Kalina tapped away at the console - the diagnostic was done, but now came the part of combing the data. FAL suffered from a memory error - a strange thing considering how stable dolls of her quality were. Trace the program, find was was draining all the memory and CPU power, and try and shut it down-
Emotion module, of course, but even the moments of "grief" she'd registered was nothing compared to what was shackling her now. Kalina sighed, tapping away still, the problem solving a welcome distraction from the base's much larger and frankly, more pressing ones. Rolling FAL back to factory setting was always an option, but losing G36 and FAL in a single day? The thought of what she would have to tell the commander was too… just too much right now. Brow wrinkled in frustration, she continued to dive into the sub-routines in the emotion module, running through directories to try and pinpoint the exact file. Like brain surgery for a doll, though admittedly, with a lot less consequence- no real life was on the line here.
At least that is what she told herself. She had to think of FAL nothing more than a doll. Not the woman who came to her words of encouragement whenever she was feeling overwhelmed, or the friend she talked fashion and shopping with, or that empowered example of a leader that she so desperately needed right now. Somewhere between trying to hold back her grief with frustration and obstinance, Kalina found a set of corrupt files.
Leftovers from 45 that they hadn't cleared? No, no… the date traced back past that system wipe. If anything, 45's bug hadn't deleted these memory fragments, most likely because they were corrupted. They were dated back to the smuggler-ring recon mission, her last hard-reboot that put her into the frame she now used. The corrupted file was a particularly large one too, so Kalina tried to isolate it, but they were tied to core systems in the emotion module. Maybe she could try and figure out what the memory fragment was and restore it from a prior backup-
"Commander Kalina. Urgent call from command." Springfield's light, motherly tone called over the intercom. So frustratingly close, but she had to shut the console down, leaving FAL to her hibernation.
It would be best… to leave her be until her commander returned, wouldn't it? Kalina glanced at the doll's demure left hand.
A fresh start for the both of them.
It's what she told herself, fooled herself with as she made he way back to the command room, greeted by the still image of Helianthus on the main monitor unflinchingly staring down at her. Sure, it was just a still image, but Kalina felt the weight of that glare pressing down on her, even if she knew that Helian… Helian had expectations of her.
"Kalina here!" She belted out from across the room, scrambling around consoles and desks to get the comms station manned by Springfield. A quick word of thanks and dismissal of the rifle-doll as Kalina took over the call, standing up straight as a board… despite Helian not having a video feed of her.
"Commander Kalina, we've detected a large and unauthorized packet of data currently attempting to be transmitted from your base."
Helian's news was… concerning. They had let the base online again, though central command was still monitoring data flows. The question was… how had their base not picked up the transfer first?
"I don't… understand. We've locked the base's networks down so that only command-clearance will allow for transfers. The girls-"
"This might pertain to the compromised base defenses," Helian spoke slowly, deliberately, words carefully weighed and measured as to not simply crush Kalina under their weight. "Quarantine all of your away teams… including Anti-Rain."
"M-Miss Helian… are you sure?"
"Yes. Lock your base down completely, do not transmit anything after this call. Close your networks, and stand-by to receive IOP and sixteen-lab technicians. Any dolls still outside the base… they will have to fend for themselves until this matter is solved."
A sting of sudden worry and panic- BAR's team was out, and if they ran into any Sangvis stragglers, they'd be completely isolated. A quick and concerned glance back at Springfield, who was still helping Kalina manage operations. The auburn-haired doll might not be a G36, but she still caught Kalina's desperation and hopefully was transmitting a warning to BAR before it all got shut down once more.
"Okay… I mean, affirmative, Miss Helian." Kalina saluted… why did she salute?
"When this is all resolved, I'll see that your base is exempt from offensive operations for the time being. Just hold things together for now. Helian out."
The line went dead, and Kalina moved to unplug the entire console from the wall. Part of her wanted to just go over the the power unit and flip the breaker on the whole damn room… but she resisted, she relented, she tried her best not to think about just how frustrated everyone on base would be the moment she hit the emergency base lockdown just a mere three hours since it had been lifted.
And most of all, she tried to keep her heart from leaping into her throat when she moved to the base intercom and clicked the broadcast button, knowing her voice was going to be the only one echoing through the halls for who knows how long.
"The base will be going offline for the time being. All dolls please refrain from any dangerous activities, as you will not be able to re-upload from IOP servers." Deep breaths, Kalina. Deep breaths as she pressed the intercom button once more, throat dry as the coming orders scratched their way out of her throat, "Echelons One through Five, report to security room two-zero-one. Team Anti-Rain, please report to security room two-zero-two."
