"You're telling me I'm not the first Tactical Doll to come into contact with the Ark," The girl mumbled, crossing her arms to her chest as she looked Alyosha in the eye. The man nodded. He'd taken off his exoskeletal combat suit and left it in a nearby special locker in the very Command room, a fairly nicely decorated place with a corner desk that spread from the exit onto the balcony all the way to the wall separating them from the Bathroom.
There were multiple screens, a desk, several comfortable chairs, one of which M4A1 was currently sitting on and various other decorative pieces, like a small picture frame showing Alyosha after he graduated the academy and yet another marking him and whom Lunasia assumed was his sister from… Light similarities? In facial structure. No, M4 almost wanted to say they were close childhood friends, but…
"Yes," Alyosha answered rather promptly. It was then that M4 realized she'd been stuck in her own mind, her computational power focusing on reading the room in seconds. It must've looked strange to anyone on the outside, though. He spoke, "I guess all Dolls have a thing about scanning a room they're in, huh…?"
"Only natural, especially for someone who's been in the business as long as M4," Dandelion replied, a smirk on her face as she leaned against a pillar, watching M4 take her surroundings in. She told Alyosha and the other members of the Counters, "Should I give a call to our friend so they may come see her, too?"
"Sure. Just make sure she's wearing something recognizable," Alyosha offered, then noted the confusion in M4's gaze. Obviously, Dandelai was trying to play coy and keep M4 guessing about who she was gonna be bringing over. It was kind of a standard way of acting for the young woman clad in a red GK uniform.
Dande cracked a grin, then looked at M4 before speaking in a singsong voice, "Sure thing~! Be right back~!" and then skipping away with her usual jaunt. M4 relaxed a bit, leaning back into her seat. When the door shut, the Tactical Doll couldn't help but wonder whom Dandelion's aforementioned 'friend' was. She knew she'd find out soon, but…
She sighed, offered up a smile and spoke with a softer voice, "She hasn't changed much…" as she crossed her arms to her chest. Dandelion never did dare to change her old style. She was more or less forever going to be the same childish little creature and old friend of hers who loved to mess with everyone.
"You'll find a lot of your old compatriots haven't really changed, honestly," Rapi offered, holding a stack of paperwork items under her arm now. Hearing that, the Tactical Doll perked up, looking at her with some confusion. It was then that the executive officer of the Counters remembered that, in fact, M4 probably didn't know more of her people were around.
Visibly concerned, M4 inquired, "How many of them are here?" while Rapi, the Commander, Neon and Anis exchanged quick glances. M4 stared them down, waiting to get a response. She shrugged, raising her brows, before sighing deeply. When the other three Counters Members' gazes settled on Rapi, she sighed deeply.
"A good few of them with similar-ish relations to Dandelion," The XO then spoke with a slight wince.
"... Oh, so a lot of them," M4 deadpanned, narrowing her eyes. She cracked a smile seconds later, covering her mouth to hide it. She was trying to be serious, but the thought of Dande continuously causing people problems, even after perishing and being revived in some weird place like this 'Ark' was… Sort of funny.
"Heh, yep!" Anis replied, audibly amused. She was rifling through the Commander's fridge for what seemed to be soda cans she'd left behind. Going by that fact and some other female-related trinkets left within the room, M4 mentally ascertained that these girls had free access to Alyosha's room… Which implied more than a few uncomfortable, yet still slightly amusing things.
"Certainly!" Neon piped up next as she loaded shells into the two magazines of her shotgun, which M4 soon realized resembled something made by the defunct company Kel-Tec. Some part told her that Elysion, the company Neon and Rapi belonged to, might or might not have had a merger with the weirdos of that specific company. Even Rapi's gun looked weirdly Kel-Tec like.
"I wonder who Dandelai's gonna get in here," Alyosha mumbled finally, taking M4's attention toward him.
Letting out a breath that sounded like a dispassionate sigh, M4 replied, "Knowing her? Someone who's going to give me an even bigger need to defragment my Digimind…" which as another way of saying 'give me a headache' for a Doll. Though M4 really wasn't all that sure she could do the whole defragging thing at this point. She wasn't hearing Lunasia anymore, at least.
