Chapter 62 - Late Farewell

Footsteps echoed softly as the lone scout broke into the city limits. A glimpse of pink and white caught her eyes as their target darted through alleys to avoid Sangvis patrols. ST AR-15 was focused and committed to reaching a massive tower in the center of the city. It had to have been a highrise of some sort in its prime, but the entire city had long been abandoned. She had looked grimly at the skeletal remains of those who hadn't been lucky enough to escape. But the past couldn't be changed, and she had a job to do at the moment. The sand whipped around her as she spoke through her communicator. A private line opened with a soft beep. "AR Team? This is M14 of Thompson squad. AR-15 has entered a building at the center of the city. Coordinates being sent over Zerner. Short range comms are still being jammed, and we will be retreating to rejoin the squad now." M14 grabbed her rifle and slowly raised to a crouching position. AR-15 entered the tower, but there was no further movement. It looked to her that the target wouldn't be moving for a while. "We have to update high command, but we can give you a five minute head start. Good luck!"

"That's all we need, M14. Give my best to your boss. I owe her a drink when we get back. AR Team out." M16 answered with a cold smirk. The AR Team was already approaching the city, blitzing past or through any Sangvis Squads in their way. SOPMOD suddenly stopped, her eyes going wide. A deep, hostile rumble came from her throat and the grip on her gun tightened.

"What is it?" M4 whispered softly, standing behind her and scanning for nearby enemies. They hadn't seen anything for some time now. It had been a strange but welcome occurrence. But that was about to change. Sangvis signals had suddenly lit up all around them. Too many, in fact. A Ringleader was about, and they had stumbled into a trap. M4 began to plot a route to a safer spot and tried to drag SOPMOD away from her search. "SOP, we need to keep moving -"

"I smell something…" she growled again, stalking forward. She was hunting. The smile on M16's face dropped suddenly and she raised her gun. M4 SOPMOD II hummed softly as she scanned the area. She paused again, her other hand sliding down to her grenade launcher. The tension in the air reached a fever pitch as M4 tried to get her sisters moving again. Suddenly, SOP's straight face slowly crumbled away to a manic smile. "FOUND YOU!" She turned and shot a grenade into a nearby window. It arced perfectly, detonating inside the third floor of an apartment building. The others looked up to where the dust and smoke was billowing out, only to catch a black and white silhouette dashing by one of the other broken windows.

"Ringleader identified, it's Alchemist…shit." M16 grabbed her case and started backing up. "Alright, we need to go around her. We don't have time to waste." M16 was quiet for a long time. "We'll bait her towards the other squads."

"Wait sister, this isn't a Ringleader Dummy. They don't stand a chance against a Main Body." They were silent for a moment, but SOPMOD growled again. She was coming back, and SOP only found her the first time thanks to her advanced systems. If the AR Team left Alchemist to Griffin, only one or two other Dolls could feasibly detect her.

"But we need to hurry to…okay, I have an idea." M16 sighed and smiled, even as SOPMOD started cackling and shooting at what essential air. "You can mask your signal, right? So you go and get AR-15. SOP and I will stay behind and help Griffin with this bitch." SOPMOD shot another grenade and whooped. "Go on. We'll be fine." More gunfire was exchanged, and the Dolls went their separate ways. "Griffin Command, this is M16. The AR Team is pinned down by a Ringleader. We are near AR-15's last location."

"AR Team, this is Commander Ursula. Reinforcements are on the way. Teams Javelin and Pike are on the way."

"Two isn't going to be enough, Commander. This is a main body Ringleader."

"...shit…how many do you think you'll need?"

"As many as you can spare." M16 said before SOPMOD howled in joy.

"I got a finger!"

— — —

Alchemist sat in a building not far away from where the AR Team had been spotted. She crouched down against a sturdy brick wall and looked down at her left hand. Her ring finger was missing from the knuckle, and her little finger was mangled beyond responding. She grunted and wrapped the useless strand of scrap metal and polymers around her weapon to keep it secure. A few more modifications stopped the leaking of fluids and warning sensors. She would need to replace her hand. There should be a Guard or Vespid unit nearby she could swap with. "Agent, the girl is here." She said softly to not draw anymore of that rabid dog's attention. "I'm pinned down."

