Girl's Frontline: Field Agent

by Johnny Wycliffe

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

18. Chapter 18: Combat Report

"How did I get talked into this?" RO grumbles.

I shrug. "Same way I get dragged into things, I guess."

She turns and glares at me. "I don't charge headfirst into danger like I have the IQ of a potato."

"I seem to remember you tackling me from the side to knock me out of the way of a shotgun blast." I muse, trying to keep a grin off my face. "That seems like something I'd do."

Her left eye twitches. "It was a simulation, and even if it wasn't, I'm a doll and can be restored from a backup. You can't."

"So you say, but you also said you hate being loaded from a backup and not to treat you like you're disposable."

Her glare softens slightly. "I don't think I worded it like that."

I shrug once again. "Well, that's how I took it. In any case-" I change the subject while casually looking around. "-as much as I enjoy walking, I think our date would be a little more pleasant without the stares."

Indeed…

Throughout RO and I's stroll around the base, certain faces have mysteriously shown up repeatedly. The patrolling dolls had been following us since they, uh, 'caught up to us' and I swear I've seen so many eyes glowing from shadows along our path.

The two sets I'm worried about most are a pair of acid greens and one set of light pinks. For all of Commander Gentiane's reassurances, I'm starting to worry that I'm gonna get stabbed by someone for going on this date.

After the scene at Springfield's cafe, several dolls had insisted that I get this date out of the way immediately. Some of them had protested the date, mainly those that had participated in the tournament and lost. Some of them wanted me to go on the date purely to watch the fireworks, mostly those watching the tournament and placing bets.

Eventually, MDR managed to bring everyone together and force RO and me onto this date right away. RO didn't even want to do this, insisting she just wanted to participate in the tournament to improve her skills, but the angry losers had decided that this was apparently a suitable punishment.

At least, they seemed to consider it a suitable punishment until we started our walk and they all decided to follow us.

RO's eyes flick to the side and a deep red set of eyes ducks further into a shadow. "I hate to say it, but I agree."

"Have any ideas?"

She sighs. "I have so much work that needs to get done… Want to help me file paperwork?" Her mouth quirks up.

"You know what? Sure."

She glances at me in surprise.

"Hey, it's… kind of my fault you're in this situation." I scratch my head. "Maybe I'll be able to reduce your workload."

"I can't ask you to do that." She shakes her head. "Though I didn't wish to participate in this venture, I'm not going to waste your free time doing paperwork."

"How about this?" I stop and turn to her. "Since you helped me out so much in Sector 3, I'll return the favor, and we'll talk as we work. That's date enough for me."

She seems to mull over this for a few seconds. "I see. Sure, we can do that." She nods slightly, as if still convincing herself. "It would speed things up considerably."

"Well, there you go." I wave grandly. "Lead on, my lady. I will follow you to your chambers."

"Not my room, the command center." She rolls her eyes.

"With the amount of time you spend there?" I raise an eyebrow.

"...Fair point." A small smile tugs at the corners of her lips. She then steers us towards the command center.

"What kind of work do you have, if I can ask?"

"After action reports. I have to review them and verify combat data and check for oddities."

"Oddities?"

I watch as RO's face strains with the memory. "Yes, oddities. Like, all of the ration packs being opened and the only thing removed is a chocolate bar. Or, there's damage to a doll that doesn't match with anything reported. Or, Three magazines of ammo are unaccounted for. Or-" She sighs heavily. "All of the enemy technology has been mysteriously torn apart by what looks like a small bear."

I blink. "Sop?"

"Sop."

I have to suppress a snort.

"Actually, I should have thought of having you help me with this before." RO muses aloud. "Seeing actual combat scenarios and deciding if a report is accurate is an excellent way to teach you how to command dolls in battle."

"That would be much appreciated." I nod. "I've been doing a lot more of the 'trial by fire' type of learning."

"Really?" The tiny sliver of a smile returns to her face. "I thought you joined up to flirt with pretty girls."

"I'm pretty sure there's easier ways to flirt with girls." I deadpan. "Like putting live lizards in their lunch or burning their hair off. Those might be safer for my health too."

RO's smile spread to her entire face for the first time since MDR had forced her into this. "I suppose."

She opens the door to the command center and leads me to a room with two of the tables with a display built into it. There's three others in the room currently working on one of the tables and RO leads me over to the other table.

I pull up a chair on the opposite side of the table from where RO sits down. "Are you familiar with how to use this command table?" She asks as the screen embedded into the surface of the table illuminates."

"Nope." The table immediately starts to display what looks like the positions of several units from a previous battle. I reach out and tap one of the positions, but nothing happens. "I've seen one used before, but that was the day after I met you."

"Right." Suddenly, the screen goes blank and is replaced by an entirely new battlefield. "Usually, an adjutant doll is assigned to adjust the display while a human is using it." The screen zooms in on the allied forces and profiles pop up. It's Echelon 2, surprisingly. "You can plug in a keyboard and mouse if you really want to, but this is more efficient."

"Okay." I glance over the profiles. "So, we're going to review the combat reports on this?"

RO nods and suddenly the arrows representing Echelon 2 start moving through an environment made of wireframe objects. "This is an older mission that was supposed to be a simple trade with a local group of civilians. Echelon 2 was there to secure the area so the trade can be carried out. Now, this was during the height of Sangvis activity back in Sector 09-"

She breaks down the mission for me, before playing out the situations as it had happened. I point out things I notice and she makes sure I'm paying attention to the critical parts of the mission. Once that one is covered, she brings up a more recent mission.

I only get a few minutes into reviewing the mission when I realize something really weird is going on. At first, I thought it was a glitch, but after I saw it a few times… I guess they're robots, so it could happen, but-

"Uh, RO?"

She glances up at me. "Yes?"

"Why are they sending more than one of each of these dolls on missions?"

She blinks at me. "You mean the dummy links?"

"Dummy what?"

She stares at me for a few more seconds. "Have you never seen…?" She sits up. "Er, haven't you seen duplicate dolls in battle?"

I shake my head. "No."

"But-" She cuts herself off. "I see, you're not usually in combat, but working with either 404 on a distraction or in highly restricted situations." The screen shifts to a still from what looks like a doll's eye view of five identical copies of Tokarev, preparing for battle. All of them look perfectly identical. "When a doll goes to battle, G&K can provide dummy links to increase combat potential."

Some photos appear around the edges of the video showing white coffins, which I had actually seen before, once. Right before I left to go rescue MP Panagos and M4 before I ended up dropping a building on my head.

"Dummies are not full dolls. They are made of a malleable material that irreversibly takes shape when they are assigned to a doll and synced up on level 2." RO starts pointing to various pictures. "The dummies are capable of acting independently, adding a significant amount of spare processing power to a unit, or increasing the use of an ability, or just providing another gun in the fight."

She brings up another video. This one shows five dolls hauling food off of a truck, all of them with identical faces. "Dummies are actually fairly hard to distinguish from the host doll unless you inspect them. Each of them can hold a conversation that is related back to the main doll in real time, so it's almost as if the dolls literally splits into five."

"Wow." I sit back in my chair. "Why don't you guys run dummies all the time then?"

"They're expensive to maintain and they degrade quickly. Most dummies don't last long past a mission before getting refurbished." She loads some more photos. "In addition, the host dolls workload does increase slightly with each link. Once it goes past three or four, connections tend to fail and it ends up wasting a few units. I've never seen a doll able to make more than four dummy connections without hurting themselves."

"Interesting. I'll have to take a look into these dummies sometime." I scratch my chin. "We're busy right now, though."

"Yes, we are." RO sweeps all of the photos and videos away and we go back to the mission. This time it makes more sense when a camera feed shows more than one of the same doll in view.

We go through quite a few missions together, each one a new experience. Slowly, I start getting a hang of the data being shown. It's like those old tactical video games I used to play back in highschool, but there's no "outside the battlefield" or "unfair advantage". Sometimes dolls got destroyed and I would have to look away, but all in all, it was a very informative experience.

To be perfectly honest, I enjoyed myself. I almost feel like I'm back in high school playing those tactical shooters, but this time reality ensues. I watch good decisions, bad decisions, and some weird surprises. We also reviewed the after action write ups and compared them with what we had seen. They're usually fairly accurate, which I credit to the writers having literal photographic memory.

By the time we're done, the other occupants of the room had left and the large red digital clock on the wall reads 1804. I pull out my phone, and yes, it's accurate.

"Holy crap. We've been doing this for nine hours straight."

RO's eyes flick to the side for a brief moment. "I see. Well, this is as good a time to wrap up as any." She gets up and stretches. "Want to grab something to eat?"

My stomach answers her question quite loudly, prompting her lips to quirk up at the corners of her mouth.

"Maybe?" I scratch my face. "What do you want to eat?"

"We can stop by Springfield's cafe and get something warm." She states. "Then… I guess we'll see."

I'm slightly confused by that last part, but agree anyway. "Sounds like a plan to me."

As soon as we step outside of the building, two dolls turn to look at us. NTW and NZ75. "Eh?" NZ's face shows blank surprise.

"You were still in there?" NTW asks cautiously.

I glance at RO. "Huh?"

"We've been filing combat reports all day, yes." RO responds to NTW. "Is something the matter?"

"No," NZ says hesitantly. "but some of the other dolls suspected you two were sneaking off and decided to search around for you. The whole base has been in an uproar."

"But…" I frown. "We were in the commander center the entire time. Surely someone could have just checked?"

"Dolls need authorization to enter the Command center." RO informs me. "I have carte blanche to enter as I see fit, but few others need the access."

"Right…" I stretch out the word. "So what about 404? They're not shy about flaunting the rules."

"We've lost contact with them." NTW's frown deepens. "Since nobody knows where they are, we can't ask them to go looking for you." She crosses her arms and looks away. "Actually, Sop kept insisting that you both had been kidnapped by 404 and caused a small panic."

RO groans and palms her face. "Where is she?"

