B/N: An important announcement at the end, for now, enjoy the chapter.

For what promises to be the last time in a while, I sit down with my family and a few friends around a plastic table.

My eyes keep straying over to dolls preparing last minute items, loading cargo onto the train and breaking down the tents and other equipment they had set up, but right now, I'm supposed to be enjoying my final moments with those from Sector 3.

I can't say I was thrilled with the way Gentiane put it, but I suppose it's more accurate than I'd like, given what the dolls had hinted at to me.

This is a one way trip. Probably.

I lift the paper cup full of instant coffee to my lips and drink the rest down as my mom curls her lip at her own drink. My parents are more used to drinking nicer coffee, but I'll take what I can get with my sleep schedule or lack thereof.

"-but, then how did you manage to get away from the Patroller?" Lucas' brow furrows. "It's so much faster than you would be on foot, yeah?"

Unable to delay my response now that my cup is empty, I set it down and turn to him. "Simple; Hid in one of the alleys it couldn't fit in. Played a bunch of cat and mouse running around, until it eventually gave up."

I mean, technically-

"I see." He nurses his own cup.

Lexi holds up a hand and I point at her. It's really feeling like a question-and-answer session now. "Who are you actually dating?"

I sigh at the question. I had kind of been expecting it, but I still don't particularly want to answer it. "Well… I'm dating AR-15."

That is the correct answer.

"Then why was that 416 girl kissing you?!" She demands.

"..." I pinch the bridge of my nose as my parents cough and Lucas blinks. "You saw that, huh?"

"Duh. I need to figure out who my in-laws are gonna be." She narrows her eyes. "You're not cheating on 15, are you?"

"I can say with absolute certainty that I'm not." I drone out. "Trust me, I asked."

"...Asked?" Mom's eye twitches. "What's there to ask?"

"It's… complicated." I rub my temples more, the sensation of feedback from my left hand is odd, having two weeks to get used to just kind of touching things carefully. "Look, I need you to listen carefully. I'm not cheating on anyone." I make eye contact with a bunch of skeptical faces. "15 is the one I'm dating, but there are… others who are also close with me. 15 knows and when we started dating, I told her I would stop with the others, but she said it was alright. It's a doll thing, alright?"

"I didn't raise you to lead women on." Dad frowns.

"You also raised me to hate robots. Now I'm dating one."

"You mean, more than one." Mom mutters.

"Nooooo, one. Several others just keep kissing me even if I tell them no."

"How often do you tell them no?" Lucas asks.

I find I have to look away, providing as much of an answer as they apparently need.

"Bro, come on." Lexi's lip curls like mom's.

"Look." I snap. "I'm not leading anyone on. I actively try not to lead anyone on, but-" I run my fingers through my hair. "Part of my job is to make sure they're all happy. I'm not doing any of this lightly, trust me."

"So…" Mom starts slowly. "You're dating 15 and… who?"

I give up on insisting that I'm only dating 15. It's true, but apparently that's not going to fly. "416 and 45."

"So, the tall silver haired one and… the girl with one eye?" Dad frowns. "Wasn't she the one you had a falling out with back home?"

"...Yes." I sigh. "UMP 45."

"You rang?" I glance back over my shoulder to see 45 casually strolling up. "Hello Damian, Velma, Lexi. Having a nice chat?"

"45-" I start, only for Lexi to stand up with a clatter and cut me off.

"Stop trying to steal Hadwin from 15!"

I groan and hide my face in my hands as 45's evil grin spreads.

"Oh? But I was the one who got the first kiss." She taunts. "Doesn't that mean 15 is the one trying to take him from me?"

"No!" Lexi slams her hands on the plastic table.

"Why not?"

"I like 15! You and your sister are mean!"

15, hearing her name, walks over with Sop in tow. "What's going on?"

"45 is trying to take Hadwin from you!" Lexi points at the one eyed doll.

15 looks over at 45. "...What did you do this time?"

"I honestly don't know." 45 shrugs. "She just started yelling."

15 looks over at me next and I just shrug.

"She's not stealing him from me." 15 grumbles. "Unless she's trying to run away with him behind our backs."

Uh-oh. I turn to Lucas in a desperate attempt to change the subject. "So, as you can see-"

"Son?" Dad taps my shoulder. "So, when the contract you just signed talked about maintaining emotional levels of multiple dolls-"

"Yes, dad. Multiple." I drop my head into my hands once more.

"He has a harem." Lucas' eyes are distant. "How… How did we get here?"

"It's a long story." I grit my teeth harder. "Can… Can we please talk about something else? Anything else?"

Mom looks at Dad, then back to me. "Are you going to be able to financially support all of them in the future?"

I stare back at her. I… hadn't been thinking about that. Sure, I'm dating them, but it's not like I know how much maintenance is, or neural cloud backups, or-

"It's not like we're not going to help." 15 crosses her arms. "And dolls don't need that much maintenance. Just look at 45."

Mom looks over at 45, who's eye doesn't work, and her arm is held together with tape. "Right."

"416 would've been a better example." I grumble. "Alright, I'll make sure I can figure that out before I decide to bring half the base back home with me."

Dad's eye twitches once more. "Half?"

"It's… a bad joke someone made once." I scratch my head.

"Might happen though." 45 leans on the table. "Hadwin's fairly bad at saying no to pretty faces."

"Nobody would call your face pretty." 15 mutters.

45 ignores the slight for once. "In any case, make sure you say your goodbyes, commander. It's almost time to leave."

"...Got it." I nod and the dolls all start to filter away once more.

"Son." Dad draws my attention to him. "I can't say I'm happy with your decision, but… Good luck."

"Thanks, Dad."

"You better come back to us." Lexi grumbles.

"He's proven nothing if not that he's resilient." Lucas sighs. "But yeah, if you don't come back, I'll see about coming to drag you back."

"...Right." I try to keep my face neutral.

"Oh, honey." Mom grabs my hands. "I hope you stay safe."

"I will do my absolute best." I promise her sincerely. "And… well, there's no real reason to hide it. I have a bunch of really good people in my life that have a vested interest in my continued survival. 15 and 45 really seem to like me and I have quite a few others who are good friends."

"I see." Mom's hands squeeze mine harder.

"Well… Dad looks off into the distance. "We'd better be getting ourselves headed out as well. You be safe."

"I plan on it."

I give everyone in my family hugs, then Lucas in a surprising turn. He's not usually that physical. Then I turn back to the train that's about to take me into a literal war zone.

A familiar sense of dread settles down on me as the regret sets in.

Sure, I'd regret ditching the dolls to their fates, but like hell do I want to continue this fighting.

It's the lesser of the two regrets though.

Probably…

"Um…"

I turn around to see Eva, a travel bag on her back. "Oh, hey."

"Hey." She refuses to meet my eyes for a few seconds, and I find myself looking away past the train into the woodlands in the distance. "I, um, just figured I'd say goodbye."

"Yeah."

We both fall silent, and my brain tries desperately to find something to talk about. Something that's not 'I'm sorry, but I'm not interested in you.' Though, in light of what I'm about to do, that might be a mercy.

She speaks up before I can. "I'm… sorry about last night."

"Don't be." I respond on reflex. "It's, uh… not a problem."

"But!" She suddenly stares at me intensely. "If I hadn't, you wouldn't have run off to go back to the dolls."

I open my mouth to speak, but she's not done.

"And because of that, now you're going back to fighting."

"Actually, when I left I went to sign my dissolution paperwork." I scratch my head. "Or, that's what I ended up doing. I've been wavering on that decision for… a while now, and going there finalized it."

"Then, why aren't you coming back with us?"

I sigh. "A very selfish doll reminded me of who I was fighting for."

"One of your… harem?" She almost gags on the word, and I wince.

"N-no. In fact, she hates me. I'm just someone screwing up her life with my decisions."

"Oh."

Silence once more. I find myself wondering if she was listening to everything earlier…

"W-well, I guess this is goodbye, then." She hikes her bag up. "I'll… I'll see you back home, right?"

"You will." I nod. "I don't plan on dying."

"G-good." She nods back. "I'm going."

"Bye. See you 'round."

She waves and trudges off in the direction my parents had left.

"Heartbreaker."

An arm wraps around my shoulders and I have to take a breath to calm myself down from a sudden spike of annoyance. "Hi, Commander."

"You're a commander too now, Hadwin. Just call me Gentaine."

I've been doing that anyway, but sure. "And it's not that I want to, but it's not like I can promise I'll be there for her and her one and only, now is it?"

"You seem to be doing that for a whole lot of others, though."

I glare at the too cheerful woman. Maybe someone spiked her coffee? "Yeah, and why is that, hmm?"

She releases my shoulder to hold her hands up. "Well, I just wanted to tell you that it's time to go. Might want to board the train before you're left behind."

"Got it."

The train isn't the fastest, but it's sure fun to ride. The way that the thousands of tons of metal underfoot shifts and clanks as it starts to move, the way that you get air rushing past when you stand on the outside.

It's like being in dad's convertible, but you can walk around!

I waved to the group of Sector 3 people as we drove past, and before too long they were out of sight completely, as was the city.

Leaving me to stand on the balcony of the last car on the train and stare at the track as we get further and further from home once more.

"Hey."

