It'd been about five minutes since the earth shaking explosion had rocked the G&K HQ. Less than half an hour since they'd lost and then restored power to the base. Barely even two hours since he'd arrived.
Matt led a group of nearly twenty armed and armored G&K operators, each of the soldiers was dressed in light powered armor and followed behind in a loose column, Ak's raised, scanning through murky halls of the partially flooded containment level. The water sloshing around up to their shins slowed them considerably, but with the fire system now shut off the level was slowly dropping.
The hall where the elevators had once been was now a near solid wall of rubble and twisted steel rods. Matt flashed his light upwards, showing a hole in the ceiling leading to the floor above.
"Rs, Matt. Where are you?" he muttered into the radio on his rig. As he spoke he heard his own voice crackling off in the distance at a slight delay.
"I can hear you…" Rs muttered back on the radio a moment later.
Just from her voice he could tell she was in bad shape, the words sounding pained as she spoke sound had come from the far side of the rubble, up over the heap of concrete and rebar that'd once been the floor above.
"Far side," he grunted in Russian to the soldiers around him, "Secure the area, check the other halls for any sign of Ar-15."
"Copy," their squad leader replied with a curt nod, before he began rapidly directing the squad. The red armored men scrambled up the rubble pile, kicking concrete chunks down into the water as they went up. The rest split up between the clear halls, searching every nook and cranny with their flashlights as they went.
Matt waited a moment before making his own ascent. He took the climb slowly, placing tentative hands and feet on the rubble as he clambered over the rubble. It was a tighter squeeze near the top, but he managed to wriggle through and found relief atop the pile.
"Still there?" he asked Rs on the radio.
Again his voice cracked from a little ways away, his head snapping in the direction.
"Yep," she grunted back, "One of your buddies just showed up."
"Well, be nice to him. I'm coming to get you," he strained in reply, forcing himself into another tight squeeze between the rubble and the floor above that led in Rs' direction. His old, tired muscles protested as he forced his way down.
The pile's slope was shallower here, so once past the choke point Matt was able to stumble down on two feet. Rs was at the bottom of the pile, slumped against a wall with one of the G&K operators tending to her by flashlight.
There were a few holes in her jacket, with dark red stains in the fabric around them, and her head was a tangled mess of sopping wet hair, grime, and blood. She had a few white bandages wrapped around her upper arm he assumed had come from the Operator's medkit. By weight she was probably at least half water now, there wasn't a bit of her not soaked through from the fire suppression system. Her two hazel eyes still shined through, staring up at him.
"This is starting to become a trend with you," he said, extending a hand down to her.
Rs feebly reached up and gripped his arm, letting him haul her back up to her feet. She swayed unsteadily for a moment, actively fighting for balance. Matt held her up as best he could, letting her use him as a handhold as she stabilized her footing.
"Yeah," she grunted, "Seems so."
"You good?"
Rs was staring over towards the still burning pile of rubble near the elevators, apparently not having heard him. He noticed a rifle in her other hand, an old short barreled G36 that she was still clutching with an iron grip.
"Hey," he nudged her, "Are you okay?"
Her head made a shallow bobbing motion, loosely resembling a nod, "Yeah. Yeah…"
She seemed punch drunk, or perhaps still the regular kind of drunk. Most likely a bit of both now that he thought about it, she had been by the bar when the lights went out. He didn't know if the nanites in her blood could filter that stuff out, under different circumstances he would've asked.
Instead, He and the Griffin operator lead her out through the dark twisting halls, the soldier's Ak clearing the way with Matt and Rs on his shoulder behind. Silently he wondered if the man could take on any threat they did encounter, even a damaged Ar-15 would be more than a match for him.
But, no threats came. Instead all they found were twisting halls and enough water to soak the three of them head to toe by the time they made it to the stairwells. From there the man handed Rs off to Matt, and pressed back into the darkness, leaving the two of them alone.
"Thanks for getting me," Rs said shakily, the drenched woman hanging on his shoulder like a wet sack of potatoes.
"Course," he said, reaching over to pat her back reassuringly, "anytime."
"Sorry I didn't stop her."
"It's okay, you tried."
"Right…" she muttered.
Matt appraised her for a moment. Rs was barely responsive, and felt heavy and cold as she clung to him. Anyone else and he'd probably be calling for EMS at that point, but with her he felt little urgency. She'd walked off worse, that was part of her appeal. Internally he hated himself for not caring more, but she held her own safety in such low regard that the feeling had passed on to him as well.
"C'mon," he said, hefting her up the first step on their long journey up, "let's go."
Rs huffed an exhausted agreement, and slowly but surely they stumbled up the stairwell.
It took nearly twenty minutes of tedious climbing, and a few breaks, to make it back to the main floor. There they were greeted by more armed security and a few newly reactivated T-dolls. The two of them were ushered into the main atrium, where the food court, meeting room, and nearly two hundred dolls in various states of repair and reactivation were scattered. A few frantic techs and red-coated G&K officers dashed from one to the next, triaging and repairing dolls as they could.
It was chaos, but with the old man looking down on them all and barking orders from the floor above, his arms crossed beneath his fur-lined greatcoat, the G&K staff were controlling the situation.
"I'll be by the bar, get me when you're done," Rs grumbled, slipping off of him and beginning to take shaky steps in the direction of said bar at the far end of the atrium.
She only detoured slightly to swing past two other figures in the food court, the silver haired Gentiane and her doll, G36c, who were quietly working on restoring the other dolls in the food court.
Rs tapped the doll on the shoulder, then handed her the rifle on her shoulder before resuming her march to the bar without another word. He noticed both Gentiance and G36C watch her go, before Gentiane turned and spotted him.
He offered her a polite wave, and she beckoned G36C to get back to work before she herself made her way over, weaving between the strewn chairs and still comatose dolls standing around.
"Is she alright?" Gentiane asked, nodding towards Rs as the latter stumbled over towards the bar and collapsed into one of the bar chairs.
"She's been better," Matt admitted, "Just exhausted I imagine."
"Why wasn't she affected?" Gentiane asked, "By whatever got the other dolls, I mean."
