Ch.3
Presage of the End
"I am the harvest of man's stupidity. I am the fruit of the holocaust. I prayed like you to survive, but look at me now. It is over for us who are dead, but you must struggle, and will carry the memories all your life. People back home will wonder why you can't forget."
― Eugene B. Sledge, With the Old Breed: At Peleliu and Okinawa
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STATION 794 / S09 / 1JUL62 0610 LOCAL
The warm early morning summer air of southern Ukraine was as fresh as it could be. A breeze came and went, igniting the sounds of the wildlife around, birds began their sing-song melody.
"Sorry for last night," Gentiane said softly, not breaking her stride.
Wall found himself behind the Commander, who had invited him out for a morning run before the day really began. Despite the security of the station, both he and Gentiane wore their plate carriers and carried their rifles, not wanting to take a chance.
It was their fifth mile now, the finish line would be the Stations Entry Control Point. "I thought the whole situation was kinda funny, still do." He said with a huff, his distance running days now far behind him from both age and injury. "Really though, you did the right thing."
Gentiane was generally stoic, she didn't show much emotion in conversation, but that didn't stop her from actually talking.
"Fair point teach, you holding up ok?" She looked over her shoulder towards him, giving just a hint of a sly grin.
"Not a runner," he huffed again, "fucking teach." He shook his head and flicked her off, a curt laugh was her response as she took off for the final leg of the run.
Little shit can run all day for all I care, I'm just here for the fun.
He slowed his run to a jog, then a walk, and decided to take in the last hundred feet of the trail. The farthest he had ever been in Europe was western Germany, during the winter too. Memories of the war came back to him, Germany, then Belgium, then France, and Britain, all just one long fallback as the US lost battle after battle.
World War Three had done its number on the US, eventually leading to strategic failure and loss. Halfway into the war, the Pan European union replaced the EU, then declared war on the US and NSU. Fighting some of the guys he had known, having to kill them, had chipped away him little by little.
But that part of the war was in the past now, and his mind shifted focus to after the Nuke in Manchester when he had been redeployed to the Pacific Theater, which played out slightly better for the United States. The Allied assault on China with the backing of India turned the tables, that was until India and Pakistan decided to end each other. He had missed the Korean unification by this point, but he had heard the push into the North was as bloody as everyone expected it to be.
Then came press into China, it had been tough, and the siege of Beijing was the straw that broke the camel's back. With the lack of pilots, ships, and general manpower, the US had to consolidate itself where it could. It's odd to think that on the eve of the truce, the United States was deploying nuclear weapons, ready to finally burn it down.
Three billion casualties worldwide, the world's population sat at a meager four billion at the end of the war. Yet throughout the entirety, the two original superpowers, never unleashed nuclear weapons on each other, that thought alone never ceased to amaze him.
He had heard that in the eyes of historians, the US held the highest enemy KIA count, which he did believe, but at the cost of so many good men. The Nation he had fought for, that had been borne of freedom, that bleed for liberty and justice, that even though corrupt and degenerate, still fought off almost the entire world as the darkness closed in around it, was now just a shell of its former self.
It's said that only .5% of men who fought for her in WW3 survived the entirety, and Wall had been one of them, though he never thought himself lucky in that fact.
"Wow you really slowed down. Like walking much?"
He had finished, though mentally he had finished a long time ago. His breathing was back to normal, and that strange nagging pain in his left lung was gone.
"Dearest Commander Gentiane, sometimes you have to enjoy the world around you!" he declared loudly, holding his arms out.
She sighed, gave him another small smile, and tossed a bottle of water his way. He caught it was his prosthetic arm, slung his rifle, then opened it and downed half of the bottle.
"So," he started, wiping his mouth off before continuing, "Shower first or straight to meet and greet?"
She raised an eyebrow and crossed her arms, "We can just do it out here."
He looked around, only slightly confused, "You have showers out here?"
"No, what?" she shook her head, "I have the files and stuff, lets's go to the garage and talk the talk, my dolls will start to bother us if we go back down. "Skorpion likes bothering me anytime I'm alone with a male."
I expect nothing less than some freaky shit like that from those IOP dolls.
"You know I don't think ill ask any deeper on that one." Wall walked past her, picking up his bag and pointing over to the garage.
Without a word, she grabbed her things and started walking to the garage, Wall following close behind her. A neural data ping caught his attention, a file had been sent by one of the other Agents inside G&K, he opened it and almost laughed aloud.
Specialist Unit, AR Team under 16Lab, will be conducting a counter SV operation in your sector soon. Intelligence received states a ringleader may be near station 794, but is not actionable enough to act on. If you come into contact with the SV ringleader, we suggest giving this information along with its downloadable contents to said member. Total projected outcome points to instability in G&K operations in the area.
All of the possibilities he ever could want lay before him, he just had to move slow and not show trends.
"Alright then." Gentiane let out as the two entered the garage. She pushed a wooden box over to Wall and set down on her own, opening her bag and pulling out a file that he had given to her the night prior. She flipped through the contents for a moment, then looked up at him. "I won't press your past here and now, we got you for a month or so, we can learn about each other as time goes on, that okay?"
He shrugged, "I'm mostly an open book, feel free to pick my brain whenever, what else you got.?"
She looked back down at the file, then back up. "So, for all this training I'm supposed to go through, and don't take this as me being rude please, but what am I actually getting out of it?"
"Well," he smiled, "training is training, Heilian really sent me out here to point out deficiencies and give input when and where it's needed. Training wise?" he lost his smile, "I've seen your files, your good, but lack the some of capability to conduct groundwork with your dolls, which you seem to like."
She raised an eyebrow.
"You can command from the CIC or whatever all day, your dolls work well together, mostly, and you even like to lead them out in the field, which has its pros and cons." He leaned up, resting his back on the wall behind him, "You aren't in the shit with men, humans that is. The dolls have the ability to do what they need without us, but when the human disconnect happens, well, IOP fucked up something."
"What do you mean?"
He waved his hand, "Study up on weird design some other time, what I'm getting at is that the Dolls need you alive to fight and win, or at least bleed the enemy if the situation is bad enough. If you wanna be in the shit with them, then you have to realize they are the meat sponges with guns. They can take more hits than us, normally at least, and then keep moving."
"I'm not thinking of my team as a bunch of pawns." If there was any hate in her statement, it didn't show.
"Band didn't think that either, pretty sure he was fucking one of them too." He said matter of factly.
She rolled her eyes, then shook her head, "Apparently that's an issue, anyways.."
"Right, so at the end of the day I'm just gonna run you and your team through some scenarios, teach you how to be more effective with your position in mind, and play the part I'm getting paid for. I'm not a high-speed low drag guy, but I do know a lot that may help you and your people get out alive one day. Sound good?"
She was about to respond when Skorpion and M14 made their way into the garage.
"So, you WERE alone with him!" Skorpion yelled out.
M14 didn't seem to be a part of whatever Skorpion was doing, she walked past her fellow doll and b-lined straight to a Humvee with a set of tools in hand. Wall made a mental note of that, something was forming in his head.
Gentiane sighed and stood up, rubbing her face in annoyance, "Can I not talk about my job, and our training with our new teacher?" she waved the file she had with her free hand.
"I'd use that excuse too if I wanted to get close with someone!"
