Turns out, I was really in the mood to write a combat chapter. They're not my strong suit, but I've been stuck on Intermission II for far too long. Concerning the anime, my new favorite part is HK416 (*cough* HKM4 *cough*) getting her ass kicked by M16A1 (despite the latter having a 416 in one shot [like SOPMOD having an M16 in Episode 3]) and Shi Jun has a death wish for asking Kalina out. She's mine, you dirty otaku!
And I just realized that I may have spoiled a planned ship. Fuck.
I know I put in the PTSD tag on the AO3 version of the story, but I haven't properly represented the trauma everyone suffers from thanks to World War 3 and the Griffin/Sangvis War, so I'm going to make sure it's properly handled, unlike canon RWBY. Also, I'm not too good at the whole hurt/comforting thing, but I'm trying to improve.
Thank you for reading!
Approaching Station 794's Command Room, Sector 09
Neo-Soviet Union
July 4, 2062
Tactical Doll M1911
"A new mission? What is it?"
"I dunno. The Commander hasn't said anything about it, but he'll probably answer our questions when we get there."
After recieving the order to meet with the Commander in it, the five Dolls of Echelon One strode through the base's halls towards the Command Room at a steady pace, talking about their upcoming mission and what it could possibly be. Although their newest member was nervously fidgeting around, M1911 was actually kind of excited by the though of back-to-back missions, because after a month of waiting around, she was finally getting to do her job as a PMC soldier again, and after that wonderful first mission, she couldn't wait for her next one.
AK-47 seemed to share that sentiment, grinning madly as she followed her leader. Her vodka bottles had been converted to Molotovs, thanks to G36 convincing her to do so, but she didn't mind it, for it was more ordnance that she could use in the fight against Sangvis Ferri.
On the contrast, MP5 wasn't so used to back-to-back combat missions, and Sten was worrying about her friends, but they followed her all the same, but FN-49, by the looks of it, was a nervous mess. She was obviously very worried about screwing up judging by her nervous body language, which was natural for a Doll that was just produced a day ago, but her shy demeanor didn't help her at all.
"Worried about screwing up, 49?" M1911 asked the timid young woman as she lagged behind them.
"Y-Yes. W-What if I f-fail and get sent t-to the civilian market?" the shrinking violet replied fearfully. "What if he doesn't like me?"
"Our old Commander gave AK a chance, and she was absolutely terrible, and even though she's still kinda bad—"
"Idi na khuy!" said Doll cursed angrily, flipping her the bird.
"—...our new one likes her, too! Anyways, social ineptitude isn't a must-have for shooting, and you're a Rifle, so you don't even have to be in the thick of it!" the HG reminded the other Doll.
"True..."
"Besides, who wouldn't like a cutie such as yourself? I didn't know the Commander had such good taste in Dolls."
"You know, I can hear everything you're saying, and although you are all cute, I'm a bit more concerned with combat efficiency at the moment." the Commander's voice rang through the halls, as if he was listening to their conversation the whole way through. "And don't worry, 49, your model's a pretty good 2-star model. You'll do good."
"U-um, okay..."
Commander Ian Becker
After contacting them again, Ian watched as his troops entered the Command Room one-by-one and stood at perfect attention, ready to receive a new mission and carry it out. Looking back at the holotable, which projected the current Area of Operation within the city of Seredyna-Buda (that told him that they were at least near the Ukraine,) he shifted his attention to the five Dolls in his office and gave them their orders.
"Okay, so the gist is this: HQ has recently located a group of Griffin-owned Dolls that are carrying vital intel for the war effort against Sangvis Ferri, but after a run-in with hostile forces, they've all been wounded, and we've been tasked with clearing the way for their extraction. It's just like last time, except that there's more hostiles in the area, you'll have to be careful for VIPs, and they have another drone type on the field. Say hello to the Scout."
To punctuate his words, the Commander pressed a node on the map and a small violet-ish grey drone with a pink "visor," two bottom fins with thrusters on them, and two small particle cannons on top of it appeared over the map.
"Those things?! They suck!" M1911 groaned irritably, recognizing them instantly.
"Is that a drone...?" FN-49 asked carefully, looking at the Scout's projection curiously.
"They have bad durability and mediocre firepower at best, but they have very high mobility, which makes hitting them a total pain in the ass." he explained to the rookie, his memories of the detestable drones rearing their heads at him. "They were pretty bad back in the War, as in 'a major nuisance for the US Army and the bane of my fucking existence' bad, but their new models give them even more mobility, making them even worse to deal with. Fortunately, they tend to fly close enough that you can just whack them with your weapons, and FN-49 shouldn't have too much trouble hitting them, seeing as her model often produces good markswomen."
"U-um, thank you for thinking so highly of me, Commander..."
"You're welcome."
"Sorry to break up the moment, sir, but where's this rescue mission taking place?" AK-47 asked dryly, causing him to reply.
"A section of the northeastern Ukrainian city of Seredyna-Buda, about fifteen miles or so away from here. As there are more hostiles in the area and many more hiding places, flanking routes, or traps for them to use, you'll have better luck destroying the drones' control unit instead of fighting thrm head-on, which is located in the Command Post here."
