"Protea's location has been lost."

"Not what I wanted to hear, Holly."

"No, but it's accurate. She was last seen in the vicinity of the central square."

My hand taps on the grip of my pistol as I wait nervously by the wall. I need to be out there dealing with whatever the Nyto is doing, not babysitting whoever is here to talk to me.

It's not gonna be Gentiane. She hasn't talked to me in years. Rose's still keeping all of the dolls away from me for whatever reason. I don't really have family outside the walls… Could it be some tourists? I used to get people who wanted to talk to me, or just shake my hand for one reason or another. That stopped a while back, but…

The door opens behind me and I turn to greet the wall guard.

"Poliski. What's up?"

"Well… It's a bunch of well armed dolls." He scratches his face. "None of them would identify themselves."

My lips twist into a frown. "How many?"

"Er… seven." He glances over his shoulder.

Seven?

Hmm. What an odd number. I'd have expected a multiple of four or five.

"Did they look like those pictures I forwarded you?"

"It's kind of hard to tell." He gestures for me to follow him. "They're kind of rough looking, and they have cloaks on. When Calvin tried to get them to take their hoods off, he almost got his face ripped off."

"...Alright, we're going to assume they're hostile. Make sure you have some anti-doll measures in place. I'll go and meet them."

"You got it boss."

"I'm not your boss." I roll my eyes.

"So I don't have to go prepare EMP cannons?"

"I suppose you don't have to. Put me in contact with Alexander."

"No need." Poliski grins. "Alex already told me to just follow your orders. Oh yeah, we've alerted the police too, and they'll be on hand to intercept anything that gets past us."

"Great." I sigh. I stepped down from being the head of the guard so I didn't have all the responsibility, and yet…

"So, you think any of them are your girlfriends?"

"No." I shake my head. "They're not coming here for whatever reason. My guess is it's either some revenge against me for something I did a while ago or these are some fans that don't realize that I'm just an aging human now."

A loud bang of a metal door smashing open gives us pause, and we look at each other before drawing our respective firearms and running through the narrow hallways making up the interior of the purification wall.

When I get to the inside edge of the outer wall, I see a few of my teammates attempting to reinforce a door that is rapidly denting as whoever is on the other side pounds on it extremely hard, cursing up a storm.

"What's the situation?"

Despite me not being anyone's superior, the Lieutenant turns to me. "Seven Tactical dolls, sir. They demanded to see you, and started to get irate when we didn't want to let them in without ID."

A particularly large dent forms, and some sunlight starts to creep through the torn metal.

"They, uh, took exception to that."

"Stand back." I order, and the larger reception room starts to clear of people who obviously don't want to be here. "But get ready to chip in if I start shooting."

"With that?"

I look down at the gun in my hands. A 9mm handgun, hardly enough to take down a doll by itself even if I dump the whole mag, and there's seven of them. "It'll have to do."

Another impact on the door, and a horrible thought crosses my mind. What if these are Paradeus reinforcements? I thought Paradeus was done and dusted, but then Protea showed up…

I raise the handgun and place my finger on the trigger, time almost seeming to slow as Holly helps speed up my perception. If I'm fighting dolls, I'm going to need every advantage I can get-

Four black spikes poke through the metal door, and in the next instant the door is ripped from its hinges.

Sunlight floods in, and my eyes rapidly start to adjust.

"Ah well, I guess subtlety isn't in your vocabulary." A familiar voice calls out.

"It's in the way!" Another voice snarls. "And all this stupid humans-"

Two bright red eyes peer into the darkness.

The gun almost drops from my metal fingers as my brain skips along a few tracks and finally settles on the reality of the situation.

"...Haddy?"

"Sop?"

Sophia, or SOPMOD, pulls her claw out of the door and launches herself forward with her full power, plowing me off my feet and slamming me into the far wall. Her hood slips revealing her features, which still look as young as the last time I'd seen her, but a lot more weathers from years of suboptimal repairs. "HADDY! It's been too long!"

"Hey." Star walks into the room. "Get off of him."

Sop looks up, not popping out of her mount position. "But it's my turn!"

Star yanks Sophia up by the collar before tossing her aside and offering me a hand.

I take it, and she pulls me to my feet before wrapping me in a hug, which I instinctively return.

For a full minute, she doesn't say anything.

"I missed you."

"Me too, Star."

She smiles, then let's go as her usual frown returns. "Quite a welcoming committee."

The other wall guards look from me to the dolls, and back. Sop's gotten back to her feet, and she's flexing her claws at the nearest guard.

"You know, if you had just told me you were planning on stopping by-"

"We didn't have time." Rose steps into the mangled door frame. "Oh, we're going to have our paychecks docked for this…"

"Rose." I offer a hand out, and she grabs it, interlacing her fingers in mine for a few seconds before turning to Sophia.

"This door is coming out of your paycheck."

"Aw."

Rose then turns to the Lieutenant, recognizing the insignia on his uniform. "I apologize for my subordinates' behavior."

"That's… okay." The Lieutenant licks his lips nervously. "I'm surprised she was able to rip open the radiation seal though."

