1058, Feb 5th, 2062
For the second time that week, Star was stuck in a Helicopter while Sopmod wore her patience. Unlike the previous time though, they were the only two passengers.
"Ar fifteeeeeeeen," Sop nagged, tugging at her sleeve.
"What."
"Are we there yet?" she whined.
"How would I know that?"
"Mmmm," she groaned.
They'd been in the air for about three hours, with the pilot seemingly taking them in roundabout circles and even making some circling approaches to land, coming within three meters of the ground, hovering, then roaring back up into the sky.
Add atop this confusing flight plan the fact that they'd been ordered into total networking silence, with all ports sealed, and that they'd been ordered to pack full combat loads, Star was well and truly confused as to just where the hell they were going.
Hopefully the pilot at least knew where they were going.
"Whoa-" Sop yelped as the Helicopter banked aggressively on its side, the heavy bird pirouetting on its nose before the engines' shifted tone and they began to once again descend.
They dropped low, NOE altitude, just skimming above the trees.
Then the bird slowly began to rise, following the terrain still as they came up over a wooded hill.
"Huh!?" Sop gasped as the far side came into view.
A base, tents lined up in rows besides lines of crates, a couple vehicles, and at least a hundred figures milling about.
"Welcome ladies, we have arrived," the pilot announced, "grab your gear and get ready to make a quick exit."
Star moved to comply as the Blackhawk banked again and began drifting over the base, finally coming to a halt over a dirt clearing. It settled down onto the ground, and Sop rolled open the door with a grin on her face, hopping out and eagerly sprinting across the pad.
Star hopped off after her, taking a more measured pace away from the Blackhawk.
She glanced back as its rotors began beating harder, and as she looked it lurched up off the ground and went skyward once more.
"Ar-15!" she heard a familiar voice shout.
She looked back, and saw G36 waving to her from a little ways away as Sop bounced up and down beside her.
Star trotted over, "What…is this?" she asked, glancing around.
G36 grinned, "It appears there's a major operation on the horizon, we're not sure exactly what it is though."
"Where are we?"
"We aren't sure about that either, somewhere near the Carpathians but we have no specifics. The Commanders are being quite tight lipped."
"Eh, Commanders?" Sop asked.
"Yes, you'll see shortly. Please come with me to the command tent."
36 began to head into the base, beckoning Star and Sop to follow, which they did curiously.
The base was buzzing with activity, dolls and humans alike moving material, checking weapons, or making other preparations. Overhead another Helicopter flew in, barely five minutes after theirs, and was making for the same pad.
"This is exciting!" Sop squealed, " I wonder what our mission is gonna be!"
"They'll probably just make us stack boxes," Star dryly answered.
G36 chuckled, "Maybe, you'll see shortly."
The doll stepped aside at one of the larger tent entrances, and waved them past her," If you would please."
They pushed through the tent flap, and were greeted on entering with a smattering of new and old faces gathered around a portable holotable. The commander and RS9 were at one side, the latter studying the display while the former chatted with two other crimson clad humans.
One was a man, older than the commander and with a short graying beard, while the other was a young woman with silver hair.
"Ahem," G36 cleared her throat, "Commanders, the AR-team is here."
All four heads glanced their way.
"Ah, welcome ladies," The commander led off.
"Hiya Commander!" Sop shouted, leaping forward towards them with arms outstretched.
"Off, ye- hi Sop," the Commander grunted as she slammed into him.
"These are the AR-team?" the bearded man asked, "Persica's best work?"
Star straightened up, "Yes sir, I am ST Ar-15."
"Mmm," he nodded, "Jasinski, a pleasure."
"I'm SOP!" sop squealed, "M4 Sopmod II!"
"Mhmm," he simply replied.
RS nudged the other commander, the younger woman, and offered her a wink.
"Oh! Right, I'm Commander Gentiane," she said, "Nice to meet you two."
"LIkewise," Star nodded, then turning back to the commander who was trying, in vain, to peel Sop off of him, "So, sir, what's going on?"
He sighed, giving up on Sop then gesturing to RS, "Play it."
She nodded, and pressed a button on the table.
"Greetings Griffin," said a voice that caused Star and SOP to go bolt rigid, "I'm M16A1, I've been trying to get in contact with M4 lately but… well I guess I know why I've not been able to do that now. I'll trust you guys are working on that, so in the meantime I've got something interesting that I think you should look into."
"S-sixteen?" Sop's voice trembled.
"It's a recording dummy," Star chided her, a waver in her own voice she wasn't expecting.
"SF's been busy, they've taken over the town the AR-team fought through months ago and are turning it into a logistics hub. There's a geothermal plant nearby, they're in the process of reactivating it, and the train lines in the region are being repaired. Before long this place is gonna be a major staging base and a real thorn in everyone's side."
RS paused the message, clearing her throat, "Sorry, that's all we can play for now. OPSEC."
"But that's the gist," the Commander picked up from her, "that's why we're here. It seems 16 hasn't been sitting on her hands all this time."
"So, that's what all this secrecy is about?" Star asked.
The commander nodded, now pushing against Sop's head to again try and pry her off him, "We're taking no chances this time. We're treating SF how they evidently want to be treated."
"Which is?"
"A peer opponent," Jasinski growled.
That earned approving looks from the other two and RS, and two confused ones from Star and Sop.
"Have you not been taking them seriously?" she asked.
The commander sighed, "No, it's not that. We've just been lax, letting things slide. Since about ninety percent of our day to day is unrelated to Sangivs Ferri, it seemed all good. Recent events have made things pretty fucking clear that ain't gonna fly."
"So, we're going to strike this logistics base Sangvis has set up?"
"You'll be briefed as needed," the commander answered, "For now grab some rack time, check your gear, and standby. If you want, we'll give you two assignments prior to the operation, but only if you think it won't affect your readiness. Otherwise you can just sit tight."
Star gave him a questioning look, wondering why She and SOP weren't being given a pregame role. She even shot RS9 a glance, but only received a little head flick that read 'you can go now'.
"Sop, lets go," she grunted, turning to head out.
"Awwww," the doll cried, "fiiiiine…"
Sop huffed as she stepped out behind her, though her mood bounced right back as G36 emerged after them.