It took a moment for Matt to process the question, having been enraptured by his adjutants raiding the bar's liquor cabinet. She was pouring out a glass of tequila as his brain caught up.
"Oh, uh, not too sure on the details honestly. Some specialist thing with her." He tried to make that sound convincing, but it seemed Gentiance was unimpressed with his answer. He wondered quietly why she cared at all, if it was mere curiosity or something closer to suspicion that motivated the question.
"I see. Well maybe we should see about trying to adapt whatever it is onto our other dolls, to prevent this from happening again."
"Right," he muttered.
With that, the silver haired woman wandered off. Leaving Matt with a small pit of worry in his stomach as he watched her go.
Things were different when Rs returned.
Cano first realized she was back when she heard a loud slump in the bed below that woke her from her slumber. Peering over the edge of her bed, she caught sight of Rs curling up beneath the blankets. It was quite a bit earlier than she was due back, by several hours in fact.
At the time, she didn't think much of it; She'd gone right back to bed without a word. However, the next day Rs was out of bed before the usual wakeup time, her bed neatly made with sheets pulled tight to the corners. In the common room, the coffee maker was nearly full, and Rs' usual mug was missing from the pantry. Beyond that though, there was no sign of her.
She wasn't even listed on the network, which was the first time as far as Cano could remember that she'd purposefully taken herself offline, at least without Cano's prodding to convince her that is.
"Maybe that's what she's doing now," Cano muttered under her breath as she glanced around the quiet common room.
The place, as always, was tidy and well kept due to Nagant's efforts. The only exception being a small pile of clothes and Cano's own sewing machine set atop the dining table off in the corner. She'd taken to mending the clothing of the echelon when torn or shot up, and increasingly Famas' First Echelon and the AR-team had come to rely on her as well.
So, hoping that Rs was okay and not wanting to discourage her from taking a break, Cano poured herself a cup of coffee and sat down at the table, beginning to sew.
Not long after the others awoke as well, and life filled the common room. Nagant, Wa, M14 and Tec-9 all stumbled in piecemeal, seeking coffee and tea per their preferences to wake them up. Tec had fallen in nicely with them and their routines, already feeling like a natural member of the team, though had surprised them all by falling on team tea with Nagant and Wa.
Cano said her good mornings to each of them, and settled in at the table, sipping her coffee and starting to work on patching some clothing. It was an unusually quiet morning, all five of them pouring and sipping their drinks of choice in different sections of the room. Nagant and M14 sat uncomfortably on the couch together while Tec grabbed a chair from the table and moved it to the window to look out, while Wa spent some time slowly pacing the room.
It was an awkward, silent few minutes. Each of them sipping from their drinks, not looking at each other, not interacting. Even their network, normally filled with various updates and gossip, was nearly dead.
Then, just as she finished setting up her sewing machine, a knock came at their door. Cano dashed to answer with a tense breath held in her chest.
It was M4. Not who she'd hoped for, but not someone who eased her stress to see either this particular morning.
The doll's hair was an unbrushed tangle and she was still in her pajamas, probably having just woken up and come straight over. There was a wild, strained look in her eye that was uncharacteristic of the doll Cano had come to know.
"Is Rs here?" M4 blurted, straining to peer past her.
Cano moved slightly out of the way, letting her have a clear view before replying, "Sorry, no. "
"I see." M4 mumbled, "If you see her, could you tell her I want to talk?"
Cano crossed her arms. The memory of last night still fresh in her mind as she was sure it was in M4's. She felt no small amount of guilt for it.
the "I-," M4 pursed her lips, though Cano got the sense it was less in annoyance to her as it was to M4 herself, "We leave tonight and I might not get the chance to ask her… I just want to know how Ar-15 is doing."
"I think we all do," Cano nodded, "but Rs may not know, I got the sense last night she didn't know much more about what was happening than we did."
M4 didn't reply right away.
Rs was quite capable of hiding her thoughts away when in front of the other dolls, however, Cano had been there when she'd gotten the call. She'd seen the little crack in her facade as they were just sitting down for dinner in the common room, the hesitation just before Rs moved to follow through on detaining Ar-15. Her hand had been shaking as she'd checked her pistol's magazine and chamber, right before heading out.
"I just-" M4's fist balled, "I want to make sure she's okay. I know Rs was just following orders, and so were you…"
"Yeah…" Cano shifted uncomfortably on her feet, "Still, I'm… sorry for how things went last night."
M4 didn't reply verbally, just shifting a bit on the spot while averting her eyes. Cano wanted to try and cheer her up, reassure her things were fine, but she worried it'd ring false. Things weren't fine, and she was a part of why. Hopefully she'd have time to fix that before the AR-team left.
"I'll let you know right away if I find Rs. If you or your sisters need anything else from us, just let us know," Cano said. She hoped it wouldn't come off as impersonal, but she really didn't know what else to say.
M4 nodded, said "thank you" in a tiny voice, and left.
Cano watched her wander back down the hall, and slip back into her own dorm room before shutting their own door. Cano then made her way back to her sewing station and got back to work, the rest of the common room just as quiet as before. She could feel eyes on her though, as she began to work.
She tried to ignore them at first, focusing on her work, but as she pressed the sewing machine's pedal, driving the needle through fabric, it became too much. Her stitch wandered off course as she irately tried to steer it back, but found the task hopeless.
"What?" she snapped, looking up to them all.
Four sets of eyes stared back, before one by one they all looked away and resumed their morning routines. Once the last of them looked elsewhere, Cano ripped open her sewing kit and withdrew a small hooked blade, and cut out the stray stitches.
She tried and failed a few more times before getting into the rhythm, but she did eventually find her groove as the morning progressed. Similarly the common area began to gradually come back to life, the silence broken up with muttered chatter, clinking dishes, and the other girls rousing themselves into motion. By ten all five of them were up and active, performing their various assigned chores. M14 collected everyone's various dishes and cups to wash them in the small kitchenette sink, Wa began watering the few plants they had around the room, while Tec helped Nagant with dusting and tidying up the various surfaces around.
