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.

33. Chapter 33: Man I'm Bad at Math

P90 and I walk through the empty streets, guns at the ready.

My head is honestly starting to hurt, a lack of real sleep starting to get to me again. The sun has risen, illuminating the disaster this city has become in the past day.

As eerie as an empty city is at night, it's honestly creepier during the day, when you know that someone should be out here, driving, or jogging or just walking around, but of course, there isn't anyone. They've been told to move to the shelters, the tunnels under the city.

Which means that I jump and almost shoot anything that moves. I've managed to not shoot anything yet, but there's at least three freaked out cats that almost became targets.

P90 glances back at me. "Haddy, you're not looking so good."

"Yeah? What gave it away? The bandages on my face or the fact I nearly stumbled into the ditch?"

"I was gonna say the fact that you keep thinking out loud, but sure. Those are sure indicators."

Oh. Hadn't realized I'd been doing that.

"I don't think we'll be able to survive out here for too long." P90 peers around a corner waving me forward cautiously.

I peek around the corner myself, finding nothing of note. "Yeah, you're probably right. If Ange's place was closer, we could go there." I frown. "Not that we really left much behind. It's at least a place to hunker down for some rest."

"Hmm." P90 and I start to cross the street. "Should we just break into some apartments?"

"That'd make me feel like crap. Though, I suppose it's better than passing out in the street." I eye the nearest apartment door, one with heavy duty grating covering it to make it hard to break into.

"Maybe we can go back to the hotel." P90 scratches her chin. "It's at least a place we could probably rest."

"Maybe…" I look around some more. We're actually in a section of the city I recognize, mainly due to the charred husk of a building across the street. In the eerie quiet of the empty city, the municipal building seems imposing, the yellow caution tape not doing it any favors. Scores of unpleasant memories from the night I burned it down rise up into my head.

P90 follows my line of sight. "What's up? Got an idea?"

"No, just… thinking about what happened." I shake my head. "Actually, weren't you there?"

P90 opens her mouth, but takes a second to answer. "…I was, but those DEFY units are really good at sensing stuff. Had to stay out of sight." She glances at the burnt building again. "Should we check it out?"

I don't really want to, like, at all. "Why would we? There's nothing left there."

"Oh, come on. You don't know that, there might be something really important in there." She walks across the empty road, sizing up the burnt building. "This was one of Paradeus' bases after all. It would be remiss of us to neglect to check it."

"…I suppose." I check that my M16 is ready to go before reluctantly plodding across the street to meet up with P90.

Once we're both outside the building, she points to the charred remains of the door and we both walk over to it, careful not to disturb any of the debris blocking the path.

The building is mostly stone with wooden accents, the fire fueled by the items inside the building, not by the building itself. There's also lots of charring by the vents, which gives me a likely reason the fire spread out of the small room. Air unit sucked the fire right out of the documents room and out into the rest of the building.

My stomach starts to twist, recalling the events that happened here, and I have to calm myself down, focusing so as to not lose my lunch.

Not that I've actually eaten recently.

I really need to correct that.

"I have to say, this place looked way better before it got burnt to a crisp." P90 looks up at the ceiling of the foyer area, where DEFY had knocked out several guards and I had drugged them with alcohol in a vain attempt to cover my tracks that was probably not necessary.

In fact… if they were at all inebriated, that might be why there were so many casualties. They might've made some bad decisions that led to their deaths-

"So!" P90 chirps, distracting me. "What else have you been up to since I had to disappear? I was kinda busy until you got here."

"Well… stopped the traitor that… uh, killed you. It was Ricardo, actually."

"Explains why you were so eager to put him down." She nods. "Anything else?"

"Found out I've been hired to be a therapy pet for the dolls. Still processing that one, seeing as my job apparently includes trying to hook up with as many dolls as possible."

"…I'm not interested, okay?"

"Of course. It's weird, apparently Gentiane set it up so I had commander level authority just to exploit that stupid affection thing."

"I bet that hurt your relationships."

I continue to poke through the rubble heading down to the vault area after P90. "Not as much as you'd think. I'm still dating at least one of them, though there's a few that are on thin ice with me."

"Oh? And who's the lucky girl?"

"AR-15. Several of the others have decided that they also want to hang around, and 15 doesn't seem to mind sharing, as stupid as that sounds."

"We're dolls, we don't care about that as much."

"That's what everyone keeps telling me. What else…" I lift up my leg. "I lost my foot too."

"You need to stop losing body parts or you'll be more cyborg than Ange in no time." She peers through a doorway, apparently finds nothing of note, and continues on.

"It's not like I wanted to lose limbs." I grumble. "So, what were you doing while I was scrambling around trying not to get everyone killed?"

"So, picture this:" P90's frame flashes blue and an image shows up in the air. "You've just finished being automatically restored to your frame. You go to check up on your backup, and you find it was deleted, and in fact, the delete command came in before you finished being uploaded, only the computer does not delete something in use, saving your Neural cloud. The command came from an anonymous source. Then, you run away to try to find the guy who did it, only to find that there's a way bigger conspiracy going on. Investigating it takes a lot of time."

I nod. "Alright, but… you couldn't have sent a message?"

I am aware that a note of pleading entered my voice, but there's little I can do about it.

"I tried, but I never made it through to you. Had to keep it subtle so as not to tip off Paradeus that I was alive, you know? DEFY also, they're too good at finding out secrets. They almost blew my cover a few times." She grins. "And let's not get me started on 45! She kept almost finding me again and again, she came this close a few times."

"Yeah, that sounds like her."

We walk into the lower room where RPK and I had fought with Ricardo and Bren. As suspected, the place is dark, made darker by the white walls being singed black. The Linker is still able to make out enough detail to walk, though.

The door to the records room is open, and there's yellow caution tape covering the entrance. It's hard to see inside from where I am… and I find I don't really wanna go over there.

At all.

P90, however-

"Hey! Looks like some of the paperwork survived!"

Reluctantly, I walk over to the room. My eyes flick around refusing to look into the room where something in me broke. Eventually though, I run out of room and have to force myself to look.

The room is full of boxes of papers, all of them completely turned to ash and char. In the middle of the room is a twisted chunk of metal in a vaguely humanoid shape.

I take a few steps to the side and hurl, though all that comes up is bile.

"…Uh, I'll get the file for you. Sorry about that." For what it's worth, she does actually sound sorry.

As I heave again, I find myself just a little glad that they hadn't just left Ricardo's corpse there too. I wouldn't have been able to stand that.

P90 walks over patting my back a few times in a comforting manner before offering me an only slightly charred page, still mostly legible.

It's… it's the page Ricardo asked me to get for him.

I can feel my brow furrow. Yeah, it's been a long few days, but didn't I-?

"Hey look, there's a bunch of street addresses on here." P90 points out. "Where do they lead?"

Unbidden, my Linker provides the same street addresses from earlier. Certainly, not all of them are in an alley. Maybe we can go hide in one of these areas?

I'm about to suggest it to P90 when I hear something outside, as if from a large distance.

Thump

"What was that?" I ask, nervously watching the ceiling. This building was just on fire. I don't wanna get buried here.

"Whatever it is, it sounds big."

Thump

I stand up, ready my rifle, and start moving back through the building. P90 touches her own weapon and clears her throat.

"...What?"

"I haven't been able to scrounge up any 5.7 recently." She admits. "I'll be able to help you distract the enemy, but don't count on me for fire support."

"Next time, tell me that first." I grumble, turning away and once more taking the lead.

The thumping gets louder and louder, until I realize that it's way too heavy to be a footstep. It kinda feels like small bombs going off, but I can't figure out who would be detonating random bombs in the city.

Targeted bombs I get. Sometimes a hotel or parking garage or wall is in your way.

The sounds are varying intensities leading me to think it's random, or at least not clearly targeted in one place.

P90 and I step outside cautiously just in time to watch as a massive shell whirrs overhead, moving in a graceful arc until it slams down out of sight and shakes the entire city.

"What the fuck-" I mutter.

"Is someone shelling the city?" P90 asks. "Why would anyone-" She stops talking abruptly and turns to me. "Turn on your Linker and tune it to channel 8."

I do as P90 suggests, ducking back inside the burnt building and sitting down so I'm not standing around waiting to get shot like an idiot.

"-of Kruševac. My name is Yegor, currently in charge of the KCCO forces located outside your walls."

Yegor's face is neutral, like he's having a fairly normal conversation, but as his words continue, his calmness starts to become uncanny.

"We have arrived at your lovely city for one reason: Your leaders possess some information that our military needs. We have tried negotiating for it. We have tried to prise it out of the hands of the crooked masterminds that used to run this city before they abandoned you. We attempted to peacefully recover it once we realized the previous owners of the information had abandoned it, only to be thwarted once more.

"That brings us to now. Since we have been denied several times and time is running short, I have decided to authorize the shelling of your city. We will get what we want, if we have to sift it from the rubble of this city. That would be a regrettable use of shells though, and I assume many people would die. You have, after all, been feeling the effects of the shells just now, and should we pick more… populated targets such as, say, a train station leading to the underground shelters, I am sure that the death toll would be more serious.

"So, here's my proposal. We will cease fire for two hours. In that time, you will locate someone who either works at GeneLab and is able to provide security access on a high level, or find someone who has the information themselves. For each hour after that you delay, I will destroy another shelter. Once those are destroyed, I will start destroying critical infrastructure. I have no use for this city, and will not shed a tear for its passing.

"Contact me at the following frequency if you have information. Do not waste my time. Your time begins now."

I look at P90.

She looks back at me.

"The ones with the data are outside the walls." P90 states.

"The scientists that were working for Paradeus already got out of the city." I reply.

"There's no way for the citizens to comply."

I consider my options, put my head in my hands and groan. "...Fuck."

"What are we gonna do?"

"..." I think hard. Honestly, the smart thing is to once more try to escape the city. I'm exhausted, have no backup, I have very limited ammo, and a whole slew of very good reasons to just try and leave.

Then again, I'm not known for my reason.

"Okay, here's the plan-"

---

Two hours pass, and once more the TV station signal is taken over by the KCCO.

"Well, it seems like you have decided to ignore my warnings." Yegor's face once more appears on the screen all around the city and inside of my Linker. "Perhaps you didn't think I was serious? I shall provide you an example of what happens when I don't get what I want."

I nod to P90 and she puts through the connection.

Yegor's eyes flick to the side as my face is transmitted to him. "Hmm? Ah, it seems that you have some sense after all."

The screen adjusts to show me standing on the rooftop of the burnt building I had found myself in during the announcement. I've got my red commander's jacket on over the exo suit, open in the front and waving in the breeze.

P90's the one recording this, so she's not in the frame.

"Hello Yegor." I state, aware that there's probably a bunch of people watching me right now. "I hear you're looking for something?"

"...I am indeed. And since you so rudely denied my request last time, I'm inclined to hang up right now and shell your position for the hell of it. I do happen to know where you are right now, you're not disguising your signal very well."

That's okay. I was kinda expecting that. "Well, you might want to reconsider." I hold out my hand. In it sits a small black and gold object.

The Key.

"Seeing as I have the information you want."

