aren't ready for something of this scale."

"Probably." I sigh heavily. "We would've died to that second Uhlan, but…"

"Yes, 404 showed up."

"I don't know why." I grit my teeth. "Also, they betrayed us once, why aren't you trying to put them down?"

She shakes her head. "I'll let you talk to them, but know this; they're currently under contract for G&K, and even without that, they have a very good reason to stick with us. Siding with Paradeus, however temporarily, wasn't a decision they took lightly."

"...Whatever." I close my eyes again. "I wanna sleep."

"Well… we can let you rest until it's time to move you, I guess." Lucas thinks aloud.

Another of the police officers walks up. "Chief, there's some people outside the perimeter who are looking for this kid." He gestures to me.

"His parents?"

"Looks like it."

"Let them in." He turns to me. "Young man, you and I will talk further, I'm sure."

"Totally." I brace for an incoming lecture. No naps for me.

Half an hour later, I'm upright in a chair in one of the side conference rooms. It's a large room, large enough to house every G&K employee, several non-G&K employees, and my family.

Lexi had yet to say much to me, instead just staring my way in stunned silence since she saw me and my injuries.

Mom keeps trying to reach for me to hold me, but stops herself when she remembers my injury. She keeps praying thank yous quietly every few minutes. My left hand is currently held in hers, across the table as a compromise.

Dad's where the brunt of the questions and comments came from. Commander Gentiane fielded most of those for a while as my leg was put into a cast, and now I can walk around with the aid of crutches. My arm is bandaged up, Lucas had told me to keep it clean, and that I might need a skin graft. I need to get it checked out at a hospital and get more opinions.

Still, here I am, eating a small sandwich very carefully with my right hand, surrounded by T-dolls and family, and wishing I wasn't here.

I could be sleeping. Sleep sounds nice.

"Hadwin, are you listening?" Dad asks exasperatedly.

"Nope." I turn to look at him. "What?"

He sighs. "I asked if you're okay."

"Just like the last three times you asked, I'm tired, and in a lot of pain." I try to keep the sarcasm out of my voice. "At least I have some food in my stomach now. I missed breakfast."

"Yes, of course." He frowns. "Are you sure you want to stay with this PMC?" He gently brings up the topic at hand. "For all you know, this could become a regular thing."

"I can pretty much guarantee it is." RO635 is sitting next to me. "The life of a PMC isn't pleasant."

"See?" Dad agrees with the T-doll, but she isn't finished.

"However." RO continues. "I believe Hadwin is up for it. He's already proven that he's highly capable in combat."

"I don't want my son in combat." Mom speaks up, a tissue dabbing the tears from her eyes. "I want him safe."

"Hadwin, seriously." Dad pleads. "I only want what's best for you."

I look him in the eyes. Somehow it feels like he's smaller today. He looked so much larger at home a day ago. "There's other cities, other 'Sector 3's that need help. I'm sticking with the Dolls."

Sop, sitting on the seat beside me, grins. "Obviously."

Dad and I stare at each other for a minute.

"So, you think you're going to be safe?"

"Of course not, but I did have Paradeus already attempt to blow up our house once in the past week. I'll probably be safer wherever I have ten T-dolls backing me up than at home."

Sop looks proud, crossing her arms on putting her nose in the air. I didn't mean you, you crazy murder puppy.

Well, maybe a little.

"Hadwin, I don't want to do this, so don't make me take drastic measures." My dad threatens.

"Drastic measures? What drastic measures?"

"I'll have you dragged back home and placed under house arrest. If you won't look after yourself, I'll force you to."

This time I don't want or need 45 to defend me. "Which army?" I ask.

"Excuse me?"

"Which army are you going to use?" I maintain eye contact. "It's gonna need to be bigger than the one today."

Silence.

Last time he tried to drag me out of this, I had been intentionally downplaying things to assuage their worries. Now, there's not much to hide.

"Bro."

I turn to my sister, who's finally speaking up. "Hmm?"

"Aren't you scared?" She shivers. "I saw those creepy white things on the way in."

"They're not that bad." I shrug. "The tank was the real problem. I'm just glad they don't have a Doppelsöldner, those things are genuinely scary." I take another bite of sandwich. Talking around the bite, I continue. "They're probably scarier to you guys because you can't fight back." I swallow. "To me, it's just something in my way, I guess. The T-dolls and I can defeat them if we have to, so there's no real room for the fear to take hold."

Lexi falls silent.

"Um…" Sop taps her forefingers together. "Paradeus is full of really bad guys. I've fought them a bunch now, and they keep doing crazy things. We gotta keep stopping them so they don't take over any more cities."

RO chimes in reluctantly. "Hadwin's presence is very welcome." She affirms. "It's been less than a week and he's already pulled us out of more fires than I would like to count. Most of our Dolls like him as well, so it looks like we'll work well together."

"You're one of those 'dolls', aren't you?" Mom's voice sours. "You don't even have real feelings. I can't believe they let you roam the city unsupervised."

RO grimances.

"Hey, Tokarev." I call out, and the bloodstained doll walks over daintily. Mom visibly recoils from the sight.

"Da, Kommandir?"

"The core."

She silently hands me S.A.T.'s core. It's to my bad arm, but mom has my left hand. I quickly set it down on the table, the light pulsing slowly.

"What is this?" Dad asks.

"S.A.T.8. You know, the woman who was cooking with you for the last two days? Her. She got her head blown off." I state. "This is her personality core. She's basically in a coma right now."

They look at the cube.

I continue. "She was out there so that Paradeus didn't take over the city. A city that hates her, for all intents and purposes. Before today, you thought she was a lovely person, but now that you know she's a doll…" I shrug painfully. "Well, I guess we're allowed to disagree."

Dad keeps my gaze again. "I'm astonished."

"Hmm?"

"You're certainly growing up fast." He shakes his head. "I'll leave you to do as you wish. If you need legal representation-"

Mom rounds on him. "Dear!"

"He made his choice, V." Dad says.

"But…" She looks around the table for support and finds none. "Hadwin, are you sure?"

"Yes, mom. I'm sure."

Her face falls. I'm sure she thinks I'm making a stupid descision. "Well… don't leave the city without coming home at least once more? Promise me?"

"Yeah. I'll do my best to come back for at least a little bit."

"You do that." Dad says.

"Hey, bro." Lexi shifts uncomfortably. "I'm sorry for calling you lame and… other things."

"...When was this?"

"To my friends." She refuses to look up from the floor. "I didn't realize what was going on." Her eyes suddenly grow harsher and she glares at Sop. "I still don't trust these robot girls though."

"Well, I don't know what to tell you." I respond. "They seem pretty capable of keeping me alive."

"Nah, I mean that I think they're going to trick you… I suspected a baby trap initially but since they're not humans I don't know if that would work-"

"Lexi!" Mom looks at her youngest with horror. "What are you saying!"

"Hadwin's too trusting mom! One of them's gonna trick him!"

"Hey, let's go." Dad encourages them to head out. I stand up and give weird half hugs as they walk out of the roof to head back home.

"...When did my sister learn that stuff?" I wonder aloud.

"Too much daytime TV." Commander Gentiane wanders over. "My mother used to have old soaps on all the time. I learned quickly that they are called soaps because they scrub your brain clean of thought."

"Eh…" I turn to see Sop's face has turned a deep shade of crimson. "Miss Persica told me that there's an experiment part that should fit in most IOP dolls. I never really looked into it…"

RO looks at her teammate. "What are you talking about?"

Sop laughs, embarrassed. "Well, Lexi mentioned having kids, and Miss Persica-"

"No." I cut her off. "I don't care what you were about to say, just no."

"But-"

"No." I repeat.

"Okay." Her face slowly returns to normal.

RO grimaces again and tugs my sleeve. "You may want to start paying attention though."

"Why?" I eye her suspiciously.

"Well… an order for some 'interesting' parts went through recently and I just realized what they were."

Even Commander Gentiane looks weirded out. "Let's change the topic please?"

