It was always the insufferable waiting that hurt the most. The anxiety of wondering who would come back to the maintenance bay, dreading each repair job or replacement. Praying that nobody needed to be reactivated or restored from a backup, their smiling faces upon reanimation hiding their own distress at their past death. He couldn't just see them as machines, not while they told jokes to hide their pain. They were more than just tools, they had their own dreams and aspirations. Each one had a personal philosophy or belief, something that made them human in his eyes. Their blood may have been synthetic coolant, but it was still blood. They may breathe to keep themselves cool, but they still draw breath. Hell, one of them was even sneaking out to go on dates with one of the boys in town. No matter what, he couldn't see them as anything else but his girls. Seeing them in such a sorry state as it tore him up inside as much as it did their Commander, yet he still had to pretend to hold it together for her as well. Fredrick would be lying if he said he didn't love them.
Pacing back and forth in the maintenance bay, the waiting was getting to be too much. Usually he didn't worry until the helicopter landed and brought everyone home, but this time was different. He could see the smoke from windows, the sound of distant combat serving as an ever reminder of the war he thought he left behind. It was like he was back in the war, waiting to find out how things were going on the frontlines, hoping that he wasn't going to be hit in the next bombing raid. He didn't want to be in this place, not while he was alone. He hated to admit it, but he'd rather be around the Sangvis Ferri doll if only to have someone to talk to.
Before leaving the maintenance bay, he made a point to turn the temperature down to keep some of the more sensitive equipment he was using beforehand nice and cool. Locking the door behind him, he made his way to the command center where Scarecrow had been observing the battle. Walking into the room, he noticed a complete lack of dolls in the room. Neither P38 or Scarecrow were there, something he was not exactly happy to find out. With a brisk pace he checked outside where the Sangvis Ferri helicopter was parked, finding Scarecrow outside with her dolls. "What the hell is this?" Fredrick asked, not happy to see a small echelon of military grade battle droids parked outside.
"I searched through the public records of the town," Scarecrow answered as she motioned for her machines to start marching, "there's a gap in the defensive system through the sewers that could be used to escape relatively undetected."
"Or be used by the enemy to infiltrate undetected." Fredrick surmised.
Scarecrow nodded. "Either way, I hope to exploit this to hopefully prevent the enemy from trying to reclaim the Doll Commander."
"You don't have to pretend to be a cold hearted bitch." Fredrick shrugged.
"If I didn't locate this weakness I would have simply taken you back to Sangvis Ferri to be Alchemist's new plaything." Scarecrow shrugged nonchalantly. "If you're lucky she'll kill you."
"Alright, well it was nice talking to you," Fredrick put his hands in his pocket and walked backwards towards the base, refusing to turn his back to her, "have fun on your field trip."
Scarecrow chuckled to herself as she joined her small force of troops on their march to the town. Wanting to forget her twisted sense of humor, Fredrick decided to find someone else to talk to. At first he considered the cafeteria, but decided that a room full of shell shocked refugee children brought back from the town were not his idea of conversation partners. He was certain that P38 was in there trying to help raise everyone's spirits, while P08 and C96 were probably getting ready for another flight. With a sigh, he realized he might as well go back to the maintenance bay and try to relax.
Reaching the doors, he froze up as he realized the doors were unlocked. Someone with command privileges had gone inside, and based on how long he was away they were still there. His heart dropped as he considered who it could be, weighing every possibility. Addy was still supposed to be drooling all over herself, but that didn't mean anyone from the nearby attack couldn't have come to rescue her. It could also be a last minute gift from Scarecrow, a dummy left behind to capture him. Of course, it could also be P38 looking for him. With a deep breath for courage, Fredrick keyed the doors to open. He hated being right.
Addy sat on one of the repair benches, idly kicking her feet as she played with one of her kitchen knives. FG42's damn cat rolled about on the table opposite of her. "I was hoping you'd come back," she said, never looking at him, "I was afraid I'd have to look for you."
