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.

26. Chapter 26: A Little Slice of Home

Outside Kruševac. April 9th, 0730.

I step outside the buggy, stretching my cramped legs out.

We had driven through the night, and… Well, I'd say I was exhausted, but given how the past few weeks have gone, it's not actually that bad comparatively. Still, I look forward to getting into the city and out of this uniform.

G11 hops off of the nearby buggy as the APC rolls to a stop. "Hey, commander?"

"What's up?" I turn to the smaller doll as she steps up to me.

"Why are we stopping?"

I look out towards the massive wall that's tantalizingly close. "We're not going to be admitted until 1000, so we're gonna make some breakfast, rest a bit, and then drive in."

"Oh." She frowns. "So, we're not sneaking in?"

"Why would we?" I shrug. "After all, we have an invitation."

"Really?"

"Ja." 45 steps out of the APC and strides over, weapon held low. "Anisim himself sent it."

I glance over at her. "Expecting trouble?"

"Of course. I always expect trouble."

G11 tugs on my jacket. "If Anisim sent it, why are we trusting him?"

"Don't look at me. I have no idea."

"Because." M4A1 steps up next to me, glaring at me. "If you had paid any attention during Commander Gentiane's briefing, you'd know that he's got a reason for us to be there."

"Really? I don't remember that." I scratch my head.

"I was probably asleep." G11 says sheepishly.

M4 sighs. "You're hopeless."

"Me, or G11?"

"You. G11's one of the best shots we have."

G11 beams at M4 and I snort.

"It seems Anisim thinks of himself as a gentleman, or something." 45 shrugs. "The whole, 'we don't shoot each other unless we're on the battlefield' type of guy."

"On one hand, that's stupid." AEK walks over, brushing her hair out from the motorcycle wind. "On the other hand, I hear he was at the event Hadwin went to and you guys had conversations."

"That's true…" I mutter. "But next time I see him he's losing his head."

"Y'know, bro…" AEK whacks my shoulder. "You've really started to embrace the whole 'vicious' thing."

"Hmm?"

"Like, breaking 'Cardo's fingers. You become really hostile occasionally."

I grimace. "Right. Trying to reign that in. Don't want to get kicked out of Griffin."

"Kicked out?" M4 raises an eyebrow. "There'd be a riot. 15 probably would disappear again."

I turn to look at her. "Again?"

M4 shakes her head and ignores my question. "You're not going to get kicked out unless you do something really stupid."

"Like breaking the hands of prisoners?"

"...Yes."

"Don't worry. If he gets kicked out, he has us." 45 butts her way back into the conversation.

"I don't really find that comforting, but okay." AEK eyes the illegal doll. "By the way, Haddy, I had a question."

"Yeah?"

"For later." She waves my attention away. "I'll hit you up on Level 2 or something."

"Good luck with that." M4 turns to AEK with a hint of amusement on her face. "He's never on."

"It's better to send him an email." 45 nods.

"I guess it's 'or something' then." AEK shrugs. "I'm gonna go fuel up my bike while we have the chance."

"I wonder what she wants?" 45 hums to herself.

"Probably just wants to talk." I stretch again, my muscles complaining about being active after so long sitting stagnant. "So, has anyone been to Kruševac before? I'd like to get a good idea of what I'm walking into this time."

"This is why you're a Field Agent, not a commander." M4 shakes her head.

G11 comes to my defense. "I think he's a good commander even if he doesn't know all of that stuff. He's always there for us."

"Yeah, but doing that could get me and everyone else killed." I pat her head. "M4's right, but I appreciate it."

She smiles up at me and I have to resist the urge to give her candy, or something.

"Let me call RO." M4 glances away and her eyes glaze over slightly.

45 steps up to me and smirks. "Looks like you get to spend even more quality time with your favorite tactician."

"If you're jealous, you can sit in on the meeting." I snark.

"Oh! Can I?" G11 tugs on my sleeve again.

I pat G11's head absently without breaking my stare with 45. "Sure, G11."

"Well, I can't have you all to myself, now can I?" 45 shrugs after a few seconds, conceding her loss.

I have to admit, I don't really get 45. She certainly acts different in public and private, but not too different. She's always vaguely hostile, kinda flirty, and definitely evil, but in private she's slightly more flirty. Like, when she holds my hand for a few seconds when we're alone, or how last week she promptly let go of me when we walked outside.

For the briefest of moments, the thought crosses my head that she's possibly just a bit shy, but I quickly dismiss the idea as ludicrous.

RO and 15 walk up, RO holding a datapad. I nod to her as she approaches and she hands the datapad over to me. "Here's the layout of Kruševac."

I look down at the streetmap of the city and start picking certain spots out.

According to what I had read before about the city, it's become a local center. They set up walls to defend against the ELIDs and collapse fluid, which allowed them to persevere. Just like Sector 3, they had to rebuild higher and higher to house the massive population since going outwards wasn't exactly easy.

The main thoroughfare where most of the festivities are going to be held tomorrow is easy to spot, as it's probably the largest street inside the city limits. Other places of note are the governmental buildings scattered around that we're planning on checking.

Though, one particular thing that caught my eye is a hotel.

The hotel my parents and sister are staying at.

On the road yesterday I called Dad, and yeah, he's going to the festival. Seems like he got invited as a favor from Mayor Panagos. For services rendered by their family, I.E. me. They're not the only people I know who are going for one reason or another. Lucas and his family are going, and a few other names I recognized from high school.

Usually it'd be a cause for celebration to see them again so soon. This was the longest I've gone without seeing them after all, but… I have a metal hand now. I haven't told them about it, or my foot. I also haven't told them that Anisim is in the city, and he's using them to threaten me.

I just told them that I'd be there Friday around Noon.

"Commander?" RO waves her hand in front of the datapad and I jerk awake.

"Ah, sorry." I look around at the several pairs of curious eyes. "What were you saying?"

"I wasn't saying anything, yet." RO frowns. "Are you sure you don't need a rest?"

"I'm fine." I tap the screen. "I'm just thinking about our strategy."

"Sure you were." 45 mocks and I glare at her to absolutely zero effect.

"As far as that goes, we've at least got a good idea of where to start." RO reaches over and taps the screen in two places. "The parliament building and what is likely a front company for Paradeus, GeneLab."

"GeneLab rings a bell." I scratch my face.

"It's the building near the hotel where we found all of the documents related to Project Theta." M4 provides. "I believe you were instrumental in finding those?"

"If by instrumental, you mean I walked into a room, looked at a computer, and realized it wasn't off, then sure." I look back down at the datapad. "So, same company. Makes sense."

"We're going to assume so, at least at first. Tonight we're going to go assess that." RO's eyes bore into my skull. "You do remember what the plan is, right?"

"Of course!" I snap defensively. "DEFY is going to… uh, one of the locations, and 404 is going to the other to survey the locations and see if they can find any evidence."

"...Close enough." RO sighs. "You're going with DEFY, remember."

"Yep." I tug on my uniform. "Gonna meet those other two as well."

"Good luck." 45 snarks. "They're crazy."

G11 nods.

"You've met them?"

"Yes. They're verrückte just like AK-12 and AN-94. They're also polar opposites of each other, one of them stoic…"

"RPK's too friendly." G11 shudders. "Gives me the creeps."

I tap the datapad against my thigh a few times. "They're elite dolls, yeah?"

"Supposedly." 15 shrugs. "If they can keep up with AK-12 and AN-94, then probably."

"Is there some sort of law that the more powerful of a T-doll you are, the weirder you are?"

Understandably, everyone present glares at me, being from either Anti-Rain or 404. Anti-Rain is Griffin's main elite unit, while G11 and 45 are both special.

"A-anyway, it just seems like the higher you are on the power scale, the, uh, more unique you tend to be."

"It makes sense." 45 shrugs. "The better you are at your job, the less likely the Commander's gonna force you to shape up."

"...Good point." I blink as the other dolls relax slightly. "Wait, what about P7 then?"

"The exception that proves the rule." G11 contributes.

"...Fair enough."

---

"Papers, please."

I hand over several documents that Kalina had told me to print out back at base, and the security guard starts looking through it, while a nearby one looks through Commander Gentiane's.

We're the only two humans here, leaving Commander Mikhail and Commander Kylie to command the base. I questioned leaving all of the mechanics and other support personnel behind, but according to Gentiane, Anisim is only allowing the commanders and 'Up to thirty dolls' into the city. Even initially, we were only bringing the bare essential personnel since it was originally going to be a stealthy mission.

Looking at the wall now, I'm glad that's not the case. It looks like it would suck to try to circumvent.

"Hadwin Galanis." The guard reads off of the papers I have provided. "Citizen of Sector 3, currently working for Griffin and Kryuger as… a Field Agent."

"Yep."

He glances at my left hand. "Never heard of that position."

"Think field commander, but a lot less authority." I deadpan.

"Hmm." He glances at the bags I have with me, one of them very suspiciously shaped like it's designed to carry a rifle.

It's like that because my M16 is in there, so…

"I see you have a license to enter the city with a weapon." He shuffles through more of the paperwork. "That's not easy to get these days."

"Well, y'know." I laugh nervously. "Griffin's a PMC, so."

"I hope you realize that you're still going to be under the same laws as any other civilian, Mister Galanis. You can't go around shooting anyone you want just because you're part of a PMC."

