"Ahahah! You saw right? Right!?"
"Sop… stop… hugging me- too tight."
M4 smiled, watching from the back of their marching formation as SOP clung to M16. She had to work it out of her systems, all that emotion-module buildup.
"But you were there the whole time! You saw how I cut that bitch-"
Star seemed less amused by it, motioning for M4's attention behind the backs of SOP and M16. Subtle, a reminder that they were still offline.
"We need to figure out how that ringleader was in our network." STAR said in a whisper, far below most normal detectable decibel levels. Brought forward that chilling implication that M4, frankly, did not want to compute right now.
"We don't have the tools for a debug right now." She quietly bemoaned, watching for the moment that Star's eyes narrowed disapprovingly. "We can sweep our digiminds once we are back at base."
It was a logical dismissal, one that STAR bristled at; of course she would, she took security and safety the most seriously. A moment of silence fell over the four as they marched towards the designated exfil point, but M4 could see how jerkily STAR was moving, her digimind running the calculations that M4 hadn't. If STAR did find something, which M4 doubted she would off a simple self-diagnostic, well none of them would hear the end of it. The sense of urgency in her friend was running counter to her standard operating procedures too- running a diagnostic in a combat zone was risky…
"-and then BANG! Bwahahah!" SOP cackled, spinning around to excitedly leap at M4. The team leader deftly dodged her sister's first lunge, but on the second, SOP managed to wrap her arms around M4's, clinging like glue. "That shot was so cool, M-Four!" She gushed.
"You risked yourself to put that grenade, Sop." The chocolate-haired doll smiled, patting SOP's vanilla-hued strands gently, trying to calm the overly-excitable one before pushing her off. Didn't help much that when M4 freed herself, Sop looked about ready to pin-ball over to Star- and they'd never hear the end of the grumbling…
At least until STAR shot the both of them a soberingly sharp glare, made the energetic doll mercifully pull herself back.
"Sop, combat protocols. Still in enemy territory." M16 cautioned now that SOP was calming down, finally able to get some words in. Of course, all it did was make their explosive sister pout, puffing a cheek as she still stuck to a csual stride. Technically, SOPMOD II was disobeying her combat protocols willingly- she needed to be in posture like the rest of the team, but M4 couldn't just snap her into line with a command impulse.
"Sop, weapon ready please?" M4… well it didn't sound like she was pleading, but it one could certainly have mistook it. Mercifully, her sister obeyed, falling into standard march with weapon once again in her hands.
"It's just dumb, unguided units now, we killed their stupid Ringleader." SOP still sulked.
"And instead of maneuvering to encircle us, they'll just swarm instead. Tell me, Sop, how many grenades do you have left?" STAR snapped.
"Star, Sop, stop." M16 finally put her foot down, and both the bickering parties shut up instantly… sort of. SOP still had the cheek to blow a silent raspberry and STAR managed to hold her frustration in enough to simply roll her eyes, but M16 had authority.
Even if she wasn't the command unit, her words carried weight- and when her eye snapped to M4, the younger sister froze up.
'You should have ordered them to stop' is what that look conveyed, all without words or network connection. It sent a chill, a sparking sort of sensation through M4's circuitry. That harsh judgement was completely right though. M4 both hated and yearned for that sensation once again; her older sister's ever present and overbearing sense of expectation.
The Commander… he had helped fill that gap, but now that M16 was back, would she wind up collapsing from all of that pressure? A question that hijacked her processing for a moment, made her waste precious CPU-
"So, tell me about this new commander of ours." M16 asked, clearly setting an acceptable decibel level. Still in posture, still at correct spacing, still scanning, still ready.
"He's super nice! Orders all the weapon kit parts that we want!" SOP blurted.
"Or he's under orders from sixteen-lab to accommodate us. Persica made him."
"So he'll let us requisition non-standard equipment?" M16 interjected before Star and Sop could butt heads again, whistling in apprecation with that grin on her face.