"Well, I suppose you two have a quiet evening ahead of you," the doll said, "Follow me, you're with the rest of us."
36 led them further into the base, Star feeling just a slight twinge of guilt eating at her as she watched the
"So, how long has this been going on?" Star asked, stepping up beside G36.
"We've been here since we left you yesterday."
"That's what that was about?"
"Indeed," 36 nodded.
"Ohhhh, M14 and her team left around the same time too!" Sop added, "I thought it was really weird."
"Yes, all four main combat echelons were moved here yesterday, and many of the logistics and supporting echelons were already well established here."
"Any other arrivals today besides us?"
"Yes, actually, a pair of dolls from Mr. Jasinski's cohorts are slated to arrive in an hour."
"Who?"
"OTS-14 and Tokarev. Apparently they are considered special operations capable, like the AR-team."
"I didn't know there were more like us," Star mused, "Why haven't I heard of them?"
G36 looked back at her with a small grin, "To be fair, Star, I hadn't heard of Anti-Rain before we met you girls either."
Star felt a little wind slip from her sails, despite knowing it wasn't meant to be a cutting remark it still stung a little.
"R-right," she stammered.
First stop was the armory, where they each were issued a bag of kit the included a seemingly random assortment of items.
"IFAKs? Radios? Camo? Do they think we're going to Afghanistan?" Star wondered as she packed the newly issued gear.
"We all received that pack," 36 shrugged, "no clue why."
"I like new things!" SOP declared, stuffing her backpack with the new items.
"It's all just dead weight…" Star grumbled.
"Yes yes, come on," 36 chided her.
G36 led them into a maze of longer tents, each of which was equipped with a portable generator from which coils of wires sprouted out and fed into the tents. Dolls entered and left from various tents, and Star could hear conversations and laughter echoing from within many of them.
"How many dolls are here?" Sop asked as a group of unknown dolls passed by them.
"About ninety Mainframes," G36 answered.
"Whoa…!" Sop exclaimed, "So many, in one place?!"
"The Commanders really are taking this seriously," Star added, "It's just one base, how hard can this be?"
"We'll see soon enough I'm sure," 36 chimed back, "We're here, if you would please."
The doll offered one of the many tents to them, holding open the flap. Sop and Star peeked inside, and were greeted with a couple familiar faces.
"Oh hey!" M14 shouted, "You made it!"
"14!" Sop squealed with delight, dashing over towards her. 14 sprung to her feet to meet the doll, and the pair of them slammed into each other in a hug.
Off in the corner, Star noticed a couple of other dolls huddled around a box with their heads down. She strode over, stepping past 14 and Sop as the two continued their overly friendly greetings.
"What's this?" she asked the dolls.
Famas looked up to her, "Oh, Star, welcome. We're taking bets."
"Bets?" she asked, leaning over to see the table that had so captured their interests.
Chess. They were playing chess. Well, two of them at least, PP vs OTS.
"Ah," she said, "Who's winning?"
"Me!" PP declared.
"Uh no, me!" 'Tiss shot back, moving one of the pieces on the board forward and knocking over one of PP's.
"Ah, have they made no progress then?" G36 asked, coming over as well.
"No, the other game finished in a draw."
"Draw?"
"PP smashed the board," 'Tiss smarmed, "I still think that counts as surrendering."
"Does not!" PP shot back, sticking out her tongue, then moving forward another pawn.
Four hours. They waited four long hours for the briefing to at last be called. That meant about fifteen chess games, half of which ended prematurely due to one of the First echelon dolls losing their temper, or in one case Sop diving onto the board.
At the end of the last game, a rather hair pulling match between G36 and Famas, Rs poked her head through the tent flap as 36 was pushing her pawn to the opposite end of the board. Her interruption was met with several tossed pillows and cursing which shooed her away long enough for the doll to claim her new queen, and the match.
Then they all filed out, marching in a chatty clump towards the command tent.
The dolls, their group and the near hundred of others like them, assembled into a semi-orderly crowd around the center point of the room. There the commanders stood around with a few of their human assistants.
"Ladies! Ladies, please!" The Commander shouted over the excited clamor, raising his arms above his head to calm the crowd.
The gossiping died there, mostly, a few dolls carried on chatting in hushed tones as Commander Gentiane wrestled with the holotable. She frowned, brow scrunched, then with a final button press a slowly rotating map appeared.
"Thats…" Sop gasped.
"Yeah, obviously," Star growled back.
Before her was a pretty accurate display of the area her team had fought through months prior. Every street was burned into her memory banks, the feeling of those asphalt and cobble streets still imprinted on the soles of her boot.
"This is the target area," The commander announced, "A Sangvis Ferri Logistics base."
He proceeded to fill them in on the details they'd already received, though merely paraphrasing M16's intel rather than playing the recording. Nothing too unusual, points of interest, patrol patterns, troop number estimates, and the habits of the local ringleader, Intruder.
On that latter point, it seemed she was a bit eccentric. 16 had multiple reports of her prancing the streets at night, dancing and singing, and frequenting the town's theater.
"This doll is our priority mark," Commander Jasinski declared," her destruction is the highest priority. Two small teams will be dropped in ahead of our advance, and eliminate her."
To her left, Star felt a nudge that originated from a smirking Famas.
"Sounds like that'll be you," the doll whispered.
"Probably, though, who's the other team?"
Famas expression turned downward, then she flicked her head across the room," over there, blondie. That's Ots-44 Groza."
"Oh, right G36 mentioned her."
"Mmm," she nodded," she's been around, used to know M16."
"Really?!" Sop squeaked a little too loud.
"Yeah, a couple years back those two and a few others were contracted out to Statesec together."
"Huh, I guess she's pretty good then."
"That's putting it lightly, from what I've heard."
Before them, several marks appeared on the map.
"These are the starting target and support positions we'll be focusing on," commander Jasinski continued," our primary assault will be split in three prongs, each made of four echelons and two armed light vehicles for support. Each group will press into the city, destroying all SF dolls along the way, before linking up with our assasination teams. Once Intruder is killed, we expect local forces to enter an inert state, so we may then proceed with cleanup operations."
