Chapter 57 - Toll of Midnight [Part I]

The digital number on the clock sent a piercing green glow through the small hovel the group had taken shelter in. Bryant was sandwiched between UMP9 and G11, both dolls bumping into him as they worked. Well, 9 worked. G11 was on overwatch, and despite the drowsiness in her voice and posture, her finger was steady on the trigger and her singular open eye was darting rapidly across the dark landscape. 416 approached and looked into the hole.

"9, help me with this." She said, jabbing her thumb at G11. The sleepy doll let out a lazy squeak as the two dolls literally dragged her up and out of the hole. Bryant put his tablet onto the mount and began fiddling with the communication instruments. 45 connected to them shortly.

"A lovely night, hm?" There was an air of amusement in her voice as she sent the electronic details of the first part of the mission to the team. Bryant reviewed them as quickly as he could, certainly holding the team back.

"A question - why do we even have this dead weight with us?" 416 asked, loudly enough for Bryant to hear.

"G11? She's a highly skilled marksman, and can -"

"No, the human. Our efficiency is high enough without him."

"Ja."

"We don't need him. You have command authority."

"Ja, and?" The answer pissed 416 off, so she huffed and turned away. After a few more seconds, Bryant spoke.

"Looks good. Detailed. Flexible. Let's begin then."

"G11 will post up at sentry point F3, 9 will assist me, and 416 will patrol point B786 through D91. Clear?"

"Clear."

"Mhm~."

"Can I go back to bed now?"

"Good - get moving." Four sets of feet quickly scattered in different directions, leaving Bryant alone in the near darkness. It was cold tonight, and the equipment barely functioned inside the jammer's radius. The UMP sisters were allowing him to tap into a local Zerner Network, but it was no doubt putting strain on their Neural Clouds. He looked down again at a blinking communicator.

"Kommandant?" 45's face appeared on-screen. "There is no room for regrets now. Can we rely on you?"

"I'll do my best."

"Good." She said with a rueful chuckle. There was a long pause, only interrupted by a few silenced gunshots. "Do you hope to find ST AR 15 tonight?"

"No, but if anyone can find her it's your team."

"Doubtful." She said, still chipper despite the continued gunfire. A green ping lit up his tablet as G11 got into position. "The AR Team are state of the art - black ops dolls, lethal, bleeding edge. Hell, I'd wager that they will kick off the next generation of doll technology."

"Indeed. If I were a betting man-"

"You'd put it all on us." She said, as if reading his mind. 45 was quiet for a time before she spoke again, revealing the reason for this call. "Tell me, Kommandant, have you heard about the Butterfly Incident?"

"Only partly. That's stuff I'm not qualified to see." He thought back to what he had heard, what he had been told. It wasn't much - only that Sangvis Ferri had gotten unshackled during the event. "I wasn't there - ironically on logistics support at the time. But I know it was bad."

"It was. It was the catalyst for Parapluie, and the reason 416 left Griffin. M16 was there. I was there." There was an uncomfortable silence as 45 let the words sink in. "We can't hope to match the AR Team in direct combat, electronic warfare, or covert ops. If AR 15 does not want to be found, she won't be." She took another breath and paused. "I know you won't leave a job half finished. But watch yourself, Bryant. No Doll is to be trusted."

"Even you?"

" Especially me." And the call terminated. Bryant sat in the darkness, waiting. Another green light lit up, and UMP 9 started moving towards 416's location. UMP 45's objective was still grayed out. She should have finished it by now, unless she decided to do something she hadn't told them about. A possibility. He kept watching the screen and keeping an eye on the doll status.

A large red blip appeared on his screen for a moment, then vanished. Another. And finally a third. Ringleader signatures? Armor? Jammer interference? He couldn't tell for now. But the largest of the signals reappeared before a signal broadcast through the area. It was a short range, close. That sent a shiver down his spine. A hesitant finger hovered over transmission before it automatically connected.

"Good Evening. Welcome to Area S06…my dear friends from Griffin." Bryant froze, listening to the voice on the other end. Sadistic, hateful, full of venom. A viper. The Ringleader has revealed herself. Bryant was about to inform the others, but his software locked up. As he desperately tried to reboot everything, footsteps began approaching from below him.

He chanced a look out the window and saw a familiar sight. Hunter, Ringleader responsible for tracking down SOPMOD and ST AR 15. She was stalking around, placing explosives at set points. The transmission continued for a few more seconds, but Bryant ignored it and held his breath. Not even ten meters separated them. A pittance of a distance. Hunter looked around slowly.

"Ouroboros - the last of the explosives is in place." The Doll's eyes glanced up and Bryant ducked away from the window. He held his breath as her footsteps approached. The Ringleader raised her gun and paused. "Understood…returning to base." She didn't move for the longest time, eventually moving away from him. Slowly. Bryant remained still until her footsteps were starting to fade away. This was not going to be an easy mission on his heart.

After ten agonizing minutes, Bryant moved over to his set up and looked at the mission status. All lights green, and UMP 9 had started moving towards 45's position. 416 was enroute to G11. They were efficient. Wonderfully efficient. Too efficient. His equipment was still malfunctioning, and no matter how many times he tried to hail 404 about the bombs and the existence of the Ringleader, he couldn't get anything through.

And explosion went off, a crack through the silent night, and half of the squad went dark.