As he spoke, the Commander returned to the map and pointed at a red Command Post node with numerous enemy signals, which sat parallel to the blue 'deployment area' node and was located near the City Hall.
"But if you can, I'd prefer that you scrap all of them." he told the Echelon firmly, remembering Helian's words about Sangvis being the enemies of humanity as a whole and still feeling vengeful for those he lost to them.
"Yes, sir!" they shouted in unison, nodding in affirmation and causing him to gain a small smile at their synchronization.
"Your ride's waiting for you in Garage 01, and he's already been informed of the mission, so you don't need to give him the coordinates. Oh, one more thing."
"What is it?" M1911 asked.
"Make sure you get back in one piece, okay? I heard that bandits like to camp out this area, and I'd hate to lose you to a bunch of lowlife salvagers."
"We'll be careful, sir."
"Good, you're dismissed."
Watching as his troops filed out of the blue-lit room once more, he could only pray they'd come back in one piece again before he returned his thoughts to the mission, manning the holotable and getting ready to lead the Echelon's way through a war-torn Ukraine.
Tactical Doll M1911
Approaching Seredyna-Buda, Ukrainian Countryside
Had there not been an omnipresent risk of being obliterated by army of rampant Romanian androids seeking to destroy humanity, M1911 would have thought that her team was simply on a road trip. The war-torn countryside may have been quite depressing, as it showed just how far humanity had fallen, but it was strangely beautiful as well thanks to Mother Nature's reclaimation of the land, if one could ignore the dried bloodstains, dead/mutilated bodies and destroyed buildings or vehicles scattered throughout the towns they passed through. Not to mention the various signs of Sangvis Ferri's conquest of Sector 09 as a whole, like their current target.
"It's oddly beautiful out here, if you don't pay attention to all the death and destruction." the HG stated, exhaling lightly as she looked out her window. Oxygen wasn't required for Dolls of any kind (a perk when navigating Collapse-irradiated Yellow Zones,) but it was a programmed function to simulate breathing and thus lower the Uncanny Valley effect brought on by a machine that wasn't quite human on closer inspection. It also served the purpose of venting excessive heat, a much-needed thing when on the field and/or in an older-model body.
"Yeah. Too bad the bars are all destroyed." AK-47 mused as they passed by a destroyed pub. "I'd like to go back to my old job from time to time."
"You can be a barmaid for Springfield." M1911 suggested.
"That's a little hard to do when the Café's fucked up."
"Then we'll get it fixed. But for now, we need to get back on track and give Sangvis the ass-whipping they so richly deserve."
AK-47 quickly nodded in response, but she didn't say anything else to her leader, instead opting to strike a conversation with MP5 and Sten. Sighing, M1911 just continued to look out the Humvee's window, wishing that they would just reach the mission area as soon as possible.
Commander Ian Becker
Station 794 Command Room
Now in the tight mentsl stste yo run an operation again, Ian watched as Echelon One's Humvee drive through the residential areas, the five signals of his Dolls shown as simple green dots inside the military vehicle. Having gotten the holotable updated an hour previously, he now had the option to show every individual member of an Echelon on the map, unlike with the outdated version that only showed the leader of a formation. Stsnding beside him was Kalina, who was busy reviewing the intel on the mission, as she had been elsewhere during the briefing tending to logistical duties.
"They certainly have interesting conversations in the Humvee, don't they?" he then asked her, causing her to shake her head.
"Are you really listening in on them, sir?" the ginger admonished him.
"Hey, they left their comms open, and they're not talking about anything personal."
"That isn't the point, Komandir." she stressed, poking him in the cheek and making him feel weirdly small in that moment.
"Right."
In order for him to get the Oakley-gloved finger out of his face, the Commander then used the already-open comms channel to address the Dolls and tell them to shut their comms off.
"Ladies, you left your comms open, so you ought not say anything private or turn it off."
"Thanks for reminding me, sir." M1911 replied. "Good thing you told us before we said something dumb, hehe."
"Eh, you're welcome. Speaking of the mission, you're only about a mile away from the mission area, and Sangvis is waiting for you, so be ready to give them the ass-whipping they so richly deserve."
"Hehe, sir, yes sir...!"
"Just be careful out there, 1911. Commander Becker out." Ian said, turning the comms off on his end and leaving his Dolls to their own devices.
Tactical Doll M1911
Approaching Seredyna-Buda, City Outskirts
Checking her pistols for damage or wear and tear, M1911 listened intently as MP5 and Sten told FN-49 what her role in the operation was, the two SMGs speaking as gently as they could so they didn't startle her too much. She then cast her gaze to the team drunk, watching her load her rifle with a fresh magazine, then to her surprise, pull out a Makarov PM and load it as well, storing the handgun in a holster on her curvy hip with unusual levels of coordination.
"You actually brought a secondary this time?" the HG asked her incredulously. "And you're not drunk off your ass? I'm amazed."
"Hey, the Boss told me it was better for me to do so, said something about having a backup to fall back on, and seeing as we're going out on the field again, I figured it'd be best to be sober." AK-47 told her leader as she sat up straight, knowing for a fact that she couldn't rely on FCC-granted aimbot for the handgun— or any of her weapons, for that matter. "Speaking of, you have a handgun on you, rookie?"
