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Chapter Text

Unlike the last time that you had been mustered for battle stations, your entry into the briefing room was filled with much less anxiety and tension. Part of it was the atmosphere in the room. Things seemed relaxed; the Command Staff was loitering around the room in conversations with various members of the crew. Bradford and Kalina were standing in the shadow of Miller’s gigantic stature exchanging small talk. Behind them, the Commander was, well, he wasn’t smiling. It looked more like a grimmace. You weren’t totally sure what to call it, but he wasn’t frowning, and that was a change of pace for him.
Strangely his choice of conversation partner was someone you’d nearly forgotten about. The engi you had picked up on the last job, Edwards? Something close to that. Edwards was raving about something or other; you weren’t entirely certain. He was so animated with the way that he was talking it was a little difficult to get your brain to focus on the words.
The thought crossed your mind that maybe you could step in with one of the groups and look very impressive and like you belonged in this strange mish-mash of people. Unfortunately (or fortunately) for you, conversation found you before you found it.
“Ay, you still alive?” a Latina’s voice echoed over your shoulder, and you felt a nudge in your back.

Turning on your heel, you came face to face with Firebrand. She looked different than her usual self, which was to be expected given the general quarters alarm. Instead of her tight cut-off and overalls, she was wearing her orange jumpsuit, and her flight helmet was tucked under her arm. You’d never noticed how much detail she had put into its design. Flames of various colours adorned the hard shell, culminating in a blocky ‘FIREBRAND’ stylized like one would brand a cow.
“So far, so good.” You couldn’t help but shrug. “Despite venturing out into the jungle, insatiable murder bots, and a particularly close game of twenty questions, I’m still here.”
“Bueno.” She clapped you on the shoulder with a smile. “It means you ain’t chicken.”
“Was that a complim-”
“Clearly, you ain’t no Einstein neither.” Firebrand rolled her eyes, cutting off the question. “You doin’ good though, made it past the first week, somethin’ to be proud of.”
“Do most people… not? Make it past the first week?”
“This little group here ain’t for most people, in case you didn’t notice.”
“I… will give you that.” You glanced around at the various odd characters, “How’s the Skyranger?”
“Oh. Perfecto.” Firebrand touched her fingers to her lips. “She’s purring, practically been beggin’ to stretch her wings. We gonna do some flyin’ tonight.”
“Oh, yea? Any idea where we’re headed?”
The sparky Latina shrugged sheepishly.
“Beats me. We pretty far inland, probably headin’ to the coast.”
“Should I pack a towel?” You cracked an awkward smile.
“Si, I’ll drop you in the Amazon, and you can swim home.”
Between the chuckles, the last of the needed attendants began to show up. Renate, Spree, and Ava all filed through the doorway. Ava’s expression was hardened; there wasn’t a trace of the vulnerability you had been confronted with earlier. At her side, Spree was close at hand, gliding effortlessly on her rollerskates. The close presence of her adjutant seemed to be fuelling the Welsh woman’s resolve.
Wordlessly, your adjutant did the same. She spotted you quickly, and her familiar presence at your side calmed the butterflies in your stomach that had begun to flutter ever so lightly.
“Komandir.” Renate touched your arm. “Everyone is standing by; we’re ready to move whenever you give the word.”
“Well, let’s get through the briefing first and go from there.” You said, nodding along to her explanation. “No need to get worked up yet.”
You realized Ava had taken her seat on the other side of the split aisle, and the conversations around you were winding down. Turning back to Firebrand, you gave her a quick wink.
“See you on the flight deck.”
“Si. Don’ take too long findin’ your gun this time though, comprende?”
Ouch. That one wasn’t going to go away any time soon. Still, Firebrand left to take her seat behind Ava, and you pulled out the chairs for you and Renate to sit as well. Bradford finished up his conversation with Miller and waited for the last of the gathered parties to take their spots before stepping up to the podium.
“Good evening, team.” He cleared his throat. “Tonight’s operation is about to commence.” He gestured to the screen behind him, where a darkened and blurry drone shot was looking down on a set of buildings.

“This is the abandoned Brazillian Naval base of Maragogi. Before the first invasion, it was a central supply logistics hub for most of the fuel and steel the Brazilians used for upkeep. It is resource heavy and rich in goods that would be desirable for any military group, but especially XCOM.”
Bradford paused.
“This is why, some time ago, we detected Alien activity here. It is believed that Advent has set up an outpost to guard this material, ensuring it does not fall into the wrong hands. Tonight, we are going to confirm that suspicion for them. To explain why I’ll turn it over to the Commander.”
“Thank you, John.” The Commander stepped up, his dark demeanour and tired stature screaming for some sleep and maybe a haircut. Despite this, he reached into his jacket pocket and took a swig from his flask.

“Advent believes that we are on the ropes, on the verge of losing critical supplies to function.” The Commander looked to the Engineers at the edge of the room. “Thankfully, because of the hard work and ingenuity of our Engineering divisions, this is not as much the case as it once was. Instead, we’re here for something else entirely. We’re here to make some noise.”
The room stirred slightly; Renate adjusted herself next to you. Though she was undoubtedly processing everything light years quicker than you, both she and Spree didn’t seem to have a clear idea of what the Commander meant. You brushed her leg with your knee, and she turned to you. You made a gesture urging her to slow down. There would be a time when 100% of her brain power was needed, but this wasn’t it. The Commander would explain.
“We have been given actionable intel, confirmed by our own boots on the ground, that the existence of a facility deep within the jungle is a highly secure and fortified Advent operation. The location of this facility, this- Naval Base,” The Commander gestured to the map once more. “Is merely a stepping stone to the greater Advent occupation of the area. Our hope and our goal is that by hitting this outpost, we will be able to pull away enough forces from the Secure Site to launch a raid to wrest control of this region from them.”
The Commander rubbed his temples and sighed.
“I don’t like putting our forces at risk without the promise of a direct benefit to the cause, but I don’t see another option. To give us the best chance of success in the future, we have to take this risk now. Central will brief you on the details. I’ll be monitoring everything over the radio. Be safe; come home.”
The room was silent as the Commander passed through everyone and stepped out of the briefing room, leaving Bradford to take back his spot at the podium.
“Our goal for this operation is to take control of this outpost. Take down any and all Advent that are encountered, and knock over the first domino in the fight to take back Brazil. Here’s what we know:” Bradford pulled out a marker and began to draw up icons on the map. “Civilians in the area should be minimal. Scavengers have been known to pass through this way, but we’re not expecting a parade, so you’re cleared weapons-free. If you have doubts, use your best judgement, but do not put yourselves at risk.”
He circled a large building in the center.
“We expect Advent forces to be using this building as their communications center. If nothing else, it is imperative we get in there and destroy their comms stations. We don’t have a jammer strong enough to overcome their fixed equipment, so make sure someone on your team knows a little demo.” Next, he drew two lines on the map pointing inwards.
“One team will insert from the North-East, come down along the beach, secure the docks and move south into the compound, taking out whatever stragglers you come across. The other will come from the west, clear the gates, armour parks and anything else that blinks wrong. From there, you will sync your breach on the Comms building and complete the mission. Firebrand will be cruising over the ocean, and we’re 5 minutes from extraction once the call goes out.”