"You sound like you have a lot of experience with her," Rapi offered, a more rhetorical inquiry/statement.
"We were fairly close before this entire situation and our inevitable deaths. Much like I was close with a lot of other Tactical Dolls…" M4 spoke softly, before sighing and finally asking with a much heavier, slightly louder voice, "Which brings me to the question:How in the HELL did so many of them land here? If what you're saying is true, me visiting the Ark might mean I will see a Tactical Doll at every corner."
"Not inaccurate on that last part. As for how they and your human buddies all got here?" Anis commented, then shrugged, "We dunno," but the statement of 'human buddies', made just that faintest flicker of hope appear in the rifle T-Doll's heart. That a certain someone had made it here so she could apologize to him.
"They brought a lot of gear over, though," Neon grinned, then pumped her fist up in the air and cheered, "Extra firepower!"
"Okay," M4 whispered all of a sudden. Now, that statement. That got her all tense. If there were armed groups familiar to any former Griffin and Kryuger Tactical Doll among the ranks of these Ark folk, that meant not all of them were friendly. And if one of them was the people she never wanted to see again, she'd-
"Relax," Alyosha offered, cutting off her bubbling digimind from exploding with memories of a certain group of Transhumanists and mad scientists. He told her, "If nothing else, it just means you'll have a lot easier of a time getting used to this place," before offering her a kind smile. One that reminded her a lot of that aforementioned 'certain someone' she wanted to apologize to.
With that in mind, she simply replied, "True enough, I suppose…" her voice mumbled. A moment later, the door audibly slit open to the right, with the Tactical Doll soon realizing that this was gonna genuinely, very likely give her a headache the kind of which she really wouldn't be able to figure out. Especially the moment she caught the little Dande in the corner of her eye.
"I'm baaaack~!" The young woman practically sang as she skipped into M4's proper line of sight, smiling brightly and… A little smugly, really. As it was to be expected from the young Dandelion, she left nothing to chance when it came to showing her superiority and sass. As if by some magical property of the girl, a small song began to play, too, recognizable to be Boney M's favorite little song about a Russian.
The former host of Lunasia rolled her eyes and asked, "... Okay, who did you bri-" only to turn and freeze as she saw a familiar, dark-haired woman with both Asian and Russian features. Her eyes were hidden behind a pair of aviators and she wore a dark-brown uniform with emblems on her shoulders that M4 was all too familiar with, plus the red beret of a company she once thought defunct. The woman cracked a grin.
"Deputy Tsoi. Should've figured Dandelion would call you over," Alyosha spoke happily, looking at the woman as he donned his own brown uniform. Though confusion and concern streaked across M4's face, some part of her, deep in her core, felt happy that miss Tsoi was the first person she was laying eyes upon. It was then that she realized that a particular, slim-looking silver-haired Doll whose eyes were forever closed was following close behind, a smirk on her face and her namesake weapon, the AK-12, cradled in her arms.
"I'll be fucking damned. Hello there, Lunasia," Anna Viktorovna 'Angelia' Tsoi, or the person who seemed to be her, strode in with a smirk and her hands in her pockets. A pair of gloves hanged out of the right breast pocket of the uniform and M4 could faintly make out the outline of an MP-443 pistol's grip underneath the coat, where a white shirt and a pair of tight jeans resided.
AK-12, meanwhile, wore a robe or poncho of some kind with added magazine pouches and other equipment and items. She had a strangely familiar body, much slimmer than normal, though she visibly retained the features of closed eyes due to her enhanced optical sensors and her trademark smirk that rivaled even Dandelion's.
Concerned, M4 asked, "... Angelia? Is that you…?" as she stared down the woman. Said woman lifted a hand out of her pocket, taking her glasses off and revealing those normal dark irises, though ones that glimmered with a new light of hope. As Angelia's smirk turned into a genuine smile, she seemed to visibly relax, though there was an underlying tension due to AK-12 presumably following her all over the place.
