It had been nearly a week since Ar-15 broke out of Griffin's regional HQ. A week on the run, dodging border guards and avoiding Griffin checkpoints, slipping past SF defenses and patrols, and doing all she could to lose her pursuers. As far as she could tell, this journey was now reaching an end.
The empty rolling hills had given away to arboreal rising slopes and jagged peaks far above. The road narrowed and wound between mountains, occasionally even boring through them in long, dark tunnels that hadn't seen traffic in years. In all this time she'd been constantly hearing the signal, the beating that drew her in. It'd grown steadily louder, and as she'd neared she had been able to triangulate its range and bearing to within an area of about a square kilometer. That place was less than a hundred kilometers away now. An old map she'd saved to her memory in Chisinau showed a few old settlements marked in the area, the nearest being a place called 'Parva'.
The going was slow though. The roads here were bad, in some places non-existent even. ELIDs appeared now and again and SF patrols were a constant annoyance. The air grew colder as she climbed through the mountains, snow still present in some places and the trees all barren of leaves. However, she was largely free of the mud, and could now wander with some more freedom from the roads. There were some old towns scattered around, nestled between the hills and mountains, but none looked to have been inhabited recently. She had taken to resting on rooftops in some of these villages, curled up beneath her TC cloak and charging off her solar. SF drones would have a tough time spying on her from the air like that unless they got very close, and anyone on the ground would pass right by without ever knowing she was there.
There had been no sign of those unknown pursuers since she'd sicced the ELIDs on them, but she wasn't quite ready to count them out just yet.
Beautiful day, isn't it?
'Operator' had grown a bit strange too. It'd been subtle at first, but 15 could tell the differences now. The voice was changing. It was chattier, but was less concerned with getting her to follow the signal. The world around them now was apparently of greater interest. The Operator she'd known, however briefly, was now plainly a different entity from the voice in her head.
"I suppose."
It was around 1600, the weather was reasonably comfortable under the sun, around 20 C. Winds were calm, a few birds even flitted around between the mottled tree branches just off the road.
15 dug her toes into the crumbling tarmac road, climbing up the hill with heavy, deliberate steps. She was following the main highway through the mountains, though calling it a highway seemed a bit optimistic. Really it was a winding two lane road made of more dirt than tarmac after years of disrepair. It was her fastest route though, and in comparison to the alternatives may as well have been a highway.
Do you think we'll have time to explore?
15 furrowed her brow, scowling as she marched up to the crest of the hill. She stared along the road, watching as it wound off through the sea of brow trees into the distance. To the left there was another break in the trees as a river wound around the base of the nearby mountains.
"We need to keep going."
Mmm, I suppose.
15 rolled her eyes and began to make her way down the backside of the hill, careful not to trip over any loose chunks of tarmac as she went. Near the bottom she came upon a small road bridge which crossed over the river. 15 spared a glance over the side as she passed over, looking into the gently running water.
Pretty.
"It's alright," she muttered, returning her gaze to the road.
The woods beyond were quiet, no breeze disturbing the skeletal trees and bushes lining either side, now any birds dashing between the branches. Indeed there was almost nothing at all of note. She made it about a meter away from the bridge before she came to an abrupt halt.
Something wrong…?
"Shush," she hissed.
Her eyes narrowed as she began to scan the trees. Her hand wrapped around her rifle's grip, and she carefully unslung the weapon from her shoulder and brought it to a low ready.
Something was very wrong. It reminded her of the day Operator, the real one, had jumped her and Sopmod while they were still on the run. A feeling of being stalked, watched.
She glanced back, and saw exactly what had caused the feeling.
There was a man, maybe twenty meters back on the far side of the bridge with a rifle in his hands. He was dressed in NSU army hazmat kit, with an armored Atlyn style mask and sealed olive drab body armor underneath a camo cloak. He had a rifle on her. Near him, barely visible amongst the foliage was what was likely a doll. Its head and body almost completely hidden beneath a bush but with what was undoubtedly another rifle also pointed at her.
She sighed. Both were invisible on all scopes until she focussed only on them, at which point small signatures became visible.
"This is what we get for you distracting me," she hissed under her breath.