"American whiskey is not 'equipment', big sister." M4 scolded, watching as M16's smile pulled all the more wide. As much trouble as that grin could get up too, M4 missed it."The commander is firm, but fair to us and the other dolls under his command." M4 added the most important bit, the thing that she felt deserved the most respect.
"So a doll-phile huh?" M16 whistled in a… disrespectful way, and for some reason just that little sentiment annoyed M4, made her digimind come to his honor's defence.
"He's a good commander, M-Sixteen. A combat veteran like you and Angie-"
"Well I guess that'll raise my opinion of him a bit. Hopefully he won't be as much of a bore as Angie though-"
"M-Sixteen!" M4 snapped, voice authoritative and punctuating. It made the older doll mute herself instantly… and smile.
"Yes, my sweet little sister?" M16 was really laying it on thick with how she modulated her voice, how she batted an eye to M4.
"Noise discipline, please."
Sweetness with sweetness, but the order was clear as day. M16 snapped her mouth shut, lips pursed tight together in an over-exaggeration, snapping a salute to M4, but the edges of her mouth had not stopped curling upwards. Telling her own veteran sister off had a rippling effect on STAR and SOP, the bickering pair remaining silent on the last leg of the march. Everything as it should have been, Anti-Rain finally at full operational capabilities, and it remained that way until they had reached the clearing. Posture relaxed as M4 placed the LZ marker. Comms open, M4 held her metaphorical breath as she hailed the base. Would it be static, or would the line connect? Shove that sense of unease down and temporarily block it.
Except she didn't need to for very long, the sharp beeps of the unimpeded comms line indicated she was hailing the base. Still, it rang for a moment until, mercifully, someone picked up.
"M-Four?"
Female voice, volume level uncontrolled, strained, high levels of anxiety that were clear enough for M4 to pick up and flag as worrisome. Still, her own relief drowned it out for a moment- the base had picked up, meaning that Intruder's threats had been empty- a distraction.
"Miss Kalina? Is everything okay?"
Silence on the base's side, a 3.4 second pause if she were being exact. Enough time for it to be contemplation, or perhaps M4 had called at a bad time.
"Did you find M-Sixteen?" Kalina's voice was sharp and to the point, breathless in a way. Things must be chaotic in the command center.
"Yes, we are ready for extraction at LZ-Two."
Audible relief, but that frantic energy was still there underlining Kalina's voice as she spoke quick.
"We're sending a chopper now. Remain off-line though, there still… problems with the Zenner network."
"Roger, Miss Kalina!" M4's words hung for a moment though, a slew of things that she wanted to say… to help address Kalina's stress… but that wasn't… wasn't her prerogative, was it?
"AR Team out."
Line dead, M4 turned to her team with a moment's hesitation that was not lost on M16.
"All good, M-four?"
The team leader nodded to her sister's question. Too much context to have to explain, too many illogical connections that didn't pertain to their current mission to bother her with. M4 would just quietly mull them. She needed to talk with the commander, he could help her consolidate some of these emotional discrepancies.
Kalina hung up the line with M4, unable to find a way to tell the doll the entire situation- she didn't have time to anyways. The moment they had the commander on the medivac she had to be back in the command room coordinating the extractions, the base's draw-down, and the results of BAR's security sweep…
God, this was just too much! Kalina pulled at her hair, wanting nothing more in the world to just jump into her pajamas and just… sleep. If… no, not "if" but "when" the commander came back, she was going to ask for both a vacation and a raise! To have to both his job and hers while he got to rest-
"We found multiple perimeter breaches here, here, and here…" BAR highlighted the base's structural map while Kalina was busy internally grumbling, and the doll's diligence made her feel all the more guilty for spacing out. "We didn't find any additional units or the area they staged from, but there were tracks… Uh, Commander Kalina?"
