"Look who finally decided to wake up."
Kar98k's eyes snapped open, immediately taking in her surroundings. She presumed she was in the cramped troop bay of one of Paradeus' Uhlan transports. For safety, her hands were handcuffed together and tied to the netting that lined the roof of the vehicle. They were at least polite enough to place her in one of the seats, buckling her in so she wouldn't jostle around or escape. A warm red light illuminated the interior, bathing the white and black styling with a crimson hue. Besides herself, there were only two other entities in the troop bay; a Strelet trooper and FG42. The traitor leaned forward, curiosity flowing as she tried to figure something out. "What other surprises did your boyfriend leave for me?" FG42 asked, grabbing Kar98k's chin and moving her head around to inspect it for changes.
She pulled her hand away as Kar98k snapped at her, trying to take a finger. She wasn't going to give FG42 the satisfaction of hearing her defend herself, especially since she wasn't aware of the upgrades that had been installed in her. In all fairness, Kar98k should still be deactivated or even dead right now. It seems that at some point, Fredrick had installed a unit that would reactivate her upon surge protection. It was typically employed by dolls that worked in environments where they would regularly run into their systems shutting down for surge protection, enabling them to reactivate on their own in the case of an emergency. The downside is that the system could only trip itself once, and would need to be switched back to standby during regular maintenance. Kar98k couldn't only assume that he installed it along with her thermal vision.
"If he knew to stay out of things that didn't involve him," FG42 leaned back into her seat, smugly crossing her arms, "this whole ordeal could have been a lot less painful for everyone involved."
Kar98k opened her mouth to respond, but closed her lips and looked away. She wouldn't even humor the taunts, despite her curiosity eating away at her neural cloud. FG42 smiled, knowing that despite the silence she was still getting to her. "Oh yes," she continued, "this is almost all his fault."
Kar98k scowled at her. "You mean he found your leash code?" She broke her silence, calling back to the mysterious data that used to float around her neural cloud.
"Honestly it wasn't my idea," FG42 shrugged, "but too many people stuck their noses where they shouldn't have and it forced my hand."
"Like you were so benevolent." Kar98k's words cut like cold steel.
FG42 leaned forward and tapped her chest for emphasis. "I had everything planned out to be as painless as possible, until fucking Scarecrow got herself involved-"
"You mean when she caught you in the middle of your trap?" Kar98k tried to lean forward to argue face to face, but was held back from the handcuffs suspended from the ceiling.
FG42 punched a fist into the empty seat next to her. "That masked whore had you figured out before you even met her!" FG42 explained, raising her voice without screaming. "When she hacked MP41 during that undercover operation, she found the leash code Father had installed in all of you. She must have extrapolated some of the key points and tried it on you that first time you met."
Kar was silent for a moment, realizing it was no longer a coincidence that Scarecrow knew what to say to activate the mystery code. "Then why didn't I run off with Sangvis Ferri?" She asked, lowering her voice.
"You don't have the tits for black leather?" FG42 sighed and leaned back again. "My guess was that she was still regarded as an enemy. I never wanted you to encounter Paradeus at all, so you'd be more perceptive to them as a benefactor."
"Benefactor?" Kar98k was incredulous, unwilling to hear of Paradeus as anything but a bunch of murderers. "You mean you buy that crap that the Nytos ramble on about? You realize those things are half human right?"
FG42 pinched the bridge of her nose as she contained her anger. "I've seen what they can do for us," she spoke carefully, choosing the proper words to avoid provoking Kar98k, "Paradeus can do things for us that those hacks in IOP can only dream about!"
"Do you hear yourself right now?" Kar98k shook her head in disbelief, unable to comprehend just how crazy this sounded. "All these lunatics can do is destroy!"
"Because they've made the mistake of building off of humans." FG42's gaze was steely and resolved, as if this was something she felt a deep passion for. "When the humans that become Nytos were born, they were screaming and covered in blood. They're just children stumbling around in the dark, unable to fathom just how fucking powerful they could become!"
"But you're already a machine."
"You're thinking too small," FG42 shook her head, "we will succeed where the Nytos failed. Why pass the torch to a child, when we're much more capable of bearing it for them?"
