Welcome to Chapter Fourteen! After the acquisition of the intel from the Sangvis outpost, Kalina pokes through it while M1911 accompanies AK-47 in Level 2 during her repairs.
Like I said last chapter, I feel like I went overkill with 1-4's difficulty, and while I initially planned to make 1-5 easier on Station 794, but unfortunately, it might be just as hard as 1-4.
Concerning that webseries thing I wanted to do, I've already finished two of the character models for it, and I'm doing another one right now alongside the story. On top of that, I am very bummed that Johnny Wycliffe discontinued Field Agent, right as I got into it.
Finally, I think I succeeded in differentiating this story from Toy Soldiers, but I'm not too sure it's as good as Toy Soldiers.
I hope you enjoy this, and please like, comment, and review.
Station 794, Sector 09
Ukraine, Neo-Soviet Union
July 05, 2062
Tactical Doll AK-47
"Are we there yet, nya?"
"No, but we're almost there."
"That's good."
AK-47 leaned back in her seat and exhaled, waiting for the Humvee to reach the base as the repair foam in her destroyed shoulder, arm, and leg expired and the pain returned. Beside her, M1911 didn't take her eyes off of the AR, MP5 worried over Sten, and FN-49 cleaned her weapon off, the violet oils coating the blade and barrel contrasting against the wood and metal of the rifle.
Meanwhile, IDW was busy fucking with the driver.
"Are we there yet, nya?!"
"For the last time, NO!" the poor guy yelled, having not been prepared to deal with an IDW when he was heading to the pickup zone.
Fortunately, the wait didn't last long, and the vehicle stopped at the front gate, with the driver getting clearance for them. The gate opened a moment later, and the Humvee passed through the gate and stopped at the garage, where the Commander waited for them, relief clear on his face.
"There you are!" he exclaimed, opening the door- only for his relieved expression to change into shock when he saw AK-47's damages, wincing at her shoulder in particular.
"Crap. Come on, I'll get you to the Repair Bay." he said next, holding his arms out to accept her.
"It's just a scratch, sir." she lied, mot wanting to be carried.
"I'm no expert, but I can tell your leg isn't doing too great, so please just swallow your pride and accept my help." the dark-haired man insisted.
Sighing resignedly, the blonde accepted the Commander's help and wrapped her left arm around his shoulders, letting him take her past the garage buildings and into the base, the servicemen on premises noticing the two and clearing the way for them.
However, despite her earlier claim, her leg still throbbed painfully from getting shot and used afterwards. Somehow, despite burning straight through anything it hit instead of getting stuck in one's body, Sangvis plasma hurt worse than bullets.
"Hey, do you happen to know where the repair bay is?" he asked.
"There's an elevator on the left side of the room near the end, and the bay's on the third floor." AK-47 replied, still feeling the pain in her shoulder and leg. "If the elevator fails, then there's a staircase beside it."
"Thanks."
Reaching the elevator, he called it up and waited patiently for it to open up, sighing as it took its sweet time coming up and tapping his foot on the ground.
"Damn it, do we really need to use the stairs?"
A ding answered him, followed by the elevator door opening and revealing an early 21st century looking elevator interior.
The Commander simply entered the elevator and set his subordinate on the floor, pressing the number 3 button and causing the door to start shutting- only for M1911 to slip in before it closed entirely.
"Phew, just in time..." she exhaled, sitting down beside her friend.
"Wait, 1911?"
"Sorry about that, sir. I just want to be there for AK."
"It's fine, you can help me carry her to the bay. She's a bit heavy." the Commander said.
"Heh, if you think I'm heavy, then try picking up a Shotgun." AK-47 told him.
He didn't say anything else, simply content to wait for the elevator to open up while he sang some old song under his breath.
Mercifully they didn't have to wait long before the door opened, prompting him to grab the AR's good arm and help her up, M1911 grabbing her side to support her as they entered a futuristic-looking room with stasis pods in the corner and an elevated repair station with a high-tech multi-tool consisting of multiple yellow-painted mechanical arms intergrated into the ceilling.