Bradford saw Spree raise her hand but pressed on with the last details.
“While we are here to send these grey skin fucks packing, a low profile will make your lives easier. Shen managed to pull together two silencers for each team, so assign your equipment wisely. If we go loud, the codeword ‘Killbox’ will be sent. If you hear the codeword, you are green lights for whatever tactics you, please. Questions?”
“Just one.” Spree put her hand down, “What’s the likelihood of reinforcements showing up?”
“We’re not expecting any Advent patrols in this area.” Bradford nodded. “If reinforcements arrive, expect no more than one pod worth of standard Advent soldiers. Other questions?”

You had noticed Bradford hadn’t been particularly clear about what sort of resistance you should expect. Even though it was ten years ago, remembering all the different sorts of nasties made your spine shiver. So you raised your hand to try and put some of the ‘fear of the unknown’ to bed.
“Sir, what do we know about the garrison itself? Any idea on numbers, what the makeup is?” You held Bradford’s gaze as he turned to you, bracing yourself to be judged.
“It’s been difficult to get reliable information.” He broke eye contact and swept his gaze across the room. “From our best estimates, the garrison has been a sleepy deployment for Advent. We expect the most action their troops have seen is scaring off scavengers that wander through. Judgment places our hypothesis at absolutely no more than twenty total pods, likely less.”
“And what about the composition?” Renate reminded him politely, “Is there anything to be expected that would prefer to remain unexpected?”
“Though remote, it is unlikely Advent has placed any notable forces here.” Bradford clarified for her. “Aside from the stock-standard troops, it is possible a Sectoid or two is lurking about. We would expect any of the… genetically distinct species to be deployed closer towards their communications array.”
“Sectoids?” Ava clarified. “’S been ages since thay’ve been about.”
“We’re hoping Advent has concentrated most of their unique species in higher security areas. Don’t let your guard down, but don’t expect anything too out there either.”
“Patrol Routes? Known guardposts?” You tried, hopefully.
“Negative.” Bradford shook his head. “Any intrusive scouting might have blown the cover on this one. So long as we’re working with the element of surprise, expect to have the upper hand.”
“Both of us are going to be blind.” Spree muttered. “Do you guys know which route you’d take?”
The question caught you off-guard, and you turned back to the map. You had thought you were going to be assigned to one of the combat paths, but Bradford waited patiently for you to answer. Seems like you had some room for discussion then.
“I hadn’t thought about it. Does Revenant have a preference?”
Spree’s eyes flickered toward the map. Then she turned to Ava, saying something you couldn’t quite catch in a hushed whisper. The two exchanged murmurs, Ava looking somewhat unhappy with both options. Finally, your fellow SL shrugged, and Spree turned back to you.
“It’s your call; we can do either. We’ve still got one out on injury, so our usual strategy is going to be different anyways.”
“What do you think?” you turned to your adjutant. “Initial impressions?”
“The route along the shore represents a slower, more methodical approach. It should be easier for us to maintain control of our engagements, but it comes at a cost. If cover is broken, we will be in dire need of solid cover structures.”
“What about the south path?”
“Speed and tactics will win the day.” She nodded confidently. “We will move quickly and use close-quarters skirmishing to eliminate our opponents. However, this, too, is dangerous. If we are discovered, we may find ourselves soon surrounded unless we are decisive in our strategy. The choice is yours, Keegan. We will follow your plan.”