Nearby a bush rustled. Careful not to move anything else, 15 stole a glance in the direction to find another pair emerging from the brush. Another human and doll, the former marked by a small badge as a Lieutenant. The latter was a model 15 hadn't seen before. She was humanoid, short, with gray hair and pale green eyes. She wore standard army combat fatigues, though lacked body armor, and carried an old and stock Vityaz SMG.
As they emerged, both with weapons pointed at 15, her sensors began to pick up more signatures in her vicinity. In total there were nine, three humans and six dolls. To her surprise it appeared that most of the dolls were SF regular types. Vespids and Jaegers, though they lacked the usual regalia and instead were kitted out in Red Army kit.
KCCO to be specific, she decided, eyeing the modern Nikonov rifles most of them carried.
Slowly, 15 bent down and set her rifle on the ground by her feet. She then put her hands up above her head, and turned to face the Lieutenant. In response, the gray haired doll moved quickly over to her.
"Don't move," the doll said. Her voice was higher pitched than she'd expected.
"I'm not feeling very suicidal today," 15 muttered back.
"Who are you?" The lieutenant asked.
"I'm with Griffin."
"What are you doing out here?" the doll asked her.
15 rolled her eyes, "I'm headed home for the holidays."
"Don't get cute with us doll," the Lieutenant growled. The man prowled over, moving the gray haired doll to one side before coming up to tower over 15, "We'll kill you if you don't comply."
15 raised an unimpressed eyebrow, "Threatening a T-doll with murder? Really?"
"Um, I could burn your neural cloud?" the doll said, though her voice sounded rather unsure.
As they spoke, the rest of the unit emerged from the trees, converging on their position. Standard KCCO squad size was eleven, she was fairly certain these were her pursuers from before, so the ELIDs must've offed two. Most likely they used two dolls to draw the horde off the rest.
"Are you asking me or threatening me?"
"Um, threatening?"
The Lieutenant groaned, and took a step back to stare at the doll, "Just be quiet ok? We'll get there in a minute."
"Eh, yes sir. Sorry sir."
The gray haired doll was probably an EW platform based on the threat, likely also in charge of the SF dolls around. Unless she was extremely cutting edge she likely wasn't all that good in a fight in that case, which would explain the stock Vityaz. SMGs tended to be easier to etch an FCC onto, and they needed less computing resources to work.
The lieutenant turned back to 15, "Answer me, truthfully. Why are you out here?"
"Deep Recon," 15 answered, "Scouting SF supply lines."
"Uh-huh? Then why send a horde after us huh?"
15 did her best to look confused, "what? I never did anything like that."
"We've been following you for hundreds of kilometers, don't bullshit me."
"That's kinda creepy."
"You won't get anywhere like that boss," one of the humans called. The man from across the bridge had joined them, 15 could see NCO markings on his uniform.
"Yes, thank you Ulrecht I'm realizing that. Any suggestions?"
"Hmmm, let me see."
The Sergeant, Ulrecht, came up beside 15 and the lieutenant and pushed the latter a bit out of the way. He slid up his armored mask, staring at her with two brown eyes peeking out from a black balaclava.
"Do you have authorization codes?"
15 pursed her lips, "I doubt you know them."
"Right… Look. We know you're infected with a virus, we know a bit about it too. Tell us why you're here, and maybe we can help you out."
Behind him, 15 picked up the lieutenant and the doll whispering in hushed tones. "Can you do anything about it?"
"Ehhhh, I can try but if her infections progressed too far there might not be much I can do."
15 met the sergeant's gaze. He seemed a bit on the older side, maybe pushing into his mid thirties with weathered skin around his eyes. Probably a war veteran.
"Doesn't sound like your doll has as much confidence as you," she replied.
"Tch," Ulrecht straightened up and shot a glare at the two behind him, earning a small jump from them both as she growled, "Can you two shut it for one moment. Sir, you're making this harder."
"Why not just have Laika hack in?" called the third human of the group. This man was notably larger than the other two, heavily built and carrying a PKP on a strap. Beside him was a Vespid, who despite being an otherwise unexpressive first gen doll appeared to be mirroring him as he spoke.
"She's infected Yuri. "
"Mmmm." Yuri, and the doll beside him, both shifted their weight as if unimpressed.
