Ch.6
Old Wounds Pt.2
"In the end, we will conserve only what we love; we will love only what we understand, and we will understand only what we are taught."
– Baba Dioum
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ATLANTA, GEORGIA / UNITED STATES / 30NOV53 0310 LOCAL
"Who the fuck is the Hatch guy?"
"Does it matter? Some fucks from one them independent cities is paying up good money for him."
"White Knight? The fuck is the Klan still doing here?"
The inside of the nearly ancient Stryker was loud, and the interior red lights didn't help with any sensory issues. Wall pulled his headset over his ears, then tweaked their position to make for clear hearing overtop his balaclava. Like the other three men inside, he was a recently discharged veteran of World War Three. With the near-total collapse of the global economy weighing on the ordinary man, crimes and insurgencies grew more common. But wherever the fighting was, money flowed, and Vets needed a purpose.
'LIFE-LINE SECURITY,' or LLS, was one of the money-chasing companies.
"Hey Wall!" A large man of obvious African descent quipped out. "You listening to this shit? Fuck's a white knight? Some Grand Wizard shit?"
Wall gave the man a shrug, he had just met him prior to the operation, and couldn't remember his name. "In what context?"
"The only context that matters is that we are getting paid to grab the guy, dead or alive." The team lead, Jakob Anders shot back. "Quinn I know we pulled you in last minute for this, we got the basic details for the guy, we don't need his life story."
Wall made a mental note of the name.
Quinn had been with LLS for a bit, longer than he had at least. They brought him on just prior because their fourth man got sick.
"Oh! Fuck now I remember, hey Quinn." Wall leaned over and tapped his compatriot on the knee. "They are some police force type deal, up north, like from one of those free cities that won't last more than a decade probably."
"I'd be surprised if it last that long." The fourth man spoke up, the oldest member of the team, Dan Deacon. "Fed's gonna want that land back, now that the wars fully over, well…we know how it goes."
Jakob waved off the sense of forbidding doom left by Dan's comment. "Enough with the sentimental horse shit dan, we can chat about that later." He stopped any further discussion on the subject by tapping on his forearm pad. Each squad member's monocle HUD lit up with a quick view of the building they would be assaulting. The UAS providing the picture was stationed just high enough above the compound to not alert anyone, while still being able to maintain a clean picture. "Check your suits, everyone know their job?"
A collection of various "Yep's" came back to the team lead. Wall ran one last diagnostic on his exo-suit, it wasn't as advanced as some of the ones special forces had used in the war, but it was still good enough. The more traditional suits helped with weight distribution, and held add-on armor. His current setup did just that, with an additional relay package on his back, though it was currently sitting off to the side. The package was SIGINT related, and did some other witchcraft he wasn't too familiar with. For him, it would jam comms, and help keep a strong link with his four Angel units in the Stryker behind his own. While the Angels weren't as advanced as the humanoid dolls, or as fast as the Aegis, they were extremely durable, and relatively easy to buy.
"Yall green?" Jakob asked into his comms. Everyone slid on their helmets and gave their affirmatives. "All right, get fucking ready…."
Wall got out of his seat and knelt down, leaning into the relay package. His suit automatically attached the piece and activated it, anything that beeped and squeaked within a mile would be hard broke for the moment. A blink in his left eye showed him the status of each Angel, all four with additional armor and a traditional 25mm bushmaster. The Strykers came to a halt, and Wall's Angels were the first to disembark.
"Let's fucking roll!" Jakob yelled out, any sense of tact or silence was long gone due to the Strykers rolling in with their older engines. Jakob, Quinn, and then Dan piled out and formed up behind the Angel's, using their large bodies as protection. Wall formed up behind one as well, taking a rear guard position to a newly formed up wedge formation.
This part of Atlanta was eerily quiet, Wall had grown up in Georgia and had been in this area once or twice before when he was younger. The worn-down building was something out of a movie set, and may have been used as such back in the day. It wasn't time to sit and think though, so the team pressed on and up, scanning the surrounding area for threats as they made their way to a marked garage door.
Once in position, Quinn and Dan loaded flashbangs into launcher slots on two of the Angel's shoulders, each shoulder having two slots. Once done, the two men formed up behind Jakob, who was standing behind another of the Angels. Jakob looked at Wall and gave him a nod, within the span of a single neuron firing, the first two Angels initiated their command.
Designated one and two respectfully, the two units barged into and through the garage door, immediately firing off their flashbangs. Wall ran behind the last man in the stack, Dan, and then followed the rest of the team in as one Angel stayed outside to support the rear. Before they were even through the threshold, screaming and the sound of low velocity 25mm echoed inside the building. The team pressed inside and dispersed in a professional manner, only Quinn fired off two rounds into a threat. Then relative silence grew, the only sounds coming from a moaning man on the interior balcony above, and the hum of the Angels.
Wall was standing behind one of his Angels still, he had to maintain a position of safety to effectively control his units and do his job. On the Angels back was a screen and keyboard that could be utilized by an operator. Wall was about to open it up and start initiating manual scans of the area when Jakob spoke up.
"Is this a fucking joke?"
Wall looked out from behind the Angel and saw a man tied to a chair in the center of the building. The man had a bag over his head, and seemed to be unconscious.
"What is this a fucking movie? That's a fucking trap…" Quinn let out.
"Wall!"
He didn't have to guess at the next command. Wall commanded one of his Angels to approach the bagged man and scan them, then take the bag off. The rest of the team pressed back to Wall and hid behind the mobile piece of armor as the lead Angel cleared the individual.
"NO EXPLOSIVES DETECTED," The Angel let out over its intercom, then moved to take the bag off the individual. Despite its size and purpose, the Angel was rather delicate in its task. Jakob peeked out and looked at the man in the chair. "That's our guy, oddly enough," he said in mild disbelief.
"No way it was that easy.." Dan said aloud.
"Shut the fuck up Dan god damn why you gotta jinx us like th-"
As if spoken into existence, the sound of a gunshot rang out from the teams right, and Quinn's body attempted to drop to the ground, only being stopped by his exo-suit taking over for what it thought was a passed-out user. Wall moved faster than his Angels, at least that's what it felt like. He brought up a nearly ancient AK47 he had been issued, put it inline with the threat, and pulled the trigger. He didn't remember putting the weapon on auto, but it was, thankfully the suit helped control the recoil that actually surprised him. The rounds all hit home though, all five of them, from the lower torso up.
"Quinns hit!" Dan let out
"Get him the fuck up and out!" Jakob yelled out, running over to the man who seemed to be 'Hatch.' He cut the ties binding the man and brought him over his shoulders. "Is Quinn alive?!"
"Zipped in the fucking spine man! The base of the neck!"
"Shit, Wall!"