“Coming through the jungle sounds like it’s more suited for us.” You stroked your beard. “I’d wager that we’ve got the power to push through any hairy spots if we need to. Can you guys handle the beach?”
Ava and Spree conferred once more; their tone was… strained. Ava in particular seemed heated about something, but it wasn’t clear to you what it was. After nearly a minute of hushed discussion, and Bradford ominously clearing his throat, the two broke apart.
“Yup, all good!” Spree gave you a thumb’s up.
“You sure?” You raised an eyebrow.
“Yes. We’re positive.” The Shotgun said enigmatically. “We’ve got the beach covered.”
“It’s settled.” Bradford nodded. “Prep for deployment; you’re wheels up in 40 minutes. Get your gear stowed and get to it.”
“Aye, sir.” Both you and Ava stood up, snapping a salute. With Bradford formally dismissing the briefing, the energy in the room came back to life. Engineers and Technicians began to make for the door, the noise of the small crowd echoing in your head.
“More time than we had before.” Renate echoed from your side. “I think I prefer this; it does no good to be in a rush.”
“See? Just take things slow.” You agreed, standing and stretching your arms. “Let’s get down to the hangar and get everyone togeth-”
“Keegan!” another familiar voice called from across the room. Kalina was waving at you.
“We’ve got time, right?”
“No more than five minutes. After that, I will carry you down myself.”
“Five minutes then.” You nodded, taking her threat (though you doubted it was a threat to her) seriously.
The pair of you approached Kalina, you noticed her shrink somewhat as Renate towered over her, but you didn’t have time to consider the implications or the cause.
“Hey,” you greeted the Logistics Officer. “Thanks for the heads up.”
“Don’t mention it.” Kalina’s attention focused on you. “Are you all squared up for the mission?”
“I think so; I’m pretty sure the last of everyone’s injuries is cleared up?” you glanced at Renate for confirmation.
The Russian tilted her head in assent.
“Cordelia and Sky need additional coolant, but I believe we will have time to have it taken care of before we depart if they are to join us.”
“Great. So yea, the girls are squared away, and we’ve got our mission plan sorted out. I think we’re as good as we’re going to get.” You smiled cooly.
Kalina nodded knowingly.
“I’ll make sure Shen is aware for you. I wanted to tell you, though,” Kalina glanced at Renate, thought for a moment and leaned in to whisper in your ear. “Someone else is waiting for you in the hangar.”
You frowned and raised an eyebrow. Who could be waiting for you? Kalina looked at you knowingly and shrugged.
“Be safe.” She gave you a quick kiss on the cheek. “Don’t let anyone shoot him in the face, please.”
“I would sooner die,” Renate said cheerily. “Our Komandir is in good hands.”
“Don’t let me hold you up then. I’ll be watching from here!”
Kalina broke away from the pair of you. You still hadn’t gotten past the peck on your cheek. Where had that come from? You had thought Kalina was just exceptionally friendly, but that was… surprising? In a good way?
Renate didn’t leave you the time to think about it. She gently tugged on your arm, and you turned to look into her lavender eyes.
“Come, Keegan.” She beckoned. “We must prepare ourselves to dance in the shadow of death.”
—
Down at the hangar, the girls were all hanging out at the armoury wall. Everyone had gotten suited up in their combat gear. Sky was bouncing on her toes, her headset flopping around her neck, and her rifle clutched tightly in her gloved hands. The amount of manic energy she was giving off was so great that Cordelia was giving her a wide birth.
The Shotgun, who you had grown accustomed to seeing in light tank tops and shorts, was reborn in your eyes. Her orange and black jacket zipped up to her chin. On her hip, the large semi-automatic instrument of destruction she called her gun balanced precariously. On the ground, her massive shield leaned against the crate she was seated on. You noted that despite her relaxed seated posture, she was leaning subtly against Juno.
Your Handgun looked, as ever, the picture of calm and meditation. Her eyes were closed, and her hands were folded over the top of her cane which she had braced against the ground. The Israeli girl swayed ever so gently back and forth, and you realized that she was humming to herself. It was much too loud to hear her, but the way her fingers danced on the back of her hands, you’d only seen her do that once before.
What was more impressive was how effortlessly she ignored the antics of the two Dolls next to her. Tara, as usual, was having a very animated “discussion” with Storm, which you could just catch as you approached the group.
“I’m tellin’ ya! The dynasty WILL come home!” she insisted, “We still have a chance to make the playoffs, it’s mathematically possible.”
“Can you not just look up ze results?” Storm asked with surprise. “Surely if ze season happened forty years ago, someone must know by now, ja?”
“That would ruin the point!” Tara sighed dramatically. “It’s about the anticipation, the tension!”
“Oh. I see.” Storm said blindly.
Your Assault Rifle, as usual, looked like she had just stepped out of a history book about uniforms. Every button was straight. Every stripe was neat. Not a wrinkle, not a hair out of place. You wondered momentarily how nice it must be to live your life without grasping the stakes of things happening around you but shook your head. You were always a ‘prefer to know than not know’ kind of guy. That said, her aloofness to the goings-on was a good reminder to look at things objectively. That just left the last member of your Squad.
Wait, you only had six Squadmates. One, two, three, four, five, six, seven? You blinked as you counted the seventh finger and looked up. Sky, Cordelia, Juno, Star, Tara, Stor-
“Star?” you did a double take.
The Assault Rifle had foregone her usual pale blouse. In front of you, she stood in full combat gear, blue jacket, boots, and ammo strapped to her thigh. Her pastel blue eyes looked at you nervously, unsure if she was right to be here. A monstrous AR-15 kitted to the teeth was resting across her chest, and Star cradled it like her only child.

“Hi…” she responded awkwardly. “Uhm, so yea.”
“What are you doing here?” You scratched your head. “You’re not assigned to my Squad.”
“I invited her!” Tara piped up, realizing what was going on. “We found her on the way down; she looked a bit lost.”
“You invited her to what exactly?”
“To the mission, duh?” Tara shrugged. “Look, I know Star’s not technically in the Squad, but look at this cute face of hers and tell me she’s not a killing machine.”
You glanced at Star. The Elite T-Doll was looking at the ground, a slight blush in her face.
“Okay, well, she’ll grow into it.” Tara shook her head. “But the point is, she needed somewhere to be, and she’s already practically one of us.”
“Komandir,” Renate stepped into your circle to whisper in your ear. “I think this is who Miss Kalina was referring to.”
“Is that true, Star?” you asked, uncertain of what the implications of this were.
“Yea. I mean, yes- uhh. Sir. Yes, sir.”
“Miss Star, you are not cleared for combat. Are you sure you are allowed to be here with us?” Storm asked with confusion.
“Sometimes ya gotta bend some rules,” Sky put out excitedly. “Star’s a badass. She knows what she’s ready for.”
You took a moment to really look at Star. Her posture, the way she held her rifle, everything about her was screaming a lack of confidence. She didn’t know if she should be here or if you would even be okay with her being here, but here she was. Her eyes met yours for a moment, and you saw it. You saw hidden behind the veneer of anxiety and uncertainty a drive, a motivation to show up and make you proud. She wasn’t yours to command, she wasn’t - strictly speaking, Phantom Squad, but she was offering herself anyways.
“Alright, everyone, line up.” You called.
Phantom Squad wasted no time in hearing the call. As they had once before, they came to attention before you. Each pair of eyes looking straight ahead, individually they were resilient, together they were unstoppable.
“If you hear your name, get your kit and lock and load.” You sighed.

