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.

28. Chapter 28: Like a Damn Fiddle!

If you got the notification and are confused, I accidentally posted chapter 18 earlier, not 28. If you're reading this, the update worked.

---

0302, April 10th.

Saturday.

The doors of the elevator open, and three young women step out.

The first is a worried looking blonde dressed in black and orange. The second has blue-silver hair, acid green eyes, and a glare that could probably set things on fire. The third has pink hair and eyes to match.

S.A.T., 416, and 15 all step out of the elevator, clearly geared up and seemingly ready to go to war.

The other people in the lobby slash bar area combo for the drinks look at the group nervously. After all, it's not everyday you see combat rifles in a white zone.

"Er… miss?" The receptionist in either a very brave or very foolish manner decides to address the trio. "I don't think it's legal to carry weapons-"

One glare from 416 shuts him up quickly.

S.A.T. turns as if to make an apology, but her eyes catch something else that draws her attention.

Me.

She points and 15's head whips around to see me, her eyes locking onto mine.

For a few seconds, we stare at each other, the other patrons in the hotel lobby quickly walking away or ducking down to avoid the seemingly inevitable firefight.

15 breaks the staredown, stalking over to me and raising a hand to the side as if to slap me. I preemptively turn my head slightly and brace for impact.

Instead, I feel two arms snake around my torso, pulling me into a hug.

A hug that honestly hurts worse than the slap could, both physically due to my floating rib and emotionally due to-

"Where were you?" S.A.T. asks when she gets within comfortable talking distance. "We were starting to think that you passed out in an alley somewhere."

"...No." I grit out.

"Are you okay?" 416 examines the parts of me that she can see, her eyes narrowing. "RPK said you were injured."

"Mmhmm." I gently grab 15's arms and pry them loose. Or rather, she lets go as I push her arms aside. I can't beat a doll's strength. "My rib is… er, in pain."

15's face turns ashen, realizing what she had just done.

S.A.T. sighs heavily and her eyes glaze over as she accesses Level 2 to tell everyone else I have been found, presumably.

"Commander, let's go." 416 orders, gently grabbing my hand and bracing to help me up. "We need to show the others you are safe and get you repaired."

"I'm not a doll." I bite out, standing up without her help. "But yes, let's go."

"What were you doing down here?" 15 asks, standing way too close to me.

So is 416, now that I think about it.

"Well, I left my wallet and phone with HK 416 over here before I went on the mission, in case…" I glance around at the people staring at the four of us nervously. "I didn't have a keycard or a phone."

"You could have asked-"

"Look, let's get upstairs before someone calls the cops." I hiss and the three comply, following me into the elevator. S.A.T. taps her card on the reader next to the buttons and hits floor 4.

"What happened?" 15 asks, hands reaching to grab my arm.

I step out of the elevator before she grabs me, already aiming for my room.

…It's not my room, it's a shared room.

AK-12 and AN-94 are probably in there.

"Hadwin." S.A.T.'s hand lands on my shoulder and I turn to give her a baleful look. She recoils slightly, but plows on regardless. "What's wrong?"

"I…" I keep my mouth open but no more words come out, the thoughts all mixing together and jamming each other up. "...I'm tired."

"...Si."

"Commander-"

I turn to 416. "I'm not a commander. I'm… I'm a…" I bite my tongue and look away.

"Are you drunk?" 15 sniffs me.

"No."

"Then why do I smell alcohol and vomit?"

"Ask AK-12." I growl. "HK 416, where's my phone and wallet?"

She reluctantly pulls the two items from her pocket. "Hadwin-"

"Just give me my stuff." I hold out my hand and she slowly releases the items into my hands.

I pull the hotel room key for 409 out and scan it on the door, entering the room.

The lights are off, but as I step inside a bright red-purple glow shines out from the darkness.

I ignore it in favor of heading into the bathroom, closing the door behind me.

I need a shower.

I shrug off my clothes, only to realize I hadn't brought in a change. Eh. Whatever. I toss them on the counter, step into the shower stall and turn the water on full blast.

In my head, the audio file plays once more, my brain replaying the contents over and over and ov-

"Shut up." I growl at myself.

There's a knock on the door.

I glance at the glass partition, something that wouldn't protect my privacy at all.

Then again, protect my privacy from what?

"Come in."

"...Are you sure?" RO's voice comes from outside the door. "You seem-"

"If you're going to interrupt my shower, then go ahead. If not, leave." I almost yell, before remembering that it's like three in the morning and there's people sleeping.

RO opens the door, glances once at the glass shower and turns away. She steps inside and closes the door behind her.

"Well… I heard the mission went well."

It did? Oh, I suppose we got the documents and learned that Paradeus definitely has ties with the government here. That's the mission goal, so…

RO continues after I fail to respond. "AK-12 indicated that something happened, but wouldn't tell me what. When you failed to show up, we started to get worried that you weren't coming back at all."

I can help but snort.

She still doesn't turn around, but I can tell she heard me. More cautiously, she starts to pry. "Are you willing to talk about it? You and I have always been on good terms."

"Yep." I bite out. "You've performed your role well."

RO pauses and I take the time to scrub my hand with soap. My fingers have been feeling sticky since AK-12's 'saliva' dried with the alcohol and the water isn't cleaning it off fast enough. What is this shit?

"Role? What role are you talking about?"

I don't answer immediately, continuing to scrub the hand. Mental note: Robot saliva is hard to remove. "I dunno. Friend or confidant or… assistant, I suppose. Just what do you want to know?"

"What happened? DEFY gave the report to Commander Gentiane, but I've been kept out of the loop. Given how you're acting-"

"Ricardo was there." I cut her off.

"...Oh."

"I killed him, I killed Bren, and we got confirmation that Paradeus is working in the area. What else do you need to know?"

"Killed…?"

"That is what I said."

"Are you- no, you're clearly not okay." She cuts herself off. "I'm going to go get Comm-"

"No." I order and she freezes halfway to the door. "I'm going to bed. I'm not going to talk to her until I wake up."

"I'm not sure that decision is yours to make, Field Agent." Two glowing orbs face me.

"Okay then." I shrug. "Go get her. I'm not going to stay up though." I turn off the water and grab the towel I had draped over the glass door.

"Hadwin-"

"Field Agent is fine." I cut her off, grabbing my clothes and walking out of the bathroom in the towel.

Four pairs of eyes look over at me as I step out, taking in my state of undress and my scowl. None of them say a word. In the purple glow of AK-12's eyes, I located my clothes and grab the only remaining clean stuff.

"Um… Haddy?"

I ignore Sop's questioning voice, turning back to the bathroom that RO had just vacated and shut the door behind me again.

I then proceed to get myself dressed, careful of my rib that still hurts with every breath. I'll have to find someplace else to sleep tomorrow.

When I step out once more, I ignore the stares once more, head to my designated sleeping spot, lie down and close my eyes.

Nobody tries to ask me anything more, the only indication that someone else is in the room is the weight shift as someone climbs onto the bed beside me. There's a slight tugging sensation on the back of my shirt as if someone is holding it for comfort, but not daring to go any further.

Slowly, too slowly, the pain fades as I drift off to sleep.

---

My eyes open too soon, my brain screaming at me to get more sleep.

Still, there's light pouring in around the edges of the curtains, meaning that at least a few hours have passed.

There's nobody else in the room.

I stretch and am immediately once again reminded that I'm not in the best shape.

Well… time to talk to Gentiane, I suppose.

I climb out of bed, noting that it's actually only a little after 0800. I only slept for about five hours. Oh well, everyone else's day had just started, so no reason for me to go back to sleep.

I reach into my bag and grab my Linker, slipping it on and activating it.

"Emails." I order it verbally. The device brings up a list of messages that I decide are all low enough priority to ignore for now.

Then, before I can vocalize, news pops on in front of me. The headline is a doozy.

"Fire breaks out in Parliament hall just hours prior to PM's public address."

A picture of the white marble building charred with soot follows the headline.

"At approximately one AM last night, a fire broke out in the basement of the Parliament building, in a room containing an abundance of old paper documents. According to Miomir, one of the clerks tasked with maintaining the records:

"'Those records were vital to running our government. We kept them in safe conditions that are monitored 24/7. These were the kinds of documents you don't want accidentally leaked to the internet, so they were not digitized.'"

The police have been slow to release a suspected cause for the fire. Speculation of experts indicates it was likely an accidental fire set by the security guards, due to the confirmed presence of a party being held on premises.

When asked to comment, the PM declined to answer.

Currently, the death toll of the fire is three confirmed fatalities and two currently hospitalized for excessive smoke inhalation."

I let the article fade from view.

Great. Just… great.

I stand up, walking over to my pile of crap. I don't have any clean clothes aside from the ones on my back, so I need to keep these ones nice.

Or, I could just go buy clothes.

I slip on my tac vest, strap the pistol in and load up the pockets with small bits of gear.

Then, I turn to the pile of metal bits piled in the corner.

My exo suit, disassembled to get it into the city, is currently in several hundred parts and brought in by a combined effort of the dolls. On top of it was something I hadn't expected.

My Griffin and Kryuger uniform, neatly folded and cleaned.

Someone, presumably one of the dolls, had gone through the effort to clean my uniform.

Why?

"Becasue I'm a fucking pet." I grab the jacket and throw it over the tac vest, buttoning it up to hide the weapons that I'm carrying.