He didn't enter the room, knowing that the door was the only thing he had to defend himself. "How did you get out?" He asked, his voice wavering slightly.
She hopped off the table and slowly approached him, swaying her hips like a femme fatale for intimidation. "Did you really think I was locked in?" Her smile beamed from ear to ear. "Did you really think I didn't leave back doors in that dolls system so I could convince her to leave whenever I wanted?"
No wonder Scarecrow found information that made her want to join the defense, it was given to her to encourage her to leave. Now that Fredrick was defenseless, he was at the mercy of the murderous infiltrator. "So what's your plan now?" He asked, knowing she had the upper hand.
"My plan?" Addy laughed, amused at his obviously incredulous suggestion. "My orders are to keep you alive unless otherwise stated."
"You want to take me as some sort of prisoner to bargain for Kar, don't you?"
Addy laughed again. "She has a much more elegant plan in store for you."
Kar98k sat on one of the church pews with MP40, both waiting for some sort of response from Paradeus. Ever since they had drawn the line here, Paradeus had taken to circling around the park that surrounded the church. Everyone was trapped in the middle of a hostile force, besieged on all sides by a superior army. If their enemy so wished, they could level the church with an artillery salvo from a Doppelsoldner mech. Everyone that was living off of borrowed time, and the Griffin dolls knew it. Kar98k knew her girls would hold out to the last, but whether or not the humans would fight to the death was yet to be determined. However, when faced with total annihilation; the humans sang.
The priest of the church was leading a few of the remaining parishioners in song, hoping to raise the spirits of the rest of humans. While all of their songs were religious in nature, spanning a variety of different aspects of their religion, it was at least comforting to hear. Kar98k found herself bobbing back and forth as she sat, moving to the tune of the piano as the priest played for the singers. He was quite skilled, especially for a human player. MP40 had remarked that based on his timing, motions, and even posture, he must have been practicing since he was very young. During the entire performance, he never missed or soured a note, nor was he ever out of tune. In fact, it could be wagered that he had the entire playbook memorized.
The police captain, in his typical wet blanket behavior, interrupted the priest in the middle of a song. As the piano stopped, the singers all awkwardly came to a stop mid-verse as they individually realized the music had ceased. "Sorry to interrupt Father," the captain said, not sorry at all, "but I need you to help me check some of the basement areas to see if we're really secure."
"Oh, of course!" The priest exclaimed, as if he had forgotten something. "I hope we won't be long, I don't want to leave everyone without music for too long."
"I can play the piano for you." It was MP40's turn to interrupt. Some of the humans aimed scowls at her for speaking up, but she ignored them as she continued. "I was originally developed to be a music teacher. I specifically taught piano, but I can play the pipe organ too if you'd like."
Kar98k simply nodded along, interested to see her own captain play. MP40 seldom talked about her civilian life before her conversion into a tactical doll, let alone play the piano. The priest also seemed excited about the idea of letting her play, getting out of his seat and offering for her to take over. She ignored the glances from the singers and other humans, making her way to helm the instrument. Taking a moment to adjust, she tested a few keys and their sound before finding a place to begin playing. The priest's face bloomed with joy once MP40 started to play, music pouring from the strings as she swept her fingers across the keys. He waved his arms to invite the singers to begin their song again, leaving with the police captain once the entertainment had begun again.
Letting herself be taken away by the music, she closed her eyes and tried to push out all other distractions. The catharsis of music helped her worries fade away for a moment, letting her finally relax and clear her mind. For a brief moment, she finally understood why humans loved music so much. She'd read about their extensive history with instruments and the performance of sound, but it wasn't until now that she finally realized why humans let music define them. The sound of music defined their species more than the empty cities and radioactive craters ever could. Humanity was a species of musicians, even if some of them were slightly out of tune.