He turned around, again knowing the next order, he had done this before. Wall ordered one of the Angels to carry Quinn, only picking the assumedly dying man up after Dan deactivated the exo-suit.
The rest of the night went by in a relative blur. They had gotten their man, and gotten Quinn back to a hospital. Quinn would live, and his spine could be fixed in time, but he would never be able to move or live without an exo-suit or expensive cyberware.
In the coming days, the team would review the tapes as a debrief. Killing and seeing death was nothing new for any of the men, but it's not something they ever really grew used to. When reviewing the tapes, a pause and zoom came right after Quinn had been shot, and when Wall killed the assailant. A silence grew in the debrief at the time, and it ate away at Wall for the rest of his life. The man who shot his team member, and whom Wall killed, had turned out to be a kid no older than twelve, estimated.
Seeing someone young die, being the one to kill them, hit everyone differently. In older wars, insurgents utilized children and younger individuals as soldiers and suicide bombers. In WW3, it wasn't as often to see someone young fighting with a world power, though it did occur later in the war as manpower died out.
The experience, for Wall, wasn't the first. But more than anything else he had experienced at that time in his life, regardless of the emotional disconnect driven by the neuro-link, still drove him to a feeling of physical illness.
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G&K HQ / S01 / 31JUL62 0830 LOCAL
Another night, another dream of some past mistake. Just another series of disturbing events that plagued any and all other Vets of the last World War. Oddly enough, Wall hadn't woken up at all that night, he slept in peace, if it could be called that, for around eight or so hours. He sighed, taking a good minute to just stare up at the ceiling above. A series of notification pings on his nearby tablet broke him out of his trance.
I think I'm legally due for a paid day off…
"TV on, news…" Wall let out as he turned over to grab his tablet.
On the command, the TV on the opposite side of his room activated and tuned into Sky News.
"One week ago, an unknown terrorist organization activated an ELID device, seemingly a bomb, in Moscow…"
He had been following the news on the attack, and he was pretty sure he knew the "terrorist organization" that caused the incident. Letting the TV play, he looked at his tablet and all the notifications he had received. Two from IDW, one from Helian, one from Kalina, and one from PzB. He went over them in order. The two from IDW were random ramblings about how bored she was. Helian's was mission information and attire of choice for him to pick up. Kalina had asked for a meet-up since he was back in town. PzB had been the most recent, only twenty minutes ago. 'Hope you're dressed, I'm coming over.' He raised an eyebrow and huffed at the message, rolling back over in his bed, and opting to respond to everyone.
IDW received a series of emojis that made no sense, yet she'd find meaning in them. Helian got a simple "yes ma'am," only, and that would probably make her angry. Kalina's message was a bit more heartfelt, he had promised her in the past that they would meet up more. It wasn't romantic in nature by any means, he had made a general promise to someone who had gone through some shit, and he'd keep it. Then he sent PzB a response, "Just woke up, my bad."
A ping sounded, from where Wall's brain told him was his door.
No…
He looked up and met eyes with PzB, who was leaning against the door frame. The two maintained eye contact for several seconds. Then Wall closed his eyes, hard, opening them up again only for PzB to still be there. He looked around the room, a sense of confusion growing in him.
"No it isn't a dream, I'm actually standing here." PzB said, not moving from her position, her arms crossed.
Wall wasn't in a position to think, rather he didn't, he just sort of reacted. As if just another task, Wall looked up at PzB, gave her a nod, then reached over and grabbed his 1911, which had been sitting on his nightstand. He checked the chamber to make sure there was a round in it, then looked at PzB as he placed the weapon in his lap, his right hand gripping it. "Why…the fuck..are you in my room." He said slowly.
PzB had been unnerved by Wall's action. Seeing someone just causally grab a weapon and start questioning you did that. "I uhh…thought something happened to you.." she had uncrossed her arms, and now kept her hands behind her back, opting to look at the ground instead of meeting Wall's eyes. "Normally your up early, cause of you know, your past, so I wanted to check on you…"
"So you broke into my fucking room? How fucking long have you been in here?" He asked, no venom in his voice, just stone-cold and raspy disappointment. "You know what?" He shrugged and got out of bed. "I don't fucking care actually, I really don't want to know." He tossed the 1911 onto his bed and walked up to PzB. The doll looked up at him and took a step back, then looked away once she saw he was in nothing more than rather short compression shorts. "Whatever relative sense of safety I felt I had in this room?" It was a question in manner, but one that didn't have an answer. "It's gone, thanks, thanks Pezz, no really." He grabbed the doll by the shoulders, he was only slightly taller than her.
The doll looked up at him, "I didn't mean to.."
"No hey, hey!" Wall smiled, "You just took away one of the last safe places I had, as if my cancer-ridden dying brain didn't have enough issues, now it has this moment." He smiled at the end of the statement.
The extremely embarrassed doll's expression changed. Despite all their quirks, they didn't mishear things.
"Cancer?" That was all she said.
Oh you fucking idiot that was supposed to be a secret.
Wall kept his smile, "It's a figure of speech. Now If you wouldn't mind, I'd like to get dressed, please get the fuck out of my room."
"Wall you just said you have-"
"What I have is a problem in front of me, one I'm feeling opted to force retire."
PzB shook her head, "No you can't just brush that off."
He would do just that. Using his prosthetic arm, he put a finger in the center of Pzb's chest, and started to push her out. "It's a figure of speech, get the fuck out of my room.." he leaned in as he pressed the doll into his meager living room, "Or I'm going to get rid of you."
"I…" PzB said, anger and confusion growing on her face.
For a fucking freak who just broke into someone else room you sure have a lot to say fucker
The doll looked down, then up at Wall, then turned around and left without a word. Wall sighed a breath of relief. "Anyone fucking else in here?" He said aloud, throwing up his arms as he turned around. "No? Really? No one else wants to come out?" He dropped his arms and shook his head. "Fucking freaks of nature I swear, give'm an inch and they take a mile."
The situation now at ease, Wall decided to dress himself for the day and send a message to AK for the meetup she had inquired about the night prior. AK's response was quick, she gave him a time and place to meet up not too far from now. Wall had grabbed some form of brown combat pants from his closet, and a dark blue polo. He changed out the rest of his clothes and then pressed on his boots, then attaching a holster to his right hip for his 1911. He gave himself a once over in a nearby mirror, he wasn't trying to impress anyone with his looks, but he'd rather not look like a complete tool if possible. Satisfied with his getup, he put on his old watch, and made his way out of his room.