Eventually the start of their official shifts rolled around, and they filed out of the dorm room dutifully to get started. Today was a boring day for them, sitting in the ready room, cleaning weapons in their combat gear just in case they needed to launch a QRF for whatever reason. Cano had never deployed on such a mission herself, but Nagant and the others talked of a singular such case in the past every now and then.
It wasn't uncommon for dolls of other groups to join them for a while when they were on this job. M4 had appeared a few times, G36 as well, even Rs. They usually came just to chat and hang out, clean their own weapons, or just get away from the hubbub of the base.
Today though, no one came for the whole shift. Atop that the network was uncharacteristically dead, with barely a half dozen posts on the Griff-chan message board.
Cano kept an eye on the network as she sat, hoping to see a sign of RS anywhere, but her friend was frustratingly absent.
She knew she was back. Not just from the prior night, but the fact that duties were still posted, schedules for the upcoming week updated, even a few new training bulletins, but Rs -who typically posts and maintains these things- was still not online.
The thought occurred that she was probably posting from her work computer, rather than doing so directly like normal. However, it would be hours before Cano could escape her duty and confirm.
Long. painful hours. They ticked by at a glacial pace. Five minutes felt like an hour. Hours felt like eternities.
Painfully slowly.
Eventually, mercifully, the clock neared 1730. The team began stripping off their combat gear, deactivating dummies that'd stood on standby for hours, stowing rifles and kit where they all belonged, before congregating near the door to await the shift's end.
Strictly speaking they weren't supposed to stand down until the anointed time, but there were very few dolls on base willing to sit in their hot, uncomfortable combat gear even a minute longer than they were scheduled to do so.
The clock struck. They all stood, and without a word stepped out. They passed the shift change on the way out, offering half hearted looks of sympathy to the poor dolls of Second Echelon headed to the other way.
"Dinner?" M14 asked. It was the first work any of them had spoken aloud in hours.
"I'm actually gonna go to the TOC first. I want to check something… meet you all there?" Cano replied.
"Okie, sounds good."
14 and the others departed in a tired mob, stumbling down the hall towards the cafe. Cano went the other way, crawling her way up to the heart of the base.
An nervous excitement grew slowly in her chest as she got closer, hoping to see Rs. She worried too, but was trying hard not to let those worries take root. Even if Rs was in rough shape, she'd found it best not to let her think Cano had noticed -it usually only made things worse.
Cano pursed her lips, deep in thought, considering how to handle whatever was to come, when she unexpectedly bounced off something soft.
M4 let out a surprised yelp as Cano plowed into her, nearly knocking the poor girl off her feet. Cano snapped a hand out and snagged M4's jacket, holding on and helping her regain her balance as her arms whirled wildly.
"Whoa, sorry. You okay?" Cano asked.
"Ah, yes. Hello Cano, are you going to see Rs?" M4 replied, trying to catch her breath.
"I was hoping too, I haven't seen her still."
"Oh," M4's brow furrowed, "She actually messaged me earlier about something, and I asked if she had time to talk. She said she would at the end of her shift."
"Which is nowish?"
"I guess so, she said five forty-five. You said you haven't seen her?"
Cano shook her head, "Not at all."
"Ah, I'm sorry. Do you want to come in with me?"
"Sure! If you don't mind." Cano beamed at the idea, and began trailing M4 the last few paces to the TOC door.
Rs was seated behind her desk, staring intently at her screen. Her cheeks were sunken slightly, accompanied by a general more gaunt look to her. Cano had last seen her less than twenty hours prior, and she appeared to have lost a few pounds in as many hours. Cano knew full well just what that meant: She'd been hurt again, those pounds burned as fuel to heal her. Based on the dark rings around her eyes and the mug of cold coffee in her gently trembling hand, she'd not slept in some time either.
Rs looked up at her briefly as she walked in, and then settled her eyes on M4.
"Good evening M4. You wanted to talk?"
"I- yes. I just wanted to say first, I don't blame you for last night, I know you were just following orders and all that…"
M4 paused, waiting for Rs to respond, but she stayed silent and continued staring. After a few moments of this M4 cleared her throat to continue.
"But I wanted to ask about Star. is she okay? Did you guys talk, or figure out why she was… detained?"
"She wasn't in a talkative mood. However, we did actually get some answers on that last. Turns out during the last deployment, or sometime prior, she was infected with malware. Probably SF in origin."
M4's eyes bulged, " She… what? Is she okay?"
Rs sighed, "While I was in the meeting, the base's power went out. Kryuger had me go secure 15, but when I got there, she was gone. I tracked her down and caught up, but she wouldn't listen to me. I imagine the malware had corrupted her too much."
"What… how?"
"We don't know. But she was hostile, and opened fire on me when I went to confront her."
What struck Cano was how flatly Rs was delivering this clearly shocking news to M4. M4 and even Cano herself were struck with horror at what was being described, but Rs didn't react at all. Malware was a constant threat, but typically a minor one. It was uncommon for any sort of malware to be able to breach modern firewalls, especially one actively maintained by a high level doll. For Ar-15 to be corrupted so thoroughly… nightmarish.
Rs' face betrayed little to no emotion. In fact, if Cano had to guess, she'd say Rs looked more bored than anything else, like this was an annoyance.
"I shot her. She must've had a grenade ready, because a second later the place blew. They haven't found much."
It was like she was delivering a formal report, not informing M4 of her sister's death.
Cano's whole body suddenly felt like it was made from lead. Her limbs didn't quite sit right where they were, and she felt awkward just looking at the pair.
Had Rs forgotten she was here too? Had, M4 done something wrong? Had she?
M4 stood, clearly in shock.
"Y-you shot her?"
"It was a firefight. She'd recovered her weapon and wasn't listening to my commands to stand down."
"Is there any chance-
"No. AR-15 is dead, M4."
M4's body slacked, like a balloon deflating, before it gradually rose back up into a tight, rigid posture. Emotional suppression. Cano had never seen M4 engage in it, despite her shyness the doll usually wore her feelings on her sleeve.
"Copy that ma'am."
Rs nodded, "Anything else?"
"No."
"That'll be all."
Can stared wide eyed as M4 turned on her heel, and fled. As she left the two met eyes, and she could see the well of tears streaming down M4's cheeks as she rushed away. The door slamming shut in her wake.
