"What's going on?" I look around at the grim faces, finally noticing that we have about the same number of dolls I've gotten used to on the Elmo. Namely, since Vepley is here we're missing someone. "Where's Colphne?"

"We're going to go get her." Gentaine folds her arms and lowers her gaze. "So, Hadwin. What happened?"

"I was talking to 90 and we were joking about teleporting. Then my RPD triggered and I ended up… uh." I look around at the other dolls. "Well, at a Paradeus base."

"Hadwin, those… those don't exist anymore." Gentaine looks at the dolls around her. "Look, I'm not going to crucify you for getting some AWOL time-"

"First, I'm not actually under your employ." I cut her off. "And, I'm pretty sure this was a Paradeus base."

"Hadwin."

"90, you tell them."

90 shows up out of nowhere, and the dolls all immediately lock onto her position, while Gentiane has to glance around until she notices the projection on the main monitor. "From what we observed, they certainly seemed like a minor outpost. They had Uhlans, and the last to die was a Nyto."

"A Nyto, huh?" Gentaine folds her arms.

"A failed Lunasia type." I shrug. "Now, what happened to Colphne? Why are we going to get her?"

"She, um…" Mayling pokes her fingers together, tears forming in the corners of her eyes. "I forgot to log out of the doll terminal while I was adding Vepley and she deleted her backup and authorization codes."

"Alright." I glance around. "Why?"

"She met some guy she had an issue with." Krolik huffs. "Followed him, and now we need to go get her."

"Right." I glance at the monitors in the vehicle. "So-"

"Haddy!"

I turn around to see the little pink haired girl, and for a moment the corpse in the facility appears over her, but I kick that part of me away as she runs up to me and buries her face into my jacket.

"Hey there, Helena."

"Scary! No leave!"

"I'm not going anywhere." I crouch down and look her in the face. "I just had to take a short trip."

She looks into my eyes. "Other girl, hurting. Want to help."

My smile freezes on my lips.

"Huh." 90's voice sounds inside my skull. "Maybe she was the one that guided you to the other Helena?"

"No, I'm sure she meant something else." I answer my personal apparition silently while stroking the young girl's hair. "In any case, let's not focus on that for now."

"Sure, whatever you say." 90 disappears in a huff.

I lower the barrel of my weapon to survey the latest battlefield. Just a bunch of ELIDs, something so routine that it would have been of little note if not for how… advanced their silification has become. Out here, they regularly have giant crystals embedded that look pretty painful. If you could take one and carve it up, it might even be worth something decent.

Not that we have time.

"Um, Hadwin?"

I look down at my current fighting companion, Suomi. "What's on your mind?"

"What do you think is going on?"

I shrug. "I don't do the thinking, Suomi."

"But surely you have some thoughts!"

"Nope." 90 appears, Suomi's face furrowing slightly. "His head is emptier than Mayling's alcohol stash."

"I didn't ask you."

90 raises an eyebrow.

Suomi looks back at me from the apparition. "Hadwin, surely you have some idea, right?"

I glance around at the other pairs of dolls walking around, weapons ready in case we encounter more of the ELIDs. "Alright, fine. Just don't laugh."

She blinks at me.

"I think…" I take a deep breath. "I think it's Paradeus."

"I see." She tilts her head. "I thought we killed them all."

"Not all of them." I shake my head. "We cut the head off the snake, but it turned out that it was a Hydra."

"Oh, that's not good. Do you think it's William again?"

"I'm fairly sure I watched him die." I grimace. "Then again, Paradeus is pretty good at bringing people back to life…"

She nods and skips ahead a few steps before spinning on her heel. "Should we warn the others?"

"No, they all seem to think it's a fairy tale, somehow."

"I don't think any of them have had first-hand experience with Paradeus before, but if we get enough evidence-"

"Contacts."

Groza's words cut through our conversation and I pull my weapon to bear. "Bearing?"

"Three-forty-two."

I turn to scan where the blonde doll had indicated, looking for ELIDs.

Instead, I find a bunch of people traveling, all of them in tattered white robes. They're not moving toward us, but roughly in the same direction.

"Commander?"

"Tracking." Gentiane states. "They don't look that good. Groza, can you and Vepley get closer?"

"Okie-dokie!"

"Yes, Commander."

I watch the two dolls head off toward the strangers, my feet carrying me in that direction as well.

"Do you think they're going to be hostile?" Suomi asks, jogging along beside me.

"Probably. Everything is."

"Not at that state of ELID disease." Krolik's voice comes from my opposite side. I turn to find her and Nemesis have joined us on our slow jog toward the party. "Nemesis seems to think they're at a pretty advanced stage."

"A weakness fades… to fall into a well… corruption rots the wall."

I blink at the silver-haired doll a few times.

"She says that she saw a crystal coming out of one of their chests."

"That's pretty extreme." I nod. "Shouldn't they be dead by now?"

"Yes." Gentiane responds. "Dammit Hadwin."