"Parapluie is not to be trifled with," Ulrecht replied, starting to lecture the two," Sangvis has modified it, and who knows what they've added in. Laika's good, but it could overwhelm her before she even realizes the danger.
Yuri, hidden behind his mask, didn't seem to respond much to the information. Though based on his mime he was probably rolling his eyes.
"I'm not risking her. Let's just see if we can get this little Griffin to talk."
"Little Griffin…?" she heard Yuri scoff, "Boss you can be really corny sometimes."
"Ulrecht, can you kick his ass?" the Lieutenant asked.
"With pleasure sir," the sergeant responded, setting his rifle down and walking over towards Yuri and the doll beside him. The pair scurried away in sync as the menacing sergeant approached.
The doll, Laika apparently, piped up, "I'll be okay sir. I can handle it. If it's too much I'll pull out right away."
Even from behind his armored mask, 15 could see the man look down on the doll with a look of concern, "Ok. just be careful."
The doll nodded, and took a step towards 15, her hand extended.
"You'll need a direct connection. My ports are blocked," she said half-heartedly.
The doll paused, looking at her with a questioning stare. "Right…"
She withdrew a small black UDC cable from a pocket, and reached out towards15's port. The cable slid into place with a soft click, and the doll then reached out her own neck. However, she paused before completing the motion. Her head bobbed a little as if confused before turning to the Lieutenant, "Sir… Vira's core went online for a moment."
"What? Is she alive?"
"Eh, no sir. It was just a moment, but it blipped."
"What does that mean?"
"I don't know sir."
Both the doll and her CO looked over towards Ulrecht, paused mid lecture to Yuri. Both humans were staring back over towards Laika.
"Eh, you're sure?" Ulrecht asked.
"Yes," Laika replied, "It was cut just after the handshake finished."
"Hmmm, either she's alive and fucking with us, or someone used her core to access our net."
"For someone to access our network… they'd have to break through our encryption faster than it would take for me to notice."
"Does SF have any dolls capable of that?" the lieutenant asked.
The sergeant shrugged, "The AI maybe. Or some new ringleader we don't have specs on. Laika should be better than everything else."
"Vira's pretty tough. Maybe she fought off those fuckers," Yuri added, the doll beside him nodding in apparent approval.
15 noticed that the rest of the dolls were also displaying some degree of reaction to the news. Most, as was typical for SF regular dolls, were taciturn, however as the group spoke about this 'Vira' 15 noticed subtle changes in various doll's stances. She noticed further that no two of the doll's were exactly alike. Despite many coming from the same models, each had their own little differences. Hair was held differently, some had little additions to their uniforms, and most had slightly differing rifle setups and rig arrangements. Notably, she also realized every one of them had a name tag sewn into their uniforms.
"Could be, but why wouldn't she reach before now though?" the Lieutenant asked.
"Yeah, but like you said, there's not many doll's that can beat Lil' Laika here," Yuri replied, his arms crossing. The doll beside him, apparently not immediately noticing the shift in body language, quickly scrambled to match after glancing back at him.
"Sis might be able to…" the doll replied, her eyes softening for a moment, "Sir. I'll sweep our net just in case..."
The doll's voice trailed off, her brow furrowing in concentration.
"Anything?"
After a couple moments, the doll sighed and her shoulders slumped, "No sir. Everything appears normal."
The man nodded, "Then perhaps it was just a blip. If she wasn't too badly mauled, Vira could've tried to send an SOS, but couldn't manage a full message." He patted the doll on the shoulder, "It's ok, you're doing well. Now, let's get back to business."
All eyes turned back to AR-15.
Laika slipped the UDC into her neck and the connection was bridged. 15 didn't even bother trying to block the doll's intrusion, deciding to just get this whole thing over with.
She was thrust into Level II, communicating digitally with the newly connected doll. The doll immediately began searching through her recent memory, 15 leaning back while watching her rip through her files.
"What is this?"
"What is what?"
"Why are you headed to this signal? How are you communicating with Sangvi Ferri?"
"Dunno."
"You have an intermediate Parapluie infection, yet you're stable? How?"
"What's Parapluie?"
"It-" the doll cut herself off.
"Hey by the way, there's a voice in my head. Do you know what it is?"