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G&K HQ / S01 / 31JUL62 0920 LOCAL
The meeting location in question was called "Springfields Café." As its name suggests, it was a café ran by a T-Doll called Springfield. Wall had never met Springfield, nor did he have any inclination to do so. The café wasn't too far from this lodging quarters on base, just within easy walking distance. Knowing this, Wall didn't force himself under any time restraint, so he took the time to wander before heading to the café and stopped to watch the all-doll SRT practice team movements in an empty field. He made a mental note to talk to their leader, Welrod, at some point. Despite the fact that the dolls were literal robots who could be programmed to do things, their demonstration was quite disappointing.
Satisfied with the inability of G&K's assets, he made his way over to the café. The building itself was alone in placement and was two stories tall. The outside was planked with wood, it almost looked handmade. The blue paint with regular wooden logs created quite the comfortable vibe. As he walked up to the building, he couldn't help but notice the lack of customers, at least from looking in from the outside. He came up to the main door and pulled it open, a old bell on the door rang, signaling the staff to a newcomer entering.
"Find a spot, ill be out in a moment!" A feminine voice from somewhere in what he assumed was the kitchen came out. The door closed behind him, and he did as the voice said. A booth situated on the right side of the café right next to a window looked like a good enough spot for him. He made his way over and sat down, taking a moment to admire the interior. Much like the outside, the inside of the café was designed with a cabin aesthetic in mind. It was cozy, not too hot, and had a nice smell, reminiscent of fresh coffee and other spices.
"I'M HERE. TAKE YOUR TIME." – Wall
He sent a quick message to AK47, her arranged time hadn't come yet, but he thought it was polite to show up early. He was going to wait for a response before he browsed the menu at the table, but the voice from before decided to become a person.
A woman stepped out from behind the counter, which lead directly to the kitchen. She was on the taller side and had a blue coat on, with what looked like a white dress underneath. She made her way over to Wall with a glass of water and napkin in hand.
"Slow morning huh?" Wall asked, making general conversation.
The woman smiled, "Yes, it is, surprisingly so. I think someone said something about some inspections going on." She stopped at his table and sat the water and napkins down in front of him. "Round this time on a Monday, I'm normally very busy."
"Really? It's my first time here, quite the lovely place though if I do say."
"First time here? My, forgive me for not introducing myself." She took a step back and bowed slightly, then stuck out her hand for him to shake. "I'm Springfield, owner of the café."
Wall grabbed her hand and shook it gently. "Springfield? I take it you're American then? Besides the accent and all."
She let out a polite laugh and covered her mouth before speaking. "In a way yes, I'm a T-Doll based off the M one nine O three."
Could've fooled me, shit you did fool me
"Really? I've worked with bots and dolls for most my adult life, didn't even take you for one." He gave off the impression he was surprised, which in reality he actually was. It was extremely rare for a doll to pass his brain's mental wall of 'real or not.'
"I'll take that as a compliment." She said with another oddly polite laugh. She used her hand to point to the opposite side of the booth, "May I?"
No you may not.
"Be my guest," He said with a fake smile. "Do you work here by yourself? Pretty big place for one person."
Springfield folded her dress as she sat down. "No, I have some helpers, but I cleared them off till lunchtime, I expect the day will busy up then." She tilted her head and squinted at Wall. "I'm sorry if it's rude to ask, but have we met somewhere before?"
He raised an eyebrow, "Don't believe so, I figure id remember you if we had met. Awfully polite compared to most the G&K Dolls I've worked with thus far, no ill words meant"
"Oh, quite the southern gentleman aren't you?" She looked at his neuro-link collar, "A Veteran I presume?"
"Id ask how'd you know but," he pointed to the collar, "I figure its kinda obvious. But yes ma'am, I am. Matthias Wall, it's a pleasure."
She smiled and stood up, rubbing her dress down as she did so. "Well Mister Wall, how can I help you today? Coffee is freshly ground, and yes it's real."
"Not synthetic? I kinda wanna ask how you got your hands on that." As he finished, AK47 entered the café and looked around for Wall. He held his hand over his head, not like she'd have trouble finding him. "But my company is here, water is all for me, thank you."
Springfield nodded with a grin, and turned towards AK. "Miss forty-seven, a pleasure as always, would you like anything off the menu?"
"Ha…no thanks, ill call you over if we need anything." She said. Springfield obviously read the atmosphere oozing out of AK and gave her a nod as she walked passed her, Wall swore he heard her say "good luck" to her fellow doll.
AK made her way over to the table, then sat down without saying a word. She looked up at Wall, then down at the table, where her gaze stayed. Wall glanced down at his watch, and waited as thirty full silent seconds passed.
"Ok then," He said, breaking the atmosphere. "I'll take the blame for this, mmm…situation."
That had caught AK's attention, she looked up finally. "No, it's not your."
She was stopped by Wall raising his hand and shaking his head. "No no, it was me mostly. I continued to allow our little relationship because it was fun. My mind failed to allow me to remember that other people have different emotions about certain things. Then after I uh, went down for a bit, I was in a bad head space and took it out on you." He paused, he was being honest about everything for the most part. He wasn't going to tell her that the fact a doll was coming onto him disgusted him. Sure some parts of the world allowed marriages between humans and androids, but it didn't make it right. Forcing a thinking consciousness onto a physical form, making it feel and care, that was inhuman, at least that was the belief he held.
"Matt I…" AK spoke up, "It was my fault too, I shouldn't have acted like that I know. It's no excuse to use my past as a crutch on why I acted the way I did. I went through a weird time in the past, like the original me, my first model line my memory is made off of…well…it doesn't matter."
"Please, you tell a story, and ill tell a story. It's important to talk about this stuff, but if you don't want to, ill talk about my past."
AK looked down again for a moment, then started talking. "I uh, originally…well." She stopped and looked up at him. "I'm the first memory core for the AK platform, like I'm literally designated AK01-001, the first, all variants are based off me to a degree. But I wasn't designed for IOP or G&K, my first model line was uh, used for uh…" She didn't say anything else, she didn't have to, Wall knew what she was getting at.
Lots of Doll's models were used as sex-oriented objects. Lots of dolls 'moved out' from those job lines as AI became more advanced and laws were passed. Along with all this, many people ended up doing what humans do, and abused them religiously. Despite his disdain for them, Wall was never rude to dolls intentionally, just like he was with people.
"I was designed in Holland and used as a sex doll. Lots of the customers were uh…bad people…" She paused again, this time to swallow. At least that's what it looked like her throat was doing. "Eventually I got out of there and did some work, helped with refugees, did some mercenary jobs, and then G&K picked me up and converted me into the AK model."
Wall looked away just for a second and saw Springfield leaning on the bar counter, a frown on her face and what looked like a tear rolling down her cheek.
"Anyways, long story short, I have this tendency to get close to people, men oddly enough, that are genuinely nice to me. It's not every single person, it's not like I'm just some whore craving attention, it's just." There was another long moment of silence, AK had started to stare off into the space behind Wall.
