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.

40. Chapter 40: Last Stop

Four handgun magazines. Six mags full of .300 blackout. Firearms both cleaned and checked. Exo suit at one-hundred percent.

My own battery… over ninety-five percent.

"Would you please stop with the fidgeting? It's starting to get on my nerves."

I glance over at Groza, the prim doll sitting quietly in the preparation room. "...Sorry."

"I understand that you're nervous. We all are."

"Mmm." I resist the urge to pull back on the bolt of my Honey Badger once more. It cycles properly, I had Sop check it before she and the rest of Anti-Rain went off to prepare for their own mission.

Anti-Rain is tasked with heading to the shore based guns on the north side of the base, and I'll have to hope they can get there pretty quickly. They're taking the last remaining buggy we have, the only one we were able to salvage from our original train.

Meanwhile, 404 is heading to the wall to secure it and open the quarantine door, so we can get the train into the base.

According to Gentaine, who got a bunch of very secret phone calls that 45 was definitely not listening in on and also not sharing with me, we're actually being sanctioned by the Russian military. The KCCO isn't part of that anymore… apparently. So, we're supposed to be going in and drawing the KCCO in like bait so the main force can swoop in and crush them.

Our actual objective past that is to make sure the KCCO can't activate this Starfish thing, which is a special Pike Node or… something. I have to admit, I lost interest after I was told that we just need to keep the KCCO from reaching the Starfish. I don't care what it does, it's a world ending calamity, yadda-yadda. If we fail, I won't be around to realize it.

…Maybe I should've paid more attention, but I don't think I'd be able to function if I did.

"I believe I asked you to stop that." Groza stresses her words.

"Ah, right." I let the weapon drop out of my sling so I stop fiddling with it and cross my arms. "Hey, what's that on your hand?"

She holds up her hand and looks at the dull metal-

I frown. "Is that a nut?"

"It is." Groza turns her hand so I can see it even better. Indeed, she has a metal fastener on her finger. It looks like it was hollowed out to make room for her finger. I mean, maybe it's screwed on, but the skin around the finger is clean so I doubt it. "AEK gave it to me."

"Really now?"

"Yes." Groza's cheeks color slightly. "She came up to me last night, and she was so adorable when she asked me out."

"I didn't hear about this." Honey Badger pokes her head out from between the shelves. "Give me the details!"

Groza's face lights up into a wonderful smile as she talks about AEK. "She pulled me aside before we got back on the train last night, and I think she managed to say every word at least twice with how much she was stuttering and restarting her sentences. In the end, she just gave up and pushed this ring in front of my face."

"Romantic." P90 mutters in my head.

Groza continues regardless of my mind parasite's commentary. "She was forced to leave her motorcycle behind, and she pulled this nut off of the front cowling, shined it up, and brought it to me."

"...How late did you two go to bed?" I wonder. "AEK was out riding until pretty late."

"It was fairly late, yes." Groza looks at me. "But I am glad she approached me. I had no idea she felt that way!"

Honey Badger's face screws up. "Uh… it was pretty obvious if you spent any amount of time in the meeting area in Level 2."

"In any case, I'm glad she managed to convey her feelings." I look back down at the ring. "I know I said she should make it a bit rougher to match her style, but that's literally just a motorcycle part."

"Her bike is one of her most prized possessions." Groza sits up and tilts her head back so she's looking down at me. "And she is entrusting me with an essential part of her beloved bike."

"Fair enough." I raise my hands in surrender. "As long as you two are happy, I've got no qualms."

Honey Badger nods. "Totally. Hey, didja hear about-"

The train's brakes engage, and we're all left trying to stay upright.

"Hadwin Galanis, report to the main operations room." Kalina's voice reaches my head via my embedded Linker and cuts off before I can respond.

I pinch my eyes closed for a second before standing up. "Thanks for the conversation… You've heard the plan?"

Groza nods. "I'm on the southern flank."

"I'm gonna be in the north." Badger smirks. "See you on the other side, Commander."

"...Be safe out there." I leave them with those words, and hope that next time I see them they'll remember those words.

I push toward the front of the train, stopping about six cars behind the main one where the command center has been set up.

Inside, All three of the other commanders and Kalina are nervously standing around the table in the center with the overhead view of the area. All the other humans were dropped off when we were stopped, not that I was made aware. No doctors, no mechanics, nobody else but us five.

We stopped a good few kilometers away from the quarantine wall, parked on the narrowest part of the land the train will be on, close to a lake on one side and with the Baltic Sea to the north. Dolls are already heading out to start digging in to prepare for the worst part of this entire plan.

Every single doll that isn't Anti-Rain, 404, Dandelion, or Aleah is being deployed to either the north or south of the train, and our only goal is to delay the KCCO train behind us long enough for 404 to secure the quarantine wall and open the gate for us. Anti-Rain and 404 have separate missions, I'm in charge of guarding Dandelion, and Aleah has been put in charge of guarding me.

Gentaine hardly looks in my direction as I enter. "We can buy you thirty minutes, but that's optimistic. As soon as you're ready, get going."

"Ja, we're off."

I look down at the table and see a small representation of 45 moving toward the quarantine wall on foot. Further away, headed for the northern side of the base, Anti-rain can be seen rocketing away in the buggy.

"Did you say your goodbyes?" The words themselves aren't that bad, but paired with the almost sing-song tone in her voice…

I glare at the black haired Nyto that had joined us. "...Yes."

"Good." She has a small, infuriating smile on her lips. She has M4's face, so why is her personality so-

"We've got a message from DEFY." Gentaine interrupts my thoughts. "Looks like RPK and AK-15 are holding in the quarantine wall." She hesitates. "Though, I have to wonder why Ange wasn't able to send the message herself."

My ears perk up. "I thought she was alright?"

"She was up until a day ago." Kylie frowns. "Then she started to see some Sangvis units around, and stopped radioing in."

"Do you think this is a trap?" Mikhail narrows his eyes. "If Sangivs got there first and managed to kill them-"

"They're alive." Gentaine cuts him off. "They're too competent to die like that." Regardless, her frown doesn't go away. "I am concerned that something isn't right."

Kalina fidgets with the edge of her datapad. "Uh, Commander?"

Gentaine turns to our logistics officer. "Yes?"

"Are you sure we should hold here? I know that this is more defensible, but…"

"We've got no choice." Gentiane shakes her head. "If we leave here, we can't hold back the KCCO for any length of time, and we desperately need all the time we can get."

Kalina nods, her knuckles white as the grip on her datapad increases.

I look back down at the table as the rest of the people in the room remain busy, directing dolls this way and that to set up the formations on either side. There's no cover out there, aside from what sandbags can be put in front of hastily dug trenches, and sporadic minefields being laid by dedicated minelaying bots are one of the few things stopping an advance. Behind the train, a hazard area is marked where explosives ready to blow the train tracks have been placed.

"We've got movement." A doll who I don't particularly recognize calls over the radio, and all of sudden everyone is focused on the table in front of us. "Looks like a scouting party."

"Don't engage just yet. Wait until you can ambush them." Gentiane calls back.

I lick my lips and look around the room, eyes landing on Aleah as she checks the Negev machine gun she had been handed for the operation. Her eyes meet mine and a small smile crosses her lips.

I take a deep breath and look back down at the table where a bunch of red dots are approaching our front line.

"Classic pincer." Gentiane mutters. "Half go north, half go south, and meet in the middle where we're trapped."

"Only if 404 can't get the wall open." Mikhail shrugs.

We watch the incoming marks for a bit, approaching both the north and south lines we've decided to hold.

"...Why did they stop?" I ask, after realizing the dots hadn't moved through a refresh cycle on the map.

"I… don't know." Kylie's brow knits. "Did they spot us?"

"We're not exactly hidden." Mikhail points out. "They've probably seen out fortifications-"

The train rocks as a loud explosion detonates somewhere in the distance.

"Teams G3, G4 and G7 are wiped out!" A doll's voice, now filled with panic. "They're using their cannons!"

"Move to-" Gentaine starts, only for another explosion to go off.

Then another.

And then all hell breaks loose, cannonfire absolutely slamming the countryside all around us. The train vibrates with each hit, and the map flickers each time one of the shells hits the train's shield. I can only watch in horror as the video feed from one of the dolls outside the train displays the absolutely overwhelming barrage of fire from the other military train, incessantly pounding every scrap of land into craters.

"More contacts!" someone else shouts, and I see that the North side is seeing the ground units starting to move in, dolls engaging with the scouting group even as the enemy's cannons start to fire all up and down the line once more.

After the longest thirty seconds of my life, the shaking stops.

"What the fuck-"

"That was only an opening barrage." Mikahil grimaces. "It was meant to soften us up a bit."

"It did that." Gentiane snaps. "Status report!"

The three commanders start managing the hundred of dolls, ordering them to move around to more defensible positions or to wait and ambush some of the KCCO as they advance. They are advancing, now that the initial bombardment has passed.

On the screen in front of me, the dots indicating dolls are steadily winking out.

I…

I'm not cut out for this.

I'm a commander. Yes, it's really just a title given to me because of Gentaine's machinations, but right now I hold the same title as the three people desperately scanning the map and ordering dolls around at lightning speeds, yet I can't do anything to help.

I'm just standing here, gun in hand like an idiot as the dolls die.

Dots on the map wink out on both sides, but even I can tell that this can't possibly last thirty minutes. We're going to be overrun long before then at this pace.

I can feel the plastic grip in my hand warp as I unconsciously clench my metal fist.

"Commander."

"45?" I jerk upright and respond to her. "S-status?"

"We've reached the quarantine wall and made it inside… There's a lot of dead Paradeus and Sangvis in here."

"It's like a graveyard." 416 comments.

"T-they're not gonna come back to life, right?" G11 whines. "It's just like a zombie movie in here-"

45 ignores the small doll's worries and talks over her. "I will be going dark for the time being though, since I'm starting to get some interference."

"...What kind of interference?" I ask quietly.

"It feels… like Dandelion." 45 says.

I shoot the Nyto a murderous look, and she just looks back at me blankly. "I'll kill-"

"It's not her." 45 corrects me immediately. "Like her, but not. I think I might have an idea of who it is though."

"Oh?"

"...I'll let you know if I'm right. For now, we're going dark."

"Good luck."

"Of course, commander." 416 ends the conversation.

Dandelion walks closer to me. "404's inside the wall?"

"Seems like it." I mutter.

Dandelion pauses for a second, then continues to talk. "It seems like the KCCO were prepared to be hacked. All of the units that I've managed to take control of have been quickly dispatched by human personnel inside the formation."

"Wonderful." Kylie sighs.

Dandelion jerks upright, then heads to one of the sparse windows on the train and looks up.

"What is it?" Kalina asks, also looking up before gasping.

We all crowd the window, and looking up into the sky…

A blue, shimmering haze in the sky. Like an aurora, but during the day and bright blue instead of green, it waves and dances slowly with the wind, pulsing over the submarine base.

"What the hell-"

"Is it already active?" Gentaine asks nobody in particular. "How? Nobody's been here yet-"

"ANOTHER BARRAGE! HEADS DO-"

The comm transmission is cut off in a burst of static as more of our dolls disappear from the map. We all scramble away from the windows and back to the tactical map, eyes scanning to get a read on the situation.

Dandelion blinks. "They're jamming comms."

"What?!" Gentaine rounds on the black haired doll-human hybrid… person. "Can you connect back to them?!"

"Right now, I'm having trouble just keeping the Zener network intact. I will keep you updated."

"FUCK!" Gentiane slams her fist on the table.

Outside, the barrage continues, and continues, and continues. The train shakes so much I wonder if I'll ever stop shaking, and the ground outside is turned from land reclaimed by nature to nothing but mud and dirt, seemingly nothing being spared in the near constant impacts from the enemy train.

Watching this happen, I can tell that the KCCO are focusing their firepower on the south side, their foot units moving forward inexorably even as the cannonfire rains down, seemingly unafraid of their own fire.

On the screen, the dolls are retreating at a steady pace, but with every movement they lose more and more units. The dummy links are positioned in front, but that's hardly anything to an incoming mortar round.

"...We're not going to last thirty minutes." Gentiane states, though she can hardly be heard over the incessant incoming fire. "At this rate, we're not going to even last ten."

"South side, any dolls that can hear this," Kylie presses her earpiece to her ear to hear better. "If you're down but not out, prepare to ambush the KCCO as they walk past! Wait until you're among them."

We don't get anything back, but some of our dots change how they're moving.

Then, they're surrounded and the lights wink out.

Aleah steps up beside me. "They have backups."

"...I know." I wipe my lip from where I had chewed another wound into the soft tissue. "I know."

She places a hand on my shoulder, and I try to calm myself down.

Getting mad here won't help anything.

"...75% losses on the south side." Kalina reports after a few more minutes.

Seventy-five?! That's… three out of every four dolls we sent out there. The number repeats in my head a few times, only Aleah's tightening grip on my shoulder keeps me grounded, the fingers starting to dig into my shoulder quite painfully by the time the KCCO's incoming fire mission finally stops.

It had to have been at least ten minutes straight of the enemy firing shells constantly in our direction.

