Day break.

Monday, 0738.

I stare down the length of my M16A4, which has a shiny new scope that has four-times zoom. M16A1 had generously loaned it to me for the duration of this mission. Through the scope, I observe a KCCO military base.

This base is carved out of the forest in a circle, leaving a clearly defined border. Semi-permanent tents are arrayed all over in orderly rows and columns, forming streets and alleys that are packed down, as this camp has been here at least a few weeks. There's regular patrols of regular human foot soldiers and also armored units that are clearly not people. Some of the soldiers have some fairly interesting weaponry as well, like what appears to be bows. Not sure how that would work in a modern military, but maybe those are laser swords like Gager's weapon.

Speaking of the Sangvis dolls, they're all behind me, polishing their nails and complaining that we're not in combat yet. Thankfully, M16 was a voice of reason and told them to shut up and wait while the two of us observed the base.

"Three Hydras." M16 points them out to me. "We do not want to fight those."

"I don't want to fight any of them, but especially not those." I shift my scope up and down the four-legged weapons platform. "Looks like we might not have a choice though."

"Yeah, they're surrounding the equipment hangar." M16 rubs her chin. "We're gonna need a distraction."

I jerk my thumb over my shoulder without looking. "I volunteer Architect."

M16 sighs. "I would too, but she'd get overwhelmed by herself." She glances my way. "Please?"

"No."

"I gave you your weapons back."

"Give me my radio back and maybe I will."

"I can't do that, I told you why. I'll give it to you by the end of the mission."

"Right, but if I have no idea what everyone's doing, I'm not going to be that valuable."

I continue to look through the eyepiece of my rifle as M16 sizes me up. If I distract myself, I can avoid reacting to her expression. Oh look, more soldiers-

"Fine. I'll let you use the radio, but I'll be watching you."

"It's not like it'll reach anyone associated with Griffin." I grumble. "You said so yourself."

"Of course." She nods. "But I don't want you tipping off the KCCO either."

"...I'm pretty sure they want me dead just as much as you."

"Oh, I know that."

I finally look away from my scope to meet her eye. We stare at each other for a few seconds before she raises her eyebrow. "What?"

"Frequency?"

"Oh, yes. Freq is 142.86."

I take the device from her hands and tune it properly, shoving the earbud into my ear and attaching the mic to my throat. Seconds later, Beak's voice comes through the radio.

"Why are we even letting the human mess with our plans? We're much better strategists than he is."

"M16's a human sympathizer." Architect says. "Of course she'd listen to a human."

"Shut up, both of you." Gager states coldly. "M16's a good strategist. The human can't do any harm."

M16 glances at me. "Not gonna interject?"

"I don't see why I should." I shrug.

The radio crackles again. "Maybe I should just push him into the path of a Typhon." Architect sighs. "He's not really bringing the explosions."

"I don't see any Typhons around though?"

"Whatever. Push him into the path of something heavy."

"What did you expect? He's just a human. How did you think he would attract explosions?" Beak asks.

"I dunno, but he better start or I'll make sure he doesn't survive the next one he's near."

M16 reports over the radio. "Architect, you're on distraction duty."

"What! You're not my-"

"Architect. Do what she says." Gager's cold voice commands.

"...Fine."

"You and Grif are going to initiate phase one by yourselves." M16 continues. "Also, no killing him. He's pretty valuable to us right now."

"Eh, but maybe if I just graze him with an explosion-"

"I'm not gonna be able to survive that either." I finally break into the conversation.

"...Oh, you're listening in?" Architect seems kinda subdued all of a sudden.

"For a while, yeah." I turn to M16. "Permission to put her front and center?"

"Granted." M16 grins.

"Oh." Architect sounds defeated.

Beak snorts. "That's what you get for being a bitch."

M16 sighs. "Beak, you just volunteered yourself to join them."

"What? But, I don't have my motorbike!"

"Then you better improvise."

"...No fair."

"Anyway." M16 grins at me. "If they give you trouble, they'll have to answer to me. Until we're out of this AO, they're yours to use."

"I… think I got it." I frown. "AO?"

"Area of Operation." M16 nods. "So, until we leave this physical location, they answer to you."

"...Okay." So, basically… I have two T-doll brainlets to command. Wonderful. "Well, let me get into position."

"Good luck."

"Same."

I scoot backwards through the underbrush that was concealing me from the eyes of the KCCO. M16 and Gager wanted to start this at dawn, but three idiots ruined their plan, so now we have to improvise a little. I think I qualify as an idiot for our little night raid.

Alright.

Just gotta throw myself in front of the KCCO, wearing bright neon and shouting at the top of my lungs. Figuratively, of course. I have no neon on me.

...Fuck.

"Architect, Beak, follow me." I address the two of them.

"Fiiiine." Architect groans. However, they both start following me.

I glance at Beak. "Do you have any weapons?"

She glares back. "Of course I do." She grabs a pistol out of a holster on her hip.

"...Well, better than nothing."

I ignore her continued glare and focus on moving through the forest as quietly as possible. We have to move around the edge of the clearing to make our distraction. Thankfully, for once I"m not trying to do the planning all on my own. M16's input was… weird, but largely helpful.

Still, there's so much that they didn't tell me about. If they hadn't kidnapped me and basically forced me into this situation, I'd be demanding all sorts of answers about what's going on with this operation. As it is, I only know that M16 and Gager need to get into the middle of the camp largely unmolested.

I have no idea what they are looking for. All I know is that 'The KCCO won't be able to avoid chasing us after we get our hands on it' according to M16. Keep in mind, I'm not thrilled about being chased by the entire KCCO contingent in this area, but it's not like I have much choice.

So, I only have to distract as many of the KCCO units in the area as I can, for as long as I can, so the other two can grab whatever and get out, at which point, we'll have to escape the incoming hordes of KCCO.

I have an idea on how to do that, but…

I turn to Beak. "You can ride any motorbike, right?"

"Of course." She sneers. "I'd much rather have my own bike though."

I stare at her for a few seconds before turning back to face forwards, trying not to react to her overly hostile attitude. "Okay, well, when I was scouting with M16, I saw that they have a few stripped down bikes. I want you to grab two of them."

"...Two? Why would I get two?"

I ignore Beak and turn to Architect. "How many shots do you have in your cannon thing?"

"More than enough to pulp you."

Man, I'd take IOP dolls over Sangvis dolls any day. Even the crazy ones will listen if you ask them things. These two are hostile for the sake of being hostile.

"Okay, then I'll leave all of the Hydras to you. Beak, just get two bikes as fast as you can. If you do it fast, I'll even let you have whichever one is in better condition."

"...All of them?" Architect murmurs. "I mean, I can but-"

"Where do you get off ordering me around?" Beak's voice raises, but thankfully remains on the audio channel rather than expressing her displeasure aloud. "I could rip your arms out of their sockets." She stalks up to me and, to my annoyance, she's slightly taller than me and is using that to look down at me. "Don't talk down to me."

"Oh?" I refuse to break the stare, but I inevitably blink first as she doesn't need to blink. "Do it then."

"Huh?" Her lips curl back into a snarl.

"Rip my arms out." I swing my arms out wide, hitting Architect on accident, who squawks in a way I might find amusing under another circumstance. "I mean, last time you two idiots went to the front lines you ended up with one less motorcycle, and ended up being rescued by your superiors. If you wanna go head to head with all of them with plans like that, you're more than welcome."

"What makes you so super confident?" Beak sneers. "You've been useless up until now, why would that change?"

"I don't know." I shrug. "Maybe, I can walk now, and use a gun, and fight like I've been doing this last week, but none of that matters, right? So just go charge off into the camp blindly and see how far that gets you."

Beak finally stops staring at me and backs off. "Whatever."

I turn to Architect-

She's covering her chest and blushing, the only color on her otherwise colorless frame. It takes me a few seconds under her increasingly hostile glare to realize what had happened.

"Don't. Touch. Me." She grinds out.

"Sure." I shrug and continue trudging around the clearing. We're almost at our launch point, in any case. It looks like the dumb Sangvis units aren't gonna listen to anything I say either, so this is going to suck.

M16's voice comes over the radio. "Everything okay?"

"Yeah, totally. I can see why you betrayed G&K for these idiots."

"Careful." The radio is silent for a moment. "You're pretty angry today."

"I've had a really bad week, I'm on very little sleep, and I still feel like my skin is burning from the chemical cocktail Anisim dumped into my veins." I snap. "Your pet idiots giving me a hard time right next to a combat arena is just the icing on the cake."

"Well, good luck. I'm in position by the way. You ready?"

I glance at the two dolls glaring at my back. "Do Sangvis dolls have a backup server?"

"Yeah… unfortunately." M16's exasperated voice floats into my ears.

"Dammit." I take a deep break. "Alright, we'll kick this hornet's nest in five. Good luck."

"You too, Grif."