Her moment was ruined when someone sat next her, letting out an exasperated huff. With a sigh, Kar98k opened her eyes to look to her right. MG42 had joined her on the church pew, arms crossed in a petulant rage. Rolling her eyes, Kar98k knew she had to ask "what seems to be the problem?"
The girl let out another huff. She stared intently at nothing as she pouted. "MG34 has a boyfriend and she didn't tell me."
Kar98k was more taken aback that one of the girls was seeing someone and she didn't know about it. She made a mental note to check and see if anyone else was sneaking into town for any sort of romantic rendezvous. Holding back her shock at the revelation, she tried to help MG42. "She's your sister," Kar98k explained, "I'm sure she was waiting for a good time to introduce you two that wasn't an active war zone."
MG42 turned towards her and began her rant. "But she's my sister," her voice wavered ever so slightly, "she tells me everything! She showed me the beauty mark on her boob, where to plug her in during an emergency, and even let me braid her hair that one time!" She took a deep breath before continuing. "She tells me everything! Why would she hide this from me?"
Truly, Kar98k was not qualified for this kind of issue at all. She was barely in control of her own emotions, she couldn't possibly begin to grasp where to begin with the complexities of romanticism. Straightening her posture as she struggled to look for something to say, Kar98k couldn't help but look at the pathetic face of MG42. The poor girl was on the verge of tears, and it stemmed entirely from a feeling of betrayal. Thinking about what she had said thus far, Kar98k could only conclude it was less an issue of her sister seeing someone and more so her sister hiding it from her. Still, it didn't hurt to ask for specifics. "Tell me exactly how you feel," she asked, "tell me in detail."
MG42 thought for a moment. "I'm sad she didn't tell me." She squeaked out.
That's exactly what Kar98k needed from her. Before MG42 could continue, she interrupted her to try and explain the situation. "I'm sure your sister wanted to tell you, but was afraid that if she just dropped it on your lap this is exactly how you would feel." Truthfully, Kar98k was talking out of her ass, relying on her weakness for cheap daytime television dramas to guide her. "MG34 cares about you enough that she wanted to find the perfect time to tell you so she didn't hurt you the most. Don't be upset she hid this from you, be happy she loves you enough to not want to hurt you with it."
MG42 sniffled, still on the verge of tears. "I'm such a selfish bitch!" She sobbed, burying her face in Kar98k's chest to cry.
Fuck, Kar98k mentally swore to herself, this was not the intended result. Despite having a limited knowledge of human psychology she'd picked up over the years, she wasn't exactly positive she could apply any of it to really help a doll. After all, it seemed like MG42 was going through a jumbled mess of the fire stages of grief. What worried her is whenever the girl would hit the anger stage, and whatever hot headed rage she would release. Ideally, Kar98k hoped she could point the machine gunner at the enemy whenever she did burst her bubble. All she could do, for now, was awkwardly pat the crying dolls back to comfort her. As an added note, she also patted the top of her head, the notorious sweet spot for dolls. Luckily, it stopped the sobbing long enough for Kar98k to take another shot at calming her down. "So how exactly did you find out?" She asked, only then realizing that probably wasn't the best place to go right now.
MG42 pulled away from Kar98k, her face red and puffy in simulated sadness. Regrettably, her tears were very real and unfortunately left a wet spot on Kar98k's chest. "He came over to introduce her to his mom." She sniffled as she spoke.
It took Kar98k a moment to process what she had said. The humans in this town were not very big fans of the dolls; needless to say MG34's boyfriend's mother was none too pleased about this ordeal. If anything, they should be more concerned about her than anything else. Humans can get violent with dolls, often abusing dolls lack of self defense against humans. However, Griffin uses tactical dolls converted from civilian models; the girls often had a hard time adjusting their strength and could severely harm someone. "I think we should find your sister." Kar98k said, already standing up and scanning the church for any signs of conflict.