"Heh. It's me, alright…" Miss Tsoi then offered, before tugging at the collar of her shirt to loosen it a little, before stating, "Good to see you after everything, M4," which caused M4 to smile, too. It was Angelia, alright, though a very recognizably peppy Angelia. M4 could still see the classic robot arm underneath the coat, but it seemed a bit more slim, better fitting as a prosthetic.
"Hello, M4," AK-12 greeted next, smiling, too and extending a hand toward the girl.
"Hello, AK-12. It's been too long," The girl replied cordially, shaking the woman's hand. Though if AK-12 was here, that meant more than a few familiar faces were present. Part of her wondered if a certain someone from DEFY was also present. If she'd popped up, it was very likely that Angelia would've probably killed her.
"True that, it has. You'll be happy to know she's not the only DEFY Member present," Ange added, taking the red Griffin and Kryuger beret off and running her robotic hand through her hair to straighten it out. For what it was worth doing that. It still looked like a literal crow's nest with how loose and messy it was.
"Much to AK15's chagrin," AK-2 flashed a quick, smug smirk at that, while Dandelion giggled.
"Of course she'd be here…" M4 chuckled, rolling her eyes.
"Speaking of that," Ange then grew a little more serious, making sure her uniform was at least somewhat presentable and sliding her beret back on. She spoke, "We should probably go talk to Andersen before long. If you're alright with that, Commander," before looking at Alyosha and the rest of the Counters.
"Sure thing, Deputy," Alyosha nodded.
"It's just Angelia, or Ange, for friends, Alyosha," Ange offered, then looked at the new Doll and ordered, "Davai, M4," as she And AK-12 started leading the way out of the Outpost Headquarters. As they marched down the corridors, the 'Deputy' looked upon a confused 'Lunasia' and said to her, "You're probably wondering what this whole 'Deputy' business is about. Simply put, many of us dropped some time before you did. Set up our own little identities in the Ark."
"I figured as much," M4 replied calmly, quickly making sure she'd set her rifle to safe. She removed the magazine, held the gun in place and racked the bolt back, ejecting the 5,56mm round and sliding it right back into the magazine before holstering it in a pouch. She then continued, "Is 'Deputy' a high position in this place's government?"
"It's up there," Ange replied, "Helped me and a few other people we know set up," then looked to see a slight hope in M4's gaze, though mixed with fear. Sighing, she told the girl, "Sorry… He isn't here. Not yet," and watched her deflate. She added quickly, "However, taking into account the proclivity of whatever or whomever to drop us here in groups? I'd imagine neither he, nor the rest of AntiRain are far behind."
That seemed to make M4 perk up a little. Good enough, the leader of DEFY thought to herself. A little more pep in her step meant M4A1, leader of AntiRain, was gonna be operating at peak capacity before long.
And if luck would be with them, she thought as they reached the elevators, they'd find Lukas just wandering the streets of the Ark by random chance. She hit the button for the Ark at the Elevator and they began their descent in the tubular, singular elevator. A massive tube, made up of glass and several magnetic coils that propelled and/or slowed the elevator down.
As they descended through the outer rock layer, the three women remained relatively quiet, with M4 staring at both AK-12 and Ange as they properly tidied up their gear. It wasn't long before they breached through the layer and out into the open cave where 'Humanity's Last City' resided. Casting a glance over as neon lights washed over them, M4A1 gasped, eyes widening.
From holographic displays, to rising skyscrapers poking through the light shows of massive advertisements and even a dome that projected the Sky for clear view, the sprawling megalopolis that was the Ark stood before them, beautiful and yet so terrifyingly sad to M4, to a degree. It looked like the renders of some rumored conspiracy theory City in the Antarctic regions, with all the high-tech and futuristic 'Cyberpunk Dystopia'-type ads and company banners that one could think of.
Reaching the Elevator Terminus, Ange told M4, "Keep it steady. Place has been under a bit of stress lately," just as the doors opened, revealing a patrol of Police cars rolling by, lights blaring but no sirens. To their right, one short Police officer with messy, long white hair, a beret, a bullpup magfed shotgun and heavy combat gear stood, guiding people while a second, more scantily-clad young girl with orange hair and eyes stood guard.
