It was there, everytime she shut her eyes.
A repetitive, blaring klaxon siren at the back of her mind. It wasn't loud, usually at least, but it was always there.
UMP45 wasn't sure where it came from, it wasn't the result of some program, no system function, and certainly not something she'd turned on long ago and forgotten. She figured it was probably part of a memory, afterall she'd heard very similar sirens plenty of times before, but she'd never found the file that contained it.
Deele had found locked files in her neural cloud; he'd always wanted to delete the lot of them, but she knew what was in some of them. She'd never let him.
The thought of it triggered another familiar sound, a girl's laughter echoing in the back of her mind. It triggered a small grin on her face.
"45, you there?" asked a girl's voice.
"Here Seele, what's going on?"
"Well, Griffin's sending complaints our way, I figure you'd like to know that they realize you've snatched their bird."
45 chuckled, "borrowed it."
Carefully 45 began a gentle bank on the aircraft in question, pulling its stick ever so slightly to the left as she circled high above the ground.
"Well, Helian is demanding to know why. What should I tell her."
"Tell her, she can't tell me how to do my job. I'll bring it back in one piece."
"Can we promise that!"? shouted another voice from behind her.
45 glanced back to see UMP9, busy sorting through the equipment in the back of the aircraft. Being a Fokker R.99 light transport, there was ample room to store all kinds of potentially useful things back there.
"We'll see, won't we?" 45 grinned back at her sister.
"Ehehehe," 9 giggled as she tore a bundle of rope out of one of the many storage boxes.
"Well, you four be careful out there."
"Ja ja. Just as long as Deele's flight program is as good as he claims, I'll get us there."
"It is!" Deele chimed in, "Fokker wrote most of it themselves, I just added a few extra bits."
"If you say so Deele, just remember if I crash, you'll be the one fixing us up. I expect a heavy discount in that case too."
"It'll be fine!"
"Ahem," Seele cleared her throat, and based on the sounds of a scuffle coming over the radio, probably pushing Deele away, "Anyway, I'll tell Helian what you said, happy hunting."
"Thank you~."
With that, the channel closed.
"Sis! There's not much back here, just random pieces of equipment."
"Alright, thanks for going through all that."
45 continued to circle the dark landscape below, searching through the shadowy trees and for movement.
"This is 416, I've found G11. Napping of course," an annoyed sounding, but familiar voice reported over comms.
"Ohoho, well done princess. G11, wakey wakey."
"Uwah– oh, hiya 416."
There were sounds of a fight, probably 416 taking out her rapidly building frustration on her somnophilic companion.
"Now now 416, be nice," she chided.
"Eat shit 45."
"45 save meeeeeeeee," G11 lazily pleaded.
"Shut it you!"
45 sighed, glancing back at 9 who shook her head, both of them quite used to this little dynamic by now.
"Yes yes, 416, stop it. G11, anything to report?"
"Ehhh…. Nope, all clear I guess."
"Hah, as if. There's a squad of Aegis lumbering around about a hundred meters from us," 416 added.
"Same as before G11?"
"Jaaa….""
45 furrowed her brow. Odd.
According to their intel, the local ringleader was 'Scarecrow', who by all accounts was tricky and recon focused. For her to put out a patrol of Aegis Heavy combat dolls, which were at best blind, slow, and dumb on their own, just didn't make sense.
9 plopped into the coplilots' seat beside her, then leaned over to stare at her.
"Problem sis?"
45 pursed her lips, "maybe."
416 and G11 were somewhere below them, atop on the larger hills in the area and nestled in amongst dense tree cover. From above she could see neither them nor the Aegis SF dolls.
On a whim, she flipped a switch on the control board in front of her, relying on the program Deele had installed in her just hours prior to guide her hand as she began manipulating switches and knobs.
A small green screen flickered to life, and began displaying a line pacing back and forth along it.
Then, after a few passes of this line which both she and 9 were intently watching, a series of small blips appeared.
"What are those?"
"Drones," 45 growled, glancing out the window into the night sky, "scouts I bet. Sf knows we're here."
"That's not good."
Almost as soon as the words left her mouth, then the airwaves died. Not totally, she could still see 9, 416 and G11 on the network, and the crisscrossing SF signals that had, and continued to, dot the region. But other than those, every signal died.
"That's worse," 9 said in a worried tone, "jamming?"
