Neo Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic, 2063
"Keep up the momentum! Don't let up!"
Gunfire rang across the land as bullets of different calibers and concentrated beams of energy pierced through the air in an exchange of war between the two sides. Although, it became increasingly clear which side was winning.
"Come at me, you dirty bitches!" Thompson yelled as she and her echelon dumped lead at the enemy troops.
The war against the rogue Sangvis Ferri forces continued to escalate with Griffin & Kryuger continuing to commit more and more resources to keep up with the fight. The venerable PMC suffered some setbacks but powered on regardless of their opposition. This was their most challenging contract yet. And it would either be their greatest achievement…
Or their worst failure…
"Their lines are breaking! Keep at it!" BAR exclaimed as she fired her automatic rifle while commanding her dummy links to do the same.
"Eat this!" Garand exclaimed as she threw a grenade which took out at least four enemy units.
"Sangvis forces are dwindling. They're falling back," SV-98 reported from her concealed position overlooking the battle.
"Good. Keep pushing until the enemy has been completely eliminated," The Commander ordered.
"Roger!"
Twenty Tactical Dolls, four echelons worth, and dummy links, for a total of eighty boots on the ground for G . This was a major engagement aimed at destroying a large chunk of Sangvis forces, including a ringleader, in the sector. Doing so would save them many headaches in the future, so they should deal with it now.
But, that was just part of it.
"Infiltration successful. We're inside the enemy base perimeter, Commander," A certain doll reported. Her voice was soft and sweet as if it didn't belong on the battlefield.
"Noted. Continue with your mission."
"Roger that, Commander. AR Team, out."
While the majority of the Sangvis forces were distracted, a fifth echelon snuck past them and was currently infiltrating behind enemy lines. They had their separate objective that was located in the heart of enemy territory.
Aside from clearing the enemy units, today's operation had another goal. G 's intelligence branch recently discovered a possible high-value target (HVT) in Sangvis's possession. They couldn't determine what it was or exactly how important it was, but they knew it existed and was important enough that the enemy decided to surround it with many troops.
So, today's operation was planned and executed. Four echelons take on the main force then keep them occupied and eventually crush them, while the fifth echelon sneaks right through to secure the HVT. It was also a great opportunity to strike two birds with one stone and save on resources.
And there was no team more qualified for such a special operation than the legendary Anti Rain Team.
"Now approaching target location," M4A1 announced as they approached the target building containing their objective.
"Let's get to work," M16A1 grinned slightly as she prepared to work.
"Hehehe," M4 SOPMOD II smiled maliciously, excited for some violence.
"Let's just make this quick," ST AR-15 grumbled.
Once at the wall, the four elite T-Dolls stacked up against it and slowly approached a door. M4A1 gave a signal and M16A1 moved up front and produced a flashbang grenade from within her jacket. The eldest gave her younger sibling a look, earning a nod in return, before pulling the pin on the grenade and throwing it inside. A second after the grenade was thrown in a loud bang was heard from within. And in the next moment, the four elite T-Dolls rushed in with weapons raised, fire control systems locking onto identified targets, and letting streams of lead fly. The defenders did their best to react against the surprise attack but faltered as they were picked off quickly and consistently. Anti Rain quickly covered the whole interior of the building, including the raised catwalk, and eliminated every hostile they saw in record time.
"Clear!" M16 reported from one corner.
"Clear up here!" AR-15 reported from the catwalk.
"Aw, they all died so quickly," SOP whined, not having as much fun as she had originally.
"That's supposed to be a good thing, you dolt," The pink-haired doll stated sourly.
"Let the girl have her bit of fun, Star," M16 defended with a small smile, being used to her sisters' antics for a long time now.
"We're not here to have fun, we're here to do our jobs," Star stated, earning only a chuckle from the eldest which brought her mood even lower.
"All hostiles eliminated. Target area secure, Commander," M4A1 reported, still on duty.
The plan was simple and nothing they hadn't done before: Infiltrate the enemy, do whatever they had to do quickly and get out of there. If the target was small and mobile enough, they'd snatch it and run. If not, or if it was too heavy, they'd secure it and wait for backup to arrive, who would help them retrieve the goods. If they couldn't do either of those, they'd torch anything important and leave. Right now, M4 had to figure out what her options would be.
"Well done, Anti Rain. Have you identified the objective?" The Commander asked.
"Not yet, but we're looking."