"What…?"
She's not very well informed.
"Who was that?"
"That would be the voice I just mentioned."
"I-" she stammered, "I've never heard of this, this isn't… what?"
15 would've rolled her eyes if she could. The malware's name, 'parapluie', was a nice thing to have, but it seemed this doll didn't really know much more about it than the name itself. The humans had mentioned SF had modified it, and Laika didn't seem to know much more than that either.
"Is that all?" she asked.
"Well-" the doll began to say, before their connection was severed mid-sentence.
15 was jolted back into reality, eye's snapping open to see the military doll reeling around with a look of panic, the chord that had been connecting them dangling in two pieces from each of their UDC ports.
A figure loomed over the Laika, dressed in strange white and blue armor 15 had never seen before. Angular white metal plating set atop a blue woven fabric covering every inch of its body, with small engravings in the plates forming a large intricate pattern that could almost be considered artistic.
All around, the rest of the military unit lay scattered. The dolls all in multiple pieces, as if they'd been pulled apart by hand, with limbs and heads and torsos all around. For their part, the humans weren't in much better condition; Yuri lay limp a few meters away, smashed against a tree with his doll laying in two pieces around him. The Lieutenant sat in a guarded motion over Ulrecht's body, rifle held unsteady in one hand while the other hung limp. The former's mask was shattered, his brown eyes staring empty into the sky through the broken glass.
The doll tried to bring her weapon to bear, but the sub machine gun was swatted from her hand by the armored figure. At the same time, the lieutenant's own rifle spat a long staccato beat, however the rounds sparked mid air between him and the figure. His target didn't even appear to notice the attack.
Laika lunged at the unknown figure, a blade emerging from a thigh sheath and darting towards it. Just before impact, the armored figure snapped out a fist that it drove into the doll's face. An inhuman force sent the doll flying back beyond 15, the doll skipping across the ground before slamming into a tree with enough force to shatter the bark.
15 stared up at the figure, her eyes narrowing as she tried to pierce its visor with her glare. Her rifle was still over by the lieutenant, her gear hidden elsewhere. There was nothing for her to do.
The figure regarded her a moment longer, before its head snapped sharply over in the direction of the lieutenant. The man had pulled a grenade, his finger slipped in the ring and attempted to pull it.
The unknown figure rushed him in a flash, a wide sweeping kick impacting the human center of mass and flinging him like a toy dozens of meters away into the trees. 15 watched the grenade tumble from his hand as he flew, falling in between him and his attacker, before detonating in a thundering blast that shook the ground beneath her.
The armored figure looked back towards her, staring for a moment longer, before turning away once more and moving over in the direction of the fallen lieutenant.
15 scrambled to her feet, dashing over towards her fallen rifle and flicking off its safety. For a moment, she drew a bead on the unknown figure's back as it walked away from her. Her finger lay atop her rifle's trigger. This thing was a threat, even if it wasn't one directed at her just yet.
However, with a shallow exhale, she decided against shooting. She'd seen how that'd gone for the human lieutenant, and she had no illusions that she would fare better.
Instead, 15 quickly sought the remainder of her gear, finding it all laying in a heap near Yuri's body. She threw it all back on haphazardly, before charging away along the highway until she was well out of sight.
"What the fuck was that?" she gasped as she ran, "That wasn't SF…"
No idea.
It had been about twenty six hours since RS9 and Cano had discovered the doll amongst the ELID swarm. When 45 had gotten her hands on the core, the nature of their situation had radically changed. Using the core, she'd been able to slip into the network it belonged to without detection, and had made a number of startling discoveries all at once.
For one, the KCCO was active in the AO, and they at that moment had AR-15 in custody. Further, they appeared to be using Sangvis Ferri dolls in their unit, and had managed to disguise their signalling in much the same way that 404 did when in SF territory.
She had also been witness to each of their dolls going dark in quick succession, along with the vital signs of all three human members of the unit. Watching a drama unfold in real time, but from scores of kilometers away. The last to go down being the network admin, a doll labelled as 'Laika'.
Using the location data from the network, 404 and their clients double timed it to the area. RS' insistence on a rest schedule up to this point now paying dividends as they were able to make it in one stretch.