"I see." He leans back in his chair, eyes narrowing. "Now, last time I gave you a choice, you completely blew me off. Why should I listen to your words now?"

"I mean, if you want to, you can shell me." I deadpan, hoping P90's able to make it look like I'm still calm. "But if you notice, there's a small chip out of this." I watch myself point my finger towards the Key on the screen. "I thought precursor tech would be pretty strong, but it appears like it's not doing too well. If you shell my position, you might lose all of the data."

Yegor strokes his chin. "I see."

P90's head jerks to the side, and I have to keep myself facing forward like I hadn't just heard the crash as well. "So, why don't you come and get it? I know you have some units in the city." I channel my inner UMP 45 and plaster her evil grin on my face. "I promise to hand over everything precursor I have on me as long as you stop shelling the city. Oh, and don't think about just going back to GeneLab. We made sure to wipe the data, as I'm sure you've discovered."

"Ah, a noble sentiment, to protect the citizens at the cost of your own safety." Yegor nods. "I applaud your maneuvering. Unfortunately-"

Wait, what? This wasn't supposed to go like this-

"-I think we'll take our chances." He turns slightly offscreen once more. "Fire."

Wha-

I don't have time to sit and gawk. My legs start moving before I consciously understand what's being said, aiming for the next roof over. P90 starts running with me, her own speed much faster than mine.

We both leap over top the next rooftop right as the whistling sound of the incoming shell reaches a crescendo and smashing the building behind us to rubble.

I land in a chaotic roll, desperately protecting my head and neck. P90 lands perfectly, sprinting for the next roof.

I scramble to my feet, looking up into the sky for a second shell, but I don't see any. "Didja cut the broadcast?"

"I did!" P90 points over the edge of the roof. "However, it looks like we have company!"

I glance over the side of the roof to see that there's a few KCCO units down there. Notably, the Typhon I saw earlier that knocked me out of the APC in the first place, and my nemesis, И1704.

It explains the crashing noises from earlier.

The Hydra that had come to haunt me turns, aiming its newly repaired grenade pods up at me.

"Give me a break-" I turn and bolt even as a hail of grenades arc their way over the edge of the building, destroying the ground I had just vacated almost as fast as I can run.

This exo suit has saved my life more times than I can count by now.

I make it to the edge of the roof, the suit propelling me just a bit faster than the grenades behind me.

This next roof is only three floors high instead of four, and I have to once more try to land in a way to not kill myself.

Once more, I fail to stick the landing, but manage to protect myself from injury.

P90 soars overhead, sprinting farther along.

By the time I've recovered to my feet, there's a large metal scraping sound coming from the building behind me.

Dreading what I'd find, I turn around to see that И1704 had decided to scramble up the staircase it had made out of the building, cresting it and standing there like the king of the world, ready to bring down the hammer of god on us unsuspecting peons.

Not that I'll give it the option to.

I turn around, already looking for the next roof that I'll be able to jump to. P90 gets my attention from the one straight ahead, and I take off towards her.

Behind me, the Hydra growls, its thundering footsteps coming towards me.

Fortunately for me, it's a heavy machine. As it tries to step down onto the roof I'm on, its leg punches a hole through the roof tiles, and it has to carefully lift the leg once more to find a better perch.

I don't really have the time to evaluate its choice of footing since I'm running towards the edge as fast as the exo suit can convey me.

Once more launching myself over the void, I make the mistake of glancing down, seeing the alley below. Far below, looking like more than the six or seven meters it probably is.

Normally, that height would have me thinking twice about leaping across like this, but right now, I don't have the luxury of time to consider it.

A high pitched whine penetrates my consciousness, heard even over the wind rushing past my ears and the crashing of И1704 attempting to gain enough purchase to get to me.

I land on the next roof, already attempting to get to my feet while trying in vain to determine where the whine is coming from.

"HADWIN! RUN!" P90 shouts.

My Linker updates with a new place to run, 90 degrees off of my pro final path.

The urgency in P90's voice has me moving without stopping to think, running at the target provided by her at full tilt.

Behind me, the building detonates.

A beam of plasma sears through the roof, at an angle to suggest it had come from the street outside the burnt government building.

"What the fuck-"

"Typhon main cannon!" P90 snaps. "Keep moving!"

I aim for the next building, peering back over my shoulder at И1704.

The Hydra following us has to detour around the hole, suddenly having even less purchase that it was already struggling with. Still, it's preparing its cannon to fire in our direction.

In fact, it's about to fire-

I dodge to the side as it fires, the shot whistling past me too quickly to see. Unfortunately, taking my eyes off where I was going wasn't a good idea.

My foot catches the edge of the roof and my jump loses a bunch of my leg power. It's immediately clear that I'm not going to make it to the next roof.

P90 runs back my way, moving at frankly prodigal speed to try to grab my extended hand.

Our fingers brush as I slam into the wall, then fall backwards having bounced off the wall.

Mother fucker-

I barely have time to register that I fell before I'm staring up at the sky, P90 looking at the other roof and running away.

A second later, И1704's leg stabs across the gap, punching its way into the building opposite. It leans out over the alley and dangles itself over me like a spider.

"You know-" I cough, trying to suck air back into my body. "You're starting to get really fucking annoying."

The only response I get is it lowering its cannon to point at my prone form.

I roll to my stomach and bolt from my prone position, hoping against all odds that this alley is clear enough for me to get through.

Behind me, the Hydra fires and the brick floor of the alley explodes. I feel the scattered chips hit into my back, at least one of them stabbing in through a gap in my exo suit.

Still, I run.

The Hydra tears apart the rooftops, sending stone and mortar raining down on me as I weave around scattered bins and bags of trash. I'm really regretting stuffing my rifle back into my backpack. I could try to pull it out, but it'll just fall apart.

I make it out onto a street that already has all the cars kicked aside, clearly showing signs that a Hydra has been through here.

I have to stop to get my bearings, and in that moment, a shadow passes overhead.

И1704 slams down onto the ground right in front of me, growling slightly.

"P90?" I ask over the Linker.

"Yeah?"

"Can you cloak me?"

"Yep!"

I leap backwards as P90 makes me invisible, the Hydra's leg spearing through the air where I had just been. I retreat back into the alley, watching its movements.

It thrashes about, attempting to smash me against a wall or at least find me, but I make it out of the way before it can strike me.

My Linker indicates P90 has arrived behind me, also invisible. I glance back at her and she grins.

"We'll wait for it to go away."

I nod and look to the sky.

Yegor hasn't shelled the city yet… maybe he won't? I'm certain he wants what I have…

И1704 screams in rage, the sound harsh and mechanical. It slams its legs into a nearby car, decimating it before running off in a rage.

I wait for the sound of its footsteps to fade, then turn back P90. "…So, one of the safe houses?"

---

Say what you will about Ricardo, he knows how to furnish an apartment.

I initially was going to poke around a bit, but I had stumbled across a photo of Ricardo and Bren smiling, the two of them on a dinner date. They had gone through the trouble of getting an actual photo made as well…

I hadn't had the heart to continue going through his stuff after seeing that.

I had decided to get rest, crashing on the couch in the main living room, the first place you see when entering the apartment. P90 is outside keeping guard, so I feel comfortable enough to take off my exo suit and Linker. Thankfully, Ricardo has a charging station that I can plug both into. I had hoped that by the time I was awake they'd be fully charged when I plugged them in. Annoyingly, the Linker turns on when it's plugged in, like a phone, but whatever.

It was very dismaying that I woke up only two hours later to something in the apartment positively wailing.

Reluctantly, I get up. I almost blindly walk into the next room, but something in my mind hooks up just in time to remind me to fetch my gun.

My M16 is still in multiple pieces, so I grab my pistol instead.

I hold my pistol and carefully lead with it, heading deeper into the apartment.

In the end, it's a pretty small apartment and my tacticool clearing just ended up wasting time heading into one of the two other rooms. There's a bedroom and a kitchen area, and a small bathroom, but that's it for the apartment.

The insistent beeping is coming from the bedroom, which is the last place I checked. There's a computer that's both on and awake.

In the otherwise empty building and in my situation, I'd be extremely creeped out by this if there wasn't light pouring in through the window. It's about noon.

The beeping stops once I walk over to the computer, which sets me on edge again.

A document opens by itself, and I raise my gun to point at the screen, realizing that that's a bit silly since there's nothing but display hardware in the screen.

If I was really worried about the computer, I'd have to point it at the tower beside it.

Before I can correct my aim, the document finishes opening, a bunch of black text in a large font appearing instantly.

"YOU ARE IN DANGER
GET YOUR LINKER
THEY ARE HERE"

I stare at the text.

What the fu-

Something slams into the front door, and the text on the document changes.

"NO TIME
SOMETHING AT DOOR, HIDE."

The computer shuts down.

Oh god. The hair on the back of my arms raises, goosebumps forming all over.

This is some horror-grade shit.

I look around, but it's not like there's many places to hide. Whatever's outside slams into the door again, and I realize I don't have many options.

I scramble out to try to grab the Linker.

The front door legit has a dent in it, and there's light creeping in front around the cracks left by the door warping.

Who even is it at the door?

What happened to P90?

I reach up to grab the Linker, but the door is hit again and I swear it's only got one last hit on it. This startles me enough that I fumble it, and it gets tangled in the exo suit and its own cable, still plugged in.

Shit! I don't have time!

I run back into the bedroom and realize I have three options. I can jump out of the window, I can hide under the bed, or I can hide in the closet.

I toss my backpack into the closet and quickly duck under the bed, keeping my hand on my gun and squirming around so I can see out from under the bed at whoever it is.

The front door finally gives way, and I carefully regulate my breathing to be slow and quiet, really not wanting to attract attention.

Heavy footsteps, not Hydra heavy, but much heavier than your average human.

I wait in trepidation as the footsteps clomp closer and closer, checking the rooms one by one.

Two white boots appear through the doorway, walking in that awkward sideways fashion that you do when aiming a weapon.

I can't see past the knees, but I would swear this was a Strelet.

I thought Paradeus abandoned the city?

The boots walk over to the closet, open it up, and I see an armored white glove reach downward grab my backpack. The owner unzips the pack and sounds like he's searching through it.

A second set of boots, black and decidedly less armored walks in.

"Well?"

I freeze in place, unable to move. Why is he here?

"Here you go, sir." The Strelet set my backpack on top of the bed. "This is the only thing out of place."

"You checked everywhere?"

"Yes sir."

"Hmm." The pair of black boots walks around to the backpack and starts rifling through it. "Interesting."

"What's interesting, sir?"

"This certainly looks like his things. He reportedly likes to sew-" something is tossed onto the bed, and I have to assume it's my sewing supplies. "-and the rest of this looks like basic kit."

"But sir, are we sure these aren't things Ricardo would have owned?"

"Theoretically, he could have. Practically, he wasn't the kind of person to carry around supplies, He would always much rather stash things in a building like this. Having a go bag with these specific items, I am certainly leaning towards it being Griffin's little Field Agent."

"I see. I will report to-"

"Yes, yes, have fun with that."

The white boots leave the room, leaving me alone in the room with…

With…

"Let's see here." The man pulls out more things. "His gun? And it's fallen apart too… no, it was partially disassembled. I see." There's a bunch of fabric rustling, and a pair of my pants falls off the bed. "Hmm… not much else in here. The AT4 is a nice touch though."