"Last I heard, trying to break into the warehouse to get something to find you two." NZ answers. "Should I tell them you've been found?"

"No." RO snaps. "I'll talk to her. I'm also going to have her finish her work for today since she was apparently screwing around all day."

Her eyes grow distant as she connects to level 2.

I turn to NTW. "Maybe tell MDR? I was told that she's good at spreading rumors, so she should be able to get everyone to call off the search, right?"

"Not a good idea." NTW shakes her head. "I'll tell another doll on the search and tell her to pass it along. MDR is more likely to twist anything said to make the situation worse."

I nod along with NTW's explanation. "I see. Yeah, I'd appreciate it if you'd do that for me."

"Of course, Commander."

"Now I just have to grab something to eat." I glance at Springfield's cafe, which is kinda on the opposite side of base, though from my spot along the main thoroughfare I can see the building it's located in.

"Might I suggest going to the human cafeteria?" NZ says. "Springfield's is… busy at the moment."

I give her a look. "What do you mean?"

"It's the search party headquarters." NZ glances in the direction of the building like someone might be listening in. "If you don't want to spend your entire meal being asked extremely personal questions you might want to avoid it."

"...Well, I would, but I promised RO I'd be eating with her." I state.

NTW glances at the other doll, whose face is starting to tick despite her eyes remaining unfocused. "You can invite dolls into the human cafeteria, but you have to accompany them at all times."

"Really?" I blink. "Why?"

"Some humans don't trust us not to poison their food and they get antsy when we go near the food supply."

NZ snorts. "They all forget that we're the ones moving it between bases, trading for it, loading it into the buildings… If I wanted to poison it, I have ample opportunities to."

I think back to my second day, holding a cup of coffee made by Springfield and wondering if it was going to kill me. I decide not to contribute to the conversation.

RO's eyes come back into focus. "Finally."

I glance her way. "Got in touch with Sop?"

"Yes. She's suitably reprimanded." RO nods.

"Then, let's go." I wave for her to follow me. I give NTW and NZ a wave goodbye and they go back to their patrol or whatever.

RO glances down the next turn I could have made. "Hadwin?"

"Yeah?"

"Aren't we getting food?"

"Uh huh. NTW said that Springfield's cafe was busy, so we're going to the human cafeteria."

She blinks. "Really?"

"Yeah." I turn to look at her. "Do you want to go to Springfield's instead?"

"No, it's just… I've never been in the human cafeteria. I'm looking forward to seeing it."

"Hmm… Me too." I smirk. "It's not like I've been there before."

"A first for both of us then." She says.

We arrive at the cafeteria with little incident, though I had to assign RO as my adjutant to get her inside. She was a bit weird about this, but I decided I was too hungry to care about her reactions.

Inside of the cafeteria is… well, it's a normal cafeteria. A kitchen area with a buffet style serving row sits on one wall. The center of the area is dominated with tables designed to suit between four to six people each, with chairs scattered around.

I almost immediately find myself wishing I was back in the cozy atmosphere of Springfield's cafe, but I guess it can't be helped.

RO sticks right behind me, oddly quiet all of a sudden as we get our food and sit down.

I pick an empty table and place my food down, RO sitting down across from me once again.

"Everything you expected it to be?" I ask sardonically.

"Just about." She takes a bite of her chicken. "Acceptable."

I take a bite of my pasta. "Mmm… yeah, I'd rather have some of S.A.T.'s cooking. Though, it is a lot more peaceful. Less dolls trying to force feed me too."

RO's face breaks into a smile.

We eat mostly in silence, only stopping to remark on the relative lack of quality of the food here.

Once we both finish, I sit back and close my eyes. As much as I was complaining, the food hit the spot and I ate enough to send me into a food coma. I have to remind myself that that in itself is enviable in today's world.

"Thank you, Commander." RO states quietly. I barely heard her and almost had to ask her to repeat.

"You're welcome, RO." I reply. "Though, I'm pretty sure I did more to hinder your work than help you today."

"No, I mean…" She glances around, noting that none of the other humans in the area are listening in. "Well, most days I feel very underappreciated. Today I felt like you actually listened to what I was saying. Even before, you told me you appreciated my efforts."

"I…" I tilt my head slightly in confusion. "I just thanked you for helping me though."

"Still." She looks me right in the eye. "I'm really glad someone as nice as you is working for G&K."

Suddenly, I have a bad feeling about this conversation. "Well… I'm glad you feel appreciated. I think your battle expertise will really help me bring everyone home in the future."

She nods. "I-"

At several of the other tables, beeping and buzzing of various devices starts up all at once. Multiple people, including Commander Kylie pull out a phone or datapad.

Most of those that got whatever message got up in a hurry, abandoning almost finished meals.

"What…" I trail off.

"It's likely an emergency mission." RO says calmly. "Don't worry, I'll open my level two connections."

"You had them off?"

"It's rude to talk to others during a date." She states. Almost immediately after, her eyes unfocus and dim as she connects to level two.

I grab my tray and hers, getting up and tossing out the trash, stacking the used trays on the top of the trash can. By the time I get back to RO, she stands up and has a bitter look on her face.

"What's up?"

"A patrol just reported in. There's some KCCO in the area, which is really suspicious since we just got here." She gestures to the door. "It's probably a good idea for me to prepare for combat."

"Okay, let's go." I tap her shoulder.

"Hmm?" She blinks. "Ah, right. I look forward to working with you." She raises a hesitant fist.

I bump my fist to hers. "Likewise. Let's make sure everyone comes home."

"Always."

---

Sure enough, only ten minutes later, my phone rings with MP40 on the other end requesting my presence in the command center.

I'm glad I headed straight for my room and had strapped myself into the exosuit, or otherwise I would have made it to the meeting last. As it is, I only beat two dolls who are squabbling with each other. FAL and Five-seveN, right?

I don't really get any indication of their conversation in the packed room as Commander Ricardo clears his throat. "Erm, hello everyone. We're short on time, so I'll cut straight to the chase. Echelon 6 was out on patrol and found a decently sized contingent of KCCO. Now, there's really no reason we know of for them to be in this area. According to the data Hadwin and Squad 404 acquired from the Sangvis ringleaders they have no plans to be in this area either."

He taps the screen and a map of the area is displayed, showing our base and the location of both Echelon 6 and the KCCO contingent. "Given this is unexpected and they're this close to our ranks, it's safe to assume that they are coming after us. We're not going to sit back and take it."

He turns to me. "Field Agent, I'm sending you, Echelon 10, Echelon 5, and Echelon 2 to attack this camp." His face turns grim. "Commander Kylie is currently getting some HOC support up, but since we're not eager to announce our presence to the world, we're gonna keep HOC use to a minimum."

I nod. I know Echelon 2, but-

"Looks like we're working together."

I turn to see a grinning P90, though I notice her face is strained slightly.

"Eh?" I express myself in an eloquent manner.

"I told you these girls are my squad, right?" She gestures to Five-seveN, F2000, FAL, and FF FNC. "We're Echelon 10."

"Ah." I smile. "Well, it's good to have some familiar faces."

F2000 gives me the stink eye, but otherwise Echelon 10 seems ready to go.

M4A1 steps out of the shadows. "Echelon 5, at your service."

Ah. Anti-Rain. I peer around again and realize RO's in the back, her heterochromatic eye lights a dead giveaway.

"Alright." I turn back to Commander Ricardo. "Okay. Do we have a strategy for taking them out?"

"We're going to use the cover of night. You're going to be flown just out of the range they should be able to hear helicopters at, then you'll head there on foot. From there, try to strike as hard and as fast as possible. Even this relatively small force is still pretty deadly."

He brings up a list of enemy units. My eyes fix on the Hydra. "Echelon 6 managed to get the team composition of the enemy, but they're pulling out before you get there as they're travelling light for recon purposes."

I nod along with his words, paying attention to the map and already trying to put my practice with RO to work. I have three teams…

"Here, here, and here." I tap three spots. "We hit here and we can cut them off from each other." I turn to M4. "You can take on this group, right?" I point to the largest section of the enemy.

M4's eyes harden. "Yes, Commander."

"Good." I seek out NTW's face in the crush of dolls in the packed and dim space. "Echelon 2?"

"Commander."

My eyes snap to find NTWs, her voice providing a reference. "I need you up here to take out this contingent."

"Yes." She nods.

RO pushes her way to the front. "Hadwin, that leaves you with the final group."

I look her in the eyes. "Yes, it does."

She gives me an irritated look. "You're going against a Hydra?"

"No, we're distracting it." I state. "We need to take it out, but we can't do that if everyone else is swarming us. Echelon 10 and I will keep it occupied until Echelon 2 has cleared this top area and then provide assistance."

RO chews on this. "I have no objections." She gives me the barest hint of a smile.

"Well, that's a good plan." Commander Ricardo strokes his chin. "The helicopter's getting ready as we speak. Head out to the air strip."

I salute and head for the door.

Fourteen dolls follow me.

I realize Sop's being unusually quiet and I drop back slightly to walk beside her. "You okay?"

"Yeah." Her voice matches her demeanor. "Just… thinking about some stuff."

I give her shoulder a small whack and she looks up at me in surprise. "Cheer up. We're gonna kick their butts and be back for breakfast."

She blinks at me a few times before her usual almost manic grin returns. "Yeah… Yeah!"

I pat her shoulder once more before stepping over to 15. She glances at me, then looks away.

"Star?" I ask as quietly as I can.

Her cheeks immediately flush, but she still refuses to look my way.

"Be careful out there." I say.

She slowly turns to look at me, her cheeks still flushed in the cold march evening. "You too, Hadwin."

She steps close enough that our shoulders brush together before she drifts back to her position next to M4.

Good.

M4 nods to me as I look at her direction and RO gives me a thumbs up. Looks like they're ready to go.

I pull up next to Echelon 2 to give them a pep talk, but a hand lashes out of a nearby shadow and I'm almost pulled off my feet.

As I get my bearings, I realize who it is. "Hey, 416."

"Where are you going?" She demands.

