Chapter 20 – Ringleader

"Ringleader."

It was the one word that still caused Bryant to freeze up. Ringleaders were difficult opponents. Powerful, ruthless, and terrifying. It took multiple Commanders and teams of dolls to bring down a single Ringleader dummy. On the rare occasion that Griffon can isolate a main-unit Ringleader, the fighting is horribly one sided against the PMCs. He couldn't think of a moment in recent history where those operations hadn't ended in disaster.

And Alchemist was one of the more dangerous ones. She had crushed numerous other commanders, and was fond of using traps. She would jam and track communications to lure teams into kill zones, then launch a surprise assault. Even if the team survived the first attack, she was practically a ghost. Dolls and other sensors lost her as soon as she moved.

Alchemist took a few slow steps forward before she renewed her attack. Bryant was paralyzed at that moment; alone, isolated, and unsure. USP Compact took one look at him then back to Alchemist. "M1911 and PPK, with me. Miss JS05, get ready and take a shot when you can." USP took off running towards the confusion. JS05 gently pushed the commander back towards the forest.

"Take cover, Commander! Leave this to us." She dove to the ground and set up her rifle. The Handguns had almost reached the Ringleader. Alchemist saw them coming and grinned. She backhanded the nearest human and chased down the Griffon Dolls. The Griffon team got closer and began to open fire. A few bullets hit their mark, but too many were missing. The miniscule amount of fire wasn't enough to make Alchemist slow down. And Alchemist came into range.

She vanished. The handgun dolls stopped in their tracks. A brief flicker of black appeared before one of M1911's dummies was shot to pieces. Alchemist reappeared a few feet away. The doll focused their efforts again, only for M1911 to take another hit. Alchemist had moved to the other side of their vision. She giggled before vanishing again. She appeared next to PPK.

A bullet whizzed by. It grazed Alchemist's arm and she jumped back. This was a turning point. JS05 hollered as the handguns rallied. Alchemist went on the defensive and returned fire as fast as she could. Her attacks were inaccurate and ineffective. It gave the Griffon dolls a moment to breathe and strategize. PPK swapped positions with USP. The two T-Dolls repositioned and reset. JS05 fired another shot. This one missed by a hair. And their recovery was over. Alchemist regained her momentum.

A split second of time was spared to plan. Bryant and the rest of the humans barely had time to process what had just happened before the combat resumed. Alchemist, true to form, charged dead ahead while shooting at the defending Dolls. She broke through the line of handguns and charged JS05. Alchemist opened fire at close range. JS05 couldn't get away in time, she curled up to protect her core. Alchemist smiled with glee and raised one of her gun-blades to stab her.

During Alchemist's charge, the Ghost of Eden had gathered themselves enough to make an escape. To run as far away as possible. The ones that wanted to stay and fight still had the sense to seek cover in the trees. "Ursula! Send the dolls, Spire security, anyone!"

"What?! But the-"

"The cannons aren't the problem. We have a Ringleader! She's tearing us apart out here!"

"R-right! Helian and I are on the way. Dont do anything crazy."

Bryant watched the fight, waiting for a chance to retreat. Alchemist raised her arm to stab JS05. A move that left her open for a second. It wasn't a big opportunity, he might be able to disable something. A risky move, a slim chance. That's all he needed. Bryant readied his gun and shot as accurately as he could while rushing towards the enemy. Alchemist flinched as the bullets hit her exposed side. Alchemist had a new target. Rage and murder filled her eyes as she closed in on Bryant and attacked.

Pain. Unbelievable pain. He had forgotten how strong T-Dolls were. Even more so, the SF dolls. Most dolls had to be given special orders to inflict harm on a human. The SF dolls didn't need that permission. And Bryant had all of three seconds to regret his actions before Alchemist was breathing down his neck. She slapped the gun out of his hand, probably breaking a few bones in the process. She then grabbed his arm and took it for a spin. His arm was definitely broken when she was finished. She brought her knee up into his chest, breaking the few intact ribs he had left. She picked up him, and slammed him into the ground.

Bryant lay on the ground. He took a shallow breath before gasping out in agony. Alchemist raised her blade again, and would not hesitate this time. However, PPK jumped onto Alchemist's back. She locked her arms around her neck and squeezed. M1911 ran forward and opened fire, both pistols dumping lead. Something must have snapped in the Ringleader's neural network. "Playtime is over, trash." Alchemist growled. She pointed a single gun at M1911 and shot a hole perfectly in the center of her head. She followed up with two more to the chest. She tore the T-Doll off her back and ran her through with one of her guns. She then tossed the body aside before shooting JS05 to death.

USP froze in the presence of such power. In moments she had reduced the Griffon team to a broken pile of scrap. Alchemist turned her lethal gaze on USP. "You arent even fit for this scrap heap." Both dolls aimed their weapons and prepared to fire. USP shot first… and the bullet went right through the empty air. Alchemist appeared next to USP. The Ringleader pulled the trigger, tearing USP's arm clean off. USP stumbled backwards and tripped.

A helicopter whirred in the distance. Alchemist sighed. "Ah, shame. I was just starting to enjoy this." She shrugged and walked over to Bryant. "Goodbye, 'dear Commander'." She pointed her gun. USP struggled and rolled on her side. Warning messages kept repeating: 'warning: critical damage' 'Error: Right arm disabled' 'Out of ammo' 'power at 10%'. USP forced herself to her feet and stumbled towards Alchemist. She lunged at the Ringleader and tried to tackle her. Alchemist stepped to the side and USP tripped over Bryant. She felt something as she landed. She grabbed it and rolled to face Alchemist and fired a few shots from Bryant's handgun.

The shots did next to nothing, but it caught her off guard. The helicopter passed overhead, and the rest of the combat dolls began to deploy. Alchemist hissed and considered her next move. Retreat was the unfortunate reality. "More trash...I'm running low on ammo." She turned to Bryant. A playful smile crossed her face. "Stay, fight, or run away again," she sighed as she dissapeared, "we will meet again."

Ursula jumped out of the helicopter as it touched down. A large team of Spire security rushed in and secured the area as the dolls collected scraps, neural clouds, and cores. Ursula ran over to Bryant and USP. "Oh no, Commander!" She panicked and knelt next to him, unsure where to start the medical aid. USP reached out to them, but another doll pulled her back.

"USP, I need to lock you out of Level II so your neural cloud doesn't fail. Enter power-save mode, please."

"B-b-but the Commander..." She couldn't really resist, not with the damage she recieved. She made one halfhearted attempt to struggle, but found her world going dark. And so she was left in Level I.