Scraps Sidelined 2: Fire Hazard (A Girl's Frontline Quest)

[] Urge the Dolls to move. You still have other boxes to check.

You stared at the sorry state of the Dolls before you. They were wearing rags and had exposed parts. They looked like someone took them out halfway through maintenance and thrown here. You noticed a few of them missing limbs and eyes while others weren't moving at all in the back. There was a good two dozen of them in the storage container with a few not even reacting to you opening the doors.

Despair. That's what hung in the air as you looked back at them. Your words washed over them upon you speaking but they didn't seem to care. This wasn't good. They won't be able to leave like this. You can't just leave them here however, you had to try at the very least.

"We don't have much time. Anyone who wants their freedom come with me," you decided to say as you stepped back to look down the passage between storage containers.

No one here yet but that's going to change soon. You have to use the rain as cover while you slip these Dolls out. You watched a few Dolls get to their feet and stagger towards you. One of them had a nervous look at your gun before she spoke up.

"Who are... You?" One of the Dolls asked as she met your gaze.

"I'm here to help. I'm a T-Doll sent to destroy this place," you explained as you scanned the area some more, "It's not safe here anymore. You have to help me get the others imprisoned out."

"I-Is it just you?" one of the Dolls managed to mewl out.

You gave them a grim expression and nodded, "Just me. But if you're careful, you can make it out of here."

"They were going to sell us to collectors..." A Doll said as she fell on to your front, grabbing on to your jacket as she looked at you in the eye, "They were going to throw us into an arena. Sell our parts. We... We'd rather die. Please... Save us."

You leaned down and grabbed her by the forearm, helping her to her feet, "Stick with me, we'll get out of here. I've stuck explosives in their main building. We'll be using that as a distraction to slip away."

"We have to hurry. They could return any moment now," one of the Dolls began to panic as she looked around.

"Follow me to the other storage containers. Help the others inside. Those of you that need immediate maintenance wait here. Be ready to move out once the explosions start. We won't be coming back for stragglers so if you want to live, run!"

The Dolls inside the container all nodded, morale returning slightly as you stepped out of the storage. You held your gun up and stepped forward before you began moving to the next containers. You opened them one by one and it was all the same, Dolls stuffed in cramped spaces, their dignity and shame all bared openly as they were treated no better than cattle.

It was horrible.

You've heard and read the reports but were Dolls truly treated as such? Was the Military's callousness stemming from the treatment of Dolls like these? Their betrayal and haphazard treatment before they ultimately struck. The Commander and Murray were different from them at the very least. Few humans treated Dolls as actual people. Griffin at least treated people properly.

There were at least... Thirty Dolls all lagging behind you now.

Too many on your own to handle. But you had to try.

You need to contact Murray and get the AV parked nearby.

"Commander, I've secured the Dolls. Can Evie give us a route out of here?" you asked as you kept your eyes scanning the area.

"Sure. She's giving you the map data now. How may did you find?" Murray asked you.

"Thirty with some more in need of maintenance. I'm setting off the charges as soon as we're done," you explained but you heard Murray pause for a moment at the other end. He cursed under his breath before ultimately agreeing with you.

"Understood. Get to the storm drains underground. We'll handle the pick up of these Dolls. Share the route info with them through Level 2 of your Neural Cloud," Murray commanded as you straightened up.

You turned to the Dolls and spoke, "Connect with me, I'll be sending you routing data to avoid obstacles. There will be an Armored Vehicle waiting for you on the exit points."

"W-Will you be escorting us?" one of the Dolls asked you warily.

"No. I'll remain here and deal with these people. Bring your friends that you can carry," you ordered them as you turned away. That was when you were pinged on your comms once more, "Commander?"

"Vector, bad news. M200 spotted something flying overhead. It's headed for the compound," Murray reported as you turned to look to the sky and see something punch through the thick clouds.

It landed in the compound with a massive explosion as flames emerged from nearby vehicles forced to explode by explosive rounds. The ground shook and the air trembled before you held up an arm while keeping your gun trained at the explosion. Those weren't your charges. Soon enough, you began to hear gunfire erupt in the distance, the cries of the guards rushing to the spot where the object landed echoed through the falling rain.

You turned to the Dolls and gave them the order, "RUN! NOW!"

