This chapter is due to be rewritten. It bridges into the next arc, but contains references to older material I've revised. If something makes no sense or a reference seems to be missing, this is why (I also am bad at writing, so it could be that too)
"So who are you three? I don't recognize your models," The kid asked as the three of them entered the poorly lit apartment.
Rs glanced around the place, taking note of the large array of doll components and tools strewn about most empty surfaces, as well as the piles of half eaten food and overall unpleasant odor. If Damek was any sort of useful metric to go by, a pretty good doll mechanic was living out of here.
"I'm RS9, this is M4 and Carcano," She answered him.
"Mmm, nice to meet ya, I'm Dier. I take it you're all elite T-doll models right?"
"How'd you know?" M4 asked.
"If I don't recognize a doll, that's my default assumption. IOP and Svarog pump out A-dolls like the world is about to end, so I'm familiar with most models."
"Reasonable assumption if you're well versed in the industry," Rs snuck a glance through an ajar door, revealing a bed with what looked like a mix of industrial machining and surgical equipment on a nightstand beside it, "Am I safe in assuming you're 404's in house mechanic?"
Dier popped open the refrigerator and snagged a blue colored drink of some kind, "You caught me," He said, opening the drink and taking a long sip, "so how'd you find this place."
"We tapped Helian's transmissions, and caught a few clues here and there."
Dier snorted, "Figures."
Rs noticed M4's face flash with confusion. She'd purposefully neglected to mention how they knew about 404, M4 had probably assumed Helian had told them about the group.
"404 here?"
"Nope."
"They in the city?"
"Nope again."
"On a job then?"
Dier shrugged, "I'd guess so."
"You don't know?" M4 asked, her voice quivering a little.
"Look, they don't tell me what they're doing, just where to go when they need me."
Rs stalked around the apartment, though she did try not to be too obvious about it.
"But, we need to speak with them!" M4 protested.
The place was fairly big, three bedrooms, two bath, and with a sizable living space that included a couch and Tv. None of the furniture was new, same to with the appliances which could have easily been made fourty years ago.
She'd also noticed that the fridge was quite barren when Dier had opened it, with a couple tupperware containers and a six pack of whatever his drink was, which appeared to still have four cans attached.
"What do you want me to do about it?" Dier replied.
"Can you contact them?" Rs interjected.
"They'll hang up unless it's important."
"Dammit…" M4 cursed under her breath.
Hidden behind one of the doors was a backpack, half open still with a laptop and tools laid out around it.
"Got plans for tonight?" She asked.
Dier's cheeks went a shade or two redder," What do you mean?"
"You said 404 tells you where to go when they need you, but it seems they aren't here. You must have some reason to be here, and I'm pretty sure you don't live here."
"Oh… I have a job with another group tonight."
"Hmmm? And what might that be?"
"Just some doll work, nothing too special," Dier answered, taking another long sip from his drink.
Rs leaned over the kitchen counter, opposite Dier, "you must be pretty good to be doing freelance work at your age. Parents work at IOP or something?"
"Ha, no, they're clueless about dolls."
"So you learned from working with 404?"
"Mhmm," He hummed in reply, "partially."
From what she understood, 404 had at least two Ex Griffin dolls, though she only knew the leader's name, UMP 45. No clue how long they'd been active for, or whether they were converts or not. Still, working with them shouldn't make Dier any more skilled than the half dozen ex-industry professionals that ran repair services in town. So why would Dier be hired for whatever this job was over them?
"Any chance this job of yours isn't entirely legal?"
Dier went pale. He opened his mouth to speak, but wisely shut it again.
"It's okay," Rs chuckled, "I'm not gonna arrest you."
"H-how'd you know?" He managed.
"Kid, you're probably one of very few who know their way around an IOP doll without any connections to the company or government. I imagine Miss 45 hired you for that exact reason."
"Well… not just that."
Rs smiled, "I'm sure your abilities had something to do with it too. Now, what's this job, and who's it for?"
"Scavs found a T-doll, they want me to crack her for them."
"Must be a high end model if they can't do it themselves, "Rs said, glancing up to make eye contact with M4.
The doll seemed to be coming around to the potential here, who exactly this doll might be. Her eyes began to widen, and Rs could feel the excitement pouring off of her.
"Well then, I think we'll be tagging along."
It was a damn cold evening. The wind had picked up and was cutting right through the coat Rs had donned, sending goose bumps up her arms and raising the hair on her scalp. She had to use her MTRS system to keep her teeth from chattering in the cold, but even that was only taking the edge off.