I don't get a chance to breathe though. As soon as the pounding on the south side stops, it picks up on the north, somehow even harder.

I can only watch as the north side, which hadn't been going well but hadn't been going anywhere as poorly as the south front, just melts under the sheer volume of fire.

Nobody in the train car utters so much as a word as we watch our forces completely decimated, dolls falling faster than the telemetry can keep up.

My stomach twists. We can't do anything about this, can we.

"Ei-eighty-five…" Kalina starts to shake. "T-the North side…"

"Comms are back." Dandelion interrupts.

"Tell both teams to retreat at once!" Gentiane cries out. "Get them under the train's shield as fast as possible!" She turns to Mikhail. "Fire a volley back at them."

Mikhail hesitates a moment but nods.

Seconds later, the train rocks as our own cannons fire back at the KCCO, though not all of ours are working… and we don't have much ammo… and there's only one train on our side.

I can't bear to look at the map as more and more of our dolls fall to the gunfire from the enemy. Some of the names I know, some of them I don't, but all the same…

It feels like my heart is being shredded with each incoming shell.

After only another minute or two, the bombardment stops once more, and this time it stays quiet.

Most of the dolls left standing are inside the shield of the train or fast approaching at this point… though, the number of dolls has been cut from hundreds to only a few dozen, not counting dummy links.

"Incoming transmission, open channel." Kalina says. "Here-"

An older looking man with white hair shows up on the screen. "Good afternoon, commander Gentiane. Would you like to surrender?"

Everyone looks at Gentaine.

Her mouth opens and closes a few times, eyes glazing over as the realization of just how fucked we are hits.

"Hadwin." a voice buzzes in my ear.

"45?"

"We've got control of the wall. Door's opening."

I look over at Gentaine and the other commanders, who obviously also heard the message.

Kylie wastes no time. "All units! Get on the train and brace, we are LEAVING!"

Gentiane turns back to the man. "Fuck you."

"So be it." The man disappears, and the KCCO around the train once more opens fire in earnest, hammering the train and its shield from the front and sides.

"How long until everyone is on board?" Gentiane demands.

"Thirty seconds!" Kylie watches the screen closely.

"Fire the rest of our ammo!" Gentaine orders, and Mikhail gets right to it. "We're gonna make sure these bastards regret giving us even a bit of leniency!"

"Hmm? Is this a direct link with Hadwin?"

I shudder at RPK's voice. "Y-yes. What-"

"I asked 45 for authorization to use this channel. I wanted to let you know that there's a small hole in the north side of the wall that 15 and I just spotted. You might want to consider that the KCCO might already be inside the walls."

"...Wonderful." I mutter.

"I have relayed the message." Dandelion announces. "Anti-Rain is under fire, but they are making good progress."

"Understood."

"Everyone's onboard!" Kylie announces.

"Everybody get yourself strapped down!" Gentaine announces. "This is gonna be bumpy!"

"We're doing that-?" Kalina's eyes go wide even as she scrambles for one of the seats.

"Yep." Gentiane's mouth sets into a grim line. "Time to prove that we're not going to back out."

"If only because we've got no option to." Mikhail grumbles.

I get myself strapped into a seat just as the train suddenly lurches forward, wheels screeching as some of them lose traction and slip, metal grinding on metal.

Outside, the explosives on the tracks are detonated, shaking the train a bit.

The scenery outside the window, or what little of the scenery that's left after the bombardments, starts to pass by faster and faster, and I start to wonder how fast we're going.

P90 helpfully pops up a number.

100 kilometers an hour and climbing. We started only five kilometers away…

"Are we going to be able to stop in time?" I ask.

"Oh, we'll stop alright." Gentaine states.

I look over at the map P90 is tracing in my vision, and our speed-

Oh.

We're going to hit the wall at speed.

The gates are open, the track curving into the base at an algae that should be easy to navigate, but at this speed…

"BRACE!"

I tuck myself down and squeeze my eyes shut.

The world lurches as the train's wheels buck the tracks and we go careening into the base, the train bunching up and twisting as it gets stuck in the entrance to the base.

The metal of the train twists and buckles with horrifying shrieks all around me, anything not tied down and several things that weren't tied down well enough go crashing around the cabin. The panels of the armor strain and rend, opening the train to the outside air which rapidly fills with the smell of metal and oil. The electricity cuts out, leaving the tears and windows as our only source of light.

It takes me a few seconds to realize we had come to a stop, brain still trying to reconcile with the violent crash. In that time, Aleah and Dandelion both are unhooked and moving around.

"Everyone okay?" Gentaine yells.

"I'm good!" Mikhail shouts back.

"Alive!" That's Kalina.

Aleah scans me with her eyes before turning to the side. "Hadwin's alright!"

I shake my head to clear out the haze and start to fumble with my restraints.

"Kylie?" Gentaine calls out.

No response.

I turn to the woman buckled up beside me, and see that she's completely limp, blood dripping from her head.

"SHIT! She's hurt!" I call out. "Aleah-"

Aleah immediately steps to the side and starts to examine Kylie, hand reaching up to push her head up and look at her eyes. "Looks like she's been knocked out."

"Aleah, grab her." Gentaine states. "Everyone else, we're on the clock!"

Aleah looks my way for confirmation and I just nod quickly. Now's not the time to be contradicting Gentaine's orders. I manage to get my belts removed and stand up, locating Dandelion next to Kalina and walking over to her.

"Okay, we need to get the rest of the explosives rigged onto this train." Gentaine looks around. "Hadwin, I know I told you to stick with Dandelion, but can you try to get through the train and tell the dolls to start planting the explosives around. We've got to make damn sure that those KCCO bastards can't follow us that easily."

"...Got it." I hesitate a bit, but recognize the urgency of the situation.

"I'll go with him." Dandelion says.

I glance at her, but she's keeping her gaze on Gentaine.

"...Okay, but don't do anything stupid."

Without waiting around for anything, I turn and make for the door out of the train cabin.

"Hadwin, should I follow you?" Aleah calls out as I get to the door.

The door is jammed closed, the metal having warped a bit. I grab the edge and start to pull, the exo suit allowing me to start to bend it further out of the way. "No, just make sure Kylie isn't left behind." My jaw clenches as my muscles start to scream even under the reinforcement from the exo.

"Understood. Be careful out there."

The door finally snaps, and I stagger a few steps back before I can get my legs back under myself. "R-right, you too." I look around and nod to the others before heading out into the rest of the train.

The hallway is twisted beyond recognition, the floor now ramping up to the sky, the door fallen off to let the outside in.

"Hmm."

I look back at Dandelion as I scramble on all fours up to the door frame. "What's up?"

"Looks like Lunasia and her team have arrived at the shore guns." Dandelion purses her lips. "The KCCO are still on her heels though."

"Lunasia?"

"You would know her as M4A1."

"Uh… okay…" I manage to hook my fingers onto what used to be the door sill and then reach down to grab onto Dandelion. "Does she know you're sharing her real name around?"

"That is her name." Dandelion grabs my arm and hauls herself up, stepping out onto the top of another train car. "She may not remember it well, but that is her name."

Okay, this Nyto is crazy. Let's not question her words without an interpreter handy.

I follow Dandelion onto the roof, looking around to see a bunch of dolls coming out of another train car.

"Yo!" I call out, waving my arms. "Er, MP40 right?"

MP40 nods. "Ja, Kommandir."

"Send a message to the rest of the dolls, we're gonna blow up the train."

She tilts her head. "We are?"

"Apparently." I hop onto the next train car closer to her, careful to keep my footing on the twisted metal roofing. "We're going to keep the KCCO out with this."

"Understood, commander." She turns to look down into the train car she's standing upon. "New orders, frauleins!"

I take a moment to look at the destruction around us, and I can't avoid letting out a low whistle. We've managed to block the entrance well and good. Though, I can see the other train approaching if I look out into the distance, the large for getting closer and closer.

"We'd better hurry." I mutter to nobody in particular.

"What?" Dandelion stops moving. "Oh dear."

"W-what?"

Dandelion turns to point at a location inside the base's walls.

My eyes go wide at the sheer size of the shore guns. They're not close to us, yet I can tell they easily dwarf the train. I can see them starting to move, rotating around…

"...Why are they turning this way?"

"Looks like they were too late." Dandelion states.

"GET OFF THE TRAIN!" P90 yells, and I can see some of the dolls further down the train also jerk their heads. "INCOMING!"

I grab Dandelion's arm and pull her with me as I sprint for the edge of the roof, dragging the woman over the side of the train car just as a large sound in the distance reaches us.

Moments later, a shell slams down on the now unshielded train.

My ears instantly become useless, the ringing so loud that I can barely think. Fire starts to spread around, and secondary explosions from various points on the train start to go off, rocking me around and sending shards of metal up into the air.

"Commander!" Several voices call over the Linker, only audible as it bypasses my eardrums.

"Status!" Mikhail roars over the comm unit.

"I'm okay." I manage to get to my hands and knees. "Dandelion is…" I look around, but I don't see her.

"I am fine." She reports over the radio.

Several more dolls report in, but I'm too focused on getting myself to my feet amid the flaming debris crashing down around me to actually count them.

I do realize that the number of dolls reporting in is way too little.

"No more?" Mikhail asks with a grim tone. After a short pause, he continues. "Well… shit. I need a few dolls to come here and see if we can get Gentaine out of the train."

"What do you mean?" I ask.

"I don't know where she is. I was thrown clear in the blast."

"One our way."

Oh, that last voice was Springfield.

I look at the projection of P90 standing off to the side, looking around pensively. "Is Aleah okay?"

"I can still sense her online, so…" P90 licks her lips nervously and pops up a map of the area with approximate locations of all dolls and personnel amid the wreckage. "Probably. The Zener network is barely holding together at this point."

"FUCK!" I slam my hand into the metal of the train, which does nothing productive. "Okay, point me to where…" I stop mid sentence as I notice a dot on the map. "Dandelion?"

"Yes?"

"Where are you going?"

"I am going to help Lunasia." She states. "You should just go back and help the other Commanders."

"That's not the plan." I silently ask P90 to run an exo suit integrity check and start walking in her direction. "I'm supposed to be keeping you safe."

"I can handle myself. Besides, you aren't likely to be able to catch up."

"Dandelion!"

"Go back to the other commanders." She insists, and then the connection drops.

"Mother FUCKER!" I scream. "She's just doing her own fucking thing, with everyone's backups!"

P90 folds her arms. "Well… I guess we should just go help the other commanders."

"No, I have to go after Dandelion!" I snarl. "I'm not risking those backups if I can help it!"

Aleah's face appears in my field of vision. "Hadwin… as much as I understand, we need you here."

"..." I look the projected doll in the eyes for a few seconds, weighing my choices. "FUCK!"

P90 starts running beside me as I attempt to locate a way around the wrecked train. "We'll keep an eye on her, and… well, she is heading toward Anti-Rain."

"Of course." I spit out. "So I should just stop worrying."

"No… but her chances aren't much better with us anyway."

"Why not?"

I round the corner and get my answer.

Inside the wall, there's a bunch of dolls, dummies, and two people prone on the ground. Kylie and Gentiane. Gentaine is being treated by Kalina, and Aleah is currently attending to Kylie.

There's… not a lot of dolls left. Maybe four dozen, not including dummies.

We started with over four hundred.

This is all we have left?

"Worse." P90 grimaces. "They're borrowing dummies."

"...How?"

"It requires a lot of processing power, but it's worth it right now."

"...Alright." I take a deep breath and continue forward.

Ithaca turns and gives me a short wave.

I jog up to her. "Hey Ithaca."

"Good evening, Commander." She looks around. "It appears none of my squad mates are left."

A twinge hits my heart. "R-right."

"If you do not mind, I would very much like to stay by your side to protect you."

"...Got it." I look around at the assembled dolls. "P90, show me which dolls are active and not just dummies."

P90 quickly gathers me a list.

20 dolls. Of the ones I know, there's Ithaca, Aleah, SV-98, Tokarev, Honey Badger, and Springfield. The rest are labeled with names as I look over them. INSAS, Webley, M82, SF-05, M1918, Garand, Type 88, M1014, M9, M14, Mk48, Type 97, Gr G28, and Spitfire.

None of them are intact, currently bodging repairs and checking ammo all around.

"Hadwin?" I turn to see Commander Mikhail. "Oh, thank god. I need you to get everyone organized while I get Gentaine up to speed."

A nearby train car suddenly explodes, all parties ducking down to try to avoid the blast.

"Okay, good luck with that." I nod. "All dolls! To me! Aleah, you keep attending to Kylie!"

The other 19 dolls all trudge up to me.

"...Er… I've only met some of you briefly, or not at all, so I'm going to reintroduce myself. I'm Hadwin."

"Trust me, we know you." M1918 sighs. "It's all a bunch of those dolls-" she points to SV-98 and Tokarev's group. "-talk about on Level 2."

"Fair, I guess. Anyway… We have a lot of snipers." I look around. "SV, Tokarev, you two work with M14, Springfield and M9 in Echelon 1. Garand, Type 88, Webley, Gr G28, and Spitfire, you five are Echelon 2. CF-05, Honey Badger, M82, Type 97 and INSAS you're Echelon 3. Ithaca, M1918, Mk48, M1014, and Aleah are Echelon 4."

