The military camp was dusty, hot, and smelled like body odor. StG44 could feel her skin crawl every time the breeze blew dirt and human stench into her face. She wasn't sure if a shower could clean the filth from her body upon her return, deciding that she would be better off transferring over to a new body and burning the old one. The squalor that soldiers lived in the yellow zone disgusted her beyond belief, horrified that they could live with outdoor showers and almost public bathrooms. They had been deployed to provide experienced fire support to an outpost dealing with skirmishes with the locals, but StG44 was starting to wonder if she should start by teaching some of these men how to properly wash their hands first.

When they had arrived, the captain in charge of the outpost had recently left out on a patrol with half of the men, leaving only a dozen or so defenders behind to man the various emplacements. The primary focus of the outpost was to serve as a checkpoint along a convoy route through the yellow zone, safeguarding the rocky area from surprise attacks from bandits or worse. Lately they'd been experiencing small scale attacks from lightly armed infantry, but one of the most recent attacks sighted what appeared to be a woman in a robe overseeing the attack. When targeted by a mortar team, she disappeared from their sensors and hadn't been seen since. Assuming her to be a Nyto, Griffin troops with experience combatting Paradeus were hired to deal with the issue.

Agent Peter wasn't happy that Angel was practically selected for this mission, and neither was Kar98k. They'd been through too much to let her wander into a dangerous situation by herself, deciding to send her with a couple of the girls that had passed their neural cloud clean up. While StG44 and MP41 were nowhere near the crack team of bodyguards Angel would need if this was a trap, the three of them working together could get her out of a dangerous situation if need be.

Upon arrival, while StG44 noticed their issues with cleanliness, MP41 couldn't help but notice their lack of advanced weaponry. Much of what the men had to work with was standard issue equipment, with very little in the way of heavy defensive weaponry. While the outpost was outfitted to deal with local insurgents with small arms, a proper Paradeus force would roll right over them. Worst of all, most of the men were outfitted in basic body armor, the most powerful electronic personal equipment being shoulder mounted flashlights. The more the girls assessed the situation, the more it seemed like suicide mission.

Waiting for the captain to return, they could only loiter around the command center at the rear of the outpost against a steep rock wall. Surrounded on two sides by rocky hills, the outpost had two gates along the roads that allowed them to refuel any land-based convoy on their way through the zone. The northern hills, unfortunately, often found themselves being the target of mortar strikes as the men defended themselves from snipers on the hill. As time went on, much of the cover on that side had been reduced to rubble and making it difficult to mount small and stealthy raids.

StG44 wiped off the top of a crate to use it as a seat, watching Angel as she analyzed the surroundings. She seemed to be pointing at locations on the hills while holding her scythe in right hand, figuring out how she would attack the camp if she were in command. Angel went on mumbling to herself and shaking her head before she settled on looking towards the gates on either side of the camp. Stroking her chin in deep thought, she seemed to have found a method of attack that pleased her. "You keep this up," StG44 said, leaning on her elbows on her knees as she watched from her dusty seat, "and they're going to think that you're still with the enemy."

"They seem more preoccupied with you," MP41 giggled with a huge smile on her face, "I think you're the closest thing to a woman many of them have seen for some time."

She shuddered at the implication of their filthy eyes leering at her. "Maybe if they knew how to use soap they'd have more females around here."

"What strategic value does this place hold?" Angel mumbled aloud, still thinking to herself.

StG44 ran her finger along the dirty crate and frowned at how much filth had accumulated on it. No doubt her entire behind was covered in the same mess. "Best I can tell, this place is useless."

"Precisely." Angel let her scythe sit in the crook of her arm as she clapped her metal hands together. "This place is worthless to both the Soviets, and to Paradeus."

"I can understand the Soviets wasting their time and resources on this hole," MP41 fought the urge to take pictures of the defenses and the men wandering around, "but why would a group like Paradeus show an interest in a waste of space?"