The SMG ran over to the two, hands behind her back and grinning from ear to ear.
"For what it's worth, I don't think flirting in a garage is in my book of love," Wall said as he stood up.
Skorpion looked over at him and lost her smile, she tilted her head, "What's wrong with your voice mister?"
"Skorpion enough!" Gentiane let out, tired of the little game.
Wall smiled, "Got hit in a fight, guess I'm lucky."
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STATION 794 / S09 / 10JUL62 1020 LOCAL
"It was fifth-generation warfare, it was fucking FIFTH gen, and the academic intellectuals still debate on if it fucking exists," Wall said with a hint of anger, his eyes were down and focused on a laptop.
"Human doctrine hasn't even established a 'us vs them' mindset." A seemingly mad MG3 called back, "Globalization lead to an insane strain on your supply lines,-"
Wall turned to face the doll, he was inside the station's repair bay. Doll stations, two rows of ten, sat to his front, and behind him a single row of servers. "I am not arguing the causality of a World War with a fucking doll," he stuck out his hand, that age-old 'knife hand' of a military service long past met her. "If you want to have a civil discussion with me on it then that's fine, but start pulling some sort of attitude with me and we are going to have to solve that problem, tracking?"
It was AK's turn to speak up, "Uh guys?" The two looked towards her. She was laying down on a repair bed, two wires leading out from the back of her neck and into Wall's laptop. "I kinda, you know, need to get checked on here? MG mind like, you know, fucking off?" She winked at her friend but was very serious.
The steaming German doll huffed and stormed out of the room.
"Seriously?" Wall looked at AK, "Is she always like that? Barge in here and start talking to me about all of the contributing factors of a fucking war I lived and fought through?" He shook his head as AK let out a small laugh.
"She has her moments, should talk about the Cold War with her, well like the original one."
"Why…" he stopped and placed his head in his hands, "Why are you guys the way you are."
She shrugged, "Why are you the way you are?"
He looked up at her and saw she was smiling, "Don't gaslight me Russian." He was about to start typing again when a thought came across, so he asked, "Speaking of which, why don't you have an accent? All the dolls I've come across generally have the accent of their maker nation."
"We can turn it on and off, kind of like our human-esk emotions and sensory intake."
"Now on that topic." He started typing away again, "On those emotions, the things that only exist to make a dude on the frontline comfortable, do you three really want them on? Feeling pain and anxiety? Seems very unbeneficial."
"I think, therefore I am, some wise guy said that right?" she was still smiling, Wall could see it out of the corner of his eye. "Let's talk about it with the other two, but yeah we normally like keeping them, lets us, you know, think we are real."
He looked over to her and returned the smile, "That's pretty fucking deep, but yeah we can talk about it later, anyways," He turned back to his laptop, "You still mad about yesterday? Seems like the cause was a fault in the order, gonna correct it here in a moment."
She shook her head, "Let's just have the talk with the other two, no one likes losing their emotions and thought processes in a split second. I imagine you know how that feels, right?"
"Actually, that was overtime, like the span of the entire war. Wasn't the worst thing that happened to me though, granted that's a conversation for another time."
"I mean we got time, don't we?"
He pressed the 'enter' button on the laptop, and AK's body went limp. She was off now and in her level III consciousness mode.
Let's get to work, shall we?
A simple program created by the NSA and given to Big Six operatives, no footprint whatsoever and deleted itself on possible discovery. 'ZOMBIE' was its name, and its purpose was to take total control of a doll's network and do whatever its operator commanded. It could be turned off and on by verbal or neuro command and was simply the scariest thing Wall had seen in a hot moment. Whenever a doll docked up to backup its memory, the program would copy itself into the doll's cloud and could terminate that version of the doll's conscious, forever. Whispers in the wind spoke of even deadlier versions in development, that could take out an entire certain AI hivemind.
Sorry to do this to you kid, but hey, the game was rigged from the start wasn't it.
Wall cringed at his own thought.
That was pretty fucking gay, thank God I didn't say it aloud.
Some more typing on his laptop ended with another soft click.
"Essentials activate." That was the code word he gave to the Doll.
Her body came back to life, eyes opened, and looked at him, with no emotion whatsoever.
Holy shit it works
"Awaiting." Was all she said, her voice monotone.
"Lift up your arms."
The doll did as told.
He unholstered his sidearm, checked the chamber to make sure a round was in the chamber, then handed it to her.
"Take this gun, put it in your mouth."
The doll did as told once again, sticking the aged 1911's barrel into her mouth, her eyes still glued to him.
"Fuck that's scary." He watched her for a moment, her unflinching body and immediate response reminded him of the Angel and Aegis units he had used in the past. "Hand me back my gun."
She took the gun out of her mouth, took hold of the slide, and then handed the firearm back, grip towards him. He took it from her and re-holstered it.
"Essentials deactivate."
The doll turned back off and went to its original stance, right before it was activated. He pressed enter on his laptop one more time and AK came back to life.
"I mean we got time, don't we?" She re-spoke her last words, then squinted and looked around, "Did…did I just repeat myself?" She looked at him, "Did you turn me off?"
He raised both his hands quickly, "Yes and no, you went out for a split second when I updated the software."
She continued to look at him for a good moment before speaking, "Could've warned me, that was rude."
"To be fair, I'm not a doll tech, I didn't think the update would do that, good news though?" he looked at his laptop and then back to her, "No more issues!" he said as he clapped his hands together. He powered down the laptop and unplugged the thumb drive that had been sitting in it. He stood up and held out his hand towards the doll.
She looked at it, unplugged the cords in her neck, and then grabbed his hand. She didn't try to pull herself up, instead she opted to try and pull him in.
"Wo-" he pressed his leg out and fought against the doll's pull, using his free hand to grab onto her, he pulled back. "Calm down now, thought I fixed you."
She let out a groan and let go of his hand, causing him to almost stumble. "How are you consistently no fun?" she pressed off the bed and stood up, collecting her firearm. "Such a buzz kill I swear."
If this fucking thing is coming onto me, I'm going to have it kill itself.
Sex dolls had existed since the early 2020s, and had only grown more advanced and human-like since then. Not even just sex dolls, but maids and workers, assistants and secretaries, the list went on. The worldwide lack of human manpower only gave a massive boom to companies like IOP among others. But regardless of the success, and no matter how human they were, Wall found himself in almost a constant state of disgust when faced with the issue. But he could play his part if he had to.
"I think I'm a little too old for you." He said as he took a step back.
She looked up at him and gave a sly grin, "What if I'm into old dudes?"
"My wife said the same thing and we married in our early twenties."
Her eyes went wide, "I uh, didn't know you were." She started to stammer.
"Relax, she passed a long time ago, not into the whole getting together thing anymore though."
"Oh…I…I'm sorry, I didn't mean, you know." She looked away from him
"Life's life, stuff happens, just happy to be here." He patted the now sulking doll on her shoulder, "Don't worry about it, if anything, keep it to professional flirting, because it's kinda funny."
He actually meant that part, he wasn't attracted to the doll in any manner, but some part of him was reminded of an older time when she did it. Not some far-flung concept of love long lost to him, not some needed emotional connection with the nearest hole, but a memory of how the old guard, his friends he served with, Male and Female, treated each other.