"Do not fret, Alchemist." That voice wasn't Agent. Alchemist felt her core heat up from the sudden realization of who she was speaking to. She bowed her head to her Master, although she wasn't nearby. "I will personally intercept her. She will come to me…" there was a pause. An uneasy silence before Agent's voice returned to the line.

"Continue fighting against the AR Team and any Griffin forces that come your way. Allow Master to entertain her guest."

"Of course. May I have some fun with them?"

"... You have permission to do as you like. Do not disappoint. Remember what happened to Ouroboros, Alchemist." The line was disconnected. Even though the threat echoed in Alchemist's memories, she found herself smiling. She laughed softly, a deeply amused chuckle. She knelt down and closed her eyes, entering her base layer. A dark, empty void. The lonely space that she called home.

"Begin removing all base level inhibitors. Authorization Code: 'Agent'." She said to nothing. The red void began turning deep crimson as she disabled all of her safety mechanisms. Target safety checks, Movement inhibitors, Core Temperature thresholds, unlocked processing speeds, overclocking…more and more safety measures being thrown out by the second. She awakened from her base layer, her systems firing on all cylinders and a dull but present pulsing through her body. Her single eye glowed in the dim light and one lonely objective flashed across her vision. Kill. She exhaled softly and stood, before diving out the window towards the waiting Dolls.

M16 reacted first, spinning to deflect the first wave of fire with the wrapped case on her back. The bullets ricochet off, giving her time to prepare a stun grenade. SOPMOD took some fire, and opted to use a dummy as a shield instead of dodging. She laughed and returned fire, but she still made a hasty retreat as the weak emp detonated. Alchemist was completely unaffected, renewing her assault on the relatively weaker SOPMOD. M16 moved to intercept, but the difference in their speed and power was a massive gulf unable to be bridged. Or, so Alchemist had thought. A heavy metal case swung at her skull. She dodged, but was met with hot lead as M16 fired a burst at short range. SOPMOD fired from a much safer distance, although at full auto instead of controlled shots.

Alchemist pushed forward, leaning on her melee specialties to overcome them. Her form flickered briefly and then she completely vanished. SOPMOD's mouth hung open. "She's…she's gone!" M16 pivoted, keeping her eye open. The situation was bad enough, but now she was invisible?! M16 scrambled her signal and dashed into the mix of her dummies.

"SOP, let's go!" M16 jumped over a crater just as Alchemist reappeared to shred a dummy to bits. The two dolls opened fire when she appeared, but she vanished just as quickly. From the right, she fired a volley at SOPMOD, catching her main body in the side. Then immediately after from the left, she shot another M16 dummy to ribbons.

— — —

"Commander Bryant. Commander Ursula. I've sent you as much information as I can without exposing your base to Parapluie." AR-15 took a deep breath, a small but bitter smile on her face. "This is for the best…this is for M4." She paused again and her smile wavered. A slurry of emotions flashed across her eyes as the small recording device beeped, indicating it was almost out of storage. "Take care of them. Goodbye." The message was saved and sent to the base in Sector 09. They would see it later. After a moment, she crushed the device in her hand, erasing the last physical connection she had to Griffin.

"Ah…you're not Lunasia." A small voice came from behind her. She turned slowly. The small child, the Mastermind of Sangvis Ferri, stood in front of her. "I wasn't expecting anyone else…but you are…ST AR-15, correct? The knight designed to safeguard the queen?"

"Your executioner. It's over, Mastermind." ST AR-15 pulled out a detonator. Neither doll flinched or seemed even remotely bothered by it. It was as casual to them as plucking a flower. "This whole tower is coming down, and you're coming with me."

"Ah." The Mastermind said. She seemed…unimpressed.

"You think I won't?"

"...I know it won't matter. You aren't Lunasia. You may leave: you aren't worth killing." She turned to leave, her soft footsteps almost an insult to AR-15.

"Don't walk away from me! I won't let you touch M4!" The girl turned, all the malice of Sangvis Ferri pouring out of her gaze into ST AR-15. "If you want M4, you'll need to go through me." Mastermind stopped to think, before her gaze once again settled on the AR Team doll. An immense electronic pressure began to exert itself on her and overflowed out of the tower. Parapluie.