"I…" I notice the rest of 404 is here and… 45 isn't smiling. In fact, she and 9 both have scowls that are practically terrifying. Even G11's awake, and if that doesn't set off alarm bells in my head…

"Commander?" NTW pokes her head around the corner, her eyes aglow in the fading light.

"Go ahead, NTW. I'll be with you in a moment." I wave her off.

She hesitates, but complies.

"So?" 416 demands once more.

"The KCCO set up a camp near here. Given what we got from M16, they shouldn't be anywhere near this area." I report. In the back of my head, a voice asks if I should be telling them this, but… "I'm headed out to take them out."

45 steps closer to me. "You have everyone you need? We'll follow if you need us."

9's expression falters for a second at her proclaimed sister's words.

"I have three teams. I know you don't like them, but Anti-Rain's one of the teams. I'll be good."

"...Hadwin." UMP 45 grabs my attention. "I'm not allowed to tell you this, but there's still a traitor in G&K. Yema Thorogold was just someone to throw suspicion off the real target so they could grow more complacent. I've narrowed it down to four people."

"45-nee!" 9 interrupts. "We can't tell him!"

"Commander." 416 looks me right in the eyes. "We're going to remain here and make sure there's a place for you to return to."

"One way or another." G11's younger voice contrasts with the way she growls out her words.

Two weeks ago, I would have been disturbed by 404's demeanor. Now, it's oddly comforting. I nod to them. "You're not allowed to die. None of you."

"Don't worry about us. If you die, I'll force the abominable Anti-Rain dog to resurrect you." 416's voice leaves me the impression there'll be hell to pay if I force her to use that option.

I raise my fist for a fist bump from them, but to my surprise 416 wraps me in a hug, followed by G11.

UMP 45 steps up and taps my shoulder, while 9 sighs and crosses her arms.

As quickly as the embrace started, 416 and G11 let go, and 404 fades into the darkness.

"Good luck." I mutter to the shadows. "I get the feeling we're all gonna need it."

---

The leaves on the ground, untouched from last fall, whip around in the rotor wash as the helicopter increases as it pulls up and out of the clearing we had touched down in. The linker, hooked into the exo suit and with Aleah assisting, provides me with vision despite the late hour.

Around me, silver coffins open up and indistinct dolls climb out, faces melding into one of five faces already present. We'd been assigned ten dummies, two for each of the dolls on the mission.

It's really weird to watch things like Five-seveN's ribbon flow out from the same stuff that the dummy's skin is made of, but I guess I don't really know how else they'd do it. Carry around extra sets of clothes to a battlefield?

I do notice that P90's dummies clearly define themselves to look almost identical. Even the patch I made for her is present on the dummies.

P90 steps up to me. "Well, looks like it's time."

I nod. "Echelon 10!" I raise my voice over the retreating helo. "We've got eight kilometers to go. Let's get moving, I'd like to get there before they all wake up."

"After you, Commander." Five-seveN says in her usually cheery tone.

I nod and take the lead, immediately turning the walk into a jog, and then a run as I see the dolls keeping pace. We had to land so far out to avoid alerting the KCCO, I get it, but I suspect if I wasn't in this exo suit, I wouldn't be able to run the eight kilometers to the base.

Speaking of-

"Aleah, what's the status of the suit?"

"Currently, battery is at ninety-four percent. Estimated 23% usage on the way to the KCCO location. Battery life should not become an issue during this deployment. All systems green."

"Thank you. Please patch me into the Echelon 10's comms."

"-doing that hot." P90's voice comes through the comms.

"Echelon 10?" I think to the linker, which is hopefully sending my thoughts to the dolls.

"Commander." FAL's calm voice confirms I'm able to send my voice as well as listen.

"Remember: We're not here to die. Our job is to make sure everyone else has time to clear out their section of camp, then lead the Hydra into a trap. There's going to be some forces we're going to have to deal with as well, but I'm counting on you all to take care of them." I take a deep breath. "I'm recommending that P90 and I split off and distract the enemy, while the rest of you find a good spot to fire from and cover us. No need for all of us to be dodging gunfire if we don't have to."

"Merci, Commander." Five-seveN laughs lightly. "Are you so eager to put yourself in danger?"

"Yeah, if it means you all make it home."

P90's voice comes over the comms. "See, our dumb field agent has no sense of self-preservation. So, we gotta keep him alive."

"Yeah!" FNC cheers. "We'll all get back and eat some ice cream!"

I shake my head, but can't stop a grin from spreading across my face.

"Hey Commander." F2000's sharp gaze points my direction.

"Yeah?"

"The dress didn't look as bad on you as I made it out to be."

For a second, I have no idea what the hell she is talking about, but P90 bursts out laughing, followed shortly by the rest of 10.

"Wh- I didn't want to be wearing that!" I protest over the laughter. "P90 made me wear it!"

"You don't have to hide it, Commander." F2000's face looks like she's trying to hold back laughter and largely failing. "Unlike 404, we're a friendly bunch that welcomes your hobby."

"I've been working on a new dress for you, Commander." FAL says.

"I- wha-" I stutter, trying to find words.

P90's path converges with mine and she gives me a grin. "Welcome to Echelon 10, Commander."

I shake my head. "Great. Is it too late to work with Echelon 2 instead?"

She laughs along with the rest of the squad, aside from F2000, who doesn't really seem to be in on the joke.

The ribbing continues until we get to the edge of the KCCO's camp. None of us were talking out loud, but I think all of us realized it is time to be serious.

"Hey, FAL?" Five-seveN's voice comes through the radio.

"Oui?"

"Do you think FAMAS would look better if she chose a normal color of lipstick?"

...Or, maybe they just decided on a new subject of stupid conversation.

"I suppose, but her entire style has blue accents. She'd have to have a complete makeover, I think."

I try desperately to block out this new conversation and take the first opportunity to be distracted. FF FNC tugs on my coat. "Hey, Commander?"

"Hmm?"

She holds up a partially unwrapped bar of chocolate. "Would you like a bite?"

"...Sure." I reach out and snap off a chunk that doesn't have a bite taken out of it. It occurs to me that she doesn't have saliva to contaminate the chocolate, but what's done is done.

She watches me eat the morsel. As soon as I chew it up, she pops the rest into her mouth. "Now you're an accomplice."

"...An accomplice?" I ask.

She nods. "I snuck this out of the cafeteria earlier. Now if you tell on me, you're also gonna get in trouble!"

"Right." I sigh. "FNC, you realize I wouldn't have known if you were allowed to have that or not if you hadn't just told me?"

"...Oops." She giggles sheepishly.

"How about this?" I lean over slightly so I'm eye to eye with her. "You do a good job of keeping everyone safe, I'll get you three candy bars."

"Three?!" Her eyes literally light up brighter.

"Three. And, I'll tell Kalina I got you four so you don't get in trouble for the one you just had."

"Deal!" She and her dummies quickly finish their food and prepare their weapons.

"What do I get if I remain safe?" P90 asks, her face in a wicked grin worthy of UMP 45 herself.

"Three mismatched socks and a half eaten cheeseburger." I grin.

"Well that's random."

"It's what mom always told me when I asked for stuff." I shrug. "I never did get socks or the cheeseburger though."

"Well, now that you said it, I demand three socks, all clearly different, and a cheeseburger that you ate half of when we get back to base." P90 nods.

Five-seveN interrupts her conversation with FAL to add her own demands. "Ah, Monsieur Commander, if you would be so kind as to provide me with some particularly fancy socks so that I may use them as decorations for the dorm, I would be most appreciative."

"..."

FAL taps her chin. "I suppose Fel could use a few socks as nesting material."

"I wasn't actually planning on buying a ton of socks." I grumble.

"That's okay." F2000 sighs. "We can just request that Kalina pays them in socks next paycheck."

I eye the doll for a second. "Yeah, that's a good idea. Maybe I can get all of the dolls paid in socks from now on."

"Can I be paid in chocolate instead?" FNC asks.

I pat the smaller doll's head. "We'll see."

"Commander?" 15's voice reaches my ears.

I hold a hand up to my ear, even though it's unnecessary. "Yeah 15, I hear you. What's up?"

"Echelon 5 is in position."

"Great. Echelon 10 is also in position. We wait for Echelon 2 and then we'll go." I tell her.

"Got it." I can tell she hesitates for a second. "Er, Commander?"

"Yeah?"

"Do you still have your radio?"

I unconsciously pat where I had clipped the radio to my tac vest. "Yeah."

"Switch to the frequency we used before." She says. "I want to talk for a little bit."

"Okay." I frown, but dutifully turn on the radio and punch in the code.

"Would you like me to turn off the main comms?" Aleah asks in my ear.

"Er, yes please. I get the feeling 15 doesn't want to talk to anyone else at the moment."

"Would you like me to shut off for the duration of the conversation?"

I mull over the option for a few seconds. "I don't think that's a good idea. Just don't pay attention to our conversation, but continue to monitor for activity so we can go as soon as Echelon 2 reports in."

"Understood."

I step a few steps away from Echelon 10, pressing the earpiece into my ear. "15?"

"Hadwin." 15's voice comes through the earpiece.

I expected her to continue, but when she says nothing else for a few seconds I speak up. "What's on your mind, Star?"

"Ah…" She stumbles over her words. "I wanted to know if… well, when we get back to base, can I have some of your time?" She sounds kind of anxious.

"Of course." I reply.

"Good." She seems relieved.

There's no more conversation for a few more seconds and it's up to me to once again break the silence. "On another topic, I was confused about something earlier."

"Hmm?"

"You're not able to access level two at the moment, right?"

"I can. I just can't connect to anything else or I risk infecting it." She corrects me. "Why?"

"You were in that mission briefing earlier in level 2 and I was wondering how you were able to join in if you can't access level 2."

"Oh. I have a linker like you have, but I modified it. I can't just put it on since it's designed to work with human brains, but I can use it to dump the data from the meeting to me, and I can send data to control my avatar indirectly. It's not that hard, but it's like participating in a regular chatroom and loses a lot of what makes level 2 enjoyable."

