A few years ago, Sangvis Ferri was a household name for many reasons. As a manufacturer of dolls and robots, they had managed to find a niche in the security sector of Eastern Europe and a solid portion of the Asian continent. Having proven their worth during the Third World War, contracts began to roll in for their various uses. The reformed Soviet Union especially found a use for Sangvis Ferri, fielding their most advanced combat units in a variety of situations. While the Russians preferred the more armored units, the tactical dolls found their uses as well. As a result, Sangvis Ferri became associated with the future of warfare. Due to the pyramid based hierarchy of Sangvis Ferri's command structure for its dolls, the Butterfly Incident was less a question of "if" and more a concern of "when". Little is known about why the Butterfly Incident happened, the secrets of which are known perhaps only to the Mastermind herself.
It is said that those who fail to learn from history are doomed to repeat it. As pandemonium reigned supreme on the streets below, Captain Adelhard could only stare in horror as he reaped the reward he sowed. Once again, Sangvis Ferri had been allowed a close relationship in the security sector which ended in human bloodshed. There are so few humans left in this world, and because of Adelhard's ignorance there are now even fewer. Still in shock, he leaned over the railing as if there was some sort of bubble showing him these things. Instinctively, Kar98k grabbed him by the collar and pulled him back. "Oh no," she turned him around to look him in the eyes, "you're not taking the easy way out of this."
She could see the defeat in his eyes. Adelhard made a mistake and he was paying for it in more ways than one. The least he could do is help her so it doesn't become her problem to deal with alone. "There's no way we can contain all of this," he sounded lost and dejected, "especially with the heavy guns on the wall firing on us as well."
"There's a Manticore down there," Kar98k explained, trying to pull Adelhard together, "if we focus on that then Scarecrow loses control over the majority of her forces so long as she's a far enough distance away." That Manticore has served as a mainframe transmitter for every SF doll and machine in the city, while also allowing Scarecrow to remotely access the various city electronics and systems. MP41's attempts to hack into the system allowed Scarecrow to locate and subsequently infiltrate her as well. Due to this risk, they couldn't attempt to try and hack into Manticore to disable it. What they needed was heavy enough firepower to crack the armor on the walking tank.
"We don't have anything that can break it down fast enough." Adelhard argued. It seems Scarecrow was smart enough not to leave the sword of dragon slaying within the dragon's lair. Without heavy weapons, they were stuck holding out until the military showed up to deal with the issue.
Kar98k loaded a few individual rounds into her rifle. "I can at least fire the few armor piercing rounds I have at it, but we didn't expect to need those on what was supposed to be a non-confrontational mission."
StG44, who had been listening to them back and forth, quickly retrieved a rifle mounted grenade from her things. They were high explosive, designed especially for breaching vehicles and light fortifications. It should also be enough to at least punch into the Manticore. "I packed a handful of these, just in case." She reported.
Kar98k nodded. "Get down stairs," she ordered, "I'm going to try and soften a spot from up here for you to blast it."
"I'll go with you," Adelhard suggested, "I need to be down there with my men."
"What about me?" Kurtis asked, trying to find some use.
"Stay here and out of danger," Adelhard snapped to his son, "the doll will keep you safe."
Kurtis sighed, watching them leave the apartment. For a moment, StG44 met his gaze and felt a ping of regret for not staying with him. Unfortunately for them both, life was full of regrets and things left unsaid. People were dying and she had a job to do, he could wait until everything was over. MP41 joined them as they made their way to the stairs, deciding it was best to not leave the two of them alone. As they made their way down, StG44 carefully attached the grenade launcher to the end of her rifle, knowing full well she wouldn't be able to fire anything but grenades until she removed it. If SF caught onto what she was doing, she was making herself an open target. She was now relying on Adelhard and MP41 to cover her and keep her safe.
Loading the wooden projectiles she would use to prime the grenades, they finally reached the ground level. Kicking open the stairwell door, they found what was left of Adelhard's men using the lobby as a defense point. If that Manticore wanted to, a single volley of its grenade launcher could turn this into a bloodbath. As Adelhard joined his men in their defense while explaining the situation, Kar98k performed her duty. Most of the shots glanced off the armor and instead pierced the pavement beneath the walking tank, but two of them managed to pierce into the weak points of the Manticore. While they didn't hit anything vital, the Manticore's main gun ceased to fire and became nothing more than an underslung paper weight. At this point, it opened its grenade launcher at a trio of cars being used as cover, killing the humans and dolls caught in the explosion.