45 sighed, "seems SF has a hard on for it these days."
"45, what just happened?" 416 called on zener comms
"Jamming 416, same as the reports. Also I think SF knows you're down there, start heading for the cliff, we'll pick you up from there."
"Uh, wilc- fuck!"
Below them a brilliant flash of blue light burst out from the trees, slamming into the earth and sending an incandescent fireball rolling into the night sky.
The forest descending into a maelstrom, green tracers and explosions, probably the result of 416's and G11's efforts, shot out in one direction while blue and purple streaks of light went the other.
"416, get to that cliff ASAP!"
"No shit!"
As she called, 45 yanked on the stick and sent their aircraft hurtling down towards the earth.
"9, kill the radar, then get into the back and get ready to receive them, we might not have long."
"'Kay!" 9 chirped, shutting off the radar with a flick of a switch. She waited until 45 leveled out the plane, then unbuckled and scrambled over her seat into the rear of the aircraft.
Now flying level with the cliff, 45 watched as the center of the fighting began to close, the bursts of light visible between the trees as she raced their craft towards a sheer cliff ahead of them.
416 burst out of the trees, G11 on her shoulders and firing back at their pursuers. Not far behind, a group of Nemeums and SF regs charged after them.
Running a quick calculation, 45 realized what they'd have to do.
"416, jump."
"What?!"
"JUMP!"
Once 416 reached the cliff's edge, she continued forward at a full sprint, hurtling into the air.
45 deftly maneuvered underneath her, for a split second she was able to make eye contact with the doll as she fell through the air towards them.
"Get ready 9!" she shouted.
416 and G11 slammed onto their left wing, shuddering the whole aircraft and forcing 45 to pull the stick to the right a bit. Behind her, she felt frigid air sweep through into the cockpit.
"Gah! Gotcha!" 9 shouted gleefully, "sis, go!"
45 pushed the throttles as far forwards as they would go, watching streaks of plasma shoot past her cockpit as they took off into the night.
Behind her, she heard the rear hatch hiss closed.
Once they were far enough away, she shot a glance back.
416, G11, and 9 were all slumped against the sides of the cargo area, panting heavily.
"The next time you… want to pull a stunt like that," 416 said between heavy breaths, "tell me first, so I can kill you."
"Awww, we'd never get another paycheck then~" she said back to the glowering doll, "You three did good out there."
"Ehehe, that was fun," 9 chimed with a bright grin.
"Speak for yourself," 416 growled.
"Now now ladies, cheer up."
45 brought them up, climbing into the starry night until the aircraft's radio squawked to life.
"UMP45, care to explain yourself."
"Oh hi Helian, nice of you to call."
"We've received reports that you've commandeered an aircraft belonging to one of our local commanders, your adjutant hasn't denied this."
"Well, you see, we needed it and they weren't using it. You did give us permission to use G&K kit as we saw fit."
"With prior permission from the commander to which it belongs."
"Well, there's been a bit of jamming in the area, so let's say we couldn't."
Helian was quiet for a minute, and when she eventually did respond her tone was far more even.
"Very well. We'll be working on locating the source of the jamming. In the meantime, report your progress."
"Well, there's definitely a ringleader in the AO, though I don't believe we can confirm it as Scarecrow at the moment. Her base is roughly where you said it was, but her forces are pretty tough. Nearly lost a few of my own to a group of Nemeums."
That earned a renewed glare from 416.
"I see. I'll see if I can vector some support for you. Until then, proceed with your mission."
A panel near the silent Radar screen suddenly lit up, beeping incessantly.
"Uh Oh," she muttered.
"Sis?" 9 asked.
"You three strap in, we're being spiked."
"UMP45? What's going on?"
"Gotta go Helian, I guess SF has some A A."
With that, and despite the Griffin XO's protestations, 45 flipped the aircraft and pulled hard.
WIth a lurch the little aircraft shot towards the ground, screaming down towards the darkness below. She didn't dare let up on the dive until the RWR ceased its screaming.
Once it did, she leveled back out. They were once again being jammed, but it didn't matter anymore.
"Fourty-fiiiive," G11 groaned, "I just got cozy."
"Sorry G11, better awake than dead~"
"I dunno…"
"I'm gonna set us down nearby. We're still on the job."
"What does Helian expect us to do against Nemeums and Aegis?" 416 growled.