M4 wanted to laugh a little at the absurdity of the police girls ahead, but Ange didn't give her time. Instead, M4 got to admire the massive, greenery-filled square they waded through. Some civilians were walking around, others were busy either window shopping or actively shopping and M4 soon noticed that Ange had a small scar on her neck.
Ange, noticing that she noticed, said, "That's a chip. It denotes the fact that I'm a citizen of the Ark… And I get some privileges with that that people in the Outer Rim don't," as they walked toward a parked car. In the distance, looming tall and mighty over the city, a singular building stood:The Central Government's offices.
Angelia had gotten to explaining the nitty gritty of the Ark's supposed Caste system, namely the supposed 'Sovereigns', or the rich upper class that lived in the fancy apartments near by the Ark's 'Royal Road', a place full of luxury goods manufactured by multiple companies, with one specifically being famed for its work:Tetra. One of the 'Big Three' manufacturers alongside Elysion and the somewhat infamous Missilis. Quotidians followed, being the average Ark citizen that tended to 'work the factories' or work under one of the Big Three as anything from a blue collar to a white collar.
There were also the 'Noncitizens' of the Outer Rim, a walled-off area just outside the Ark that acted more like slums and presented itself as such, with rampant crime, terrorist organizations running amok there and complete and total control over the lives of the population by the Organizations in that area.
The Deputy had also taken a step back to talk about the Big Three. Tetra was known for its entertainment properties, fashion designs, apps and, obviously, the outlandish designs of some of their Nikkes. Elysion was the more middle-ground, military-minded manufacturer that spawned many of the Nikkes M4 was seeing patrolling the streets and, finally, Missilis was the more 'experimental' of the Three.
Ange didn't really seem to like talking about Missilis. M4 made a mental note to check them out on whatever passed for an 'Internet' here on the Ark.
She paused, however, when she saw the familiar green of a specific organization, alongside patrolling mech units that resembled an all-too-familiar force. Cyclops-class Tactical Dolls in dark-green camouflage and carrying standard AKs, alongside an armored fighting vehicle that M4 also recognized, one manned by a very familiar set of troops in Exo-Skeletons.
"KCCO…" M4 spoke coldly, grip tightening on her rifle. Ange set a hand on her shoulder and shook her head.
"I know what you feel about them, but now's not the time for that," The woman stated, then scratched her cheek and said, "Especially when they're on our side now," with M4 quickly turning toward her and furrowing her brows. Ange told her, "Trust me… His unit was just as confused as the rest of us when we all started waking up here."
The AR Team leader scoffed, realizing whom Ange meant was here. And if he was in a high position like hers, that just made things a bit more complicated, she thought to herself. The vehicle continued rolling, reaching the palatial high-rise that contained the Government's officers. The doors slid open and the two women stepped out, only for M4 to notice a familiar sight in the corner of her eyes. A very familiar sight.
"Y'know, I understand we need to meet your boss quickly," M4 stated, looking at a confused Ange and cracking a grin, "But I think I have something I want to check really quickly," before she dashed off down the sidewalk, causing Ange and AK-12 to gasp. The two immediately saw where she was headed, too.
A familiar Cafe, built into the facade of one of the multitude of high-profile, fancy Sovereign-inhabited buildings around the Central Government's Headquarters. Entering the Cafe, she soon saw, smelled and felt all of the familiar sensations of this old place. Several women that occupied the Cafe turned to face M4, eyes widening, while M4 turned toward the 'bar' of the place and cracked a bright smirk.
Sitting with her back turned, a doll with dark-red hair caught in a ponytail that was tied with a red string. She wore a white shirt and black pants, with the shirt being covered by an apron bearing the Cafe's familiar symbols. Approaching, M4 sat down at the Bar, then cleared her throat just as she noticed the Coffee machine.
The woman, one with a slightly more shrill, but pleasantly welcoming voice, said, "We'll be with you in a minute, madam! Just have to clean up this mess…"
"... Didn't think you were capable of cleaning, Wawa. Always figured it'd be below the 'greatest Sniper in Griffin and Kryuger' to do menial labor," M4 joked, which caused the figure to immediately freeze and nearly drop the cup she held, all while other patrons chuckled. Slowly, the red-eyed Tactical doll turned to face the new arrival, eyes wide as saucers, cheeks burning red. She set the fine china down, turned fully to face M4, then snorted.