"U-um, yes..." FN-49 replied quietly, showing the AR her Browning Hi-Power she pulled from a bag on her waist before storing it again. "I hope I don't have to use it, though..."
"That would be bad." M1911 noted, looking out the window of the Humvee to see a mass of dead bodies strewn across the street, dried blood pooled around them and the bodies themselves utterly mutilated by Sangvis' directed energy weapons. The sight didn't fail to send shivers down the Doll's spine, and it didn't help that she had seen massacres like this happen way too many times back in the States, as a nasty civil war had broken out only a year after she was built and criminal organizations gladly took advantage of the chaos caused by the warring factions during those times. What made it even worse was that she was smack-dab in the middle of all that shit when it happenef.
"Alright, ladies, we're in the city now, so keep your eyes peeled." the driver told them all as they drove into the city at last, then through an empty street sandwiched by buildings going northwest— a street that was littered with potholes and bits of debris everywhere.
"This street seems a bit odd..." FN-49 noted, clutching her rifle tighter.
"But it's just like the others..." MP5 mused, raising an eyebrow.
Thanks to that aforementioned civil war and her years in Griffin, M1911 knew much better than that, as said past experiences involved a lot of IEDs and bandits/irregular combatants that couldn't face their victims head-on, so the street they were on seemed like a pretty good place to stage an ambush to her, especially since it was sandwiched by vacant stores and crashed vehicles they could hide in and fire from.
"Driver, stop the vehicle." the veteran T-Doll ordered, holding her hand out in a stopping motion.
The man wordlessly obeyed her order, stopping the vehicle right in front of a suspicious pothole and allowing the Doll to scan it with a tablet-like scanner— and subsequently see the motion-triggered explosive tucked neatly inside. With this new intel in mind, M1911 then contacted the Commander to let him know the situation.
"Commander, we've ran into an IED, and I'm willing to bet there's more waiting for us." she reported. "We're gonna continue to the target on foot."
"Great, bandits..." the Commander uttered, and she could easily hear his annoyed groan. "I don't know if you're still authorized to use lethal force against humans, but I would steer clear of any bandits. Better to let Sangvis deal with them, anyways."
"Understood. M1911 out."
Cutting the link, the HG faced her team as they looked at her expectantly.
"Let me guess, bandits?" AK-47 correctly guessed in a deadpan tone.
"Yup, we're gonna be going through here on foot."
Following everyone's affirmatives, M1911 opened the passenger door and quickly left the Humvee, heading to the back compartment and grabbing spare ammo, smoke grenades, and another explosive charge for the enemy Command Post. Her subordinates soon followed suit, with AK-47 grabbing a bayonet for herself and FN-49 and moving to attach it to her barrel. Upon recieving her own bayonet, the Belgian Doll quickly attached it without trouble, a perk of her Imprinted weapon having bayonets in mind.
"That is for when you have no ammo and can't pull your pistol out." the Russian quickly explained to her as she put it on.
"I understand..."
"Head back to base and drive carefully, sir, I don't want you to get blown up or something like that." M1911 then told the driver as MP5 and Sten left the Humvee with ammo and grenades of their own, bopping the side of the military vehicle and causing him to take a U-turn and head back to base.
With that in mind, the HG rallied her team, and with the unsettling silence as their only company, they started their journey towards the city hall.
Carefully, the Dolls of Echelon One proceeded towards the target location in the city hall, checking every building, car, or alley for potential hostile threats, both Sangvis and bandits. However, there wasn't anything nearby, leaving the team free of threats to contend with.
"For a Sangvis-owned territory, this place is pretty empty." AK-47 commented— just as gunfire and plasma fire sounded off in the distance. "Or it was..."
"That's because I think those bandits are keeping them occupied." M1911 said, wordlessly sending the two SMGs ahead to scout for them with a hand signal. "Either them, or it's those wounded Dolls we need to find."
"Why don't you check it, then?"
"We just found another IED!" Sten quickly reported over the Zener network, and a simulated danger sign soon appeared in the streets ahead of them.
"Stay clear of it and keep looking around. Do you see any hostiles nearby?" the blonde HG soon asked.
"No, ma'am. The fighting's getting louder, though."
"Got it. I'll notify the Commander."
Shutting off her comms link to Sten, the HG then contacted the Commander once more, ready to report her progress to him.
"Sir, we haven't made contact yet, but there's Sangvis duking it out with someone a couple hundred feet away."
After a short pause, the Commander soon replied to her observation.
"It's just bandits. If you thought it was the wounded Dolls, then they're holed up in an old mall a few klicks ahead. Be careful, though, because those outlaws are falling back and will end up in your lap pretty damn soon." he warned her.
"Got it, sir."
"Good. Commander Becker out."
The Commander then cut the link to refer to the region's map again, leaving Echelon One's leader to contact her teammates and give them their new orders.
"Those bandits Sangvis're fighting are falling back! Get back here, SMGs!" she barked into the comms.
"Ja, gnädige Frau!" MP5 promptly replied before cutting the comms link.
As the two little Dolls rejoined their team, M1911 quickly saw a group of men armed with AKMs running around the corner of the building ahead of them, clad in worn out brown and grey garb with gas masks for the radiation (which was funny, considering that this place had rather negligible radiation levels.) They looked rather worn out and were being chased relentlessly by a group of flying Sangvis drones that constantly spewed particle bolts at them.