"That is precisely my point," as Angel spoke, MP41 sat on the ground by the same crate as StG44 and closed her eyes, "a coordinated attack on this location would be a waste of precious materials. It would only serve to provoke the Soviet government- what is she doing?"

StG44 nudged the now inert MP41 with her boot, shrugging at the lack of a response. "Looks like she's provoking the Soviet government."

Angel drew closer and lowered her voice. "Is she seriously hacking into their system out here in the open?"

"There is a man using an outdoor shower in full view of the rest of the camp," StG44 rolled her eyes, "I think everyone does things in the open here."

"We were told to wait here for their commanding officer to return."

StG44 scoffed at the notion of happy cooperation with these men. "Every time that we've worked with the army, I've ended up dead or with a gun in my back."

It was Angel's turn to shake her head at the incredulity of what she'd heard. "Recent purges of their military thanks to evidence provided by Griffin has led to a new era of trust between the Soviet Union and its people."

"If you are going to repeat news articles," MP41 woke up from her illegal search, "at least avoid plagiarizing them."

"What did you think you were doing?" Angel resisted the urge to slap the doll. Her actions could have landed all of them into trouble, and Griffin couldn't afford any more.

"I took a peek at their easily accessible files to get an idea of why we're here." MP41 explained, thinking she did nothing wrong. "I guess the captain was part of a Soviet army program to combine tech stolen from Paradeus with their own soldiers."

Angel froze at the revelation, realizing why State Sec had wanted to study her and keep her around. They were perfecting their own bastardization of herself, creating their own abominations to propagate their armies. A pit formed in her stomach as she realized that she was nothing more than a lab rat for yet another group of scientists that did not care for her. If they had created their own Soviet Nytos, then there were very few reasons for them to need her here. Angel would need to watch her back, especially if she wanted to prove her worth. If killed, the dolls would just be awakened from their backed up neural clouds to live another day with lost memories. Angel, on the other hand, had her entire life to lose.

Ignoring Angel's palling face, MP41 continued to explain what she had found. "It seems that their experiments used former political prisoners who were given the option to undergo life threatening surgeries to receive amnesty."

"Father was very invasive with his blades." Angel mumbled, remembering the many knives she'd endured to become what she was. "I can't imagine what it would take to make a person undergo such torture."

"The captain is an old friend of ours it seems," MP41 explained, "it seems Adelhard took his chance to avoid a life in prison."

It was StG44's turn to freeze up. Ever since the operation that ended in Adelhard's arrest, she had been in constant contact with his son. Not once had the boy mentioned his father being out of prison, believing him to still be in chains somewhere in the Soviet political prison system. There was no doubt in her mind that he held a grudge for her and the others, and chances were high that he may act on his emotions. Angel was only barely aware of the details of the operation, being kept out of the loop from FG42 and Addy. While she didn't care then, she was certainly concerned now. "Perhaps it would be best if you two checked the perimeter." Angel tried to keep a level voice, a waver still breaking through.

"Good idea," StG44 nodded and got back on her feet, "let's go, 41."

The shorter doll nodded, following StG44 deeper into the camp as they checked the environment and the defenses. Left alone, Angel took the crate as her seat and let out a deep sigh. Leaning her scythe against the crook of her arm, she looked at her hands and tried to remember when they were still flesh. Time was supposed to heal all wounds, but these metallic scars would be a part of her forever. Despite the abilities they granted to her, they were only a curse for the attention that they brought onto her life. Governments were studying her, gambling her as a poker chip for their own sick card games. Paradeus had twisted her faith into a tool, throwing her life away when she showed a sign of cracking. To Angel, it was only a matter of time until Griffin finished with her as well. As she took another deep breath, she pretended to wipe the dust from her one human eye only to realize she no longer had a tear duct. Apparently it seemed that only her heart was still human.

The sound of approaching boots brought Angel back to reality, standing to face the person approaching her. Even with his full uniform and body armor, she could see the signs of enhancement done to his body. The cybernetic enhancements were done in an invasive manner, a fact that he was clearly still getting accustomed to. Adelhard wore many of the key armor plates in a manner that was more comfortable, prioritizing the parts that were still human for protection and ease of use. Most noticeable was a similar ocular augmentation as her own, albeit his didn't stick out as much as hers did. If Angel had to hazard a guess, he would still be able to wear a full helmet over his head unlike she could.

