Night had at last fallen over Chernivtsi as the G&K marked Humvee rolled to a stop in a curbside parking spot. The engine died with a chuff, and the headlights then flicked off a moment later.
After unbuckling her seatbelt, Rs popped her door open and hopped down to the ground, boots fighting for grip on the icy sidewalk. Her first breath outside the vehicle filled her lungs with the first taste of the night's frigid air.
"This is the place?" She asked PPD, looking back to see the doll coming around from the driver's side of the Humvee.
"Da," She answered. "The block on the left."
The apartment block PPD referred to was one of a quartet of identical buildings, all of them tall, bland towers built around a courtyard with only a single sad tree in the center.. They were originally constructed to be high-density housing, part of a big political push in the city some years back to drive down rent, but now they stood rotting, likely with the only maintenance and upkeep done by its owners a yearly inspection that the buildings always passed. The concrete was chipped and cracked across its surface, a few of the lower floor windows were boarded up and the mismatch of doors, lights, and states of repair made it clear the residents did most of the work themselves.
"Not sure what I was expecting…" Cano mumbled, coming up beside Rs. "What are we looking for?"
"Mercs," Rs answered. "They go by the name 'Task Force 404'. If anyone still in this city may know where that second doll wound up, it'll be them."
"Mercenaries?" Cano asked. "Are we sure we want to deal with them?"
"You know, Cano, you're technically a mercenary too."
"Yes but… I'm an official one?"
"If they know where Sop is, I don't care," M4 concluded, beginning a march in the direction of the block - snow, wind, and cold be damned.
The trio watched her go before Rs cleared her throat to speak. "PPD, check that she knows where she's going, please. And make sure she doesn't do anything stupid."
"Cyka… on it," PPD cursed under breath.
Cano and Rs trailed behind as the blonde doll raced on after M4, disappearing into the whirling snow and darkness within moments. "Why were you so hesitant to come here?" Cano asked as they approached the looming block.
Rs sighed. "Because I shouldn't know about them."
"Hmmm?" Cano hummed.
"Helian uses them every now and then. Let's just say that the commander and I stumbled upon one of her calls with them."
Confusion was written across Cano's face, and it seemed like she wanted to ask further. However, just as she opened her mouth, Rs cut her off. "It's probably best that we leave it at that."
Cano exhaled slowly, acquiescing to Rs' request. "Do you think they'll help us?"
"Only one way to find out. I'm hoping that cash will smooth things over."
"How much did you bring?"
"Enough, hopefully."
"If not?"
Rs' hand went to her side, where just under her jacket a pistol was holstered. "It gets complicated."
"It's never easy with you, huh?"
"Huh?"
Cano groaned, and began to pick up speed, trotting after M4 and PPD.
A few minutes later, Rs found all three inside on the second floor, huddled around the corner from their destination's front door. Rs was pleased to see M4 had restrained herself from breaking the door down on sight, though the tension in the doll's body made her wonder whether that still was entirely off the table.
In any case, Rs stepped past the trio and approached the door in question.
It was a simple wooden door, set into concrete like every other door in the hall. Compared to the others it was in decent condition: no obvious patches had been made to its surface, and its peephole still had its cover glass.
Rs knocked at the door twice, then took a couple steps back and raised both hands high enough to be seen through the peephole. Behind her, the three dolls reached their hands into their coats, just in case of a fight.
After a few moments, the door creaked open, swinging heavy on sticky hinges to reveal someone she was not expecting.
He was a short young man, about nineteen or so, with ink-black messy hair that looked like it hadn't been washed in a week, fragile pale skin, and shockingly blue eyes. He was wearing a light yellow jacket over a dark t-shirt; Heating must be faulty, Rs thought. The man was leaning out of a half-open door and looked annoyed. He appraised Rs and the rest before addressing them.
"Can I help you?" he asked, his voice terse.
Rs furrowed her brow. "Uh, 404?"
That only raised suspicion, the young man's eyes narrowing. "Who's asking?"
"Griffin."
There was a brief, tense moment where it looked like he might go for a concealed gun or prybar hidden behind the door. With resignation he sighed and pulled the door open the rest of the way. "Damn it," he muttered under his breath. "Come in."
The group stepped inside. PPD's head swiveled around; what seemed like hundreds of cords and cables slithered and snaked across every conceivable surface of the room to dozens of monitors, hard drives, power strips - there were even a few CD drives lying about on the floor. "This reminds me of Damek's," she said. Rs was unsure whether it was meant as a compliment or an insult.
Cano paused beside her when they heard a vaguely familiar crinkling sound underfoot. Looking down, Cano frowned in disgust. Empty snack wrappers and drink cans were scattered here and there on the floor, clustered in concentrations around particular monitors or devices. "Uffa, only much messier."