Quickly and wordlessly, the mismatched Echelon's members took cover behind anything that could conceal them, quietly letting the bandits run past their hidden forms as Samgvis Ferri's Scouts doggedly pursued them.
After the hostile combatants disappeared from their view, the Dolls left their cover and continued towards their objective, eyes peeled for any Sangvis units that were still in the immediate vicinity, and knowing their luck, this paid off, as they soon turned around the corner and encountered a small group of Prowlers and Scouts in a small park ahead of them, surrounded by decaying dead bodies. Unfortunately, it looked like there was no way to slip past them with stealth.
"Open fire!" M1911 ordered almost immediately, raiding her pistols to fire on the enemy.
The Sangvis units barely had time to react before Echelon One opened fire, destroying a pair of Prowlers and a Scout before the drones returned fire, forcing the assault Dolls to take cover or use evasive maneuvers, with Sten's jacket getting singed by enemy fire in the process. Following the enemy salvo of particle fire, M1911pulled out and chucked an M18 smoke grenade at the drones, grinning as the Sangvis' weaker cameras were quickly obscured by the thick smoke as it spewed from the canister. As their shots went haywire, she and her team quickly fired into the smoke with a marker on each enemy unit aiding their fire, destroying four more Prowlers and shredding a Scout in the process.
Then as the smoke cleared up to show them their handiwork, a pair of powerful blue-toned particle bolts ripped cleanly through M1911's shoulder and sent her tumbling to the ground.
"Boss!"
"M1911!"
Surprised by the sudden turn of events, the HG yelled sharply in pain as she hit the pavement, clutching her damaged shoulder and cursing loudly as fresh pain lanced through her short frame. She then forced herself into an upright crouched position, picking her dropped namesake pistol up and sparing a look over her cover to see a pair of T-Dolls with dark purple and pink-streaked hair, red eyes that were covered by pink visors, and pale skin approaching them.
They wore dark violet leotards with very long cleavage windows that revealed their stomachs a little and hexagonal attachment points for armor plates on the cups, steel-grey and purple gauntlets with grey, clawed gloves, sleek, steel-grey robotic legs that promoted mobility and bore a lightstrip going down the fronts of their thighs, and wielded two bulky, bullpup-style SMGs— two SMGs that had just perforated her shoulder.
Wait a fucking minute, Rippers?!
"Commander, we've got Rippers on the field!" the blonde reported in surprise, the lack of intel about the CQC-class Sangvis Dolls rearing its head.
"Rippers?! There weren't supposed to be any Doll units there!" the Commander yelled.
"Well, they're here, and I'm hit!" she shot back, grunting as her shoulder throbbed painfully.
"Damn it! How bad is it?"
"Just my shoulder!"
"That's a relief."
Soon, AK-47 hurriedly joined M1911 in her cover spot, pulling out a repair kit from her waist-mounted bag and pulling her leader's blue jacket off with her off-hand, revealing her crimson-stained sleeveless shirt and a pair of nasty burn holes.
"Hold still." she instructed as the HG squirmed in her hold. "This isn't too bad, but it could've been worse."
"Since when were you medical-certified?" said HG snarked with her longtime subordinate.
"Since I was the only one who thought to grab a repair kit."
Not allowing her leader to get another snark off, the AR Doll unbuttoned M1911's shirt and peeled the left shoulder off, revealing that aforementioned nasty pair of plasma-burnt holes in full, as well as the fact that they were leaking bloodred coolants at a steady pace. Acting quickly, she pulled out some kind of grey, foam-containing canister from her repair kit and placed the red nozzle in each hole, sealing them up and earning a loud yelp from her patient as the foam stung at her wounds.
"Damn, that hurts!"
"Sorry about that. Fuck, this shouldn't have happened in the first place..." AK-47 apologized as she grabbed some bandages— just as MP5 screamed a warning at them to get down.
"They've got grenades! Watch out!"
Just as the words left her mouth, a powerful explosion impacted their cover, causing AK-47 to quickly position herself to shield M1911 from the resulting shrapnel as best as she could. Thankfully, the concrete barrier held, and the two Dolls exhaled in relief as the smoke dissipated.
"Okay, that should do it until we get back to base." AK-47 told her patient after carefully wrapping her bandages around her shoulder.
As she replaced her clothes, the HG looked back at FN-49, who was firing back at the Rippers while being covered by the SMGs, who worked double time to keep a group of freshly-deployed Scouts from overwhelming her.
Speaking of the SMGs, she hoped that they weren't going to get hurt like she had been.
Tactical Doll MP5
Having been distracted by her leader's injury long enough to be blindsided by her, MP5 narrowly managed to dodge a powerful kick from one of the Rippers, shooting her in the torso with a long burst of 9x19 Parabellum rounds and destroying her instantly, purple-black oils spilling out of the holes in the process.
As the Ripper fell dead to the grassy grounds away from the fountain, the SMG Doll then saw a trio of Scouts flying in a circle around an annoyed Sten's head, forcing the Brit to spray and pray wildly just to be able to hit them. Given the risk the blonde had of being overwhelmed by the enemy, the white-haired Doll quickly raised her namesake weapon to her shoulder and fired the rest of her magazine at the drones, destroying two of them and allowing FN-49 to finish the last one off with a single shot to its side.
