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.

29. Chapter 29: No Strings Attached

1604 Saturday, April 10th.

There's ten people in the group being led into the bowels of GeneLab. In front, five young adults about my age, none of whom I recognize. Bright young people, looking to have a good career in… science type fields.

The next two, casually looking around at the current set of medical wonders or whatnot, are my best friend Lucas and Miss prom queen herself, Eva. Two people that would be anywhere but this building if I had the option of forcing them away.

Bringing up the rear is a schmuck with two pretty girls at his sides, One missing an eye and the other looking exceptionally bored.

45's singular eye tracks up to me. "We can head back if you're that worried."

"That obvious?" I take a deep breath. "It's just…"

"Don't like having the civvies involved?" 9 rolls her eyes.

"Yes." I look forward to the two walking just ahead of us. "I don't want them caught up in this."

"See, this is how we felt." 9 sighs dramatically. "You're just a random idiot that we got stuck with that had no idea how to survive entering an enemy stronghold."

"..."

"He survived." 45 shrugs. "Maybe they will too."

"That's not as reassuring as I'd like, Hannah." I turn back to the evil twin. "I'd prefer it if they didn't get into a situation in the first place."

"And I'd prefer to be in the Maldives. We can't get what we want all the time."

"I want a new jacket." 9 grumbles. "Compared with your wishes, that shouldn't be hard, right?"

"A jacket?"

All three of us look up to see Eva had stopped walking to drop back to our pace.

9's expression brightens. "Yes! Have you seen the latest from-"

Lucas taps my shoulder and my attention drifts from the talk of clothes. "Hey Hadwin, what's up?"

"What do you mean?"

He's unimpressed with my response. "You look like we just walked into a den of snakes. Is something wrong?"

"We did just walk into a den of snakes." I say it bluntly.

"Seriously?" He frowns. "This isn't like at the party, right? You're not just-"

I wince, but 45 comes to my rescue. "Trust me. I investigated this building last night." She keeps her voice low. "They've got ties to-."

"Ahem."

All five of us look up to see the tour guide and the other section of the group looking at us.

Right. Tour.

We catch up and the tour continues.

Most of the tour so far had been looking down into various research labs and workshops from a higher floor with windows into the large spaces. We pass medical equipment and some basic robotics assembly. At least, according to the tour guide. When I look down, all I see is Sop's wet dream come to fruition.

Well, maybe she'd prefer that everything was built so she could shred it apart, but-

"And here," The tour guide indicates for the group to round the corner and I glance through yet another window. "We have the Artificial Doll manufacturing area."

My ears perk up, and I look more closely. Hey, yeah, those look like they could look somewhat human some day.

One of the other hopefuls raises a hand to ask a question. "I thought only Sangvis and IOP made Dolls?"

"Not exactly." The guide smiles. "Those are just the only two companies able to mass produce dolls. Here at GeneLab, we've been working on our own variant, though we do also work with IOP neural clouds on occasion." He scans the floor below for a second before pointing something out. "See that one next to the yellow assembly rack? That's our current A-Doll from IOP."

While everyone's busy looking down into the room, I glance around. Mild interest mostly, but Eva in particular seems to have her eyes glued to the room, darting about trying to take the entire thing in.

9 seems a bit creeped out, and 45 seems to take it all in stride. I wonder if this is like looking into a morgue or emergency ward for people.

I'm just about to step back from the window when my eye catches a door opening on the far side of the room.

Out steps Anisim Zaytsev in his immaculate suit, striding through the room like he owns the place. He probably does, now that I think about it. He greets a few of the workers, looks at the IOP doll frame, and seems to be satisfied with whatever the woman working on it has to say.

Then he turns and looks right up at me.

I jump away from the window, and both 45 and 9's hands grab the edges of their dresses, preparing for combat I assume. I shake my head quickly, and they go back to normal before anyone else can react to my jump.

There's no way he saw me. It's dark in the corridor, and that means the glass should be like a mirror from the bright side, right?

Lucas clearly realizes something is up and he drifts away from the window as I collect my thoughts. "You okay?"

"Yeah, just… thought I saw something I didn't." I lick my lips. "Sorry, been jumpy for a while."

Lucas seems to consider this for a second before throwing an arm around my shoulder and guiding me back to the opposite wall. "Bro, I'm starting to get really worried about you."

I nod reluctantly. "Yeah."

"Have you been getting enough sleep?"

I hesitate and he takes this as an answer.

"How about food? Been eating well?"

"I've been eating." I say, but realize that I've also been puking a lot recently…

"Okay, how about your mood? Had any mood swings?"

I give him a wan smile. "Plenty."

He takes in my reaction and bites his lip. "Do you know why?"

"..." I glance around at the tour group. "Look, now really isn't the time."

"Okay." He grabs my shoulders and looks me square in the face. "Remember, I'm your friend. You can trust me."

"Yeah, don't worry." I nod.

We walk back into the group just as the tour guide claps his hands together. "Alright. We're going to go to the break room where you can pick a specific area to tour. Please follow me."

Reluctantly, I head along behind the others. 45 falls in beside me and whispers up to me.

"Anisim?"

I nod.

"I can't access the systems here without them knowing… well, I probably could, but I'm not going to risk it right now. We should just lie low and try to make it out of here without encountering him."

"Sounds like a plan." I take a deep breath again. "This was such a bad idea."

She shrugs. "He was fairly friendly the last time we talked to him. Maybe he'll invite us to dinner?"

"Oh, ha ha."

45 and I are the last two to enter the room, and there are three distinct groups forming around three individuals that I don't recognize. The tour guide turns to me and 45. "Ah, there you are. Just pick a place you want to see, and the guide will show you around the area."

I thank him for his work and glance around. Lucas is talking to a guy wearing the uniform of a medical lab scientist, and Eva is talking to another of the group leaders. Presumably, she's talking to the guy in charge of the doll lab, given her interest earlier. 9 is currently standing on the fringe of another group, heading towards us once we enter.

"Hannah?" I glance at her.

"I get to choose?" She smirks. "Hmm… I say we should check out the robotics lab."

"Yeah?"

"More likely I can find something of value there." She nods.

"Not afraid of meeting Anisim?"

"Well… I suppose. If we don't go to any of the areas we'll draw attention regardless, and he's probably able to watch us on the security cameras all around."

I glance at one such camera, before nodding to her. "Sounds like a plan."

9 approaches. "What are you doing, Hannah?"

"I'm going with Hadwin to see the robot frames." She smiles sweetly. "So he doesn't go alone, can you go with Lucas?"

9 glances at me, then back to her sister, then sighs. "Yeah, that's probably a good idea." She glances back at Lucas and frowns. "I wonder…"

45 turns back to me. "Shall we?"

"Lead the way." I gesture for her to head forward, but she grabs my hand in hers and drags me forwards.

Eva watches us approach with curiosity. "You two are curious about the Dolls too?"

I shrug. "Well, I work with them after all."

45 grabs my arms closer. "It'll be so informative!"

I have to stop in my trucks and look back at the doll clinging to me. "Okay, don't ever do that again."

"What, sound chipper?" Her eye narrows.

"Yeah, it's creepy. Leave the overexuberance to your sister."

Her grin grows wider, but she relaxes a bit.

Eva shoots me a concerned look. "...Okay then."

The new guide gets our attention and leads us the relatively short distance to the robots lab we had just been looking down on. On the way, Eva pulls even with me, on the opposite side of me from 45.

"I didn't realize you two were a thing." She comments quietly.

"Huh?"

45 leans around me. "Ja, he and I are very close."

"I can see that. From what his parents were saying though, I expected him to be dating someone with pink hair."

"I am." I sigh. "45- er, Hannah is…" I find I don't actually have a good word to describe her. A tease? No, she's serious-

"I'm his mistress." Her grin grows wider.

"I… wow, I didn't think you were the type, Hadwin." Eva takes a step away from me, a fair amount of disgust on her face.

"No!" I shoot a quick glare at 45 before turning back to Eva. "She's pulling your leg. It's her thing. I'm in a relationship with Star, like my parents said." I blink. "Why were you talking to my parents about this?"

"Well-"

She's cut off by the door to the robotics lab opening up and the guide leading us in.

The people working inside spare us all a brief glance. Presumably they've gotten a whole bunch of groups coming through all day, so we're nothing special.

The guide launches into what has to be a well practiced spiel, and to her credit, it's actually fairly interesting. The only problem is that I quickly get completely lost. Sure, I know what a neural cloud is, in the sense that it's a storage box for a doll's consciousness. What I don't follow is the reason she's talking about advanced artificial muscles and titanium alloy frames and some sort of fusion of biological material and dolls. 45 and Eva seem to follow it though, Eva asking a few questions back as I give up and just look at the skeleton of the bare IOP doll.

It's actually kinda cool. I can see where the core is supposed to go, and the coolant system. There's lots of disconnected systems, and one of the arms is lying down on a table and partially disassembled.

Moving closer, I hold my left hand out, and compare it's slightly larger size, but identical design to the one on the table.

"Hey!" One of the lab guys walks up to me. "Don't touch the…"

I back away from the arm, holding my hands up to show I wasn't touching.

"Hey, is that an IOP model TKV-008 hand?" He looks closer at the appendage.

"Uh… probably." I shrug. "I had a friend into robotics make it for me. It was an emergency."

"Can I see it?"

I once more disconnect the hand and provide it to him. He excitedly starts to look it over. "Yeah, it's a TKV alright. Looks like it was modified a bit though." He pokes it a bit and it suddenly springs open and the knife stabs outwards. "Ah!" He almost fumbles it in surprise.

"Yeah, my… mechanic is fond of adding extra functionality." I grin.

"I can see that." He carefully presses the hand back together and watches the knife retract partially a few times. "Very well done, I have to say."

"I'll pass that along."

"Hmm…" He looks at the attachment point on my wrist and the corresponding couple on the hand. "Does this send neural feedback to you?"

"...Huh?"

"Can you feel things with it? Hot or cold, pressure, that stuff?"

I shake my head. "No. I didn't know that was even possible until I tested one earlier."