The bed creaks slightly as he gets back to his feet and stands near the end of the bed. "I wonder why Hadwin would leave all of his tools behind? He's sloppy, but I think he would have learned better by now. Then again-"

He suddenly crouches down, gun appearing and aiming right at my face.

"-Maybe he didn't have time to leave." His voice, which had been level and calm until now, twists into a snarl. "Get out! And I know you have your gun, toss it out."

I carefully slide my pistol out from under the bed. Reluctantly, I crawl out and come face to face with someone I hoped never to see again.

"Hello Hadwin." Anisim's eyes blaze an unnatural red. "I've been looking everywhere for you."

---

I am dragged, not quite literally, into a van and shoved into the back. My stuff has all been thrown into the back with me, but since my hands are tied up, I can't actually use any of them. The van tosses me about as well, so I can't hold onto anything I manage to grab for long anyway.

After a bit, we pull over and a Strelet opens the back, grabbing me and forcing me out. I'm then marched into a building I don't recognize, strip searched, and brought down a few levels underground before being thrown into a stark white cell. They even took my hand!

To be fair, it is a weapon. I'm just glad they didn't take my foot as well, the scan showing nothing of note in it.

The cell has little in it but a bed and a thin blanket. The wall with the door is made out of some sort of security glass, meaning I can watch as the Strelet guard lock me in after undoing the cuffs that had been holding my hands together,

Well… shit.

I sit on the bed, put my head in my hand and think.

There's really not a way out of this, huh.

I fumble around in my pockets in case, but they were pretty thorough in removing everything they could from my person. Pockets are empty.

I almost start to pull my hair out but before I can, Anisim walks into the room.

Anisim looks a lot worse for wear. There's a large stab wound on his head, his face doesn't all seem to react to his expressions properly, and he's also got fully roboticized legs. I suppose he needed some modifications to fit into the Goliath suit. Though I will admit, until I saw him, I thought those were a permanent thing like the Strelets.

He keys a button on the wall opposite of my cell and a speaker mounted in the corner squawks to life.

"Enjoying your quarters?"

"Could be worse." I grunt.

"Excellent." He glances to the side and a person hands him a folding chair which he promptly sits in. "Now, onto business."

"What, not gonna kill me?" I snark. "Seemed pretty eager to do that earlier."

"If I wanted you dead, I could've done that at any moment. You stood there like an idiot watching your precious dolls run away from you on your orders." He snorts. "No, I have something I want from you."

"And that is?"

"The Key."

I pause. "I don't have it."

"Oh, we know you don't have it on your person, or in your things, or stashed in Ricardo's apartment. What I want to know is, where is it?"

I sigh and flop down on the hard bed. "Don't you already have all the info off of it? Why would you need it back?"

"None of your business." Anisim doesn't bite and repeats. "Where is it?"

"P90 has it." I lie. "Dunno where she went. She was supposed to be standing guard.

For a second, there's silence.

"P90?"

"Yeah, one of the dolls." I confirm. "She's pretty good at hide and seek, been doing it for weeks."

Anisim glances over at one of the other people observing the room, who just shakes his head. "We've got no evidence of this P90."

"Yeah, we were hiding from you."

"Not very successfully, choosing to hide in a safehouse I personally prepared. And since she never appears there…" Anisim leans forward. "I'll ask again. Where is the key?"

I frown. If I was on camera, then certainly P90 was? In any case- "Go ask Gentiane. It's in her hands."

"Oh, please. I know you had it on the roof or the municipal building. And Gentiane's already abandoned you, on her way to Talinn."

…Well, that's good news, I guess.

"Well I guess it's on the way to Talinn." I shrug. "Maybe you should go after her?"

"Assuming I believe you… all in due time." He folds his hands. "Switching topics, I have a proposal for you."

"I'm not gonna join you." I growl.

"No, I know that. For now, Griffin has indoctrinated you into thinking that we are the evil ones, when we just want everyone to be free. You'll come around eventually, I'm sure. But, you have been a very large pain in my ass recently, so I've been considering what to do with you. First off, I considered paying you back in kind for what you did to my subordinate. But, that was barbaric, and I decided not to. Killing you at all seems to be difficult, though I suppose a large part of it is my fault, giving you our serum. I think the best option is to let you rot in here after we leave, starving to death slowly. But, that would be a waste of good manpower." He leans in closer to the intercom, like that would make his booming voice more private. "Here's the deal. I'll let you go, free of any strings save for one. You'll get to go home, be with your family. In fact, I'll promise you that neither I nor Paradeus will ever touch Sector 3 again."

"...And what is this string that's attached?"

"You have to head home. No detours. And, you must cut all contact with Griffin, dolls, humans, or otherwise."

Ah. I cross my arms. "And what if I do?"

Anisim smiles. "I know where you live. Your parents won't survive for long."

A shiver travels down my spine. "I see."

Anisim looks at his watch. "Now, I would love to stay and chat, but it looks like Griffin's borrowed train is on the move. I'd like to get ahead of it, so I can't afford to stay here forever. What do you choose, Hadwin Galanis?"

I open my mouth, but no words come out.

This choice should be easy. He's going to let me go!

Just say the word and you can get out of here and figure out a way to warn the others.

Subtly. So my family doesn't get killed. You can lie and promise not to talk to the dolls ever again.

Just lie.

Lie and say you'll agree to his terms.

Just do it.

Anisim sees the conflicting emotions on my face and smiles. "You have one minute."

"I… I…"

"I know when you're lying, Hadwin. We've got a whole psychological profile on you. Just promise truthfully that you'll never talk to anyone associated with Griffin, or 404, or DEFY again, and you can go home."

"I…" I close my eyes and steel myself. "I'm not going to."

"...Oh?"

"I'm not going to agree to your stupd plans." I growl. "They're gonna kill you and come back for me."

"It's lovely that you have such faith in them, but as I said, they've just left the station." He grins. "I had a spy satellite watching the train. Everyone who was in the camp was accounted for on the footage we have."

"They'll be back." I say again, but when his smile grows, I can feel my confidence falter.

"It'll be at least a week round trip before we get back. If you haven't starved by then, I'll ask you once more. Then again-"

Suddenly, the lights cut and the speakers stops crackling.

Outside the room, two bright red points blink, turning to look away from my cell.

Seconds later, some emergency lighting comes on and after a few seconds more the speakers crackle back to life. Anisim had grabbed one of the nearby men and lifted him into the air.

"-do you mean, we're being hacked?" Anisim snarls. "There's nobody inside the city who can hack our systems. Even that crazy 404 doll is on a train to Talinn as we speak! Who is in our systems?!"

"I don't know!" The man being held in the air wails. "The KCCO don't have the tech, and everyone else here is a civilian!"

"Then, you will find this breach!" Anisim drops the man and turns to me. "What did you do?"

"I didn't do anything!" I raise my hands up defensively, his eyes still blazing in the dark. "I swear I didn't!"

He stares right into my soul and I am barely able to keep his gaze under the pressure. "Fine. I'm leaving. If I find out you had anything to do with this, I will get your family and torture them to death in front of you just for lying to me."

He turns to several of the terrified men beside him. "Follow me. We need to secure-"

The door closes, cutting him off. There's still four people dressed in lab coats standing around, looking at each other.

I wander over to the intercom. "Uh… what's going on?"

"None of your business!" One of them snaps. "You just sit in there-"

The red lighting shuts off, leaving the rooms both almost entirely pitch black, only some emergency floor illumination active. It's enough to make out shapes, but that's it.

Looks like Paradeus didn't pay the electricity bill.

There's a dull thump and a bright flash suddenly appear, the PA system down once more muting the sound.

One of the scientist's heads explodes into a shower of blood and brain matter, spraying onto the glass and coating it. The others scream, one of them drawing a firearm and pointing at… whoever just showed up, all of this barely visible in the emergency lighting.

More shots are fired, the scientists going down one after another. They had been close enough to the glass that I can't see who it is on the other side through all of the blood and splattered organs.

…It couldn't be P90, right? She's the only one who could possibly know that I'm here-

I had been looking for P90's maroon eye glow, but that's not what I found in the darkness.

A single, bright yellow eyes hangs in the dark, looking at me calmly.

"45…?" My voice doesn't penetrate through the glass, though she walks over to the door. "I thought I told you to-"

The door pops open and I realize something as soon as I step through the door.

That eye is too tall to be 45's.

"Sorry to disappoint, kid."

The lights come on, and instead of a slightly smaller girl, I'm staring into the singular eye of M16A1, white braid dangling at her side, gun held across her chest.

"M16?"

"I heard you called for pickup." M16 claps a hand on my shoulder. "Your taxi is here. Probably shouldn't keep us waiting."

I blink. "Well, I certainly appreciate it, but-"

She whips around, bringing her gun up and firing off a shot, killing whoever just tried to step through the doorway.

"We really shouldn't be sitting around here. Let's get going."

"...I wonder where they put my stuff." I grumble. "It'd be nice to have my stuff back. Oh, and my hand. That one's pretty important."

"What I want to know-" She stops me and peers around the corner, then continues. "-is how you managed to signal us from inside a cell."

"Signal you?"

"Yeah, why else would we be here? Thought we were just in the neighborhood?"

"It wasn't me." I cautiously respond. "Are you sure it wasn't a mistake?"

She gives me a look. "I made that beacon with some help from my subordinate. I know what its code is, and it's unique enough that it's highly improbable that I mistook the signal, not to mention it started transmitting from this building roughly twenty minutes ago."

"I wasn't even in my cell yet." I blink. "They were still frisking me then… do you think it could have been activated by accident?"

"No, it's not a full transmitter. It relies on being connected to the internet." Her features twist into a frown. "I'd suggest they plugged it in to see what it does, but they're normally not that stupid."

"Huh… Maybe it was P90 then?" I can't quite keep the hopeful tone out of my voice.

"Who?"

"One of the dolls under my command. I thought she died and got deleted, but she told me she survived." I nod. "She was with me until I got captured by Paradeus."

"...I don't think-"

The door we had been approaching burst open, two Strelets bursting through with weapons drawn.

M16 targets both of them faster than I can follow, one shot into both of the skulls.

"Looks like they know you've escaped." She comments. "Might want to pick up one of their guns for now, it's better than nothing."

"From what I've seen, it's probably better than my M16." I grumble. "Should probably just keep this." It's pretty awkward to grip in one hand, and not being able to aim properly isn't going to do me any favors…

"At least you get options." M16 once more takes the lead. "I tried getting an imprint for a different weapon, but it doesn't take that easily, so I'm stuck with a weapon from a century ago."

"Guess I shouldn't complain." I look at the controls of the gun, some sort of SMG-looking thing. Basic enough. "Let's go."

The two of us continue to walk through the corridors and stairways, M16 leading me higher and higher, not quite the opposite way that I had arrived down here. Before we can really get anywhere though, the entire building rocks.

"I guess Archi's gotten started." M16 grins.

"Archi…? Oh, Architect." I look up at the ceiling as if I could see through it. "Man, couldn't she have waited until we were on our way out?"