The reactions amongst the team were much more subdued than you had been expecting. Unlike the previous mission, as you had called each of them name by name and witnessed the strong reactions of each, this time was different.
Sky’s was the most notable; she was looking nervous when she wasn’t among the first two names to be called. Yet when you rattled her off, the small SMG couldn’t help jumping for joy.
“YES!” she shouted, “I KNEW IT!”
Yet after that, neither Star, Storm, nor Renate made such a show of themselves. Once you had called for Storm, you had actually repeated her name to make sure she had heard it. Your Assault Rifle had remained stone still at attention. It was only the shining of her eyes that confirmed she had heard you, and she was proud to be joining the mission.
Star was of the same cloth. Like Storm, she didn’t physically react to the news, but you saw in her expression a solidified certainty that this is where she needed to be. Truthfully you still had some small reservations, and the battlefield was no place to be finding out these sorts of qualities in the first place. Still, it was done, and that was the way it would be.
If Renate looked concerned that you had called her name last or that she was worried you weren’t going to call her name, she didn’t show it. She was wearing that face of hers, the one that lusted in relishing every detail of whoever was in front of her. This was originally supposed to be date night, and it didn’t look like she intended on changing those plans despite the change of scenery.
Once you had completed the call-out, everyone started moving in different directions. Your priority was making sure you didn’t forget your gun this time. You turned to fetch ol’ reliable down off the wall and let whatever chaos was happening behind you sort itself out. Best to make sure you were taken care of first before assisting the others. That was when you felt a tap on your shoulder.
“Juno?” your voice betrayed your confusion.
“Commander-”
“If this is about not getting picked for the mission, I don-”
“Not that.” She shook her head, smiling. “Let me help you get your armour on.”
“Oh.” You blinked. “Alright. Thanks.”
“Of course.” She bowed her head to you. “You have enough to worry about. Plus, I’m less likely to make a mistake right now.”
“Is it that obvious?”
“No. The others don’t see it.”
Naturally, she had pinned you perfectly. Though the butterflies were light, it would be dishonest to deny their existence. You felt the light trembling in your joints. The anticipation, the bloodlust being held on a precarious ledge, ready for you to drop at any moment. Her white gloved hand enclosed softly around your fingers, stopping your idle twitching.
“Thank you.” You exhaled a breath laced with anxiety.
While Juno began to tighten the straps around your torso, you looked over her shoulder at the rest of the carnival of chaos. Your four designated T-Dolls for the mission were in various stages of gearing up, with Tara and Cordelia lending assistance where they could see it might be needed.

“It doesn’t get much tighter than this!” Tara was trying to explain to Sky. “This is already it’s tightest setting.”
“Tara, if the vest comes off while I’m running around, I might get shot. Are you SURE there’s no way to tighten it anymore?”
“Listen, small-fry, if I tighten this anymore, you’re not going to be able to breathe!”
“I DON’T NEED TO BREATHE IN THE FIRST PLACE.”

“Do you need any help?” Cordelia was awkwardly standing over Star. The pastel-haired Assault Rifle was methodically loading a half dozen magazines with some red-tipped ammunition laid out on crates in front of her.
“Please.” Star agreed. “If you wouldn’t mind counting out the sets for me?”
“I am good at counting,” Cordelia informed her. “Just be careful with these around the Chief.”
“I’m not going to shoot him?” Star looked at Cordelia like she was insane.
“That’s not what I meant.”
“Sure, okay. Could you hold my jacket for a second? I’m feeling a little warm.”

“Miss Renate, do you zink I should hold ze grenade in zis pocket or in zis one?” Storm was standing in front of your Adjutant, curiously looking at the live grenade in her hand.
Renate, who you had never once seen falter from her dreamy, ethereal self, seemed momentarily frozen while she comprehended the danger in front of her.
“How about… we put it on one of your belts; that way, you can have a designated grenade belt with which to deliver destruction upon our demons?”
“Oh. Zat is a good suggestion. Now, which belt will I pick?”
“You have many belts to choose from; why not this one?”
“What!? Are you crazy? Zis is ze belt I keep my medals on!”
“What about this one?” Renate said with hesitation.
“Not zis one either! Zat is where I clip my gloves!”
“I will fetch you a new belt, then.” Renate smiled smoothly and glided away.
“Ohh… where will I strap zat one?”

“There we are.” Juno tugged, pulling the large velcro around your chest. “Nice and safe.”
“Good. Now if I get shot, I’ll have you to thank for keeping me safe.”

“I am happy to hear you approve, but….” Juno’s eyes flickered momentarily. Underneath the calm, glassy ocean of her outer self, you saw a raging ocean of fear, of anguish, raging against a wall of pure will; it was her inner strength that kept the abyss from unleashing utter despair upon her. “Perhaps, don’t chance it. Please, Keegan?”
You wrapped an arm around your handgun and pulled her to your chest. She was terrified that she wasn’t coming with you, and it was only her iron resolve that was keeping that panic contained.
“We’ll come back home safe.”
“Thank you.”