How a doll contracted PTSD or any trauma confused him to no end. He knew all someone had to do was manipulate the memory or delete it. But was that fair? Was it fair to change something's mind just because it wasn't human? Would you do it to a dog or another creature?
Wouldn't be the right way to handle things would it
"No it wouldn't, it would take away your humanity."
The voice was back, he ignored it, he remembered it from yesterday.
"You want to feel safe, you want to feel a connection," Wall said, breaking the silence. AK looked over at him and nodded.
"Ha, yeah, that's it, that's all I want."
"Believe it or not I understand that, for the most part at least. I'm not so insane to say I completely know how you feel, because everyone's situations are different." He took a moment for her to soak that in.
"Well. I gave my sob story." She shot him a pained grin, "Your turn."
He smiled back and relaxed back into the booth, crossing his arm. "I've been over bits and parts of my story. I saw lots of fucked shit in the war, my neuro-link fried some of my brain to negate emotions and interactions, which is an issue I still work with today. The biggest factor, the one that changed it all, was when my wife died."
He let out a laugh and looked around at nothing in particular. "Don't let that statement alone get you down, it's not some edgy set of words or a feel bad for me comment. It just really got what was left of me and took it all away. I mean imagine," he leaned forward and put his arms on the table. "Imagine falling in love with someone before the war breaks out, being with them for the duration of a global war, seeing them as much as possible and using leave to be with each other. Then, not even two hours after you get married, your loved one gets hit right in front of you, and dies in your arms."
The discomfort on AKs face spoke a thousand words.
"She kept telling me to leave her behind, get out of the area cause of what was happening. Well, a missile barrage by the Soviets was happening, but I wasn't going to leave her. Fuck me silly Ak, I hadn't left a single fucking person, not even one of my old uni...dolls...behind before, and she wanted ME to leave her behind? No chance. Then uh.." His voice changed slightly, and unknown to him at the time, he was crying. "Then right before she died, she told me she loved me. Whole time I'm trying to pack like three open wounds on her just like, you know it won't fix the issue," he let out another laugh, "but you still try…you still try." He subconsciously wiped his face. "Holy fuck," he wiped it again, "Was I crying?" He laughed it off, or at least attempted to.
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"Wall.." AK said softly.
"Anyways," He said before she could say anything else, "I don't do well on the dating scene, hasn't been a factor in my life. Getting help for PTSD and moving on, I can do that, just some stuff aint..you know…"
"You don't have to keep talking if you don't want, I understand." She meant it genuinely.
You don't have a fucking clue
"Wooo." He sniffled, "Ok that was a little good heart-to-heart."
"It's okay if you still hate me, but if you want to talk about it more, I'm always free, I like to think you know that." She leaned in and reached for his hands. He let her take hold of them, if anything for the sake of keeping up an appearance. Her hands were warm, they felt good, they felt remotely human and somehow put him at ease.
Don't
"It's ok matt, it's ok to move on.."
"It's not fucking okay" He whispered. He knew the voice wasn't real, he knew the voice was just some weird side effect of slowly dying, the rot inside him eating away. But something deep, deep inside him wanted that voice to be real. He wanted Naomi to allow him to move on, as if she was tethered to him in such a way for him not to be able to.
"What?" AK asked, she had heard him.
He shook his head, "Your welcome back on the team. Shit, I want you back on the team, the chemistry isn't the same. M200's frame ate shit on our last Op, she's okay though, and IDW lost her legs. I'm sure she'd love to see you again, she lonely over in the mech bay." He took his hands away, and readjusted himself in his seat.
AK left her hand on the table for a moment, then pulled it back and looked at it. "Is it really ok?" She asked as she looked back up at him.
"I wouldn't be saying otherwise if I didn't want you….on the team that is."
She let out a curt, almost annoyed laugh, "You're still an ass aren't you."
"Can't teach an old dog new tricks, so, you in or not?"
She stared at him for a few seconds, smiled, and nodded. "Old dogs still make good company."
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G&K HQ / S01 / 31JUL62 1140 LOCAL
The whole conversation with AK had been a mixture of truth and lies. The amount of truth spoken by Wall had concerned him to a degree. It was rare for him to speak of the past in such an emotional manner, though his body had shown the emotion without his consent. He had no choice but to chalk it up to the cancer, he refused to believe he was breaking mentally, officially that was.
Despite his personal questions of self-assessment, the conversation with AK had gone well, and she was back on the team. He spent the next hour going over what had happened since she had departed, and what he was going to be doing soon. He tasked her with spending the next week staying with IDW and assisting with the repair and remodeling of both her and M200. Then he gave her a slip for custom orders to help beef herself up too to match the upgrades for IDW and M200. After two hours of mentally draining conversation, the two had gone their separate ways, AK said she would update him if anything came up. Wall thanked Springfield for her time, and tipped her despite her not wanting to accept the money.
Two items were on his list next, he could either go get fitted for his suit, or grab gear and talk to Kalina at the same time. The second option was an easy two birds one stone type deal, though the thought of another several-hour-long exasperated talk bored him. Even then, it would be a bit funner than having some old woman or man bitch while measuring his neck. He pulled his tablet out of his pocket, and sent Kalina a message telling her that he was on his way over. He had stopped walking towards the base armory and waited a moment for a response. The outside around him had gotten busy, and people and machines move to and fro. So he had found himself a place out of the immediate line of sight of others.
"Mister Wall?" A voice called out from behind him. He turned to face whoever it was, he didn't recognize the voice. Then he saw who it was, and his heart wanted to sink. His training kicked in and before someone could tell he was worried, he wrangled in his emotions and biometrics.
I am so fucked
UMP45 was walking up behind him, only to stop several feet away. "You are Matthias Wall, correct?" she asked, her hands were behind her back.
"No, I'm Ricky Bobby." Wall said flatly.
45' smiled and cocked her head. Immediately a warning message popped up in Wall's left eye.
"WARNING. LOS BREACH ATTEMPTED. TERMINATING LOS CAPABILITIES." A robotic female voice spoke softly in his head.
"If you ever try to breach my fucking hardware again I'll flatline you and your whole fucking family line so fas-" Wall's legal threat was cut off.
"The fact you even know about my family is reason enough for me to remove you." The doll stated, taking one step towards him.
He wasn't here to play games. He moved his hand to lay on the grip of his 1911, UMP45 reacted accordingly and sprinted towards him. Wall's eyes widened as his brain processed the action, and he drew his sidearm, getting it inline with the threat before it was fully up. He squeezed the trigger twice and saw one of the rounds slap the doll center mass. But the modified armor piercing .45 round didn't stop her.
Before Wall could squeeze off an accurate third round, the doll was on him, almost literally. She went for his right arm, grabbing it and pressing it away from his body. He met her with his prosthetic arm, grabbing her throat and trying to press her into a nearby brick wall.