"I see." I frown. "Is there any way to undo that stupid Para-whatever? If you want to access level 2 again, maybe I can-"

"You can't." She cuts me off. "Nobody knows how to get rid of it. Thanks for the thought though."

"...Okay. Keep me updated in case there's something I can do."

"You'll be the first to know." I can hear her smiling.

Aleah cuts in suddenly. "Commander, Echelon 2 is in position."

I key the microphone again. "Looks like we're about to go, Star. You be careful."

"You too, Commander."

I turn off the radio and speak to Aleah. "Patch me in to Echelon 2 and 4."

"Done."

"Echelon 2, Echelon 4?"

"Yes, Commander?" NTW's dour voice comes through.

"Commander." M4's calm voice shows she's ready.

Five-seveN also looks my way expectantly.

"Good, everyone's listening. Echelon 2, you have your targets?"

"Yes." NTW replies simply. "Ready on your mark."

"M4?"

"We're at the barracks." She replies. "Ready."

"Good. Oh, and before I forget." I steel my voice. "We're killing everyone here. Nobody leaves except in a body bag."

"Roger."

"Alright." I turn to the KCCO camp. "On my ma-"

The camp suddenly lights up like a Christmas display on December first. I feel my eyes go wide as I register that the entire camp is not only awake, but armed and waiting for us.

Rows of armored T-dolls, real T-dolls and not retrofitted A-dolls, are arranged in front of us. Worst of all… two Hydras.

A loudspeaker system in the center of the camp screeches to life before I can so much as blink in confusion. "Attention all G&K forces: Surrender or be executed."

As one, Echelon 10 turns to me, waiting for orders.

Thoughts crowd my limited brain space, vying for attention. Why are they awake? How do they know it's G&K? Are they just guessing? Did the traitor UMP 45 mentioned tip them off? Did UMP 45 tip them off? Is it Echelon 6's fault or did they just miss an entire Hydra?

I cram all of those thoughts to the side. I'll figure this out later. Right now-

We're not equipped for a full scale battle.

We're hardly equipped for the stealthy slaughter we were trying for.

Still… there's a job to be done.

"MARK!" I snarl, hoping Aleah properly transmits it to the other two groups.

The dolls beside me leap into action, guns already raised and ready.

Muzzle flashes illuminate the forest as both sides open up, a hail of gunfire coming our way even as P90's hologram generator fires up.

The KCCO set up sandbags as barriers around the edge of their camp while the dolls and I dive for their cover even as the first wave of KCCO forces come our way.

I'm immediately surprised that I can still see a silhouette of the KCCO forces through the sandbags, Aleah using data collected from the dolls connected on level 2 to show me more than what I can see with my eyes. I'm eternally grateful, but I only have a fraction of a second to marvel at this help before I realize that the KCCO units are already almost upon us.

I raise my new M16A4 up over the top of the sandbags, firing blindly at the approaching wall of green and tan units marching inexorably towards us. I can hear the bullets pinging off of the KCCO units, their armor ensuring they don't go down easily.

Beside me, FAL loads a grenade into her under-barrel launcher and points her weapon almost straight up, before firing and immediately loading a second grenade before the first even hits.

The first grenade impacts behind the sandbags, destroying one of the enemies outright and knocking a few others off their feet. Then, a second grenade rains down. And then a third.

FNC and F2000 stand up after the third grenade impact and quickly start eliminating the targets still standing. P90's holograms pop up randomly to draw fire and Five-seveN is looking over herself to call out targets.

I once more raise my weapon and fire using the data from the other dolls, taking down two or three of the KCCO units before I run out of ammo and have to reload. I'm only halfway through with reloading when Five-seveN scrambles over to me.

"Commander, we need to retreat into the forest. We don't have the firepower to hold this position."

"Good point." I finish my reload. "Echelon 10, retreat to the forest. We'll be able to use the trees as cover."

FAL and FNC stand up, running for the forest as F2000 and P90 lay down covering fire. Once the two assault rifles make it to the trees, they start covering all of our retreats.

Once we're all in the forest, the KCCO pause their attack, and I take the opportunity to look at our forces.

We've already lost four of the ten dummies, both of FNC's are gone, along with one of F2000's and one of Five-seveN's. KCCO's lost… maybe a single percent of their forces. If this is a war of attrition, we're gonna lose way before they do.

"Commander!" RO's voice is strained over the connection.

"Report!"

"The barracks are empty. Right now Sop is trying to figure out where they went-"

"Commander." NTW's voice is strained. "I think we've spotted the enemy soldiers. They appear to be heading around to pincer your group."

"Great, just what we needed." I growl. "Can you try to get to them? We've got a situation on our hands as well."

"Negative. We're trying to destroy the escape vehicles." NTW replies. "They also have an attack helo."

"Yeah, that's a high priority. RO?"

"We're on it."

"Great."

P90 punches my shoulder. "Incoming!"

I glance back to see that a new wave of KCCO units, these ones looking like walking emplacement guns, start striding forwards.

"Pull back farther!" I order. "Try to keep in cover behind the trees!"

Dolls, dummies, and one human scramble backwards through the trees. I fired a few rounds at the approaching enemy, but it ended up being fruitless as the bullets once again ping off the armor of the approaching units.

"What are we going to do?" FNC whines.

I bite my lip. "FAL, do you have any more grenades?"

"Oui, I have a few. Not enough to take them all out though."

"All we need is one." I lick my lips. "Remember that ravine we passed by on the way in?"

"Yes." P90's holograms turn off, and I notice she's panting, her breath steaming in the cold night air. "What about it?"

"We're gonna knock them into it. Everyone, follow me!"

I take off at a run, Aleah silently providing invaluable assistance of a bearing toward the ravine I had mentioned earlier.

"Commander, I feel I must remind you that we're not exactly going to be able to leap over the ravine." Five-seveN cautions me.

"No need. We're going to hide in the trees when we get to the ravine. Hopefully they'll move to the edge of the ravine and we'll be able to blow up the ground they're on and collapse it."

"I see." Five-seveN nods. "I don't particularly like climbing trees, but I suppose I'll make an exception."

I resist the temptation to roll my eyes, not wanting to take my eyes off of my footing as I sprint through an untamed forest.

"Ravine is one hundred meters ahead." Aleah reports.

"Everyone, get ready to climb something. Make sure it's sturdy and not too close to the edge of the ravine."

"Roger." I get a chorus of affirmations.

"NOW!"

I quickly locate a sturdy looking tree and, with the aid of the exo suit, manage to haul myself about four meters off the ground quickly.

In a nearby tree, I watch as P90's eyes close and her hologram projector fires up. When the enemy units are in sight, she has her holograms dart to the edge of the ravine, then hop down like there's a ledge just out of sight.

Wish I had thought of that. "FAL, be ready to fire once they get close to the edge. Everyone else, prepare to fire at the backs of the stragglers."

Back in the briefing room, I had seen these units on the screen and if I remember correctly…

I look down as the first of the KCCO units, what I presume to be Nemeums, passes underneath. As the data had shown, they have thick armor up front, but if you can get behind them…

Five-seveN's voice drifts over the radio. "Three, two, one, fire!"

FAL's launcher pops once more and the grenade detonates right at the feet of one of the Nemeum. The explosion rocks the forest, the closest KCCO units being blown directly into the gorge ahead of them. The ones that weren't immediately blown into the pit find their foothold rapidly crumbling underneath them and rapidly start falling, even as they attempt to rotate around to face us. The units spread out far enough to avoid the explosion and its effects find themselves prey to the guns wielded by Echelon 10.

It's an efficient takedown.

"That's another wave down." P90 comments. "You know, maybe we should change your nickname from 'Decoy' to 'Environmental Hazard'."

I was about to retort when I'm interrupted.

"Commander, we've engaged with the human forces." M4's voice suddenly rings out. "Requesting assistance!"

"M4, hold tight. We're-"

"Commander!" F2000 calls out. "We're gonna have a problem!"

I glance over to see one of the Nemeum units had fallen over without falling into the ravine. It's clearly dead, riddled with holes. What's concerning is one of the holes had apparently hit something that contained fire, as a jet of flame is currently torching the ground near the disabled unit.

The very dry ground, covered in dead leaves from last fall.

Before my eyes, the dead loam flares up, the fire rapidly spreading in all directions away from the KCCO unit.

"M4, we might have a problem." I correct my previous statement.

"What's going on?"

"Looks like we might have caused a forest fire."

She's silent for a second. "Roger."

Five-seveN's voice cuts in. "Commander, we're going to have to retreat back to the camp if this fire spreads much further."

I chew on my lip. "Shit. Okay, new plan: we run from the fire. M4, disengage and try to meet up with us."

"Roger." M4 repeats. "We'll be with you ASAP."

"Commander." NTW's voice rejoins the chorus in my head. "The Hydras are on the move."

I curse again. "Where are they going?"

"One is heading for you, but the other is moving to intercept us. We destroyed the attack helo and it looks like they took exception to that."

"Take it down if you can, move position if you have to, and I hope I don't have to re-order you to not die."

"Roger."

I scramble down my tree as Echelon 10 descends, forming up and rapidly walking away from the still growing fire. "Hey, P90?"

"Yeah?"

"How's this for an environmental hazard?"

"...I'm sorry I opened my mouth." She grumbles.

"CONTACT!" FNC opens fire and I turn to see some humans, presumably the ones from the barracks, aiming guns in our direction.

I dive to the ground as they open fire, Echelon 10 either following suit or taking cover behind the trees. Once situated, every doll and dummy returns fire.

I watch as a few of the enemy soldiers go down, the enemy quickly mimicking our moments and hiding behind the trees or diving to the ground to present themselves as a smaller target.

I bring my rifle to bear and start firing at the targets Aleah identifies for me, hoping that Echelon 5 isn't in a position to catch any shots I miss. I'd rather not be the cause of a friendly fire incident.