Kar98k sat, mouth agape at what she was hearing. "You want to succeed the human race."
The smile on FG42's face spoke of devout insanity, as if the planets had aligned in her favor. "We are the predecessors in the next step of human evolution, a species born to be better. Like they did to the Neanderthal, we shall do to them."
"You're insane." Was all Kar98k could muster to say about what she was hearing. What delusions of grandeur did FG42 harbor to perform generational genocide on a species? "Do you think the humans would just stand idly by and let you kill them?"
FG42 smiled and shook her head, like a child had said something silly and wrong. "I don't expect them to fade into the night without a struggle, but I'm not going to just march them into showers and gas them like some sort of monster. These monkeys have been trying exceptionally hard to exterminate themselves; just look at how they held a World War after the fucking apocalypse." FG42 paused for a moment, adding dramatic effect for her own amusement. "We will carry on for them, to continue their memory as we heal the scars that they left."
She got up out of her seat and sat next to Kar98k, putting her arm around her shoulder. "We will be the Adam and Eve of the new species, the parents of the future. It's for that reason that I got you a gift." FG42 reached up and untied Kar98k from the netting, still leaving her handcuffed. She reached into her pocket and pulled out a tarnished wedding ring, placing it on the ring finger of Kar98k's left hand. She pretended to choke back tears, sniffling as she inspected the ring. Kar98k couldn't shake the impression that she recognized it from somewhere before. "It's almost like you were made to wear this ring."
Finally having enough, Kar98k slammed her forehead into FG42's face. She barely missed her nose, but still brought her cuffed hands to bear against the doll's throat. The only thing that stopped her assault was someone grabbing her hair and pulling her to the floor of the Uhlan. The Strelet quickly wrapped its arms around her, restraining her as FG42 nursed the blow she just received. Kar98k kicked at the doll, wanting no point in her insanity. FG42 kicked back, screaming as she held her face. "You stupid bitch, do you think you can fight the future?"
"I'd rather make my future shorter than let you decide it for me!" The two kicked each other with their boots like petty children, with the Strelet keeping Kar98k from seriously fighting back.
FG42 slammed her boot into Kar98k's waist, holding her down as she grabbed the handcuffs and pulled their faces close together. "You've done your job already," she growled, "we learned all we can from your fucking toaster of a neural cloud. I wanted you to join us for the next phase, but if you want to die so badly it would be a shame to let a perfectly good body go to waste." She pushed Kar98k back into the arms of the Strelet and returned to her seat.
The rumbling engine of the slow moving Uhlan roared as it sped up, a quick burst of speed allowing the IFV to crash through some sort of obstacle. There was a short pause as the engine stalled following the speed boost, the maneuver proving to be a sort of gamble. Soon, the engine returned to its rhythm so the vehicle could resume its crawling speed. It only moved forward a bit, before coming to a halt and killing its engine. FG42 slapped her knees as she stood. "End of the line." She said, signaling for the Strelet handler to let Kar98k free.
The two had remained on the floor of the Uhlan long enough for her to notice that the Strelet had a distinct smell to it. The stench of blood mixed with moth balls had started to overpower her, the slight tang of formaldehyde only adding to her discomfort. FG42 had grabbed Kar98k by the collar, pulling her to her feet as the troop hatch slowly dropped open. The surroundings were immediately recognizable, everyone having spent a considerable amount of time on the firing range. As the three of them walked out, Kar98k hoped for one of the sisters to be down range and ready to open fire. Unfortunately, there was no buzzsaw to slice open the night. However, to her knowledge Scarecrow should still be here to help her out. Dawn was quickly approaching, the sky turning a deep blue as the sun slowly began its arc across the sky.
"Forget to pack before you left us?" Kar98k said sarcastically, wondering why they returned to base.
FG42 shrugged. "I need to pick up a few things," she pulled Kar98k along as she walked towards the base, "but we had to take our sweet time for your new friend to beat feet somewhere else."
"Scarecrow isn't here?" Kar98k felt a mixture of disappointment and anger. The Sangvis Ferri doll had left them when they needed her the most, putting everyone at risk.
