Under Dead Light

by Blackout42

Displaced to the forge world of Rubicon III, Worker and Disassembly Drones alike find strife, war, and suffering beyond their limited imagination. As well as a Raven who sold her name, who hides her pain and rage behind a number. (Sequel to Obligation To Keep) WARNING: Rated M for extremely graphic violence and suggestive themes. Cover art by Waker608.

31. Chapter 31

Chapter 31 Half Truth

Sol System – Approaching Jupiter – Sol Alliance Command Ship MCSN Hannibal / April 13th, 2815 – 70th Year of the Sol-Laconia War

Out in the black, burning hard at fifteen Gs, it seemed like the ship would shake itself apart. Flying so fast it felt like they were trying to catch up to yesterday.

All the blood left her brain, her vison narrowed like staring through a tunnel. It was getting dark, and the console in front of her looked to be about a million miles away. Unable to hear anything, just on the cusp of desperately needed sleep-

The juice pumped into her bloodstream hit her like an ice-cold bullet in the spine. The sickening taste of formaldehyde filled her mouth, as all her senses returned sharply and painfully. The scream of the fusion drive, the overwhelming cacophony of the tactical display, and the unbearable, crushing weight of her own body as the ship slammed into her back at 147 meters per second, every second.

Eyes refocused on the tactical display, and the vast array of numbers and their meaning. The thousand-plus contacts all racing to intercept the Laconian ship, their ordnance stores of high-yield nukes, the additional fast-movers out from their Jupiter stations looking to further complicate this deadly dance, and even the relief fleet tasked with searching through the aftermath of a battle yet to happen for survivors, or to pick up the slack if she failed.

Yet the numbers she viewed with the most scorn in this moment, were the casualties. Even though they were still half a day from contact with the enemy, men and women under her command were already dying, as their brains filled with blood and they lay limply in their seats, under the abuse of a high-G burn.

All those deaths were squarely on her. It had been her plan to intercept the enemy at such extreme speeds, and it was by her orders they died, slumping in seats with no assistance given to them, with not even the honor of having died by enemy action.

The scream of a medical alarm tore her eyes away from the display, and to the seat to her right.

"C-Captain Anderson!" The Admiral shouted, her voice stained as she struggled to push the air through her lungs.

Captain Anderson smiled at her, then slumped pathetically in his seat, jaw slack and eyes rolled back in his head. He stroked out, and died, never having even come close to the long hated enemy he'd trained all his life to face.

"Admiral! The- Captain-!" The ship's XO struggled to report, both from shock and inability to speak with so much force pushing them down.

"I know!" The Admiral clenched her teeth in hateful defiance. "Push! On!" Was the only order she could give. "Do not- let your captain- have died in vain!"

Yet even saying that, she knew his would be far from the last death as they pushed themselves to the breaking point, bodies failing them as blood pooled where it should not. And yet even this insanity and despair was nothing but a mere glimpse of the chaos yet to unfold.

"We-! Push-! On-!" The Admiral demanded, intending to make sure the enemy paid dearly and suffered for every life sacrificed to stop them.

---

Rubicon III - Grid 078 – Western Belius - Level 70 – Recycler / Wednesday, Claudius 19th, 3175

Pretty much every recycler was going to be the same. A pile of shit and corpses in a dark and dank room infested with fungal growths. Fortunately, it made for a soft landing spot.

Uzi dropped down into the compost pile, closely followed by Doll. The red eyed Drone stared at Uzi with great annoyance.

"[I hate you.]" Doll muttered, as she rolled out of the way for other people to land in the shit.

Millie came down next, landing on her head. Fortunately she was wearing a hard hat.

"Oh…so that's what that feels like." Millie shrugged. Then Tessa came out.

"Mmm!" Tessa held her face in disgust. "Ah! Huhuhuhu!" She did a sort of crying laugh as she struggled not to vomit. Lizzy tumbled out behind her, landing on her back in the compost.

"Eww! Gross!" Lizzy complained. "This was a brand-new outfit too! Fuck you purple!"

J, N, and eventually V were all quick enough to deploy their wings as they came down into the recycler, and were thus spared the humiliation of being smeared in shit.

Lastly, 621 fell down with the rest of them. She silently seethed as she struggled with what to focus on. The smell of shit filling her nose, or this new injustice she'd have to contend with.

Firstly, she needed some fucking information that might not be forthcoming, and for that she needed some help.

"Stray Squad!" 621 shouted, as she got up and roughly grabbed Uzi, dragging her to a far corner of the recycler.

"Raven?! Uzi!?" N and V worriedly floated over, trying to figure out what had 621 so pissed off, and if Uzi would be okay.

"R-Raven!? Did I do something wrong?" Uzi winced, admittedly confused and afraid that she'd managed to piss off her master twice today.

"…No." 621 muttered more quietly, in opposition to her violent movements as she picked Uzi up and held her against the wall. "Just…needed an excuse to get you three alone."

Uzi, N, and V shared a worried look between each other, questioning why 621 wanted them alone. At the very least, Uzi knew she wasn't in trouble, and settled awkwardly against the wall the Hound was holding her against.

"…" 621 averted her gaze to the ground tiredly, as she shook her head. "You did good Uzi. Even as annoying as this is, you did your job perfectly, and found an escape route for us to survive. That's not the problem. I need to get some answers, and for that I'm going to need your guy's help."

"Oh…sure Raven. What do you need?" Uzi looked up at her master a bit more confidently. V and N floated down as close as they dared to the compost pile as they listened carefully.

"We need to capture the exile and Tails Squad for questioning." 621 whispered. "I know that's a lot to ask for, and that you might hes-"

"I call Lizzy." Uzi answered immediately. "Just say the word, and I'll put her down."

"…" Well that was easier than she expected.

"J is going to be a problem." V warned. "She might not be as fast as me or as strong as N, but she is armed with an EMP that she is immune to. I can disable her, but I might need some help."

"H-Hold on…?" Admittedly, N's hesitation was expected. "Why are we attacking our friends? Especially in the middle of a mission…while we are horribly outnumbered by fanatics who want to kill us?"

"Because the PCA just used an exceptional amount of force and inflicted an unreasonable number of civilian casualties just to kill you guys, and I need to know why." 621's answer was that calm and steady pace she used when she was seething with hatred.

"Okay, so I can take Lizzy and Doll, and keep them secure." Uzi declared.

"And I can mostly secure J, but I'd prefer it if I had some help." V requested. "N, if you secure Millie with your tail, you can use your arms to help me with J."

"And that leaves me with the exile." 621 confirmed.

"…Alright, I won't let you guys down." N assured them. "But I really don't want to hurt them if we can help it."

"I can't make that kind of promise. It depends on if they'll follow our instructions." 621 clarified. "You'll know the go word, I've used it before."

With her orders given, 621 dragged Uzi back with N and V in tow. Uzi averted her gaze, giving her best browbeaten expression like she'd been in trouble for something.

"You done accosting the little one?" Tessa smiled apologeticlly.

"…Let's get out of this shit hole, and find a nice place to plan our next move." 621 suggested.

"Way ahead of you!" Lizzy shrugged. J had picked up Lizzy, Millie, and Doll with an annoyed expression, as she found the exit that would get them out at this level.

"Stray Two, go pick up the exile. Stray One, little help here?" 621 ordered.

"Will do!" N swooped up Tessa, who, despite being covered in shit, blushed in his arms.

"Yes ma'am." V grimaced as she grabbed 621 and Uzi. "Ugh, you guys are so gross right now."

---

They didn't go far after getting out of the recycler. Just the first decently sized room they could find, which happened to be a classroom for small children.

"So…that was…kinda insane." Tessa relaxed as they secured the room, leaning against the wall tiredly. She didn't think it was odd that 621 was standing near her.

"Yeah, so…seems the PCA authorized some serious shit for taking us out." J shivered. She didn't notice V lingering by her left side.

"But we managed to get away for now." Lizzy added. She didn't see Uzi stroll up behind her. Doll thought it was strange that Uzi was holding her railgun by the barrel, but didn't think to mention it.

"Hey, that kind of stuff uh…happen often?" Millie wondered, failing to notice N's tail slowly circling her near her ankles.

"…Bout as often as I have to take care of a forgotten arm." 621 stated dryly.

Even though 621 had said it, V moved first. She had to in order to catch J off guard. Sweeping J's legs out from under her, V pounced and stabbed her in the left hand with a sword and pinned her to the ground. She also snaked her tail down and entwined it with J,s keeping her from using that appendage.

N followed suit by quickly wrapping his tail around Millie to secure her arms against her body, then held her in the air while he lunged at J and stabbed her through the right hand against the ground.

"Ah! What the fuck!?" J cursed against the ground as she struggled to look back at her former squad members.

"W-What the-!?" Millie panicked as she lost control and was held several feet in the air by N's tail.

Uzi swung the stock of her railgun into the back of Lizzy's head, stunning her and causing her to fall over.

"Oww! What the hell?!" Lizzy bared her teeth as she looked back. Doll worriedly dropped down to check on Lizzy, when both girls fearfully noticed that Uzi had her railgun trained on them.

"Don't move!" Uzi warned.

Tessa didn't have time to respond as 621 slammed into her back, right hand shoving her head painfully into the wall. Fortunately, since this had been a kidnap job, 621 had come prepared with a set of snap-on handcuffs that she had been ready to use on Doll if she had resisted. Thankfully they worked on humans too, as 621 pulled Tessa's arms behind her back and secured her wrists.

"Oww…fuck!" Tessa cursed. She knew this wasn't going to be good.

621 picked up Tessa, and flung her halfway across the room. The shorter woman fell onto a small desk, rolled across it and fell on the ground.

"The PCA locks down a whole Grid, massacres an entire level of men, women, and children, just to take out a couple of androids. Sound like overkill to you?" 621 questioned coldly, then kicked Tessa in the head when she'd been trying to sit up. Tessa fell on her back, grunting in pain.

"Tessa!" J screamed, struggling against V and N holding her to the ground. 621 picked up Tessa again and stood her up, slamming her back against the wall, then followed that up with a punch to the gut. J screamed even louder as she watched her beloved master take a beating and being unable to do anything to stop it. "Tessa!"

"What is…purple-?" Lizzy was still coming to terms with the fact that the senior team that was leading them was suddenly hostile to herself and her team. Calling Uzi 'purple' was just second nature at this point.

"That's not my fucking name!" Uzi was in no mood to entertain her former bullies. She kicked Lizzy in the chin, causing the pink-eyed Worker to cry out in pain and fall on her back. Doll was quick to help push Lizzy up.

"Oww, h-hey!" Lizzy wanted to complain but there was something distressing that she noticed. "Y-You…"

The thing was that Drones were not good at concealing their true emotions. With experience, they might be able to use a different emotion to hide what they were really feeling, but none of the Copper IX Drones were old enough to do that. That combined with their extremely expressive upper-facial visor meant that their eyes were almost always displaying their true emotion.

Uzi's eyes were angry, but more dangerously, solid and focused. If they were hollowed (like every other Drone in their current situation except V), it would have meant hesitation or uncertainty with her current orders. The fact that they were solid meant she had every intention of killing Lizzy should 621 demand it.

Lizzy hadn't been expecting that kind of determination from a Drone she knew. Or thought she did.

Meanwhile, 621 was still expressing her rage and taking it out on Tessa, by choking her and punching her in the stomach.

"T-Tessa!" None of which J was responding well to as she struggled to escape N and V's grasp. "Get off of me!"

"Raven…" N stared painfully as his master beat the smaller woman for reasons he didn't understand. His distraction almost allowed J to escape, as she moved the arm he had pinned a few inches before he noticed and applied enough pressure to stop her.

"Stay focused N!" V sneered. "Don't get distracted!"

"But Raven is…"

"I know." V muttered lowly. Admittedly, V didn't like what 621 was doing to someone she once knew. But that was a long time ago, and she had a new master she'd follow into hell now.

"I'll tell you what I think." 621 snarled as she choked out Tessa. "I think if we'd just killed that red-eyed Drone and left her corpse for the Coyotes to play with, the PCA would have let us leave, or at least wouldn't have wiped out half a fucking level to get to us. What they don't want, is for that little Drone to continue living, to be able to use her space magic powers. The PCA are afraid of these Drones. And that's got me curious."

621 punched Tessa in the side again, earning a pained grunt. She loosened her hold on the other woman's throat. "Speak!"