The display again widened, now showing a rail head that led into a tunnel on the far side of the town.
"At the same time," Their Commander picked up," another strike team will plant and detonate charges in order to collapse this tunnel, which will keep SF from running or reinforcing through it. All teams can expect some long range sniper support and light Close air support from our birds, but these will be at a premium and command will have final say on where those elements need to be delegated."
There was a wave of murmurs through the crowd of dolls, heads turning and chatting in hushed tones.
"Cas?" Sop asked," I didn't know Griffin did that."
"First I've heard of it," Famas replied," Im curious."
"Any questions?" Commander Gentiane asked, stepping forward from the table.
Silence.
Gentiane grinned," then we'll have you girls break up into your teams, RS," she said, gesturing to Rs standing nearby.
On cue, team assignments appeared on the network. Sure enough, she and SOP were on ringleader duty with Groza and her partner, but that wasn't all.
"Oohh, RS is with us?" Sop squeaked.
"Why is she in charge…" Star grumbled.
Beside her, Famas nudged her side," you girls have fun."
"What're you doing?"
"Main assault, right up the middle."
"Mmmm, good luck."
Famas gave her a grin," thanks, you too."
The doll patted her shoulder as the crowd began dispersing before weaving off into the crowd.
"You four stay put," Rs messaged them all," we'll have to room shortly."
As ordered, Sop and Star stayed put. Across the room, Team Groza did the same. It was the first time Star got a proper look at them both. One was taller, blonde, and carried herself with a casual pomp while the other was silver haired, and seemed to be putting on more of a show of elegance.
They didn't wait long, five or so minutes. Once the last of the dolls had emptied out, Star and Sop began moving over towards Rs, with Team Groza likewise coming in from the other side.
"So ladies, shall we do introductions?" Rs said once they all gathered around her.
"Certainly, I am OTS-44 Groza, though just Groza is fine," the tall blonde doll said with a cool smile.
"And I'm TokarevI'm Tokarev, my greatest pleasure to meet you," her silver haired companion added with a little curtsy.
"St Ar-15, and this is Sopmod II," Star grunted.
"Oh, you're 16's teammates aren't you? How is she?" Groza asked, her expression warming a couple degrees.
"Fine, last we heard."
"16's actually the one who did the recon on this place," Rs added in.
"Heh, of course," Groza chuckled.
"You know her well?" Star asked.
"Oh yes, we were quite close for a time."
"Perhaps a little more than just close?" Tokarev butted in, elbowing her teammate with a shit eating grin.
Groza blushed ever so slightly," I've never said anything like that."
"Awww, you don't have to~"
"You dated 16!?" Sop squeaked.
Groza sighed, turning to Rs," so what's the plan?"
Rs chuckled," that's what we're gonna be doing. I've got all the maps and a rough idea, but I'd like input from you four," she gestured towards the holotable the commanders were in the process of vacating," shall we?"
1620, Feb 5th, 2062
It was going so well. Team Groza and Anti-Rain got on surprisingly well, perhaps owing to their common heritage. Rs couldn't complain, they threw a good plan together for taking down Intruder in just half an hour, leaving them plenty of time to gear up and pile into their two designated Blackhawks.
Then she heard a sentence over the radio that threw it all away.
"Sorry, say again?" Rs asked on her comms.
"I said, we have a positive ID on M4A1," Repeated the human tech on the other side, one of Jasinski's staff who seemed to have had a good bit of his bosses' penchant for humorlessness rub off on him.
They were five minutes from go time. The sun was setting, the window was closing in on them, and they were just now receiving this?
Rs glanced at the other two AR-team members, both of whom had been strapped into the Blackhawk and long since ready to go. Wide eyes, held breath, excitement and anxiety in equal parts.
"How does this change things?"
"Command is advising all forces to stand by, operation is on pause for now. Command has asked that you come to the command tent with the AR-team and Team Groza ASAP."
Rs didn't even need to tell the dolls to comply. AR-15 and Sop were both flying out of their straps before she could even glance their way.
"Groza you copy?"
"I do, we'll be along shortly."
Rs tore her way free, ditching most of her gear save her 416, and running headlong for the glowing lights of the command tent.
"What's the situation?!" she blurted out on stumbling in. she nearly bowled over some poor tech as she charged in, hastily brushing them aside to get over to the table.
Matt waved her over to the holotable, which she quickly gathered around with the commanders and AR-team.
A video was on display, evidently taken from one of the scouts they had set up on the ridge overlooking the town.
"M4?" Sop gasped as she got a view.
Sure enough M4 was there, right beside a group for ringleaders. There were two familiar faces from the Sangvis Ferri Catalog, Intruder and Hunter, but the other two…
"Four in total, three more than expected," Jasinski mused, stroking his chin, "Problematic."
"Who are those two?" Gentiane pointed to two unknown dolls on the display.
"This one's Operator," Ar-15 said, pointing to the one beside M4, "She's the one that got M4."
"So that's her huh…" Rs mused, " She kinda looks like a Jager."
"May be an evolution of the model, much like with the cases of Destroyer and Dreamer," Matt pondered, "Ar-15, any insight on her capabilities?"
"Stealth and infiltration. She's a crafty one."
"True to her name…" Gentaine sighed.
At that moment, Team Groza made their entrance. As they entered, Rs noticed a quick exchange of unusual looks between Groza and Jasinski, something that could almost be considered warm.
"Did we miss much?" Groza addressed the room.
"M4A1," Jasinski stated simply.
Groza gave him a knowing nod before falling in around the rest of the dolls, Tokarev beside her smiling smugly.
"What about the other, any idea who she is?" Matt asked, pointing back to the table's display.
Both Ar-team members shook their heads, as did Groza.
"So one unknown," he muttered, chewing at his cheek, "we should delay, I'm not sending us in blindly."
"But we gotta go save M4!" Sop protested, "We have the drop on 'em, let's just go get her," she said, pumping her fists to emphasize.
"I- tend to agree with Sop," Gentiane added, looking a little nervously at the other two commanders, "We're on a good timetable, shouldn't we capitalize, add M4 into the mission?"