I ignore the stares of the dolls around me and turn around to glare back at the MBV barely visible behind some built up ruins. "What's your problem now?"

"Since you were talking about Paradeus earlier, now I'm seriously considering that this is because of them."

"Commander, that was in fucking Siberia, alright? We're not in Siberia right now." I roll my eyes. "It's probably just some group of refugees in desperate need of help, just like all the rest of them."

"I hope you're right."

Ahead of us, Groza and Vepley are spotted by the group of people. We can see them fold their hands strangely, fingers straight but interlaced.

"Hi hi! Vepley is here to-"

Groza slips a hand over the smaller doll's mouth. "Hello there. Are you alright?"

I jog a bit faster as Groza's words come over the radio.

"Oh lost wanderers, join our flock." A hollow, raspy voice can be heard through Groza's connection.

"Oh! Vepley understands, you are training for a special dance, yes?"

There's a pause as Vepley's words sink in.

"Ah, shit." I break out into a full sprint as the robed figures start to reveal weapons.

"Those who refuse to join shall be punished, in accordance with Niter's commands. He will remember!"

"All units, return to the Elmo!" Gentaine calls out.

"Smite them!" The man howls.

I skid to a stop and raise my weapon even as Groza disengages with Vepley in tow. Around me, the dolls start to back up to the Elmo, keeping watch on the charging humans.

"90, can you prioritize them?" I ask, weapon swaying back and forth as the group of people charges us blindly.

"I thought we weren't shooting them."

I settle my sights on the one in front, his body at such an advanced state of ELID that I don't know how he's able to move so fast. "Not if we don't have to."

"Let Vepley go! Veplay can walk by herself!"

"You have to head right back to the MBV." Groza says, dropping the small girl to her feet without slowing down.

"Vepley understands!" Vepley starts to bound across the debris, almost casually.

Damned idols.

Once they're even with me, I finally start retreating back as well, looking back every few seconds or so back at the approaching people.

One of them holds up a pistol, aiming wildly.

I skid to a stop, brace, and fire a round right between his eyes.

I had hoped this would cause a chilling effect on the charge, but if anything they all charge harder.

"Cultists." I mutter under my breath as more weapons are brought to bear.

"Commander, orders?" Groza's voice is strained.

"Agent, we're supposed to be retreating!" Krolik snaps at me.

"Not gonna let us be shot in the back!" I return, before selecting a new target and firing in their direction. They don't even try to dodge the incoming fire, just raising their rifle to fire back until one of my rounds finds them.

"NO!" A horrible screech pierces our comms. "NO! STAY AWAY! NO GO BACK!"

"Helena, ouch, let me go-"

"All forces." I speak up. "Fire on the approaching people."

Suomi stops running back to the Elmo, but the other dolls continue moving.

"A wounded warrior's grave… commits a cardinal sin!"

"We're not in your chain of command, Agent!" Krolik snaps.

I roll my eyes. "Why do I even-"

90 twitches my arms slightly to adjust my aim and it ends the life of another of the weird cultists. Right, combat.

A shield of ice surrounds me, and Suomi skids to a halt right next to me with her weapon aimed and spitting fire.

90 finally pops up a prioritization order, and suomi adjusts her aim to follow along as we systematically mow down the incoming humans.

It's disappointingly trivial, in the end. After all, they're just sick humans. Not superhuman Nytos, not monstrous ELIDs, not armored tactical dolls, not tanks.

Just… crazy, sick people.

Once they're all down, I reload my weapon and scan around. "Anyone else?"

Suomi shakes her head. "Nobody else."

"Great. Let's get back to the MBV."

Helena had apparently freaked out when she saw the people dressed in robes.

As soon as I had arrived on board the Elmo, I had walked right up to the bridgetand walked over to where Gentiane was comforting Helena. When the small girl saw me, she ran over and buried her face into my leg.

"Scary! No go!"

"Nobody's going anywhere." I pet her head. "Don't worry about them, they're all gone."

"Not even us." Mayling pops her head up, eyes full of tears. "The vector engines need to cool down. After our last burn-"

"Thank you, Mayling." Gentiane smiles at the skittish engineer. "You did a good job. We'll wait for them to cool down before continuing."

I continue to pet Helena's head as Krolik and Nemesis walk onto the bridge. "Commander, Nemesis wants to talk to you."

We both look at the tanned dolls as she starts to talk.

"A swarm of unenlightened creates a wall of smothering. Pain of a thousand cuts… creates a web of lies… borrowed from the sun. Web of intrigue makes for strange times."

Krolik pauses. "She says she's seen those guys before."

"Those guys specifically?" Gentiane asks.

Nemesis shakes her head. "Wuthering furrows in the soil… fog clouds the glass of time."

"She says…" Krolik's voice trails off and she furrows her brow. "I don't know."

"She doesn't know if she recognizes them?"

"No, I don't get what she's saying. It's too confusing."

Huh. I kind of assumed that Krolik had some sort of Nemesis translator built in that just interpreted it to plain text. I guess it's not that simple?