"Watch out!"
Heeding the warning, MP5 quickly activated her energy shield device just in time, effortlessly deflecting a burst ot particle weapons fire from the last Ripper. Rolling away from her as her shield turned off, she reloaded her SMG and fired at the Sangvis Doll, groaning as she evaded her shots.
Looking at her wounded leader's position, the tiny Doll then saw that M1911 and AK-47 were on the move, with the former on her feet again and both women firing blindly at the last enemy unit in the area. In response, the Ripper automatically took cover behind the water fountain, dodging their shots before blind firing at the AR and HG to try and hit them. Running at her top speed to reach the two mobile Dolls, the loli quickly held her arms out and projected her shield in a hexagonal-patterned wall just as it recharged, blocking the bolts fired in her direction again and saving her friends in the process.
If she didn't know better, then she'd say that the Ripper had just swore at her.
But as the Sangvis left cover to get a better position, a single 7.92 Mauser round penetrated her helmetless head, splattering the grass and asphalt with her oils as she fell to the ground like a marionette with her strings cut.
"I did it!" a jubilant FN-49 then cheered, emerging from her cover with a smile on her face as her rifle's barrel emitted smoke from the shot that had struck the hostile android down.
Tactical Doll FN-49
"Commander, the area's secure, and M1911's safe." FN-49 reported, looking back to the Ripper she killed pridefully.
"Thank God. I thought I'd have to get her extracted out of there. Anyways, forget securing the whole area, just go for the Command Post and destroy it." the man replied quickly.
"Y-yes sir."
"Fortunately, there's only one more patrol to deal with before you reach the Command Post, but it's got Rippers in it, so you should still be careful and go around them. Commander Becker out."
As the comms link was cut, the Rifle found and approached her leader before she repeated what the Commander had told her.
"Alright. Any more hostile Tactical Dolls?" the HG asked her with a strain to her voice, the crimson fluids staining her shoulder a haunting reminder why.
"Oui. Just a few Rippers, though..."
"Got it, we'll just go around them. Anyways, let's get moving, ladies! We've still got some Sangvis ass left to kick!" the blonde then yelled as she got up onto her feet again, her spirit not diminished one bit even as she nursed her shoulder.
Commander Ian Becker
Station 794 Command Room
After marking doen the results of the last firefight that went down, Ian looked back at the blue-toned 3D map projected on the holotable, watching ghe dots that represented Echelon One as they proceeded towards the Command Post as planned, despite having a wounded Doll among their numbers, and frankly, it worried him quite a lot that one of his Dolls were already wounded just on his second operation, and that the intel Helian provided him was wrong. Since when were there Rippers in an area of the city that had the weakest Sangvis presence?!
"Worried about them?" Kalina asked sympathetically, placing a comforting hand on Ian's shoulder.
"Yeah. It's only my second mission, and I've already got a Doll wounded. Not to mention, I completely forgot to account for there being Doll units in the area, even if there weren't supposed to be any. I know you told me that I'm capable of leading them, but honestly... I don't feel like it." he confessed to the young woman with a sigh. "I've never been a leader before, and it's showing."
"It wasn't the same for him, but he still felt out-of-place here." she commented, causing him to turn her way and raise an eyebrow.
"What are you talking about?" the Commander asked her quietly, her vagueness bothering him a bit.
"Our old Commander. He was an infantryman like you were during the war, but over there, he didn't have to worry about losing anyone he cared about whenever a Doll died, because they were simply machines he had no reason to care about, and in the beginning, he had that mindset, too, which made him feel oh-so off-put when he saw how humanely the Dolls were being treated compared to the Soviet Army." the ginger explained to him calmly. "But as time went on, and he spent more time around them, suddenly, he started caring for the Dolls, and he was no longer able to bring himself to send them on suicide runs against the enemy."
My predecessor sounds a lot like Hsu from the academy...
"But this is different, Kalina. I'm not off-put by them because I once saw them as inhuman, and I quite like them, frankly, so it hurts to see them get shot up out there. It doesn't help that I've seen so many of my friends get torn apart back in the War..." Ian shuddered as he remembered seeing the broken and bloodied bodies of the aforementioned brothers-in-arms throughout the war, their agonized expressions burned into his mind for eternity and their last words (if they didn't die immediately) an eternal memory he could never shake off.
"But..." he stressed the word as he held his hand up to prevent Kalina from speaking, "despite what happened in that hellscape, I won't let it hold me back. I may have not been able to save many of my fellow soldiers, but I'll be damned if I let those who are under my command die as long as I can help it."
It was such a simple statement, but it seemed to make the ginger-haired woman happy either way, a small smile curling at her face as she faced him.
"That's the spirit, sir." she told him. "But you can't save everyone, you know."
"Yeah, I do know that. But from now on, I won't be so careless."
"Commander, we've found the Command Post, directly within the city hall!" Sten reported over the comms, disrupting his concersation with Kalina.
Reacting quickly, Ian turned his attention to the holotable to see the five green dots of Echelon One on the very edges of the hostile Command Post node in the City Hall, with about seven blue dots southwest of their position and a whole lot of red dots north of their position.