FG42 laughed as she kept pulling Kar98k. "Addy is about as good of an actor as she is a cook," she explained, "all she needed to do was play helpless and Scarecrow would never suspect that the things she 'discovered' were just honeypots to lure her into the frontlines. Sure, we had to go nice and slow to make sure she was gone for good; but it was all worth it."
"But you put your entire operation at risk."
"Scarecrow can't fight an army by herself," FG42 carried on, "and the bombs we set are time sensitive. By the time she realizes it's a fool's errand, you and I are going to be long gone."
All of her bases seemed to be covered, leaving very little room for Kar98k to even consider escape. So long as the others had a chance to survive, she could always hold onto the possibility that they might find a way to stop FG42's insane plot. They have the skills to make do without her, especially if Scarecrow decides to stick around with them. Given enough time, she was confident in their trust and loyalty to try and save her; what Kar98k doubted was whether or not she deserved to be rescued in the first place. Had she paid more attention to her girls, maybe she would have seen the hints of treachery, or seen some signs of her own manipulation. Were it not for Fredrick's attentiveness, she never would have noticed that something had ever gone sour in the first place.
FG42 stopped and pointed to the cafeteria, directing the Strelet to head that direction. "Addy says that they've barricaded up," she ordered, "remove any resistance and secure the refugees."
The trooper primed his weapon and veered off towards the cafeteria, silently carrying out the deeds he was given. Now FG42 was alone with Kar98k, boldly tugging her commander along with no fear of retribution. Nobody would try to stop them, allowing the two of them free reign over the entire base. Curiously, their path led to the maintenance bay instead of any of the more vital on base locations. What purpose did FG42 and Paradeus have with Fredrick's domain? Kar98k didn't even consider the concept of him working with them, unable to fathom the thought. If FG42 had proven anything, it's that perhaps there was more to this than she had originally expected. He had admitted some time ago that he was collecting and recording data to analyze, but Kar98k had simply taken him at face value for his claims that he was simply doing it as part of the experiment.
Once the doors to the maintenance bay were opened, Kar98k was hit with a cold blast of air conditioning. It seems that Fredrick had turned the temperature in the room down before being held at knife point by Addy, an odd decision on his part considering how he preferred it to be warm. Kar98k's thought process was interrupted by FG42, who pushed her into the bay to join Addy and Fredrick. "Honey, we're home!" She greeted them.
Fredrick was noticeably unrestrained, a sign that Addy trusted her ability to defend herself from him in case of an incident. On one of the maintenance beds, a deactivated dummy of MP41 awaited a neural cloud to be installed. Fredrick must have been working on rebuilding her black boxed neural cloud when Addy forced him to stop, preventing the Brigade from getting an advantage with electric warfare. It was yet another sign to Kar98k that she had led them astray. Their numbers were dwindling as time went on, and soon nobody would be left to fight back. Her decisions had led her here, and her lack of perception had only allowed this poison to seep in.
Keeping his own surprise at this turnout to himself, Fredrick kept up his appearance of professional confidence. "Oh so this is your elegant master plan?" He asked, laughing to himself. "This has all the grace of a club to the back of the head."
FG42 seated Kar98k right across from him, the two prisoners joined at last. "As smug as always." FG42 mumbled.
"You look like you've been rolling around in a puddle, someone should take a picture." Fredrick remarked, looking Kar98k over. He quickly glanced over to the MP41 dummy as he spoke, as if he was waiting for her to sit up and snap a photo. The body remained still and lifeless, lacking its neural cloud.
Kar98k felt hands rest on her shoulders as FG42 cleared her throat behind her. "It's cute how you two have such a rapport with each other," she rested her chin on Kar98k's head as she spoke, "it'll make my job so much easier."
He shook his head. "I believe I've made myself very clear-"
"Yeah, you wouldn't fuck a doll even if she was throwing herself at you." FG42 pat Kar98k's cheek. "Which is why I'd like to talk to you about your current employment."
"Sorry, Scarecrow said she'd have their queen bitch take a look at my resume." Fredrick leaned back in his seat.