"Ah, yeah, Cyberdyne. I saw that earlier too. We're going to be getting a few of their prototypes soon to test integration with our dolls." He chuckles. "Funny how that works. You turned a doll hand into a prosthetic, and we're going to turn prosthetics into doll parts."

"Heh. Maybe I should bring my mechanic here. She'd love it here, to be honest."

"Of course!" He digs in his pocket for a second before pulling out his wallet. "Let me get you my card. By the way, my name's-"

"Mr. Overton."

My spine freezes at the voice, and Mr. Overton does too.

Anisim walks into sight. "I think you have a meeting, isn't that right?"

Mr. Overton gances at his watch and yelps. "Crap! I gotta go." He fumbles with his wallet a bit and hands me a card. "Call me if she's interested!"

He then darts away, leaving me alone with Anisim.

I glance at my left hand, set onto the desk and then look for 45.

She's busy talking to Eva about something.

Licking my lips, I turn to Anisim, who leans against a divider. "So, what brings you here, Field Agent?"

I consider my words before actually saying anything. "I'm here with my friends. They seem to think this is a good place to be employed."

"It is, at least in my opinion." He glances at my left arm. "Hand issues?"

"No, Mr. Overton was just excited to see it." I casually reach over to grab it and attach it, and he makes no effort to stop me.

"So." Anisim pushes himself off the wall. "Where are your friends?"

I point behind myself. "Eva and Han- 45 are here. I also have a friend in the medical ward with another doll."

He nods. "I see. And what interest does Griffin have here?"

I hesitate. "I mean, since you're running it… but, we're not planning anything stupid. It's true that we're only here because Eva and Lucas were already attending and decided to tag along."

He examines my face. For once, I think I'm happy I'm so easy to read, because he seems to conclude that I'm not pulling his leg. "Well, I wanted to talk to you anyway. Wouldn't you know it, Griffin doesn't make it easy to contact specific employees, especially if your name is on their list."

"I can only imagine." I glance back at the group, and see that 45 has stopped talking to Eva and is now staring in my direction.

Incredibly fast, she skips her way across the floor and skids to halt partially between Anisim and me. One of her hands once more goes to the hem of her dress.

"Relax." Anisim's smile fades ever so slightly as the doll comes into view. "I truly wish to talk."

45's eyes narrow.

"Who's this?" I glance to the side to see Eva has walked over after 45.

"Ah." Anisim straightens up. "Anisim Zaytsev, CEO of GeneLab. And you are?"

"Evangeline Castellanos. Aspiring Doll designer." She shakes his outstretched hand. "Do you know Hadwin?"

"We've met." I say flatly.

"Indeed. He and I have had a few interactions. In fact, I was just about to invite him to my office for a short chat."

"Wow." She turns to me. "That's crazy! I didn't know you knew the CEO!"

"Yeah." My eye twitches. "What a coincidence."

---

The door closes behind us and I brace myself for a fairly rough conversation. Anisim walks over to his very nice desk and sits down, gesturing for us to sit in the chairs facing the desk on the other side.

Eva sits down eagerly, then 45 and I follow suit more reluctantly.

"So." Anisim leans over. "I thank you for not making a scene earlier."

I nod.

"How have you been enjoying Kruševac? Met up with your family yet?"

"It's been a time. Met with my family, yes." I keep my responses short.

Eva seems to realize here that something is wrong, glancing at me questioningly.

"I suppose it can't all be a bed of roses." He leans back. "So, how do you find the city? Peaceful?"

"Yes."

"Almost too peaceful." 45 continues to attempt to burn Anisim to cinders with just her glare.

"Shut up, doll." Anisim returns the glare, his expression growing hostile in a second. "The humans are talking."

I reach out and put a hand on hers and she relaxes slightly.

Anisim's face reverts back to that typical pleasant expression he sports, and turns to face me again. "Well. I suppose I should cut to the chase. I know the reason you and Griffin as a whole are here, after all. Did you find anything that tells you that we need to be kicked out of the city?"

I open my mouth to respond, but hold my tongue for a few seconds to think. "Not that I'm aware of." I eventually answer, slowly. "Seems like you're pretty deeply entrenched as it is."

He nods. "Indeed. I've been stationed here for years now. Lovely place, Serbia. The people here are nice and I would hate to see them hurt in a misguided attempt to 'free' them of our influence."

Eva is growing increasingly worried, the only thing moving is her eyes and she glances between the two of us.

"Yeah… the people seem fine." I grumble.

"That's good." He beams. "After all, that's why I invited you in. I wouldn't want you to unnecessarily harm the good citizens of Kruševac." He nods to himself. "I am generous, am I not?"

I huff. "Alright. Thank you for not killing us gruesomely when entering the city. Look, is there a reason you wanted to talk to me?"

"There is indeed." He nods. "See, I needed to know if I had to expect opposition from Griffin. We've got another threat on our hands at the moment and distractions could prove… fatal."

I eye him with suspicion. "Distractions."

"Yes. See, I'm keeping it from the general public, but a large contingent of those defectors from the Russian Army are arriving outside the borders of the city. So far, I've been able to keep them from razing the city to the ground, and I'd rather you didn't do anything to force my hand. Harming me would probably bring ruin to the good people of Kruševac!"

"I see." I slump back in my seat. "You aren't worried about us because you're too important to the city's survival for us to do anything."

"Exactly!" He beams. "So, I would appreciate you passing this message along to your Commander Gentaine. I understand she's here with you?" He offers a small object.

"Yeah." I accept the small data device and tuck it into my suit. "Sure."

He stands up, and the three of us follow suit, though Eva still looks partially stunned. "I suppose we should cut the meeting here. I'd love to invite you and Miss Gentiane to dinner, but alas, I am a busy man. I trust you can find your way out."

"Yes." I move to head out the door.

"Oh, and Hadwin?" I turn back to face the man, whose eyes narrow to slits. "Do you know anything about the Parliament building?"

"...Wasn't it in the news? Caught fire?"

"Yes, it did." He looks into my eyes, and evidently decides to drop it. "Enjoy the rest of your stay, Mister Galanis."

I let 45 and Eva walk out first before closing the door behind me.

"...What the hell just happened?" Eva stares straight ahead.

"I guess you didn't recognize him." I sigh, glancing at the exit sign and starting to move, 45 once more latching onto my arm. "He's the one that tried to get the old Mayor's seat back in Sector 3."

"Huh?"

"He shot Mayor Mavros." 45 clarifies and Eva pales.

"That was him?" She looks down at her hand. "I… I shook his hand."

"Yeah well." I grumble. "At least he's not trying to kill us."

"Why would he do that?"

I shrug. "He tried to before."

Eva stares at me like I grew two more heads.

"He also put a spy into our organization." 45 adds. "That spy deleted a doll's neural cloud that was important to Hadwin here."

"How did you look him in the eye?" Eva asks after a minute or so of walking in silence.

"...I dunno. Personally, I want to shoot him, but it looks like that might be a slightly bad idea." I grunt.

"Yeah."

"I'll talk with Gentiane about it, Hadwin." 45 fishes the data storage out of my pocket. "You don't have to. We'll have to verify his words before we decide on a course of action anyway."

"Thanks." I close my eyes for a brief second. "Man, I just wanna go home."

"Back to Sector 3?" Eva asks.

"No, back to-"

I cut myself off as I spot something. In a glass display cabinet in a room off to the side, there's a bunch of items. An old spear, some melted metal with a picture next to it…

In the center, in the spot of honor, is the Key.

"Hadwin?" Eva waves a hand in front of my face.

"Hadwin?" 45 also echoes her concern.

"45, tell me I'm seeing things." I point at the display case and she lets go of me to look back.

"...Scheisse."

"Am I seeing things?"

"Nein. That's the Diamond key artifact."

"Diamond key?" Eva frowns. "What is that?"

"We don't know, but let me put it this way." I blow air out my lips. "It's really important. It's why I was at the mansion that got blown up."

"Oh."

"I'm going to call 9." 45 informs me.

"What are you going to do about it?" Eva asks, peeking into the room herself.

"I… don't know." I glance at 45, who also shrugs. "Steal it?"

"That would be a bad idea." 45 shakes her head. "I'm sure that we're being tracked." Her eyes narrow. "But, if I-"

A door at the end of the hall opens to reveal 9 and Lucas. They walk up to us quickly and 9 continues past to peer into the room.

Lucas himself glances around nervously. "What's going on?"

Eva shakes her head. "It's crazy. The CEO is the guy who killed Mayor Mavros."

Lucas blinks at her a few times before turning to me with alarm in his voice. "Wait, Paradeus?!"

"Yeah." I grimace.

"Is that what you were talking about earlier?" He looks at 45 who nods.

"Wow, that's certainly the key." 9 comments. "What are we going to do about it?"

"Thinking." I rub my temples.

"We need to get out of here, that is what we need to do." Lucas grabs my shoulder. "Bro, this is crazy."

"I know." I grab his wrist and gently move his arm. "But this is what I'm doing now."

"Hadwin-"

45 cuts him off. "I have a plan."

"Yeah?" Everyone focuses on her.

"9, you take Eva and Lucas down to the lobby and get them out of the building. Bring them back to the hotel for now and make sure you're not followed."

"Ja."

"It's risky, but I'll try to screw with the cameras in this section to make it look like we're going with you. In the meantime, Hadwin and I will see what we can do about the key."

"Sounds good." I glance at the two humans in the group. "Please go with 9."

"Will you be okay?" Lucas asks.

I set my hand on 45's shoulder. "She's our stealth expert. If anyone can pull this off, it's her."

"...Good luck." He holds out a fist and I bump it.

"Hadwin?"

I turn to Eva. "Yeah?"

"...Nevermind. I'll talk to you when you get back to the hotel."

45 grabs my arm and glares at the others. "Hurry out before Anisim comes out."

9 grabs both of their arms and starts leading them out. "Hey, so about those coats-"

I turn to 45. "What are we actually up against?"

"Sensor array guarding the area." She shrugs. "It's nothing too crazy, to be honest. Most of the security we bypassed by having Anisim invite us up here."

I look into the room, the device taunting me. "There's no way he forgot this was here, right? He had to know there was at least a chance we'd see it."