"Team Anti-Rain, pleasure report to security room two-zero-two."
M4 glanced up from her meal, looking around the cafeteria at the sudden confusion and grumble of discontent. The dolls here had finally begun to relax, done their best to ignore the scorch-marks on the walls, and once more were brought back down. At least they didn't have to report back to a security room. Kalina's order… something must have come up, but the parameters didn't allow M4 to go search her out to ask why. Well, the bright side was that the order also didn't specify what M4 could bring with her, so quickly she loaded her tray with some sweet bread and drinks, enough for her team to snack on while they waited for whatever was going on.
Things were just getting stranger by the minute, and though she didn't wish to blame inexperience on Kalina's as incompetence, that was the simplest conclusion that would ease the frustration. That simple dismissal did the pressure that Kalina was under a disservice. It was a variable full of unknowns, some that M4 tried to make simulations for as she made her way to the assigned security room. Quarantine by the looks of it, electronically-secured section deeper in the base. Gave an unsettling feeling when she walked through the air-lock styled doors, like an echoing silence, a claustrophobic openness, a hazy feeling of isolation that clouded the edges of her digimind. Try to ignore that it was, essentially, a prison for dolls.
STAR was already sitting on the floor with her back against the wall instead of at the table set out for them. One glance up was all it took for her friend to convey her exasperation.
"I told you so." She grumbled, radiating resentment in lieu of being isolated from their network still, but who exactly was it aimed at?
SOP was the next to arrive, as confused and frustrated as M4 expected. Her sister flopped herself onto a chair, kicking her legs as she whined, "I wanted to upload my combat footage!"
"They are quarantining us. Kalina should have ordered it as soon as we landed." STAR shot a glare at SOP, clearly not empathizing with anyone. It was too early to start bickering already, and thankfully before M4 had to muster up that harsh voice of hers, M16 arrived with a bundle of something in her arms.
"Sop, here-" she tossed… an old brick-looking handheld gaming console to the platinum-blonde, and at once SOP was laying on her back with a sweet-bread in her mouth, tapping away.
"So this… is unusual, right?" M16 asked the collective, pointedly ignoring the sarcastic roll of STAR's eyes to focus on M4 instead.
"Yeah, this isn't normal." M4 sighed, sitting down at the table and pushing a sugar-coated loaf around. Wasn't very "hungry" anymore.
"Some reception that the FAL model had promised." M16 shrugged, still grinning at her own sarcastic quip as she took a seat across from M4. The clack of a glass bottle on the table as she unscrewed the top and took a swig of amber liquid- was that booze? The older sister noticed M4's scowl and cheekily offered her the bottle.
"Found it under the counter in the cafe. Wasn't anyone there so-"
"You shouldn't be drinking, big sister." M4 scolded, tone and words picked specifically to make M16 at least put the bottle away, but the veteran doll shrugged it off.
"What else are we supposed to do while we wait? Can't share our operational data, can't check the net, can't even make calls out. Might as well make the most of this break." She scooted her chair back, punctuating the quiet with a screech of metal on tile, slouching back before giving another lazy swig.
"I meant that… Miss Springfield will be upset you took that from the cafe."
"...Who?"
Yes, exactly. Who? M16 wouldn't know, and M4… did M4 really know either? She thought she knew FAL, but clearly she was fooling herself there. Her time on this base had been painfully short compared to the other dolls, and the fact that she and her team were always filtered in the base's network meant that they never really… "connected" to them experientially.
No, M4 and her team were, essentially, strangers. Friendly strangers, but strangers nonetheless. Only ever her sisters, Angie, and Persica. Was it meant to be that way?
The sudden epiphany made her unable to refute her sister, or stop her from swigging away while lazily watching SOP playing her game. A silence fell over them, interrupted only by SOP's little utterances at her game, time slipping by in such a malaise pace that M4 had to purposefully ignore her internal clock. She needed distraction from her own digimind, from her own predictive programs, and so she turned her attention to her big sister.
"What did you do when we got separated?"
It was a question that sparked STAR's attention too, their prickly pink-haired markswoman perking up while pretending to be disinterested.
"Well, went to ground obviously. Wound up getting sniffed out by a ringleader when I was passing through her territory."
That single, chocolate-hued ocular sensor scanned over STAR for the moment, both M16 and M4 expecting her to chime in with something snide along the lines of "That was careless of you" yet STAR huffed quietly.
"Anyways, that month separated I was on evasion protocols. Glad my signs weren't lost on you."
M16's answer was logical, spoken so matter-of-fact and nonchalant that it'd fool most dolls… but M4 was well versed in her older sister's secrecy. Vague details, dismissive tone, quick topic pivot, all of it adding up to suspicious.