Actually, I don't think I'd like to be on the receiving end of a friendly fire incident either.

I unload my entire magazine, reload, and fire at least half of my third mag when a grenade impacts a tree next to the KCCO soldier's position.

I glance at FAL, but she's firing normally, not using her grenade launcher. That means-

"Commander!" Sop's voice is cheery. "We've arrived to save the day!"

The KCCO soldiers find themselves pinned between Echelon 10, Echelon 5, and the ever growing inferno as I watch as their numbers rapidly dwindle.

It's not long before it's safe for Echelon 5 to move to our position.

RO steps up to me. "That wasn't nearly all of the humans that are supposed to be stationed here."

"Where are they then?" I ask.

She shakes her head. "No idea. Keep on the lookout."

"Hey, not to distract you from the strategy or anything," F2000 yells sarcastically. "But a big wall of fire is approaching!"

I look at RO and M4's group, making sure they're ready before speaking up. "Okay everyone, we're heading back to the camp!"

"Please remember that Echelon 2 reported one of the Hydras is coming towards us." M4 adds. "Don't take it head on, we don't have the firepower for that."

As we start to head back to base, I look over Anti-Rain's forces. "No dummies survived?"

"We were caught off guard." RO glances back at the raging fire. "I had to use mine to avoid taking excessive fire and I think it's much the same for the others."

I can see 15 fidgeting in the corner of my eye and wonder if she was able to use dummies what with her level 2 restriction. It seems like not being able to use level 2 cuts out a lot of the experience of being a doll.

P90 suddenly stops in her tracks and points ahead. "KCCO."

I follow her finger to find an assortment of KCCO units marching towards us. They don't seem to have spotted us yet, but the fire is approaching and I suspect we'll be backlit before long, allowing the enemy to see our silhouettes clearly in the dark.

In the middle of the formation is the Hydra. I hadn't really registered it in the chaos, but with each step the machine takes, the ground trembles. When it encounters a tree, it just bashes it aside without care.

"Ideas?" I ask aloud.

"I would suggest going around the Hydra." FAL replies smartly.

"Don't tell him that." 15 grumbles over the radio. "It'll just encourage him to charge it with a stick or something."

A stick?

I glance at a nearby tree, dead and fallen over.

Maybe…

"Oh, no you don't." P90 strides over and grabs my face, yanking it away from the fallen tree. "I don't care what stupid plan you're thinking of, but we're not going to do it."

"...Fine." I grumble. "I guess I don't have any way to cut down the trees anyway."

Sop's face perks up. "I could-"

"No." M4 shuts her teammate down immediately. "Any other ideas?"

"Shoot them until they die?" 15 puts forward.

"Climb more trees?" FNC asks with uncertainty.

"Call in HOC support?" Five-seveN glances at the approaching enemy.

"...Actually." M4 turns to me. "Contact base, see if we can get HOC support."

I bite back my scathing remark about a doll ordering around a human in light of the fire's heat starting to feel toasty on my neck as the wall of flame reaches ever closer.

"HQ? This is Hadwin." After having Aleah make the connection, I reach out and hope they can reach us from here.

"Hadwin, this is HQ. Send it."

"Situation's gone crazy, there's two Hydras. Requesting HOC support."

"..."

The silence on the other end seems to stretch for minutes, though it can't have been more than a few seconds.

"HOC support will be ready in approximately ten minutes."

"Ten-?! Why the hell aren't they in position already?!" I yell.

"There was a mixup with the appropriate landing zone." Whoever's on the other end of the line is apologetic. "We corrected the mistake as soon as we realized it, but the helo was low on fuel and had to return to base-"

"FUCK! Okay, keep me posted." I cut him off and turn to the assembled dolls. "HOCs are out of position, we're on our own for the next ten minutes."

"...Wow." Sop blinks. "This mission is really going sideways."

"We might have to go with Mademoiselle 15's plan." FAL sighs.

"...Shoot them until they die?" P90's voice carries notes of incredulity. "That's not a plan!"

"Do you have a better idea?" 15 demands testily.

"Oh." I blink. "I have an idea."

"What did we tell you-" RO begins, but I cut her off.

"No, this one isn't that crazy. If we can get around them and force them to hold in place, maybe we can get the fire to help take them out."

The dolls all stare at me for a few moments.

"Well, it's not completely stupid." RO mutters.

"Looks like it's the best we have for the moment." M4 glances at the approaching KCCO forces. "Let's move."

Despite some minor grumbling, we quickly start moving perpendicular to the fire and the advancing KCCO forces, attempting to get around the larger force.

I follow the dolls, bringing up the rear and mimicking their method of movement, hunched down, trying to provide the smallest visual profile to the approaching KCCO units. If they spot us before we can get around them, this entire plan will fail.

When we're halfway around, the KCCO forces halt, heralded by the Hydra's steps shifting out of the steady rhythm and shuffling around to keep its balance. The dolls and I stop moving, watching the enemy to see what they do next.

They appear to have stopped as the fire advances towards them. Yeah, it's not like they have much choice unless they plan to march straight into the flame.

"I wonder if they think we got destroyed in the fire?" Sop's voice breaks the relative silence.

"I don't know." P90 replies. "Clearly, they don't know exactly where we are-"

As if on cue, the Hydra suddenly takes a step, once more shaking the earth. Then it takes another step.

Slowly, it dawns on me that it's turning towards us. I glance at M4 and RO, but they're looking in my direction, waiting for my input.

"Keep moving." I eventually order. "It might just be turning around to retreat from the flame."

We continue moving around in a wide arc and I keep an eye on the KCCO forces as they reorient themselves to face back to their camp. Or us. Hopefully not us.

We manage to get between the KCCO forces and their base just as they finish reorienting. I end up next to a rock that's still standing, but most of the dolls get low in the trail of destruction the Hydra had made to get this far into the forest.

The fire behind the enemy leaves them all in silhouette and I have to fight to keep myself from shivering at the sight.

"Okay, Commander." FAL turns to me. "We're in position, oui?"

"Yeah." I lick my lips. "Now's the hard part."

"'Now's the hard part'?" 15 repeats back to me. "What do you mean, this is the hard part?"

"Well, now we have to hold all of the KCCO forces from overrunning us." I ready my weapon as I press myself into the boulder I'm hiding behind. "And they're the ones prepared for this."

"Hey, M4?" 15 turns to her leader.

"Yes?"

"I request leave, starting immediately."

M4 glances at 15 with a slightly puzzled face. "Really?"

"...No." 15 sighs.

"They're coming." Five-seveN checks her magazine. "They'll be on us in ten seconds."

I poke my gun around the tree and pull the trigger, the dolls and remaining dummies following suit.

The KCCO immediately react, the Nemeums halting and setting down to protect their feet, where the other units suddenly fixate on the patch of woods we inhabit. Return fire commences and I'm forced to hide behind the tree once more. Out of the corner of my eye, I see Sop preparing a grenade.

"Sop, hold off on the grenade." I call out.

"Eh? Why?" Her bright eyes catch mine, her hands still loading the round into the underbarrel launcher.

"We're going to use the fire to take out as many of them as we can, you'll need the grenade for stragglers."

"Commander, I would advise the opposite." M4 states. "I'm not confident that we can hold them back without the use of grenades."

"...Alright, Sop, go ahead." M4 has a lot more experience in this, so I'll defer to her judgement.

Sop steps out and raises her weapon, firing the grenade right into the center ranks. Several of the Nemeums fall forwards, their stubby legs not able to right themselves. Now there's a hole in their formation and the other ground units rush to fill the hole.

I aim for the units filling the breach and let loose more gunfire. When I finish off this magazine, I realize something particularly disturbing. I'm down to my last magazine. I didn't think I'd need to bring more than five, but…

Suddenly, the Hydra starts to move, it's leg crushing a fallen Nemeum that happened to be underfoot. The reason quickly becomes apparent, as one of the hind feet lifts into the air and burning debris falls off.

The fire had arrived.

"It's on the move!" I yell unnecessarily. "Make sure to keep backing up, only take easy targets!"

The dolls start scrambling backwards, somehow still finding the time to fire backwards as they vault over fallen trees and sprint between the large rocks for cover.

I'd be impressed if I wasn't busy scrambling from cover to cover with all my might, just trying not to get hit.

"Last mag!" F2000 yells after about 30 seconds of this.

"Same!" FNC chimes in.

"FUCK! If you're out, just focus on getting out of here!" I snarl, noting that the condition technically applies to me as well.

Suddenly, 15 vaults over the rock I'm behind and almost lands on top of me. I manage to squirm out of the way as she immediately drops her magazine and grabs another from the pocket of her jacket.

"I only have two more myself." She states calmly. "Looks like the fire strategy wasn't effective enough."

I rub my face with my left hand, which hurts since I put too much force into it due to the new prosthetic. "Okay." I pull my last magazine out of my tac vest. "15, you can use this better than I can."

She takes it wordlessly.

"Looks like this operation failed." I call to everyone. "Just retreat as fast as you can. We'll see if we can steal some of their weapons to use against them from back in their camp."

"Eh…" Sop's voice sounds put off.

"Do we have to?" FAL asks.

"...It's better than dying out here, isn't it?" I retort.

"I suppose." FAL grumbles.

15 grabs my collar and breaks into a sprint, dragging me behind her much faster than I could have run by myself.

We rapidly leave the KCCO behind, the smaller forces not being anywhere near nimble enough to navigate the forest at the speed we can, and the Hydra is kind of slow by default.

Still, by the time we get to the base, they're only a minute or so behind us.

"Commander-" NTW's voice is strained. "We need assistance."

"Eh?"

"The Hyrda is chasing us around. We're having a hard time sha-"

I hear the sound of the second Hydra's cannon firing as the transmission cuts off.

"NTW?" I ask. "NTW, come in."

Nothing.

I can feel some panic building in my head. "...Echelon 10."

"Oui?" Five-seveN turns to me.

"New mission: Go support Echelon 2. 5 and I will deal with this."

