The beacon was lit, and the griffin was signaled; but it was not yet ready to fly into battle. Each arm of the Brigade was tired, broken, and unprepared for the challenge that beckoned for them. MP41 was a heap of scrap on a repair bench, her neural cloud desperately being pieced together. G43 had only recently been reactivated from her recent death, her memories of being killed gone with her old body. MG42 and MG34 were tired and overworked, the only two members of the Brigade who didn't need emergency repairs. StG44 was still missing, the only indication she was still alive being her brief distress signals that were too short to be accurately traced. FG42's location was similarly unknown, her whereabouts a complete secret. MP40 was losing swiftly morale, watching her commander collapse under the weight of recent failures. Kar98k herself was on the constant verge of breaking down, cracking under the weight of her emerging human emotions.

Scarecrow, recognizing the state of the Brigade as well as the very obvious trap they were marching into, opted out of joining them. The Brigade was too gung-ho about saving a town of humans from an enemy they were barely prepared to face. In her opinion, she figured it would be a better move to hold out at the Griffin base and take advantage of their entrenched facilities. If they were so hellbent on saving the humans, they could just open their gates to anyone capable of making it there. Scarecrow looked over the town layout, realizing it was a poor arena to try and face Paradeus at full strength. Her resources were too limited here for an insane suicide mission, as were Griffin's. However, upon assessing the Brigade and their members, Scarecrow was convinced that they weren't going into battle to win. Despair was wracked all over their faces, they were ready to die. Frankly speaking, she wasn't going to deny them that opportunity. Instead, she took up a position in the command room, watching the holographic table display their progress. Her intent to watch for when the Brigade was inevitably destroyed, she would collar both the human engineer and the captured Nyto to bring them back to Sangvis Ferri for their new employment.

Their plan was absolutely idiotic, and put too much faith in the concept that Paradeus wanted to take Kar98k alive. Much of the town had evacuated to the very heart of the settlement, a small park surrounding an old cathedral church. The Griffin fools planned to land in the park and immediately make for the church to provide defensive fire with their mainly suppressive weapons. The building itself was quite sturdy, and had solid visibility over the rest of the park, allowing for overlapping fields of fire if they desired to smash out the stained glass windows. However, the building was too close to the original approach that Paradeus had taken into the town, the police station was better equipped and situated on the opposite side of town. Scarecrow couldn't help but wonder how much stock that humans put in their gods that they would choose such a poor location. It was simple curiosity that kept her from leaving with her prizes, despite knowing that curiosity is what kills cats.


Smoke filled the sky as fires burned, consuming homes in flame and ash. Those lucky enough to escape the initial artillery strikes found themselves hunted down by the slow march of Paradeus troops. The first to join the hunt were the various armored foot soldiers, the Strelets moving in squads to clear entire buildings at once. Anyone that tried to run were herded into fields of fire by the cutting laser fire of Rodelero jump pack troops. Hopping from rooftop to rooftop, these shock troops helped corral the scared populace. Anything that could remotely count as a defense was swiftly smashed by the armored core of Paradeus, hunting down any place that the town could make a stand. The Uhlan IFV tanks would smash through walls, creating openings for more Strelets to make their infiltration. However the most fearsome was the Doppelsoldner mobile artillery, a massive bipedal tank with the fire power to overwhelm a trio of Manticores. The monstrous machines crushed concrete beneath their feet, an unnecessary show of force against the lightly armed civilian population.

With a perfect bird's eye view of the whole fiasco, it made Kar98k feel absolutely sick. She had known for some time just how despicable the military branch of Paradeus could be, but this was someone outright loathed. Even from the helicopter she could see them searching for and gathering corpses, simultaneously grabbing still living children and carrying them away. So much death and misery unleashed in such a short amount of time, it made her feel and empty rage inside herself.

Taking a deep breath for composure, she watched out the side of the helicopter as they made their approach to the park that much of the remaining town was trying to hold out in. The park itself had a simple brick wall surrounding it, denoting that the area itself was property of the church in the center. An area typically used for special events was just outside the church, large enough for the helicopter to touch down. A few paths led from the ways in and out of the park, with scattered police desperately holding the gates while trying to get what was left of the civilian population to the church while keeping Paradeus out. Watching one of the gates, an Uhlan smashed through the brick wall to unleash its payload of soldiers upon the park.

Formulating a plan as the helicopter touched down outside the church, Kar98k immediately began shouting orders. "G43," she pointed to the church's tower, "help the Captain unload the supplies, then get your scope in that bell tower; I'm going to take the sisters to provide covering fire for that breach!"

Everyone acknowledged and hopped into action, their more serious demeanor seeming almost unreal to the townsfolk that had seen them as nothing more than troublemakers. The two sisters, both of whom were especially notorious in the public eye, each grabbed themselves a box of ammo to head off to the frontlines. As dolls, they were each able to hold onto their heavy machine guns in one hand while carrying an even heavier metal crate of ammunition in the other. Kar98k didn't have to worry about carrying a full box with her, allowing her to take point and lead the two girls into battle. They bounded across the grassy knolls of the park, quickly approaching the breached wall. The three of them split as they advanced, setting up a range of crossfire. MG42 set up over a children's playset, the bright colors of the plastic equipment making her black weapon standout. MG34 dove into a ditch with a few police officers who were also trying to hold back the white Paradeus tide. Climbing a small tree, Kar98k elevated herself above the enemy. Her plan was to sit in the center of the sister's crossfire, picking off anyone that tried to find shelter from their hailstorm of automatic weapons fire.