"Yes, let's." The air goes out of the room as UMP 45's voice comes in through the doorway, followed shortly by the doll herself and her team.

Sop bristles, her claw digging into the table hard enough to leave permanent gouges.

I clamp my mouth shut, looking away from them. Maybe if I ignore them they'll go away.

"Ah, 45. Good timing. I need you and Hadwin to clear things up."

There goes that idea.

"Oh?" her voice has an edge to it that it usually doesn't have. "And why is that?"

"I already hired you for the entirety of next week. We have a mission that I need you both on." She sighs. "I wouldn't have accepted the contract if I knew this was going to happen."

"Alright then." UMP 45 grabs a seat, and her twin follows suit nervously. G11 grabs one of the chairs and collapses into it. 416 stands to UMP 45's left, body rigid, staring straight ahead.

I glance at Gentiane, who gestures back towards 404. I guess I'm supposed to take the lead.

But where do I even start?

I understand, at least intellectually, that their actions aren't that crazy. They're a PMC of sorts, the same way we are. After all, "404 works for the highest bidder, huh?" I finish the thought out loud.

"Ja, and when a contract shows up with that much attached to it, we would be fools to refuse." UMP 45 says casually. "Is that really what you're going with?"

"...I understand why you did it." I growl. "I just don't like it."

"You don't have to." She shrugs. "It's part of the job."

"...45-nee-" 9 starts, only to be cut off.

"Halt den mund, 9."

"But-"

"Halt. Den. Mund."

Commander Gentiane sighs. "Is there a reason you're being so uncooperative, 45?"

She glances at Gentiane. "He tried to shoot me. Normally, he'd be dead in the ground by now for that alone."

"I hope I don't need to tell you what will happen if you shoot one of our employees?" Gentiane replies. "The only reason I was willing to bring you back on-"

"Ja, ja, I know." UMP 45 waves away Gentianes words. "I do find it amusing G&K demands loyalty to those not under contract though."

"We don't, but we do require not screwing us over if you want to be rehired."

"I seem to recall a contract being signed." UMP 45 responds calmly. "So I think I'm good."

I finish my sandwich off and grab my crutches.

"Where are you going?" Commander Gentiane asks with suspicion.

"Bathroom." I reply curtly, carefully getting to my one good leg and fitting the crutches under my arms.

"I'll be sending someone after you if you're not back in ten minutes." Commander Gentiane states.

"...Sure." I drag out the word.

"Now, RO, I need you to-" Commander Gentiane turns to RO, but I miss the rest of her orders as the door closes behind me.

I make it about ten meters down the hallway before the door opens and someone runs after me. I have to come to a full stop and turn carefully to see who it is.

"Oh. It's just you." I turn away from UMP 9 and continue heading towards the bathroom.

"Hey… I know you don't want to talk to us-"

"That's right, so go away."

"But!" She continues forcibly, walking behind me at my pace. "But, I need to tell you why we accepted the offer."

"Credits speak louder than words." I blow her off. Catch the hint…

"It wasn't the money. Well, it was mostly not the money." She runs ahead to stand in front of me.

I'm not really mobile at the moment, so I'm forced to stop.

"Look, when you were on your date with Anti-Rain, you had RO call us, right?"

"...Yeah." I set back on the crutch. Looks like I have to play along. "And?"

"Well, 45-nee and I started trying to find safe places for your parents, before Paradeus contacted us to hire us. They just wanted you out of the way and for us to step aside until noon. In return they'd send us triple our rate for that span of time."

"Uh huh."

"S-so, we negotiated and also got them to agree not to attack anyone in your family, and to only go after you. We set up the warehouse ambush, and then-"

"Look." I interrupt. "I don't really care. You guys just did what was best for you. I get that, but it's not going to magically make me like you more."

"But… it was the best option for you too!"

I glare at her, and she recoils a bit.

"Seriously." She starts playing with one of her twin tails. "They were planning on going after your family and blowing up your house. We figured out a way to save everybody!"

"Right." I lean on my good foot to shift the crutches, which are starting to hurt my armpits. "Can you get out of my way? I need to go to the bathroom, and I have-" I glance at a clock. "-seven minutes left."

"We even prepared a simulation for you! We made it so you would have some experience before they arrived!" She pleads. "We also lied about where your parents and sister were so even if Paradeus went back on the deal they wouldn't find them! We were trying to make sure everyone survived." She points behind me, back to the meeting room. "Do you think 416 would really go along with it otherwise?"

She has a point, though… I look her square in the eyes. They look normal, like human eyes, in the harsh lighting of this building. "Okay, but you didn't tell me any of this. You didn't tell anyone in Anti-Rain or Echelon 11 either. No notes, no hints. You even told me that you wouldn't throw me to the wolves a few hours before that, when I bought you all ice cream."

"...We were under surveillance." She turns to look away.

"Yeah..." I drawl, positioning the crutches and carefully moving around her. "The best infiltration and counter-intelligence warfare dolls… under surveillance. Somehow, I don't believe you."

"We… I-!"

"I don't want to hear it." I sigh, before pausing. "Well, I guess I should thank you for the assist…"

"Eh? What assist?" Her voice grows confused.

"When I was in the warehouse, you called in a sighting on the roof to throw off the cops, right?"

"...No. We left to head back into Sector 3 immediately." 9 sounds cautious. "Are you saying there was someone else out there?"

"Stop lying." I glare at her.

"W-why would I be lying to you?!" She asks incredulously. "More importantly, tell me what happened! Something's not right here!"

"Stop wasting my time, 9." I turn away from her and back down the hallway. "If you can't keep your story straight, don't bother me with it, m'kay?"

"Hadwin!"

"Just stop!" I repeat, this time yelling down the hallway. Some people at the other end look in my direction.

She doesn't follow me any further.

Due to the delay, I'm still washing my hands when Sop bursts into the bathroom, making sure I didn't run off. That required some explaining to the other freaked out people in the bathroom and I hurriedly rushed her out when she started looking a little too curiously at the row of urinals.

The rest of the dolls are walking around on the way back, talking amongst themselves and generally trying not to look suspicious whenever a human passes them with narrowed eyes.

I sit back down at my spot at the table, carefully setting my crutches aside and closing my eyes so I don't have to look across the table at the various members of 404.

"Sop, can you do me a favor?" Commander Gentiane asks.

"Uh, sure?" She blond tilts her head.

"Can you get M4 and help her gather everyone up?"

"Yeah… you really shouldn't have sent them all away if you were just going to call them all back." Sop gives me a look. "Um, good luck, Haddy."

She leaves, and silence descends on the room.

"Hadwin." Gentiane turns to me. "What would it take to get you to forgive them?"

I ponder this question for a moment. On most levels, I understand what they did. Despite how little I wanted to listen to UMP 9, her words had gotten into my head. Still… I'm angry. They betrayed my trust and lied to my face. That's what I'm angry about.

"I'd want them to apologise for lying to me." I shrug. "But I doubt anything I'd get from them would be sincere."

"I'd like him to apologise for attempting to draw a gun on me." UMP 45 states.

"You deserved it." I shoot back.

"And so did you, dummkopf. You'll get killed easily if you're that trusting." She sneers.

Commander Gentaine sighs. "This isn't getting us anywhere…"

Driving with my broken leg tucked away and my left foot on the brake and gas is hard, but not impossible. We tear past the broken helo I had watched the other two buggies avoid, mentally noting that it looks relatively new. World War three ended about fifteen years ago, but this is clearly newer than that, I'd guess less than a year.

Suddenly, UMP 45 leans forwards over the center console, cutting off 9's latest attempt to make peace. "Unknown signal from the helo." She states.

I ignore her. I can feel her gaze burning into the side of my face, but I don't particularly care.

"It could be someone in need of help." She continues.

I continue driving after the other two buggies.

"What, not going to be the hero?" Her voice turns hostile. "Breaking your frail bones makes you a wimp?"