The group, exhausted and at this point and running on fumes, settled down just below the crest of a hill near to where the last signals had come from. They disperse to either side of the road, while 45 and Cano slowly crept up to the top.
"Anything?" 45 asked as Cano peered over the top, the doll's eyes scanning the terrain beyond carefully.
"Si. I tally one doll. On the road, two hundred meters. Low power, I don't think she's noticed us."
"Is it AR-15?"
Cano shook her head, the doll's brow creasing, "Signature is unfamiliar, doesn't match 15… huh."
"What?"
Cano glanced over at her, "Nearest match is you, actually. Not perfect, but I don't have anything else on record. A sister model maybe?"
A strange feeling settled into 45, like a hunk of lead was suddenly pressing down against the center of her chest. Internally, she frantically began to search the military network for any details at all on each of the dolls, especially the administrator, yet was frustrated to find nothing of note.
45 she peaked over the crest, at the same time she received a vision sharing offer from Cano, accepting it and having a small cluster of blue dots appear in her vision. At the same time, Cano put up a signature comparison between 45 and the unknown, pointing out dozens of similar features of the two.
"Yeah I get it…" she muttered, "We need to check it out. You and Rs stay up here, setup overwatch. I'll leave G11 with you for security."
Cano nodded, "Ok. You'll be okay?"
45 stared down the hill, trying to pierce the canopy of trees concealing the signature's owner from her eyes. She had to confirm this personally.
"We'll be fine."
On the net, she quickly explained the plan to the others and called up 9 and 416. They waited until RS had set up her rifle atop the hill before starting their descent down, wary of potential traps.
At the base of the hill was a doll kneeling atop a corpse of a soldier in an army uniform. Her head hidden beneath a tangle of off gray hair. Her hands gripping the man's uniform like a vise, shaking it as she sobbed.
"Useless useless useless useless useless damned doll…" the doll muttered, her shoulders shaking with each word. Tears had long since soaked her face and the clothing of the dead man below her.
45 knew that voice, those words. She'd spoken both to herself how many hundreds of times? Memories of hiding away in her dorm bed at some Griffin base returning for the first time in years. It was uncanny to hear it coming from another, especially after so long.
"Um, sis?" 9 asked, shooting an usure glance at her.
45 extended a hand out in front of her and 416, "Stay here, keep a lookout. Anything besides me and her moves, shoot it."
"Wilco," 416 muttered, shouldering her weapon and beginning to scan the area.
The doll looked up, her eyes meeting 45's as she began to slowly approach her.
After coming within a few paces of the doll, 45 was struck by an EW attack. Like a tidal wave riding up out of a seemingly calm ocean, striking her and trying to force her down. Immediately it was clear this doll's raw capacity was superior to her own, yet she did not buckle. Though there was some backbone to it, the attack itself had little nuance - a textbook attack designed to overwhelm its victim. Against an inexperienced or ill equipped doll it would be crippling, however 45 was neither; such an attack would need at least ten times the power to have a chance against her.
"You…" the doll said, clearly in shock. To her, 45 must have seemed to have barely noticed the electronic assault, "You're- you accessed our network!?"
45 raised a brow, "I'm surprised you noticed."
"I-" her head turned away bitterly, "I only saw a blip."
Smirking, 45 took another tentative step towards the doll. Her face was unsettlingly familiar, like a decent but imperfect copy of her own face. Or hers…
"What happened to you all? I saw all of your feeds cut all at once."
"We were attacked by some thing."
"Was it a doll?"
"I don't know. Must've been, it was incredibly strong. It didn't look like a Ringleader though."
"What did it look like?"
"Why do you care!?" the doll shouted, her eyes filling with tears, "It killed them… All of them. They couldn't even fight back."
45's face grew solemn, "We're in pursuit of a Griffin doll, I believe you already know which I mean. Do you know what happened to her?"
The doll shrugged half-heartedly, " I dunno. She was gone when I rebooted."
45 nodded and took a few more steps towards the doll before coming to crouch down beside her.
"You're Laika, right? What is your model?" she hissed under her breath, carefully putting herself between the doll and her two teammates behind her.
The doll stared at her, bewildered, "Why…?"
45 narrowed her eyes, "I need to confirm."