Those must be the damaged Dolls I need to get extracted... he noted in his head.
"You know the drill. Blow it up and--"
"Oh, no! They're attacking the wounded Dolls!" the British Doll exclaimed, cutting him off.
"Scrap those bastards right the fuck now! If those Dolls die, this mission's scrubbed!" he shouted into the comms device.
"Understood!"
Tactical Doll M1911
Seredyna-Buda City Hall
"Miss M1911, those Dolls are in danger! Our orders are to destroy the ones attacking them before they die!"
Crouched low inside of a destroyed building of sorts, M1911 carefully primed a scavenged RGD frag grenade and prepared to throw it, aiming at the numerous Prowlers stationed in front of the target building, firing at some unseen targets west of their position. Likewise, AK-47 pulled a Molotov and her lighter out, aiming at another group of Prowlers that also contained a Ripper.
"On my mark, throw your ordnance and light those fuckers up." the blonde HG ordered over the comms, cocking her arm back while AK-47 lit one of her Molotov Cocktails with her bullet-shaped lighter.
Meanwhile, FN-49 was stationed behind the engine block of a red car sat outside their building, aiming at the Ripper closest to the VIP Dolls' position while MP5 checked her shield generator for damage and Sten prepared a proper incendiary grenade, aiming at yet another group of Prowlers in front of the Command Post as one particular bearing explosives on its frame rolled out of it towards the VIPs' shelter.
"Mark!"
Upon hearing their leader's command, the three grenade-carrying Dolls threw their grenades at once, with their explosive ordnance landing dead-center in the crowds of Sangvis and exploding at once, either blowing them to pieces or setting them on fire, opening them up to easy kills by the SMGs as they targeted them. Upon noticing them, the leading Ripper quickly turned her attention to the Echelon to fire on them— only to get her head perforated by FN-49, and to their fortune the suicide Prowler was prematurely destroyed by M1911's grenade, removing the threat to the wounded Dolls. However, the other three Rippers expertly dodged her fire, and the Command Post CPU sent a group of Scouts towards their position to attack them.
"You two, draw their fire!" the HG ordered the SMGs, firing on the enemy with just one pistol due to her left shoulder's damages preventing her from utilizing dual-wielding effectively.
"Ja, gnädige Frau!"
"Yes, ma'am!"
Complying with her order, the SMGs ran out the building and into the street, darting around the Scouts and drawing their fire as FN-49 downed them with well-placed shots, causing the remaining Sangvis to shift their attention towards her and force the SMGs to have to divert their attention again, the back-and forth cycle annoying them.
"Shit, we gotta nip this in the bud. Commander, got a plan to get to the Command Post?
"Affirmative. Your best bet for reaching it would be to use the line of buildings west of your position to go around the main enemy force." the Commander recommended to her. "Then go north and slip into the target structure, but be mindful of potential traps."
"Roger that. AK, on me." she ordered.
Emerging from cover, the two Dolls fired off a couple potshots at the enemy before jumping through the window of their building, quickly jumping through the next window and landing in the storefront within and repeating the process, jumping through its window and hopping into the next building in front of them.
Unfortunately, this one was populated by a trio of Rippers, who wasted no time in opening fire on them and hitting M1911 again with a shot below her collarbone. Thankfully for her, a special armor plate designed to stop handheld directed energy weapons was seated in her— and all non-Rifle Dolls'— torsos, allowing her to tank the shot with no long-term consequences. The pain was certainly still there, though, a burning pain lancing through her as she stumbled and fell behind a counter of sorts with a yelp.
This did not bode well with AK-47, who immediately charged the Ripper who shot her and lunged forth with her bayonet-fitted rifle, repeatedly ramming the sharp blade into the Ripper's chest and piercing her Core again and again, coating the AR in copious amounts of purpleish oils from the other damage she did as her enemy was mutilated.
"That was for 1911!" she yelled, before she swept the second Ripper off her feet and impaled her in the throat, spilling more fluids onto herself. "And that was for A-91!"
M1911, on the other hand, quickly shot past the last Ripper into the next building, leading the hostile on a miniature wildgoose chase through the bookstore she landed in that led to her getting caught in a bear trap of all things on the second floor— a trap laid by a pack of scavengers, no doubt.
As the Ripper took a knee to pry the bear trap open (as Sangvis Dolls had the strength to do so,) the wounded HG took aim and wasted no time in dumping her silver pistol's magazine into the Doll's Core and head, killing her instantly and splattering the bookstore's second floor and bookshelves with coolant/oil splatter.
As AK-47 provided cover fire for her teammates down below, M1911 dropped to the ground floor, then jumped out the window, running behind the enemy forces outside and entering the Command Post through its front door, kicking down a Ripper stationed inside before executing her with a headshot from her black pistol.
Reloading her silver one, the Doll immediately activated her built-in night vision lenses to see clearly in the dark, red-lit room— albeit with a green tint, quickly seeing a squarish computer module on the floor— along with a lit up rectangular terminal next to it, causing her to approach it with the hope of securing some intel and tap it, bringing up a system menu with a red-tinted login screen.
"Great."
I'm not getting into this thing. Whelp, time for the original plan.