M4 and RO look at me like I'm crazy, but Five-seveN nods.

P90 steps up next to me. "You sure you can handle this?"

"No." I reply, grinning slightly at her exasperated expression. "But I've got a pretty good idea of what I can do. You five make sure Echelon 2 can make it back as well."

"Of course!" P90's face splits into a grin. "We're up against one of the strongest KCCO units, so this should be a cakewalk!"

I watch as the five dolls and… two remaining dummies group up and start heading for the second Hydra, which is on the other side of the camp.

"I hope you actually have a plan." RO steps up to me.

"I do." I check my M16 and realize it has only five bullets left inside of it. I sling it over my shoulder and pull out my pistol instead. "We need to head to their armory."

"And where is that?" 15 asks.

"If this base is laid out like the last one I blundered through-" I turn and point three tents over. "-right there."

We jog over, weapons at the ready, and in what has to be the first thing going right since this mission started, the tent is marked as the armory. At least, I think it is. It's marked the same way the other tent was, but since I can't read Russian I'll have to trust M16's translation. In any case, we're in the right place.

Too bad the good news ran out as soon as we entered the tent.

"...Wow." Sop pokes her head in. "This place is really empty."

Panic starts to build once again, as I realize I can feel the steps of the approaching Hydra again. We don't have the time to find an empty-

"There's some crates in the back." M4 snaps me out of my stupor. "Hadwin, what are we looking for?"

"Anything explosive. Fuck. I was hoping we could rig this tent to explode like I did before."

"...Hadwin, why are you blowing things up without us to protect you?" 15 asks.

"It was either that or have Gager cut my guts out." I deadpan.

"...I see." She opens one of the two crates and pulls out an RPG of some kind and a single rocket.

RO opens the second crate and pulls out some green boxes about 30 cm across.

"An AT4 with a single HEAT round and ten claymore mines." M4 summarizes. "Not enough to take down one Hydra, let alone two."

"...Sop." I grab the excitable doll's attention. "Assuming you had some time, could you do something with the claymores?"

"I…" She hesitates. "I think so."

M4 looks at her subordinate. "Chance?"

"Eh… maybe 70%?"

"Good enough." She turns to me. "What are we going to do with the AT4?"

"I'll use it." I state. "You all need to keep guarding Sop while she makes her improvised bomb."
I turn to Sop and place a hand on her shoulder. "I'm going to distract it. When you have a chance, plant the bomb and bring the Hydra down."

"No!" 15 strides up to me and grabs my shoulder. "No! I'm not going to let you go out there to die!"

I give her a look. "You have a better idea?"

"..."

RO take a deep breath. "Okay, how about this." She points at M4 and 15. "You two take Sop to the main armory-"

I blink. Oh, I didn't know there was more than one, but then again… there's only explosives in both of these tents…

"-and guard Sop while equipping yourselves. I'll stay here and make sure our Field Agent doesn't do anything particularly stupid. After all," she heaves a large sigh. "I'm the only one here that can be brought back."

I give her a look. "That's-"

15 looks between the two of us. "Fine. Hadwin, I'll be coming back for you personally if you don't take care of yourself."

"Why does every doll threaten to kill me if I die?" I ask rhetorically.

"It happens when the guy you have a crush on acts like he has no brain." RO rolls her eyes.

"Got it." I turn to the other three. "The Hydra seems like it's already here."

"With how long we've been here, if they knew where we were, they would have reached us already." M4 states. "Okay, keep out of sight as long as you can. Only fire when you are discovered or if we're about to be discovered. Buy us as much time as you can."

I take the launcher and rocket from 15. "Sounds good."

M4 gestures to her teammates. "Form up."

They move out of the tent and then there's just the two of us left with a rocket launcher between us.

I turn to RO. "Ready?"

She gives me a look. "No. And neither are you." She grabs the AT4 from my hands. "Do you know how to operate this?"

"...Yes." I lie.

She sighs before taking the rocket from me as well, tucking the rocket into the tube. "I'm not too familiar with the AT4, but I was talking with our AT4 unit before and I think I remember-" The rocket clicks in place. "...I guess that seems right. See this?" She points to a pin on the back of the launch tube. "Pull that out to arm it. Then disengage both safeties, make sure nothing's behind you, then pull on this level and push this button to fire it."

"...What? Why is it so complicated?"

"To avoid accidentally discharging and killing a whole squad." She retorts.

"And what was that about making sure nothing's behind me?"

"The AT4 is recoilless. It has a significant backblast that could kill someone if they're right behind it or if you're in a building."

I swallow. "Roger, don't fire next to a wall."

"Not unless you want to toast yourself." She shakes her head. "Now-"

The tent flap opens. I glance over to see…

The KCCO Aegis unit looks back at me.

For a second, we stare at each other in surprise.

RO raises her weapon and blasts the unit in the chest, bringing it down. "So much for stealth."

"Time to go." I lick my lips nervously as I see more movement outside the tent flap.

"But there's only one entrance." RO grimaces.

I pull out a knife. "Not for long."

I step into the farther corner and jab the point through the thick canvas, putting all of my weight into the knife and cutting the thick fabric.

After a few seconds, I realize the canvas is actually tearing itself apart, the spot I had chosen was apparently under tension holding the tent up. As the tear progresses, the rest of the tent starts to sag.

"Uh oh." I mutter.

I scramble through the opening, RO right on my heels as the tent collapses.

We're immediately spotted by some of the KCCO on the other side of the tent and several of them raise weapons to open fire.

RO and I run away, turning to put a tent between us and them. I don't think it'll save us from their weapon, but it should make us harder to target.

To the side, a massive leg crashes down, the Hydra once more on the move. I glance in its direction and note that yes, it's coming for us.

Okay.

"Hey M4?" RO asks.

"Yes?"

"ETA?"

"Three minutes."

Aleah puts up a three minute timer that looks like a digital display hovering over my wrist. Speaking of timers-

"Aleah, patch me into HQ again."

"Connected."

"Hadwin to HQ."

"HQ, send it."

"HOC status?"

"Still en route."

"Oh for fuck's-" I snarl. "ETA?"

"Five minutes."

"It was ten minutes ten minutes ago!"

"There's been a complication." HQ reports. "HOC unit M2 will report in once in position."

"Thanks." I turn to RO. "HOC's are out of position."

"I heard." She replies. "I think we might be in trouble, Hadwin."

"What? Why?" I turn to look where she's pointing.

Oh.

We're headed right for the other Hydra. There's no way I can handle two of them at once.

"They're trying to pincer us again." I realize.

"Yes. If we want to avoid that, we need to head that way." She points.

I immediately change course and RO continues following me right at my heels. Thankfully, the other Hydra isn't paying us any attention at the moment, so we only have about thirty assorted KCCO units along with a Hydra on our tails rather than 30 units and two Hydras.

"Hey, Echelon 10, report." I call.

"P90's keeping it distracted for now." Five-seveN's voice is strained. "We've recovered NTW and Type 92's cores and the rest of Echelon 2 are still able to move. P7's lost her arm and firearm though, she's unable to continue combat."

My heart hitches at the mention of needing to recover cores, but I assure myself that they're recoverable. "Good, well, try to keep it busy. We should have the first Hydra down in three and then hopefully we'll have HOC support in five."

"Roger that, Commander." She pauses. "Wish us luck."

"Luck." I reply.

Suddenly, RO grabs my shoulder and pulls me in between two of the tents. I open my mouth to speak, but she holds a finger to her lips in a shushing gesture.

I stand in place, staying as still and silent as I can. RO taps my arm and presses the AT4 into my hands. Then she points towards where the Hydra's footsteps are coming from, holding up first three fingers, then two and one.

I nod to her and start going through the checklist to let the rocket fly. Both safeties off, the pin is removed, So I have to hold down this lever-

A shadow, cast from the ever growing flames, passes the alley formed by the tents. I keep myself from starting as I watch even more of the enemy stream past.

They've lost us again, I guess.

RO leans in, bringing her mouth next to my ear. "Wait until they've passed us, then we'll fire at them from behind and head back towards M4 and the rest."

I nod slightly.

We remain as still as possible, watching the KCCO pass.

The Hydra is the last to walk past us and RO holds up her hand.

She slowly drops her fingers, and when she gets to zero, I carefully move out from between the two tents. The Hydra is still facing away from us and I raise the tube to aim at the large robot.

There's a sight on the tube, but at this range-

I glance behind me, satisfied that the backblast isn't going to kill me or RO, squeeze the lever and push the button as RO had instructed-

With a loud POP, the tube jerks in my hands and fractions of a second later the rocket smashes into the back of the Hydra.

RO sweeps up to me and grabs my arm, hauling me backwards before I can tell if I had done any damage.

I suppose my answer comes in the form of the Hydra suddenly deciding to move a lot quicker than it had been, crushing some of its allies underfoot. I break into a sprint, the exo suit providing me with more speed than I would usually, RO keeping up without issue.

Behind us, the Hydra decides to beeline it, charging straight through the tents in the way, crashing through vehicles and lockers, sending debris and paperwork into the air.

"M4!" RO calls.

"We're ready!" M4 calls back. Bring it here!"

Aleah pops up a marker on the HUD provided by the Linker, and RO and I sprint towards it, taking only the most minor of detours to dodge obstacles.

I barely register Sop and 15 holding onto… something as I sprint by, not willing or able to slow down. RO continues on with me, glancing back, I note that the Hydra also ignores the rest of AR team.

Good.

Seconds later, one of its rear legs vaporizes in an explosion, and the giant robot crashes to the ground.

To my dismay, it's not dead. It's cannon adjusts and seems to be pointing right at me.

Then, I notice 15 has more of the explosives in her hands as she leaps onto the Hydra, strapping the improvised bomb to the base of the cannon.

She leaps clear and this second explosive detonates, severing the cannon.

M4, Sop and 15 run up to us, and I watch as the Hydra attempts to get to its feet, only to fall back down.

"It's about as dead as we can afford to make it right now." 15 grimaces.