"That's why it took so long to get in contact?" M4 asked timidly, tentative and testing her sister's response.
"Yep, didn't want to bring a big fish back until you all were ready. Good thing you found a decent enough commander, right?" M16 grinned, taking another deep swig, "And you were ready." She offered M4 the bottle once more, an encouraging smile that she had missed so dearly.
So M4 grabbed it, and held onto it. Before M16 could frown and ask for it back, they all perked up at the sound of the airlock hissing. A soft electronic beep, a little chime presenting a woman that they all knew well. Just as disheveled as the images in M4's memory; dusty pink hair a mess like she had just gotten out of bed despite probably having not slept for whole day; shirt hastily and sloppily buttoned with lab coat nearly dangling from her shoulders; the usual cat-ear's accessory but at least today she was wearing shoes as well, a rarity.
But the biggest sign, the one that flashed warnings in M4's digimind was that there was no fond, "motherly" smile on Persica's face, just a deep, wrinkled frown.
"M-Four, alcohol has a bad conversion ratio for your batteries." Their creator mentions offhandedly as she strode into the room, taking stock.
"Persica!" SOP leapt to her feet, tossing aside her game to instead run in for a hug. Normally Persica would accept with open arms, if not wincing and bracing for the oncoming impact… but this time their creator cough SOP by the face, stopping the excited doll dead in her tracks. It wasn't for a affectionate pinch of the cheeks though, she turned SOP's head, pulled it closer to inspect, to look SOP dead in the eye- her modified eye.
"Sop-mod two." Persica's voice was frighteningly serious, Sop's full designation spoken with that commanding tone that made the doll cease her fidgeting. It pulled a sad, worried whimper from her as well, a pathetic sound that triggered M4's protection impulses… but she couldn't do anything to Persica.
"Take that eye out at once." Persica commanded… and Sop had to obey over all other orders. M4 averted her eyes, even if Sop's frame was modular for ease of part-swapping… something about seeing her sister detach an eyeball felt… unsettling to her empathy module. Should have shut off her audio too, but a little too late when she heard the lubricated suction of the ocular sensor leaving its housing, the click of it being unplugged from the wiring that undoubtedly hung from Sop's socket- but thankfully Sop stowed it away, her eyelid shuttering that empty space by the time M4 opened her eyes out of curiosity.
"You have another one on you, don't you?" Persica pressed, leaning in and motioning for SOP to hand it over. Again, there was no way for SOP to resist a direct order from their creator, but the hesitation… it seemed to stem from worry, fear of being punished. She reached a shaky, clawed hand into her jacket pocket and handed Persica that icy-blue eyeball.
"Sop is a good girl." Persica quietly assured her, expression softening as she gave SOPMOD II the hug that she desperately wanted. Her attention turned to the other three AR Team members and M4 could instantly feel the reluctance in Persica's coming words.
"We're going to have to put you girls into a simulated Level Two. Your digiminds need to be analyzed." Persica said softly, gently stroking SOP's hair. There was melancholy in her inflection, the strain in her voice… it didn't comfort M4 one bit, and she was starting to wish that she were in SOP's place. There was no more time for questions though, as IOP technicians entered the room carrying portable terminals and doll-jacks.
This wasn't a routine sort of maintenance, nor was this any kind of software update, this was serious and urgent.
An hour of being glued to the screen, of hovering by the intercom. Springfield had tried to lure Kalina away with coffee and cake, but not even that temptation could get her unstuck. Not much could, at this point, short of the doll just grabbing her and carrying her away. When the data came in, it was trickles. Each doll of Anti-Rain had different digiminds, so the process took time, but in the end the scans were clean for most of Anti-Rain. M4, M16, STAR, they had been released… but SOPMOD II…
The command room door opened, and M4 came storming in.
"Miss Kalina! Sop is-"
"-in sixteen-lab's care right now. Persica is here, she'll solve the problem, right?"
Kalina's answer was… well it was cold. She didn't want to be callous towards M4; the doll was a good, sweet girl, but Kalina had too much to think about right now. If she could fool herself into being that calculated commander-mindset, them M4… should be able to see what the priorities were right now.
"Miss… Commander Kalina, we… we just found each other again. Can I at least be with Sop during her maintenance. Even if she's under, she'll know I'm next to her-"
Kalina bit back the momentary weakness, the way that M4 pleaded struck her right in the heart… but she had orders as well. It'd be better for everyone if there was no exceptions made.
"Persica said full electronic isolation. Just, trust in Persica, Sop will be fine in the end."