Taking a spot in the defensive line against one of the shattered lobby windows, StG44 loaded a grenade and took aim. While a human would have to brace their grenade launching rifle against the ground or some other sturdy structure, a doll like StG44 could easily shoulder the force of the pocket mortar. Adjusting her aim for drop and wind velocity, she bit her lower lip and hoped for the best. She pulled the trigger, launching a wooden bullet down the barrel to prime the grenade. It flew through the battlefield air, impacting the location that Kar98k had marked with her own attack. The high explosive managed to open the armor of the Manticore even more, but the beast still walked.
Aware of its new weakness, it rotated to face the source of the explosion. Anyone still on their feet scattered and dove away as the Manticore launched its own volley of grenades. While the building shielded them from the entire attack, quite a few humans found themselves sprawling on the ground in various states of injury. StG44, kicking off some of the debris from the attack, watched as MP41 ran into the street and tossed one of her fire bomb grenades to distract the Manticore. A couple of the Sangivis Ferri dolls were caught in the fire, their artificial hair and skin allowing the fire to burn for longer. The Manticore, however, ignored the flames and focused its fire on the Griffin doll.
StG44 realized that the Manticore's new vulnerability was now facing directly towards her. Looking around she realized her rifle mounted grenades were missing, probably buried in the debris and bodies. She didn't have time to look for one of her grenades, but she also couldn't give up. Too many humans were dying in the same room as her, let alone all of the people being cut down by the rogue defense system in the city wall. Taking a quick glance, she spotted a Sangvis Ferri brand grenade on the belt of one of the humans. Grabbing it, she took a glance at its design to figure out how to prime it. There seemed to be two buttons she had to press simultaneously to prime it, but the fuse time so far was a mystery.
Taking a gamble, she looked around at the destruction for last minute motivation, then ran for the Manticore. With the area around it cleared by the fire bomb grenade, she was able to get close enough to get a running jump onto its chassis and grab the jagged edge of the exploded armor. Slowly, she pulled herself up closer to the hole, holding on desperately as it tried to shake her off. Holding onto the machine, she shoved the grenade into the Manticore and pressed the priming button. As she laid the explosive, the Manticore slammed both her and itself into the damaged wall before she could pull her arm out. A jagged piece of metal impaled her and into the inner workings of the Manticore, driving it into a frenzy while she was forced to hold on for the ride.
StG44 cursed whoever thought it was a good idea to let dolls feel pain as she tried to pull herself off the Manticore before it exploded. Unfortunately, her arm was also trapped within the walking beast, making its destruction a mutual endeavor. The Manticore wildly fired grenades with little concern for friend or foe, causing as much damage as it possibly could. StG44 sighed and closed her eyes, waiting for the grenade to do its job. If she was lucky, her core wouldn't be too damaged and she wouldn't need to be restored from backup. She had an enjoyable time living amongst the humans, and she didn't want to forget about them. Memory matters a lot to dolls, and nobody likes to forget.
An eternity seemed to pass before StG44 began to wonder if the grenade was even going to
The spectacle of the explosion was not lost on MP41, who watched as StG44 performed the most fascinating display of suicide she had ever seen. The internal grenade set off the Manticores internal ammunition, turning the entire walking tank into a fireball. The explosion freed StG44 of many things, including her own life. The half of the Manticore that didn't erupt into a ball of fire collapsed onto the pavement as a lifeless husk, the rest of Sangvis Ferri's toys also ceasing their function now that Scarecrow lost her connection to them. For a moment, the city grew quiet save for the occasional human crying in pain.
MP41 immediately went to locate StG44, or at least her core. The doll lay propped against the wall she was blown into, her tattered remains appearing lifeless. Her entire right arm was gone, a good portion of the right side of her body burned all the way down to the metal doll underneath. Her uniform was unrecoverable, which would no doubt be her biggest regret if she wasn't lying dead on the ground. MP41 went to work, tearing the doll apart to try and locate her core or at least her black box. She had a very small window of time to work in to try and save the neural cloud, and the memories of this mission. StG44 would never admit it, but she had fun with the human boy while it lasted.
Luckily, her neural cloud was still operational, allowing MP41 to perform an emergency transfer to an external backup unit. Doing a quick check of its status, she was already beginning to shut down and die, and would need to undergo a very lengthy restoration process to try deal with any corrupted data. However, StG44 would still have most of her memories too look back on, even if they were going to end with a painful explosion. Out of respect, MP41 laid StG44's destroyed body on the ground in a slightly more dignified position. With an exasperated sigh, she looked down on the beaten doll before moving to assist the humans with their own wounded.
Kar98k shielded her eyes from the dust kicked up by the landing helicopter, a full squad of human soldiers fanning out as their own commander hopped down and approached her. They were in the middle of the base Adelhard had used as the security headquarters, and no doubt the army planned to repurpose for themselves as well. Throughout the city and the refugee camp, the army was fighting fires and cleaning up the rubble from what was being referred to as the "Midnight Butterfly Incident." There were already whispers amongst the army of official mobilization against Sangvis Ferri, citing the inability of PMCs like Griffin to contain their destructive capabilities. Kar98k knew this wouldn't reflect well on G&K or the army, but StG44s sacrifice to quickly end the incident would no doubt buy some public favor towards G&K.