"Wait…so like, you are interested?" she shrugged off his hand and crossed her arms, giving him a quizzical look. "Stop sending mixed signals."
"It's interesting in the same manner a kid keeps telling you the same thing over and over, because they think you care."
Her jaw dropped and she uncrossed her arms, punching him in the chest, albeit softly. "That is the rudest fucking thing I've ever been told!" She turned around and started to fast walk away, mumbling something.
"Love you too dear!"
She shook her head and spat on the ground, "Why does my mouth taste like metal?"
Why the fuck do you have tastebuds?
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STATION 794 / S09 / 10JUL62 1200 LOCAL
Lunch came fast and ended even quicker for Wall. The second he sat down, IDW had led a gaggle of almost child-looking dolls over to his table. P7, C96, MP446, and PPSH all sat down and started to poke and prod, some literally, the rest only asking uncanny questions. It was like watching a slightly taller dwarf become a leader to other dwarves, IDW led the conversation and by the end of it, had all of the dolls calling him grandpa. Eventually he escaped the hell though and then found himself inside Gentiane's office.
"I apologize on MG3's behalf, it's not often she gets to talk with someone with, well, war experience." She sat a cup of tea Infront of Him. Her office was on the compact side, and was obviously made with an old Ukrainian mindset. Two leather chairs were set opposite a coffee table in the center of the room, and a ceiling fan was on a low setting, just providing enough breeze to make someone comfortable. Wall waited till she was seated to continue the conversation.
"Don't sweat it, not often someone tells me I'm wrong about a period of time I lived through."
She sighed and took a sip of her tea, he did the same. "She likes talking history and strategy, and she really does love listening to old vets tell stories about the War. That's just with this version of her too, something about her last Commander rubbed off on her."
"Good tea by the way," he wiped his mouth, "Who was her old Commander? Was he a vet?"
"Liam Jacobsen," she kept her eyes down and at the coffee table, "He killed himself in May after a bad operation, and yes he was, served with the British I believe."
If his body still had the ability to send a chill down his spine, that would have been the moment.
If I've been had, I'm so fucked.
"Shit, sorry to hear that." He kept his collected manner, his heart rate never increased.
"I didn't know him, just a shame it happened." She put her cup on the table and leaned back into her chair, crossing her legs. "Tonight, I'm sending a team into the abandoned village southwest of us, mounted patrol, will be back before morning. I'd like you to take your team and go with them, see how they operate on their own, and see how my orders unfold from my soapbox."
He took another sip of his tea before placing it down, "Sure that sounds good, but what's the overall objective down there? We doing a presence patrol or looking for stuff?"
She smiled, "Presence patrol, we ran into some Sangvis Ferri out there last month. Want to make sure no one came back." She leaned in, and spoke softly, "Word is a ringleader is in the sector, id like to make sure it isn't in my area of operation. Granted that's not official, just word of mouth from a friend."
Once again, things just happened to fall into his lap. The odds of the ringleader actually being there were nil, but chances bred opportunity.
"I can kill lots of things, but aren't ringleaders really fucking strong?"
She shrugged, "You probably won't find out, but my team and yours would be able to take one out easily enough, I haven't had any signals intelligence about SV movement in my AO."
"So no SIGNIT hits means nothings down there? If I was doing spook shit I wouldn't leave a footprint or bread trail either."
"That's why we are doing the patrol!" She said with a bout of happiness, "So? Grade me, how do you like the plan so far."
"An easy seven out of ten, dropped down a point because I can't have you too happy about it."
For a person who was supposed to be stoic and emotionally distant, Gentiane was showing a lot of emotion.
She laughed, "Thanks teach…" she reached down for her tea and took another sip.
"Teach, you really stuck on calling me that? Now half of your fucking team calls me Grandpa thanks to IDW, I'm beginning to feel a bit, just a fucking slight bit old."
"You were some type of aircrew before you worked with dolls right? Don't they give out callsigns?"
"Listen, listen listen listen," he said slowly as he leaned forward, "My callsign was, and still is, an inside joke that none of you will ever get to know, there is a lot of old heritage that has to be followed to find that out, and I ain't telling you anything,"
"Oh-ho, well now that's something to harass you about in the coming month."
"Instead of grasping for straws about my many names, how's about we talk on this team your sending?"
"Avoiding the conversation? Fair enough." She leaned over and pressed a button on the coffee table, a holographic map appeared slightly above the teacups. A blue-lit 3-D topographic map sat between them, location markers and names hovered above towns and villages, and a big green star sat above the station.
"The name of the village is Kharlyiv, mostly wooden buildings with three two stories here." She pointed to a specific location on the map, causing it to zoom in. "M14, G36, MAC-10, FNC, and FN-49 will be my team, along with your side that makes us nine strong. Two Humvees will set out at about twenty hundred local, it's about thirty miles away, our outside the wire callsign is ferret."
"Ferret?" he interrupted her.
"Yes ferret," she ignored it. "I know they gave you Sage, but you'll be on our rules for this one."
Don't have to be so fucking demanding lady
"You'll be in the second Humvee, G36 will have tactical command in the lead as ferret one, if you're ok with that."
"I'm just there to observe anyways, if shit goes sideways make sure they understand I may take operational command though alright?"
"Sounds like a plan, this is sort of a test for G36 anyways, M1919 is my echelon leader currently and recommended G36 for an upgrade, so let me know how she does please. Anyways, when you guys arrive G36 will go about clearing out the village, you can discuss with her the composition of forces, who stays with the rides and mans the guns, blah blah, I think you know better than me how to do that job."
He shrugged, "Only from unfortunate experience, ill get with her and battle plan, do some test on the robot AI that was designed for combat, you know, normal stuff."
She smiled, "Normal stuff, right."
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STATION 794 / S09 / 10JUL62 1355 LOCAL
"Okay then," Wall leaned himself up against a wall and clasped his hands together, "Before we zeroize, calibrate, and run some drills, I have some questions for you two specifically, and since AK already talked on it."
His team, AK, M200 and IDW, had joined him within the station's indoor shooting range on his order. The range was fairly large, sitting at one hundred meters long, with ten firing stations abreast. All had their issued weapons, including sidearms, but were in their own personal attire. It was an easy out for Wall, one last thing for his dolls to complain and bother him about.
The illusion of free will, why did I think it would be harder to manipulate these things?
All things considered though, his dolls were dressed, modestly, to say the least.
"Regarding the emotional programing you three have, well, you do know why you have it right?"
IDW nodded quickly, she was somehow constantly full of energy, "To make the soldiers we work with feel more comfortable!"
He snapped his fingers and pointed at her, "Right, and seeing how I don't need emotions in the field, just reaction and cold hearts, well." He looked at AK, she stared him down and looked away, crossing her arms.
"If you'd allow it, only when the situation dictates, and I mean that we are in a bad way or you aren't performing the way I need in a fight," he looked back towards the other two dolls. "You'd be fine with me turning off your human behavior modules, since the uncanny valley effect doesn't really exist for the situation,"
M200 raised her hand
"Whatcha got?"
"I'm ok with it if it's really needed, but I've never had mine off before, what will it feel like? Will I still be able to, well, be me?" She lowered her hand and started to hug her rifle, a hint of genuine concern on her face.
