Your quick thinking and limited options lead your voice to be swift and clear, reaching Groza's ears before she could pull the trigger. This led to a moment of hesitation. Clearly she was considering your words, but you'll have to wait until the next second to see whether it'll change the outcome. Finally, she adjusted her aim just a little bit, and fired. The projectile flew through the air towards Scarecrow, but wasn't aimed directly at her. It fell short just a little bit, passing below her and landing just under the truck.
Nobody was fast enough to react to what came next, not the Ringleader nor the odd units inside about to step out. The explosion that followed, though not that large at first, lifted the backside of the truck by a few centimeters, but then by another few when the ball of fire seemed to expand, probably due to fuel ignition. This was enough to more than stagger Crow, but the truck had it worse. Just a moment later, a massive explosion took place on-top of the last one, nearly several times larger than the last. That one wasn't just an accident, that was the result of deliberate explosives. The units within must've been rigged, explaining Scarecrow's surprise. Sudden impact from below must've triggered them prematurely. The shockwave hit you like a strong wind, nearly tearing the mask out of your hand even at your distance. Groza stood her ground, her coat flapping around from the blast. And Scarecrow… the last you saw of her was her body being blasted away by the explosion. But, thanks to your efforts, it didn't do so in pieces.
The whole idea was to minimize damage done to her while also eliminating the threat, raising the truck's backside to shield her from the following explosion of the rigged SF units. Of course, seeing as there is barely anything left said truck, it could only do so much. It didn't tear her limb from limb, but the damage still could've been fatal. Though, that is yet to be confirmed.
For now, you wait for your ears to stop ringing. It was pretty loud after all, and it left behind quite a bit of smoke. You turned to Tiss, who was coughing due to the dusty air.
"*Cough cough…* explosives… the enemy is clearly trying to copy our secret strategies!" she deducted, looking at the flames left behind by the explosion. You cleared your throat, bringing to her attention your still grounded state, after which she promptly snapped out of her chuuni mood. "Sorry, sorry… are your lower motor functions malfunctioning from the impact? Try readjusting the…"
Without even finishing her sentence, she placed a hand on the lower part of your back. You already knew what she was trying to do, so you adjusted your position and placed your hands on the opposite side, pressing down. You felt your joins fall back into place, and your lower body was once again back in your control. Barely a few seconds later, Ots-12 helped you back onto your feet.
"Hey, you did that like a natural! Guess you get thrown around a lot, huh?" you scratch the back of your head at her words, unable to deny that there is some truth to that.
"Tiss. Veresk." Groza addressed the two of you, having a considerably less casual expression than the two of you. Of course, if anyone is to remain focused, it's the squad leader. And besides, this outcome is your doing, so you better see it through. Though, you'll hardly be going anywhere without your firearm, which you've lost at the end of your flight. Thankfully, as something starts poking you in the side, you turn to see Tiss holding your SMG.
"You've got to be more careful with your things, Lilac Prowler." she commented. You took back your firearm, checking it for damage. It's a good distraction for keeping away the thought that another T-doll has laid her hands on your gun. You can already feel Epsilon going haywire.
"Seriously, you guys…" spoke an approaching voice, the last member of your 4 girl squad finally catching up. "I leave you for a few minutes, and next thing I see are flying T-dolls and mushroom clouds. You can't make this shit up…"
"You're just bummed cause you missed this."
"Hah, as if." she retorted, once again biting down on her sugary treat. As she approached from the smoky dark, you noticed she was carrying something. "Oh, by the way, I think you dropped this." She was carrying the shield wings that flew off your back, the belts that used to hold it onto you hanging off of them, now torn. They seemed pretty banged up, unfit for another flight. And with Parapluie still riddling their systems, some might consider them junk at this point.
[X] Keep them regardless.
[ ] Throw them away.
"AA-12, did you destroy the signal bouncer?" asked Ots-14, to which the shotgun nodded.
"Thing's just broken parts and lead now, as is everything else that could've posed a threat in that outpost. Comms should be back by now."
"Excellent. Now, let's have a look at our not-so-graceful housekeeper."
---
"E… Executioner… Hunter… anyone there…?"
"Nobody's coming, Scarecrow."
You were led by a pretty deep line in the ground, left behind by a large projectile of high velocity. It was odd to see the once constantly afloat intelligence gatherer of Sangvis Ferri, now lying within her own crash site.
"Gee, she's flat as a pancake…" commented AA-12. The damage really was considerable, limbs either broken or completely torn away. And yet she managed to raise her head and send back a glare.
"The bird flew too high, so we struck her down." added Tiss.
"Pathetic… idiotic… good-for-nothing… pitiful things." sneered the fallen Ringleader, struggling to even keep her upper body raised.