It didn't work.
The doll had the inertia, and the upper hand in general. Seemingly unlike every other G&K doll, this one knew how to fight. Though that didn't surprise him, as he was pressed into the ground, he remembered one single brief the Big Six had given him before moving to Europe.
It encompassed a list of dolls of a Squad 404, and a specific unit that worked with, but not for G&K. The jist of the brief was, "Do not approach, do not antagonize, do not work with unit designated as UMP45."
He slammed into the ground below, and the resulting jolt from the fall coupled with UMP's grip on his arm made his 1911 fly off somewhere behind him. Neither of the two took any moment to stop. UMP thrusted herself into a better position, attempting to straddle Wall. He tried to reverse her, moving his hand from the doll's throat to her hair. He brought her head in hard and fast and slammed her nose against his forehead as he used every ounce of strength to flip the doll over, the hip trust he hated doing in the past paid off. UMP collapsed his arm as he flipped and reversed their positions. He ignored the fact the headbutt did nothing to the doll, and only hurt his skull. The two were in a near deadlock, neither could use either of the arms, and if they did, someone would make a move.
UMP was a doll though, and when Wall looked into her eyes, all he saw was something waiting to kill him.
"Fucking cunt robot." He let out as he spit in her face. The doll didn't spare him an emotional reaction, she used the moment to seize the upper hand. She let go of his right arm and shot it up toward his throat. She punched it hard, and he felt the effects of a near inability to breathe as he let out a gasp. UMP was on the offensive again, as Wall struggled to breathe, the doll posted out her leg and flipped him over. She raised her fist and was coming down to smash his skull in when her whole body twitched.
"INITIATING FULL SPECTRUM LOS JAMMING."
Wall never used this function, rather he avoided it at all costs. While it worked extremely well for targets within twenty feet, it burned, literally heating up his brain. The headaches after would nearly have him bedridden.
Using the moment to gain the advantage, he used his left arm to literally throw the doll off him. The several hundred pounds of humanoid android flew through the air and into a wall right next to him, just several feet away. Wall flipped around, saw his gun nearby, and grabbed it, only turning around to see UMP about to pounce on him again.
"JAMMING TERMINATED. SYSTEM REBOOTING."
Another downfall to the system, his left eye went totally black as if he was blind. In reality, his body was just allowing his optical nerve to work by itself again, and it would come back within fifteen seconds.
This time he was on target. He mag dumped into the doll's chest, right where her core would be. The thirteen rounds left in the extended magazine all flew into the doll, causing her to fly back into the wall, then sloop to the ground, her head hanging down.
"I know your not dead you fucking commie freak." Wall rasped out, his throat starting to work again. He slipped out the empty mag and slammed home one of three extras.
UMP didn't move. He knew she wasn't dead though. Dolls had a smell to them when their core was breached.
"Get the fuck up you stupid fucking-"
"Say one more word and ill kill you." Wall jerked to the new voice, he was still laying on the ground.
Another Doll, nearly resembling 45' stood not too far away from him, she was pointing her weapon at him. He saw a device on her back, it looked like a sound-damping device he had seen in passing during WW3.
"Better kill me now you dumpy fucking doll."
His periphery caught a sign of movement, so he tried to turn back to UMP45 but heard the safety click off of the newcomer's gun. The vision came back to his left eye as UMP45 stood up.
"Alright, alright, you passed my test." 45' said and waved off the newcomer. "Nine turn off the dampener, we are all good here."
"What the fuck is going on." Wall let out, still laying on the ground, his weapon still pointed at 9.
45' pulled up her shirt, and two ceramic plates fell out from underneath. Both plates were completely shattered. The doll pulled up her shirt even more, exposing most of her synthetic body. "You know?" she said looking down at Wall, then her own body. "If my intel had been slightly wrong? Id be dead." Three rounds were inside the doll, all missed the core but probably hit critical components. Five of the rounds were stuck in her armored skin. "You know how hard it is to get repaired on this base? Gonna have to wipe like sixty memories…" 45' huffed as she brought her shirt back down.
Wall was beyond confused, one moment ago this thing was going to kill him. Now it just flashed its tits and talked about the fight like it was some sort of test.
"Why are you still on the ground? I told you the test was over…." 45' took a step towards him, he swiveled around and pointed his gun at her. "Fuck you and your test freak." UMP9 yelled something out but he ignored it. "I'll drop you right fucking now before your stupid fucking friend even processes the idea of pulling her trigger."
"Wooooah woooah big guy." 45' took a step back and held her hands out in front of her. "You knew about the test right? Nine sent you a message a while ago."
"Who the fuck is Nine?!" Wall all but yelled out.
45' looked over to the other doll, "Nine you did send him the message, right?"
UMP9 looked at her sister, then down to Wall. She flicked the safety on her weapon and let it drop against her chest. With an annoyed sigh she pulled out a tablet from her pocket, and flicked through it. Then her eyes went wide and darted between the device and UMP45.
"Oh mein Gott, du verdammter Idiot." 45' let out as she shook her head. "You didn't fucking send it….he thinks we just fucking tried to assassinate him."
9' stammered, "I-I-I didn't mean to, I swear I se-sent it!"
"Oh my fucking god!" Wall yelled out. Both the dolls looked down at him. "Quit with the fucking act and just shoot me already."
The dolls looked at him for a minute, 45' sighed and closed her eyes. 9' was the only one to speak, "It really was just a test."
----------------------------------------
G&K HQ / S01 / 31JUL62 1210 LOCAL
Convincing Wall, who was an agent for an organization that officially didn't exist, that the people who just attacked him, weren't actually trying to kill him, was easier to do than a person would think. Only thanks to his general intel on what Squad 404 was, and a general idea of who UMP45 was, eased his belief. The Big Six network was vast, but not everything touched the web, and Wall's purpose wasn't to get to know every single detail about the dolls employed or used by G&K, that was someone else's job probably.
"Raytheon's mark five neuro-link actually worked with that old jamming software? That's amazing." UMP9 said, leaning in as she tried to get a look at Wall's collar.
"You can step the fuck off." He shot back at the doll, covering his neck with his left hand. "My voice is already fucked up, and your Friend." He pointed to UMP45 who just shrugged, "Nearly collapsed my fucking throat." He rubbed where he got punched earlier, the pain had subsided. "I believe the whole security detail for Heilian story, but don't fucking think that makes us friends."
"Ohho but Mister Wall," 45' spoke up, "We are going to be great friends, since you know about us and all, you don't really have the option to say otherwise."