I walk out the door and find the hall empty. However, I have a goal in mind and rap on the door to 411. Preemptively, I back away slightly.

A good choice, as G41 rips open the door already tensed to spring, and me not being where she had expected has thrown her off a bit, long enough for me to hold my hand up.

She waits, ears perked like an eager dog waiting for another command.

"G41…" Commander Gentiane steps out of the room before her eyes flick in my direction. "Ah, you're up. I expected you to take-"

I cut her off. "I need to talk to you, alone."

She glares at me, but when I manage not to buckle under her return glare, she reluctantly turns back into the room. "I'm going to head into 409 for a few minutes. Contact me only if something urgent comes up."

G36 steps out of the darkness of the room, and suddenly I realize what it feels like to be glared at by G36. Sure, she looks hostile most of the time, but now? She looks downright murderous. "Liebes, ich kann dich nicht mit ihm allein lassen."

"Und warum? Wissen Sie, was mit ihm los ist?"

"Ich habe eine Idee, aber außer DEFY weiß das niemand mit Sicherheit."

I cross my arms and tap my foot.

"Hadwin, I must insist that G36 joins us." Commander Gentiane turns to back to me.

My mouth draws into a thin line. Well… G36 should be fine. "Sure."

I lead them both back to my room, sitting down on my bed and gesturing vaguely for the other two to sit somewhere.

"What's this about?"

"Here." I hand her the small data drive I had found earlier. "There should only be one file on that."

She glances down at it. "And?"

"Just play it. Put on a Linker or something."

She hesitates before pulling a Linker out of her pocket and putting the goggles on. She goes completely still and G36 tenses up, watching me like I had just brandished a knife.

I don't have any intention of interrupting. I don't even have to open the file myself to recall what's on it, the words seemingly burning into my skull.

The audio is muffled slightly, like the microphone that recorded it is buried under a layer of cloth.

"Are you really considering hiring the stray M4 and 15 brought in?" Ricardo's voice booms.

Much quieter, like from about a few meters away, the microphone picks up Commander Gentiane's voice. "I don't really want to, but I realized that we have a problem and we can use him to solve it."

"Yeah?" Kylie's voice sounds skeptical and even further away.

"Yes. Morale has been pretty low for the Dolls recently, right?"

"Yes…" Mikhail's voice seems closer than Gentiane's. "You can't actually be suggesting that we put him in a commanding role."

"No, of course not. You should have seen the answers he gave on the impromptu test I had the Anti-Rain team whip up for him. Letting him actually command an echelon would probably not turn out well. No, I think I have a better idea."

"Well, I'm listening." Ricardo's audio seems relaxed.

"We can stick him in the Field Agent role."

Kylie's voice rises in protest. "Griffin hasn't put anyone in that role in years! It's a death sentence!"

"Yes, I am aware of that. We'll make sure he's got the choice to do other things, we can't force him to work for us. After all, the reason I want him to be a Field Agent has nothing to do with his ability to command. Even if he does accept, we can sit him off to the side. No need to endanger our assets."

"...Go on." Kylie's voice is grudging.

"We'll have him work with the dolls so they have a chance to get attached to him. Most of them haven't had much in the way of positive human contact for the past few months and some of the dolls are starting to show sociopathic tendencies again. I want to change that before it starts causing problems."

Silence for a few seconds.

"Are you suggesting we use him as a therapy animal?" Mikhail says almost too quietly to make out.

"Yes. We need them to have positive interactions with humans sometimes. If we can force him to work with the dolls, they will have something to protect and focus on in a positive manner."

"That's risky." Ricardo disapproves. "First of all, what if the dolls don't take to him?"

"We'll give him the Field Agent rank, but assign him to Commander level in the authority over them. That way, they'll bond the way they're designed to."

"...Okay, but my second point is that we can't exactly do that to all of the dolls here."

Commander Gentiane's voice seems to get weary. "I know. 404 and Anti-Rain will be hard sells. I'm thinking of assigning one or both of them to whatever mission he's on if we don't need them for something else. He still won't have authority, but hopefully proximity to an innocent human will help."

"Are you really going to hire 404 for this?" Commander Mikhail's voice seems cautious.

"If that's what it takes to tie them to use for the near future, then yes."

Commander Kylie is next to point out her objection. "I don't think we can just tell those two groups to follow him and not tell them why. They'll get suspicious."

"...Hmm." Commander Gentiane's voice indicates she's frowning. "That's true."

"We might need to inform at least M4, RO, and UMP 45." Commander Mikhail states after a short pause.

"We'll hold off on that for now." Commander Gentiane's voice cuts through, louder than before. "We'll inform them later if they start questioning what's going on."

"...I don't like it." Ricardo's voice comes through. "But if that's what it takes-"

Here, the audio cuts off.

I stare at the live Commander Gentiane as she wakes up out of Level 2, her expression immediately turning sour.

"G36… Please stand just outside the door."

G36 looks at her Commander with concern, but her eyes are steel. G36 eventually complies, closing the door behind her but not releasing the handle to force the door to remain unlocked.

"Where did you get this?"

"What, not going to claim it's doctored or not what it seems?" I cross my arms.

"No. It's what happened." She shrugs. "I decided I needed you to help bring up the morale of the dolls. It's worked better than I could have ever imagined."

I stare straight at her, but she doesn't appear to be lying. Then again, I have no idea why she'd be lying against herself in any case. "Better, huh."

"Yes." She gestures towards the other rooms. "There are several of the girls that have not only reverted from a doom-focused outlook to a much brighter one, AR-15 being a prime example, there's a joke going around base that you'll be dating half of the dolls before long." She leans forwards, her stare even more intense. "Every single Doll on base has been working exceptionally hard. Some of them want to impress you, some of them just enjoy watching the antics you get up to, and some of them just enjoy the lighter mood all round the camp. Even the human crew talks about your antics, like it's a little drama playing out in real time."

She gets up and starts pacing as my jaw hangs open, not expecting her to actually admit to anything.

"Do you know what the base felt like before you came along? We had just come south from Belgrade, chasing the tail of a fleeting Paradeus force. In Belgrade, we watched the protective walls come down due to Paradeus, and the ELIDs outside were able to flood in. A wall of soldier's corpses only served to slow them down momentarily. We watched as Paradeus killed half a city for a scrap of information, and the Dolls were starting to get depressed. I have footage that appears to show M4A1 attempting to commit suicide with AR-15."

I start at that. AR-15? The doll that is posting bubbly happy messages to the message boards?

"I'm too busy to be able to sit down and take care of everyone. I can only take care of those close to me. You were a godsend that possibly saved this group from collapsing. This is why I keep asking you about your relationships with the dolls. That's why you're here, why I pay you so much, and why I tolerate so many of your stupid descisions. You are here to be an emotional anchor, and you are doing a very good job."

I have no words. Literally nothing.

"Now, tell me where you got this!" Her fingers are white on the small data storage device.

"...Ricardo." I shudder. "He… he gave me the location of the drive when he was begging me not to kill him."

"And you accepted?!" Her eyebrows raise, she stands up, and grabs my shoulders. "What were you-"

"I didn't." I look away, tears forming in my eyes. "I… I burned him to death."

She freezes in place. "You… what?"

"I trapped him in a vault under the parliament building after dousing him in booze, then burned the file with the coordinates on it and threw it into the room." I have to swallow to keep myself from puking again. "I-I-I was just so angry, and once the door closed, we couldn't get it open even if I wanted to."

"Oh, Hadwin..." She backs up and slumps back into her seat, rubbing her forehead.

Silence falls between me and my Commander.

Eventually, after what seems like an eternity, she speaks up. "I guess it's my fault."

"H-Huh?"

"Yes, you've been good for the morale of the base as a whole, but you've been put through a meat grinder as a result. I should have thought about what would happen to you as well."

I stare at her blankly. She hadn't already considered that?!

"Unfortunately, we're here now." She sighs again. "You've dug your way into the hearts of the dolls perfectly. In fact, it happened a lot faster than I wanted; Back at base, they ignored everyone else's orders to prioritize yours. That was a shock. Now, with several of the dolls attempting to date you, they're not going to take kindly to your loss or you being fired. Best case scenario, we're back to where we were before we hired you. Worst case, they rebel and we have a second Butterfly Incident."

"I, uh, don't know what that is."

"...Odd. You know several of the participants in it." She shrugs. "No matter. What I'm saying is-" She once more leans in. "-what are you planning on doing next?"

"I have options?" I grimace, trying to dredge up the fury that I had brought to the conversation. I can't be seen as weak now-

"Of course." She holds up her hand. "One, you can pretend you never heard that and continue on like nothing happened. Two, you can quit, and leave the dolls you've come to care about to their fates, abandoning them. Three, you can shoot yourself and make the situation even worse for me for revenge. Which is it?"

"I could tell them what you did."

"Yes, you could. What do you think that would achieve aside from getting you fired? It's just option two with more steps."

I open my mouth, but once more nothing comes out.

"Face it. Yes, I used you. I lied and manipulated you. But you know what? I'd do it again in a heartbeat." She gets to her feet and heads for the door. "I heard that you've been pretty cold to the dolls as of last night. I suggest that if you intend on staying, you make up with them. Poor 15 has been posting online, asking her private thread what she did wrong to have you ignore her. If you can't do your job, I'll be firing you."