"We really need to get her Neural cloud fixed." Gentiane mutters. "Alright, is there anything else?"

Nemesis turns to me and bows slightly. "A deep sorrow engulfs the world."

"She says she's sorry for ditching you." Krolik looks away, nose in the air. "I suppose I am too."

"No, it's fine." I shrug. "You had your orders."

"Sorry about that." Gentiane sags against the control console. "Helena was panicking, and I missed what was happening."

"Maybe she shouldn't be on the bridge, then?"

Gentiane grimaces. "The only doll that could get her to go with her consistently was Colphne."

"Perfect." I rub the bridge of my nose with my free hand. "Okay, Helena?"

She looks up at me.

"Would you like to get some rest?"

"No. Stay here. No go."

"We're not going anywhere." I once more reassure her. "I just think you might be tired."

She just buries her face into my leg again.

"Hmm." Gentiane looks back down at the computer panel she's sitting on. "I have an idea."

"What is it?"

She types a few things onto the console and sighs. "You'll find out."

"You know." I give the older woman a look. "One day you'll actually give me a straight answer before I end up killing something."

"There's not going to be any of that."

"Right, right." I roll my eyes. "Let's see, the last few times you told me there wasn't going to be fighting, we ended up blowing up a Paradeus facility, burned down a theater on live TV, and almost started the doll riots a whole month earlier."

"Hadwin, we're talking about taking care of a girl." She gives me a look. "We shouldn't encounter enemies doing that."

"Well-"

The door opens, and a short doll walks in. "Hello! Vepley has arrived!"

Helena's eyes go wide and she scoots around to put me between her and the doll. "No! No Vepley!"

Vepley almost stumbles over herself. "W-What's the matter?"

"Vepley hurts." Helena mumbles.

Vepley's eyes go wide as mine narrow at her. "W-Wait! Vepley was just trying to look at Helena's beautiful hair! I was being gentle, honest!"

A moment passes as I recall the doll's insane strength, and I let my anger fade. "Fine, just be more careful in the future."

"Vepley understands." She looks down at Helena. "Helena, look! Vepley has a present for you!"

Helena looks at the yellow ribbon held at arm's length. "Ribbon?"

"Yes! A ribbon, just like Vepley's!" Vepley points to the blue one in her hair. "Would you like to wear it?"

Helena lets go of my leg and reaches for the ribbon, but hesitates at the last moment. "No hurt Helena?"

"Vepley promises!"

Helena fully lets go of me, and Vepley starts to teach the girl how to tie the ribbon correctly.

"See? No big deal." Gentaine pops off the console. "Things can be solved peacefully-"

My eyes are attracted to the screen she had been obscuring up until this moment. "Gentiane, there's enemies outside!"

She spins around, looking at the screen. "More of them?! Crap. Krolik, Nemesis-"

The two are already heading for the door. Vepley looks like she's about to go, but I stop her. "You stay here with Helena. Don't let her see the screen, okay?"

"Okay! Vepley will do her best!"

I run out after the two dolls. "Where's Groza and Suomi?"

"Suomi is in the repair bay for the bullet lodged in her leg." Krolik's ears wave at me as we run. "No idea where the leader is."

"Headings further into the storm, we find no solace."

"She's also in the repair bay, apparently." Krolik glances at the doll hurriedly checking her rifle for ammunition. "So it's just us two until they're back up and running."

"Like I don't count." I roll my eyes.

"You don't." Her words are clipped. "Humans should just stay behind on the MBV and let us dolls do the work."

I glance at Nemesis, who just looks amused at the whole conversation. "I've been fighting longer than you've been alive, Krolik."

"And you're clearly past your prime."

We arrive at the large bay door, which slowly starts to rumble open.

"Well, that's the first time someone's called me 'old' to my face." I grumble.

"You are old, Haddy." 90 chimes in, startling the other two dolls as she appears on the ramp beside us. "By doll standards, you're past your expected lifespan by a decade!"

"Dolls may only have a service life of twenty years, but humans have a good eighty in them!"

"Not the way you fight!"

"A wondrous ghast, floating beyond the pale?"

90 turns to Nemesis. "I'm no ghost, I'm just the neural cloud inside his head. Long story."

"Time is fleeting… a failed test of patience."

"Sure, we'll tell you the whole story later."

Krolik pokes the apparition but obviously doesn't get any purchase. "And you really can't understand her?"

"Nope!" 90 grins. "If you'd let me into your neural cloud-"

"Not happening."

I hop off the loading ramp onto the dusty brown ground, completely devoid of vegetation due to the collapse storms that ravage the area. We're a bit too close to a red zone for my liking but then again, where else would people who let collapse crystals grow in their bodies want to hang out?

"Paradeus lab?"

Krolik snorts as 90 reads my mind and responds. "Those phantoms are less tangible than the rodent-"

A bullet pings off of the Elmo, and I snap back to attention. Great, maybe Krolik has a point if I"m stumbling into battle like it's my first month on the job again.