"If you care so much, jump out." I snarl back. "I'm sure your superior body can handle it just fine. If I'm feeling generous, I may even send UMP 9 back with the buggy to pick you up after we reach base."

"No thanks, I'm fine with leaving a poor helpless person to their doom." UMP 45 shrugs. "Just wanted you to know how terrible a person you are. If only there was someone who would save them-"

I slam the brakes hard, throwing the T-dolls around. 416 crashes into the back of my seat, and G11 ends up on the buggy floor. Unfortunately, 45 keeps her balance.

"Get out." I order.

"No."

I stare at her for another few seconds before shrugging. "Fine." I put the buggy in park, drag the crutches out from beside the seat and carefully climb out of the buggy. "Fuck you all." I spit at them before slamming the door shut and hobbling away.

There's no way in hell I'd manage to get all the way to the new base on my leg. Instead, I'm heading back to the helo wreck. I stop for a second to turn my radio back on. "Hey, M4?"

"Yes, Commander?"

"After Sop's done screwing around, do me a favor and come back to the crashed helo to pick me up."

"Did your buggy break down?"

I watch as UMP 45 gets in the driver's seat of the buggy and shifts it into gear before I turn back to continue slowly treading towards the wreck. "Not exactly."

She doesn't respond for a minute. "Okay, I'll come get you ASAP. Stay near the wreck, I don't want to have to answer to Commander Gentiane if you go missing."

"Got it."

The steady thrum of the buggy's motor near idle gets closer as the tall vehicle rolls up beside me, easily keeping pace. I turn off the radio.

"Hadwin." UMP 45's tone is no longer the teasing derision she normally uses, but ice cold. "Get back in the buggy."

"Fuck off."

"You're acting like a child." She snarls.

"Does it look like I care?" I turn to face her and she hits the brake so she doesn't roll right past me. "I'm done dealing with your shit."

"You are INSUFFERABLE!" She rolls her eye and repeats her command. "Get back into the buggy, NOW."

"Or what? You'll ditch me here and tell Paradeus where to find me? Again?"

"Hadwin-" UMP 9 leans over so she can see me, only to be cut off.

"Shut up." I growl, even as UMP 45 snaps "Halt den mund."

UMP 9 sits back, sadness on her face.

"Well, I wasn't planning on hanging out with Paradeus, but if you're not in this buggy in ten seconds, I'm leaving." UMP 45 threatens.

I shrug, carefully not to drop the crutches, and turn back to the wreck.

"Eins. Zwei. Drei." She starts to count.

416 suddenly stands up, hand already on the roll cage to haul herself out of the vehicle.

"If you get out of the buggy," UMP 45 turns to her subordinate. "I'll turn you over to the next doll trafficker I find after removing your fire control core."

"You could try." 416 responds.

"Would you like to try me?" UMP 45 turns back and continues the count down. "Vier, fünf, sechs-"

416 looks caught between leaping over the rail and leaping down. She catches my eye as I turn around to look back.

"If she doesn't core you, I'll do it myself." I glare at her.

She sits back down.

I reach the wreck and sit down heavily on one of the fuel pods mounted to the side of the wreck, setting the crutches to the side.

It's kinda cold out here.

Oh well, I'll survive. I button my coat up properly and shrug off my backpack. I could do with a good nap, so I set the backpack up as the world's least comfortable pillow and carefully move my leg over and up onto the fuel pod with my hands. I tilt my beret down over my eyes to block out the midday sun.

45's count expires, but I can still hear the buggy's motor running.

I make a shooing gesture towards the vehicle.

"If you're going to be an idiot." 45 calls. "At least check out the signal!"

Before I can tell her to screw off again, the motor revs and the buggy takes off.

I almost close my eyes and go straight back to trying to sleep, but… as much as I hate UMP 45, she had a point. I don't know what the signal is, I shouldn't leave it alone.

I'm not going to do it until I'm sure they're out of sight, though. I'm feeling too petty at the moment to admit she had a point, even indirectly.

A few minutes pass and I glance in the direction the buggies went. There's still a dust cloud visible, but they have to be a few kilometers away. I don't think any of them could possibly be able to see me at this distance.

"Well, time to check it out." I mutter to myself. I grab the crutches, cursing that I can't wield a firearm properly while moving right now.

I walk around the helicopter, first looking into the cockpit from outside since the door right behind the cockpit is sealed shut. Not much going on there… there's a lot of dried blood on the pilot seats, but no corpses, thankfully. As I continue to thump around, I wonder what happened to this particular aircraft. The rotors are half destroyed, and it's plowed a visible furrow about ten meters in length, so it must have been going pretty fast when it hit. I consider trying to cross the furrow, but it's about half a meter deep and I decide it's too risky with my leg like this.

As I start moving around the furrow, I realize just how fresh it is. There's hardly any intact plant matter, and you'd think that the grass would have reclaimed it by now. Or, maybe not. It's winter currently. So, sometime in the last three, four months?

I turn and look into the rear of the helo. The rear ramp is lowered and I can see inside a little.

A single, bright yellow light shines out from the darkness.

I freeze in place. For the briefest of moments, I wonder if somehow UMP 45 is still here, but then dismiss that. Her eye is nowhere near as bright. In fact the only eye I can recall being that bright was AK-12's reddish pink ones.

After a few seconds, I realize that the light isn't moving. I let out a sigh of relief, and continue clumping around the divot. Glancing back at the helo every so often to see if I can see into it a little better, I eventually realize I'm not going to have much luck with that. The noon sun is high, and the back of the helo is in shadow.

Once I'm back to the side with the fuel pod, I decide to risk dropping into the channel. It'll be a pain to get out of, but I don't see a better way into the helo. I carefully sit down at the edge of the furrow and lower my crutches carefully so they don't topple over.

Slowly, ever so slowly, I slide down the slope to come to a rest in the shallow part of the divot, then pull myself to my feet with the aid of the crutches. Triumphant I turn to the helo and look up the ramp.

Hmm?

The light's disappeared.

Alarm bells go off in my head, but I ignore them and look for a way in. It's not like I can just head back out and leave.

Thankfully, the ramp is not that steep. It's tilted slightly, but I keep myself steady as I climb in.

It takes a moment for my eyes to adjust to the darkness. When I can finally see my surroundings I have to rub my eyes to make sure they're not playing tricks on me. I don't know what I expected to find, but I can safely say it wasn't a glass coffin.

It's not really a coffin, I discovered after a quick inspection. I pull out my flashlight and find it's more of a storage unit. There's words in some other language on the side, and the clear top makes it look more like a display.

The person- or rather more likely, doll- inside the container has a black and white color scheme, a long black ponytail and some absolutely ridiculous weapon lying alongside her. She's deathly still, and part of me is grateful for that.

I wonder if she's the one who was sending out the signal?

A clattering sound comes from behind me and I spin around, almost tripping over the casket as I lose my balance. I lose my grip on the flashlight and it clatters to the floor.

A lone bolt is rolling down the ramp.

I stare after the bolt, trying to figure out how it got there. I didn't kick it. I didn't hit anything.

Did someone throw it?

Maybe I was wrong, and UMP 45 is here.

"Very funny." I call out. "I know you're there."

"That WAS kind of obvious." An unknown voice comes from behind me.

I turn around, this time slowly, to find the owner of the yellow eye. From this close I realize it can't be 45. 45's shorter than me, and this one is not.

She grins, a hostile grin but not as malicious as 45's. "You seem lost, Little Griffin."

Once Commander Gentiane finally chased 404 out of the conference room, I managed to relax slightly. I can't deal with them right now. The rest of the dolls had been gathered up and they went to do something somewhere with the Commander. I think AK-12 and AN-94 came back with the other officers that were off-site when everything went down? I vaguely remember ordering them to do something like that before the assault on the Uhlan.

In any case, I take the brief moment of peace to turn on my cell phone and start reading through messages. There's a lot of them and more keep coming in.