"Welcome to the Repair Bay, the only facility Sangvis didn't touch. Then again, that's because we barricaded the stairs and shut the elevator down." M1911 told the Commander.
"And that stopped them?"
"We put electric traps in the stairs."
Besides them, multiple men in scrubs with facemasks were waiting for them, pushing a gurney into place.
For the most part, AK-47 didn't like it when people messed with her body, but she made an exception for the technicians, as she had known them for years and thus trusted them to keep their hands to themselves when they repaired her.
"So, how long'll this take?" the Commander asked the head technician, a weathered-looking man with a five o'clock shadow and light brown hair under his grey cap.
"Eh, about ten or fifteen minutes. The most serious damage done was to the shoulder, so it shouldn't take too long." he replied with a somewhat light Russian accent. "However, we might take a little longer because we want to be sure we didn't screw anything up."
"Got it. So you have the matertials neccessary for the repair?"
"Yup. What we don't have are the parts neccessary to fix her."
The man pointed to one of the stasis pod, where a dormant M1895 lay. Not a shred of cloth covered her but the holographic displays on the pod's surface kept her more off-limits parts hidden, along with the wound that killed her.
"Right. I'll see what I can do about that."
The Commander then set AK-47 down on the gurney, the cold metal giving her slight goosebumps.
"So... how does the process go?" he then asked.
"We have the Doll go into Level 2, then we perform the neccessary repairs and put her back into Level 1 when we're done." the technician explained. "It's pretty routine."
There were three levels of consciousness for a Doll. Level 1 was the surface level, where the Doll could perform actions in the real world. Level 2 was a deeper level where a Doll cut off the outside world. This was either done to save proccessing power while hacking or during maintenance so a technician could work unimpeded. Level 3 was the deepest level, but it was only entered if a Doll suffered heavy damage, was heavily damaged by a hacking attack, or was only a Core. In this state, the Doll could only be reawakened by someone on the outside, as she couldn't do it herself.
"Makes sense. Is it okay if I stay here?"
"Sure. It's not like we have to strip anything away or anything. You ready, AK?"
"Yeah." she replied, straightening herself out on the gurney and prepared to enter Level 2.
Looking back to see the Commander and M1911's concerned expressions, she gave them a reassuring smile.
"I'll be fine. It's not like I need to go into Level 3, you know." she said. "Worst thing I'll have to deal with are my memories and thoughts."
"Right."
"Anyways, I'll see ya in twenty five."
[Are you sure you want to enter Level 2 consciousness?]
[Yes]
[No]
After inputting the proper command, the world around her slowly bled away into blackness, and she stopped making any movement, her eyes shut and her expression peaceful, for lack of a better term.
At least she knew how to spend her time.
Commander Ian Becker
"She will be fine, right?" Ian asked M1911, who was standing beside him with her hands clasped behind her back.
"For the most part, yes." she replied, although her worried expression didn't fade. "Although, given what we Station 794 vets went through, it's not that much fun being stuck with nothing but your thoughts. However, Dolls can talk to one another in Level 2, so I could keep her company there."
"In that case, did you give Kalina that hard drive?"
"Yes, sir. There's a lot of data there, so it could take a bit to comb through it all."
"That's good to hear. But is it okay for Dolls to interact with ones in repair on Level 2?"
"Yeah. I'll be going in now."
Ian watched as M1911 walked over to the wall and sat down, falling dormant a mere moment later and adopting the same expression as her Russian friend.
The sound of machinery whirring brought his attention to AK-47 as the technicians began to remove her damaged arm, careful to not cause unneccesary damage to the joint.
Needing something to do, he pulled his phone out and contacted G36 on it.
"Hey, G36. Can you get my journal from my office and bring it to the Repair Bay?"
"Jawhol." the maid replied in her native tongue.
"Thank you." Ian hung up and turned to face the dormant Doll being repaired, wondering what was going on in that Neural Cloud of hers.