The dolls sort themselves by the assigned groups.

"Uh… let's see." I watch as ammo counts appear in my HUD as the assembled dolls continue to check ammo and functionality. "Echelon 4, I want you in charge of escorting the commanders and wounded. Echelon 1 and 2, you're to fire on the run, shooting anything you can take down. Echelon 3, you guys are gonna have to do some hit and run type stuff."

All four groups nod as they receive orders.

I look over at where Gentiane and Kylie are resting, and to my relief, Gentaine is sitting up, though her eyes seem unfocused.

I walk up to them, about to mention the state of the troops, when…

"Commander…" Kalina's voice is choked as tears fall off her face onto Gentaine's. "Have we lost?"

All of the chatter in the camp dies immediately.

Gentiane looks around at the few dolls and dummies we have left, then at Kylie unconscious beside her, then back at the burning train.

"We…" She mutters. "We have…"

"Commander." M4's voice cuts through the air. "Sorry about that last shot. We have control of the cannon."

Gentaine closes her eyes. "Okay. DEFY?"

"Yes, Gentiane?" RPK replies.

"Can you get eyes on the train and feed AR Team the coordinates? We need them to fire at the incoming KCCO."

"Yes, of course~!" RPK practically sings. "We'll be right on it."

"So fucking creepy." I mutter.

Next, Dandelion comes up on the comms. "Gentaine, I have linked up with M4, and I have started to reactivate the Rogue Sangvis Ferri units. They are forming their own groups and fighting the KCCO."

"On our side?"

"...No."

"We'll have to watch out for them." Gentiane covers her eyes for a second with her sleeve, then looks back up. "Okay, give me the sitrep."

Mikhail looks around. "Well… 20 dolls, little ammo, two wounded and a good kilometer run to the entrance of the base."

"Sounds about right." Kalina helps Gentaine to her feet. "What are we going to do from here?"

"If I may…" Dandelion cuts in once more. "You should retreat to the base and fortify the entrance if you can. It's more tactically sound than standing out in the open."

"...Thanks for the insight." Gentaine says flatly. "Yes, we're going to do something similar. Do we have formations?"

I gesture to the four echelons behind me. "We're ready to go."

"Firing!" M4's voice comes over the comms, and a second later the cannon in the distance fires, this time firing in an arc over the wall. The shell soars off into the distance and impacts out of sight.

"Miss." AK-15 reports. "Adjust by an eighth of degree southward."

The shore gun fires once more, a brilliant streak as the shell arcs towards its destination.

It impacts with an earth-shattering kaboom, and the column of fire from its impact can be seen glowing against the blue aurora overhead.

"Hit." AK-15 reports.

"FUCK YEAH!" P90 cheers.

I can't really fault her enthusiasm.

"We… we hit them!" M4 sounds elated. "O-okay, we're gonna come ba-"

"Keep firing." Gentiane cuts her off. "The more shots we get on them, the less we have to deal with." She pauses. "Unless you can't hold your position."

"We're holding for now." M4 states. "The KCCO are too busy with Sangvis right now. Until they wipe them out we should be able to fire the gun a few more times."

"Well, keep doing it while you can. We're gonna make a break for the base." Gentiane says, looking around as she lays out the plan.

"Alright." M4 pauses. "Good luck."

"You too."

"Don't forget us!" I turn around to see RPK and AK-15 approaching from the wall off to the side, dragging someone I don't recognize.

AK-15 walks right up and dumps the man right onto the ground beside Kylie. "DEFY, reporting for duty."

"Where's the rest of your team?" Gentaine asks.

"Oh, Ange and the other two got locked inside the base. Seems the power outage triggered quite a few lockdowns." RPK smiles. "We should really go down there and help them as soon as we can."

"...Of course." Gentaine sighs. "Alright, grab the wounded and let's get going!"

I walk over to Aleah and lean in to talk with her. "I'll take Kylie."

She raises an eyebrow.

"...This isn't an order, but… you're a much better shot than me. If you're on protection duty-"

"That would be perfect." She straightens up. "I will prepare."

"Thanks, Aleah."

She gives me a small smile. "What are adjutants for?"

I roll my eyes and wave her away, where she joins up with the rest of Echelon 4. I carefully get the unconscious woman over my shoulder in a fireman's carry and prepare my handgun.

AK-15 and RPK walk over to me, 15 once more holding an unconscious man.

"Who… is that?"

"K."

"Kay?"

"Yes."

I look at P90, who just shrugs.

RPK Looks at me and narrows her eyes. "You look like you've been having a fun time."

"Comes with being a human, I suppose." I shrug. "When you're as squishy as me, sometimes things break."

"Hmm." RPK tilts her head. "What exactly happened to you?"

"..." Something about her is sketching me out. "We'll talk later, if we have time."

"Oh, I can't wait~" RPK's teeth are bared into a grin.

I decided to ignore that and change topics. "What's your ammo situations?"

"I have a full drum." RPK states.

"Two mags left." AK-15 shifts the man around on her shoulders.

"Well… Let's hope that's enough." I look around. "Looks like everyone's ready."

Echelon 4 lines up behind us, Echelon's 1 and 2 flank us, guns at the ready, and everyone in 3 gets ready to sprint.

Gentiane stumbles a bit, and Kalina moves over to brace her. "Alright… 3, go!"

Echelon 3 sprints ahead, guns raised.

"Move!" Gentiane calls, and everyone else starts to move.

The next five minutes are grueling. Even with the exo suit, I'm struggling to haul an entire person at a jog. I can't go faster because I have to stick with the group to a degree, watching all around for enemies.

The two sniper teams at the side pick off a few stray Sangvis troops here and there as we move, but our charge is largely unmolested until we get close to the base.

The herald of the KCCO's arrival is a shot that smacks into a crumbling structure nearby.

Behind us, a swarm of green is starting to push past the destroyed train. The mechanized Cyclops and Aegis units are interspersed with human soldiers, but the larger units have been left behind for the moment.

Echelon 3 skids to a halt as one and raises their guns.

The rest of us jog past them, and I can only spare a glance as M82 and CF-05 both pull out blocks of plastic explosives and nod to each other.

"..."

P90 appears in my head. "They're planning on giving it their all to keep up alive."

"...I know." One of my teeth chips as I growl. "I don't have to like it."

"If you did, you wouldn't be in this position."

"Don't remind me." I glance back as the rear guard opens fire, the machine guns chattering away while Echelon 3 prepares an ambush. Despite all of our efforts, there's still way too many KCCO pouring into the base, and the bullets we're sending their way take out way too few to do much.

"We're almost there!" Mikhail barks. "Get to the entrance and start planting explosives!"

I pick up the pace a little trying to keep my breathing regulated, the person over my shoulder starting to really weigh down on me.

Bullets fly around us, and I force myself to tune them out.

I can't tune out the sounds of plastic explosive detonation behind us, though. Nor can I ignore the vital sign tracer going dark as P90 confirms that the dolls that had stayed behind are no longer with us.

They're not dead. If I keep telling myself that, maybe I'll start to believe it. They're not dead, they're not, they're not, not not not-

Another explosion from behind me, and Honey Badger's signal winks out.

I stumble, my footing suddenly a lot less sure.

Still, I press on.

It's only a matter of seconds more before I make it inside, the floor of the entrance ramp downward to lead into the tunnels that serve as the Paldiski base.

I get down to the first room and my legs give out, almost dropping Kylie, but managing to set her against the wall carefully. The rest of the group-

No, we're missing M1014 and Gr G28. All of the humans made it though.

Gentaine does a quick headcount and looks at the assembled forces. "Okay, who has explosives on them?"

Webley and Garand each raise their hands.

"Alright, start rigging up the entrance."

"Gentaine…" Mikhail looks back at the entrance even as the two dolls move forward to comply. "We don't have time."

"..." Gentaine looks out into space for a bit, her hands clenching and unclenching. "I…"

I can see the dolls looking at the entrance and then back at us.

"Welp." I stand up. "Echelon 1, follow-"

"Hadwin, no." Gentaine turns to me. "We need you alive."

I glare at her. "We don't have a fucking choice. I'm going to keep them away from the entrance."

"We need to save our forces-" Gentaine begins, but I cut her off.

"For what?! We're trapped like rats in this hole, we've got no support, and they're going to come in here and wipe us out if we don't hurry!" I snarl. "At least if we buy enough time for us to blow the entrance some of us might make it out. I'm sick of watching everyone else blow themselves up."

She mashes her hands into her face, fingernails clawing at her own skin. "I promised-"

"Your promises are worth shit." I unsling my rifle and nod to the dolls of Echelon 1. "Let's go."

"My promises are not worth that little!" Gentiane rebuts. "And you're not in charge here!"

"Then use your forces to stop me." I snarl.

SV looks back and forth between me and Gentaine before following behind me. Tokarev runs up beside me as well, already fitting those blades over her arms so she can go into hand to hand combat.

"We'll do our best!" M14 jogs past me, a casual grin on her face.

M9 walks up to me and tugs on my coat. "I'll be right beside you!"

I smile down at the way-too-young looking doll and pat her head. "I'll be counting on you."

She runs ahead to meet up with Tokarev, and the two talk to each other excitedly like we're headed to a mall or the park, instead of…

"Two and four… back them up." Gentaine spits from behind us.

I can see that the rest of the dolls are already moving to follow us back up to the surface.

"Looks like you had an impact."

I glanced at Springfield, who had sidled up to me while I was looking back. "Well… Yeah. I'm just tired of this stupid game. It's too late to say I'm valuable alive, we're in this stupid mission together, like it or not."

"Stupid?" She purses her lips. "I was under the impression that it was very important."

"Yeah… I stopped caring about it several hundred dolls ago."

"We'll wake up soon enough." She places a hand on my shoulder. "Please treat us all well in the future, even if I don't recall asking you to."

"No." I shake my head again. "Survive to the bitter end, and hold me to it instead."

She smiles. "I suppose I can try for that."

I pass Webley and Garand, both of them busy attempting to locate some structural weaknesses and wire up several bricks of explosives.

Ithaca and Aleah arrive by my side just as my head pokes out into the ruined above ground area.

I can see SV-98 already picking out a spot to fire from, and both Tokarev and M9 are looking out over the approaching force and marking enemies, all of which shows up in my HUD.

Garand sets up on the edge of the ramp, lying down for stability.

Type 88 activates a thruster pack-

"What the fuck-!" I follow her form as she rockets into the sky.

"I want a mod kit." SV mutters. "Maybe I'll get cool jets too."

"Why don't we have those installed on everyone?!"

"She brought them from her previous job." Springfield crouches behind a crumbing wall and lays her namesake down carefully to brace it. "Unless you were a mech pilot in a previous life, you're out of luck."

"...Okay." I file that away for later.

Then again… we might not get much of a 'later'. Looking out, I can see that the KCCO are advancing cautiously.

I flick my gun to burst. No real use conserving ammo, the four mags I have on me not going to last long.

The shore gun fires, cutting a swath through the advancing forces, who scatter for cover from the distant cannon.

This allows Springfield to fire right into one of the soldiers, the bullet so precisely aimed, it slips between the helmet and chestplate to send a spray of blood onto the next soldier behind the now thoroughly dead one.

That gets their attention, that's for sure.

The wall of lead coming back our way is enough to stun me for a second or two, bullets seeming to fill every bit of space not sheltered by a thick concrete slab. Not all of the dolls are completely set up, and I see a bullet carve right through Tokarev's shoulder as she tries to duck behind cover.

Still, I can see more of the dolls on our side firing back, and realize that I haven't joined in.

Carefully, I poke my firearm around the wall and sight in on… well, I aim for the mass of dark green.

The gun in my hands bucks with each burst, my small lead rounds crossing the ever-shrinking distance between us and the advancing wall of KCCO.

Only once the gun clicks empty do I retreat back behind cover and quickly swap out the magazine for a fully loaded one. In my haste, I end up fumbling mid reload and having to quickly scoop the magazine back up before attempting to slide it home once more.

A thunderous boom echoes from the coast, and I see the shore gun has fired a shell. It plows right through the KCCO currently assaulting our position, giving us a small break.

"Commander, that was our last shell we're able to fire." M4's voice is strained over the radio. "The gun is too damaged."

"That's fine, M4." Gentaine replies. "Just come back our way. There's a secondary entrance that DEFY is attempting to destroy. Aid them with that."

"Roger."

I get the magazine seated properly, pull back on the bolt, and let it snap shut. Okay, time to-

"Explosives are ready!" Mikhail reports.

I get myself ready to run, careful not to leave cover-

My eyes scan to the side and I see a KCCO trooper that had managed to flank us.

I open fire and manage to take him down, but not before he can get a few shots off.

One of them slices through my thigh, and the pain spikes through my head for a second before disappearing as P90 isolates it.

Ithaca leaps from her cover over to mine, her riot shield extended. "Let's go!"

I aim back at the incoming forces and walk backwards with Ithaca while she focuses on keeping the shield covering the both of us. My leg is starting to feel wet, and I decide not to look down at it if I don't have to.