"So, do you need something?"
Cano was caught flat footed by Rs' question, she stumbled over her words to reply, "I, uh… I just wanted to see you? What was…"
"Oh, that's all? Ok."
Rs went back to her computer, starting to shut it down before collecting the mess of papers and files on her desk. Cano just stared.
"Rs?"
"Yeah?"
Rs didn't look up.
"Is what you told M4 true…? You killed 15?"
Rs paused, staring at the yellow manila file in her hands for a few seconds before shooting her gaze up to Cano.
"Can I trust you?"
"I- always!"
She felt insulted by the question, had she not proven that enough to her?
"She's not dead."
Rs said the words without a shred of drama, like she was reporting the weather.
"Then why…?"
"It's for her own good."
"That's… what?! No, you need to tell her."
"No."
"Then I will!" Cano declared, crossing her arms defiantly.
"No, you won't. That's an order," Rs replied bluntly.
Cano's defiance deflated as the order was recognized, and her systems locked that course of action from her.
"But… you made her cry! You broke her heart!"
"Well," Rs shrugged, "Oh well."
"Oh well? You go over there and tell her 15 may not be dead. Maybe she can be saved, that virus… maybe we can do something about that."
Rs groaned, and pushed her desk chair back and rose to face Cano eye to eye.
"No," Rs crossed her arms, "I'm not doing that."
"Why?" Cano shot back, matching the gesture. She stood a good ten centimeters over Rs at her full height, and so towered over her as she did.
"Because she'll kill herself trying to find 15 if I give her any hope she's alive. She won't stop, and she'll die."
"So you're okay being an object of her hate?"
"If that's what it takes."
"That's moronic. That does no one any favors!"
"So what? It's my choice, I think it's the best thing to do to keep her alive."
"That's not it! I guess I get what you're trying to do, but the way you're doing it is just…"
"Just what?" Rs growled.
"You're being a bitch." Cano told her bluntly.
"So?"
"That's not a good thing."
Rs gave her a look that read 'no shit.'
"Are you doing this on purpose?"
Rs shrugged, "ehhhhhhh?"
"Can you please stop? Go back to being the old you? You've already broken M4's heart, you don't need to make it even worse by acting like this. "
"I don't care if others like me or not. I need to make sure she doesn't hurt herself chasing a lost cause and being nice about it makes no difference. If anything it makes it harder."
"You should care! You're one of her only real friends, the woman who rescued her from near death twice! Now that same friend is claiming she killed her sister and acting like she doesn't mind having done it! Even if you won't tell her the truth about 15, at least apologize for hurting her."
"An apology, what would I even say? Sorry I arrested your sister and pushed her to betray everyone we know? Sorry I shot her and may have condemned her to death? I only did it because I was told to, please forgive me? How would that make her feel any better, how does that solve anything?"
"It… I-" Cano tried to reply, but as she looked at Rs she could see that basically nothing she was saying was latching on. The woman's eyes were disinterested and tired. She was almost unrecognizable to Cano now.
Rs must've grown bored of her hesitation, as she sighed and stepped back, and took two steps towards the TOC door before looking back.
"Fine, I'll answer. It doesn't. All an apology does is offer a half hearted attempt to absolve myself. I shouldn't get a free pass just because something I did wasn't my call," Rs snarled.
"But you feel bad about it, right? So you should apologize, let M4 know that. She needs you on her side."
Rs pursed her lips, "An apology, far as I care, is a promise. 'I won't do that again, I feel bad enough about it to promise that.' I would do it again if I was told to, without hesitation. That doesn't make it right, doesn't mean I should get away with it without consequence, but that's the truth. I'm not going to lie to her and say I won't do something like that when I absolutely will if ordered. I'm not on her side, but I'm not going to lie to her about it."
Cano reached out, trying to get Rs to take her hand, but the woman refused flat out, not even looking her in the eye anymore.
"Rs, Joha, please. M4 is a doll, she understands not having a choice in orders, so do I. She just needs to not feel like one of her best friends hates her now. Even if we don't tell her the truth, we can at least not take away more of her friends, right?"
"I'm not a doll, Cano. I do have a choice. I could tell Matt and Kryuger to go fuck themselves, I could've smuggled 15 out of here with her sisters and helped them flee into the night. I should've been able to talk 15 down from the ledge she put herself on, and I shouldn't have shot her. I could go downstairs and tell M4 her sister's alive, and help the AR-team find her even if it kills all of us. Maybe I even should, but I'm not going to. You don't have a choice, so in a sense you're not really responsible. I do, and so I am. I'm not going to let M4 kill herself on a crusade to find 15, and I'm not going to offer some weak apology built on a false promise just to make M4 hate me a bit less."
"But… Rs…" She tried, but her words failed her.
Rs sighed, "I'm grabbing dinner. See you later."
"Wait," Cano began, taking a step to follow her as Rs began to leave.
"Stay, Cano."
Cano froze, her feet planted in place as her mind recognized the words as an order. She strained despite it, straining against programming and hardcoded boundaries, but try as she did, she didn't budge.
With that, Rs headed out, not looking back once more and saying nothing else. Cano just stood frozen, watching her go. She was there for a good ten minutes, mind whirling, body frozen, staring at a now shut metal door in disbelief.
She'd left her. Ordered her to 'stay', and walked away. Dismissed her.
Her fist clenched, as she stared on. The whirring computers and AC of the TOC faded into the background noise, replaced with the whirling thoughts in her mind.
[Warning: CPU over temperature]
[Warning: Core Logic Unit over temperature]
Warnings began flashing as Cano's cheeks burned hotter and hotter. She could barely recognize the words, what they meant.
Rs had left her. Did she hate her? Did she make a mistake? She still couldn't move.
[Warning: Critical Temperature]
She couldn't breathe. Her chest was seized in the same moment Rs had left.
[Error: Unknown #34895]
[Error: Unknown #5559]
[Error: Unknown #i9904]
[Error: FCC overtemperature]
She couldn't move. She wouldn't
"Cano?" a voice asked from behind her. Her systems registered the voice as the commander's, but she couldn't really tell. It felt tinny and far away.