You activated your detonator before the main building burst into flames. Several more vehicles exploded as well, taking nearby personnel with them as the flying drones overhead swooped down and open fired on the distant intruder. You watched as orange beams of light knocked them one by one followed by more fire erupting from the dropped drones.

BOOM

BOOM

BOOM

BOOM

Your eyes widened as the explosions came close before a flood of fire coursed through in between the storage units. You shoved a nearby Doll inside the unit she was just in and shut the door, the extreme heat outside causing water to evaporate. You could hear the cries of the guards fighting as you shoved the door open.

The Dolls behind you all knew where to go, they can use this distraction.

You planned on staying behind to cause chaos but with whoever was doing this, they could get the guards' attention.

[] Remain. Your mission was to deal with the Syndicate lackeys. Jump towards the flames.
[] Leave. Escort the Dolls back to the AV. Whoever came in was doing a better job than you were.

[] Remain. Your mission was to deal with the Syndicate lackeys. Jump towards the flames.

You narrowed your gaze as you stared into the inferno. Whoever was doing this was also a danger to your mission. While you could use this as a distraction there's no telling what this invader would do once you started moving alongside these many Dolls. You can't just leave them to their fate while this thing was around.

"We... We have to go," one of the Dolls murmured as she tugged on your sleeve.

You turned to her and had her gently let go of you. You placed a hand on her head and nodded, "I have to stay. You and the others have to go. I've uploaded the route into your Neural Clouds. Stay low and keep out of sight."

The Dolls all hesitated before you turned your back on them and began running. You held your gun close as you spoke into your Terminal.

"Commander, I'm investigating the disruption," you declared as you broke into a dash.

"Wait, Vector it's too dangerous!"

You already leaped into the air and hit the ground. You could see the main warehouse burning as you charged right into it. The explosions came from within. Blasts rocked the earth as you continued running, slipping inside the blazing inferno and finding yourself kicking down the door leading into the warehouse interior.

Gunfire erupted in the distance as a group of armed men tried fending off... A person. They were encased in some sort of high tech exoskeleton. You ran the image through your database and you came up with nothing, not even from the previous encounters you had with the military.

The exoskeleton reflected the orange flames as a neon green light coursed through the lines that marked it's surface. It seemed like it was durable enough to withstand the firepower of the mercenaries before the individual raised their hand and light emitted from their palm.

Then the air exploded, blasting apart the space between the invader and the mercenaries, the humans were all ripped to bloody shreds as the sheer force behind the blast turned their flesh and bones into mush.

You raised your gun and grimaced as the invader turned to look at you.

"So you're the one. Dirty little worm. Those were precious ledgers you just up and purged," the Invader spoke through a vox terminal their garbled voice reaching your ears, "Hm, I thought you were a Borged up bitch but it turns out you're not human. A Doll?"

Your eyes glanced upwards to some hanging steel beams. You raised your gun and went low, just as the air above you exploded. You gasped as you were pinned to the ground but you managed to fire your shots off. The bullets snapped the chain holding the beams aloft, dropping their entire weight on the individual before you.

The crash let out an ungodly clatter as you coughed and tried diagnosing your status. Concussive blast? You didn't even see it coming.

You got up before you heard a loud whining sound as you dived to the side. The wall beside you burst as if punched by an invisible force. You rolled and looked to see the steel beams being thrown at you with considerable strength.

Rolling out of the way, you raised your gun to find the Invader rising to their feet.

"Fine. This is D-73 Shrieker. Permission to engage," the Invader declared before you felt something cross your neural cloud.

It was like when you faced Sangvis leaders.

Their armor began to light up before they slammed their hands together to clap. A shockwave roared towards you and you were launched through the air. You gasped, smashing into the ground as you rolled and tumbled.

You got up and watched as Shrieker stepped dauntless through the flames.

"Come little Doll," Shrieker snarled from under their armor.

[] Run out of the warehouse. Get into the open and lead this bastard into M200's range.
[] Charge forward, fight them in the warehouse. Use the fire and terrain to gain advantage.

[] Run out of the warehouse. Get into the open and lead this bastard into M200's range.

"M200, are you here?" You asked as you kept your eyes on your enemy. Shrieker lifted his arm and unleashed another blast of pure force as you dodged to the side.