I turn back to the two behind me. I open my mouth to order them to follow me, but… what's the point? "You two… just do whatever." I sigh.

"Eh?" Beak and Architect look confused, but I decide to ignore them.

I check my rifle one last time and then get down on my stomach to start crawling through the brush towards the edge of the camp.

"Uh, what're you doing?" Architect asks over the radio.

"Preparing to attack." I answer, my attention focused forwards. "Can you shut up? I'm trying to focus."

"What about us?" Architect persists. "Aren't I supposed to be killing the Hydras, or something?"

"I dunno. I figure since you're all oh so clever, you probably have some great plans and I'd only get in the way, so I'll do my thing and you do yours."

Silence for a few seconds, then I hear brush rustling as the other two catch up, also on their stomachs.

"Changed your mind?" I say quietly, not turning to look.

"M16 told me that she won't authorize a new bike if I don't help." Beak says haughtily. "So I'll do my part."

"Gager told me to and I'm not allowed to say no." Architect shrugs. "So let's get this over with."

I bite back from a scathing retort. They're cooperating, if only for a moment, don't ruin it. I point at the passing patrol. "Next time one of those goes past, we're heading to the first tent. Don't shoot anyone unless you're spotted first."

"Okay." Beak says, readying her pistol.

"I thought I was gonna get to blow some stuff up." Architect grumbles. "But now we're doing Scarecrow's work for her."

"If Scarecrow was here, we wouldn't be doing this in the first place." Beak complains as well.

"You'll get a chance too. Just wait." I state again, glad they have enough self control to not complain out loud, restricting it to radio only.

"When?" Architect huffs after a minute of tense silence. The next patrol is just passing by...

"Now." I leap to my feet, running forwards towards the nearest tent, picked by M16 and I as the best target to start this operation. I yank the flap aside with one hand, the other jabbing the pistol into the gap. I quickly scan my eyes across the tent and find it empty.

That's a relief.

A second later, Architect and Beak burst in. Architect immediately turns around to peek out of the flap.

"Were you spotted?" I ask her.

"No… I don't think so." She backs away from the flap. "Uhg, I wanna blow stuff-"

"Yeah." I cut her off. "So stop bitching and turn around."

"What do you mean-" She turns around to see what I'm talking about.

And then she starts smiling.

Beak and I leave the tent with the still giggling Architect working inside.

"So, where to next?" Beak asks as I move to hide behind some crates set aside for later.

She, much to my annoyance, stands upright to the side with her arms crossed, not exactly hiding. Her gray colors don't match very well with the environment, so she almost shines like a beacon. Her bright red eyes don't help either.

"Next we need to grab an escape route." I say, carefully peering around the boxes. Thankfully, It seems most of the KCCO units are distracted by... something.

"Escape route…" She frowns. "If I had my motorcycle- OH!"

I carefully point over the motor pool area to confirm her suspicions. "I need you to grab two of them, unless you want to have five people on one bike."

"Then, shouldn't I be getting three?"

I look back at her. For once, her expression isn't of pure contempt but of genuine confusion. "Why only two?"

"Uh… well, I don't know if anyone beside you and I can ride a motorcycle, and I figure it's going to take too long to grab three."

"Huh." She blinks. "I see."

"So yeah, two bikes."

"It's kinda hard to ride with a passenger though. How much experience have you had with motorcycles?"

"...Not enough." I admit. "You might do better teaching M16 to ride."

"I already know how." M16's voice cuts in over the radio. "I'll ride one of them."

"Sounds good." I forgot she and Gager are on the same frequency. "So, we just need to grab two of those and then we can kick off Architect's thing."

"Hmm. Maybe you're not so bad after all." Beak eyes me from the side. "Though, I don't understand how you knew that tent was full of-"

I point to a sign in front of the tent across the way, labeling it as the food tent. "The KCCO is a military force, they label stuff."

"...Oh."

"This is why M16 and I were scouting. If you know what you're getting into, you'd have less problems." I sigh.

"But, scouting is so boring." Beak continues. "I'd rather not do it if I don't have to."

"I mean, don't you always have to?" I ask rhetorically. "If you don't scout, you don't know if you need to or not."

"I should just get my subordinates to do it from now on." Beak decides. "Yeah, just send in a bunch of prowlers or whatever."

"Well…" I hesitate. On one hand, I'd like to survive today, but on the other, Beak is technically an enemy. "Yeah, that's good enough. I guess."

"So, where are we going, exactly?" She asks after a few moments of consideration.

"You'd know if you helped scout."

"Fine, scouting is super important, whatever. Just tell me."

"We're headed to the motor pool, near the west edge of the camp."

"Yeah, but where is that?"

I give her a look. "Six tents that way."

"Okay, then let's go."

I have to grab the back of her top to stop her from walking out straight down the road. "Hold it."

"What now?" She plants her hands on her hips.

"We have to sneak there. Be stealthy."

Her eye twitches. "What is with all of these stupid rules?"

"Well, if you can make it there through the enemy, then be my guest, but I feel like stealing a few motorcycles is gonna be easier if there's not an entire camp descending on us."

"Ugh. This is so tedious."

I shrug, releasing my hold on her top. "Well, good luck out there then."

"No, I'll sneak around like Scarecrow or whatever." She sighs heavily. "This whole plan is starting to get on my nerves." She continues to grumble even as she steps back behind me and into cover. Finally.

Fortunately, it looks like the KCCO is otherwise occupied today. M16 and I had noticed it while scouting. M16 had suggested that maybe they were busy looking into the disturbance we had created this morning. Indeed, the place looks underprotected.

I want to say that I managed to get Beak and I to the motorcycle tent undetected through great skill, but I basically checked each corner before blindly rounding it, only once having to go back and hide behind a crate to hide from a patrol.

It was so easy that once we got to the motor pool tent, I had Beak wait for a moment so I could check for an ambush. There weren't any ambushes, but I wanted to check, because this felt suspiciously easy.

Inside the motor pool, there's ten motorcycles, all identical with KCCO markings on the side. Beak predictably heads straight over to examine them, where I take some time to look around at the tools and stuff lying around. Much of it looks like Dad's garage, but on a larger scale. Oil cans, rolling tool boxes, the pervasive smell of grease and burnt fuel.

One thing that I hadn't considered was that the KCCO might have quads in addition to motorbikes. Sure, the bikes are great if you need to get a person to a place quickly using little fuel, but quads are only slightly slower and can easily carry two people and gear.

I kinda would rather take a quad.

Beak looks up from her inspection. "They're not in that great of a condition, but I think we should take this one and this one." She points to two of the bikes. "So let's grab them and kick off the plan."

"Ah, I was considering trading out for a quad." I jerk my thumb. "Harder for me to screw up, since I'm not good at driving a motorbike yet."

She curls her lip. "I guess." She looks at the quads. "The one second from the right looks like they just finished working on it. Choose one of the other ones."

I raise an eyebrow. "Shouldn't I go for one that's been recently serviced?"

She shakes her head. "That means it hasn't been tested yet. If we could guarantee the competence of the mechanics, maybe, but from what I saw on the bikes, it looks like there's at least one that is super lazy. Get one not in the back for service, but has some mud on it."

"Alright, thanks."

"Hmm?" Her face crumples in confusion as I head for the next nearest quad. "Wait, why are you trusting in what I said?"

I swing my leg over the seat of the quad and sit down. Hey, keys are already in the ignition. "What do you mean?"

"I could be making that stuff up." She says. "Maybe you should take the just repaired one."

I shrug. "Hey, it's not me you have to answer to, it's M16. I figure you're not going to try to screw your boss over for fun by grabbing her a bad vehicle to ride out on, since these are our escape route."

"I see." She looks at her own hand for a second. "Well… yeah, that quad should be fine." She affirms. "I thought… well, it doesn't matter."

I know I shouldn't pry, but the words are out of my lips before I realize I said anything. "What's up?"

"Well-" She hesitates. "I was giving you a hard time and I figured you were gonna return the favor."

"You're the expert on bikes here. I know how to sew and recently became the world's worst tactician to have survived dropping a building on his own head." I stare her right in the eyes. "I'm not qualified to question you on motorbikes and quads. Your tactics, on the other hand…"

"Hmph." She turns away, but she doesn't seem particularly hostile. Maybe she'll listen to me next time?

...I can dream, can't I?

I start the engine, which roars to life. It doesn't exactly sound healthy, but it doesn't immediately spew black smoke or explode. It'll do. Good.

I look over to see Beak smiling slightly to herself as she turns on her bike. It similarly roars to life, and she looks back to me.

M16's voice comes in over the radio. "You girls ready yet?"

Beak's eyes roll and she answers over her internal radio. "Hold on a sec, we're almost ready."

"Good. We're starting to get antsy over here." M16 jokes. "Any longer and I'd have to break out the whi-"

"Uh." Architect's voice cuts in over the radio, before just as abruptly ending her transmission.