A hand landed on her shoulder, and then tentatively pressed against her cheek for a moment.
"Release hold."
Her body released. She could move. She took a deep, wheezing breath of cool air as she stumbled forward two steps. Instantly a pair of steady arms grabbed her and slowly lowered her down, laying her on her back and leaving her staring upwards. Then a sound of pouring water, and then a cool, soaked piece of fabric was laid atop her forehead.
Core temperatures began to fall as she breathed and cooled. Her logs showed her CPU and CLU had run at 100% for ten minutes straight.
She registered the face of the commander looking over her.
"Are you okay?" he asked.
"Si," she managed.
"What happened?"
"Rs told… told me to stay."
The commander raised a concerned eyebrow, "And so you couldn't move?"
She shrugged. That shouldn't have happened. 'Stay' wasn't such a strict command as to not allow movement and ventilation. She didn't have an explanation. Diagnostics weren't helpful either, the moment when she'd recognized the order, there hadn't been any unusual commands imposed from it.
"I see. You want me to talk with her?" he asked.
"No…" she muttered, "I-"
A tear welled up in her eyes.
"Whoa, hey it's okay," he began, "what happened?"
"I think she hates me," Cano managed bitterly.
"I doubt that," he replied.
"She's being stubborn, she's making M4 hate her. She won't listen," her sobs were growing with each word.
"Ah," he said.
"She pushed me away. She's avoided me all day and now this…"
"Cano. She doesn't hate you," The commander muttered, "Here sit up."
He carefully helped her up, moving the rag on her forehead to around her neck, letting the cool liquid drip and cool her still feverish body. He then handed her a small flask he withdrew from his pocket.
Cano unscrewed the top, and took a sip of what she assumed was water.
It was not water.
"Gah!" gagged as her mouth and throat burned.
"Haha," he chuckled, "Whiskey. It'll cool you and maybe calm you too."
"S-sir, it's six pm!?" she coughed.
"Perfectly reasonable time to start," he smiled.
"This is half empty."
"Well, I won't tell if you don't."
"Tell who? You?"
The commander gestured to her to take another sip, which she tentatively did. More prepared, she managed to get some down, and found he was right. Her core temperature dropped a little with each little sip, and her spinning mind began to calm.
"I'll never understand why booze affects you dolls, or how," he mused as he noted her calming demeanor.
"Uncanny valley," she half-heartedly muttered, 's'all programming, I'm not really affected…just feels like it."
Her mind slowed way down. The room felt a little bigger and like it was turning very, very slowly around her. Quietly she wondered whether humans felt the same when they drank.
"Well, if the result is the same, what's the difference?" he mused, taking the flask and sipping from it as well.
The commander then took a seat near her, within eyeshot but not right next to her, "So, what's up with Rs?"
"She's changed. She's being really mean and cold."
"Huh," The commander said, his head leaning back to look upwards, "I mean I get why that's upsetting to you, and the others I'm sure, but that's not that far out of character for her."
"Right… but she's only like that when we've messed up. Which given what happened yesterday…" she muttered. Cano tucked her knees up to her chest and wrapped her arms around them, and began unconsciously tapping a simple beat against her knee with her fingers.
"I see," The commander mused, scratching his chin in a thoughtful gesture, " Well I can tell you that last night was a very busy evening, especially after we left."
"She mentioned a little, to me and M4. It made M4 cry."
"I see."
"I think M4 hates her now. If someone had said those things about my sister…"
The commander's eyes narrowed in thought, "ah, okay."
"I don't want M4 to hate her before they leave, I think it's something Rs will regret."
"Maybe, but perhaps we should let her make her own mistakes."
"Sir," she looked over at him, "am I not here to help her not make mistakes like that?"
The commander made a gesture to the effect of 'kind of', before saying "She's an adult. She doesn't need you to guide her, but sometimes it's the duty of a good friend to tell their friends if they're straying from the path."
"Well, I tried to," she muttered glumly, "she wouldn't really listen to me. Wouldn't even listen to my reasoning."
"Ah, now there's your problem. You're thinking like a doll, but you can't overcome behavior not based in logic, with logic. We humans wrap emotion in a veneer of logic, which makes trying to convince us logically a challenge."
"What are you saying, logic doesn't apply to you?"
The commander made a rocking gesture with his palm, "kinda sorta, we convince ourselves that the way we feel is right with logic. For Rs, I think really what you need to do is approach it from both angles. Wrap your logic in emotion, if that makes sense."
Cano thought for a while about that, wondering just what it meant. Trying to imagine how a human thought was a strange idea in itself. Logically she understood that they weren't constantly performing internal calculations, interpreting orders, and following strict programming directives. How that translated to an internal experience, however, she could barely fathom.
"How would I do that?" she muttered, taking the flask from him and sipping another splash of burning liquid.
"If you ever want to convince her of anything, you have to help her feel like she's wrong. Of course you have to figure out just what she's feeling in the first place, which is its own problem. I guess if I had to break a work flow down for you, it'd be: crack her shell and figure out what she's feeling, convince her that she's wrong to feel that way, and guide her logically to what you think she should be feeling."
"Sounds complicated."
The man hefted himself to his feet with a huff, "Oh it is, I don't envy you."
"Any tips?"
"Well, if you're determined to break through tonight, you'll have to throw caution to the wind. She's stubborn afterall, otherwise you'll just have to wear her down."
"Right…"
"Well, I gotta get back to work, you feeling okay?" he asked her.
"Ugh, yeah, I'll be fine," she muttered, "Thanks commander."
"No problem."
With that, she was alone again. Now though, with the assistance of the booze, she had something to think about. Something to plot.
Chewing on her thumb's nail, her mind worked overtime. Trying to run the night's events, Rs' every word, and what they could mean through her head. She squeezed her eyes as if to try and will her thoughts to resolve on something.
Suddenly, Cano bolted to her feet, her eyes wide open.
"Hehehehehe," she giggled, giddy tapping her feet as a thought arose.
RS was right, but doing it wrong. Why? Because she's Rs and an idiot. How to solve this? Well, that was a little harder, but she had some ideas. Perhaps it would be best not to overplan it though.