The young man took a seat in a raggedy computer chair on the far side of the room. Next to him, lying atop a tangle of optical cables on a desk, was a black handgun, illuminated by the glow of a monitor. "UAS RW2," he stated matter-of-factly with his eyes on PPD. Then they turned to Cano. "And a UAS CW2-I. And a model I don't recognize," he said; for the first time since they had knocked on the door, he seemed interested, leaning forward as his gaze pried at M4. "Something new from Svarog, maybe?"
M4 was plainly uncomfortable with the question, taking a nervous step away without dropping an unblinking stare at him.
"That's none of your business," Rs butt in, getting between M4 and the young man.
"Who are you? " He said, raising an eyebrow.
"RS9, and you are?" Rs questioned, stomping on an empty potato chip packet as she got closer to the young man.
"Dier," he answered, eyes narrowing slightly. "You're also a doll?"
"Mhmm," Rs hummed. She made a show of looking around the messy apartment, as if looking for someone that wasn't readily apparent. "Are you a part of 404?"
"Not really."
"Then what are you to them?"
"I'm just the 'wrench monkey'," He answered, making air quotes with his fingers.
"Their mechanic?"
"That's the nice way of saying it."
"Where are 404 then?"
Dier shrugged. "Dunno." He spun around his chair's axis before kicking off a nearby wall and rolling over towards the messy desk in the corner of the room.
"Do you know when they'll be back?"
"Nope."
"Do you know anything about where my sister might be?" M4 blurted out, taking a step towards him.
"Why would I?" Dier answered, looking at M4 as if she were stupid for even considering it..
"Tch," M4 grit her teeth. "Because she may have been sold on the black market in town. Something you should know about."
"Black market…" Dier paused for a moment, before turning back to the group with a cocky grin. "Never heard of something like that. Good luck though, I'm suuure you'll find her."
"Eh!" M4 cried. "You must know something, don't you!?"
Dier shrugged, maintaining a shiteating grin. "Whaaat, me? No, I don't know anything."
He and M4 went on like that for a little while longer, but Rs was done listening. She knew what this was really about now. She offered a tired shrug to Cano beside her, then cleared her throat to interrupt the two bickering parties. "How much?"
The statement stopped the two in their tracks, and they wore matching looks of confusion.
"Ehhhh, let's say… 200K for an address and the name of someone who may know something. Fair?" Dier said, swallowing as he recovered.
Rs rolled her eyes, but nodded. Secretly, that was way less than she was expecting, less than a third, but there was no way she'd let him know that. Better to allow Dier to think he was the one scamming her.
"Hehe. I don't take card, you know."
Rs grunted. "Don't get cute with me, kid." She turned around and began counting bills, not wanting Dier to know just how much she had on hand. As she did, she caught PPD and Cano staring at her, faces mixed somewhere between confusion and concern.
She, though, was smiling.
"All good," she messaged quietly on comms.
"You're sure?" Cano asked.
"Trust me," she said, winking at Cano.
Rs thumbed through her stack of Soviet Roubles at an unconcerned pace, double checking her math. The less than pleasant face of a Soviet war hero eyed her with a disapproving glare, but she eyed him right back with a glare of her own. When she hit 200K, she thumbed off the set of bills and carefully stuffed the rest into her jacket pocket.
"Here," she said, turning back and offering the wad. Dier went to grab it, but she pulled back just out of the reach of his grubby little mitt.
"What?" he asked, the confident mask he wore slipping again.
"Address and name?" she said, smiling coyly.
Dier paused, composing himself before replying. "Ah, uh, right."
The young man spun around, opening drawer on his desk with an unpleasant metal-on-metal screech, then withdrew a small business card. This he handed to Rs, though only after taking a short glance at it as if trying to commit the information to memory.
Rs took the card and squinted as she turned it over in her hand. It was a simple design, mere bold font words on a white card stock, and claimed to be for a private barber shop at a listed address. "PPD, are you familiar?" Rs asked, handing the card to the doll.
"Hmmm, yes…" the doll answered. "Not too far from here, but this is a bar if memory serves."
"It's… above the bar," Dier added, looking uncomfortable. The young man's eyes looked away from Rs, towards the ground.
"Is there something you're not telling us?" Rs asked him, taking a step in his direction.
"I - ehhhh," Dier began, "no, no. It's an apartment above the bar she's talking about. The Barber shop is a front, I guess..."
"Huh." Rs was inclined to believe what he was saying, on the latter detail at least. He didn't strike her as a good liar anyway. The moxie he had been putting on before had felt too forced. She took note that he hadn't asked for the cash despite giving her the card. "Can I see that again?" Rs asked PPD, gesturing with a nod of her head at the card.
The doll handed it back to her without a word, and Rs in turn handed it back to him. Dier took it, and relief washed over his face.
"So, why do you have that?" Rs asked him, careful to keep her tone light.
Dier cleared his throat. "That's uh - none of your business."
"Can I make it my business for an extra 50k?"
Rs withdrew the amount from her pocket, feeling out the number of bills needed and adding it to the stack she still held.
Dier chewed on his cheek, looking around the room before then getting to his feet and walking over towards her. Rs waved the cash in the air in front of him, trying to entice him to take it. With a sigh of resignation, he snagged the bills from her hand. "Look, I - they hired me. To crack a high end IOP doll."