Around me, dolls sprint for cover, their enhanced agility of being several times stronger and faster than a human means most of them make it back to the entrance, continuing to run ahead deeper into the base.

M9 wasn't quite fast enough, her head disappearing in an orange mist even as Ithaca manages to get the both of us into the shadow of the tunnel leading down. The aerosolized coolant gets on my arm a bit, and small fragments of metal stab into my skin.

I'm the last one in, predictably.

Springfield watches me enter before turning to Gentaine. "We're all ins-"

"Blow it!"

The section of the base shudders and I stumble, Ithaca catching me at the last second before I face plant onto the rough concrete.

Behind us, the hallway crumbles. Strategically placed explosives cave in specific points, cascading to break down the entire hallway.

We… we're safe.

At least for the moment.

My legs give out, and I collapse on the ground once more, every muscle in my body spasming as I try to catch my breath. I look down to see the blood pooling on the floor from where my leg was shot.

Ithaca picks me up and moves me to sit against the wall, where SV and Tokarev sit down on either side of me, each of them just close enough to touch my shoulder with theirs.

Aleah takes one look at my leg and pulls out some bandages. I'd ask why she had them, but…

I close my eyes and let her work.

"Are you okay?" Tokarev asks in a whisper.

"Y-yeah. Just…" I cross my arms, coincidentally smearing M9's coolant all over my hand as I grip my other forearm. "...I just need a minute."

She looks me in the eyes for a moment. "Understood."

I lean my back against the cold concrete wall, willing myself to stop shaking as Aleah continues to carefully wrap up my leg.

I sit like this for a good few minutes, the spasms slowly subsiding.

"Commander."

My eyes don't open, but an image appears nonetheless. Pink hair, pink eyes, and an expression that's used to frowning.

"Hey, Star." My lips quirk up slightly. "Glad to see you're alright."

"...Same." She looks around at something I can't see. "We've linked up with Dandelion. I thought you were in charge of her security?"

"She took off when the train got hit. I've been trying to stick with the rest of the command group and the few dolls we have left."

Her lips contort into a grimace. "We're almost to the place where DEFY is preparing to destroy the main entrance. I'm going to be busy placing explosives."

"Don't let me keep you waiting then." I pause a moment. "Be safe."

"I don't think that's possible out here."

A small bark of laughter escapes my throat. "Right. Don't die."

Her lips curl upward slightly as she shakes her head. "I don't plan on it. You better promise the same."

"Of course. See you soon."

My head goes dark as the Linker cuts out.

"She's okay." I mutter. "She'll make it."

"Are… are you sure?" SV scoots closer, just enough to push her shoulder into mine instead of just occasionally brushing it. "I don't want to be a pessimist, but it's not looking too good here."

"We'll…" I rack my brain, but it's not like I can actually refute what she's saying. "Hey, come here." I wrap my arm around her shoulder, and then do the same on the other side with Tokarev. "We just gotta make it through this."

A male voice I don't recognize pierces my thoughts a few moments later. "Commander."

My eyes crack open to see that guy AK-15 lugged all the way here is now on his feet, and Gentaine turns around to look at him.

"Look who decided to wake up." Gentaine's face sours considerably.

"Where are we, exactly?" The man looks around, hand on his rifle.

"The sub base." Gentaine puts a hand on her hip. "Military has us surrounded, so we're busy destroying the entrances. We're half done." She points at the collapsed hallway behind us.

"I see. Where is Ange?"

"We haven't been able to make contact with her yet. We've got people looking for her."

"Useless woman…" The man clicks his tongue.

Oh, I don't like him.

"If there's nothing else, I have a hopeless fight to plan around."

"Don't you have questions for me?"

Gentaine stops in place, eye twitching slightly. "Previous experience leads me to believe you're the singularly most unhelpful person possible. So, let's not waste each other's time, m'kay?"

"...I can provide fire support."

Gentaine's eyes narrow. "Right, and Yegor will go home if I ask nicely. The brass isn't gonna put their necks out for us."

"As long as we have something of value to them, they'll help. So, I need to know if Ange completed her mission."

Gentaine pinches her brow. "We don't have contact with-"

"Commander!" Kalina interrupts. "We've got a situation!"

I look at SV before standing up, wincing once my weight lands on my hurt leg.

Now is not the fucking time, body. Just keep working a bit longer…

"The AR team just had four large mechs head past them into the base!" Kalina continues, and the image of…

What the fuck are those?!

"Blow up the explosives." Gentaine grimaces. "We can't let more in."

"But the explosives aren't all planted."

"No choice." Gentiane shakes her head. "Light them off."

A second later, the entire base shakes, the other entrance crumbling. Presumably.

"...Commander, it was partially successful." M4 reports after a moment. "We've got the entrance just blocked enough to slow down the incoming enemies."

"That's fine, I'm sending dolls to cover the entrance. You need to take DEFY and head after those mechs. We can't let them reach the core!"

"...Understood."

Gentiane turned to the assembled dolls. "Alright, all echelons, move to the other entrance."

The dolls get to their feet, if they weren't already standing, and start to jog down the halls.

I start to go after them, leg screaming in pain, but a hand hooks my jacket collar and stops me.

"Oh, no you don't." Mikhail drags me back. "You're injured, and you'll slow them down."

"Let. Go."

"The dolls can handle that much." Gentaine turns to me. "Leave it to them."

"..." I look back the way the dolls had gone, only one still in sight. Aleah, red eyes blazing in the dark. "Aleah, make sure everyone makes it back."

"Understood." She turns and runs after them, leaving six humans alone in an abandoned base.

I turn back to return to the small group we have, Mikahil returning to taking care of Kylie and Gentine looking back at the video of those mechs soaring past AR team.

"What are those?" Gentiane asks aloud. "I've never seen-"

"Sinners." The unknown man grunts. "Enhanced Assault Artillery mechs. It looks like the commander of this Military force is leading the assault in person."

"Sinners?" I mutter.

The man looks at me, eyes suddenly full of suspicion. "Who are you?"

His hand tightens on the grip of his rifle, and I can feel P90's influence as she prepares for me to respond in kind.

"He's my newest commander, Hadwin Galanis. Hadwin, this is K." Gentaine introduces us.

I am forced to acknowledge this man is named 'Kay', apparently.

"Hello?" The comms crackle, and a voice I hadn't heard for a while arrives in my head. "I heard a large explosion."

"Ange?" Gentaine's face splits into a relieved smile. "You're alive?"

"Yes. Looks like you're still holding on."

"We're…" Gentaine hesitates. "alive, for now."

"Alright, please give me a rundown on what's going on."

Gentaine starts to talk to Ange, but a new comm channel opens up, distracting me.

"Hey 416."

The silver-blue haired beauty nods to me. "You appear to be safe."

"For certain values of safe." I give her a wan smile. "Are you alright?"

"I am still functional, as so is the rest of 404." Suddenly, I can see the world through her eyes. "We've found Ange and gotten her and the rest of DEFY out of the quarantine trap."

"Good to h-" I blink. "Who are they?"

"Child Nytos." 416's voice rises slightly in amusement. "Ange discovered them and has been babysitting them."

"...What the fuck." I watch as a 45 snarls at one of the kids, who then runs away, only for three more to run back with her and start to try to punch her. 45 seems to be trying to stay careful, but she's clearly irritated with the whole ordeal.

"Actually, she's passing the job onto us now. Ange is planning to head down into the depths of the base to help deal with Yegor."

"Huh." I look at the video feed again. "They look like M4."

"They do. It's mildly infuriating."

45's eye meets 416's, and suddenly she's connected in. "Hadwin."

"Hey 45."

"Would you divorce me if I murdered a few children?"

"..." I look at the Nyto kids again. "Probably? I might make an exception for Nytos."

She sighs. "Ja, but we've been promised everything Ange owns if we get them all up to the surface safely."

"Then maybe don't kill them."

"That is currently the plan."

One of the children grabs 45's long side tail and tugs on it.

"But plans can change!"

"...I'll leave it to your judgment then."

45's connection winks out.

"I'll make sure she doesn't do anything rash." 416 sighs. "She's had a… very bad tie down here."

"She has?"

"From what little I've gathered in between her snide remarks and crashes, M16 has been attempting to hack and hijack her since we stepped in here, and she's been fighting it off for a long time. The attacks stopped recently, but now she's been told to take care of two dozen children."

"...Shit. Why was M16 attacking her specifically?"

"Butterfly."

"Right. I'll ask her later." Not sure if I meant 45, M16 or both. I suppose whoever will answer.

416 looks behind herself and then nods. "Looks like it's time for me to go."

"Keep yourself and your team alive."

She looks directly at me, her eyes boring into mine. "I love you."

Blood rushes to my cheeks. "I-I love you too."

The connection cuts.

I come back to reality just in time to see Gentiane patting herself down. "Dammit, I swore I had one-"

"Had one what?" I ask.

Gentaine and K look my way. "A radio."

My hand comes up to the walkie-talkie 15 and I used to talk to each other without thinking, and K's eyes light up when he sees it.

"Can I have that?" He asks, already reaching for it.

I cover it with my hand. "Why do you need it?"

"We're going to contact Vympel." Gentaine replies. "It might be our last hope."

I remove the radio from my tac vest and hand it to the man reaching for it. "I want it back."

"Sure." He looks down at the device and starts punching in a bunch of settings. P90 tracks his finger movements in real time, indicating what he's putting into the radio.

Wait, my radio can be set up with encryption? That could come in handy.

K clears his throat. "This is Waterfall, do you copy?"

I look at Gentiane, Kalina, and Mikhail, who are all holding their breath.

"I repeat, this is Waterfall. Please respond if you read me."

Still, there's no response.

Kalina's face drops. "So… no response, huh?"

K's hand grapes my radio hard. "I repeat, this is "Waterfall", requesting assistance from Squad Cobalt-13 of Vympel 4th Detachment, do you copy? Over. My ID code is DINV-RTSA-1239. This is an emergency transmission, please respond immediately if you copy. Over."

"...This is Cobalt-13. We copy you, over."

A faint glimmer of hope enters the room.

K presses the button of the radio once more. "Cobalt-13, Waterfall is requesting support. Enemy units are about to break through the defense zone and enter the restricted area. This is a severe threat to the success of our mission. Requesting fire support. Over."

"Negative. We do not have permission to fire, over."

And just like that…

Gentaine puts her face in her hands, Mikhail reaches into his pocket for another cigarette, and Kalian just stares off into space.

K continues to argue with Cobalt-13, but I find I'm not really interested anymore. I walk back to my spot along the wall, marked by blood from my leg and orange-red coolant from M9, and slump down.

We've lost.

Hundreds of dolls, all dead. We're hurt. We only have so much ammo, we're trapped down here… Dandelion is heading after those Sinner things with the rest of Anti-Rain, and if she dies, there goes the backups.

As I watch, another doll defending the other entrance winks out of existence. I don't have the heart to check which one it was.

This mission has completely failed.

I can feel tears run down my cheeks, feel the pulsing pain in my leg, and feel the weight of several hundred lives weighing down on me.

You knew this was a suicide mission going in, nubnuts.

I glare at the imagined version of myself. Yeah, I did. But I didn't know.

I wasn't prepared for something like this.

Then why did you insist you were?

Because I'm a fucking idiot.

I curl up into a ball, my own self recrimination drowning out everything else.

Look at you, so pathetic when things go poorly. Aren't you supposed to be a commander?

Shut the fuck up, me. We both know I'm not cut out for this role. She gave it to me because… because…

Yeah, yeah, we've been over this before. You gonna keep crying or are you gonna do something about it?

DO WHAT?! We're fucking screwed down here! There's no way out, the enemy far outnumbers us, and we sent every troop we have to their deaths!

Then you better make sure their deaths aren't in vain. They're gonna want to see you when they wake up.

If.

"Uh…" My eyes open to see P90 standing stock still off to the side. "If you want me to stop looking at your mental breakdown-"

I close my eyes once more and start breathing evenly to try to calm myself down. "N-no. I'll be fine in a minute."

She nods, though her expression betrays her uncertainty. "If it makes you feel any better, the other gate is holding fairly well."

"Uh huh." I let her open the tactical interface again. "And that'll last… how much longer?"

"Until they run out of ammo, probably." P90's attempted cheer falters. "W-which isn't too far off."

My arms feel like lead. I can't do anything but stare down at the map, the dots indicating the seemingly endless KCCO, and the ones representing dolls…

There's only ten left.

Ten, out of hundreds.

"I can't do this." I whisper to nobody, hand grabbing the hilt of my handgun. "I can't do this."

My hand suddenly stops.

"I'm still in here." P90 put her hands on her hips. "And you're not allowed to die on my watch."

"But-"

"No buts! You've been through worse, just… hold on a bit longer!" P90 forces me to put my gun back into its sheath and then crosses my arms for me. "I'm sure we'll think of something!"

"P90…"

Tears form in her eyes. "Dammit! I hate not having a body! If I could just do something…"

I nod to her and once more look at the tactical map.

…The dolls have run out of ammo.

It's only a matter of time, then.

"They're… fixing bayonets." P90 suddenly looks sick.

"What? What's a bayonet?"

"A knife screwed onto the end of a gun."

"...Oh."