He looked at 45', then rubbed his throat for a moment. "Best friends, like such amazingly good friends." He said, "My god, I love the both of you like family, we are such. Amazing. Great. Friends." He ended the statement through grimaced teeth. 45' let out a laugh and 9' smiled, just practically copying her sister. Wall knew that the laugh was fake though, it didn't matter that it was a doll with fake emotions, this was the same sort of laugh he let out to just get out of a situation. The same dry and lifeless laugh he used daily.
"That's good to hear Mister Wall er-" 45' paused and cocked her head, "Or do you prefer Matthias?"
"Wall is fine." He didn't care about how they learned his first name.
"Matt then." 45' continued despite a visible distaste on Wall's face. "Since we are best friends now, and you understand Helian's job for us." She pointed over her shoulder, shaking her head once to move her hair out of the way. "Why don't you take a little walk to our small establishment? We have some planning to go over."
UMP9 moved her hood over her head, then shoved her own weapon into her coat.
Looks like I don't have much of an option.
Wall licked his lips once and looked around. He just now noticed how dry they were, one of his old tall-tale signs he was stressed out.
I can kill them-no don't. Let's play this out.
"Sure, fuck it why not." He said with a shrug. "Gotta tell someone I won't make an appointment, other than that, well, you don't care do you."
45' Gave him a smile and followed suit of 9', moving her hood over her head. "I really don't."
"You could live your life without being a cunt you know."
"You could live yours without sucking your dads dick."
Wall's mouth hung half-agape for just a moment, then he busted out laughing. "Dad's dick." Was all he left out as he started to follow the two mercenary dolls, gasping for air as he repeated the phrase. "I can't," he cried, "holy fucking shit." The group hadn't even covered fifty meters before 9' turned to a still laughing Wall.
"Can you be quiet? Do you know how much attention some laughing muscle-bound midget is going to gain? Clearing out all of the doll's memories won't be easy when they start looking."
With an over-exaggerated inhale, he stopped laughing and stood straight up. "I'm not that short." He let out a snort, still trying to hold in a laugh.
"You..what?" UMP9 Turned around and stopped walking. "You're like five-seven? Five-eight?"
"Keep walking nine…" 45' Said, ignoring the two.
"bist du hirntot?"
Wall shook his head and slapped 9' on the shoulder. "I barely speak kraut and even I know that accent isn't real."
He didn't see it, but UMP9 hit him with a concerned glance, as if he had said some secret aloud. The rest of the trip was silent, save for the general noise of the headquarters. The 'small establishment' that UMP45 had mentioned prior was in fact inside a hanger, and it wasn't small by any means. The exterior was the same white-grey as the other hangers in the area, but with badge in points and restricted area signs placed throughout. The whole building could hold an old C130 easily, which oddly enough, it did.
The interior housed the plane and several helicopters cloaked in some type of tarp. The rear-facing wall held massive flags belonging to multiple nations, all notably from old NATO nations. To the right, large concrete barriers stood against the wall, each tagged with art belonging to what appeared like military units and aviation squadrons. Finally, to the left, a congregation of plywood walls stood with cables and other electronics hanging over and around them.
"It used to belong to your people, the Americans," UMP45 said aloud, somehow noticing the fact he had been taking in the environment. "Green Berets, some Brits, and a couple others went through here in the early twenty-twenties, I take it you never came out this far?"
45' had stopped just short of a door leading into the plywood cubicle area. UMP9 had walked past her sister and towards the rear of the hanger, he didn't care to follow where she went.
"Germany was it for me in Europe. Moved west from there, then North. I take it you know the history, and probably a bit of my background."
"Just enough to make me uninterested in you."
"UMP fünfundvierzig bist du das? Ich habe auf dich gewartet, oh" A woman slightly taller than 45' had opened the door and peered out. Her white braided hair was contrasted by smokey blue eyes. "Heer Wall?" She asked, maintaining her slightly tilted body angle.
"Sier, kannst du bitte wieder reingehen und vektor und vier vorbereiten? Ich kümmere mich um Herrn Wall."
"Yes I'm me that's my name, can I help-" He stopped as 45' put up a hand, she whispered something to the white-haired woman, then shut the door behind her. "Ever heard of the Strategic Homeland Division?" She moved to the door and leaned against it, now facing him.
"The what? That sounds made up." He pointed towards the door, "Who was that?"
"No concern of yours, and it's not, it's American."
"I doubt with most of my remaining bodily power that it is, but that's not what I'm here for."
"Afraid the cancer will kill you that soon?" She asked with a small grin.
"What cancer?"
Persicaria you bitch that was our secret
The doll let out an obviously fake laugh and rolled her eyes, "All the fighting, all the chemicals, and a nuke, and you don't have cancer?"
I take back what I said
He frowned, "I hope not, you know something I don't?"
"Probably a lot more than you do." She lifted off the door and started to walk away, wagging her finger at him to follow, as if he was a child.
Disregarding the absolute rudeness a synthetic robot had just shown him, he did as shown and followed 45'. The two walked for a moment before 45' stopped in front of another door and opened it for him. "Gentlemen first." She ushered him in with her free hand.
The unroofed room held a table that was projecting a hologram of an area unknown to him. Several chairs surrounded the table, one had a jacket draped over it, it was of the same fashion as UMP45's and 9s.
Wall stood not too far from the entryway and waited for 45' to come in, which she did shortly after he stopped.
"So, ready for some business?" She asked as she pulled out a chair and sat in it. She eyed one next to her and tilted her head back and forth in its direction, another non-verbal command saying 'sit.'
He grabbed the chair in question and pulled it out, letting out a groan as he sat down. The skirmish with 45' had done some damage to his back it felt like. "What do you got for me?"
The doll looked at the table, then suddenly the hologram zoomed out and descriptor pings populated over the map. 3D Buildings in a blue outline were marked next to solid black roads, several locations were highlighted green and some red. Little blips moved over the roads, it looked like they represented vehicles.
"Hotel de Rome, don't worry about the street name." The map zoomed in on an area and populated a colored in 3D picture of the Hotel in question. "Not too far away, literally less than a click, is the Pergamonmusem." The map did the same for the museum, then pulled back out to an area overview. "The Hotel is where you two will stay, my team will be in some rooms nearby." She looked up at him, "You won't be sharing a room by the way."
"I didn't want to anyways?" It was more a statement than a question. He crossed his arms and gestured for her to continue.
"Hmph," She looked back at the table, "Escort team will be across the street for the duration. The Pergamonmusem is where the event will be located, ill send you the details on that after this is over." The map zoomed out slightly, and then the green buildings highlighted themselves and little notes populated above them. "The greens are safe houses, none G&K operated, those are easy to find. These are 404's personal use, don't think about using them in the future." The greens went and then the three red's highlighted. "Red is bad obviously, Soviet, EU, and American intelligence hubs. Well the American one is the Embassy but it's all the same. Don't get any bright ideas Matt, killing you isn't part of the contract I got paid for, but ill do it."