"...What?" M16's voice sounds resigned.

The blood in my veins cools down.

"I started… um, I don't think I can stop it anymore." Architect continues.

"Architect." Gager's voice is low. "What did you do?"

"I accidentally primed all of the plastic explosives in here to go off in 45 seconds. I meant to put in 450, but I accidentally pressed enter."

Beak and I look at each other.

I touch my mic to turn it on. "So what you're saying is we don't have the time to hide the-"

Architect appears in front of the tent, clearly having run here. "Twenty seconds!"

Beak twists the grip on her bike and it roars, beak pausing only to let Architect hop on the back awkwardly.

I move my quad forward, following the pair out and immediately jetting away from the tent full of explosives.

As we pass, a few KCCO troops look up, startled to see vehicles racing through the camp. One or two even have the presence of mind to draw firearms, but no shots are fired before the bombs go off.

Architect had been left alone with an entire storage tent filled with explosives and was told to set them all off on a timer that gives us enough time to get away.

She failed at the timer bit, but the explosion bit…

Well.

First, there was a crack, then a much larger THUMP in rapid succession, making the two noises hard to differentiate. However, there were two stages, and I felt both of them rock my frame. Simultaneously, someone turned off the sun as a fireball illuminates everything from the side, drowning out the early morning light.

The explosion rips outwards, tossing debris into the air. We're far enough out in the brief amount of time we had that we're not being shredded like the inner tents, but now there's large chunks of furniture, metal, wood and tent cloth raining down on our heads, sent flying hundreds of meters by what had to be evey explosive in that tent going off at once.

I have to hand it to Architect though. When she blows things up, she really blows them up.

Beak and Architect swerve off down a different path and I'm left to dodge around the falling debris and yelling soldiers.

The soldiers are largely ignoring us due to the aforementioned explosion, but they're still dodging about, trying not to get crushed, so I have to weave around them too.

A cinder block crashes onto the front fender, tearing off the fender violently and almost getting caught on the tire and spinning me out. Thankfully, it doesn't stick fully and I maintain control of the quad.

Right up until I see two figures running at me. M16 and Gager.

I try to brake hard, but the wheels lock up and I start skidding uncontrollably towards the two.

M16 seems to realize first what had happened and bolts to the side, Gager following a split second later.

When the quad is sideways, the tires suddenly regain traction and it tosses me free, the quad losing the fight against rolling in a grand fashion.

I hit the hard, worn dirt path with my hands first, lessening the impact, and sending me into a tumble not unlike the quad.

I come to a rest face upwards, the blue sky marred with a trail of smoke.

After a second to realize what the hell just happened, I raise my shredded hands in front of my eyes, the skin on the heels of my palms mostly gone. That's gonna suck when the adrenaline wears off.

M16 pops into view, skidding to a halt beside me. "You alright, Grif?"

"Owwww."

"Good enough." She reaches a hand out and I take it. She effortlessly hauls me to my feet one handed and I take a second to look around me.

The soldiers are largely ignoring us, most of them streaming towards the site of the explosion to see what had happened. Disorganized. Looks like nobody's taken command of them yet.

"So much for a smash and grab, eh?" M16 comments dryly.

"Owwwwwwwww."

She grabs my shoulder and forces me into a narrow alley between two of the tents. "Okay, you have thirty seconds to wrap up your hands so you don't completely lose them. Just wrap some cloth around them for now, I'll help you dress them properly later."

"Yeah… Okay." I unsling my backpack and pull out one of my T-shirts, a black one, tugging at it to try to rip it apart.

M16 rolls her eyes and whips out a knife, slicing it a bit, the starting cut allowing me to rip the rest of it easily. I sloppily wrap the two halves around my hands, then take a deep breath as I sling the pack onto my back and unsling my rifle once again. "R-ready."

M16 smiles. "Spunky. I like that." She turns and I follow her out of the alley, weapon at the ready.

Gager has flipped the quad back over and is currently attempting to kickstart it. The engine turns over and starts as we approach and Gager looks at the two of us.

"...Humans aren't supposed to bleed from their heads, are they?"

"Eh?"

M16 looks at me. "Your forehead is bleeding."

I touch my forehead, but then again my fingers were red with blood before, so I can't really tell…

"I hope I didn't hit my head hard." I mutter. "Brain trauma would suck right about now."

M16 grabs my shoulder and turns me around. I can see some of the KCCO soldiers peeking from around barriers of different kinds. Behind them and rapidly coming closer…

"Aegis units." M16 grits out. "Armored, but not particularly strong." She turns to Gager. "Go grab the-"

"Of course." Gager activates her laser crossbow sword thing, steps into a sprinters' launch stance, and blazes forwards with a speed that barely registers in my brain, her weapon a blur of light cleaving right through any KCCO unit close enough to be in striking range.

It's unbelievably impressive, but a part of me is unable to forget that she's technically an enemy…

In any case, I don't have much time to dwell on it. More of the Aegis units step up, wielding what look like stun batons, and the humans in the back start drawing laser weapons like the ones Paradeus uses.

"Any last words?" M16 asks, her face grim.

"Let's go with, 'Why me?'"

"Fair enough. I'd go with, 'die you commie bastards!' personally."

She raises her rifle and starts firing, and I mimic her actions.

I feel like I hardly have to aim with how saturated the field of fire is. I still do, I don't want to hit any of my 'allies'. Picking a target seems largely useless though, so I set my fire selector to three-round-burst and start picking targets at random.

The bullets impact the Aegis units, glancing off the armor plating, occasionally landing a decent hit on a unit, which then proceeds to fall over.

M16 is dumping bullets full auto and already has a second magazine in her hands before the first is empty.

Despite our best efforts, the KCCO units continue to encroach on our position and M16 and I keep stepping back to maintain distance.

I chew through an entire magazine before the first of the Aegis get close enough to fire, the first blasts rip past my head scorching the air even as the units with stun batons press the attack.

I reload once, firing and walking backwards carefully, then I have to reload a second time, and a third.

When I get down to my fourth and final magazine, M16 clicks her tongue. She pulls out a grenade, glances at me, and yells "HEAD DOWN!"

I cover my head as well as I can without releasing my rifle and a few seconds later an ear-piercing ring blasts out, accompanying a bright flash of light.

By the time I look back up, M16 is already on the quad and revving it.

I hop on before looking over my shoulder at the KCCO units that have frozen in place temporarily.

"What did you do?" I ask.

"Stun grenade. One designed with chaff to block some sensors as well, which is why they froze."

"Well that's use-WHOA!"

M16 takes off, the front two tires on the quad leaving the ground briefly as she twists the throttle.

As she tears away from the incoming force, she turns back to me in her seat. "Get ready to fire!"

"At what?"

We whip around a corner at speed and I can feel the wheels slipping out from under us.

"The control node!" M16 shouts over the wind. "We need to slow them down!"

"What we NEED," I begin sarcastically, "is for Architect to not be an idiot!"

"I second that, but not the time!"

We whip around another corner just in time to see some human soldiers throw themselves out of the way of a motorcycle heading in the opposite direction, carrying two familiar gray faces.

Beak certainly looks like she's having fun.

We rip past in opposite directions and I watch as Architect's homemade rocket launcher goes off, sending a blast into a random tent.

Well, it's a distraction from us, at least.

M16 lifts one of her hands from the slightly bent handlebars and points at a specific tent. "The command center!"

I pinch my legs together to steady myself on the quad and regrip my M16A4 tightly. "Okay, but-"

I quickly realize M16 isn't planning on stopping in front of the tent and brace as she drives straight in.

Inside, KCCO soldiers arrayed around a central table look up at us in horror as we burst in, one of them with particularly quick reflexes drawing a pistol even as we pull to a quick stop.

I don't even have time to think about it.

Find target.

Aim.

Fire.

Repeat.

Five dead before I realize what had happened. By my hand.

I wanna throw up.

M16 climbs off the quad and steps up to the table, unconcerned with the distress in my stomach. She starts tapping on the surface, sending commands, and the yelling outside starts mixing with confusion.

I regain my composure without losing my breakfast and walk up to M16 after a few seconds. "What are you doing?"

"Telling the KCCO T-dolls to attack indiscriminately. They'll attack their own allies this way, at least until a unit with more authority orders them to stand down." She gestures to the corpses at my feet, dying my fraying sneakers red with blood. "This was the top brass here, so we have control for the moment."

"Oh."

She continues to poke at the screen as I watch, until a transmission comes in over the radio.

"M16, reinforce me." Gager's cold tone comes through our headsets. "I'm at the core, but the Hydras are approaching and I need time to extract it."

"I can't command those from here either." M16 glances at me. "Alright, I'll be there soon. Grif, I need you to clear a path from us-" she points at a spot on the table that indicates this area. "-and here." She traces a path to another tent.