"Guessing at his motives is a fruitless venture." 45 leans forward a bit into the room. "For now, lets see what we can do with our own two hands."

"Right." I really wish I had my Linker right now. I guess I'll just have to do with what 45 tells me.

"Okay, follow me." She grabs my arm once more and starts pulling me slowly across the floor in an odd pattern.

"What are dodging?"

"Lasers. Just don't trip and follow my exact footsteps."

"Sure." I look down, nervously keeping track of where she steps and making sure to put my feet there and there only.

Before long, I find myself in front of the cabinet, staring right at the ball sized object. Yeah, it's definitely the same key that I saw Anisim take from Myroslav. Next to it is a small placard, labeling it a mysterious object. Singularly unhelpful, I think.

"What is this even a key to?" I frown. "Myroslav seems to think it's… what, an alien data vault key?"

"...Sheisse, I was about to mock you, but given its relevance, it might be a precursor key. If it has info on it, we need to see what we can get. Maybe it will let us get a leg up on Paradeus."

I glare at the device behind the glass. Such a small device, but it could be something exceedingly important.

"You've been keeping up on your lockpick skills, right?" 45 asks.

"Yeah, you and 9 were training me all week." I glance at the metal core on the glass, the only barrier between the item and myself.

45 lifts her leg and pulls up her dress to grab a set of tools on her thigh, which she tosses to me.

"...Do you always carry these?"

"Ja. Normally in a pocket, but thigh holsters are handy for jobs like this."

I take the warm metal pick and tensioner and go to work as 45 keeps lookout.

"They made it out." She announces suddenly and I almost lose my pick. "I have to get out of the camera system now." She breathes out a sigh. "Paradeus systems are something else."

"Yeah?"

"If I could freely manipulate their systems, I could have done this myself." She turns back to me. "Got it open yet?"

I poke the last pin into place and twist the tensioner, and the glass door pops open. "Yes."

She steps up and grabs the key. "Okay, let's-" Her head whips around. "Incoming." She sets the key back into its spot, closes the glass door, and turns to me.

"Hide?" I glance at the floor. I still can't see the security-

"Hide." she grabs my hand. "Exact footsteps."

I carefully follow her steps as she leads me not towards the exit, but towards another set of shelves. As I watch, 45 carefully starts pulling on the shelf, sliding it forwards. After a few seconds there's enough space for us to slip behind it.

…There's no way this will work, right? Anyone who walks over here will see the shelf has been moved, right? It's also pretty bright in here. If anyone peeks around the side, we're sure to be seen.

I start to hear the murmur of voices come from the doorway.

I allow myself to be pulled into the space between the wall and the shelf, resigning myself to whatever happens.

45's hand locks fingers with mine. A steadying presence.

I close my eyes and focus on my ears.

"No luck?" A voice recognizable as Anisim asks.

"None." a second, female voice, not one I've heard before, replies. "We've figured out how to access the data, but getting the data out that we want has proven to be… difficult."

"Explain."

"We've managed to hook it up to our systems and interpret the data we're receiving, but about half the time it's gibberish. We've been looking into the cause, but no luck so far."

"I see. Have we been able to find the location of the pike node?"

45's hand squeezes mine harder.

"We have… well, we have something. Again, we can't be sure if we're reading the coordinates right."

"Let me see."

For about a minute, all that there is to hear is my own breath bouncing off of the shelf centimeters from my face and the faint tapping of a fingers on a datapad.

"Hmm. We can cross reference this with likely locations." Anisim concludes. "Okay, how about the KCCO situation?"

"Holding, sir. They've yet to make a move."

"Good." He drums his fingers on the desk. "Was it actually just a coincidence?"

"Excuse me sir?"

"Griffin, that PMC, shows up in the city and the next day the Parliament building burns. Today, they show up in my headquarters apparently on an actual job fair visit. It's too much of a coincidence, isn't it?"

"Stranger things have happened." The second voice reassures him. "Though, we should probably implement countermeasures."

"Yes… we should." Anisim sighs. "Did you send Myroslav back?"

"He's stubborn and says he will not leave the city until he gets the key back."

"Zasranec. Oh well, once we've worked out how to get all the info off of the key, we can hand it back. Make sure to prioritize that."

"Yessir."

"Also, please find out if the Griffin employees that were here did anything suspicious? I'm still not sure I believe them at all."

"I'll get it done."

"Thank you."

The female voice leaves the room, closing the door on her way out.

I look at 45, who shakes her head.

I lean in and whisper "What do we do?"

She also whispers, very quietly. "We have to wait until he leaves."

"Can you create a distraction?"

She frowns. "Possibly. Let me try."

I straighten up and shift around uncomfortably. My rib has been feeling better since I stopped paying attention to it, but now that I'm trapped here in this room, I'm starting to become really aware of it.

Suddenly, the door opens with a crash. "Sir! There's been a security alert in the hot labs!"

"What? How?!" Anisim's chair clatters as he stands up abruptly. "We need to-"

I hear the door shut and I look at 45, who gives me a shit eating grin.

"Good job."

"Danke."

I step out from behind the cabinet and help her push it back into place, then stand still.

45 notices this and smirks. "He didn't enable the lasers yet."

"...Ah."

We walk up to the desk where a datapad lies. It's locked behind a password, Anisim, not careless enough to give us all the data we want.

"Got it."

…Then again, I have 45 on my side. Maybe he should have written it on a piece of paper.

45 looks at me. "Okay, let's get out of here."

"Don't have to tell me twice."

---

Getting out of GeneLab wasn't too hard, actually. We were there for a legitimate reason, and most people don't know who we are in the first place. 45 insisted that she managed to hide our presence on the cameras, so looking back at the tape would look a bit odd, but hopefully nobody's able to notice.

Now, the only thing left to do is take a walk back to the hotel.

"Hmm." 45 glances around to check for people tracking us. "Whoever that was that talked to Anisim is right. The data is pretty confusing."

"Yeah?"

"Well, I don't care." She shrugs. "It's more than I was asked to get as it is, so I didn't breach contract. Decrypting it seems like a waste of time and I'm not getting paid for it, so I'll just hand it off and let Gentiane do her thing."

"...Okay."

"So!" She turns to me. "We don't have to head back directly. Have you done anything you'd like to do since our date was cut short?"

I ponder for a second before returning her question. "How about you? I feel like you don't get a lot of time in White Zones."

"I suppose." She glances around, looking at the storefronts and other people walking by. "What do normal people do in White Zones?"

"Well, there's parks-"

"I just got out of a forest, thanks."

"-restaurants-"

"Not hungry."

"-drinking-"

"Do you think any bar will serve me? I don't look 18."

"-or, shopping. I guess."

"...Shopping, hmm."

"What, not gonna reject that one outright?"

She smiles. "Usually I have to shop for broken doll arms to fix myself up with. It would be nice to look for things that don't immediately contribute to my survival."

"Shopping it is then."

And so, I end up in the mall for the third time in a single day. I hate malls, but here I am.

45, for her part, seems absolutely enthralled by the clean interior of the mall and the various displays.

After a few minutes of just walking around and not actually entering a store, I decide to ask her a question. "So, have you really never seen a shop like this before?"

"Oh, I've been in malls before. They've always been partially bombed out and covered in blood or abandoned since World War Three started. This is my first time in a normal, functioning mall."

"...So, do you want to actually go into a store, or…?"

I sit down on a bench and she sits down next to me.

She seems to consider my question for a moment, looking around at the stores. "I think I'll be fine. I don't really have anything I particularly want anyway."

"Not even a trip to the Maldives?" I tease. "Look, they have-"

45's eye locks onto the small travel agency booth and seems to forget anything else exists for a few seconds. I have to tap her shoulder to get her to come back to reality.

"Are you okay?"

"...Ja, I am fine." She still refuses to look away from the travel agency. "...How much do you think it costs?"

"For a trip to the Maldives?" I almost make light of it, but given her reaction… "Er, why don't we go find out? It's probably expensive as hell, but I make a lot of money with Griffin, so-"

She gets up, takes three steps towards the booth, and stops dead in her tracks. "No."

"No?"

"I can't." She turns back to me, her face in an expression of regret and longing I've never seen on her face before. "I have things I need to do before I go." She sits down next to me and leans her head on my shoulder.

"What things?"

"I made a promise to… a friend that we'd see the Maldives together. She showed me a picture of the sea stretching into the distance, and we decided to go together." She clenches her fist. "She's dead."

I decide not to say anything, but I do throw my arm over her shoulders.

"Until I've done what I need to do, I can't go. It wouldn't be right."

"Mmm."

We sit on the bench for a bit longer, watching the people pass by.

"Her name was UMP 40."

I glance down at 45, but she's staring straight ahead.

UMP 40? Isn't that the girl I met inside 45's core?

"Well, I think we should go." She abruptly stands up. "Who knows what everyone else has gotten into in the brief amount of time we've been away?"

I watch her face for a few seconds, looking to make sure she's alright. Unfortunately for me, all I can see is the usual confident UMP 45 offering her good arm to haul me to my feet.

I grab the arm and let her pull me up, and she grabs my arm once again.

I start walking for the exit, and we get all the way to the bottom floor and almost out the door when 45 suddenly stops and looks into a shop.

"Actually, I think I see something you should get."

I glance over at the shop. "Yeah?"

She gives me her trademark evil grin. "Yeah. Follow me."

---

Opening the elevator doors to the fourth floor of the hotel is like stepping into a whole new world, going from practically silent to raucous in a moment.

Four of the five rooms have their doors opened and dolls freely walk back and forth between the rooms, some of them carrying food and others just chatting.

As I stand just outside of the elevator stunned into silence at the scene of chaos before me, a flash of white zooms out of 408.

Fel the ferret runs up to me, climbing up my leg and onto my shoulders, chittering all the while. A fraction of a second later, Tokarev stumbles out of the room, her cheeks flushed, and looking around. She spots the white creature on my shoulder and starts heading in roughly my direction, eyes locked on the ferret.

"Hey, Tokarev?"

She reaches up to grab him and he jumps on top of my head, just out of reach of Tokarev's arms. She frowns, stretching harder but not quite able to reach.