I turn to find AR-15 had arrived, unheard due to the wind, and started leaning on the railing beside me.

"Hey, Star."

Her cheeks flush briefly. "You should've stayed behind."

"Now you tell me." I sigh. "And here I thought you wanted me to come along."

"I do." She slides close enough to press her shoulder into mine. "We all do, I think. But, it'd be better for you to stay behind. Safer. None of us want to see you hurt."

"And I don't want any of you to get hurt either." I wrap my arm around her shoulders, pulling her closer. "So we'll just have to protect each other."

"Yeah… I know." She leans her head on my shoulder.

We stand there, watching the scenery fly by only to recede into the distance.

It's… comfortable.

The door opens behind us, and a familiar voice announces itself in the wind. "Hey, Haddy? 416 and I need you inside for a minute."

The idea of Sop and 416 talking to each other is so weird, a thought that my annoyance at being interrupted is forgotten instantly. Instead, morbid curiosity takes root and I reluctantly let go of 15.

Before I can enter the caboose that had been designated as my personal car, 15 grabs my arm.

"Hey, um…" Her cheeks light up. "Can… can I sleep with you tonight?"

"Sure." I blink. Wait, did she mean sleep or sleep-

"O-okay!" She suddenly bolts past me and Sop before disappearing down the far end into the rest of the train.

Sop looks back at me once her sister disappears. "What was that?"

"...Nothing. I hope. What's going on?"

"Oh! Okay, so, I have your rifle here."

She leads me into the caboose and points to where 416 is staring at a disassembled gun. It's mine… I think, given Sop's statement, but to be honest I have a hard enough time discerning what gun it is when it's assembled.

"It's completely gone. Done." 416 states flatly once I enter her line of sight.

I blink. "It is?"

She nods. "You've not been maintaining it, and the internals have started to crack. We don't have the tools needed to repair it, so we'll need to get you something new from the armory."

I sit down at the small table and ponder the parts laid out. Despite the rocking of the train, most of the parts remain in place and a quick curious poke proves that the mat is magnetic and that's why nothing is falling off. "I like this one though."

"Well duh." Sop sits down beside me and starts to fiddle with some of the parts, putting them back together. "You're used to it. But it's kinda outdated and…" She hesitates. "M16 was pretty good with it, but I think something else might be better."

"Like an HK 416."

I glance at the doll sitting across from me, who blushes slightly. "So, we don't have any more M16's?"

"Not with us. None of us use it anymore." Sop says with a hint of sadness. "We do have some similar guns."

"Oh?"

"Yes." 416 turns and pulls a large crate over. "I went through the armory and found some suitable weapons for you."

"I appreciate it." I peer into the box, which is full of cloth gun cases and small boxes with optics and other accessories. "Out of curiosity, what was your criteria?"

"Well…" Sop looks away. "You're not that good of a shot, so no snipers."

"We got you a bunch of colt pattern guns to look at. You're already familiar with their operation, so it should be easier to pick up one of these." 416 starts laying out guns on the table, and I notice that Sop had managed to reassemble my gun while I hadn't been looking. "This is a standard M4A1, the same one M4 uses. This is a 417, and this one-"

My brain shuts down as she continues to describe different variants that look the same, function the same, but have different gas tubes. Or, something. I don't know what impingement is, and I'm kinda afraid to ask.

In the end though, I saw one particularly small one and picked it up. It's a lot lighter than the M16 was, and it's a bunch shorter.

Sop taps the gun in my hands. "This is a Honey Badger."

"A what?"

"A Honey Badger. It shoots .300 blackout, has an integrated suppressor, and is good for CQB."

Uncomprehending, I stare at the gun in silence.

"It's good for stealth, closer quarters, and it's light." 416 sighs. "It's probably the best option for you."

"I'll take it then." I check the chamber is empty, and finding it safe, I look down the sights. Hmm… I wish I had a red dot like my M16-

416 puts the guns away while I'm feeling out the Honey Badger and pulls out a few of the accessory boxes. "Now that you've decided, we've got to add some accessories."

"Wha-"

Red dots. Flashlights. Lasers. Foregrips. A few more exotic things.

I stare at the wide selection, trying my hardest to figure out why there's four different types of flashlights alone, coming in all different sizes.

Sop rubs her hands gleefully as I stare at the modules, trying to figure out what to get.

"This is the best part! Here, use this and this and this and-"

Sop hands me a bunch of things, and I have to carefully slide them back onto the table before I drop them all. There's a combined flashlight and laser module, a scope with a built in red dot on top, a grenade launcher tube, a plexiglass panel I had never seen before, a sloped foregrip and three small keychain things.

…It looks like small drawings of RO, 15, and Sop. I don't know where she got them, but they're adorable.

"Uh, why do I need all of this?" I ask the girl who is bobbing back and forth in her chair, obviously super excited to watch me go through the process of installing a bunch of heavy things on my gun.

"Well…" She picks up the foregrip. "This will give you stability. The sight allows for up close and far off engagements. The grenade launcher is super important, and the laser/flashlight combo allows you to work in all sorts of situations. The best part is the shield though."

I glance at the plexiglass. "It's a shield?"

"Yep! It makes it harder to get hit in the head when aiming."

"It won't stop KCCO or Paradeus weapons for more than a shot or two." 416 interrupts. "Since it's about two kilos, you'd be better off without it."

"Hey!" Sop slaps her hands on the table, much lighter than usual to not disturb the arrayed sights. "He should take all of this!"

"It's more important that it's light." 416's glare turns on full force, and I'm reminded that as much as they seem to behave around me, they don't really get along that well. "He doesn't need that crap. The bare weapon is fine."

I glance at 416's gun, propped up in the corner. A holographic sight, suppressor, laser/flashlight module, foregrip…

"Er, can I choose?" I ask the two, hesitating a bit. "I mean, I think I'd like to have a red dot like I had on my M16."

416's distasteful look is aimed at me for a few seconds before her face melts back to neutral. "Here, try out a few and we'll see which one you like."

I end up picking out a smaller red dot that has several patterns to pick from. It's light, has a decent battery life (I hadn't even considered that before, to be quite honest) and since I tend not to fire at things more than a few dozen meters away having a scope wouldn't do much.

"-besides, the Honey Badger isn't exactly a precise gun. Having a precision optic would be missing the point." 416 concludes.

"Right." I tighten it down and pick up the gun once more, sighting down out the window.

"We're gonna need to zero it." Sop grumbles, still somewhat annoyed I didn't go with one of the more… exotic scops on offer. "I'm gonna help with that later."

"I-" 416 opens her mouth, but decides to bite her tongue when Sop's brow furrows even further. "Do what you want."

"Alright, but for now…" I look at the accessories strewn about. "Uh, how useful are lasers?"

"They're useful when you don't have time to aim properly." 416 pushes a few of the laser modules closer. "We've got green, red, infrared, and blue. This one is both green and red."

I pick up the green laser and hit the button on the side. A bright green dot hits the wall of the caboose despite the sunlight. "This seems nice."

"Add it to your setup then." 416 starts packing away the rest of the modules. "Is there anything else you want?"

"Er…" I scratch my head. "I don't think I trust myself around grenades, and the shield seems a bit bulky. Maybe a foregrip?"

Sop places three different styles in front of me, and I end up picking a simple straight one after trying all three on the bottom of my rifle.

"Good thing we have the clone." Sop muses to herself.

I glance at her. "What?"

"Oh." She taps the handle I had just finished attaching to the bottom rail. "The original didn't have a rail on the bottom."

"...Original?"

"Well, yeah." She sighs and flops back as 416 continues to pack the accessories away neatly. "See, lots of the guns we've got here are replicas."

I blink. "Replicas? And this is one?" I lift my new gun up.

"Well… no." 416 sighs. "Look, after World War III, many gun manufacturers got destroyed, ja?"

News to me, but I nod to allow her to continue.

"Several enterprising humans raided gun manufacturing buildings, stealing plans and equipment. Since the global network is still in pieces, patents have become largely unenforceable, so many clones have been put on the market."

Sop jumps into the conversation. "So, like, there's a lot of guns that barely got made originally that got made afterwards and are now much easier to get."

I struggle a bit to understand Sop's sentence, but 416 continues.

"Take G11 for example. The G11 was a prototype that never went into serious production. However, a few men raided an H&K building, found the machinery to make it and the caseless ammo, and started to produce it. I heard there's a few tweaks, but it's allowed us to keep G11 stocked with ammo and spare parts, so its exact differences are not really my concern."

"Huh." I look down at my Honey Badger.

"I hear there's a few guns that didn't even work originally that got put into production." Sop comments.

"Nein. That would be absurd."

"But, I met Zip .22 before we left base, and I saw Commander Gentiane trying to buy a Mk3A1!"

"Mark…" I already lost the thread, but the two women are getting along for once so I'm loathe to interrupt too much.

"Back in the 1980's, a guy decided to make a shotgun. It didn't work that well. It was called the Pancor Jackhammer-"

416's eye twitches. "Oh. So it was being reworked."

"Yep! The working version is called the Mk3A1, and it looks like we're gonna get her once we get back to base."

I eye Sop. "Wait, how do you know who's going to be arriving at base?"

"I asked RO. She's able to look at the Commander's orders."