She pulls open the door, startling G36, and then peeks back once more. "For what it's worth, I didn't want you to head out and see combat if you didn't have to. I am sorry about that, things got out of hand in and around Sector 3, but the result was worth it. I am not wrong."

She shuts the door and I find myself alone once more.

I take a deep breath in, then release it, repeating a few times to try to remain calm.

It makes sense. Of course it does.

UMP 9 told me that dolls do that dumb imprinting thing. If I was put up there with the other 'owners' then it makes sense. It explains why they call me Commander despite not being one. Hell, UMP 45, RO, and M4 are the three dolls that were the most emotionally distant for the longest.

If they were told of the plan, that's natural, right?

I sit in silence, the dawning horror that I have been thoroughly outplayed. I want to leave. It's probably the only thing I can do to save myself, to leave and never come back.

However…

Despite myself, I do care about Star. I care about 416. I care about 45, 9, G11, RO, Sop, S.A.T, SV-98, Tokarev, AEK, Aleah, and all of the rest. If I abandon them, they'll…

My mind fills with a battlefield of broken doll corpses. 416 abandoned once more, 15 as just an empty frame in a pile of robot parts.

One of my teeth chips under the force of my jaw. No, I only have one option, Commander.

I get to my feet, rubbing the tears of frustration before opening the door to my room and walking over to 408.

Knocking on the door, I stand back slightly and cross my arms.

After a few seconds, NTW cautiously opens the door. "Commander?"

I put on the best smile I can. "Hey… do you happen to know where AR-15 is? I need to apologize."

---

One of the benefits of waking up at a reasonable time is that the hotel is still serving breakfast. I sit across a table from 15, with RO beside her and 416 to my own side. I only wanted to talk to 15 and 416 for this apology, but RO insisted on coming along.

"-so yeah, I apologize for being so cold last night. I guess I'm not as emotionally stable as I'd like."

"Ricardo's gone for good then?" 15 looks right into my eyes.

I struggle pretty hard to keep my eyes on hers. "Yeah. He's gone."

"Then, I forgive you." She crosses her arms.

"Ja, I agree." 416 nods. "There's no reason for you to need to make choices like that."

"Thanks." I whisper, and to my own astonishment, I realize how much their forgiveness means to me.

Of course, I didn't mention the manipulation of Gentiane. That I'm going to have to bury away, never to bring it to light.

"So…" 15's face flushes slightly. "Can we still go on our date today?"

"...Yeah. Might need to divert to some locations depending on where Gentiane needs me to check out, but I'll make sure that at bare minimum I have time for you."

She smiles slightly, ducking her head to hide her blush, and the blade I had let slip into my heart twists.

"If that is all, Hadwin, I would like to talk to my team." 416 touches my shoulder carefully. "I will relay what you said as well."

"Thanks, 416." I smile at her.

She stands up, hesitates, and once more touches my shoulder before walking away.

I can feel a turmoil of emotions mixing up in my head, but struggle to keep them suppressed.

Evidently, I didn't hide it that well as RO and 15 both seem slightly confused, but I ignore them in favor of staring into my cup of coffee. Now, onto the next issue… "15, can you do me a favor and get our orders? Might as well plan everything out now."

"Hmm? Oh, yeah, I can." She gets up from her seat. "I'll be back in a few minutes."

I stare into my coffee and she brushes my shoulder lightly on the way past.

RO's mouth sets into a line as she watches her sister go.

I finally look up from my coffee across the table at RO.

A pair of eyes, one orange and the other yellow look back at me, dilating slightly.

"When did Gentiane tell you to try to use me as a therapy dog?"

RO's face falls. "You found out."

"Yes." I sip my coffee. "I did."

RO taps her fingers on the table, eyes refusing to meet mine. "M4 and I were told to go with you into Sector 3. That's when I asked why you were important enough to guard, and she gave me a brief explanation of her plan. M4 thought the whole thing was a waste of time for a while… I figured that it wasn't a good idea long term, but didn't do anything about it. We were pretty desperate, after all."

"Mm." I sip more coffee.

"I suppose this is the real reason you were so cold to us last night?" Her face twists into a scowl. "For saying that 'I played my role'?"

"Yes. You know I'm really bad at hiding my emotions." I set the cup down and lean on the table. "And for what it's worth, you did a real good job. You taught me tactics, kept me from killing myself, and did your best to encourage me or kick my ass into gear as needed."

"...Yes." She looks away, out the window of the cafe. "That's exactly why I did that."

I glare at her across the table. "You were ordered to."

"I had a choice!" She slams her hands on the table, rattling the silverware and drawing several sets of eyes. "I chose to bring you closer together! You didn't see how AR-15 and M4 were acting, how everyone was about to…" She closes her eyes for a second and purposely slows her breathing. "Hadwin, do you understand why I went along with Gentiane's scheme?"

"You were ordered-" I try to reiterate, only to be cut off.

"No! I went along with it because I looked at you and saw a weak human that wouldn't hurt anyone." Her hands are gripping the plastic table so hard it's starting to deform. "I kept by you to make sure you didn't abuse the powers Commander Gentiane gave you. She gave you Commander level access, because none of the others would bond to you otherwise, but then there was always the risk that you'd command them to do something stupid. My job was to stop that from happening."

"...Okay." I cross my arms. "I'm not that good at understanding the mechanics of dolls, yeah, but even I know that a human's orders outweigh a doll's."

"Oh?" She stands up, leaning over the table, eyes a mere dozen centimeters away. "Try me."

I stare back, refusing to blink first.

"I started to relax, because you weren't going to abuse those under your command, or my sisters. If you're going to be a threat…" She lets the words hang in the air for a second before collapsing back in her chair. "Well, at least I'll have that off my shoulders soon."

"Hmm?"

"After all, I doubt you're going to stay on." She leans back in her chair and covers her eyes with one elbow. "Which means I have to figure out how to keep morale up-"

"For now… I'm planning to stay." I grudgingly mutter. "Though I kinda don't want to."

She freezes in place, only peeking out from under her elbow after a few seconds. Her orange eye blazes brightly in the shadow. "You are?"

"As much as I hate being manipulated into it, I care about 15, 416… 45, I suppose, and to a lesser extent, many of the others." My fingers tap out a steady beat on the side of the mug in my hands. "After thinking about it, my only real option is to pretend nothing happened and continue on as normal. Otherwise, and I quote, 'they will rebel and we will have a second Butterfly Incident'. I don't even know what the first one was, but given the context…"

RO continues to stare at me. "...Oh."

"Yeah." I sip my coffee. "Well, I guess you'll be watching my every move from now on."

"...No."

I give her an irritated look. "Then what was the point of yelling at me?!"

"I saw you make amends with 15. You're too nice for your own good. You're not a threat, you don't have the balls to order them to do anything. I've been watching you for the past month, waiting for you to slip. You never did." Her mouth twists into the saddest vindictive smirk I'd ever seen. "I think I'll do my best to never see you again, personally. Don't make me come find you."

She gets up once more, and I'm left staring where she had been, contemplating the cracks in her mask at the end of that.

She wasn't ordered to? But, she still manipulated me into… Does that make it worse or better?

Ugh, a headache is starting to form, and I wish I had something stronger than coffee.

"Wow."

I glare at the voice to see someone I don't recognize staring at me. Actually, there are a few people looking my way.

"Dude, how the hell didn't you get your head ripped off? She was livid!"

I suck in a few breaths, minding my rib. "I don't know."

The man that dares to speak shakes his head. "Kudos to you, I don't think I would have survived that."

"...Sheer luck." I grab my coffee and bring it to my lips, noting that my hands are actually shaking.

"So, what was she talking about?" The curious man presses further. "I didn't get all of that, but it sounded like you have at least three girl-"

"Hadwin!" Two hands clap down on my shoulders. "I've been looking for you for a bit."

"...Oh for fucks sake." I rub my temples. "Look, I don't want to talk to you right now."

"Tough." UMP 45 slips into the seat opposite me. "Lucia and Antia are keeping their mouths shut, but I know something went wrong last night, and it wasn't only my mission."

I glare at her across the table. "No, I'm not doing this." Kicking the seat back, I grab the tray I had loaded my breakfast onto and dump it in the designated area before heading to the elevator back to the room.

"Wait." 45's smaller frame runs to catch up to me. "I need to talk to you."

"Interesting." I nod. "Too bad I said no."

"Hadwin-"

"No." I enter the elevator and press the fourth floor button, but stand close enough to the door to make it so she'll have to push me back to enter.

The doors close and I relax slightly.

Then I realize the elevator isn't moving anywhere.

I press the fourth floor button again, but the light behind it just turns off as soon as my finger leaves the button.

After a moment of consideration, I press the door open button to find 45 on the other side of the door where I left her.

She steps in and the doors close behind her, followed by the fourth floor light turning on. "Danke."

"Uh-huh."

"...What exactly is your problem?"

I turn to her. "You've been under contract with Griffin for how long? The one involving me?"

"Since the day after you arrived." She puts her hand on her hip. "Ja, I did some pretty extreme things, but I thought we got past all of that. Honestly, the thing about Paradeus in Sector 3-"

"Right. Stop that. Stop putting trackers on me. Stop locking me in warehouses, don't push 416 to date me, don't try to force relationships."