MG42 unleashed her full fury upon Paradeus, the sound of bullets ripping through the air like an angry chainsaw. Her more restrained sister was more selective with her firing, choosing to suppress the enemy and force them into cover without wasting her limited ammo belt. While Kar98k could have used advanced targeting systems that utilized advanced technology, she preferred to simply look down her scope and take careful aim. Adjusting for distance, windage, and her height; Kar98k positioned the crosshairs on the helmeted head of the first Paradeus foot soldier she saw. Taking a deep breath, she squeezed the trigger. The bullet shattered the glass visor on his helmet, dropping the man with a single shot. Another trooper tried to take aim at her, but soon met a similar fate.

Things were going good until a Rodelero used its jump pack to take a position on top of the wall surrounding the park. From its position, the armored shock troop began charging the laser lance it used to pierce through armored walls. Unperturbed, Kar98k took aim at a lightly armored section on its upper torso and fired away. She watched as her bullet tore right above where the left breast would be, amazed as what should have been a fatal blow failed to slow it down. Whatever technology or black magic that Paradeus put into these troops was almost impressive in a way, held back by their clear evil intent. Kar98k dove out of the tree before the beam of light cut straight through it, landing with a roll to soften the impact. The laser burned the tree as it went, the leaves catching fire as branches collapsed to the ground. The Rodelero killed the laser and took aim at MG42, who was in the process of switching out her overheating barrel. While the laser charged again, the jump trooper was met with a burst of fire from MG34. The quick blast of hot lead was enough to send the amalgamation of human and machine down to the ground.

Kar98k knelt on the ground as the ashes of the burning tree fell around her, looking for any more Rodelero jumping around the sky. Across the street from the park, one of the black robe Nyto's were set up behind a rooftop partition at convenience store. Recognizing the danger that she posed, Kar98k took aim at the black haired girl and waited for her to poke out from around her cover. In moments, the Nyto swung her rifle around and took aim at someone below. Kar98k took the shot, but the bullet impacted on the Nyto's cover. The black haired girl swung her weapon to face Kar98k as she cycled the bolt of her rifle, but the Nyto only lowered her weapon and dove back into cover. Kar98k watched the spot, waiting for her to show herself again. Instead, Paradeus seemed to begin to withdraw their push and pull back to outside the wall.

Curiously, the police who were still alive gathered up their wounded and any supplies to begin pulling back as well. Wondering what was going on, Kar98k began tuning into radio frequencies until she managed to pick up the channel that the police were using. Their captain was ordering everyone to fall back to the church to hold in a closer position. Some tractors and trucks that were being used for some utility work in the area had been moved to form a defensive position, while also desiring to hold a smaller zone for better coverage of their flanks. While Kar98k could appreciate the merit in wanting to build their best defenses so close to the church, the police captain was putting too many troops into a small location to defend against an enemy that had no qualms against bombing civilians. For a moment, she almost considered leaving them to their doomed position and holding out here; however she knew if they were withdrawing all the way back that staying here was a death sentence as well. Reluctantly, the three dolls packed up what they had brought with them and fell back to the church.


Quite frankly, MP40 was getting quite tired of the police captain and his attitude. Usually, whenever one of the girls had acted up in town, it fell upon MP40 to listen to the man complain. These meetings would usually result in her silently nodding while he insulted every manner of her being, the man clearly believing that dolls served no purpose but to serve. She would internally cringe whenever he referred to dolls as glorified toasters, desperate to want to keep some good image for the Brigade. Today, however, his behavior was understandably more offensive than usual. He was in a difficult position at the moment, but that didn't excuse some of the things he had to say about the Commandant. Paradeus was quite obviously advertising that they were trying to lure the Brigade into battle, and the innocent people were beginning to blame the dolls for their suffering.

It wasn't easy to curb the negativity that was being flung towards the girls, especially considering how few of them were actually present. Adding onto the issues the dolls themselves had to deal with, MP40 was quickly reaching her own boiling point. The least she could do for these people was allow the few children and elderly folk to evacuate on their helicopter as it made its way back to their base. While Scarecrow wasn't her first choice to safeguard the children, she didn't have much of a choice at the moment either. Of course, that didn't stop the snide remarks and comments from the police about Griffin's supposed lack of involvement thus far. Their anger was understandable to her, but there was only so much leeway that she could give.