"Convenient." I mutter.

"Anyway." 416 stands up, all of the guns and boxes tucked away neatly. "Your new gun can't use your old magazines. You'll need to get a few more from the armory car near the front of the train. Like I said earlier, you're going to need to get .300 Blackout rounds."

I set the Honey Badger down on the table and walk over to 416, placing a hand on her shoulder. "Thank you."

Her face doesn't move, but her cheeks flush.

"Hey! Me too!"

I reach over with my free hand and pat the blonde's head, and she squirms happily under my gesture of affection.

"Well, I'm going to head up and grab some ammo then. I appreciate all your help."

416 nods once. "Of course, Commander. Now, 45 has been calling me for a few minutes, so I need to get going."

"...Good luck."

She nods and opens the door further forward into the train, a blast of air ruffling all of the curtains on the windows and tugging at my clothes as it rips through until the door slides closed.

"I guess I should return this too." I pick up the M16 that Sop had reassembled for me. "Seeing as it's broken."

"Yeah…" Sop's claw reaches out and touches the gun. "I kinda wish you could've gotten the same gun over."

"Oh?"

She nods. "I miss M16, and… it felt like we were all back together almost when you used it."

"For what it's worth, I think M16 misses you too." I look down at the gun. "And this one has kept me up until now. It's kinda sad to see it go."

"...You could keep it." Sop's voice is slightly strained and cautious in a way she rarely exhibits. "It's not like the Commander is keeping track of it."

"But it's broken."

"We could get it fixed!" Sops hand grabs my arm, probably a lot tighter than she meant to. "Not until we get back to base, but I'm sure we can!"

"I'll keep it then."

Sop's grip relaxes and I subtly attempt to rub blood back into my bicep.

I head over to the couch that folds out into a bed where I'm going to be situated until we get to our destination and tuck the rifle in tightly between the cushions. "There. It'll be a memento of my first month with Griffin."

"Yeah." Sop's eyes linger on the rifle for a bit longer, before she suddenly snaps upright. "Oh! I forgot!"

"Hmm?"

"Commander Gentaine said she wanted you at the front of the train as soon as possible."

I stare at the cheery girl. "Seriously?"

"Yep!"

"Oh, she's gonna be so mad…"

"Oh, there you are."

I watch Gentaine warily as she continues to do paperwork. She doesn't seem too upset, but…

"Sorry I took so long, Sop didn't exactly tell me in a timely manner."

"That's fine, I have a bunch of paperwork to fill out anyway, so I got work done." She looks up and folds her hands. "So, I'd like to have a chat."

I sit down opposite her and brace myself.

"I was walking with RO, and it seems like you've patched things up with her."

"...Mostly." I hedge. "It's not like I'm just gonna pretend nothing happened, but I can accept she did what she thought was right."

Gentiane nods and I realize my words apply just as much to her own actions. Maybe she was trying to figure out how I felt about her own involvement?

Nnnnah, I'm probably overthinking it.

"Well, it's good if you can get along with her." Gentiane's hands wander to a page as if to start reading it, but she returns to clasping her hands together in short order. "Right, I need to get you up to speed."

I lean back in my chair and raise my eyebrow expectantly.

"Thanks to your efforts in Kruševac, we're in a nice position. Ange is doing a lot better according to the report AK-12 sent back, and they're almost at Paldiski."

Paldiski.

That submarine base that has apparently been the end goal everyone's been searching for.

I nod in understanding.

"They're going to scout it out if they can, but the area is heavy with Collapse radiation. It's technically a red zone."

That sends a shiver down my spine. "That's disconcerting."

"It's just what it is. In that level of collapse radiation, even mechanicals start to break down. Dolls need to be careful just as much as humans there. I'm telling you this because I don't want you to run ahead and get yourself turned into an ELID. Can you imagine how 15 would feel if she had to shoot your reanimated corpse?"

"...I'd rather not."

"Ah. Mmm, well, let's not dwell on it. It's a dangerous area but we have gear that can handle that. Anyway, right now we're about three or four days out, so in the meantime let's get some nice rest, yes? Gotta be ready for the fight when we get there."

"Mmm." I agree. "So, what about the KCCO?"

"They're still preparing, as far as we can tell. Looks like they had been prepared to hit the city for a lot longer than we were planning on staying."

"And they're coming by train?"

"Yes. As long as we don't see them behind us, we're still ahead of them."

I ponder this for a moment. "So… if they get to us, I'm first in the line of fire."

"That's not inaccurate, but it's not like I did that intentionally. If you want to move, I can give you a different berth."

"It's fine." I frown. "What about Paradeus?"

"I don't know. You took the head off one of their leaders, but I get the feeling that that didn't slow them down too much. We'll have to keep our eyes open."

I nod once more.

"Anyway, hopefully it will be a few days before we have to worry about either group. For now, just make sure you're ready for what's next, and…" she hesitates a bit. "Make sure you don't have regrets."

"I have plenty of those." I snark back.

"Yes, but don't make more. You've got a room with space to spare, and trust me, that's a premium right now. Make sure you enjoy your time on the way."

"Because it might be all we get." I state flatly.

She draws her lips into a line, but doesn't answer.

"I get it. I'll do my best." I nod to her and get out of her office space.

"Oh, and Hadwin?"

I turn right before the door shuts, grabbing the edge to stop it from closing fully.

"If you can, go talk with RO. She should be reviewing the map in the third car back."

"...Got it."

RO starts when I knock on the doorframe, quickly looking around and spotting me, her two differently colored eyes blazing in the darkened room.

"Ah, Commander-"

I pinch my brow. "Please, just call me Hadwin."

"But, you've got the Commander rank now." She smirks. "It would be rude."

I glare at her, but I don't put much heat behind it. "If I could go back to being a Field Agent… no, it's not like anything much changed." I sit down in one of the very few seats around the table and lean on the table. "I'm still bad at commanding, so just call me by my name."

She raises an eyebrow. "Is that an order?"

"...I supposed it isn't." A sigh escapes my lips before I can suppress it. "But It'd be much appreciated."

"Then, what can I do for you, Hadwin?"

My lips quirk at her use of my name. "Actually, I thought you had something you wanted to talk about. Commander Gentaine told me to meet you here."

"I see. Maybe she wanted me to go over battle strategies with you? You're still learning the basics."

"Maybe." I look at RO, who is purposely looking everywhere but back at me, first at the datapad in her hands, then at the screen mounted to a wall, adjusting it to show the overhead view of… something.

A coastline, maybe?

"This is Paldiski." RO points to the screen. "This line down here is the train line to Tallinn, which is the nearest railway exchange point. We're going up through turkey now-"

I sit as RO points out all of the details of the rail line, tracing a path all the way to Estonia, our final destination. She's… good at explaining things. I find myself almost slipping into a trance to her voice, still paying attention, but very much drawn into her pace.

The train is moving at a relatively slow pace all things considered, allowing for scouting parties on one of our vehicles. We're using a track made right before the start of World War III that basically defined the Russian front.

"-and so, we should have three days on the train, four if we account for stopping a few times."

I nod and purse my lips. "Y'know, you said earlier that you were assuming the tracks were still intact."

She folds her arms on the table and sinks down until her chin is resting on them. "Yeah, sometimes bandits decide to break the rails to derail a train, or a tree falls down. The scout vehicle will hopefully spot something like that before the train gets derailed. Even if there's no sabotage, there's a chance the railway has just shifted away over time. It's not like it's been properly maintained."

I agree with a nonverbal hum, once more staring at the map. "Can we fix the rail if it's broken?"

"Depends on the severity. It's not like we can sit around and repair something for a week, we do have company coming from the rear."

"Got it." I sit up and she copies the gesture. "Just so we're clear, what am I going to be doing when we get to Paldiski?"

She hesitates. "We're not exactly high on manpower right now. In all likelihood, you're gonna be thrown onto the front lines with everyone else. It's not like this train will last more than a few seconds against a military one. We're going to be all hands on deck."

"Sounds about right." I stand up and stretch. "Well, if that's all-"

"Ah…" she raises a hand to stop me, but quickly puts it down. "W-well, I was hoping I could have some of your time."

I sit back down and gesture for her to go ahead. Despite that, she opens her mouth a few times as if attempting to say something, only to think better of it before anything is said.

I decide to just relax a bit, wait for her to come up with whatever she wants to say.

Still, after a few seconds she seems to have given up, frustration furrowing her brow and turning her lips downwards. "N… nevermind." She mutters. "We can discuss it later."

I pause, thinking about it. "…I don't think I properly thanked you."

She blinks at me. "...Huh?"

"For getting everyone out safely. Out of Kruševac, I mean. It was kind of important to me."

Her lips quirk back upwards for a brief moment. "That was my goal as well, even before you ordered me to do it."

"Explains why you followed it. Anyway, I'm just happy that you got everyone out."

"I didn't though."

I blink and look at her.

She put her elbow on the table, her chin in her hand, continuing to stare right at me. "I left you behind."

"I mean… I told you to."

"Still, you are very important to… a lot of us. Nobody was happy when that tunnel cut us off from you. If we could have turned around to get you, we would have. I immediately regretted following the order you gave us, and in the future I will be ignoring orders of that type."