"Dunno, she's gonna 'vector some support our way'," she said, placing finger quotes around Helian's words, "so let's just get close to that base and wait to see what she meant by that."
Landing was easy, the R.99 is a tiltjet after all so they just plopped down in the nearest clearing and called it good.
Getting closer also proved easy. 45 had set them down below the cliffside that the SF base was upon, the very same 416 and G11 had been chased off of, and they followed one of the many hiking paths that wound through the area back up it.
They were approaching from a very different angle this time, and far slower, so when they at last got within sight, having woven through a half dozen patrols and trekked for nearly 90 minutes, 45 was pretty sure they'd been undetected.
Of course, she had been very sure last time too, but with the knowledge that their enemies had been watching this area from the air, she was careful about the route they took.
"Damn nest of them," 416 growled as they crouched up on a hill overlooking the enemy base.
"Mhmmm, buuut…" 45 squinted, carefully inspected the defenses of the base.
It was more of an outpost than anything else, sitting at the edge of another cliff with a small path running down said cliff into the valley below. Short walls ringed the place, with an occasional turret or guard patrol roaming the exterior.
"I think I see a way in," 45 finished her sentence, " The southwest angle is softer, maybe soft enough for 9 and me to get close enough to engage EW on their defenses."
"Uh, weren't we gonna wait until Helian's 'support' arrives?" 9 asked, cocking her head.
"Aw c'mon, if we do it ourselves I bet we can get double our going rate."
"I'd really rather not deal with Griffin anyway," 416 added.
"O-kay, then let's go," 45 declared, standing.
The four of them wound their way around the base, creeping through the underbrush, careful not to be seen or enter detection range. 45 and 9 were both equipped for Electronic warfare, which made this a much simpler task as their mere presence would reduce SF's ability to spot them a fair bit.
Soon enough they were facing the southwestern approach to the base, crouched behind a few boulders or trees.
"Alright, G11, 416, you cover me and 9 as we approach."
"Mmkay," G11 grunted, propping her rifle up against the boulder she was hiding behind.
"9, ready?"
"Mmhmm!" 9 nodded enthusiastically, "Let's go!"
Eagerly, 9 sprang to her feet..
To be honest, it didn't go that badly. 9 and 45 crept up to the front gate, 416 and G11 covering them as planned, and the SF base didn't seem to notice them. However, it was at roughly the moment before 9 and she would've been in range to begin their second role that 45 recalled something.
Scarecrow is a drone and recon specialist.
This kind of approach would work no problem on the relatively unobservant Hunter, or the brainlet Executioner, but Scarecrow was designed to make up for those two's deficiencies in excess.
Meaning…
"Good Evening, 404. And goodbye." Announced an almost bored sounding voice from what was probably a loudspeaker.
In a flash, the earth all around them erupted.
9 and 45 were quick on the draw, each tossing half a dozen flash and smoke grenades all around them before hightailing it back towards their teammates, plasma streaking all around them. Still, they were incredibly lucky not to be hit.
45 and 9 slid in behind the rocks their teammates were firing from.
"Whoa that was close!" 9 yelped.
"Mmm," 45 nodded.
"Dammit!" 416 screamed, firing her weapon at rapid staccato until it clicked empty. The doll ducked back down to swap her mag, and glare at 45, "Four Nemeums, ten Aegis all coming at us, We can't pen them easily!"
"Mmmhmm," 45 hummed. Above her, a dull hum caught her attention.
Hanging about ten meters up was a small drone, staring at them with a single central eye. That was certainly no scout drone, it must be one of Scarecrow's personal drones.
Confirmation came a second later, when a slight green glow began to build in its eye.
"Move!" 45 shouted, yanking G11 off her rock before the four of them took off at a sprint into the forest. Just a split second later, the rock they'd been hiding behind evaporated in a hail of green energy fire.
That was far from the end.
Streaks of green light tore down through the trees, striking almost randomly around the four of them like rain as they fled.
However, it was pretty clear to 45 that it wasn't random. Each time they turned to flee in a given direction, the trees ahead would be torn apart. However the rest of the forest would only be lightly touched.
"She's corralling us!" 45 shouted, "the trees are too thick to see us from above, there must be something keeping eyes on us!"
"Where!?" 416 shouted.
"Dunno!"