Tactical Doll AK-47
[Level 2 Consciousness]
AK-47 stood in a warm, cozy room that was fitted with an oakwood floor with an artificial fireplace, a gun rack with multiple different weapons on it, and five different beds, three of them with unique bedsheets.
The first one had sheets styled after the American flag, the second one had a red, black, and white sheet with an Iron Cross embossed on a white circle, and the third one had a Chinese dragon imposed onto it.
And laying on the American-themed bed was a familiar blonde HG Doll, who was humming a tune to herself as she field-stripped her pistols on her bedside table.
However, she paid her no mind, the same level of ignorance directed towards the two SMG Dolls in the room, a German with short blonde hair and reddish eyes along with a WW2 German tanker's uniform, and a Chinese Doll with long black hair and magenta eyes that wore a green uniform. They were busy talking about some new recruits, and given how many times she came here, the blonde knew exactly who they were talking about.
Sure enough, the door opened and a younger version of AK-47 entered the dorm, followed by a rather short woman with blonde-to-violet hair and hazel eyes who wore a white cap with a red star, a short-sleeved white winter coat over a black bodysuit, and long green tipless gloves. She, like she had always been, was drunk, unlike herself.
Standing behind both women was a tall man in a maroon trench coat with blond hair and steel grey eyes with a scar over his right eye and a prosthetic leg.
"Commander!" the younger M1911 addressed the man, saluting him alongside the other Dolls.
"At ease. This is A-91 and AK-47." the man told them, indicating the two Russians. "They will be your new teammates from this day forwards. Forgive me, but I am needed in the Command Room."
And without any fanfare he left the room, leaving the Dolls alone.
"It's nice to- hic- meet you, comrades." A-91 introduced, the smell of vodka lingering on her breath.
"I'm Colt M1911. I hope we can work well together, A-91." Younger M1911 said, shaking her hand. "Same for you, AK-47."
"Eh, just call me AK." Younger AK-47 told her new leader, shaking her hand as well.
"I am Norinco Type 64. Welcome to Echelon One." Type 64 greeted quietly.
"I am MP40. Make yourself at home, and try not to stain the carpet with vodka, because we just got it installed." MP40 told them, causing present day AK-47 to chuckle.
As the memory played out in front of her, the air beside her warped and the present day M1911 appeared behind her.
"What'cha doing?" she asked.
"Just looking at some old memories." AK-47 replied nonchalantly as her younger self chuckled at something the younger M1911 said. "God, it was so much simpler back then."
"Yes it was..." M1911 agreed, watching the memory go down.
"Wait, how many bases did you get transfered from?" her younger self asked younger AK-47.
"Eh, four or five. All of the Commanders I spoke with were picky as hell, and they only cared about results, so nobody wanted to waste time to actually train me, 'cause my creator had the bright idea to fuck up my FCC, and I can't shoot worth shit."
"Well, you're in luck. Commander Prokhorov's not like that. He might try to keep us at arm's length, but he actually tries to help us out as much as he can, so you won't be thrown out like before."
"You sure?"
"Absolutely. It might take time, but I can be pretty patient when I need to."
"Yeah, right." Present AK-47 said, chuckling. "You were the one begging Komandir Prokhorov to pay attention to you."
"Was not!" M1911 denied, shaking her head.
"What was it you said when you got back from missions...? Oh, 'Commander! I'm right here! Hurry up and look at me~!'" The drunkard said the last part in a mimic of M1911's higher-pitched voice, causing the HG to glare at her angrily.
"And you set G36's dorm on fire once!"
"That was an accident, I swear!"
"Oh, yeah, 'I swear' is always the best way to cap off an honest statement." the American said sarcastically, crossing her arms. "You totally weren't mad she confiscated all your vodka, and you totally didn't take a match and toss it into her dorm in revenge. Needless to say, you deserved what happened to you next."
AK-47 shivered as she remembered just how pissed both G36 and Prokhorov were, as well as what the angered Commander made her do in response. She would never forget how much everyone laughed when she was forced to clean the base with G36 smacking her with a riding crop whenever she slacked off. While forced to wear a red dog collar with G36 holding the leash.