I sit in silence, absorbing her words.

"I'm not going to be satisfied leaving you alone in combat again. If nothing else, I will be by your side while we get the others to escape."

"…I appreciate it."

She nods, then hesitates like she's wondering about something else.

"What's on your mind?" I prompt, leaning over on the table.

"Are you still… seeing P90?"

Oh, right. "Not all the time. I figured out… a few things about her." I nod. "At least for now it's not a problem."

"Oh?" She raises an eyebrow.

"Yeah. Every time I saw P90, or that image of her, it's always been with my Linker active so it's definitely linked to that. I mean, she pretty much confirmed it when I was escaping Paradeus-" I bite my tongue after realizing just what I had said.

Need to keep tight lips.

RO's eyes narrow. "She's able to talk to you?"

I realize RO had mistaken who I was talking about and relax slightly. "Yeah. It seems to be able to see what I see, hear what I hear but only when it's on and attached to my head."

"…See, this was less calming than I hoped for. It's good you're not actually going insane, but I haven't heard of a program that can hijack a human like that."

I shrug. "It's not a problem for now."

"But we can't afford it to be one in the future. What happens if she takes over during combat?"

"It's not like I'm particularly game changing out there." I offer a lopsided smile. "I'm not saying it's okay if I get killed by my own tech betraying me, but without it, I'll survive a whole lot less."

She considers this for a minute, before her eyes narrow once again. This time, she crosses her arms and glares at me. "So, this false P90… you keep saying 'it'."

"Well, it's a Linker." I shrug.

"Then who was the 'she' you referred to earlier?"

Oh. Right. Sometimes I wish I could keep two thoughts in my head at once. "Must've used the wrong pronoun."

"Come on Hadwin, I can tell you're lying." She gets up and starts pacing. "You never told us what happened inside the walls after we left. Just 'I ran away from Paradeus' and that apparently worked."

I bite my tongue.

"Now, I don't know about the others, but I'm fairly sure you didn't bring down an entire skyscraper by yourself. You showed up on the hijacker's channels a few times… and yet somehow you made it out."

"…"

"I'm not saying it's bad you made it out, I'm just wondering why you aren't telling us what happened."

"…Alright, I guess I can tell you a bit of it."

Her eyebrows raise at 'a bit' but she lets me continue uninterrupted.

"Like I said earlier, that thing in my Linker can see what I see, and is apparently fairly adept at hacking things. It managed to screw with the Paradeus' vision long enough for me to escape their notice. At that point, it was getting hard to stay awake and I needed to find a place to sleep."

She stops pacing and focuses back on me.

"P90 had seen the paperwork that Ricardo showed me and recorded it, and there were few addresses on there. I figured he wouldn't be using it, so…"

"Mmm… you're lucky Paradeus didn't have it monitored."

I wince.

"Ah, they did. So, how did you escape?"

Damn my inability to lie or keep my face straight. "I got a bit of sleep, but then P90 woke me up, telling me that Paradeus was about to break in."

RO sighs. "This is like pulling teeth. Either you escaped or got captured. Which is it?"

"...Captured."

"Okay. Then, how did you escape after being captured? Paradeus isn't easy on prisoners." She states this with conviction that shuts down any attempted arguments.

It's my turn to flap my mouth like a fish for a bit as I try to come up with an answer.

RO walks around the table and sits down next to me, the door backlighting her to leave only her eyes illuminated. "Hadwin."

"I had help." I shudder under her scrutiny. "It was… erm… Sangvis."

She blinks. "Sangvis?"

I nod.

"Why would they help you? Actually, how would they know you were in trouble, or even where you were, or-"

I raise my hand to cut her off before she can ask more questions. "M16 gave me a little device she made that allows me to signal her. My Linker was still plugged into my exo suit to charge, and P90 was able to grab the device and plug it in, signaling her. She came to get me with a few of her compatriots, and… uh, they're the ones that brought down the skyscraper."

RO's intimidation tactics have completely fallen away, leaving nothing but pure shock.

I wait a full minute before waving my hand in front of her face. "Hello?"

"M16 was that close." She mutters.

"Well, yeah. She's been following us. I told you this back when I got captured-"

"Hadwin, we've been looking for her for years. M4 specifically has been on a vendetta, and once we finally caught her trail back when Belgrade fell, she managed to elude us." She starts massaging her temples. "And you had a way to just… call her up."

"To be fair, I only had it for like two days. I met her after the incident with Ricardo and I wasn't feeling especially cooperative then."

She remains silent, her eyes flicking around from my face to the table in the center of the room.

"For what it's worth, I'm sorry." I offer my hands up. "But yeah, that's what happened."

"I need to talk to M4." She stands up. "And Gentiane, and…" She covers her eyes. "And now we have no more leads."

"Actually, I think she's coming to Paldiski." I scratch my chin. "She mentioned it, at least."

"...I see. Anything else?"

"M16 is still very worried about all of you? She threatened to kill me several times."

"Thanks, but that's not that useful."

"...She was with Beak, Architect, and Gager?"

"That's… well, better than nothing." She puts her hand on the door. "Thank you for telling me. I'll do my best to make sure you don't get yelled at for withholding this."

So much for keeping any of Sangvis' involvement a secret. "Y'know, this really felt like a police interrogation."

"I used to be a police detective." RO shrugs. "In any case-" She blinks. "Ah, I forgot what I originally wanted to ask you."

"Oh?"

"It's… not going to go over well now, so how about this. I'll meet back with you in the caboose later."

"Fine." I grumble. "Assuming I'm not locked in solitary confinement because of my 'confession'."

Her lips curl into a smile. "The caboose is the closest thing we have to a jail cell on this train."

I throw my hands in the air in defeat, and she laughs quietly as she exits the room.

"Three hundred blackout?" Kalina's eyes lid in suspicion. "Why do you need that? If P7 or Sop told you it fits in your M16, you need to ignore their advice. It'll blow up in your face."

I have to stare at her for a second as I process her words. "Uh, no. My M16 was damaged, so 416 and Sop decided to help me pick out a new gun. I ended up with a Honey Badger, and it's supposed to use blackout." I lick my lips. "Maybe. They certainly said it did, but-"

"Oh, the Honey Badger definitely does." She relaxes. "You gotta be careful though. Blackout ammo fits into 5.56 firearms, but it's likely to get stuck and destroy the gun in your hands. P7 once reloaded all of G36's magazines with blackout during a training exercise, and frankly I'm not sure how she made it out of there alive with how mad G36 and Gentiane were."

"Alright."

She hands me an ammo can. "Actually, now that you mention it, I did notice some of the inventory wasn't in its correct place earlier. I suppose that was you then."

"Probably. I still have the Honey Badger too, so that's gonna be missing."

"At least now I know where it is." She turns to me and smirks. "Hey, have you actually met Honey Badger yet?"

"Ah, so there is a Honey Badger doll. No, I haven't met her yet."

"Well, if you get the chance, you should get her to show you around the gun. It's her specialty after all. And, maybe you can take some fashion advice from her."

"...huh?"

Kalina burst out in laughter at my confusion. "I-it's… sorry, it's just… I was imagining you dressing up in her clothes now that you use the same weapon. It'd suit you."

"Sure it would. What does she wear?"

"You'll see." She calms down slightly. "Ah, I needed a good laugh. Sorry about that."

"No problem. Though, now that you mention it, I did have a question about clothing?"

"Oh?"

"Yeah. Why do most dolls wear skirts? I'd think that pants would be better in combat and… I keep getting flashed."

She snickers again. "Yeah, well, we leave the decision on how to dress up to the individual dolls. If they don't mind wearing skirts in battle, what do I care?"

"So it's not like they're mandated skirts then."

"Nope. I can't say I know a way to stop them flashing you though. Maybe you just shouldn't look?"

"It's not like I'm trying." I sigh. "But when I'm tackled by Sop and then she stands right over me-"

"Yeah, I get it. Just try to look away, and if you look up my skirt-"

I once more adopt a defensive posture as the smile freezes and she pulls a handgun halfway out of its holster. "Message received loud and clear. I will do my best to remain on my feet at all times."

"Good." She relaxes once more. "Do you need anything else?"

"No… actually, if you were imagining me in Honey Badger's clothes, were you doing the same with M16?"

Her spreading grin is the only answer I really need.

I make it about halfway back to my designated sleeping area when I'm dragged into one of the small rooms forcibly as I was passing by. It's barely got space for its current occupants, but it has two bench seats facing each other.

After a brief moment of disorientation, I realize I recognize all four of the faces looking at me.

AEK lets me go after shutting the door, grinning like an idiot. "Heya, Commander."

"AEK, you should have just asked him." S.A.T. frowns in disapproval.

I turn to her and wave away her concern. "I'm alright, S.A.T. Actually…" I glance at the two other occupants, Ithaca, and Aleah. "I'm just glad you're all alright."

"Of course we are!" AEK pushes me down in the only open seat next to Ithaca. "Hell, most of us were more worried about you. We've got backups."

"I was telling them that you were fine." Aleah states from across from me. "They all wanted proof."

Ithaca and S.A.T both nod and I can't help but smile to myself a little.

"Well, here I am, largely unscathed."