416 rolled her eyes, but did begin searching the darkness as they ran. 45 too, her eyes darting from shadow to shadow, each briefly illuminated as more of Scarecrow's blasts rained down.
"There!" 9 shouted, pointing to a shadow which seemed to be a little darker than the rest.
Instantly 416 sent a round at it, but a small drone darted out away from the doll's line of fire.
The four of them ground to a halt and began spraying fire at the weaving drone, until at last G11 caught it.
Then 45 tossed another smoke grenade in their midsts, giving the four of them time to quietly slink into the dark forest before Scarecrow began raining fire down into the smoke.
"Come on out you rodents. I'll make it quick."
"Ehehee, sounds like we got away," 9 said with a smug grin.
"Seems so," 416 grunted, "for now."
"Ja, but I don't think we can do this alone anymore," 45 added, "drones or armor, maybe, but not both at once."
416 nodded in begrudging agreement.
The four of them began to move away, creeping through the underbrush.
Yet, not even a minute later 45 heard a painfully familiar whine. In a whirlwind of splinters and laser fire, brilliant green beams tore through the forest in a wide swath.
Trees turned to shrapnel, earth to glass as the storm swept over them. The four of them pressed themselves into the ground.
As the smoke cleared, 45 caught a glimpse of the source. Floating along, surrounded by a swarm of lesser SF units, was the ringleader herself.
Scarecrow was tall, dressed in a black dress and with her hair done up in twintails, none of which detracted from the menacing aura which radiated off her.
"Well, hello there little rats."
The ringleader's voice cut through the air like a knife.
G11, surprisingly, was quickest on the draw. The doll firing off a furious burst into the ringleader. However, their foe deftly swept to the side, the rounds passing harmlessly past her.
"Grrr, come on!" 416 then growled, joining in with G11. Shortly after, they were all trading fire with Scarecrow and her troops. They were scoring hits, and thanks to the interference patterns 45 and 9 were outputting, SF's accuracy was poor.
Still, this was unsustainable, as Scarecrow gathered a large cloud of drones behind her, flourishing a small baton in her hand. Then with a flick of her wrist, the eyes of each drone lit with green light.
"Run!" 45 shouted. Immediately the four of them took off, 9 and 45 tossing still more grenades over their shoulder in an attempt to keep them all from harm.
Lasers ripped through the air between them, earning curses from 416 as they once again hit the dirt.
"We need to go!" 9 yelped, covering her head with her hands as they weathered the barrage.
"No kidding!" 45 replied.
Then, something else filled the air.
As if trying to rival the SF ringleader, a sudden burst of gunfire lit up in the forest a little ways from where they were, with occasional punctuations of grenades shaking the earth and SF counterfire.
"Hailing 404, this is Griffin Commander Jasinski. Say Status."
45 let out a relieved little sigh, "We're okay, holed up outside the enemy base and under fire, but alive."
"Copy, We're currently setting up a command point, please report here at your convenience."
45 grimaced, "We're currently under fire."
"My troops will draw Sangvis Ferri off, please report here."
45 was about to make a snarky reply, but she realized quickly that they weren't under fire anymore. In fact it seemed they were being left alone entirely as when she poked her head back up, there was no SF in sight.
"Huh."
"What?" 416 grunted.
45 frowned, "I guess help has arrived, let's go say hi."
Griffin's deployment proved small, a bit disappointing to 45, but she was happy with competent backup nonetheless.
That happiness was dampened though, when she got a good look at the commander leading them. First off, there was the fact that he was physically present. Prudent for sure, given SF's love of jamming, but it might make her life more of a pain.
Second was his appearance. He was aging, to start, probably in his late sixties if not older. Further he had the disposition of a stone wall, and she could see it in his eyes as she approached. She'd dealt with humans of all kinds these last few years, but a stubborn old war horse was near the top of her list of pains in the ass to work with, or against.
He was surrounded by his dolls, giving out orders as they began to dismount from their vehicles.
"Commander!" she called to him as 404 strode up to him.
"Task force 404?" he asked.
"Ja, thank you for the support."
"Hmmmm," he crossed his arms, "that was reckless of you."
45 shrugged, "perhaps, but we secured some useful intel in the process."
"That being?"
"Scarecrow is personally present, and she's utilizing her drones for aerial recon and strike. They're the hammer, her armored forces and regulars are the anvil. Based on the signal's density around her, she's the local command node and is not a dummy."