"Okay, so, steer units away." I nod. "Leave it to me."

"Right." She grabs her rifle and begins to head out, pausing before she throws a leg over the quad. "You only have half a magazine left, right?"

"Uh…" I blink. "Yeah."

She tosses me a spare mag. "Use it well."

"Yeah." I swap out the half filled one with the new mag. More bullets on tap are better. "Good luck."

"You too, Grif."

She roars out of the tent again and suddenly I'm alone.

I mean, I still have stuff to do. I move back to the screen and start steering the enemy units out of the way of M16, which takes… all of ten seconds.

So… what now?

I'm not out of danger, but without immediate peril, my adrenaline starts to wear off and the pain starts to seep into my consciousness, my hands starting to feel the burn of being skinned. I look around the map-table-display thing for a distraction, something, anything to do to distract me from the pain.

I find it at the corner of the screen.

A strange blip shows up in the same spot, flickering for a few seconds, and then going away.

I scan the rest of the table, there's no other instances of this and there's no legend telling me what it could be. It's a red target dot like M16, Gager, Architect and Beak…

So, it's an enemy signal, and it's doing weird things.

I look around the board once more. No threats to any of the Sangvis units, aside from the Hydras chasing M16… I can't do anything about that though.

So, I focus on the weird dot.

I quickly realize it's a repeating pattern. First, there's a second with it off. Then a short pulse, a small space, four short pulses in rapid succession… after it sends a few more short spaces and groups of pulses, the longer pause comes again and it repeats.

I watch it repeat a few times. It doesn't look like morse code, not that I know how to interpret morse code, but it's a signal of some kind. If I group the pulses separated by the small gaps, I get one-four-one-six-three.

Five digits. Seeing as it repeats, it's not like it's a coincidence, or a glitch of the computer, right?

Maybe it's code for something.

I'm still staring at it a second later when the tent flap opens and a soldier bursts in.

He's shouting something in a language I don't speak, trailing off as he spots the corpse and my broken self. He looks from the dead people to me and back several times in disbelief.

I raise my rifle and fire, even as he finally comes to his senses and raises his own gun.

I manage to hit him in a few places, stitching up his body before he can properly aim his weapon, and he goes down with a wail.

I close my eyes. Don't think about it. Just… suppress. Deal with it later. That's healthy, I'm sure.

In any case-

"Grif, you there?" M16 asks over the radio.

"Y-yeah." I respond to M16's inquiry. "Someone just barged in."

"I see. Well-" Something explodes outside the tent, echoed very slightly by the radio delay. "-can you get some of the Aegis units distracting at least one of these Hydras? Turn's out, three is kinda hard to deal with."

"We're on our way!" Beak's voice is strained, and I can see that her and Architect's two blips are heading for the main Sangvis attack front.

Alright.

I send a squad of the Aegis units to intercept one of the three Hydras, I notice the flashing is still going, but slower now. Same pulse sequence, but slower.

One-four-one-six-three…

I look down at my radio. It uses five- well, six digits, but I left the last one as a zero each time I punched in a code.

"Uh, I sent some stuff your way, but it looks like I'm gonna be busy for a second-" I inform M16, before grabbing the radio in fingers shaking from pain and dial 141.63.

Once it's typed in, I wait for a second.

The radio doesn't send any sound to the earpiece. I key the throat mic and clear my throat. "H-Hello?"

"Oh, look who finally figured it out." A cold, calm voice comes in over the earpiece.

For a second, I can't believe my ears. "45?"

"I told you, we're not friends. Don't call me that." UMP 45's voice comes over the radio.

"Right. Right." I start laughing uncontrollably.

"I think you broke him." 9 says.

"Comm-Commander." 416 seems to hesitate over the title, but her voice becomes firm. "We're here to get you."

In the corner of my mind, I realize that something's very wrong, but I can't stop laughing and shaking. My body seems to be breaking down significantly in multiple ways.

It'd be interesting if I wasn't so terrified.

"Sorry to stop your mental breakdown," UMP 45 says in a bored tone. "But some soldiers are stacking up outside the tent. Might want to deal with that."

My brain snaps back into focus, and I grip my M16A4, crouching behind the command table.

"Commander, there's a-"

Laser gunfire rips through the tent, sending sparks flying from the table as it is fried. My radio squelches painfully as the electromagnetic interference blasts around me. I rip the earpiece out on instinct and then pop out of cover to return fire.

Two Soldiers using plasma laser type weapons like Sangvis and an autonomous unit I haven't seen before, wielding a shotgun. This one looks like a human skin would fit over it, roughly, it's laid out like a human, but has a blocky head, and one camera lens where the mouth would be on a human.

In any case, I fire a burst at each target, tagging only one of the humans and then crashing back to the floor as the shotgun roars overhead.

I pop back up and manage to tag the other soldier, who was heading over to check on his buddy, then duck back down before the T-doll can blast me.

You know, I think this specific T-doll, no human features aside from the vague form, is basically what I've been raised to fear my whole life in Sector 3.

But, in the end, that doesn't matter.

I just have to kill it.

I make sure it's still on burst fire and pop back up, pulling the trigger again and again to empty the magazine into the enemy.

The bullets slam into the T-doll, sending it reeling.

For a second, I think I killed it, but then it's arms adjust its aim and I duck behind my cover. It's not going to be cover for long either, as it's rapidly turning into swiss cheese from the buckshot.

I swap to my other, half full magazine, and chamber the first round. Instead of popping up, I move around the side, peeking around from a low angle, aiming for the 'head'.

I empty the entire magazine and when I run out…

It's still standing.

However, I hit its lens, and it isn't tracking me, but holding in place.

And then I remember something important.

T-doll cores are stored in the chest. On this unit, it's armored.

I sling my M16A4 and draw my pistol, carefully walking up to the maybe-disabled android.

It's still moving, but slowly, and it's not tracking me. Okay. I step right up to it, plant my pistol where I expect the core to be, and pull the trigger.

The android collapses to the ground and I breathe a sigh of relief.

Okay… okay. I need to get my radio back. I grab the earpiece dangling, swaying with my heavy breathing. I grab the cord, reeling it in before tucking the mic to my throat and putting the earpiece in.

"Hello?" I call out.

No response.

Chills down my spine. For a second, I'm in a dark warehouse outside of Sector 3-

"Hey, anyone hear me?"

No response, once again.

"Hey." I turn to see M16 standing in the entranceway to the tent, breathing heavily. Her breath comes out as steam in the brisk morning air. "Answer your fucking radio."

She looks distinctly angry.

I look down at the unit. It's on the wrong frequency… and that means I didn't hear M16's messages.

"The radio isn't working." I say, which is true. Maybe. "And I was attacked by…" I gesture to the corpses on the floor.

"Yes, I see that. Oh, just FYI, there's a Hydra headed this way. We need to move.

"...Wha-"

The tent is ripped off as a two story tall quadruped robot swipes one of its legs through the side of the tent exposing M16 and I to the open air.

She immediately tackles me to the side, just in time to avoid a blast from it's underslung cannon.

"WE'RE MOVING!" M16 yells, grabbing the back of my shirt and throwing me onto the back of the quad, on the equipment rack. She hops on behind Gager, who is currently driving. I hold on for dear life as the quad takes off, the three Hydras still marching towards us as we flee from the scene, dodging blast from its cannons all the while.

Three Hydras, all perfectly intact. Maybe the paint is a little scorched.

"I never, NEVER want to fight one of those." I mutter.

It turns out that if you screw up your hands by scraping them along the ground, wrap t-shirts around them, then use them in a firefight, AND THEN hold on for half an hour to a vehicle that's constantly trying to shake you off, it's not the best thing for them.

We managed to get back safely, apparently victorious if a little damaged or hurt.

I'm, ironically, the worst off due to my spill on the quad. The others had managed to dance around the explosions and gunfire and made it back unharmed for the most part. So, back at the Sangvis' temporary base, I'm sitting by the fire barrel with my hands feeling like they're inside the barrel, but freshly wrapped in clean bandages.

M16 had remained true to her word and helped me wrap up my hands. She did it in a way that doesn't impede my fingers, so now, despite the pain I'm finishing up the patches. After all, I don't have anything better to do, and it distracts me slightly.

It's dark outside now, lunch and dinner having passed us by while I sit here, sewing. On one hand, the sewing is cathartic, but on the other…

404 was there. They talked to me.

I can't believe I was so happy to talk to some people that tried to have me killed, no matter how brief.

Well, they found me once, so they can probably find me again, right?

...I do want them to find me, right?

I'm still having those thoughts when M16 steps back into the entrance room with three more bottles of Jack. Don't know where she got the massive supply, but she really enjoys it.

One thing I did notice though, is that she's been watching me, very, very intensely.

She did warn me about the radio. And… I did what she told me not to do, explicitly. Changed the frequency to another channel.