"That is good to hear." Ithaca grabs my shoulder, her large reddish-orange eyes staring at me intensely. "I was afraid that I'd wake up and you would be gone."

"Nope."

"Almost!" S.A.T. snaps. "You're getting more and more reckless! If I hadn't been there to distract the Orthrus, you wouldn't be here!"

I almost just nod and brush her words off, but… "You're right, I owe you my life. I owe all of you my life from one point or another."

"Somehow, I can already hear the 'but'." AEK leans on the doorframe.

"But." I glance at AEK, who smirks at me. "I'm not here to be protected. If I wanted safety, I could've returned home."

"He almost went home too." Aleah states, her face still completely neutral. "I already had my fire control core removed when I got the word we were coming along."

SAT turns to Aleah. "Why did you get cored?"

"I belong to Hadwin, not Griffin." Aleah states. "I will go where he goes."

"Huh." AEK scratches her chin. "Maybe I should quit and join up with Hadwin."

"Oh please." I roll my eyes. "I don't have the infrastructure to take care of you guys. I don't know anything about maintaining a doll, or where to get spare parts, or anything like that."

"Sounds like you're going to need to learn then!" AEK's smile grows all the more infuriating. "Maybe you could talk to one of the mechanics?"

"Or he could talk to Sop." S.A.T. suggests. "She's fairly well versed."

"If you don't mind having a spare rocket built into your chest, sure."

"I'll make sure to spend some time learning about dolls, but I will certainly be relying on you for assistance as well." I bow my head.

"So formal." Ithaca releases my shoulder and grabs my hand. "I will assist you."

"Er… thanks."

"In return, I would like you to describe to me what you did while I was out of commission."

"Ah, alright."

I spend the next half an hour giving a fairly decent description of my time in Kruševac after Ithaca got burnt up by that Doppelsöldner. An incident that she was surprisingly interested to see, as if it was a flower someone had trampled. Aleah provided pictures and I had to look away.

Eventually, I get out the slightly abridged version that omits what happened after I stayed behind and got captured by Paradeus. Once they're satisfied with my account, S.A.T. pulls out some small paisteries she had made after being reinitialized.

They were, of course, delicious.

"Hey Aleah, is this your space as well?" I ask the pink haired woman who is currently nibbling on the cinnamon bun.

"I will be sleeping here, yes."

"Okay. Just making sure you have a space."

"It's a bit cramped in here though." AEK says. "If you took her back to your room, we'd all have a bit more space."

"Uh huh."

"It would allow me to be closer to you in the event of an emergency." Aleah nods.

I pinch my brow. "Okay, look. I'm still working out sleeping arrangements. I'll get back to you-"

"Oh. I would like a turn as well." Ithaca interrupts me. "Please get back to me as well."

I give her a baleful look, but she doesn't seem to mind it, still giving me that unwavering stare of her own.

"Fine, I'll… consider it."

"Then… me as well?" S.A.T. asks hopefully.

"Sure, SAT."

"Oh! Me too!"

I glare outright at AEK, who is clearly in full on tease mode. "Not over your previously deceased body."

She snickers to herself.

"Anyway." I stretch. "I'm gonna see if I can snag something more substantial to eat, since it's getting near to lunch."

"There's a crate of MREs two cars down." Aleah informs me.

"Noted."

"Hadwin? We're going to be having a meeting on level 2 around 1800. Will you be showing up?" S.A.T. asks as I stand up and awkwardly start to shuffle around AEK.

"I'll try, it depends on what else is going on." I nod. "What's it about?"

"Strategy." Ithaca answers.

"Alright." I finally make it past AEK and into the hallway. "I'll see what I can do."

"See you, Hadwin!" S.A.T. calls as I close the door.

…Is it me, or is she kind of desperate today? She might've been hiding her worries for a bit too long.

Aaaaand it's my job to fix that, isn't it. I'll have to see if I can get some one-on-one time with her.

In the meantime, I'm going to grab that MRE.

Finding the MREs was easy. After all, SV-98 is the one handing them out and she called out to me with "Hey Hadwin! Need an MRE?" And that made them fairly hard to miss.

From what I've heard, MREs are supposed to be easy and generally make sense how to cook them.

I suppose that's when you speak the language though, because the words on the package are all in Russian.

SV-98 hands me two of the bags and tells me to pick…

"Uh, what are they?"

She points to one of them. "This one is stew, the other is pasta."

"Okay." I take the stew and stare at the packaging, as if that would help me translate it.

SV leans on the crate of prepackaged food and smiles. "Do you know how to cook an MRE?"

"If you tell me where the stove is, I'll be fine."

"Nope!" She comes around from behind the crate. "You need to learn how or you'll have a hard time doing it in the field later. I'll teach you."

"Thanks, but aren't you in charge of the crate?"

"I'll ask Tokarev to cover for me." Her eyes glaze over for a fraction of a second before returning to the present. "Okay, let's go."

I shake my head but can't keep my lips from turning up. "Where to?"

"Uh… someplace we have more space than here?"

"Would the back porch on the caboose work?"

She nods enthusiastically. "Yeah!"

The two of us head back to the very end of the train, saying hi to several groups of dolls as we pass and promising to spend some time talking to them later.

It's only once we get to the very back of the train and away from the general chaos of the main cars that I'm able to relax a bit. SV leads the way to the back porch of the train, scenery still disappearing far away from us as the train continues to trundle around.

"So, how does this work?" I open the bag of food and pull out a few of the items. Some crackers, a pate, a silver bag with… meat and peas, a sandwich bag of smaller pouches, and finally one larger green bag.

"Take the larger green bag, pour some water in, and put the silver bag in it. That'll heat it up for you. In the meantime, you can watch that can of pate with the crackers. Oh, and there's a few drinks included-"

SV excitedly guides me the rest of the way through what ends up being a fairly simple meal. In addition to what was identified earlier, there's a few condiments, a sweet cold tea, a tea bag for a hot tea, and a few items like napkins, wet wipes and a spoon.

"-and when you're done, you can shove it all back into the bag it came out of so you don't leave anything behind."

"I see." I use the short spoon to scoop the contents of the stew out of the silver pouch. It was lamb and peas, and it wasn't that bad. Certainly better than the pate. "I can't say I'd like to eat this every day, but it's good enough."

"And now you should be able to make any other meals… as long as they don't require chemical fires."

"How does that work?"

"It's a small chunk of burnable material, you set it on fire with a mini stove to cook on top of it. I'll have to pull out a ration with that later." She chews her own food, the pasta I had chosen against.

I look out at the scenery once more, enjoying the peaceful noonday sun and the pleasant, rhythmic clicking of the train rolling over the tracks. "Man, it's almost surreal."

"Hmm? No, chemical fire blocks have been in use for at least seventy years, it shouldn't be weird."

I shake my head. "I mean, how peaceful it is out here. I know that we're going to a combat zone, and we're being chased, and we're on the clock, but right now it seems peaceful."

SV looks off the back of the train, contemplating the scenery.

Probably.

"I suppose." She says doubtfully. I think it's normal for the time between battles to be peaceful, or else it wouldn't be between battles but just a continuation, right?"

"That's certainty a way to look at it." I agree. The bag of food is now in my stomach, so I tuck the trash inside of it like she had told me to and toss it inside the caboose. I'll deal with it later. "I'm gonna take a nap."

"Out here?" SV glances around. "There could be assassins."

"Uh… really?"

"Well, probably not, but I'm pretty sure Paradeus is gonna be after you now. You shouldn't just fall asleep unprotected."

"So I need a bodyguard?"

"Yep!" She stands up. "Let me go get somebody."

"What, you can't do it?" I tease.

"I-I can, but I figured you'd rather have one of your girlfriends."

"I'll have plenty of time with them later." I put the ground beside me. "Let's watch the scenery."

"Okay…" she sits down next to me, a dubious look firmly in place.

With a full stomach and a peaceful view, I feel my eyelids getting heavy and drift off to sleep.

"What have we here?"

My eyes snap open and lock with 45's single eye. She's leaning on the doorframe into the caboose, arms crossed. Behind here, the rest of 404 is standing around, looking at the caboose's interior.

"Afternoon, 45." I try to stretch only to find that one of my arms is trapped by a sleeping SV, who had fallen over onto my shoulder in her sleep. "What's going on?"

"Oh, we're about to have a fight on our hands and you somehow aren't answering your phone."

I blink. "Wait, what?"

416 steps out. "Scouts found some ELID activity on the tracks ahead. We're slowing down so we can deal with them."

Indeed, the train is starting to slow down. It's almost at a stop already, the interval of clacking of the wheels transferring from rail to rail growing larger and larger.

I gently push SV off of me and set her down, standing up and turning fully to the stealth team. "Alright… uh, what are we gonna do, specifically?"

"You're coming with G11 and I." 416 states. "We're going to test out your new gun and clear the tracks."

"Sounds good to me." I enter the caboose and pop open the box of .300 blackout, hurriedly stuffing the rounds into the magazines I had grabbed.

45 grabs one of the rounds and examines it. "Hmm. Subsonic rounds."

"Good for stealth… apparently." I nod without pausing my reloading. "Which is obviously the goal right now."

"Obviously." 45 repeats, setting the round back into the ammo can.