Preparing her homemade explosives, M1911 turned to grab the bag containing it off her waist— before she saw a set of unused C4 charges in an opened black crate, complete with a detonator, and she cracked a toothy grin at the sight of it.
"Oh, hell yeah!"
Picking the C4 charges up, she quickly began placing them on all of the building's support beams, the computer terminal in the rooms, and the command module (the computer box) itself, not stopping until there were so many explosives on it the United States Marine Corps would no doubt be proud of her for it.
When she was all done, she quickly ran out of the building and past the thinned Sangvis formations, hiding behind a grey semi truck with the detonator in hand.
"Blowing it!"
Upon making the callout, the HG pressed the button on the detonator— and the repurposed structure next to the city hall building combusted instantly, the C4 Sangvis had to use causing an even more powerful explosion than the homemade bomb she originally had would have done, albeit with less of a fireball and a lot more dust. At once, however, the Sangvis units all entered a dormant state, collapsing onto the concrete without anything to direct them and allowing Echelon One's members to leave their cover spots and execute the dormant hostiles.
"Command Post destroyed, Commander!" she then reported over the comms. "It's safe to extract those Dolls now!"
"Great work, 1911. I'll contact HQ and get an extraction chopper over there." the Commander replied.
"Good. I'm beat, and my shoulder's killing me— goddamn it!" the blonde suddenly yelled, sitting down behing the truck she used for cover as her shoulder sound started hurting again, the lack of simulated adrenaline meaning she now felt her injuries' pain completely.
"Uhh, duly noted..."
Commander Ian Becker
Station 794 Command Room
Watching as the red Command Post on the map turned blue once more, Ian exhaled in relief after hearing Echelon One's leader verbally confirm the Command Post's destruction, happy that the mission was still carried out successfully. Of course, he did have faith in the Dolls' abilities, but he was honestly a little scared for them after M1911 was shot— twice in a row, to boot.
Watching as the Dolls celebrated their victory in real time via their live feeds, Kalina also let out a sigh of relief, placing a gloved hand on her chest as she let out a breath she didn't know she was holding, the action drawing his eyes to her pretty face as she looked back to him and noticed his glaring.
"What?"
"It's nothing." the Commander assured her, going to take a sip of coffee— only for nothing to enter his mouth when he tipped the cup over.
Looking into the cup, he swore upon confirming his cup was empty, a grumble escaping him as a result. Looking back to Kalina, he carefully passed his cup to her to tell her to make him some more coffee.
"Kalina, please go make me another cup of coffee." he requested calmly.
"Yes, sir." she replied, turning to leave the room and follow his order, the sway of her hips as she walked catching his eye just like her cute face had. Shaking his head as the door shut behind the Slavic beauty, Ian pulled up the call menu of the holotable and dialed Helian to report his success. Within two rings, the grey-haired woman answered, her blue-toned hologram shown sitting in a chair this time as she pored over a tablet.
"Hello, Commander." she greeted him cordially. "I trust that you have good news."
"The extraction point's clear, ma'am. All Sangvis units have been eliminated and there are no other hostile elements in the AO." he replied calmly, causing his boss to nod approvingly.
"Well done, Commander. I'm sending a pair of UH-60s to pick them and your own forces up." she told him next.
"Understood. Ma'am, I need a favor."
"What is it?"
"My base is in serious disrepair, and we need some extra funds to get the ball rolling on actually fixing it, so do you have anything to spare?" he requested, remembering the state of the Station he was assigned to.
Thankfully, after a moment of quiet deliberation, Helian nodded at him, accepting his request.
"I'll send some more funds your way, but if you use them for anything other than repairing your base, then we'll both be in trouble."
"You don't have to worry about that." Ian reassured her, his discipline from the Army days ensuring he wouldn't even think of such a thing— but only if it was towards his own side. The enemy was always fair game, of course.
"Good."
Although he was planning to sign off, there was something about his mission that was bothering him a bit.
"Ma'am, what did those wounded Dolls have that was important enough for Sangvis to specifically target them?"
"It's classified, but if it checks out, then it will mean all-out war between us and Sangvis Ferri. And before you ask, that includes your base as well." Helian replied seriously, the thought of eastern Ukraine becoming a warzone four times in a row one he didn't like all that much.
"I expected to hear that." he told her even, about to speak again, but just like the second time Helian called him, a ping sounded off from behind the senior officer and caused her to turn around to look at whatever console was behind her.
"Is it anything serious?"
"No. It's just HQ wondering if those Dolls are on the way. Is there anything else you want to ask me?"
"No, ma'am."
"Then I'll see you later, Commander."
As the words left her mouth, Helian's hologram suddenly phased out of existence, leaving the Commander alone in the blue-lit room again to process what he just heard from the Senior Officer— only for comms to turn on and AK-47 to show up as the speaker in the picture next to the comms overlay.
"Hey, Boss, we just found another stray Griffin Doll!" she reported, causing him to sigh to himself before replying to her.
"Where'd you find her?"
"She was one of the bandits' prisoners, but Sangvis scared the cowards off before they could do anything to her. She's very glad to see us, though." the AR replied to him.
"Who is it?"
"An FNC Doll, sir. I'd be buying a lot of chocolate from now on if I were you."