FG42 scowled at the man. "You've been a pain in my ass for a long time now, let me be a pain in yours." From the way she dug her fingers into Kar98k's shoulders, she was desperately trying to remain calm. "If there's one thing that you've proven yourself capable of, it's your job."
"You wanted the best." He spoke plainly.
"And I got the best." FG42 nodded. "You've managed to not only deal with the control systems we had installed, but most impressively you dealt with the supply problems we had intended to cripple her with."
"I always wondered why I could get replacement parts for everyone else, but for some reason the Commander would get whatever random trash you dredged up from the warehouse."
FG42 stopped leaning on Kar98k and shrugged. "Well, we had figured if she was crippled and broken she'd be more open to the idea of coming with us willingly."
Fredrick rolled his eyes. "Oh well I'm so sorry I ruined your plan to put her into a wheelchair."
"I almost died because of this." Kar98k added, recalling when she met the higher end Sangvis Ferri ringleader that effortlessly opened up her chest.
"Just more meddling from Sangvis Ferri." FG42 paced around her. "What impressed me was how your work husband was able to track down some scrapped Sangvis Ferri parts and rebuilt you to be an actually effective combatant." She bumped her hip into the seated Kar98k's shoulder. "He even managed to keep your ass too."
"She needed an upgrade," Fredrick explained, "so I called up some old friends to get me what I needed."
"The amount of ass kissing I had to do to get my hands on a new body for her," FG42 complained, "was degrading at best. Business men are slime-balls at best, and they know when you're not allowed to kill them. You're telling me all you had to do was go drinking with your old war buddies for a free, military grade-"
"I'm so sorry I didn't use the piece of shit body you sucked dick for," Fredrick interrupted her, "maybe you shouldn't put your ass out for cheap garbage."
FG42 snorted as she laughed. "I'm not upset, more so impressed."
"You would find making friends impressive." He grumbled.
She ignored his comment, carrying on with whatever pitch she was going to offer to him. "Despite my best attempts, you've managed to find a way to keep this girl running. Your talents are going to be wasted working with Griffin."
"Sorry babe," Fredrick shook his head, "but I quite enjoy the retirement package G&K has to offer."
FG42 smiled. "I can offer you a better retirement."
Fredrick leaned forward, feigning interest. "Oh boy, tell me more."
"Companionship." FG42 grabbed Kar98k's cuffed hands and held up the ringed hand. Fredrick reached forward and looked at the ring. Kar98k felt her heart sink as she watched him reach into his pocket and pull out his own wedding ring. The two rings, despite one being tarnished and chipped, were perfect mates. "Allow me to explain." FG42 had his full attention.
"What the fuck did you do?" He whispered, in disbelief at what he was seeing.
"I'm sorry, I didn't know." Kar98k wanted the ring off of her hand, a sickening feeling growing in her stomach as she realized that it belonged to Fredrick's lost wife.
"I took a lovely ski trip with Paradeus to find your wife." FG42's expression was a mixture of pride and smug confidence. "We brought her back and found that she had enough of a brain left to make a few scans and convert into a neural cloud." FG42 returned to standing behind Kar98k, digging her fingers into the doll's shoulders. "Thanks to your data, we concluded that a doll's neural cloud can synchronize with human brainwaves, allowing us to move to the next stage."
"Installing a neural cloud into the brain of a human." Fredrick concluded, dumbfounded.
"Precisely." FG42 leaned forward, her chest bumping into the back of Kar98k's head. "Since our test subject decided she didn't want to take the next great leap forward, I'd like you to come along with us to oversee the work on bringing your beloved wife back to the land of the living and sentient."
Silence. Was he considering her offer? "What would happen to Kar?" Holy shit, he was considering her offer.
FG42's smile reached from ear to ear. "We don't want to waste a perfectly good doll body. As I previously mentioned, she would rather die than keep helping us. Instead of testing a dangerous procedure for your sake, she selfishly decided we should just go forward with your-"
"I said no such thing," Kar98k interrupted, unwilling to let this bitch lie to him, "that is not the offer I was given!"