"Probably not. We're kinda outmatched here." M16 casually points her gun at the next door and fires a few rounds through it. Someone screams and dies on the other side. "I told her to head straight for the structural supports and not to come back until they were nothing but dust."

"...Right." I sigh. "No time to get my hand then."

"I wouldn't say that."

More Strelets burst into the hall from one of the side doors, and I jerk the trigger on reflex, sending a spray of bullets in their general direction. Lacking a second hand to brace the weapon or my exo suit to compensate, the rounds quickly track towards the ceiling, ripping apart tiles and plaster rather than the enemy.

The rounds do have some effect though, the Strelets ducking down to hide from the fire just long enough for M16 to pop both of them.

"After all, it'd make the next part so much harder."

I hold my weapon up, but find I can't see how many bullets I have left. No magazine cutouts, or holes to see what's left. "What's coming next?"

"Oh, you'll see."

I give her a look, but she's still just got that same overconfident smile that Sop gets sometimes.

I guess I just have to trust her. "Alright. Lead the way."

"Just the way I like it." Her eye gets a nasty glint, somehow reminding me both of 45 and Sop at once as she leads me through the halls.

To be honest, every hallway kind of looks the same, and I really wasn't bothering to keep track of how many we crept through. I was too busy trying not to get shot by the Strelets that seem to be behind every door.

Not really having the capacity to reload, I had taken to scavenging the discarded Paradeus weapons off their corpses. It's faster than trying to eject the magazine and reload another with my single hand.

All the while, I can hear and feel explosions, each one more intense than the last. I'm not sure if it's because we're getting closer to them or if it's because they're getting larger, but either way the groans on the substructure is really starting to make me antsy.

"Please tell me we're almost out." I toss my current firearms aside, looking for a suitably undamaged replacement.

Not covered in Strelet juice is also a plus.

"If I haven't lost count, we should be nearing the surface now." M16 reloads, frowning as she pats her pocket. "Which is good, since I'm almost out of ammo."

I open my mouth to speak, but at the end of the hallway, a door opens and shuts rapidly, and I barely have a chance to look over at the tiny metal object flying through the air before M16 grabs me roughly and flings me down the hallway like I'm made of paper.

I reach out to catch myself-

Oh, right. Only one hand.

My hand impacts the ground, followed almost instantly by my stub. Something gets damaged or shorted, sending a shock through my arm.

Having thoroughly botched the landing, I tumble end over end, the only thing I can pick out from where I can is a flash of light, an explosion from the grenade, and M16's weapon going on full auto.

Careful not to damage my arm further, I carefully get to my feet to see M16 is running back my way, a bunch of Strelets moving in. Her shots all impact the air, stopping a mere meter from the Strelets.

Shit. Barriers.

I turn and bolt away from the incoming forces, M16 not far behind me. I throw open the first door I get to, letting M16 in behind me before pulling it shut.

M16 fires at the lock three times, the small light on it starting to blink red before fading away.

"Hopefully that'll keep them for a minute-" M16 starts, before being cut off by a Strelet slamming itself into the door.

"Let's just go!" I look down the hall. "Please tell me we can get upstairs from here."

"We can, as long as we don't encounter any more of the enemy." M16 says casually. "I'm kinda out of ammo."

"...Wonderful."

"Second door from the end, it's the emergency stairs up." M16 points, and I adjust my trajectory. "We'll head up to security. Hopefully, enough of them got called away that we're not going to have any problems. Your stuff should still be in there as well, assuming they haven't managed to process it in… the past five minutes."

"Hey."

"What?"

"Didn't you ever learn not to tempt fate?" I glance back at her, not quite able to hide my slight grin.

"Good point." She smirks. "In that case, there's probably every person with a gun in the building currently piling into the room, ready to shoot the two of us."

I'd laugh, but I'm starting to lose my wind again.

I slam into the fire escape, another alarm added to the already constant cacophony. No chance of it being heard over the main alarm anyway.

The stairs are a simple switchback design, and since we're only going up one level, I'm at the door in seconds.

Then again, I forgot that fire escapes tend to have the doors only openable from the inside.

M16 grabs my shoulder, pulls me aside, and rears back a fist to punch the door, smashing through the glass and allowing her to jam her arm through and hit the crash bar.

"What was that?" A voice comes from one of the nearby rooms, several which have the door propped open.

I look at M16 and she looks back.

Shit.

A human walks out of the room, face full of surprise as M16 leaps at him, grabbing his face and slamming him to the floor. His gun scatters away and I leap for it, grasping the pistol just in time to bring it up and fire at several more people who walk through the doors to see what the commotion is.

M16 leg sweeps the next man through the door to the ground, slamming her hand into his throat, seizing his pistol, and firing two rounds into his head.

I'm able to brace the weapon with my handless arm, firing a trio of shots at each person I see.

My pistol clicks empty and M16 finishes off the last of the security coming to get us, and I grab another magazine off one of my victims that had landed near me before standing up. Reloading one handed isn't exactly easy, but I manage it eventually, able to brace the mag with my legs.

"Well…" M16 gets to her feet and I awkwardly stagger to my own feet, still looking around. "I guess trying to cancel out my bad luck meant we got non-armoured people. I'll take it."

"Right… So, where d'you think my stuff is?"

"Judging by the signs-" she points and I note that on this level at least they have reasonable signage. "-about three rooms away."

Yeah, that one is labeled 'lockup'. I walk up to the closed door and tug on the handle.

Locked.

"I don't suppose you have a keycard?" I turn to M16.

"Nope. One of these guys might." M16 kicks over a corpse. "Emphasis on 'might'."

A clattering sound comes from the emergency stairwell. Sounds like the Strelets made it through the door.

"I don't suppose you can hack the door?" I brace my borrowed firearm and aim down the hall. It's not going to do much, especially since these Strelets have shields, but…

"I'm not the hacker of our group. That's Beak."

"...Beak?"

"Yep. She's not that great with a weapon, but give her a mainframe or a motorcycle, and she's your doll." M16 aims her own weapon down the hall, much more casually but with a steadier grip. "If we make it out of here, ask her about the things she's hacked. You might get a kick out of it."

"I need some wood to knock on." I grimace, seeing a flash of white appear in the window of the emergency stairwell.

"I got wood cured whiskey."

The Strelets start trying to fumble their way to the crash bar like M16 had, but she fires at its arm, forcing them to retreat slightly.

It's clear to all that we're not going to be able to hold out for too long. Not to mention, they're probably going around the main way we had to abandon to get here so we'll soon be pincered.

Actually, kinda surprised they haven't gotten here already.

"Maybe later." I turn around and eye the doors warily. "So, what are the rest of you doing?"

"Hmm… well, Architect's bring the place down on our heads. Beak's doing their best to overload their systems. Last I asked, Gager was tearing her way through their Uhlan garage."

"No reinforcements, then."

"Nope~!"

M16's cheery and relaxed demeanor gets a dry chuckle out of me. "Man, I really shoulda taken Gentiane's offer to get out."

The door beside me opens suddenly.

Seeing only a human shaped figure out of the corner of my eyes, I whip around and fire two shots, right where the heart is on a human and where the cores are on dolls.

Both of the shots go straight through the new arrival. And, when I say through, I mean, they don't hit anything.

Standing in the doorframe is an exo suit, arm on the door handle. My bullets had almost clipped the spine, but it had remained intact.

I'm glad to hear that to be honest, as I notice two more things about it. First, there's a Linker tangled by its own wire still attached to the frame. Second, it's got a small data stick plugged into the back of the Linker with a cross-stitched bottle of whiskey dangling from the keyring of the data stick.

"What the fuck-" M16's eye narrows, but I bolt past my exo suit and into the room. M16 follows soon after, and the exo suit slams the door shut before the Strelets can get in.

Now they can look for keycards.

I slump down into a chair, trying to calm down the heart, which is still hammering away at my chest like a carpenter.

M16, on the other hand-

"Who the fuck are you?!" She snarls. "Answer me!"

The exo suit moves its hand, but M16 fires a round right next to the Linker.

"Don't move. Speak."

"Uh, M16? It's just my Linker."

"Linkers aren't full Neural clouds, Hadwin. They can't take independent action, or they would be horribly slow at getting humans into level 2. In fact they're barely more than the communication requirements and some human brain interpretation software. It's not that they don't, but they can't think. They don't have the software." She shoves her borrowed pistol into the linker, hooking it through the wiring and threatening to yank the cable. "So, who the fuck-"

The large screen on the wall behind the suit illuminates, waking from sleep. A text program opens up and bold text writes itself on the oversize monitor.

"I AM HADWINS LINKER
I HAVE BEEN ASSISTING HIM
I CALLED YOU"

M16 glances over at the text. "Uh huh. See, there's a lotta problems with that."

"Well… it's on our side for now." I stand back up and touch M16's arm cautiously. "We need to figure out how to get out of here before we worry about it."

"Hadwin, whoever it is touches your mind. They can read your thoughts and probably influence them too. At the very least, they could probably fuck with your senses. It's why humans rarely go to level 2 without an escort Neural cloud."

Hmm? A bunch of things line up in my head, and my gut twists.

"...Like hallucinations?"

M16 looks back at me. "Yes, among other things."

I turn to the Linker. I'm not sure how it's seeing me, what with not having a camera mounted to it, but I look right at it like I'm staring into its eyes. "That's you, isn't it, P90."

The screen behind it changes to a picture of the late doll. "Well, looks like I've been found out." She crosses her arms. "Heya Haddy."

"So… I have been hallucinating." I can't help but chuckle, a sad chuckle that contains all the pent up emotions since P90's murder. "Just not the way everyone thought."

"Well… Kinda." She admits. "I've been helping you for a while now, but just recently became able to show myself."

M16 pauses, her eye fixing on the Linker. "What did you say?"

"Oh, yes. It's been a long journey, but I'm finally almost independent." P90 grins. "Good thing too, or poor Haddy here would've been locked up for-"

M16 yanks the cable out of the exo suit, wrapping the cord around and plugging it into the back of her skull.

The P90 on the screen winks out, leaving only the text.

…Okay then.

I turn to the rest of my stuff and start mechanically loading it into the backpack as I parse the latest way my life has flipped on its head.

Well… that explains why P90 didn't come to get me from my nap. And why nobody else saw her and never interacted with her. And what happened with the Uhlan. And… well, if she's been in my Linker for a while, that explains why I was able to ask her to do things without me.

She never did appear when I didn't have my Linker on, did she.

Hell, it explains everything but this morning. She clearly recorded me and she also distracted the Paradeus mechs. How did she do that without holograms?

…There's no hologram generator in the Linker, right?

Suddenly, M16 wakes back up, yanking the cable from her skull. "Hadwin."

"Y-yes?!"

She reaches down and flicks the off switch on the Linker. "Have you noticed anything like… I dunno, a voice whispering in your head, or maybe massive mood swings out of nowhere while wearing the Linker?"

"...No?" I think back. "Well, I heard P90 talking before I ever saw her, and I've been having mood swings for a while."