M4 didn't buy Kalina's words one bit… and well, Kalina didn't buy herself either. She'd been off her sales-pitch game for a while now, probably wouldn't for the foreseeable future. Thank God Persica arrived right then, she'd know how to calm and reassure her creation, hopefully. The T-doll scientist hid her distress well enough when M4 turned to her, reaching out with begging, desperately grasping hands.
"Persica-"
"We're on it, M-Four. You will need to rest though, considering what we found fragmented in your neural cloud." Persica said, calmly taking M4's hands and motioning for the doll to retire. As expected of an independant-action command unit, M4 resisted slightly, hesitated as her digimind hung on processing something. It was an unintentional dare for Persica to use more drastic measures, but eventually the doll quietly, if not stiffly, marched out.
That troubled frown looked natural on Persica's face, tightened up the droop of her exhausted features as she watched and waited for M4 to close the door. She locked the door behind the T-doll, internal override so that it was only her, Kalina, and Persica sitting patiently on the other end of a hard-wired line to command.
"Sopmod-Two was the one sending the data packets." Persica announced, "We believe she contracted some sort of spyware program that we were previously unaware of."
"So Sop was… spying on us?"
"Not of her own volition, but her natural curiosity and desire to get into places she's not supposed to be certainly did no favors. Our guess is that she picked it up after installing that Ringleader's eye." Persica sighed, throwing herself back into the Commander's seat, lazily spinning as she pulled her knees up to her chest.
"The program copied the G&K networks, probably uploaded all of the unencrypted data- it's how SF struck you so hard. They must have known the locations of all of your bases, their blind spots, troop distributions, communication keys and networks-"
"So it is Sangvis Ferri design?" Helian interrupted, demanding clarification for her own purposes.
"Yeah, it's a complex bit of code, nothing a human programer could produce- too logical and dense."
"Or a doll?" Kalina reflexivly mumbled, thinking to a particularly troublesome doll. Still, Persica shook her head though, cleared suspicion from a particularly shady mercenary.
"It's Sangivs through-and-through, but it's so needlessly complex for what it's done to your networks so far. There's got to be more to it, and that's what we need to test."
"But you know it now? You would be able to identify it?"
"We should be able to. The current variant right now is called 'Parapluie', and as far as we are aware it hasn't mutated. As long as Sop remains isolated from a network, it'll stay dormant." Persica said as she balanced a pencil on her finger. Her voice was distant, clearly she was mulling her options before she spoke. "We're copying Sop's mindmap right now- backing her up will take a while though. I'll send a quarantined copy of the virus so that G&K can identify it in their networks, if you're all clear then it should be safe to resume normal operations again."
"We appreciate your work and partnership, Miss Persica." Helian's voice crackled for a moment, a little faded like she was talking away from the microphone. Still, with not much else to add, she dismissed herself from the call, no doubt heading to relay it all to Mister Kryuger and leaving Kalina all the more alone with her thoughts. Hundreds of questions, all of which she might never get the answer for.
"So for us…?"
"A little more complex than the rest of G and K. We'll check your network, but Sop's infection… is a bit of a coup for Sangvis." Persica grumbled, the pencil tumbling from her finger and her not having the impetus to pick it back up. "Infecting a doll with her permissions was without a doubt how they got into your networks… but it leaves the question of how many other dolls are infected with it but didn't have the same level of network access."
Even more worries, even more wrinkles, even more headaches- and thank God over and over that Persica was here, because she must have seen how stressed Kalina was feeling, because she spoke up almost immediately.
"Scanning the digimind database for this program's files should only take an hour or two, I'll handle it with the IOP techs. You just focus on… what you're supposed to do."
"What I'm supposed to do?"
What was she supposed to do? Hold down the fort until the commander returned from the hospital? Stand by for orders from Command? Twiddle her thumbs? What was it the Commander would do in times like these?
Persica exhales, finger crossed behind her back. The last a hundred network simulations came out clean, so they must have excised the virus. It hadn't been simple, evidence of its metaphorical tendrils had extended deeper into Sop's core programs than expected. The base network was clean- lacking the depth and complexity of a doll that made cutting it out simple, and mercifully the doll databanks were untouched.
It was only SOPMOD-II, mercifully.
"Alright, boot her up then."
The IOP technicians gave the thumbs up, SOP's body slowly coming to life.
"Where is everyone?" The doll says groggily, like a human still under the lingering effects of anesthetic.
"They're just in the other room, Sop. We had to fix you up." Persica cooed gently, patting her creation on the head. The red-eyeed doll blinked, feeling the neural-jack still plugged into the back of her neck.