"What are you and 9 going to be doing while the three of us are busy with the zombie apocalypse?" I finish my first magazine and work on the second.

"I'm gonna be breaking into some of those files we got from the device we recovered." 9 finally speaks up. "45 is going to be in the command center doing… something."

I glance at the doll beside me, who only nods.

"Alright." I finish the second magazine and grab the third and final one. If I had known I would need to fire it immediately-

The train, which has been slowing down gradually, suddenly jerks to a halt, ending all forward momentum. Everything loose in the train car shifts forwards a few centimeters, including G11. 416 has to snag her by the collar to keep her from face planting.

"Looks like we're up." 416 sets G11 back on her feet. "Commander, please follow quickly."

"Yeah, working on it." I jam the last round into the magazine and look around the room. I grab the tac vest, toss it on and zip it up, load up the magazines and my pistol, then turn to the last bit of my kit I need before I can head out.

My Linker.

I grab the device and put it on, but I hesitate on hitting the switch for a second.

45 raises an eyebrow after seeing me hesitate. "Hadwin?"

"…it's nothing." I flick the switch.

P90 appears in the car, turns to me questioningly, then finishes reading my mind and disappears to keep my view clear. I plug the wire from the exo into the Linker and the suit wraps around me, locking into place and running a diagnostic.

9 glances at her sister, sighs, and looks at me. "Fine. Hey dumbass? You've got three minutes to get ready."

With those words, she walks forward on the train and slams the door behind her.

"...What was that about?" I wonder aloud.

45's arms snake around my stomach from behind and lock me in place.

Ah.

I place one of my hands on hers, my real flesh on top of her synthetic skin. It's not as warm as a human's should be, but it's not cold either.

I keep the contact for a full minute until 45 suddenly draws back. By the time I've managed to turn around, she's completely back to normal.

"Better hurry." She tosses me my new gun. "It's not like we have all of the time in the world."

"Nope." I load the first magazine into the gun and turn to the back of the caboose. "Good luck with your work."

"Oh, ja, it should be simple. Try not to get eaten."

"Yeah, that would suck."

She heads out into the train as I turn to the back.

On the back, there's a ladder up to the roof. I had seen multiple dolls using it to get around instead of trying to navigate the tight corridors and right now it seems like a better option than trying to navigate the narrow halls.

As I step out onto the back, the train finally lurches to a stop, and SV's eyes snap open. She blinks a few times as she gets her bearings, noting that I'm geared up for a fight.

"...I'll go get my rifle." She heads back inside and deeper into the metal beast.

"Incoming message." P90's voice cuts through my concentration like a knife, almost causing me to smack my hand into the next rung of the ladder. "Commander Gentaine has requested your presence at the front of the train."

"No, really?" I finish my climb and start walking along the roof even as I can see a crowd gathering near the front of the locomotive.

"Really." P90 appears beside me on the rooftop as I start to move, slightly slower than usual to avoid slipping on the slightly rounded surface. "Looks like there's a large hoard of those ELIDs up ahead."

"Wonderful…"

"Could be worse." She shrugs. "Could be Paradeus. Or the KCCO." Her eyes light up. "Oh! It could be a combination of the two. That would really suck."

"Yeah, it would suck, but that's unrealistic-"

"Who are you talking to?" I glance down to see Sop's head poking up from the gap between two cars. As I approach, she hauls herself the rest of the way onto the roof with seemingly no effort, then looks around again.

"I'm talking to the voices in my head." I deadpan, hoping she takes it as a joke.

"Heh, yeah… the Commander wants us up front." Sop points behind herself quite unnecessarily. "Let's go!"

I head after her, jogging across the train cars to keep up.

Three cars from our final destination, a green blob is tossed onto the roof, which then proceeds to grumble a bunch until 416 manages to get herself onto the roof as well, hauling G11 to her feet.

"We will be fighting together, Commander." 416 informs me, one hand on her rifle and the other firmly on G11's collar. "What are your orders?"

"For now, stick with me. I don't know what's going on, so it's not like I can give you anything more concrete."

She nods. "Understood. G11, faules Mädchen, use your own feet for once."

G11 groans, but gathers herself to the point she can stand on her own.

Well, now I have three dolls following me. I continue to the front of the train, only pausing my stride to leap the gaps and look back to make sure G11 isn't left behind.

When we get to the front, the four of us drop down and walk up to where Gentaine is conducting efforts to make a temporary barricade in front of the train. A very temporary barricade. Like, pick it up and move it in a few seconds.

"...How long are we planning to stay here?"

Gentaine hears me talking and turns my way. "Ah, there you are. Ready to get to work?"

I glance ahead of the train but see only a kilometer or two of track before it disappears around a bend. "Yeah, but…"

"The scout buggy is on its way, leading the horde back toward us." Gentaine reads my thoughts easily. "We're going to punch a hole through them. Once the tracks are clear, we're going to get the train moving again. Try not to be late jumping back on the train."

"...Right."

I check my gun has a round chambered, switch it off of safety, and walk toward the defensive line.

A sniper doll I don't recognize sends a small drone up into the air and my Linker starts to get a feed from the drone, a small video stream in the corner of my vision.

The dolls managing the barricades all appear to be holding shotguns. I don't recognize most of them, but I wave or nod to the ones I do until I run into Ithaca. Literally ran into her. I don't know how I missed her with those large-

"Ah, there you are, Commander."

"Hey Ithaca. Ready?"

"Hmm." She looks down the railroad tracks. "I suppose I'm as ready as I can reasonably be expected to be."

"That's… great." I glance at the set of barricades in her hands. "Where's your gun?"

"Ah, see, I believe I told you that I wanted you to hand it back to me. As that has not happened yet, I refrained from attempting to locate it."

I have to stare at her face for a few seconds. "You can't be serious."

"She is." S.A.T. walks up, shoulders sagging. "I've been trying to get her to pick up her own weapon for hours."

"I… fine, let me just-"

"No time." 416 cuts me off.

"It's time, it's time!" Sop bounces from one foot to the other, eyes starting to glow harder and her lips curling back to reveal sharpened teeth. "Let's go!"

I glance back at the road and realize that the video feed is now looking at both the horde and at the train, and I can see the buggy driving away from the ELIDs as fast as it can over the unpaved terrain.

Okay, time to rock.

I step up next to Ithaca, who stretches one of the larger shields she's holding up to cover me. 416 and G11 also stack up on a fallen log off to the side, G11 waking up and readying her namesake as 416 removes her grenade launcher from her bag. Sop just walks a few more paces forward, her eyes staring straight ahead, unwavering.

I level the gun and wait for something to round the corner.

I don't have to wait long, the buggy appears tearing up the ground as the tires churn through the loose soil. At the wheel, a panicking MDR tries to get the careening vehicle under control.

Not far behind her, a bunch of human-like forms clear the corner, running at a startling pace and coming straight for us.

The corner isn't that far ahead, maybe three hundred meters or so, but none of us can fire until MDR gets out of the way.

G11's gun reports, and the ELID closest to the buggy has his head explode like a rotten grape.

416 raises her grenade launcher up, carefully aims and pulls the trigger in a smooth motion, lobbing a grenade up and over the buggy, detonating right behind it and sending a few of the ELIDs into the air in multiple parts.

Sop, not to be outdone, raises the barrel of her rifle and pulls the second trigger on the bottom of the gun to launch a grenade as well. This one impacts one of the larger ELIDs, tearing open its chest and sending it stumbling to the ground.

Sop and 416 exchange looks, Sop slightly triumphant and 416 glowing a bit more than usual.

Emboldened by the others, more of the assault rifle and sniper rifle dolls start to fire away as well, tearing through the enemy vanguard. Still, for every ELID that is felled, another two press forward with hands outstretched to grab and bite.

I step between them and aim a bit away from the incoming buggy. I sight in a few of the ELIDs and pull on the trigger.

First thing to note, there's hardly any recoil. Second thing to note, I'm not a hundred percent certain, but I think my shots went the wrong way.

"Calculating offset." P90's voice chirps in my ear.

"Huh?"

"Fire a few more rounds. I need to figure out how far off your gun is."

"Suits me just fine." I mutter under my breath.

The buggy rips past us, and the hole that the shotguns had allowed the buggy through quickly closes back up.

The machine guns that had gotten themselves a good sightline open up, a cacophony of leaden death sailing downrange to chew at the silificated corpses shambling our way.

I also raise my gun as more and more dolls join in. I pick a target that looks like it's trying to work its way around the fence. I line up the crosshair with its torso, pull the trigger-

All three rounds in the burst pass by the ELID, leaving it unharmed. The one behind it and off to the left though, that one is staggered slightly as my rounds hit the inevitable backstop of more ELIDs.

"Shit."

"Calculated error: 2 meters over a hundred." P90 informs me.

"What does that mean?"

"Aim to the right by a small amount to correct for the poor zero on your gun." A visualization of my intended angle and actual show up in my field of vision, Linker overlaying the info in real time. "Just make sure to adjust so you don't waste ammo."

"Thanks." I sight into the same target as before, move the gun right by a scant few millimeters before actually pulling the trigger, then watching as the bullet hits its mark. Of course, this will be annoying to fire. "Also, just for the record, nobody has had time to zero in this gun so it's not my fault-"

The horde of ELIDs gets to us for real, some of them still wielding guns and forcing us to remain in cover even as the more animalistic of them continue to run at us, gnashing their teeth.