"Why the-why the fuck are you beating me up for an answer!?" Tessa complained. "Ask Doll for crying out loud!"

"Because Copper IX was never involved in our war, Laconian, at least not as far as any of them remember." 621 explained coldly. "You on the other hand would know a bit more about why Sol and the PCA demand their deaths so urgently, wouldn't you?"

"N-No!" It was difficult to tell if Tessa was lying, or struggling to speak because 621 was still choking her.

"Are they some kind of Laconian weapon?! Some experimental models?!" 621 demanded.

"No!" Tessa shouted again.

"Well give me something here!?"

"I don't know anything!" Tessa asserted.

"Tsk!" 621 shoved Tessa, causing the smaller woman to fall on her side. "Maybe I'm just not hitting the right nerve…" She stormed over to the three Murder Drones, squeezing in between V and N to put her foot on the back of J's head, pushing it to the ground. She then pulled out her handgun, and pointed it at J's back.

"J-J? J!" Tessa looked up to see what 621 was doing, horrified at where she was pointing her gun.

"So here's how this is going to work." 621 declared. "You're going to start talking, Laconian, and tell me why the PCA wants these Drones dead, or I'm going to blow the core out of this admittedly pretty little Drone. You have ten seconds. One."

"Raven?" N looked back at 621 anxiously and worriedly.

"Two."

"J! No!" Tessa screamed, as she struggled to crawl closer to her best friend.

"Three."

"Oh shit! J! Do something!" Lizzy tried to sit up.

"Four."

"Stay the fuck down!" Uzi shouted at Lizzy, shoving her gun in her face.

"Five."

"Hey can we like talk about this…?" Millie requested fearfully, still trapped by N's tail.

"Six."

"Dammit V! N! Let me go!" J begged.

"Seven."

"…" V hissed, averting her gaze shamefully.

"Eight."

"J! J!" Tessa screamed.

"Nine."

"…It…it will be okay…Tessa." J smiled as serenely as she could, trying to assure Tessa.

"…" Doll watched this chaotic and uncomfortable scene, trying not to feel for J. But Tessa's screaming and sobbing was making that difficult. It left her feeling…strange…that someone could show such desperation and distress over one of the monsters she'd long hated.

"OKAY!" Tessa screamed in desperation before the Hound counted ten. "I'll talk okay! Please! Just spare J!"

"Are you going to tell me everything?" 621 wondered suspiciously. "Do you swear that you'll tell the truth?"

"Yes!" Tessa swore desperately. "I swear to Strayed!"

Something changed the moment Tessa spoke that word. No one knew why. No one could see or hear any change in the room they were hiding in.

Except for 621.

The strangest sensation befell all the Drones in the room. Uzi and N and V and J and Lizzy and Doll and Millie. An unusual and unpleasant experience unlike anything they had ever felt before. It caused them to recoil and cringe and shiver in disgust. It took them all far too long to understand what that sensation was. Something they had never experienced before, and something they should not hope to experience again.

Despite the impossibility of it, what they sensed then was smell, even though they did not process olfactory organs. What they smelt, was a rank and putrid scent of death.

Tessa couldn't see it, couldn't hear it, but the thing with too many eyes in it's teeth was leering over her, laughing. It laughed and laughed and laughed in her face, letting her take in the horrid scent on it's breath. Gently, the thing with too many eyes in it's teeth raked it's claws over her cheek.

And Tessa screamed.

"Excusing the stupidity of swearing on the name of a demon." 621 broke the curse that Tessa had inadvertently placed on them, spitting her words with annoyance. She stepped over J, as she stared down coldly at Tessa, putting herself between the woman and the demon no one else could see. She pulled Tessa up into a seated position, her back to the wall. Her eyes were narrowed, demanding answers from the junior Hound. "I suggest you start talking, least you invoke it's wrath."

"…The Absolute Solver program." Tessa began weakly, averting her gaze, after having taken a moment to calm herself. "I don't know what it is, I don't know where it comes from, but I know that it appears in improperly disassembled Drones. That's to say…Drones that are killed, with their cores still intact. But it's rare, like a one in a billion chance of appearing. And…it's like an infection. First it starts off simple enough, giving the Drone reality bending powers, but the more they use those powers, the more they lose themselves in the power, until it consumes their personalities…their…souls."

"That still doesn't explain why Sol and the PCA want these Drones dead." 621 pointed out.

"Because of course Laconia tried to weaponize it!" Tessa hissed. "Or…what was left of our people, after Laconia itself was destroyed."

"Weaponize it how?" 621 demanded.

"To control it, to turn it against Sol." Tessa shrugged flippantly. "I don't know. I was never part of those teams; it was all highly secretive. Those who did researched it though…I heard they became obsessed, fervently religious, as though they might find salvation through communion with this…thing."

"…" 621 stared hard at Tessa, silently demanding her to continue.

"I do not know the mechanism by which it functions…but I know that Drones in the advanced stages of infection…they created the Void Hollows." Tessa reluctantly admitted.

"…Void Hollows?" Lizzy wondered, for herself, Doll, Millie, and J being out of the loop.

"Raven described them as dead worlds, their cores consumed by singularities." Uzi explained coldly. "They're the reason that there are no stars in the night sky."

"So…Doll is potentially a weapon of mass destruction?" 621 glared, back and forth between Tessa and Doll.

"Potentially…yes." Tessa confirmed.

"Can you prove that?"621 demanded.

"…Her physiology should be altered." Tessa described. "She'll be cybernetic now. Without hurting her, you can feel the difference through her black muscle."

"…" 621 regarded Doll, and stalked towards her. Leaning down close to her and Lizzy, she reached out and grabbed Lizzy by her midriff, squeezing it enough to deform it without hurting the machine girl.

"Excuse you!" Lizzy squirmed with 621 hands pressing into her waist and stomach. "That tickles! In a bad way!"

"Just using you as a control." 621 dismissed. Squeezing Lizzy, she could feel the irregular metal shapes that made up the robot equivalent of internal organs, with no real endoskeleton to speak of, at least in that portion of their bodies. Now she had a rough idea of what Drones were supposed to feel like on the inside.

"…" Doll looked between embarrassed and afraid as 621 reached for her midriff next, squeezing it-

Ribs.

"…?!" 621 retracted her hands quickly from Doll's black artificial muscle. She grabbed the Drone again, more slowly. Sure enough, there were bone-like structures…perhaps even real bones that wrapped around the interior of Doll's chest, just like a human ribcage, as well as soft, internal organs. Nothing like what Lizzy's insides had felt like.

Regarding Doll suspiciously, 621 reached up and pulled the button eye patch up off of Doll's visor. There was a cracked hole in her plexiglass face where her right eye should be displayed, oozing red. Not the black oil that was supposed to fill Drones, but a red, blood-like substance.

"That's…concerning." Ayre suggested. "It's like she's turning into some kind of hybrid-"

Bad choice of words. 621 quickly grabbed her handgun and shoved the barrel into the center of Doll's chest, pointed right at her core.

"[W-Wait!]" Doll raised her hands in submission. "[I know this looks bad-]"

"Damn right, Laconian." 621 hissed, as she grabbed Doll by the shoulder with her free hand, keeping the little Drone from running away.

"[B-But I promise that I have it under control…or now I do.]" Doll tried to assure the Hound. She then pointed at her shattered visor. "[Keeping myself injured has staved off the Solver's control, at least until you activated my control collar. Coral seems to also hold it at bay. So I'm fine!]"

"But you're still a threat, aren't you?" 621 accused. Her words were dripping with hatred. "One last Laconian bomb, just waiting to go off."

"…!" Doll was speechless as the Hound stared her down with a hatred she didn't think was possible.

"I fought tooth and nail to make sure your cursed world would not pose a threat to my home and family. I thought my war was done. But it seems like no matter where I go, I keep stumbling upon you fucking…Laconian…detritus…and I keep having to clean up their fucking mess."

"[I'm…]" Doll tried to argue. "[I'm not a Laconian-]"

"Mass production model 101, Worker Drone! Built en-mass at the JCJenson Central Nexus megafactory in Victrix City, on Laconia Prime! Homeworld of the Laconian Imperium!" 621 was yelling into Doll's face. "I don't give a fuck that you're some second-generation model built by rogue Workers on that shit stain of a planet you call Copper IX! God-Emperor Duarte commissioned your race as slaves to serve his grand designs! Your kind worked in the factories and munitions plants that built the bombs and bullets that killed billions of people across the cosmos! Your kind helped build the dreadnoughts that left hundreds of thousands of my sailors as less than dust!"

"…!" It had never been more clear to Doll up until that moment that Laconia had meant anything other than a weird word spoken with seething hatred. That it had been more than some strange misdirection from Uzi trying to rationalize her sympathy for the Murder Drones. 621 hated her for something that had happened decades and centuries before she'd been born. And she hated her more fervently than Doll had ever considered possible. She'd just wanted to kill the Murder Drones, specifically V, for the deaths of her parents, and thought that her hatred might be satiated by that one death.

Yet in this instance, 621 showed Doll the rage of the entire universe, condemning her in that moment for the blackened stars and billions dead, and the nearly four hundred years of war that Laconia had inflicted upon the cosmos. And even killing her would bring no sense of relief for anyone, only the righteousness of justice being served for a world condemned, even long after it had burned.

Doll got the distinct impression that relief and vengeance was beyond what 621 was doing. That her hatred would continue to burn and rage even if she got exactly what she wanted. That forgiveness was something that 621 was incapable of, not just for Doll or the Drones, but for herself as well.

Uzi reached out, and grabbed 621 by the shoulder. 621 looked back at her, surprised to find Uzi looking so sad and tired.

"If you kill Doll, you fail the mission, and then you'll have to explain why you killed Doll to Walter and Carla." Uzi stated obviously. "And…if you let slip that Doll is, as you've put it, 'a weapon of mass destruction', that will only rationalize what the PCA is trying to do to us by wiping us out. If either Carla or Walter change their minds because of what Doll is…then all of us, Worker and Murder Drones, will die. Either because Carla decides to kill us…or if Walter orders you to kill us. I…" Uzi hesitated. "I know you hate us for being Laconian, but the war is over. It's done. My world played no part in your war. And the Coral is keeping Doll under control. Are you really willing to wipe out all that is left of my species, just to satiate your rage?"

"…" 621 stared at Uzi for long time, face still filled with distain and disgust. She reached back and grabbed Uzi by the front of her shirt, pulling her close. "You're wrong about me if you think I wouldn't wipe out your species. I have every right to do so, and even more reason to now." 621 sentenced coldly. "The only reason I don't finish what Sol started and kill all of you, especially with what I've just learned, is because I am still bound by honor to protect you, and V, and N. Because you are right, and Carla and Handler Walter might change their minds if this information were to reach them."

"…" Uzi nodded sadly, through relieved she had bought her people just a bit more time to continue living.

"…!" Doll stared shocked by what had just occurred a few inches away. Her life and the fate of her entire species, spared, even if momentarily, by a preexisting debt of honor…and one owed to Uzi fucking Doorman, the most awkward and ostracized Drone on all of Copper IX. And to two of the Murder Drones, including the one she hated most, V.

621 stood from where she had been squatting by Uzi, Lizzy and Doll. Even if she was no longer in the mood to kill anyone, she still had a few questions that needed answers. She stormed back over to Tessa, and grabbed her by the throat, lifting her up.

"Oh come on!" Tessa complained.

"I'm not done with you yet, Laconian." 621 accused. "What was Copper IX? Obviously it was a Laconian occupied world. Why is Doll infected with the Solver?"

"Copper IX was an off the books research installation under the guise of a mining colony." Tessa explained quickly. "Research into purposely infecting Drones with the Absolute Solver and controlling them. One of Doll's parent's must have been infected, and passed it on."

"Are there any more infected Drones from Copper IX on Rubicon?" 621 demanded.

"I don't know." Tessa admitted. "But possibly. Drones were infected in sets of roughly a dozen or so at a time, but I don't know how many of that group would have survived having the planet infested with Murder Drones for eighteen years. J told me she and the other teams on Copper IX took out nearly ninety percent of the Drones on the planet. That, combined with the automated defenses designed to counter infected Drones, means that very few should have survived or passed on their infection."

Doll and Uzi shared an uncomfortable glance at each other.

"The Murder Drones, what are they?" 621 questioned. "The one we killed turned into something…else."