"Tokarev." I wave my hand in front of her face. "Are you okay?"

"I'm fine, lyubimyy." She sways in place. "But I cannot seem to catch the ferret."

Trying to figure out if that was Russian or just her slurring, I gently push her hands away. "Fel doesn't want to be caught, so let's leave him alone for now, yeah?"

Tokarev pouts cutely, but nods, backing up and stumbling back into the room she came from. Incidentally, Lucas walks out of the door and spots me as she pushes back past him.

"Hadwin, you're back."

"Yep." I glance over at 45. "Well-"

She nods. "I got it. Thank you Hadwin." She steps into her room.

"On a date?" Lucas grins.

"Yeah."

"...Oh. I thought you were stuck in the GeneLab building."

"I was for a short while." I shrug. "We decided not to come straight back. After all, our date did get abruptly co-opted into a mission." I sigh. "Which didn't even seem like a problem at the time."

"Damn." He looks back at the chaos, including the several sets of dolls that look my way and nod or smile at me before continuing on. "Y'know, it's crazy that you can keep all this up. How did you manage to get… like, five women to like you?"

I set my mouth in a line, but even among people that can read my expression like a book, Lucas is exceptional at it.

"...Something you wanna tell me?"

"Not here." I grimace. "I don't want to drag the mood down."

He steps into the elevator and drags me along with him, and we head down to the lobby.

There's a lounge type area and we head over to an unoccupied set of seats. Fel, who I hadn't exactly meant to bring down with me, hops off my shoulder and onto the table.

"So, what's on your mind, Hadwin?"

I take a deep breath, once more feeling the twinge in my ribs. "...Okay, so you know how I got hired as a Field Agent to Griffin?"

"Yeah, after your work blew up, right?"

I nod. "Well, turns out I wasn't actually hired to do the decision making or anything like that. I was just hired to be a fuckin' therapy pet for the dolls."

"...What?"

"Yeah. Seems like a bunch of them were suicidal, and since they responded well to me or… something, Gentiane decided to set me up as a group partner. Dolls do this bonding thing with their owner and I was set up to be their owner, at least partially. Then, I was encouraged to go around with them on a regular basis, though not directly."

"Holy shit."

"So now a bunch of them either like or love me, and I have to try to figure out how to respond. Meanwhile, there's a war going on."

Lucas is completely silent, face blank for fifteen or so seconds. I consider waving my hand in front of his face, but he seems to wake up before I can. "Dude."

"Hmm?"

"You're in shock. I can see that now." Lucas starts getting really agitated. "Hadwin, this isn't a game. You're working with a PMC that keeps putting you on the front lines of battle alongside androids. You've lost a hand and who knows what else, and they just admitted to tricking you."

I open my mouth, but he's not done talking.

"Now that you know this, you know you can't continue working for them. They're not honest, right? How can you trust their words?"

I drum my fingers on the table, the metal tips clacking against the hard surface rhythmically.

That's…

"And you say that a bunch of these dolls love you, huh? Do you love them back? Are you willing to die for them? Because if the answer is no, you better believe I'm calling your parents and getting them to pull as many strings as they can to get you a flight out of Serbia before anyone here knows what happened." He huffs a few times. "Look, I know you. You're not going to be happy if you leave now, are you?" I crack an eye open, and Lucas is pinching his brow in frustration. "You've always been this way. Even if someone's punching you in the face, you always just take it because what about everyone else-"

He cuts himself off, taking a deep breath or two to try to calm himself down. Fel, scared by his rising tone, has hopped off the table and attempted to bury himself in my lap.

"You've always been like this. You jump into an impossible situation, fists raised. Who cares if your friends hate seeing you hurt? Who cares if you get some of the worst grades in the year because you spent too much time being banned from the premises from fighting?" Lucas grips my shoulder across the table. "Hadwin, you care about others. It's not like I don't, I want to be a doctor after all, but you care about others too much, in my opinion. You're not responsible for the welfare of everyone around you. Hell, you don't even have to be responsible if someone asks you to help them.

"If Griffin needs to hire someone as a- a fluffer, then they can do it. It doesn't have to be you. You're not responsible for their bad decisions, you're not responsible for all of these other girls who fell for you because of that manipulation thing. It's their fault. You need to take care of yourself, first and foremost."

I sit in stunned silence. Where is this vitriol coming from?

"Look-" He starts, then cuts himself off again. "Okay, I get that you're going to be unhappy just ditching. Let's say they do love you, like you said. People can be happy even if they're heartbroken! I've had an unrequited crush since high school, one I've never told anyone about, and I'm still a happy guy, generally. If these robots can just flip a switch and fall for you, then they can probably do the opposite, making it even easier on them."

I dimly recall that not being the case, but then again I can't exactly trust much of what I learned back then.

"You need to make a decision. Right here, right now, about how far you're willing to go for a bunch of liars." His fingers stab at the table. "Hadwin, your family hates that you're in danger. Every time they get a phone call from you, they seem more and more worried. Your mom called mine crying a few times. I sometimes have a hard time sleeping, wondering what the fuck is happening to you, wondering if I could save you if I had just decided to follow you out of Sector 3."

He pauses and Fel pokes his little head out. I stroke it a few times, not trusting myself to say anything.

"If you come back, you'll be a hero. Mayor Panagos has already told us that you'll get honored if you come back. All of our classmates that I know think you're a hero. The people you saved back in high school especially. I know a few of them called me to ask if I could set them up on a date with you. You're popular now." His voice softens a bit more. "I can get your parents right now. We'll find a way to get back to Sector 3, and you can stay safe in the walls as a real hero. You've done what you always wanted to do, Hadwin. You've saved people. Nobody can ask for more."

There's a long pause before I register that he's done talking.

"I…" I try to force words out my mouth, but nothing comes out.

I do care about the dolls. I don't ever want to hurt them, any of them. They're precious to me. Is… is that love? I've put myself in harm's way so many times for… for beings that told me straight up that they don't need it. I'm not taking care of myself, my increasingly erratic mental state, I lack sleep and I'm barely eating some days. Hell, I killed Ricardo in cold blood, something I still can't really process well. There's so much wrong, more than Lucas could actually know…

What am I doing? What the fuck have I been doing?

I stare at my metal hand, which starts to blur as I slump back in my seat. "Yeah."

"Yeah?"

I stroke the head of the white ferret for comfort. "I… I'll head home. You're right. You're always right. I just…" The white blur in my arms starts to wiggle about and I lose my grip on his as he climbs back up my shoulder. "I just…"

"..." Lucas's face is too blurry to make out distinct details, but after a second he gets up from his seat and sits down in the one beside me, throwing his arm around my shoulder. Fel jumps ship and lands on the table. "They're that important to you, huh?"

"...Yeah." I wipe my nose with the handkerchief after dabbing at my eyes to little effect. "They are."

We sit in silence for a few moments. Fel once more decides my lap is his new home and curls his long body up into a ball.

"How about this." Lucas seems to be fighting himself internally. "I know you already agreed, but.. Don't make your decision yet. You think about this tonight. In the morning, you send me a message, any message, and I'll come get you. If you don't, you can continue working for this crazy PMC. I'll respect your decision either way bro and I don't want you to make it lightly."

"Thanks." I nod a few times, fingers combing the white animal's fur. After a few seconds I manage a weak grin. "S-so, you have a crush?"

He sighs. "Of course, that's the only thing that stuck in your head. Yes, I have a crush."

I wipe my eyes on my sleeve and try to force the smile harder, though my voice still keeps catching. "I-Is it Eva? I b-bet it's Eva."

"If only. No, I'm not enthralled with our dear prom queen." He rubs his beard. "I will say though, she seems to be looking your way these days."

"Y-yeah right." I roll my eyes. "Even I kn-know that the only reason the d-dolls like me is because of their programming. No way a human would."

Lucas shakes his head. "If only you knew, man. If only you knew."

We sit in silence for a bit longer.

"Well." Lucas removes his arm from my shoulder. "We should probably head back upstairs. Can't be gone from the party for too long, or people will start rumors."

I bark out a laugh. "Right."

Lucas appraises me for a few seconds. "Actually, you know what I want?"

"Hmm?"

"I find myself in the mood for some alcohol. Why don't you go buy some stuff, and I'll go upstairs with the ferret and tell everyone that you're going on an alcohol run."

"...Yeah." I nod once more. "I'll-I'll do that." I look down at the creature in my lap. "Fel, you need to go with Lucas, okay?"

Fel looks up at me, then looks over to Lucas. He sniffs the air a few times before jumping into his outstretched arms. Once Fel is well seated on the larger man's shoulders, I hand Lucas one of the keycards so he can operate the elevator, then watch him until the doors close behind him.

I wipe my eyes once more, suddenly regretting not changing out of my brand new suit before having this conversation.

I couldn't have predicted that it would go this way, right?

I turn out the lobby doors, past a worried receptionist and into the pseudo darkness of night in the city. It's only 1930, but the sky is dark and the lights of the city suppress the stars. Back in Sector 3, we shut all the lights off after a curfew to preserve energy, so I'm used to being able to see the stars at night.

The starless void reflects the way I'm feeling and my thoughts turn inwards even as I look up a possible liquor store location and start walking as if on autopilot.

Lucas was right. He's always right, somehow. I've been… I've gone so far off the deep end this past month. I'm probably not in the right frame of mind to make decisions anymore.

…What am I doing with my life?

I look at my hands, once more forced to face the fact that, no matter what, I've been damaged. The experiences I've had can't be undone. I can't go back in time and un-kill Ricardo. My soul will never be the same.

Can I really go back? I won't be hunted, shot at? I'll be free to live my life? For once, I can't picture myself back there, enjoying life normally. But, just because I can't see it, doesn't mean it can't happen. Right?

There are no answers to be found on the shiny surface on my left hand. However, a glowing neon sign is reflected in the silvered surface.

I look up to see I've arrived at a place announcing that they, indeed, sell liquor.

A hand rests on my shoulder, and I glance back, too exhausted from earlier to respond any quicker. Thankfully, it's a face I recognize and am on friendly terms with. "Hey Aleah."

