Chapter 5: Exfiltration

Vermillion Wasteland

She sat on the floor, huddled into knees and grabbing her face with terrified eyes.

Fake

Fake

Fake

Her body trembling as tears rolled down her face, as she lay where she'd been slapped to the ground.

Copy

Copy

Copy

The black haired woman's screams still echoed in her head. As she grabbed her by the collar and slapped her, yelling in her face that her life wasn't just a copy of hers. All her memories, emotions, feelings just an imitation.

No life

No escape

No hope

She grabbed her knees tighter and buried her face into them as she whimpered.

A.I

A.I

Just an A.I.

H-Her entire life was a lie. The only thing which gave her hope was gone. S-She couldn't get out of the game. S-She could never m-meet her friends. She had no family. Nothing to return to. J-Just someone else's memories.

Her face trembled, as a silent scream shook her body, her hands grabbing her hair and twisting it painfully.

She was… used.

S-Sergey used her.

H-He didn't bring her here to help her. He just wanted a-answers she didn't know the questions to.

S-She was just some program. W-Why'd he care if she got hurt, if she found out the truth, if she died.

I-It was worth the answers right?

A-And a-all these people whose faces keep appearing in her memories.

Talking of her like she's a pet.

E-Experimenting on her.

Immobilising her in the air w-whenever they wanted.

A-Aaaaaaah!

S-She was just a tool to them! Something to be used and thrown!

Her scream became more pained as she remembered.

Excruciating pain. Her vision spinning. Her body fallen on the ground and twitching with spasms.

I-It was on purpose!

She cried into her knees.

H-Her… creators had done that on purpose!

I-It wasn't fair!

"Life isn't fair, rookie."

W-What can she do?

"Take your punches, get up, and CQC that asshole into the ground."

She sniffed. W-What's the use? When there's no hope? When there's no escape?

"I don't know? Escape into my eyes? …wait, that's a joke …s-stop blushing."

A wretched laugh mixed in between her sobs. Oh he had an answer for everything, didn't he?

"What can I say? I'm a Jack of all trades."

Tears made way for a wave of snickers before she breathed in with a wet nose and wiped her face against her skirt.

W-What a jackass. M-Making me smile when I'm not even real.

She… She wanted to talk to someone.

S-She didn't want to feel alone.

B-But her room was locked for the day, and her DM wasn't working in this wasteland-

"My codec frequency is 141.80. Use the uPod to dial-in with long-range mode."

She blinked. Wiping her tears with shaky hands, could… could that work? She brought those number to her mind and-

141.80

Poke!

Poked her horns.

Beep!

And a Box greeted her from the screen which popped before her. "So, you finally decided to take your Cardboard Combat to the next level-…. wait," his casual voice suddenly became serious, "hey, you okay?" He said, getting a better look at her.

Lea tried for a weak smile but a sob came out instead, "h-h-hi!"

Box frowned, "what happened? What's wrong?"

She sniffed and poked her head.

E-Everything I know is a lie!

[ Everything you know is wrong ]

"Everything you know is wrong

Black is white, up is down and short is long

And everything you thought was just so important doesn't matter

Everything you know is wrong!"

"What?" Box stared at her. "You mean… like your life was a lie."

Lea smiled wetly.

Aww, you do know me.

T-That was one heck of an accurate guess.

Box gave her a serious glare, "where are you?"

Lea shrugged and shook her head.

I-I don't know.

She then opened her map's screen and showed it to him, which showed her icon blinking on a blacked part of the map.

"I… don't know where that is. It's outside the map? Can you make it back?"

She drew into herself and poked her horn.

[ Locked Up ] "I'm locked up They won't let me out, no They won't let me out"

"You're being held prisoner?!" a vicious snarl erupted from Box. And stupid as it was, it made her giggle at how mad he sounded. F-For her.

Box then looked away from the monitor, yelling obscenities for a few moments before he looked back, his voice serious.

"Can you log out?"

Her eyes immediately became wet at that question, and she looked away, her throat choked up as tried not to break down.

I-I wish I could log out.

"Okay, shit. F-Forget I asked," he said in a hurry, trying to get her mind off it. "But… you can't stay there, Lea. And I can't get there in time before your captors decide to do something about you." Box gave her a serious stare, "you need to escape."

Her voice came out broken,

"…why?"

Box glared, "because you can't mope in an enemy lair."

"…why?" She palmed her face and rubbed her eyes.