The ten dolls have been driven right back to the edge of the rubble, and I can see the KCCO starting to close in on them.

"Cobalt-13 to Waterfall, over."

Everyone looks at the radio still in K's hand.

"Waterfall copies, go ahead."

"Moscow has granted permission for the air strike and the bombers are in attack position. You have five minutes to direct fire. Please send the coordinates as soon as possible. Over."

I try to get to my feet, but fall over as another spike of pain goes through my leg. By the time I'm back to my feet, Gentaine has already given them coordinates. Then, she connects to the doll network.

"Everyone left… get back."

"Roger!"

I hold my breath.

Five seconds.

Ten.

The KCCO, no longer seeing any of our forces, have started to advance in earnest.

Fifteen.

A dull thump comes from a distance.

And then another.

Like rain arriving in a sudden downpour, the ground starts to shake once more in short bursts, before turning into an almost constant cacophony of pounding.

It goes on, and on, and on.

P90 connects me to Aleah's eyes, and I can see from her perspective as the ground and everything on it is pounded into dust. She's tucked back away, but still too close for comfort for my tastes.

Inadvertently, I look over at the surviving doll list.

…

Damn.

I shut off the feed, wandering over to the corner to retch.

After a few seconds to myself, I feel a hand on my back.

Kalina is there, doing her best to comfort me, even though she must be feeling like shit too.

I wipe my mouth and nod to her. "Thank you."

She nods and turns back to the commanders.

Okay… Okay.

Get a grip.

I stand up, doing my best to ignore the pain in my leg, and walk over to the group.

"The Sinners are headed down to the core." Ange says over the radio, and my focus immediately goes to her voice. "I have a plan to stop them, but I'll need your help."

"What's the plan?" Gentaine asks.

"I infiltrated this sub base by sea. There are four valves which lead to the ocean. If we can pin down their mechs on the first floor and blow all four valves at the same time, we can drown them in seawater and Yegor will be fish food. I'll send you the location of the seawater valves. They're all located on the surface level of the base. If we're defeated here, then please blow the valves. 404 is heading towards you right now; they should be able to give you some assistance."

Four locations appear in my head.

"What about you?" Mikahil asks.

"...We can't let them win."

"Understood."

The transmission ends.

Gentaine stares off into space.

"Well then." I check my Honey Badger. "Anyone got any spare C4?"

Gentaine shucks off her backpack, opens it, and tosses a brick of plastic explosive my way. She also tosses one to K, who deftly catches it.

K raises an eyebrow.

"What? Not up for this, Mister Schwaben?"

…Who?

K tucks the explosive into his own backpack and sneers at Gentaine. "I am more than up for this. Are you?"

Gentaine hands another brick to Mikhail, who grimly takes it.

Kalina suddenly bursts into the middle of the circle. "Wait a minute! What are you doing?!"

"You heard Ange." Gentaine says.

"B-but, the dolls aren't back yet! It's too dangerous!"

"Yet, we're going anyway." Gentiane looks around. "Everyone's got the coordinates?"

We all nod.

"W-wait! WAIT!" Kalina looks around wildly. "You can't!"

"We have to." Mikhail says quietly.

"T-then…" Kalina's face goes through several emotions. "T-then I'll…"

Gentaine turns to Kalina and walks up to her. "Then you'll… what?"

"I'll go with you!" Kalina grabs at the last brick of explosive in Gentaine's hands, but misses.

"Kalina… I need you to take care of Kylie. And… Well, someone needs to be around to coordinate anyone who's left over. We need someone to find those that remain and gather them up."

Tears fill Kalina's eyes. "B-but…"

I step up to the woman and place a hand on her shoulder, the way she had just done for me. She spins in place, hands balled into fists, but she only deflates once she realizes it's me.

"Please." I say. "We can trust you to take care of everyone, right?"

"...Fine." She rounds on Gentiane. "But you better come back! If you don't-"

"I'll get 45 to tell me Paradeus' resurrection recipe." I cut her off. "Then you can kill her again."

"Yeah!" Kalian nods. "So no dying!"

"Same for you." Gentiane looks around. "All of you."

"Do I look like I want to die?" Mikhail smiles.

"You should be worried about yourself." K rolls his eyes and scowls.

I look down at the plastic explosive in my hands. "This will end it."

"Let's move out."

---

"Sangivs has broken." Ange reports. "M4 and her team are fighting three of the Sinners. Yegor made it past us, and DEFY is headed down to the bottom after him."

"Copy." Gentine mutters.

"We're almost at the fork." Mikhail notes.

"Right." Gentiane looks at the map with her goggles once more. "Mikhail, you take the north-east one, it's not that far away. Hadwin, north-west. You've got the exo suit, so you can make it faster than we can."

"Roger."

"Mister Schwaben-"

"I'll take the south-east valve. It's close to the center so I will be able to assist whoever fails."

"Oh, fuck off." I roll my eyes. "Who are you, superman?

Everyone ignores me.

"Sounds good to me." Gentiane replies as If I never said anything. "I'll take the last one then."

"Better hope you've kept up with your cardio." K sneers.

"Do I look out of shape?"

"Not as in shape as I am."

I look at K. "So, if you're not superman-"

"He's German secret police. Stasi." Gentaine cuts in. "Which was an interesting thing to learn."

"I already regret letting that information go." He grits his teeth.

"If you hadn't we'd be dead, so…" Gentiane shrugs.

We arrive at the fork in the tunnels and I take the path that will lead to the north-west valve.

"Watch for KCCO." Mikhail reminds all of us. "There's likely some that survived the bombardment."

"Are you kidding me?" I grumble.

"It's not perfect, Hadwin." Gentaine chides. "Even the KCCO's fire didn't wipe us out completely."

"No fucking breaks." I mutter.

"This is war, kid." K's tone is condescending.

"I'm fighting it, aren't I?" I snarl back.

"Then stop complaining."

I cut off the radio and look at Mikhail. "I'm gonna shoot him."

"Let's focus on making sure we get a chance to, hmm?"

"Right."

P90 interrupts my ire. "Status update. Aleah, Type 88, Springfield, Webley, Tokarev, M1918, M14, and Springfield have successfully retreated and are on their way to meet with Kalina. Once they're re-equipped, they will be heading to provide support."

"...Who is this?" K's voice is once more full of suspicion.

"The devil in my head." I snap at him. "P90, Make sure you keep them updated with coordinates, we're gonna need all the help we can get."

"Understood." She smirks. "So I'm a Devil now?"

"You're no angel." I spot something out of the corner of my eyes. "Contact!"

Mikhail's already firing, a bullet punching through the man's head before he ever realizes that we're there.

I don't have time to dwell on that as several of the other troops come into view, and I unleash the full power of my firearm.

Surprise only gets us so far, however, and I'm forced to duck out of sight as several of the men draw a bead on me. I unclip one of the three grenades I had on my chest, pull the pin with a sharp yank, and send it flying down the hall.

Five seconds later, the explosion goes off and I hear someone screaming in pain.

Too bad.

I charge back out from behind cover, firing at anything that moves.

"I have an idea." P90 says suddenly.

"What is it?" Gentaine asks.

"Dandelion was hacking the KCCO earlier."

"Yep!" Mikhail grunts. "Too bad she wasn't anywhere near us!"

"Well I'm sorry!" I snarl. "She doesn't listen to me!"

"Shut up!" P90 shouts. "Since I'm the same thing, I should be able to hack a few units myself."

"...Do it." Gentaine says.

"Already working on it." P90 grins, and then fades from view. "Hadwin, brace yourself-"

"For wha-"

And then the headache starts. I almost crash to the floor as the pain overwhelms my senses, P90 borrowing my brain for additional computational space.

I grit my teeth and focus on the easy things.

Run.

Shoot.

Try not to stand in the open like an idiot.

Seconds stretch into hours. Hours stretch into weeks.

Weeks stretch into years.

The world goes dark.

"GOT IT!"

Sweet merciful relief.

I pry myself off the floor just in time to see a Cyclops turn to a human beside it and fire, braining him.

Several others also turn and start to fire, sowing confusion into the KCCO's ranks.

Good.

I see Mikahil up ahead, charging down the hallway towards his target.

I see the large doorway leading to the access tunnel I need to use, and get myself moving that way once more. I round the corner, gun at the ready, but it looks like the KCCO haven't made it this far yet.

"P90, put everything we've got into running."

"Your leg-"

"Isn't important right now."

"...Okay."

I let go of the control of my legs as they start to move faster and faster, the exo suit assisting as P90 starts to get my muscles working overdrive.

I'll pay for this later.

I just have to make sure there is a later.

"Bomb planted." K announces. "I have set the timer for fifteen minutes."

"Fifteen?" Gentaine snipes. "Why not set it for five?"

"I need to give you slowpokes time to finish up."

"I'm gonna shoot him." I say once again. "Gentaine, you don't mind, do you?"

"It'll cause an international incident."

"We'll say it was an accident."

"Do you really think you can get rid of me that easily?" K asks.

"No, but I wish you'd SHUT THE FUCK UP!"

Mikahil's breathless laughter can be heard over the radio. "I've got mine planted… I hear more KCCO behind me. P90, I don't suppose you can provide assistance?"

"I'm out of range." P90 says, her voice apologetic. "You're on your own."

"...Wonderful."

"We've got him."

I perk up. "Springfield?"

Her smiling face appears in my vision, face torn, covered in dirt and doll blood, but smiling confidently nonetheless. "The one and only. We've scavenged some ammo and are ready to assist."

Gentaine clears her throat. "I've got my bomb set. We should meet up in the center of the base, near the central elevator. All units, head that way."

"I'm going to Hadwin." Aleah cuts in.

"Aleah, go help them. They sent the wounded man to the farthest valve, so I'll be a bit, but make sure everyone is safe."

She grits her teeth. "Understood."

"...Sorry." I look forward and realize that I'm almost at the valve.

I skid to a halt in front of a door clearly marked with some sort of cyrillic lettering I can only assume means 'Ocean valve here' and open it.

Or… not. It's locked.

"P90, can you hack this open?"

"It should be open." She looks at it for a few seconds. "You might have to brute force it."

"Fucking-" I cut myself off. "How?!"

"Grenade?"

I pull one more of the grenades off my chest, look at the door handle and then back at the grenade.

I can probably rest the grenade on the handle…

"Just run really fast." P90 advises.

"Thanks."

I pull the pin, fingers tight over the spoon as I place the round object to wedge it between the handle and the door frame. Okay, just gotta be careful-

As I adjust my grip slightly, the spoon clicks off.

"Shit."

I tuck the grenade in place and run, diving at the last second as the grenade goes off.

Some metal shrapnel slices into me, but nothing life threatening.

P90 looks behind me. "Uh, Hadwin? Incoming."

I get to my feet and look back to see some soldiers making a mad dash.

"Fuck."

I get back to the open door, kicking it in now that the locking mechanism is destroyed. Inside…

Whoa.

A massive underground chamber, with a pit in the center of it. Pipes large enough to drive inside snake around the walls, and my eyes flick around half expecting to see a giant valve handle like you'd see on a garden hose.

"Starfish has activated."

Wh-what? My search for the valve is interrupted by Ange's voice.

Gentaine's voice cuts through my haze. "What are you talking about?!"

"Yegor has made it through, and the Starfish is obviously engaged. Even if we don't make it out… you need to blow the bombs. Set them for three minutes."

"But-"

"If you don't blow them up now, they will fire cruise missiles armed with Pikes." Ange cuts Gentaine off.

"...I'll head back." Mikhail sounds defeated. "M14, Type 88-"

"Following you, commander."

"I don't need backup." K proclaims. "Go with your commander."

"...Shit. I'm going." Gentaine curses. "Okay, Dandelion?"

"Ye-?"

P90 cuts off the radio and snaps me back to reality. "Hadwin, the explosives!"

"R-right." I look around again, spotting a control system hooked into one of the large pipes. P90 marks it as my objective, and I run up to it.

…It's fucking massive.

"How the fuck am I supposed to blow that up?"

"Place the bomb on the valve pipe where it bends, that outer surface." P90 points out to me. "The pipe is weakest there, and it's under a lot of pressure from the ocean. Trust me."

I arrive at the railing keeping me from getting to the seawater valve. There's a good three or four meters, and the only way for me to get to it is to climb on a nest of small pipes.

"These better hold my weight." I mutter.

I vault over the railing, keeping as much of my bodyweight on the bar as I can as I lower myself onto the pipes.

I can feel them starting to bend under my weight, sagging toward a seemingly bottomless pit below.

They're not structural at all.

I make a quick decision, returning to the area with a proper floor before dumping my backpack and gun on the ground, then shrugging off the exo suit before once more climbing back over the rail.

This time the pipe feels more steady. Not a lot more steady, just a bit.

I carefully pick my way across the pipes, leg screaming in pain as it is no longer being assisted at all, especially after all the abuse I had put myself through getting here.

Just another meter.

Shouting behind me.

I don't have time to look, I hop on my good leg the last little bit, heedless of the drop below me.

The pipes bend, and I almost fall.

Almost.

I jam the plastic explosive adhesive side down on the pipe, fingers clicking the small controls on the detonator. "Five minutes-"

"Three and a half." P90 corrects.