"I see," the commander began, starting to pace. 45 could see the wheels turning. Around him, his doll's took notice, most stopping what they were doing to watch, "Based on current reports, approximately ninety regular units, three dozen aegis, and twelve nemeums in SF's arsenal. Do you concur?"
"Approximately, yes."
Jasinski nodded, "Scarecrow is a recon specialist, with some heavy strike capability. It would be difficult to avoid her detecting our intentions…"
"She had difficulty spotting us in the trees, she had to drop drones beneath the canopy to track us," 45 volunteered.
Jasinski didn't look her way, but did raise an eyebrow, "Interesting, perhaps they lack thermal and radiological imaging then?"
45 shrugged, "no idea, maybe."
"Well, we can use it. I got a brief report on your capabilities from Helian, is it accurate?"
She couldn't help a slight, devious smirk, "it's what we like her to think we can do."
Jasinski raised a curious brow at the remark, but said nothing in direct reply. Instead he walked over to the holomap his dolls had just set up and beckoned her and his team leaders to gather around it.
"This is the area," he said as a display of the surrounding hills and valleys was displayed, "Our enemy is centered at the top of a cliff, with forest to their backs. We will advance from both directions. 404…" he turned to her, "you will provide support, but if you see an opportune moment to strike, take it."
45 was surprised by the directive, perhaps expecting a more hands on handling of her. She grinned, genuinely. "Wilco."
Scarecrow was losing.
Griffin's commander seemed to be reading her mind, or perhaps her comms, but either way her forces were being picked apart.
Currently she was holding the cliffside path leading up to her base while skirmishing on the hill on the other side of her base, but things were deteriorating. Griffin's dolls seemed to fade in and out of the forest, spraying fire and departing before she could mount a response.
Squads of regulars destroyed from a storm of lead, nemeums peppered and chewed to pieces, drones swatted out from the sky.
All the while, the specter of 404 hung over her. Her network connections were hazy, and her sensors were unreliable for reasons she didn't quite understand. All things consistent with the reports Sangvis Ferri had from their few engagements with the mercenary dolls.
"Ouroboros, I need support," she said coolly.
"Hmmm? I thought you had this in hand?" the doll answered after a minute, her tone seemingly unconcerned about her state.
"Griffin's more effective than expected, my forces are being depleted."
"I see… well, I guess I could send you some help."
"Thank you-"
"But I think I'll flank Griffin instead. You see, with them so focused on you, they'll be vulnerable."
"-eh?!" Scarecrow stammered.
On the battlefield, Scarecrow ordered her Nemeums forward to sweep a cluster of Griffin dolls out of a ditch. The heavy units stomped forward, and came to their designated positions where they should have had a clear shot.
Instead the ditch was empty.
Then they came under withering fire, and her armor began to fall to pieces.
"Ouroboros! This will be over long before then if you don't send me reinforcements right now!"
She swept her drones out over the area where her nemeums had just been destroyed, and rained fire down blindly into the dense tree cover, hoping to smoke the enemy out.
"Oh, perhaps, but so long as they are still there when I do arrive, it won't matter. You just need to encourage them to stick around afterwards."
"No! I can beat them, I just need more forces ASAP!"
Ouroboros sighed, "Oh Scarecrow, you did good I suppose. But now your role is over."
"Wha-!?"
Suddenly Scarecrow felt her programs begin to shut off, her body almost instantly going stiff and mind shutting down.
"Damn…you…"
"Huh," 9 commented as they stepped inside the SF control center. Scarecrow was there, standing still and rigid as a statue with her face frozen in an angry expression.
The Griffin dolls followed them in, each reacting in their own way to the ringleader's unexpected presence, and equally unexpected stillness.
"Why isn't she moving?"
"What's going on?"
"Can I poke her?"
"Hack her 9," 45 ordered.
9 trotted up the ringleader while the rest of them fanned out and began to take the room apart.
"I can't get through, her neural cloud has been locked up tight."
"Hmmmm, weird." 45 pondered.
"404, status?" asked Jasinski on comms.
"We're clear, Scarecrow's inert and we can't access her neural cloud. Doesn't seem to be any other information in here to indicate the location of the rest of SF's forces in the area."
"Copy. proceed with wrapping up."
45 rolled her eyes as she left the net. Typical, the human was staying back while they did all the actual work.