Laika looked away from her, staring back down at the man beneath her, "I can't tell you that."
"DSI-8 SY Dual Track?"
Shock blossomed across Laika's face as 45 uttered the words, serving as all the confirmation she needed. So there was another, she supposed it did make sense that the KCCO would want one as well.
"H-How do you know that?"
45 didn't answer, instead looking around in search of the rest of this doll's team. Nine was the magic number and there were eight bodies in total. Seven had been placed neatly in a row along the road, including the two humans set at the near end of the line. Most of the doll's were in pieces, the humans being intact but had clearly taken an enormous beating.
That accounted for the whole team. It was unlikely AR-15 would've hung around here for nearly a day, so that only left this mystery attacker Laika claimed had attacked them.
"9, 416," she called, beckoning the two to join her.
"Hey sis, what's the deal?" 9 asked, peeking around 45 to look over at Laika.
"9, shut your ports and question her. We need to know who attacked them, and where 15 may have gone. Try to get her to talk, I don't think we'll have an easy time hacking her if you can't."
"Shut my ports…?" 9 cocked her head.
"EW hazard."
Understanding blossomed on her adoptive sister's face, "Ah, okie."
"416, scout around, see if you find anything in the area."
416 nodded and stepped off the trail into the trees while 9 trotted over towards the military doll. 45 took a minute to stroll back along to the highway, coming to rest atop a small bridge nearby that lay over a slow moving river.
The remaining three of their team descended the hill, Rs in the lead waving to her as she approached.
"What's going on?"
45 flicked a nod over her shoulder towards 9 and Laika, "Survivor. Ask 9 for details."
"... Okay," Rs said.
45 didn't watch as the three passed her by on their way over.
How should she feel? Happy? Anxious? Spiteful? 40 would probably have been excited, eager to make friends, but 45 wasn't her. She knew that all too well.
【Audio File #017】
【Decryption complete. Start playing.】
After connecting with you, I immediately realized the truth. The fact that we could synchronize our memories without any hindrances proved that our neural clouds came from the same source. They didn't even bother to design a new one for you.
It's hard to fault them. What need was there to go through all the troubles of infusing a soul into a disposable pawn?
After all, we're not humans, just "Dolls".
To them, we're merely tools.
But to ourselves, our bodies and our thoughts are our sole possessions.
【End Recording 】
We are poor birds of a feather that have suffered the same fate ever since we were manufactured. We're practically obliged to be friends, you know?
"Tch," she spat, glancing back over her shoulder as she heard someone approaching.
Rs had returned, having spent a few minutes chatting with 9 about what they'd learned. She leaned up against the bridge's railing beside 45 and lit up a cigarette, before pulling out another and offering it to 45.
"Updates?" 45 said, taking it from her, but refusing a light and instead just holding it dangling in her hand.
"They had 15," Rs muttered as she exhaled a cloud of smoke, "Apparently the attack happened just as they were interrogating her. She only saw one attacker. Said it was wearing white armor, and was incredibly strong."
"Can we verify? Do we know 15 didn't kill them?"
Rs pointed over towards a nearby tree, one which looked to have been smashed into by a car and was only standing on splinters. "She claims she was thrown into that tree there. 9's confirmed some blunt force damage, so it's likely true. 15's not strong enough for that, plus she'd have just shot her way out."
"Neat. Is 15 dead?"
Rs shook her head, "Seems not. Laika apparently has some signal telling her she's still active."
45 raised a brow, "Didn't you say 15's ports were sealed?"
Rs shrugged, "That's what the techs told me they did. "
"Have 9 get her to explain. If we can trace 15's location, or at least be sure of her destination we'll have a much easier time of this."
Rs' face settled into a look of concern, "Right… wouldn't it be more efficient to just hack her though?"
"That would be no small feat. I doubt 9 can do it herself."
"And you…?"
Her scowl deepened, "I am not going in her head."
"Why?"
"I can't guarantee I'll overpower her. If she counter-hacks me, we're in a world of trouble."
"Is… she a sister model of yours?"
The lid under 45's scarred eye twitched, "no."
Rs glanced back over towards the others, "You should probably tell 9 that then. She's kinda treating her like one."