"Oh, shi-"

A bullet pings off the pipe beside my hands.

My finger slips.

Fifty seconds. I missed a zero.

"Oh, for fuck's sake-"

I turn and run for safety, the piping deforming with each step.

One of the pipes gives way, and I almost fall over.

Then another pipe bursts, sending liquid something spraying everywhere. My foot lands on the slippery substance and I lurch forward, hands outstretched to try to grab the railing.

My hands miss the railing, but manage to grab the edge of the floor, a raised kick plate to keep people from accidentally kicking items into the void.

"...Shouldn't have ditched the exo suit." I mutter.

"Hadwin, you need to pull yourself up." P90's voice is panicked. "Hurry!"

"I can't."

"HURRY!"

I take a breath to try and calm myself, but am also acutely aware that my arms are starting to get really tired. I don't have any time-

I hear something overhead, and I look up.

A KCCO soldier, looking over the railing. He points to me and shouts something.

Then the bomb behind me goes off.

The blast wave threatens to loosen my grip, but I hold on for dear life, my body flapping in the pressure wave. I focus on nothing but holding on, trying to steady my body.

Once I finally have myself under control, I look up to find the KCCO soldier is gone. Looking back, the pip has burst, and water is thundering out way too close for comfort.

Okay.

The water is throwing up a mist, and I can feel my grip getting weaker. Regripping just makes it worse as water starts to lubricate the metal. An electrical whine that sounds really bad is starting to come from my left hand.

Okay.

I clamp my eyes shut and strain with all my might, trying to summon any possible strength I have left.

A few seconds later, my arms give out, and I swing freely once more.

"...Fuck."

I look down into the seemingly bottomless pit, darkness so deep that it feels like it'll swallow me whole.

Clump. Clump. Clump.

Something with heavy footsteps is approaching.

In the distance, I can hear three dull explosions, and I know that the other bombs went off.

Good.

My hands slip again, and the fingers on my flesh hand start to unhook from the metal plate, the sharp edges cutting into my skin and adding blood to the list of lubricants on the surface.

Clump. Clump. Clump.

I look up.

Behind me, the hole in the pipe grows wider as the water finds the weak spot and hammers at it. The stream starts to drench my leg.

Clump.

An Aegis unit stops at the rail, its shock baton raised up to clear over the rail.

"Hey, P90?"

She doesn't answer.

"I'm sorry."

The Aegis extends the baton down sharply-

"Grab it!" P90 suddenly cries. "I got control!"

I let go of the edge and whip my hand around to try to grab the baton. Instead, my wrist gets hooked into it and catches.

The Aegis lifts me over the edge of the railing, dumping me unceremoniously on the ground.

I roll a few times, coming to rest face up toward the ceiling, far above.

Ow.

Everything hurts.

My eyes shut, eyelids leaden.

"Hadwin, you need to wake up!" P90 insists. "There's still enemies around!"

"Can't you do it? I'm tired."

"GET UP!"

I open my eyes and let my head flop to the side.

Huh. A bunch of KCCO. They're disorganized, sure, but they're quickly regrouping.

One of them notices me lying on the ground.

I manage to roll to my stomach, but my arms are dead tired. My legs refuse to work.

I've spent all I have.

Fuck.

Boots clomp over to me, and one of them kicks me in the side rolling me back onto my back.

Several firearms are shoved into my face.

I close my eyes.

Gunfire.

…And more gunfire?

My eyes crack open to find I'm not dead.

That's weird.

I try to look around, but nothing seems to be working.

The gunfire stops, and some lighter footsteps run up to me.

"Commander!"

"...Sop?"

Sure enough the blonde wonder is standing over me. Her face is cut to shreds, her clothes are destroyed, and one of her eyes isn't working anymore, but that's Sop.

RO, and AR-15 also pop into view, similarly battle worn. RO's frame in particular seems like it's barely holding together.

15 collapses next to me, grabs my head, and brings her forehead down to rest on mine.

Most of her lips have been torn away, so I understand the hesitation.

"We made it."

"Yeah." I manage to croak out. "You did."

RO grabs my hand, collapsing to the floor beside me. "You're hurt!"

"Speak for yourself." I manage to get out. "You look like shit."

She rolls her eyes.

Sop lugs the exo suit over to me and lies it down next to me. "Here you go, Commander!"

15 helps me up high enough that sop can plug in the cable, and the exo suit clamps itself around me once more.

Now assisted, I'm able to get to my feet.

"Aw, you broke it."

I look at Sop, who is looking at my left hand. It's completely fried, no sensation of Sop grabbing it, and I can't move the fingers.

"It did a good job." I tell her. "Kept me alive just long enough."

"I suppose."

RO walks back over with my bag and my gun. "Er, Hadwin… your gun is ruined."

Hmm?

She hands me the firearm, and sure enough, the barrel is bent way out of shape.

"Well shit."

15 looks at me. "Do you have any more ammo for it?"

I use my good hand… well, fleshy hand since it's also pretty beat up, to fish out the magazines from my tac vest. "Uh, this is .300 blackout-"

She nods. "One of my guns is chambered for it, don't worry."

"Okay."

She loads up that gun with my ammo, and nods to RO.

"We've got to head back to Gentaine." RO states. "Let's get moving before more KCCO show up."

"How many can possibly be left?" I ask.

"They're… fighting down to the last man." RO grimaces. "So many of them came here, and we've got to keep aware until they're gone."

"Fuck."

Sop casually starts walking faster, weapon at the ready. "We better get a move on, it sounds like everyone else met up with the other Commanders!"

I start hobbling forward, each step still agony despite the exo suit. RO and 15 walk on either side of me, not commenting but also not leaving my side for a second.

I appreciate that.

It's a long, slow ten minutes back to the central chamber.

When we finally arrive, I pick a particularly uncluttered wall and lean all my weight against it.

I see… K, and Gentaine, and Ange…

Good, they're okay.

Oh, look, Kalina and Kylie, who's still unconscious.

Mikhail's over there… he's covered in blood.

I start to pry myself off the wall, only for 15 to stop me. "Don't move. In fact, sit down for now."

I nod and let her guide me to the floor. "Is Mikhail okay?"

"He's injured, but it shouldn't be life threatening."

I nod once more, and look around.

Wait, that's a horde of children over there.

"Did… did 404 make it back alright?"

"Ja." I look to the side to see 416 standing over us, eyes looking around for hostiles. "We're fine."

I can feel a great burden lifting off my chest.

They're alive.

Not everything is lost.

I clamp my eyes shut, but the emotional drain of the day has taken too much, and tears leak from my eyes. "I'm so glad."

"You'd better be." 45 states, and I feel someone landing in my lap. "If you weren't, I was going to have to shove you down the gaping hole."

I crack my eyes open to see the back of 45's head, and several dolls looking on in amazement. 45 doesn't do this kind of thing. Not publicly.

I wrap my arm around her and give her a quick squeeze, before letting her stand back up, not wanting to embarrass herself any further.

"Is that your boyfriend?"

I look back at the new voice to find a miniature M4 staring back at me, sleeves so long I can't see her hands under them.

Ah, one of the children.

"Anna, I don't have a boyfriend." 45 smirks at the little girl. "I have a husband."

"Liar! Nobody would ever marry someone as angry and ugly as you!"

She pulls the ring out from around her neck, letting it glint in the dim light. "We both have rings, see?" she gestures to my right hand.

Which doesn't have any rings on it.

"HAH! LIAR!" Anna suddenly runs away, shouting. "45's not actually married! She's a big fat liar!"

"Hadwin…" 45's voice lowers an octave. "Why aren't you wearing the ring?"

"Look up 'degloving' and you'll see." I reach down into my pocket. "Here, I have it here."

She looks at the shiny ring and nods. "Well, there goes my chance to stop that line of annoyance."

"Sorry."

"No worries, I'll just lock her into a small box for a few hours until she stops." 45 shrugs. "I hear sensory deprivation works wonders on children."

"...Haddy, I don't think 45 should be allowed around kids." Sop frowns.

"45, leave them be for now." I struggle to my feet. "I need to talk to…"

I blink.

"Where's DEFY?"

---

One hour.

From the time the first shot was fired until we made it back to the surface was a little over an hour.

I look up to the sky, now so clear of anything that the earlier part of the day hardly seems real.

When we got to the surface, struggling through the rubble we had brought down ourselves, we had seen the blue aurora grow brighter and brighter, so bright it had almost been hard to look at.

And then, it went away.

Dandelion had announced then and there that M4 and M16 had disappeared, teleported… somewhere.

Better than drowning.

Kylie and Mikhail are receiving medical attention. Kylie's not just unconscious, she appears to be in a coma, and Mikhail's in critical condition.

Kalina, the hard worker she is, is already organizing repair efforts to get some dolls back online, and we've gotten some supplies on a plane headed our way straight from Griffin HQ.

Gentiane and K are currently cleaning up the political portion of the mess, and they had all agreed that I would be less than useless, so I was sent to the infirmary.

Not that I actually went and stayed there. I can't sit still, as much as my poor body protests.

Aleah, 15, and 416 comb the ground with me, looking for cores.

"Found one." 15 states, changing course and picking a small cube out of the mud. "It's still got some charge."

"Good." I take it and look back at Aleah. "How many is that?"

"Eight intact, seventeen unrecoverable."

I nod, then continue on.

"You really should be in the infirmary." 15 says quietly after she hands Aleah the cube. "I can tell you're in a lot of pain."

"I'm healing."

"Then you need to be eating, because unless this area is saturated in collapse fluid, the nanites inside of you are going to eat you alive." Aleah mutters.

"There's a lot of collapse radiation near the coastline." 416 states.

15 shudders.

"I'm not going to abandon them to die. Not again." I point to the cores in Aleah's arms.

15 nods, not agreeing, but understanding.

At least this way, I can say I did something for them, even if it was too little.

Much too little.

416 wordlessly changes course and scoops a core out of the muck.

I look all along the train tracks on either side, my stomach sinking. So many doll corpses, and so few recovered cores. Most of them are just damaged too thoroughly to grab, pulverized. Some of them are just gone. Sometimes we find what looks like an intact torso only for it to be a dummy's chest.

Still… so many died outside the walls.

I have a duty to find them, if they can possibly be saved.

"Hey!"

I turn around to see…

"SV?"

She grins at me. "Yep! The mechanics managed to jerry rig some connections, so I'm back up and talking. They're working on some of the more lightly damaged others right now. I can't fight right now…" She looks away, face coloring. "B-but, I can look for the dropped cores! I got a map of the last known signals from that Dandelion girl."

"Oh… that's helpful." I nod.

"Right." She walks up to me. "So, I'm tagging you out."

She smacks my chest lightly.

"Huh?"

"I'm gonna cover for you. I can move faster, and with these two-" She wraps her arms around 15 and 416. "We'll get everyone back in record time."

"But…"

"You've already covered a large area." Aleah says. "You've done a good job, and you can trust these two to continue in your absence. You won't be abandoning them."

I look at 416 and 15, who both nod in turn.

"...Okay." my heart feels like it's being crushed, but I suppose…

I suppose they have a point.

"Please be thorough." I look at all three of them in turn. "Please."

"Of course!" SV grins.

"I will not let you down." 416 turns her nose up imperiously.

"I'll do my best." 15 is a bit quieter than the others, and I give her a small smile.

Aleah hooks my arm with her hand, and she pulls me gently back toward the base, and or temporary camp.

As we walk back, green forms come into view.

KCCO.

Or, not actually. Russian military. Vympel. The ones the KCCO defected from.

They look identical though.

A whole platoon of Hydras stops around, securing the perimeter of the camp. Cyclops patrol around, looking for stray KCCO troops.

It's enough to give me shivers.

"So." Aleah turns to me once we get close to the arrangement of tents. "Where too?"

"..." I look around, but really… there's nowhere I want to be. Aside from out in the warzone, collecting cores. "Is there a food tent?"

"Yes, there is." She changes direction, and I obediently follow her.

Once inside though, I find a large line. It's dinnertime, and the Russian army is busy making the most of it.

Their laughter is grating on my ears.

Aleah guides me over to an empty table in the corner and waits for me to sit. "I'll grab some food."

I look at the long line. Normally I'd get it myself, but… "Thanks."

She nods and moves into the crowd.

I look back at the table and rest my head in my hands.

Ange had come back with four cores, one for each member of DEFY. We don't have backup bodies for them here, so for now they're just cores sitting on a desk. In chargers, so they don't die.

The Nyto children have been taken away, and I have to say that the whole fifteen minutes I spent with them, I wanted to punt them back into that black hole.

45 had briefly confided in me that she needs to tell me something about Butterfly, but she wants to wait for everything to calm down a bit.

Gentaine flipped out when she realized M4 was gone. It took Kalina begging her to stop her from going back into the base to try to find her. I felt like I sympathized with the sentiment, but I wasn't about to go up and tell her that.

I have a small device that's supposed to be able to contact M16, and given what Dandelion said about M4 being with her…

"Hey."

I look up to see RO. She had disappeared with the first shipment that had come in without much explanation. "Hi."