"You're holding her back. You're weak. Useless. Actively sabotaging her growth." She began to float in the air, a powerful electronic attack assaulting the Griffin Doll. "She doesn't need you. She needs to be whole again. We need to be whole again." Still she stood firm, her finger struggling to stay over the trigger. "I must revoke my previous statement. AR-15 of Griffin: you are too dangerous to keep alive." AR-15 pulled the trigger. The first floor of the tower detonated, and the explosions climbed upwards towards them on the fifth floor. She closed her eyes and waited for judgment.

— — —

Alchemist weaved between a hail of bullets and sliced open the main unit of the defender Doll in Javelin team. Ursula set her jaw as another Doll in Pike team was marked 'Offline'. M16 had been correct, but even with the other combat teams providing fire support, Alchemist was tearing through them. In the short ten minute engagement, nearly forty dolls had gone completely offline and another twenty had to retreat due to damage. "When's the next chopper coming, HQ: SOPMOD just lost her right leg."

"I'm fine!" She said, her sinister levity replaced with a rather serious expression. She was angry at getting hurt. Another explosive filled the comms with static that drowned out some of M16's coordinates. Not that they needed them: the Ringleader had them completely cornered. Thankfully she hadn't tried to shoot down any of the rescue choppers, but it seemed that her targets were the AR Team to begin with.

"Where is M4A1?" Negev's face was battered and scarred. She was also coated in Doll fluids that were likely not her own. "It's a real shit-show down her in the city. We'll be grouping up with you in t-minus three, and I am not waiting for the princess."

"We will wait for M4…and besides, this psycho is still on our asses." M16 grunted as she only barely dodged a blade from the almost invisible Alchemist. She had taken minimal damage, barely slowing down at all. She cackled in a drunken furver as she tore into another team of dolls. "Someone hit her!" M16 yelled out in frustration, only for her last dummy to crumble. "M4 - hurry it up!"

"On approach to the tower! I'm reading two signals, one is definitely ST AR. I'm about to -" the call was dowsed in static a millisecond before the world erupted into chaos. The tower exploded, blasting M4 back several meters and bringing the entire thing down like a demolition. Tons of concrete and steel came crashing down, kicking up a storm of dust and chips of cement.

"... master." Alchemist breathed slowly, stopping in the middle of her attack. She turned to face the tower completely stunned. The Griffin Dolls didn't have the energy to return fire, finally collapsing. M16 stood alone with her gun trained on Alchemist. She was empty, but hopefully Alchemist didn't know. The Ringleader turned and glared at M16, her blades sharp and ready to attack again. "I'm going to kill you!" Alchemist dashed forward, her blade poised to kill.

"Alchemist…" the Mastermind's voice interrupted her attack, "Change of plans - do not let a single Griffin Commander escape. I've sent their location to you. Deal with the humans and then find Tactical Doll M4A1." The Ringleader froze, the tip of her blade - steady - resting centimeters from M16's throat. The burning flame in her eyes smoldered out as her body reached a limiter that even Agent's authorization couldn't remove. She grit her teeth and took a few steps back. Her legs were unsteady as the shackles placed upon her by the Mastermind gripped her systems yet again. A taunting smile crossed her face and she waved towards the Griffin Dolls.

"Farewell, Dolls of Griffin." And she vanished into thin air. After a moment of tension, M16 sprinted off towards the tower to find M4.

"HQ, this is the AR Team. We need -" she shuddered and grabbed her head. Communications were scrambled and a powerful electronic attack washed over the battlefield. Helian's voice cut through the static.

"Everyone needs to leave, now! All support teams get over there and evacuate them now!" M16 stood and took a few heavy steps forward before she picked up speed again. Her Electronic Warfare modules were running at max capacity, even diverting some resources from her combat core in order to fight off the virus attack. Wading through the harsh resistance of Parapluie, she finally found M4 on her knees in front of the crumbled tower.

"C'mon, we have to go!"

"But…but…ST AR…she…" M16 looked at the rubble, then back to M4.

"...we can't stay here…"

"But she -" M16 didn't wait to hear the rest of her objections. With a grunt, she threw M4 over her shoulder and started running back to the extraction point. "No! Put me down! AR-15 is still…AR-15!" She reached out for the tower as it faded from her view. Then everything went dark.