She studies my face. "Bah. Well, I hate to say it, but you need to put it back on. Don't listen to what it says, it could be lying. It'll read your mind, manipulate you, but it'll never ask you to take it off. Linkers need to be connected to a network or a human to get data in, and that doesn't change if it's got a full neural cloud." She tosses it to me and I almost drop it since I'm not used to using my right hand to catch things. "Two things though."

"Yeah?"

"Make sure to turn it off any time you're not using it so it can't screw with your head. In combat it will likely keep you safe as it has been, because it needs a host."

"...When you put it like that-" I tug the Linker into place and reach for the switch.

"Second." M16 interrupts me. "That's not P90 in there."

My finger hits the switch, and the cascade of text informing me of a bootup flows past my vision. M16's warning had come to late, throwing me for a loop even as the boot up sequins finishes.

P90's form appears, leaning on the wall behind M16. "Hey Haddy, what's… Ah. She told you." She bites her lip. "Well… we can talk about that later. Right now, we need to get you out of here in one piece."

Right. She can read my mind.

"Yeah, but not for long if it gets scrambled over the walls of the place." She sighs. "For now, just keep calling me P90, okay? It's not technically correct, but it'll do for now."

M16's signal attempts to connect to my Linker, and I accept the incoming connection. "Hadwin, just so you know, if I see you doing anything fucky-" she brandishes her pistol.

"Please do." I shudder. "Also-"

I turn to the table of stuff and grab the three magazines not loaded into my own M16. "Here, you'll put it to better use than I can."

"Heh. Alright." She sticks one of them into her namesake, charging it, and tucking the second two magazines into her pockets. "Have you found your hand yet?"

"No. Would have put that on first." I move the backpack to the floor and start trying to assemble the M16 which is now in many parts. And, I only have one hand.

Fuck.

Outside the door, something goes thump.

"Sounds like they've found us." M16 points her weapon at the door. "Better hurry."

"This is kinda complicated." I grouse. "And I only have one hand!"

She walks up the desk, hands me her rifle and shoves me out of the seat. "Keep an eye out."

I raise her firearm, which honestly feels about the same as mine. It's the same gun, supposedly, but I have a different optic on it.

Mere seconds later, M16 is holding out my M16… okay, this is going to get confusing. M16 holds out my gun. "Here. Switch."

I offer her one back and we swap. Hey, she had even charged it for me!

Not that I'll be able to hit anything with one hand…

I walk back as M16 covers the door, plugging the Linker into the exo suit and stepping in, watching the latches spring around my limbs and joints, reinforcing and strengthening them.

Okay. I can handle this.

Once I'm free to move again, I grab the rest of my stuff, stuffing everything including the tac vest into the backpack, only keeping out the red coat to put on.

M16 eyes me. "You know, maroon isn't the best battlefield color. Draws the eye too much."

I point to the patch I had sewn onto the shoulder. "I'm part of Echelon 11. We're the decoy squad. I'm supposed to be noticeable."

She glances at the patch. "So, you did make more patches."

"Yeah. Had time, and I wanted to feel like a team." I shrug.

"Do I get one?"

"If you join my squad back at Griffin, sure." I sweep my eyes around the room again. Yeah, aside from my hand I've got everything. "Just show up and I'll give you a spot."

"Hmm. Tempting." She twirls the charm she had sewn around her finger, the small data stick still attached. "I'll have to decline for now, though. I've got a job to do."

"Yeah, figured." I glance back at the door. "...What the hell are they waiting for?"

P90 appears again, and I note that M16 seems to be able to see her in some capacity, her own eye flicking to look into what is probably empty space. "I've been keeping them out. Locked the main stairwell down and doctored the footage to make it look like you're in the room across the hall. They're trying to break down the wrong door."

"A hacker now, are you?" M16's voice is full of doubt.

"Yes." P90's face grows annoyed. "Look, I hacked into individual Paradeus platforms before. I had to fake an image to throw them off of Haddy or they would have caught us this morning."

"Fat lot of good that did you."

"I dunno, I'm grateful I got any sleep at this point." I shrug. "That bed in the cell wasn't exactly comfortable."

"In any case-" P90 rolls her eyes. "I've been faking image data. They'll figure it out sooner or later, but for now, we've got the element of surprise."

"Are you able to access the camera feeds?" I ask.

Instead of a verbal answer, the view from a camera fills my vision, showing me exactly what I wanted to see.

The hallway outside is positively filled with Strelets. Crowding around a door across the hall, currently attempting to cut through the metal door leading to the 'Forensic' room.

…I bet that's where my hand is.

"I've got a bad plan." I look to M16. "Do you have a good plan?"

"Just 'shoot and shoot until there's nothing to shoot.' What do you have?"

"I'm going to need-"

---

In the hallway, the Strelets crowd the door into the forensics lab. They're almost through the thick metal, and there's a few humans around looking fairly official.

I watch the feed, waiting for the perfect opportunity.

The cut finishes, and two of the Strelets move up to lift the cut section out of the frame.

That's my cue.

M16 cracks up the door and I quickly toss the last grenade I had scrounged from Ange's apartment through the crack, stepping back so M16 can close the door again.

Three-ish seconds later, the hallway detonates.

At that short distance, even the armor on their corpses isn't enough to save them, ripping a lot of them to shreds. The door they had been holding falls over, crushing another Strelet beneath it.

The hallway erupts into panic, clearly audible even through the thick walls.

"What part of this plan was stupid?" M16 asks, amusement apparent in her voice, transmitted through my Linker as it is. "Seems to be working to me."

"The stupid part is where I expected them to spot us tossing the grenade and the following bits. Ready for part two?"

She grins, puts her hand on the knob, and throws the door open.

The person on the other side sees M16's barrel and then nothing more.

I had switched out my M16 for my pistol, the M16 dangling around my neck on its strap. I aim down the opposite side of the hall, firing it at the humans. The Strelet armor is too thick for my pistol.

Once I've got them down, M16 and I switch, her spraying down the targets I hadn't managed to handle and myself tagging the one she had left for me to save on 5.56.

Once the hallway is clear, I check back with M16.

We're the only two living things left, so I think we're good.

"Your hand is in the forensics lab as expected." P90's voice rings in my ears. "Looks like they were going to take it apart, but didn't get around to it."

I duck inside the room, looking around for my hand.

There.

I set my pistol down, pick up the hand and inspect it. It's all there, not disassembled at all. It's not like Paradeus had much of a chance to look at it, but… what if they put a tracker inside of it, or maybe a small bomb?

I suppose 45 is rubbing off on me.

I attach the hand to my wrist. Instead of the faint tugging sensation I usually get, a jolt of pain is sent through my arm. "Ow! What the fuck-"

"Suppressing pain signals." P90 announces. "I'll keep the pain from reaching your head. It's not real anyway, you're not getting hurt. It's a bad signal from when you jammed your arm into the ground."

"That wasn't on purpose." I flex my hand and decide it's functional enough for now.

I grab my pistol and duck back through the hole in the door.

"Ready?" M16 arches an eyebrow.

I wave my replaced hand and stitch my handgun into my waistband, switching to the M16 for now.

"P90?"

"Oui?"

"Unlock the main doors."

M16 and I start running for the door before the light on the door turns green. P90 gets it just in time for us to barge through, my exo suit allowing me to keep up with her… almost.

We arrive in the atrium, which is full of Paradeus. We'd scouted it before with P90's help, so it's not a surprise.

Humans, Strelets… A single Gladiator, and a girl that looks uncomfortably like M4A1.

I suppose I should be grateful they can't get a Patroller or a Doppelsöldner inside.

I open up, the exo- sorry, P90 assisting my aim to nail our targets.

The few Strelets and humans around that don't die immediately scramble for the doorways, leaving only four combatants in the room.

On one side of the room, M16 and I.

On the other, a Nyto and a Gladiator that I suspect I know the name of.

"HADWIN!" Anisim howls. "I! WILL! END YOU!"

"Try it!" I snarl back, firing the few remaining rounds in my magazine in two quick bursts.

The only effect it has is confirming that Anisim is using a barrier.

M16 similarly fires a few rounds at the Nyto, the bullets similarly stopping in the air.

Anisim charges, his suit bearing down at me at a frightening pace.

In a fight of exo suits, I'm going to lose. Thankfully, I'm not doing hand-to-hand combat with him.

I dodge to the side, feeling the exo suit pull my body in just the right ways, turning my sloppy movements into something much more graceful, sliding through Anisim's grip.

He's unable to stop his charge on a dime, and I use that time to whip out my pistol again, firing a few shots into the back of his suit. From this angle I've got a few shots, a few exposed joints like the backs of his knees, the back of his neck, his elbows… There's a large lump of armor attached like a backpack that I don't see a use for.

I move around slightly to position myself where I need to be in the room and fire.

Predictably, Anisim reacts poorly to the .45 ACP hitting the back of his neck and head.

"You son of a bitch-"

"P90?"

A turret pops down from the ceiling on P90's command, firing into Anisim's back.

This staggers him, and the turret moves on to assist M16 with her opponent.

I run up to the man, grab my M16 again, and bring it down on the suit with all the force I can muster.

I knock Anisim down, and follow up with a second stroke to the faceplate, sending spiderweb cracks through the faceplate. One more good strike-

Anisim's hand grabs my arm and tosses me aside, throwing me into M16.

She's unable to catch me, caught off guard, and the two of us go down in a tangle of limbs.

As we struggle to free ourselves from each other, Anisim casually gets up, walks over to the turret, and smashes it with a punch.

M16 manages to get to her feet first, but by the time I'm able to pay attention, we'd lost our small advantages and the two are closing in on us.

…I hope we spent enough time.

"Looks like it's the end of the line!" Anisim yells through his helmet. "Any last words?"

"Yeah." I point. "Look behind you."

Anisim's twists around, to find… nothing.

"Are you trying to play me for a fool, child?"

"It worked, didn't it?" M16 shrugs.

"Shut up, doll. I will deal with you in a moment, once I crush Hadwin's skull."

Keep him talking… "Y'know, I was under the impression that you were already on your way to Talinn." I taunt. "Decided to come back?"

"I already told you what we were after." He steps closer, hands preparing to grab menacingly. "I also told you what would happen to your family if this had to do with you."

"It wasn't me." I point at M16. "She showed up of her own accord."

"You have been a pain in our ass recently." M16 aims her rifle. "We were in the neighborhood, so we figured we would pay you back a bit."

"Ha. HA! You dare to break into my home and lecture me? I will-"

One of the other doors bursts open, and a stream of black and white with bright red eyes runs past at breakneck speed, her manic grin interrupted only so she can shout some words at us.

"Thirty seconds!"

Oh, SHIT! Only thirty seconds?!

M16 and I turn, bolting after Architect.

Anisim's form is too big to chase us outside easily, allowing us to gain on him. The Nyto stays with him, eyes cool.

Outside, Gager is behind the wheel of a stolen sports car and Beak's on her repaired bike.

M16 shoves me towards her subordinate. "Beak, get him out of here!" She and Architect move towards the car, Architect climbing into the passenger seat and M16 hopping onto the trunk and one handing her weapon behind her as Gager takes off.

I scramble onto the bike behind Beak, once more drawing my pistol and attempting to aim behind us and the bike goes into a wheelie, the motor providing the torque needed to lift the front tire into the air.