"Of course, sir." I school my face into a stoic form, mouth drawn into a line. "I don't want to fire within the borders of the city. Actually, I don't want to fire it outside the borders either, but that's life I guess."

"Yes, that's life sometimes." He goes back to sorting through the papers. "Hmm, a permit to have Tactical Dolls assigned to your person during your stay. It says you have… 15?"

Yeah, I have all of Echelon 11 aside from Anti-Rain, who are going in under Commander Gentiane.

"That's correct."

"Please write their serial numbers here."

I grimace and pull out a list that I had prepared earlier. While none of the dolls themselves seemed to mind, I felt like it was a degrading act to force them to provide serial numbers. AK-12 pointed out that I also had a serial number given to me as a passport, not that that really made me more comfortable, but it is relevant.

After I type in the fifteen serial numbers, a task that requires me to triple check them a few times, the guard checks the numbers.

Then, he taps the screen a few more times and the bored neutrality is replaced by a frown.

I nervously glance back towards where the dolls are standing and I see they clearly are paying close attention, with how some of them are reaching for weapons. I hold my palm up to indicate that they should stop and they all freeze in place. Notably, no one releases their holds on their weapons.

Even S.A.T. is holding her bag within easy drawing distance.

"Interesting, one of these doesn't show up in the database." He hands the datapad back to me, and I scan the screen.

Ah. Yeah, that'd be a problem. All of the codes indicate an IOP doll model, provide a link to their catalog page and provide a headshot. Even one-off dolls, like HK 416, seem to be in the database though listed as not available for purchase, but one of them shows up in red with an 'Error in locating file' warning.

I turn back to the crowd. "Hey 45, come here for a sec."

45's eye narrows, but she remains quiet as she strides up. "What is the issue?"

"The serial number you provided to me isn't in their files. Did you give me the right code?"

She looks at me for the briefest of moments. "Ja, I think I did. May I see the datapad?"

I glance at the security guard, who just waves me towards 45. Granted permission, I hand it over.

As soon as she touches it, the screen starts flashing, programs opening on it one after another in rapid succession.

After only a few seconds, she hands it back to me, and puts on her nice customer smile. "I apologize. It seems that one of the digits was off. It should work now."

"Hmm." The guard accepts the datapad from me and taps more of the keys. "Yeah, there you are. Next time, make sure to provide the correct serial number."

"Of course." I sigh. "So, we're good?"

"Hmm."

He doesn't say anything past that as he continues to stare at the datapad and I glance at 45.

Wait a second, does she have a knife in her hands? She's fiddling with it in her taped up arm-

"Yeah, looks like everything came up clean." The guard smiles and hands the papers back. "Welcome to Kruševac, Mister Galanis. I hope your stay is enjoyable."

"Me too, sir. Me too."

I walk away and back to the dolls, who are relaxing again now that I'm not talking to him. As we head back, I lean in towards 45. "Sangvis serial number?"

"Actually, a prototype Griffin one, but I guess it's not publicly available. I'm not quite stupid enough to hand you my real serial number."

"That makes sense."

"I also added the Anti-Rain dolls to the database temporarily." She rolls her eye. "We don't want that clown of a doll to rip the guard's head off because she didn't get recognized."

"Sop?"

"SOPMOD."

"Gotcha."

As we approach the buggies, APC, and motorcycle, NTW narrows her eyes at the two of us. "What was the issue?"

"Hadwin got a serial number wrong." 45 shrugs. "No big deal."

"Mmhmm." NTW doesn't appear convinced. "Did you do anything that's gonna get us killed?"

"I don't see how correcting a serial number could result in us getting killed." I say, but given how some of the dolls glare at me for a second before turning back to 45… I suppose my inability to lie strikes once again.

"We'll be fine. If we're going to get killed, it's going to be because this entire operation is a trap."

I take a deep breath, once more attempting to internalize the fact that this isn't actually a vacation, and in fact a very, very dangerous job. "Okay, we've gotten the green light to head in. Pile in and wait for Gentaine to get back."

Amid some grumbling, they all comply. For this final leg of the journey, 11-1 is sharing the buggy with me, sans AEK on her bike. In her place is 15, who most of the rest of my Echelon 11 has grudgingly accepted is allowed more turns near me since, y'know, dating and all.

As I sit in the driver's seat, 15 leans forwards from the seat behind mine. "It went well?"

"Yep. We'll be heading in once Gentiane gets you cleared."

"Good." She doesn't lean back, and I turn back to her. "Um… When we get in, can I ask you a favor?"

"Sure, whatever you want." I smile at her and her face flushes. "We're going to be here for a few days, so don't hold back." My own smile dims as I think about the mostly likely way we're leaving this city.

Namely, in body bags.

"Okay." Her hand reaches over the seat and she touches my shoulder for a few seconds before leaning back.

"Does that mean I can ask for something?"

I take a second to compose myself before facing my copilot. Ithaca looks at me innocently. "Yeah, despite our mission here, we're in a white zone. No reason to squander the opportunity."

"I see. I will keep that under consideration."

"Sarà emozionante!" S.A.T. exclaims, clapping her hands together. "I cannot wait to see your family again!"

"Yeah…" I can already see this going wrong in so many ways.

"I haven't met them yet." Aleah's blood red gaze shifts to meet my eyes in the rearview mirror. "What are they like?"

"Dad-" I start, but cut myself off as I see Commander Gentaine walking back to the convoy. She waves at me to start heading out and I throw the vehicle into gear. She's in the APC, the only enclosed vehicle in the convoy. Lucky.

"Dad, Damian Galanis, is a defense lawyer. His job is to make sure people that are arrested get a fair trial and aren't innocents being locked up."

"Damian is a good man." S.A.T. nods. "He said he'd approved of Hadwin marrying a doll."

"...Yes, he did say that." I grimace. "Mom's not going to just accept it though, so it's probably better if you don't go around saying that."

Aleah just smiles.

"Anyway, Mom works as a consultant for… uh, some type of construction crew." I carefully drive the car into the tunnel leading through the wall, keeping my speed low since there's a ton of people around. "She helps with urban planning. Never really paid attention to what she was doing."

"She's also a good cook! I learned a lot from her." S.A.T. smiles.

"You are really excited to see them, huh?"

"Certo! I hope we can cook together again."

15 leans forwards again. "Hadwin, when are we supposed to meet them?"

"Well, first we have to get checked into the hotel, then we're supposed to meet them for lunch." I sigh. "And there, we're going to have a reckoning."

"What?"

"It's nothing, I'll deal with it when it comes up." I continue to steer the buggy carefully and the shutter on the other side of the tunnel starts to rise, letting in the sunlight on the other side.

As we drive out into the city I'm struck by how normal it is.

I guess I was expecting something crazy, but it's just Like Sector 3, just slightly larger in terms of footprint. In fact, if I didn't know better and could smell the sea, I'd suspect this was just Sector 3. It is a nice change of pace from being outside the walls, the buildings towering overhead.

"Wow." 15 mutters behind me and glancing around at the other dolls, they seem to be sharing the same sentiment.

"It's almost as grand as Sector 3!" S.A.T. exclaims.

"It should be better." I smile. "It's been a white zone a lot longer than Sector 3."

"I haven't seen it, but I suspect Sector 3 is better." Ithaca states.

"Yeah?"

"Of course. It produced you."

I want to rub my temples, but I'm busy driving. "Thanks, Ithaca."

The only doll that isn't super enthusiastic is Aleah. I suspect it's due to the reason she ended up with us, but I'm not going to pry.

We drove around for a bit, Ithaca providing directions. Honestly, I could have just thrown on my Linker, but I'll let her guide me for now.

We found the hotel relatively quickly and realized our first hurdle.

M4 climbs out of the APC from where we've all pulled over to the side of the street amid stares from the civilians all around and walks over to my door.

"The APC isn't going to fit in the parking garage." M4 states.

"I can see that. It's also a bit over the weight limit." The sign indicates nothing over 4 tonnes, and I'm pretty sure the APC weighs more than that.

"It's an old BTR-80, it's three times the limit." 15 provides. "What are we going to do about it?"

I sigh and unbuckle, opening the door and walking towards the back of the APC with M4 in tow.

The door's still open and I peek in to see a whole lot of glowing eyes, and one set that isn't glowing. I focus on that set and wait for my eyes to adjust slightly. "APC's not going to make it into the garage."

She sighs. "Okay… M4, you're in charge of the APC. Take over the driving and I'll escort everyone else inside. Find an open overnight parking lot that's on ground level."

"Of course, Commander." M4 nods.

"Everyone else, pile out with your stuff. We're heading inside." She turns to me. "Hadwin, make sure the other buggies know what's going on, as well as AEK."

"Got it." I step away from the APC and head towards the next buggy in line, driven by RO.

Once the entire convoy is on the same page, everyone files out with their stuff aside from the drivers, who are going to find places to park.

I maneuver my buggy (which is pretty big for this parking garage) through and park it as deep as I can get it so it's not in the way of the other people who might want to park here. RO follows my example and AEK parks her bike between our two buggies. Lastly, 9 parks her buggy facing ours across the lane.

I heft my bag up on my shoulder as the other three gather their things. "Anything left in the vehicles we don't want stolen?"