"Who are you and who is your commander?" He growled at her, his voice dry and stern.

"The name that I have chosen for myself is Angel." She gave a slight bow, before reconsidering whether she should tell him who she really worked for. "I work for Griffin and Kryuger under the authority of the Bureau of State Security."

He scowled at her, glaring at the Iron Cross medal Angel wore on her chest. "Who is your commanding officer?"

Adelhard had already figured out the answer, and was just trying to assert his authority over her. Angel, however, would not allow herself to be so easily intimidated by this thug. He was merely a pretender based on her, a cruel imitation of who she really was. If she was nothing, then so was he. "I work alongside the Doll Commander Kar98k," Angel out on a wry smile, "did you happen to know her?"

The side of Adelhard's face that was not cybernetic twitched as he tried to control himself. "Did you come alone?"

A smile etched itself across Angel's lips as she realized she had finally gotten under his skin. The Soviets may have filled his head with propaganda about how advanced he was, but he was still just a human. "I have brought with me two dolls," Angel explained, "our electronic warfare expert MP41; and our assault specialist StG44."

"I don't want dolls wandering around my base." Adelhard could barely contain his desire to see StG44 again, anger welling up inside him as he suffered because of her. She had grown close to her son as a way to bring him down, leading to the domino fall that brought him here. While the revenge he no doubt had plotted would focus on Scarecrow, he clearly held a grudge for the Brigade as well.

"I have them investigating the perimeter." Angel held her scythe tightly in her hands, letting him know she was not afraid to fight should he swing first.

Adelhard's face wrinkled at the idea of the dolls wandering about without an escort. "Snooping around is a strength of theirs, isn't it?"

Angel loosened her grip on her scythe. "We are masters of many talents."

His eyes narrowed, like a predator zeroing in on its prey. "We can talk more in the command center."


The filthy military truck rolled through the open gate, its canvas covered back flapping in the wind. With a scowl, StG44 watched as one of the soldiers walked to the back of the truck and opened up one of the flaps. Simply checking their procedure, she stood with MP41 off to the side with an idle stance. She didn't enjoy the leering and dirty looks she got from these men, even when they knew she was looking back at them. It had certainly seemed like none of these soldiers had seen a woman before in their life, despite the fact that there were female soldiers enlisted in their army. Doing her best to ignore the lecherous stares, she did notice how relaxed many of these men really were. For them to be more focused on the bits of her skin between her skirt and boots than whatever was beyond the outpost walls, these men must not come under attack often. To be this relaxed at all times you either needed to be in danger at all times, or never in danger at all. Neither were possibilities that she wanted to be reality.

The man that was checking the back of the truck opened one of the flaps and peered inside. He moved his head around as he checked for anything suspicious, before giving the rest of the soldiers a thumbs up for clearance. However, the sergeant next to StG44 decided to be very cooperative with girls and held a hand for them. "Would you like to check for yourself?" He offered.

StG44 smiled and nodded, deciding that if they were going to be working together she couldn't reject every small offer to cooperate. Shoving MP41 forward with her knee, she sent the little doll forward. "Get to it, Smiles."

MP41 simply glared at her with an uneasy smile before making her way over to the back of the truck. The size of the vehicle nearly dwarfed her, and if she wished to climb inside she'd need a lift up. If she weren't an electronic warfare expert, she'd be absolutely useless on a human battlefield. Of course, her small size had come in handy before, and no matter the size she was still stronger than most humans. Still, she needed the soldier at the back of the truck to hold open the canvas flap for her all the way. MP41 froze up for a second as soon as she looked inside, unsure of what to do or say.

"What's going on over there?" StG44 flicked the safety on her rifle as she began to get nervous. What the hell was back there.