Least he's in situ, better than in some command base two hundred miles away.
404 and the Griffin dolls began wrapping up operations, which mostly involved tearing anything that could hide anything of value off walls and out of computers, and stacking SF bodies for removal and analysis by Griffin.
However, just before 45 could begin working over the SF mainframe computers in earnest, she was interrupted.
"Well well, looks like I've missed the party," said a new voice.
45 looked back to see a new doll sauntering into the room. Silver hair tied back with a bow, and moving with a deliberately exaggerated motion.
"Tokarev?" one of the Griffin dolls exclaimed.
"Mhmm," Tokarev hummed, "I've just come back from a lovely evening stroll, only to find that my plane was not where I left it," the doll's eyes turned to 45, "know anything about that?"
45 shrugged, "maybe."
"Hmmm…" Tokarev snaked up to her, "cute."
45 smiled in amusement as Tokarev wove in between each of them, prodding at 416, complementing 9's hair, and pinching G11's cheek. Once she was done making her rounds, she stood at the center of the room, placed her hands on her hips, and began to speak.
"I have a report!" she said, speaking both physically and on comms.
"Where have you been, Tokarev?" Jasisnki's curious voice asked.
"I have returned! And I would like to declare that Groza and I have discovered some vital information!"
On the general net, several location markers sprang to life. One marked 'radar', another 'cp', and several others including SF formations and geographic points of interest.
"This is… comprehensive," 45 commented, "how did you collect all this?"
Tokarev smiled, "My colleague and I are good at what we do."
416's brow furrowed, "You said Groza?"
"Indeed. Though… I'm afraid she was unable to accompany me back to you. She's still out there…" Tokarev's voice faded slightly as she spoke.
"Understood. Anything else?"
"Ah, yes. Commander, she told me to tell you not to worry about her and to focus on the mission."
"... Understood."
Tokarev grinned, "Excellent, then in that case, I shall accompany Task for 404 to my aircraft, so that they may return it."
"Copy. 1st echelon, secure the base, third, cover them. Second will mount up and recon in force the nearest SF formations."
"Ah, commander. 404 would like to investigate the SF Radar, if you don't mind. Based on Tokarev's scans, I believe there is more to it than meets the eye."
"Mmm, very well."
45 waved her team to follow as the Griffin dolls began to move out, some taking information off computers while others stood around Scarecrow, trying to figure out just what to do with her.
The four of them made their exit, exchanging friendly waves with the dolls guarding the exits before slipping into the forest.
"So, where is my plane?" Tokarev suddenly asked, making all of them jump.
"Y-you followed us!" 9 shouted.
"I said I was going to?" Tokarev's head cocked.
"Y-yeah, but…"
"Tch, let her come," grunted 416, surprisingly.
"Oh? Going soft 416?" 45 said.
"As if."
"416?" Tokarev asked, peeking around to look 416 in the eye, "So you're 416? Groza talked about you."
416 didn't verbally reply, instead carefully looking back at Tokarev out of the corner of her eye.
"What did she say?" 45 asked.
"Oh, nothing bad. Just telling stories. She talks about those days quite fondly."
"Those days?" 9 pondered.
"Oh, did you not know?"
416 growled, "Tokarev, shush."
"Heheh, 416 and Groza used to be on the same team, with M16, if you know her."
"Haaah…" 416 sighed.
"Ohhhhh, an old friend of yours then 416?" 9 swooned in, leaning over the doll's shoulder.
"Shove it."
"ehehehe~"
NOTES:
Yes, its time for Cube!
Anderssen Defense: "...Although not nearly as popular as the other variations, this is still a sound way of playing with Black against the Vienna. Former world champion Jose Raul Capablanca used to play this variation to avoid theory."
chess . c0m, on the Vienna opening variations (can't post the link?)
Always cite your sources kids ;)
Anyway, we're going with Cube's chess theme and RUNNING with it here. not basing the story on any particular game, but a certain Snek is certainly going to consider herself to be a GM, despite reality.
(also, SF is white pieces, G&K+404 are the black pieces, just for clarity)
404 is great too, honestly writing the holiday special really helped me connect with them in a way I wasn't expecting, and its alleviated alot of dread I had entering this part of the story. I'm adding elements of Deep dive much, much earlier into the story, so all four of 404 will have longer, more drawn out arcs as we interact with them over the coming chapters.