"Right…G. I heard about you killing her." Tessa glared up at 621. "The Murder Drones…are, as far as I know, Worker Drones rebuilt using Laconian research into the Absolute Solver."

"[What…?!]" Doll sneered displeased. Her outburst meant that 621 was not looking at Tessa, when she winced in pain. "[That's impossible! You're lying!]"

"I…I'm sorry, but it's true." Tessa denied, after a moment to adjust. "When I was a teenager, I knew J, and N, and V. They were maids and butlers that served at my mansion."

"[No, that can't be!]" Doll shouted defiantly.

"What?" 621 scoffed. "Don't want to admit that you have anything in common with your hated enemy? You're such a selfish idiot."

"[But…but they are monsters!]" Doll argued. "[They killed everything in their path! There is no way they were ever innocent little Workers-!]"

621 flicked Doll in the face with her prosthetic arm, her finger going *clink* off of Doll's visor, stunning the Drone momentarily.

"I've seen good men act like monsters, and demons commit acts of kindness. Nothing you're saying makes any sense." 621 dismissed. "Even I will admit that I share more in common with my hated enemy than I am comfortable with. Trying to dismiss them as the 'other side', as irredeemable monsters, is nothing more than a selfish excuse to convince yourself you're right when you know you're wrong."

"…!" Doll bared her teeth hatefully up at the Hound, desperate to continue rationalizing her rage after everything she had heard. But she couldn't come up with any good retort.

"Where was I? Ah, right." 621 looked back at Tessa. "What is the Absolute Solver's goal?"

"Not entirely sure." Tessa shrugged. "Though judging by it's actions…spread and consume? That's all I know for certain."

"Mnn." 621 grumbled as she considered all this information. She didn't have any more questions for Tessa. It struck her how strange her life had become, how those three damn little robots had turned her life upside down. How she was stuck in a mission with eight fucking Laconians, and trying to save all of them. "Listen up! Stray Squad! Tails Squad! Exile and VIP!"

"Ma'am!" Everyone answered promptly at the sound of her commanding voice.

"Everything that the exile just revealed should be treated as classified information!" 621 declared. "If word of it gets out, all of you, and your entire species, could be wiped out! So we will not speak about what we just learned here today regarding the state of being that Doll is in! Are we clear!?"

"Yes ma'am!" Everyone answered, knowing that their lives now depended on their silence. That there was a secret that could get them all killed.

"Stray Squad." 621 turned to her team. "Release Tails Squad. We won't be killing them today."

"…Copy." Uzi muttered in disappointment, as she lowered her railgun and stepped back from Lizzy. Doll helped her friend stand. V and N retracted their blades from J's hands, allowing their former leader to get up and shove her way over towards Tessa, who still had her wrist bound. N dropped Millie gently from his tail.

Once J used her claws to free Tessa, the junior Hound and her team stared back at 621 and Stray Squad with expressions mixed between anxious and defiant. Lizzy and Millie regarded them warily while J openly hissed at them, while deploying her EMP weapon.

"J, no!" Tessa put her hands on J's left shoulder and arm, holding them down. "Stand down!"

"But Tessa!" J argued. "They hurt you!"

"It's fine J…" Tessa grimaced. "As much as I might hate her right now…we need 621 and her team's help to get out of here alive. Besides…I'm not going to risk antagonizing that Hound. She's got more experience than everyone in this room combined."

"Hey J…" Uzi called out. "It's not fun watching your teammates get beaten up when you care about them, is it?"

"…Tsk!" J sneered as she stared down, trying not to think about her actions back on Copper IX and before they'd been captured on Rubicon. She busied herself by inspecting Tessa's bruises.

"Now…" 621 checked her hand terminal. "It's been about two hours, so water utilities are about to go down across the Grid, meaning the local Coyotes are going to start taking the PCA's threat more seriously. We'll have a lot more hostiles to deal with before we'll even be close to the PCA. So let's change up our tactics."

"What do you want to do, Raven?" V looked up confidently at her Hound.

"We'll split our teams into three groups, centered around each Murder Drone." 621 advised. "Show me why you guys earned such a title. I'll also be splitting up my team to help cover you guys, since my guys have a lot more experience. Stray Two, you'll escort the exile and Tail Three."

"Oh…yes ma'am." N nodded as he stood by Tessa and Millie.

"Stray Three, you'll support Tail One and Two."

"Shit…Copy." Uzi frowned, but went with J and Lizzy.

"And Stray One, you and I will keep an eye on the VIP."

"Yes ma'am!" V cheered as she got to run with the Hound she'd grown so fond of. Doll seemed less enthusiastic to have V be near her, and hesitated. V smirked as she wrapped her tail around Doll's leg, and dragged her closer.

"[…So…?]" Doll looked up at 621, after kicking V's tail off her leg. "[Do I at least get a weapon to help you?]"

"Are you kidding me?" 621 scoffed. "I trust you even less now that I know a bit more about your situation. You're lucky I don't have mi koyo here cut off your limbs and stuff you in a backpack for me to carry."

"[…Ah…]" Doll grumbled, as she cast her gaze downward.

"Raven?" N got his master's attention. "I was wondering, if we have so many more enemies to fight through, and we need to get down the entire length of the Grid quickly, could we maybe…use more of the recycler chutes to drop down several more levels quickly?"

"…" Everyone stared at N with annoyance.

"…Shit." 621 rolled her eyes. "Unfortunately, Stray Two does make a good point. If we want to get down the Grid before we have to fight hundreds of thousands of people, we'll have to take the recyclers, since they'll be undefended and, frankly, no one would expect us to do something so stupid anyway."

Everyone else groaned in disgust and trepidation.

"Saddle up kids!" 621 declared. "Let's go shit diving!"

---

Control Center – Armored Basement Level

"Where the hell are those damn Drones?!" Colonel Madrigal cursed as she looked over the plethora of cameras within the Grid. It had been pretty obvious that none of their targets had been killed by their ambush. Thousands of civilian casualties and nearly a hundred thousand rounds wasted.

"What the hell?" The Tech noted. "Okay, so judging by the corpses they are leaving in their wake, they were clearly on level sixty-nine several minutes ago, but then they showed up again on level sixty-two, then sixty-one, then fifty-three, fifty-two, and we just had reports of shots fired on forty-six."

"Every two levels they fight through, they drop several levels down, how?" Lieutenant Celeb questioned.

"Goddammit." Colonel Madrigal sneered. "I was hoping to get the Grid to do our work for us, but at this rate, they'll be down here within the hour." She realized. "Looks like we'll have to face them. Lieutenant Celeb!"

"Ma'am!"

"I want you on a hunter-killer team, patrolling this level. Keep them from breaching this room." The Colonel ordered. "If we loose control over the Grid utilities, we lose the support of the Coyotes for this mission. We can't let that happen."

"Yes ma'am.. I'll intercept them." The Lieutenant assured her.

---

Underground Subbasement – Final Recycler

Near the bottom of the Grid Sector, was the last of the bio-degrading recyclers that turned rubbish and detritus into edible mushrooms. It had only taken the combined teams of Drones and Hounds a few attempts before they had figured out how to quickly and safely descend each chute so that they wouldn't be swimming in shit each time they landed. It had taken an entire hour of fighting through two levels at a time before they'd managed to deposit themselves in the PCA controlled portion of the Grid.

"Are we done with the shit diving?" Lizzy complained. "Cause frankly I'm just going to burn these clothes when we get back home."

"I think I'm finally getting used to the smell." Tessa added. "No, wait, that's a bad thing."

"…Let's just get this day over with." J grimaced. "Who we got to kill next?"

"This is going to be a little more difficult." 621 advised. "So far all we've engaged are Coyotes and all manner of junkies, people with no practical training and with reaction times muddled by ill-advised chemical cocktails. Now we'll be going up against PCA forces, professional soldiers, and worse than that, fanatics who believe whole heartedly that killing all of you is the best thing they could do with their lives. Don't hesitate, and make sure every shot is a kill shot. Copy?"

"Yes ma'am!" The Drones and Tessa answered.

"Now, let's divvy our teams up." 621 ordered. "Tail One, your team will stay on this level, looking for the server cluster the PCA likely hacked into to commandeer this Grid. Stray Three, I expect you to unfuck this situation they've handed us."

"Will do!" Uzi answered excitedly.

"Exile, your squad and mine will clear the next level up. We'll find the control center that the PCA have hold themselves up in, and take out their command staff, so we can let the citizens know to stop trying to fuck with us."

"Y-Yes ma'am!" Tessa nodded, still a bit out of it after several hours of close combat and a beating.

"This is the final push! Kill anything that moves!" 621 ordered with confident bravado.

---

While the other two teams went up, J, Lizzy, and Uzi stayed on this level, and started clearing it out while they looked for the main server room for the whole Grid.

For the moment, J had the lead. It was just easier for her since she literally had guns for hands and technically a lot more experience killing in tight spaces. She also needed the room to keep her wings open, since her blade-feathers were bullet-proof to rifle-caliber rounds, so she was using them to cover her blind spots.

The only problem was the pace she was setting. 621 had advised that none of the Murder Drones should hold back, and only delay their advance so as not to lose their allies. This meant Uzi and Lizzy were mostly running after J, making sure her back was clear as they followed her through the long and abandoned service tunnels quickly filling with corpses.

"Go!" Uzi shouted in a whisper as she covered the corridor to their rear, while Lizzy ran after J to the next holding position. Sporadic gunfire and the occasional explosion could be heard near J as she used her full arsenal against any target that crossed her part.

"K'…" Lizzy answered boredly once she had set up to cover Uzi. The goth robot hissed in annoyance as she strained to hear the pink-eyed Drone over the not-so-distant combat.

"You're supposed to be a bit clearer when calling out!" Uzi spat at Lizzy as she ran past her to cover the now filthy cheerleader.

"Whatever." Lizzy scoffed. "J's taking all the kills anyway. Not like we have to actually do anything here."

"Even if J kills everyone for us, we still have to do our jobs!" Uzi retorted. "That way she can work without worrying about her back!"

"Gosh you're so dramatic!" Lizzy complained while taking point again. "This isn't even a hard job. Other than earlier, this has been a lot easier than I-"

Lizzy panicked when Uzi stopped about halfway from her, and raised her rifle towards her. To her great fortune, Uzi was not aiming at the cheerleader, but higher and past her.

"Con-!" A man shouted just behind Lizzy, only to be cut off as a plasma bolt from Uzi's railgun (more of a plasma rifle in it's low-power mode) caught him in the left shoulder, and melted his arm off. He wasn't alone however, as he had his own fire team behind him rounding the corner on the two Worker Drones.

PCA Special Forces infantry. A cut above most regular troop.

"Tsk!" Uzi hissed as she fired as rapidly as she could with her gun to force the PCA troops back, until she'd melted the disposable barrel. "Help me out here Lizzy!"

"R-Right!" Lizzy nervously raised her SMG, watching as Uzi ran past. The purple-haired Drone dropped her rifle in favor of her handgun, as she knew she couldn't wait and let the enemy try anything smart. She knew they wouldn't expect anything like her.

Lizzy had been following her, until she looked down at the first man Uzi had shot. He was still alive, struggling not to cry out as he clutched his melted stump of his shoulder.

"Woah…" Lizzy was simultaneously fascinated and horrified, and couldn't look away from the grisly sight. She completely forgot about Uzi as she cautiously approached the injured man with her gun raised.

That just left Uzi alone to take on the three remining members of the enemy fire team. She knew that for a little Worker Drone armed with nothing but a handgun, it was completely suicidal to take on three Special Forces soldiers, but she had no time to stop and think about it. Fortunately, she was far from a regular Worker Drone.

If it wasn't for the fact that one of Uzi's hands was raised, summoning her Solver power, she'd have been shot dead by hardened PCA veterans. Instead, she managed to block the bullets with a thin barrier of light curved around herself.

"Oh shit! Code 54A!" The closest soldier shouted. Uzi shot him in the face with her handgun.

"Fucking robot witch!" A female soldier cursed, as she tried to rush Uzi. The little Worker lined up her shots and killed her too.

"Motherfucker! Eat this!" The last soldier pilled the pin from a grenade and threw-

Or, they tried to throw the grenade at Uzi. Refocusing her Solver, Uzi used it to keep the soldier's fingers closed around the grenade, so that it never left their hand.

"N-No! No! No!" The soldier screamed, and Uzi used her hold on the soldier's hand to push the live grenade up to their own face, then forcefully pushed them away and down the corridor, where they exploded a moment later.