I quickly realize that we're not going to be able to hold the position for long. We only have so many bullets, and we're technically trying to preserve ammo.

I turn back to see Gentaine talking to herself. A second of confusion gives way to the realization that she's talking to Vector, who is holding…

I sprint over, skidding to a stop in front of the two. Vector glances at me silently, while Gentiane's sharp gaze snaps to meet mine. "Yes?"

"Can I borrow that?" I point to the bottle in Vector's hands.

"Why?" Vector's head tilts.

"Cuz I have a plan." I stretch out my hand. "Hopefully, it'll get us through this much faster."

"How stupid is this plan?" Gentiane furrows her brow.

"For you? Should be pretty safe. Just make sure to get onto the train quickly."

They look at each other, then Vector gently places the bottle in my hands. "Do you know how to use this?"

"Set the rag on fire, toss." I grip it securely and start jogging backwards toward the fight.

Back on the front lines, I shoot a few of the ELIDs and crouch down beside 416 and G11. "I have a plan!"

416 lets out a string of curses before ducking behind Ithaca's shields to reload. "Make it quick."

"I firebomb the ELIDs on that side of the train, and we make a big show of it to draw them over into the forest on this side. The fire will keep them from going on the side of the tracks anyway, and we'll be the most attractive target."

"They're not that intelligent." She finishes reloading.

"Then I'll torch the tracks. That will clear the path in front of the train, and it's not like the train can't push through the fire. We'll be shooting them from the side, and that'll solve the problem."

416 hesitates, but nods. "I will assist with the distraction."

"Ithaca?"

The shotgunless doll turns her head.

"When I say, tell everyone to run back to the train and stop firing once you're clear. We're gonna cause a distraction, and you need to get the train moving in that time."

She nods and returns her focus forward.

"We should probably start sooner rather than later." 416 ducks back and reloads once more.

"No time like the present." I pop my rifle up and fire a few rounds, taking the adjustment into account, the molotov I have borrowed from Vector held against the foregrip. "Ithaca-"

The dolls immediately start falling back, still firing.

I run out in front of them, firing wildly with one hand and taking a left hook in front of them, pulling their attention away from the retreating forces.

416 and G11 both follow beside me, also firing into the crowd to pull more of the ELIDs our way.

Still, there's a significant portion of them still heading from the train.

Seeing hundreds of dead eyes focus on me and the feet turn my direction is enough to cause a bit of panic, but I choke it down. I let my gun dangle from its lanyard, grab the molotov and pull the lighter out of my tac vest pocket.

Or, well… I tried.

"SHIT!"

"What?!" G11 startles at my outburst.

"My lighter's gone!"

416 starts swearing even more.

I look back at the train and the few dolls still trying to force the ELIDs off for a few more seconds…

"SOP!"

The blonde's head pivots my way instantly.

"I NEED FIRE!"

She grins, claw sweeping out to gut a nearby ELID, spikes tearing through the hardened silicon shell and knocking it over. Then, she proceeds to start smashing her way through the ELID swarm in my direction.

It's drawing even more ELIDs our way, and I have to reload and start firing while retreating backwards as the murder pup shreds her way over to us.

But, in the end, she gets to me and tosses me a small lighter.

My lighter. Why did-

I thumb the button and an intense flame shoots out, much more powerful than the last time I was playing around with the small device. It sets the rag on fire easily, and the smell of burning gasoline immediately fills my nostrils.

I drop the lighter in surprise, but I'm too busy to try to catch it. Instead, I stop, carefully aim with assistance from my Linker, and toss the bottle.

The molotov soars through the air, slightly off when I was aiming, but close enough. It shatters on the tracks, sending a spray of fire on the ELIDs in the area, who stumble about. They ones not caught in the fire start coming to a halt, trying not to catch fire themselves.

Sop and 416 continue to mow down the ELIDs running for us, and G11 is running sideways, firing her weapon at those closer to the train, drawing even more fire.

"Everyone's aboard aside from you." Gentiane reports. "And the track's almost clear enough to start pushing forward."

"Yeah, get the train moving. We'll-"

I am cut off as an ELID lunges for me and pushes me over. I drop my gun in a panic and grab its arms, keeping its face away from my own, its teeth clacking together as it tries to bite me.

A doll I'm not familiar with tackles the ELID off of me, then brings her gun up to shoot at the other ELIDs trying to get at me as I struggle back to my feet.

She's wearing a bikini top, a skirt, and a jacket. Like 45, but blue-green instead of yellow and no undershirt. Also, bikini top.

"Thanks." I say to the T-doll, looking away at the horde of death instead.

"No problem!" She grins and kicks at the nearest ELID. "Let's go!"

416 fires her pistol into the open mouth of another ELID from point blank range before ejecting another magazine. "I am on my last magazine. We need to get back."

"Yeah, we do." I pick my gun back up from where it dangles at the end of my strap, checking it's intact, then join in firing at the semi-circle of ELID steadily threatening to close in around us. "Sop, you've got a grenade?"

"Yeah!"

"Fire it that way!"

"YEAH!" She aims her gun up and in the direction I had indicated, then pulls the secondary trigger. Her grenade goes up and down quickly blasting a hole between us and the railroad tracks. There's still a curtain of ELIDs between us and the hole, but G11 and 416 fire at the remaining zombies and clear us a space to move.

It's only a few meters, but it's closer.

"KEEP FIRING!" I holler, even as I move a bit closer, the four dolls with me also running.

"DANGER CLOSE!" Sop howls in joy, reloading her launcher faster than I would've thought possible.

Her next grenade punches a hole further forward and the rest of us fire, G11 spinning around like a turret, 416 switching to her pistol completely and taking well aimed shots, the doll I don't recognize keeping them from fully encircling us. I keep my aim at anything too close for comfort,

My gun clicks empty and I have to pull out my handgun as well, unable to reload in the intense firefight.

Another one of Sop's grenades goes off, close enough to feel the heat and have a shard of metal clip my face.

It stings, but I'll deal with it later.

The train is moving now, and it's starting to pass us by. Some of the ELID swarm notices this and starts heading back, but they're kept off by the dolls on the train. Ithaca and S.A.T. are still at the front, keeping the tracks clear of the zombies with well placed shield bashes as it picks up speed.

"Empty!" G11 cries.

416 picks the smaller doll up and continues to fire, keeping the smaller doll out of the line of fire.

I reload slowly, with one hand, using my pistol to buy myself time, then once the pistol runs out switching back to my Honey Badger.

It's my last mag, so I gotta make it count.

The other doll beside me starts firing her gun in a wild fashion, the time for any sort of accuracy gone. She keeps a confident smile on her face even as they press close.

Sop fires one last grenade to open up a path to the still accelerating train. "GO GO GO! WHOOO!"

416 bolts for the train, tossing G11 up and over the railing on one of the cars, the small doll rapidly whisked away as 416 turns around and fires her handgun a few more times.

Sop jumps onto the next car down and clings to the railing one handedly aiming to cover us as us three move closer.

"416, get on-" I start to say, only to have my shirt grabbed by said German, then tossed just as G11 was onto the train.

It takes me a second to find my feet, and by the time I do 416 and the other doll that was with us are both already on the train.

The gunshots slowly die off as the train manages to get through past the horde and the stragglers trying to hold onto the sides are knocked away.

"Phew." I lean on the rail a bit.

Sop leaps along the rails cars and lands beside me, jumping distances I would've been exceptionally concerned about attempting. "We did it!" She wraps her arms around me and laughs. "We did it!"

"We did." I pat her head. "Thanks for those grenades."

"Let's do it again!"

My expression freezes in place a bit, but I'm saved by a hand on my back, pulling me into the train. Then again…

Looking up at the enraged face of RO, I'm not so sure that her pulling me back in was a blessing.

"What the FUCK were you thinking?!" She bellows.

"Wha-"

"You're not a decoy anymore! You're our commander! How are you going to lead us if you continue to do reckless things?"

"But-"

"Next time, tell a doll to do it! We have backups! You're no longer disposable at all, and if you try to do this kind of shit again…" She lets the threat hang in the air.

I pause, glancing around at the other dolls in the room. "Um…"

"RO?" Gentiane pokes her head in. "What's going on?"

RO's hands grip her hair. "He's still being stupid!"

"This time, I brought dolls with me. I didn't go all lone wolf-" I try to defend myself.

"This time, but who knows about next time!" RO spins and pokes me in the chest. "If I have to watch you like a hawk to make sure you don't-"

"Good idea." Gentaine interrupts the doll. "Since you're pretty close to him anyway and can countermand his orders, why don't I just assign you to his command permanently."

RO pauses her rant and turns back to Gentaine.

"After all." The human woman grins. "He's a commander now, so he's not just supposed to be working with dolls. He's supposed to be in charge of them."

MDR is standing there with her phone out. Which means, she's livestreaming this. Which means-

There are loud footsteps and startled cries of other dolls as someone rushes to the room. 416 bursts into the room, grabs my face and pulls me into a kiss.

I barely have time to realize what's going on before she breaks the contact and glares at the other dolls in the room, including AR-15 and SV-98. "My commander. Mine."