The elite T-Dolls looked around the building, their advanced optics giving them a clear view of the scarcely lit interior. It was a warehouse with a lot of stuff lying around. Most of it, she could tell, was just ammo and supplies, and maybe some disconnected computers in the corner. But one thing caught their eye. A towering object was sitting at the center of the building, covered in a tarp. M4 headed over to it and pulled the tarp off to reveal what was underneath.
It was a tall, spire-looking object. A monolith. It took the shape of a triangular prism and was about three meters tall, and a meter and a half wide at the base. The tip and the base look like they were made of some dark metal while a good portion of it looked like it was made of a translucent crystal. Examining it much closer, M4 noted engravings on parts of the surface as well as a hole. The hole was triangle-shaped, and some of the engravings looked like some sort of alphabet but nothing she'd ever seen before. And now that she thought about it, the whole thing looked out of place. It looked like some sort of monument or an art piece, not something the Sangvis should be keeping.
"Is the Sangvis interested in art now? This thing looks like a sculpture; a modern art piece," Star remarked, voicing her very thoughts.
"Wouldn't put it past them. We know some of them are total weirdos," M16 added as she analyzed the thing.
"I wanna see some Sangvis art. I wanna compare them to some of the sculptures I made," Sop said with bright enthusiasm.
"Oh God no, please," Star shivered in disgust.
"What do you think it is, M4?" M16 asked, moving to stand beside her sister.
"I don't know," She answered quietly. It looked very strange and out of place, but not threatening. And yet, something in the back of her digimind put her on edge. Various subroutines giving her something what humans call a 'gut feeling.' And that feeling was danger. "I'm reporting it."
M4 reopened her communications line to HQ and waited a couple of seconds before she heard the familiar voice of her commanding officer.
"Did you find something, M4?" The Commander asked.
"There's something here, Commander, but we're not exactly sure what it is. I'm patching a feed from my optics so you can see," she replied, performing an action that set up a live video transmission directly from her eyes back to the base.
"Hmm," The Griffin Officer hummed in thought, seemingly also trying to make sense of the object. "Hold on, I'm asking HQ."
"Hey, I'm detecting Sangvis signals headed to our location, and a lot of them," Star reported.
"Ah shit," M16 sighed as she checked her weapon.
"Ooh, I'm sensing a lot of them! It's party time!" Sop grinned in excitement.
M4 was also preparing herself to face the incoming attack when the Commander chimed in again.
"Anti Rain, designate the monolith as a priority one objective. Secure it all costs," The Commander ordered, voice taking a lower tone. "Do not let the enemy take it back. Is that clear?"
M4 noted the change in tone but acknowledged. "Yes, Commander."
"I'm sending emergency reinforcements to your location. Just hold it down for a little bit," The Commander said.
"Uh, what is this thing anyway?" Sop asked, voicing the question all four dolls had at that moment.
"Command thinks it's Collapse Relic of some sort. I don't have the rest of the details, but it's imperative that we keep it from enemy hands," The Commander replied.
That certainly caught them off guard. They don't know the exact sciences but they know that Collapse Relics were the gateways to potential technological advancements. It was where modem doll technology was derived from after all. And it goes without saying that the Sangvis shouldn't have anything that makes them harder to fight.
"Affirmative, we'll keep the target secure until extract arrives," M4 acknowledged.
"Don't worry, Commander! We'll kill all of them!" Sop added cheerfully.
The Commander chuckled. "I know you will. Don't let up, Anti Rain. A lot's riding on this."
"You can count on us, boss," M16 said confidently as she took position.
"We'll get it done," M4 said before she also took up defensive positions, eyes toward the incoming swarm of enemy units barreling towards their location.
It didn't take another minute for the siege to begin. Anti Rain racked up a hefty kill count in the first minutes with their precise fire and superior coordination but was kept pinned down by the sheer volume of fire from the enemy.
"I'm running low on ammo!" Star announced as she slipped in a fresh mag into her rifle.
"Same here!" M16 added as she ejected another empty mag.
"I've got two grenades left!" Sop added as she slipped another 40mm grenade into the UGBL of her rifle.
M4 acknowledged, knowing that she was also running dangerously low on ammo as well. Fortunately, backup was set to arrive in only a few more minutes. They just need to hold out until then. And hope that nothing else shows up—
A section of the wall suddenly exploded, creating a massive hole in it. And a moment later, a single figure walked through it, one that M4 recognized causing her stomach to churn since it was a face she hoped never to see again. Which was funny because she didn't have a stomach.