"Hadwin." Her eyes narrow. "Lucas said you were headed out to buy alcohol, but he didn't tell me you'd been crying."

I try to plaster a smile onto my lips. "That obvious?"

"Yes." She appraises me for a few seconds, before reaching up and holding my head still, brushing away the evidence with her thumbs. "What did he say that hurt you?"

"...Don't blame him, it's not his… I'm just frustrated with myself. I'm so…" I trail off a few times.

Her eyes shift off to the side as she lets go. "Okay, Hadwin, I realize that you're not in a good headspace right now, so listen closely."

"Hmm?"

"You're being followed."

My brain takes a few seconds to kick back into gear, and once it does, I realize just how vulnerable I am right now. Holy shit, thank god Aleah decided to come get me. "W-Where?!"

"Don't look her way." Aleah steers me towards the store. "Let's go inside and see if she follows."

"Is it Paradeus?" I pat my chest but no pistol, just pain.

"I can't tell." Aleah shakes her head as we step into the building. "I'm not familiar with the person. It's not an IOP frame I recognize, nor is it any humans associated with either Griffin, Paradeus or the KCCO."

"...Did you memorize a list?"

"I downloaded all the data I have access to that might be of use to you." She smiles. "I am your adjutant, after all."

"Thanks." I smile back at her. "O-okay, so we should probably grab some alcohol."

"I wonder if they have Arak?"

I move down one of the aisles, looking at the fine selection of whiskeys that line the shelves. I'm not sure anyone would actually like whiskey back at the hotel, but…

I glance across the aisle at the vodka. There's a lot of Russian dolls back there, right?

Suddenly, Aleah stiffens and a bottle lands on my shoulder. "Don't go skipping out on the Jack."

I recognize the voice.

Slowly, ever so slowly, I turn around to face the one glowing eye of M16A1.

"Hey kid. Miss me?"

---

Aleah's eyes flick about rapidly between the four other dolls, understandably wary. In this alley just off the main street, yet so dark as to let all five sets of eyes shine bright, I stand with Aleah, M16A1, Gager, Architect, and Beak.

I have a few bottles of alcohol in a paper bag held to my chest, one of which I remove and hand carefully to M16.

"Ah, thanks! Haven't had a good drink since back in the forest outpost."

"Uh-huh." I cautiously respond. "What are you doing in Kruševac?"

"Haddy." She throws her arm around my shoulder as the other sets of eyes track our banter with suspicion and confusion. "Let's not sweat the small stuff, yeah? We're buddies. Don't make me do something we'll both regret."

Okay, no asking about what they're doing.

Aleah clears her throat. "Excuse me. Hadwin, who are these dolls?"

I look away from the all-too-close M16. "Er… these are Sangvis dolls." I point to each in turn. "That's Beak, that's Gager, and that's Architect."

"And the one holding onto you?"

"...M16."

Aleah's eyes narrow. I have no doubt she understands who we're dealing with.

"Well, you've introduced all of us. Who's your friend?" M16 asks.

"I am Negev." Aleah tugs the edges of her skirt up. "Pleased to meet you."

"A Griffin doll." Gager's voice is as flat and devoid of emotion as ever.

"That I am." Aleah holds her hands up. "However, I am unarmed and do not particularly wish to engage you right now."

"...Good."

"Hey, Hadwin." Architect steps forward, excitement on her features. "Caused any cool explosions recently?"

"Not recently, no." I shake my head.

Aleah is still looking at M16, who despite having her arm still across my shoulders to lock me in place is staring right back at Aleah.

"What do you want with our Field Agent?" Aleah's arms cross.

"I have some things I need to talk to him about. After all, he seems to be in a relationship with my sister, and I believe I had some very specific words to say about that."

Suddenly, my throat feels kind of dry. "Ah. Right."

"I'll be taking him over there to interrogate him. Don't follow." M16 points with her free hand toward the back of the alley, which has a few bits of trash set up like a bunch of chairs.

Aleah's eyes focus on mine. "Hadwin?"

"...Stay here for now and watch these three." I try to keep my tone casual. "You'll know if I need help from all of the screaming."

"...Uh-huh."

"I don't like being watched." Beak mutters, but resigns herself to leaning on one of the alley walls while glaring at Aleah.

M16 half guides and half pushes me to the back of the alley before releasing me and gesturing to the overturned plastic crates. "Have a seat."

I slip down onto a seat and M16 sits across from me. She takes the bottle of Jack and pops open the top, before producing a few plastic cups and handing one to me. "Care for a drink?"

"...Yeah." I take the cup and she pours a bit of the liquor inside.

"Alright." She downs her cup in a single shot and starts pouring herself another cup. "Why exactly are you doing the one thing I told you not to?"

I sigh and buy time by drinking a bit of my own cup. "Okay, so… It's Gentiane's fault."

M16's eyebrow lifts. I down the rest of the cup and brace myself internally.

"AR-15 seems to have developed a crush on me, and since I'm not completely oblivious, I offered to start dating for now. That's all that's happened up until recently, when I learned exactly how that happened."

M16 pours herself another cup, but doesn't react any further.

"Not to get into details, but I'm in charge of making sure nobody kills themselves, basically. 'Course, she never told me this, and apparently there's been some effort spent pushing me closer to everyone romantically. RO was in on it, as was M4."

"I find that hard to believe."

"I know for a fact RO was working with Gentaine. Heard it from her mouth." M16 pours more booze into my cup. "In any case, now I'm having second thoughts."

"Oh?"

My eyes lift from the depths of my cup to M16's calculating eye. "Yeah. I think I'm going to try to go home. I… I need to figure out how to tell 15 without hurting her. Or, without hurting her more than necessary."

"I told you that you weren't allowed to make my sisters cry." She leans forwards.

"Already broke that rule today." I slug back the newly poured alcohol and shiver against the burning sensation. "RO didn't take me figuring out the scheme that well."

"I'm surprised you're so willing to admit guilt." She crosses her arms. "I'm fairly certain I implied you'd be dead if I caught you."

"Eh. You probably already knew half of that and I'm not gonna lie so obviously." I wave her words away. "If you decide to kill me…" I hesitate. "Well, I probably deserve it. Can't lie for shit in any case."

"No, you can't." She takes another drink. "You want to go home?"

I hesitate. "Not really, but my friend made some good points that after getting tricked by Gentiane, I really shouldn't just continue working for her like nothing happened. I think going home might be a good idea to get some perspective. Might regret it later, but I might be dead in a week if I stay. Haven't actually had more than a few minutes to think about this."

M16 pours both of us more whiskey.

"Look, I like 15. She's cute, she seems to like me, and she's fairly normal for a doll. Still, I don't think I can just pretend that the past twenty four hours didn't happen and that I can just go on."

"I see." She taps her finger on the bottle. "Well, I guess it can't be helped."

"Can you at least make it quick?" I sigh. "I don't particularly want to feel it."

She snorts. "Nah, I'm letting you off the hook."

It's my turn to arch an eyebrow.

"You're not hurting them on purpose or by being careless." She shrugs. "That's all I really wanted."

"Does that mean you're joining us?" Both M16 and I glance over to see Architect has stepped closer. She's looking at me with wide eyes.

"No." I shake my head. "I'm going home."

"That's okay." Architect nods. "I can just go get you."

"Archie, I told you to stay over there." M16 stands up and knocks back the last of her latest cup.

"Yeah, but I wanted to know what you were talking about. Oh, and Beak said that she's low on power and needs to charge soon."

"...Fine, we'll wrap up here, and see about getting her juiced up." M16 turns to me. "Well then Hadwin, looks like you and I will have little to do with each other in the future."

I give her a wry smile. "Is that a good or a bad thing?"

"For you? Good, because you don't have to watch your back." She smirks. "Nice knowing you, Galanis."

I give her the side-eye as I get up and finish my own drink. "I don't recall giving you my last name."

Her smirk grows wider. "You didn't."

"Fair enough." I stand up and-

Whoa.

The alcohol hits me and I have to slap my hand on the wall to keep my balance.

Aleah pushes off the wall as I approach. "How did it go?"

"I'm not dead." I nod. "So, pretty well."

"That's not funny, Hadwin."

"You are both free to go." M16 waves us away. "Now, we have our own thing to do."

"Do not tell your superiors about us on pain of death." Gager intones.

"Roger." I throw a salute and turn away. The world spins a bit too far and I stumble, the sudden rush of alcohol sending me slightly off kilter.

"Oh! One more thing." M16 calls out.

Aleah and I turn back.

"There's gonna be a blackout in a few minutes. I suggest you get far away so you don't get hurt. There always tends to be a few car wrecks."

"...How do you know?" Aleah asks cautiously.

A bunch of things suddenly fall into place in my head. "Wait. It's you guys causing the blackouts?"

"We need to get our power somehow." Beak grumbles. "It's not like we can afford to plug ourselves into a building for a few hours. We get chased out."

From SV-98's reports, these blackouts have been going on for… a week or so? They've been here for a while, but definitely not long enough that it would consider it hard for them to have gotten here given the last time I saw them. They're mostly gray and white…

"M16, are you kidnapping people?"

The indicated doll puts a hand on her hip and glares. "Hadwin, why would I kidnap someone?"

I stare at her blankly, and her cheeks start to darken.

"Because every time there's a blackout, someone disappears." Aleah backs me up. "If you're causing the blackouts-"

"We don't kidnap people." Beak snaps. "We plug ourselves into the grid and suck as much as we can. Sure, it brings down the local grid, but we don't have a choice."

"Why would we kidnap someone?" Architect looks confused. "It's not like we could eat a person to get our energy back."

"We could-"

M16 cuts Gager off. "You're saying there's been kidnappings?"

"Yeah. Each time the power goes out, there's a white robot seen and a person disappears." I glance at the grayscale team. "You fit most of the bill."

"I see." She frowns. "Beak, get ready to connect to the grid."

Aleah tenses up visibly.

"Relax, Griffin. If you don't trust us, then sit here and watch to make sure we're not doing anything." M16 rolls her eye at Aleah.

"...Fine."

M16 looks over at Beak. "Do it."