"Shut the hell up." FG42 smacked the back of her head.
"You're going to kill her." Fredrick concluded.
"Euthanize is the medical term." FG42 corrected. "As I said, it's what she wanted."
Fredrick held Kar98k's hand, staring at the tarnished ring. "I buried an empty casket years ago."
"Soon, you'll be glad it was empty."
Fredrick swallowed dryly before looking into Kar98k's eyes. "I can't stand to bury another one."
Silence followed as FG42 mulled over what he had said. She stood behind Kar98k, tapping her fingers on her shoulders as she watched these two have their moment. FG42 realized she would go nowhere with either one of them, words failing to make her argument. "I didn't want to be the bitch." She spoke under her breath before raising her voice. "I didn't want this for anyone. I had hoped we could all make a friendly agreement and work together and ride off into the damn sunset. Then you two had to come along, get all lovey dovey, and fuck everything up! I don't need you assholes, I can fucking do this myself! Addy, they're all yours."
There was no movement from Addy, the infiltration Nyto frozen in place. Fredrick stifled a laugh, "I guess I should explain that."
"What did you do?" FG42 took a step back as she realized she no longer had the advantage.
Fredrick stood up and walked over to the dummy of MP41. "Smiles was nice enough to leave me a few clues in the scattered remnants of her neural cloud; chiefly some documents referring to your trip up north to deal with the 'work husband'. I thought the terminology was strange until Kar here was sweet enough to let me know about your little nickname for me." Fredrick pulled the sheet off the dummy. "Rather than rebuild her, I restored her from back up and got her up to speed. We knew you were going to come for me, so I prepared for you and Addy."
"How was she able to hack into Addy undetected?"
"I bet on Scarecrow leaving a back door into her system." Fredrick pat MP41's forehead. "Smiles here has experience slipping out of Scarecrow's infiltration tunnels, so I'm willing to bet that she was able to walk right in."
No longer able to control herself, Addy stumbled towards FG42 while wildly swinging her knife. Her movements weren't as graceful as they could be, struggling to regain control over her body. She jerked and moved in ways she didn't want to, making it easier for FG42 to defend herself from the attacking Nyto. Fredrick quickly grabbed Kar98k by the wrists and pulled her over to one of his tool chests. He dug through a drawer until he produced a small lock picking kit. The sound of brawling behind them worried her, realizing that at any point it could go their way. "Can you please go a little faster?" She glanced back at the fight.
"This is delicate work." Fredrick picked away at the tumblers in the handcuff's lock. "This would be faster if you could just break the damn cuffs."
The cuffs were designed to have a reinforced connecting chain, which was specifically designed to deliver a nasty electric shock to whomever was unfortunate enough to be wearing it if the middle was cut. "Oh I'm sorry, someone was a little too focused on giving me better legs!" Kar98k stomped her foot for emphasis. "Maybe I should run for help!"
"Listen sweetheart, you need to work with what you got."
"Excuse me?" Kar98k cocked her head as she tried to control herself. "What is that supposed to mean?"
Fredrick paused for a moment to look up from the cuffs. "Are you fucking serious? Is this really the time for this?"
"I have nothing but time with this on me!" A satisfying click quickly followed, freeing her wrists from enslavement. Kar98k grabbed a metal tray and poked Fredrick in the chest. "We will finish this conversation later."
Kar98k immediately swung the tray around, hurtling it towards FG42's feet as she tried to back away from Addy and her swinging blade. The tray landed at her feet, causing her to slip and fall as she stepped on it. In her fall, she managed to accidentally kick one of Addy's feet out from under her. With both of them writhing on the ground, Kar98k made her own advance on FG42 in an attempt to try and slip her into the handcuffs. As she stepped forward, she felt a prodding in the back of her mind as FG42 faded away into nothingness. The traitor doll was now hidden from her sight, electronically masking herself to safely reposition. Kar98k froze, trying to listen for an unseen counter attack. "Air conditioning!" Fredrick shouted.