"Nope." AEK grins cheerfully. "Got my keys, my bag, and I'm good."

RO glances over her buggy before shaking her head. "We're good."

"45-nee's got my bag, there's nothing in here." 9 jumps down from her buggy. "I think I saw the elevator back up to the lobby over there."

"Okay, let's go then." I lead the charge towards the elevator.

Once in the lobby, I find that most of the dolls had already migrated upstairs, but Commander Gentiane had left three room keycards with one of her own dolls, Five-seveN.

"Ah, Commander Hadwin!" She beams as she offers the cards. "Please follow me to your rooms."

I glance at the three cards. "Er, why three?"

"We are packing six people into each room. Since we have 31 people, we have five rooms and one of them will have to accommodate seven. We've not completely worked out sleeping arrangements yet, but it's assumed you'll want access to at least three of the rooms."

"'Assumed I will want access'. When you say it like that-"

9 smirks. "I know 416 and 45-nee are going to want you to have access to our room."

I glare at her, but don't comment on it as the other guests of the hotel are looking at me with concern. No need to freak people out.

We get into the elevator and end up on the fourth floor-

-to find absolute chaos in the hallway between a few of the rooms.

Bags piled all around, dolls running back and forth between rooms, and way too much talking for me to be able to actually understand what is going on.

I turn to Five-seveN. "So… I'm guessing those are our rooms?"

"Oui!" She smiles.

I glance at the three dolls behind me. RO looks like she's getting a headache, AEK is trying to contain her laughter, and 9 is grinning.

"OKAY!" I yell, and suddenly, the chatter slows down and lots of eyes turn my way. "I need the Echelon leaders in front of me!"

Commander Gentaine pokes her head out from one of the doors. "Ah, there you are. Don't worry about this room, I have it filled." And then she closes the door.

I lick my lips as Five-seveN, RO, AK-12, 45, S.A.T., and NTW stand in front of me in response to my shout. "Okay, why is everyone running around and not picking rooms?"

FAL answers. "We're trying to figure out which ones have the best view."

"And which ones you're most likely to end up in!" Sop pipes up.

"So nobody's already claimed any room as their own yet?"

"Well… nothing you can't override." NTW states. "We'll listen to you."

Great…

Let's see… Five-seveN's the leader of Echelon 10, which has five dolls. I pick out FN2000, FN FNC, FAL, and P90 in the crowd. That's five.

Anti-Rain has four members, though M4 is currently parking the APC. That's nine.

DEFY is only AK-12 and AN-94, making for a total of eleven.

404 has four members. Total is fifteen.

Echelon 11-1 has four members, and 11-2 has five. Add those up and you get twenty four, which indeed is six into four rooms, with me left over.

The problem is, of course, that we have six differently sized echelons…

"Alright, to start, Anti-Rain and DEFY get… room 409." I gather that DEFY and Anti-Rain are at least on friendly terms, and then I don't have to break up either echelon.

Two echelon's of four and two of five. "Okay… I'm going to split up 11-1. 10, you get 410. 11-2, you get 408, and 404, you get 407."

As the dolls start to filter into the rooms I had indicated, thankfully not arguing, the four from 11-1 look at me expectantly.

"Two of you are going to have to be in the same room as 404." I cross my arms. "Volunteers?"

S.A.T. raises her hand. "I don't think I'll have a problem."

"Me neither." Negev puts a hand on her hip.

"Okay then. Ithaca, you can pick either 11-2 or 10's room."

AEK raises an eyebrow. "What, I don't get to pick?"

"...Do you have a preference?"

"No, but-"

I cut her off and look back at Ithaca. "Which would you like?"

She tilts her head as she thinks. "I'll room with 11-2, I think."

"That's what I was gonna suggest anyway." AEK shrugs.

"Great." I nod.

The four dolls go into their respective rooms, and suddenly I'm alone in the hallway, though the doors are all still open, with the exception of the one with Gentiane and Echelon 1.

I poke my head into 409 to see AK-12 and AN-94 had picked one of the beds, 15 is sitting on the other with M4's stuff, and there's a pull out couch that RO and Sop are setting up. It's pretty clear that after the bed is set up, there's not really going to be much space left to walk.

I simultaneously wish I had brought the inflatable mattresses and realize that even if I did, there's no place to put them.

"Haddy!" Sop cheers as she spots me. "Are you going to be sleeping in here?"

"Probably not." I grimace. "At this point, I think I'm going to be sleeping in a buggy to stay out of everyone's way."

"Mm, no." 15 shakes her head. "You're not going to be sleeping outside."

I raise an eyebrow, but she meets my gaze without blinking.

"Okay, fine. But, I still haven't decided on what room I'll be staying in. Looks like the room isn't designed for more than six."

"You could always go downstairs and rent a sixth room." AK-12 shrugs.

"...That is a good point." I sigh and hike my bag up on my back once more. "Let me make sure everyone else is getting along."

"Okay!" Sop flops down on the unfolded couch, enjoying the fresh sheets. I think.

Next, I check out 410. Knocking on the frame, all of those present turn to me as I enter. "Everything good?"

"Oui." FAL says from her spot on the bed, and I notice she has a white animal in her arms that I hadn't seen earlier, wearing a red ribbon. "Everything here is good."

AEK sits up from the couch, the layout of the room identical to 409. "Yeah, everything's good."

I nod to them both, note that P90's also on the couch-bed, though purposely looking away, and decide to make my exit before I make things awkward. "Alright."

"Gonna sleep in here?" AEK raises an eyebrow.

"Nope." I shake my head. "One of the others. Still deciding."

Five-seveN narrows her eyes. "Yet you've written us off already?"

I turn back to the taller black and white doll. "Do I really need to explain?"

"'Cause, None of his girlfriends are in this room." AEK smirks.

That's not correct, but… aw, fuck it. "Yeah." I verbally agree with AEK.

"Ah, oui, that makes sense." FAL lets the animal out of her grasp and it runs across the bed to look at me. "By the way, commander, this is Fel."

"Fel, huh." I offer a hand for it to sniff, but the creature instead launches itself onto my arm, scrambling up my arm until it's on my shoulders. "Uh…"

"Looks like he likes you." FAL smiles.

"Alright." I cautiously turn my head to peer at Fel, and his tiny eyes look back at mine as his nose pusles in time with him sniffing my cheek. "What is he?"

"A ferret." Five-seveN pokes the creature. "He doesn't bite much."

Not very reassuring, but whatever. "Okay, he's a ferret."

Fel suddenly crosses around behind my head, forcing me to duck, as he switches to my other shoulder facing the dolls, chittering to himself.

"I think he wants to sit on your shoulders for a while." FAL muses. I'll take him back before lunch, but keep him until then, d'accord?"

"...Sure." I reach up with my left hand and poke his nose, causing him to chitter a few more times and try to bite my finger, only to discover it's a bit harder than he had expected. "Okay, I have to go check on everyone."

"Au revoir!" Five-seveN sings out.

Stepping back out, I take a deep breath and once more glance at the ferret. "...What just happened?"

Fel just chitters at me and I shake my head.

"Okay, so, 408 or 407 next?" I ask the ferret.

The ferret looks at me, then at the doors. I don't think it understood me, but it's pointing its nose at 408, so…

Wait, is Fel a robotic ferret or a flesh one? It feels like something that size would weigh, but I can't exactly tell.

Eh, I guess it doesn't matter.

I poke my head into 408. "Hello."

Mk23 leans out from the bathroom. "Hi Darling!"

I blink at her. "Hi."

NTW steps out from around the corner as Mk23 once again enters the bathroom. "Something up commander?"

"No… just making sure everything's fine." I glance at the closed bathroom door and briefly wonder what she's doing in there, and quickly decide that I don't actually want to know. Any answers would be either embarrassing or confusing. "Ithaca's settling in fine?"

Ithaca pokes her head out. "I will be fine, Hadwin."

"Great."

"What's with the ferret?" NTW asks, and both Tokarev and M200 look over from the couch to see the small creature on my shoulder.

"Oh, this is Fel. He seems to have decided to sit on my shoulders." I once more reach up with my metal hand, and he once again attempts to maul it. It's adorable, but I'm glad he's not doing it to my flesh hand.

Tokarev walks right up close and stands on her toes to get a closer look at the creature, and I crouch slightly so Fel can be at eye level. She gently pokes at Fel, and he allows her to first touch his nose, then scratch his chin.

Mk23 burst out of the bathroom after a minute of me standing there letting Tokarev pet the ferret. "Darling!"

"...23?"

"Have you decided to stay in this room then?"

"I haven't decided yet." I can't quite look at her without getting a face full of ferret.

"I see." She walks around so she's in my line of sight. "Then you must be checking out the rooms for another reason."

"Making sure everyone's settling in." I repeat my reason once more.

Mk23 had decided to be in Echelon 11 of her own will, and is probably the one doll that I don't really know that well. Her, and to a lesser extent Ithaca. Everyone else I've spent a decent amount of time with. I should really spend some time getting to know both of them.

"Well, when you decide on a room, we'll have an open door for you."

NTW nods once, before turning back to do whatever she's busy doing. Unpacking?

M200 also steps up and strokes Fel's head a few times.

"Alright, I have to go check on room 407." I eventually interrupt the ferret party, and the two girls reluctantly stop petting him and allow me to stand up. "See you all in a bit."