"I hate this part." Beak grumbles some more. She proceeds to attach a block of electronics that I hadn't noticed earlier to her neck and then pulls the cables out of a meter on the side of the building. With one last check, she jams the two cables into the box and all of the lights around us flicker and die.

Suddenly, the only thing that can be seen is the sky, the building around us pitch black outlines. The vehicles on the street screech to a halt, and I hear at least one crunch of metal on metal. People start to yell or groan in such numbers that I can hear them from the alley.

After a second of letting my eyes adjust, the area outside the alley isn't completely dark; There's a few headlights still on from the cars, but it's patchy.

I clutch the bag of booze to myself tighter and pull out my cell phone, turning on the flashlight. "Alright, good enough for me."

Aleah turns to me. "We're just going to let them go?"

"It's not like we have weapons." I shrug. "In any case, they have no reason to make people disappear."

"...You're way too trusting of the enemy."

I shrug. "They've helped me more than they've hurt. I think."

Aleah frowns. "Still."

I glance back to see Beak has dropped the box and unplugged herself from it. M16 crouches next to her subordinate. "Charged up?"

"Sixty percent." Beak nods. "Better than last time."

"Good." M16 looks back at us. "Well, there you go."

"Thanks, M16." I wave with the hand holding the cell phone. "Enjoy the whiskey."

"I will." She frowns. "Wait, before you go-"

A flash of blue light sears the walls of the alley for a fraction of a second, illuminating every square centimeter of the alley and it's six occupants.

The brief moment ends, and the blue light disappears. A barely perceptible amount of time later, something explodes outside the alley.

And then the screaming starts.

"What the fuck-" I turn to look out at the alley.

Before I can react, both Aleah and M16 are bolting down the alley, M16 pulling her usual weapon out and Aleah drawing a pistol out from under her skirt.

Right behind them, Gager and Architect bolt, both possessing their weapons as well.

I glance down at the bag of alcohol in my hands. I'm still in my suit, and I don't have a gun on me. I'm also slightly drunk. "Nope, I really should sit this one out."

Another explosion lights up the night.

"If the blackouts are usually this bad, I don't see how I managed to miss them."

"They're not." Beak walks up next to me and crosses her arms. "Paradeus has never gotten so brazen before."

More blue light, the corona of a plasma beam, lances past the corner of the alley, and I resign myself. I set the booze down and look around for something I can use as a weapon.

"What are you doing?"

"I need a weapon. I need to go help." I state. "People could be dying."

"Yeah, so? It's not your responsibility." She sighs. "Aren't you about to quit anyway?"

I glance back at her. "How do…?"

"M16 told me. You're not gonna be a threat anymore, since you're quitting. Right?"

"..." I look back out of the alley, and see a Rodelero land on top of a car. It's laser cannon starts to charge up, and the red beam lances through the night.

Beak's face turns even more sour. "I don't get what she sees in you." She pulls open her jacket and hands me a shotgun. "If you're going to be an idiot, do it somewhere it's not gonna get me shot."

"...Thanks." I accept the shotgun and start walking out of the alley.

"You better return my gun when you're done!" She calls.

"Yep." I raise the firearm up, aiming at the side of the Rodelero, and pull the trigger.

BAM

The gun has very little recoil. I've never used a plasma gun before, so that was surprising.

Also, there's no longer a Rodelero. Now it's just a pair of legs. This is nice!

I step out of the alley into the street, the headlights of the cars still the only source of illumination. The light blur slightly and I blink my eyes against my inebriation. Where did-

Three gunshots ring out, and I turn to see Aleah sliding over the hood of a car. "Hadwin, what are you doing?!"

I spot a Strelet poking it's head up behind her and I pull my own trigger at it before it can realize the drunk human stumbling around is a threat. The headlight of the car behind him is stained red. "What?"

"...Never mind." Aleah sighs. "Let's get going before any more reinforcements arrive."

"Huh?" I look around, but I can't really see that far in the dark. "It's over?"

"Yup." M16's voice comes from right behind me. "Only six units as far as I can see."

"Looks like a small tactical squad." Gager appears from the shadows. "M16, we need to go."

"Yeah. Get Architect and Beak-"

"Hadwin!" Architect comes barreling out of the darkness, arms outstretched in a tackle. Her eyes are the brightest purple I've ever seen, though I don't know if that's just the surrounding darkness or her genuine excitement showing through.

Either way, it's disturbing.

Aleah steps in and parries the excited doll to the ground, though that doesn't really have too much of an effect as Architect springs back to her feet unperturbed. "Hadwin! I knew it!"

"Knew what?" I lean away from the excited doll.

"You're an explosion magnet!" She wraps her arms around me, and once more, I'm reminded of my injured rib. "If you're quitting Griffin, I call first dibs."

I groan as I ineffectively try to pry her arms off of my chest. "Architect, you're hurting me."

"I am?" She looks down at her arms. "How?"

"Just let him go!" Aleah rips her arms off of me and I can breathe again. "Humans are delicate, idiot."

Architect frowns but doesn't try to grab me again. "I'm not an idiot."

"Yes, you are." M16 sighs. "Hadwin, are you okay?"

"Hey!"

"I'll be fine." I raise the shotgun. "This is nice."

"And I want it back." Beak steps out of the alley, paper bag of alcohol in hand. "Trade."

I hand her back her weapon and she dutifully hands me the bag of alcohol. Damn, that gun is nice though.

"We need to be going." Gager insists. "The police are going to be here any second."

"She's right." Aleah tugs on my free arm. "Let's get out of here."

I look at M16. "Good luck."

She raises an eyebrow. "With what?"

"Protecting your sisters." I cast my eyes downwards. "I might not be able to anymore."

M16 glances at the pair of Rodelero spikes still stabbed through the roof of a car. "Riiiiight." She steps closer, rooting around in her pocket. "Okay, I'm not going to say I don't believe you, but-" She hands me something, closing my hand around it before I can see it. "I don't believe you. So, when you need my help, plug this into something. I'll know where you are."

"...Okay?"

She steps back. The streetlights are starting to flick back on, and that's making the rest of the Sangvis dolls nervous. "Thanks for the Jack, Hadwin. See you around."

"Bye."

They all disappear into the alley and Aleah tugs on my shirt sleeve. "Hadwin, we need to go too."

The windows on the buildings on either side start to reflect flashing blue and red lights as the emergency units show up. Yeah, probably don't wanna be around when they get here.

"Lead the way." I gesture to Aleah.

"...By the way, what did she hand you?"

I open my hand to find a small data drive. Attached is a small cross stitch of a bottle of Jack. "Looks like a backup plan."

She peers over at the object in my hand. "What's on it?"

"Malware, probably." I tuck it into my pocket.

We walk in silence for a block, just far enough that we're not likely to be picked out as coming from the disaster zone.

"Hadwin."

"Hmm?"

"Are you planning to quit?"

"..."

Her eyes bore into me.

"I'm thinking about it." I eventually manage to get out.

"I see." Her face relaxes into a perfectly neutral expression. "I will support your decision."

"Thanks."

She nods, and we walk back the rest of the way in silence.

---

Thankfully, I had managed to keep my new suit largely clean even during the shockingly brief combat. The only really bad portion is my shoes and the cuffs of the pants, which has gotten coated in something I don't want to contemplate, but smells distinctly of copper.

Aleah had recommended that I clean myself off as best I can in the lobby bathroom, and that she'd see about getting the suit cleaned properly.

After that brief amount of time, I head back to the elevator, punch in the fourth floor and brace myself.

Once more, I open it to a party atmosphere. This time, NTW spots me immediately.

She immediately turns my direction and walks up to me. "Commander."

"Yeah?" I hand the bag of booze over to Aleah.

"There are two things that need your attention."

I do my best to keep from sighing. "Okay, hit me."

She frowns for a second before reaching out with a fist and tapping me on the shoulder.

"...I meant tell me."

"Ah." She straightens up. "The first thing is that Commander Gentiane wants to discuss the data you recovered from GeneLab. She's apparently made a few discoveries." Looking at how my lip is curling, she nods and moves onto the next point. "Second, MDR is riling everyone up with some sort of betting pool. She's been harping about it for an hour now."

"Wonderful."

"Is that so?" She looks back. "Would you like me to bring you to the Commander?"

Neither option is appealing, but- "No, let's go see what we can do about MDR."

NTW turns and leads me to room 409. Inside, there's a crowd.

My eyes immediately go to the doll in question, whose two differently colored eyes find mine almost immediately. "And there he is!"

"MDR-" I begin, but I'm immediately interrupted.

15, who I hadn't exactly been looking for, shrieks and bolts from the room. I barely have time to think through why she would do that before I'm interrupted again by AEK giving me a good whack on the back, sending a spike of pain into my rib.

"Looks like you are gonna have a good time, yeah?"

I glare at her but don't have time to get a word out.

"Hey, if I tell you what bet I made, will you help make it come true?" AK-12's voice calls above the clamor of the room.

I turn to AK-12, and the blushing AN-94 beside her. "No."

AN-94's cheeks start burning even brighter.

"Aw, come on." 9 is seated next to MDR on the edge of my bed. "We're all so curious to know who you picked!"

"Yeah!" MDR picks up the thread. "Since the bet involves you, having your vote massively skews the odds. I know you picked someone, so you have to tell us."

The rest of the dolls quiet down, watching me and waiting for my reaction.

"Aleah?" I call back out the door.

She pokes her head in.

"Can you bring the booze in here? I think I'm going to need it."

She nods and ducks back out.

I move over to my side of the bed, MDR and 9 moves aside to let me sit.

Instead of responding to them though, I grab my newly cleaned clothes and head to the bathroom. First of all, I want out of this suit. That is number one priority right now.

I open the bathroom door to find that it's mercifully unoccupied, at least for the moment. I quickly strip out of my new clothes, trying to fold them somewhat neatly before sliding on my regular clothes.

Bleh. I don't wanna head out there. I scrub my face a bit to try to stop looking like I had just started crying like a little kid earlier, though I suspect they all probably already know from just a single glance. I'm really just delaying the inevitable at this point.

There's a knock on the door, followed by 45's voice drifting in. "Hadwin?"

"Yeah?"

The door opens and 45 looks around. "Already changed."