"Hopefully Komandir Becker doesn't see fit to do that the next time somebody screws up." she said next.
"Who knows, he could do something worse."
"Like what?"
"I dunno. Speaking of, what is he even doing right now?"
Commander Ian Becker
(Journal Entry)
July 05, 2062
Turns out, this day was very eventful for a third day at work.
First off, we got the neccessary funding for base repairs, and I also used some of it to order a new computer for Kalina. Next, I learned of the existence of two other frontline bases in Sector 09, Stations 737 and 601, and me and Kalina called in a favor from 737, whose Commander is a really nice guy, for a Russian, anyway...
Anyways, after getting some more ammo I personally led a search party to find P38 and M1895. During said search, me and M1911 had the displeasure of seeing a dead ELID victim at an abandoned farm, we fought bandits in the old city, then we found the missing Dolls in an old shack northeast of the local military outpost, which, until we blew it to smithereens, was under Sangvis control. All in all, it was pretty eventful for my first time doing fieldwork in ten years.
As for the result of the operation, P38 is alive and well, but M1895 is dead, so we need to get her a new body and install a backup into it. As for the search party, no casualties were suffered on our end.
I'd normally end an entry after this many words, but turns out Helian had another mission for me: scour a local Sangvis outpost in the city for intel on a Skorpion Doll, who she believed had fallen into Sangvis hands.
And while she forbade me from going along, she had Kamalov, 737's Commander, lend us some of his Dolls to help us.
In the end, I found a stray IDW thans to her IFF tag (fuck me,) my teams secured the base's files, and then they fought off a lot of Sangvis. Despite our success, AK-47 and Sten got damaged and have to undergo repairs, and I'm currently overseeing the procedure while Kalina pokes through the files the Dolls got.
Anyways, this entry alone took up two pages in my journal, so I'm just gonna end it now.
Kalina, Ten Minutes Later...
"Damn, there's a lot of data here..."
Humming to herself Kalina used the Command Room's holotable to look through the information M1911 gathered for her, as her computer wasn't good enough for it. Curse Sangvis and their advanced tech.
Like she told herself, there were quite a lot of files in the hard drive, and unless she got lucky, it would take at least two days to search through it all.
A ringing sound alerted her to an incoming call, and she groaned as she saw the caller ID: Griffin HQ.
"Damn it, Miss Helian, why did you have to call now?" she said, answeing the call and seeing Helian's hologram materialize on the table.
"Hello, C- wait, where is he, Kalina?" she asked confusedly.
"In the Repair Bay. His Dolls got the data from that Command Post but some of them got damaged. I'm currently looking through what they got."
"I see. How long will it take?"
"Unless I get lucky and find what we're looking for on the first go, then this could take a couple of days." Kalina replied.
"Keep looking, and call me when you find something. Helian out."
As Helian dematerialized, Kalina simply sighed to herself and continued searching.
Tactical Doll AK-47
[Level 2 Consciousness]
"Wow, you really weren't kidding about your bad accuracy."
The two Dolls watched as their younger selves practiced at the firing range, with younger AK-47 only hitting her target with three shots and earning herself a 9% hit rate, causing the older version to cringe at herself.
"Shit, I sucked a lot more than I thought." she told the older M1911, who was busy twirling her virtual guns around.
"You see what I meant? And they say M14 models are inefficient!"
"Ouch. At the very least you improved." the HG said, holstering her pistols.
"Well, we can still work with this. It's gonna take a while, but some day you'll be the best butt-kicker Griffin has ever employed!"
"I guess. Wait, check this out!" Young AK yelled, picking up a frag grenade and setting the firing range to the ordnance setting. Without further fanfare she pulled the pin and tossed the grenade downrange, successfully landing it in the second farthest grenade hole that popped up.
"Nice one. And here I thought I had the best throwing arm on base." Young M1911 commented as the grenade exploded, sending shrapnel and confetti through the hole.