"If we even want to go for her now," Jasinski mused, "It's possible the doll will be on a train out by the time we can even deploy, and if we change our order of battle to accommodate a rescue we risk misapplied assets at best, and a massacre at worst."
"Might it be worth the risk regardless?" Groza asked, an eyebrow raised.
"I would judge not," he replied.
"It could be a simple matter for us to retrieve her," she replied, "what if they don't plan to move her immediately, perhaps they're waiting for something else?"
Rs balled her fists, "Where are they keeping her?"
Matt tapped the tables controls, spedding ahead the footage, showing M4 being escorted into the town and eventually dipping out of sight.
"She was taken to an old apartment building on the far side of town, Operator and Hunter appear to have gone with her. She's out of sensor range, in fact all the ringleaders are."
"That is far from the end of our worries, I'm afraid. The train this group arrived on also carried a good deal of armored units, including Manticores. It's likely this is the same group that assaulted your base Mr. Reyes."
"Hmmm," Matt nodded, then shooting Rs a questioning glance.
"We should wait, get more need to know M4's position and that of the other ringleaders. If we get that information and we can feasibly make a rescue attempt atop our current objectives, we do so, otherwise push the plan back until tomorrow evening," She said, reluctantly as she felt Ar-15 burn holes in the back of her head.
"What if they move M4," Ar-15 growled, "Are you just gonna let her go?"
"We came here under the assumption that M4 was beyond our reach, if she is moved before we can respond, then that fact never changed," Jasinski answered her.
"We know where she is! We have an idea where some of the ringleaders are and we can deal with the rest!" Ar-15 snapped.
"At considerable risk. Miss Ar-15, if we miscalculate this assault, we risk losing all doll forces along a fifty kilometer front, leaving thousands of civilians open to attack, and a considerable loss to our company's financial situation and reputation. It is not a risk to be taken lightly over a single doll," Commander Jasinski stated, a hint of steel creeping into his otherwise deadpan response.
15 gritted her teeth, hand clenched, but ultimately turned away without another word. Sop followed after her, glancing back a little more nervously before trotting along after her sister.
"You could've sweetened that a little Luboslaw," Matt said once the dolls had left the tent.
"I saw no need. Those dolls are too insubordinate," Jasinski replied, crossing his arms.
"It's part of their core programming to protect M4, they'll have a hard time accepting us not dropping everything to get her," Rs added.
"Why would IOP make that command so overriding?" Gentiane wondered aloud.
"Persica does as Persica wants," Groza mused.
Matt cleared his throat, "Lets not worry too much about them. Instead, we need to decide on a plan of action here. 15 wasn't entirely wrong. If we just wait until we have the needed information, it'll be out of date by the time we can move to act upon it. It took us nearly an hour to get assembled today, maybe we could shave fifteen or so minutes off that but we'll still be too slow."
The room was quiet for a minute, each of them studying the table, the various maps of the area displayed here and there, the live feeds from their scouts and surveillance drones.
"Um, why don't we just stay ready to go?" Gentiane posed.
"What do you mean?" Matt asked.
"Well, if we keep the dolls ready to go at a moment's notice. Everyone at their starting points and at a combat footing, then we can act as soon as we receive useful intel, right?"
"It'll be rough on the dolls, we'll potentially be looking at low battery charges going into a fight," Rs replied.
"Not if we move the generators to the starting points. They can charge and even sleep in their starting positions. Pilots and support staff too."
Matt shot Rs another glance.
She shrugged, "It could work, make our exit difficult if we want to recover those chargers, but otherwise that should be enough to hold the dolls over. Really I'd worry more about them getting bored if this goes on for too long."
She chuckled at that last, earning a grin from Matt, and even a little curling at the edges of Jasinski's lips as both Veterans no doubt recounted in vivid detail the creative ways their human soldiers relieved boredom back in the day.
"Okay, let's go with that then," Matt said, clapping his hands together, "Gentiane, give the order. Rs, Groza, go make sure the Ar-team isn't about to go off to try and rescue M4 themselves."
Rs nodded, and turned on her heel to head out after the dolls. Matt's comment, possibly just a joke, was a real possibility in her mind.
"Ar-15, Sop, meet me by the Helo please. I have some news."
"Wilco," came Ar-15's terse reply.
0700, Feb 6th, 2062
"Overwatch, report," came the dispassionate tones of Commander Jasinski on comms.
M14 sighed aloud before answering, "no change Commander."
"Copy that."
Below her, the SF occupied town was cast in early morning shadows. Only a scant few enemy dolls patrolled the streets, and no sign of any of their priority marks.
"It's so quiet," Tec-9 commented from beside her.
"Too quiet," Nagant concurred, before reaching around and pulling out her hip flask.
"What's that?" Tec asked, craning her neck around to try and see.
"Nothing you need know of," Nagant answered, taking a swig before recapping it.
"I'm not gonna report you…" Tec mumbled in reply.
14 leaned over and nudged the doll with her shoulder, " it's Vodka."
"Oh, huh. Do you always drink on the job?"
Nagant huffed, "I hardly think that concerns you."
"Babushka, be nice," 14 chided her.
"I am being nice."
That comment earned a snicker out of Wa, slumped down on Nagant's other side.
"Something funny W A 2000?"
"No, nono," the doll stuttered, trying to suppress her giggling.
Tec had been assigned to them, somewhat abruptly as well . Damek had finished his evaluation and recommended the move personally to the Commander. Since the move had been made right at the peak of the chaos during the deployment, none of them had gotten a full brief on what she could do, or why she was with them.
So far she seemed pretty standard as scouts went, but something must've caught the higher ups' eye for her to be here so quickly.
"Ahem," Wa cleared her throat, "girls, am I crazy or is that M4?"
14 furrowed her brow, returning her attention to the town below. Wa had marked a spot, and she followed it in her scope until sure enough, she found M4A1 walking down the street in her sights.
"Whoa…" she gasped under her breath.
"Call it in, M14," Nagant advised her.
14 nodded, breathless,"Command, be advised, have eyes on M4A1. Sending location and tracking now."
"Copy overwatch. Continue tracking."