MP40 and the police captain were in the atrium for the church when Kar98k and the sisters finally fell back. As she approached, MP40 tried to meet her for a debrief of the situation, but the police captain shoved right past her and stormed ahead. Interrupting her, the man started to curse up a storm about the dolls involvement, as well how much of a hassle having them around is. MP40 tried to interject, but the captain would just continue on without giving her a chance to speak up. Kar98k tried her best to acknowledge MP40, but the man kept going. "I have been trying my damndest to keep what few people there are still alive," he continued to rant, "then you lot want to roll up like this isn't your fault and pretend like you own the place!"

"Sir, we work for a private company," Kar98k tried to explain, "right now we are doing our job for free. If you want us to stop doing charity work and risk our necks for free, then I will call the helicopter back and go home."

"Leave it to the soulless robot to hold my peoples lives above my head," he rolled his eyes and crossed his arms, "human loves are indistinguishable from chess pieces to you, huh?"

With that, MP40 finally had enough. "Wir sollten alles brennen lassen," she swore at him, "ever since we got here, you and your people have done nothing but tell me why I should leave. Quite frankly, it's gotten to the point where I feel like we're the bad guys for defending an entire town full of people who don't want to be helped. Maybe we should just do the world a favor and let it burn."

"Listen here you miserable fucking toaster," the captain advanced on her, his chest puffed out out and looking for a fight, "I'll be damned to stand here and let you talk that shit."

MP40 held her arms out, inviting him to strike her. No matter what happened, it was a fight he could not win. A doll could easily overpower and kill a human in hand-to-hand combat, and she wasn't sure if she wanted to hold back. Fortunately, a man with a priest's white collar ran over, putting his arms between them. MP40 recognized him as the clergyman in charge of the church, some minister or priest who much of the community looked to for guidance. She'd actually had a few opportunities to speak with him before, each time surprising her with how friendly he was towards dolls. He was one of the few people in town that stood up for dolls, advocating for better treatment. Today, even with his hands full trying to keep up morale amongst the humans, he was trying to stand between a human and a doll. "Please captain," he pleaded with the chief police officer, "let us avoid a fight if we can."

The captain stopped his advance, not wanting to go through the priest to get to MP40. He growled, grumbling his reply to the clergyman. "That toaster is gonna get what's coming to it," he turned and looked at the priest, "and you need to keep your nose where it doesn't belong."

The priest simply smiled at him. "Please, let's go inside," he put a hand on the police captain's shoulder, "you can tell me all about it."

The captain didn't enjoy the playfully condescending tone, but begrudgingly let the man lead him into the church. MP40 took a deep breath, trying to relax herself. She knew better than to let her emotions get to her, she needed to set an example not just for the other girls but for the humans as well. By lowering herself to impulsive anger, she had justified their hatred of her kind. How many steps backward had she taken in her simple lapse of reason? Kar98k approached and put an arm around her, letting her know she wasn't alone. "We're not a good place, are we?" MP40 asked.

"What we do here will decide our future," the commandant assured her, "let's try to make the best of it."

"You know they're right to blame us for all of this."

"Doesn't mean we have to let it happen," the commandant explained, "I'd rather die here defending these people than let these freaks in white do whatever they want."

"Communications have been scrambled," MP40 explained the situation, "and somehow I doubt we'll be getting any reinforcements anytime soon."

"If they want us, they can come and get us." Kar98k led her into the church, ready to plan their next steps.


"So, you claim to have seen the target in this location?" The white Nyto asked, standing amongst the corpses of the fallen. A man in police uniform hid amongst the dead, still clinging to his pitiful life of sin. She hefted her massive scythe, its crescent blade reaching far above her head as she prepared to save him. He held up his hands as he gargled on his own blood, no doubt in divine reverence as she prepared to save him. The white metal blade swept across him, separating his body more so than it already was. She watched him as his soul went into the great light, solemn that he will never get the chance to truly ascend.

The black Nyto stood behind her with her inelegant sniper rifle, watching the scene unfold. "She was helping defend against our incursion here."

The white Nyto reached down and plucked up a brass casing. She flicked the empty bullet casing around her metal fingers, the cathartic clicking noise almost hypnotizing her. "This is not the Mauser round typically associated with her rifle," she scanned the immediate area for more bullet casings, "none of this refuse left behind belongs to her."

"The Griffin re-chambers their rifles for ease of ammunition supply." The black Nyto defended herself, knowing that failure often meant death.

The white Nyto gave an affirmative huff. "You are quite knowledgeable for a lesser being," she mused, "you may earn yourself a name yet."

The black Nyto smiled, pleased that she impressed her superior. The white Nyto looked to the church steeple, hoping one day she may find a home to evangelize from. Father's grace could spread so quickly through words and action, an art many of her sisters found themselves lacking in. "The mighty Griffin has landed," she preached, "and soon we shall drown it in our glorious light."

"Shall I alert-" the black Nyto began to ask.

The white Nyto pivoted and brought her scythe's blade to meet the throat of the fool who dared to interrupt her. She stopped just moments from decapitation, close enough to get her attention. "I may be more forgiving than my sisters," she threatened the black Nyto, "but you would do well to remember your place."

The black Nyto nodded in silence, not wanting to lose her head. Father's agent could wait, His word must be spoken. Soon, Griffin would meet the full might of Paradeus, and all would come out into the light.