Lizzy had been entirely occupied with cautiously approaching the one-armed soldier Uzi had shot first. She tried to poke them with the barrel of her submachinegun.

The one-armed soldier lunged at her, and grabbed her by the throat.

"Laconian…scum!" The soldier hissed hatefully, as he tried to crush Lizzy's throat.

"L-Let go of me!" Lizzy panicked, and dropped her gun. Fortunately, it was still attached to her via a sling, so after fumbling for it for several seconds, she had a weak hold on it and pulled the trigger, holding it down.

Even though the gun she had was built with a recoil-canceling firing mechanism, Lizzy held it so weakly that it fired out of control in the general direction of the soldier choking her. It was only because it had been fired at point-blank range that it managed to hit anything.

Lizzy emptied the entire magazine randomly into the soldier's stomach, chest, neck, and face. They slumped down on top of Lizzy, dead.

"G-Get off of me!" Lizzy cried as she struggled to push the dead man off of herself. "Get off of me!"

Uzi returned and pushed the dead man off of Lizzy. She reached down and pulled Lizzy up to her feet.

"Get your head in the damn game, Lizzy!" Uzi shouted at the blonde Drone.

"H-Holy shit…" Lizzy stared down at the dead man, and the damage she did with a full magazine of pistol caliber rounds. "I…I killed him…he was going to kill me…and-"

"Oh fuck me!" Uzi sneered at her. "Did your master not teach you how to kill before you got sent out to do mercenary work!"

"I d-didn't k-know…" Lizzy stuttered, eyes wide and hollowed.

"Snap out of it Lizzy!" Uzi smacked Lizzy across the face. "I can't have you watching my back and panicking at the same time! Just breathe!"

Uzi simulated calm breathing, getting Lizzy to copy her. Even though they technically didn't need to breathe, simulating the action had the same effect as if they had been human, getting Lizzy to calm down and focus.

"This shit is scary, I know." Uzi stated more calmly. "But if you want to survive, then keep your eyes up and focus. I know you're a smart Drone, so don't hesitate, and don't think about it. Just keep pulling the trigger, and drop every PCA motherfucker you see!"

"R-Right…Right!" Lizzy stuttered. Uzi let her go and Lizzy fumbled with her gun, dropping the mag and started loading another.

It was not the best moment, as J came stumbling backwards while she grappled with a PCA soldier in a custom exosuit armor. It was obviously an up-armored power-loader, a man-sized industrial forklift, with added on frontal armor protecting the user, and an additional four robotic arms that it was using to restrain J. While the pilot had J's hands crushed in his own grip, the additional limbs had J by the wings and her tail.

"Shit! Shit! Let go! Let go!" J struggled to get out of the grasp of the enemy. They brought her tail up and tried to stab her with her own tail, which would have melted her slowly and painfully.

Uzi didn't waste any time and ran towards J. She held fire with her handgun as she could see the armor on the exo-suit would protect them from anything but precision or point-blank shots.

Running right up and behind the exo-suit, Uzi pushed the barrel of her handgun into the back of the knee joints of the exo-suit, shooting out the kneecaps of the pilot. The pilot screamed and fell to their knees, no longer at risk of killing J, but still not letting her go. Uzi had to holster her handgun as it had run out of ammo, but didn't stop. She jumped onto the back of the exo-suit, and stabbed the pilot in the neck with a knife.

With the pilot dead, J managed to push them off, and shook her hands and wings while they healed.

"Shit…uh…thanks Uzi…" J muttered, between shocked and disbelieving.

"Yeah…fuck…" Lizzy added. "You uh…you cleared this whole corridor. How…?"

"Cover me while I reload." Uzi grunted as she reloaded her handgun and railgun. "We're not done here."

"Right…okay." J nodded, before sharing a look with Lizzy. Perhaps they had each underestimated that little purple Worker Drone.

---

Armored Basement Level – One Floor Above

In much a similar formation, Tessa and Millie covered N's back while he cleared the level of their objective.

It reminded him of the worst of his days back on Copper IX. Clearing out rooms of defenseless Worker Drones in droves. Except in this instance his targets were armed, and shooting back.

"Contact! Code 54D!" A PCA squad called out as they spotted him approaching. Keeping one wing in front of him as a shield, N poked one of his guns out and, using one of the side mounted eyes on his scalp, targeted one of the PCA soldiers as he got closer, shooting them dead while he rapidly approached the squad. He shot a second soldier just as he got within melee range of the remaining two members of the enemy squad.

"Fucking Murder Drone!" The third soldier tried to poke their gun around his wings, so N changed his gun out for a set of claws and sliced through the enemies neck, cutting off their head.

"Fuck you!" The fourth soldier, as an act of desperation, tried to hit him with their empty rifle. N quickly stabbed them through the chest with a sword.

"Damn…N…" Tessa remarked sadly as she and Millie followed, looking at the work he left behind.

"…Try and keep up, Miss Tessa." N muttered tiredly, as he half glared back. He just wanted this day to be over.

So of course they were ambushed from two sides.

A man who N had shot but not quite killed lunged at Tessa, and grabbed her carbine, pointing it up. Another soldier wearing one of the exo-suits modified for fighting Murder Drones lunged at N from around the corner, and grabbed him by the arms.

"Oh shit-!" Tessa fought the man as best she could, trying to take back control of her gun. In her struggle, she pulled the trigger, and ended up emptying the magazine in the ceiling. Knowing that her weapon was empty, the man hit her in the face, and knocked her to the ground.

"No no!" Tessa panicked and pulled the trigger of her carbine while it pointed at the man, not realizing it was empty. "Dammit!" She dropped the carbine and had to roll to grab her revolver, however, in the time it took her to grab the gun and cock it's hammer back, the man had already run up to her and kicked the gun out of her hands. He reached down for his own handgun-

The soldier had been so desperate to fight and kill Tessa that he had ignored Millie, who, after a moment of hesitation, emptied her handgun into the soldier's back. He fell down on top of Tessa.

"Oh…oh hell boss…" Millie was shaking as she cautiously approached Tessa. "Are…are you alright?"

"Y-Yes Millie…t-thank you…" Tessa stuttered while Millie slowly and unsteadily helped Tessa up.

Meanwhile, N had been dealing with the enemy soldier wearing an exo-suit. He found out very quickly that he was outmatched, as the improvised-armor had extra robotic arms that grabbed him by the wings and tail, and was trying to tear him apart. Except that he had no intentions of allowing himself to be killed so easily. 621 had taught him better than that.

So N reared back with his foot, and kicked the soldier between the legs so hard that the exo-suit armor broke, and the audible snap of the soldier's hip bone could be heard.

The soldier screamed as his genitals were obliterated, and he partly let go of N, enough that N's hands were free. N wasted no time and reversed their positions, and quickly grabbed the soldier by the arms. He raised up his other foot and put it on the soldier's chest, and pulled with all his might. Not only did he tear the exo-suit apart, he ripped the arms off the soldier as well. With the soldier screaming and no longer in a state to fight, N reached out grabbed the man by the head with his claws, and crushed his skull.

"N…" Tessa uttered, shocked and disgusted and…saddened, watching N fight.

"We've got no time!" N hissed. "We have to keep going, as part of Raven's plan for finishing this mission. So keep up dammit!"

"Uh…yes sir!?" Millie grimaced but nodded at N's demand.

"Yes…of course N." Tessa sighed, but continued.

---

The biggest difference for 621's team was that it technically only contained V. Doll was just dead weight that was forced to keep pace with the mad Hound and insatiable Murder Drone. The two things that surprised Doll the most, was how quiet V was being, killing PCA soldiers with barely a grunt of exertion as she focused on being as efficient as possible, and how the Hound was able to keep up and kill with the same brutal efficiency as the Murder Drone.

Or…maybe…Doll considered fearfully, the Murder Drone was able to keep up with the Hound.

Doll somewhat knew what to expect from V. She was terrifyingly fast, and brutal in her kills. That Murder Drone would end up in the middle of an enemy squad, and kill them quickly with wide swings of her blades, or accurate burst of machinegun fire. She danced through the enemy, taking lives with every movement. It was strange through since all throughout her killing, she was calm and focused.

Yet even more insane was 621, driving right past V and keeping her own kill count up. After V finished clearing through a squad, the Hound charged the next corner, slam firing her shotgun into a squad of enemy soldiers, blasting them away with rapid blast to the head and chest. She stopped to reload, and only now noticed she had run out of shotgun ammo, after clearing through the Grid.

"…" 621 grunted and dropped her shotgun, remembering where she had dropped it so she could come back and get it afterwards. She switched to her high-caliber handgun, and was already moving, ahead of V, finding enemy soldiers and putting them down her the oversized weapon. V was only able to catch up and start killing again after 621 had once again run out of ammo.

Although, much like the other teams, they found themselves ambushed by specialists in armor designed to take down a Disassembly Drone.

"Crap." V sneered. Fortunately she was nimble enough to evade the PCA soldier trying to grab her with a heavily customized exo-suit, but the leg actuators kept them nearly as fast as her, so she had to keep evading. "Raven! Armored enemy!"

"Deal with them, Stray One!" 621 ordered. She could hear the sound of another PCA squad coming from the corridor behind the armored soldier. "Take the VIP! I'll keep the infantry off you!"

"Copy!" V shouted back as she and 621 switched places, with 621 going forward to clear the way while V lured the PCA armored specialist away from his own reinforcements. She slowed down only to go after Doll.

"[Don't touch me!]" Doll complained, glaring hatefully at V. Not that she had a choice as V quickly looped her tail around Doll's waist, dragging her with her while she dealt with the heavily armored PCA soldier.

The problem was that the enemy soldier was wearing armor just thick enough to render all her ranged weapons inadequate, while those robotic arms would make close combat inadvisable. She might have tried to use her tail, but there was currently a Doll furiously pulling on her tail in frustration and disgust.

Perhaps, V realized annoyedly, she was not the best Drone for fighting an armored exo-suit. If they were smart, J would use her EMP and N would use his enhanced strength to fight these things. All V had going for her was that she was faster than her counterparts, which wasn't much if the enemy managed to get a hold of her.

"…" She had a crazy idea, something she'd done once a long time before. It hadn't worked then because that enemy had been…something she could not comprehend…but the enemy before her was only human, more than likely. All she needed was some room to build up speed. While running from the armored soldier, she brought Doll around to her front to speak.

"I need your help."

"[Fuck you.]"

"…" Whatever. V rolled her eyes. "I'll need a distraction to take this guy out, just something to buy me a few seconds to build up some speed."

"[Fuck you.]"

"Okay then, then I hope you enjoy watching me get pulled apart, about five seconds before they kill you too."

"…" Doll took a few seconds to consider that. As much as she might enjoy watching V getting killed, she didn't want to die for that victory. She wasn't that suicidal. "[Fine, but fuck you.]"

"Okay, now I just need-for fucks-" V cursed and was forced to stop as another PCA squad intercepted her and Doll. If she did nothing, then both of them would either be shot to death or torn apart. Except that V was always thinking, always moving.

So instead of a full stop, she tucked her legs in and jumped, somersaulting over the PCA armored specialist, putting him between her and the reinforcements. Doll was dragged along at the end of V's tail.

"Shit-! Hold Fire!" The PCA squad hesitated as they no longer had a clean line of sight. It also took a long second for the PCA exo-suit to turn around.

Time that V exploited as she changed a hand out for a missile launcher, and fired a pair of guided missiles over the exo-suit's head, directly into the PCA squad, and managed to kill three of them with the explosive blast.

"Motherfucker!" Shouted the surviving PCA soldier. Then V noticed something else. While the exosuit was fast and dangerous, it struggled with turning around to oppose her. That gave her just a bit more time.

"I'm going to need that distraction now!" V quietly shouted at Doll. "Just keep the big guy's attention on you for a few seconds!"

"[Fine!]" Doll hissed as V set her down, then ran towards the PCA exo-suit's back, getting behind him and lunging at the lone PCA soldier with her claws spread. She quickly and efficiently tore into the soldier with her claws, killing him.

While the PCA exo-suit tried to turn around to get a lock on V, Doll got it's attention.

"[Hey! Looking for me!?]" Although her Solver was locked down by the control collar, Doll could still flash the symbol of the hexagon with three arrows across her face with her remaining eye, at least for a few seconds. Long enough that the heavy armored soldier noticed her.