"Alright." M200 smiles up at me.

I step outside the room, closing the door behind me. "That smile is bad for my health."

"Who's?"

"M200's." I glance at the smirking 45. "Since she always has a serious expression on her face, when she smiles it has an impact."

"Mmhmm." She pushes herself off the wall. "Checking up on us next?"

"Yep."

She glances at the doorknob and it gives an audible thunk as it appears to unlock of its own volition. "Come in then."

"...I guess this hotel's room security isn't that good." I grumble.

"Oh, it could be a lot worse. I just copied the signal off of the room key." Her grin grows wider. "I also found the master key in the computer's database, so if I boost the signal-"

Simultaneously, every door in the hall thunks as the locks disengage.

"-I can do that."

I reach over her head and pat her lightly twice. "Yes, yes. You're very impressive."

To my surprise, the faintest blush hits her cheeks at my mocking praise, and I pull my hand back like I got burned. Okay, not going to mention that to anybody on pain of death.

"S-so, let's go in." Push my way inside, only for a pillow to slam into my face.

I catch the pillow as it falls, checking to see if Fel is still on my shoulders or if he's knocked off. Once verifying his safety, I turn back to see the room.

9 and Aleah have pillows in their hands, looking like they had been beating each other with them before I had stepped in, judging by how frazzled they both look. 416 is frozen in place, her arm extended in a throwing motion, clearly the one that had sent the pillow my way.

S.A.T. peeks out from the bathroom door. "Hadwin!"

"Hi." I toss the pillow back to 416, who catches it, though her face is kinda scared, like she's done a grievous wrong. "Looks like y'all are having fun."

"She started it." 9 points her finger.

"Aleah?" I ask.

"9 thinks she should get the long pillow. I decided if she wants it, she's going to have to wrest it from me."

"...Wait, this is actually your fault?" I glance at 416, who nods.

"Guilty." Aleah smiles and drops her pillow which is indeed somewhat longer than average. "Here you go."

9 grabs the pillow in a huff and tosses it onto the couch-bed. "Freakin' psychopath."

I walk in a bit farther into the room to see that the beds have three pillows each, two regular size and a third long one behind them. The long one is the one 9 wanted for the couch-bed.

Also, I can see G11 passed out face first on the far bed. It's mildly amusing.

45's hand comes up and pokes Fel, and Fel sniffs her hand. I guess he's not biting mine because it's mechanical… wait, if it was, he'd be biting everyone.

Why is this small thing so confusing?

Glancing to the side, I can see S.A.T. in front of the mirror, putting on some makeup. Eyeshadow, I think? She notices me looking her way and she sets down her tools. "Anything the matter?"

"No, just kind of surprised you use makeup." I frown. "I mean, now that I think about it, there's no reason you couldn't but I just didn't think about it."

"I don't." 45 rolls her eye. "Most dolls don't unless there's a reason to."

9 chips in as well. "Actually, given how we're designed, most of us don't need makeup. S.A.T.'s just trying to impress your mother."

I glance back and S.A.T.'s face starts to turn red under her makeup. "I-I just want to make a good impression!"

"She already likes you, S.A.T." I grin at her. "I'm pretty sure you're her favorite."

"Oh." She seems pretty pleased with herself and she looks back at herself in the mirror. "Hmm."

"Hmm…" I echo S.A.T.'s vocal manner as I consider her.

"What?" 9 tilts her head.

"Oh, nothing. Just trying to figure out what Mk23 was doing." I shrug. "She was in the bathroom while I was in their room, and seeing S.A.T. putting on makeup, I'm thinking back to if she had it on or not."

All of the awake dolls stare at me.

"Uh, Haddy-" 9 begins, but I cut her off.

"Nope. I don't wanna know."

"But-"

"I don't wanna hear it. Yes, I walked into that. No, I don't want an explanation."

45 starts hitting the wall with her fist, shaking with laughter.

"Oh, stop." I pinch my forehead. "Look, I still don't know how dolls work, and now isn't the time to educate me. If you want to tease me, do it later. It's almost time to head out for lunch."

"Oh, right." Aleah looks in the mirror. "S.A.T., I'm gonna need to brush out my hair."

9 grabs her disheveled twintails and grimaces. "Me too."

45 stands up, though she's still trembling with laughter slightly. "Hey Hadwin, if you stick around, you can creep on them as they brush their hair and maybe even discover another use for the bathroom!"

"...I need to keep my mouth shut." I grumble. "Whatever. Have fun getting ready, see you in a bit."

"Oh? Where are you getting ready?" Aleah asks. "Picked a different room than ours?"

I open my mouth to respond, only to realize that I hadn't thought that far ahead.

"He certainly needs it." 9 snarks. "Humans start to stink after a bit."

"I know." 45 nods. "I can barely stand being near him."

I just sigh. "I put on enough deodorant that it shouldn't have been a problem up to now, but I'm going to shower quickly. You're all busy, so I'll pick a different room."

"I will see you soon then." 416 finally speaks up, having gotten over her shock at having beaned me with a pillow.

I nod, turn around and leave, the door closing automatically behind me.

I remove the room key cards from my pocket and realize that since they don't have markings, I have no idea which rooms they work on.

"Well, I have to give Fel back in any case." I mutter to myself as I head to 409.

I try the first keycard, which fails, but the second one works. This time, FN2000 peers at me from the entranceway. "Hello?"

"Hi. Here to return Fel." I gesture to the creature on my shoulder.

FAL walks up to me. "Tired of him already?"

"No. I'm planning on taking a shower though, so unless he wants a bath-"

Fel leaps into FAL's arms at the mention of a bath, and he looks back at me and chitters angrily.

"Why'd you think I brought you back first?" I ask him with some annoyance. "I figured you wouldn't want one."

"...Can you talk to ferrets?" FN2000 asks cautiously.

"No. I just talk at this one. Well, I need to get ready, so talk to you all in a bit."

"Bien sûr." FAL states and I back out of the doorway, letting the door close once more.

"Field Agent?"

I turn to see M4 has arrived. "Hey, M4."

She glances around. "Which door is the Commander's?"

"411." I point. "Your stuff is in 409 though."

"It is? Why?"

I stare at the gray eyed doll for a few seconds. "Because, that's where the rest of Anti-Rain is sleeping?"

"Oh. Let me ask Commander Gentaine about something first." M4 walks over to 411 and knocks on the door.

G36 answers the door, her eyes in a glare. "Ah, Frau M4."

"Can I talk to the Commander?"

I pull my phone out of my pocket and fiddle with it as M4 talks. Weather looks nice, and the news is mostly about the festival, which seems to be a technology festival, or something… Huh, there's an engineering student tour of some companies tomorrow. Looks like a lot of people are starting their careers soon.

Meanwhile, here I am, shooting things. I'd ask myself where I went wrong, but I think the answer to that question is kind of obvious.

"Hadwin?"

I turn to see Gentiane has cleaned herself up, clearly just out of the shower based on her hair being soaked.

"M4's going to be sleeping in my room. Help her get her stuff, okay?"

"Okay." I blink. "Do you have space?"

"...We have space." Her eyes narrow. "Don't worry about it."

I raise my hands in defense, and gesture for M4 to follow me to 409.

I pick one of the two remaining cards and scan it, the door opening immediately.

"M4!" Sop cheers.

"I'm back." She looks around. "Where is my bag?"

15 hands it to her.

I note that all of the girls have cleaned up a bit, and none of them are wearing blatant tactical gear. "After you get cleaned up, it's going to be time to head out." RO states.

"Ah, I'm actually staying with Commander Gentaine." M4 tells her sister. "I won't be going to lunch with the rest of you."

"...You aren't?" Sop deflates. "Aww."

"Cheer up." 15 glances at the murder puppy. "If she's not going to be in here, that means Hadwin can sleep in here easily."

Ah, yeah, that does solve that issue doesn't it?

Sop pouts for a second, but her smile returns quickly enough. "I guess that's okay."

"Well, I guess that means I'm taking my shower here." I drop my backpack, unzipping it and pulling out a change of clothes.

When I stand up, AK-12 is suddenly right next to me.

"Can I help you?" I ask, since she's blocking my way to the bathroom.

"I would like to watch."

Silence settles on the room, at least until M4 leaves without another word and the door shuts behind her with a thud.

"Seriously?" I sigh. "Why?"

"I'm curious." She shrugs.

"Oh! I am too!" Sop jumps up.

"Hell no." RO grabs Sop's collar. "AK-12's not going in either."

"She's not?" AN-94 tilts her head.

"No." I state.

"Even if I let you have the shower curtain up?" AK-12 asks.

I hesitate, but- "Can't you see through thin things?"

She just smiles.

"Okay, no. Just no." I sigh. "If you want to see a naked dude, go find one online."

"Online?" Sop echos, and I decide to squeeze past AK-12 and into the bathroom before that particular info bomb goes off.

---

"This place is nice!" M200 says happily as we enter the ballroom.

Dad had rented a ballroom for a large Sector 3 lunch gathering with Mayor Panagos. I had asked him if I could bring way too many plus ones and he had told me that it would be fine.

Of course, at that time I hadn't realized that Echelon 10 would be coming along as well, bringing our total up to 24 including me, since M4 had stayed back with Gentiane.