"I have no clue honestly, by the numbers and books you should be completely fine, you're not losing awareness or conciseness, I mean I'm at like a…what"
The tale has been illicitly lifted; should you spot it on Amazon, report the violation.
What the fuck did the doctors tell me? It wasn't good…
"Oh, yeah, I lack like most of the emotional response of a normal human, and even less than that for a vet, and I think I'm pretty good."
"Pretty good at being an ass." AK mumbled to herself.
He ignored the comment, "From a human standpoint, since that seems to be the issue, you will be fine."
"But what if something funny happens and I can't laugh?" IDW spoke up again.
"You aren't losing memories or anything, I'm sure the second they come back on you'll be rolling on the ground."
The SMG tilted its head, her catlike ears cocked to the right, "Why would I roll on the ground?"
Wait what the fuck, did she always have those ears? …. No yeah, she's always had them…. Right? Am I fucking losing it? Damn, they look soft too that's wild.
"Why would you…what? Are you serious?"
She smiled and started to laugh, M200 stifled a giggle, and even AK lost her composure and snorted out a quick laugh.
"Hehee gotchya!" She stuck her tongue out at him, then went back to smiling, "I'm fine with it! But only if we are not ok and you need us!"
"I agree with IDW, only if you really need it, oh and…thanks for giving us the option on it grandpa."
Wall sighed internally, part of him hated being called that by inhuman androids, but the other more human half had it growing on him, his old troops used to call him dad, was this any different?
Yeah, it's pretty fucking different, I'm not that old yet…no, I am pretty fucking old aren't I?
"AK, what's the word?"
She didn't look at him, instead opting to look at the other two dolls. She eyed down M200, who just stared back, then to IDW, who met her with a smile. She sighed and shook her head, then looked up at Wall and gave him the same grin she had earlier today. "Just can't stay mad at you old man, yeah it's fine, just like they said though, only if it's life or death, ok?" She ended with a wink.
That was easy
"Great!" He clapped his hands together and pointed at the range, "If we are all in agreement how's about we run some drills? You guys are my team, my family, I need to know how well you can shoot and react."
The three of them nodded and proceeded to their pre-designated stations, each had a free space left and right of them.
"First up, stoppage drills! I have in one way or another, fucked with each of your weapons, or maybe I haven't." He walked up behind M200, "You will put on the kit in front of you, each of you will have four magazines with a random amount of ammunition for your main weapon, save for you M200." His voice was loud and concise, but not so much so to distract his shooters.
"On the left side of your carrier, since we are a Godly family and don't stack mags on our strong side, you will find three magazines for your sidearms, each is loaded with yet again another random amount of ammunition." He started to pace back and forth behind the three. "Load up, put your mags in, and keep your weapons level and downrange, go!"
Not under any specific time constraint, the dolls tossed their assigned gear on and readied their weapons, following his orders to the T. M200 was the only odd fish out, her bolt action system didn't fail much, so he just had a dummy round for her first.
"Good! Ok, you will fire your weapon till your first magazine is out, and for any malfunctions, you will clear them as quickly and safely as possible. Once you are dry, you will draw your sidearm, and fire until your out, once that is done re-holster your sidearm and standby for orders. Understood?"
Three different versions of "Yes" came back to him.
"Ready, Fire!"
M200 pulled her trigger, nothing happened, she rotated her bolt and feed the next round home.
AK47 fired five rounds, jammed, looked at the chamber, proceeded with the classic tap-rack-bang method, then continued to fire.
IDW's weapon failed, she racked it, failed again, another rack, failed, ignoring another attempt, she dropped the slung SMG and drew her sidearm, then proceeded to open fire.
The door to the range opened, and a happy-looking M14 made her way inside and over to Wall. His team wasn't distracted by the guest, and kept with their drill.
"Sir! Would it be ok for me to join in on the training? AK mentioned it earlier, and I," She tightened her grip on her rifle. "Well Id love to…" She looked down at her feet, her knuckles started to turn white.
Holy shit she's crazy and stupid
The firing stopped, each doll had done as told, and was awaiting the next command.
Wall patted M14 on her shoulder, "grab some extra magazines and rounds, then bring them to me, go wait at station seven, gonna do some reloading drills ok?"
Her eyes shot up to meet him, a smile radiating from her face, "Yes sir! Thank you sir!" She turned around and headed to the small armory the range had, just some ammo, magazines, and cleaning materials.
"Ok next up, reloading!" He squinted and looked down range at each doll's targets, then at the screen above their stations, each one had landed all the shots he remembered giving them, all center mass.
"First off, main weapon. You will fire until empty, take notional cover and reload, then come back up and fire. Rinse and repeat until you have only one magazine left, do NOT draw your sidearm, understood?"
M200 raised her hand.
"Watchya got for me M200?"
"What do you mean notional cover?"
"Th-" he stopped, then continued, "I guess it doesn't really apply to you does it? For my other two you will crouch down, pretending you have cover, and reload. M200 time yourself mentally on your reloads, set a goal and beat it, sound good?"
The doll nodded.
I have no clue how to run this shit for a sniper, fuck me
"Ready? Fire!"
All three opened up, M14 quickly walked over to Wall and set down three boxes of 7.62 NATO, and six magazines.
He pressed his earpro back and leaned over to talk to her, not like she would have a hard time hearing.
"I'm going to randomly load these, go to your station and I'll bring them over."
She nodded and trotted off to her spot, Wall went to work and put different amounts of ammunition in each magazine, the first and last one a full.
By the time he was done, his team had finished the drill.
"Okay easy stuff, safe your weapons if you already haven't, which you fucking should have."
A safety being clicked on broke the silence, "Nice" IDW chirped out.
AK mumbled something.
"Good stuff, place your weapon down on the table in front of you, facing downrange, and clasp your hands together in front of your chest."
He reached behind himself and slapped a button on the wall, the targets the dolls were shooting at turned, and moved towards the front. An automatic system changed the targets out, and set the used ones to a table on the far right of the range.
After a moment, everything had reset. Wall walked over to M14 and handed her the magazines, "My team will be shooting their sidearms, but same concept goes for you in the drill ok?" She nodded and placed the magazines on the table in front of her.
"Alright!" He called out as he walked back to his original position. "M14! Load your first magazine, chamber a round, and point your weapon level downrange!" he watched as she did as he asked.
"Shooters ready?! Fire!"
Gunfire erupted, and yet again another person walked in, this time it was Gentiane. She grabbed her named headset off the wall next to the door, turned it on, and walked over to Wall. He noticed M14 had stopped firing and was looking at them.
"Keep with your fucking drill M14!" he yelled out, causing her to wince and go back to firing.
Gentiane looked at M14 and shook her head, then back to Wall and smiled, "Mind if I join in on the fun teach?"
Why don't we just have a fucking party lady? Bring in all the shit birds
"Ever hear of the Mozambique drill? That's next."
She gave him a confused look, "A what?"
"Failure to stop drill, you know, two to the chest one to the head."
"Ahhh," she nodded, "Is that what your type called it? Mozambi…Mozambiq…whatever?"
"It has a history, name is interchangeable cause it's the same thing, but no and yes."
He pointed over his shoulder towards the armory. "Go load up with your choice of handgun, preferably something with fifteen rounds, get five mags, pick a table."