I glance over at the man. "She ripped a KCCO tank in half once. The door didn't stand a chance. Still, I thought she was doing better?"

Rose just sighs.

"She's better when she's not excited." Star state dryly. "And she's been over-excited since we started chasing after the other idiots."

Oh, right, seven. I peer out the door. "Speaking of-"

"They're already inside." Rose's eyes close and she rubs her temples. "When we were denied entrance, they just decided to go over the wall."

"...WHAT?!"

I turn around and start to run back through the hallways, an excited Sop by my side and two other dolls jogging behind her, followed by a crowd of border guards that had just witnessed something absurd.

Once I clear the door into the city, I see three figures currently aiming guns at the police, who've managed to form a blockade across the entire entrance street.

One of them is dragging a cart behind her, a tether snaking from the cart up her back as she levels her plank of a gun at the police.

The next girl has light brown twintails, a set of goggles up on her forehead, and is snarling something at the police with her middle finger in the air.

The third one is harder to immediately place. She's got the silver-gray hair I remember, but it's been cut short. The yellow and black jacket has been replaced by a business suit and her right arm is fixed up.

When she turns around to smirk at me, her left eye still scarred and permanently shut, my heart leaps into my throat.

"Hannah?"

Reina pauses her tirade mid sentence to turn to me. "Oh, hey! Can you get these Arschgeigen to stop harassing us?"

"What… the fuck." I mutter. 404, back in Sector 3?

Sophia skids to a stop beside me. "RO told me we were trying to stop them, but 416 said she wasn't going to stand for letting some other doll meet with you while she waits patiently off to the side."

"...Thanks for the summary, Sophia. Um, where's 4- Adele?"

Instead of getting an answer from her, I get it from Hannah, who just points a finger upward.

I follow the path of her finger to see someone sliding down the inside of the wall, two bright green eyes flashing even in the sunlight. As she realizes I've recognized her, she squats down and uses her powerful legs to launch herself away from the wall.

Right toward me.

"Holly-!" I mentally shout, and all of my assistance gear kicks into high gear as I prepare to catch the descending woman.

416 lands in my arms almost casually, while my left leg gives out and I go down to one knee to absorb the impact, motors audibly straining.

"Schön, Sie wiederzusehen, meine Liebe. Ich bin wieder da."

"I still don't speak Ger-"

She wraps her hands around my neck and pulls herself up into a kiss, hard.

Hannah walks up to me, seemingly unconcerned with the police that are still surrounding us, and puts a hand on Adele's face to push her away. "That's enough. You'll have plenty of time to snog him later. For now, we have a job to do."

For a second, my brain derails.

Right.

Of course, they're just here for a mission. I was just so elated, I thought maybe they were back for me…

Yeah.

I set Adele down, but she remains almost glued to my side even as Star takes her favorite position on my other side. It's been so long, but it's just… comforting.

"So what're you here for?" I ask, gesturing to the police to back down before signaling the same to the wall guards. "It's got to be important if it brought all of you out here."

"It's important." Rose growls. "404 over there just decided to desert before a major operation."

Hannah just shrugs. "I'm just following my headstrong subordinate. She told me that someone broke our no-contact agreement, and I must say I think it's about time that we break that up."

"But…" Rose once more rubs her temples. "Argh. Fine. We'll discuss it later."

Adele suddenly steps right in front of me, mere centimeters from my face. "Is it true that a Nyto has been harassing you?"

"Yes, but-"

She turns on her heel. "She will not live to see tonight."

"Whoa, wait!" I grab her shoulder.

Star starts to snicker. "I don't think she's got self control anymore."

"Zehn Jahre lang!" Adele snaps. "TEN YEARS! I will not allow more delays!"

"Funny you say that." I take a deep breath, mentally returning to combat mode. "I was on her trail before there was a disturbance on the wall that was asking for me by name."

"...Wait, that was us!" Sophia starts suddenly. "Quick! Let's get back on her trail!"

"That's gonna be difficult." I look around to see the police and wall guards are still standing around observing. "Okay, let's get this situation de-escalated and get you to my home."

"It's so small!" Sophia cries out.

G11, or Heidi, immediately crashes on the couch while the rest of the dolls filter into the room. Reina and Hannah seem intent on looking over the entire place while Star, Rose and Adele are too interested in talking to me. Sophia seems to be ready to crawl out of her own skin.

"Well… yeah." I rub my neck uncomfortably. "Can't really afford much more right now."

"It's fine." Rose sits down on the couch. "...Where are your kids?"

"With dad."

"I see." Her fingers twitch a bit.

"Don't worry, you'll get to see Ollie before you go."

"Really?!" Sophia jumps back up to her feet.

"Sit down, mutt." Reina snorts. "Stay on task."

"Ja. We must first destroy this Nyto." Adele stands right next to me. "Hadwin. Tell us about this Nyto."

"Name's Protea. She's able to shape shift-"

"Ugh. Her." Star makes a face. "I thought she was still chasing a fake lead toward Belgrade?"