I mark everything from my parents and Lexi as 'read' before moving on. Rakim's sent a bunch of stuff… I'll look at it later. Lots of stuff from numbers I don't know. Let's see...

"Hey, I'm a reporter for channel 4..."

"We'd like to get you in for an interview..."

"Join us in protecting Sector 3 as one of the elite!"

I delete all of these and more, noting that the last one was from the police. Ironic, kinda. The news agencies can stuff it, at least according to Gentiane.

There's also a lot of names that I haven't seen in a while. Mostly high school classmates.

Amusingly, one of those is from one of the bullies I tried to fight and got beat up by once. He wasn't really that bad in the end and we ended up doing schoolwork together the last year of school.

His message was "I just saw you on the news. That was crazy! Next time you're available, I want to have a sparring match!"

I decided to respond to him with a picture of my leg in a splint and the message "I'm still pretty lame if I don't have a gun and I doubt gun-fu is a valid martial art. Maybe once my leg is better."

I send it and continue scrolling through messages.

"Man… So many invitations to parties." I mutter to myself. "I haven't talked to most of them in years. I didn't even remember I had Eva as a contact."

"Fame makes you attractive."

I look up to see Commander Ricardo standing there with a big grin on his face.

"Oh, hey. I didn't see you earlier."

"That's because I was busy. There's always something to do, even in a peaceful place like this." He sits down opposite me. "Gentiane tells me you're staying on as a Field Agent?"

"Yeah." I laugh awkwardly. "I don't think trying to pretend none of this happened is gonna work, so I'll just go along with it."

His grin gets wider. "That's the spirit! We'll have you taking down Uhlans with your bare hands in no time at this rate."

"Uh… no thanks."

"In any case, welcome to Griffin! I'm sorry I didn't get much of a chance to talk to you earlier, but we were busy with that whole traitor thing."

I grimace. "Yeah."

"So, since you're new I figured I'd give you a small rundown on some things."

I glance at my phone once more. Ten new messages since I stopped paying attention to it. I turn off the screen and tuck it into my pocket. "I'd appreciate that."

"Alright. I'm Ricardo Tavares, a Commander for Griffin and Kryuger. My specialty is large scale battle strategies."

"Large scale?"

"Think battles like Thursday morning. While you were off with 404, I was making sure the rest of us survived that mess." His grin fades slightly. "Large scale stuff has been happening too often lately, if you ask me, but hey. At least I'm here to help, right?"

"Yeah." I match his grin. Ricardo seems easy to get along with. "I look forward to working with you."

He laughs, a loud laugh that fills the space. "Hopefully not too soon! You're injured and if you're being deployed while injured that means things are really bad. But yes, we'll be doing jobs together soon enough." He hesitates slightly. "If you'd like, once we're back to base I'll show you around. From what I understand, you haven't had much in the way of formal training…"

"That would be cool. Most of what I know about military stuff is from video games and that tends to be… wrong." I scratch the back of my head. "So yeah, definitely."

"Awesome!" He looks at the clock. "We're probably going to be here for a while, let me tell you about the rest of the people at G&K."

Ricardo goes on to describe a whole bunch of people, from his favorite T-doll mechanic named Vance all the way up to Berezovich Kryuger himself. While Ricardo goes into great detail about small things like little habits each person has, I realize that Ricardo is a people person. He talks about every person like they're a precious friend that he's been hanging with for a decade.

It's fascinating to listen to him and it's kind of a shame when SV-98 comes through the door looking for us. "Commander Ricardo, Field Agent, Commander Gentiane wants you to go see her."

I look at the clock. Whoa, it's already 1400, we've been talking for an hour.

"Well Hadwin, it's been a pleasure." Ricardo beams and offers a hand to shake.

"Likewise." I hold out my left hand and he chuckles as he switches hands.

Then, he turns to SV-98. "So, how's my little Esvie doing?"

She blushes. "I'm doing great! I was crucial in the defense today!"

"Yeah?" He scruffs her hair. "Tell me about it as we walk."

Unlike her calm, composed face she gives me most of the time, SV is acting like a young kid telling her father about her day. Excited, a little all over the place, but enthusiastic.

"So, we were facing an Uhlan, right?" She begins excitedly. "Of course, we don't have HOC backup right now, so Had- Field Agent Hadwin had to come up with a plan to destroy the shields. Sop's the one that immobilized it by blowing up the tracks and I was in charge of cutting through the electrical pole!" She finishes in a rush.

"Electrical pole?" He asks further.

"Yes, the electrical pole out front! It was about 100 meters out past the first line of defenses and we didn't have any saws or anything to knock over the pole, so Hadwin had me cut through the aluminium pole with tightly grouped fire. Since Hadwin, M4, AR-15 and RO were running decoy, I had to do it fast too, and I didn't even have backup from any handgun dolls since they were busy supporting the Anti-material rifles."

"Impressive." He smiles down at her. "Sounds like you're having a lot of fun in Echelon 11."

"Yeah!" Her smile dims slightly. "I do miss Echelon 2 a bit though."

"You'll get to see them all again soon enough." Ricardo assures her. "It's not like you won't be working together ever again."

"I know." Her smile returns full force. "Well, here we are!"

I glance at the non-descript door. "Er, what's this meeting about?"

"Well-"

The door opens and a pissed off Gentiane eyes us both. "What took you so long?"

I look down at my crutches and back to her. "A broken leg?"

She stops herself right as she is about to retort. "Ah, whatever. Come in."

I move inside the room carefully noticing that there's someone I know currently sitting on the floor next to several police officers. Everyone on the floor is in handcuffs and it looks like this is the processing line for the people who were working with Paradeus. I can even see Andre in the corner, legs heavily bandaged, but he's breathing.

I continue to stare at the first person I recognized as the commanders start talking to each other. What the hell is he doing here?

Commander Gentiane taps me on the shoulder. "Are you okay?"

I point to the sullen figure on the floor. "He's with Paradeus? Seriously?"

"Oh." She turns on her datapad. "Looks like he was just arrested trying to cross the police line and he was unruly when being arrested. We're just holding him here until we figure out if he's a threat or not." She turns the datapad back off and looks in my direction curiously. "Why?"

"Because he's one of my former coworkers." I deadpan. "I wondered why he stopped texting me an hour ago."

"That does line up with the time of the arrest." She agrees. "Here's a key, don't let any of the arrested police get their hands on it. Bring it back immediately."

"Roger." I accept the key and clump awkwardly over to the guy slumped over in cuffs. I clear my throat to get his attention. "Hey, Rakim."

Rakim looks up. "Hadwin!" He leaps to his feet. "Boy am I glad to see you!"

"I bet." I balance on one foot and one crutch extending my hand out to show him the key. "Come here so I can get you out of the cuffs."

He gratefully steps up and I insert the key into the cuffs, releasing them.

"Dude, I was watching you on the news. That was so cool! You charged out there to face the enemy, guns blazing! I wish I could've been there!"

I give him a look, but he continues. "I could have grabbed a gun, and charged in there with you!" He rubs his hands together. "I saw M4 and AR-15 were out there fighting too. Maybe if I was there I could've asked them on a date."

"Uh, dude." I lift one of the crutches in the air. "This wasn't a beach trip."

"Yeah, maybe I'd get hurt a bit, but then I could have some cute girls nurse me back to health!" He looks around and I'm thankful none of the T-dolls are in the room.

I was about to try to set his head on straight when I realize one of the police officers that had been arrested has gotten to his feet behind Rakim.

"Hey! What are you doi-" Commander Gentiane calls right as the man lowers his center of gravity and charges.

Rakim leaps out of the way, but I don't have the luxury of moving. Before he reaches me, I can see several people draw firearms.

Then he tackles me, shoulder lowered to slam into my chest. The wind is knocked out of me as I crash to the ground, followed a fraction of a second later by a splitting pain in my leg.

"Give me the key!" He howls, cuffed hands reaching for the key in my hands even as I breathlessly scream in pain.

I toss it sideways towards Gentiane and try to squirm out from under him.