M4 gasped when Dier said that. For a split second Rs couldn't help but wonder why a doll would be programmed to do that.
"What kind?" M4 asked Dier, crossing her arms.
"Look I don't know. They didn't give many details, but they knew I might know how…"
"Why would they know that?"
Dier awkwardly glanced around the apartment, then gestured broadly to the repair table sitting in the corner of the room with stacks of doll components lying in boxes all around it.
Rs put two and two together and nodded. 404 needed to be connected to the underground to obtain supplies, which would be the same connection that Dier's job came through.
She put her hand to her chin. "Okay, fair enough. This doll, did they tell you how they got it?"
"No. But they said they'd never seen the model before, and that it has top of the line security systems."
"That must be her!" M4 exclaimed.
Rs shot M4 a glare that wilted the excitement that'd sprouted on her face.
"I dunno," Dier admitted. "Maybe."
"Okay," Rs nodded. "And when were you meeting them?"
"Twenty-two hundred."
Rs checked her watch. "So, two and a half hours, roughly?"
"Yes."
"Hmmm. Then we'll probably be seeing you there."
"Oh… They'll be suspicious…" Dier's jaw clenched. Rs could see there was real anxiety there about the idea, making her wonder what sort of people exactly they were now getting involved with. Perhaps he was inexperienced in dealing with underworld types, or maybe it was the opposite - that these people were bad enough to give someone familiar with black marketeers second thoughts about surprising them in any way.
Well, it really didn't matter much to her. However, keeping 404's mechanic alive might be a ticket to getting on their good side.
Rs gently smacked Dier on the shoulder. "Nope, you're gonna keep your date, and we're gonna go as well. However, we've never met, this talk never happened. Understand? We'll be arriving ahead of you. We'll probably still be discussing business when you arrive. Do your job. If it's our girl we'll handle the rest. If you don't show, your employer will be suspicious." Dier nodded nervously in response. "They'll question us, you keep your date and act like you don't know us. They won't think too much of you."
"Okay," Dier nodded, though in his voice Rs could hear that he wasn't entirely convinced.
Rs fished out her phone, and offered it to him. "Here, add your number. Worst case, give us a call. We'll bail you out if things get too tense." Dier quietly obeyed, but the anxiety weighing down on him lightened a touch as he handed her phone back, a new contact now displayed on the screen. Just 'Dier', to her slight disappointment he didn't give his last name, but it was enough.
Rs made her goodbyes, and she, M4, Cano, and PPD all made a hasty exit, regrouping on the ground floor of the apartment block. "Was that… wise?" PPD asked, breaking the silence as they assembled.
"Why not?" she asked.
"We can't trust him. He may sell us out," PPD grumbled.
"I doubt it. He doesn't seem like the type."
"What if you're wrong?" Cano questioned.
"We'll be fiiiiine," Rs answered, leaning over to give her a side hug.
Cano pushed her away. "I'm serious."
"Me too. He seems like a decent kid," Rs replied.
"Da… This place though," PPD began, "where we are going - it is in a strange part of town. There are rumors."
"What sort?" Rs asked.
PPD shook her head. "All kinds. Some are more outlandish than others. Gangsters, murders, even a vampire…"
"A bad part of town," Rs concluded.
"Da, certainly. Not a slum, but… seedy?"
"You take me to such wonderful places," Cano said with a mocking groan, nudging Rs.
Rs laughed the remark off, and her eyes drifted towards M4. The doll was deep in thought, eyes unblinking and staring off into space.
"M4," Rs said. M4's lashes fluttered, and she then turned her gaze to Rs. "What do you think? Keep going? I know you think it's her, but this is getting a bit more dangerous now, and we still don't know that this will lead us anywhere."
M4 responded with a shallow down-up with her head. "I couldn't live with myself if I stop now, before I know for sure. Please."
"Figured as much. Well then, let's get moving. Don't want to take too long."
Their final destination lay at the corner of a block, set in one of Chernivtsi's historic neighborhoods. It was a historic building, built of brick and marble with four stories reaching upwards from street level. Although the neighborhood was dark with only pockets of soft yellow light thrown off by street lamps, the apartment building resembled a Christmas tree in the way that each and every window emanated a warm glow.
"Do we have a plan?" Cano asked as the four of them approached, the doll tucking her chin into her coat to shield from the cold.
"Well, I'm going to go talk to them," Rs replied. "And you three will follow my lead."
"We're just going right in?" M4 asked.
"Yep."
"You really just love the direct approach, don't you?" Cano said. "If money and sweet talking don't work, are we shooting our way out?"
"Being direct works. Confidence is key," Rs chided her.
"If you say so…"
As they approached, the doors of the lower floor swung open, revealing a pair of drunken men stumbling out into the night, with music and laughter chasing them out the door. The pair paid the group of Dolls no mind as they passed by and headed down the street.
Rs walked up to the door with the dolls huddling around her and pressed in.