"I think we're underdressed." 9 glances around at the sharply dressed people in the room, but I shrug it off.

"My uniform's dirty, and I'm not going back to grab it. Jeans and a t-shirt'll have to do."

Yes, it's the one 45 gave me. It doesn't seem to matter if I pack it or not, it always ends up in the pile of clothes I have set out.

Always…

I have a light jacket over it at least, so it's not super easy to read.

I glance back to see some of the dolls doing some last minute primping and continue to hold the door open as they file through.

Arriving in such a large group, most of the eyes already in the hall turn our way.

"Bro!" Lexi shouts, running over and wrapping me in a hug.

I glance to either side and the dolls seem to get the hint, starting to disperse into the crowd or heading for the food as they want.

Mom and Dad catch up to us just as Lexi lets go, turning around to glare at the dolls that are still within glaring distance, mostly 404 and a very confused Five-seveN.

Mom also wraps me in a hug and Dad stops a bit away. "So, it seems like you're doing alright."

"Yep. Still kicking." I embrace mom back and talk over her shoulder. "Everything is alright at home?"

"Of course. It's not like we're out fighting wars." Dad jokes, only to have mom round on him and glare.

"I'm not fighting a war, Dad." I smile sadly. "I'm not really fighting anything at the moment." At the moment, I'm greeting my family. Just keep thinking that and it won't show on your face.

"Well, that's great to hear!" Mom exclaims. "You're keeping yourself healthy?"

I nod, pointing to the distinctive blonde mane of S.A.T. "Belle's been adamant about keeping me well fed."

Mom glances over at her with a grudging expression.

Dad raises an eyebrow. "You mean S.A.T.?"

"They're going by their civilian names while we're in the city." I shrug. "They might be allowed in this time, but they're still treated better if people think they're humans."

"I see." Dad looks around. "It seems like there's more of them."

"Well, yeah. Commander Gentaine brought her own squads here and two of them joined up. I'm only technically in charge of about three fifths of them. The rest, well… hopefully they'll listen to me in case of an emergency."

"Emergency?" Mom looks right into my eyes.

"Uh… sorry, there's very little chance of anything happening." That's actually true, too, so I don't have to figure out some way to lie. "It's just a habit to be prepared for that kind of thing."

"Seriously." She huffs. "What are they teaching you?"

"Well, for one, how to train my body." I pluck one of the safe topics out. "Commander Kylie, you haven't met her, she gave me a full workout regime. It's doing pretty well, as far as I can tell."

Mom looks understandably unimpressed but seems to accept the change in topic. "Oh, I forgot to tell you, some of your high school friends are here. There's a bunch of other people that want to talk to you as well."

"The Mayor, the chief of police…" Dad grins. "I don't know how, but you have more connections than I do now."

"...Riiiight." I sigh. "Which friends from high school?"

Dad raises his eyebrow at my dismissal of the two even as Lexi crosses her arms and joins the conversation. "Lucas, and that one guy that kept showing up at our house to study."

"Derrick?" I smile. Haven't seen him in a while. Wonder if he still wants to spar now that my foot's all healed up. "Where are they?"

Lexi gestures to the side and I see that AK-12 and AN-94 are currently engaged with the duo, AN-94 nervously tugging on AK-12's arm. "Looks like they found some robots to talk to."

"It looks like they're a bit nervous." Dad observes. "Are they scared of men?"

"Hell no." I grumble. "Antia, the one that's not pretending to be blind, she's just very quiet. Lucia's probably engaging in some sort of very uncomfortable conversation. They're extremely capable in combat."

"Oh."

I start walking their way, my family following close behind. AN-94 notices me first, once more tugging on AK-12's arm.

"-but then, why can't you just get a normal set of replacement eyes?" Lucas seems a bit frustrated. "If your normal ones are special but use the same protocol-"

"Hey." I announce my presence and draw all four sets of eyes. "What's going on?"

"Hey, Hadwin!" Derrick walks over and whacks me on the back. "Haven't seen you in a while!"

"Yeah…"

"Hello. Lucia says she's blind, but shouldn't be able to find replacement eyes?" Lucas turns to me, offering his fist for a fistbump even as he gestures with his other hand. "It doesn't make any sense."

I bump Lucas' hand without looking. "Lucia?"

"Yes?"

"Open your eyes for a second."

"Mmm, I think I was ordered-"

"AK-12, open your eyes." I order.

AK-12's plastered-on smile disappears as her eyes open, drenching the area in that red-purple light.

"Okay, thank you." I turn to him as AK-12 lets her eyes close again. "She can see even with her eyes closed, you don't have to worry about her. I did order her to keep them closed aside from emergencies…" I turn to her. "But seriously?"

"I'm supposed to follow my orders, am I not?"

"Yeah yeah, you massive pain in the ass." I grumble. "So, how are the both of you doing?" I turn to Lucas and Derrick.

"I'm doing okay, but… how's your leg?" Lucas frowns due to the observation. "Isn't it broken?"

"...Griffin has this trial medicine that's pretty agressive, but can have side effects." I shake my leg for effect. "All healed up."

"Dang bro." Derrick leans back. "I wish I had some of that."

"No." I smile at him. "You really, really don't."

He seems suitably creeped out by my choice of words, but shrugs it off. "So, if you're all better, do you want to spar? I already found a gym that has a fighting ring here."

"You did? That's dedication."

"Yeah, that's the first thing he did when we got here." Lucas sighs. "Didn't even stop for breakfast."

"Sounds about right." I grin at the two of them. "Are you looking at any of the technology things they're putting on display tomorrow?"

"There wouldn't be a point in coming if not for that." Lucas crosses his arms. "I'm looking forward to seeing some of the new medical equipment coming out."

"Nah, I'm just here for the food." Derrick holds up his plate. "Which is delicious, I might add."

"Great, I'm starving."

"We'll eat in a moment." Mom chimes in. "First, we have to talk to the Mayor."

"...Fine." To my two friends, I just shrug. "Guess I have to go adult now."

Lucas snorts and waves me away, already turning back to AK-12 and AN-94. Derrick raises a small quiche from his plate in salute.

I put on my customer face as we approach Mayor Panagos and Adrastos Kokkinos, the Chief of Police, along with a bunch of other people in suits that seem like they think they're important. I'm not saying they aren't, but then I also don't know them, so…

"Ah, it's Mister Galanis." Adrastos beams at me. "Good to see you looking so healthy."

"Nice to see you again." I say diplomatically. I can already tell this is going to be boring as shit.

The Mayor also shakes my hand, and I can feel my brain floating away as I'm introduced to this person and that one.

I almost start wishing something would blow up, but I caught myself before I could tempt fate to that degree.

Still, it looks like the universe heard my near miss.

"Hey."

I turn to the side to see a female face I wasn't expecting. Evangeline Castellanos, daughter of… someone important, probably with the last name Castellanos. I don't actually remember. Which is especially bad since I assume I was just introduced to them. "Hello."

"Would you like to grab something to eat?" She points over her shoulder with her thumb. "This talk is boring."

"Sure." I'd take any excuse to get away from the gossip hobnob whatever.

"Sooo…" She trails off after a few seconds of moving towards the food in silence. "I saw what you did at the parliament building."

"Yeah, I can't believe I managed to break my leg like that."

"...I meant, I saw you fending off those robots. I thought that was pretty cool."

I shrug. "It was mostly the dolls' work that got us out. I just kinda ran around like an idiot."

"Really?" She frowns. "That's not what it looked like on the news."

"The news didn't have our radio chatter. There was a lot less tactics and a lot more running around trying not to get shot."

"Oh."

Having successfully shut down the conversation, I continue walking onwards to the food.

"I saw you at the ball on the 26th."

I raise an eyebrow, before realizing she means the disastrous mansion job. "Oh, right. One of the dolls… er, noticed you, but only after you left."

"Well, you did look kind of busy." We reach the table with the food and I grab a plate, filling it up with various bits of food. "I mean, you were fighting with the sons of Myroslav Rud. Dad told me some stories and told me never to go near them… They're nasty people."

I shrug again. I didn't want to think about that. "They were picking on my teammates."

She pauses. "Are you actually dating those two?" She asks, looking around and finding the DEFY pair, who are now talking to someone else I don't recognize.

"No. I'm not dating them. That was just a cover story for the night." I pile more food onto the plate. "Not like that was the original cover story either. They're both massive teases."

"...Oh."

"Hey Hadwin."

I turn to the side to see a fairly unamused RO standing there.

"What's up, Rose?"

"Who is this?" She gestures to Eva.

"...Eva." I step back as Eva looks up at the mention of her name. "Eva, this is Rose. She's one of my colleagues."

"You mean, one of the T-dolls?"

I hesitate, but nod.

Eva looks closer at RO, who grimaces. "Comm- Hadwin, can you please answer the question?"

I turn to face RO completely, confused. I just answered the question. "She's someone I went to high school with?"

RO seems unconvinced, but doesn't have a chance to fire off another question before Eva steps up to her.

"Wow! I haven't seen a doll up close before. You were in Sector 3 during the coup, right?"

"...I was." RO frowns and steps away from the suddenly too close Eva. "Nice to meet you, I suppose."

"Can I ask you some questions? Ever since I saw what you can do, I really wanted to ask you a bunch of things."

"Can it wait? I need to ask my commander some things."