Her face becomes a blank mask, her eye unfocusing. "Don't force a relationship." Her hand curls slowly.

The door opens, but 45's hand twitches and the doors close back up. Okay Gibbs, maybe other people need to use this?

"So… no relationships, huh?" Her voice is a lot quieter than I expected.

"Y'know, after thinking about it, I'm surprised you went along with it." I sigh. "I thought you valued your independence."

"I do. What are you talking about?"

Suddenly, I realize that something isn't right in this conversation. "...Gentiane hired you to force me closer to your team."

"Nein, she hired me to protect you and train you up as a Field Agent."

"...Is that what she told you?"

45's eye narrows to a slit. "What are you talking about?"

"...Let me show you what I found."

45 lets the elevator doors open and even springs open the lock on my room without being asked. I ignore the various dolls looking at me and grab my Linker.

Commander Gentiane hadn't given back the data storage device, so the only copy I have left is on my Linker, along with the rest of the files I had erased from the drive.

Not all of 45's lessons fell on deaf ears, and boy am I thankful for that.

She grabs the Linker, turns it on and stares at it as she apparently grabs the file straight from its internal memory.

"A ball and chain." She mutters a few seconds later, clearly having fast forwarded through the conversation. "She's using you as a ball and chain."

"I preferred the therapy dog analogy, personally." Suddenly, all of my newly resurrected animosity towards 45 drains away. If she wasn't in on it, there's no reason to be angry…

Well, now I'm just tired.

"Um…" Sop's face is full of trepidation as she gently steps into view. "Haddy?"

45 hands me back the Linker and I turn to Sop. "Hmm?"

"Are you still mad at me?"

After a moment to force myself to calm down, I reach out with my free hand to pat her head, the one made of metal. "I was never mad at you, Sop. Sorry about last night, I was a bit stressed."

"I'll say." AK-12 calls out from the edge of her bed. "What happened down there with RPK? She didn't say."

AN-94 also nods.

"...I'll tell you later." Or never, if I can get away with it.

"Hadwin." 45 draws my attention again. She opens her mouth to speak, but her eye flicks over to the bystanders. "Even if you change your mind about earlier, know that 404's behind you. No matter your choice."

"...Thanks."

"Also-" Her hand snaps out, grabbing my wallet out of my pocket. I barely have time to react before she fishes out a thin black disk that I vaguely recall is a tracking device and crushes it in her metal hand. "-no more secrets."

---

"Wow!" Mk23 leans forwards to peer into a nearby shop window. "This jewelry is beautiful!"

S.A.T. beside her also leans over. "Indeed."

The third and final doll on this little expedition remains by my side, standing primly even as her eyes wander over to the jewelry.

I look down at the bright blue ribbon. "Katiya, do you want to go over to see what they're looking at?"

Tokarev looks back at me and nods.

As stereotypical as it might sound, I'm in a mall on a shopping date. While planning my day out around the list 15 had fetched for me, I had mentioned that I need to grab a new set of civilian clothes since I really only have the two and my uniform now that I don't have access to my home wardrobe. S.A.T. had clapped her hands together and asked if she could come with me to pick something out. After I gave her permission, Tokarev and Mk23 also asked to join, though Tokarev's "ask" was more just tugging on my shirt.

Since I don't want to wear faded jeans and a blank black shirt all day, I had elected to do the clothes shopping first. As much as I am not feeling it at the moment, this is a date, so I decide to tuck my revelations away and try to provide as good a date as I can. That means not just heading into a store and grabbing something easy to wear, but actually browsing.

I'm not really a browser, but I'm willing to wait on others who do, thankfully.

Mk23 turns back as I approach. "Comm- Hadwin, do you see these? They're adorable!"

She's gesturing to a set of earrings in the window. Two shiny red gems with smaller pink ones on top, the gold frame holding it together in the shape of a cat's paw. Honestly, knowing nothing about Mk23 aside from her appearance, anyone would guess she was talking about those ones.

"You're talking about the cat paw ones?" I verify.

"Yes!" She smiles at me.

"You really like cats."

"Yep! Nice and stealthy." She crouches slightly, curls her hands into paws and meows adorably. "Just like me."

"You? Stealthy?" I raise an eyebrow.

"Si!" S.A.T. pats Mk23's head. "She's fairly capable of sneaking around in the dark."

"...You're wearing a bell and wearing bright red, white and blue."

"Have you heard this bell at all today?" She asks with her hand next to the bell at her throat. She flicks it and it rings clearly. "And it doesn't matter what I wear if nobody has the chance to see me."

I realize that at no point had I heard the sound of that bell. "...You know what, I'll take your word for it." I turn back to the jewelry store. "Yeah, those earrings are cute. Do you want me to get them for you?"

"Hmm?"

I tap on the glass. "Well, you like them, don't you?"

"I do… but, um… they're expensive."

I glance at the price tag… Oh, damn. Still- "Yeah, I can afford that. I'm being paid pretty well."

Mk23's eyes flick back to the jewelry. "Let me look around the store some more."

And so, we enter the store and browse around for a bit. In the end, Mk23 ends up going with her initial desire. After we leave the store, she takes the large heart earrings out of her ears and puts in her new earrings.

"How do I look?"

"Even cuter than usual." I reply.

Her face splits into a grin and her tail wraps around my ankle for a moment.

Nope, not getting used to that anytime soon.

Tokarev tugs on my shirt. "Hadwin?"

"Do you want something as well?"

"...Da, but not from here."

"Then, tell me what you want when you see it." I pat her head.

She nods.

Our next stop is a clothes store. My main objective, I lead the charge to the men's section. I figure this part will be a quick in and out.

Of course, I hadn't thought about the help I'd be receiving.

"I think red suits him better, personally." S.A.T. holds up a three piece suit in a deep maroon, similar to the one I had worn to the mansion mission.

Tokarev just continues to hold out a navy blue suit, one that matches her own clothes.

"I think this would be the best personally."

I glare at the monstrosity Mk23 has provided. It's a suit like the others, but it's a patterned suit. Tiger stripes. "Sorry, Alice, but that's…" I trail off.

"Horrendous." S.A.T. finishes my thought. "Orange clashes too much."

"But…" She looks at the suit in her hands. "It's the only cat themed suit in here!"

"Themed suits are tasteless." Tokarev says quietly.

"I'm not actually looking for a suit in any case." I mention, but this time everyone ignores me.

"Remember he wore that red suit before?" S.A.T. holds her up again. "It'll look very nice on him."

Tokarev responds by pushing the blue suit towards me and holding it up to my body.

S.A.T. purses her lips for a moment. "I suppose. Hadwin, why don't you try that on?"

I grab the suit reluctantly. "Okay, why not?"

"Here." S.A.T. excitedly hands me a few more things. "You'll need a handkerchief, and cufflinks and-"

Several minutes later, I examine myself in the mirror with the suit on, set up just the way Five-seveN had taught me. I even have the handkerchief right. Man, If I had this last night when DEFY were in their suits-

I have to shiver as the dark thoughts once more attempt to hound me down. No, you're having fun with S.A.T., Tokarev, and Mk23 right now. Lock it away.

To my surprise, there are four people waiting when I walk out of the dressing room. The new arrival, clearly a store clerk, is the only one who seems disappointed by the suit. The other three seem to think it's fine.

"Ne, to nije dobro." She shakes her head. "Moraćemo da skrojimo odelo."

"She says she needs to alter the suit." S.A.T. interprets.

"But, I'm not planning on buying a suit."

"Don't you want to look good for your dates later?" Mk23 asks, tilting her head with her finger.

"Or you might be able to match with Lucia and Antia." Tokarev tilts her head.

"...Okay then." I sigh. "How long will getting it tailored take?"

After a frustrating conversation interpreted back and forth, I get my measurements taken and a promise to have it done in a few hours. When I asked about the fee for altering it, she had just smirked at me.

Somehow, I doubt my words are being translated one to one, and I still don't have a set of clothes to wear now.

While they're busy talking to the clerk, I grab a shirt and pants that are a lot less ratty. My belt is also in pretty poor shape, but it looks like I'm going to be getting a nice one with the suit.

S.A.T. pays for the suit against my protests, and we walk out of the store several hundred credits lighter and one set of clothes plus one promissory note heavier.

"Okay, so now that I'm done-" I turn to S.A.T. "Where do you want to go?"

"The sporting goods store."

The sporting goods store is probably the largest individual room in the store, taking up an entire floor of the mall. S.A.T. beelines for the camping section, finding what she wants before I even have a chance to look around properly.

"A portable camping stove?" I examine the box in her hands. "...Are you sure?"

"Si. I'll be able to cook better meals on the road with this!"

It's not even expensive, it's just a propane camping stove with an attached miniature pot. "And you can stop using AR-15's armor plate as a pancake cooking surface?"

She hesitates, "Actually, I may need a skillet too."

I nudge her shoulder with my own. "Go ahead and get what you want. I trust you not to get anything crazy."

"Of course." She beams.

Suddenly, I feel the presence to my side leave, and I turn to see Tokarev had covered several meters in the blink of an eye.

She has her face almost plastered to the glass, looking at a glass display…

Ah, I should have guessed. Knives.

The man behind the counter chuckles as I approach. "Like knives, little missy?"