"Wooooah commanding man in the big boy chair huh?"
He looked down at her and raised an eyebrow.
"My bad, bad joke, sorry."
Looked like she actually meant that one.
"Mama said I was a big boy." He blurted out, wanting to not make the young commander feel bad. Despite what her file said, she was quite the conversationalist, and he wasn't going to ruin his only human interaction here.
"That's weird." She said as she started to walk towards the armory, his joke obviously fixed the issue.
He went back to watching his team, and M14, on their drill. Once they were complete, he walked up and down the line to make sure everyone was out of ammo, then back to his position, and once again pressed the new target button.
"Ok! Everyone load up five mags for their sidearm on their own time, starting now." His three did as told, M14 looked over at him and was about to say something. "Come on over." He turned around and picked up a spare P226 that he had brought in case someone's failed. The 226 was the issued handgun for his team, each doll had its FCS slightly modded to be able to use it effectively enough.
"Here." He said as he handed over the firearm to the doll, it was already cleared and racked to the rear.
"But I'm not proficient-"
He stopped her, waving his hand back and forth, "Proficiency isn't an excuse, programming or not, today is a day of training and learning, you do know the basics of how to operate this right?"
She nodded.
"Good enough then, if you have questions ask." He nodded once in the direction of her station, she took the hint and went over to it, stopping to grab some ammo beforehand. As she did that, Gentiane walked out of the armory and started to set herself up.
After giving everyone a moment to reload, he started his range sphill once again.
"Ok, failure to stop! Don't understand what it means? Then listen up! The paper target will advance slowly starting at twenty-five meters out. You will have your hands together at chest level, on my command you will draw your weapon and fire, two to the chest, one to the head. You will continue to do so until dry, upon completion you will drop your then emptied mag, place it on the table, and re-holster your weapon, everyone understand?"
Once again, no questions.
"Ready…." Everyone clasped their hands together, "Fire!" M200 was the first to draw, and first to shoot.
Cleanest fucking moves I've ever seen in my life, she's a hitter for sure.
The drill continued, several different variations and methodologies existed, and he threw all he knew at them.
"Ok! Make all weapons safe and clear, check yourself and check your partners, then form up on me for some fun."
He made his way over to the target paper table and pulled the five most recent targets off, brought them over to his self-proclaimed range master area, and placed them down in a random order, marking each of them so he would know whos is whos. A moment passed, and everyone formed up around him.
"Who thinks they shot the best, who thinks they shot the worst?"
IDW was quick to respond, "I'll take the best!"
M14 slouched and looked down, "I'll take the worst…"
"Easy money," he handed the two a target, one of the best groupings and one the worst. "Ok, everyone can see clear as day the difference here, right? Trigger squeeze, breathing, which doesn't apply to most of you, and hand placement on the gun."
Everyone nodded, M14 looked over the target and let out a sad sigh.
"Ok, now let's do this." He took the targets from the two and handed them to their actual owners. "M200 here is the best shot of the day, and this little midget gun isn't even her forte, not only that but I'll be damned if she wasn't the quickest draw I've ever seen." He gave her a fatherly pat on the shoulder and she smiled and blushed.
"On the other hand." He handed the worst target to Gentiane.
"Fuck."
"Fuck is correct ma'am." He pointed to many bullet holes and proceeded to call out every single instance of what she did wrong.
"Now with that grilling session over, second place goes to AK, third IDW, fourth M14."
Gentiane just shook her head and cursed.
"Don't let this go to anyone's head alright? Today was a day for training, obviously. You will fuck up, you will make mistakes, and you may not even do well. But that's for a reason, we train this shit the way we do so we don't fuck up I the field and get ourselves or our friends killed right?" he looked left and right, making sure they understood him, "Train to fight, fight to win, and now?" he pointed over to the stations and their weapons. "It's time to clean our shit."
----------------------------------------
STATION 794 / S09 / 10JUL62 1930 LOCAL
A quick mid-day nap to get ready for the night-long operation was interrupted by a knock at his door. Interruption wasn't the right word for it though, as soon as his eyes opened the alarm clock on his tablet went off. Wall groaned, pressed himself up and out of bed, and tossed a shirt on while walking to the door. He opened it to find a kitted-up M200, she had her hands behind her back and looked up at him with a smile.
"What's up long gun?"
"Long gun?"
"If everyone is giving me nicknames ill give yall some too, only fair right?"
"Potato and Intervention are my normal ones…"
"Chey then?"
"I wasn't made by them though."
"I mean, you were in a way."
She put a finger on her chin, thinking for a minute. "Chey then!"
"Long gun it is."
"Wha-"
He tapped her lightly on the head, "No one gets to choose their nicknames, that's not cool." He turned around and made his way back to his bed where his boots were. "Anyways, do me a favor and make sure IDW and AK are ready ok? Unless you needed anything else…" He sat down and pressed his boots on, looking up to M200 as he tied them.
"Thank you, for treating us well." She turned her head, avoiding eye contact. "I know, at least think, you don't like dolls, and that's ok, but thank you for being nice to us, because it feels genuine."
She didn't leave room for comment, as soon as she finished, she darted down the hallway, leaving his door open.
What the actual fuck just happened
For the first time in what felt like a long time, he was confused by an interaction. Did he give off the vibe he didn't like them? Because he didn't like them, not in a pure hatred or something like that, but he just didn't like the fact they acted human. Was it because they were more human than him sometimes?
Nah I'm not insane, that's not it
That's what an insane person would say
I'm pretty sure I'm not jealous of fake humanity, in fact I don't think I can BE jealous
"That's what a jealous man would say."
That voice was real and female, he shot up, and looked around his room, no one was there.
"Hello?"
Nothing, not a thing in the world was in his room, and nothing he knew of could read his thoughts.
Well, that's concerning…
The thought lingered for a second, concern built up, then faded away. If he was going crazy, it was about time. Concussions, grey matter, radiation, PTSD, the list went on and on and it was anyone's guess on how he still functioned.
When I'm back, i'm gonna need a checkup I think...
With that, he pressed forward yet again, grabbing his gear and heading out the door.
----------------------------------------
STATION 794 / S09 / 10JUL62 2010 LOCAL
If a natural leadership ability existed for robots, G36 had it. Good voice, good calls, allowed input, and most importantly she had done her research. She knew the target area, as she should have, she had the plan down, and she knew good convoy operations knowledge. Ferret One would be the lead Humvee with G36, MAC10 as the driver, FNC, M14, and FN49 as the gunner. Ferret Two, Wall's Humvee, would have himself, M200 as the driver, IDW as the gunner, and AK.
The village was split into four sectors by a crossroads, the Humvees would press into the village and cover the unsearched sectors as the ground teams moved in. The ground team would be the pairs of G36 and FNC, then M14 and AK. Despite his poking, G36 asked him to stay inside the vehicles unless they needed him, which he gave her props for mentally. His job for the day wasn't door kicking but watching and listening. Battle tracking was fun in its own right, he would monitor AK's live feed through his neuro-link, and update everyone on the situation at hand.
"Well well well, fancy seeing you three here." Wall said as he closed his door, unlatched the armored window and pressed it down.
"But we just saw each other outside?" IDW stopped her crawl to the M2 50' gunner spot.