90 immediately highlights a few of the enemies and I bring my rifle up.

Nemesis is the first one to get the shot off, the round splattering one of the white robed men before he's able to fire, my first rounds firing the one that failed to hit us before.

Krolik sprints down the ramp, blade drawn and ears flat to her head, heading straight for the center of their formation. I spray a few rounds off to one side of her charge, providing cover fire to keep the enemy's heads down.

Nemesis takes to sniping at the cultists as they climb the debris to try to get a good look down at the battlefield. Worryingly, some of them seem to have heavy weaponry like rocket launchers. If they get a chance, that rocketry will shred the Elmo.

Krolik makes it to the mass of enemies and starts to swing her blade around in skillful, tight cuts that end lives with each efficient slice.

As all of the attention shifts to the blender in the midst of the white robed figures, I start picking off the ones that I can get a clear shot on. It's a bit problematic as Krolik dashes back and forth at great speeds, sometimes right into my sights.

90 saves me from pulling the trigger at the wrong time more than once, keeping me from reducing our own numbers instead of the enemy's.

Nemesis fires another round, then leaps off the platform and runs for the ruins of a two story building. It would be a great sniper perch for sure, so I switch to covering her as she dashes for the tower.

One, two, three down-

My M16 clicks empty and I swap magazines, dropping the now-empty one into the pouch at my back.

"On your left." 90 comments, and I swing around to fire a few rounds at the people attempting to surround Krolik. She's now covered in blood, blade dripping with blood that's a bit too viscous to be normal.

Nemesis gets to her perch and starts to fire rounds down past the cover, picking apart the formation that Krolik had scattered.

This seems to finally break the spirit of the cultists, who start to wail and retreat, white robes stained red attempting to disappear into the rubble.

Krolik swings her blade to flick the blood off of it, and I jog up to her.

"You alright?"

"I'm fine." She sniffs. "Those weaklings could never hurt me."

"If you say so." I look up at Nemesis. "Hey, you good up there?"

"As the ermine crawls, so do the waves crash."

"I… what?"

"She says she's fine, Agent." Krolik glares daggers up at the purple themed woman. "And get your own ammo!"

Nemesis nods and starts to climb back down the tower.

"She's low on ammo?"

"She never carries enough." Krolik rolls her eyes. "It's what she gets for using a rifle."

"Right." I check my own ammo, and realize I should probably start reloading my magazines in case those guys come back.

I'm halfway through loading the first ten rounds when Gentiane's voice comes over the radio. "Hadwin, are you still outside the MBV?"

"Yep." I click the next round in, eyes wandering to watch Krolik sit down on a chunk of debris and put her chin in her hand as she stares into the distance. "What's up?"

"I need you to trail the cultists."

My fingers stop. "What?"

"They're not scattering, they've regrouped to the north and are heading toward the red zone. The Elmo's not ready to move yet, so I need you to trail them and see what you can find out."

"Right, cuz I'm known for my stealth." I roll my shoulders.

"You were trained by 404, weren't you?"

I shrug. "Wouldn't call it trained. More like, forced to learn, or die."

"The best training is on the job training."

"No, it's not." I look north. "90, is that the direction they're going?"

"Yep. Got the data from the Elmo's sensors." She chirps. "Ready?"

I finish loading the magazine and tuck it into my rifle, flicking it off of safe. "Ready."

Krolik stands up as I pass her, walking beside me as I start to head out. "Are you going to need backup?"

"No, I think I should be fine." I offer the rabbit a small customer service smile. "You can stay with the Elmo."

"Actually, Krolik, go with Hadwin. Make sure to cover each other's backs." Gentiane breaks in. "If you find Colphne, make sure to grab her."

"Got it." I adjust my pace to a walk that I know I can maintain for hours, even with the heavy armor plates in my carrier and the extra ammo strapped to my chest. "When's the Elmo supposed to be back online?"

"Maybe a few more hours."

I look up at the graying sky. It'll be night before it's moving again…

"Agent?"

"What's up, Krolik?"

She hesitates, glancing at the white robed people slowly picking their way toward a ruined temple in the distance. "I was wondering a few things about your past."

"Now?" I raise an eyebrow.

"Well, it's not like we're going to lose them anytime soon!" She snaps, gesturing at the obvious landmark dominating the skyline. "Just humor me, okay?!"

"Sure, sure." I vault over a long dead tree blocking the path. "What do you want to know?"

"Did you really have sixteen wives?"

I can feel my hackles raise, but keep my lips closed for a moment as I calm myself slightly. "Yes. Though, it was technically just an 'Oath' with most of them. The government doesn't really acknowledge dolls as legal entities capable of entering a marriage."

She frowns. "But you are still committed to those Oaths."

"Yep." I tap the front pocket of my vest and it clinks as the metal loops inside shift.

She notes the sound, ears twitching slightly. "Did you not think to say 'no' to some of them?"