Naturally, the rookie Commander was quite familiar with FNC Dolls, having been given the 3-star AR a lot in the academy sims. She was pretty good in combat and easy to train/upgrade, but she went through chocolate bars like they were water, which may or may not become a problem in the future, and many had a habit of fleeing before an order to retreat was given.
"Bring her with you. We've got the room for it." he told her calmly, knowing that his need of troops outweighed whatever little problems (as long as this one wasn't a coward) said troops had.
"Got it. Do s'vidania."
Tactical Doll AK-47
"I just talked to my Commander, and he's willing to take you in, pipsqueak."
The FNC Doll that was stood in front of a Sangvis coolant-coated AK-47, who had braided blonde hair with light blue eyes, a small stature, and white and brown clothes, let out a cheer in response to her words, before taking a chocolate bar from a crate of that was sat next to her, opening the wrapper up and chomping into it almost immediately.
"Thank you! I don't know what I would have done if you weren't around!" she yelled to her in thanks, her voice also French-accented but distorted by the food in her mouth.
"Probably get raped, die a horrible death, get scrapped for parts by assholes for the black market." the AR replied bluntly— causing FNC to nearly drop her chocolate bar and stare at her with widened, fearful eyes. "Not that this will happen to you anymore, seeing as we're standing here talking."
Meanwhile, as the helicopter came in to pick the wounded up, the Russian simply decided to take some of the bandits' vodka from a second crate they had and add it to her stash, leaving the dark and dusty room with FNC in tow and the vodka stored safely in the back.
As the light of the flames outside the City Hall and the sunlight shined onto her frame, she looked down to see the rest of her Echelon escorting various different wounded Griffin Dolls onto one of the first of two UH-60 Blackhawk helicopters, most of them bearing very serious injuries as a result of some heavy engagement. In fact, she could even see that half of one's face was blown off, leaving the Doll in a very obvious critical condition.
"Through early morning fog, I see... visions of the things to be... the pains that are withheld for me... I realize and I can see..."
As the blonde AR approached her team, she could hear an old American song playing in the helicopter, but she didn't know what it was as she grabbed ahold of one of the Dolls to lift them into the helo. However, the lighter-injured Ingram MAC-10 and M1911 seemed to know it, making comments on it as the latter moved her own wounded Dolls.
"Is that Suicide is Painless?" the Ingram asked as the HG hefted an L85A1 Doll onto the helo.
"Holy crap, it is."
"...suicide is painless, it brings on many changes..."
"How fitting." she then muttered to herself, helping the Ingram onto the helicopter, then lifting a very "saintlike" M14 Doll up, staining herself in crimson coolants in the process as the near-dead Doll was transported onto the Blackhawk.
"...and I can take or leave it if I please..."
The helicopter door shut after she was loaded on, and with the confirmation that every VIP was on-board, the aerial vehicle's rotors quickly picked up speed, lifting it off the ground as it began its ascent and took off for Griffin HQ, with their own extraction helo landing in its place soon afterwards, the coolant layer that coated her skin feeling especially cold as the wind cast by the rotors touched it.
Looking around the city hall, she couldn't help but take note of how familiar this was to her, and soon, the sunlit city hall of Seredyna-Buda was replaced by the moonlit burning ruins of Station 794, where Griffin HQ's forces transported their dead and critically wounded Dolls to HQ proper and the human casualties were given burials by the survivors, rescue teams working double-time to save anyone buried in the rubble and mop up enemy stragglers.
"AK, you there?' M1911 asked gently, getting her friend's attention and causing her to turn around, seeing the numerous injuries that marred her frame as well as her concerned expression— then her Digimind's eye immediately shifted to a shot of her being struck down by a team of Rippers in front of her.
"Yeah, I'm there." she replied stiffly, shaking the flashback away walking towards their own Blackhawk sluggishly as the recently-completed mission replayed in her head and one mantra repeated itself again and again.
You almost let her die again...
Getting onto the opened-up helo, she then accepted FN-49's hand and allowed herself to be pulled, before she robotically sat down onto a seat and sank her head into her hands. Naturally, this drew her Echelon's attention even as they shut the door and the Blackhawk took off for Station 794.
"Hey, are you doing alright?" her leader asked, concerned for her.
"I'm good." she lied, leaning up looking out the window with a very uncharacteristic forlorn expression on her face.
"Somehow, I highly doubt that." was the reply given.
"Don't fuck with me, okay?"
The sudden snap at her friend made her rear back a bit, but she complied with her request as the helo left the city proper, leaving AK-47 alone to replay the events of the Station 794 attack in her head— or rather, her greatest failure of all.
This took a lot of time to write, so I hope it's good enough to be worth it.
I'm contemplating adding Shi Jun and Kamalov from the manga to this, as they're some of the better parts and I want this to be different from other fics. Don't worry, the game version of Ian meeting Kryuger still happens.
Suicide is Painless is the theme song of the movie M*A*S*H, and despite the fact that it was meant to be the "stupidest song ever written," it's a song that glorifies the freeing aspects of a terrible thing: suicide. Unfortunately, around Vietnam War times, it was often better to kill yourself than get captured by the Viet Cong.
I'll see you all next chapter.