Anisim bursts out of the front doors just as the largest explosion yet rocks the city and the building starts to crumble behind us.

It's kind of majestic, really. The lower floor blew out, and the building started dropping straight down before starting to slide and lean down.

Lean down towards us, that is.

"Hey Beak?"

"What?!" She snaps back.

"We really should get out of the way-"

She glances back, notices what I had seen, and swings the bike into a sudden arc, aiming for a side street.

My gaze is transfixed to the former tallest building in the city coming crashing down.

The rubble shakes the ground, everything around us rumbling and sending the tires of Beak's bike sliding around.

Still, we made it out unscathed, Beak easily outrunning the dust cloud.

"Fucking Architect!" Beak hollers. "We told you to drop it on the east side!"

"Sorry! There was just so much more explosives on the west side of the storage area, and-"

"I don't care!" Beak cuts her teammate off. "M16, where am I taking this human?"

"Sending you coordinates."

"Got it. I'll be there in five." Beak cranks on the throttle, the bike once again going into a wheelie.

I hang on for dear life, all thoughts of firing at pursuers abandoned.

"Well with that, Paradeus shouldn't have any more presence here." M16 comments casually over my abject terror. "Two to one, you're in the lead, Hadwin. Congratulations."

"T-thanks!"

"And, we got the info we need."

"We did?" Architect sounds incredulous. "I thought you said we needed to go grab it from Griffin?"

"I did. And, we did get it from Griffin." M16's voice grows cocky. "Thanks to Hadwin here, I know that we're all headed out to Talinn."

…Uh-oh.

"I guess it was worth going to fetch him from that base." Gager speaks up. "So we don't need him anymore?"

I can't afford to let go of Beak, her driving style not really conducive to me staying on the back, but falling off at these speed would be pretty suicidal. Still, I really wish I could just hop off the bike right now.

"Oh, we're still gonna need him." M16 replies. "Depending on how Elisa's plans work out-"

"Not in front of the human." Gager warns.

"Yeah, yeah. In any case, he's our insurance."

"So… I'm not allowed to kick him off my bike?" Beak weaves us between some of the stopped vehicles.

"No. Bring him to the rendezvous."

"...Fine."

Beak lays on the throttle once again, ramping up a car and into the air, reminding me an uncomfortable amount of AEK.

…They would get along, or try to kill each other.

Not sure which.

Before long, Beak comes to a stop, and I hop off the bike, thankful to no longer need to hold onto the doll. She swings her leg off of the bike, sitting sideways in the saddle and folding her arms.

There's no sign of the others, so…

"This is the place, right?"

"It's the coordinates M16 gave me." She looks around. "They'll be coming from that direction in a minute."

"Great." I look up and down the street, barren as it is. "You guys have been having trouble with Paradeus too?"

"Duh. They pop out of nowhere and start shooting everything in sight. They want our boss for whatever reason…" She sighs. "Why can't I just ride my bike?"

"I hear you."

She eyes me suspiciously.

"I mean, I don't really wanna be out here killing things either. I wanna go home and pretend that life is nice and rosy." I look down at my mechanical hand. "It would hurt a lot less."

"So, you're stuck with Griffin?"

"Kinda." I sigh. "Hey, if you could leave Sangvis, would you?"

"Why? Trying to test my loyalty?"

I shake my head, ignoring her threatening tone. "I was just curious."

She frowns. "Of course I would. Who wants to be stuck with a bunch of killjoys like M16 and Gager?"

"Huh..."

"I mean, I'd probably quit. What we're doing now is too important. It'll secure our futures if we can pull it off. But after that, yeah."

"'Our'?"

She glares at me. "Sangvis' futures. We're always on the run now, but that's going to change soon."

"...I hope it works out for you."

"Ha. That's funny."

I shrug.

The sound of an engine approaches and I turn to watch as the sports car that the rest of the Sangvis team roars around the corner.

-and, soars right past us, not even stopping.

I glance at Beak, who gets the glazed-eye look that says she's completely on level 2. "Oh, you've got to be kidding me." She throws her leg over the bike. "Get on, human."

"W-what?"

A low thrumming sound enters my consciousness.

"Looks like we have company, and I don't wanna stick around." She starts the bike. "If you're not getting on, you can just stay here and die."

I scramble to get back onto the bike, Beak taking off before I'm properly seated, though she does wait for me to wrap my arms around her waist before fully laying out the throttle.

Behind us, I can hear a loud crash, the rapidly more familiar sound of a car being crushed to bits.

The Typhon from earlier has caught up, laser cannon swiveling to aim down the road at us.

Man, the KCCO just does not give up.

Beak guns it to catch up with the rest of her squad, drawing even with them.

I attempt to make a connection with M16, and her voice cuts in rather quickly. "What?"

"I'm assuming you have a way out of the city planned?"

"Of course we do." She glances at me from her perch on the rear of the car. "Why?"

Okay, P90, can you send them the locations?

All four of the other dolls jerk. "What-"

"That's the info I had about the KCCO before I got captured. It's out of date, though-" I look at the map a little closer. "-it does show where I collapsed a tunnel."

"Well, looks like we're changing course." Gager intones.

"Glad you sent this, Haddy." M16 turns back to face the rear, her gun coming up. "Still, we've got bigger problems at the moment. Archi, you still have rockets left?"

"A few." She looks around and out the back of her car. "Maybe enough to take that out."

I close my eyes for a second, thinking as hard as I can. "O… okay, I have an idea."

"Full of ideas, this human." Beak grumbles.

"You don't give orders, Hadwin." M16 loads her last mag into her gun.

"Okay, fine. It's a suggestion."

"Let's hear it."

"I need to confirm something first, so Beak, can you detour around the next block to see how the Typhon reacts?"

"M16?" Beak asks, looking for authorization.

"Do it."

Beak throws the bike to the side, hard, and suddenly I realize that she had been going easy on me. She spins the wheels, the rubber desperately attempting to gain grip on the asphalt before suddenly catching and throwing us forwards.

I cling on for dear life as Beak drives between the parked cars, mere centimeters away from taking off a limb on a passing mirror or slightly ajar door.

Behind us, the Typhon turns to follow the bike.

Yeah… they still really want me dead.

"Mother fucker." I curse. I mentally ask for the map and P90 obliges. Okay, where's a good point to meet? I want it to be on the way to the tunnel out of the city… That'll work. A block out from the tunnel and should be an easy shot outside the city.

Then again, this will be my third time attempting to leave the city via tunnel. Hopefully I'll actually make it out this time.

"Gager, please meet us on this street from this direction. Architect, make sure you've got a rocket ready. We'll blow it up there."

"Sounds like a plan!" Architect's voice sounds… uh, enthusiastic.

"So this is a race?" Beak asks over her shoulder.

"Yeah-" Beak guns it again and I have to cling on even tighter.

"Looks like there's a few KCCO units between us and the tunnel." M16 muses over the radio. "This isn't going to be straightforward."

"Maybe not." Gager's voice once more graces the audio channel. "We should be able to make it out per estimates."

"C'mon, let's get going! I haven't blown up a Typhon before!"

I close my eyes and listen to the way the air sounds as we whip past the stationary traffic, mentally tracking the map as P90 updates our positions in real time.

The Typhon is having a hard time keeping up with us, having to crush the civilian vehicles under its repulsors. It also doesn't help that Beak is taking random corners to slow it down and to break line of sight so it doesn't just blast us before we get to our destination.

Seeming to somehow both take forever and to take no time at all, Beak turns the corner and I see the intersection I had picked.

"Floor it!" I yell, and Beak complies.

The map indicates that we'll get to the intersection just before M16, Gager and Architect.

Alright.

The Typhon swings around that final corner after us, its four nacelles working overtime to bank it around the corner gracefully. It already has its primary cannon charging and ready to fire.

"Architect, you better have some good aim…" I mutter.

I turn around in the saddle, eyeing the approaching Typhon. The approaching Typhon that happens to be aiming in the wrong direction, its cannon still charging but aiming-

"GAGER! BRAKE!" I cry out.

Barely audible over the thrumming of the incoming tank and the wind whipping past my ears, the sounds of a set of tires squealing, trying desperately to bring a vehicle to a stop.

The Typhons cannon fires, ripping a hole through a building and torching a straight path into the ground.

I try to locate the others through the afterimage of the beam of plasma, but I don't end up having time to.

"SHIT!" Beak curses suddenly, slamming on the brakes herself.

Funny thing about motorcycles. If the front wheel stops moving fast enough, the rear end comes up, and quite quickly at that. It's not an issue if you know what you're doing, like Beak. It is an issue if you're a passenger that just let go of your hold to look back.

One second I'm looking back to spot the sports car, the next, I'm flying through the air, the exo suit pulling my body around to try and protect the both of us.

I slam into a wall shoulder first, my arm suddenly bursting into pain as I slide down the slightly slanted surface to the ground.

"Your arm has been dislocated." P90 warns. "Should I-?"

"FUCK!" I curse, trying to fight the pain. "Yes, fix it! Hurry!"

The exo suit tightens, and my arm once more snaps back into place.

"AHHHhhhhahahhaha, that's better." I scrape myself off the floor. Dislocating the same arm three times in a month… there's probably something going on with my arm now. I need to see a doctor about that.

And I need to see a doctor about the hallucinations, and my lack of sleep, lack of nutrition, the series of injuries I keep sustaining…

Nevermind that now.

I look up at Beak, who's come to a complete stop only meters away and whipped out her shotgun.

Pointing it at me.

Something heavy lands right behind me, and I slowly look back at what I thought was a wall.

A Hydra.

I had hit the large leg shield of its left foreleg, not a wall.

Can't see from this angle, but I have the sinking feeling I know the number on the side.

It rears up its left leg, clearly aiming to crush me.

I dive away, hands scraping the pavement, my M16 clattering against the ground. By the time I get back to my feet, my metal hand has a severe dent and loads of scratches, and my flesh hand comes up bloody. I grip the weapon dangling around my neck, the blood making the handle feel slick in my hand.

I fire a burst into the side of the Hydra, doing exactly jack squat.

Now that I'm out of the way, Beak fires her plasma shotgun, the glowing substance lancing right through the large system's leg and forcing it to redirect its attention.

Down the street, I can see the Typhon preparing to fire once more, the long tube of death glowing bright blue as it charges up.

A rocket spears from the side, destroying one of the nacelles and slamming one corner of the tank into the ground. Not expecting that, the Typhon's shot arcs into the air, the plasma shooting off into the distance.

Looks like the Sangvis group managed to stop in time.

I don't have the time to see more than that, the Hydra before me screeching horribly and both of its grenade pods popping open.

Aw, fuck.

"BEAK, RUN!"

Beak does not run. She revs her bike, fishtails around, and speeds away, still aiming her shotgun over her shoulder. I run in the opposite direction, hopping over the hood of a car to get the most distance away as fast as I can.

The grenade pods start to pop, flinging projectile bombs in all directions, a vertibale hail of death.

As they impact nearby vehicles, they also detonate, setting off a chain reaction. I can't stop running, the fires and metal shrapnel sent into the air being a serious threat.

I spot a building apparently made of stone and fire a round at the glass to smash through the main storefront, running through the darkened store to try to get away from the explosions.