Dier seemed just as affected as he huddled forward through the dying light. M4 meanwhile, seemed entirely unaffected, strutted forward through the whistling wind without much care paid to it.
" Cano, you set up?" Rs asked over direct messaging.
" Mhmmmm, I'm all good. It's actually pretty cozy up here, " The doll messaged back.
Rs cast a quick glance up to her position. She was setup in a sniper position overlooking their destination. If Rs looked closely, she could just make out the grey-ish white Thermal cloak nestled atop an apartment building.
" Can't relate."
" Hey, at least you get to go inside. "
" And possibly be shot on entering," Rs grumbled.
" Oh, so now you're worried about that? Where'd all your bravado from earlier go?"
"Just… watch the damn street. "
" Rooooger Wilco, have fun in there~"
Rs shut the channel off with a scowl.
"Everything okay?" M4 asked, noticing her expression.
"Yeah, yeah everythings fine, Cano's in position."
Rs glanced back behind her, finding an empty street lit by the orange sunset and a few street lamps which sent yellow and orange light glinting off the icey street. Empty, same as before.
Dier brought them up to the front door, knocking twice before standing back. After a brief moment, the door swung open revealing three men standing just beyond. The man standing in the middle was bald and scarred, with a defined brow ridge hanging over two soft brown eyes. He stood as stark contrast to the two muscle bound thugs flanking him, as he was far slighter in build. Yet his intimidate for did nothing to stop the grin slowly spreading across her face as she saw the man he once had been underneath.
"Well well, off all the dirty lowlifes I could have met here tonight, who would've thought I'd be seeing you," she greeted him.
"So it is you then," the man replied in accented English, taking a step forward.
"It is."
The man appraised her with a careful stare, which she met with a confident grin.
"You've not changed a bit, save perhaps the lack of a uniform."
"Yet you've taken your fashion in an entirely new direction. What happened to your hair?" She asked, cocking her head.
The man grinned, "I lost it skiing last summer."
The man leapt forward and wrapped Rs in a full hug which she returned. Both M4 and the thugs were taken aback by the sudden movement, both sides reaching for weapons until the full realization hit them.
The last exchange was the key, confirming for certain that each of them was exactly who they'd hoped they were. An old code phrase from a different time.
"Ah you old bastard, how have you been!" She said, clapping him on the back.
"Ha!" He said, pulling away, "Doing fine, fucking with the reds as always, but now I make a little cash on the side. How about yourself?"
Rs shrugged, "Same 'ol same 'ol. Though I'm working at the local Griffin base for the moment."
That last detail made the thugs behind the man bristle, both placing hands on what were undoubtedly concealed weapons. However it wasn't their reaction that Rs was too concerned with.
"Really? I wouldn't expect you to put yourself under the reds' thumb," the man said, not too concerned, more seeming to be waiting for an explanation.
"Never said I did. My base commander is a yankee, and the Soviets pretty much let us do whatever so long as we fulfill the contract."
Transparency would get her further here. Letting her association linger too long would prove too unpleasant a surprise for these guys to stomach.
"Ah, of course. No better place to protect yourself from the reds than within their labyrinth of bureaucracy eh?"
Rs gave him a smiling half nod, "Something we know all too well huh?"
"Too true…" He said. The man seemed to notice Dier again out of the corner of his eye, but his attention immediately shifted back to Rs.
She'd known from the outset that arriving with Dier put the kid at risk. In this room, trust would be more precious than gold, and their arrival together was inherently suspicious.
"So, what brings you here tonight with this young man I've hired?" He asked, keeping the friendliness in his voice, but slipping in a hint of suspicion.
"Oh we just followed him to you, we're not really together," She said, gesturing to M4 and herself, "I'm here to talk business, actually."
She was purposefully vague, inviting the man to speculate. For all he knew this could be a sting, but equally could be a great chance for profit and connections.
"Oh really?" The man said, "Then by all means, let us talk business."
He gestured past his guards, who shuffled out of the way to reveal a surprisingly nice bar area. Rs took the lead and stepped into the room.
"As for you young man, the job is upstairs," He said to Dier.
"Would you mind if my friend here accompanied him? She would like to appraise the doll in question for a potential purchase." Rs added
The man glanced at M4, then nodded to her, which sent her jogging after Dier and his escort.
" Be cool. If it is her say and do nothing except messaging me. We'll go from there. If not, stick with Dier until I say otherwise, " Rs messaged her.