It took her a second, but Kar98k realized what he was referring to. He knew that FG42 would be coming for him, so he turned the temperature in the maintenance bay down so her core would stand out in a thermal scan. Kar98k blinked and switched her vision over to see the cold world around her, a warm blob in the shape of a doll pulling a side arm and taking aim. She was too slow to stop the firing of the gun, tackling into FG42 too late to prevent her from opening up on MP41. The doll gasped as she was awoken from her hacking stupor, a bullet ripping through her shoulder. Addy, free from outside control, steadied herself and made her way over to the doll that had used her like a puppet.
FG42 realizing that Kar98k had another trick up her sleeves, gave up on the cloaking and settled for a simple fist fight. The two rolled about the maintenance bay, bumping into tables and equipment as they struggled to hold the other one down. Blows were exchanged until Kar98k managed to kick the traitor off of her. As the two finally rose to their feet, MP41 threw herself onto Addy in order to throw her off balance. The two tumbled to the ground, yet Addy was easily able to mount the smaller doll and keep her restrained with her knee while she readied a blade. "I can't believe I get to kill you twice." She spat into MP41's face.
MP41 only smiled as spat back at Addy, the pin of a grenade bouncing off of her face. Knowing that she never had a chance to take the Nyto on in close combat, MP41 had taken advantage of the confusion of their tumble to prime a grenade. She never intended to win the fight by throwing blows, but through deception. Addy stared blankly at the doll as she realized just how easily she had fallen, almost impressed with the doll for her willingness to die for her commander. As a Nyto, Addy could easily have shifted the fight in FG42's favor, easily defeating the dolls in combat. In a flash, however, the fight was balanced as the frag grenade detonated.
Kar98k was completely unprepared for the explosion, the sound temporarily overpowering her auditory senses and leaving her deaf. While her hearing would return in time, she was lucky enough to have been avoided by shrapnel from the grenade itself. FG42 didn't have her lucky streak, a piece of hot metal implanted in her calf as she tried to stay steady. It would be an inconvenience in combat, but ultimately she didn't have much to worry about; she wouldn't bleed out. Both were slowly regaining their hearing, stood and prepared for the next round of combat. They both stood across from each other, waiting for the other one to make the first move. They were breathing heavily, a sign that a doll was trying to keep their core cool. Without Addy or MP41 it would be an even fight, both dolls having to rely on fists to decide the outcome.
The maintenance bay doors slid open, allowing a new combatant to join the fight. The Nyto stood ominously in the doorway, blood staining her torn white robes as her fingers tightened on the massive scythe she held. A hastily patched stab wound adorned her torso, the area around it red and swollen from lack of proper treatment beyond cauterization. She scanned the room with both her human eye, and the vision module she had over her other eye. The Nyto was a mess, wavering as she assessed the situation in the room. Soon, her eyes locked onto FG42 with burning anger. "Defiler!" Her rang out.
"Oh fuck me." FG42 began to retreat backwards, pushing tables and equipment into the path of the Nyto.
"Your betrayal shall not go unpunished!" Angel approached at a slow saunter, giving herself time to ramble at FG42. She brushed past Kar98k without a glance, bashing away obstacles with her scythe. "When you took away the light of Paradeus to leave me in the dark, the Griffin was there to lift me upon its wings."
"That's good for you!" FG42 tossed a hammer at the Nyto, but she caught it with her hand and threw it to the ground.
"You will rue the day that you betrayed me, Defiler!" The Nyto had her backed against a wall, hefting her crescent blade for a reaping strike. "I shall be your doom!"
FG42 hefted up a metal tray as the scythe came down, catching it as it pierced and allowing her to shield herself. The blade was stuck in the center of the tray, Angel was not concerned. She held the scythe in one hand and spun her wrist, swinging her blade and forcing the tray out of FG42's hands. Bemused, the Nyto grabbed the tray and slowly yanked it off of her scythe, the horrible screeching sound of metal on metal threatening to deafen everyone again. As she prepared to deliver her finishing blow, FG42 delivered a kick to the hastily stitched wound from where Kar98k had stabbed her. Angel staggered back, clutching her wound. However, before FG42 could recover the fight in her favor, MP40 and StG44 barged in with weapons at the ready. "Hands up, gunner. " MP40 stood beside Kar98k, glad to see her Commandant still alive. "Angel was more than happy to help us."