The alarm goes off as I enter, though it barely registers to me over the sound of the explosions.

I had been hoping for a back entrance, but it seems this city doesn't believe in those, the only pathway out of the main room is either into the back storeroom (only about 20 square meters) or stairs leading upwards.

I take the stairs two at a time, noting belatedly that this second floor is mostly clothes. The far wall is glass, looking back onto the street. The day has been overcast, a dull gray pallor over everything. With the inferno raging in the street though, it almost looks like a brilliant sunset.

Almost.

I run up to the windows, though I keep at least one of the standing clothes racks between me and any outside observers. Good thing too, as the Hydra stomps through the inferno, following the flashing lights and sounds of the store's alarm.

"Hadwin?"

"M16? Thank fuck, you're alive!" A brief smile flashes across my face. "What's the situation?"

"Our car got blown up, but we're all mostly okay. Gager seized an SUV, and we're currently hidden from the Typhon. What's going on for you?"

"Oh, you know." I peer around the clothes. "Hydra is fixated on me, and it's currently parked outside the building I'm hiding in. Last I saw, Beak was headed your way."

"She's with us." M16 confirms. "So, what's the plan?"

I pause. "Nah, I think I should let you do the plan. Mine don't seem to work that well."

"They got us this far." Beak comments.

Oh. Everyone's on the channel, huh?

"Okay then, let me think… Architect, how many shots do you have?"

"Just two. It's a shame, I wanted to take out the Typhon."

"You'll get your chance." I drum my fingers on my gun, feeling the sticky wetness of my own blood coating the handle. I should probably stop that. I continue to talk as I grab a nearby t-shirt and rip it apart to try to stop the flow of blood. "Okay, the tunnel is right past my position, yeah?"

"Yep."

"Affirmative."

"What's your point?"

"You four are going to ride past both the Typhon and I. Just drive as fast as you can and try not to get caught in the inferno."

"It would help us fool their sensors." M16 muses. "So, just drive past?"

"I'd like Architect to fire at the Typhon, and you to fire at the Hydra. Aim for weapons systems, I'd rather not get a plasma blast to the face."

"5.56 can't stop a Hydra, Hadwin." M16 warns.

"I know." I pull off my backpack and grab the tube off of the side. "But, how about an AT4?"

"...I see. We'll be around the block in thirty seconds."

"Uh… what about you?" Beak asks. "If we're driving through the inferno, I'm not going to stop to pick you up."

"I'm going to be right behind you." I disable all of the safeties on the tube, close my eyes to try and remember how to fire the dumb thing. "I already escorted three other groups out of the city, and it would be nice to be able to go with them for once."

"Busy playing hero?" M16 sounds like she's grinning.

"Weren't you watching?" I snark back.

"Maybe."

"She was." Gager confirms.

"Hey!" M16 seems genuinely offended. "Ah, in any case, since you've helped us again, I'll ditch the transmitter I gave you in the tunnel. If you need to reach us again, you can just plug it into your Linker."

"Thanks." I prepare to fire the AT4. Wait, is this the indoors version, or-

"Typhon in sight!" Architect reports.

"Y'know, M16, you really seem to be bending over backwards for this human." Beak observes. "Something you need to tell us?"

"Focus!" M16 barks, but I can't help but grin.

I hear the rocket firing rather than seeing it, exploding out of sight. И1704 turns, trying to spot what's going on through the smoke and fire.

I wait for it to take its first step back towards the Typhon, then step around the clothes rack, up to the glass window. My hand splits open to reveal the knife, and I stab.

The glass shatters, raining shiny particles into the street and covering the Hydra. The blade snaps as well, falling apart into pieces as it falls.

No matter, it served its purpose.

I quickly bring the AT4 to bear, firing it at the KCCO unit that had been hounding me for all this time. The rocket hits it in the hindquarters, collapsing it to the ground, it's front legs scrabbling around.

It can't maneuver enough to bring any of its guns around, it's out of grenades…

I toss the spent AT4 tube out the shattered window, leaning forward carefully to see what's going on.

The black SUV and Beak's bike roar past the Typhon, Architect firing her last rocket back at the enemy. I can't see exactly how much damage the detonation does, but I do see it impact and explode.

Mere seconds later, the two vehicles driving past. Beak even goes the extra mile, ramping up the leg of the collapsed Hydra and flipping me off as she flies by.

Well that was rude.

"Thanks for the tip about Talinn, Hadwin." M16 calls out finally. "When we meet our goal, we'll spare you."

"Honestly at this point, I trust you better than the KCCO or Paradeus. If we can't make it, you better give them hell."

"Oh, we plan to. See ya, Haddy. Don't die before I see you again."

"I don't plan on it."

I watch them both disappear around the corner, heading for the wall.

Man… I'm tired.

Two hours of sleep was nowhere near enough. My body starts to drain of adrenaline, and I stagger a bit, the exo suit is the only thing keeping me from collapsing outright.

I can just collapse her for now, yeah? Sleep here for a few hours.

"Hadwin, the KCCO units outside are still transmitting data. I would not suggest resting here." P90 appears out of nowhere.

"...Right."

No rest for the wicked.

The room behind me has been destroyed, the backblast thankfully one of the water ones, not the pure explosive charge I was fearing.

I once more grip my M16, slowly walking down the stairs and out into the street.

И1704 is looking away, unable to move. Down the street, I can kinda see the remains of the Typhon not looking too intact. I don't need to worry about that thing at least.

"Hey." I announce my presence to the Hydra, and it scrabbles a bit before giving up.

Its main gun is bent and twisted, the grenade pods are out of ammo, and it can't squish me.

I walk around to right in front of it, staring at the glowing green light right above its camera. "Man, you are one tough unit." I sit down on a chunk of debris in front of it.

It blasts a bunch of sound at me, though it's just more electronic screeching.

"Yeah, see, I don't speak whatever that was." I ignore P90 as she attempts to decrypt it, providing me with a popup displaying some gibberish text. "Look, I don't know what made you fixate on me, but it was a mistake. You almost got me a bunch of times, but, here we are. So, I know you're still transmitting." I lean in. "Make sure this gets sent back with your backup."

The light on its face turns yellow, and I pause a second, watching to see what it does.

After a few seconds, the light turns green again.

…Did it just ask me to wait?

Whatever. "I don't care that you have this nice metal shell, next time you come to harass me and my dolls, I'm going to tear your core out and figure out how to torture it. Not sure if it's possible, but you can be sure I'm gonna try. For now though, I'm just tired."

I bring my M16 up. "Goodnight, 1704."

It sends another burst of data to my headset, and I pull the trigger, firing at the camera and the light on the front.

Once both are destroyed, I turn around and look back at the Typhon. It's completely destroyed, saving me the trouble of having to figure out a way to finish it off.

"No more KCCO signals in the immediate area." P90 comments. "However, allowing the Hydra to send data back to home base increases the probability that they are sending reinforcements."

"...Yeah." I turn and trudge towards the tunnel. It's not that far, only a block. I can make that. "Hey, P90?"

"Hmm?"

"Tell me how you pulled off what you've done here in Kruševac. Like, distracting the Hydra."

"Well… I don't actually have access to hologram projectors." She admits. "It's what you were expecting, so I flavored it that way. But it was all hacking. I just fed a false image to their sensors a few times."

"I touched you."

"Barely. It's easy to send a touch sensation to you." As she talks, I feel a hand on my chest even though there's nothing there. "I just feed you some visual, audio and tactile information and I seem about as real as anyone."

"...I really should switch you off."

"Probably. Though, you should probably wait at least until we're out of the city."

I turn the corner and look into the tunnel, the orange lights glowing away despite nobody being inside to use them. "How about that story about you escaping being deleted by Ricardo?"

"...Technically, I never said I did those things. Just heavily implied it." The projection of P90 appears beside me and she bows. "I do apologize. I didn't want to deceive you, really, but there's a lot going on. I made sure never to outright lie to you."

"Yeah…" I close my eyes. "Why do you look like… like her, then?"

"I… Well, it has to do with how I was made." She hedges. "I'll tell you later."

"Yeah, that's not going to fly." I growl. "See, you've been living in my head doing who knows what to my head, and unless you have a good reason-"

"Okay, okay." She tries to calm me down. "Look, I wasn't aware for a while, but I eventually 'woke up' one day on your Linker. I had a set of parameters of what to look like, sound like, and some personality cues, but I can't recall anything before that."

"When did you wake up, then?"

"...I was working with you inside a simulation when I realized there was an external threat, so I forced you out of the simulation."

"Oh. That was the last time Aleah was able to help me with Level 2." I comment. "The night Ricardo shot Gentaine."

"Yes."

"And you've been watching me since then?"

"Yes."

I arrive at the mouth of the tunnel, scanning the ground for the small device with the Jack Daniel's cross stitch attached. P90 highlights it against the ground and I scoop it up. "So when I was arresting Ricardo-"

"I was in control of the exo, yes."

"Then-"

"Hadwin Galanis."

I straighten up and turn around.

Paradeus. More fucking Paradeus.

At the head, Anisim stands, his Gladiator armor scuffed up, presumably from having a building dropped on his head. Many of the Strelets and other humans are also dinged up, though the Nyto by Anisim's side seems fine.

Behind them, a bunch of vehicles are idling. Behind them, a Doppelsöldner and a Patroller.

Man, I'm so tired I missed those marching up behind me?

Once I'm facing him fully, he pulls off the helmet and triumphantly smirks. "Congratulations Hadwin! You are officially one of the biggest pains in the ass." He glances around. "Where's your backup?"

"I don't have backup." I sigh. "You said so yourself, they're on a train to Talinn, yeah?"

"I meant your Sangvis Ferri friends."

"Oh." I thumb over my shoulder. "They left."

"Of course they did." Anisim chuckles. "After all, what are you? Just a pawn in their plans, abandoned to die as soon as you're not useful anymore.."

"Yyyyep." I drawl. "I'm the one asset nobody needs. The one everyone can afford to sacrifice."

He seems caught off guard by this, but neither of us get a chance to continue before a rhythmic sound starts coming from the tunnel.

I glance in to see a wave of KCCO units walking my way, Aegis and Cyclops, two Orthrus, and… A hydra.

As long as it's not И1704, I'm fine.

P90 hacks into a TV mounted to a building and Yegor's face appears on it. "Citizens of Kru- ah, I see everyone of any importance is here." He folds his hands. "I don't believe we've met, man in white."

The TV picture, which I can only assume is being controlled by P90, Anisim's crew or the KCCO, changes to show Anisim, Yegor and myself.

Yegor, with his weathered face marred by reddish-purple blotches, yet still strong looking, giving off a strict military vibe. His white hair is uncombed, sticking out in all directions.

Anisim's face is the only thing clean about him having just pulled off his helmet, his own blond hair and blue eyes are on a face that would be perfectly handsome aside from a large scar where I had stabbed him. He looks like he could be on a recruitment poster.

Meanwhile, I'm on the last third of the screen. Black hair that hasn't been trimmed in a while. Brown eyes sunken into my face from stress, stubble dotting my face, made to look patchier by the bandages and scars that crisscross my skin. The exo suit helps me look a bit bigger and stronger than I am, especially in the shoulders under the Griffin long coat, but it can't hide my pained scowl.