" Understood," M4 messaged back, accompanied by a quick glance over her shoulder.
Once the doll was out of sight, Rs hopped over the bar counter and began looking through the man's selection. Beneath the cabinet, hidden behind dozens of expensive labels and rare vodkas, was a rather dusty, labelless bottle that was filled with a cherry red liquid.
Rs snagged the bottle and poured out two glasses, both on the rocks, and nudged one over towards the man. He regarded the glass for a moment before picking it up, the hints of a grin playing at the corners of his mouth.
"How's your sister?,"she asked as he took a sip.
"Ah, she is well. Settled down now, west of the border."
Rs took a sip. The liquor was rough and fizzy at first, but quite sweet with the cherry flavor the color had hinted at. Perhaps not a typical choice, but the drink held a deeper meaning to the two of them.
"That's good to hear."
"How about yours, back in the States I hope?"
"Last I heard. We've not been in touch much for quite a while, so I'm fairly out of the loop."
"Mmm. By the way, I heard you'd died during the opening stages of Tradewind. I must say I'm glad to see those were untrue."
"Ah yes," Rs chuckled, "I've heard that too. It seems in my case death was rather temporary, or perhaps the afterlife kicked me out."
"Haha!" the man laughed, "takes a little more than death to keep you down."
"You know me Tepes."
She raised her glass, offering a toast which Tepes accepted. The glasses clinked together, sloshing the liquid within. Tepes was, of course, not his actual name, no more so than J was hers, but they were the only names the two ever knew each other by.
"So, what business exactly were you thinking about discussing?" He asked.
Rs set down her glass and produced a PDA. "Well first, my boss was curious what sort of operation you guys are running, and on what scale."
It was a dangerous question. Tepes may trust her to an extent, but trusting Griffin was another thing. Afterall, besides Statesec and the local law enforcement, Griffin was the de facto law in the region.
He raised a brow, "What for?"
"Logistics mainly. Kruyger's a stingy bastard, so we're looking to supplement our supply chain."
"Some things never change eh?"
She sighed, "new decade, same problems."
"Well, as for 'what' we do, my people buy or find items that our customers want, and we can also connect you to other people, such as that young engineer you came here with."
"What sort of items?"
Tepes shrugged, "Whatever we can acquire and you want. Guns, ammo, tools, vehicles, supplies…" he gestured upward " ...dolls."
"Heavy weapons?"
He grinned, "Certainly. If it can be found, I can provide."
Rs took another drink before continuing, "How about the scale of your operations?"
"Larger than it may seem. As I'm sure you know, our old friend Yurov has made his way up in the world. Through him, I've made friends in the local Statesec branch, in fact they're some of my better customers," He said with a prideful chuckle.
"Tepes, you've almost gone legit. In that case I imagine we can work out a similar arrangement."
"Excellent," Tepes said as he took a sip from his glass, "what might you be looking for exactly?"
"I'll leave you a list of what we're looking for and an address. Our doll who lives there will work as the middleman, if you don't mind."
Tepes shook his head, "No issue, though we only work in cash only. We use a take out van from our front for cover, so if you could have her order food delivery often that would help. Anything too heavy will need to be picked up by you however, though we can work the details for that as needed."
"Sounds good," Rs shut off her tablet, then switched over to her comms channel, " M4, what's the situation?"
"..."
"M4? Is there a problem?"
"...yes, yes there is a problem. Requesting assistance."
Rs sighed and set down her glass, "Tepes, I apologize but it seems there's a situation upstairs. May I go investigate.
Tepes stood, "certainly, right this way."
M4 squinted as she stared into the eyes of the thug opposite her. He was tall, thin, and threw so many warnings in her combat systems that she was just about to draw on him.
Or she would've, had he not preempted her. In his hand was a Glock 18, no doubt on full-auto firing and pointed not at her, but at Dier's head. The boy's eyes were wide and his hands trembling just above the computer keys he'd been typing away at moments before.
M4 bit her lip. Her body wouldn't move, wouldn't give the thug a reason to fire, yet wouldn't do anything to diffuse the situation either.
"Step away Griffin scum, and put your hands above your head," He growled.
The other guard in the room was standing in shock, glancing between M4 and the man. He'd come up with them from downstairs, and didn't seem to know what to do.
M4 slowly moved to comply, lifting her hands up slowly.
Just then the door to the lab creaked open, revealing Rs and her acquaintance from downstairs, as well as another guard.