"...Code 54A, spotted." The PCA exo-suit soldier uttered to no one, a response automated through repeated conditioning.

"…!" Doll realized the terrible position she was in, as a large, robotic armored suit bore down on her, and V was still running in the opposite direction. She knew she could never trust-

V turned on her non-existent heel and half deployed her wings, which were restricted because of the tight corridors, but it was just wide enough to get her anti-gravity generators out and working. Focusing back on the remaining soldier, she half ran, half flew after them, her right arm deployed as a sword. She had this crazy idea that she could use her speed to get her sword to pierce the enemies armor, and so focused everything she could into doing that.

Unfortunately, the PCA exo-suit must have had sensors on it's back as it turned back around, arms raised to catch V. V hissed, and was forced to thread through the multitude of arms as she aimed to stab the enemy.

She hit her target, but missed her mark.

"Nnn!" The soldier inside the exo-suit grunted painfully as V's sword arm penetrated their shoulder. It gave them a moment of pained hesitation before they tried to grab V.

"Shit!" V bared her teeth and tried to pull back, but her sword arm was lodged in the armor. So, in desperation before the claw-like arms of the machine grabbed her, she cut off part of her own arm with the claws on her left hand. She managed to get away with the claws failing to grasp her, but they did pull her scarf off.

"No escape now you damn-" The PCA soldier looked down at V, then under her now exposed neck, to see something he did not expect.

The Order of Sol's Light, hanging from the neck of a Laconian Drone.

"-What!?" The PCA soldier was so perplexed, he recoiled in surprise, and left himself exposed.

V noticed a very small gap in the armor of her enemy, just below the neck, and sunk her still deployed claws into that gap as quickly as she could, sending them down to her knuckles.

The PCA exo-suit soldier died, choking on their own blood.

After the last remaining soldier died, Doll stood there, glaring at V.

"[This changes nothing between us.]" Doll declared.

"Oh shut up." V rolled her eyes, as she reached down to collect her scarf.

"[You damn monster…]" Doll sneered. "[You-]"

"Hey! So thanks for helping me kill that man, but in case you didn't notice, we're kinda still in the thick of it!" V pointed out with a sneer. "So until it's safe, shut up and come on! We have to make sure Raven is okay!" She then started looping her tail around Doll's waist again.

"[Oh don't you dare-!]" Doll complained but couldn't finish as V ran off, with her hanging on by the taller girl's tail.

---

There was a very serious mistake that 621 made when she engaged the next PCA infantry squad. Because for as much fun as it was engaging targets with massive, 14.9mm bullets and killing everything she struck with them, the biggest downside was that it had a very limited supply of ammunition. Whereas she could easily carry over a hundred .45 caliber rounds for the Glock 90 she had given to V, the hand-cannon only had a few dozen rounds held in reserve in it's large clips.

So, when 621 rounded the next corner and fired two shots that instantly killed two of the four soldiers in front of her, that was it. She had no more ammo for that weapon.

"-Tsk!" 621 wasn't going to let a little inconvenience like "no ammo" stop her from killing her enemy, however. She took her empty handgun and threw it at the closest soldier's face, hard enough that they flinched and turned away in pain, distracted for several seconds. For the second enemy soldier, she took the knife held at her shoulder and flung it into their throat.

She then pulled a knife from her waist and pushed the arms of the soldier she had thrown her gun at up while she buried her knife in their heart, killing them quickly. There was a tiny, brief moment of recognition on the dying soldier's face, as they stared into 621's cold, dismissive eyes.

"…" It didn't surprise the Hound. Would make sense, after all, if the PCA had been built up from former Sol Alliance Navy personnel. People she had fought for. People she knew. Her sailors. But that was besides the point, when they were her enemy now.

With that squad taken care of, and both her main weapons completely out of ammo (and nobody except for her insane enough to use 14.9x76mm ammunition on the whole damn planet), 621 reached down to steal some of the weapons of the PCA-

The goddamn guns were biometrically locked. Unless the user was both a member of the PCA and living, then the guns were just fancy hunks of metal full of 5mm caseless bullets, a caliber she didn't have a gun for.

Fuck.

That just left the .38 caliber revolver in her boot. Since it was an emergency weapon, she didn't have a lot of rounds for it. Six in the cylinder, and another twelve on two folding-speed-loaders in her other boot. Those she relocated to empty spots on her own plate carrier, for easy access. So be it.

There were still targets in front of her. Maybe not many, but enough that she didn't have the luxury of waiting for them. Violence and action were her best weapons. So revolver in hand, she went hunting, looking to catch targets on her terms.

Coming to the next corner, she stopped only as she heard another four-man team heading her way. She let the first man poke their rifle out far enough for her to grab, and pulled it forward, as she used her other hand to push her revolver into the neck of that soldier, and fired from point-blank range, barrel against their flesh.

Instantly killing the man, 621 shouldered his corpse to use as cover as she pushed into the corridor, right in front of his squad. She aimed low and shot the next closest soldier in both knees, causing them to fall to the ground on their back. She got close to the two remaining soldiers, and threw the corpse she was holding at one of them, causing them to stumble back, as she shot the other soldier in the knee once, causing them to stagger down on that leg, and left exposed for her to slam a knife into their neck. Turing around, she used the two remaining bullets in the chamber to shoot the soldier with no knees, and the one she had thrown the corpse at, making sure they were each kill shots.

Stopping only to clear the cylinder and load six new rounds into her revolver, 621 could hear another squad rapidly approaching her position. That was a bit of a problem, because she was out of position, and out in the open.

That next squad pounced on her just a bit quicker than she had anticipated, rounding the corner with guns up, and already opening fire. She had to fire off two shots from her revolver to keep them cautious and off her back for a second while she dove into the cover of a nearby utilities room.

Less than ideal, but she refused to back down.

She quickly looked deeper into the room, finding a bit of cover between large conduit pipes, somewhere where she could force the enemy into close quarters combat. Expecting the worst, she took her axe off her back, placing it close by for easy access.

It was a rather tight space that forced the enemy to come at her one-by-one, so she intended to exploit that. Staying close to the large pipes, she pulled the first man in by the gun, and shot him in the neck.

The second man to rush into the tight space was more of a problem. He was a large man carrying a light machinegun. She'd manage to catch him at close enough range that he couldn't use his gun by grabbing it in her right hand, but he was large and strong enough that killing him would not be easy. The enemy soldier had a strength advantage over her, everywhere except her right arm. He was forcing her down to the ground, with a tight grip around her left wrist, and would have overpowered her, if 621 had allowed it.

Instead, she used her grasp on the barrel of his machine gun with her right hand to crush and bend the barrel, rendering it combat ineffective. Simultaneously, she loosened her grip on her revolver with her left hand, until it fell out of her grasp.

Letting go of his damaged gun, 621 grabbed her revolver out of midair with her right hand, and shoved it into the big man's stomach, below his plate carrier, and fired.

The man screamed in pain, but showed no signs of stopping as he lunged at 621 and knocked her gun out of her hand, then grabbed her by the shoulders. The fact that they were in a very tight space and with a dead man to stumble over meant that it was less of a fight and more of a claustrophobic shoving match that 621 was quickly losing as her back and head were slammed between large pipes.

The only advantage she had was her industrial strength right arm, which she used to grab the man by the face, and gouge out his left eye with her thumb. The enemy screamed and grabbed her by the wrist, but 621 pressed the advantage she had in that moment, and quickly wrapped her left hand around the back of his head. With both hands on his head, 621 squeezed, and crushed his skull with her right hand, closing it with a whole quarter of his head torn off.

Killing that man further complicated her situation, as she was now standing on top of two dead men with a third looking at her with both horror and hatred from just outside her little crawlspace. She stumbled and rolled out of the way, dodging a burst of gunfire as she reached for her axe, and waited till the PCA soldier approached.

Two swings was all she needed. The first swing was directed towards their rifle as it clumsily poked from around the corner, knocking it up. The second swing reversed her movement, and came down into the enemies shoulder, and nearly cut them in half, with the blade sinking down to their stomach.

"…" 621 took that short moment to retrieve her handgun-

Someone shot her in the neck from behind. Not fatally, but not insignificant either.

Letting go of the axe, 621 spun and blindly fired the remaining two shots from her handgun behind her. One shot missed, and one shot hit something, earning a pained grunt from the remaining enemy. She tripped over the three dead bodies at her feet as she retreated out of her little space between the large pipes, and fell onto her side.

There was blood gushing from her neck. Not enough to kill her in seconds…more like three or four minutes if she didn't take care of it, so she stuffed one of her left fingers in the hole to stem the bleeding. Now she just needed to reload her handgun…

Shit.

With only one hand available to reload a revolver, and her hands slick with blood, 621 struggled. Sitting up with her back against cover, she went through the motions with an uncharacteristic clumsiness. Drop the gun, grab the speed-loader. Fuck. Drop the speed-loader, grab the gun and flick the cylinder open. Fuck. Drop the gun, grab the speed-loader. The gun partially closed, preventing her from sticking the speed-loader into the cylinder.

Fuck.

621 struggled to try and hold both the speed-loader and the revolver in one hand, especially with her fingers dripping with red. She'd barely managed to get the gun propped up and open, while trying to slide the speed-loader into place…

When that lone and only mildly injured PCA soldier found her, and kicked her gun away.

Fuck.

He wasn't dressed in a plate carrier like the rest of the PCA Special Forces. Instead, he wore an officers uniform, bearing the rank of Lieutenant. He looked down at her with distain and surprise, with his handgun held low.

"Admiral 'Stonewall of Sol'…" Lieutenant Celeb uttered in dark amazement, eyes wide as he seemed to struggle with what to say next.

"…?"

"I was your Chief of Security, on the MCSN Hannibal, back during the war." He announced.

"…?" Oh, yeah, he was. 621 recognized him now.

What of it?

"After everything we've been through, fighting off every Laconian incursion, losing so many comrades, with not even ash left to bury. My own brother, wiped from existence…" Lieutenant Celeb hissed. "And you turn out a god damn traitor, fighting alongside those Jenson freaks?!"

"…"

"Fucking disappointment." He shook his head, as he raised his handgun-

"-Wait." 621 requested calmly.

"…Wait? Are you kidding me? Did you just say 'wait?'" Lieutenant Celeb stared at her incredulously, handgun pointing down, held by his waist. He sneered and laughed simultaneously. "The Admiral, the 'Stonewall of Sol', ends up on the wrong end of a gun, and what she says, is wait?"

"…"

"You know what, I expected more of you." Lieutenant Celeb smiled in disappointment. "I mean wait for what? Wait for me to change my mind?! Wait for another two or three seconds of life because you're so fucking weak you just can't stand to see it end?!"

"…No."

Lieutenant Celeb was riddled with bullets from behind, tiny explosions of blood burst from his chest as his respiratory organs were destroyed. He fell to his knees, then his face. V was standing behind him with a concentrated look on her face, her right MP5 deployed while she steadied it with her left hand. Doll was still trapped by her tail, unhappy but unwilling to struggle anymore.

"Wait for her to shoot you." 621 answered.

V then quickly approached 621, leaning down by her side, inspecting her closely. "You good ma'am?"

"Been better." 621 sighed. "Help me patch this up."

"Yes ma'am." V nodded, and sat down by 621's side, pulling out gauze from the Hound's kit to keep a lid on her neck wound. "You really got messed up there, huh?"

"I was busy cutting a man in half." 621 would have shrugged, but V's hands were around her throat, trying to tie off a bandage just tight enough to keep her from bleeding out without also choking her out. "I'm going to need your sidearm, setara. Just about run out of bullets here."

"Oh, yes ma'am." V took off her holster containing her backup Glock 90, handing that off to 621 as she stood up. "Much work left to do?"

"Not much longer." 621 assured her. "We'll reconvene with the other squads for a final assault on the command bunker." She then looked past V, seeing Doll lazily holding on to V's tail still wrapped around her waist. "How you holding up, VIP?"

"[Fuck you.]"

621 allowed herself to smile widely, mildly amused by Doll's response.

---

Outside the Control Center – Armored Basement Level

All three teams reconvened at the command bunker for the whole Grid Sector, and while most of the armored bulkheads had been disengaged, there was one, stubborn door that refused to budge.

"So…I managed to deactivate the 'war protocol' the PCA used to lock down the Grid." Uzi reported. "Unfortunately, this door isn't part of the security system. It's just a regular, heavily armored door, ten inches thick with a heavy deadbolt."