Tokarev nods. I trace her line of sight and see she's focused on one particular knife in the case.

"So this is what you wanted?" I ask her.

She shakes her head. "Nyet. However, I have changed my mind, and it is now what I want."

I turn to the dude behind the counter. "Can we see… uh, that one?" I gesture towards the knife.

He crouches down, pulling it out and folding it closed. "That is a Balisong, better known as a butterfly knife. Be careful with it, it's-"

Tokarev grabs it, examining for all of three seconds before she starts whipping it around in her hand, the two handles flipping around and the blade flashing about in a way that makes me worry for her hands. At one point, she completely lets go of the blade, the three section knife spinning in the air in a manner that makes me extremely nervous, but she catches it flawlessly.

"...Glup k'o noć, that's insane! Missy, what if you hurt yourself!" The man seems equally impressed and angry.

"I would not make such a mistake." Tokarev sets the blade down on the counter. "Hadwin, may I have that?"

"Yeah, sure."

The dude turns to me. "You can't be serious!"

"Why not? She's got the skill to use it like that, so what's the big deal?"

He stares straight at me before clearly just giving up. "Just so you know, we don't take returns on knives that draw blood. If she cuts off her own finger, it's her fault."

"Duly noted." I offer payment and Tokarev once more takes the knife, this time inside a protective case that comes with the knife. She cradles it like a particularly small child, which… is an odd thought.

S.A.T. walks up with two more boxes and Mk23 has a fourth under her arm.

"What else are you getting?" I ask.

"A skillet, as I said, some extra propane tanks, and a basic cookware kit."

"Huh. Kinda surprised you don't have this kind of stuff already."

"I have some similar items back at HQ, but none of them are as light as these are. I'll be able to carry these out with us on a mission if need be."

"I see."

"I'm looking forward to it!" Mk23 chimes in. "Aside from the pancakes, I haven't had a chance to eat your cooking in a while!"

"Indeed!"

"Well, looks like we've got quite the haul." I announce. "Let's get back to the hotel."

The three dolls nod and we head for the counter to check S.A.T.'s items out, then head back to the hotel.

---

It took me offering that favor I owed her, but SV-98 was eventually convinced to leave the hotel and go on a 'date' with me. Only two destinations, first one vendor of small mechanical trinkets for the commander and then an actual date spot.

Despite her initial trepidation, she's now talking excitedly about her findings. Honestly, I had forgotten all about the task I had given her, but she dutifully had continued to research it while I was busy getting my world tipped over.

"So, asking around, we figured out that there's always a white robot suit near the power spikes. It's not direct evidence, but I suspect it has something to do with Paradeus!" She concludes.

I nod, sipping the fruity juice thing I had ordered through a straw. "Good work."

She beams and I glance out over the city.

We're on the tenth floor of a building, higher than most of the other buildings in the area, on an observation deck meant for tourists. They even have a juice bar up here. SV had ordered herself something fairly fancy, one with a plastic toy dropped into it for some reason.

"So, Paradeus is kidnapping people then?"

She hesitates. "I think so, but I can't be one hundred percent sure. It's all hearsay, after all."

"Still, the fact that several people saw something similar every time… eerie."

"Yep." She frowns. "I don't get what they would need that much electricity for though. They consistently managed to blow the fuses at the substation level, and that's usually not possible given how the grid is designed. There's fuses at each transformer designed to pop if the current exceeds-"

I nod again, her explanation once more going way over my head. "Maybe they're powering up some super-robot?"

"A super-robot?" She gives me a curious look. "Why do you think that?"

"Well, Paradeus has the Doppelsöldners and those jumpy Rodeleros. They seem to like mechs."

She contemplates this while sipping her ridiculous drink. "But if all they're doing is powering up a robot, why do people go missing?"

I shrug. "Maybe they're trying to resurrect Frankenstien's monster instead? You need a corpse and lots of electricity."

"If there was any reason to think that might work, I might agree with you, but electricity does the opposite of reviving people generally."

I sip my drink, still trying to figure out if I like it. It's got pineapple and something else I can't identify that's really freaking strong. "I wonder if Doctor Frankenstein works for Paradeus."

"I'm sure if he was real, he would be." SV-98 sucks some of her drink through a straw. "All of the real life mad scientists do."

I grin. "But what about Persica?"

When she doesn't immediately answer I feel my mood dropping. "Actually… I'm fairly sure that she used to, or maybe it was just her coworkers. There's some evidence to back it up too."

"Yeah?"

She nods. "Have you taken a good look at M4A1's face?"

The doll in question appears in my mind. "Yeah?"

"If I recall, you fought a Nyto with 416. Did she seem familiar?"

I close my eyes to think back, before realizing what SV is indicating. "Wait-"

"M4A1 has always been treated differently. I never understood why, but the fact that Persica's special dolls and our newest enemy share the same face seems to indicate something is up."

"...That's crazy."

"Just one more on the stack of things we don't understand about Paradeus. They've got all of us on edge, honestly. Too many secrets."

I look over the railing at the city below to hide my bitter expression. "Yeah."

SV also peers over the edge, and we continue to drink our drinks in silence.

"Y'know, this place is a great sniping spot."

I almost spit out my drink, quickly grabbing a napkin to wipe my face off. "W-What?"

"Yeah." She points over the side of the street. "If you're up here, you can see straight down the street to the podium location."

Indeed, I can see where some people are crowded around a stage of some sort erected at the other end. "That seems like a tactical oversight."

"Only if the chance of assassination is high." She shrugs. "Right now, there's no reason that anyone at this festival should be suspecting a sniper. Maybe Anisim, but he seems pretty confident that we're not going to kill him."

"For some reason."

"Yes."

I glance behind us and realize that several people have stopped in place and are staring at us.

I stare back and they hurriedly disperse.

"Maybe we shouldn't talk about… that in public." I lower my voice.

"Mm, I forgot where we are." She taps her head lightly in self-recrimination.

"How's your drink, by the way?"

"Interesting. How's yours?"

"It tastes like Pineapple and… I dunno, synthetic raspberry? It's a weird flavor." I push the drink across the table. "Have some."

She grabs the drink, contemplates the rim for a second, and then takes a sip. "...I see."

"It's not bad." I say and she nods her head in agreement. "It's just not what I was expecting."

"It's the same for mine." She pushes her own drink across the table. "Here."

I push the straw out of the way and sip at the edge of the glass.

"...Did someone just feed fruit salad into a blender and call it a drink?"

"That's what I think." SV takes her drink back and sips on it some more. "Tasty though."

"I suppose."

She sucks the rest of the container dry as I down the rest of mine, savoring the slight pineapple juice burn on my throat before setting the glass down.

SV fishes the toy out of her drink, a small plastic dinosaur. I raise an eyebrow and she smiles sheepishly. "I want something to remember today by."

"I didn't say anything."

"No, but you were thinking it." She falls in step beside me as we start to vacate the premises. "Thank you, by the way."

"For what?"

"Forgiving me." Her hands clenching into fists, the poor dino bulging comically. "To be honest, I don't know if I have forgiven myself yet."

I reach out as is my ever increasing habit and rub her head. "Don't worry about it. You've done a great job, and once again I'll remind you that I don't hold any of that against you."

"Yeah." Her smile becomes just a touch more genuine. "Yeah."

---

The dude at the knife counter raises an eyebrow as he recognizes me. "I told you, no… Huh?" His eyebrows knit in confusion since none of the girls behind me are the same as about two hours earlier.

15 and Sop walk up to the counter already focused on the knives.

"Yeah, I heard you." I heft the garment bag with my brand new suit in it higher on my shoulder. "Katiya hasn't drawn blood with it, so don't worry."

The man frowns, but shrugs. "Okay then. What can I do for you lovely ladies?"

"Hmm…" Sop's sharp tine-fingers tap on the glass in a rhythm. "Do you have combat knives?"

"I do." The dude gestures around the corner and Sop follows him around.

I turn to 15. "Combat knives?"

She nods. "It just means a blade that's strong enough to withstand being used as a weapon. Regular knives sometimes shatter in combat."

"Huh."

She looks around the store and finds nobody is looking at us. "I carry mine here." She carefully lifts the edge of her skirt, revealing the dangling blade. "It's for emergencies, so I need to keep it close at hand."

"Huh." I reach down and snag the weapon, pulling it up to my face. Huh. It's a nice knife, I suppose. Not really a judge on knives, but it sure looks sharp-

"Hadwin!"

I look back up to see 15's face has turned a darker shade of pink than her hair, and she's desperately grabbing at the rope dangling off the knife-

That's not a rope. That… is a pair of panties.

This realization hits me in a weird way. Instead of doing anything sane, my head starts spinning with questions and thoughts.

She wears tie string panties.

The knife is tied to them.

What if she needs to use the knife in a hurry?

Is this how she had it attached back in Sector 3?

Why is the knife-?

She grabs the knife once I freeze up, hiding the cloth in her hand and with her other hand, holds down the edge of her skirt. "I-I-I'll be right back!" She cries and bolts towards the nearest bathroom.

"But why is the knife-" I mutter out loud, only to be stopped by a hand on my shoulder.

"They don't have anything I can use." Sop glances back at the knife case. "Where's Star?"

"Bathroom." I grunt. "Well, let's go wait outside for her, yeah?"