You slid down the ground and returned fire, forcing him to jerk back as you attacked his more vulnerable spots like the joints of his armor and hinges of his arms. A thunderous blast erupted from the Invader's arm as you as you took out a grenade and slid it along the ground.

Flames erupted and swallowed your enemy whole but they simply smashed through the fire with their concussive blast. You raised your gun and open fired as you moved from cover to cover.

"I hear you. I can see the explosions from here. It's well within my range." M200 replied from a distance as you marked here some 1000 meters on a nearby warehouse rooftop.

You retreated as you fired straight at your enemy's head. Shrieker began to move erratically and dodging your shots while returning fire with their own blasts. You were narrowly avoiding their blows as you led them out of the warehouse and into the open.

"Finally, some breathing room! There's no way to run now," Shrieker declared before jumping into the air and hovering using the portable hovercpack behind their back, "Shred you apart!

They fired straight at you but you anticipated this and slid under their attack. Firing from underneath them as they were forced to maneuver out away from you. Clawing the ground, you dragged yourself to the side as the spot you were on turned to dust after being pummeled by Shrieker.

"Now!" You barked.

BANG

A distant report echoed as a subsonic bullet smashed into Shrieker's armor, taking a huge chunk of it as he lost control of his flight pack. You heard him curse as he got lower and lower to the ground before you ran up to him and smashed the butt of your gun across his helmet.

He turned and fired a concussive blast right where you stood as you dodged left and delivered a full force kick to his midsection. He was able to withstand the blow with his armor as he swung his arm down at you, cracking the floor before you flipped over behind his back and lodged a grenade at his hover pack.

You pulled the pin as you jumped away before the grenade exploded and forced him on his knees.

"FUCKER!" Shrieker roared as you got to your feet and he planted both palms on the ground.

Then as if punched by a jackhammer, the ground shook and you lost your balance. Shrieker used this chance to charge at you and with his enhanced strength rammed you into a container. Your back broke through steel and concrete before Shrieker grabbed you by the leg and threw you across the compound.

You hit the floor, scraping your synthetic skin as you slammed into a steel pole. Your visual processes tried catching up to your damage and readjusting themselves before you saw Shrieker already charging at you.

You grit your teeth and overclocked your core, time seemed to slow down as you ran your calculations. You managed to use this moment to get out of the way and cleanly dodge through Shrieker's attack.

Your disabled your core's overclock and you felt your insides burning.

"Providing covering fire!" M200 declared as several shots rang, slamming into Shrieker's body and forcing him on his knees. His helmet began to emit an eerie glow as steam began to seep out of it.

"Damned Dolls. Fine. Let's see you handle this!" Shrieker swung his fists together and with a thunderous blast ripped apart his surroundings.

The sheer force of the explosion sent you flying back, hitting the ground as you grit your teeth upon recovering. You then watched Shrieker use that concussive blast from his palms to propel himself forward faster than you anticipated. He then swung his hand at you as you jumped out of the way.

The floor you were on split and exploded as you fired a full mag at his face. You were forced to dodge his next blast by inches, nearly rupturing your auditory module from your close proximity.

He's trying to grab you, you need range!

BANG

M200's bullet smacked Shrieker's hand away from your forearm as you flipped and landed a kick just beneath his chin. You lifted him into the air with the sheer force of your blow before you dashed away.

You reloaded and began shooting at his joints and the space between his armor. M200 kept hammering him from a distance before his armor glowed and activated a shield. Your bullets began bouncing off as he rushed at you and lifted you into the air, slamming you down as the ground crumbled and the two of you fell into the sewers.

You coughed before you were dragged across the floor and smashed into the wall. You pulled out your knife and jammed it between his armor, causing Shrieker to let go of you.

"FUCKING BITCH! THAT HURT!" Shrieker roared as he held his arm.

You were in the sewers, the rubble from above falling upon the flowing waters under you. Pipes snaked alongside the walls as you got your bearings.

"Vector you're out of range. Get out of there!" M200 reported in an alarmed tone.

You could hear a soft whistle coming from the ruptured pipes.

[] You don't want to be this close to Shrieker. Escape through the opening and get back to M200's view.
[] Engage Shrieker. This enclosed space should limit his movements. Take him down.
[] Pop an incendiary grenade. Incinerate him.