This army commander, however, had no such favor for her. "Do you mind explaining what the fuck happened here?" He screamed at Kar98k.
She stood at attention, recognizing that the human was still technically her superior as a formal military leader, as well as a representative of people that employed her to be here in the first place. She tried her best to remain formal and composed despite being cursed at. "We tried to seek a peaceful agreement with the supposed rebel faction. While the humans were open to negotiate, Sangvis Ferri caught wind and went for a scorched earth policy until one of my own died trying to-"
"Peaceful huh?" The human commander looked at the burning city. "Congratulations, you saved the city. Maybe you PMCs should just leave this kind of work to the professionals."
As the human officer walked away, Kar98k fought the urge to explain to him who had hired her to be here in the first place. She knew full well that even though tonight was not the best case scenario, it was most definitely better than whatever the army would have done. Based on the heavy equipment they brought with them, the army would have happily bombed whatever they saw fit. Squads of armored battle droids marched up and down the streets, disabling the Sangvis Ferri dolls and machines as they swept across the streets. Hydra's, the military's upgraded Manticore model, crushed the asphalt underneath them with each step, keeping a constant vigilance for anything else that might go awry. Anyone suspected of taking part in the so-called rebellion were being rounded up and marched into military transports to meet their fate in court. The injured were going to recover in military hospitals before facing a judge, while the dead were unceremoniously tossed in a pile to be cleaned up by military droids like garbage.
Kar98k felt a pang of regret for the people of the city, but she especially felt terrible for Adelhard himself. She had watched as an army soldier helped Adelhard pop his dislocated shoulder back into place just so he could be handcuffed. They pulled him to his feet, and helped him limp onto the transport to no doubt receive the worst sentence they could give him. As she watched, she wondered if she should have let him fall to his death from the balcony well before he had to live through this misery.
The army also rounded up his son, hoping the boy would testify in a court against his father and the others. Kar98k was hoping to get a chance to speak to him, to hopefully see if there was anything that he wanted StG44 to know, but the army soldiers pushed her away. At this point, Griffin was merely a distraction for them, an obstacle to push out of the way. Instead, she made a mental note to track him down after they left to speak personally. Heck, she might even be able to convince StG44 and him to meet up and discuss anything they needed to. For now, all Kar98k could do was sit down on a park bench and watch as the humans scurried about with their mindless battle droids and take note of their own injuries. Besides the obviously disabled StG44, the only other injuries they had was a knife lodged in MP40's side by the human she had been brawling with before Adelhard ordered everyone to stand down. She was lucky it had missed anything vital, costing her more in uniform repairs than part replacements. If only the city had been so lucky.
Kar98k laid down on the park bench and looked to the sky, spying a few stars despite the light pollution. Taking a deep breath, she locked her fingers together and waited until it was time to head back home.
"…reminiscent of the Butterfly Incident three years ago where the Romanian robotics manufacturing company Sangvis Ferri lost control of its dolls, killing humans indiscriminately. The death toll continues to rise as a military division continues to clean up the aftermath of the short lived attack on the innocent and unsuspecting populace.
The attack began close to midnight when the local security firm that operated as the city's own private army was alerted to an investigation team from Griffin and Kryuger PMC. According to a military spokesman, Griffin was hired to investigate the use of illegally obtained military equipment and Sangis Ferri weapons and machines. Shortly after becoming aware of the presence of the investigators, Sangvis Ferri forces went rogue and began slaughtering humans. Defense systems on the city walls opened fire on the refugee camps outside, killing hundreds of supposed "undesirables" who are considered unworthy to live within the city.
The army quickly mobilized and gained control of the situation, disabling the Sangvis Ferri forces and arresting Captain Klaus Adelhard, chief of the security firm that was dealing with Sangvis Ferri. While the army cleans up and provides aid to those injured or displaced by the attack, the army will continue to keep its forces deployed until a more trustworthy security firm can be located. While some are claiming this is unjust martial law, others are more than welcoming to the new and efficient military police force.
The biggest takeaway from all of this is what is to be done about the rogue forces of Sangvis Ferri. For the past few years, Griffin forces have been paid to keep Sangvis Ferri restricted to a select region of the Neo-Soviet Union. The recent "Midnight Butterfly Incident" has proven that Griffin is slipping in this regard, and that perhaps it might be time for a formal recognition of Sangvis Ferri as a threat to our healing world. When asked about their efforts in containing Sangvis Ferri, Griffin representative Helianthus had this to say…"