Sop nods, following me to one of the benches set outside the storefront. It's nice and quiet for about three seconds before Sop turns to me.

"So, why was RO crying earlier?"

Her question seems to come out of nowhere. "What?"

"Last night when we were discussing today's date, RO was excited, but when it was time to actually go on the date, she was crying and refused to come." Sop frowns. "She's been really down since this morning."

I grimace, but remain silent.

"It was after she talked to you, I think."

"...Mmm."

Sop's eyes narrow. "Did you do something to her?"

"She did something to me, Sop." I sigh. "And we yelled at each other."

"What? Why?" Sop springs up so she can face me and plant her hands on her hips. "You shouldn't yell at people!"

I decide not to point out the hypocrisy of her loud words and instead focus on the intent. "She did something that I'm not going to be able to forgive that easily."

"But you made her cry!" She stamps her foot. "You need to fix that!"

"Sop-"

"No! RO is precious to me, and I hate to see her cry. If it's your fault, you need to fix it!" She leans in, and despite the anger on her face and her dominant posture, I can tell she's mostly worried about her sister.

"Look…" I sigh. "I'll do what I can, but you have to realize that RO's done… something really painful to me."

"What?" Sop crosses her arms. "RO likes you, she wouldn't do something bad on purpose."

"...She doesn't like me, Sop." I give the innocent dolls a wan smile. "She's just keeping an eye on me. I'm not anyone special, just a Field Agent that she's been watching so I don't screw up."

Sop frowns. "Really? That's not what I thought…"

I open my mouth to ask her to elaborate, but 15 walks out of the store, her cheeks still a bit red. "Can… can we just go to lunch now?" She asks.

"Yeah." I stand up, and they crowd up next to me. "Let's go."

Well, I say that, but I had forgotten the silly little detail that I have to stop by a vendor's booth and check out what they're promoting on the way over. It ends up being a cybernetics company which has Sop excited once more.

I stand back as the two dolls in my care examine the prosthetics, Sop marveling at an arm and 15 seeming to look at the brochure. From what I can see, it's a boring medical device display, but it's on the list of things I need to do today. One one hand, I kinda want to disobey just on principle. On the other hand, I just spent a whole lot of credits on a set of earrings for Mk23. So, for now I'll play along.

Meanwhile, my thoughts drift backwards to Sop's words.

RO had been crying? Yeah, I get that we were angry at each other… but why was she crying? She's been watching me to make sure I don't screw with her sisters, and she seems to have come to the conclusion that I'm harmless.

That shouldn't cause her emotional strain, right?

I purse my lips in thought. I mean, there's the obvious answer that Sop's 'she likes you' is true, but I find that one also kinda… well, she's been in on the plan from almost the start. It would be weird for someone who knows what she knows to actually fall into the same trap she's laid out. What kind of manipulator falls for tricks they apply to themselves?

Then again… I reluctantly consider that she's been pretty close to me for a while, and I had been kind of ignoring the fact she ended up in my room or on my bed a lot in the past week. While being there in case I abuse her sisters is a good explanation for some of it…

I think, for my own remnant of sanity, I'm going to assume that RO considered me a friend, and feels sad because she feels guilty.

If it's more than that-

"Haddy?"

I force my eyes to focus as my train of thought is broken by Sop and 15 walking up to me. "Hmm? We're done?"

"No." 15 sighs. "I knew you weren't listening."

Sop grabs my arm and leads me up to the booth. "The guy said that you can try out some of the prosthetics!"

I make eye contact with the man behind the booth, and he smiles pretty genuinely. "Hey there!"

"Hi." I glance down at the hand on the table. "This?"

"Yes! Your girlfriend there was talking about how she designed your previous hand-" He glances at my left hand, and I bring it up so he can see it. "-and it looks like she did a good job of it too. However, this hand is a top of the line model. It's got sensory functions like a real hand, full articulation, all without compromising on grip strength which is comparable to an A-doll!"

"Huh." I glance back at Sop, who's poking her fingers together. "Girlfriend. Do you just want me to try the hand on?" I ask the man.

He nods, and I carefully disconnect Sop's custom hand and lift the shiny new hand into place and latch it on.

The first thing I notice is that my hand feels cold. It's odd, having the sensation that I'm freezing in a body part I haven't had for a few weeks now. I can feel the air blowing a breeze past my hand ever so slightly… Man, this hand is actually pretty nice.

"How's it feel?" The vendor asks.

"Cold." I remark, rotating the wrist around and stretching the fingers apart a few times. "Which I will admit, I wasn't expecting.

"It's cold because it's been sitting out." The man points out. "Once it's being used, it'll warm up."

I nod and continue exercising the hand. It certainly feels pretty good…

15 looks from me back to the vendor. "How much does it cost?"

He chuckles. "It's not on the market yet. This is still a prototype, unfortunately, but soon we'll begin production." He hands her a card. "If you contact us, we should be able to get you a quote."

15 takes the card and contemplates it as I detach the hand carefully and set it back on the desk before retrieving my own hand.

"You know, for being one person, your girlfriend made something pretty impressive." The man admires the hand as I clip it back on. "Seems pretty sturdy."

"I broke a few things with it." I smirk. "But yeah, Sophia's got a good head on her shoulders."

He hands me a card and I slip it into my pocket, then hands one to Sop. "Miss, if you ever want to go into medical prosthetics, please let me know. I'll be glad to get you an introduction."

"I'll think about it." Sop smiles.

Once we wander out of earshot and the man moves onto the next visitor, I turn to Sop. "Looks like you had fun."

"Mmhmm! Prosthetics are actually really cool to design! Each interface is different, and you have to adapt for the fact that humans don't send out clean signals like-"

She rambles on a bit as we walk towards our restaurant of choice and I let her enjoy spewing the info she has in her head.

Once she reaches a break in her talking, I cut in. "So, once you're done with Griffin, do you think you'll take him up on his offer?"

Sop freezes in place. "Done? But… there's always gonna be people to fight, aren't there?"

"I sure hope not." I sigh.

"If we have to fight forever…" 15 mumbles and I feel her fingers slide into mine. "Hopefully I'll be able to…"

I return her grip and desperately hope I can keep my face straight for once in my life.

---

After lunch, The three of us went back to the hotel and I put on the nice suit that S.A.T. had purchased for me. Indeed, the alterations had changed it from being nice to being absolutely perfect. Now, the suit is clearly wearing me, not the other way around.

Once I had put it on, I had been greeted by AK-12 and AN-94, both also wearing suits.

"Ready to go?" AK-12 raises an eyebrow as I tuck on the tie once more, trying to get it just right.

"Yeah, I think so."

"You look quite handsome, Hadwin." AN-94 steps up and tugs the tie herself a few times, nodding once she has it in a position she likes.

I look at AN-94. "Thanks, Antia."

"I've arranged for a car." AK-12 informs me as we enter the elevator. "We'll be taking it to our destination."

I have been in this elevator so many times in the past thirty hours that I can accurately time how long it takes to get to the ground floor. "What is this destination?"

"A fancy brunch for some important people." AK-12 shrugs like it's no big deal.

"...Then why are we going?" I give her an exasperated look. "I've been running around all day-"

"Don't worry, Hadwin." AN-94 grabs my arm and leads me out of the elevator. "Trust us."

Fifteen minutes later, I find myself in a scene I thought you only could find in a recording from sixty years ago. Everyone here is dressed very nicely and is drinking some sort of fancy drinks.

AK-12 notices my hesitation at the door and pulls me into the room, forcing me to immediately put on my customer face, a pleasant smile that is not at all how I'm feeling at the moment.

Hey, shouldn't I just use my customer smile when I need to lie to-

"Look Hadwin, they have tiny sandwiches." AK-12 pulls me over to the buffet table, which indeed has small sandwiches. AN-94 follows close behind, her eyes scanning the crowd in a manner that might be casual for her, but is far too intense to not be suspicious.

I take one of the sandwiches and stick it into my mouth. "...Kinda bland."

"Hmm." AK-12 maintains a grip on my arm. While she is supposed to pretend to be a human for the most part, it's not like we're really undercover at the moment. For now, she's gone back to pretending to be blind. "Feed me one."

I glance at AN-94, but she's spotted something else and isn't paying attention. Whatever. I fulfill AK-12's request and she chews on the tiny food thoughtfully.

"Hadwin." AN-94's voice is suddenly urgent. "He's here."

"Who?" I turn around and it takes me a second to realize who I'm looking at.

Myroslav Rud and his two sons are walking towards us, and the sons definitely don't look amused.

"Bland." AK-12 finally announces as the three step up to face us.

"Oh look." Danylo sneers in my direction. "It's the bitch and his two girlfriends."

"How's the hand?" Yaroslav sneers.

I smile slightly and raise the metal appendage. "It's fine, thank you."

AN-94 steps back to put myself between her and the two. Uh… you're a combat robot?

"Now boys." Myroslav claps a hand on both of his sons' shoulders. "We've put that in the past, haven't we?"

The two glance at each other, seemingly not on board, but not quite able to challenge their father directly.

Myroslav steps in front of his kids and reaches out a hand to me. "Hadwin! It's been a while."

I reluctantly shake his hand. "Two weeks."

"I must say, I was surprised to learn you were working for Griffin! That sneaky Havier, adding guests to my guest list." He shakes his head. "Why, if I didn't have bigger worries, I might even be mad!"