Eva looks back at me in surprise. "He's a commander?"

I chew on a response for a second or two. I'm not actually a commander, but effectively right now, that's how RO is referring to me… "Yeah. For now, at least."

"That's wild! We're the same age and you are already in charge of… how many robots?"

"Dolls." I correct through gritted teeth. "And, about twenty."

"Oh, yeah. I keep forgetting." She turns to RO. "Sorry."

"Don't mind it." RO's frown had melted somewhat. "So, if you don't mind…?"

"Oh, go ahead." Eva gestures for her to continue.

"...I meant in private, or at least the best privacy that can be expected here." RO clarifies.

"Rose, what is it?" I ask. "Is it urgent?"

She hesitates. "I suppose it isn't."

"Okay then." I turn back to the buffet table. "Then tell me later, when we're not in public."

RO's eye twitches, but I'm really hungry and not in the mood to play games.

"...Is she your girlfriend?" Eva asks after a bit.

RO's face started to redden as I stand up from leaning over the buffet table and turn to my former classmate. "No, she isn't. Why would you ask that?"

"Well… I can't figure out why else she would be glaring at me like that."

"She isn't. Also, you have to remember, I work for a PMC. She could have been informing me of a lot of things."

"Then, wouldn't they be urgent?" Eva counters.

…I have a confession. Back in high school, I thought Eva was kinda airheaded. That being said, I never actually talked to her, since she's the popular kid and all. She had pretty good grades that I attributed to her dad buying grades due to her reputation, but…

Well, at least on this level, she's thinking a lot faster than I am.

"Not if the other commander along with us is handling it, but it might escalate into a bigger situation."

Eva remains unconvinced, but finishes loading her plate up. I'm about done as well and I start heading back towards my parents, both RO and Eva following.

"Going back to you, Rose." Eva turns as we walk. "You seem remarkably human."

"I've been told that it's hard for humans to differentiate." RO says blandly.

"Is there any overt way of seeing if a person is a doll or a human?"

RO hesitates, contemplating an answer. "I suppose, either look at us in the dark or check for a maintenance hatch."

"Where's that hatch?" Eva asks, clearly enthralled.

"On most IOP models, the hatch is at the base of the neck or near the waist, depending on modules and individual doll size."

"Can I see?"

"Don't you think that's a bit rude?" I glance over my shoulder. "It's like her asking to see a part of your body for comparison."

Eva blinks. "Oh, right. Sorry about that."

"It's fine." RO looks a little flustered, but is rapidly calming back down. "Mine is located at my neck, so if you tug down the neck of my sweater and feel-"

I look away as Eva slides her hand down the back of RO's sweater, deciding that it's not my place to interfere if RO's fine with it.

I reach the group of dignitaries and famous people that somehow includes my parents, stepping up beside Dad as he chats with Adrastos.

"-means that convicting that particular- Oh, hello son."

"Hey." I grab one of the drumsticks off my plate. "Don't mind me."

"Actually, I had some questions about you that I'd like to ask, if I may." Adrastos smiles at me, and I force myself not to grimace, biting into my food to buy myself some time.

"Sure, what d'you wanna know?"

"Well, I wanted to know how you learned to command a squad so fast, primarily. I saw you in action on the day of the coup, and I must say, I am impressed."

"Uh…" I glance back to see RO walking up. "She's the one who taught me tactics. I was just running around with a gun."

"That's… pretty irresponsible." Dad frowns.

"And illegal in Sector 3." Adrastos continues the thought.

"He was not 'running around with a gun'." RO sighs. "I was working in an advisory capacity, he was in charge. Also, I didn't start teaching him tactics seriously until after… well, we had an incident."

"That's nice to know." Adrastos turns back to me, my deflection only affording me the time to scarf down a few more bites. "Also, I hear you've also managed to blow up a mansion."

I choke on my food a bit, and RO thumps me on the back once, which wasn't strictly necessary, but I appreciated the gesture. "I, uh, what?"

"He's talking about Myroslav Rud's mansion." Eva oh so helpfully reminds me.

"Yeah, I get that." I swallow properly. "I didn't blow it up. I was on hand to defend against a group of terrorists. They blew it up."

Dad gives me a look. "What are you talking about? You didn't tell us about this."

"...Yeah." I say. "I think I told you. I just… understated some things."

"Oh."

"Speaking of which, how's your hand?" Eva asks, pointing to my left hand.

I raise the hand in question up, subsequently lifting my plate up. My hand is currently gloved to avoid undue suspicion, despite the fact that having only one glove is already suspicious in and of itself.

"Actually, I wanted to ask about that as well." Dad folds his arms. "Did you get hurt or something?"

"Hurt?" Eva turns to my dad. "He landed on a broken plate and the shard went through his hand."

"..." Everyone looks at me.

"It's clearly fine." I grumble. "See? Holding a plate."

"Then why the glove?"

I sigh. "RO-Rose, hold my plate please."

She accepts the paper dish, and I start tugging the glove off with my right hand.

Eyebrows raise once I get the glove off enough that they can see the metal frame, before tucking the glove into my pocket.

"Wow." Dad shakes his head.

"How well does it work?" Eva asks, leaning in to see it better.

"It's fully articulate, as far as I can tell." I wiggle my fingers back and forth, before I clench my hand into a fist. "I can't feel through it, but I'm able to grab things and use it almost as well as my old one."

"And-!" I turn abruptly to see Sop had snuck up to the conversation, possibly because I was showing off her work. "-there's a knife in there!"

"...A knife." Adrastos glances at the hand.

I sigh, make sure nobody's within their startle range of the hand, and split my hand apart, letting the blade spring forward.

"...Okay, I have to admit that's not what I was expecting." Adrastos turns to Sop. "And who might you be?"

"I'm-"

"That's Sophia." RO cuts off her sister. "She designed the hand."

"Yep!" Sop grins.

"Really?" Eva turns to Sop. "You designed that?"

"Uh huh! I'm good with machines. Not too good with humans yet, but I've been reading a lot about it in case Haddy ever needs more than just the hand and the foot."

Silence once again and I rub my temples as dad glances back at me.

Okay, new rule. Sop is to be ordered to shut up unless directly asked a question during meetings with normal people.

"Sop, why don't you and Eva go talk about building things over there?" RO points to a nearby table. "I'm sure she'd like to eat the food on her plate."

Eva glances down at her food as if just remembering it.

"Okay." Sop turns to Eva. "Let's go!"

Eva looks torn, but eventually turns and heads after Sop.

"Now-" Dad turns to me. "-what's this about a foot?"

"I… might've lost a foot." I grunt, taking a bite of food. "No big deal."

"Actually, it kind of is." RO frowns. "You shouldn't be blasé about it."

"...Rose, I'm trying to downplay it a bit." I sigh. "Work with me here."

"...Oh."

Dad shakes his head. "Well, if it's not hindering you, I guess it's fine."

"Well, I'll let you get to eating then, young man." Adrastos smiles at me. "I'll be seeing you around."

"Sure." I nod back and then turn to find Lexi and mom sitting at a table with a woman I don't recognize, but who Dad greets warmly. Probably some family friend. I sit down next to Lexi and start eating.

RO leans over to be in my line of sight. "I'm going to make sure Sop doesn't get too enthusiastic."

"Go ahead. Thanks." I smile up at the dichromatic eyes of my 'advisor'. "Make sure to eat something as well."

"I will." She nods and retreats back towards where Eva and Sop are having a discussion.

"Crazy..." I mutter and Lexi turns to me.

"What?"

"Oh… just, used to think Eva was kinda stupid, but now I'm realizing she's probably smarter than me. Stereotypes, I guess."

"It's not hard to be smarter than you." Lexi rolls her eyes. "You're pretty stupid."

"Oi." I poke her. "I made it through high school, didn't I?"

"Yeah, I've seen your report cards." She rolls her eyes. "You should add 'barely' to that 'made it'."

I snort and continue eating my food, Dad sitting down at the table and the other person leaving.

"So, for real, how are you?" Mom asks, glancing at my hand and frowning. "What did you do to your hand?"

"Had an accident. This is the replacement." I wave it around. "Just as good as my old one, and a lot stronger."

Dad doesn't correct me, or mention the blade. Thank god.

"I see. Still, I hear you've been getting into a lot of trouble recently."

"Yeah…"

Since the cat is pretty much out of the bag, I explained a slightly edited version of events of what happened at Myroslav's mansion. I explained about the plate thing and losing my hand, before explaining that the event was taken over by terrorists. I helped everyone evacuate.

I did, but in a kind of roundabout manner that Mom really doesn't need to hear. Still, I think my face didn't betray me the entire time. Of course, there were questions and definitely some holes in my story, but they let them go.

After that, I asked about how things are going in Sector 3 right now, and Dad explained that there's even more of a push to allow dolls into the city to help with routine tasks and such, despite some pretty vocal opposition. As stated before, Sector 3 kind of doesn't like robots on principle, and lots of the older residents moved there to get away from robots entirely. Those people are finding it to be an attack on them personally.

Eventually, though, I run out of questions, and Dad asks a question I had been nervously anticipating.

"So, which one are you dating?"

"Damian!" Mom smacks him.

"Of course he's not dating any of them, they're not humans." Lexi rolls her eyes. "Even he's not stupid enough to…"

I guess my face could be read loud and clear, since the conversation died down without me actually saying anything.