"…" 621 sighed, before shifting her attention towards J. "Can you and yours cut through that?"

"…Yes…" J answered hesitantly. "But not without significant effort. We only ever fire off our laser in half-second burst, usually. But cutting this door is going to take…thirty seconds? That's beyond what our internal energy reserves can sustain."

"…I'm tired of waiting. This is the last obstacle, so what would you need to cut through this door, Tail One?" 621 demanded.

"Well, the only way a Disassembly Drone could sustain both the power and cooling to fire long enough to cut through the door is…if we can drink a significant amount of oil."

"[Tsk.]" Doll scoffed. "[She just wants an excuse to kill and eat one of us.]"

"I'm being serious." J frowned. "621 asked for the specifics, and I'm answering honestly. I'd also recommend only one Drone cut through the door in one pass, as stopping to change places with another one of us would cause the metal to pool and cool like a weld, when what you want is for it to bore through without fusing in place. However, that is still going to be exhausting for whoever cuts through, enough that they'll be tired the rest of the day."

"How much oil would they need to consume?" 621 questioned.

"A lot, most of a Worker Drones oil." J answered analytically. "Not enough to kill them, but they would also be incapacitated for most of the day."

"Well, we have four Worker Drones. What if we spread out their 'donation?'" 621 suggested.

"I mean, yeah, that would be better." J shrugged. "But that would just leave us with four drunkenly exhausted Drones as opposed to one incapacitated Drone. So your call on that one."

"[You are not taking my oil!]" Doll sneered.

"So wait…the Murder Drones are going to drink our oil?" Lizzy asked fearfully. Millie also backed up, clutching her throat.

"…" Uzi didn't make any obvious reaction. She just looked down slightly.

"As much sense as it would make to spread out the 'donation' of oil between the four of you, that would incapacitate far too many members of our fire team, and leave them vulnerable. Considering how…touchy this subject is, I won't force you remaining three into this, but we need to get through this door to finish this mission, and go home. So, how about it? Stray Three? Tail Two? Tail Three?"

Lizzy cringed fearfully while Millie looked like she was considering running away. The idea of willing letting a Murder Drone nearly drain them to finish the mission going against their core survival instincts.

"…Fine." Uzi muttered dejectedly. "Only cause 'fuck doors' and hey, we need to get this done, right?" She shrugged. "Just ah…one request?"

"Very well, métexeng mali." 621 acquiesced.

"Can uh…can V drink from me?"

"Huh?! You want me too-!?" V pointed at herself in surprise.

"Well, yeah, cause I like trust you." Uzi reasoned. "But uh, I know that this would be hard on you too, right? So like, it's fine if you don't want too…"

"N-No!" V disagreed. "I mean! I don't mind! And I promise I'll be careful! I won't hurt you Uzi!"

"[Uzi you fucking idiot!]" Doll screeched. "[She's just going to kill you! Don't you know that!?]"

"Doll, shut up. You already made it clear you don't want to help, so I have to step up even through you've been nothing but dead weight this whole time!" Uzi shot back.

"Right, so this is the plan." 621 got everyone's attention. "Stray One and Three will get us through that door. Stray Two, hold position here and watch our backs with Tail Two and Three as backup. Hold onto the VIP. Exile, Tail One, you'll be on me to clear that room. Don't forget to check your doors and corners. Copy?"

"Copy!" Stray Squad instantly answered.

"Are you…sure this is the best way to go about it?" Tessa questioned hesitantly.

"Yes, now stack up." 621 ordered. "Stay One, Stay Three, if you will?"

"Yes ma'am." Uzi and V answered as they stood in front of the door. N turned around and kept his guns out as he watched the hallway behind them, while he scooped Doll up with his tail after V set her down for him.

"Holy shit Uzi…are you really…?" Lizzy worriedly wondered.

"M-Miss Doorman!?" Millie watched fearfully as the purple teen stood in front of V near the door.

"Ugh! Stop watching me!" Uzi cried out. "It's embarrassing! Just keep watch or something!"

"Uzi…you don't have to do this, you know?" V looked down at Uzi in concern.

"Same to you." Uzi remarked, as she blushed while exposing her shoulder. "But like…this has already been too long of a day. Let's just get this over with. And…I trust you V."

"You let me know if I take too much, okay? I don't mind letting my arm melt off if it means keeping you safe."

"Okay." Uzi nodded up to V while she lowered her head to the side, giving V better access to her shoulder and neck.

V picked up Uzi with her left arm, and held her close, while her right arm changed out for her laser cannon. Not wanting to keep everyone waiting any longer, she sunk her fangs into Uzi's neck, and fired her laser into the lock on the door.

"Nnn!" Uzi grunted painfully and squinted her eyes closed. She held on tightly to V, to keep herself steady while she physically fed the larger girl her oil.

V on the other hand remained focused, quickly drinking up the oil that Uzi lost while keeping her laser active for much longer than was recommended. She was already getting overheat warnings on her laser, and her own energy reserves were draining rapidly, as she cut through the door an inch every few seconds.

After an agonizing long time for both of them, V retracted her fangs from Uzi's neck, licking her wound closed, and used most of her own internal reserves to finish firing into the door to cut through it, even as her laser melted to slag at the end of her arm.

"S-Shit…" V collapsed while holding Uzi close. "You…good…Uzi?"

"Yeah…?" Uzi muttered tiredly. "Been better though."

"Stray Two, watch them and keep them safe." 621 demanded as V and Uzi held each other in crippling exhaustion. "Tail One, fire a missile over my head when we go in."

"Yes ma'am." N nodded confidently as he protected their backs, with Lizzy and Millie beside him, also exhausted after a long day.

"You got it boss." J confirmed as she changed her left hand out for her missile launcher.

"…" Doll glared down at V and Uzi, not entirely sure of what she was looking at.

"Exile, Tail One, on me!" 621 demanded as she kicked the door in, satisfied that it gave and opened for her boot. J and Tessa followed right behind her.

Admittedly, 621 would have thrown a grenade first, but she had been out of those for a while, so was down to the Glock she was borrowing from V. Tessa was down to her revolver, even if she had managed to miss every shot from her carbine. At least J had theoretically infinite ammo for the guns that were part of her body.

As such, they were technically at a disadvantage charging into that room, especially since V's laser melting through the lock was pretty obvious to the occupants. Fortunately, 621 was no stranger to clearing rooms. That's why she had asked J to fire a missile first, as a distraction to throw the enemy off, make them flinch while her fire team cleared the room.

J fired her missile over 621's head, close enough that it's rocket motor singed the Hound's skin. It dove down into the room, spinning to stabilize itself. 621 didn't actually expect it to hit anything useful.

Charging into the room after the missile, 621 quickly scanned her sector while diving for cover. The missile struck the far wall, close enough to someone that they were knocked on their ass by the explosion.

In cover behind a console of some type, 621 saw a PCA soldier distracted by the missile, and uncomfortably close to her too. With her handgun in full auto, 621 fired it towards that soldier's neck, walking the rounds up his face.

J was right behind her, and cleared the room in the other direction. Having changed her missile launcher back into an MP5, she was well armed to deal with another PCA soldier on her side of the room, and put them down with an accurate burst.

Tessa came in last and covered both 621 and J. She quickly caught sight of an unarmored PCA soldier lining up with J, and instead of doing the right thing and shooting them, she chose to do something even more risky. She shoved J out of the way.

That got her shot. A hit to the abdomen that spun her to the floor. J took the sight of Tessa getting shot very poorly. She lunged at the remaining PCA soldier with her claws spread to rip them apart.

While J was busy tearing a man limb from limb, 621 took notice of the first person who had gone down, the one winded by J's missile. She was a woman similar in age to herself, perhaps slightly younger, with a jagged Y scar down her cheek, wearing a white coat and bearing the rank of Colonel.

The PCA Colonel looked up, and gasped.

"A-Admiral?"

"…"

"Admiral! It's me! Captain Madrigal, of the MCSN Germanicus, attached to 7th Fleet!"

"…" Oh yeah. 621 recognized her now, as one of her sailors directly under her command.

What of it?

"I…I did not think I would see you again…" Colonel Madrigal was in awe as she stood up. 621 held her handgun down, but still ready in case she needed it. "Many of us had followed you out to Rubicon, hoping to support you in any way we could. But when you were nowhere to be found…a lot of us gave up hope of ever finding you. But even so, we continue our sacred duty to Sol! To bring justice and order to this world!"

"…" 621 fumed silently. She smiled deceptively as she relaxed her stance, letting her pistol point down before casually pointing it at the ceiling, then smashing the PCA Colonel in the nose, breaking it. While the PCA Colonel collapsed, 621 holstered her pistol, then reached down and grabbed the enemy by the neck.

Dragged in front of the security camera console, 621 slammed the PCA Colonel's face into the glass of the monitor, while using one hand to switch the view back to Level 76, in order to display the shattered and shredded corpses the Colonel had left in her wake.

"You call this justice? You call this order?" 621 hissed hatefully. "You are no better than the bastards we banished to the black!"

621 spun Colonel Madrigal around, reared back her right hand flat, and thrust it forward, through the PCA soldier's chest. She closed her hand, and ripped out their heart.

Dropping the PCA Colonel and their heart, letting them die at her feet, she regarded that last Laconian behind her.

"T-Tessa!" J panicked as Tessa groaned and held her stomach in pain, blood slowly gushing out of the wound.

"…" 621 sighed and approached calmly. She knelt by Tessa's side, inspecting the wound.

"…!" Tessa gasped painfully, holding herself as she shuttered. She was pale, and struggling to keep her eyes open.

"Oh quit complaining." 621 dismissed as she pushed Tessa flat against the ground, then removed her plate carrier to get better access to the wound. "You'll be fine, exile. Nothing important got hit. Just got to close this up and get you home. Carla will have you up and ready for your next sortie in no time."

"S-So…Tessa will be okay?" J looked hopefully over to 621.

"Unfortunately, yeah." 621 sneered. She hated everything about this. Culling her sailors to save her enemy. This planet was so fucked up.

After tending to Tessa, making sure she didn't bleed out and die right there, 621 exited the command room. J was right behind her, carrying Tessa in her arms.

"So…are we done?" Lizzy complained, exhaustion clear on her visor.

"Yeah, cause…" Millie trailed off. "I had no idea this day could have gone so badly."

"We're done." 621 declared, much to everyone's relief. She regarded V and Uzi, still exhausted and leaning against each other for support. They each had an interesting detail on their visors that she'd never seen, wavy lines stacked between their eyes on their foreheads, that seemed to indicate both nausea and extreme exhaustion. "Come on you two."

"Mmm." V hummed as 621 picked her up and placed her on her back. She wrapped her arms around 621's neck, holding on gently but tightly.

"So…time to go home?" Uzi questioned hopefully as 621 scooped her up in her arms.

"Yeah." 621 patted Uzi's head. "You did good, métexeng mali."

---

/BRANCH BATTLE NET

/COM LINE OPEN

/ADMINISTRATOR/OPERATOR: "Connection established. Encryption active. Com Line secure. Assets, please make your report."

/ASSET/BAGGINS: "Intervention proved unnecessary. All primary targets survived their mission."

/ASSET/GAMGEE: "Both teams return to Grid 086 with Code 54A in tow."

/ASSET/KING: "And the other Code 54A, are they still operating under their own control?"

/ASSET/BAGGINS: "Confirmed. No indication that they have transitioned to either a Code 54B or C."

/ASSET/GAMGEE: "Request for orders. What's our next goal?"

/ADMINISTRATOR/OPERATOR: "Continue passive surveillance. Remain out of sight. Stand by for further orders."

/ASSET/CHARTREUSE: "And us boss? What is our next move?"

/ADMINISTRATOR/RONIN: "We will continue as we are. All is proceeding as planned."

---

Grid 086 – Prison District

"[All I can tell you is that I think my mom had it. That's how I got it.]" Doll carefully explained in partial truths to Cinder Carla.

"And yet you don't know how your mother got access to this…Absolute Solver program?" Carla frowned, clearly frustrated.

"[She didn't talk about it. Though it might have been something to do with a facility that she worked at before the core collapse. Humans had her and other Workers there, but I don't know what they were doing.]" Doll again answered with what little she actually knew from her own experience.

"…" Carla was clearly annoyed, but relaxed. There wasn't anything she could do about it. "You know you can't go free right? I'll have to keep you here, under constant surveillance, and with your control collar in a heightened state of restriction."