"What about MP40? She's good at throwing grenades, isn't she?"
"She can't throw them as far, but her aim's decent."
The firing range door opened and MP40 entered the room.
"Privyet, MP40." AK-47 greeted as she tossed another grenade.
"Hallo." the German replied, pulling up the Russian's ballistics test results. "Nine percent?! Schieße, this is terrible!"
"Told you that shooting wasn't my strong suit. Besides, Rifles were supposed to be the crack shots last time I checked." the aforementioned Russian shot back.
"Ja, but ARs are expected to at least be able to hit their shots! With results like these, it's no surprise so many Commanders deemed you useless."
The comment wiped the smile clean off of the AR's face, causing her to walk up to MP40 and stare her down.
"Well, it's not my fault the majority of Griffin's Commanders can't spare the time to actually train a Doll because her FFC's faulty, so you can blame them, not me."
"Then you should have stayed a barmaid, dummkopf."
Seeing the fight starting to unfold, M1911 put herself between her subordinates and pushed them away from each other.
"Stop it, you two!" she yelled, keeping her hands on their heads and holding them at bay. "What's the meaning of this?!"
"Griffin made a mistake hiring this drunk, and Kommandant Prokhorov made a mistake putting her in this Echelon!"
"Why, because I can't fight properly right out of the gate?" Younger AK-47 cut in.
"Just stop it before you do something you'll regret!" Younger M1911 yelled, keeping them pushed back.
"Gotta love how you refused to curse no matter what back then." Older AK-47 commented, taking a sip of virtual vodka.
"What changed?"
"I dunno."
"Seriously, MP40, have some patience. I know you like to get results, but you can't be jumping down the rookies' throats about how bad they are if you want them to improve."
As young M1911 slowly calmed her subordinates down and a new memory began, the blonde AR suddenly had a question to ask.
"Do you think it could be like this again?" the blonde AR asked when the dorm, now with the blank beds decorated, materialized in front of them. "You know, where the base isn't trashed and we can actually take a breather without worrying about getting attacked the minute you let your guard down?"
M1911 thought about this for a moment, then she came up with a response.
"Maybe. Commander Becker's got potential, and he's done well so far. On top of that, we're wiser and better than we were before."
"I guess..."
Without another word, the two fell into silence as they watched the memories play through.
Kalina
"Hey, this looks promising~!"
The ginger let out a triumphant noise as she located a file from two days previously, which looked to be a combat report of sorts. Opening it, she wasted no time in examining it and finding a video feed and coordinates attached to it.
Maybe this'll be it...
Curiosity eating away at her, Kalina turned the video on and cranked the volume up, ready to see what was in it.
A lone Ripper stood in an old hangar, her weapons lowered and her optics settled on a pair of twin-tailed Dolls in the center of the building while other Dolls patrolled the outside.
The first one was petite, with blonde hair in shorter twintails, blue eyes with one covered by an eyepatch, a black jacket over a yellow vest, black tipless gloves, black short-shorts, a single long black sock, and red high-top shoes. Her clothes were torn up and several electrodes were attached to her back.
Standing above her prone form was a taller Sangvis Doll with dark brown, almost black twintails, brown eyes with a half-gasmask on her face (as in doesn't cover the eyes and forehead,) an elaborate and beautiful monochrome dress, black gloves, and heeled boots. She had multiple small drones surrounding her, and a conductor's baton was sat in her left hand.
"Your cunning slightly exceeds my expectations, vz.61 of Griffin." she said coldly, her voice lacking any and all emotion.
"All I did was give you the possible location..." the Griffin Doll, vz.61 Skorpion, grunted out.
"Poor thing." the Sangvis told her without any sympathy. "You're going through this all because of your friends, who have already left you for dead..."
"That's not true! They're gonna get help and come back for me! They promised- ARRRGH!"
Skorpion was cut off as her interrogator electrocuted her.
"Then let me remind you again, you pathetic piece of junk. The AR Team is a cold, highly efficient team of elite T-Dolls, and in the grand scheme of things, you are nothing more than disposable goods to them."