His face contorts with rage as he sees Gentiane take the key. "You bitch!" He screams, and brings his fists up only to bring them down on my head.

I see stars in my vision and barely recover in time to see him raise his cuffed hands together again.

"Shoot him!" Someone yells.

"I can't! I might hit Hadwin!" Says another.

I reach up to grab his arms but he jerks his arms away and brings them down before I can correct myself.

I'm seeing more stars, but this time I reach into my jacket, grab my USP, and jam it into his stomach.

BANG. BANG BANG.

Three shots into his torso. His lifeless corpse falls down on top of me. I pant heavily trying to get my wind back with 100 kilos of person lying down on top of me.

Commander Gentiane and Ricardo run over and haul the corpse off of me.

I stare at the ceiling, just trying to get my breath back and wait until everything stops swimming around.

Vaguely, I can hear the T-dolls filing into the room, some of them yelling. 15 steps into my field of view and crouches down beside me. "Are you okay?"

"Owwwwwww."

"Don't move, I'll go grab that doctor from before. We need to check your leg and those cuts on your face."

Cuts?

I can see Rakim out of the corner of my eye, pale as a ghost and hyperventilating. He has some blood on him, presumably splatter from the gunshots.

"N-not a beach trip." I repeat.

He blinks at me owlishly.

Oh, whatever. I close my eyes. "Someone get me out of here, please? I wanna get off this ride."

"Hadwin? Where'd you get those cuts?" Dad asks as he opens the door. "And why do you smell like iron?"

I do my best not to roll my eyes. It turns out, having a dark maroon coat hides fresh blood pretty well, and the black undershirt also hides the stains. I guess that's why the dress code changed for Field Agents, easier to clean.

Doesn't hide the smell of blood though.

"A guy punched me with handcuffs on." I respond to his first question. "The cuff caught my cheek." I pause as 15 puts her shoulder under my armpit and helps me walk up the steps and into the house.

"And the Iron smell?"

"He didn't stop punching me easily." I narrow my eyes.

Dad's grimace tells me he understands, at least a little. "Go take a shower. Your mom's out buying groceries for dinner." He looks at 15 and the rest of the people behind us. "How many are here for dinner?"

"Let's see." I start counting. "Us four, 15, M4, RO, Sop, Tokarev, P90, Rakim, and Commander Gentiane."

"Ah, Rakim? The kid that worked with you at KXD?" He says, looking around me at the crowd in the stairwell as they shake off their shoes.

"Yeah. He's not doing too well at the moment, but he wanted to come with, so whatever." I shrug.

"Alright." Dad nods. "I'll get them settled down, your job is to get yourself clean so your mom and Lexi don't freak out when they get back."

"Okay." I clomp over to the stairs and sigh. This is gonna suck-

15 suddenly sweeps me up into another princess' carry. "You're going to have a hard time with the stairs." She says simply.

"Hey!" Sop runs over. "Let me help too!

"Sop, be careful!" RO calls. "Don't screw around on the stairs!"

"I know that much!" She complains.

The three of us go upstairs, me holding my crutches up and out of the way while 15 carries me up and Sop follows.

When we get to the top, 15 gently sets me down.

"Thanks." I turn to her and give her a small smile, which she returns.

"MY TURN!" Sop runs up, puts a shoulder in my stomach and lifts me up in a fireman's carry. From my position, I can see 15's surprised face as the excitable murder puppy scoops me and and starts walking to the bathroom.

"Man, Haddy you're light!" She says. "I expected you to weigh like 100 kilos!"

"I'm not that fat." I grumble. "I try to take care of myself a little."

"Nah, I just mean that most dolls your size are really heavy."

"I don't have a steel sub frame." I retort.

"Neither do we." 15 raises an eyebrow. "It's a titanium alloy."

"...I don't have that either." I say.

"Well, your leg is pretty screwed up." Sop says cheerfully. "Maybe we can replace it with a new one."

"No thanks, I like my leg." I say.

"Sop, he's not a T-doll." 15 sighs. "He's not gonna be able to use one of your prosthetics."

Sop turns and now I'm facing the bathroom door. I'm kinda glad nobody can see this. "Angelia has a robot leg and arm." She points out.

"Yeah, but those are designed to work with humans. You don't know how humans work, do you?"

"I-I'll ask M4!"

"I doubt she knows either. If you want to design new limbs for humans, you'll need to figure out how their cores work."

"...I don't have a core." I mutter. The blood is starting to rush to my head and Sop's shoulder isn't the most comfortable.

"Brain, whatever." 15 blows my words off. "In any case you need to learn how to interface humans to parts, right?"

"I guess." Sop sounds doubtful. "Maybe I can ask the medical staff at base."

"It'd be a start." 15 finishes as Sop turns back to open the bathroom door.

To her credit, she does set me down gently onto the toilet instead of just dumping me off her shoulder. However I quickly realize that she's not in any hurry to leave. In fact, 15's in here now and she closed the door behind her.

"Uh… What are you two doing?" I ask them cautiously.

"You're gonna have a hard time with your clothes and washing yourself, right?" Sop asks. "I'm here to help."

"Same." 15 nods.

I stare at the duo. "...No?"

"This isn't a debate." 15 says, gently prising at the bandages on my shoulder.

"Yeah. Commander Gentiane told us to give you a hand." Sop says, reaching down to pull the sock off my good foot.

"Why the hell-" I get out before 15 cuts me off.

"She said that until your leg gets better, this will be a lot faster." 15 elaborates. "But it won't be if you are going to complain."

"I…" I'm at a loss for words as the two dolls look at me to see what I say next. "Fine. Just… don't be weird about it."

"Why would I be weird about it?" Sop asks.

"Sop, remember Commander Jakoby?" 15 asks.

The gears in Sop's head turn. "What does Jakoby have to do with-" Her eyes go wide. "Are you saying Haddy's clothes are a trap?"

"...Think harder." 15 mutters and I notice that her face is starting to sport a blush.

Twenty awkward minutes later, I'm in a fresh set of clothes (including the accursed "My girlfriend's guns" shirt, which mom keeps rewashing and setting out), my shoulder is rebandaged. I managed to convince them to leave the room while I actually showered and got my underwear on and off, but they insisted on 'helping' with everything else.

I am grateful they bandaged my shoulder back up though, I wouldn't have been able to do that at all. By the time we're downstairs I can see Rakim chatting with M4 on the couch, RO sleeping on M4's other side, and Commander Gentiane and Lexi are talking.

Looks like the food is here.

I clump over to the kitchen to see P90 and Tokarev helping Mom and Dad prepare dinner.

Mom notices me and wipes her hands on a small dish towel. "Hadwin." She walks over to me. "You're doing okay?" I can tell she wants to hug me but is wary of my shoulder and leg.

"Yeah, Mom. I'm okay."

"Are you sure you still want to work for that PMC?" She asks. "I heard you got into another fight already."

"I'm not gonna quit, Mom." I shake my head.

"Stop trying to convince my subordinate to quit!" Gentiane calls from the other room. "I need him!"

"Hear that?" Dad nudges Mom. "She needs him."

I stare at my parents blankly. "Please don't be this way."

"Yeah." Sop speaks up from beside me. "She's in line behind the rest of us, anyway."

I turn to glare at Sop, but she's not paying attention as Dad turns away to hide his laughter and Mom's expression turns sour.

"Sop." RO comes from the living room, grabs the wayward doll's collar and drags her away. "No making things awkward on purpose."

"It wasn't on purpose!" I hear Sop complain.

"In any case!" I say at an unnecessary volume. "I'm not quitting. We're leaving tomorrow morning."

"So soon? I expected you to at least stay the weekend." Dad says calmly, having finished chuckling to himself in the corner.

"Reality waits for no one." Gentiane walks in from the other room. "We were supposed to be leaving right after the conference ended, but that got thrown out the window."

"Well, if you change your mind…" Mom shrugs. "Oh, dinner will be done in twenty minutes, you all are crowding the kitchen, go hang out in the living room until we call you."