"Just… Just look on the bright side?" Box's slit shifted up like a smile, "more things to do, more quests to complete-"

"W-Why!" She yelled at him. Quests were the last thing she wanted to think of!

"Dammit, I'm the same, okay!" Box snapped back at her. "If I'm still kicking, you sure as hell kick too!"

…H-Huh?

Lea stared at him in surprise.

W-What do you mean?

"I… I'm supposed to be a copy of Solid Snake, you remember him right? That old guy." Lea nodded. "He's the greatest soldier in the world, a hero, my hero. And I'm the schmuck who had the great opportunity of being manipulated, shown a false world, and being filled up full of lies that would shape me to become him." Box's voice was a tinge raw, despite the casualness he tried to instil in his voice, "and when they were done with their simulation," he spat that word with hatred, "they threw me away. No it was worse than being thrown away, they didn't care what I did anymore because they were done with me. Done using me!" He growled, "do you have any idea how much that stings!"

Lea frowned sadly.

I… I kinda do. I wish I didn't.

"So come on, get up!"

Lea looked away. "…why?" What reason did she have-

"Don't make me take your box away-"

"H-Hi!" She immediately jumped to her feet and gave him an appalled face, picking up her box and hugging it protectively.

N-Not my box! Y-You monster!

"Great. You're up," a cocky tone in his voice, "glad to know I'm your reason to keep kicking." He chuckled.

Lea's eye twitched.

…jerk. I'll get back at you.

"Make it back, and I'll give you another box. How's that sound?"

A silly grin appeared on her face.

Well… he can be so sweet sometimes.

Box then became serious. "Anyway, your objective is exfiltration. This will be a procure-on-site mission. Escape to a safe room and await extraction. Use your wits to keep enemies at bay and destroy obstacles. And most importantly. Survive. Do you understand, Lea?"

Lea bit her lip, before giving him a firm nod.

"Good. Now, do you have your box?" Lea lifted it and showed it to him. Her eye falling on the little propeller which Sergey had attached to the box, with the help of M.S Solar's crew. The box being actual physical matter would drop to the ground whenever she teleported or logged out. So Sergey had them install a homing device on it, which would locate her avatar and then the propeller would fly over to wherever she was and give her the box. Lea frowned.

Maybe… Maybe I'll forgive Sergey if he's really sorry.

She grinned and hugged her box.

He did do a lot for my box.

"Now, take your box to the locked door in your room and press it against it." Lea did as told, placing it before the closed door and pushing the box against it. "Okay, now push your SP into the box as if you're charging an attack." Lea looked between the box and Box, wondering if she heard him right. "Just do it. Trust me, you'll love it."

Scratching her head, Lea crouched down, gathered one SP into her hand gently pushed the box-

Slash!

Thunk!

Lea gaped as the box dug a square shaped hole in the metallic door and the cut part fell over the other side with a thunk. She whipped her head to Box, asking with a stammer, "h-how!"

Box gave her a smug look, "it's an HF box. A High Frequency box whose metallic edges are reinforced by a strong alternating current. Causing it to resolute at very high frequency vibrations." Lea stared at the box in amazement, crouching and hugging it with an excited squeal. "The oscillations weaken the molecular bonds and so you can cut basically anything. Since you're an avatar, I had the EM frequency emitted by your virtual SP be the activation mechanism. So? What do you think?"

Lea beamed at him.

I love you, box!

"Begin the mission. I'll see what I can do about extraction."

She nodded at him with a salute.

Yes, sir!

Meanwhile, Lukas lay in his own room, lying on the bed and staring at the ceiling with a frown and wondering how to get himself and Lea out of this hellhole-

Blast!

"A-Aaaaah!"

He screamed at the explosion and tumbled off the bed. Quickly sitting up and seeing a hole in the wall, and a… cardboard box? What the-

"HI! LEA!"

Came a cheery voice from underneath it, and soon Lea lifted it to poke her head out from underneath, a big grin on her face. "Hiii!"

Lukas smacked his face, and sighed, "of course it's you, you box enthusiast. Scared the crap out of me." Lea laughed, and then made a 'follow me' with her hands. "What? Big escape time?" Lea nodded, snapped the box close on herself and cheered,

"LEA!"

Boom!

Lukas grabbed the wall to steady himself as Lea blasted another hole in his room's wall and skidded out with her box. Lukas quickly grabbed his sword on the table and jogged after her, "wait up, Lea!" She heard him cackling outside amid the explosions of enemies being dematerialized. He wondered if she'd remember that he was a friendly and not foe in her box mania.