Cano took off, dashing out the TOC and beelining for the cafe. She needed another drink.
20:15, Feb 12th, 2062
Rs was being kidnapped.
"In here please," Cano chimed politely, with two firm hands on either shoulder shoving her into a dark office room near the TOC.
It was getting late, Her last coffee had been hours prior and she was feeling exhaustion tug at her. So Cano's sudden kidnapping hadn't been met with much resistance. A part of her was curious what this was about.
A light flickered on as Rs was shoved inside by Cano, and she found a nearly windowless room occupied only by a long meeting table. Behind her Cano shut the door and drew a shade over the one little window, before then shoving Rs into the nearest seat and placing a phone before her, propped up on its side.
"Uhhhhhh…" Rs began, staring with widening eyes at the device, "Cano…? What… are we doing in here?"
"Fixing you."
That did not help the mounting panic in her chest at all, as little tingles of very mixed emotions began sparking in her.
"Uh-huh… how?" She was scared to ask.
Cano propped herself up on the desk beside her, staring down at the seated Rs with the blindingly bright ceiling lights just above her head. There were hints of concealed mischief in her expression, mixed with determination. The doll didn't seem entirely put together either, with her body taking a moment to find its balance on the table before settling.
"You need some tough love," The doll said, leaning in quite close to Rs' face as she did, letting Rs catch a whiff of whiskey on her breath.
Her heartbeat went off in a drumroll beat as a tightness seized her chest.
…There were worse ways to die.
01:00, Feb 13th, 2062
About four and some change hours later, Rs found herself very much not dead. She had changed however, and was still unsure of how to feel about that. Cano's intervention had been unorthodox, and somewhat uncomfortable, but also quite convincing. It'd been a long conversation, with lots of tears, but it left her deeply confused. More than that however, she felt ashamed.
It was like suddenly sobering up from being near blackout, stunned by what she'd done.
She was stumbling on unsteady legs down the hall, trying her best to be dignified as she went, while unconsciously rubbing at her eyes. She'd been awake for far too long at this point, and she suspected that even thinking about sleep at this point may cause her to pass out on the spot. However, she still had something she now had to do.
Promised to do, as part of her parole to Cano.
"Tsk," she hissed through gritted teeth. Just thinking about a lot of what'd just happened to her hurt from embarrassment.
Despite her whirlwind of thoughts still dashing through her head, Rs tried to compose herself, dab her eyes, catch her breath, and look as put together as she could as she approached her destination.
Up ahead she noticed Cano peeking her head out from the E3 Dorm room. Rs looked away, not meeting her eyes, and instead locking onto her goal: the AR-team dorm.
Her hand hovered over the door for a moment as she summoned the courage. Her stomach twisted in on itself as she stared at the wooden barrier.
"Dammit," she muttered.
With a stifled breath, she knocked twice, and took a step back.
M16 answered a moment later, cracking the door open enough to peer out with her good eye, and glare at Rs.
"What."
Rs held up her hands, "I just want to talk."
"Right well…" 16 began, but she abruptly stopped and looked back into the room for a moment. When she did look back, she gave her a renewed glare, before opening the door wider "fine."
Rs took a few tentative steps inside, noting the AR-team had almost finished packing up all their things into a few tidy packs, each neatly labeled with their names and team sigil. Four packs. M4 and Sop were in the corner, Sop between Rs and M4, and neither looked too happy to see her.
Sop was guarded, hackles raised but still and quiet, while M4 looked more sullen.
"So, what's this about now?" M16 questioned, placing herself between Rs and the other two.
"I just want to apologize for earlier."
16 raised the brow over her good eye, "yeah?"
"Look, I'm not happy with how I handled things. I understand you're all not my biggest fans right now, but I think you deserve a bit more detail on what happened."
She recounted the prior night's events, from receiving the sudden directive from HQ to bring 15 in, to the roof falling in on her. As she did, she noted M4 and M16's expressions softening, if only slightly in the latter's case, and by the end all three AR girl's had lost some of the hostility.
She also made a point to mention that she did try to talk Ar-15 down, that she only shot after 15 shot her first, that she still tried even after. She also made sure to emphasize that 15 really was mentally gone by then from the virus -a lie in her own opinion, but one which would help these three grieve she hoped.
"So, why say what you did earlier?" M16 asked as Rs finished her recounting.
Rs pursed her lips, and looked towards the floor, "Guilt, I guess. I suppose you could say I was trying to punish myself."
16 raised a doubtful eyebrow, "I fail to see how being a cold… well, being the way you were is a punishment to you."
"Because it made you hate me, which I felt I deserved. I'm sorry, that wasn't fair to you."
She bowed her head, staring at the floor. It was true, in hindsight, though it wasn't conscious at the time. It'd taken a certain T-doll quite some effort to get her to see that, to snap out of it.
"Quite the change of heart," 16 commented, her arms crossed. The doll cast a glance over towards M4, still in the corner. M4 was looking her way again, and though she still seemed a bit skittish, definitely was more open to Rs' presence.
"Yeah," Rs agreed, "It's been a long day."
"Thank you, Rs," M4 mumbled.
"Yeah. Sorry kiddo."
"I thought you hated me…"
Rs offered her a sympathetic smile, "no, kid, I don't and have never hated you. I just… wasn't thinking."
M4 nodded, and retreated back into her corner. Her mood appeared a bit lighter, but Rs couldn't really be sure. It was possible she'd turned her outward emotional expressions off again to maintain composure.
"Well if that's it, we've got a flight soon," M16 interjected, stepping between Rs and M4 fully.
"Of course. But 16, real quick before I go, can we talk?" Rs said, nodding towards the hall outside.
The doll nodded and followed her out. Rs stopped just outside and turned to face her.
"What?" 16 asked, shutting the door behind her.
"Can I trust you not to tell something to those two?" Rs asked her, meeting the doll's gaze with as much seriousness as she could manage.
16 raised a curious brow, "Depends on what it is."
"It's important you know, but possibly vital that those two don't."
16 sighed, and leaned up against the wall behind her, "Alright, shoot."
Rs took a deep breath, "15's alive."