Over by one of the stained glass windows, one depicting a scene from the biblical flood, a woman was arguing with a younger man while MG34 stood behind him. Moving in to try and interrupt them, Kar98k could make out some of the words being said. At the utterance of the phrase "toaster skank", she hurried her pace along before things could get any worse. What she presumed to be the mother of MG34s boyfriend sounded none too pleased with the fact that her son had fallen in love with a doll, and had even more strongly worded opinions on the matter. "I don't give a flying fuck what Father Mendoza had to say about it," the middle aged woman raged, "you shouldn't be cuddling up with some piece of equipment that can't even have children!"
MG34's face visibly drooped, the insult hitting its mark more so on her than the person it was intended to sway. Ignoring the insult, the son continued to stand up against his parent, defending his relationship with the doll. "There you go on about grandchildren again," he threw his hands around to show his frustration, "you're just mad because my sister isn't gonna give you any either!"
The mothers face went red with rage. "At least the women your sister brings home are human, what would your father have said?"
The son flinched his arm as he clenched his fist; if that wasn't his mother he would have taken a swing for her words. Kar98k realized if she didn't get between them now, he might actually get physical with his own mother. "Excuse me," she sidled between them, ready to stop them in case they did start fighting, "I couldn't help but notice some things were being said about one of my girls?"
The mother directed her anger to Kar98k, burning eyes trying to stare her down. "This doesn't concern you," she practically spat the words at her, "what would you know about family?"
MG42 started to speak, but Kar98k held up a hand for her to stop. "You two go do your jobs," she wanted to handle this woman personally, "and take your boyfriend with you."
Visibly upset at hearing that word spoken aloud, the mother angrily poked Kar98k in the chest. "Is your hearing broken," she hissed her words, "do you need to go back to the factory?"
Kar98k scowled at the woman, keeping a straight face while letting her words and tone carry the weight of her emotions. "I am the closest thing to a mother that these girls have," she explained with a mixture of stoicism and sincerity, while simultaneously bordering on disappointment, "and I trust their decisions. One of my girls has decided to let your son into her life, and he has returned the favor. Unlike you, I will stand up for this choice that they have both made and will gladly accept him into my life as well."
The mothers face contorted and twisted between a flurry of emotions, unable to decide how she should feel about what was spoken to her. Clearly, she didn't like the idea of a "lesser" creature talking down to her, nor did she appreciate the content of those words. No doubt she was also considering getting physical, despite knowing how dangerous a doll could be in close range. A broken nose for a doll was an inconvenience at worst, while being potentially fatal for a human. Kar98k didn't want to fight this woman, but would defend herself if the need ever arose. Instead, the woman simply stared through her, a sign of resignation that she had lost. "Fine, that boy wants to go fuck an electrical socket," she through her arms out in her own frustration, "then he won't be doing it as my son."
The group watched as she stormed off into the church, avoiding anyone else to pout over what had happened. Human eyes burned through them, more people silently siding with the distraught mother than the dolls. MG34 put her arm around her boyfriend to console him, who despite showing no regrets over what had occurred still looked upset it was all real. Even MG42 joined the hug, a new family forming on the ashes of the old. Kar98k only smiled and put a hand on his shoulder, letting him know that someone would care for him. The moment for a minute or two before she cleared her throat for their attention. "I wasn't joking about you lot getting back to work," she ordered, "right now the only doll doing anything is the one most likely to fall down a flight of stairs."
Kar98k was not exaggerating; she had watched as G43 almost tumbled down three times on her way to the top of the church's bell tower. As of right now, she was also the only doll actually working. Kar98k didn't want to explain to the shaken town why her crack team of combat ready tactical dolls was busy playing with instruments, living daytime television dramas, and tripping over their own shoelaces while carrying loaded weapons. She almost felt like she was herding cats to defend the lives of the humans, and they did not appreciate the help. Yet whether they liked it or not, she was going to give it to them.