I don't know if the radio is actually screwed or if 404 just stopped talking on it before M16 showed up.

So much I don't know and can't check.

"How are your hands?" M16 asks for the thousandth time.

"Painful, but I'll live." I grunt, the same answer she got last time, and the time before that and-

"I see." She sits down beside me and looks at the finished pile of patches, picking up one. "Operation Icy Hot." She quotes.

"Yeah… We took down an Uhlan. It wasn't fun." I say. "But I promised patches to… eh, someone."

She gives me a look but sets the patch down. "What's bothering you?"

"Hmm?" Oh, crap. Oh crap oh crap ohcrap-

"You've looked preoccupied all afternoon." M16 opens one of her bottles and takes a swig. "Just wanted to make sure you're not gonna suddenly explode since someone activated your self-destruct trigger."

"...I don't think I have a self-destruct trigger." I respond slowly, searching for an excuse. "Do T-dolls have them?"

"Nah. Not most of us, anyway." She places one of her arms on my shoulder in a friendly manner. "Just a little joke."

"Oh, I see." I look back to the two last patches and inspiration strikes.. "Well… I'm making a patch for everyone who participated in the 'operation' but I don't know all of the dolls so well so I have to improvise a special design." I hold up a few of the other patches and point out the differences. "See, each of them has a name and a small change to the design to suit the doll. SOPMOD has a small explosion behind the tube, 15's is a truck hood, SV-98's is an electrical pole…"

"Right." She looks at the last two patches I'm working on. "AN-94 and AK-12." She blinks. "Huh."

"Yeah, I barely know them, but they helped a bunch." I smile wanly at my patches. "They'll probably just throw them out anyway, but I want them to be nice."

"Well… I don't really have much interaction with them…" M16 begins slowly. "Most of it was at gunpoint, but I do know AK-12 is ruthlessly efficient, and AN-94 seems to treat her like a mentor, or something."

"Huh." I gently scratch my face. "I have talked to AK-12 a few times… she's pretty intimidating."

"That's the nature of the more advanced T-dolls." She leans in conspiratorially. "I hear she's not a fully legal T-doll, but is functionally a military doll like the Cyclops you took out earlier."

"That's crazy, but I could believe it." I respond. "Maybe I could just stick in a smoke grenade for each."

"That would work." M16 nods. "Say… wanna have a drink?"

I grimace. "I already tried some of that."

"I know, but it's customary to drink after a successful mission." She wheedles, offering the bottle to me.

"Well…" I take the bottle, and reluctantly splash a little of the liquid fire into my mouth, coughing as it hits my throat. "It does not get less hot. Owww."

"Ha. Well, to a successful night and day." M16 cheers halfheartedly. "Tomorrow's a new day."

"What's the plan for tomorrow?" I ask.

"We'll leave that conversation for later. In the meantime, I had a few things I wanted to ask you."

"...Alright." I lean against the backrest. "Hit me."

"Nah, you're already injured enough for now." She licks the whiskey off her lips. "I wanted to know what you think of T-dolls."

I frown. "You mean, as people?"

"Hah, no, but that does kind of answer my question. I wanted to know where you stand on Tactical dolls, as a general concept."

"..." I take some time to think through an actual answer. "Well, I don't like that they're forced into combat, at least the IOP ones with personalities. Seems kinda cruel. Sangvis T-dolls are odd, but at least kinda human. The KCCO ones are just dumb androids as far as I am aware…"

She gives me an amused grin. "I did say 'generally'."

"Oh. Right. Well… I think I support A-dolls more than T-dolls."

She raises an eyebrow, taking another swig of her beloved Jack.

I hold up my hands defensively. "I just mean that, if everyone could have a peaceful life, it'd be better than having to fight. If we could turn every T-doll into an A-doll then I think I'd like that." I smirk at myself in a self deprecating way. "Of course, I think I know a few T-dolls that would have an issue with that."

"That's for sure, and what about the people that would die because they can't send a T-doll to die in their place?"

I open my mouth to respond, before closing it again, to think a little longer. "I don't think you should send anyone to die in your place. If you know it's a lethal situation, you shouldn't kill someone else to save yourself."

"Quite the high horse you got there." M16 leans back and takes another swig before offering me the bottle again.

I take it and splash some more into my mouth before handing it back. I managed not to cough this time either. "I… don't think it's realistic, I just don't want my friends to die." I say, before realizing what I said.

Friends.

Not T-dolls, not robots, but friends.

I wonder if any of them would consider me a friend? Given UMP 9's words, they might all have an attraction to me… or something, I need to clear that up, but how about being friends?

"Whatever, I'm just rambling." I sigh and pick one of the two unfinished patches up. AN-94's. Let's go with a smoke bomb. I dig into my sewing box and grab some nice silver thread.

"You're unusually sympathetic to T-dolls." M16 comments, eyes fully watching me. "From what I understand, Sector 3 doesn't even allow dolls into the city under normal circumstances."

"Well, I thought M4 and 15 were just teenagers at first. I didn't actually realize everyone was a doll until the next morning when Paradeus attacked."

"I remember you were saying that yesterday." M16 nods. "And yet… you didn't leave."

I shrug. "I mean, they act like people, so they should be treated that way, right?"

"Maybe." She takes a longer draw on her bottle. "I know a few dolls that wish they were emotionless like the KCCO units. Disposable, fit to fight and nothing else."

"Yeah?"

"Yeah. Sop's one of them, for the record." M16 drinks some more. "She wanted to know why she was allowed to feel pain and cry when that wasn't helping her on the battlefield."

"You did mention that." I sew another few x's into the fabric and decide to switch to a different color thread. "And how do you feel about it?"

"Hey, I'm the one asking questions here." She stares off into the distance, before answering anyway. "I'm glad I can feel. Especially now that I can compare myself to the Sangvis units, I can see how much different I could be, but I don't think I'd be… me without the emotions. Which might seem blatantly obvious, but it wasn't something I thought about for a while."

She passes the bottle back and I take another swig. Alright, maybe this isn't so bad. "So-"

"I'm baaaack." Architect enters, drenched from the rains that had started about three hours ago. She trudges up to the fire, trying to dry herself off and getting very close to the fire.

"You finished?" M16 asks.

Architect shoots a sopping wet glare M16's way. "Of course I did." she wrings the water out of her long ponytail and sags into a nearby chair, pulling it closer to the fire. "Next time, check the weather first or do it yourself."

"I did check the forecast first and I figured it was suitable punishment for your fuck up with the bomb."

After waving aside the criticism, Architect's eyes light up. "That was a magnificent explosion!" She gushes. "There were so many versions of plastic explosives, gasoline, gunpowder, and other flammables that mixing it together was fun in itself, but that detonation-" She shudders and I notice her cheeks are pink not just from proximity to the fire. "I felt it in my core."

"I think everyone inside of a few dozen kilometers did too." M16 sips her drink.

Architect turns to me, reaching for my hand, hesitating, and then gently grabbing my left hand with both of her wet hands. "I'm sorry for saying you don't attract explosions. Now I realize I was just impatient. I will dedicate my life to-OW!"

Gager had walked up behind Architect and gave her a whack to the head. "You will not dedicate your life to anything aside from Sangvis."

"Yes, Moooooom." Architect drawls. She cheers back up immediately and continues along a different vein. "That was an awesome mission!"

Beak walks in, finally having the entire group together. "It was boring."

"Getting chased around by Hydras was boring?" Architect asks.

"I wanted to drive my bike more." Beak crosses her arms. "We need to get back to HQ so I can get myself a new one."

"Soon." M16 says, her eye sliding back to meet mine.

Beak sits on the other side of M16 and Gager sits next to Architect.

"Hey, what was this entire thing about anyway?" Beak asks eventually. "I know you two were looking for something, but not what."

I give her a look. "You don't know?"

"Nope." Architect responded to my question instead. "Gager told me it was because 'I'd leak it to the enemy' or something. We're done with the operation, so tell us."

Gager looks at her charge for a few long moments. "You have forgotten that this human is from Griffin and Kryuger."

Despite the fire, a chill drops around the area.

"He is not a friend. He is an enemy we have captured and are making use of." Gager continues. "I am not in the habit of leaking my plans to prisoners or enemies."

"But-!"

"We're not in a position where we can just casually trust people." M16 says, tilting her bottle back. "No offense, Grif."

"Eh, well… I get it." I continue to focus on sewing. Maybe pretending I'm not here will help me not die.

"Can't we just force him to join us?" Architect asks. "I mean, it's not like he can get away now that we have him."

"That…" M16 glances at me again, but I studiously ignore her. "...would be a problem."

"Just reprogram him." Beak sighs. "We do it often enough anyway."

"That doesn't work on humans." Gager retorts.

"It hardly seems to work on you guys either." M16 says cheerily. "After all, I'm pretty sure that Architect being willing to defect on a whim isn't exactly a trait Elisa wants."