"... Boss Springfield! Come out here! You won't believe who showed up for a drink!" The girl called out. She then looked at M4 and said, "Also, M4… My name is Makiatto nowadays. You better not forget it," as she leaned onto the counter, smiling. She paused, then turned and said, "I'll prepare your favorite coffee-"
M4 quickly grabbed her arm and said, "Woah, woah, chill! No thanks!" all too scared of 'Makiatto's' drink-making skills. WA-2000 stared at her with confusion in her eyes, all while footsteps echoed from the back. M4 smiled brightly, looking upon the other Dolls nearby and some of the human occupants. The Humans seemed terrifyingly confused.
A soothing voice called out, "I'm here, Makiatto. What is i-?" only to actually drop a piece of china. Makiatto screamed, dived and scrambled to catch the item, a tiny plate on which a cup would reside. Before long, the familiar figure, one with brown hair and emerald eyes, stepped out from behind the counter and hugged M4, laughing as she said, "I told them you'd be coming back!"
"Hey, Springfield," M4 chuckled, "You mind making me a coffee? I feel like I'll need it, considering Angelia's about to drag me into a meeting," and Springfield immediately beamed at her. As Makiatto stood to her feet, dusting herself off and setting the fine China item aside, M4 asked, "So… How did you all end up here?"
"Really long story," Makiatto offered, leaning back against the counter. She watched Ange and AK-12 enter the place, door slamming so hard behind them both the cup and the plate fell to the floor and shattered, causing her to scoff and say, "I got it!" before walking back. Springfield chuckled, then looked at M4.
"Presumably the same way you did. Randomly," The woman offered as the Coffee Machine roared to life, spewing out the black liquid gold that M4 hadn't tasted in forever. She spoke, "Adding upon that the arrival of KCCO a few months ago and… Well, things have been extremely hectic in this strange place they call the Ark," before she turned and handed M4 the coffee cup.
M4 smiled, taking a sip as Ange and AK-12 approached, then told Springfield, "I woke up on the outside. Met the reason humanity's stuck in this weird little nightmare of a place…" and she looked at the cup. She looked into the black liquid, whispering, "Damned if I didn't miss the taste of this coffee…" which garnered an even bigger smile from Springfield.
"Should we go, M4?" Ange asked, before turning to Springfield and giving a wave that the riflewoman returned in kind. M4 sighed and nodded, showing Ange and AK-12 to wait a bit so she could finish her coffee, though. The StateSec Officer/Deputy rolled her eyes and sat herself down next to M4 while AK-12 remained on guard duty.
M4 could pick out several more Dolls in the place, ranging from familiar to somewhat unfamiliar units. K11 was in the corner, grinning as she read and wrote reports for whatever place she was employed into as a researcher. There was Mossberg 590, enjoying Ice Cream while looking at them, AK-Alfa sitting pretty with a sugar coffee in hand…
So many faces she recognized from the Good Old Days. It made her happy to know so many of them were here, honestly, but they missed one thing:Their Commander. She noticed the emblems on their shoulders, all of them GK, then chuckled and asked, "Don't tell me Griffin and Kryuger are both here, alive and kicking."
"Funny you should mention Old Man Kryuger," Ange chuckled, which made M4 laugh.
Of course, he'd be he-
"IDW DA NYA!" A familiarly irritating voice echoed, followed by the frilly-haired blonde with blue eyes and cat ears. She pounced and hugged M4 by the waist, yelling, "HEY, M4! We missed you so much, nya!" and the AR Team leader looked down at IDW. Or Betty? M4 didn't know what name the girl ran by today.
Regardless of it, she couldn't help but start laughing a little as she saw the cat, whom she provided a few pets for. After finishing her coffee, she looked at Ange and gave her a nod, which meant they could stand up and go to the meeting…
… A lot of familiar faces all too suddenly. That meant Yegor was waiting for them in Andersen's office…
Wonderful, she thought with a hint of annoyance.