“Phantom Squad! Get ready to move.”
“Aye!”
“Yes, sir!”
“Ready when you are!”
“Let’s do it!”
“Huh?” you turned to look at Sky in confusion.
The small SMG was bewildered by the sudden attention and looked around frantically.
“What?”
“Why are you whispering?” you asked with concern.
“I’m not whispering?”
“HA- HAHAHA!” Tara fell over, clutching her stomach, tears rolling down her face. “Oh my god, he doesn’t know!”
“What’s so funny?!” Sky said in an aggressively hushed tone.
“What the fuck? What’s happening?”
“She’s wearing a silencer!” Tara said, howling with laughter.
Sure enough, at the end of the compact carbine in Sky’s hands, the large barrel attachment clung, ready to perform its service. It looked the same as the one on your gun, but why would- Ohhhhhhhhh…
“It is easy to forget that our weapons are extensions of ourselves,” Cordelia remarked. “I think I prefer this modification.”
“Rude!” Sky folded her arms, looking peeved.
“Wow… I uhh… well, I didn’t think that was going to happen, but we don’t have time to putz with it now.” You shook your head, “You good, Sky?”
“Yea…” She still looked pouty, but remembering she was about to go on a mission did seem to cheer her up a little bit.
“Get your gear stowed then, team.” You commanded.
The four Dolls hoisted their miscellaneous and began to stride towards the Skyranger, leaving you with the rest of the ‘left behinds’. Tara was still picking herself up off the ground, losing herself to fits of giggles periodically. Cordelia watched you blankly, not betraying any emotion one way or another.
“Try and relax while we’re gone.” You encouraged them. “Worrying about us won’t be good for your mental health.”
Cordelia tilted her head, eyes still watching you blankly. After a pause, she blinked quickly, then gave a slight nod.
“We will try and stay busy.” She agreed, echoing your instruction.
“Don’t worry, Commander. Cordelia and I will keep ourselves entertained.” Juno hobbled up next to the Shotgun and put an arm over her shoulder. “We’ve got plenty to keep us occupied.”
“…Indeed.” Cordelia said after a moment’s hesitation.
You got the sense there was something going on there, but you weren’t quite sure what, and you didn’t really have time to think about it considering who else felt the need to speak up at that time.
“I’m gonna be glad to have you guys out for a bit,” Tara said, stifling another laughing fit. “Finally, I can hang out and not feel the stare of a perverted Squad Leader following me around.”
“Alright.” You rolled your eyes. “That’s the pep-talk I was looking forward to.”
“Oh, right. Uhh— Good luck, Keegan! You can do it!” Tara gave you a big thumbs up.
“Yup. Alright. Didn’t stick that landing either.” You couldn’t help but chuckle. “Gotta catch my ride.”
“Go on.” Juno nodded, “We’ll watch you take off.”
“Not me!” Tara said, turning on her heel and heading for the door. “I’ve got to make use of this me time! There’s no one at the Dorm right now, which means I get to take my clothes off without judgment.”
“Oy!” A familiar Latina voice called. “Vamos!”
Firebrand was standing on the ramp of the Skyranger, Revenant squad filing in past her. She made a rude gesture towards you, and you shot her a thumbs up. You started walking towards the Skyranger, turning to look back as you went.
“Don’t let Tara do anything stupid.” You called over your shoulder to the other two.
“He knows that’s impossible… right?” Cordelia asked Juno quietly.
“Yes, he knows.”
— —
By the time you had buckled into your seat between Sky and Renate, the gigantic hydraulic elevator had already lifted the Skyranger onto the flight deck. Twilight was racing the last rays of light across the horizon, distilling a pale purple light into darkness. As the ramp closed, shutting away the roar of the engines, the night began to settle, and it was into the darkness of the cargo bay that you nestled into your harness.
Given the time of day, you were certain you’d be wide awake for the entire ride in. Sitting in the pale red light with nothing but the dull hum of the engines whispering in your ears taught you otherwise fairly quickly. It was only when you found yourself stirring, blinking the darkness away, that you realized you had succumbed to the ever-welcome fighter nap. Renate’s arm was casually draped around your head, and it was only your gentle sleepy movements that alerted her of your changing state.
“Komandir.” She was attempting to whisper soothingly to you, but the noise made it come out more like a hushed yell. “You are awake. Did you rest easily?”
“I didn’t realize I was out.” You sat up, yawning, not bothering to push her arm off of you. “How long have I been down?”
“Around two hours.” Renate nodded across the ship’s hold. On the opposite wall, Ava was out cold; she was using Spree as a pillow. You imagined you might’ve looked the same. “We still have more time before arrival.”
“Do we?”
“Perhaps another forty-five minutes.” She nodded, “according to our pilot.”
“Do you need to rest?” you inquired, mind still numb from the sleep.
“No.” Renate smiled, “I would not be able to rest comfortably with such a task looming in front of us.”
You rubbed your eyes some more, trying to make out her expression through the darkness. Renate looked surprisingly calm. At least on the surface. She was difficult to read, more challenging than the others who often betrayed their true emotions through small gestures or poorly hidden expressions. She was not the same. The truth was obfuscated in her eyes. Indeed, it seemed like the mission barely registered as a concern, a conclusion you only came to once you realized she had not looked away from you since you had woken and perhaps even before then.
“Lean against me.” You ordered. “Able to or not, I want you to try and relax.”
“As you wish.” Renate bowed her head in agreement before shifting her posture in her harness to brace herself against you.
Renate was bigger than the others as well. This was true in several areas, but all of them were distinct. She was definitely the tallest of the Dolls in Phantom Squad, only Juno came close to matching her height, and your Handgun wasn’t often standing up straight to make a fair comparison. Mass as well, Renate was well-rounded in several areas. Only Tara really had the same sort of curves, but she was stout. So when your Machine Gun leaned against you, you braced the weight of not only her body but also her mind.
“Are you comfortable?”
“Da.” She answered simply in that smooth tone. “I am quite content to lay with you.”
“I’m sorry we couldn’t have our date tonight.”
“An inconvenience.” The white-haired Doll waved her hand absently. “Our union will remain steadfast, even with this challenge in our way.”
“You say it with such confidence.”
“Do you not have confidence in me?”
“I’d trust you with my life, all of you.”
“My faith does not waver, Keegan.”
When you went to respond, the sudden rocking and vibrating of the ship made you jump. The unexpected turbulence increasing the noise levels to such a degree you’d have to yell to respond. Instead, you opted to relax in the silence with her. On your left, Sky was hunched over, her knees tucked up into her seat. The SMG had pulled her hoodie over her head, disappearing into the private cavern to be alone with her thoughts.
You stayed like this for a while; you lost track of the time, only certain that each second was passing by the ceaseless bumping and tossing of the Squads in the back of the hold. Truthfully you had almost nodded off again until a voice finally crackled to life in your ear.
“Phantom Squad, prepare for drop. ETA 5 minutes to LZ.”
By the time everyone had gotten wind of what was going on and finished prepping the last of their gear, you could already feel the ship decelerating aggressively. Some of the Revenant Squad dolls, realizing what was happening, had started preparing the cabin for your drop. The fast-ropes were laid out and belayed through pulleys on the ceiling.
The first thing you noticed when the door finally dropped was the rain. Cold droplets were whipping into the hold and streaming across your face. You made a point of motioning to the rest of the girls. ‘SLIPPERY, CARE’. Nods answered your gesturing, and before you knew it, Storm was disappearing out of sight and into the darkness. Renate soon followed behind her, and then it was your turn.
Gripping the rope tightly, you lept from the edge of the Skyranger’s ramp and descended into the maw of darkness as it swallowed you whole.
— —
Calm only returned once the Skyranger had departed. The noise and jetwash coming off the engines soon faded into nothingness while the dull patter of rain on plants took its place. Renate and Storm had taken up perimeter security while you, Sky, and Star did a quick inventory, assuring all your gear was ready.
It was then that Sky stepped away from the group for a moment. You watched her quizzically, not sure what she was up to. It was then Sky reached under her sweatshirt and produced a familiar feathery friend.
"Get out there, bud." Sky whispered. "Gimmie some eyes."
Pancakes looked around, a single black eye fixating on you. Experimentally he flapped his wings a few times before Sky tensed up and tossed the raptor into the Sky, and he was gone.
The calm of the night air and the droplets of freezing rain instilled a sense of caution in you that reminded you how important your sound profile would be tonight. Giving a quick, quiet whistle, you gathered the squad.
“Alright. Remember, we’re operating radio silence until contact breaks containment. Everyone knows your combat gestures?” You scanned the four faces around you. A bristling seriousness was your only answer. “Good. Everyone double-check your gear; let’s get those NVGs on and get a move on.”