I slowly turn around and clomp back to the living room. As I approach one of the couches, 15 swoops up and helps me sit down.

Honestly, that's going to get annoying really quickly.

I smile at her instead of letting my annoyance show, and as expected, she sits down beside me.

Rakim is still chatting with M4 on the other couch, and Lexi sits next to M4, indicating that Gentiane should sit on her other side. 4 people on a couch is kind of a squish and I watch Rakim's face freeze up when M4 is pushed into him a bit.

RO's taking up the rest of the space on my couch, so Sop just sits down right in front of me, gently moving my injured leg to be propped on her shoulder.

I look at the TV, which has been muted, but I can easily tell what's going on. I was there, after all.

I think someone mentioned it before, but there was a news helicopter in the air that day, and it caught the whole fight, and I mean the whole fight. It looks like they were recording the Paradeus troop movements when they all started heading for the area, and it followed all the way to the building the conference was at. There were certainly TVs lining the walls of the building the conference was held at, too bad none of them were showing this footage at the time. It would've been useful.

It's kinda surreal to watch myself charge out of the building, the T-dolls on my heels, and then everyone splits into two copies as P90 fires up her hologram projectors.

"Hey, how does that work?" Rakim asks, pointing to the TV.

"Holograms." I state.

"Cool." He returns his attention to the screen. He's a bit more subdued than normal, I suppose because of his experience earlier.

I follow suit, continuing to watch while the me on the screen is rescued by Anti-Rain and then we pull back. The scene then cuts to a few minutes later when we head out to destroy the Uhlan.

From the angle the news chopper has, I watch as P90 and Sop move up to the treads of the vehicle and place some grenades on the track, then sprint away to allow them to detonate.

The footage of me being carried by 15 is somewhat embarrassing, but there's not much I can do about it. I instead focus on watching the second Uhlan drive up, ramming the disabled one out of the way.

Just barely in frame, I see team 404, waiting.

"If the tank had shot a second earlier." I shake my head.

"By the way, what happened right there?" Rakim turns to me. "It looks like all of sudden everything went berserk."

I grab the remote and pause the broadcast. "See these four in the corner?"

"Well, they're kinda tiny…" He squints as if they would increase the resolution of the TV.

"One of them is a really good hacker. She finished them all off."

"Holy crap." He continues looking at 404 as the footage continues and they walk up to 15 and me. "Why does it look like you're trying to shoot her?"

Dad pokes his head into the living room.

"She and I had a disagreement." I grumble.

"You usually don't shoot people over disagreements…" Dad raises an eyebrow.

I turn to him. "Where were you last night?"

"At the Casino? You set us up-"

"UMP 45 set you up with whatever. I was told you were at the hotels. She used it as an excuse to lure me outside the walls and tell Paradeus where I was."

There's more to it, but I'm not up to explaining it. I can see his eyes twitch as he processes that bombshell, but before he can respond, Rakim cuts in.

"Are you serious?" Rakim looks at me with wide eyes. "It's just like a video game!"

I give him a look, forgetting he seems to be largely immune to those.

"They obviously betrayed you, but not really, so they could swoop in at the last second to be heroes!"

"They decided they liked the paycheck Paradeus offered." I retort. "They're not good people."

"You're going to have to work with them anyway." Gentiane pauses her conversation with my sister to look me in the eyes. "I'm serious, this next job is going to need your skills and theirs as well."

"Then, I guess we're going to have a problem." I shrug.

Her voice grows hard. "No, we aren't. We have only a few days. In the meantime, I want you to make up with them. As soon as the job's over, you never have to talk to them again if you don't want to, but we can't afford to not take this contract right now." She grimaces. "Kalina called me up and told me that with all of this unexpected fighting we've been doing, we're not doing too well this month."

"Eh." I bite my lip. Kalina? I think Ricardo might have mentioned her...

"So, to that end, I'm having you drive the buggy that they're going to be riding in. Hopefully some time working together will allow you to make up."

"Maybe." I doubt it, but I feel like questioning her further is a bad idea.

"In any case." Dad coughs. "Food's done."

As much as I'd like to say the rest of the night was peaceful, it wasn't.

Gentiane and my parents started drinking around 1900 and I think Tokarev also grabbed some of the booze as she decided to start dancing in and out of the living room, doing complicated twirls and skips right up until she slammed into a wall. After that she quietly sat in the corner staring into nowhere for a while.

Sop and Rakim started arm wrestling, with P90 flashing a scoreboard above their heads every round, which just gets more depressing as Rakim blatantly cheats and yet still loses, the number steadily climbing towards triple digits. I think he and Sop made a bet of some kind, but I'm not sure of the details.

M4 and RO had decided to go to sleep, which- given the state of the living room as the party zone- means they're currently in my room. M4 had taken one of the inflatable beds upstairs, so I expect that they're both on that.

Lexi and 15 are talking about something, but they both glare at me any time I'm near them, so I decided it wasn't worth it to disturb them.

By 2200, I had enough of staring at the TV, watching and rewatching the videos of the day's events and decided to go to bed myself. After a few days of getting sporadic rests in moving busses, police cars, going on missions in the middle of the night a few times, and generally doing a lot more in the way of exercise than I usually do in a month, I'm actually looking forward to a decent rest.

When I open the door quietly to try to avoid waking anyone only to have two sets of glowing eyes turn my way, I realize I had set my hopes too high.

I flick the lights on to find them both in their pajamas, RO's blobby grey appearance seeming to merge with the grey blanket I had provided them. M4's clothes are pink and purple, which doesn't suit her reserved personality at all, but whatever.

"What's up?" I ask, carefully sitting down on my bed and looking down at where they sit on the air bed.

They glance at each other. RO loses whatever debate they're having and turns back to me with a frown on her features. "I've been detecting some odd signals around since yesterday." RO starts slowly. "It's weird, since I don't think that they really belong here…"

"Has anyone told you about Sangvis?" M4 asks.

I shake my head. "I've heard Sop curse them a few times, and Commander Gentiane mentioned them to me once, but I have no idea who they are."

"G&K only hires IOP T-dolls. Up until three years ago, IOP was one of two major manufacturers, the other being Sangvis Ferri. Then, something happened. We don't really know what yet, but something at Sangvis went wrong, and the T-dolls and other robotics started murdering their owners."

I blink. Okay, deep seated fears of robot uprising are coming back.

"Since G&K only hired civilian class T-dolls and A-doll retrofits from IOP, we became the go-to PMC to deal with the threat, and we were local to ground zero." RO continues. "Commander Gentiane was tasked with containing the threat in sector 09-"

"Which is around the time I met Commander Gentiane." M4A1's voice is bitter.

"M4's special among T-dolls. Most of Anti-Rain is." RO puts a hand on M4's shoulder. "Unlike most T-dolls, they can't be backed up to a server. Miss Persica designed M4 to be more advanced than a regular doll in many ways as well."

What-

"She didn't teach me how to lead though." M4's face remains sour. "I… screwed up a lot."

"For whatever reason, the Russian military which is known as the KCCO are desperate to get their hands on M4, and Sangvis is as well. It's specifically more M4 for some reason, not any of the other dolls, no matter how similar."

"Paradeus too." M4 adds to RO's statement. "Those Nytos have the same face as me and I need to figure out why."

Silence drops for a moment as I try to unstick my brain.

RO taps my head. "Are you okay?"

"Y-you guys can't be backed up?!" I blurt out. "But- I took you out into combat. You… you could have died!"

"Uh, you're a human-" RO begins, but I don't really register her words.

"I thought you all were effectively immortal! There's no way I would've let you head out to combat if I knew you could die."

M4 raises an eyebrow. "'Let'?"

"Oh god, I had SOPMOD and 15 running around in front of the Uhlan, they could have been killed in a heartbeat."

"Hey." RO grabs my good shoulder with her hand. "Focus."

"Huh?"