Kalina had been listening, until she realized the first chopper would be touching down in five minutes, and she had barely time to think of how to break the news to… oh God, was it FAL's team? If it was, she would not take the news well-
"You're doing just fine, Commander Kalina." BAR said, quietly smiling as she placed a reassuring hand on Kalina's shoulder… but the way she said "commander" certainly sounded more teasing than it did respectful. Added a bit of levity to an otherwise weighty title, lifted it off Kalina's shoulders just enough for her to get a breath or two in.
"Thanks, Auntie." Kalina retorted, watching how BAR bristled so reflexively to her own nickname, but the doll still smiled. When she was sure that Kalina was ready, the debrief continued in short order.
"Perimeter is secure for now, but we didn't follow the tracks we found. It could give central command insight into how Sangvis Ferri staged the attacks. Most of the movement appears to have come from our north-east though."
"I'll put one of the combat teams on it once they've rested and reamed." Kalina's answer was logical, but her eyes couldn't leave the flight-radar readout, that first dot growing ever closer to the base and her heart felt less and less prepared.
BAR looked ready to say something, hefting her namesake weapon that was slung over her shoulder. A sort of… unease when the blonde doll locked eyes with Kalina.
"Auntie… did you want that mission?"
BAR lit up instantly, standing that little more at attention than before.
"Ma'am!"
That… took Kalina by surprise. Auntie… well she always seemed like she enjoyed the logistics side of the base's activities. She could have sworn hearing that the blonde oldie like the cushy job she fell into once the commander had set up proper, IOP approved combat teams; nothing like those ad-hoc early days. Like G36, BAR was aware of her aging systems, knew that she would just drag the newer models down.
This whole attack had sparked something, a catalyst that seemed to echo amongst a lot of the base's dolls. Kalina felt it too, a sense that right now nothing was going to be the same, and that they were all going to have to pitch in together. Kalina had to be honest with herself- she was going to need all the help she could get.
"Set up your team list and-"
"Glock, STG, Ma Deuce, and SASS." BAR grinned at Kalina's stunned silence, "Get everyone armed and briefed, right?"
"R-Right. And if you run into anything significant-"
"We'll radio it in immediately so you can deploy a proper combat echelon to back us up."
It was a confidence and excitement that Kalina couldn't deny, and who was she to turn down help? That was one less headache to deal with, one less worry-wrinkle she'd get on her beautiful, youthful face- but she couldn't deny that these coming... what, months? The coming months were certainly going to give her a grey hair or two-
"Ma'am, Echelon Two's chopper is coming in now. Are you going to recieve them?" Springfield's voice crackled through the intercom, pulling a deep-seated sigh from Kalina once more. At least it was Team 2, and not... FAL's. She'd at least get a few chances to practice breaking bad news...
M4 had closed her eyes once the chopper had taken off, but hadn't put herself into sleep mode at all. Still too much to process in just the after-action data alone, and without being able to leech processing off the team, she just had to sit through it all.
"...should have seen her face, M-Sixteen! Wait, I can show you the recording later!" Sop's voice, pelting to the audio sensors even over cacophony of the chopper's engine. She didn't even use her headset's microphone…
"Are you still salvaging Sangvis parts?"
"Uh-huh!"
M16 was trying her best to sidetrack SOP, keep her distracted while M4 worked quietly. M4 could sense the doll beside her, STAR was doing the same as herself right now, sitting with eyes closed, focusing on running some program that was so taxing that she was physically buzzing beside M4.
"-check it out! Multi-spectrum tech! Infrared, electro-magnetic, even visualizes audio disturbances!" SOP said, a little more controlled than before. M4 opened her eyes at the wrong time though- SOP was holding Intruder's eye up for M16, who was looking as equally perturbed as M4 was feeling.
"It's a different make than Hunter's though -oh that was a different ringleader we killed too- her's has better motion tracking for high-speed movements." SOP pointed to one of her own eyes… had she installed Hunter's in her own frame? "I could give you this one~" She leaned in, wiggling the disembodied eyeball in front of M16's eyepatch.