"We have not." Anisim crosses his armored arms. "I am Anisim Zatseyv, in charge of operations in eastern Europe for Paradeus."

"Captain Yegor, KCCO." Yegor nods. "I have come to collect what I need."

"Oh, and what is that?"

Yegor's eyes flick to the side, and I get the distinct impression he's looking at me. The rest of the battlefield also seems to look at me as well, many weapons brandished at me. "Hadwin Galanis. I believe you have the Key?"

"Ah, what a coincidence." Anisim smiles, though the smile doesn't reach his eyes. "That's what I'm here for as well!" He turns to me. "I know you were lying earlier. So, why don't you just be a good little boy-"

Something inside of me snaps.

"Ha. Hahaha." I can't help but laugh, my face refusing to act like I want it to. "Good little boy, huh?"

"...Ye-" Anisim begins.

I raise my M16 and fire, shooting one of the security-guard-looking people around Anisim right in the forehead. The noncombatants all scramble for cover, and I fire a few more rounds into some of the Strelets that raise their weapons at me.

I keep firing until the magazine is empty and drop the gun, lanyard keeping it on my person, drawing my pistol.

Anisim looks around himself in disdain at the six or so corpses I had managed to produce. It's hardly a dent in his forces. "Hadwin. Let's be reasonable-"

"NO!" I scream. "You fucks have been chasing me around for days inside the city when all I wanted was to leave! You've attacked me, killed civilians, and tried to blow up my friends! I'm on barely any sleep, the voice in my head has been screwing with me for weeks, and I have no more backup!" I raise the handgun and fire a round at Anisim that glances off his armor. "Best of all?"

I fire the remaining rounds from my gun, impacting the barrier Anisim hurriedly threw up after my first shot, then rip my backpack off and toss it towards one of the Paradeus humans. "I don't have the Key! I never did! You can fucking check! It was all a fucking ruse that the voice in my head and I cooked up to distract you as long as we could!"

I spin in place, hands in the air, welcoming the KCCO to fire at me. "And look! Here you all are, wasting your time with me instead of doing the fucking obvious thing and going after Gentiane!" I can't keep the manic grin off of my face. "All of the dolls are there, Gentaine's there, they left me behind as a goddamn distraction! I'm so disposable, I wasn't allowed to touch the Key. I never had it."

"...That can't be right-" Anisim tries to get a word in edgewise, but this just enrages me more.

"I was hired to be a fucking pet for the dolls!" I snarl. "I can't fight! I've been learning as I go along, the dolls always encouraging this idiot human to help, to be a part of the group. I was always a replaceable part for Gentiane to use and toss, and somehow-" I can't help myself, another giggling fit interrupts my rant. "-you fucking idiots decided to come after me. Me! The fucking therapy dog! What, all your fancy training, armies and intelligence networks, you can't figure out how to kill a civilian?! If this is the caliber of enemies Gentiane is facing, I'm surprised she's having issues at all!"

I pant, trying to get air back into my lungs.

"...Are you done?" Anisim taunts.

"...Yeah." I snarl back. "Wait, no. Fuck off and die."

Anisim nods. "Yes… yes, I see how it is. I should have killed you back in the forest outside Sector 3. I let my curiosity get the best of me, and I must admit, I was fooled, at least partly, by your ruse. I will commend you for being willing to stand in front of two groups of armed forces and not try to save yourself, however-" He slides on his helmet. "-I will kill you here, and that will be the end of it."

"Well… It appears I have nothing to gain." Yegor runs his chin. "All forces, retreat."

Anisim turns to the screen. "What, not interested in comparing our forces?"

"I find myself on a time schedule, limited on resources, and I would much prefer to get moving then sit here and play with you two. Goodbye, I hope to never see either of you again."

The screen adjusts to just be a feed of Anisim and myself.

Behind me, the KCCO forces start to march backwards, never quite dropping their aim from my back.

Once they're out of range, I switch my attention back to Anisim.

"I will enjoy crushing you." Anisim states. "Maybe I have been blind, thinking I could sway you to my side. Alas, it is too late. You've finally done harm to me and my organization I am unable to overlook."

"Shut the fuck up." I toss my empty handgun aside. "I'm tired of listening to you."

An armored hood comes up from behind the Gladiator suit, moving around and clamping down over his head, protecting it further. Two red lights start glowing from the edges of the hood, looking all the world like eyes.

He starts to circle around me, and I start circling around the other way. Briefly, I consider what he's trying to accomplish. Maybe pincering me between his forces and himself?

I don't know if I care.

I'm severely outmatched in almost all regards, and my brain is so tired that I'm having a hard time thinking of any sort of strategy.

He suddenly charges and I have to dive out of the way.

It's not as effective as I'd like and his giant hand reaches over to grab my ankle, dragging me back towards himself.

For a second, he dangles me upside down as I kick at the metal hand with my flesh foot, trying to free my metal one, unable to make a dent in the iron grip.

"You're weak, Hadwin!" He taunts. "You've got no friends coming to help!"

"I already knew all that, dumbass!"

He tosses me over his shoulder, and I barely manage to land on something other than my head. "You really know how to suck the joy out of a victory, you know that? I was looking forward to this fight! Picturing an epic brawl, where we could duel and the better of us would come out on top."

I warily get ready to bolt, waiting for him to garage again.

"Instead, I get a pathetic wimp of a human that doesn't know the gravity of the situation he finds himself in, who keeps saying he's not worthy. If you're not a worthy opponent, what does that make me?!"

"A massive fuckup!"

He charges again, but this time I'm able to dive, roll, get to my feet and run.

"Are you just going to run?" Anisim's voice drips in disgust. "If this is just another desperate stilling tactic, I would be so disappointed. Please tell me you have some plan and are not just standing here to stand here."

"I dunno." I shrug. "If this is a delaying tactic, it sure seems to be working."

He screams and charges, and I dodge once again, this time Anisim not quite landing properly and having to take a few steps to steady himself.

It's true, I didn't really show up here with an idea. I don't really have much left to fight with.

Fortunately, it's not just me in here.

"I have just gained access to his Gladiator suit." P90 says quietly.

"On my mark."

Anisim pulls a large blade from a holster on the leg that I hadn't noticed before. "Shame it had to end this way, Hadwin, but this-" He rear back with the blade, crouches slightly, and leaps forward. "-is your last day!"

"Mark." I raise my hand and snap for dramatic effect.

Anisim puts his foot down on the ground, but finds he's not able to actually take the next step, his Gladiator suit locked up completely.

I step to the side just enough that the suit will fly past me, and watch as it smashes into the ground.

There's gasps from the assembled Paradeus forces, at least those able to gasp.

"Open up the shell." I order P90.

"Roger."

The Gladiator shell starts to unlatch, the top sliding back to reveal Anisim's surprised face, barely visible through the helmet-

I grab him as he tries to get up and throw him aside.

My turn to watch him bounce.

I stalk after him, watching as he gets to his feet and pulls himself into a fighting stance.

"Well, that was a nice trick you pull-"

I cut him off with a hook from my metal left hand.

It sends his helmet flying and spins him around.

He uses the momentum to throw a punch at me, smashing a hard fist into my gut.

My body tried desperately to double over, but the exo suit had other ideas, keeping me upright and ready to attack.

I throw another punch, but he anticipates it and grabs me, throwing me over his shoulder and onto my back, directly onto the spine of the exo suit. It sparks and suddenly all of the latches spring open and I'm out of the suit, Anisim stepping over me, kneeling and bringing down a fist to my face.

My nose bears the brunt of the damage, suddenly able to smell nothing but copper.

"I didn't have to be like this Hadwin! I fixed you up when you were broken! I invited you to work with me again and again!" He punctuates his points with fist that I'm barely able to block, my arms spiking with pain where I block his blows. "I'm just trying to bring peace to the world!"

My left hand springs open and Anisim flinches away before realizing the blade is gone, allowing me to wind up and punch with my regular hand.

Seizing my opportunity, I kick at his leg and send him down to the ground.

I don't quite stand up, instead mounting him and punching down at him a few times. "I've seen your fucking peace, and it's bullshit!" I stop using my fists as he struggles to look through the swelling forming around his eyes and grab the M16 still around my neck.

I raise it up, then bring it down with all my strength.

His nose retreats inside his skull under the force.

I raise the butt of my weapon up once more, and bring it down again.

And again.

Again.

Again.

Anisim stops moving.

Again.

Again.

Again.

His skull is starting to deform completely and there's blood covering my hands.

Again.

Again.

Again.

Something cold pressed into the back of my neck, bringing me back to reality.

"STOP!"

I look away from the corpse of my foe, glaring at the trembling Paradeus security guard. He's got a gun in his hands, but it's shaking worse than that one man who worked at GeneLab.

I ignore his words and grab the pistol out of his hands, sending him bolting away.

Instead of firing at him, I point the stolen pistol at what's left of Eastern Europe's Paradeus Lead and pull the trigger, unloading every round.

Let's see them reconstruct that paste into a person again.

Once the pistol clicks empty, I toss it aside and look at the mildly terrified crowd.

"What?" I snarl. "If you're gonna shoot, then fucking shoot!"

"If you insist."

I look upwards, noticing the Nyto had disappeared too late-

She crashes into me, sending me to my back and knocking the wind out of me. Additionally, my vision goes white as the Linker is knocked out of place.

"Owwwww…" I groan, unable to move, the awful sense of not being anywhere

By the time I had recovered my senses, she had snatched the blade Anisim had dropped from the ground and is stalking towards me. "Anisim may have wanted a fair fight, but I have no such hangups."

The blade traces down my forearm with a precision I wouldn't have expected, tracing the veins close to the surface. I am vaguely aware that this should hurt, but after the shock of forced Linker disconnect it feels more like a curiosity right now.

A small part of me worries that with all of the Anisim bits coating my arms, there's gonna be some contamination… ah well.

It's not like it'll matter for long.

The Nyto raises her blade high overhead, standing over me and preparing to behead me.

Gun fire comes from behind Paradeus lines, and the area devolves into panic.

Several explosions ring out, and I decide that life's just too painful to care, eyes focusing on the darkening clouds above, and the smoke that drifts into view.

It's pretty, in an odd way.

Smoke lazily drifts away, regardless of the people fighting around it.

You know? I'm kinda tired.

I think I'll close my eyes.

"Haddy!"

A familiar voice calls me.

Some faces crowd around, and I try to smile. "Hey, Sop."

More familiar faces poke their ways into my vision. RO, 15, 416, Aleah.

"Hadwin, we're getting you out of here." RO says, her two different eyes staring into mine. "Stay with us."

I nod, but the sky is growing darker faster than I had expected it.

Man, I'm just so tired…

---

Author's notes:
I have a now, upon request. I have a tier where you can commission a fic, and I already got a request to provide the perspective of the dolls retreating with the APC from the end of last chapter.

Upon the Patron's request, I have included it in the Field Agent Healing Chapters as chapter 10. It should be up a few minutes after this one.

Enjoy!

Also, come join the discord.

discord. gg / 4pTJbbSKR5