"None of us are dead. We've been in combat plenty of times and everyone from Anti-Rain's still here. We're not that fragile, calm down."

"Right." I blink. "Okay. Not fragile."

"And... " RO hesitates. "I'm able to back up my memories. I was designed later, so I'm a little bit more normal. I'm the only one from Anti-Rain that can though." Her eye twitches. "Please don't use this as an excuse to send me into battle over the others, I hate getting revived from memories as much as anyone."

I feel a little less weight on my shoulders. "Okay." I try to remember the rest of the conversation, since I kinda focused hard on the one thing… "Uh, Who is Persica?"

Both dolls make a face. "The woman who created us. She's…" RO trails off.

"Eccentric." M4 scratches her face.

"That's putting it mildly." RO huffs. "I'd call her insane."

"She did design us."

"She also designed the fairies."

I interrupt the back and forth at that. "Fairies? She… made fairies?"

RO pinches the bridge of her nose. "Not like in stories. These are autonomous drones. The problem is… well, you know P7 right?"

"Uh-"

"They're P7 squared in annoyance."

"Then why would you use them?" I make a face.

M4 looks at the back window. "They're kinda useful. Some of them provide shields or fire support."

"You just have to overlook that they think they're smart, or clever, or… Yeah, I wish they didn't have personalities." RO sighs.

"There's a fairy chamber back on base where we keep them when not using them." M4 shudders. "I'm never going back in there."

"Why did Persica design them that way?" I tilt my head.

"Nobody knows." M4 shakes her head. "Most of us think she thought it was cute."

"She does like IDW a bit more than most people would expect." RO muses.

"I… okay, I think I'm good, I don't want to meet her." I shiver.

"Anyway, the reason we wanted to talk to you in the first place is because I've been sensing some Sangvis signals around the place." RO circles back around to her point. "I don't know what they're doing in the area, but it's usually bad news since they tend to go after M4…"

M4 goes quiet and stares off into the distance.

"In any case." RO continues. "You need to be careful. Sangvis is full of rogue AI and most of them hate humans. They've been growing bolder recently since they were cornered by G&K and the KCCO, before they betrayed us."

"..." I chew my lip. "Who is KCCO?"

"Russian military splinter, or what's left of it." M4 says, expression blank. "They're also after me."

"I have a personal grudge against Captain Yegor." RO growls. "Bastard shot me."

"So, we're fighting one of two manufacturers of combot dolls, the Russian military, and whatever the crap Paradeus is?"

"Yeah." M4 nods. "Pretty much sums it up."

I flop down on my bed and stare at the ceiling. "This entire situation is garbage."

"Yes it is." M4 turns to RO. "Should we tell him?"

"It's up to you."

M4 seems to hesitate. "So, Hadwin… I know you're feeling sore due to 404's betrayal, but it's not the first time it's happened. You see, there was another member of team Anti-Rain, M16A1."

I glance her way, barely able to see her face from where I'm lying down. "Oh, like the rifle I got assigned?"

"Yes." RO confirms. "Er, well, yours is an M16A4, so it's slightly different."

"She was like our big sister, the one who was cool and collected when something went wrong…" M4 looks wistful. "Next time I meet her, I need to ask her why she did it." M4 looks over at me. "She deliberately injected herself with Parapluie and never told me why, just that she thought it was necessary. I refuse to accept that answer."

"Sounds like she was important to you." I observe. "Where is she?"

"We don't know." M4's brow knits in frustration. "If I did, I'd have tried to retrieve her earlier."

"The thing is, we've been detecting Sangvis signals since we got here. M4 and I went patrolling the day we arrived to see if we could find out who the signal belonged to, but we couldn't find whoever it was." RO continues. "M4 and I hoped it was M16, but it's probably Agent. Agent's really good at stealth and also their second in command, we think."

"Still, we don't know what she's doing here." M4 rubs her forehead. "Maybe monitoring Paradeus' actions? I don't know why unless they're trying something related to…" She trails off.

"They could be after you." RO points out.

"Maybe." M4 frowns. "I don't feel like Sangvis is after me specifically right now though. If they are, they completely changed their rulebook."

"Hmm." RO mimics M4's frown.

"So, what do Sangvis T-dolls look like? Teenagers like you guys?"

"I guess they look to be about the same age range as IOP dolls, if you're talking about the ringleaders." RO muses. "They tend to have black and white color schemes."

"Last time I saw M16, she looked like she's changing her looks to fit in, kind of." M4 closes her eyes, giving me a general description.

"So, you want her back?" I ask after she finished describing her lost teammate.

I mostly want answers." M4 shrugs. "I might have to core her based on how she acted in Belgrade. We might have to strip her personality out of her and scan her."

"That's… scary." I shudder, imagining it happening to me before realizing it can't.

"In any case, we have an early day tomorrow." RO yawns theatrically. "You should get to sleep."

"Yeah, good idea." I blink. "Uh, but I'm not packed at all. I don't even own a suitcase or anything."

RO sighs. "I'll… figure something out."

I give her a small smile. "Thanks, RO. You're a massive help, and I appreciate all the work you put in."

She stares off into the distance, slack jawed, as I lay down and M4 turns off the lights. I'll have to ask her about it in the morning…

"Er, Hadwin? Are you on your way yet?" Commander Kylie asks over the radio.

"Nope." I sigh, and once again glance over at the crowd around the door leading back into the Sector. UMP 9, G11, and HK 416 are sitting in the buggy I'm supposed to be driving, keeping to themselves. My parents are talking with MP- er, Mayor Panagos and the Chief of Police. Boring adult stuff, I'm sure, though maybe I should be paying attention since I'm also technically an adult. Rakim is talking with Sop, who's sitting in the buggy she's driving with 15, M4, and RO. Echelon 11, still down an Italian, are also piled into their vehicles.

There's a bunch more people too, people I don't know or hardly know. More than a few video cameras pointed in my direction, though I had basically told every reporter to fuck off. There's even a crowd of people who were my classmates in highschool, but I'm not going to deal with them right now.

The reason we're still here?

UMP 45 had disappeared.

I continue talking to Commander Kylie, who's coordinating from the new temporary base somewhere in Serbia. "We're still waiting on… someone. Someone I'd rather leave without."

"Well, I'd advise you to get moving soon. You'll miss lunch AND dinner if you don't get a move on."

I laugh. "Yeah… yeah, I'll see what I can do."

"See that you do. Kylie out."

I turn back to the crowd, deciding to see what Sop and Rakim are talking about. I swing my crutches around and get about halfway over before I get interrupted.

"Hey, Hadwin."

I turn to see Lucas has detached himself from the group and walked up to me.

"Hey man, what's up?"

"I was thinking. You're going out into combat again, right?"

I nod. "I will. It's what I was hired for, after all."

"Well, you could probably use a doctor, right?" He licks his lips nervously, eyes darting around. "If you want, I-"

I cut him off with a wave of my hand. "Lucas, I appreciate it, but I don't have the authority to bring you on even if I wanted to. You'd have to ask Commander Gentiane, and she's gone." I give him an easy grin. "You can do plenty of good here in the meantime."

"I guess." He frowns. "Be safe out there."

"Hey, you know me." My grin spreads wider.

"I do, and that's why I'm worried." He grins back and I give him a fist bump. "See you around."

"Yeah, keep doing your thing." I respond, before grabbing the crutches and continuing on.

"-made of licorice." Rakim hears me approaching and turns around. "Oh hey!"

Sop looks up from the driver's seat. "Hey Haddy!"

"What are you two talking about?" I ask.

"Oh, Rakim was tellin me about these edible-"

"AH! T-that's not important!" Rakim quickly covers up Sop's words with frantic waving. "So, you're off to kill the bad guys?"

"...Something like that." I glance around. "Where did M4 and RO go? They were in here a second ago."

"M4 said something about hearing someone say something." Sop says unhelpfully. "They went to talk to that person." She points and I follow her outstretched claw to see the two T-dolls talking to a woman.

"Okay, I'll check it out."