15's voice seems locked in her throat, but she gets a few angry squeaks out before the rest of the room bursts into chaos, word spreading to the rest of the train that I will need my own echelons soon. Those dolls that are already close to me rush to join the already cacophonous roar of dolls trying to yell over each other in the small train car.

In the background, Gentaine doubles over with laughter.

A few hours later, I've both gone to supper which was just another MRE and the strategy session that 11-1 had invited me to earlier. Dinner was okay, the strategy session was chaos as the main point was lost after Gentaine's announcement.

I've decided to turn in a bit early in part due to her words. Lying in bed, currently alone in the caboose. I know 15 is on her way soon, but in the meantime I'm looking at my laptop. Gentaine told me to look through the list of dolls that had volunteered to work under my command.

And I tried. I really did.

The problem is that there's at least sixty dolls that want a chance. I looked through them for a bit, but eventually gave up. I'll just pick the girls of Echelon 11 again. It's got a little bit of everything between the twenty or so members, so I should be fine. They probably know how to work better together with each other than I could possibly assign at this point.

I did end up finding out who it was that had come to my rescue out in the forest earlier. Honey Badger herself, constantly dressed in only a bikini top and a short skirt, greenish gray hair tied up in a knot and a cocky grin on her face.

Now I get why Kalina thought me in Badger's attire was funny.

I'm never gonna wear a bikini, but it would be funny.

Kinda.

Still, now I want to know why she just showed up out of the blue after I picked up the rifle for myself. It's too much of a coincidence for that to have just happened.

"Maybe Kalina told her?"

I glance at P90, who appears to be sitting at the end of the bed. I had turned her on to assist with unit selection, though her advice hadn't been that great.

"Maybe." I close the laptop and flop down on the unfolded couch-bed, looking up at the ceiling. "So."

"Hmm?" Her face- her borrowed face- peeks into my line of sight.

"I want to know what you are." I stare at its eyes. "No bullshit."

She tilts her head. "Would you be able to tell if I was bullshitting you?"

"No." I close my eyes. "But at least give me something that sounds reasonable."

She sighs. "Well… Look, I don't know everything. I only woke up back in that city."

"How do you have P90's form?"

"...It's part of my core programming." I open my eyes, but P90's face looks confused. "I have default parameters for behavior, and they describe this form and this personality. I'm not sure how they got in here, honestly."

"...Fair enough." I sit back up and look at P90, who for her part remains still so I can. "So you just… woke up and decided to help?"

"Well… yeah? I figured that you could use my help too, but every time I tried, your brain activity started to get erratic. I had to try slowly because every time I pushed, your thoughts started to get all messy."

"...Is that so."

"Yep. But, when you were panicking, I felt I had no choice but to give you a hand. So, I popped in."

"Which is why I saw you a few times."

"Yep!" She beams. "And now you're used to me enough that I can just hang around. It's nice, I get someone to talk to."

"M16 said that you can manipulate my thoughts."

Her face falls. "Yeah, I can. But, I'm not going to. Look," She crosses her arms. "I could probably rewrite your head so that I'm your favorite person on the planet. I could make it so you never questioned me and did as I asked. The only reason you can still be suspicious of me is because I decided not to interfere with your head as much as possible."

"...Why?"

She snorts. "What, and be all alone? It's boring not having someone to talk to. If I overwrite your head, it'll be worse, I know it. Besides, it's fun to see how your life pans out."

"Gee, thanks."

She grins. "You're welcome. In any case, please make sure to heed M16's worries. She's not wrong, I can overwrite you. Just only use me in combat."

Thoughts whirl in my head, wondering if this is genuine or a calculated ploy to make me trust her. Then, I recall that she can basically read my mind and decide that this is a fruitless thing to worry about.

There comes a knock on my door and P90 salutes before fading away. I carefully turn off the device, pull it over my head and set it aside before calling out. "Come in."

15's head pokes in, a faint blush on her face. "Are you alone?"

"Yep." I slide my legs over the side of the bed to face her. "What's up?"

She steps into the room cautiously-

She's wearing a fluffy robe.

My brain stop thinking about dumb things like "Mind controlling AI" and "Potential suicide mission" and starts wondering what the hell she's doing. It's… not hard to guess, but my brain keeps checking itself just in case.

"Um…" She steps inside, closing the door behind her. "You said we could sleep together."

"I did." I tear my eyes away from her blushing face and stare out the back of the train, the darkness beyond the windows impenetrable and honestly just acting like a mirror back inside the train car, 15's luminous blush still visible against the inky darkness.

Solution: Lie down. I stare up at the ceiling. "Alright, hit the light and we can drop off."

She flicks off the light, and I wait until I feel the bed move as she slides on.

Weird. This isn't the first time we've been in the same bed. She's sometimes been wearing less than this, and sometimes 416 would as well…

'Course, this is the only time I've been nervous. Something about the atmosphere and just how shy she's being, it seems like she's bracing for something major which is putting me on edge as well.

Gentaine's words about not regretting what little time we're guaranteed to have left rings in my ears and I resolve myself with the words "Whatever happens, happens."

I turn to face 15, my Star. She's lying down beside me, her glowing pink eyes flicking around slightly.

"Hey."

"Hi." Her voice is quiet.

I reach out and lay my arms on hers. She jumps slightly, but doesn't try to shake me off.

"Are… you okay?" I wince as my voice cracks, but press on.

"I'm… I'm okay." Her arm reached out and plants on my chest. "It's not like we haven't been in this situation before."

"Yeah…" I swallow, then reach out and pull her closer to me, hugging her tightly.

She doesn't resist at all, rather pulling herself closer of her own volition. Her head tucks into my chest, and I can feel myself relaxing.

This is fine.

If we could stay like this, the gentle rocking and clicking of the train, and nobody around to harass us… that would be perfect.

And so the two of us drift off to sleep…

Yeah right.

The door bursts open, and the light flicked on with remarkable speed.

I turn over to see a few more dolls in the door.

416 I kinda expected, as she is the most forward and had indeed led the charge. She's wearing the nightgown she usually wears to bed… and isn't it kinda weird for that to be a thing I know?

Behind her is RO, 45, Aleah, and somewhat to my surprise, S.A.T. They're all wearing the same things they usually wear aside from S.A.T. since I've not seen her in bed before.

Her fuzzy footie pajamas are cute though.

"Uh-"

416 spends no time wasting around, walking right over to the bed and sitting on the opposite side of me from 15.

"She insisted~" 45 sing songs. "We had no choice but to come to make sure you survive the experience."

I glare at her, but don't have much impact behind it when RO nods in confirmation and tosses two of the inflatable beds we bought back in Sector 3 and the floor where Aleah starts to unpack them and get them inflated.

"I was trying to have a moment." I protest weakly.

"Well, now your moment involves us." S.A.T. sits herself down in the corner.

I glance at 15. With the light back on, I can see her furious blush.

Carefully, I mouth the words 'do you want me to insist they leave?'

She shakes her head. "It's fine."

I nod and lay back down, only to have two acid green eyes fill my view. "You are my commander."

I think that title belongs to 45, but-

She leans down and once more kisses me, without grabbing my face for once. It doesn't last that long, 416 breaking contact after a second and sitting back down on her haunches.

15 sits upright. "Hey."

416 glares back, eyes narrowing.

RO hits the light switch and suddenly I go from seeing six dolls to five sets of eyes and 45's singular eye glowing in the dark. "Alright, before we start anything dumb, we're going to bed. S.A.T., are you sure you're comfortable?"

"I am." S.A.T. assures. "Though a blanket would be nice."

RO tosses a blanket in her direction, before laying another one out on each of the inflatable beds. "Aleah and I will share one, 45-"

"I'm good." 45 sits on the edge of the bed. "I have a spot."

"Bed's kind of full." Aleah notes from her position on the inflatable on the floor.

"Nein, there is a spot." She turns, and I feel a cold metal hand and her flesh covered right hand pull on my clothes, pulling her smaller frame up on top of me. "See?"

RO looks at me, now pinned on all sides by dolls. "Is this…?"

"It's okay."

And to my surprise, it actually is.

Each of the three bodies touching me are people I love, or at least have strong feelings for. The rest of the women in the room are either trusted companions or… well, RO. I'm still confused by RO, which is probably a bad sign.

Whatever.

I close my eyes and let sleep come for me, surrounded by those I care about.

My last thought before drifting off was that in the end, I made the right choice to stay. Wherever we go, we'll be together.

Author's note: Uh, Hi?

I wasn't planning on continuing the series. My head went into a bad place in early July and resulted in me just absolutely hating Field Agent and everything around it. I wanted it erased from existence, and had to be convinced to keep it up. I still hate certain aspects, but that's mostly better now.

After a bit of time to get my head in order, I sat down and allowed myself to try to write, no pressure, and it worked. Words started to flow again, but it took two months to get to this point. I'm taking it slowly on purpose, to not burn myself out.

I wasn't ever planning on coming back to this, and yet here I am. I have to thank the community for tolerating me turning into a headcase for a few weeks, and my fellow authors and Beta for telling me to stop being an idiot AND letting me have the space I needed, somehow both at once.

We're moving into the final bits of the story, so hopefully it will be entertaining.