"It's an expression IDW." M200 said, flipping the Humvees ignitors on and waiting for the orange light, then turning the engine on.
"It's ok IDW he's an old man, just pity him and pretend you understand." AK was doing the same as Wall, bringing her window down.
IDW started to laugh, climbing into her seat. Wall flicked AK off then looked up to IDW.
"Little gun you know how to use that baby?"
"Mmm! M2 taught me how to, uh, use it! Also, we have base heavy weapons programming! Just don't expect me to be a sharpshooter!"
"The fuck? I thought the FCS…you know what never mind." Wall looked down, leaning back to see into his chest's admin pouch. He unzipped it and took out a small device.
"What's that?" M200 didn't take her eyes off what was in front of her, she was pulling out of the garage and behind the lead vehicle.
"Old school player, MP3 type deal, military gave them out way back when, needed something SIGINT and ELINT couldn't grab onto, the boys down range wanted to listen to jammies and they gave us this."
"What's ELINT?" IDW asked, looking down.
"Electronic intelligence, I mean it's a subcategory of SIGINT I guess, I should say COMINT, or communications intelligence, COM is people talk on devices, EL is beeps and squeaks, if that helps at all."
"Noooope! I'm more confused now!" She tapped him with her foot and looked back up, then started messing with the 50'.
Wall shook his head, he took out a plugin for the radio box inside and pressed it into the MP3. Radio calls would stop and music from playing and pause them. The volume was based on the device as well, so it could be turned up/down without messing with the actual radio's nob.
"Watchya gonna play boss man?" AK asked as she leaned in behind him, she threw an arm over his seat and held unto his right side.
"Bluegrass."
"Bluegrass?"
"Sorta."
~There is a time for love and laughter, the days will pass like summer storm~
"Ugh." AK let go and sat back down.
"What's the song called?" M200 was parked behind the lead vehicle now.
"There is A Time."
~But there is love and love is warm~
"Ferret Two, Actual, radio check?"
"Actual, Two, Lima Charlie, how me?"
"I hear you, I just lost a bet as well."
Wall looked at M200, she shrugged, "What bet was that?"
"You sound professional on the net that's all."
"Annnnnnd what side did you pick on that?"
"Two please maintain comms discipline." Before it cut out, laughter could be heard in the background.
~The path is new, the world is free~
"Fucking seriously?" He looked back at AK and then IDW, "You two in on that?"
"Nope!"
"I wish I had been."
He laughed and shook his head. They may be fake, but these dolls did as designed and made a man comfortable.
"Two, Actual, ready to move?"
He looked over to M200, and she nodded, he slapped IDW on the leg, "I'm ready!" he looked over his shoulder at AK, she smiled and gave a thumbs up.
"Two's ready on you ma'am."
"Let's move, keep spacing."
"Kill."
The two Humvees lurched forward, then started to move, weaving in and out of the jersey barriers in front of the ECP, then pressing downhill.
"Yall like the kit I got for ya?" A genuine question. He had to twist some arms to get his team good stuff, good vest and plates, good helmets and ENVGs-C's, the enhanced night vision was many of soldier's best friend. Mods for their weapons, and some wild ammo that did wonders against armor.
He didn't have a chance to get a response, "Two, Actual, you know how to use drones right?"
"Uh, some yeah? I'm not a pilot, why?"
"Big Bear sent up a shank earlier, it's overhead apparently."
He looked at M200, who was focused on driving, "Who the fuck is big bear?"
AK answered, "Commander Gentiane, you didn't know that?"
He looked back, shook his head, and keyed the radio. "Yeah, I got a pad for it, uh, we got the keys?"
As he asked, the pad on his chest vibrated, he reached up and pulled it down to view. A file had been sent and he clicked on it, after a moment of loading the screen went black, then came up with the feed of the shank.
The shank was a loitering munition that doubled as a decent low endurance low altitude ISR platform. They were old, but new ones kept being made and this one was a mark six. Mark six could stay airborne a little longer and had a better blast pattern when compared to the other versions. He hadn't used one in three years, but the controls were dummy-proof. Set the loiter, touch where you wanted the ball to look, highlight a target and it would kill it.
"Actual, two"
"Go ahead."
"Did you know we had this up? No one told me."
"Just got told myself, Big Bear said previously that she had a present she was waiting to use."
He huffed, and started tapping away on the screen, slowly knocking off the rust from his previous and first job. It was only equipped with thermals, but that's all he needed, the whole village looked dead.
Time came and went, and some random discussions inside the Humvee to help pass the time occurred followed by a lecture on the finer points of how intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance were key to any successful operation. Once they had arrived, the dismount teams set off and started clearing out each of the dilapidated buildings. Wall did as asked, mostly, he kept everyone up to date on positions and areas of interest via the shank, but he did it from outside the Humvee. He wasn't going to keep sitting the whole time, mainly because it sort of hurt. The aged up-armored vehicles had been replaced a long time ago world wide, and for good reason.
The mission continued slowly, the dolls took their time making sure nothing was hidden or disturbed. Wall was walking on the covered side of his Humvee as it moved through the streets and to the last sector, where the two stories were.
"Actual, two, I'm setting the shank on auto and coming over to help with the clearing on these, how copy?"
"Copy herr W-errr two." The German voice corrected itself.
"Hoooo almost kid almost, that's a point." Wall said with a smile as he shook his head, he turned around and looked into his downed window, "Yo kids, I'm gonna go help out, yall need anything?
M200 yawned and stretched her arms, "I'm ok, thank you."
"Find me something to shoot please I'm booooooored!" IDW let out.
"I'll try my best." He tapped on the door twice, an old habit, and then turned around to go and join the ground team. The village was old, very old indeed. The full moon above really made his NVGs unnecessary to an extent, so he had them pressed up for the moment to let his eyes adjust to the environment around him. Not taking any chance, he stayed in the darkness as much as he could, better that than telegraph his presence. Not that the rumbling engines of the Humvees and the low buzz of the shank did them any favors, but then again this wasn't a secret operation, and the shank hadn't detected any movement.
He walked slowly and softly, taking in the area and listening for whatever threats there may have been. His right cargo pocket felt heavy suddenly, he looked down at it, the only thing in there was a thumb drive, the one with the intel he had been provided with earlier about that special team. He looked back up, a worn-down log cabin was in front of him, his skin prickled, and his somehow still working fight or flight kicked in.
No. Fucking. Way.
He flicked his safety selector off and moved his weapon to low ready. A noise, the slightest most insignificant noise in the world sounded from inside the cabin. He took a step forward, shouldered his weapon, and pressed down his ENVG's which automatically turned on. Another step, scan, then another, the noise didn't come back, he walked up to what once would have been the door entrance, which now was only an empty threshold. He toggled his IR laser and pie'd the door, doing his best to clear the visible space before pressing in. Only slightly satisfied, he went in, quick and smooth as he hugged a wall with his weak side, walking several steps and rotating at the same time to scan the whole interior.
Then that noise again. He flicked his body in its general direction, the fastest movement he had ever done in his whole life. He swore his heart rate spiked for just a split second, which was very uncommon for him.
It was an Owl.
It hoo'd at him, its eyes glowing in the hue of his goggles.
"Haaa fuck." He let out, "If I could have a heart attack, that would have been the time." He lowered his weapon and looked at the bird for a moment. It looked up, puffed its feathers out, then flew away.