You and the girls had only been trekking for what felt like twenty minutes before Star, who was ahead of you, gave you the command to halt. Behind you, Renate and Storm pulled off to the wings and secured your rear perimeter while you crept up to the AR.
“What is it?” you asked softly.
“Sky.” She breathed quietly in response, “Signaling.”
You peered ahead through the jungle, attempting to pick out your SMG amongst the rustling foliage. She was well camouflaged. After ten seconds of intense searching, you shook your head.
“Can’t see her.”
Star didn’t waste any time translating what she was seeing.
“Tracks… Three pairs, direction of travel: North West… Six to Eight hours old… Advent.”
Your spine shivered at the mention of the Advent troopers. That wasn’t the only adversary on your mind this evening, though.
“Ask if any tracks are Alien.” You requested calmly.
Star laid her rifle across her lap and held up a single digit, then added another three after a short rest, then she held her palms together, making a circle towards whichever direction Sky was lying in wait. You waited on baited breath.
“Negative.” Star finally responded, “only these three tracks.”
“Good news.” You sighed quietly in relief.
“For now.” Star agreed, bringing her rifle back to low ready. “Do we follow the tracks, or stay on target?”

It was another hour of carefully combing your way through the jungle before the next notable event crept up on you. Literally. A hand grabbed your shoulder, and you spun around in surprise, only maintaining silence by virtue of discipline.
“Sky!?” your hushed tone betrayed your annoyance.
“Hey, boss-man.” Sky’s face was deadly serious, no usual sign of her tom-foolery present. “Sorry about the scare. But check this out.”
The SMG whistled quietly into the night and held up a gloved arm expectantly. A soft fluttering of wings came from above you as Pancakes landed on her wrist, talons clenched into the leather glove. Sky retracted her arm, pulling the bird down to match your level. It was at that moment you realized the Raptor had a shell casing clutched in its beak, the brass casing shining with small drops of water and dew.
“Found this a couple hundred meters ahead.” She warned. “No one’s there right now, but this is ballistic, not plasma.”
“Help me out; I don’t see the puzzle pieces fitting together.” You were perplexed as to why, as shell casing would be way out here.
“My best guess? This is a little spot their patrols take a smoke break, piss, and maybe shoot at the wildlife for fun.” She shrugged, “That said, It could just as easily be unrelated, maybe there is a civilian camped out here somewhere, and we’re close to their front door.”
Neither option was very appealing to you, but if Sky was right and this was Advent, it meant this was a hot route for patrols to come through. Given the last patrol had been several hours old, and there’d been no sign of a fresher one, it’s possible you could lay an ambush here. Or, as she said, maybe this was unrelated. In which case, there was suddenly an unknown variable kicking around in this mission.

“We can’t be much farther from the main compound. We set up an ambush.” You decided. “Sky, get Pancakes to circle and make sure we know if anything is headed our way. I’ll get the others.”
“Yes, sir.” Sky nodded and disappear into the brush, with Pancakes clicking his beak in annoyance.
You quickly gathered up the rest of the Squad and quickly made a half-functional formation.
“Storm, I want you and Renate to move up to the base of that tree; you should have clear firing lines straight across their little rest spot.”
The two nodded, Renate, peering into the darkness to evaluate the situation for herself.
“Star, I want you on the opposite side of me. Check your fire, DON’T shoot me, please. I want you to cover their path in, and I’ll cover the path out. Sky will be with me.”
“Komandir, keep Star off the main path. If Advent notices anything out of place, it might spoil the ambush.” Renate suggested sagely. “If they are alerted before they spring the trap, we will not have the opportunity.”
“Good point…” You scratched your chin. “Alright, Star. I want you perpendicular to Storm, on my diagonal. We’ll flank the exit; if they make a break for it, we’ll cover it so long as you-”
“Don’t shoot you?”
“Bingo.” You glanced around, “If Sky and I can’t take them all, pick your targets. Renate takes the Northernmost, and you go counter-clockwise from there in order - Storm, then Star.”
“Kommander, we do not have silencers.” Storm pointed out quickly. “Do you wish for us to engage anyways?”
“Only if it looks like someone is going for their radio or might slip by Star and me. Otherwise, we maintain OpSec. Clear?”
A familiar chorus of nods responded to you.
“Alright, get in position, and dig into the brush. We might be set up for a while, so get comfortable.”
Phantom Squad carefully picked their way toward the ambush site, everyone being extra careful not to leave any sign of their presence. Storm, in particular, seemed quite suited to the task. Gracefully, she ducked under saplings and tracked around a moss-covered boulder so as not to disturb the foliage - Renate in her wake, letting the German Rifle do the hard work for her. Star departed in the opposite direction, the Elite AR Doll swinging herself over a log, and you lost track of her in the low tree cover.
You picked your own spot at the base of a jungle tree that couldn’t be more than thirty years old. You were adjacent to the small but well-worn path that veered off to the west. Sky was correct that this was a patrol path, but you remained uncertain as to who had last been here. You cleared away some of the mulch at your feet and began to nestle yourself in between the giant tropical plants, disturbing nature only enough to let you see the spot where you expected the patrol to stop.
You didn’t have to wait long. Through the green haze of your NVGs, you soon spotted your little SMG nimbly trekking down the path on the far side of the clearing. She stopped momentarily before looking around in a hurry, her eyes fixating on you after a moment’s hesitation. A least that confirmed you were hidden somewhat decent. Sprinting over to you, the American Scout slid herself through the bushes, army crawling her way to you. You maintained focus on where she had first appeared out of the trees.
“What’s the report?” you exhaled silently.
“Three, plain troopers, inbound.” She pulled her weapon from where it was slung across her back. “It’s showtime, Boss-Man.”