"...Yep. You need something?"

She sets down the bag from our earlier shopping trip.. "I figured you want to give this out now."

"Sooner's better than later." I shrug, gathering up my stuff and the bag 45 had brought in. "Hey, do you have any place that you need me to be? Say, the opposite side of the city, or maybe back in Sector 3."

She grins. "Nien. I think I want to see how this whole betting pool goes."

"Oh, I know. You could just stab me in the throat. That's serious enough that they'd let the topic go."

"Come on." She grabs my arm and starts pulling me out of the bathroom. "You've set your bed. Lay in it."

"But-"

She pushes me out of the room and into the waiting grasp of a fairly bemused 416. She glares at 45, who just winks and shuts the door.

…What is she doing- No, don't think about it.

MDR stands up. "Where were we?"

"You were talking about how you were really sorry and are going to repent your evil ways." I grumble.

"That doesn't sound like me. I'm an absolute angel." Her smile doesn't falter. "Actually, I think-"

I toss the bag to the other occupant of my bed. 9 catches it deftly and raises an eyebrow.

"For all the trouble I put you through." I gesture for her to open it up.

She peers into the bag before freezing up. "No way."

"What did she get?" AN-94, who looks slightly less toasty, cranes her neck.

9 pulls out the garment in the bag and holds it up for everyone to see.

"...Is that a jacket?" AEK asks.

"It is!" 9 stands up and holds it higher. "It's the one I wanted!"

"You said you wanted it a few times, and…" I scratch my head. "Well, given our earlier conversation, I hoped this would smooth things over a bit."

She purses her lips. "Well… it's a step in the right direction."

"That's all I can ask for." I spot the paper bag. "Now, I wanna get completely drunk and stop thinking about this screwed-up world."

"Hear hear." AK-12 pulls a bottle out of the bag, one of the two bottles of vodka.

I grab my own drink of choice, a bottle of whiskey, and pour myself a cup. I already had a bunch with M16, so I probably don't need too much more.

As I sit back in place, two more faces join the party. Lucas and Eva.

Lucas looks at the alcohol, at me, and then sighs.

Aleah steps up to him and offers him a cup. "Want some?"

"Sure." He takes the cup and leans against the wall. "So, what's all the yelling about?"

MDR's eyes light up again. "So! I have this betting pool going-"

"MDR." I growl, but she continues.

"-based on when our new Field Agent finally does it with one of us!"

Eva, who had just gotten a cup of whiskey from AK-12, almost spits her drink out.

MDR isn't done yet. "There's two parameters that determine the bet. Who, and when." She pulls out a datapad. "Here's the list of bets currently made-"

I snatch the datapad out of her hands and move to break it, but it's just as quickly snatched by 416. Her eyes scan it rapidly, and she scowls. "Who is making these ridiculous bets?"

"I don't know-"

"Very few of them involve me, and that's just wrong."

All eyes focus on the stoic doll, and I realize two things.

One: Her cheeks are flushed.

Two: She's got a bottle of beer in her hand.

"Oh scheisse." 9 mutters. "She's drunk."

416 tosses the datapad, which is expertly caught by AK-12, before jumping onto my bed. "It's my turn."

"Uh-"

"Hold it there." AEK grabs 416's arms. "Don't just leap ahead."

Thank you-

"Let some of us fix our bets first."

I glare at AEK, whose shit eating grin rivals that of the likes of P7.

Though, she gets tossed a second later by 416, who proceeds to sit on top of her and pin her to the ground. Serves her right.

"But, you're all dolls." Eva looks around the room. "Why would you even want to… erm, 'do it'?"

"Whoever gets first dibs is the true bride." MDR cackles. "At least, according to Gsh-18's manga."

"That's hardly a reputable source." Lucas points out.

I sip my whiskey and try to focus on the burn rather than the rowdy argument around me. This is stupid embarrassing, but it's not like it's going to stop.

What even was my bet anyway? I remember picking 9, which was a terrible idea in hindsight. Not that I expected it to happen, but she's probably not gonna be thrilled to hear it.

I run the mental math and check it a few times to be sure. I said ten days… and it's been nine.

Dammit. I kinda hoped my bet had expired. If it comes out, it's gonna be awkward…

"I can't believe I'm on here." AEK is scrolling on the datapad. "I don't even swing that way."

"...Seriously?" 9 raises an eyebrow at AEK, who nods.

"MDR, right?" Eva looks at the doll with pink and blue eyes. "Are you still taking bets?"

"Of course!" MDR leans back. "Though, any odds are subject to change depending on what our Field Agent himself chose." She purses her lips and gives me a light glare. "He's not told us what his bet is, and obviously his bet has a large importance."

"Insider trading isn't allowed." 45 steps out from around the corner. Instead of her black dress, she's back into her usual skirt and button down shirt. "So, you might as well confess."

I take another drink from my cup. "No, I'm good. My bet was just to get MDR off my case."

"Sure it is." MDR rolls her eyes. "That's totally why you've been so cagey about it, because it's not gonna happen, and not because, oh, you're just shy."

I pinch my brow and grumble.

Aleah steps over to me and folds her arms. "Looks like everyone's having fun."

I glance over at the group currently scrolling through the datapad. "Sure. Fun."

"It could be worse."

I raise an eyebrow.

"They could be betting on how soon you die. That they can enforce."

In response, I down the rest of my cup before bringing it up to Aleah. "More, please."

"Right away, Hadwin." She smirks and grabs the plastic cup.

I sag down onto my portion of the bed, staring at the ceiling and hoping for the night to just end already.

After a few seconds of staring straight up, a cup lands on my chest. I wrap my hand around it before it can spill and nod to Aleah.

MDR looks over in my direction, leans over, and sniffs.

"...What?"

"Just trying to figure out what you're drinking." She pauses, before her eyes go wide. "Jack."

"Huh?" It take my brain a crucial two seconds to realize exactly what she means. "Wait, MDR-!"

"I know which bet he made!" MDR crows. "Gimme the list!"

"Wait!" I cry again, struggling to sit up without spilling my drink and not really succeeding at it.

The list is handed back to MDR, who scoots just out of arms reach of me as I flounder about trying to get up. "Let's see, let's see… Jack. Jack, Jack, Jaaaaaack… found it."

9 leans over MDR's shoulder. "Eh?"

"Who is it?" AEK asks, still pinned by 416.

"UMP 9." MDR reads out. "Tomorrow."

I give up my attempt to get up and just resign myself to my fate, downing my cup of alcohol.

"Is… is that why you bought me the jacket?" 9's lip curls in disgust. "'Cause that's creepy."

Several of the dolls look at the jacket and Eva once more edges away from me like I'm a freak.

"No." I shake my head, sending my world spinning. "I bought it cuz you wanted it. The bet was because I thought if it came out, you'd think it was funny and tease me about it, but then we had that conversation earlier and it turned out weird."

"...He did put it in over a week ago." MDR taps her fingers on the datapad.

"So, you want my sister huh?" 45 leans over me.

"No." I say flatly. "I want to be out of this conversation."

"Too bad." She turns around and sits down on my leg. "Well, since 9 clearly doesn't want her turn, I guess I'll have to take it."

"What-"

"No fair." 416 stands up, finally freeing AEK. "I had first dibs."

"Ja, and look at all the progress you've made."

416's eyes widen, and her hand starts fumbling around for her handgun, which mercifully isn't on her thigh at the moment.

"Ah, and here I was hoping I'd have a turn." AK-12 touches her cheek. "Though, I was planning on handing my turn off to 94."

94 squeaks something unintelligible.

"Hadwin, aren't you dating AR-15?" Lucas asks. "Shouldn't it be her?"

I stop struggling with the two 404 girls glaring at each other on my lap and stare at him blankly.

"Hey." AEK thumps a fist into her palm. "That's a great idea. Lemme go get her."

"No!" I try to grab her, but 416 tackles 45 and they land across my legs, pinning me in place.

"Huh." Eva looks around the room. "They seem to like him."

Lucas turns to her. "There's… circumstances."

I manage to get one leg out from under the dolls. At this point, it looks like 416's raw strength is stronger than 45's and as such 45 appears to be losing.

Normally I'd be inclined to help her, but I think it's fair to say she brought it on herself this time.

Aleah grabs my shoulders and pulls me the rest of the way out before standing me up beside the bed.

"Thanks." I stumble a step before I can get my balance.

"Don't mention it."

I take another step and almost fall face down, but Lucas catches me.

"Where do you think you're going?"

"Out into th' hall." I slur a bit, the alcohol sending the world into a spin. "'S quieter."

"...Alright." He puts his shoulder under mine and helps me out of the room.

He sets me against the wall, and I lean on it for support.

Two more figures step out of the room, only one of them owning a set of glowing eyes. The hallway is dim this time of night, letting Aleah's eye burn a light red.

"Bleh."

"Man, you're a lightweight." Lucas sighs. "If I had known, I wouldn't have let you have that second cup."

"What are you, his mom?" Eva snorts.

"He already had a few before we got back." Aleah provides.

"He did?"

"Yes."

"Did he drink a whole bottle?"

Aleah glances at me. "No, but it was four cups of whiskey."

"That'd do it." Lucas shakes his head. "Hadwin, moderation."

"Moderation is for people with four hands and feet." I grumble. "I think I quite under- understand- I think I'm fine drinking given the topics MDR is cramming down our throats."

"More info than I wanted to know." Eva crosses her arms. "By the way, Lucas, you were talking about circumstances?"

"Ah… well, there's some sort of compulsion on the dolls." Lucas scratches his head. "I don't really know the specifics."

Aleah glances at me. "Hadwin, am I allowed to be here for this?"

"Sure, why not." I shrug, and sag all the way to the floor. "'S just my private life."

Lucas continues. "I think Hadwin said that a bunch of the dolls were influenced by Gentiane to fall in love with him. At least, that's what it sounded like."

Aleah raises an eyebrow at me, and I nod. "Somethin' like that."

"Soooo… none of them really like him?" Eva asks.

"No, that's wrong." Aleah straightens up and looks at Eva. "Aside from the fact that several of us are not under this 'compulsion' as Lucas put it-" she gestures to Lucas, who folds his arms. "-it's not like any of those under it have invalid feelings."