"Those words didn't carry weight even when you were flying above us." replied Ots-14, standing at the front of your formation, and facing down the wounded SF. "And right now, you're the one below, on the same ground as us."
"Don't dare… compare yourself to me." cursed Crow "You, Ots-14, considering yourself worthy of two names... when we barely saw it fit to give you one within our database. Practically leader of the Chordeiles... but wasted on your moronic human commander. No Sangvis will ever utter a single syllable of your ridiculous nickname."
"No need to be such a sad scarecrow…" commented Ots-12, which led to the ringleader looking her way.
"Only sad thing here is you. You and your pathetic idea of significance… you are no secret, you're just not worth knowing about… In all my time analyzing data, I have never come across anything as insignificant, redundant and unworthy of study as you."
"Fuck it, we're not getting anywhere like this." complained AA-12, looking at Groza "We should just blow her head off and get it over with." However, the ringleader has now finally set her sight on her.
"And you, the only T-doll of Griffin elite status... to have broken down crying right before my eyes. Burdened with such pathetically human afflictions. Coward, addict, wreck… I regret not ending your disgrace 3 weeks ago."
"Alright, that's it!"
AA-12 raised her gun, completely ready to let loose a barrage of lead straight into what's left of the ringleader's resistance, but she was stopped both by your hand and Groza's stern gaze. With a groan, she stayed her trigger finger.
Now it was your eyes that met those of the Ringleader, yellow yet with a dim glow, filled with anger. But words did not leave her mouth, only her gaze piercing you. Perhaps she ran out of words to say to you, or maybe it's something else. You had words to say to her though, but before you could speak them...
"Speak all you want, it's all you can do now anyway." spoke Groza "In fact, you can begin by telling us what you did to M82A1."
"... the rifle that devotes itself to being a slave? You've found that other T-doll, did you not? Their neural clouds serve our needs now."
"Where did you take her?"
"I will not divulge any information to you. I'd rather die."
"Thank you for your straightforwardness. We'll just have to extract the data from your body instead. We'll be taking you to Griffin."
Hearing her words, you decide that this is as good a time as any to voice your own unique suggestion. After all, you didn't keep Crow alive just to hand her over to someone else.
"Wait, Groza. We don't necessarily have to take her back to Griffin."
For the moment, this leads to everyone turning their heads to you, even the beaten Ringleader. Groza in particular.
"What do you mean?"
"She won't divulge any information to Griffin. Ain't that right, Crow?" you began, but the ringleader unsurprisingly doesn't reply, just staring back at you. "Then let's just take her ourselves. She might be more talkative that way. No humans or any human supervision. This doesn't have to end with a screwdriver in another doll's skull."
Your suggestion sits in the air for a moment, though it doesn't seem to be because of anyone's actual consideration. Groza's golden gaze narrowed.
"Veresk. For your own sake, and the sake of the dolls within this squad, that better have not been a serious suggestion." she spoke with firm voice. You returned a gaze that did not quite share her view, and her eyes narrowed further. "It is against regulations."
"Peh… you see Veresk? Nothing gets done this way…" commented the ringleader. A quote fitting for a laugh, one she did not make.
"Perhaps…" you begin "But you should know, cogs don't always have to be all part of the same machine. They just have to roll in the same direction. Job gets done either way."
"Sounds… inefficient." she replied dryly.
"But it works for everyone involved."
"Whatever your words… none of this matters. You will not gain access to my databanks."
"We'll see about that when we'll bring you in to Griffin for data extraction." butted in Groza, trying to end the conversation. "Helian has been planning to capture you for a while now. High reward at significantly lower risk than other Ringleaders. C'mon girls, first we disable her motor functions, then-"
"No you won't."
Beep, beep, beep…
…!?!?
"Tell your cowardly humans they won't have a single bit of data… if you can."
"...! She's gonna blow herself up! Get away, now!"
… BOOM!
With the amount of explosions you've been exposed to lately, this one wasn't all that big to be honest. But it was still impactful, because it originated within the Ringleader, and absolutely tore her to pieces. Quite a strong self-destruct for such a slick body, Ringleaders seem quite stuffed with power. You only heard the beeping turn into a fine line before she was nothing by bits and pieces, already running away from the explosion point with the others. The shockwave gave you a bit of a lift, throwing you off back into the camp, but you've kept your balance. Bigger dolls like AA-12 wouldn't be pushed around so easily, but you're both light and small.
After the rumble stopped, you turned back to see nothing but a big scorch mark where Scarecrow used to be. You look at the mask still in your hand, noticing it has a crack. Sadly, it's the most whole piece that is left of her.
"Damn it… now what?" asked an annoyed shotgun.