"Well…" I look up at the black sky. "I guess not. Gentiane set the affection rate of the dolls around me to 'high' back when I first joined. I was supposed to essentially be a pet for the dolls so they weren't so depressed. We were fighting a war and… it was pretty bad. Honeslty, it's kind of insane that Persica made it so dolls could get suicidal in the first place but instead of letting everything spiral, Gentaine kidnapped me and set me up as a Commander, told me I was a 'field agent' and to just stay at base. Of course, I got influenced by SOPMOD- uh, one of the dolls- and just ended up out on the battlefield."

"He dropped a building on his own head." 90 chimes in.

"Suomi keeps saying that." Krolik's eyes narrow. "What exactly do you mean?"

"I, uh." I cough into my fist. "I kind of used some explosives to blow up the support pillar of a skyscraper, then stood outside said skyscraper to have it fall onto an armored enemy we weren't prepared to fight. I only really survived because one of the dolls I was with had a shield much like Suomi's and she protected us."

"And you didn't stop to think that maybe that was a bad sign?"

"No!" 90 suddenly appears, sitting on a collapsed building like it's a giant throne. "He didn't! In fact, he kept charging into danger until he almost killed himself several times over, and now he's more doll than human."

Krolik turns to look at the apparition. "Colphne said he was dead."

"He certainly doesn't have many human life signs left." 90 shrugs. "Got himself absolutely eviscerated by a Hydra, and yet he was still fighting the next day."

Krolik pauses as she searches her internal databank to find out what a Hydra is, and I offer support by sending her a photo of И1704.

"That's a tank."

"Not quite. I fought a lot of tanks, and Hydras- well, most Hydras aren't that persistent. 1704 was special."

"Yeah, she was." 90 pokes me with an incorporeal finger and I swat her away. "How long did she chase you?"

"Until she showed up at the gates to my home city and threatened to break them down if I didn't come out."

Krolik looks up from the four legged walker. "'She'?"

"The AI driving it decided she was female." I shrug. "She lived in my head for a while until she went off to explore the wastes."

"Wonder how she's doing?" 90 purses her lips. "I bet you could talk to her with your new powers."

I grab the RPD on my chest and think for a few moments before shaking my head. "It takes too long to charge. I'm keeping the charge for later just in case."

"No, wait." Krolik rubs her face. "You let a military walker AI into your neural cloud?"

"Well, she asked nicely."

"As you can see." 90 walks over to Krolik and leans on her shoulder. "He's crazy, and very suggestable. Why, I bet anyone with nice boobs could just walk up to him and demand he forfeit his mortal possessions and he would in a heartbeat."

"No, I wouldn't." I protest. "It has to be a very specific woman! Like, one of my girlfriends!"

"Gentaine tricked you into this job again and you haven't even complained to her once." 90 gives me a look.

"I'm here to find 45- uh, Leva. I don't have a mode of transportation without the MBV." I shake my head. "If Gentaine decides to deviate from getting to Kyiv, then I'm going to strike out on my own."

"Two things, Hadwin." 90 once more looks completely unimpressed. "First, we're currently heading to a red zone and away from Kyiv."

"We're here to grab Colphne."

"Sure, sure. The other is, you can teleport."

That actually gets me to stop. "...Huh."

Krolik watches this exchange with mild concern. "You're not going to run away, are you?"

"Nah. Even if I could rely on my teleportation to actually take me where I want to go, I already promised to help you get Colphne back." I shrug. "Besides, it's nice to be working alongside dolls again. I missed it."

Krolik frowns. "You like working alongside dolls?"

"What's not to like?" I shrug. "Well trained, efficient, have a sense of humor-"

"And, they are easy to look at!" 90 chimes in.

"Thanks, 90." I roll my eyes.

"...I know I asked this before, but you're not after any of us, are you?"

I give the rabbit a look. "Don't worry, I'm not breaking you and Nemesis up. I have too many girlfriends as it is."

"W-WHAT?!"

I blink at the rabbit for a few seconds. "Uh… did I answer wrong?"

"I do not like Nemesis! She's a complete pain in my ass! I only work with her because nobody else seems to be able to understand her!"

"Which is why you two were both playing video games until four AM yesterday, right?" 90 pokes at Krolik.

Her face turns red and she starts to sputter a few times.

"In any case." I redirect the conversation rather forcibly. "Can you explain to me more about what Colphne was doing?"

Krolik's face slowly returns to normal colors as her neural cloud returns to the task at hand. "She recognized a sick man back at the trader town. He had really advanced silification… Like those ELIDs we've just fought." She seems to be connecting dots in her head as she describes the events. "Anyway, she almost went berserk before we dragged her away from him, but it seems she deleted her authorization or something. Go ask Mayling."

"Matches what I already know." I nod. "Her Ex?"

"Haddy, most humans hate dolls." 90 gives me a look. "That's not particularly likely."

"Mm." I shrug.

"Well, if Colphne actually told us what she was going to do, we wouldn't be in this position, now would we?!"