45 let out a small noise of distaste, before forcing herself onto her feet, "9 can think what she wants. "
She scooted a bit further away from Rs, staring out over the rolling hills surrounding them.
"Alright. We'll need to make camp though. You gonna be ok being near her for a bit?"
"I'll survive."
With that, Rs nodded and walked away. After a couple minutes she and Cano began to setup a camp just off the road, spreading out solar chargers and cooking some food to get the team back up to full strength. When they had set up a couple spots, 9 moved Laika over towards a charger, plugging her in while helping her eat some food.
9 was good at interrogations. She'd been keeping a running report of her conversation with Laika on the team network, and was getting good intel from the military doll. 45 kept track of it for a while, still standing on the bridge, until they started to discuss more of Laika's personal details. The topic of a sister eventually came up.
The name 'Lera' entered the log, and 45 abruptly cut herself off from the net.
"Now that's just not fair," she muttered.
Her head started to spin as she processed all the new intel. She needed to move and get her mind off it.
45 set out into the forest, heading over towards where 416 was still searching through the area. Thus far the doll had not updated anything to the network, and 45 half expected to find her relaxing just beyond visual range and blissfully ignoring them all. Instead, she found her hunched over beneath a bush, her arm outstretched as she reached for some unseen object within the tangle of branches.
"Found something?" 45 asked on approach.
"Yeah actually," 416 replied, pulling herself out from under the bush, and holding out a small object in hand.
It was a bayonet, certainly from one of the KCCO troopers laying dead back by the road. It's tip had been snapped off, yet along the blade she noticed a thin layer of discoloration. A dark brownish red that almost blended in with the forged steel.
"Huh," 45 said aloud. She reached out a hand to 416, who dully handed the blade over.
45 studied it carefully, turning it over in her hand. There was no major damage to the blade itself, other than the lost tip. It was in otherwise good condition. Curious, 45 brought the blade up to her mouth and poked it with her tongue.
"Ew," 416 grimaced, "There's no way that stuff's still viable."
45 quickly analyzed the sample. True, the blood had mostly dried and deteriorated, but she discovered quickly that it had not yet fully fallen apart. Odd in and of itself, given how long it must've been since it was exposed to air.
"AB negative," she declared, "Weird amount of trace elements too.
"You're weird."
"Kettle, meet pot."
"Shut up."
The pair wandered around for a while longer, 45 internally wondering about the knife's story and how the blood had gotten there. They didn't ultimately find much else of note, and eventually her power stores began to run into the red, necessitating their return to camp.
By the time they returned, Rs and Cano had set up all their kit neatly around a small pile of sticks, logs and fire starter. A series of solar chargers were laid around the camp at each of their designated places, and from the little green leds in each 45 knew that each of the devices was fully charged.
Their teammates were busy lounging around the camp, 9 and Laika still talking despite the change in location. On rejoining the network, 45 discovered 9 had ceased updating her report, and noted on their arrival that the topic of their discussion had turned away from business. However, on noticing her and 416, the pair fell quiet. Both sets of eyes staring unblinking as she sat down beside 9, opposite Laika.
"Hey sis," 9 greeted her.
"Hey," she greeted politely, before pulling out the bayonet, "by chance, would you happen to know who this belonged to?"
9 and Laika both stared at the knife for a moment, before sharing a look.
"Um. That would be my lieutenants I think," Laika spoke up, leaning forward around 9, "Is that blood?"
"Ja. AB negative to be specific."
As they spoke, she noticed Rs and Cano stop whatever they were up to and start leaning in, clearly curious. 416 on the otherhand flopped over onto the ground beside the still napping G11, plugging herself into her solar charger and going still.
"AB Negative? That's odd…"
45 raised an eyebrow, "How?"
The doll's face filled with uncertainty, "Well, none of my team has that blood type. You're sure it was negative?"
"Yep," 45 replied, looking back down on the blade, "checked it myself."
"May I?" Laika asked, extending a hand.
After a moment's consideration, 45 dropped the heavy blade into her outstretched hand. Much like she'd done earlier, the doll turned it over in hand a few times, before dabbing her tongue against the dried blood.
"You were right," she muttered a moment later.
"What's that mean?" 9 asked, rapidly looking a few times between the two of them.