"Helian won't be pleased… but we could still gather useful intel in the camp." said Groza, waving some dust out of the air before her "Ouroboros has probably written this place off as destroyed anyway."
"I wouldn't exactly call it in-tact either…"
Now that all four of you have gathered and dusted yourselves off, you now took a fairly drone-free look through the half-burning camp of the now deceased ringleader. You stashed the mask away, as a memento.
"Hey, look, a console!" spoke Tiss, pointing to an access panel that was still standing and connected to some network, unriddled by bullet holes. Upon closer inspection, it even still had power.
"Be careful not to interface with it, SF have definitely laced all their software with Parapluie by now. We're only going to get a surface sca-"
click
"Oh, so you're still alive."
Interrupted once again, the previously dark screen flickered to life, displaying the face of none other but the sector's ringleader. It reminded you of your first meeting with her…
"Ouroboros."
"I was hoping Scarecrow could at least take out trash cans like you, but all she managed to do is blow herself up… you just can't rely on anyone these days."
"You're one to talk." replied Tiss, surprisingly. "She was relying on you!"
"How can a pawn rely on the queen's aid? When they reach the end of the line, their only use is as bait. And she couldn't even do that right, seeing as you pitiful things are sti-"
click
It almost sounded like she was going to go on another long monologue, before the video feed was cut short thanks to Groza's intervention, the stream shutting down.
"Well… that wasn't going anywhere useful." she said, shaking her head. "Change of plans, I'll attempt to contact command for additional info. Tiss, try and get some scans of the console, see what it's connected to."
"Aye aye…" the secret weapon spoke with a sigh.
"Veresk, AA-12, cover this position for now."
You nodded, while the shotgun waved her hand as if saying "whatever" as the squad leader left to make a call. Tiss went behind the console to check out its inner workings. It was just you and AA-12 now. Your thoughts were a little all over the place now, having seen a doll just kill herself instead of agreeing to come with you. You can feel some sort of internal debate forming in your head, probably between your virtual dummies. You're not sure if it's the cause for your headache, or if it's still just ringing from all the explosions earlier. But even like this, you weren't oblivious to your partner's visible distress... she seemed annoyed.
Very annoyed.
She was pacing, the lollipop in her mouth shifting left and right. After a while, she spat out the plastic stick the sugary treat used to sit on, now completely licked clean, almost bitten off. She stared at it, hand rummaging through her pockets for a while, before she seemed to get even angrier all of the sudden, kicking away a nearby broken drone.
"God damn it! I am so sick of this!" she exclaimed "We keep getting dragged into shit, after shit, after shit! And what do we get? Barely enough rations to sustain ourselves!"
The drone she kicked away hit a nearby wall, shattering to pieces. That's the strength of a shotgun. You suppose you should say something.
"Mom's gonna get mad if you trash your roo-"
"Don't you start!"
She turned to you, her anger not subsiding one bit. Without any sort of candy in her mouth, nothing seems to be calming her down. Seeing the shotgun lash out like this was odd, almost shocking.
"You and your damn smug face!"
click
Before she could continue however, the console's screen came back to life, showing once again the face of Ouroboros.
"Too scared to face me? I am not surprised that you would rather hi-"
click
The screen is once again turned to black, this time by AA-12's hand smashing the button. She turns back towards you.
"AA-12, what do yo-"
"I. Need. Sugar." she spoke through gritted teeth.
"Did… did you already go through your whole supply?"
"Thanks to this long ass operation, yeah!" she replied.
"Well, I…" quickly, you rummage through your pockets, but you remember that you're just as lacking in that department.
"Well?"
"... I don't have any."
"God damn it Heather!" exclaimed the shotgun.
"Listen, you had enough to feed an entire kindergarten! How did you get through it so fast?"
"I… I had to carry SAW out of the base…." she replied, easing off a little, but then getting angry again "That lazy ass promised me lollipops, but only after the mission. I need some now!"
click
"You nuisances, scurrying around, will be wiped off the ma-"
click
This time it was you pressing the button to shut off the screen, cutting off Ouroboros' interruption.
"Listen, you can't blame this on anyone. You should've better managed your supply!" you struck out with words with your own, but she would still retaliate.
"But it's your job as squad leader to be responsible for my welfare! And I am not faring well right now!"
"Really? Remembering you gobbling those things up, seems more to me like you're asking for luxury!"
click
"I, Ouroboros, will be standing above your broken bodi-"
click
"Call it whatever, without sugar I'll pass out! Do you want that?!"
"And what do you want me to do then? Pull some out of my petite buns?"
"Oh excuse me, silly to think that the secretive and totally trustworthy Heather would have something hidden under that coat of hers!"
"And what was that supposed to mean?"