"Seriously...?"

I turn to my little sister. "Look, she's very nice and had a crush on me. I told her we can try dating for now to see if she's happy with it."

Mom sighs. "Fine, I suppose you can't stop youthful indiscretions. Who is it?"

They all look at me expectantly and I just stare back for a few seconds. "If you treat her like crap, I'm not gonna speak to any of you for a month."

Dad and Mom nod, while Lexi just rolls her eyes.

I look around the room, locating a familiar pink head in a white dress. She's across the room, so…

I pull the walkie talkie out of my pocket, even putting on my civilian clothes is not enough to deter me from my habit. "Hey Star?"

I see her head dip as she looks down at the sound of my voice, then she reaches into her pocket. "Hadwin?"

"Can you come over here?" I raise a hand up as she turns to face me. "My parents want to see you."

"...Okay." She sounds nervous all of a sudden, which I guess kind of makes sense, but on the other hand everyone already knows 15.

"Star?" Dad raises an eyebrow.

I tuck the radio back into my pocket. "AR-15. Pink hair, kind of sour if she doesn't know you?"

Lexi blinks. "Her? The one I compared to Amy the Hedgehog?"

"That's her." I nod as she gets closer, 15 walking with a stiffer posture than usual.

She looks around the table before settling on me. "Um, what's up?"

"So, you're the one my son is dating." Dad crosses his arms.

"Um…" She glances around again. "Y-yes."

"You have a problem with her?" I put a touch of hostility into my tone.

"Actually, no." Lexi frowns. "She's one of the nice ones."

"I was hoping it was S.A.T.- or 'Belle', I suppose." Mom sighs. "But you're very nice too, dear."

15 seems to take the backhanded compliment in stride. "Thank you."

I notice that she's edging around to put me in between herself and my family. "Star, they're not sharks. They're not going to eat you."

"...Right." She doesn't seem convinced, but she grabs a chair and pulls herself on the opposite side of me from my sister.

It's not helping that Dad is frowning deeply like he's in thought.

"Ignore Damian." Mom shakes herself and smiles more warmly, apparently having come to grips with the situation. "So how are you, dear?"

"I'm doing fine." 15 blinks. "Hadwin's been taking very good care of me and the others."

"That's nice to hear." Dad nods, still maintaining the stern expression. "So, can you modify a car engine?"

"...No?" 15 glances around at the apparent non-sequitur. "I would usually leave that up to Sophia."

"Hmm."

I sigh. "Dad, Sophia is Star's sister. She'll be part of the family anyway."

"Well then, that's fine." Dad relaxes his face into a grin.

"So lame." Lexi mutters and I find I have to agree.

This is about the point in the conversation that I see someone approaching from behind Dad and Mom.

45.

"So!" The evil doll leans over Dad's shoulders. "What're you all talking about?"

"Nothing." 15's voice frosts over. "Leave."

"Hmm?" Dad leans and twists to see the doll behind him. "Er… Hadwin, didn't she try to kill you?"

I find it impossible to hold back a sigh. "We... made up."

"But-"

"It was me or Sector 3. They made the right choice, even if I'd rather they had told me beforehand." I cut him off. "They've also saved my life enough times that I don't worry about it."

"I see." Mom's frown deepens. "Still…"

"I assure you." 45 stalks around the table to stand between Lexi and I. "I have nothing but his best interests at heart."

"Bull shit." I roll my eyes.

"Hadwin! Language!"

I ignore mom. "We're just going along the same path for now."

"Longer if he decides to put a ring on my finger." 45 smiles her customer smile.

There's a deep pause as the rest of the table grapples with what she said.

"What do you mean?" Dad blinks in confusion. "He's dating Star, isn't he?"

"Yes." I glare at 45. "She's teasing everone again. It's what she does."

"Oh, but I'm not." 45 leans down and grabs my arm. "Our Commander is dear to all of us."

I try to reach up to either rub my forehead or try to pry her off of me, but suddenly my other arm is caught by 15.

"He's our commander." She echoes, instead of something to agree with what I'm saying like, '45's lying' or 'she tries to pull this shit all the time'.

"What are you two doing?" The last person I want to hear from comes from behind me. Looking back, 416 is there with a curious expression.

"416, come get your leader." I order through clenched teeth.

"Ja." She steps up and grabs my shoulder. "Why?"

"...I give up." I let my head sink forwards.

"Mom, what happened to Hadwin?" Lexi asks, her voice indicating she's more than a bit creeped out.

"I'm not sure." Mom's frown turns into a glare. "But I think an explanation might be in order."

"Alright." I lift my head up again. "I'm dating 15, and only 15." I jerk my arm with 45 dangling on it, sending her slightly off her feet. "45's having fun at my expense, as per usual. 416's… 416."

416 nods solemnly like I had just dispensed sage wisdom, despite me adding nothing to the conversation. I had literally repeated my earlier statement.

45 lets go of my arm and shrugs. "Ah well. Worth a shot."

"See?"

This time, it doesn't seem like any of my family are willing to buy that. But… this time what I said was true! I'm only dating 15!

Why is my sudden and decidedly dangerous love life now the subject of everyone else's interest? This wouldn't happen if I was dating Eva!

I realize what I had just thought and quash that one down. That's pretty stupid of a thought, even for me. I also don't seem to have said it aloud, which probably saved me from being shot by one of several dolls.

"What's going on?" S.A.T. wanders into view.

"Oh, hello dear." Mom beams at the Italian doll. "Hadwin's just introducing us to his girlfriend."

That gets me a stare from 416, but I decide to deal with one problem before the next.

I don't get a chance to fix either problem though once some sound comes from the stage off to one side.

The room is a ballroom, I think I noted that earlier, and one one side there's a small stage set up with a microphone. Honestly, this place looks more ready for a wedding reception than some sort of meeting point. Taking advantage of that, M200 and Tokarev are on the stage, fiddling with the microphones. M200 is testing her guitar's tune, producing the sounds that had distracted everyone at my table.

Sop walks up on stage and grabs the guitar, plucking the strings with her wicked sharp fingers.

"Looks like we're going to get a show." I sink into my chair a bit, hoping the distraction works.

"Hadwin, this discussion isn't over." Mom shoots a quick glare in my direction before turning her chair to get a better view of the forming concert.

"Hadwin, we're needed on stage." 416 informs me. "I'm going to go collect G11."

"Wait, what? I-" I turn back to the stage to see Sop looking my way and holding up the bass guitar. "No!"

"If you don't, then who will?" 416 asks.

I stare straight at her for a few seconds. "Have you tried asking the other bassist in the crowd, AEK?"

"...Ah, nein, I haven't." 416 looks like she honestly hadn't considered this. "I will go ask."

Now having a hand free, I allow myself to finally rub my forehead, careful not to hurt myself with the metal appendage. Good god, these dolls are going to kill me. I used to think it would happen with bullets, but now I'm thinking heart attack or possibly just sheer embarrassment.

I don't open my eyes until the music starts in earnest, a song I don't know. Looks like most of the crowd is now watching them, leaving me be for a minute.

15's head lands on my shoulder. "Thank you."

"For what?"

"For letting me be by your side."

"You're the one who hasn't kicked me to the curb yet." I smile at her.

Her hand wraps around mine and I close my eyes and just try to enjoy the music.

This lasts about two or three minutes, when suddenly the lights go out and the music cuts out.

My eyes snap open and I'm greeted by two pink dots about a quarter meter from my face.

I stand up as someone screams, hand reaching behind my back, into my waistband for the Walther PPQ I had finally managed to get back from Kalina.

Oh god, not now, not again!

I can feel the pace of my breathing increase as the adrenaline builds in my system, threatening to shut down my brain in a panic.

Looking around the room, the only lights are maybe three cellphones and a scattering of doll eyes.

Several more people start to yell, and I raise my voice. "EVERYONE DOWN!"

I fumble around my neck, finding the Linker and pulling it onto my head. It immediately boots up and starts outlining people, a lot of whom haven't gotten on the floor.

"DOWN!" I repeat, only for RO's voice to boom out as well. "Down!"

She doesn't have her megaphone, but holy crap can she yell.

All of the dolls pull out weapons as well, handguns or, in Tokarev's case, her blades. Also, M200 seems to be scrambling to assemble her rifle.

Through the Linker, I order Tokarev and SOP up to the door, as quietly as they can. RO also starts snapping orders for everyone to take up defensive postures.

"Hadwin, what's-" Dad starts to ask, before I hiss at him to shut him up.

15 draws a knife from under her skirt, moving into a combat stance. Guess she doesn't have a gun either.

Outside the room, heavy-booted footsteps can be heard, and the light from a flashlight starts to appear, clearly shining at the door.

"...That doesn't seem like Paradeus." NTW's calm voice cuts through the comms.

"Is this a good idea?" FAL asks.

Oh fuck. OH FUCK. WE'RE IN A WHITE ZONE! WE'RE NOT UNDER ATTACK! "Everyone, hold fire." I order, "But don't stop aiming until we know who it is."

The door is pushed open, and someone shines a flashlight around. "Is everyone… alright?"

The lights suddenly come back on, flickering a few times as the power fluctuates, and suddenly I realize we're all pointing guns at a staff member with a flashlight.