Weird…
Then the noise of something behind came, it sounded like someone landing lightly on their feet. He had forgotten to check up, the most basic and rudimentary fuck up a person could have, he didn't check the fucking roof.
He tried to spin around, but he wasn't going to beat what came at him. He was halfway into a turn when a dark figure brought him to the ground, hard. Whatever it was held his gun arm down and wrapped a warm hand around his mouth. His ENVG's fizzled for a second and came back, his head in a mild amount of pain. He tried to reach for the knife dangling on the bottom front of his plate carrier, but the figure adjusted itself quickly, straddling him in a position that a normal human wouldn't have been able to do. Both his arms were pinned by whatever the thing was, and it weighed a lot as well.
Wall wasn't going to die without a fight though, he tried shifting his body weight to roll the figure over, but it didn't work.
"Such a shame you have to die today..." The unknown figure said, though he had a very good idea of who it actually was.
"mhmm mmm fraommm" He said with the hand still over his mouth.
"Hmm? Want to cry for help? Beg your friends to save you?"
He shook his head and pointed to his cargo pocket, his hand digging into the cold ground as he did it.
Fuck this bitch is heavy
"Hmmm? Want to call a loved one and tell them another G&K scum is going to die?"
Again, he shook his head.
The figure let go of his mouth, he played it carefully and didn't say anything. She reached onto his helmet and snapped then yanked the EVNG's right off, tossing them to the side. It only took a moment for his eyes to adjust. The figure was, as guessed, a ringleader, Agent to be precise, a pale white woman with black hair done into a bun, though her outfit was different than what G&K stated she normally wore.
"Speak quietly plebian, or ill tear out your throat, though ill be killing you anyways."
Who the fuck calls someone a Plebian?
"I'm with G&K-"
She leaned in closer, somehow putting more weight on his chest. "I know."
"But not actually, I work with some people who, agree, with your mission, in the pock-"
"Two where are you? Everything ok?"
Wall looked at his mic, the transmission had come through his headphones but was just loud enough for Agent to hear as well. He looked back up at her, and smiled, "Mind if I lie real quick?"
She smiled back, "Oh please tell them I'm here, I was getting tired of waiting for your people to leave."
She moved what felt like her left leg off his arm. Slowly, he reached for his radio piece and keyed it, Agent licked her lips.
Jesus another freak
"Yeah, just doing my business, will be there in a moment, I'm an old man and all."
"What is your business?"
"It means he's peeing haha!" IDW went over the comms.
"That's disgusting" someone said
"Ah, ok, we are waiting."
He moved his hand away from the radio, and then waved it slowly, "See? I'm here to help"
"You are trying to find a barging chip for your life coward." She said in a silky-smooth voice.
"I don't have much to do that with, just check that right cargo pocket…"
She looked down and over to the pocket in question.
"A thumb drive with intel, something about sixteen lab and a special doll team."
Agent's head snapped back to him, her eyes glued to his. She gave a vicious smile and leaned in, reaching down and over with her right arm, as she did her face came closer and closer to his, she stopped when her nose touched his. Her hand was fumbling around in the pocket, then she grabbed hold of the device. She looked down at his neck and saw his neuro-link collar, then looked back into his eyes.
"A very old device, want me to plug in? I hear your kind destroyed themselves with such technology, I'd love to finish the job." She finished with a quiet giggle.
"I think it would be more time beneficial to just kill me normally."
She frowned and yanked the thumb drive out of his pocket, brought her face up, and studied the device.
"For a man going to die, you are very calm, your heart hasn't skipped a beat…" She looked back down at him.
"Yeah I know I'm not too normal, that's why I'm giving you that…" he said as he pointed towards her hand. "If you can check it out, nothing ventured nothing gained right?"
She looked back at the device, smiled again, then opened her mouth and swallowed it.
Well I'm fucking dying I guess
"Is eating it really the best response?"
She was quiet, her eyes were looking towards the roof.
Wall looked at where she was looking, then back down to her.
"You there?"
Agent looked back down at him, smiled yet again, then slowly got off him.
"You weren't lying, who is our newest benefactor?"
He kept his body on the ground, his rifle was just an inch out of his reach.
"Old men, the information is free to, no catch or anything, just do what you will with it is all they asked."
She stared him down for a minute, then gave him a nod to get back up, he did as she asked, slowly.
"These old men, they want us to kill the people on their side?"
Wall had collected his rifle, then pressed up off the ground. Once fully standing he looked down at the doll and was disappointed that such a small unit had put him in his previous position. Granted if it had been something he really wanted to kill he could have given it a good fight, probably.
"G&K, IOP, the whole lot of them, are not our friends."
"Then who is?"
Wall smiled, "That's easy, War."
Agent laughed, loudly. "Then that makes us friends." She stuck out her hand, "I'll be leaving now, don't try and follow me my dear, I'd hate to have to rip you open, dead friends aren't very useful, are they?"
"Go southeast, no one's looking that way, shank overhead though, ill position it somewhere else." He grabbed her hand softly and shook it, as he pulled away, she pressed an object into his hand. He opened it and looked at a small jet-black coin with strange markings. He was about to ask what it was when she spoke up.
"A token of our friendship, don't worry it won't poison you or track you, if you meet any of my underlings do show them it, they won't kill you, probably."
He raised an eyebrow, then stuffed the coin into his cargo pocket.
"Well then," he said, "I really need to go now, lest our not-friends start looking around."
"Very well, do tell our new benefactors that Sangvis Ferri is willing to talk of contracts if it involves War." With that she turned around, and dashed off in the direction he gave her.
"Good fuck that was stressful Jesus God in Heaven." Wall let out as he walked over and picked up his now broken ENVG's, he rotated them around in his hand and frowned, "Kalina's gonna have my balls for this, fuck it was expensive." He shook his head and walked out of the shack, "Actual, two, on my way."
"Bought fucking time." AK's voice came through.
The walk over to the two, two-storied buildings only took a quick minute. The age-old Soviet design was still recognizable even today, probably a good near hundred years after they had been made.
"Old man what the hell took so lon-" AK called out, but stopped herself when she eyed up his state. Besides the broken ENVG's in hand, he was dirty, as if he had been rolling around on the ground. "What? Are you ok?" She finished as she jogged over to him.
"The story is almost too embarrassing to tell."
She grabbed him by the plate carrier and looked him over, "You're not hurt, what happened?"
G36 and M14 walked over, "Are you ok?" M14 asked.
"I.." He rubbed his face, "Oh man, I heard a noise in a building, went to check it out, found out it was an owl, tried to leave but I tripped over a log and fell down."
The three guns looked at him, then at each other.
"You're lying." AK said
Obviously you idiot
"I wish I was."
"Were you hurt Herr Wall?" G36 asked, not willing to make fun of him
"Besides my pride? No."
M14 giggled, "Even with all that experience, we still can mess up huh?"
"Seem's so."
"No, you are legitimately lying, why the fuck are you lying what happened?!" She sounded concerned, shaking him slightly.
Wall grabbed her hands and ripped them off, letting them drop next to the doll. "No yeah I fought Agent and she stole state secrets from me, stole my chastity, then demanded a shotgun wedding."