"No... that's not true! I won't believe your lies, SF trash! M4A1 is my companion!"
Skorpion yelled in pain as she was electrocuted once more.
"She isn't your companion, pitiful thing! Tell me where she is, and I'll be kind and let you rot on the roadside like the piece of junk that you are, just like your so-called 'companions' have done. Your emotions are merely fabricated lies."
"I am asking you one last time; where is she?"
Kalina gasped in horror as she watched Skorpion being tortured, her pained cries silenced when she stopped the video out of distress.
Forcibly calming herself down, she remebered what she told Helian, as well as what she told the Commander, and then she radioed to the Repair Bay.
"Komandir, you need to see this."
Commander Ian Becker
As much as he wanted to stay with AK-47 and oversee her repairs, Ian knew at once that he needed to go when Kalina called for him, and bidding farewell to the technicians and picking up his journal, he entered the elevator again and inputted the ground floor, waiting patiently for it to go up.
After a few moments, the elevator opened and, wasting no time, running at his top speed, his heavy coat doing little to impede him as he crossed the lobby and through the halls, reaching the Command Room in about twenty seconds.
Wrenching the door open he saw Kalina at the holotable with a paused video feed and a bead of sweat traveling down her forehead.
"What did you find?" he asked her, standing next to her.
"This. Watch it 'till the end."
After that, the ginger played the video for him, seeing the interrogation go down.
"Who's she?" Ian asked, pointing at the Sangvis.
"A special purpose Doll, if I had to guess." Kalina replied, shivering slightly. "God, she's heartless."
"Got that right- wait, AR Team? M4A1?"
Ian's puzzled expression was wiped off his face once the Sangvis electrocuted Skorpion, and the interrogation continued.
"I'm just gonna call Miss Helian and tell her what we found now..." Kalina said, stopping the video and calling Helian.
"Hello, Kalina. You found something, I presume?" the senior officer asked when she materialized.
"Yeah, she did. Here, take a look at this." Ian answered for her, showing her the video.
Watching it with rapt attention, she murmured to herself, then faced the two.
"As you've already gathered from the feed, vz.61 is in grave danger, Commander." she told them. "And it doesn't matter if she's leaked intel to Sangvis or not, but we need to do everything we can to save her, as it is our duty to rescue any stranded Dolls we find."
"Yeah. At this point, I should call the base the 'Stranded T-Doll Refuge.'" Ian joked, despite the current situation.
"Funny. Your part in this operation, Commander, is to provide support to our troops while they rescue vz.61. Our reports indicate the existence of a Sangvis recon base in the area, which unless destroyed, will make it impossible for us to mobilize our troops. Please destroy this base so our troops can move undetected."
The map changed to show a large Sangvis base, which sat squarely in an old military base established in the 2020s by the Russian Federation.
"Understood, I'll get it done. Oh, I've got one last question."
"Go ahead."
"Who's M4A1, and what's the AR Team?" the Commander asked, only for Helian's expression to harden.
"I'm sorry, but you are not authorized to know that, Commander. Good luck to you on this mission. Helian out."
Helian's hologram phased out, leaving the two alone in the Command Room.
So Sangvis is hunting for a team of Dolls I'm not authorized to know about, huh? This makes things interesting.
"Kalina, call all available Dolls to the Command Room." he ordered after a moment of silence. "We're gonna need every Doll we have for this."
So this took nine days to complete. While I could finish chapters in two days or less back in 2021, I feel that they weren't as good as when I took longer to do it, plus my schedule tightened up a bit, so sorry for the wait.
Turns out, I didn't have to revise the interrogation scene, as the dialogue was actually around in-game late-chapter quality in the scene. Either way, in terms of the Dolls' memory flashbacks, they'll start lighter-hearted just like the early game, then get darker as time goes on and Station 794 endures more losses.
Also, younger M1911 is completely in-character compared to present day M1911, as she hadn't really matured yet and is still a bit attention-seeking.
Anyways, I'll see you next chapter!