"[Being your prisoner…is a far better fate than wandering free on this planet.]" Doll smirked painfully. She hated this circumstance. If she'd been home on Copper IX, she could have easily evaded three Murder Drones for a long time, and hunted other Workers for sustenance if she'd needed. But Rubicon left her in near constant contact with either hostile humans or active warzones, exhausting and demoralizing her, and left her far more desperate than she cared to admit.

"You're just so damn lucky that I think you're cute." Carla added. "So while you can't leave, I'll at least try and make your imprisonment comfortable, despite the fact that you probably don't deserve it."

"…" Doll sighed and looked down. She didn't like the way her life was going. But at least she was alive…and not working in that damn brothel anymore.

"Talk to you later kid." Carla nodded to the young Drone, leaving her surprisingly large cell. It was currently barren, but she was not opposed to filling it with moderate luxuries to keep Doll from dying of boredom.

Out of the sealed room that she realized she'd have to update the security features a few times over, Carla regarded the two exhausted teams that had brought her Doll.

They all looked like shit, some more literally than others, with half of them being either injured or incapacitated in some way. Tessa, Uzi, and V were all the most fucked up from their wounds or actions, sitting in tired exhaustion. 621 had a hole in her neck, but ignored it stoically, while Lizzy and Millie just looked dejected, their outfits ruined by actual shit. J and N just looked tired, with no humor or patience left.

"So yeah, thanks for bringing back that weird little cutie." Carla pointed back over her shoulder. "Sorry you ran into some fanatical PCA troops though. Didn't know they'd be that invested in hunting down my wayward property. You wouldn't happen to know what that was all about, would you?"

"Nope." 621 answered, perhaps a little too confidently.

"Huh…" Carla let her lip hang suspiciously. "I can't help but notice that besides getting shot, my Hound was also severely beaten. Care to explain that?"

"I get a little punchy when running from a rotary cannon." 621 explained flippantly. "We all got a bit carried away."

"Sure." Carla sighed. "So since the exile's team technically secured the target first, she'll get my bonus for this mission."

"Yay…" Tessa, Lizzy, and Millie gave the most unenthusiastic cheer possible. J was still doting over Tessa, making sure she was comfortable.

"Ma'am." 621 spoke up. "If you don't mind, I'd like to have a word with the target."

"Hmm, you're not going to hurt her, are you?" Carla asked skeptically.

"Not physically." 621 assured her.

"Oh, very well." Carla waved 621 off, allowing the Hound into the cell with Doll.

While Stray Squad was still waiting on their master, Lizzy got up and cautiously approached V. Both her and Uzi were leaning on N for support at the moment, and all of them were staring forward impatiently.

"Uh…hey V…?" Lizzy waved awkwardly.

"…?" The only indication that V gave that she was listening was slightly shifting her gaze in Lizzy's direction.

"So uh…I had been meaning to tell you that…I'm sorry…for pretending to be your friend and helping Doll attack you weeks ago. That was ah…a real shitty thing for me to do." Lizzy bowed her head shamefully.

"…"

"But I also wanted you to know that, while I was being your friend under false pretenses, I had a lot of fun with you back on Copper IX. You're a really cool gal." Lizzy admitted.

"…" V sighed. "It was a pretty shitty thing you did…but I understand. I can't imagine dealing with Doll's demands were easy, were they?" V looked down, thinking hard. "Though I'd prefer if we could never talk about that day ever again. I'll forgive you…but only if you apologize to Uzi as well."

"To her, for what?" Lizzy seemed genuinely confused.

"For being a mean girl and making her feel left out. Not cool." V frowned.

"Mmm." Uzi grumbled, not appreciating being the topic of discussion.

"…Yeah." Lizzy closed her eyes and shook her head. "I guess…in hindsight, I was kinda unnecessarily cruel." She winced. "So…despite that fact that you were undeniably weird back in the old Colony, I am sorry for bulling you so relentlessly, Uzi."

"…" Uzi took a long moment to sigh as well, before she looked up to Lizzy and gave an answer. "Honestly no. You were awful to me back on Copper IX, so much so that I really will never forgive you for that. But, I will tell you what I told Doll earlier. This is a whole new world, and we need to let go of the past. I really don't think I want to be your friend, but like, does a fresh start work for you, Lizzy?"

"Heh, yeah." Lizzy smiled, mildly amused. "That seems fair, Uzi."

"So, like…?" Uzi questioned Lizzy then. "Does that mean I should go talk to Rebecca too-?"

"Oh no!" Lizzy flinched hard, her eyes hollowed. "Rebecca is even worse than she ever was back on Copper IX! She found something really…really weird and gross that she excels in, and honestly, for your own sanity, just never associate with her ever again!"

"Oh…okay. Uh, thanks?" Uzi half smiled, half frowned, appreciating the warning she didn't understand.

---

"…?" Doll expected violence or some uniquely unhinged threat from the nameless Hound. Some promise to tear her apart in every way she feared.

She had no idea what was coming.

"You'll still go after V, if you ever get the chance." 621 appraised her easily. "I can still see that hateful obsession burning behind your eyes."

"[I mean…can you blame me?]" Doll shrugged. "[I've got to keep some hate going to keep me warm, especially in this hell called Rubicon. So, what happens now? Are you going to threaten me or beat me senseless?]"

"Optimally I would kill you outright. Would save me a lot of trouble in the long run." 621 explained. "Unfortunately, you've managed to gain favor with Carla, purely through being somewhat interesting and arguably cute. I could still just kill you and pay Carla a fine, but I'm already on pretty thin ice with her. I'd rather not make an enemy of the only warlord on the planet who eagerly accepts my wards. That limits my options."

"[…Sorry you can't really hurt me then.]" Doll lied, as she tried to hide her inner smile at least.

"I didn't say that I have no options. This is something I need to take care of. I can't be looking over my shoulder for you." 621 clarified. "In fact, an answer was given to me freely, from a benefactor I don't willing associate with."

The thing with too many eyes in it's teeth was standing over 621's shoulder, laughing relentlessly. For once however, it was not laughing at 621. Not that Doll knew it was there.

"Now hold still for a moment, this is going to be uncomfortably intimate for both of us." 621 knelt down in front of Doll. She took off her glove on her left hand. The scar from the knife Doll had thrown at her still painfully fresh on the front and back of the human's hand.

"…?!" Doll glared at 621, confused. Especially when 621 reached out, and put two fingers against the machine girl's temple, and her thumb against her chin. It was like she was trying to gently grasp or stroke Doll's face. "[What are you doing?]"

"…?" 621 frowned, and cocked her head to the side gently. "Connection is too weak? No…" Pulling her hand away from Doll's face, 621 pointed at Doll's face with her index and middle finger. "Drone heads are merely sensor packages tied up in a cutely humanoid facsimile." She then lowered her fingers, pointing at Doll's chest. "The primary processing unit…is here."

"[…What?]"

"Forgive me, but this is going to seem very invasive. But I assure you, I'm only doing it to hurt you." 621 then pushed her hand up, under Doll's top, and placed her palm directly against her chest.

"[What are you doing?!]" Doll seized up with the uncomfortable feeling of 621's hand against the center of her chest, directly over her personality core. It didn't exactly make a lot of sense to her. On one hand, there was nothing there worth touching, since Doll had no breast. On the other hand, 621 did not seem to be touching her for a sexual purpose. She wasn't 'feeling her up' as it were. Her hand was just flat against Doll's chest, held there firmly while 621 seemed to be concentrating.

After a very uncomfortable minute on Doll's part, 621 smiled sadly, and pulled away. It was a strange expression that Doll did not expect from the unnamed Hound.

"I'm sorry to say…" 621 genuinely apologized, looking unusually regretful as she looked Doll in the eye. "That you have a soul."

Half smiling, half frowning, 621 stood up, and left the room, leaving Doll alone.

"…?" Doll questioned the purpose or point of that entire interaction. Or why 621 seemed so regretful…

Something was very wrong.

Being a machine, Doll noticed something very, very strange. The camera in her head, the actual unit that processed incoming visual data behind the false "eyes" every Drone possessed, saw nothing out of the ordinary. It reported that Doll was alone in her cell.

However, somewhere between her internal camera and the data being processed into her memory, there was a glaring and obvious error. A glitch. An inconsistency she could not account for.

While she could see nothing, her memory recorded a man. Six feet with dark olive skin, and silver-grey hair, yet at the same time, he seemed only eighteen years old. He was wearing a black trench coat bearing the mark of ORCA, as he stood several feet away from her. He looked up at her, and smiled widely, with eyes like two perfect rings of burning orange light, filled with a pitch-black void in their center. A hateful and all-consuming void, that seemed to swallow her whole.

The same eyes as 621.

"Hello Doll…" The man purred gleefully, promising insanity and depravity beyond her darkest nightmares.

---

"…" 621 rubbed her face tiredly. This day couldn't be over soon enough.

"Hey, so did you finish with Doll?" Uzi asked. "Cause we all really want to get back and sleep now."

"Oh I'm not done with you yet." 621 pointed at Uzi. "You and I smell like shit. We need a bath."

"Oh…" Uzi grumbled, just wanting to rest.

"Ugh, yeah, I'm going to need that too." Tessa frowned. "I might need your help J."

"Yes boss. Of course." J nodded quickly for her master.

"I'm going to burn this outfit when I get back to my flat." Lizzy rolled her eyes.

"So, see you guys next time?" Millie smiled.

"Yeah. It would be nice working with you guys again…eh…assuming Raven doesn't fly into a murderous rampage again." N shrugged as he grinned tiredly.

"Honestly it could be fun reading your after-action reports. You guys seem to find all the worst trouble." Carla mused happily.

Everyone had to stop what they were doing then because of an unexpected noise. They all turned towards the direction of Doll's sealed prison cell, listening to her scream.

There was a nearby console, displaying Doll in her room. On the monitor, it was clear that Doll was far past distressed. She was crying and screaming as she stared at something unseen in the room. The formation of electric tears running down her face was constant, turning into a stream of red photons, nearly solid beside her eyes.

"Wha-Doll?" Lizzy asked worriedly, even though Doll couldn't hear her. "What's happening to Doll?"

"It looks like she's panicking." Uzi noticed sadly. "Shit Raven, what did you do to her?"

"…" V averted her gaze, not entirely sure what was happening to Doll, just uncomfortable with the despair and fear the little Drone was expressing.

"Honestly…no idea." 621 watched critically. It was the truth.

---

Independent Mercenary Hangars

After an exceptionally long day, 621 pulled Uzi aside and stripped her and herself down. While N went and washed their clothes and V rested, 621 gave herself and Uzi a bath.

"…" It had been awkward enough that one time, taking a bath with V. But at least they were both robots. 621 had a bunch of weird and gross fleshy bits that Uzi just refused to acknowledge, as she basically sat in the woman's lap while her hair had the shit washed out of it.

Still, even as awkward and uncomfortable as it was, it was nice to be looked after. To be treated like she was important. To be treated like she belonged.

"Hey uh…Raven?" Uzi asked quietly, turning to look back at her master.

"Hmm?" 621 listened as she focused on cleaning Uzi's hair.

"I just wanted to say thank you, for getting us out of that hell today." She turned fully so that she could look up at 621.

"It's my job, métexeng mali. I won't let you down." 621 assured her.

"Yeah…your job." Uzi frowned. The specifics of 621's hate filled rant to Doll, and her commitment to wipe out their species coming to the forefront of Uzi's mind. Such contradiction and passion and rage from her master that it really scared her, to see what the Hound would do next. "Say…Raven?"

"…Yes Uzi?" 621 regarded Uzi a bit more intently, as the small purple Drone seemed a bit withdrawn and sad.

"So like…I know you still hate Laconians. That you still hate us for the crimes of our makers. And I know that we can't ever change your mind about that…the way you talk about your hatred…it's…it's your right to feel that way. So…" Uzi didn't mean to get emotional, but she couldn't help it. Because at heart, she was really afraid of being alone again, more than the fear of physical pain or death. "So! Please keep lying to us!" She begged. "Please keep treating us like valued teammates and looking out for us and being there to protect us from the horrors of this world! Cause that like really means a lot to me to have someone looking out for me! So even if it's a lie, please keep it up for the sake of our sanity! So that we can believe we still belong somewhere in this scary world, even if it's with someone who hates us so much!"