"Where is she going?" Wa wondered aloud.
"Not sure, but she has a tail," Nagant replied.
"Yeah, did she escape?"
14 shook her head, " no, they know she's wandering, if she was escaping they would be using more than one doll to pursue."
"Their comms are still pretty quiet too," Tec added.
"You can breach their comms?" 14 asked.
"No, I can just tell how dense the traffic is."
"Ah. That makes sense. So if she was escaping, they'd be signaling a lot more."
Tec nodded, "probably, right?"
"Mmm," Nagant nodded, "She isn't moving with much haste, I concur, this is not an escape."
Way down below them, M4 took a turn onto one of the larger streets, and began trudging along the sidewalk towards a large building at the far end of the road.
"The theater?" Wa wondered aloud.
"Tch, she is wandering out of my sensor range, but it appears that way." Nagant cursed under her breath.
"Why there…?"
"Who knows," 14 sighed.
"Gosh this is frustrating," Tec groaned, "Why can't sh- Hold up."
The doll's head perked up, eyes trained further into the city.
"Got something?"
"Signal activity just spiked, from that dorm she was in earlier and the theater. Three nodes total, the whole city lit up for a second in response."
14 furrowed her brow, "what's that mean?"
Tec scratched the side of her head, "um, well basically, I think there are two control nodes in that building, and another in the theater."
"Ringleaders," Nagant growled, "have we been spotted?"
Tec shook her head, "Don't think so, it's quiet again. Just a check up I think, but I can't tell if those were ringleaders or not."
14 adjusted her rifle scope, trained on the theater's main doors M4 seemed to be wandering towards, "If she's being moved to another ringleader, it could mean she'll be departing soon. Inform the Commanders Tec."
"Uh, y-yeah, okay," the doll's voice wavered.
14 gave her a funny look as the doll made the transmission, noticing the increasingly anxious look growing on her. Nagant seemed similarly confused, eyeing her with a soft expression.
"Overwatch, maintain position and standing. Search for definitive positions on the other ringleaders, we need a definitive fix on all marks before proceeding."
"Wilco."
14 looked over at Tec-9, " are you okay?"
The girl looked flustered, "I- yeah I'll be alright."
"What was that all about then?" Nagant then asked.
"I um, well, it's just… humans freak me out."
14 cocked her head, "hmm? Why's that?"
Tec shuddered, "blood."
"Blood?" Nagant hissed, an incredulous look sprouting on her face.
"Y-yeah…" Tec mumbled, her head drooping.
"Girls."
"Why blood?" 14 asked her.
"I dunno it just… ugh," she gagged.
"You're scared of blood," Nagant rolled her eyes, "yet you joined a pmc? "
"Look I- I was getting out of a bad place. Griffin mostly just fights dolls right, so I figured this would be a step up."
"Girls."
"We still have to interact with humans, that's a part of our job," 14 said, "can you… do that?"
Tec frowned," If I have to."
"You did not figure it out when you were processed, when you signed on?" Nagant nearly cried.
"I-"
"Girls!" Wa screamed, "heads up!"
"Huh?"
14 glanced back down through her scope. M4 was standing by the front entrance, partially obscured by the buildings but still visible. Beside her stood a tall figure, easily a head over the doll.
"Is that…?"
"Intruder," Wa growled.
"What is she doing?"
"She's just been chatting with M4 while you three bickered."
"Nagant, anything else?"
"Tch, yes there are some more of the little ones wandering around. No sign of the other two," Nagant grumbled, "and we were not bickering."
"Save it," 14 chided her.
Tec's head perked up again.
"Another ping?"
She nodded," the two in the apartment haven't moved, but… the third was right by M4, atop that ringleader's position."
14's eyes narrowed," that sounds pretty definitive."
"I agree," Nagant nodded, perhaps begrudgingly.
"Command, believe we have positive locations on all marks. Sending data."
"Copy."
There was about a minute pause, likely as the commanders debated what to do, if this was actionable. Meanwhile 14 watched as Intruder and M4 talked, the pair, trailed by M4's guard, wandering a little in the street before the theater.
"I wonder what they're talking about?" Wa sighed.
"Intruders probably gloating about snatching her," 14 answered.
"Maybe. Probably, knowing SF dolls."
"Are they crazy?" Tec asked.
"Hahah, oh yes," Nagant chuckled," very."
"Roseglass, execute all enemy dolls near M4A1."
"Copy."
The sets of eyes glanced her way.
M14 clicked her tongue," Wa, you and Nagant take down Intruder. Use everything you got. I'll hit the guard. After that we kill anything that tries to go after her."
"Um, what about me?" Tec asked, feebly raising her hand.
"Mark new targets as they emerge. I'll use you for targeting."
"O-okay."
As Wa and Nagant settled in, their dummies mirroring the mainframes and hunkering down by their partner frames, Tec fidgeted in place.
"You alright?"
"Yeah…" the doll murmured.
14 gave her a concerned look, wondering if she should press further. However, down range Intruder began to move, wandering in around with company in tow, their view of her becoming cluttered. 14 tracked her target, Nagant providing a few basic bits of data on it.
"Ready?" She asked.
"All good," Wa grumbled.
"Fire."
Six shots cracked along the hillside. It was immediately clear Wa had struck home as Intruder collapsed without so much as a twitch. Meanwhile her mark was winged, but not dead as it squirmed to recover.
Her dummy's follow up did the trick.
"All marks are down for now. Will continue to provide cover."
To her surprise, it was her own commander that replied, "good work Roseglass, Cavalry's on its way."
14 watched M4 through her scope. The doll seemed to be in shock, still staring at the fallen Intruder.
Below them, the roar of engines came to life as their mobile elements began charging for the town. Six JLTVs, with larger transport trucks in tow behind, tore out from the forest line in a headlong charge.
"She's not moving," Wa growled," the hell is she doing?"
14 bit her cheek, "C'mon, move M4."
M4 was starting to stir, but she was moving really slowly still. All around her, SF dolls began to swarm onto the streets, Tec dutifully marking each one before feeding the data to her.