The bar was alive with patrons, with at least two dozen men sipping drinks and talking to each other, with some background music - an old nu-rock hit from the forties was playing through beat-up speakers. The place was older and well maintained, with rustic wooden furniture and hanging lights.
They were greeted by a bouncer behind a table, right beside the front door. He looked up at them with disinterest, gave them each a once over, and then sighed before standing.
"Evening. Can I help you?"
"Yes, actually. I was hoping you could point me in the direction of the owner, if they're here?"
The bouncer raised a curious eyebrow, and then slowly moved his gaze across the room towards the bar. There, the bartender met his gaze and briefly reached under the bar, before resuming drink service.
"Just a moment, please. Could you all extend your arms?"
Rs did as she was told, but first said "On my left side."
The bouncer frowned, and his hand slipped in her jacket and found her pistol within a moment. He cautiously unclipped the holster, and placed the weapon beside him on the table
"Anything else?"
Rs shook her head. "Not on me."
"Do the same," She added on comms.
Reluctantly the dolls informed the bouncer of where their respective sidearms were hidden under their clothing. When the bouncer got to PPD, however, she seemed especially reluctant.
"Um…" she began turning to Rs. "I-"
Rs looked towards PPD and gestured at the bouncer with her head. "Do it."
PPD sighed, slowly turned around, and took off her jacket.
To Rs' surprise, PPD had strapped her namesake weapon - an ancient wood-stocked submachine gun with an elongated box magazine sticking out just in front of the trigger guard - to her back beneath her coat. The bouncer seemed just as surprised by the weapon, but after a moment he took the machine gun carefully off the doll and stashed it alongside the others.
"How the hell have you been lugging that around all day?" Rs silently asked her, her face incredulous as she stared at the now blushing doll as she put her coat back on.
"I never leave the office without it…"
"Dolls?" The bouncer then asked, appraising the four of them.
"Why do you wanna know?" Rs replied. She was quite aware of how these people saw dolls, and was concerned that they may take a chance at easy profit.
"Just a security question."
"T-dolls," She hissed, narrowing her eyes to try and add an underlying threat to the admission.
"Then please don't try anything stupid. The boss will be with you shortly," the bouncer said in an even tone. The big man collected the weapons and placed them in a box behind the table, one which Rs noted was filled with more weapons than just their own.
There was an awkward minute of waiting by the door, with the bouncer paying them little attention and the bar's patrons equally disinterested in them.
After a little while a small group made their way into the bar, descending a stairway in the back of the room. There were five in total, four bodyguards and the person Rs presumed to be their boss. She couldn't make out much of the boss, but the guards were all tall, well armed, and wearing black suits with red shirts beneath. The only exception was a girl Rs presumed to be a doll, who despite being dressed similarly wasn't visibly armed.
"All right, what's this about?" their boss asked, pushing his way to the front of the crowd.
Rs had a response already on her lips as he appeared through his guards, ready to justify their presence and give a few thousand reasons why he should trust them.
Her words failed.
She recognized him. A slender man with a tattoo peeking up out of his shirt's collar and wrapping around his neck, with deep brown eyes and a fake welcoming smile. He wore the same clothes as his guards, but with the addition of a gold chain around his neck featuring a small twisting jewel at its center.
"Tepes?" she asked, her brow furrowing.
Recognition flashed across his face, for a split second the facade dropped, letting his true feelings show for just a moment. They were much the same as her own.
There was one brief moment of stunned stillness, before they each hastily composed themselves.
"Ah," he said, swallowing before continuing. "Old friend. How can I help you…?"
He eyed up her companions with a quick look of apprehension, no doubt already aware that they were dolls.
"You know him?" Cano asked on comms.
"Something like that."
Rs cleared her throat. "I'm here on business. We're looking to purchase a doll."
His eyes narrowed. "Is that so? This is not the place to do that."
"We have a specific one in mind; the one you have here. My associates would like to make an appraisal," she added, meeting his gaze.
Tepes was a careful man by nature. That was something she knew better than most. Acting in good faith with him would get her further in the matter at hand.
Rs carefully shoved a hand into her jacket pocket, felt around a little with her finger, and withdrew about twenty thousand roubles, which she handed to him. "Since we didn't make an appointment." The faintest hint of a knowing smirk flashed across her lips.
That was the key. Not the money, she suspected, but the fact that the way she offered it put a miniscule grin on Tepes' face. With a careful hand, he took the neatly folded wad, counted them out, and nodded.
"Take them up," he said.
With that, the guards gestured to the dolls around Rs to follow, and began leading them upstairs.
Rs didn't follow. Neither did Tepes. Instead, once the girls had disappeared from view, he gave a quick whistle, gaining the entire bar's attention in an instant.
"Out."
The simple command was uttered with an understated authority. The bar's patrons, the security, and even the barkeep all got up and filed out dutifully. Their exit was so smooth, in fact, Rs wondered if it was rehearsed. The only man left was the bouncer, who simply pulled out a pair of headphones while remaining at his station by the front door.