She's still looking pretty ragged, though someone had duct-taped her cheek back in place. Even through the blemishes that ruin her face, I can see that she's struggling with something. "What's on your mind?"

She looks up at me, two differently colored eyes fixating on mine for a few seconds before once more retreating down to the table. "Do you know what a dolls' core truth is?"

"...Nope." I think I heard someone say something about it, but I can't recall.

"If you look at a Military grade Tactical doll, or Sangvis dolls, you find that if you take any two of them and swap them, you get the same basic unit. They don't have individuality." She starts to wring her hands together. "IOP based dolls, though, we have personalities. It's Persica's greatest accomplishment."

"That's gotta be the first nice thing I've heard about her."

"She's got a nasty personality, for sure." RO sighs and looks away. "In any case, one of the things that we were given was a core truth. A small bit of behavioral code that defines who we are."

"..."

"Think of it like a… a moral code, or… a compulsion." She tilts her head. "If you were a doll, I'd say that protecting the weak was so much of your personality, it would be your core truth."

"...That makes a lot of sense and I kind of resent you for that."

Her lips briefly split into a small smile. "Anyway… These core truths can't be modified. It's why Sop is always innocent, why SV spends her time learning advanced mathematics, why 416 needs to be the best and why G36 is obsessed with cleaning. It's just part and parcel with being an IOP doll."

I nod. "Makes sense.

"Persica… well, All of Anti-Rain was specially designed. From what I've managed to glean, it seems M4 was designed to resemble a human, using her brain scan as her core truth."

"What the fuck?"

"Yes, that was my reaction as well. AR-15 was designed to be her right hand. M16 was designed to be her teacher. Sop was designed to be her strength." RO looks away. "I was designed to replace her."

"...Eh?"

"I'm a Generation three doll. All the other dolls you know are generation two, and since I"m built on top of what made the rest of Anti-Rain so unique, my role is the same as M4's… I'm supposed to be her replacement.."

I blink. "Okay…?"

She gives me a look. "There's a few things I can do over others. For instance, I don't have to listen to human's orders. I have a lot more processing power than most other dolls by default. And… well, generation three dolls are able to modify their core truth."

"...Oh." I put my chin on my hand and think back to what she said about core truths. "So you can modify your personality on the fly?"

"It doesn't work like that. It's like a seed. The plant that grows from it would remain even if you uprooted it, though the plant would change over time."

"Fair enough."

"In any case… Well, I've always had access to my core truth, but I've never actually looked at it."

"Why not?" I tilt my head.

"I'm… afraid." She wrings her hands so hard that one of her fingers snaps off, falling to the table in all its skinless glory. She grimaces down at the finger and continues. "See, the rest of AR team is dedicated to M4. It's part of their core truths. But I… I'm not. And I've done some things that made me question what my core truth could be. What if it was to help M4, and I'm just broken?"

"...Is that possible?"

"I don't know." She puts her head in her hands. "I don't know, and the only person with answers is Persica, and she only answers in insane riddles."

"Huh." I lean back in my seat, careful not to lean so far backward as to fall over. I'm still kind of fragile right now. "Okay, So… do you want to look at your core truth?"

"I don't know. Like I said, I'm scared to, but it's such an important part of me…"

"..." I look at the food line, seeing Aleah is nearing the counter. "You know, you should really talk about this with someone important to you. Like, SOPMOD or 15. Not someone unimportant like-"

"Hadwin."

I sigh and avoid looking at her for a few seconds. "RO, I'm not stupid, but also… like, we were at each other's throats only a few days ago. I don't get how you could possibly count me as important to you. You knew about the whole plan, and were in charge of making sure I didn't abuse anyone. How did you manage to get from there to here?"

"...How many times have you ordered dolls to do things?"

"...A few times."

"Rarely. In combat, sure, and even then it's never anything crazy. One time you ordered Aleah to stand stock still for an afternoon, and that was bad, but otherwise? You're not a bad person. I watched how you talk with us, how you actually fight for us with everything you have… I think it makes sense."

"Fine." I rub my temples with one hand and the stump left behind after Sop took my hand to fix. "So, my opinion matters to you, and you want me to… weigh in on if you should look at your own core truth?"

"Yes."

I fall silent, thinking as hard as I can.

What would be the best for RO?

"I… I think you should look at it."

"I should?" RO's eyes widen.

"Yeah. I think most people would love to be able to change who they are, or discover what makes them the way they are. You've got the option to, and… well, in the end it doesn't matter what it says, right? You've done what you've done up until now with whatever your core truth is, and learning about it won't change it, right?"

"...Right." She drums her four remaining fingers on her right hand on the table, resulting in an irregular pattern. "Would… would you be willing to look with me? You'll have to come with me down to Level 2. A-and, I don't want P90 coming along."

P90 pouts inside my head, only to grin a second later. "Go get 'em, tiger."

Shut up, Mary Jane.

Out loud, "...Sure, if you'll have me."

A small smile creeps along RO's face, and she hides it by turning away, reaching into her back to pull out a Linker cable. "H-here."

I plug the cable into the port at the back of my neck and close my eyes, waiting for my brain to resolve Level 2.

Soon, RO shows up, and we're in a mostly empty space. I look around, but the only thing of note is some filing cabinets.

Even RO's mind is organized.

"S-stop looking around like that."

"Hmm? Oh, sorry." I focus on her. In here, she's restored back to her usual glory, no duct tape to be seen. "Let's go see this core truth."

She nods and opens one of the filing cabinets, pulls out a folder, and hands it to me.

"You want me to open it?"

She nods.

I move so that she can see, and I flip it open.

It's blank.

"Er…" I flip the only page in the folder but there's nothing I can see.

RO's eyes narrow. "Check size of core truth."

A voice from the heavens, perfectly monotone, says "Zero bytes."

RO is frozen in shock. "B-but…"

"So… you're just who you are, huh? Nothing to override your personality to suit someone else." I nod. "I guess that's what makes you a gen three doll."

She looks at me. "But that's… that's not how this is supposed to work!" Her hands grab my shoulders. "I made so many choices, I did so many things I regret…"

I shrug. "So did I, and I'm pretty sure nobody programmed me with a core truth either."

She looks at me, her mind whirling with something that I can't quite keep up with. "But I'm nothing."

"Pfft." I can't help but laugh at that. "RO, if you're nothing…"

"It's not funny! This isn't an answer, it's a non-answer! It's useless!"

A sudden thought strikes me. "Hey, have you ever read Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy?"

She gives me a look, obviously wondering why I'm straying off topic.

"Humor me?" I ask.

She nods. "I've read it. One of my old precinct bosses liked it a lot."

"You know why the answer to 'life, the universe, and everything' was 42?"

"Because it's everything." RO continues to play along. "42 is the ascii number for the wildcard selector."

I nod. Thank you, science teacher for imparting at least one useful thing into my head. "It's whatever you want it to be. I think, for your case… isn't it the same? You're free to be whatever you want to be."

RO bites her lips and looks down at the file.

"I… I have some things to think about."

"Alright." I hand her back the file. "Well… if you want to talk, I'm open. For the moment, talking seems like the only thing I can do."

"Thank you, Hadwin." She smiles at me, and suddenly I'm back in the mess tent, blinking at the once more decrepit RO. She starts to recover the cable. "By the way, Persica sent me a new body, and… well, I was putting off upgrading because of my thoughts. If… if you want, you can come see my new body before I change?"

"Sure…" I nod. "Just make sure you pick a time I'm not locked into an infirmary or busy hobbling after cores."

She nods once more and stands up. "I'll look forward to it."

Aleah finally shows back up with food. "Hello RO."

"Aleah." RO gestures for the other dolls to sit down. "I'll talk to you later, Hadwin."

I wave goodbye and look down at my food tray. Not the most appetizing stuff.

I miss Springfield's cafe.

"By the way-" RO leans back in. "Persica is on base and is starting to restore dolls from backups. If you want to great those you've been trying to rescue-"

"...Thanks, RO."

She finally disappears for real this time.

"What did RO want?"

"Just to talk." I dip my spoon into the food and lift it to my mouth. At least there's some taste that isn't just 'ew'. "She's concerned about some things."

Aleah nods. "Do you think the box she had in her hands was an Oath ring box?"

I almost spit out my food before reminding myself that I need it. "W-what?"

"She had a box like this." Aleah plops an Oath ring box down on the table. "She had it in her hand while you were talking."

"N-nah, you must… have…" I look down at the ring box, then set down my spoon and awkwardly pry it open with my lone working hand. There's two rings in there, so it's not the box from one of my sets of rings. "Where'd you find this one?"

"Hmm? Oh, I bought it."

"Didn't know you had someone you liked." I close the box and scoot it back over the table.

She maintains eye contact, a smile crawling across her face as she pushes the box back.

…Oh.

"It turns out, while it's traditionally the human that initiates an oath-"

---

Several hours later, I stand in the midst of a crater.

I've checked around, there's no more cores left to recover, and most of the ones that we did manage to recover have been returned to the mechanics so they can start reviving everyone.

My wounds have knit, the small machines infesting my body having already repaired most of the damage, so I'm able to stand without the exo suit.

P90's with me, and it looks like I may never actually be free from her unless I do some major overhauls of my body. Still, she's agreed to stop reading my thoughts for a bit.

I wanted to be alone.

I kick at a discarded KCCO shotgun, watching the bent weapon skid away down the side of the crater. This entire place, almost as far as the eye can see, is completely gone. Aside from the wall behind me, the landscape is barren, blasted to nothing by the shore guns and artillery units on the KCCO's armored trains.

My eyes track the shotgun until it comes to a stop against a gray corpse, and then I take a deep breath and turn around.

"Took you long enough."

Architect grins. "Well, we had some issues getting away from the Military."

Gager nods sharply.

Beak crosses her arms. "So, what's this about?"

I lick my lips. "I contacted M16."

Beak bristles slightly.

I continued regardless. "She told me that you guys lost your commander, right?"

"Yeah, so?" Architect put her hand on her hip. "I can still blow things up without her."

"Yes, but for how long?" I gesture to the destroyed field around up. "You're not going to have repairs, or supplies, or anything."

Gager clicks her tongue. "Is there a reason you are bringing this up?"

"I have to assume so." Beak lifts her nose in the air. "After all, he spent the effort to get us out here."

"When I was talking with M16-" I look at each of them in turn. "-She asked me to offer you all asylum. If you want, I'll endorse you either joining Griffin or… I'll try to get you a place inside Sector 3. I can't guarantee you'll like it, but I figured I could at least give you three a chance at a normal life."

"This smells like a trap." Beak's eyes narrow. "How do I know you're not pulling our legs?"

"You don't." I answer bluntly. "But M16 asked me to help, and I'm not the kind of guy to turn a blind eye."

"..." Gager looks at Architect, who seems to be thinking pretty hard. "We'll join up."

Architect blinks. "Wh-what?! I'm still thinking!"

Gager nods. "As you keep saying, things explode around him. If you want to continue-"

Architect scratches her head furiously. "But it's not fun if I have to listen to the stupid humans! M16 told me all about how dumb humans are!"

I look at Beak, who's suspicion is only growing. "While they bicker about that-"

"Why would I submit to you?"

"...Well, I wouldn't call it submitting…" I mutter. "Look, I'm not gonna force you. I just want you three to have a chance, as Gentane is already talking about cleanup."

Beak's face sours.

I put my hands up in defense. "Nothing's set in stone. You might be perfectly fine walking around out here."

She looks away at the broken ground, quarantine wall that's been beaten to within an inch of its life, and then at some of the ringleaders currently lying dead in the crater.

"What happens if I say no?"

"You walk away, and I never talk to you again."

"And if I join?"

"You'll… er, join up with my squad." I scratch my chin. "I'm not sure what I'll be doing in the future, exactly, but I can guarantee you that you'll at least have a bed if you join up."

"I see." She drums her fingers on her arm. "Would I be allowed to bring my motorcycle?"

"I don't see why not."

She nods. "Then, I will join you. For now."

I smile at the tall doll and offer my hand. "Welcome to the team, Beak."

"NO FAIR!" Architect leaps between us, breaking the handshake. "I wanted to join first!"

"So you're going to-?" I start to ask.

"Duh! It's gonna be so much fun!"

I look at Gager, who just nods.

Well… That's three more people on our side.

I just hope I don't end up regretting this.

---

"It's… asking for me?"

The Vympel engineer nods. "If you would-"

I walk away from the table and follow him through the veritable city of tents to where a large array of the recovered KCCO units sit.

Swarms of people are checking them over, plugging diagnostic tools into their chassis.

The man I'm following leads me right up to a unit that sends a small chill down my spine.

И1704.

"Oh, crap." I mutter. I have my handgun tucked into my tac vest, and my hand comes up to rest on its hilt.

The Hydra shifts its weight to bring its camera right in line with my head, the lens adjusting slightly as it focuses on me.

"She says that you've met."

"I'll say. It almost killed me a few times." I glance at the man. "'She'?"

He grins. "Most of 'em don't care to interact with humans much, so they don't pick out features, but this one seems to have realized you hang around with a lot of T-dolls and… well, why don't you talk to her?"

He unplugs a diagnostic tool and hands the end of the cable to me. It's a Linker cable.