"Tepes, boss, what the hell is this Griffin doing here?" the thug asked, making a gesture towards M4 with his weapon that scent of a bolt of anxiety through her.
The man, Tepes, slowly walked over towards the thug, then ripped his weapon from his hand in a violent movement.
"Easy Artyom, they are customers. I would advise you to not harass them."
"But-" Artyom began, only to have his words cut off as he caught a good look at Rs.
"Well well, if it isn't young Artyom. How's your head?" Rs greeted with a voice like poisoned honey.
Artyom gulped and seemed to physically shrink away from her. Tepes glanced back at her with casual curiosity, "You know him?"
"We met once, had something of an altercation when he attempted to mishandle me. Self defense I assure you."
"Boss I-"
Tepes put up a single finger to silence him, "Artyom, step out. We will have a discussion about this later."
The room didn't lose an ounce of tension as the young man made his exit, tail tucked between his legs. Tepes slowly rotated on the spot to face Rs, his eyes cold.
"So, I take it you were the one who knocked him out and assaulted my men at our northern operation."
Rs nodded, "I did knock him out, but I was only trying to leave."
His eyes narrowed, "My men reported two dolls attacked them that night, killing four and wounding another two, so I assume that you were one of them then. Why were you there?"
Rs' face betrayed no emotion as she bore back into Tepes' stare, "I haven't the faintest idea. My memory picks up with me waking already inside. The doll was with Griffin, so we decided to break out together. I don't know why I was there or where I had been previously. "
"Amnesia?"
"Something like that, going back years."
Amnesia was not a term typically used with dolls, perhaps Rs was simply using a human term for Tepes' sake to describe a very real issue for dolls. M4 knew of Neural clouds, which were backups for a doll's memories, and that they were to be used in the event of core death. In the past it was all too common for parts of these clouds to become corrupted during transference back to a doll frame, which could result in the loss of some or all of a doll's memories.
Tepes' eyes seemed to lose some of their tension, "strange, what happened?"
"I'd quite like to know as well, but for the moment I'd like to be done here. I feel we've lingered too long."
"Hm, I see, well in that case I believe we can finalize our arrangements through our third parties."
M4 glanced back at Dier, whose fingers were still held frozen over his keys. His computer was wired into a containment unit before him, about large enough to fit a doll inside.
Rs cleared her throat, causing M4 to look back. She found the adjutant staring at her with a questioning glance.
"Is it her?" she asked.
M4 shrugged, "I don't know, I wasn't allowed to view her."
Rs groaned, "Tepes, may we?"
The man nodded to his guard, who revealed a set of keys he used to unlock the box. Slowly, the guard peeled open the lid, revealing a twisted mess of silver and black materials within, roughly in the shape of a doll.
M4 gasped as she noticed one of hands laying atop it. It was black and clawed, with hints of black fabric still stuck to the jagged metal endoskeleton and shredded synth muscle.
She couldn't help herself as she knelt down and grasped the hand. Deeper within the box was the doll's head. It's skin and musculature was almost all gone, save for a small patch around one of her ruby red eyes.
A tear rolled down M4's face as she stared into her mangled sister's eye.
"I believe that settles that," Rs said in a low tone, "How much for the doll?"
M4 felt a slight wave of anxiety tremble within her, but it didn't come alone. Anger, anger and outrage at her sister being traded like a tool. She knew Rs was merely playing with cards close to her chest by referring to Sop as just 'the doll', but that didn't make it easy to hear.
"It was going to be thirty million, but…"
M4 glared back at the man, who she found looking back with surprisingly soft eyes.
"They're sisters, aren't they," He said.
"They are."
"I need to cover my expenses, we spent a good deal stabilizing her condition as Her core was nearly dead when my scouts found her. I won't ask for more than that though, one hundred thousand."
"Deal," Rs replied. She removed a small wallet and counted out twenty 5000 ruble notes before handing them to Tepes. The man took them without breaking eye contact with M4.
"Do you need help moving her?"
Rs shot a glance to M4, who in turn glanced back at Sopmod. The box she was in should make moving her relatively easy, and it's not as if the weight was a concern for her.
"I can handle it," M4 muttered.
"Excuse me," Dier interjected, "but what about me?"
"How much were you paying him?" Rs asked
"He asked for some rarer doll parts, equivalent to about 800 thousand."
Rs mulled it over for a moment before turning to Dier, "What's her state?"
The kid glanced back to his laptop, "She's locked in Level III and reduced to essential core functions only."