"So, tell me," Tepes began, taking a seat at the bar. "How have you been?"
There was an odd quiet that hovered over the man, something she was not used to with him and not the reaction she would've expected. Still Rs leaned against the bar two seats from him, tapped at the laminated surface with her fingernail, but did not sit down.
"Well enough, I suppose. Peace is nice."
"Hmph," Tepes chuffed, nodding. "It has its merits."
"What about you?"
"Well…" He sighed. "I've been keeping busy."
"I can see that." Rs managed a small laugh, gesturing with her hands to the room. As she did, she got up and made her way around the bar, not breaking eye contact with the man as she did.
"Yes. Our friend Danya has set himself up nicely in the government, which has its perks." Tepes' eyes followed her all the way around the bar, an obvious distrust still lingering in them as he observed her movements.
Danya was an old name she never thought she'd hear again. Another contact of theirs, a bureaucrat from the Neo-Soviet Union from back in the day who had a penchant for changing allegiances on a whim, typically to whomever had paid him the best and most recently. She'd assumed the Soviets would have uncovered his dealings by now and put him up against a wall.
Rs rummaged around beneath the bar, searching through the dozens of bottles, reading a few labels, before coming upon what she was looking for. It was an unlabelled old bottle, sealed with a makeshift stop and containing a viscous red liquid.
She then gathered a pair of glasses, poured ice in one, and then began filling both with the liquor. As she did, she noted that Tepes was watching her like a hawk, but his features seemed to be softening as she prepared the drinks.
"Oh, Danya huh? He hooked you up?" she said, handing him the glass of red alcohol without ice.
Tepes took a sip, nodding. "Indeed. I'm sure you can guess why, but he still owes me a few favors."
"Pfft, I bet. I should reach out sometime, see about calling in a few of my own."
"Don't be too hard on the poor man, he's a family man now."
There was a pause, quiet hanging between the two of them as they met eyes. Tepes' deep brown eyes soft and filled with reflected light. Slowly, the corners of Rs' mouth curled upward, before the pair burst into fitful giggles.
"What!?" she yelped, smacking her hand on the table as she laughed. "He's married!? Who!?"
"Some farm girl, but she could be his twin! I could hardly believe it at first. They looked exactly the same. And his kids!" Tepes exclaimed, a bright, toothy smile Rs recognized so well filling up the room.
"Noooooo…" she groaned in mock disbelief. "He's a father too? Oh, those poor children."
"Hahaha! Oh, they are little devils they are. His youngest kicked me in the shin once, and then started crying on the spot! Danya's wife came over to comfort them, and I couldn't tell who Danya was more scared of, me or her!"
"Ugh," Rs snorted, "children. My brother has a few now too."
"Oh dear, you're an aunt now?"
Rs drained her glass, and poured out another, a deep grin etched on her face.
"Yeah, never met them though."
"Oh, why not?"
"Busy busy busy. You know how it is."
"Ah, you must get out more. Perhaps adopt some of your own, start a family, settle down."
"Me, a mom? Have you lost your mind?"
"Well, if old Danya can manage, perhaps there's hope for the rest of us too."
"Heh." Rs stared at the dark red liquid in her glass, swirling it around. "You having much luck with that?"
"Oh, some," Tepes sighed wistfully, leaning back in his seat. "I've got my eye on someone."
"Oooohh," Rs cooed, and gently prodded his side with her elbow. "Who?"
"I know better than to tell you. If you two meet you might start telling stories about me."
Rs winked. "Damn right I will."
Tepes barked a laugh, a smile creasing his face into lines that felt far more familiar. He was a good ten years older, and it showed on his face despite some attempts to conceal it, but those lines were just the same as she remembered.
"Well what about you? Only fair that I be able to return the favor," he said as he tried catching his breath.
"Ah, not really. I've never had enough time for that stuff, you know."
"Still the same lonely heart are you? I might know someone who could fix that…"
"Hell no, I'm not interested in one of your scumbag friends." Rs rolled her eyes, and offered her glass to Tepes. The man raised his own, and with matching grins they clinked them together and continued on drinking.
They went another two rounds without much but small talk between them, giggling like school kids as they traded ribbings. Going for so long that the muscles in her jaw began to grow sore from the exertion.
"Mmm, this is good stuff," Rs cheered as she finished a glass. "Still your sister's?"
"Ah yes. She sends me a bottle every now and then."
"How is she?"
"Well enough. She's getting married soon to some yank."
"Good for her!" Rs cheered lightly.
"Pfft. I hate the man myself. I don't know what she sees in him."
"Maybe she likes him because he's nothing like you."
That earned a burst of laughter and yet another round of drinks from the pair.
As they spoke, there was a knock on the front door which got the bouncer's attention. Rs turned a careful side eye to see Dier entering with a backpack on. The bouncer thoroughly searched the kid and his bag, before directing him upstairs.
Rs turned away as he crossed the room, and as far as she could tell, Tepes didn't notice anything.