"That's not very dead at all." I grumble.

"Commander?" Five-seveN's voice distracts me from the struggling behemoth.

"Yeah?"

"We could use some help, if you'd be so kind."

"I'll be there ASAP." I turn to Anti-Rain. "M4, did you all get re-armed?"

She nods.

"Good. Can you take out the remaining KCCO forces? I'm going to go assist Echelon 10 and 2."

RO and M4 look at each other. "Do you have a plan?"

I point to the second Hydra. "The HOC will be in position soon, I hope. In the meantime, I'm gonna try to destroy it through other means." I blink. "Er, does anyone have a grenade? I might need it."

15 hands me a grenade. "Be careful with it."

"Of course." I assure her.

"...Good luck." RO says.

"You're going to let him go?" 15 asks incredulously.

"He's right." M4 readies her weapon. "Someone needs to route the enemy."

Sop reloads her own weapon. "Haddy, we'll make sure that none of the others get to you! You focus on taking the other Hydra down!"

I nod to her and turn, the massive Hydra guiding me to where I want to go.

It's not really that far away. This camp isn't that big.

I skid to a halt a little too late, the exo suit going a little faster than I expected it to.

The Hydra clearly notices me and rotates to face me, prioritizing me over-

As hard as it might be to think, I forgot the Hydra completely for a moment.

NTW, F2000, FAL, and Type 92 are all lying lifeless on the ground. Not just dummies, but the actual dolls. Half of NTWs torso is gone, and FAL looks like she was crushed underfoot. Type 92 and F2000 are not much better than the other two.

P90's holograms wink out and I spot the panting doll standing in front of the remains of Echelon 10 and 2.

We make eye contact. Her voice drifts over the radio.

"My hologram generators are about to fail."

Her voice is tired. Too tired.

My vision narrows as I focus on the Hydra and I see red.

I raise my dinky pistol and fire a shot at the Hydra. "HEY!"

The Hydra's cannon aims towards me.

Good, I have its attention.

I turn around and sprint away, only stopping briefly to make sure it's following me.

It is.

"Aleah, gimme a map of this place." I pant.

She dutifully brings up the map as provided and I find my target.

No clue if this will work, but fuck it. Time to gamble.

What do you need if you have a large military camp with lots of vehicles? Fuel. I've seen firsthand how volatile the stuff can be after sitting for a few years. How much damage can an entire camp's worth of fresh fuel do to a Hydra?

I'm going to find out or die trying.

The fueling area is a semicircle of cleared area so multiple vehicles can hook up to the fuel tanker sitting there, surrounded by spare fuel barrels.

Five-seveN's voice comes through the radio. "Commander, what are you doing?"

"Distracting it!" I snarl. "Get clear!"

"What-"

"DO IT!"

I run around the tanker, listening to the furious pace of the Hydra's footsteps. It's almost here-

I pull the pin on the grenade and lob in behind me at the fuel truck.

The Hydra takes a step over the fuel truck, it's cannon adjusting to track me.

I point my pistol at the Hydra and pull the trigger.

The grenade goes off right after I shoot it and the fuel truck goes up in a magnificent explosion, followed by several secondary explosions from the fuel barrels being blown away or detonating themselves.

The bright light is blinding, but I swear the Hydra is launched a few feet into the air. The blast is deafening from this range, the heat like standing in the sunlight in the summer.

It falls over, the ground shaking as it crashes down.

My legs give out and I collapse to the ground as well, panting, waiting for the ringing in my ears to die down.

"Commander?!" Several doll voices cry out.

"I'm okay." I cough, the thick smoke getting into my lungs. "Does anyone have eyes on the Hydra?"

"No."

"Nope."

A bunch more negatives come in.

Oh well.

I slowly get to my feet, my joints protesting the sudden sprinting I had just been doing. I need to make sure the Hydra is dead.

A giant leg crushed the remains of the fuel truck.

I watch in horror as the Hydra slowly comes through the smoke. The underside is charred and slightly misshapen, but it still manages to get to its feet.

It steps over the fuel truck as I start backing away, cannon swiveling to aim at me.

Suddenly, Echelon 10 sprints out into the intervening space between me and the Hydra, guns at the ready. F2000 has a rocket launcher.

Wait, F2000?

I glance to the side and see P90 panting heavily, her holograms clearly having a toll on her. I scramble towards her as the Hydra focuses on the hologram aiming an AT4 at it.

I get about halfway to P90 when the holograms suddenly flicker and die.

P90's eyes go wide as the Hydra apparently loses patience with her, the cannon pointing her way and firing.

P90's body flies out of side from the impact.

"Mortar strike on my mark!" I vaguely hear M4's voice in my ear.

I barely register the Hydra behind me, or even the explosion as something falls from the sky on top of the machine. No, I'm completely focused on P90.

I don't even remember how I got to her, but I remember finding her corpse, everything below her legs just gone. I can see her metal skeleton, and sitting up near where a heart would be on a human…

A core. A damaged core.

I reach in, the electricity zapping me a few times and forcing me to draw my hand back, but I persist, grabbing the core and holding it up.

It's got a chunk missing from it.

I can feel the panic start to build in my chest-

A pair of arms wrap around me from behind. It takes me a few seconds to realize someone is hugging me from behind. "Uh… 15?"

She squeezes tighter. "Hadwin, she's not dead. We just have to restore her from the G&K server, okay?"

I can feel my rate of breath slow down as the panic slowly drains out of me. Right. Not dead. I swallow a few times to try to calm myself. "I… What happened to the Hydra? Did the HOC kill it?"

She shakes her head and I only know this because she had set her head on my back. "It ran away with most of the remaining KCCO when the HOC started firing. We only landed one hit on it."

"Fuck."

M4 steps into view. "Hadwin, helo's three minutes out. They don't want to stick around due to the fire, so when they get here, we're going."

I nod and 15 gives me one last squeeze before letting go.

I look back down at P90's still form, lifeless eyes… Ah.

I crouch down and gently pull the patch out of her gas mask, where she had kept it since I gave it to her. She'll want it back.

"Commander." Five-seveN comes up from behind me. "We've recovered everyone's cores."

P7 holds up her remaining hand when she sees what I have in mine. "I got their patches too!"

I turn to RO. "Quick, are there any networks around here you can access? They knew we were coming and I want to know why."

RO's eyes go blank and Sop joins her after a second.

"We're gonna need to get somewhere away from the smoke for the helicopter to land." Five-seveN notes.

M4 nods. "I think this camp has a helipad that should be far enough away."

We trudge to the helipad, M4 and 15 practically dragging their teammates along with us.

By the time we get to the pad, the sound of rotors is loud enough to pinpoint the helo's location, even if it wasn't running lights. RO and Sop snap out of their trances as it sets down in front of us.

"Everyone on!" M4 calls.

We pile in and I buckle myself up next to RO. "Find anything?"

She shakes her head. "I downloaded everything I could find. We'll sift through it later."

"Roger." I hold P90's core out in front of me, as if it could give me answers. "I failed."

"No, you didn't." RO places her hand on my leg. "Who knows how many of us would have made it out of that mess if you weren't there."

"Probably everyone."

She shakes her head. "Definitely not. As far as we're concerned, you went above and beyond." A small smile crosses her lips. "I'm grateful you're working with us, Commander."

I close my eyes and lay my head into my seat, the emotion and effort of the past half an hour finally getting to me, causing me to tear up. I'm so tired, every single joint hurts…

"RO?"

"Yes?"

"I'm going to take a nap. Wake me when we land."

"Of course, Commander."

---

I'm jarred awake as the helicopter touches down, main rotor already winding down as it prepares to shut off for the evening. Aleah helpfully provides a clock, showing me it's actually past 0300.

Okay, so not evening.

I open my hand up to make sure I still have P90's core and her patch. I kept them in my right hand so I wouldn't accidentally crush them in my sleep. Sure enough, they're both here and intact. Or, mostly intact, in the core's case. I don't know why I kept it, but… I dunno.

Ro taps my shoulder. "Ah, you're awake."

"Mmm." My tongue is thick in my mouth and I swallow a few times to lubricate it. "Thanks."

"Are you okay?" She asks, a hint of worry in her voice.

"Yeah, I'll be fine." I release the restraints and carefully stand up, climbing out of the helo right after Sop.

I nod to the pilot, who surprisingly throws me a salute, and I half-heartedly return it.

Shit, all I want right now is a shower and bed.

15 falls in step with me as I catch up with her. "Are you okay?"

"...I'll manage. Are you okay?"

She nods. "None the worse for wear."

"That's good." I'm unable to suppress the yawn that comes over me. "Oh, sorry."

"You're fine." She hesitates. "Do you need any help?"

I glance at her. "With what?"

"Oh, you know, getting the exo suit off, or… I don't know, finding your room?"

My tired brain realizes that she's trying to stick with me for a while longer before heading her own way for the night. "Thanks Star, but I'm good for tonight. I'm just going to head to my room and plug in the exo suit there, take a shower, and go to sleep."

She nods. "Well, if you decide to change your mind…"

I focus on 15's face as it starts turning as pink as her hair. You know, I'm starting to think I may have misread what her intentions were. Nevertheless-

I wrap my arm around her shoulders and pull her in for a quick side hug. "I appreciate it. I really do, but I'm seriously tired. We'll talk in the morning, okay?"

She nods, her face even more red than before. "W-well, goodnight Hadwin.

"Goodnight Star." I let her go and she splits off towards the barracks.

God, I'm tired.

I run into Commander Gentiane on my way to the human barracks and she informs me that since she's going to bed now, I can go to bed now and no reports need to be written until everyone involved has had at least a few hours of sleep. I decided not to argue, not that I would have had the energy to.

Once I get to my door, it takes me a few tries to access my room, the keycard seeming to be plotting against me to keep me from sleep as long as possible. I eventually get it to scan properly and push open my door, flicking on the lights and, out of habit, calling "I'm home."