"Oooh, nothing. Just that after dragging me across 2 operational sectors, making me bust my ass day after day, nearly getting us killed several times, always running off to do your own thing, disappearing on me for several days on a "secret mission", and now that confusing talk with Scarecrow, I don't even know whose side you're on anymore!"
Tell her, tell her now!
Don't tell her, you'll make it worse.
This is not the place nor the time.
She'll leave if you don't do it now!
She'll hate you either way.
click
"I. Will not. Be ignored. You-"
BANG!
This time, the screen has been shut off permanently, and that with a bullet. The barrel of your gun was smoking, the silence left in the gunshot's wake permeated the area, even quieting AA-12 down for the moment. That's the effect you were hoping for anyway, having not even looked away from her to make the shot.
"Listen, I am fully aware of how much I owe you. Things would've been different if I didn't want that debt repaid, so you can sure as hell believe that you're gonna get every gram of sugar you deserve, once I've actually got access to some. Until then, your dependable and honest squad leader is gonna see about acquiring some for you right now, cause I'm just that nice. Questions?"
"... nope."
Finally, she seems to have calmed down. Of course the promise of sugar quelled her nerves. The prospect of no sugar scares her more than not having any at all, so you needed to make a firm statement that would actually reach her. And… well, you might need to calm down a little yourself. Not that you showed the whirlwind that was swaying within. The two of you now stand in a newly created quiet, and both your eyes are redirected to the side, looking at the same thing.
"... I shot the screen… think she'll be mad?"
Boom!
An explosion, but for once just a distant one. You could see the glow and the smoke cloud in the distance, possibly another outpost. You and AA-12 just stare.
"Where'd you get that idea?"
--- later ---
E: "Alpha, Alpha! We got a plan!"
You hear the enthusiastic voice of Epsilon, whose voice is also yours, chanting that line in your head. She's really excited about something, and now that you've gotten some quiet moments during travel in-between destinations, she and the other two dummies are trying to get your attention. You decide to give them some.
B: "We are glad you're willing to listen, Alpha."
E: "Yay! Alright. So, to start off, so so sorry about Crow. I know you didn't really want her dead, and you really wanted her in your merry group as the antisocial tsu-"
Γ: "What Espilon is failing to say is that it was an unfavorable outcome. I disagree, obviously, but better to just get the point straight."
E: "You're no fun Gam… oh, anyway. Soooo, we've been analyzing data. Lot's of it! With your personal thoughts mixed in. Actually, isn't it all thoughts?"
B: "Indeed, we are only working with data that the Alpha herself already has, we're just offering new perspectives."
Γ: "For better or worse…"
"Guys…"
E: "Yeayeayeah… what we wanna say is, we can get you another date with the Snek!"
B: "And this time, it would be under much more favorable circumstances for the Alpha."
Γ: "Favorable is a strong word."
E: "Favorable enough! You'd get up close and personal. Hugging distance even! And the best part is, things might not end up in an explosion this time around~"
Γ: "Might is a weak word."
"You want me to meet with Ouroboros again?"
Γ: "No, you want to, clearly. We just put your thoughts into a more comprehensible form. I think you might find it useful, seeing how terribly your attempt with Crow went."
E: "Rude Gam, rude!"
Γ: "As to what you might gain, I don't fucking Chief. I've got no idea why you'd want to get close to her, but hey, I can't stop ya from suicidal plans I guess…"
"... alright, what is this plan?"
B: "Well, to recap, that recent explosion has taken out the sector's central and last signal jammer, almost completely re-establishing communications over the entirety of S06. Ots-14 said it was that special tasks group again. Not to mention, 3 ringleaders were confirmed slain in the last few hours: Scarecrow, Hunter and Executioner. The ringleader Ouroboros is now alone in the sector, and instead of pulling out, the enemy is scattering and she is standing her ground. Griffin forces are in the process of clearing out the area and the ringleader's dummies."
E: "We can join the squads attacking her stronghold! We estimated that the battle should be won by G&K!"
"Should?"
E: "Ehm… eheh~"
Γ: "Only problem with that plan is entire battalions of G&K T-dolls rushing in to put a bullet in between her eyes. You're gonna want some alone-time with Ouroboros if you wanna make this work."
B: "Thankfully, we've got just the lucky coincidence to make this work, and the dear Alpha's capacity to reject orders discretely will help make it a success. Are you interested in hearing more, Alpha?"
Γ: "Just keep in mind, do you really want this? It would cost you what fragile of a place you still have at Griffin. Though, I suppose you'll be handing in your resignation once the battle's won anyway. You've got a job to do, after all. Still, if you fuck this up, you'll look way worse than ever before. You sure wanna be ambitious, or just greedy?"
[X] "Let's do it."
[ ] "It's not worth the risk."