I set my lips in a line. I know Krolik isn't being difficult on purpose, but sometimes I wish Persica hadn't ever heard the word 'tsundere'. She's almost as bad as WA2000.

Almost.

"There she is."

I peer around the destroyed rubble of the temple.

Krolik is right, there's a blue haired girl amongst the more normal colored humans.

Well… maybe that's the wrong choice of words. Everyone else is a varying shade of sickly grey-green, depending on the exact level of ELID the individual is suffering. Still, given how bad it is, I would have assumed most of them would be berserk by now, but that's not the case.

In any case, Colphne is easy to pick out, even with the hooded cloak.

"Should we go get her?"

I hesitate. "Not yet. We need to figure out what she's trying to do. If we can't do that, then we risk her doing the same thing again."

"Hmph! I doubt Mayling will be allowed to mess up the same way twice!"

"I meant… ah, forget it." I shake my head. "Hey, 90, try to connect to her on level II."

"Got it."

The squirrel disappears from sight and I glance around the rubble again.

My eyes meet the ruby reds of a very angry Colphne.

"Oh, hi-"

She slaps a hand over my mouth, hissing through clenched teeth while looking over her shoulder. "What the hell are you doing here?!"

"Looking for you, obviously." 90 appears again and crosses her arms.

"Well, go back!"

"Sorry, but we walked for-" I glance at the clock in the corner of my vision. "-four hours to get here. I think we're owed a bit of an explanation before we just turn around and walk back."

Colphne's eye twitches. "None of your business."

"It became our business when you ran off!" Krolik snarls quietly. "Now tell us before we drag you back!"

Colphne looks away for a moment before grumbling under her breath. "It's fine, Commander isn't going to miss a doll."

"Huh?" I raise an eyebrow. "Colphne, Gentiane sent us after you. The only reason she's not here yet is the MBV seems to have some mobility issues. We immediately came after you."

She gives me a look. "I'm sure, Agent. I bet you think that the dolls in your harem loved you too."

Okay. That's a low blow. "First of all, that's uncalled for. Second, why the hell else would we be here?!" I point to the North. "There's a fucking red zone that way, and I'd much rather be going to talk to Leva than sitting here trying not to get discovered by a bunch of cultists, chasing after a doll that left without so much as a fucking letter!"

Colphne snorts. "Ha! Just use whatever disappearing trick you used before to fuck off and leave me alone. Maybe if you hurry, Commander won't have left you behind."

"Commander's coming this way, you dunce." Krolik adds. "Come on, let's get going. She wants to talk to you."

"She's not going to come after us." Colphne says with a dire finality. "Humans don't care about us dolls."

"Uh, I married-"

"Shut up, doll fucker."

90 snorts.

"Wanna bet?" Krolik sneers.

"What's the bet?"

"If she's coming for us, you come back and explain yourself. If she doesn't, we'll leave you alone."

Colphne barks out another laugh. "Sure, sure. Whatever. Now, can you both just go away before you blow my cover?"

"It might be a little late for that." 90 warns, and I stop paying attention to the pissing match the two dolls are engaging in to look at my surroundings. There are a few robed figures glancing our way, but nobody seems to be on high alert yet.

"Not yet. Colphne, just… be careful, okay?" I ask, slipping back behind the rubble.

"Stop pretending to care. I'm not one of your sluts."

Oh, I wish AK-12 was here right now. Or 416. Or SOPMOD. Actually, having T-dolls as girlfriends means a lot of them are aggressive. Not S.A.T.8. or SV-98 though.

I hope they're all doing well.

Krolik had slipped back into hiding alongside me, chewing her fingernail while we wait for Colphne to do… whatever. After a minute or so of chewing the artificial nail down to nothing, she turns to me. "What do we do?"

"Wait for Gentiane to arrive?" I shrug. "As long as nothing goes wrong-"

"SMITE HER!"

A distinct, clear woman's voice. One I've had burned into my brain from hearing it for years.

I pop out of cover, resting my rifle on top of the debris to brace it.

Oh, shit. There's a lot more of them out there than I had seen before. Colphne has grabbed a sickly man by the wrist, and is yelling at him. The man isn't saying anything, honestly looking more like he's drugged out of his mind with how he's flopping around like a fish.

Far away on the other side of the room sits the source of the voice from earlier. A Nyto, with M4's voice.

Before I can react to her presence, several of the robed figures pull out weapons from under their cloaks, and I realize we're about to have a bloodbath.

"90! Targets!"

Red fills my vision as 90 starts her prioritization routine, and I start to fire.

Colphne is forced to let go as gunfire erupts from multiple angles, her efforts to re-grab her target thwarted by another of the cultists slashing a makeshift blade through where her arm was.

Krolik vaults the concrete barrier and starts to slash as she sprints forward, aiming squarely for Colphne.

"Hadwin, there's too many targets." 90 informs me. "We don't have enough ammo even if every bullet you spend kills two enemies. This analysis does not include the Nyto."