"Battery?"
"The container has an APU installed for this purpose, the doll will last another thirty hours if you need to move her," Tepes replied.
"Can she sustain Level I?"
Dier looked through the numbers on his screen for a moment and seemed to run some mental math before replying, "she should be fine."
"Wake her. I'll pay for your parts once you're done."
Dier nodded enthusiastically and buried himself in his laptop. M4 glanced back down to Sop. Her sister's body was in tatters, with deep plasma burns surrounding the melted endoskeleton all over her. She hoped Dier would finish quickly, but she didn't have high expectations. Raising a doll from Level III was a tricky process in the best of times, and though he seemed competent for his age, M4 didn't expect him to-
"Done," Dier chimed, startling M4 from her thoughts as she looked up at the kid in disbelief.
"I see I was right to hire you young man," Tepes praised him.
M4 noticed a self-satisfied smirk creeping across Dier's face as he began unplugging his laptop. However, her staring was cut off by a small increase in pressure around M4's hand. Her head whirled back around to see her sister's clawed and mangled hand gripping onto her own. More than that, her eye had moved and was now staring into M4's own.
She noticed the hints of a smile playing at the corner of Sop's eye.
Rs strolled over, leaning over the casket like box. Sop's eye switched its focus to her as she came into view.
"Can she hear us?"
M4 shook her head, "I don't know."
Her ears were absent, making it unlikely though not impossible. However, Sop's jaw was also far too damaged to be of any use, even if she could hear them.
Sop tried to stir a bit, but her body was far too damaged to allow for it. M4 noticed a look of frustration, or perhaps confusion wash over her sister.
"What about Zener?" Rs asked.
M4 paused to focus on the network, looking through for her sister's signals. She felt her breath draw in a stay in a gasp as she found a very weak, but present signal coming from her. M4 latched onto it and connected, feeling the anticipation building to a crescendo in her chest as their protocols performed the handshake.
" Sop?"
"M444444!" yelped Sop on comms, matched by a very excited look in her eye. Her sister squeezed her hand in a painful grip that made M4 wince.
" Hi, ye- yes Sop, please stop squeezing me so tight. "
" NEVER!" Her sister proclaimed, doubling down.
Rs seemed to have noticed the excitement as she began gently chuckling. This attracted Sop's attention again, evidenced by her eye moving back over towards the adjutant.
" Who's that?"
"That's RS9, she's the adjutant for the Griffin Commander that rescued me. "
" Is she nice?"
M4 smiled, " I would say so, yes. "
" What's her favorite color? Favorite food? Hobbies? Is she Elite? If not what did she do before? How old is she? Can I have one of her eyes?"
"… Sop, don't be rude."
"Whaaaat…?" Sop whined.
From the corner of her eye, M4 noticed Rs stiffen. Then, a mere moment later, the door burst back open to reveal Artyom with two more of Tepes' men, all wide eyed and brandishing weapons.
"BOSS! We've been sold out!" Artyom exclaimed, pointing his rifle at Rs.
Tepes raised a hand, "Easy there, what is it?"
"Statesec! Three trucks just pulled up."
Tepes' eyes narrowed, "Call Captain Alenko."
"Sir but-"
"Artyom. Statesec is more dangerous to our guests than us, please call the captain and ask whether this is sanctioned. If not, request his presence immediately."
"Aye, boss," Artyom replied, scurrying off.
"Do you have a plan?" Rs asked.
"I do. let's go get another drink, shall we?" He said with a grin.
Whew, another one down. I admit, I kinda struggled with this one. Apologies if I went a bit too hard on the negotiations here, but it is important for some later plot points.
As for the story, this is much more of the setup to the next couple chapters, though I'm also trying to setup some ground work for Rs' backstory and where she fits into this world. GFL is both very broad in scope, yet manages not to capture a whole lot of its world. Rs, Matt, and a couple more characters to come later will hopefully help add some depth in areas canon doesn't otuch on so much (Like those 'human rights' groups that harass sometimes in game. they're barely mentioned outside of those popups.)
Then there's the question of Sop. In Canon I found the way we recovered her to be a bit dull as it was basically just a rehash of M4's recovery. So I decided to go in an entirely different direction, make things a little more emotional for our poor cinnamon roll, and make her really need to work for that reunion she wants so desperately. So, Sop in a box. Shew won't spend more than one (Maybe 1.5) chapter's in there though, don't worry ;)
-Cheers