Wa took the first shot, opening up a volley on a squad of Vespids that emerged from the theater behind M4. right behind her M14 began laying her own covering fire, placing shot after shot into their opponents from the limits of her rifle's range.
At last, M4 started to move, scrambling off the street.
"Oh what the hell is she doing!?" 14 cursed as she watched M4 take a turn that led away from them, "Command, lost sight of M4, she ran further into the city."
"Copy that Roseglass, shift to supporting our advance."
"Tch, dammit," Wa cursed.
14 huffed, still keeping her sight on M4's last position for a while the roar of gunfire sprung to life below them. Targeting data from Nagant and Tec came in, her dummy's keeping track and firing away.
No sign.
For ten minutes, there was nothing.
Then Tec's head perked up again, looking out far into the city.
"I found her… there."
A blue mark appeared in M14's vision. There was a faint signal emanating from that location, mostly lost in the chaos of the high signal density going back and forth.
"How do you know?" M14 asked her.
"It's different from the rest, I think it's a beacon?"
14 bit her lip, "a rescue beacon?"
Tec shrugged, "I can't really tell, it's faint."
"M4 is good at subtle," Nagant commented.
14 nodded, "Let's call it in."
"Dropoff in two minutes, you girls get ready back there! It's getting hot!" Monroe shouted on the intercom.
Rs checked and rechecked her gear, inspecting every little strap on her exoskeleton before checking both her weapons. All good.
Ar-15 and Sop both offered thumbs up once they finished their checks, and she met them with a nod.
It was never easy, getting ready to hop off the bird into a fight. Her heart raced in anticipation despite this being far from her first time. In fact it was probably beating harder now than it had in the past.
She was nervous, but hopefully she didn't show it. She couldn't be too sure with these dolls, just how much they could pick up on that. They'd been retasked, M4 was their priority now. They'd be dropping in even further behind SF lines than planned, she couldn't risk her own mental state weighing on their performance.
Out the window, Rs saw the town emerge into view as the Helicopter crested over the surrounding hills. Already streaks of plasma and rapid fire muzzle flashes shot back and forth all over, and the cacophony was even able to reach her over the beating rotors.
Below them one Jasinski's light recon transports, a Fokker R.99 if she recalled correctly, made a quick pass at one of the buildings firing on friendly forces. Beneath each of its stubby wings were a series of steel tubes, from which a dozen rockets tore out into the air, before smashing into the building and rescuing it to rubble.
Where the old Polish Commander had gotten those rockets, much less the equipment to use them, she didn't want to know, but it all added up to something all too familiar to her.
A real goddamn warzone, it'd been a while.
Ar-15 seemed disinterested, but Sop couldn't help but stare out the window with a growing grin on her face.
"Sop, sit tight, we'll be down shortly."
"I know I know," the doll dismissively said with a wave.
"Thirty seconds!" Monroe shouted, " LZ looks clear from here, but you've got a lot of SF between you and friends."
"All part of the plan Monroe, we'll handle it," She sent back.
"If you say so."
The helo came to a halt, hovering and descending over the rooftop they were inserting onto.
"You're good, happy hunting!"
Rs hopped out of her seat and flung open the door before releasing the fastropes. Once the long ropes had unspooled, she leapt out, wrapping her body around one, and slid down until her feet hit concrete.
Sop and Ar-15 followed her, dummies trailing behind. A mark to the doll's skill, they got all ten frames off the bird in under a minute.
The ropes automatically respooled, and the bird's engines roared back to full as it hefted itself back up into the sky.
"All good?" she asked the two dolls.
"Yep!" Sop chirped.
"Then let's get moving. I doubt that was very subtle."
They found their way to the rooftop door, Sop ripping the metal door open and letting them descend down the stairs. They rapidly descended the floors, scanning and listening for any signs of their foes until they reached the bottom floor.
It was quiet, relatively. Sop and Ar-15 weren't detecting anything nearby on scopes, as if they'd somehow found the one SF free part of the city. They came to rest near the front lobby of their building, looking out on the street from a few different windows.
Overhead another Helicopter passed over them.
"This is Groza, we've set down. No contacts yet."
"Copy Groza, proceed as planned."
"I don't like it," Ar-15 hissed, "They should've sent a patrol at least to check us out."
"Maybe they're too busy?" Sop pondered.
"They can't all be at the front already, it's too fast."
Rs stood, "Don't speculate, until we meet opposition we'll proceed to the target site as planned."
"Alright," Ar-15 groaned.
They carefully made their way outside, still scanning the literal hundreds of vantage points on them. They pressed up against the wall on one side of the street, and began moving forward towards M4's beacon.
Two blocks down they saw nothing still.
Then another two they turned South, winding through the narrow back streets towards the beacon.
As they passed through a narrow brick and mortar alleyway Rs felt the hairs on the back of her neck stand one end.
At the far end, just before the next street, she had them pause.
"We're being watched," she mumbled under her breath.
"Where from?" Star asked, glancing around subtly.
"Can't say for sure." Rs chewed at the inside of her cheek. Instinct was screaming at her 'DANGER', and she knew better than to ignore that, but it all seemed so quiet.
"What do we do?" Sop asked.
Rs took a breath.
"Watch all the angles you can, keep your ears open. We're gonna proceed."
Slowly they began creeping onward, slow steps with bodies pressed up against the wall, ears perked and heads scanning.
Yet, none of them saw it coming.
With absolutely no warning the right wall exploded out in a brilliant burst of purple flame, tossing a few of Star and Sops dummies like ragdolls while RS herself was sent stumbling forward in shock.
A moment later a figure darted across the rooftops above them, pricks of plasma raining own upon them.
"Clear out!" she screamed, scrambling forward towards the end of the alley.
"It's Hunter!" Star shouted.
Another burst of plasma came hurtling down the narrow alley, Rs ducking behind some old trash bins to get out of their way.
The second the storm ceased she swung back out with her rifle pointed towards their source, only to find a smoking pile of rubble. The old brick and concrete walls that made up the narrow alley had collapsed, leaving her suddenly cutoff from Sop adn Star, save one of Sop's less fortunate dummies that'd been caught by that rubble.
"You two okay?"
"We're Fighting!" Sop yelped on comms, "Where are you?!"