"Welcome back." I stop in place, then slowly rotate to find a grinning UMP 45 sitting in my desk chair, though her grin dims significantly when she sees how tired I look. "Scheisse, you look like you just fought two Hydras and kind of won, but also caused a massive forest fire."

"I take it you were monitoring the entire mission?"

She nods and I turn away from her, moving over to the nearest outlet so I can plug the exo suit in when I take it off. Aleah disconnects the linker after I unplug it from the suit, and suddenly I feel like I weigh twice as much. Next time I talk to her, I need to thank Aleah for her assistance. It's invaluable.

After I climb out of the exo suit, I plug the linker in and set it on the desk, making sure Aleah's able to access the network so she's not cooped up in the headset, then turn to UMP 45. "Is there a reason you're here?"

She feigns being offended. "I thought you'd be happy to see me! After all, what's nicer than a soft, warm doll after a hard mission?"

"I dunno, sleep?"

She snorts. "Spoilsport. No, I'm actually here for a different reason." Her face hardens. "Remember what I said before you left?"

"Something about a traitor?"

"Yes. If you recall, 404 was called in to examine the G&K networks to see who was accessing their files. We found a bunch of traces leading back to Paradeus, but so far, we've had a lot of trouble pinpointing who it is. Whoever it is, they're really good at hiding their tracks. Cameras never catch them doing anything, they never log in with the wrong credentials… We've had to fight for every scrap of information."

She gets up out of my desk chair only to flop down on my bed. "Whoever it is, they're been screwing with your missions since you got here, and with anything G&K does for about three months now. Even tonight, we found that he or she was manipulating the coordinates of the HOC deployment site, which delayed the pilot being able to get the HOCs into position."

"You weren't able to correct it?"

She shakes her head. "By the time I was aware of it, the pilot had already approached the wrong AO and called it in. That's when I looked further into it and found the tampering. Still, I don't know who it was."

I pull a set of boxers and a t-shirt out of my bag and walk to the bathroom.

UMP 45 calls after me. "Want me to join you?"

I resist the urge to sigh. "If you want to, I guess."

She laughs lightly. "Well then, don't mind if I do."

She walks into the bathroom only to find me glaring at her. "What?"

"...Nothing." I step into the shower, still clothed, and close the curtain.

I hear her hop up and sit on the counter, knocking something into the sink. "Ah, where was I?" She continues to talk as I undress and toss my clothes out of the shower. "Oh, yes, the traitor. We also found records of the main communications array being used to send some sort of burst transmission to the KCCO camp. I wasn't able to track down the contents, but someone clearly alerted the KCCO of our presence here."

"Can't have even a moment's break, huh?"

"Nope." Her voice is way too cheerful for the topic being discussed. "In fact, I've had to recover the data for Project Theta four times since you and I claimed it from the drives in that Paradeus base. All of our recovered Paradeus corpses have had relevant data scrubbed from their systems, and all in all, it looks like someone really doesn't want us to know anything about Paradeus."

"It sounds like this traitor might be working with Paradeus." I comment dryly, turning on the shower and speaking up over the rush of the water.

"It does. In fact, I have good reason to suspect that the reason Anisim was at that party to get the key was an insider."

"Hmm…" The water sloughing off my body is various shades of black-gray, with the occasional red as a small scrape or scratch opens up under the harsh water jet. "Wait, if they're working for Paradeus, why did they alert the KCCO?"

"Probably to get rid of either M4, you, or both. You've demonstrated that you're entirely capable of fighting for G&K, and since nobody expected you to survive this long, their calculations are probably all way off."

"Good. Anything to annoy Anisim." I put some soap in my hair and a fresh new wave of smoke and dust washes off of my scalp.

"I'm sure he's tearing his hair out."

I finish scrubbing myself down, and as much as I'd like to just let the warm water wash over me for longer, I really need to sleep. I turn off the water and hold my hand around the shower curtain. "Towel please."

45 hops back off the counter, but instead of handing me the towel, she throws the curtain open.

I glare at her, snatching the towel from her hands and quickly wrapping myself in it.

She smirks, but leaves the bathroom. I put on my selected pajamas and head out to the main room, collapsing in the bed.

45 sits down on the side of the bed. "Don't tell anyone I told you this. I've managed to narrow down the possible culprits, and the list has a worrying amount of important people on it."

"Got it." I reply.

"No, I mean it. Don't tell dolls, don't tell Gentiane, don't tell 416, 9, or G11. I shouldn't even be telling you this, since you're still kind of on the list of candidates, but I find myself trusting you." She grins. "My, I wonder if you'll abuse that trust?"

"Ha ha." I pretend to laugh. "Hey, how could I be a suspect if stuff was going wrong before I showed up?"

She shrugs. "Paradeus isn't being forced to only have one spy."

"...Shit."

"Yes, that is an appropriate response." She makes a big show of looking at a non-existent watch. "Well, I need to get back to my room before 9 starts looking for me. It's been fun, Hadwin."

"Likewise." I say in a deadpan.

She reaches over with her mechanical hand, the fingertips brushing my cheeks gently, an oddly affectionate look on her face. "Gute Nacht, mein lieber Kommandant." Then, before I can react, she leans down and brushes her lips on my cheek.

"Ah-" I scramble to form words, but she's out the door before I can articulate anything. "...She's going to give me a heart attack one day." I grumble, before rolling over, the light in the room still on, and passing out where I lay.

---

"Commander?"

My bleary eyes open slowly, and it takes me a few seconds to realize someone is in the room with me. Or, a few someones.

I sit up and rub my eyes. "Morning." After I get my eyes to focus properly for a few seconds, I realize it's FAL and Five-seveN. "Can I help you?"

"Yes." FAL seems really subdued and alarm bells start sounding in my head. "Can you get P90's core?"

I stand up and grab the core, before presenting it to Five-seveN. "Here you go."

"Actually…" FAL hesitates. "We think you should come with us."

Something in the way she says those words sends a surge of fear and adrenaline through my system, waking me up faster than any coffee would be able to. "Let me get dressed."

I throw on a clean G&K uniform, not even bothering to tuck in my shirt or put on the tie, and I follow the two dolls out of my room. They lead me to the repair bay and I realize this is the first time I've been in the T-doll repair facility.

I suppose the dolls don't particularly like it here, the way most humans don't care for hospitals.

Five-seveN brings me right up to a man in his forties. He's got lots of grease on him and his welder's apron, and said apron is full of tools. When he notices us, he wipes his hands on a rag and offers me a hand. "You must be the new Field Agent!"

I smile slightly. "Hadwin Galanis."

"I'm Vance." Vance spreads his arms out wide. "Welcome to my domain, where dolls come to get better."

"Well, I guess I have to thank you for that."

FAL clears her throat and Vance stops whatever he was about to say. "Ah, yes, you're here for a reason." He coughs into his fist. "So, do you have P90's core?"

"Yes." I produce the core and set it down carefully on the table. "Is there a problem?"

Vance hesitates and I whip around to look at Five-seveN and FAL, neither of whom are willing to look me in the eye.

"...What's going on?" I demand.

"Well…" Vance scratches his head. "It looks like… uh, P90's neural cloud backup got erased."

At that moment, a bomb could have gone off and I don't think I would have noticed. My body feels like it freezes over and I realize I'm completely out of it when the next thing I recall is Five-seveN shaking my shoulders.

"Field Agent?" Vance tilts his head.

"She's… she's dead?"

Vance taps his fingers on the desk. "I'm not gonna lie to you, Hadwin. I'm told you have a strong bond with the dolls, especially P90, so this is probably going to be hard to hear, but I need you to listen to me."

My attention locks onto Vance with an intensity I didn't know I could muster. "Listening."

"Well… we have two options. The first, better option, would be if we can recover her off of that core." He lightly taps the cube I had placed on the desk. "Depending on how much is left, I might get all of her… or I might only get some of her. It really depends on how badly the core was damaged."

"And the other option?" I prompt.

"If we can't recover her off the core… we're going to have to download the default P90 personality. It would be like she's fresh off the factory line."

"...That sounds horrible."

"Yes, but I wanted you to brace yourself. If we can't get the data off the core, you're going to see P90 walking around, but… eh, in the parlance of other commanders I've talked to, it won't be your P90."

I push the core closer to him. "Well, here you go. Please."

He gently takes the cube. "I'll start working on it. I'll send word once I have something to tell you."

"Thanks." I stand up. "I… I think I need to…"

FAL grabs my arm. "Commander, why don't we get breakfast? Maybe you'll feel better after eating something."

"Yeah. Maybe." I let the doll guide me out of the repair bay to Springfield's for some sort of breakfast.

The dolls around me eat and chat as normal, and it's to my great relief that I see several of the dolls that had fallen last night. NTW and F2000 specifically approach me and say hi. I'm under no illusions that one of the other dolls told them that I was super worried and they stopped by just to reassure me, but I still find myself grateful for the gesture.

Still...

Every time my phone vibrates, I immediately snatch it up and read the notification, both anticipating and dreading whatever news I might get. I feel like that time mom was in the hospital and I was worried she'd never come out of surgery.

Then, after an hour of jumping at every noise my phone makes, it starts to ring, the number unknown. I answer it and hold it to my ear.

"Hello?"

"Is this Hadwin?" Vance's voice asks.

"Yes, it is." I see the rest of the dolls in the cafe tense up. "Is she…?"

"Hadwin…"

My heart starts to sink just from his tone.

"I'm afraid that P90's unrecoverable. I'm sorry."

The phone slips from my fingers, but I hardly register it.

The world goes gray, the dolls grow silent, and something inside of me, something important, shatters never to be whole again.

---

Author Notes:
This chapter started with a date, right? How did I get here?
Hadwin's continued sleepless torture continues right after these messages~

Beta Notes:
Welp, that sucks for Hadwin. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
Then again, you can't spell "Girls Frontline" without depression and PTSD, amirite?
Right…?
Anyways: You guys keep those reviews up. Johnny and I love to read those reviews. Right Johnny? :p