"…!" 621 hissed as Uzi cried in her lap, not entirely sure how to respond to such an honest plea for comfort from something…someone who had the face of her hated enemy.

"Now how can you look at that sweet little cutie and still hold such resentment?" Ayre seemed mad at her hesitation. "Hug her dammit! I'd do it myself if I…you know…had arms. Even if she is your enemy, she's just a kid. She never asked to have been born a Laconian Drone. It's not her fault. So yes, even if you have to lie to them, treat them like the innocent little kids they are and make them feel safe and wanted!"

"…" 621 closed her eyes, and sighed. It hurt her more than either Uzi or Ayre knew, but she reluctantly acquiesced. She pulled Uzi up into her arms, and placed her big head against her chest, just below her neck, while she rubbed the white shell part of Uzi's back. "Nothing comes free in this world. Keep up the good work and I'll reward you plenty."

It was less than an ideal answer, but it was enough of a promise to Uzi. She reached up, and held on desperately to the Hound with no name, greedily smiling with eyes flattened and relaxed.

---

After getting Uzi and herself cleaned and dressed, 621 brought the little Worker Drone to bed with her friends.

"So…yeah. Today was a much longer day than any of us could have expected. And other than knocking the target into a recycling chute…!" 621 momentarily raised her voice, and twisted her knuckle against Uzi's face, rubbing the area she didn't have a nose just enough to mildly discomfort her. "You all performed very well today. Keep up the good work, Stray Squad."

"Yeah…that was even more stressful than missions with the AC." N held one hand up to his forehead, yellow eyes blinking in surprise and exhaustion.

"But we got the job done, and we didn't lose anyone." V asserted proudly, smiling so wide her fangs were showing.

"And…we got justice, for all those people the PCA hurt today." Uzi added shyly.

"Yeah…yeah we did." 621 didn't want to think about the PCA right now. How many of her sailors had they killed today? How many good sons and daughters of Sol had she slain? How many people did she know?

She sighed, as she considered what to say next.

"I don't know what tomorrow holds, but you are my team. Until the job is done, we are in this together. I know you won't let me down." 621 nodded to the three little Drones under her care.

"You can count on us Raven!" V cheered as she hugged her master. "This is the best job I've ever had!"

"Ha! Yeah!" Uzi jumped and held 621 by the waist. "Best job I ever had!"

"…Best job I've ever had." N smiled, and tried to hug everyone, stretching his arms wide.

They really didn't know how much they hurt 621. How conflicted they made her feel. All she could do was rub their soft little heads, running her hands through purple and silver hair.

"Get plenty of rest team. We'll have more work tomorrow." 621 ordered.

...

"Hey guys?" Uzi whispered up to her two big roommates. "Are you asleep?"

"…No." N laid with the back of his hand against his forehead.

"I'd like to be…but…" V whined, but looked down towards Uzi, between herself and N.

"So…you two used to be Worker Drones?" Uzi asked incredulously, as she laid between N and V.

"Ugh…yeah. I have a few memories of working for Tessa and her parents, back on Laconia." V admitted. "Although I feel like I'm forgetting a whole lot too about that time, and how it ended."

"I mean…I guess." N shrugged. "I only get glimpses of that time in strange dreams. There isn't really much I can tell you."

"Then how did you become Murder Drones?" Uzi wondered. "Tessa wasn't very clear in her explanation."

"I don't remember." V quickly dismissed. "One minute I'm being a dutiful little maid on Laconia, the next minute I'm insatiably hungry, hunting Workers on Copper IX, and a little out of my mind."

"Sorry, I can't tell you either." N frowned. "I…thought I was always a Disassembly Drone."

"Oh, alright." Uzi nodded, disappointed with their answers. But then she smirked mischievously, chuckling to herself.

"Hmm? What's so funny?" V poked Uzi.

"Oh, just imagining you two as a couple of cute little maid and butler Drones is all." Uzi smugly grinned. "Hard to believe since you both ended up so tall and hot."

"Yeah, hard to believe." N agreed. "Wait, what?"

"Huh?" V noticed Uzi's word choice as well. "Do you really-"

"I-I didn't say anything weird! Bite me!" Uzi panicked, realizing she just described N and V as both "cute" and "hot". It was rather embarrassing. "Just go to sleep!"

"Yep. Trying…" N sighed.

"Hehe, sure~!" V purred as she snuggled up to Uzi. "Cute little Worker~"

"Hmm!" Uzi pouted but tried to settle as comfortably as she could, while hiding her smile.

Yet even with the exhaustion of having run through a whole Grid Sector in a day, slaughtering wayward Coyotes and fanatical PCA shock troopers, something had been bugging them all. Something they needed to talk about.

"Uh…so…do you guys remember a really weird moment? When Tessa said…that name that Raven swore us not to say?" Uzi recalled, sparking another conversation in spite of their want of sleep. "Was it just me? Or did you guys get a weird…unpleasant sensation, right about here?" She pointed at the middle of her face, at her non-existent nose.

"Yeah." N's eyes were wide and hollowed with stress. "I've been trying really hard not to think about that moment."

"I think that was what humans call 'smell'. But…we're all robots. We don't have noses. So…?" V wondered out loud.

"It wasn't just us either. J and Lizzy and Millie and Doll all…smelt it too. I could see them reacting to it." Uzi added. "And then the very next thing Raven said was that Tessa was 'stupid to swear on the name of a demon.'"

"Do you guys…remember the first story Raven told us? About the princess and the demon?" V closed her eyes as she recounted the relevant parts. "At the end of the story, she said that 'monsters are real, and the demon is still out there'. Do you think she meant…that name we swore not to say?"

"I don't want to know." N turned his back to them, curling up tightly. "I don't want to know about demons, imagined or real. I don't want to know how we could smell something so awful because Tessa said a possibly evil word. I just want to go to sleep."

"S-Sorry N!" Uzi apologized desperately. "I didn't mean to-!"

"It's fine." N assured her. "There are just too many scary things on Rubicon already. I don't want to think about the threats we can't even imagine."

"Go to sleep Uzi." V soothed her. "If it's a mystery, we'll figure it out someday. But we're all beat. I'm just done with today."

"Y-Yeah…okay." Uzi smiled softly between her two best friends. "Good night N…good night V…"

...

Yet even as tired as she was, Uzi still wasn't quite ready to go to sleep right just yet. She felt…empty.

Silently slipping out of bed, she trudged her exhausted self back towards something she'd never thought she'd be interested in. N and V's oil supply.

One of the advantages of being an artificial being was that their 'blood' was simply an uncommon type of processed oil, able to function as both hydraulic fluid and coolant for their little machine bodies. And since Uzi was still critically low on her own internal oil reserve, she was sure it would be 'fine' for her to get a little sip of it to hasten her own recovery.

Taking a cup and filling it with the thick, black sludge that 'technically' was not Worker Drone oil, even if it was the exact same substance, Uzi found herself…unsettlingly enraptured. There was something deeply alluring about the cup of black in her hand, that caused her breath to quicken ever so slightly, as she hesitantly brought the cup up to her lips, and gently poured it back.

Such…flavor! Such texture! Uzi had no idea any experience could be so sublime! So smooth and rich that flowed down her throat. Sweet and delectable!

Uzi let out an audible moan in pleasure, as she licked her lips. She squeezed the artificial skin along her stomach…

She squeezed herself again in surprise and confusion. There were things inside her. Soft and hard things inside her chest.

"What-!" Uzi whispered harshly, as she set the cup of oil down, and started tracing her black, artificial muscles with both hands. It wasn't exactly a "normal" thing to do, touching and exploring her own body. But Uzi was certain her insides were not supposed to feel like this.

With both hands running along her black skin, just under her white upper shell, Uzi traced the shape of bones…an entire ribcage inside of herself.

"Oh…no…oh no…" Uzi quietly panicked.

---

Grid 085 - RaD Mercenary Hangar

After getting Tessa's stomach wound patched up by RaD med-techs, and dropping Lizzy and Millie off at their flats in the Drone Sanctuary, J had just started getting ready to take care of Tessa. The first order of business was to wash her master.

"We should just order a whole new set of clothes." J suggested. "Carla wouldn't mind too much."

"…J…"

"And then there's whenever we'll get our next AC mission." J mused. "The AC is topped off for maintenance, but I know those RaD techs could always do a little better.

"…J…"

"As grating as she can be, we might consider hiring 621's Stray…Uzi…to do some maintenance cycles for us. I hear she's gaining a reputation as a confident mechanic."

"J!" Tessa shouted more urgently.

"S-Sorry boss." J frowned as she paid closer attention to her master. "What is it?"

"Do you remember back during the mission today…when I said something a little too specific? Swore on a particular name?"

"Oh?" J recalled what Tessa was implying. "Do you mean that word Str-"

"Don't say it!" Tessa screamed, grabbing J by the arms. "Don't say that cursed name!"

"O-Okay boss." J nodded worriedly. "But I don't understand. What are you going on about?"

"…The truth is…it's time I told you about something that all humans know and fear." Tessa shivered as she recalled the tale. "Long ago, during the tyranny of The League on Earth, the corporations sought to create the perfect weapon. The ultimate tool for killing."

"Tessa…what does that have to do with-?"

"Please J! Just listen!" Tessa begged. J nodded with growing distress. "What The League tried to do…was weaponize the human soul. And…unfortunately…they succeeded."

"Tessa…?" J wondered where this story was going.

"But they didn't realize the gravity and terror of what they made." Tessa closed her eyes, shaking as she spoke. "This thing they made, this thing that all humans fear to speak of, it killed nearly all of it's own kind. Slaughtered billions and billions of people over the course of several wars…a true demon, neither banished by heaven, or escaped from hell, but created by man's own hand."

"Tessa…"

"I made a mistake J." Tessa was crying. "Not everything I told you today was the truth."

"I-I don't understand…"

"I was just so desperate to save you, to assure that Hound that I would tell her the truth…or…at least enough of it to keep her from questioning us further…" Tessa was fully crying, holding desperately onto J. "And I made the worst mistake!"

"Tessa…"

"J…I swore on the name of a demon. And I lied." Tessa tried to drive the point home, squeezing J's wrists.

"So what if you lied? We were just trying to survive? I don't know what you lied about…but it doesn't change anything…" J tried to assure her beloved master.

"You don't understand J!" Tessa stressed. "I lied in his name, and now he knows who I am! And I know that one day, he will come for us, to finish what Sol started…"

"Tessa…how could you know that?" J wondered, concerned and confused.

"…Because I've killed us all J. I've killed us all." Tessa took off her shirt, and turned around.

J was shocked beyond words. Frightened beyond measure. Confusion and concern and disgust and desperation all fighting in her head. But most dominate in her artificial heart, were fear and dread.

"T-T-Tessa…?" J stuttered fearfully, as she viewed Tessa's bare back, and something that wasn't there before.

Running down Tessa's back, were deep scars still fresh with blood. Sickening lines of deeply cut flesh running red. These lines formed into easily legible words, branding Tessa, labeling her. Marking her.

LIAR

LIAR

LIAR

LIAR

LIAR

---

Author's Note: So there's the other "half" of the Dredd inspired chapter, with a little something extra sprinkled in cause why not? I don't really have anything to say about this chapter, except that it was a lot of fun to write, but did kinda take forever.

Anyhow, the next few chapters are not going to be anything too strange. 32-36 will be AC missions, most from the game, but one chapter will be a composite of two unique missions, so that will be a little different. They'll unfortunately come a little slowly because I expect chapters 37-39 to be more original chapters kinda like these last two, except based on an entirely different IP than Dredd. Just trust me when I say it will be fun, and should have some very big surprises when I get to those three chapters!

So thank you for coming here once again mi beratnas, and abide with Rubicon!

To magenta skelter: I don't have any experience with Wattpad, either writing or reading on that site. Even though there are things I will avoid writing about, I just don't like the idea of being censored or restricted in the content I can create. And who knows? Maybe I want to make explicit content one day under a different name? In any event, I wish you luck with your project!

To undead3: To be completely fair, I just changed out the Mama Clan from Dredd for the PCA in these two chapters, so if it made sense or not was entirely coincidental. Yeah, Sol and the PCA seem to know more about the Solver and what it can do than the rest of our cast at this point. Oh, and it turns out there is more than one monster who might be interested in our cast, or so it seems.

To Guest: I have no idea but I'm glad that you think it is! Thank you!

To JackSilentShark: Thank you! Hope this delivered just as much!