"So, what have you been so busy with then? Plotting something fun?" Tepes asked as he poured out another round.
"Mmm, nah. Those days are long over." Rs leaned back. "I work for G&K now."
"Ahhh," Tepes hummed. His smile didn't die, but Rs could tell he didn't like the answer.
"Yeah," she grumbled, taking a tentative sip from her glass. "I wasn't too sure about it when I started, but it's been good for me."
"Hmmph. Well - good for you I suppose, just never thought you'd put yourself under the Soviet heel."
"Oh please, you drama queen. I'm not under anyone's heel. I mean, I'm not exactly here to arrest you or anything," she said, raising her glass. "I'm actually here following a lead on something else."
"A lead?"
"Yeah. That doll I came in with, the brunette. We're searching for her sister model."
"And you think I have it? "
Rs shrugged. "Maybe. That doll you have upstairs might be her, might not."
"And she is up there making that determination as we speak?"
"I imagine."
"How did you find out about her?"
"Oh…" Rs began, rocking back on her stool as she tried to figure out how best to put it without implicating anyone. She didn't want to sell out any of the folks who'd helped her out today, least of all Dier. "We have eyes and ears… and money," she added, chuckling.
"Haha, I see. Interesting. Well, I suppose I should work on my security in any case. I can't have you Griffin types snooping around in my business."
Rs laughed the remark off, and went for another sip. As she did though, a thought struck her, and her lips were left hanging just a little bit off the glass.
"Tepes, what is it that you do here?"
"I run a bar."
"Shut up. I've had an idea."
Tepes nodded, and she could see the wheels turning in his head too. "All kinds of things. We buy and sell, find and distribute."
She nodded. "In that case, how about a little proposal? The Soviets keep what we can get limited. Ammo, weapons, dolls, vehicles, and intel all have to be approved by them. Normally it's fine, but lately we've been dealing with more heat than usual. The bureaucracy is too slow, and too restrictive for what we need."
"I see, interesting. You could pay for all this?"
"As needed," Rs shrugged. "As long as you don't mind taking Red money. It's one thing I don't really mind parting with."
"What about your boss? Berezovich Kryuger, isn't it? What's he think of this?"
"Nope," she shook her head. "My boss is a yank, he won't mind either. Kruyger won't know. This'll just be an arrangement with my division. Though I doubt he'd really care one way or another so long as we're not caught."
"Hmm. Does your division include the city?" he asked.
She nodded. "It does, technically. Our presence here is more ceremonial than functional. The blonde doll I was with works here. She's kind of our point of contact for folks in town."
"I have driven past the office, near Statesec's building. Correct?" He paused, waiting for some kind of reply.
She nodded in confirmation. "Problem?"
"Eh, not really. I'm actually a close friend of the Captain there."
"Of course you are."
"I think we can make something work. Cash only of course, deliveries we can work out per order. I don't mind dolls but it'd be best if our point of contact has no interest in selling us out."
Rs downed the rest of her alcohol. "I'm sure we can work with that. I'll consult with my boss."
Tepes finished his own glass and held it up to her. Rs raised her own, and the pair clinked them together.
"Pleasure doing business," Tepes said, offering her a hand.
"Always," She replied, taking the offered hand and delivering a solid handshake.
Tepes set his glass down, and then looked upwards. "I do already have a buyer lined up for that doll, by the way. They're due to be here in a little while."
"Who?"
He shrugged. "I don't know, they approached us not long after we acquired it. They offered quite a lot, and even more if we cracked it."
"I see…" Rs mumbled. "Well, if it's ours, I'm taking it, but I'll match their offer."
"Okay…" Tepes said, seeming a little happier. "Speaking of, they've been up there for quite some time. It shouldn't take that long to decide, right?"
Rs shook her head. "I wouldn't think so. Shall we go see what's up?"
Tepes snagged the now half-filled old bottle and replaced the homemade cap with care.
"Yes, let's go see."
As it turned out, the upstairs shop was in fact a barber shop, as advertised on the card Dier gave her. Rs could tell by the myriad of chairs, mirrors, scissors and razors present. It seemed to have been recently converted for the purpose of storing blackmarket dolls, with a few inactive ones lined up on the far wall.
As it also turned out, Rs' companions clearly could NOT be trusted to act like adults while unsupervised, as that same myriad of hair cutting equipment was presently being hurled back and forth across the room.
Cano, M4, and PPD were each huddled in cover, hurling objects at some of Tepes' men on the far side who were meeting them like for like. Dier was huddled in the far corner behind one of the barber chairs, laptop in hand half open with a long wire connected into some kind of coffin sized metal box in the middle of the room.
Said box was at the center of the unveiling conflict, and was serving as cover to both sides.
Rs and Tepes each stepped in, the latter exchanging an odd look to a man guarding the room standing just inside the door. He had a pistol on his hip, his arms crossed over his chest, and an unimpressed scowl on his face. He merely shrugged to Tepes in reply.
Rs gave Tepes a questioning look.