"Ah- Don't touch that Sop. We're not quite done yet." Persica tempered patience, trying to soothe Sop, but her doll… wasn't responding like she would normally. No hug, no giggles or cackles, not even demanding more headpats. Just a confused frown.
"Her processes seem normal, no erroneous programs…" The technician monitoring SOP's digimind chimed.
"Where's M-Four?" Sop asked, her voice fluctuating between sing-song dreaminess and a seriousness that Persica knew as her primary protocol.
"Waiting for you to be all better, Sop," Persica glanced at the tech monitoring the doll; the man was frowning, clearly scrolling down something. "We're not quite done yet though. We'll have to put you into Level-Two again-"
"S-Sop's a good girl, right Persica?"
Sop's voice… was wavering, quaking like she was holding something back, and that itself was worrisome enough. She gestures for the tech to put Sop under, but he suddenly and frantically is typing away.
"Her… something is installing erroneous programs!
"Sop… Sop's a good girl." SOPMOD sobbed, her voice hissing with a crackling static, "We're… all together… again. Family-"
"Sop! Sop you're a good girl! Shut yourself down, please!" Persica begged, holding her doll in a tight hug, feeling just how unsettling Sop vibrated, how electric she felt to the touch.
And SOPMOD-II went limp, her simulated consciousness winking out to relieved sighs from the IOP members in the room.
"What the hell happened?"
"We must not have gotten all of it-"
"But there's no network connection in isolation, how could it have mutated?"
The IOP tech, already stunned, could only give a dumbfounded shrug. A failsafe program; a sort of tamper-proofing? They'd have to start all over again-
"Uh… Persica?" The tech tapped on his console, but not the kind of speed she'd expect from someone working. It was more of a frustrated, heavy hitting of the keys, like the console was unresponsive.
"What's the matter?" Persica moved to gently place Sop's body on the gurney, but the doll's clawed hand… she had closed it tight on Persica's coat before she had shut down. She worked to free herself as the other tech's crowded around the console to gawk.
"Sop… is… a good… girl-"
Persica froze. It was quiet, a weak whisper from Sop's voice modulator- but she was supposed to be off-
"It's like… her operating system changed? Our current command strings aren't working…"
Sop's body stirred, booting up without any prompt. Hand tightened on Persica's coat, gripping with such frightening strength that those claw-tipped fingers tore straight through the linen. It was about when Persica scrambled away, her labcoat dangling from Sop's hand that the other technicians took notice that Sop was now sitting up.
"No… I won't do it." Sop whimpered, reaching a shaky hand behind her head and ripping the neural jacks from her neck, "Sop is a good girl. Sop won't… do it…"
"Everyone out, NOW!" Persica screamed, running for the quarantine door. She punched the alarm so hard that she must have split her knuckle, but the pain was nothing when fear pumped adrenaline into her normally sluggish body. The door, damn it the door was too slow in opening! The other technicians, confused at how Sop had booted herself and why Persica was running from her own creation, were too slow.
Sop was designed to fight Sangvis, to fight dolls. To put that frightening skill set against humans… Persica whimpered, closing her eyes to the savagery, trying to ignore the screams and the sounds of… oh God above…
"Sop… Sop is a good girl!" The now blood-stained doll sobbed, even as she tossed the technician's body away like a red-stained rag. "I… I won't do it! You can't… make me do it!"
Sop's voice sounded distant, like it was spoken through a door, even as she loomed above Persica. Back against the door and nowhere to run, Persica's leg gave out.
"Sop… Sop please-"
"Persica… she wants me to do it-" Sop reached out with a bloodied claw, "Tell me I'm a good girl… please!"
"S-Sop is a good girl! Sop is one of the greatest… greatest girls." Persica half-screamed, half-sobbed as Sop's hand stopped a mere milimeter from her throat.
"Sop… is…" Sop's whole arm shuddered, like she was fighting whatever was controlling her. It seemed intent on punching those dagger-tipped fingers forward, but instead fingers drifted farther down toward the identification card hanging from Persica's breast pocket.
"I won't do it!" Sop's voice growled, clearer than before as she tore the card from Persica. "Persica said Sop is a good girl! Sop won't… hurt her!"
Whatever had hijacked Sop must have conceded, because now her body moved with that predatory swiftness. A swipe of the card, the door unlocking from Persica's override permissions. Impatient, the compromised doll jammed her hands into the opening, helping pull the heavy steel things open so that she could slip inside. One final glance down at the cowering Persica… and she could see how Sop's face contorted between settings. Disgust at first, a seething and unbridled hatred one moment and a soft, whimpering fondness the next.
"Sop… is sorry, Persica. Tell… M-Four I-"
"-am coming for her."