M14 laughed, G36 tried to maintain her professionalism but failed, only AK seemed upset.
"That's not funny. You need, ugh…" She shook her head and walked off, "We will talk later."
Inquisitive little shit, I will fucking reset your fucking OS so fast
"Sure thing honey-bun."
"Hon-honey bun?!" G36 let out, "Seid ihr Liebhaber?!"
Wall laughed, "Nein, it's an inside joke."
G36 breathed a sigh of relief.
"Okay okay, enough jokes, let's get this done." Wall gestured to the nearest building and proceeded to walk towards its entrance.
----------------------------------------
STATION 794 / S09 / 11JUL62 0625 LOCAL
The operation hadn't taken all night long, but the team did stay out the whole night. Once the real job was done, G36 had asked Wall to lead them on some force-on-force training, apparently she had stowed away some training gear in the back of her Humvee. So they did, the first several rounds were just his team vs G36's team, which scored 3-5. The next round was the same, but with Wall giving tactical commands to his team, the score was 5-0. Then he joined in the fun, scored 3-1, and lastly, he joined G36's team as tactical command and scored 1-5. After a good talk about the general proficiency of a team with a tactical commander, and a nice gloating session by his undermanned team, they left the area.
"Damn guys, I'm tired as hell." Wall let out, now slouched against his window. He rubbed off some of the simunition paint that was on his bruised cheek. Simunitons, or sims, were gas-propelled bullets, they had round casings, but the actual bullet itself was just a thing of hardened detergent paint with a plastic casing around it. That plastic casing hurt like hell when it hit you too, earlier versions didn't go very far, but these had a range of six hundred meters.
M200, who had been hit once the whole time, yawned, causing Wall to yawn back. "I can still go for another couple of days Sir."
"I can stay up for a longggggg time!" IDW was still in her gunner's hatch, a battery fell and she kicked it onto the floorboard. The battery-powered SMG was literally battery-powered.
AK said nothing, still upset about him seemingly lying to her. How she knew he was lying was an issue, that would have to be fixed quickly, if he knew it wasn't going to raise questions he'd activate the ZOMBIE programming and just wipe her now.
The sun had just started to come up as the Humvees pulled into the Station, Wall squinted as they went through the ECP, at some point a Hind had touched down and two people were standing outside it, one was of which was Gentiane. The two vehicles pulled towards the garage, and backed into their original spots. He stepped out and strechted, "G36666!" He yelled out, "When are we debriefing ma'am?!"
G36 stepped out of her Humvee and walked around it to meet him, "Well, seeing as you're the tiredest among us, how's seventeen hundred sound herr Wall?"
He nodded and patted the doll on its shoulder, "Sounds good killer, I'm gonna go talk to boss lady over there." She pointed towards the commander.
"Klingt gut Kommandant!" She gave off with a salute.
"Im not your Kommandant vermisse G36." He returned the salute with a smile, then started to walk off.
"My team, go back yourselves up in the cloud, do what you need, and take a break ya hear?!"
M200 and IDW responded, AK brushed past him.
He shook his head and made his way over to the hind. He hated Hinds, he hated the Russians, he hated a lot of things, but Russian aircraft held a special place in his own personal hell. But the second person at the hind didn't.
Holy shit…
"Holy shit is that Juan?!"
Juan, the man he met at Valley, who he had been someone he was ready to kill if needed, and was still ready, was alive and well. He knew he lived through it, but didn't think he'd see him so soon.
Juan looked over to him and waved, "Nice to see you still kicking white boy! I'm here for three days! Ready for that good good food?!"
Wall laughed and was about to speak when the world suddenly went dark. This wasn't him blacking out, this was like he had been taken out of the real world and forced into an interrogation room in a movie. He looked at his arms, his body was still fully lit up, like he was standing in the sun. No noise existed, no smell, just a void with him in it.
Woah ok, this is death huh? I didn't think purgatory was a thing, scripture never said it existed.
"Why are you lying?"
He jumped, why did he jump? He looked around franticly and tried to speak, no words came out, instead it was the voice inside of him take came out.
What the fuck is this?
"Why can't you just tell the truth?!"
That voice was the same one he heard yesterday, in his room.
Am I dead? Is this just me breaking finally?
A figure appeared, surrounded by light. It was female in appearance but had no visible characteristics.
"You wish you were dead, you cannot lie to me, we have connected, you saw me once, you heard me, what keeps making you return to the empty place?"
I have never been so confused in my life, am I inside my own head? Don't you already know the answer?
"We are the same, we are akin, I love you, but you ignore yourself therefore I cannot reach inside of you."
That is the freakiest fucking thing I have ever heard, and I am now terrified.
Fear, real fear started to swell up inside of him. It had been years since he felt legitimately afraid, at least he felt the fear inside him, but his body did not show it. He felt it though, that tightness in his chest, the weakness of his muscles. But his brain just didn't quantify it, something inside him just didn't process the fact he was afraid mentally, but his body did, as if the two were working against each other.
"You feel it, because I feel it too, you are afraid, and that's ok, just tell the truth…"
Lady I don't know what's going on with my body, what truth do you want?
The figure had been getting closer to him the whole time, and he hadn't even noticed it. He really was losing his mind. Then a flash, he closed his eyes in response, then the warm touch of a human hand on his face. He opened his eyes, it was AK, why was it AK? Cause of the program? Some connection? Cause she was mad at him?
"Wake up, tell the truth."
The real world came storming back to him, he gasped in the air around him, his lungs felt like they were on fire, as if he had been holding his breath. His head was pounding, and the light on his face hurt him more than anything. He was on the ground, he didn't remember falling, he tried to get up but something held him down.
"Wall! Wall!" A voice, crying, yelled out. He felt someone holding onto him, then a face looked down at him. Again it was AK, she was crying somehow, her tears were dripping onto his face. Someone moved her off, it was Juan, he slapped him on the cheek gently.
"Wall! Wall brother wake up!"
Wall felt his nose start to bleed, or maybe it had been bleeding for a good minute, he felt woozy, felt like shit. He looked around, Gentiane was holding AK back, the entire station had surrounded him. M200 was standing still, she looked like she was in shock, IDW was crying as well, and G36 held onto her.
"Why is everyone crying?" he said, far more softly than he intended.
"Wall man your gonna be ok alright? Wall! Shit, he's fading!"
The world started to go dark again, slowly.
"I don't feel too good." Was the last thing he said before he blacked out.
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Ok a whole lot of exposition in this one, and maybe you know like 2k words of range time that's arguably not needed for a story. But guess what? That's how it is sometimes, I'm not gonna bore you every chapter with something like that, but the drills and the training are a good portion of someone's life.
With this CH out, things are gonna slow down a good bit. Not losing motivation or anything, just don't wanna burn myself out on this fic because I'm enjoying it so very much.
A massive shoutout to my friend NightHawk for helping me QC my work, giving ideas, and telling me it looks like shit and helping me. If stuff looks like it's changing every chapter, it's because I'm learning how to write better than a 5th grader.
Also, this is the only forewarning. We have the "tragedy" tag for a reason, I have an idea of how I want to end all this, and there it's not gonna be good. The enemy will not be clearly defined, and the goals will never be truly justified. Like Halo Reach told us a good couple years back,
From the beginning, you know the end.