Kar98k sat with one of the friendlier police officers on his break, soaking in the calm before the storm. He reached into his shirt and pulled out a small metal case filled with hand rolled cigarettes, taking one of the paper sticks and offering one to her. She shook her head, knowing that smoking would be hell on her air filters and she didn't have time to deal with the consequences. The man shrugged and put the case back in shirt, pulling out a metal lighter next. There was a satisfying metal ting as he flicked the top open, followed by the sound of metal scratching on flint to ignite the small flame. She couldn't help but watch as he lit the tip, the embers burning orange and red as he replaced the lighter back into his shirt pocket. He inhaled through the small stick like it was a burning straw, holding the smoke in his lungs for a moment before exhaling the smoke into rings for his own idle amusement. As she turned away from the man, Kar98k couldn't help but notice that the cigarette did not smell like tobacco smoke.
Everything was too quiet, not a single shot was being fired. Paradeus had them surrounded, moving their troops into position outside the park walls while they sat here twiddling their thumbs. There was no more chance for escape, all they could now was hope reinforcement showed up before they were inevitably overrun. G&K was in the middle of preparing for a massive operation, with many of their remaining forces mustered elsewhere. An official government response would be slow at best, if they bothered to flex what little forces they actually had. Oftentimes the military relied upon PNCs like Griffin to handle situations like this for them, meaning they wouldn't show much concern for the situation, if at all. Scarecrow had expressed at some point that Sangvis Ferri would become curious about her unexplained absence, but their cooperation would be unlikely at best. Needless to say, help was not coming any time soon.
Unfortunately, their enemy knew that time was on their side as well. Paradeus was wasting none of it, getting into positions to drive home the hopeless endeavor of holding out. Despite having every advantage, they still wanted to get this done and over with. G43, from her perch in the bell tower, radioed in that she saw something. "We have a Nyto approaching the church!" She called, a slight panic in her voice.
Kar98k stiffened as she swung into action. "What is it doing?" She asked, already running a million scenarios through her mind.
"It's the creepy white one with the big sword or scythe or whatever," G43 explained, "she's just walking up here by herself."
The white robed Nyto was no doubt the one in charge of the operation, and probably wanted to monologue before an attack. Kar98k clapped her hands, getting everyone's attention to get ready for the next round of combat. No matter what this Nyto was up to, it wasn't going to be good. "G43, check the perimeter for any more movement," she ordered, "everyone else get into positions, I want all four compass directions covered."
The Griffin dolls springing into action served to light a fire under the police as well, turning the entire church into a madhouse. Civilians bumped around, unable to figure out what to do. The dolls lacked the numbers to really help corral them, instead letting the police handle it. Besides, none of them would want to listen anyway. Kar98k herself took up a position by the main doors to the church, leaning against the wall by the massive wooden doors. She was sure the doors were thick enough to serve as a quality gate, stopping bullets and most attempts to force a breach. As everyone got into position, the waiting started again. Silence followed as everyone held their breath, waiting for the fighting to start. Kar98k looked at the few officers in the church atrium with her, their nervous expressions giving away their faith in victory. They were afraid to die, and would no doubt throw her in front of a charging Uhlan to save their own lives. Taking a deep breath, she clutched her rifle and waited for someone to make a move.
She didn't need to wait long, shaking her head as the church bell began to ring overhead. The banging sound echoed through the church, and she could feel the vibrations of the massive metal clangs as they reverberated through the church. "G43, what's going on up there?" She radioed.
"Sorry Commandant," she apologized, embarrassment in her voice, "I bumped the bell while repositioning."
Kar98k shook her head as the bell kept going. If she had to guess, the doll more than likely tripped into it if it was still ringing. Some of the police officers gave her incredulous looks as they realized what was going on. However, their looks didn't last for long as a voice rang out from outside the church. Projected from a megaphone, the voice of the Nyto outside began to taunt them.
"Hark, Griffin, and despair! Surrender now, for the bell tolls for thee."