"Any idea what this is about?" He asked her.
"None," she sighed, trying to sober up. "Let's go kick their asses."
Rs closed her eyes, and summoned an old persona she'd once worn.
"WHAT DO YOU THINK YOU'RE DOING!?" she shouted, injecting as much bass into her voice as she could manage.
Rs stormed up to the dolls, placing herself in the line of their fire and getting right in all their faces. The sudden interruption froze all three of the girls, Cano herself mid-throw of a pair of clippers.
Rs ripped the clippers from her hand - and all the other projectiles the other dolls had been about to throw.
"ON YOUR FEET!" she roared.
All three promptly obeyed, the dolls coming to attention in a perfect line in front of her.
Behind her, Tepes was doing something similar with his men, though his was a softer, more venomous approach that his guard was backing up with a glare.
"EXPLAIN!" Rs demanded. She began marching up and down their line, her eyes narrowed to a glare as she stared each doll in the eye.
All three remained silent, and she was about to launch another round of inquiry when Tepes cleared his throat.
"Excuse me, my man says here that he knows you."
Rs paused mid stride, and turned on her heel to look.
Sure enough, she recognized the man in question almost immediately. It'd been several months, and they'd crossed paths only briefly, but she knew his face. Mostly because she'd nearly smashed it in with a steel pipe the night she'd first met Cano.
Rs stared at him for a moment, then at Tepes. "Seems I do."
"He also says that your girls here started it. That one," he pointed to Cano, "specifically."
She nodded. "Well that'd make sense. She and I actually met in what I suppose was YOUR chop shop."
Tepes' eyes narrowed, and briefly reappraised his man. "Is that what got your head smashed in?"
The man nodded sheepishly.
"If it's any consolation, it wasn't personal," she said to the man.
"What happened?" Tepes asked light-heartedly. "You messed up my man here pretty good. I've basically had him on medical since!"
"Well, you recall how many of our escapes went. This one wasn't too different."
"Oh yes - I heard, but why were you there?"
Rs offered her palms, arms outstretched. "You tell me. I don't remember."
"Hm." Tepes nodded. "Strange. Well, I can look into it. Your friend was there with you? I'll see about her too. We get dolls from all over, sometimes even from Griffin."
"I figured, but I appreciate it. Though speaking of…" Rs turned back to Cano. "Care to explain what that was about?"
Cano suddenly looked just as sheepish as Tepes' man. "We got into an argument… and it escalated."
"To throwing hair care products? I thought better of you. Of the THREE of you," she hissed, moving her glare between the three of them.
"Sorry Rs," Cano managed to choke out.
"I'm sure." She sighed, then looked towards M4. "So, is it her?" she asked, flicking her head towards the coffin she assumed was holding the doll in question.
M4 spoke with a slight tremble. "I don't know, I wasn't allowed to view her."
Rs groaned. "Tepes, may we?"
The man nodded to his guard, who revealed a set of keys he used to unlock the box. Slowly, the guard peeled open the lid, revealing a twisted mess of silver and black materials within, roughly in the shape of a doll.
M4 gasped as she noticed one of hands laying atop it. It was black and clawed, with hints of black fabric still stuck to the jagged metal endoskeleton and shredded synth muscle.
Rs leaned over as she watched her grip the doll's hand. Deeper within the box was the doll's head. Its skin and musculature was almost all gone, save for a small patch around one of her ruby red eyes.
A tear rolled down M4's face as she stared into her mangled sister's eye.
"I believe that settles that." Rs said in a low tone. "How much for the doll?"
"2.5 million was the buy price, plus another 100K for cracking."
"Mmm. Bit more than I have on hand. How's 800K sound up front, the rest pending me combing through my boss's wallet?"
Tepes groaned, hesitation in his voice. "The deal was cash up front."
"Well Tepes, you know me, you know I'm good for it. Plus if I stiff you I lose out on working with you in the future, and you know where I work."
"You're good for it? I seem to recall you owing me a hundred dollars still…"
Rs rolled her eyes. "I'll add that on top. Christ. I thought you'd forgotten," she muttered.
"Oh, I never forget something like that. Still, I assume you can access her systems directly, so I suppose I can take the charges for cracking her off."
Rs noted Dier suddenly looked crestfallen at the statement. She made a show of considering the offer, then looked over in the direction of Dier. "He the guy you hired to do that?"
"Yes."
"We can access her ourselves, but I'll pay to have him raise her to level I, if possible. I imagine this one -" she pointed to M4 - "...would appreciate it."
"Well that will work. Do you need help moving her?"
Rs glanced at M4, who in turn glanced back at Sopmod.
"No," M4 answered. "I can handle it."
Rs gestured towards Tepes, an unspoken agreement between the two. Dier began to get to work in earnest now that his paycheck was no longer at threat and the war had died down. As he did, Tepes began barking orders to his men to prepare for the sale, who in turn began dusting themselves off and moving around to obey his instructions
Rs made her way over towards Dier, and curiously peered over his shoulder.