16 blinked a few times, before looking away and clenching her jaw, "oh."
"Yeah."
"Is anything being done about that?"
Rs shrugged, "I don't know, not from us at least. I've not exactly been spreading the news on it, but I can't be sure if Kryuger or anyone else has figured it out."
"So, she escaped then?"
"As far as I can tell. The explosion appeared to be deliberate, I have to imagine she had some plan. Just don't tell M4, okay? I don't need her running off to get herself killed trying to save her."
"I see." 16 seemed a bit surprised, but gently nodded, "I'll keep quiet."
There was markedly less hostility in 16's body language as she pushed off the wall, which was almost the opposite reaction Rs had expected. Rs liked M4 and Sopmod, but 16 still intimidated her a bit. She knew the doll was razor sharp.
"Thanks. If I learn anything, I'll let you know."
"Right. Thanks for telling me."
"Yeah, of course."
"Yeah, see ya."
With that, 16 slipped back into the soon to be vacated dorm room, and shut the door behind her. Rs was left wondering if she'd done alright. It hadn't been sunshine and rainbows, but they hadn't spit in her eye either. She supposed she could live with that.
"Good job," a familiar voice whispered on comms.
Out of the corner of her eye, Rs could spy Cano peeking at her still from the E3 dorm. SHe briefly considered heading back there to Cano, it was appealing, but another thought crept up on her.
What was being done about it? Probably nothing. To her knowledge only herself, M16, and Cano knew 15 was alive. Perhaps Kryuger would assume when no body was found, but even in that case, would he do something about it?
Rs chewed at her cheek, then without really thinking snatched her phone from her pocket and scrolled through her contacts. Her thumb hovered over a certain name as she debated.
"Tsk, C'mon," she muttered, and pressed her thumb on the message button. She waved to Cano as she strolled past the dorm, whispering, "got a little more to do, be by later."
Cano smiled, a little hint of concern creeping back into her expression as Rs passed her by, but the doll eventually ducked back into the dorm and allowed Rs to get to work.
In his office, Matt took a sip of lukewarm coffee out of an old stained company mug, savoring the pleasant, familiar taste of the caffeinated drink as his eyes scanned down the length of a report. The contents were far from interesting, he'd already reread a few sections several times as his tired eyes skipped over words and sentences.
"Dammit," he muttered as he again realized that the last paragraph's contents had been skipped once more. He set the mug down and squinted at the page, as if trying to force the words into his mind.
He was still up in preparation for Anti-Rain's departure, which had been pushed back another hour due to weather, but was still nearly up to him. He needed to finish up the reports regarding them before they left, but was increasingly wishing for an extension.
A part of him was dreading the departure. The team had become a part of the base's makeup in the little time they'd been with them. Having them leave so soon, and under the specter of recent events was a bitter pill.
A knock at his door interrupted his focus, and he tossed the report aside in frustration, letting it flutter to the floor.
"Come," he said simply.
The door creaked open, revealing Rs. She seemed a bit more alert than earlier, her eyes showing life that hadn't been there prior. There was a more energetic feeling to her movements as she entered.
"Hey," he said, "What's up?"
"Ah, not much. Just said my goodbyes and made an apology to the Anti-Rain girls."
"Apology?"
"Yeah, I was a bit of a jerk to them earlier. Figured I should go out on a better note with them."
Matt nodded, silently wondering whether Cano had finally gotten through to her, and how. In any case he was pleased that Rs seemed to be doing better now.
"Well I think that was a good choice. They all look up to you after all, just pouring salt in the wound otherwise."
Rs grimaced, and looked away, "yeah."
"Right, sorry."
He leaned back in his chair and pulled a small flask from his desk drawer, popping to top to take a sip before offering it to her. Rs hesitated, but decided to take it.
"So, anything else? Or was this just a report?"
"No… there is something else. I'm taking some leave. There's something I have to do."
He raised a brow, "What's that?"
Rs once again looked out the window, "It's... complicated. But… this thing with 15. It wasn't right."
Matt sighed, "Look Rs. Johanna. We were doing our jobs. It sucks, but that's the job."
"I know," she turned back to look at him, "I know that. Dammit I know that. I've lived that way my whole damn life. But this isn't right."
Matt pursed his lips, hating himself a bit for what he was about to say, "Right. Well, Johanna, don't you think you're getting a bit too worked up by this? It sucks, but 15 was just a doll."
Rs let out a small, unimpressed scoff, "Just a doll. Yeah guess so. Does that make it right though? You look at the AR girls and tell me you feel nothing. Look at 14 and Famas and tell me that's just programming. Look at Cano and… and tell me that's fake."
"I-" he paused, collecting his thoughts, "I'm not saying I don't feel anything. I'm saying you may be feeling too much."
Rs pursed her lips, and got up from her chair, "Maybe. Maybe not. But… I don't know, it just isn't right. I've not been me, or… the person I want to be I mean."
"Okay? I know it's been hard but we don't think any less of you. You did your job quite well in fact."
"Yeah, my job. 'Well' is fair I suppose, but not good enough."
"How does taking leave fix that then? A vacation? Get away from it?"
Rs pursed her lips, "Yeah, sort of. I just need to not be tied down for a little while, sort some things out."
"Such as?"
"Still working on that, honestly."
"Have you thought this through? No offense."
"I-" she paused, "I need to do this."
"Okay. Okay, I'll let you take a few weeks off if that's what you need, I think you've more than earned them. But whatever you're planning on doing, just, please think it through before you do anything reckless."
"Boss, when have I ever not thought something through?" she replied, her tone light to compliment the smug grin on her face.
"You want an alphabetical or chronological list…?" he replied, matching her tone, "I'm glad Cano got through to you, she was really worried earlier."
"Oh, yeah," she replied, a little blush creeping into her cheeks, "You guys talked?"
"Only a bit, I couldn't really help her."
"I see."
"You should take her with you, with whatever you're doing. I don't mind, it might be the last chance any of us get for a break for a while."
"I'll think about it."
"So, what are you planning on getting up to?"
"Well, I have a general idea, still working on the specifics. By the way," she fished out a small flashdrive from her pocket, "This should help in my absence. Most of my stuff is on that, notes, schedules, contacts, and so on."