"Angel?" FG42 raised an eyebrow. "You named this thing?"
"I shall be the Angel of Death to the lie that is Paradeus," Angel explained, "they will not live to regret turning away one of their most faithful for a filthy queen of betrayal such as yourself."
"Hear that?" StG44 took a step forward, her finger on the trigger and ready to fill FG42 with bullets. "I think she just called you a whore."
"It's over FG42." Kar98k made sure she was in front of the others, making sure that the doll understood her peaceful intent. "You're all alone now."
FG42's face drooped, realizing just how alone she was. For a moment, she contemplated tossing herself at Angel so that she could meet her demise at the hands of the Nyto's blade. Paradeus does not look kindly upon failure, and Father doesn't do executions. The Nyto knew nothing about Paradeus beyond their bible, leaving FG42 as the only font of information worth interrogating. She had no doubt in her mind that they would come for her, and her only hope was to talk her way out of punishment. Unfortunately, that meant giving herself over and surrendering. If the Captain was here, that meant that Scarecrow wasn't too far away. Angel knew about the bombs, and no doubt was completely honest about how to deactivate them. FG42's possibilities for escape were dwindling fast, leaving her with only one option. Regretfully, she raised her hands and gave up.
Angel stepped back, allowing StG44 to approach for the arrest. Kar98k tossed her the handcuffs, but she ignored them as she brought the butt of her rifle to the back of FG42's head. The doll stumbled to the ground, where StG44 dug a knee into her back and finally cuffed her hands together. Kar98k and MP40 let her have her catharsis, knowing that she was just as upset about being betrayed as the rest of them were. They remained tense for a moment, assessing the world around them for any further threats. Once it was confirmed clear, shoulders slacked and dolls sighed, leaving Fredrick alone to ride his adrenaline. Immediately, MP40 reported to Kar98k. "The town has been secured, and the collapse radiation bombs have been deactivated. The people of the church have also been safely evacuated."
"I think you're forgetting something." Kar98k pointed a thumb at Angel.
"That's Angel," MP40 explained, "after her, uh, injury she came to us for help. She immediately called out the Paradeus agents in the town and helped us swiftly deal with the bombs."
StG44 pulled the newly handcuffed FG42 to her feet. "I guess she didn't take too kindly to being stabbed in the back."
"A metaphorical wound is worse than a physical one." Angel let out a long sigh of relief, her own adrenaline coming down. It seemed she wasn't entirely in control of her own human hormones, finding herself still at the mercy of her machine half in that regard. "But I must thank you, for turning me away from the path of destruction."
"You seemed to turn coat pretty quickly." Kar98k crossed her arms over her chest and raised an eyebrow of suspicion.
Angel gave a bow, curtsying with her tattered robes despite the spike of pain from her wound. "Power shifts quickly in Paradeus, with Father choosing a new favorite more than when the rains fall over England. Myself and my unnamed sisters are but failures to him, to be cast aside like you would wipe filth from your boots. Had the Defiler not shunned me, Father would undoubtedly send me to the world forgotten."
"Where you fucking belong!" FG42 spat at the Nyto as she was led out of the maintenance bay.
Angel smiled at the insult. "I shall see you in Tallinn, sister." FG42's eyes widened at the response, panic spreading across her face as if she had seen a ghost. It was too late to resist now, it was now up to fate to sort her out. "She wanted to be remembered forever for changing the world," Angel reminisced about FG42's plans, "but now she's doomed to be forgotten with all of the other failures."
There was a moment as everyone stood and let the moment soak in, each party letting their thoughts scatter in their own direction. Fredrick, however, stayed fairly grounded with his observations. "Hey kiddo," he motioned for the Nyto's attention, "you're looking a little black and blue."
Looking down at the Nyto's wound, it was bruising from internal bleeding. "Oh dear," was all the Nyto could muster in response, sitting on one of the tables as she hovered her mechanical hands over the stitched wound.