"She's supposed to be." Rose frowns. "Actually, it's been surprising how little we've been hearing about her movements that way recently…"

"She's spreading some sort of modified OGAS program. It's able to infect neural clouds and then broadcast a message around." I pick up where Rose left off. "I think she's trying to spread word about William with it, but she could have just been telling me that."

"OGAS, hmm?" Hannah stops playing with some of the items on my shelf and turns to me directly. "And how did you figure this out?"

"Eva."

Four of the seven dolls tense up, and I can't help but grin. "She's married now, you don't have to worry."

"Not to you." Adele's eyes narrow.

"No, not to me." I pat her shoulder. "A guy named Fred."

She nods. "Of course. The audacity she had to try to take you from us-"

Rose coughs. "Anything else we can learn about this OGAS instance?"

"Well, it's affecting me right now, so I'm not gonna be connecting to any of you until it's clear."

"Whaaaaat?" Reina whines. "But everyone here aside from me has been whining about jumping you as soon as we got here! I can't stand another few days of their horny outcries!"

"I… what?"

"She's exaggerating." Star snaps. "What's important right now is removing this OGAS instance."

Hannah folds her arms. "If Eva knows about it, then she has equipment to deal with it, Ja?"

"Yes." I nod.

She turns on her heel. "I will be back."

"Don't you want her address?" I raise an eyebrow.

"Already have it. Your passwords are still weak." She grins.

Well then. "If you're going, take this with you." I grab the laptop I had stolen from Protea and hand it to the shorter doll. "It belonged to the Nyto. It might help."

"I see." Hannah's eyes narrow as she opens the lid and starts to interface with the device.

"What are we going to do in the meantime?" Star asks.

"Well, I suppose we can try to track down where Protea went." I drum my fingers on my leg. "But since she's a shapeshifter it might be hard."

"All the more reason to start working on it." eina lowers the EM goggles over her face before sighing. "Man, the security here still sucks…"

Hannah walks over to me, leans in to peck me on the cheek, and waves as she leaves out the door.

"...Are you crying, Hadwin?" Rose asks suddenly.

I reach up to find that indeed, tears are rolling down my face.

"What's the matter?!" Sophia runs right up into my face, only for Adele to reach out and stop her from moving forward. Regardless, ose and Star also walk up to me, concern etched into their faces.

"I… I'm sorry." I sniff back the tears and put on a weak smile. "It's just… it's been so long, but it almost feels like this past decade hasn't happened at all."

Rose bites her lip and looks away. Star and Adele both press into me from either side, shoulder to shoulder.

"...Maybe I shouldn't have held out for so long." Rose mutters, before leaning her head forward and letting it hit my chest. "I've been trying for so long to-" Her voice hitches. "-so long to keep you safe, but there's always more Nytos or belligerent Spetsnaz, or URNC-"

I reach an arm around her shoulders and squeeze her tight. Adele frowns, but doesn't interrupt. "Thanks, Rose. I'm sure it's been hard."

She starts to shake, and I close my eyes.

Sophia reaches out and places her own hand on Rose's back too, in an odd moment of maturity.

"Actually, Hadwin?" Star starts apologetically. "We may have caused you a fair few more problems."

"Oh?"

"Yeah…" Star looks away. "See, we've been trying to travel without drawing attention to Sector 3, but with how hurriedly we came here we had to eschew a few of the security procedures."

"I will deal with it." Adele announces. "After all, I will no longer leave your side."

"Yeah!" Sophia regains her spunk spontaneously. "From now on, you'll be with us so we can protect you!"

"Sophia…" Rose stands back up. "You know that's not possible."

"Wh-why not?"

"He's safer inside the city." She glances at me. "He's been okay for a full decade here, right? It's safer here than on the battlefield we find ourselves on."

"Not to mention, he has kids to worry about." Star looks over at a picture of me and the trio mounted to the wall. "He can't just abandon them here, right?"

Rose grimaces. That exact reason was what had kept me here long enough for them to disappear, a plan she, Hannah and Aleah had cooked up when Holly had gutted me all those years ago. "No, he can't."

"And there's no way they can come with us." Reina suddenly rejoins the conversation, lifting the goggles off of her face. "We're always in crazy amounts of danger."

"Awww." Sophia sags. "I wanted to teach Ollie how to build stuff."

"You might get a chance later." I verbally comfort the doll doing her best impression of a kicked puppy. "Hey Reina, any results?"

"You were correct." She admits unhappily. "She's hard to track. Her disguises change way too quickly."

"Damn."

"Let me!" Sop leaps up and down. "I'll track her down!"

"We'll discuss that when Hannah gets back." I promise her. "For now, I think we need to come up with a plan-"

My phone rings, and Holly immediately puts it through. All of the dolls' faces go blank, indicating the feed is being shared to them as well.

Sirens greet my ears as the signal arrives, along with heavy breathing.

"Hello?"

"Hadwin." Dad's voice groans. "You're alright?"

"Yeah, I'm- Dad, what's going on? What are the sirens for?"

Dad coughs a few times before answering. "I'm so sorry Hadwin… I was attacked, and she took Farah."