"Just perfect. How long is it until Gentiane gets here?"

"Estimates provided by Mayling before contact was lost puts it at two hours."

"Fuckin' perfect." I whip out my handgun and pop a few of the closer cultists to clear some space for me to move. "Krolik, grab Colphne!"

"NO! I'M SO CLOSE!"

"Got her!"

"We're going!" I shout, and start to backpedal as I fire at anyone getting too close for comfort.

Krolik is still dragging the struggling Colphne when she gets to me, waving her blade around wildly at anyone getting too close to us. "Stop… Struggling!"

"NO!"

I fire a few more rounds, hear the M16 click empty and swap mags as fast as I can. "Colphne, stand down. We'll get him next time, okay?!"

"No! I'm not going to lose this chance! I'm not going to-"

Bullets pepper around us, and we're forced to dive for cover. The concrete is subsequently hammered by bullets of various calibers, the rag-tag collection of firearms having no unifying features.

"Colphne, they're going to kill you!" Krolik snaps. "Just come back with us and we'll make sure you get to talk to this guy you're chasing after!"

"He's right there!" Colphne yells back. "I need to avenge Anifya!"

Ah. Revenge.

"Colphne, you need to calm down if you want to get out of this alive." 90 appears over the medic doll. The apparition doesn't even waver as rounds tear through the space she's decided to occupy, giving an uncanny vibe. "Right now is not the time. You don't have your neural cloud backed up."

"But-"

"We're here to save you, you idiot!" Krolik shakes the smaller doll.

I turn to return fire toward the Cultists as Krolik talks to Colphne. "90, tell me we can get out of here."

"Not unless we figure something drastic out." She gives me a grim look. "No skyscrapers to drop on your head. You might be fucked."

"Come on! Not the time for jokes."

"I'm only half joking. We're got one magazine and Krolik's got her hands full with Colphne. If you could switch places…"

"Colphne could probably break free of my grasp." I shake my head. "Could we run?"

"The Nyto hasn't done anything yet. If she joins the battle, we'll get destroyed."

"Fucking…"

"You could run."

"Ha ha."

"No, seriously. Remember you have that RPD."

I duck back under cover. "90, I'm not going to abandon them."

"They're dolls, Hadwin."

"Oh, for the love of fuck, that argument has never worked on me!" I load my last magazine for my assault rifle. "Well… I did forget about the RPD, that's for sure."

"Oh, so you're…" 90 reads my mind. "Dammit Hadwin, I'm stuck in here too!"

"I swear, we get to a green zone, I'll buy you a body first thing."

"I'm holding you to that."

I turn to Krolik. "Hey, I need to borrow your sword for a second."

Krolik's face twists in confusion. "Hah?! Why?!"

"Gotta cut something."

She hesitates, but hands it over. "Don't damage her."

"Thanks." I set it to the side and grab each doll by the shoulder. Colphne tries to buck me off, but my fingers are made of steel. "Tell Gentiane to hurry."

My RPD flashes a brilliant white and the two dolls disappear as I try to blink the spots out of my eyes.

"Did… did it work?"

90 jerks my body to dodge an incoming round. "I don't know, but they're not here. Pick up the blade before we're turning into swiss cheese!"

I snatch up the blade and swing it wildly, finding it much harder to control than Krolik made it look. Still, I manage to cause a few grievous injuries before I can switch back to my rifle and start emptying the last magazine.

It clicks far too quickly for my liking.

"Hadwin, if you're going to run, now is the time." 90 warns. "The Nyto is standing up."

I turn and bolt, dropping the empty rifle to dangle on its sling, drawing my pistol to compliment the blade in my other hand.

"You know, you kinda look like a pirate captain right now."

"Not the time, 90!"

"Well, there's not exactly any AI for me to hack, so what do you want me to do?"

"Find me a path out of here!"

The mischievous specter grins. "Do you like sewers?"

"You stink."

"Thanks, Gen." I walk past her up the ramp into the Elmo. "Any other pertinent observations?"

"You're covered in blood and carrying Krolik's sword."

"Those two are linked."

"I figure." She starts walking alongside me. "Make sure you get a shower."

"First priority." I sigh. "Well, unless Krolik and Colphne didn't get teleported to you."

"They did, actually. Colphne was in shock, but Krolik wanted to run back to you. Only reason she didn't was that you already had her sword so she wouldn't have been too useful."

"Well…" I glance down at the disgusting blade. "I'll have to clean it pretty thoroughly before I give it back."

"Maybe that should be the second thing you do after your shower."

"Yes, ma'am."

"Hey, I'm not your boss."

I give her a look and she just grins from ear to ear.

"Commander! I got the Elmo's vector engine back to… ew, did the toilets back up again?" Mayling barges into the hallway and she scrunches her nose.

"No, I just had to go slaughtering in a sewer." I state. "I'll clean myself up in a minute."

"In the meantime, Mayling, let's get back to work. We need to identify that Nyto."

"B-but, she didn't even do anything."