I lick my lips. "I see."

"What would those worries be?" AK-12 tilts her head.

"Oh, small things like recovering an artifact and rebuilding my mansion." Myroslav chuckles. "In fact, I'm here at this party to accomplish one of those goals."

"Oh?" I roll one of my shoulders, eyes flicking between the three men.

"Indeed. There's quite a few carpenters and stonemasons in Serbia, and most of the good ones are here for the event. I will be able to make a deal, I'm sure."

"Good for you." I remove all the sarcasm from my voice. "I hope your mansion can be restored properly."

"Me too!" Myroslav's eyes glance to the side, and he immediately focuses on another person, who he greets with some enthusiasm.

Which means, his sons are now free to continue.

Danylo crosses his arms, smirk apparent. "So, those two haven't broken up with you yet?"

"Not yet." AN-94 nods and I internally wince.

"Man, I think you two look prettier in dresses." Yaroslav purses his lips. "Though… Hmm, I might like you better in the suits. Not prettier, but… a lot cooler."

"Thank you." AK-12 says in the most insincere tone I'd ever heard out of her mouth. "I picked the colors myself."

I glance at her. If you're pretending-

"Aren't you blind?" Danylo asks with all the grace of a bulldozer. "How did you pick-"

"She's just provoking you." Yaroslav rolls his eyes. "Kid, what are you doing here?"

"Antia wanted to go to a nice cocktail party." I shrug. "Lucia wanted to try some tiny sandwiches."

"They're fairly bland." AK-12 repeats. "Not very interesting after all."

"Please." Danylo sighs. "I know you're here to see what dad's up to."

Silence falls on the five of us, though the venue continues to buzz with conversations.

"Actually, no, I'm really on a date with these two. I didn't know you three were here until you approached us." I blink. "I mean, now I'm curious, but he also told me straight up what he's doing. I don't think I have to worry about anything."

Yaroslav's mouth twists into a snarl. "You-!"

In a bitter moment of clarity, I realize that I had been too flippant and there's now a punch aimed in my direction. The fist rears back and I raise my hands to defend myself-

AK-12's hand snaps out and intercepts the punch, stopping it dead in its tracks. Yaroslav's face goes from rage to confusion as he glances at the blind woman that managed to stop his punch dead.

Danylo also joins in, preparing his own attack. AN-94 sweeps in with no effort and grabs his wrist before he can so much as cry out.

Brought into an immediate stalemate, the two look bewildered for a second. Yaroslav especially glances at his counterpart with confusion.

AK-12 cracks her eyes open just a bit and Yaroslav freezes, the light reflected in his eyes as they widen in horror. He tries to pull his hand away, but AK-12's grip is a lot stronger.

"A piece of advice." AK-12's slitted eyes turn to Danylo as well. "Don't throw punches at anyone you're not sure you can beat." Her hand squeezes Yaroslav's and he winces in pain.

"Alright, alright." Danylo grumbles. "Let go of me."

AN-94 maintains her hold. "Do you promise not to attack us again?"

"Sure, whatever."

She releases her grin and retreats back behind me, once more a cowering girl. Similarly, AK-12 releases her grip on Yaroslav.

The two brothers glare at us and I glare back.

"I'm gonna tell our dad that you assaulted us again." Yaroslav says eventually.

"Good luck with that." I sigh. "Antia, Lucia, can we go now?"

"Yes. The company is boring." AK-12's arm slips back around mine and she sniffs imperiously. "The sandwiches are dull and I find myself craving fast food."

AN-94 nods her assent.

"Well then, excuse us." I lead the two dolls out and around the two brothers, who never stop glaring until we're out the door. Only then do I allow myself to relax, tugging on the tie a bit. "Man, that was a waste of time."

"On the contrary, we got what we needed." AN-94 nods to me, pushing her glasses up her nose. "We've confirmed not only the Rud family's presence in the city, but also their stated goals."

"Ah. I thought he was lying."

"No, he was telling the truth." AK-12 continues to cling onto my arm. "His vitals were within expectations, and his voice remained steady during the conversation."

"Huh." I chew on this for a bit. "Well, that was a quick date."

"...We're not going to go eat?" AN-94's voice clearly contains disappointment.

I glance over at her, and she has her fists clenched in anticipation. AK-12 gives my arm a squeeze and I shrug with my free shoulder. "Okay, why not?"

The nearest place is actually a KXD restaurant like the one that I had worked in for a few months, and when I brought that up they had both insisted I take them there.

It's fast food, nothing special, but they both seemed fairly interested.

To be honest, I'm not really comfortable in the store. Being a chain store, it's pretty similar to the one back home that was blown up and that's screwing with my head a bit.

Still, AK-12 and AN-94 don't seem to pick up on it. We successfully ordered, though I only got a cookie since I had just eaten. Once we've sat down with our food, I decide to ask the question that had been on my mind for a bit.

AK-12 grabs a drumstick and bite into it, seemingly surprised at it, though her eyes remain closed.

"So, what are Ange and the other two doing?"

AN-94 eyes the greasy food warily as she answers. "Ange is currently investigating a warehouse on the outskirts of Kruševac with both Erwin and Renate." She pokes her food carefully.

"We already have our evidence." AK-12 shrugs. "We know that Paradeus is working in the city, but now we have to determine what they're doing here."

I nod. "Right. If they're not hurting people, then it's not worth our time to rock the boat."

"Exactly." AK-12 grabs some fries.

"Lucia, how are you eating this? It's very greasy." AN-94 turns to her sister.

AK-12 shrugs. "Tastes fine to me."

"Taste, sure, but-"

AK-12 turns back to face me. "In any case, they're looking into some of the GeneLab warehouses to see if we can sabotage things without hurting the civilians."

I nod once more, nibbling on my cookie.

AN-94 finally grimaces and carefully brings the fried chicken to her mouth, taking a very small bite. "Hmm…"

"If it's too greasy, you don't have to eat it." I place my hand on the edge of her tray. "I'll eat it if you don't want it."

"It's not bad." She shakes her head. "Just… unusual. I may have to clean out my throat later to get the grease out."

…Well, that's certainly a disturbing thought.

"It should be fine." AK-12 assures her sister. "After all, humans eat this all the time."

"Yeah…" I decide not to mention the mix of crap that goes into the creation of the food… There's a reason I went for a cookie.

I glance around the dining area and realize that having two beautiful girls and a random dude in both suits and a fast food restaurant is a bit weird. Several people hurriedly look away as I sweep my eyes over the room. Then again, reality is even more absurd, two combat androids eating fried chicken in suits.

I wonder if the fact that none of this crap even fazes me anymore is because of the strain I had been putting on my head recently. If I am going crazy, then there's no telling what I might be seeing.

Then again…

I look around again, and there's definitely no familiar faces aside from those across from me. I hadn't heard a disembodied voice all day either.

Maybe I was just so stressed with Ricardo's taunting…

"Penny for your thoughts?" AN-94 asks, rubbing her fingers with yet another napkin.

"Just… trying to figure out where my head's at." I smile at the duo.

"Is this because of last night?" AK-12 asks.

"Yeah." I lean my elbows on the table. Nobody's in earshot… "How much did Renate tell you?"

"She said that you took some fairly decisive actions, but refused to elaborate. She did say that Bren showed up and fought with you."

I nod along with AN-94's words. "Right." I take a deep breath to calm myself. "Well, I was so mad at Ricardo last night that I… well, I set the room he was in on fire." I lick my lips. "With the intent of burning him to death."

"Oh?"

"Uh-huh. It wasn't a fair fight, or just combat, but a full on execution, and… I don't like where my head went."

AK-12's head tilts slightly, and her eyes open a mere crack. "You think your actions were wrong?"

"Yeah." I shiver. "Shooting him would have been kinder."

"Did he deserve kindness?" AN-94 delicately grabs the last bit of food on her plate.

"I don't know, but I know that looking back on it, I regret it."

"Seems simple to me. Do better next time. If it's truly as disturbing as you're making it out to be, I suppose you're not going to forget that next time." AK-12 leans her own elbows on the table. "Sometimes I wonder what would happen if I had the luxury of regretting my decisions."

I raise an eyebrow.

"I am forced to make judgment calls on a regular basis, and sometimes I make bad ones that get people killed. People we can't afford to lose. Still, I have to press forward to not fall behind the enemy." She rocks back and forth slightly. "Maybe I'll have time to regret this when it's all over."

"Sometimes I wonder when it'll all be over." AN-94 tilts her head. "There's no end in sight."

"Well then." I glance between the two. "I guess we'll have to press on for now."

"Da." AN-94 scoops the remnants of the two meals up and deposits them in a nearby trash can. "We'll move forward, and live to regret it."

---

"Where did you even get that?"

45 smiles up at me while refusing to answer my question. It's a fair question too, seeing as she's in a fairly nice dress that matches with 9's own brand new dress. They both have long arm covering gloves and large ornaments in their hair.

"A girl's got to have secrets, Haddy." 9 grins.

"Right." I decide I don't care anymore as we step out of the elevator into the lobby floor.

It's about 1500 right now and I've still got one more place I've got to check out while I'm out with probably the worst of the dating pairs I have set up for the day.

It'd be okay if it was just 45, I think. 9 though, she's a bit of a wild card.