"You've got to stop doing that, Sop. You change out too many parts, you'll wind up with a Sangvis signature to our IFF network." M16's grunt of disapproval and pushing of SOP out of her face did little to dampen the teasing excitement, the platinum blonde's cackling washed out by the surrounding noise.
"Sop, I thought the commander ordered you not to take trophies off Ringleaders anymore?" M4 chimed in as well, aware of just how hazy her voice modulator sounded under the current processor load. She hadn't been aware that SOP had installed new parts, either. Well, maybe Persica could convince her to stop by promising her some "cool" new upgrades instead.
"It's not a trophy, it's an upgrade!" SOP held out the icy-blue eyeball to M4 now.
"I-It wouldn't match mine." She declined with a smile politely pushing the "upgrade" out of her face. Sop only shrugged.
"Suit yourself!"
A sudden deceleration, the sensation of the chopper descending; had they really been in flight for an hour already? The jolt snaps STAR out of her trance as well, and for some reason, she is on heightened alert, hand on the grip of her rifle when everyone else had chosen to stow theirs.
A curiosity, a discrepancy that M4 couldt solve with a simple ping to STAR's digimind. The chopper lurched again, causing M4 to choke back the question for her friend. Of course, SOP cackled her delight, like the whole thing was a carnival ride. She was the first one out the door when they touched down too, ready to receive her praise.
And Team FN was waiting for them in the assembly area, just off from the helipads. No commander, and M4 thought he'd want to meet M16 in person…
Still, the chance to talk with Miss FAL was a welcome one. One of the commander's first dolls, his very first field command unit. Just as expected, with a cordiality and benevolence as when she had greeted M4, FAL introduced herself to M16. A short exchange, but one that M4 could see the mutual respect in, her older sister smiling earnestly and wide as she roughly shook FAL's demure hand.
"We're on standby." Five-seveN spoke from behind M4, making the AR Team leader jump in surprise. A snicker, the pistol-doll taking enjoyment on getting the drop on an "elite" doll, before she was chased away by an excited SOP eager to pawn off her newest "upgrade". It explained Team FN's listlessness, and why the doors were sealed.
"Where's the commander?" M4 asked the hazelnut haired doll that approached her, hand extended for a respectful greeting between team leaders.
"That I do not know." FAL spoke softly, a bit of hesitation to her voice and stutter to her as they shook. "Miss Kalina said for both of our teams to hold here for the moment, logistical problems most likely? The base came under attack. That was why the communication channels dropped during our operation."
That news… well it wasn't new, she had predicted it based off of their encounter with Intruder, but without data from base she couldn't assess the damage.
"You handled that Ringleader though." FAL smiled sweetly, gesturing for M4 to have a seat with her on some nearby dummy crates. "Thank you for helping us with our mission."
"I… we…" M4 bit her lip, worried that she had overreached. Team FN was…
"No need to be humble. Your team saved mine, and I must thank you and yours for a swift victory." FAL reached into her purse, though her eyes carefully scanned the assembly area looking for someone. Eyes locked on FNC, chatting excitedly with SOP, before she slowly drew a small square bit of foil. "It's not much for thanks, I must treat you and your sisters to dinner sometime." She said, offering M4 it.
Olfactory detected the scent instantly; chocolate. Rich chocolate.
"Thank you, Miss Fal."
Such a small gesture, such a seemingly insignificant payment for saving their frames from becoming salvage… but when M4 bit into that bitter sweetness, she could sense the care that FAL extended to even newcomers like her. An odd sensation, a sort of… electronic transfer between their emotion modules, but without a Zenner connection. A curious concept that she'd tag, bring up with Persica or the Commander. By her second bite, FNC had caught the smell, came rushing over to her team leader and M4 with puppy-dog eyes, but there was nothing left.