Lucas shakes his head. "Don't you know what Stockholm Syndrome is?"

"I do." She nods. "It doesn't apply. We have a choice. Those under his command just had an easier choice."

"Are you sure about that?" Lucas frowns.

"Under Stockholm syndrome, a victim falls in love with their captor because they are deprived of many necessary resources, and their only source of relief is their captor. None of us were forced together."

"Sure sounds like you were."

Aleah's eyes narrow. "Okay, if you want to go that route. Even supposing none of us had any choice, would that make it any less real? Victims in Stockholm cases do genuinely like their captor. It's the same chemicals and same physiological responses. The only reason it's bad is because they were manipulated into feeling that way by the target of their affections."

"It's still manipulation." Lucas counters. "It doesn't matter who it is, the manipulation makes it wrong."

"Does it?" Aleah raises an eyebrow. "How about this then: a father that only lets their child play with people of a certain ethnicity, or gender, or something else? When that child grows up and prefers someone they are familiar with, isn't that manipulation? Or, how about arranged marriages? Marriages of convenience? Are those just as bad?"

"Well… not necessarily." Lucas paces back and forth a bit. "However, in those cases the child has the chance to grow beyond their parents' grasp, or reject the arranged marriage. You don't get that."

"In that case, Hadwin shouldn't have entered the picture at all." Aleah shrugs. "We should have all just bonded to Commander Gentiane without question. We didn't."

Lucas frowns deeper.

"In addition, while it may not look like it, most of the dolls back at base don't feel as strongly about Hadwin as the ones here. We're mostly the dolls that are closest to him. Even here though, Echelon 10 has only tangential ties to Hadwin currently, and they're not in line."

"So you're saying you have a choice." Lucas taps his foot.

"I am, yes. In fact, about half of those here aren't affected by any specific commands to be closer to him. RO, AR-15, and SOPMOD are not able to take any such commands. AK-12 and AN-94 are not part of the Griffin chain of command, and neither are any of the four dolls from 404. I was rescued from the warehouse that was blown up in Sector 3 by Hadwin and UMP 45, and was placed directly under Hadwin's control as his adjutant, and I was not given any orders to fall for him."

…Is she implying that she- oh stop fuckin' kidding yourself. She likes you too, numbnuts. Just what I need right now.

"That still leaves half." Lucas shakes his head. "Even if they can choose, it's not right."

"A lot of things are wrong." Aleah shrugs again. "This isn't that bad in comparison."

Even in my drunken state, I can feel both Lucas and Eva, and to a lesser extent myself recoil from her statement. It's a dolls point of view, I guess, but it's not compatible with my own. I feel betrayed… though it isn't by any of the dolls. It's just the humans in command.

Well, and RO.

And 9, though she gets a partial pass.

"W…Well then." Eva shakes herself. "That was an interesting conversation."

Yep. Real interesting.

I let the faces of the dolls in Echelon 11 filter through my head and think about Aleah's words. Would affection bred under these circumstances be genuine? Hell, what even is genuine affection for a doll? Some number in their head? Does it reach one hundred and then they wanna get married to you, or is it a more nuanced system?

Why do people keep giving me the hard thoughts when I'm drunk?

I let myself flop sideways to lay on the carpeted floor. "Bleh."

"If you're gonna puke, you should really get to a toilet." Eva crouches down beside me.

"Not gonna puke." I sigh. "Just wanted to stop thinking for a few hours, and that looks like a pipe dream."

The elevator dings, and all four of us look over to see three figures stumble out of the doors.

Two of them look at us, and their eyes glow with a purple red light. The third looks like she had just been thrown into a blender and barely managed to get her way out.

"...RPK? AK-15?" I sit up, but the world starts to spin. "What happened-?"

"Quick. We need to get to Gentiane." RPK drags her Commander a bit forward.

AK-12 bursts out of the door, eyes already open and surveying Angelia. AN-94 appears right behind her, and more doors start to open, dolls peeking out from multiple rooms. Lucas switches to medic mode and starts to check her vitals and bark orders at the dolls, who gladly start grabbing items to help.

Before long, Gentiane herself is up and crouched next to Angelia. She seems comically out of place in some fuzzy pajamas that I can't quite focus on in my drunken state.

"Ange." She leans down.

"Ah… there you are." Ange grins slowly. "Wasn't sure I'd make it back here."

"We'll get you fixed up." Gentiane glances at Lucas, who is furiously scrubbing his forehead, thinking about what needs to be done. "Who did this to you?"

"You get one guess." Ange smiles grimly. "Paradeus."

"...Well, we'll have to leave tomorrow morning." Gentaine drums her fingers on her thigh. "We need to get out before they decide we're worth crushing."

"It's-" Ange coughs, and some blood comes up with her cough, which seems to freak Lucas out even more. "It's not that simple. We can't leave yet."

"Why not?"

AK-15 steps up. "We found out why Paradeus is occupying cities."

Gentiane looks up at the tall, muscular doll. "And?"

"They're kidnapping the citizens of the cities and turning them into their soldiers." RPK states. "Seems like it's a messy process too, and since their soldiers are being kidnapped, I have to assume some programming is going on."

Gentiane collapses down into a sitting position. "Shit. SHIT!"

"So, it was Paradeus." SV-98 has wandered out of her room to my side.

I want to correct her, but it's really not the time. And, I'm having trouble ungluing my tongue from my mouth.

"Okay." Gentiane holds her head in her hands. "Okay. G36?"

"Ja."

"I need you to clear off my bed. We'll get Ange there and get her wounds dressed. Then, we need to decide what we're going to do. Hadwin?"

"Whaa?"

"Get one of your echelons to run security. We can't afford to have Paradeus sneak up on us."

"...45?"

"Ja." She echos G36's tone of voice, but it's slightly different.

"Can you keep an eye out?"

"Of course." I can hear the smirk in her voice from here.

"...That works." Gentiane looks around. "This couldn't have come at a worse time."

"Oh?" Ange grins painfully. "What, in the middle of something?"

Gentiane glares, though the look is softened by concern for her friend. "No, not that. We've just found the location of the Pike Node."

Every set of eyes shifts to Gentaine's face.

She notes the stares and nods. "Yes, we've finally found our ticket home. Bad news is that Anisim also likely knows by now and the KCCO are knocking on the doorstep of this city."

"...Der'mo." Ange mutters. Lucas leans away from her and wipes his brow.

"That's good enough for now, I think." He mutters.

"Looks like tomorrows going to be busy." RPK leans down and tries to help her commander to her feet.

I manage to get myself into a sitting position leaning against the wall, looking around the hallway as Ange slowly moves into Gentiane's hotel room. The dolls are chatting amongst themselves worriedly, and Eva is now just standing next to one of the doors with wide eyes.

After a few minutes of hustle and bustle, the partying having ended with Ange's arrival, the hallway is dead quiet. I stare off into the distance for a few minutes, ignoring the occasional doll passing by.

Eventually, Lucas comes out of Gentiane's room and sags down to sit beside me.

"She's good?"

He nods. "She'll live. No internal bleeding, I don't think, but her mouth is cut to shit. I don't know how and she refused to say, but it looks like she was chewing on razor blades."

"Fuck."

"Yep."

We lapse into silence for a bit.

"'M goin' home." I mutter. "Can't… can't change my mind now."

"You decided on heading home?" He raises an eyebrow.

"Mmm."

"...You're gonna leave everyone behind?"

I attempt to glare, but I can't actually make the right face. "You said that it's not my resp- response- uh, my fault. I can leave."

"But." He shakes his head. "You clearly don't want to go."

"So now it is my fault? I have to fuckin' stay just because things changed?"

"People's lives are in danger. I know you, Hadwin. You're not going to let them get away with this. If you could, you wouldn't be you." He laughs bitterly. "It doesn't matter that they own the city. You'll do it anyway."

I stare off down the hallway. "Just this one more, then. I'll finish this then I'll quit."

Lucas stands up and pats my head. "Yeah, you should be here, protecting your girls."

"They're… they're not 'mine'." I protest. "They're their own."

"Not really." He shakes his head. "But you know what? I can accept that you think that way. It's you." He takes a deep breath. "I'm gonna stick around too. See if I can do anything to help."

"Nuh uh."

"You gonna stop me?" He grins. "You and what army?"

I wave my hand around vaguely. "I actually have one. Kinda."

"I'm staying too."

We both look to see Eva frowning at us. "I might not be a T-doll engineer yet, but I'm sure I can be of some use."

"...How?"

"I've been working on small appliances and robots since I was twelve." She puts a hand on her hip. "I can find my way around a wrench."

Hey Dad? I think I found that girl you wanted. The one that can rebuild an engine? Too bad it's freakin' Eva.

"Okay." I get out. "Just… both of you, hold off until we know what we're doing. The commanders are gonna discuss shit and get back to us."

"And then we're going to war." 15 sits down on my left. "Hadwin, are you doing okay?"

"Too much whiskey, but otherwise I'm good."

"You'll have to sleep it off." She puts an arm under my shoulder.

In my drunken stupor, I start thinking about how much I've been helped along today, and so has Ange. I wonder if Gentaine had to be carried about?

"I'll leave it to you." Lucas nods. "I'll see if I can help with Ange."

15 carries me into room 409 and deposits me onto the bed.

416 is drunkenly snoring on the other half, and 45 is resignedly staring up at the ceiling from under her. "Hey."

"Hey."

"Sounds like a party out there."

"Ange's half dead."

15 contemplates. "Hmm. More like a quarter."

45 snorts. "So, what's the game plan?"

"For now, wait and see what-" I yawn. "-see what Gentaine decides to do."

"Ah."

15 crawls into bed beside me, forcing me to scoot over and bump into 416 and 45.

At this point though, I can feel the exhaustion of the last two days catching up to me along with the alcohol, and my eyelids come down, resigning me to sleep.

---

Author's note:
Next chapter: Finally, something other than boring slice-of-life bullcrap.

Also, if you haven't already, go check out the healing chapters side fic I post. It's rated M, but it's got a bunch of small funny things in it.