Elisa?

"Quiet, IOP." Gager's eyes narrow.

M16 holds her hands up in mock defense. "Okay, no picking on your kid. Got it."

The argument dies there and I continue to keep my head down.

When I finish AN-94's patch, I hold it up in the firelight, which admittedly sucks for looking at art, and decide it looks good. Not perfect, but nothing is.

"What is this?" Architect grabs the cloth as I set it on my leg.

"...A gift."

She eyes the fabric. "AN-94? I think I've gotten a briefing about her." She contemplates the rest of the patch. "What is Icy Hot?"

"It's a topical cream for humans to help relieve pain." M16 responds. "Seems kinda appropriate."

Architect looks back to me. "Do you have any of this stuff with you?"

"No." I shake my head.

"Aw, I wanted to try it."

She tosses the finished design back to me and I clumsily catch it, immediately tucking it into a pocket on my backpack I had reserved for the finished designs.

"Can I get one?" Beak asks after a moment.

"Huh?" Both Architect and M16 echo my confusion.

"I think it would be cool to have a design." She frowns. "Maybe not medical cream."

"Uh…" I bite my lip. "If I have time, maybe."

This seems good enough for Beak as she goes back to staring into the fire.

"Well then, I want one too!" Architect exclaims. "Mine has to be a giant fireball!"

M16 laughs. "Sure, sure, and mine would be a bottle of Jack." She holds up the bottle that's nearly empty.

Gager remains silent, eyeing the rest of us with contempt.

If I have time, huh? I don't exactly know when I'll get back to G&K. Or, if. Maybe M16'll kill me in my sleep tonight. Maybe they'll kidnap me to their HQ for whatever reason. I don't know.

My one ray of hope is 404, a thought that turns my stomach, but a thought I can't help but cling to.

For all 404 gets on my nerves… it's better than hanging out with actual enemies.

Or, well, people that certainly do want me dead over only half wanting me dead.

Actually… this line of thought is unproductive.

M16 gets up and stretches. "I'm getting some fresh air. Gager, can I have a moment?"

Gager glares in my direction for a second before turning to M16 and nodding. Probably going to plan their next move away from the two idiots and the liability.

Architect sits back in her chair, suddenly grabbing her ponytail and starting to brush it out with her fingers. "Stupid rain. Hair really sucks when it's this long, everything gets so tangled when it's wet."

"...You could cut it?" I suggest half-heartedly.

"Nah, I like it until it gets wet." She continues to brush it out with her fingers going down the length of the hair in a repetitive pattern, over and over.

"What were you doing out there anyway? M16 said it was a punishment, but…"

"Laying mines." She grumbles. "The KCCO might be following us, or probably are following us, something like that. Gager doesn't want us to be caught unaware."

"...Huh." A brief image of UMP 45 stepping onto a mine and getting blown up enters my head. As funny as that might be… "Soooo… What kind of mines are these?"

Architect's eyes light up and I realize that I just walked into her favorite subject head first. "They're AP mines. I told Gager we needed to seed some anti-tank included with the anti-personnel, but she told me that we needed to save them." She looks around conspiratorially. "I actually added a few anti-doll mines in there as well."

"Anti… doll?" I frown. "I thought AP would cover that."

"Nah, we have these special mines that unleash a large electro-something pulse that fries dolls." Architect holds up a finger like she's lecturing me. "It's only temporary, so it's good for capturing doll frames intact."

"Interesting." I rub my chin. "Since the KCCO are using their own Tactical doll units…"

"I…" Architect's face freezes in place. "Y-yes. That is why I did it. No other reason."

Hmm?

I look at her face for a second, wondering if she'd be breaking out in a cold sweat were she human. "Okay, yeah, the KCCO." I turn to look back at the fire, trying to hide my own distrust. "Do you think the KCCO is going to send human troops after us?"

"I don't know." She shrugs, her entire frame relaxing as I drop the line of questioning. "Why don't you ask Gager?"

"She's not likely to be very receptive." I deadpan. "Well, whatever. It's not any of my business."

"I mean, it kinda is… we're trying to keep you here as much as we're trying to keep others out." She frowns. "I probably wasn't supposed to tell you that."

"Don't worry." I lean in slightly. "This'll be our little secret."

She smiles, nodding. "Okay." And then, after a moment more, she starts more tentatively. "Can my design be a grenade?"

It takes me a second to realize she's talking about the patch. Laughter bursts forth, ruining the depressing mood I've been in all day. "Sure, if I manage to find time, I'll make you a grenade patch."

She smiles.

M16 and Gager come back after a few more minutes, drenched. M16 takes a brief glance down at AK-12's patch in my hands and the half finished explosion cloud in the background while standing next to the fire to dry herself off. "Hey, Gager wants to talk to you." She informs me.

"...Eh?"

M16 nods. "I know, I was confused too." She thumbs over her shoulder at the Sangvis T-doll clearly attempting to kill me with her stare alone. "Just follow her outside and try not to get killed."

"So encouraging." I stuff my unfinished work into my pack and sling it over my shoulder. Don't want to leave it out for curious robots to rifle through. Again.

I walk up to Gager and nod. She turns without acknowledgement and leads me outside. It's still raining slightly, but it is definitely not enough to soak me to the bone like Gager, Architect, and M16. Must've been raining harder earlier.

I stare out into the inky blackness of the forest, noticing that very occasionally, I see glints of light moving around the edges of the camp. Given how regularly these glints appear, I quickly realize it's Dinergates on patrol around the perimeter.

I can also see Beak's 'new' bike, the KCCO logo still proud on the fuel tank. The keys are nowhere to be found though.

Normally, I wouldn't have the time to think through all of this, nor would I stand around in the rain long enough to see all of it, but Gager had stopped a few paces out of the doorway and turned to stare at me, uttering no words.

I tried looking her in the face, but her hard stare is harder to withstand than maybe even AK-12's, which led to me to stare around at everything else, illuminated by lights from a few Sangvis T-dolls I hadn't seen before, human shaped with a purple visor over their eyes, two SMGs of some sort per unit.

Eventually, I can't stand the silence anymore. "Did you want to talk?" I ask, finally looking her full in the face again. "Because if not, I'd like to get back to the warm fire."

"I do wish to talk." She says shortly.

Silence, aside from the incessant sound of water dripping through the trees, descends once again. "...about what?"

"You are a prisoner."

I nod. "Yyyyyep."

"Right now, you are beholden to us."

What? I don't think I owe them anything, but- "Sure, let's go with that."

"Tell me what I'm doing wrong." Her eyes narrow.

"...Context?" I brush the water beading on my arms off. "Because if you're talking about keeping me prisoner-"

Her glare intensifies and I clam up. "Architect." She finally says after what seems like an eternity.

"What about her?" I sigh.

"Why is she friendly with you, the enemy?" Gager finally utters an entire sentence in my presence. "She was captured previously as well and seems to have enjoyed her time in captivity."

"Well, I can't speak much about that last part, but she probably is willing to talk to me because things tend to explode around me, recently." I shrug. "Everybody likes to talk about things they're interested in."

Gager stares at me. I spent a few seconds wondering if I had said something wrong, but both Architect and Beak like talking about their favorite topics, so it's not wrong. Probably.

"So, if I talk to Architect about explosions, she will listen to me?"

I can feel my jaw going slack. Gager's face has, for the first time since I met her, taken on a non-hostile look. Instead she's incredibly earnest, which is mildly disconcerting.

"W-well…" I hesitate. "She'd probably like to talk about it with you, if you were open to it." I rub my arms, the chill brought by the moisture in the air starting to get to me. "Are you two fighting or something?"

"No." Gager states. "I just want to be closer to her."

"...Alright."

Silence descends once again. Now that my eyes have fully adjusted to the dark I watch a Dinergate pass on it's patrol, the weak light coming from its singular eye glinting as it glances our way.

"So..." I throw up my hands in exasperation. "Are you planning on asking her out, or do you just want to know how to get her to do what you ask?"

"Asking her out?" Gager's expression turns to confusion.

"You know. Dating." My eye twitches. "You like her, right?"

"I do." She answers plainly. "What is dating?"

"..." I pinch the bridge of my nose. "Okay, when two people, well… two people like each other, they do things together. Things like, I don't know, watch movies or go on long walks on the beach together." I recall my 'date' with AR team. "When M16 asked about my 'date' with her sisters, what did you think I meant?"

"I wasn't paying attention." Gager replies, not a shred of shame to be found in her voice. "Should I be dating Architect?"

"I'm not the one to say." I plaster a customer service smile on my face to avoid showing the growing mass of confusion. Why is she asking me this? "Shouldn't you ask her if she wants to date you too?"

"I can just order her to date me." Gager responds.

"That's not how that works. It's supposed to be a mutual thing, you both want to hang out together, so you do. Dating is just a way to make it formal and kinda say that the other person is more important than your other friends, or whatever."