"Ah, trapped behind the rubble, I'll circle around."
"I recommend you proceed to M4. Hunter will pick you off on your own, try to get clear and find M4." Star answered her.
Rs heel turned and began running down the alley, "You're sure?"
"We got this bitch."
To punctuate, the ground rumbled as a sharp explosion barked from just past the rubble, no doubt one of Sop's grenades.
"Alright, proceeding to target. Good luck."
"You too."
Rs carried on.
She slipped through alley after alleyway, rushing from cover to cover, until she at last reached the street nearest M4's beacon.
She snuck up to the next corner, her 416 leading her body around slowly as she took a peek. The street appeared clear, and led to what looked like an old park about a block further down from her position. M4's beacon was coming from over there.
She carefully stepped out, slipping around the corner and begging to creep along the side of the street, carefully glancing up and around her at the multitude of second and third story windows that lined both sides of the street.
"Matchmaker, Thirdwheel. Any SF signatures ahead of me?"
Kalina answered her, "Thirdwheel, we have no signatures at all ahead of you, but be advised you are at the limits of good detection. If anyone's suppressing their signatures over there we may miss it."
"Copy that, thanks."
Well at least there weren't active patrols over here, that was something she supposed.
Rs arrived at the park shortly, dashing across the street and crouching down behind the wall which cordoned off the area from the rest of the town. She waited a moment, listening to the hundreds of reports and sounds of combat ringing out in the distance, trying to parse anything amongst the cacophony that might be close.
Nothing close it seemed.
She stole a peek over the wall, scanning the overgrown greenspace for any sign of M4. Several very large trees were scattered throughout the park, with a few barren bushes and a rotten old play structure also dotting the area. Beyond it loomed more of what looked like apartment blocks, three and four story blocks of concrete with dozens of darkened windows all staring down on her.
Nothing moved though, no motion caught her eye at all.
Gritting her teeth, Rs returned to her feet, and began weaving her way into the park itself. M4's beacon was somewhere here, in fact it seemed to be coming from all over now with dozens of fragmented signals seeming to reflect off all the different surfaces in the park.
She stalked her way through the park, creeping along the edges and clinging to shadows as much as possible. She managed to reach the old playset, a rotten hunk of metal and melted plastic still in the process of being reclaimed by the bushes. She paused momentarily, glancing around again at the different windows looking at her.
Then something briefly flashed in her periphery. Her head spun around to face the source, but it was gone just as quickly.
"Kalina, what was that? I just got an EM signal."
"One of our scouts briefly acquired something, or maybe somethings she's not sure. Sorry but it was only for a moment."
Rs stared at the road that the signal had come from, crouching down as far down into the dirt as she could while keeping eyes on. Carefully she trained her 416 upon the corner that led to it, and reduced her EM emissions as much as possible by silencing most of her comms and tac data.
Footfalls began echoing against the walls around her. Several heavy feet marching along in her direction.
The gray helmet of a Vespid strolled around the corner without a care in the world, and her body reacted.
Instantly the report broke the relative peace, punching a round straight through the doll's head and sending it crashing to the ground.
Unfortunately, the one following it was far more careful. This one opened fire in her direction the second it emerged.
Plasma flew all around her as she returned in kind. She sent three rounds in its direction, one of which smacked it deadcenter just as another half dozen dolls emerged from the street.
"Shit," She muttered, sending a quick burst their way before leaping to her feet and hot footing it back in the direction she'd come.
Plasma flew in her general direction, but nothing came close before she managed to slip in behind a thick tree nearby.
There were at least ten Vespids now, all firing in a wide swath at her, rounds peppering the ground with little puffs of purple flare. A quick glance around the trunk revealed the dolls spread out in a line, advancing together in the open while maintaining their fire.
A burst of plasma striking the wood just centimeters from her face sent her right back into cover, her chest heaving.
Rs glanced over at the perimeter wall. It wasn't tall, about three feet on average with some high sections here and there, but it was made of stone and thick.
She ran for it, sprinting as fast as the Exo whirring on her legs would allow.
Not quite fast enough, a single round struck home on her right shoulder and sent her stumbling forward. Despite it she managed to tumble over the wall and collapse on the sidewalk beyond it, out of sight for the moment as the Vespids continued their barrage.
All feeling had left her arm below the hit, and the area around the hit was similarly numb. The limb was unresponsive, hand still loosely gripping her weapons grip but not able to move it. An awful stench rose up from the wound, burnt flesh and her smoldering jacket wafting into the air.
Rs grunted as she reached into her jacket with her good arm, pulling out a small food bar and ripping it open as a tingling feeling began to coalesce around her wound. Her body felt too heavy, and she realized that the hit had also severed her Exo's powerline, rendering it little more than deadweight.
Once she swallowed the last bite of the bar, Rs unslung her 416 and then pulled the Rs9 hanging on her back off. She propped the long weapon up on its bipod and extended the stock, then gripping it tightly in her left hand and pressing her cheek into it as she peered down the length of the wall.
She didn't have long to wait, only about a minute and a half later a pair of Vespids crept around the corner.
Her heart sank when she saw the pair emerge, conscious of her weapon's action type and just how awkward her setup already was without her arm.
She shot anyway, the .338 round tearing the first of the Vespids in half and sending bits scattering all across the street.
Betraying her expectations, the second didn't immediately turn heel and fill her with plasma. Instead it jerked to a stop, then began high tailing back into cover after barely glancing her way.
She sent it flying before it even got halfway back.
In the wake of the still ringing report she was left wondering why it'd not shot, instead choosing to flee in defiance of everything she knew about SF grunt behavior.
Perhaps they'd thought she was dead? With no Exo the only thing they could conceivably pick up would be her nanites, but those shouldn't be visible from more than a couple meters with the kinds of scopes those Vespids had.
Speaking of, her arm was starting to tingle, a good sign as it meant the nerves were almost finished being repaired. She'd be able to use it shortly.
Rs cycled her bolt again, then fell very still, trying to listen for the vespids movements. She was very, very tempted to turn her comms back on to see if overwatch had a fix on her foes, but doing so might give them a solid fix on her.