"I am sure the commander will be able to more properly reward you, he has always been a generous man." FAL smiled, giving FNC an apologetic ruffling of the hair as she spoke to M4. "Certainly one of the more accommodating human's I've had the pleasure to work with."
Her words darkened slightly and M4 had picked up the tone and subtext instantly. M4 had only operated under one other human, and though Angie was… Angie, she never once had treated M4 or her team as just dolls.
FAL though… M4 had a series of questions, all listed out, each one set pending on how FAL's mood shifted, but she'd never get the chance to ask, as the hallway doors snapped open just about then. Everyone's attention fell upon… Miss Kalina? Miss Kalina alone, no G36, no commander; her strawberry-blonde hair frazzled, movements tense and jerky, eyes bloodshot and puffy…
Like she had been crying. M4 froze her emotion module in that moment, readied to divert the impulses, but FAL… when she glanced at FAL, the beautiful doll was frozen with sapphire eyes wide.
"Miss Kalina, where is the commander?" FAL asked slowly, leaping from her seat as she stumbled to Kalina. The quartermaster flinched, tried to shy away with some unspoken shame, and FAL faltered.
Intruder's threat… M4's team had been the only one to hear it, and she hadn't… thought anythine else of it since then. Tactical assessment had focused on defeating the Ringleader, flagged her words as a possible diversion, and she had shunted it aside at the time.
"The commander is wounded… he's being medivac'd to Kazan right now." Kalina managed to stammer. Her words trembled not out of her own sadness, but out of anxiety, worry for the doll who was stumbling towards her in a daze. "I am in command… until further notice."
Far more confident now, but that was like saying it was a bit wet when it rained, and they were words meant specifically for everyone but FAL. Kalina's voice was still propped up, forced to be strong even when every doll could see the poor woman's knees shaking, and she couldn't look FAL in the eye.
And the collective gasps from… well from all the dolls that were closer to the commander than Anti-Rain was. M4 felt the pang from her emotion module... but when she looked at FAL, she couldn't match the anguish there that marred her normally calm face.
Nor should she.
Kalina's instructions to the rest of the gathered dolls passed by in a blur, and though tending to her team should have been M4's priority, empathy and respect for the commander had M4 at FAL's side the moment Kalina dismissed everyone. Her hand tentatively reached out for those quivering shoulder, but a sudden and unsettling shudder from FAL made her pause. The hazel-haired doll sputtered, her eyes wide and vibrating. That buzz, indicative of an oncoming processor crash- M4 diagnosed it as a memory error.
"He will be okay." M4 reassured, but it was a lie that went against her logic. Even with her heightened specs, she had no idea the nature of the commander's wounds, no data in which to run survivability predictions, no way of reliably reassuring with hard fact- and even FAL must be able to see that. A baseless, illogical hope.
"I…" FAL's voice modulator hung, another memory hang-up stalling her out.
"You were close, I know." M4 tries to empathize again, doing her best to bring FAL back down from that hardware precipice… but it seemed like her words were only doing more damage to the T-doll. FAL fell to her knees, face driven into her hands as she tried to hide the ugliness of a long and drawn out sob. Lithe frame shuddering, head twitching in a deeply concerning way- the other FN Team members quickly shaking off their own shock to come to FAL's aid. M4 had backed up, unsure of just what she had done to their leader. Words… shouldn't have caused FAL to break down this badly, right?
"I… I can't… remember." FAL sobbed, her once sing-song voice fluctuating with an almost agonized note. The stress is palpable, her voice modulator spun it like threads of fabric wound so tight they were ready to snap as she gripped her head, yanked at her silken hair in some vain attempt to… well M4 didn't know what.
"I can't…! Something… something is missing."
FAL stared at her hand, voice finally tapering away into a static. Mouth moved, but all that came from her was white noise, her digimind finally hard-crashing.
But M4 could pick those last words out of the haze, filter out all that noise:
"Why do I feel this way?"