The little doll simply stood and stared, her eyes shifting between whatever was in the back of the truck and StG44. All around her, the soldiers began to ready their weapons as well for whatever lay in wait. Without speaking, MP41 reached for her own weapon to draw down on whatever was back there. She barely got her finger on the trigger before a heavy black war hammer swung out of the back of the truck. There almost seemed to be a burst of energy at the impact, as if the weapon was designed to be more than just a blunt instrument of war. MP41 crumpled under the force of the attack, falling like a sack of metal potatoes to the ground.

It was at that moment that StG44 realized the soldiers were not training their rifles on the truck. Surrounded by men with guns, she could watch as a trio of Nytos climbed out of the back of the truck. They took care to step around the remains of MP41, the black one with a sniper rifle kind enough to reposition her into a more dignified position. Interestingly, the white Nyto didn't have a weapon or the same ocular implants as the others did, wearing only a frown as she looked upon StG44. "I'm truly sorry for the deception," the Nyto apologized, "but this needed to be done."

If she could sweat, StG44 would be drowning in it. Shifting her eyes about nervously, she tried to gauge how many of these men she could shoot before they killed her. Not enough, she thought as she prepared to shoulder her rifle.


Standing in the operations center of the outpost with Adelhard, Angel flinched at the sound of weapons fire from outside. They had been discussing the local landscape, as well as looking at the gathered intel on local groups that might be willing to cooperate with Paradeus. Looking about, even the captain seemed surprised to be hearing it. "That was from inside the camp." Angel spun to leave the enclosed building, her scythe at the ready.

"That's probably just the men shooting at rats again." Adelhard dismissed her concern with a wave of her hand like she was worried over nothing. Did he not care about what was happening under his own nose?

Processing the sounds of gunfire, Angel did her best cross reference one particular discharge she knew quite well. She knew everything about these girls, inside and out. Having observed them for as long as she had, she knew could even pick up the sound of their guns firing in a firefight. "One of those weapons was not a Soviet standard issue AK," Angel explained, "but the assault rifle carried by one of my girls."

There was a click of a weapon's safety, alerting Angel to danger behind her. Spinning with her scythe in hand, the enclosed space caused her blade to catch on an operations computer and bring her spin to an abrupt stop. Adelhard did not hesitate to take advantage of the situation, firing his sidearm towards Angel's center of mass as she tried to right herself. The bullet impacted the left side of her chest, the armor piercing round going starting into her chest. Angel clutched the wound with one hand, trying to right herself with her scythe clutched in her other hand. "Bastard." Was all she could breathe out before coughing up some of her own blood.

With a mouth full of crimson copper, Angel stumbled forward to try and swing her blade with one hand. Lacking momentum and adequate space, while also bleeding profusely from a fatal and painful chest wound, Adelhard was easily able to dodge her swing and grab the weapon. He pulled it towards himself, using Angel's own unsteady grip on the weapon against her. Falling forward, Angel was no longer able to hold on as she collapsed to her hands and knees before the captain. Struggling to stand back up despite the pain, she braced her hands on her knees for support. Looking up, Angel was met with the barrel of a pistol. Adelhard looked upon her with indifference, as if she was a pest to be exterminated.

Angel started to lift her hands to fight back, but lowered them in resignation. Her fate has already been sealed, there was no reason to continue struggling anymore. There would be no grand struggle, no martyr's death. The final battle against Paradeus that she had trained so much for would never come, denied the glorious death she dreamed of. There were no fluttering cherry blossoms, nor blazing trumpets of war. In her final moments before Adelhard pulled the trigger, Angel lamented the fact that it was not one of her sisters to overcome her in battle. Once again, Angel found herself covered in her own blood and at the mercy of whatever god was watching in heaven. It would be here, at the hands of a man she barely knew, in a filthy den of the Soviet war machine. Had she not been shot in the chest already, she would feel her heart break.

"I was told there would be a light." She muttered weakly, clutching the Iron Cross medal on her chest as though they would save her life again. Betrayed once more, there was nobody to come save her now.