Both of them together…

I just hope I don't get arrested while I'm out.

Despite my worries, the two look relatively carefree themselves and each grab an arm as we walk out the front door.

"So, where too?" I ask, glancing back and forth.

"Hmm…" 45 looks into the distance. "I wonder if there's any overlooks."

"It'd have to be a tall building." 9 points to the tallest building in the city, clearly visible from all directions at fifteen stories tall. "According to the internet, it's got an observation deck."

"Sounds like a plan." I nod.

"It's only a fifteen minute walk." 9 continues. "No point in getting a ride."

So, we start heading towards the tallest building, which is some sort of banking building judging by the logo on the side.

9 gently tugs to keep us on course as we navigate the streets, walking past the hopeful students and couples enjoying the atmosphere of the festival.

As 9 guides us, 45 continues to talk.

"So, I was thinking." 45 looks up at me from her position holding onto my arm. "Gentiane's really been playing us all, huh."

"Eh?" 9 glances at her professed sister in confusion.

45 continues on without acknowledging 9. "It's funny how well it worked, to be honest. I never expected that our babysitting duty was something more."

"Eh?! Haddy, what is she talking about?"

"Turns out Gentiane's been trying to get you four to stick around even should the contract get voided."

"What?" She snorts. "That's dumb. We're here because of the money."

"Money has been getting low for Griffin recently." 45 comments. "She was looking for another way."

9's eyebrows raise. "Good luck with that, I say. She doesn't have anything that we want." She hesitates. "Well, maybe some information, but-"

"Not information." 45 glances out across the street, tracing something I can't see myself. "But she does have something important."

"Me."

9 barks out a laugh. "You? Haddy, don't think too highly of yourself."

"He's right though." 45 backs me up. "Seems our employer decided to try to get us trapped in a relationship with this Field Agent here." Her arm tightens up around my arm.

"Uh…" 9 looks confused for a second. "Duh?"

Hold on. 'Duh?'

45 also looks at 9 with confusion.

"She told us this." 9 stares at her sister. "I mean, she told me that she wanted me to make sure Hadwin got plenty of time to interact with 416 and G11. I thought that it was weird and I really didn't want him to intrude on our family, but…" 9's face grows more and more confused as 45's starts to once more get angry. "What?"

"She didn't tell me this." 45 grinds out. "Ich kann die Kühnheit dieser Schlampe nicht glauben."

Whatever that was, it wasn't complimentary. "So, you knew?" I ask 9, suddenly wondering if I can just shake her off, but she's got quite a grip on my arm at the moment.

"Well… yeah." She looks forwards, checks a street sign, and pulls us down the crossroad. "I mean, I didn't like you intruding, but I figured there was a reason 45-nee was going along with it. After all, she-" 9 clamps her mouth shut, seeming to realize what she was about to say.

"9." 45 orders.

"I figured you had some use for him." 9 throws her free arm up in frustration. "After all, since I thought you were in on the plan, I thought there was a reason you were getting close to-" 9 blinks. "Wait, if you weren't in on the plan, why-"

"Halt den mund." 45 says, but her face is starting to turn red.

"Don't tell me you actually fell for him." 9's face is complicated. "He's an idiot!"

"I'm right here, you know." I grumble.

"I know."

"He is an idiot." 45 agrees. "But I thought that, since we're here with Griffin for a while anyway, it would be nice to take some measure of comfort in his presence."

"Wha-"

"So, the plan actually worked?" 9 is starting to look sick. "Oh scheisse, but… what if we need to scram? I thought we were just here until it was time to disappear again!"

"That was the plan." 45 shift a bit before squeezing my arm tighter. "Plan's change."

9 stops in place, forcing the two of us to stop as well. "45-nee. If we needed to go, right now, could you leave him behind?"

45 frowns. "I could. Though, it would probably better if we brought him with-"

"This can't be happening." 9 finally lets go of my arm and slumps against the wall of a nearby store. "...It makes sense. It all makes sense. I thought you were just teasing him, but-" her eyes flash to meet mine. "You. You weren't in on it either?"

"No. I found out last night."

9 stares off into the distance. "Then… why did you hang out with us? I tried to keep you away, but you kept ignoring my prodding. I even straight up told you I didn't want you in our family."

I shrug. "It's not like I was intentionally trying to do anything. 416's-"

"Very easy, I know." 9 bites out. "So this entire time, I've been the only one playing this dumb game?"

"Apparently." 45 frowns at her sister.

"RO knew too." I say.

"Oh, that makes it all better." 9 rolls her eyes. "God, I feel like an idiot."

"...So you thought all three of us were in on the plan?" I ask cautiously.

"Yeah. That's what she said, and it never came up after then." 9 looks away. "Ich bin der größte dummkopf, nicht wahr?"

"Es scheint, als ob wir beide ausgetrickst worden sind." 45 releases my arm and heads over to her teammate. She reaches out with a hand and touches 9's cheek, probably the most affectionate thing I've seen 45 do for her adopted twin. "Aber jetzt, wo wir uns einig sind, können wir weitermachen."

9's eyes start to water as they continue to talk in German for a bit.

I uncomfortably look around at the crowd, some of whom seem to be wondering when the two girls are doing that close to each other, but I stare at them until they look away.

Eventually, they both step away from the wall. I turn to face them.

"Are you okay, 9?" I ask cautiously.

"...I am." She nods slowly. "Let me get this straight, Haddy." She rubs her eyes once more before standing up straight and crossing her arms. "I don't like you. You've been intruding on our family too much. Sure, you're not the worst, but you're not one of us."

"...Got it." I sigh. "I guess I should apologize. Even if it's just because I didn't know better, I did pry into your life a bit."

"...Yes, and I shared too much myself." She deflates slightly. "Look, just don't pretend like we're friends. We're not. We just work together."

I nod. "Fair enough." I glance around. "By the way, we're supposed to be using codenames, Reina."

45 glances my way. "Did she tell you…?"

"Some of it." I reply. "Which I guess she regrets now, but don't worry. I'm not gonna tell anyone out of spite. That's not who I am."

"...Yeah, you aren't." 9 nods to herself, before shaking her head sharply. "Okay, well, let's pretend that the whole conversation didn't happen. You're supposed to be treating us to a date, and we've got a bunch of stuff to talk about!" She plasters her usual carefree grin on her face and grabs my arm once again, slipping into her typical valley girl cheeriness with disturbing ease.

"Ja, let's go." 45 glances up at me. "Hadwin, we've still got to talk about our GeneLab mission. We didn't get very far due to the amount of security they have."

"Really? You were defeated by security?"

"Too many humans. Hard to hack." She lets an evil grin spread back across her face. "So, we've been considering running another attempt tonight or tomorrow. It might get messy, but we have clear evidence that it's Paradeus now. It'll be worth getting in there."

I nod. "Okay. Count me in."

"Ugh." 9 rolls her eyes. "Haddy, you're not-"

"He's gotten better." 45 interrupts 9.

"Better doesn't mean good, or even acceptable." 9 counters.

"Actually-" I interrupt. "Aren't they doing those interview things? I think I read about it in the news the day I arrived. Maybe we can pretend to be students?"

"That could work," 45 turns to me. "If the people in Paradeus are blind. Reina and I don't look like we're in college, and none of us really look like we've been preparing for an interview."

"...Good point." I glance down at the suit that would probably qualify as way overdressed. "Well, why don't we stop by and see what's going on just in case?"

"I suppose it can't hurt." 45 shrugs.

---

45's hands start to wring my arm as her earlier words tempting fate come right back around to bite us all on the ass.

Two people I hadn't been expecting are waiting in the lobby of the building,

"Hadwin?" Lucas raises an eyebrow. "What are you doing here?"

"I could ask you the same thing." I reply as both 9 and 45 let go of my arms.

The other person, Eva, raises an eyebrow. "I'm here for the robotic division."

"I'm here for the medical equipment demonstration." Lucus crosses his arms. "Seriously, what are you here for?"

"Oh, I was just curious." 9 attempts to deflect. "I dragged them in here to see what it was all about but-"

"Aren't you one of the dolls that was at the party yesterday?" Eva asks. "Couldn't you learn all of this by looking it up?"

9's friendly demeanor drops once more. "...Yes."

"Well, why don't you join us?" Lucas asks. "You're here anyway."

45's smile is the polite one that rubs me the wrong way. "Oh no, we couldn't possibly interrupt your date."

Lucas barks out a laugh. "We're not dating."

"He's not my type." Eva rolls her eyes.

45's own eye narrows at the young woman.

Wait, what's her deal?

Before I get a chance to try to de-escalate, the door into the main area opens up and a young man with a nice smile clears his throat. "Attention! Everyone here for the tour, please follow me."

I turn to the dolls by my side, and they look back up at me.

"Sure, why not?" I turn to Lucas and Eva. "Let's see what GeneLab has to offer."

---

Author's Note:
Hiatus is now over. After a bit of time to think, with none of the pressure I had applied to myself, the ideas started to flow more freely, and I was able to enjoy writing once again. Still, I kept my writing down to only days I felt really inspired to write, and didn't write for the sake of writing. Trying to keep a good balance in my life is hard, especially since I do enjoy writing in general and will write way past a reasonable time sometimes.

In any case, I'm back and I'll try to get back to a schedule, but don't freak out if I skip an upload or two.