"Well, well, well, what do we have here?" Executioner mockingly spoke as she strode through the whole along with a full squad of Sangvis grunts. "All of AR Team in the same spot for me to have fun with? It must be my birthday!"
"Oh God, we got another yapper," Star groaned.
"M4A1, come on out! I've got unfinished business with you!" The ringleader yelled.
"You've got one hell of a fan club, sis. I'm kinda jealous," M16 remarked sarcastically.
M4 didn't respond to that, and she quickly renewed the plan. The presence of a ringleader was very bad. They definitely didn't have enough ammunition left to deal with her. They needed backup, an extraction, or a miracle soon.
We're with you, sis. Just say the word, M16 said reassuringly through Zener, and the other two agreed.
Right, She smiled and steeled herself. "Open fire!"
"Shut up and die!" Sop yelled as she peeked out of cover and fired a grenade.
Executioner quickly dodged but the grenade still took out three grunts when it hit. The ringleader grinned in excitement as she locked onto her targets.
"So, that's how it's gonna be, huh?" She chuckled and brought up her massive blade. "That's perfect!"
The ringleader dashed forward at speeds almost impossible to track with the human eye. She gunned toward M4 who quickly dodged just in time. The young T-Doll quickly recovered and returned fire with her sisters coming to her aid and also firing on Executioner. The ringleader, however, did not seem bothered, more elated at the chance to settle a score.
The battle was tight and the situation was at its critical point for AR team now that they had to juggle between fighting Executioner, fighting Sangvis grunts, and protecting the objective. Especially when they were just about to run out of ammo.
"Argh, I know, goddamnit!" Executioner spat to no one as she paused her assault for a moment, probably talking to fellow Sangvis through radio. "The monolith's fine! Just let me have my fun!"
M4 fired the last round in the mag before ejecting it and slipping in a fresh one. Then she took a second to do a quick ammo check. Nothing left. She was at her last mag. After that, it was just her sidearm and an extra three mags for it. Not good. Very not good. They needed backup, more ammo, or a miracle right at that moment.
From the side, Sop emptied her last rifle mag before drawing her sidearm, an M45 MEUSOC, and firing it at Executioner. In return, the ringleader picked up a crate and hurled it at her. Sop dodged it, but the crate knocked over a stack of more crates behind her which fell on her head. She took the moment of incapacitation to catch her breath. This sucked. She had her fun but now it felt like she was having too much fun. Moreover, her concern for the well-being of her sisters was growing. Any of them getting hurt was unacceptable. She needed to find a way out for them— hey, what's that?
One of the crates that fell on her had accidentally opened and there was a light coming from it. Sop crawled over to it, picked it up, and opened it. Inside was a metal and crystal rod similar to the monolith, only smaller and glowing. She picked it up and examined it. It looked like a fancy desk ornament more than anything else. Just what the heck was it?
But that wasn't important now. She put it down and fired again on Executioner who turned her attention to her again. The ringleader dashed to her position and swiped at her. Sop was able to hop out of the way, but stuff went flying all over the place again. Among them was the glowing artifact which was thrown at the monolith. It stopped mid-air at an angle just above the hole of similar size and shape, and just hovered over it, frozen until it was pushed into the hole when Executioner crashed against it when she was smacked with the butt of M16's rifle.
The crystal part and some of the engravings of the monolith started to glow with the brightness intensifying rapidly so much so that everyone stopped what they were doing to turn to it, only to be forced to look away when the brightness became too much for their optical sensors to process properly.
That's not good, M4 thought. She didn't know what was happening but the simulated feeling in her gut once again gave her a warning sign.
"Everybody, get out—" She yelled only to be cut off when her vision was completely shrouded in white.
The next thing M4 felt was air rushing across her body before the sudden shock of impact against something not very soft. Opening her eyes she saw that she was lying face down on a layer of dried leaves with dirt underneath. She rolled over to check her surroundings which then left her very confused. Instead of being inside a dark warehouse, she was now outside in the middle of a forest on top of some dried leaves. And instead of it being nighttime when they were in the middle of an operation, it was now daytime although with an overcast above them. Being absolutely lost on what was happening, she did a full system check to see if this was some sort of Sangvis illusion meant to distract her, but came up with everything green across the board. No damages to hardware and software, no signs of electronic warfare effects or tampering with her neural cloud, and no signs that she was in cyberspace. She was tired and low on power but that didn't explain it. All of this was real and she was working as intended. So, what the hell was going on?
"Ugh," A voice groaned from beside her.