Though Sky had always been one of the most consistent Dolls to embellish the details, there were no falsities this time. The small girl next to you was tensed and trembling slightly from the cold or anxiety; you weren’t sure. Cautiously you rested a hand on the small of her back, and she stilled instantly.
‘Easy,’ you conveyed the mental message through the gentle motion of your thumb and forefinger between her shoulder blades.
With Sky calmed, you returned your attention back to the trail. For a moment, nothing happened. The quiet pattering of rain falling upon the earth and plants was the only company that dared enter your lethal crossfire. Yet, as promised, the guests of honour soon arrived.

There were three Advent Troopers of them, each walking with flashlights down the trail. The beams of light lazily waved across the flanks of the group and over the tops of the bushes. One momentarily flagged your position, and you had to squeeze your eyes shut as you were blinded through the night vision goggles. Yet, you (and Sky) nestled close to the earth weren’t so easily spotted. The beam soon moved on as its owner saw nothing out of the ordinary.
Quicker than you had expected, the group was already in the middle of the small clearing; it seems they had no intention to stop here this time around. Perhaps the rain was urging them to finish their patrol. If you chose not to act, they’d soon be gone and out of sight.

You were conscious of each moment passing through you slower than the last. Each heartbeat taking an eternity to pump blood through your veins. The numbness in your veins, the dryness in your mouth, all was temporarily forgotten when your finger started to pressure the trigger… squeezing, squeezing…
BAM
Sky’s compact rifle ejected a steaming brass casing into the night.
BAM.
You answered her call with intention.
Two of the three bodies in the clearing dropped suddenly; they fell forwards and sideways, respectively, torches both luckily pointing straight at the third trooper. He had turned in surprise, the suppressors keeping the sound from travelling too far, but there was no lucky crack of thunder to obscure the silenced gunshots from travelling to him.
He was quick to respond, his rifle coming up and looking blindly for targets. Unfortunately for him, Sky was quicker. Without hesitation, she had scurried forward like a wild animal, darting through the underbrush. It was the light from his fallen companions that did the last trooper in. Sky hurtled towards him with a leaping jump, one hand brandishing a wicked combat knife you’d never seen before. She impacted him like a freight train, and the pair toppled over backwards.
He never even had the chance to pull the trigger, let alone get to his radio. Rising from your position, you closed the distance on the pair of them, expecting to intervene in a life-or-death wrestling match. Yet, Sky was already returning to her feet. Your SMG was breathing heavily and clutching her knife, dripping a sickly green and yellow blood.
By this time, the others had also risen from their position and closed in on the group, weapons ready.
“Nice and easy.” Sky agreed, wiping off the blade of her knife on the body of the trooper she had just shanked. “How was that Boss-Man?”
You could only whistle in response. Not even a single round fired off in return? That was a smooth execution if you’d ever seen one.
“Not bad,” You whispered, grinning cheekily. “I’ll have to figure out a way to reward you when we’re done.”
“A reward?” Sky turned to you, eyes glimmering mischievously. “Guess I’ll have to rack up some more bodies here if I'm getting rewarded for this.”
“Easy tiger. We got a lot of mission to go.”
“Komandir?” Renate called softly. “Is everything alright?”
“All good.” You turned back to the other three, who had taken up positions covering the entrance and exit of the clearing. “Let’s hide these bodies quick and keep moving.”
“I’ll take care of it.” Star offered. “Just keep me covered while I turn those flashlights off.”
“Excellent. Storm, you cover Star. Sky, move up ahead and keep our front clear. Renate you’re with me.”
The girls wordlessly executed your orders as commanded. Sky disappeared into the jungle with a wordless grin. This first engagement had certainly shored up her confidence. You suspected she’d been waiting for this opportunity since you first opened her crate around a week ago.
Renate stood by your side. You could feel her eyes give you the once-over, looking for injuries.
“I’m fine.” You brushed her unspoken concerns away. “They didn’t even return fire.”
“Let us continue in this regard, yes?”
“If everything is going to go that easy, we’ll be home before dawn.” You agreed. “Let’s not get overconfident.”
“Indeed.” Your adjutant touched your arm. “At your lead.”
Once Star had finished hiding the bodies sufficiently enough so as they would not draw immediate attention, the four of you grouped up and began following in the traces of the path that Sky had forged ahead for the rest of you.
As it turned out, it was a good thing you had elected to maintain silence on your last engagement. After a few minutes through a more dense jungle and you suddenly saw the compound peering at you out of the darkness.
The buildings were few and looked decrepit. If this had been a Naval Base, it certainly couldn’t have been a very good one. True to form, you had approached from the South-West. A large swath of clear grass was awaiting you on the other side of a chain link fence, blocking the way forward around five meters ahead. It wasn’t tall enough to rule out climbing it, but the barbed wire would make things tricky.
Following the fence around a hundred meters to the North would bring you to the base of a tower, no doubt with a pod camped up top in overwatch of the perimeter. Next to the tower was an East-West road leading into the rest of the compound. The base itself appeared to be made up of three buildings in varying states of decay. The building first encountered if approaching from the West, appeared to be a large two-story warehouse with a large parking lot connecting to the western entrance with the tower. Part of the roof was collapsed, and you could just about hear the rain pinging off the sheet metal from here, but it was the largest building by a good margin.
Separated by a narrow road, to the east was the Comms building. It was in the best shape, but signs of rust and aging were still evident. Three stories of lights were on in several of the windows, and no doubt there would be a good deal of enemies to be dealt with inside. Adjacent to the comms building, connected by a dodgy-looking catwalk, was another two-story building. If you had to guess, this was probably the barracks for the occupying force here. One or two broken windows had lights flickering inside, but it would be a complete guesstimate as to the strength of the occupying force without more intel.