"You should start wearing those plates more often then doll."
UMP45 looked up and over at him with a smirk. He didn't return the favor, he was studying the location details. "You sure do know how to piss someone off."
"You sure do know how to build someone's trust." He said back, "So this contract, do you work for G&K, or are you for general hire?" His eyes didn't leave the table.
"Depends on who's asking, why? You interested in a job? We don't hire humans, mostly."
Wall leaned back in his chair and put his left leg over his right. "If I wanted to hire you for a job how much would it cost you?"
The doll stared him down for several silent seconds. She then copied his stance, save for one of her arms now relaxing on the back of the chair. "Go on."
"I know enough about you and 404 from my own devices, just enough to know that you really like money." He brought his leg back down and rearranged himself so that his chair faced hers. "I can get you one hundred and fifty thousand US dollars for a Job but uh." He looked around and gestured at the massive open space they inhabited. "I don't think this is the place."
She let out a laugh, "We rent this place, don't worry, Griffin tried to bug it but we scrubbed it all, we aren't anyone's dogs."
"You expect me to believe that?"
"You really expect me to believe that you just offered me one hundred k in that same area and now won't talk about it"
Man I am not good at whatever I am doing
"That enough to kill a person?"
"What did they do? We don't kill kids or innocents."
Wall looked over his shoulders, as if checking to see if someone was behind him. It was a very human thing to do, after all he was about to hire a G&K doll to assassinate a person in the interest of the Big Six.
"I'll know if your lying by the way." She prefaced.
No, you wont
"KCCO Operative. Female type, she had ties to G&K for some reason." He leaned in slightly, though his voice stayed the same pitch, this wasn't a secret. "A friend of mine in the Department of Homeland Security asked me to take care of it but I really don't wanna get picked up by the Reds."
"What did she do? Steal intel? Doll schematics? Old lover of some American Pig?"
"She wants to press false intel about things that don't exist, she wants to help reignite a conflict in Europe, and apparently she had ties to that Moscow bombing that just happened couple days back." Everything he said was mostly a lie. But not a soul would have been able to tell thanks to how his body operated.
45' was silent for a moment, obviously mulling over his request.
"Ok. We can accept."
"That easy?" he asked, surprised.
"No, not that easy. I'm going to need you to build an HVT card and some details on when where and why, money will be half up front and the rest on completion. If we fail we keep our half regardless." She leaned up and then sat back down, closing her eyes. "You didn't lie so that's good enough for me Matt. Money will need to be from a clean source and untraceable, Helians contact takes priority so don't expect me to kill some lady while protecting you."
"Will need to be before, word is she plans to try and get to Helian at some point and I can't take that risk. Even if G&K was in the know, it would be an issue to hear a whisper."
"Are you working with the US Matt?" She asked, opening her eyes.
"Haven't for a bit, the legionnaire work wasn't really state-sanctioned and more of a-"
"Yeah yeah diplomatic thing." She cut him off.
"So smart aren't you, anyways, the terms are acceptable. I can forward you a profile and target card tonight, money can be sent too probably tonight as well, just gotta shift it around."
"What's an acting liaison for G&K doing with that sort of power?" She asked.
"What's a band of merc dolls doing operating in Europe?" He asked back.
The two stared each other down, then both of them smiled. "Fair point Matt."
"I figure the less we know about each other the more beneficial our friendship will be Miss Forty-five."
The atmosphere that had been growing came crashing down when one of the doors off to the side opened. Two more dolls entered, one had a beret on her head and white hair, while the other was being carried in the arms of the first. The doll being manhandled was asleep and also had white hair.
"Four sixteen?" 45' said with an almost annoyed look on her face.
The doll, 416, looked at Wall, then at 45'. "Eleven was sleeping in my bay, again." She quite literally tossed the smaller doll onto the floor in front of her. G11 let out a groan but didn't seem to wake up. "This dummkopf is starting to become an issue." 416 continued, "What's with him?" She pointed at Wall with her thumb, not actually acknowledging his existence. "Is he the guy we are supposed to be working with?"
UMP45 was about to say something but Wall cut her off.
"You know lady, I've met a lot of Dolls recently that have racked and stacked in my top ten ever for absolute assholes."
416's mouth twitched. Something Wall packed away in the back of his head for later use.
"Next time maybe give the light of day to someone in the same fucking room as you, and don't be a violent little prick to someone who wants to hire you. I don't know if you have a concept of how jobs work, but it's generally frowned upon to shit talk your working party."
45' tried to stifle a laugh, but let it out anyways.
"But no no, don't listen to me." He pointed at her face, which was now full of anger. "Just keep getting fucking madder for someone pointing out what I assume is one of many flaws you have. Yeah no your right, I'm the piece of shit, ill go fuck myself in the nearest bathroom how about that?"
416 was on the cusp of a violent episode by a visual glance, but 45's now howling laughter did something to break to the doll. 416 simply turned around and left the room, slamming the door behind her.
"Is she going to get a gun and come kill me?" He asked a still laughing 45'
A body peaking up from the table caught his attention, it was G11. Her hair was messy and her drowsy eyes scanned the room before looking at Wall.
"You…." Was all the small doll managed to say before she collapsed again to the ground.
Wall got out of his chair and looked over the table, G11 was now sleeping on the ground face down. "Is she gonna be all right?" He asked, looking over to 45' who was now recovering herself.
"Hoooo-hoooo that was good Matt. Don't talk to four sixteen like that again but fuck, that was funny." She stood up and made her way over to G11. She knelt down next to her and whispered something in her ear.
Whatever it was made G11 shoot up off the ground faster than any human could ever have hoped to move. "I WILL APOLOGIZE RIGHT AWAY!" G11 shouted before running to the door. The doll opened it, turned around and looked at Wall, bowed, then left the room in a bolt.
What the fuck did I just witness
"Uhhh" he said, blinking several times as 45' stood back up.
"That was four sixteen and eleven, two other members of the team. Don't worry about them, you'll only interact with me and nine's for the duration more than likely. Don't worry about the contract either, if we get the money they will do what I say, I'm the boss after all." She made her way back to her chair and sat back down. "So, shall we get into some details Matt?"
With a prolonged sigh, Wall sat down and nodded.
The next five hours were spent going over the plan. Details of the event, possible threats, the ins and outs of the safe houses and where to avoid at all costs. .45 even had a plan for a seaborne retreat mocked up if things went super bad. Then came a basic refresher in PSD duties, instead of a live fire and the exercise he had expected. UMP45 grilled him on situations and what he would do in the environment she had given him. After that was a general knowledge stent that would have made a younger Matthias Wall sweat from stress. Thankfully the current him knew just enough to get him through the Adhoc question session. Once the two were finally done, .45 ushered him out of their hangar and reminded him of their own contract and its details.