M4 turned to it to see Sop pushing herself up from the ground. And from the corner of her eyes, she saw her other two sisters in similar states. Immediately, she turned her attention to her sisters.
"Guys, are you alright?!" She demanded in worry as she pushed herself up. Looking around, she spotted her weapon lying on the ground which she immediately picked up.
"I'm fine. Aw, damn," M16 groaned as she brought her head up and looked around. "Uh, what the hell?"
"I'm fine too," Star said, also getting her bearings. "Huh?"
"I'm okay— wait, what happened?" Sop said. "Weren't we just in a building? Where are all the Sangvis?"
"I just did a system check, I've got green across the board. I'm fine and this is the real world," M16 stated.
"Me too, nothing seems out of the ordinary. At least from here," Star added. "What's going on?"
"I-I don't know," M4 answered. "We're just here now, somehow."
"Where even are we?" Sop said as she looked around.
"I'm not sure, I'm not getting positional data… or any data at all," M4 answered upon discovering that her data link was completely blank. "I'm calling the Commander."
The other dolls nodded, moving to set up a defensive perimeter while M4 tried to make sense of what was going on and call their superiors.
"Commander, this is Anti Rain, do you copy?" She spoke but all she got was static. "I repeat: Commander, this is Anti Rain, do you copy?"
"I don't like this," Sop muttered.
"Agreed, something seriously wrong is going on here," M16 concurred. Usually, she'd be trying to lighten up the mood as the big sister of the team, but their current situation kept her. Her base instinct was telling her that they were in serious trouble.
"Somehow, I think our problem just got way more complicated," Star remarked as a pit started to form in her stomach. "M4, do you have anything?"
"Nothing, no one's replying. But I'm not detecting any sort of interference," M4 answered with a frown. They weren't being jammed, the line was just empty.
"Have you tried the other channels?"
"I have and it's still nothing," M4 sighed. She could try broadcasting it on an open channel and maybe she'll get something, but considering they were in unknown territory that could be a bad idea. However, she needed to come up with something quickly or—
"Hey."
All four dolls snapped to the source of the voice with weapons up which came from the top of the little ledge overlooking the small clearing they landed on. And up there she saw four human figures dressed in military gear and carrying weapons that were also pointed at them. She quickly scanned them and detected no doll signatures. These were humans; men. Armed men in fact because those rifles were definitely real.
But the most interesting part was two patches stuck to one of the men, one on the shoulder and one on the plate carrier. It was a G&K logo on the plate carrier, and a green Anti Rain symbol, their symbol on his shoulder. The G&K symbol could be explained not their personal logo. How could that happen? It was also at that moment that she noticed that the men were also eyeing them with confusion, most especially the man with the AR patch who also wore a skull face scarf similar to hers.
Just what the fuck was going on?
"What the hell?" Both M4 and the man said out loud at the same time.
And none of them knew it yet, but this encounter would mark the beginning of something that would change the course of the history of two planets forever.
AN:
…
What the hell am I doing?
I have so many stories left un-updated and yet here I am releasing another fresh one. This is so not a good idea, but hey, my life's already a mess so why not, right?
Anyway, this is my entry into the Girls' Frontline fanfiction realm (which is well-connected; there's a Discord and everything, wow.) And it's going to be a reverse-isekai story. You just saw AR Team get teleported, and they got teleported to the real world, our world where GFL is a video game. And the dudes at the end would be their guides.
Also, yes, I stole the title from Azur Lane.
The purpose of this story is to explore a certain theme that I'm surprised no one has tried yet. How will AR team, or any of the Dolls, react to Girls' Frontline the mobile gacha game? How will they react to the story? And what will they do with the information, how will they use it to their advantage? The overall goal is to find a way to keep all of AR Team alive and I hope the foresight will help them make better decisions. Maybe.
Honestly, I don't have a solid vision of where I want to take this story, lol. But I do have a set of things I want to see. Mainly Sangvis, Paradeus, and KCCO getting pummeled, but also things like the dolls trying to thrive in a world where they're not even a solid concept yet, and dealing with other problems like rescuing other displaced dolls, evading or neutralizing threats, things like that.
And that's about it. The next chapter will feature my OCs and stuff which will build the setting for a good portion of the story. And then the third chapter will be the skirmish in the forest between the lost AR Team with the OCs and Sangvis. Then, a chapter or two of them settling down and coming to terms with their new reality, and so on.
Anyway, thank you very much for opening this up and reading. If you think you an idea you want to share or if you have any sort of comment, please leave a review in the review section. And until next time, peace out!