What the hell am I saying?

"...I see." She frowns. "If I talk to her about explosions-"

"You have to ask her." I hold up my hands defensively. "I don't know how she thinks. It's a good start at least."

"Do you like Architect?" Gager asks.

"Uh, not like that. She's… nice enough, I guess. Not really someone I can see myself dating."

"Why not?"

"...She's an enemy and only likes talking to me because things explode around me, as opposed to, say, my winning personality."

My joke falls flat as Gager completely fails to react.

"Are you dating someone?"

"Nope." I shake my head. "Too busy with the aforementioned explosions. Oh, and getting kidnapped."

"I want to see an example of how to date someone." Gager continues to stare into my eyes with the unnerving gaze of hers. "Would you prefer M16 or Beak?"

"...What?"

"M16. Or. Beak."

"...M16?"

Gager glances back at the building, presumably communicating over radio, and before long, a bright yellow eye drifts into view, standing in the doorway. "What's up?" M16 asks, bottle in hand. "I just got myself dry."

"Date Grif." Gager demands.

M16 stares at her compatriot for a few seconds before turning to me. "What is she talking about?"

"I think she wants to watch us dating, so she can date Architect." I slowly say, all the while watching Gager's reaction to make sure I'm not saying anything wrong. Instead, she just nods.

"...How did you put her up to that?" M16 asks, resigned.

"I didn't! I asked if she wanted to date Architect and it all spiraled from there."

"Gager…" M16 takes a swig from her bottle. "Just ask if she likes you. It's not that hard."

Gager shakes her head. "I don't understand 'dating'. You and Grif will show me."

M16 glances at me. "I don't think-"

"I order you to." Gager's eyes narrow. "Or I'll tell Elisa about-"

"FINE!" M16 shouts, then lowers her voice to a reasonable level. "Fine. I'll date Grif here tonight and then tomorrow we'll go back to normal, okay?"

"Seems reasonable." Gager agrees. "I'll head inside. You two do whatever you need to formalize it."

Once Gager's form disappears inside, I turn to M16. "Please don't kill me."

"Well, it could be worse, I guess." She looks at me in contemplation. "You could be a doll hater."

I snort. "Not likely. I have a hard enough time telling you from humans."

"So, I just want to put this out there, we're not actually dating."

"Duh."

"How much did you tell Gager?"

I frown. "That people who are dating do things together, like walk on the beach."

M16's eyes narrow as she connects the dots back to yesterday's conversation. "Right… so you just need to drink whiskey and I need to sew."

"...That'll probably work." I sigh. "Sorry."

"Not your fault. Well, probably not your fault." She shrugs, before looking down at the bottle in her hands. "Er, do you want some?"

"...I really don't, but I also don't want to be sober for this."

"Me either, Grif. Me either."

If I thought Gager's stare was intense before, it got ten times worse once we went inside.

For what it's worth, M16 pulled her seat next to mine and at least seems to be trying to set a good example. She handed me one of her unopened bottles of Jack. For my part, I started teaching her to cross-stitch which she actually seemed to try to learn.

As weird as Gager's stare was, it was bearable since we're not doing anything… actually date-like. At least up until Architect got back from doing something further inside the building and asked what we were doing.

Gager turned to the object of her… 'affection' and stated. "Grif and M16 are dating."

"Oh? Like kissing and stuff?"

At that moment, I decided that the next explosion Architect would witness would be centered on her.

M16 is a lot more graceful about it, deflecting. "Not like that. We're going slow."

"...You have time to go slow?" Architect frowns. "Oh, this is a strategy to keep him on, I see."

"Nnnnn…" I was about to deny it, but this is an opportunity. "Yeah, totally. I was tricked and now I'm dating her."

"I see." Architect plops down on my other side. "This is interesting."

"Architect, do you know about dating?" Gager asks.

"Well, I heard some stuff when I was in Griffin's clutches." She shrugs. "IOP dolls really like that romance stuff, don't they?"

M16's eye twitches. "Yes. We do." Her teeth are clenched. "Aaaaand humans love it too. Which is why Grif asked me out."

I shoot her a glare but since Architect and Beak are now staring at me I quickly hide it.

"Wait, what just happened?" Beak asks. "I'm confused."

"M16 and… whatever this guy's name is are dating." Architect explains to Beak.

"What does that mean?" Beak frowns.

"They're gonna do stuff like go to fancy restaurants, feed each other food, take photos of each other, sleep together, stuff like that."

Gager turns to look at us like we're going to get right on that.

I fight to keep a smile on my face. "We're taking it slow."

"Sure, sure." Architect smiles knowingly, particularly irritating on the idiot's face.

"So you two are going to eat dinner together?" Gager asks.

"...Yes." M16 eventually says. "But right now, he's teaching me how to sew."

"Ah." Architect's face falls. "That's not as exciting."

"We're not a show." I grumble.

M16's eye narrows, but she doesn't refute me.

"Well, I'm bored." Architect announces.

"Then go patrolling." Gager tells her subordinate.

"I don't wanna."

"I'm going to go see if I can fix up my new bike." Beak states, standing up and walking out, evidently having lost interest.

Gager continues to stare.

I turn to M16. "So, now that you know the basics of cross-stitching, do you want to try making a pattern?"

She contemplates the stuff in her hands. "Sure." Suddenly, her eye lights up. "I was joking about getting a booze patch earlier, right? I could make myself something like that."

I nod. "Here, let me see what thread colors I have." I dive into my case and search the thread labels. Again, firelight sucks for actually seeing colors. I just have to read the labels and think back to what it's supposed to look like. I could pull out my flashlight but after last night it's starting to lose charge. I'm gonna use it sparingly until I can recharge it.

"How did you get into this hobby anyway?" M16 asks. "Last I checked, guys don't do much sewing."

"Oh." I shrug. "I got sick when I was in grade school and my mom sat by my bed and sewed while keeping me company for a few days. I got bored, so she taught me to sew and I never really stopped."

"Huh." She takes a swig of her drink. "Aside from the stuff you made earlier, what have you made?"

I hand her a light brown and a dark brown thread. She already has the black from earlier, and the white can be made from the background. "Here, let me search my photos." I pull out my phone. "In the meantime, use the dark brown to make a column about… ten stitches tall."

I pull up a few examples of my earlier work, which M16 pretends to take interest in, Architect also demands to see and Gager stares intensely at me until I show her as well. All the while, M16 sews diligently, creating the label of her beloved drink and the bottle in short order.

She may not have sewn before today, but she's not human. Her hand movements are super precise and quick and she stitches everything flawlessly. In less time than it took me to do a simple logo, she's done an entire bottle.

Once I instruct her on outlining the text and the bottle as whole, we finish it up and I pull out some trimming scissors to cut it out.

In less than an hour, M16 has a small cross-stitch bottle that she can pin to… something.

She looks happy with it, so that's a win. Or… wait, why am I so happy?

A chill goes down my spine. She's acting. Gager's watching.

Calm down.

"Thanks for teaching me this, Grif." M16 claps her free hand on my shoulder, her other holding the cloth bottle. "You hungry?"

"...Sure."

"Let me whip something up for you."

I raise an eyebrow. "...Okay?" Quieter, so Gager's less likely to hear, "Do you need one of my rations?"

"Nah… there's some stuff back here that's good. I'll grab some stuff and be right back."

She hurries off and I suddenly wish I went with her so I wouldn't have Gager's constant staring. This fake dating stuff is stupid, but the scary lady with the laser sword wills it, and M16's apparently being blackmailed into it as well, so what can I do?

"Really? M16?"

I turn to Architect. "Huh?"

"Why M16?"

"..." I stare at Architect, but yes, she did just ask that question, and she's waiting for an answer. "I like strong women." I say.

"As opposed to your usual crowd?" She raises an eyebrow. "From the way M16 talks about Griffin you'd think they were each one-doll armies."

"Hah. Well, M16's got that, you know, protective feel. Like a big sister."

"...Humans usually don't date their sisters though." Architect's face scrunches in confusion.

"...No."

"Here." M16 walks back in. "I hope you like rehydrated beef tips in mushrooms."

I blink. "That doesn't sound too bad."

"It's only two years out of date too." She tears open the package. "No mold. Should be safe for consumption."

"Yay."

She grabs a branch that had blown inside at some point in the past, stabbing one end through the pouch. "Do you have water?"

I hand her the canteen that's still mostly full from the last time I refilled it.

She dumps a bunch in and sits down, dangling the food over the fire via the stick.

"Do you want me to hold that?" I ask after a minute or two of silence.

"Nah, I got it." She grins. "When dating, you're supposed to cook food for your partner, right?"

"I guess."

"Hey, M16." Architect turns her attention to her teammate. "Why do you like Grif?"

"He's charming and helps with the whole planning thing." She moves the stick back, touches the pouch and nods to herself. "Not to mention last night."