"Hey, Hadwin?"

I glance back at Rakim.

"Kick ass."

I stare him right in the eye. "I already broke my leg once, thanks."

He laughs and turns back to Sop.

Wandering over to M4 and RO, they're still talking to a woman who looks like she's been crying. I stop a few feet away, but RO notices me and waves me in.

The woman grabs my hands as I get close to her. "Thank you!" She sobs.

"I… what?" I glance at M4.

"You remember Andre, that police officer? This is his wife." She informs me quietly over the radio.

The woman continues. "Thank you for sparing my husband. I know he's not the best person, but… I was so scared when your subordinate dragged him on camera, but you didn't shoot him. I know most people would have."

My eye twitches. I don't deserve that praise, I almost did shoot him, and personally I'm of the opinion that most people aren't the kind of person to shoot a helpless person, but I decide against bringing that hassle up and just agreeing with her.

"Yeah, well… he didn't deserve to die." I fish around for words. "Too many people died already, you know?"

"Yes, thank you." She says once again, before turning away.

M4 and RO move in close. RO gets the slightest smile on her face. "Looks like you're a hero."

"If I'm good enough to be called a hero, this planet is doomed." I mumble back, quietly so only the radio picks it up.

"Well…" RO looks out over the ruins outside the walls.

"In any case," I interrupt her train of thought. "I need you to mount up. I want Anti-Rain and Echelon 11 on the move ASAP. No reason to delay your departure any longer."

"Of course, Commander." M4 says, throwing a salute.

She had been doing that since the crowd showed up, and it's starting to get on my nerves. I suppose they're playing up the subordinate part of it, but it's really grating.

Instead, I head over to Echelon 11's buggy.

"Yo, P90!"

P90 pokes her head over. "Oui?"

"Once Anti-Rain heads out, you follow."

"Erm, sure. Tokarev is driving though, not me."

"I… okay, sure." We had agreed P90 was going to do it, but whatever. Not worth arguing about.

"Are we leaving UMP 45 behind?"

"I wish." I grumble. "No, I'm hanging back. You and the Anti-Rain team are going on ahead so you arrive at a reasonable time."

"Roger." She grins. "Hey, Sop! Let's make this a race!"

"Oh!" I turn down the radio even as Sop responds excitedly.

I head back over to my buggy and begin the process of climbing in. It's not easy due to how high the buggy is off the ground, and my leg-

A hand grips my forearm and hauls me in.

I trace the gloved hand back to its owner. "..."

416 stares into my eyes, silently. Her face is still stone cold.

I break the stare first. "...Thanks." I say quietly.

Out of the corner of my eye I can see her face light up like I just told her she won the lottery.

UMP 9 licks her lips nervously. "Hey, Haddy."

I'm in public. Be civil. "Yes, UMP 9?"

She hesitates once I use her full name and not her preferred designation, but plows on regardless. "I… I'm sorry I didn't tell you." She bites her lip. "I know you don't believe me, but I really did want to tell you, but Paradeus really was monitoring us-"

I cut her off. "Yeah." I sigh. "I get it." I glance away as I settle myself into the seat. "Look, I understand why you did it, I just wish you hadn't."

"I understand." UMP 9 rubs her hands together. "I-if you like, I'll make you a promise that next time something happens, I'll run your way no matter what."

"No offense, but your promises don't really mean anything to me at the moment." I respond. "Just do me a favor and keep out of my way, okay? We'll work together for this last mission and that'll be that."

"Oh." HK 416 mutters sadly. "I wanted to be by your side longer than that."

G11's small form pokes from between the driver and passenger seats. "You're really going to abandon us?" Her eyes water and she looks like she's about to cry.

Well, that look isn't fair. Like I just kicked a puppy.

"...Look, I don't particularly want to work with you at the moment. Maybe I'll change my mind, but definitely not if you keep bugging me about it." I sigh before muttering to myself. "God, I just want to get this over with."

I watch as the Echelon 11 buggy pulls even with Anti-Rain's, the two buggies revving loudly.

I turn my own buggy on and check that everything's in order. This is the third time I've done so, but…

"Son."

I glance down to see Dad.

"Good luck out there. Commander Gentiane gave me a secure phone to use. We'll call you daily."

"Yeah. Of course."

"Your Mom and I… well, we're not happy you're doing this, but we do recognize that you're able to make your own decisions."

I laugh quietly. "Yeah."

"You make me proud, you hear? And when you come back, our doors are always open. Come back whenever you want, we'll welcome you back with open arms." He hesitates, eyeing the other passengers in the buggy before leaning in. "I'll try to convince your mother that you can get married to a T-doll by the time you get back, so bring home a pretty one."

I sigh heavily. Dad has no way of knowing this, but he just transmitted his voice to every T-doll in the area. "Suuuurrreee, Dad." I look at the two buggies that had suspiciously stopped revving as multiple pairs of eyes look at me from the two vehicles.

"How sweet."

I glare as UMP 45 casually strolls up. "You're late."

"Oh, am I?" She smiles sweetly, a most disturbing expression. "I thought we were leaving at 0700."

"45-nee, it's 0719." UMP 9 quietly says.

"Must've lost track of time then. Maybe daylight savings." UMP 45 shrugs.

The two other buggies roar as they take off, finally setting off. I'll have to catch up to them later.

"Come on, we have to get going." 416 reaches over the side of the buggy to haul UMP 45 in. She accepts and climbs in, settling into the center seat, right in the center of my rearview mirror.

"Keep safe." Dad says, reaching up and squeezing my arm.

"You all as well." I respond.

The crowd presses in as I say my goodbyes to Dad, then Mom, Lexi, Rakim, and Lucas. I wave to the rest as I put the buggy into gear and prepare to leave.

"Call me!"

I glance to the side to see one of the girls from my class, Evangeline. She's waving and has a great big smile on her face.

...High school me would've been thrilled to have her look at me at all, smile or scowl. I smile inadvertently at the irony and I guess she thinks I was smiling back at her with the way her eyes start to sparkle.

"Why would he?!" HK 416 yells out, the loudest she's been in days. "He has us!"

"Wha-" Eva cries indignantly.

I laugh despite myself, and after checking nobody's in the way, I floor it.

One eye. Tall, long braid down hair back. The hair near her head is bleached white, but as it goes further down the braid it gets darker and darker as it fades to black. A lock is colored orange, the same way M4 has a green lock, RO has a white lock, Sop has red, and 15 has blue-ish purple. She also has a tinge of orange on the other side of her face at the tips of the hair around her jawline.

I look up at the Sangvis unit in front of me, and for the first time I feel completely helpless. "M16A1…" I mutter. She matches M4's description from last night perfectly.

"Oh? So you DO know who I am." Her grin grows wider. "This just got even more interesting."

She plants a hand with an iron grip on my shoulder, thankfully the undamaged one, and taps the rifle I have attached to my backpack with the barrel of her own, the metal pinging slightly as the weapons make contact. "Nice gun you got there."

"Yeah…" I look at the weapon she holds in her own hand, which looks very similar to mine but not quite the same. "It's a nice gun."

An awkwards silence follows.

"Well… normally this is where I'd kill you, but I think I might have a use for someone from Griffin right now." She steps past me and down the ramp. "My ride's going to be here in five minutes. Your options are to come with me or die here and now." She grins again. "I'd ask you not to run or else I'd break your shins, but it seems you've already got that halfway done for me."

"You're welcome." I sneer.

"In any case, for however short it might be," M16 turns to face me head on. "I welcome you to Sangvis Ferri. I hope you survive your stay."

Author Notes:
I'll be posting a short omake Soon™ so look out for that.

Beta Reader Notes:
On a completely side note: Johnny and I here did a bit of "doodling" and "shitposting" while he was making these chapters and me suffering through his grammar mistakes, we ended with a "few" dirty jokes and alternate timelines in the series since I came in to beta read (around the production of Chapter 5 I believe) to the point we 'could' make an "Omake" series, depending on Johnny boi here.