"See, no problem," she muttered under her breath to him. "What's her state?"
The kid didn't take his focus away from the laptop for a second as he answered. "She's locked in Level III and reduced to essential core functions only."
"Battery?"
"The container has an APU installed, She will last another thirty hours if you need to move her," he replied. "She's 16Lab, this the one you're after?"
"Yeah, it seems so. Can she sustain Level I right now?"
Dier looked through the numbers on his screen for a moment and seemed to run some mental math before replying. "Ehh…she should be fine. Won't know for sure until I can get into her core systems though."
"Well, I'll enter the codes once you're ready."
"Right, one sec," he muttered.
Whatever programs he was running finally completed, and a login prompt appeared on the screen.
"M4, can you transmit Sop's access code, please?"
M4 replied immediately, the code reaching Rs' head and guiding her fingers as she tapped out the fifteen-digit-long code. The doll's head was still locked onto Sop inside the coffin, having barely moved. Beside her Cano and PPD were trying to comfort her, though their efforts were having little effect.
"There you are," Rs said on finishing.
Dier nodded enthusiastically and buried himself in his laptop. Rs tried to follow what he was doing, briefly, but when he started to pore over drivers and neural networking her brain began overheating.
Instead she made her way back over towards the dolls.
Cano noticed her approach before the others, and split off to meet her half way.
"Is she okay?" Rs asked at a hushed tone, nodding to M4.
"Yes, mostly," Cano replied. "But… she's hurting."
"Okay. What do you think I should do?"
Cano pursed her lips and turned to glance at M4. "Be respectful and quiet."
Rs nodded, and moved over to do just that. She asked M4 if she was okay, but didn't get much of a response. So, she instead turned to look Sopmod over.
The doll was badly scarred by plasma fire, with slagged metal endoskeleton present all along her body. She was still human shaped, but it was like she was a half melted wax skeleton. A little bit of hair and clothing still clung to her. Both were badly charred.
"Done," Dier chimed, startling M4 and Rs from their thoughts.
Rs noticed a self-satisfied grin creeping across Dier's face as he began unplugging his laptop. The smug Dier from earlier had returned, perhaps now feeling confident as his job was complete.
Then a small commotion beside Rs caught her attention. A little dart of motion from within the coffin, as Sopmod's skeletal and twisted hand leapt out and snagged M4's own hand, which had been resting on the box's rim.
She noticed the hints of a smile playing at the corner of Sop's eye.
Rs strolled over, leaning over the casket like box. Sop's eye switched its focus to her as she came into view.
"Can she hear us?"
M4 shook her head, "I don't know."
Sop tried to stir a bit, but her body was far too damaged to allow for it. M4 noticed a look of frustration, or perhaps confusion wash over her sister.
"What about Zener?" Rs asked.
M4's eyes narrowed
"Sop?" Rs heard M4 say on an open zener channel.
"M444444!" yelped Sop, causing all the dolls and Rs to jump a little. The voice was very loud. Rs had been expecting more of a somber tone that would match the doll's mangled body.
"Hi, ye- yes, Sop, please stop squeezing me so tight," M4 begged, trying now to twist her arm out of her sister's grip.
"NEVER!" the doll proclaimed, doubling down.
Rs couldn't help but laugh softly at the sight, and it seemed that this attracted Sop's attention.
"Who's that?"
"That's RS9, she's the adjutant for the Griffin Commander that rescued me."
"Is she nice?"
M4 smiled. "I would say so, yes."
"What's her favorite color? Favorite food? Hobbies? Is she Elite? If not what did she do before? How old is she? Can I have one of her eyes?"
"… Sop, don't be rude."
"What…?" Sop whined.
Rs made eye contact with Cano, who was holding back an amused grin as she watched the interaction unfolding.
Then, one of Tepes' men stormed into the room.
"Boss! The buyers are coming!"
Tepes sighed. "Shit, okay. I can handle it."
"No, sir they're… Fuck!" he cursed. "They called, I told them the doll was sold. They said that wasn't acceptable! And then…!"
The man was plainly panicked, his chest heaving as he looked around the room.
Tepes raised a hand. "Easy there, what is it?"
"Statesec! Three trucks just pulled up."
Tepes' eyes narrowed. "Call Captain Alenko."
"Sir, but -"
"I can handle it. Get the captain on the phone."
"Aye, boss," the man replied, taking a few deep breaths to calm himself before scurrying off.
"Do you have a plan?" Rs asked.
"I do. Let's go get another drink, shall we?" Tepes said with a devilish grin.
Notes:
First, this chapter has been rewritten, however the next has not and contains references to material no longer a part of the story, if there is a reference that appears to be missing, this may be why (or I'm just a hack, either way.)
, another one down. Took me long enough. Thanks to Alighierie once again for help with the editing, and encouragement, and generally getting me to do stuff.
-Cheers
P.S. If you're curious what Rs and Tepes are drinking by the way, its Vișinată, which is apparently a popular drink to make a home in Romania.