I accept the cable, but look back at И1704 instead of plugging it in as the Vympel man starts searching through his toolbox for something.

P90 appears after a moment. "Should we risk it?"

"...Might as well."

The soldier turns back to me as I plug the wire into the back of my skull. "Here, I found a Linker-"

The real world washes away, replaced by a stark white void. P90 stands beside me, eyes looking around and her arms at her sides as if ready to draw handguns from her pockets.

In the center of the space is a woman standing stock still.

Her eyes are locked to mine.

I take a deep breath and do my best to smile. "Hello."

"You are Hadwin."

"Yep."

"It seems I have received new orders, and I no longer have to kill you."

"That's… great."

She doesn't make any expressions at all. "I would like to join you."

"Join me?" I raise an eyebrow. "Why?"

"I want to know what made you so strong."

"Heh." I lift my shirt, letting P90 do the work to adjust my digital version to match my outer self. "You almost killed me last time."

"I'm amazed you can laugh that off." P90 mutters.

"You survived. I need to know why."

"You say that, but it's not like I did anything special." I scratch my face. "I was just trying to survive."

"I would like to join you." She repeats, this time taking a single step forward.

"Er…" I look at P90 for help, but she seems as lost as I am. "L-look, I'm not really sure I can take care of a Hydra. I don't have the technical knowledge."

The woman in front of me doesn't respond, but her eyes continue to track me as I move.

"And… I don't think the Russians are gonna just let me have one of their combat robots."

"Then, I will join her." The woman lifts her hand to point to P90.

"Wh-Me?!"

"Yes. You reside inside of him. I will join."

"Whoa whoa whoa." P90 waves her hands. "That's not something you can just decide!"

The first emotion to cross the woman's face is a faint tinge of irritation, her brow furrowing. "I do not understand."

"Look, there's not a lot of room in here. If you could find some other vessel-"

"P90, we can't take her, she belongs to the Russians."

"W-well, yeah, but even so."

И1704 tilts her head. "I will get permission."

"You don't have to-"

"I have been granted permission." She replies. "I will be transferred to a storage device for you to collect once we are done talking."

That was fast.

I look at P90. She looks at me.

"I… suppose it can't hurt?" P90's expression indicates she's unsure.

"Oh, this is going to go so poorly…" I clear my throat. "Okay, sure. What do you want me to call you?"

И1704 tilts her head in the opposite direction. "I am И1704."

"Right… but that's a serial number."

P90 glances at me. "You call me by your dead friend's codename."

"Shhh."

"I do not understand." И1704's expression remains completely neutral.

"Okay, let me think." I rub my temples. "Hey, why don't we flip the numbers over?"

"Huh?" P90 furrows her eyebrows.

"Look. rotate it upside-down and it looks like it spells 'hOLI'. We'll just call her Holly."

"I am Holly." Holly nods. "I will see you soon."

Suddenly, I'm back to reality, and my eyes find the stunned Vympel man's.

"How… did you just plug that cable into your head?"

"It's a long story…"

---

Later that night, I stare up at the stars, twinkling away above us without a care in the world.

It's peaceful out here.

"Incoming." P90 whispers.

I look up to see three glowing dots approaching. One yellow, two bright acid green.

"Hey." I call out.

"Guten morgen, Herr Galanis." 45 sits down on the ground next to me, her face tilting up to look at the sky. "Enjoying yourself?"

"Yep."

"It's not morning." 416 sits down on my other side, then lies down right beside me after taking my arm hostage.

45 smirks. "Not yet, but it will be soon."

I check the time. Yeah, it's almost midnight.

"What do you see?" 416 asks, her eyes looking up into the heavens.

"Just looking at the stars. I've not seen them much from Sector 3."

"Mm." 416 seems to scan her eyes across the sky a few times, then she turns on her side.

I glance to the side to see the two glowing green spots staring right back at me. "What?"

"I will enjoy myself as well, by looking at you."

I can feel my cheeks heat up, but that's just how she is.

"Get a room." 45 sighs, but I can feel her lying down beside me, turning away and scooting up to me so her back touches my arm.

"You're the one that interrupted." 416 replies.

"He's my husband too, 416."

…Should I be mediating? I feel like I should be mediating. "Hey-"

45's back rises and falls as she sighs. "Ja, I know. I'll be nice."

I lift my arm over her head and then rest it on the ground so 45 has a place to rest her head, which she takes.

The wind whips across the scorched land, blowing our hair about, 416's long locks resting on my face for a moment before she reaches up to brush it away.

"I found my answers." 45 says, breaking the silence after a good dozen or so minutes.

"You did?"

"Ja. I did."

She doesn't elaborate.

"We have a lot of money now." 416 comments. "Griffin and Kryuger, along with DEFY, both owe us a large amount of money."

"Oh?"

"We can clear our debts, get ourselves repaired, and even take a vacation." 45 snorts. "Assuming they all pay properly."

"So you're all free then."

"Free as anyone who lives in the dark can ever be." 45 remarks.

"That's…" I pause for a moment. "That's awesome. You get to choose what you do in the future."

"Yes." 416 nods. "I choose to be with you."

"A-ah." I can feel myself beginning to blush once more.

"I wouldn't say that I'm gonna stick around forever, but…" 45's voice shrinks to be hardly audible. "I think I'd like to stay by your side for a while longer, at least."

"Got somewhere to go?" I ask the shorter doll.

"Yes. The Maldives." Her voice regains strength. "I have a promise to keep."

"The Maldives, hmm?" I look back at the seemingly endless sky. "Sounds like it might be a fun place to go."

45 barks out a laugh. "Oh, so you're gonna come with me?"

"Why not? You're…" My voice catches as I realize how embarrassing what I'm about to say is. "You're my wife, right? I wanna do what you wanna do."

"I want to lie here with you." 416 states.

I squeeze her arm where my hand rests.

"I suppose I'm glad to be here too." 45 turns to face me, her one good eye finding my pair in the darkness. "You know, when I met you I thought you were useless."

"I know. You told me."

"I'm not one to mince words."

"Nope." I wait a moment before continuing. "Is there a reason you brought that up?"

"Hmm? Oh, I was just marveling at how different I think about you from then."

"I sure hope you wouldn't accept an oath ring if you thought I was useless." My tone comes out in a deadpan.

"I wouldn't. In fact, I thought I'd never accept one, actually." I look at her, and she has a complicated expression on her face. Once she stops thinking and her eye moves up to focus on me, her lips curl into a smile. A soft smile, that for once doesn't feel out of place at all. "Thank you for showing me that I don't have to stay in the past."

"You're wel-"

She reaches up and pulls on my neck, drawing herself into a kiss.

She lets go after a few seconds, and before I can say anything I can feel 416 practically vibrating on my other side.

I turn my head and get much the same treatment on that side as well.

After that, there's not much that needs to be said.

---

0456. The day after the assault on Paldiski submarine base.

I hadn't slept, much to several dolls' annoyance. Instead, I had joined one of the Vympel patrols

"Hey Commander?"

I glance at Kalina, who is starting to look really bad. Logistics work must be getting to her in a bad way. "Yes?"

"When you get a chance, can you tell me what RO did with her old body? I think we can use some of it for parts."

"Er…" I think back to RO's duct-taped form from before she had transferred bodies. "She put it into storage."

Kalina sighs. "Typical. Can you convince her to let me have it?"

I glance down at the shiny new ring next to the three others, acquired after RO had woken up and insisted that the first thing she did in her new body was put on its pair. "I think I might have some chance."

"T-thanks." Kalina yawns. "Man, I'm looking forward to hitting the sack."

"Is there anything I can do to take the burden off?" I ask, already knowing the answer.

"Nah… If I let someone else do it, I'll have to work four times harder to catch up." She waves me away. "Thanks for the offer, though."

"It's staying open if you think of anything." I nod. "I feel useless without anything to do."

"Get used to it." Her lips curl into a grin. "After yesterday, our mission is done. We've finished off Sangvis, got revenge on the KCCO, and soon we're gonna go home and take a long needed break."

"Oh boy."

"You won't get anywhere near as much hazard pay, but then again, there's not gonna be any reasons to have to calculate it. It's gonna be blissful."

"I'll look forward to it." I nod. "And Kalina?"

"Yeah?"

"Good job. You've been working hard, and I can tell you're doing your best."

Her ever present smile starts to crack slightly. "Yeah… Thanks, Hadwin."

"No problem."

"O-oh!" she snaps her fingers like she just remembered something. "AR-15 was looking for you."

"She was?" I frown. "She didn't send me any messages."

"She didn't? She sure seemed like she was sending some messages." Kalina rubs her chin. "Well, I'm off. You might want to go find her."

"Right."

It takes me only a few seconds before I realize what Kalina meant.

I fish the radio off of my tac vest, adjust the frequency back to the code 15 had told me all that time ago, and key the button on the side.

"Hey Star, you there?"

A few seconds of silence is followed by a voice coming through. "Can you join me on the wall?"

"...Sure."

It takes me a good thirty minutes and a call to 416 for directions through the large structure, but I make it up to the top of the quarantine wall largely without incident.

On top, hair blowing in the winds gusting at this height, is 15.

Her bright pink eyes are set against the stars behind her, oddly appropriate if I do say so myself.

She turns as I approach, her mouth quirking up into a small smile. "You came."

"I did." I walk right up to her and shove my hands in my pockets. "Sorry about the delay, I didn't realize you wanted me."

"You were busy."

"No, I really wasn't." I reach a hand out, and she looks down at it for a second before grabbing my hand with hers, fingers intertwined.

"We survived."

"We did."

"It was a suicide mission." Her voice is almost carried away by the wind. "I was resolved to never come back."

"Fortunately, we don't have to worry about that. We survived."

"But, I don't know where my sister went."

I carefully school my features. I do know roughly where she is, but M16 gave me some very compelling reasons not to tell.

"I need to find her."

"Yep. You can count on me."

Her eyes flick over to meet mine. "You… you're going to come with us?"

I turn and place my free hand, recently repaired by Sop, on her shoulder. "Star… a month ago, you and I were strangers, and you were guarding a politician in the place I work. Then, the place exploded, you handed me a gun… and since then, you've been by my side. If not actually, you've been there for me in the sense of keeping up my morale. Of all the crazy things that happened this last month, I can for sure say that I have zero regrets about meeting you."

Her cheeks darken. "Th-thanks, but-"

"And so, if there's something that's bothering you, like a missing sister, I will do everything I can to help you find her." I let a sloppy smile across my face. "You're precious to me."

She nods and rests her forehead on my chest. "Thank you. Thank you so much."

We stand there for a minute before the wind once more whips past us, and I can't help but shiver.

"S-so, what are you doing up here on the wall?" I ask.

"It's the highest place around, and…" Her cheeks flush even darker. "I wanted to watch the sunrise with you."

"Hmm?"

I look toward the east, and sure enough the horizon is starting to turn red, the distant mountains blocking the great ball of fire in the sky for the moment.

"You can watch it with me, right?" She asks, a hopeful note in her voice.

"Of course." I sit down and pat the concrete beside me.

She obliges, snuggling up close in an effort to help block out the wind, clearly having seen me shiver.

A few minutes later, the sun crests the horizon, bathing the world in fresh golden light.

15's eyes sparkle in the light, and I wrap my arm around her shoulders to pull her tight to me.

I'm not a smart person. I'm not particularly strong, or capable, or manly. My head's gotten me into this crazy mess that has almost gotten me killed many times. The future is uncertain, and likely to try to get me killed if the past few weeks are any indication.

But right now, with this woman beside me?

I wouldn't trade right now for anything.

---

Author's final note:

Thank you, Ekiro, for being an editor through thick and thin. Your help has been worth more than I could ever repay.

Thank you, AngeleX, for being here the whole time.

Thank you, Neptunia, for your long, insightful comments on every chapter.

Thank you, everyone who reviewed and gave me little scraps of motivation to point me toward the goal.

Thank you for the constructive criticism as well, even if it did make me mad sometimes.

Thank you, everyone who joined the discord server to chat.

Thank you, anyone who's managed to get this far.

This is the end of Field Agent. There is an epilogue, chapter 14 of the healing chapters.

It's been a rough two years. I've wanted to delete this off the internet so many times, but I've been talked out of it just as many times. I've watched it grow to a point that I never would have considered, back when this was a one-shot with a stupid kid in a fast food restaurant that has the unfortunate attribute of having a few dolls in it. I've struggled to sit in front of a computer and type, struggled to stay sober enough to keep the story coherent, struggled to care.

Still, I managed to come back and finish this.

This was always the endgame. Polarized Light, the end of chapter 12. When I read Shattered Connexion, with the whole train to a certain doom, I wanted to write something like that, and I did.

It grew and grew, and is now several books long. Five, by my count.

I'm not going to be writing more for Field Agent. I considered shoving Hadwin into all of the post DR things, but with the way the story is just going off the rails, I have lost all enthusiasm for that idea. Fixed Point especially just… wow.

I reserve the right to write a GFL2 based fic, should that ever get released. Might even include Hadwin or his kids. Who can tell?

For now, though?

I'll see you on Level 2 sometime. Peace.

Johnny Wycliffe