Silence.

It takes me a full ten seconds to process what she said, and even then, all I can make out is "Huh?"

She looks at me, her grin now decidedly wicked. "Oh yes, we slept together yesterday, right?"

"...Ah." I can tell this is going to cause nothing but trouble.

Architect's face flushes. "Oh, I was interrupting then?"

Gager is starting to look annoyed about not understanding and I decide to try to take control of the situation by explaining it.

"Yes, we, as people dating, sleep in the same bed. Nothing else."

"Aw." Architect pouts. "I heard some really interesting things from the Griffin dolls though."

Gager turns to her crush. Ward. Whatever. "Tell me."

I stand bolt upright. "Alright, I'm tired!" I turn to M16. "Are you tired?"

"...Of a lot of things." She gives me a halfhearted smile. "Yeah, let's pack up."

"Oh." Gager's face shows the second emotion of the night, a slight frown touching the edges of her lips. "I wanted to see more."

Architect goes over to her boss. "Don't worry! We can watch them tomorrow." An evil grin spreads across her face and in a stage whisper she says "And maybe we can sneak into their room tonight to see if they get up to naughty stuff!"

"...Naughty stuff?"

I jam everything into my backpack in a hurry and power walk back to M16's room. I will not be part of explaining what couples do after dark.

M16 enters her room a few seconds after I do, and she closes the door. With the firelight gone, the room is illuminated only by the moonlight streaming through the cracks in the wall. Hey, I guess the clouds cleared up.

"Well, that went poorly." She holds up the package of beef tips.

I sigh. "Sorry." She hands me the food and I realize that I kind of need a utensil. After a moment of contemplation I grab my pocket knife.

"It's not your fault." She drains the last eighth of a bottle all at once. "Sangvis dolls don't get the whole 'human' thing stuffed into their neural clouds. They're kinda worse off for it."

"I can see that." I state dryly. I look around the room and spot the computer chair, this time clear of discarded skirts. "I'll take the chair."

"Hmm?" She grabs another unopened bottle and twists the cap off. "What do you mean?"

"I'll sleep on the chair." I scratch my head. "After Gager's weird dating thing, I feel like it would be awkward to sleep in the same bed."

"And it wasn't awkward last night?"

I remember her stripping down. "Well, it was, but this would be worse." I finally dig into the food, stabbing it with the knife and bringing it to my mouth.

Watery. Well, it's not disgusting.

She shrugs. "It's only awkward if you make it awkward."

"No, I think Gager and Architect made it awkward, and I'm trying to un-awkward it." I shake my head and collapse into the chair. "Failing too."

She sets a bottle of Jack by my feet and sits down on the side of the bed. "Whatever. Let's just ignore the idiots."

I contemplate the bottle before setting down my food and twisting the cap off. What could drinking hurt? I hadn't drunk anything while stitching, since that tends to end in bloody fingers. I had enough of that already today. And, I really want to forget today's events as a whole...

The alcohol still burns my throat though.

M16's eye looks a bit softer when I lower the bottle. "You're alright."

I raise an eyebrow.

She nods, staring at her bottle. "I've met a lot of shitty humans, a lot of shitty dolls, but you're alright."

"Well…" I sag farther into the chair. "For being my enemy, you're not that bad either. At least you don't strap me to a bed and inject me with drugs. Or abandon me to die in a warehouse. Or blow up my workplace. Or try to take over my town. Or use force shields."

"That last one's a bit weird."

I snort. "I've mostly been fighting Paradeus. It starts to grate on your nerves."

"I see." She flops down on her side. "You've been busy."

"Yeah." I take another swig of the fire-based liquid. "Life comes at you like a fuckin' train sometimes."

"Trust me." M16 flops down on her side. "I know."

We continue drinking in silence for a while. M16's sideways, but she's able to drink the liquid without spilling any. It's a funny picture, or maybe it's depressing. Both?

I snicker to myself.

"Heh?"

"Oh, just, I was considering taking a picture of this room and the booze lying around and submitting it to an art gallery. Call it, 'Ode to Jack'."

She laughs quietly. "What art gallery?"

"Ah, there's one back home." I spin in the chair, staring up at the ceiling. "You should go sometime."

"Not sure they'd appreciate my patronage." M16's voice is deadpan. "You know, robot, enemy of humanity, dirty."

"You're not dirty." I frown. "Not more than anyone else."

"Physically, maybe." She finishes off her bottle and starts scanning the floor for another unopened one. "I'm not exactly a good person."

"Uh huh." I take a drink of my own bottle. "I don't think they check that when you enter."

"Heh." She sits back upright. "Be right back, need a new bottle."

"Where the hell are you getting all of these?" I ask, gesturing with my free hand to the empties littering the floor.

"We found a stockpile in the back from before the war." She gives me an amused smile. "I'm not one to waste an opportunity. Of course, if my boss figures out I'm boozing it up I'll be in trouble."

"Really?"

"Yep. It's the reason Gager was able to force me to do the stupid dating thing."

"Fair enough."

I sit back in the seat, spinning slowly until she comes back. The discolored ceiling twirls and I imagine the water spot swirling into shapes as my eyes lose focus.

I glance at the bottle in my hands, which is about a quarter empty. How the hell does she go through this stuff like water? I'm still only a quarter into my first bottle and I can tell I'm pretty drunk. Whiskey isn't exactly weak.

M16 walks back in, flopping onto her back on the bed. "I want to go back to base."

"Me too." I snark. "But I seem to be held up by this 'Sangvis' group."

She grins. "Sure, but that might come to an end soon."

"Oh?"

"You're a prisoner, not a new recruit." She shrugs. "And I got what I wanted from you. Given G&K's propensity for retrieving lost units, it's also not the best idea to keep you locked up for any significant length of time."

"With one notable exception?" I smirk.

"You know it." M16's face mirrors mine.

"You could just shoot me."

"And ruin the fun? I want to see the look on Architect's face when she realizes you're not going to be there to grant her explosions forever."

"Send me pictures."

"Maybe." She looks over my way. "Do you really want to sleep on the chair?"

"I mean, no, but-"

"-Then stop being a bitch and get over here."

"..."

"What?"

"Whatever." I shrug, take a last swig of my still-half-filled bottle of Jack, and get out of the chair, picking my way across the bottle covered floor. "Not worth fighting you on this."

"Nope." She yawns again. "It's rarely worth fighting me."

"I'll try to remember that."

"See that you do."

As I lay down next to the still fully dressed doll, the alcohol really stops any form of critical thinking and my brain shuts down, sending me to peaceful oblivion.

The next sensation I feel is something cold, hard, and very uncomfortable jabbing into my stomach.

At first I ignored it. When your brain is addled by alcohol, it's hard to tell what's real sometimes.

It's only when it jabs so hard into my side that I'm forced to curl up in pain that I realize that no, I'm not still dreaming.

I open my eyes, for all the good that does me. It's pitch black outside, the moon once again behind clouds and offering no illumination.

"Eh?" M16's voice calls out.

Suddenly, the bed shifts and multiple bottles scatter, and I can hear what sounds like two people fighting. When the bed shifts, the cold metal in my stomach shifts and I'm free for a second. I roll away, falling into the crack between the wall and the bed.

The grunting of M16 and our mystery assailants is muffled as I accidentally drag the blanket down on top of myself, further disorienting myself.

Someone lands on top of me and I fight to get them off through the blanket to no avail. I can't even tell what is going on.

Eventually, the person on the other side of the blanket pins one of my arms to the ground, their massive strength revealing that this is a doll of some sort.

With my free hand, I fight into my pocket and grab my phone, activating the flashlight and then yanking the blanket down with the phone held in my hand.

The light blinds me, which also affects whoever's on top of me, sending them back for a brief fraction of a second. I take my opportunity to wriggle away, light still blinding me.

Overhead, two bottles are thrown, the glass impacting the wall beside me and the bottle shattering and raining glass shards down over my head. I just keep moving backwards, wielding the phone flashlight like a weapon.

A fairly ineffectual one at that.

A hand grabs me and lifts me out of the gap between the bed and the wall, slamming me into the bed as the metal is jammed into my stomach once more.

M16's body collapses down on the bed next to me and I can see the forms around her pinning her in place as well.

Suddenly, light pours in from the doorway. "I know I was joking about it earlier, but you two really are way too loud…" Architect's grumbling voice trails off. Wait, is she wearing my NVGs? I wondered where those went-

In the light from the fire, the forms of Squad 404 are revealed, 416 pinning me down with the barrel of her weapon firmly in my side, and the UMP twins pinning down M16. G11 brings her namesake to bear on the new arrival.

For a few seconds, everything is still, save for the flickering firelight and the shadows on the walls.

"Why can't I ever just get a full night's sleep?" I grumble, already predicting this isn't going to end in me getting any more rest...