She tossed the device to him, which he caught with one hand and inspected in his palm, "Thanks. Seems like you're headed out soon then."
"Yeah, probably won't be here tomorrow."
Matt nodded, "Pretty sudden."
"It is. I need this though."
"Well, happy trails then. Let me know if you need anything."
"Yeah, will do," Rs replied.
Rs was exhausted. Part of wish she'd simply left this for tomorrow. Gotten some sleep, maybe rethought it all. The feelings were at bay for now, as the cool evening air seeped into her, it brought about more energy in her body as she pushed through the underbrush.
Behind her, the distant lights of the base were fading amongst the trees and foliage. Ahead lay the darkness of the forest.
The woods were alive though, with swooping wings darting amongst the branches, chirping insects of all kinds, and little rustles of something in the underbrush as she pushed through. It didn't feel lonely, but familiar.
A whirring exoskeleton helped push her legs through the mud and underbrush, the machine making what should have been an exhausting slog a breeze. It also made the pack and case she was carrying feel light as a feather. The rifle, sidearm, rations, batteries and other kit within were barely an inconvenience.
The armory was unmanned this late at night, and she had the authority to come and go as she pleased. Though she imagined that would change if she did make it back. She'd tried to only take what she'd need, what wouldn't be missed, and what she knew how to maintain, but all that may not matter much. Matt was probably willing to let her get away with a lot, but his patience had limits, and she was certainly planning on pushing them quite hard.
That was a problem for a later date though. For now, she had a date to keep.
She checked her watch, the little hands glowing gently in the dark indicating she had around fifteen more minutes before her rendezvous. If her reckoning was right she was only about four minutes from where she needed to be for it.
It felt good, doing this. Something in her felt at ease now, despite the anxiety that came with it. Cano had been the one to get her thinking right, but 16 had set her on this path in the end. Neither of them knew that, and she hoped they wouldn't until she'd come back, hopefully with a certain lost doll in tow.
She carried on at a leisurely pace, one hand wrapped around her rifle strap as she navigated through the brush and trees, eventually coming upon a small hill covered in brush. At the bottom of the hill wound a two lane road, which snaked around its base before disappearing into the forest and gloom.
Rs settled in amongst the brush at the hilltop, setting her gear down beside her. She then fished out a pair of binoculars and began switching through the different settings, swapping between various IR and thermal imaging options.
The sounds of the forest were a quiet murmur. Bats and owls fluttering through the air, disturbing branches, while a few buzzing and singing insects droned on into the night. Otherwise, it was just the wind and cracking of trees. It was familiar, felt like a home away from home.
"What're we looking for?" Cano's hushed voice whispered in her ear.
"Jesus FUCK!" she yelped, her voice cracking halfway through as Rs leapt out of the brush before whirling around to stare wild eyed at the pink haired doll standing spookily in the gloomy brush.
"Hiya," The doll grinned ear to ear.
"Cano? Why are you here?" Rs sputtered, "Go back."
"No thanks~"
"Cano, that's an order."
Cano put her hand to her chin, still grinning, and made a show of really pondering the order. She then dropped a clenched hand into her palm, before declaring, "No."
"I-, you can't say no?" Rs sputtered, "It's an order. Follow my damn order. Ain't you dolls supposed to be good at that?'
Cano shrugged, "Don't hafta listen to a doll if I'm not on the job."
"I'm not a doll idiot."
"Hmmmm? That's not what the network says. You sure?"
The shit eating grin on her friend's face could've been seen from space, and was making it harder and harder for Rs to stay mad at her. Rs noted she was still on the local G&K network, and of course she was labeled as a doll. Apparently that was enough of a loophole.
"Fairly," Rs answered, still trying to keep the steel in her tone, but finding it harder to do so with each moment.
"Well," Cano began, stepping out from the brush and moving to join her, " I guess we can investigate that when we get back from… whatever it is we're going off to do. The commander will know."
Rs stared at her in disbelief. Did Matt put her up to this? Was this her own idea? Is she just here to help, or keep an eye on her?
"Why are you here? Are you gonna try and change my mind again like earlier? Convince me to go back?"
"Haha you wish. Nah, I just know that someone needs to look after you. I dunno what you're up to, but knowing you, it'll be fun," Cano offered, patting her on the back.
"I- urgh," Rs grunted in half-hearted frustration, turning back, "Fine. But you better not slow me down."
"As if I ever would," Cano smirked, "I have longer legs, if anything you'll be slowing me down. Why did IOP design a doll with such short legs I wonder? Such a mystery…"
A distant rumble sputtered in the distance, catching Rs' ear. Headlights flashing as a vehicle began to approach down the highway towards them. As it grew closer, it flashed its lights twice.
"Fuck you," Rs grunted, "Come on, our ride is almost here."
And now for a lil surprise. You may have noticed a new cover art! I actually got that commissioned. Sadly FFN doesn't images in chapters, so if you wanna see the full size version, check it out on the GFL writers discord, or on AO3: /works/33488587/chapters/147522439
NOTES:
Hey y'all, its been a bit ain't it. Part of that is for the obvious reason though: I got an Art commission finally! This has long been an ambition of mine and I'm overjoyed to have finally gotten it done. This piece was done by Lemon Lie Art, whose artstation I'll link below, and I'm really happy with how it turned out. She did a great job with both Rs and Cano. I wanted something a lil less anime as that's pretty much the only way GFL is ever drawn, and I'm pretty happy with the results.
As for the chapter, well, its a transitional chapter and I always hate writing them. it took a while to nail down how this'd go, but I'm glad I got through it. The core of this next segment of the story really is Cano and Rs, their relationship, and who they are to eachother. Obviously something important DID happen which I didn't show, what exactly happened we will get to I promise, but for now just let your imagination fill in the blank as you will :)
Chapter 26 is actually already in progress, I'm HOPEING itll be out soonish, much much sooner than this took, but we'll see. WIP (my other fic) is getting updated first, so hang in there. The next few chapters at least I have some idea of what should happen, and I do genuinely wanna finish this story. So, till then, thanks for reading!