The next several days were spent babying his team, juggling the details of his current actual mission and Helians mission with 404, and trying not to want to kill himself. The time wasted having to apologize to Kalina for being two days late past his first message was something he would never forget. The fact she almost didn't issue him new gear was annoying enough, but now she demanded him to buy her some German chocolates as an apology. He knew deep down she was just messing around with him though, she needed him as company to vent. He wasn't actually all that annoyed by her and the task, just by the fact he had yet another thing to do in a place he'd rather not go.
----------------------------------------
G&K HQ / S01 / 04AUG62 2210 LOCAL
The last day before the ride out Wall finally made his way to an angry tailor. The older manned spent most of the session cursing at him in Ukrainian, or maybe Russian, he wasn't too familiar with the differences and was pretty sure the old man went back and forth on slurs. Granted it wasn't for nothing, Wall did go to the place with less than a day to get measured, fitted, and have a suit ready. Thankfully the old tailor knew his craft well and was able to produce the items before the end of the day.
"So," Helian asked as her heels clacked against the pavement. "I take it everything is ready on your end?"
Helian had been in the local area by the time Wall had finished up with the tailor. She had sent him a message just prior inquiring about his location and if he was free. He told her where he was, and she said they should meet up and head back because she was near. When he asked what she had been doing out in the town, he was promptly told to "Mind his own business."
Wall carried his new suit and shoes in a bag, it was slung over his shoulder where he held onto it with a finger. "All good now, that old guy was pretty pissed I put it off to the last second but eh, is what it is."
"He makes more money than he's worth, but he's a nice guy." She stated as she tightened her red trench coat. The night was oddly cold for a summer in Ukraine.
"Your dress isn't G&K red is it? Not saying the color doesn't suit you, just would be, you know…" he trailed off.
"Know what Mister Wall?" She glared at him as the two walked through an ECP into the G&K HQ grounds. The guards already knowing who the two were, didn't dare to stop them for an ID check.
"Like I have a dark blue suit and grey undershirt, by your own recommendation that is. I assumed you have something identical?"
"Mmm, don't worry about me Mister Wall, I can assure you I know what to wear for events like this."
"Fair enough Miss Helianthus, I'll never inquire about your attire ever again."
He was met with a swift elbow to the side, followed by a nearly silent "Don't be an ass," Comment from Helian.
Wall rubbed the side of his stomach and pretended that it hurt. "Those 404 kids, they worth the money?" He asked, moving the conversation along.
"You spent most of the week working with them and you want my opinion now?"
"I mean, sure?"
She shrugged, "They have a troubled past, and each one of them has their issues, but Kryuger likes them enough."
Kryuger. Berezovich Kryuger. Intel on him wasn't sparse, but a good deal of it was blacklisted even from the Big Six's eyes. Wall had gotten the info he needed on the man, but had not had a single interaction with him. Which for him, was completely fine, he knew Kryuger was a Vet aswell, an officer at that, and he had no want or need to get face to face with a Red. Someone once said time healed all wounds, but that wasn't always true. Wall didn't hate the Soviets, he didn't hate Russians. He didn't hate the Euro's for bailing on the US and didn't hate the Chinese for killing lots of his friends. He absolutely vilified each of them separately. It wasn't a hate for the people, it was a hate for their simple existence. There was no racism or prejudice, but simple human ingrained anger for the fact they still existed.
"-all?"
The literal uncountable dead, all estimated, caused by them.
"Wall?" A hand touched his chest.
"Are you ok?" Helian asked, she was standing right in front of him.
When the fuck did she get there?
"Why wouldn't I be ok?" He looked down at her hand, it was still pressing on his chest. She noticed it and moved it back, folding her arms again.
"You stopped walking and spaced out for like ten seconds."
What the fuck
"Jesus Christ did I really?"
"Was it because I mentioned Kryuger?"
"What does that have to do with it?" he asked, "I just thought of the fact I haven't seen him at all, which I thought was weird."
"Oh…" She paused and looked at him for a minute. "I thought it was because of your wife…"
Wall tilted his head. "What does uh..what does that have to do with anything?"
Her eyes went wide, "I…" She started to look around nervously, "You don't know…do you?"
"Obviously not. What's wrong with you? What happened?" Something was going on, he didn't dwell daily on his wife's death. But whatever this was, was something new and it concerned him on a deeper level.
"It…I shouldn't have brought it up I'm sorry." She turned away from him and was going to walk away when he grabbed her arm.
"What the fuck are you talking about Helian." His grip was a little bit too tight, he knew that, so he let go completely.
She had turned around, though she wasn't completely facing him now. She was looking at the ground.
"I looked into your records again, I glossed over it originally, I'm sorry…you mentioned Libya and I double-checked something"
What the fuck is she talking about
"The attack on Tripoli, Kryuger doesn't talk much about it. But he…"
"He what." He said through nearly clenched teeth. Some deep part of him knew what was coming next, he started to make the connections and he could feel a deep rage inside him start to boil.
Helian looked up at Wall, met his gaze, then looked back towards the ground. "He's mentioned that he commanded a rocket attack on the city, around the same date you were there…"
She didn't have to say more. There was nothing left to say. The innate hate inside him grew to the forefront of his mind, it raged and demanded to take over.
He took a deep breath, and let it out. The pain moved to the back of his head and pounded away at him. He was sweating heavily, and he could feel his heartbeat elevating despite his usual general control over his own body.
"Jesus Helian." He said aloud, thankful that the dark night hid most of his face, and all of the sweat on his forehead. "Thought you were gonna say he fucked my wife or something." He patted her on the shoulder. "Don't scare me like that."
"Wh..what?"
"I mean war is war, shit happens right?"
The pounding in his head was growing. The latent effects of the jamming prior were now starting to show, he needed to get to a room fast and pass out.
"Im..I…" Helian was flustered at the whole situation.
"Time heals all wounds, right? I mean I work for you directly anyways, right?" He took his hand off her shoulder.
"Wow…" was all she managed, she took a deep breath and recovered herself. "Um…lets uh, let's just move past that whole conversation then…" She started to walk off, Wall followed suit.
Some wounds don't heal. Old wounds still hurt, and you always remember what gave you the scar.
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In typical me fashion, I reached XXXXX amount of words and wanted to complete a product, so if something on this seems a bit rushed, that's why. I have no time frame to do any of this, but now I finally have all future chapters, and maybe something beyond *wink wink* plotted out.
As always, please comment on what is fucked or what needs to change. If you like something let me know, it really does go a long way for my motivation. If something is really shitty in here and I find it later, or one of yall call it out, ill fix it and DM you, even give a shoutout in future chapters!