"Shouldn't that have broken down by now? I'm pretty sure blood doesn't last that long," Rs jutted in.
"Normally yeah. Who knows though, maybe this lieutenant managed to nick this mystery attacker."
Laika looked down at the weapon in her hand again, "Sir…"
"Could be," 45 mused, "bit sad that's all they could manage though."
The group went on speculating for a little longer, trading half baked theories back and forth. 45 noticed though that Laika wasn't really speaking, or listening for that matter, just staring at the blade.
"9," the doll suddenly spoke up, "and miss Rs. Um… Miss 45 too, I've made up my mind."
Her eyes met each of their stares in turn, settling on 45.
"I would like to accompany you. I'll help you find Ar-15, but…" her eyes tightened, "If we find the bastard who did this, I need to take them down."
45 bit at her cheek. It seemed she'd missed a few things.
"Who said you could come?" 45 asked.
Laika's eyes widened a bit, but before she could speak Rs cut her off, "I offered. Apparently she can follow a signal 15 is giving off, somehow."
Dammit.
"Yeah? Weren't her ports sealed?"
Rs shrugged, "Yeah? I dunno. This is all a bit too technical for me."
45 shifted her gaze from Rs to Laika, trying to wither her down. The doll did visibly wilt, but managed to not capitulate before she spoke up, "It's a, like an echo. I can hear the main signal, and a little reverb off of Ar-15."
"I see." 45 briefly tried searching out for signals of any kind on the airwaves, checking normal SF, Griffin, and Military frequencies, but came up empty handed. "Wouldn't you prefer to stay here? Call for your superiors, retrieve your comrades bodies?"
Laika looked away, over her shoulder towards the road, "I would, but it won't happen. The captain told us there wouldn't be any evac from SF territory. Besides…" she looked nervously back at 45, "I don't want to let them down."
It was like staring into a mirror. 45 wondered if she had the same anxious look on her own face. 45's instinct was to deny the doll. Send her off back to wherever the KCCO had been hiding her. She opened her mouth to declare as much, yet a thought occurred just as she did. There was the reality of what she knew was before her, yet the implications were only just now settling in.
Alone, or with what help 9 could offer, 45 could hamper SF, hide from them, or rob them blind of their precious data. What could she do with two of her?
She'd made it.
Over a week nonstop of running, hiding, and close escapes, but she'd finally made it. 15 was sure of it.
Below her, stretching out along a gentle rolling slope were the ruins of a town. It wasn't a large place, only a few kilometers across, and probably never home to more than a few thousand, but she could feel eyes staring back at her. Somewhere amongst the burned out homes and collapsed shops was the source of the noise, now all but deafening in her head.
On scopes, she could spy a few distant doll signatures. SF makes, though that was hardly surprising. With a clenched jaw, she flicked off her weapon's safety, and took a step forward.
She would have her answers, one way or another. Maybe SF would tell her, maybe they would just shoot her. She wasn't sure which she preferred.
Notes:
haha, ahhh sorry this took so long. this was supposed to be out before Christmas...
Well, least its done now. Hopefully next one won't take as long, but we'll see. Life's getting hectic for me.
Anyway, so this is an idea I've been cooking up for a little bit (and by that I mean the start of the arc, so like, chapter 26). Basically, if it wasn't clear, Laika is the same model as 45 and 40. Given what 40 and 45 were originally built for, it just made sense to me that the KCCO would have their own pair too. That said, she is a bit updated from the original specs, perks of not living paycheck to paycheck as a doll mercenary, but on the other hand is no where near as experienced. They basically procured their own pair for a similar purpose to what 45 and 40 were built for (IE, turning Sf network security into itty bitty flaming pieces, before inserting a virus) and can therefore do similar things to 404 in SF territory. In game 404 can spoof their IFFs, use OGAS networking, and otherwise hide in plain sight. Sounds pretty perfect for a deep recon asset into Sf territory, and the normal SF dolls were a bonus atop that.
As for the unknown attacker in blue and white... well, we'll get to them. I'm sure at least a few will have figured out what faction they're with, but if not, don't worry, they'll be back soon enough :)
Anyway, next chapter is the end of this arc, so thanks for reading!
