The Mobile Task Force - Chapter 6: Trial by Fire

As Katana 2-Charlie lay in the debris, time seemed to stop. How long had she been lying there? A minute? Ten minutes? An hour, even? Perhaps the world had forgotten about her, perhaps that was for the best. The lethal rain from the Griffin machine gun had already stopped long ago, plunging the shop room into an eerie silence. Thick dust filled the room, irritating the mechanoreceptors lining Katana 2-Charlie's mouth, nose, and throat. However, she did not react, she found herself unable to move at all, as if she were a mere observer trapped within another doll's body. Katana 2-Charlie once thought of herself as a machine of exacting precision and logic, but nothing that was happening at that moment made sense.

Katana 2-Charlie thought back to the few short days she spent at base after being first activated. Ever since she first woke up in the repair bay, she had dedicated her life to sharpening her skills as a soldier. In her mind, she was a tactical doll above all else, and her battlefield prowess was to be the sole determiner of her worth. Everything else—friends, hobbies, and such—was all secondary and irrelevant. She was by all interpretations of the term a "loner," and she embraced it; she was a cutting-edge machine designed to expend bullets and produce victory. When Katana 2-Charlie received the mission briefing and was asked whether she was ready to fight, she was beyond confident that her tireless training had prepared her for the battlefield. Oh, how wrong she was.

Suddenly, Katana 2-Charlie noticed the sound of gunfire approaching her position. Have the Griffin forces found me? she wondered. She sat up against the wall and was clumsily searching for her rifle as she noticed a figure enter the room. The figure was a blur through the dust and tears, but as it approached her Katana 2-Charlie's stomach dropped. The figure was that of Castle, and she didn't seem happy. The purple-haired doll lowered her head, unable to return her superior's gaze after what just transpired. Whatever happened now, she thought, she would accept the consequences; it was the least she could do.

"Wake up," Castle said sternly, causing Katana 2-Charlie to look up. An icy aura emanated from Castle's face all while her deep blue eyes seemed to burn hotter than the Sun. What was Castle feeling? the doll thought to herself. Was it hatred? Disappointment? Perhaps a mixture of both? But Katana 2-Charlie could sense something else she couldn't identify, something completely different.

"What are you doing?" Castle asked, snapping Katana 2-Charlie back to reality. She looked in front of her and found Castle's outstretched hand floating in front of her head. She looked back up at Castle's face, confused.

"I'm sorry..." Katana 2-Charlie muttered.

"You can say that later," Castle dismissed, "We still have a battle to fight. Now get up, or do you want me to leave you here?"

Katana 2-Charlie looked at Castle in disbelief. Why was Castle still offering to help her after all she had done? Forgiveness was not a known virtue of Sangvis Ferri, after all.

"The strong survive, the weak perish," a voice reminded Katana 2-Charlie.

"Aren't you going to kill me?" Katana 2-Charlie waveringly asked, looking warily at Castle.

"Should I?" Castle narrowed her eyes.

"You are a machine designed for war—a T-doll. Your sole purpose is to fight!" the voice in Katana 2-Charlie sneered.

"I-" Katana 2-Charlie began before trailing off, "I don't know…"

"The choice is yours," Castle stated, placing her other hand on the pistol holstered on her thigh. "Do you want another chance?"

"This is the harsh reality of the world you exist in." the tormenting voice continued, "Got it?"

Katana 2-Charlie blinked. Suddenly, she became hyperaware of the world around her. She suddenly felt as if every sensation and stimulus in her environment was amplified hundred-fold, assaulting her mind as if some sort of flood gate was flung open. Every memory she possessed rapidly flashed through her mind, each in vivid detail but appallingly foreign. Katana 2-Charlie jerked upright, instinctively planting her hands onto the floor as she swung her gaze around, letting out a cough. She brought her hands in front of her face, rubbing her trembling fingers together as she watched the dust fall from her synthetic skin.

"Hey," Castle's voice interrupted Katana 2-Charlie's daze, "Are you still there?"

Katana 2-Charlie looked up at Castle's face. Something fundamental in her had changed, and Katana 2-Charlie now realised that she wanted to get out of the room as soon as possible.

"I- I'm so sorry abou-" Katana 2-Charlie blurted.

"Stop. Don't think about that right now," Castle ordered, "I asked you: 'What do you want?'"

"I…" Katana 2-Charlie weakly muttered before a resolute expression appeared over her face.

"…I want to live!"

With a trembling hand, Katana 2-Charlie grabbed Castle's arm. With a firm pull, she was back onto her feet, dust and debris rolling off her dress like a waterfall as she took hold of her rifle once more. She stared at the gun in her hands, gripping it tightly before looking back up at Castle.

"I- I want another chance!" the doll declared, "I want to live!"

"Good," Castle's face softened as she reached forward and brushed some dust off of Katana 2-Charlie's shoulder, "Maybe there's some hope left for you after all."

"I- is there?" Acre softly asked, blinking the tears out of her eyes.

"As long as you are still willing to fight, there is," Castle affirmed, "That's how the world works. That's how it's always been, and that's how it'll always be."

"Welcome to the Mobile Task Force."