"Maybe not, but we need to figure out what she's doing. After all, if she's with Paradeus-"

The door shuts behind me as I step into my room and I sling my gear into the washer. Everything not waterproof is a write-off anyway after swimming in muck, so I'm willing to risk it.

Well… after a moment of thought, I snag the RPD back out. If that blows up, who knows what'll happen. Knowing Persica, it could literally be a collapse bomb in disguise.

Half an hour later, I'm scrubbed clean and in the maintenance bay, gently cleaning the blade of the filth I had been forced to drag it through.

"There you are."

I look up to find Krolik in casual clothes. Instead of the mechanical ears she usually wears, she's got on a standard rabbit ear headband. "Hey. Sorry about the blade, I didn't have much choice."

"Well, 90 has given me a rundown of your performance." She sits down across from me. "You did acceptably."

"Thank you." I grab some cotton swabs and poke it into the hard to reach corners between the hilt and the blade. "Sorry for not explaining the plan, but I was in a hurry."

"I… understand." She looks away. "Just don't do it again."

"I don't plan on it." I throw out the first cotton swab and grab a new one. "Having a sword is handy though, so I really should look into getting myself something similar."

"Oh, so you've figured out how much better a sword is than a rifle?" Krolik smirks. "Well, I suppose if you're going to learn, I'll be able to teach you. Only if you ask nicely though. And I'm going to be strict!"

"Sounds good." I say out loud, only to shut my mouth and privately talk to 90. "What's happening?"

"She's flirting with you." 90 sighs dramatically. "It'll be seventeen soon."

"Ha ha."

90 smiles innocently. "Well, she might just think she found a comrade in the blade."

"It was very useful." I turn my attention back outward. "Well, if you'd be willing to teach me."

"We'll get you a blade to use next time we get to a village." Krolik nods. "We'll have you being a swordsman in-"

"A fluffy angst… destroys the moon."

I look over my shoulder at the cryptic doll. "Hey Nemesis. Are you doing alright?"

"Crystalline embrace… creates a whole body."

"She's fine." Krolik huffs. "Nemesis, what are you doing here?"

"Centuries of woe… bring forth the dawn's light."

"I'm busy with him right now, thanks. Why don't you go pester Groza?"

"Thousands of petals dance in the decaying wind."

"I don't care if she can't understand you! Just eat quietly or something!"

I grab a clean cloth and wipe down the blade, being careful not to slice myself. The blade is pretty much clean enough to hand back, but I want to make sure it's pristine before I give it back.

"A wuthering presence disturbs the sleep of giants."

"Oh please, he's only cleaning it because he took it from me."

"A perilous journey's secondary meaning?"

"No! He got it dirty, he's forced to clean it!"

"A faded hope in the grasses-"

"Ah, fine! I'm ignoring you, I don't care! No more of your stupid observations, shoo! I'm going to teach him how to use it, and if you're in the way we'll use you as the training dummy!"

Nemesis grins. "A rustle in the grass makes a fine shower."

"No, I do not think he's cool!" Krolik snaps. "He's just not as useless as I assumed!"

I pause as I set the blade down, finally done cleaning it. I've heard that exact phrasing before… "90, tell me this isn't what I think it is."

"Yep! You've gotten too close to a tsundere doll again. Have fun!"

"Star almost killed me when I forgot our anniversary." I stare into space. "I told myself, no more tsunderes. Hell, I said, 'no more dolls but especially no more tsunderes'. I remember saying that."

"How's that working out for you?"

I glare at the apparition. "I'm going to assume you're mistaken. She's just gonna want to be part of my squad, same way Suomi wants to be."

"Maybe, but maybe she also wants-"

I clamp my hands over my ears, ignoring both the looks I get from the other two dolls and the fact that 90 can just talk directly to my brain.

I need sleep. The stupid can wait for tomorrow.

A/N:
As I'm sure you've noticed (The game has memorable events, totally), I've stopped keeping the canon events in order. I realized it matters so little that the time I was putting into it seems like a waste. Honestly, I kind of just want to jump to where Gentiane's crew meets up with the Zucchero Cafe, but all this buildup has a purpose, so I'm writing it down.

Just don't come after me about how Vepley gave Helena the ribbon before the battles started, or the arbitrary twenty-freaking-hour chase that the MBV somehow had to take between finding Colphne had disappeared and the first bit of combat. Seriously, how does a vehicle (even if it's only going 10 km per hr, which seems like a speed it's able to maintain for long times) not catch up to the severely sick man Crifum when he is on foot and presumably still requires sleep? It boggles the mind.

Also, Colphne literally chases a guy for over a day straight only to not end up killing him. She sucks as a tactical doll, someone remove her fire control core and let her just be a medic again.

I also learned just how extensive the rewrites for GFL 2 have been from the original CN script and… yeah, I'm not surprised that this whole thing seems like a mess. For now, I'm going to loosely follow the intent, but I'm not going to go combing through the cutscenes for relevant bits of info anymore. It's just a waste of time.