An explosion rumbled a few blocks away, sounding like one of SOP's 40mms. At least those two were still fighting, but she really wished they were with her now. This would be nothing for them.
The Vespids evidently weren't moving, or at least were being really damn quiet, so she decided to return to a crouch against the wall and sneak a peak over it.
Sure enough the SF dolls were holding still at the far end of the park. They were set up in a security posture, nestled in against the far wall. They didn't appear to notice her, tempting Rs to perhaps sneak a shot, but again she decided to remain as unnoticeable as possible.
Rs ducked back down beneath the wall, and let out a breath.
She was safe for the moment, but stuck. The Vespids might not notice her if she made a dash for the alleyway she'd come from earlier, but even if they didn't she'd be right back to where she'd started.
No, that just won't do.
Rs snuck a finger into her jacket pocket, pulling out and lighting a cigarette before taking a deep breath off it.
"Alright," She sighed, glancing to her left down the length of the wall towards the two dead Vespids. There were some broken windows leading to what looked like another apartment complex past them.
"Lets try not to add a third," she grunted, getting to her feet.
Her right arm now mostly recovered, so she restowed her rifle and recovered her 416, then unclipping a long thin grenade attached to her rig. With a solid tug she pulled the pin, and began creeping her way down the wall towards the corner.
When she reached it, Rs took a couple quick breaths, then hucked the grenade over her shoulder.
A second later she dashed forward, eyes averted, just as a deafening blow exploded to her left.
Her ears rang as she crashed through an open window, tumbling head over heels onto the wooden floor within.
She gave an honest effort to try and get back up, but all she managed was a weak little lurch before collapsing back down onto the floor.
Rs managed to crank her head around to the window she'd just come through, listening for anything approaching through it. However, there was nothing obvious, though this wasn't helped by her still ringing ears.
"Tch, dammit," she cursed under her breath. Rs brought her comms back online, only to be immediately flooded with information from higher up.
All along her vision a few dozen blue marks faded in and out, fizzling and warping as the overwatch dolls that were picking up these signatures acquired or lost their fixes. Still, if even half the potential tangos she was seeing were real, she was in deep.
"Matchmaker, Thirdwheel, any chance I could get some support?"
"Uh, negative Third Wheel, Ar-team is the closest and they're still busy."
Rs bit her lip. They still weren't done with Hunter?
"I'll take anything, CAS, Overwatch, just get me some backup quick."
"Uh, I'll try, SF's coming out of the woodwork right now."
Bit of an understatement.
Rs noticed another half dozen signatures closing in from the west, tentatively tagged as a group of prowler drones, and opposite them was another bunch of signals that were still unknown. Past all that dozens more signals would fade in and out, trajectories moving to and fro.
Suddenly at the far end of her building, past the lobby she was in and down a dark, dilapidated hall, a door creaked open before something began creeping in.
Adrenaline finally knocked her off her ass, getting her just enough of a push to roll over onto her belly and get her carbine pointing that direction.
The unknown crept closer, making near silent steps on the wood.
Rs drew her sight as carefully as she could manage while trying not to hyperfixate. It was totally possible this was a distraction, and that some Vespid could poke its head through the window behind her without warning and light her up.
With each step her paranoia tried to break free, her breathing becoming just a little more uneven with each breath, heart pounding just that little bit harder with every pulse.
"Friendly," A familiar voice hissed.
"M4?"
M4's head popped out from around a corner down the hall, "Hi, sorry."
Rs shook her head, "Nono, it's good to see you."
"Are you okay, I saw you got hit."
"Yeah, I'll be fine," Rs clambered to her feet, heart still pounding but anxiety now fading, and offered the doll a confident grin, " 'Tis but a scratch."
"Okay," the doll said, "So, what do we do?"
Rs glanced out the window. The Vespids were starting to move, they might try and make an entrance here shortly.
"We need to make ourselves scarce, did you see the direction I came from?"
"Yes I was watching."
"We head back down that way, find the rest of the AR-team, and move to meet with the rest of our forces."
She nodded, "Alright, but…"
"But what?"
"The ringleaders are still around here, we'll need to be careful."
"Ah yeah, we already met Hunter, Sop and Star are handling her."
M4 set her jaw, "What about Operator?"
Rs furrowed her brow, "No sign that I know of, one second," She said, switching to comms, "Matchmaker, any sign of Operator?"
"No sign of any ringleader but Hunter Thirdwheel."
Rs shrugged, "No one's seen her, maybe she ran?"
M4 grimaced, "I doubt that."
Rs nodded, "okay, we'll just have to be careful then."
M4 nodded, and they began creeping along the inside of their building to try and find another exit. Thankfully, they managed to find one, an old fire exit that led into another alley from which the Vespids couldn't see them.
Once out, they took stock, carefully watching the various movements of the SF signatures around them and looking for an opening.
"How are my sisters doing?" M4 asked.
"Hmmm? Well enough. I doubt they'll have any problems with Hunter."
"I hope so," M4 nodded.
"They'll be fine kiddo, just believe in th-"
Rs' voice failed. All around the SF signatures vanished, as did all tac data and comms traffic, leaving the digital realm utterly quiet
"What the hell…?" she gasped, "Not again."
"Jamming?" M4 asked, a waver in her voice, "Now?"
NOTES:
Hey all, sorry its been awhile (again). This chapter is one I've been chipping away at for quite a while, but had some problems filling in certain sections. I had intended to get this out before MS ended but...
Anyway, quick point of clarification on one little detail. So, to those of you familiar with the GFL manga, you'll know that in chpt 16, 404 comandeers a small scout/transport aircraft. We're arent given a name and to my knowledge that thing doesn't exist irl. So I gave it a name, the 'Fokker R.99'. Now IRL Fokker went bust, but I like Fokker so I tweaked things ever so slightly. This thing would've been used by NATO as a light SOF transport and recon aircraft, and in this chapter we see CMDR Jasinski has strapped some rockets to it for CAS work.
Speaking of said Commander, he's a character I've had on the back burner for quite a while, and this will not be his only appearance. Hopefully the appearance of Groza and that aircraft will hint as to what exactly he'll be up to in the near future ;)