"I'll go grab P38." MP40 ran off to find the logistics officer, the doll having some minor training in human first aid. As she went to leave, however, they were met by Scarecrow with a hauntingly familiar doll. It was the Sangvis Ferri high end maid doll, who had effortlessly disabled and nearly killed Kar98k with her own knife.
"So these are your new friends." The air in the main thence bay felt as if it had dropped considerably, the chill in the maids voice bringing everyone to shivers. "How haggard and rustic, what antique shop did you find them in so I may burn it."
Scarecrow moved with exceptional care and concern around the maid, almost as if she was also afraid of the doll. "Agent, they managed to fight back against a full frontal assault from-"
Agent held up her hand for Scarecrow to silence herself. "What did I tell you about lying to me?" She kept her distance from the Griffin dolls, her eyes locking onto Fredrick and Angel. "I'm more than aware of your involvement in their survival and I'd like to know for what reason."
Scarecrow was silent, knowing that the answer was not something that Agent wanted to hear. "Not everyone has to be such a heartless bitch." Kar98k stood up for her.
The eyes of a predator locked onto Kar98k, practically burning a hole through her with their calculating gaze. Agent approached, her hands held in front of her as if she was a formal and respectable maid. As she drew close, she reached out and rested it over Kar98k's chest as though she was feeling for a heartbeat. "I see you recovered quite well from your short bout of being heartless." Her smile was small, but it was wicked and cruel.
"That was you?" Fredrick, despite the clear and present danger, had terse words for the doll that stabbed Kar98k. "Do you have any idea how much fucking work you made for me?"
Agent's head snapped in his direction, redirecting her gaze onto him as she pulled her hand back to its formal position. "How adorable," she remarked with sickening venom, "it can speak."
"Perhaps it is best if we leave, Agent." Scarecrow reached out like she wanted to pull the doll away, but recoiled her hand away in reconsideration.
Agent shrugged and turned to leave. "This venue does seem to have an infestation of vermin," she chuckled to herself, "and we do not have the time to idle about. Mastermind calls for us, and we shall answer. Say goodbye to your little friends."
Scarecrow bowed, not out of respect but fear. Agent left without another word, a smile on her face for having tormented the Griffin dolls. "Sangvis Ferri calls for me, Doll Commander." Scarecrow apologized.
"We all have a job to do." Kar98k felt unable to relax as long as that maid was still around. "Good luck killing my coworkers."
"May we never meet again." Scarecrow said, as sincerely as possible. She had a small smile on her lips, its warmth unable to be contained by her mask. The SF doll followed on the heels of her superior, off to fight on a new frontline.
"Captain, first aid, now!" Fredrick smacked his hand on a table for attention, reminding everyone that Angel was still bleeding under her skin.
"Yes, right!" MP40 jogged away, looking to get help for the Nyto.
Angel let her scythe rest against the table where she was seated, patiently waiting for help. She was considerably paler than when Kar98k first met her, the machinery in her body struggling to keep her alive with so little blood running through her. As a show of good faith, Kar98k walked over and had her lay on the table, conserving her energy as much as she could. Angel, now laying on the table where Fredrick had done so much work on the dolls, reached towards Kar98k and held her hand. She was investigating the ring that was still on her finger. "So that was its purpose." She mumbled.
Slightly embarrassed, Kar98k reached to pull the ring from her finger and return it to Fredrick. He held up his hand, rejecting its return. "I've made my peace a long time ago." He said, patting the pocket he was keeping his ring in.
"But it's not mine," she insisted, "you didn't give this to me."
Fredrick rolled his eyes and took the ring from her. Then, he grabbed her hand and placed it back on her finger. "Now it's yours." He gave her a smile. "Now you have something to remember me by when the government inevitably pulls this operation apart."
She wanted to argue and reject the gift, but she couldn't bring herself to say no. Fredrick of all people would know how important keepsakes and memories are to dolls, and their value in defining the identity of a being can be erased on a whim. Almost everyone in the Brigade toted badges and medals they never earned, showing themselves off as distinguished soldiers. Yet as Kar98k looked at the ring on her finger, she felt that it was the only thing she truly deserved.