I lower my firearm instantly, and the dolls follow suit, tucking the guns away sheepishly.

15 sits back down and holds her head in her hands.

"What happened?" Dad stands up cautiously and I realize everyone else is standing up as well, confused by the sudden events.

"...I don't know." I tuck the gun back into my waistband, noticing that I'm shaking pretty hard. "Fuck."

"Holy crap bro." Lexi's eyes betray more than a little fear. "What was that?"

"I don't know." I reiterate through gritted teeth. "Which is why I panicked." I raise my voice. "Hey! What happened with the lights?"

The understandably nervous employee looks around carefully a few times before answering. "There's been rolling blackouts the last few days. I-I apologize for the inconvenience."

I sag back into my chair. "Fuckin'-"

RO walks up to the employee and tucks something into his hand. "I sincerely apologize. We've been through some things recently."

Mk23 steps up as well, her bells jingling merrily. "We've been living outside the walls and you know how that is. Can you forgive us, please~?" She drags out the 'please' in a manner that reminds me too much of my little sister.

"I… I guess so." The employee blushes, and suddenly I realize that Mk23 is doing that thing where she leans over to expose herself, and her tail is brushing his leg. "Well, if everyone's okay, I need to go report back to my boss."

"Everyone's fine." RO starts escorting the still on edge man out the door. "Thank you for your work."

"Hadwin, what happened?" Dad asks once more, and I look his way to see his eyes have locked onto something in the far distance. Probably shell shocked.

"Dad. DAD." I raise my voice until he snaps out of his trance. "Dad, there was a blackout. Apparently it happens around here."

"...Then why did you draw a gun?"

Several of the other people who have just gotten back to their feet also look my way.

I take a deep breath. "I apologize. I've been attacked a few too many times in the past few weeks and… I panicked." I bow my head. "I am really, really sorry."

"Well." Adrasto sighs. "No harm, no foul. At least, not this time. You might want to talk to a therapist before you end up shooting someone."

The note of warning in his voice is clear and understood. "Yes sir."

With that, the mood of the party is ruined, but people start turning away and talking to each other. None of them are talking to the dolls, instead eyeing them warily. Like they're dangerous murderbots or something.

I collapse back into my seat once more, cursing my panic. Things had been going so well.

15 turns to me. "That was embarrassing."

"Yeah." I grunt. "Glad it wasn't anything serious."

"Wasn't it?" AK-12 appears next to me. "Apparently this city of technology is experiencing rolling blackouts."

"Hmm." I frown. "Maybe the energy grid can't tolerate all of the new tech being tested?"

"...Plausible." RO steps up as well. "We should probably ask around."

I look around and locate 45 staring at the door in concentration. "45?"

She glances back over her shoulder. "Ja?"

"Come here for a second."

She exchanges eye contact with 9, who turns towards the door instead, also oddly on edge.

When she's close enough for me to talk quietly, I stand up to talk to her. "Can you start charting the blackouts? Maybe we can find the cause."

"...I don't think you understand how electricity works, but I'll see what I can compile. In the meantime…" She glances back at the door. "We're being watched."

I tense up again, but she shakes her head. "Not here, we'll discuss it when we get back."

"Right." I glance down at my three-quarters eaten food. "Dammit, I was looking forward to eating that."

---

Back in the hotel, 45, M4, RO, AK-12, Commander Gentaine and I sit in 409, having kicked the rest of the dolls out for space concerns.

"So, when the blackout hit, you were able to sense a redundant power grid?" Commander Gentaine rubs her temples.

"Yes." 45 states simply. "It was powering some security cameras in the vicinity. Not the obvious ones either. It's not a redundant backup system or anything, but an entirely separate grid."

"...That's extremely suspicious." Commander Gentaine sighs. "Okay, we'll need to look into it."

"Hadwin already tasked me with trying to pinpoint the location of the power outages." 45 shrugs. "And, I have to try to get into the GeneLab headquarters tonight."

I close my eyes and try not to sigh, since I remember that I also have to go out, but to the parliament building with AK-12 and AN-94.

"RO, can you and SOPMOD get the info from 9 and 45, then start investigating?"

RO nods. "I'll see what I can do."

"Also, Hadwin, can you tell some of your other dolls to take over the blackout task? 404 needs to have their minds entirely on the mission."

"Yeah." start going through my mental list. SV-98 would probably do a good job, NTW is pretty reliable… Maybe S.A.T.? Then again, maybe I should just ask who's got investigative skills.

"If that's all…" She yawns. "I'm going to go back to bed. Hadwin, I think you should get at least a bit of rest before tonight. You've been up for over a day and half at this point."

"...Of course, as soon as I set up a team to help 404, I'll crash." I nod.

With that, the meeting comes to a close and everyone gets up to do their tasks.

I head over to the room that the dolls of 11-2 are staying in and knock on the door.

SV-98 greets me and I give her a tired smile. "Hey."

"Hi?"

"You're good at investigating things, right?"

"...Not exactly. I wouldn't say I'm bad at it, but if you need something like that done, why don't you ask 404? They're Echelon 11's investigation team, after all."

"Because they're already busy with other things and I need more help." I sigh. "Okay, I'm looking for recommendations for a team then. 404's out, DEFY's out, and I think RO and Sop are busy already too."

"Well, I would say I'm competent enough." She starts slowly. "I might be able to help. I would also suggest Ithaca and M200."

"Really? Those two?"

"Yes. They both have good attention to detail, so we should be able to make some progress…" She trails off and blushes. "I suppose if you need a hacker, we won't be that good though."

"No, I just need someone to trace the blackouts and see if we can figure out what is causing them, or who, or why or something." I let some of my frustration creep into my voice. "It could be entirely innocent, but according to the one news article Aleah sent me on the way back here, there's been rolling blackouts for the past week or so, and they've been getting worse and more frequent. The news keeps saying it's just an effect of too many new demonstration devices being tested, but we're pretty sure Paradeus is in this city, so…"

She nods. "I'll start investigating it immediately after getting M200 and Ithaca. We'll have a report for you… when do you need it by?"

"...If you can, before 2000. That's when I'm getting up to head out. If you need more time, don't worry about it, I'd rather it was complete than on time."

She nods. "I won't disappoint you, Commander."

"You never do." I yawn. "Well, looks like it's about time for bed."

She smiles. "Sweet dreams."

"If only."

I turn away and head back into 409.

RO and Sop are currently sitting on their couch-bed, staring blankly off into the distance, presumably attempting to track down the secondary power grid 45 and 9 had seen.

AK-12 and AN-94 are sorting through their luggage, stacking a lot of tactical gear and small tools on their bed as they prepare for tonight's assault on the parliament building.

Ugh. I don't even want to consider what I'm going to have to do tonight. Sneaking around a place that most certainly has people I don't want to either hurt or let know I'm there.

Oh god, what if I panic like earlier? I could end up shooting someone and causing a manhunt, or even getting all of us killed! I-

"Um, Commander?"

I snap awake and look up to see AN-94 has left AK-12's side and is now standing in front of me. "Y-yes?"

"Are… are you okay?" Her eyes are incredibly kind, genuinely concerned for me.

I sag onto the bed and cover my face with my elbow. "I dunno, AN-94. I dunno."

She sits down beside me, judging by how the bed shifts. "If it makes you feel any better, AK-12 and I also drew our weapons. I thought it was an attack as well. So did RO, I think."

"...I… I guess it does help a bit." I get out. "But… I lived in a green zone that was almost a white zone my whole life. I shouldn't be drawing my gun anytime something startles me."

"That reaction saved you in the forest outside our temporary base." AN-94 points out. "It's definitely not a skill you want to, or can afford to lose if you're going to fight on a battlefield with T-dolls."

"Right."

"I… I am not a psychologist, but I've read that lots of humans have this thing where they separate their public selves from their combat selves, a mental categorization that allows them to separate their reactions."

"Oh? How do you do that?" I move my arm to look at the gentle doll.

"I do not know. After all, my neural cloud allows me to sequester any such reactions whenever I desire. I suppose you would have to ask another human."

"I see."

She hangs her head. "I wasn't helpful, was I?"

"You were." I reach over and pat her hand, the only part of her in range. "Thank you."

"Of course, Commander."

I grab a pillow, turn to face the inner wall of the room and close my eyes hoping to get a little bit of sleep. I have been running for too long, after all.

I can feel AN-94 leave the bed and presumably return to helping AK-12.

Sleep starts to overtake me, but before I can fully drift off, I can feel the bed move once more. I force my eyes back open to find a freshly showered 15 lying in bed next to me, wearing some ratty t-shirt and shorts as pajamas.

She blinks at me. "What's up?"

"...Forgot this was your bed for the weekend too." I yawn. "Goodnight."

"Goodnight, Hadwin."

With that, I close my eyes and once more drift off to sleep.

---

Author's notes: Hadwin's starting to go off his rocker. Now is the perfect time for that, being in enemy territory. GFLverse claims another victim.

Also, I realized that Hadwin's Echelon 11 really should have a latin motto, since all the cool militaries do. I settled on "Primum et Ultimum Mori" since it really fits his actual role and self proclaimed duties. It's not canon, but I thought I'd put it out there.

Beta Notes: Fun fact: We made a joke that Echelon 11 would be called the "King's Guard"
I'll let you guys figure out why :)