“That’s a lot of targets.” Star muttered, the squad having crept up next to you.
She wasn’t kidding. Though some stacked shipping containers and various ancient fuel tanks provided enough shadow to hide safely, there were still a number of visible hostile pods loitering around the area. By your count, there was one standing under a lean-to in the parking lot, another standing under the overhang of a door on the side of the warehouse, another on the roof of the comms building, and one patrolling around the barracks. This didn’t even begin to account for the potential hostiles inside.
“Well, if we’ve got this much trouble, then hopefully beach team won’t have so much resistance.”
“With zis rain and wind, I believe most Advent soldiers would prefer not to stand on ze piers.” Storm offered for consideration.
That was probably true, but no time for thinking about what-ifs now. It was at this moment that Sky reappeared from the jungle to your south. She sprinted through the shadows along the edge of the vegetation, keeping out of direct sight from the base until she was right next to you guys.
“Heyo.” She jerked a thumb over her shoulder. “Looks like we have a hole in the fence along the south.”
“We can all fit through?”
“Yup.” She nodded, “One small problem. We’re going to have to cross about two hundred feet of empty field in order to get solid cover again. It’s dark, so maybe it won’t matter, but we’re not going to have anything sturdy to stop incoming fire if we get caught out.”
“Komandir, your orders?” Renate, and subsequently the other girls, turned to you expectantly.

“Can’t risk leaving anyone on our flanks. We’ll take the tower and start from the outside in.” You decided. “Keep an eye on the flanks. Moving.”
“Moving.” The Dolls responded, quickly gathering themselves.
As you approached the tower, you couldn’t help but glance around at the others. In the dim green light of the NVG, the five of you looked pretty impressive. Storm and Renate were both constantly sweeping the open fields to your right in search of hostiles. Storm did look slightly out of place with her older-fashioned rifle, but you had no doubt she was just as lethal as the others.
Star and Sky were in front, the pair of them walking point like it was nothing. Sky kept her barrel trained on the tower just in case anyone got the bright idea to look out and give your position away. In the meantime, Star was keeping security on the jungle flank. For not really ever properly training together, it felt good to feel like you were in the midst of seasoned veterans.
By the time you had reached the base of the tower, it had become readily apparent that the creaky structure was occupied. The way the building creaked and the floorboards squeaked did more than suggest that there were some less than friendlies waiting for you at the top. A glance to Sky confirmed it. She grimaced and craned her neck, trying to listen closely. After a moment, she shook her head. You gestured to her.
‘Two?’
‘Three?’ she questioned.
‘Confirm?’
‘Unable.’
‘You have lead.’
‘On me.’
Rain and wind whispered through the grass under your boots as the three of you began to creep up the stairs, Star taking the rear to cover your ass. The wooden steps were slick with rain, and their age didn’t inspire confidence in a quiet ascent. You took your time, letting Sky test each step for where it would be quiet to step. Climbing the tower in this way took the better part of ten minutes before you found yourself at the landing just beneath the drooping balcony.
Sky had just started her next step when the three of you froze.
‘…’ ‘…’ Your headset clicked twice. Either Renate or Storm had spotted something.
Carefully you pulled up your rifle and scanned through the darkness. It took a few seconds (and Star’s help) to hone in on the danger. Patrolling around the perimeter was a group of two Advent soldiers. At this range, they weren’t very big in your scope, but it was a problem for sure.
‘Inbound,’ you gestured to Star.
‘Two minutes.’ She signalled confidently.
You turned to Sky.
‘Go quickly.’
The SMG nodded and relayed a signal to Star that you missed. The AR nodded and took a crouched position, training herself on the approaching patrol. It was precisely this movement that nearly made you shit yourself. As Star braced her barrel on the metal handrail, she must’ve slipped because the metal made a high-pitched-
‘PING.’
Everyone froze and looked up. It was unclear if the noise had carried up to the occupants of the tower. You waited on bated breath. The floorboards creaked above you… still, you waited. Another creak.
Sky must’ve had a sixth sense about this. She flashed a gesture to you and rapidly started climbing the staircase as quietly as she could manage. You followed her, not even thinking. It was a good thing too. Just as you reached the top of the stairs, a shiny helmet peered over the top railing staring straight down at you.
Sky’s quick reflexes took care of him. A muffled two-round burst cracked out of her SMG, and the head whipped back. A loud thump indicated whoever had caught you out had hit the floorboards. You sprinted the remaining steps, diving the last two to get sights on whoever was inside. Blindly you pulled the trigger at the first foreign mass you could put your eyes on. Your DMR delivered swift metal to the target, and it staggered backwards.
For the second time this evening, Sky had flung herself at the last target. Your scout had some mass on her when she put her mind to it. The second soldier in the tower hadn’t had time to bring his rifle up before she bowled him over, and the two of them went down, scrambling for control. The sounds of a quick scuffle were the only thing in your ears; you kept your barrel trained on the interior of the tower lest anything else jump out and surprise you.
Thankfully, a moment later, Sky was peaking back at you from around the corner, her knife held in a reverse grip; the green slime on it indicated a fresh kill. It was at this moment the first trooper you had put rounds into tried to make a break for it. Once more, you lit him up, unleashing a semi-automatic hail of fire after him that would make Renate’s rate of fire blush. The Trooper disappeared out of your sight out the window and made no sound.
Sky was already following, but as you pulled yourself back to your feet, she had already given you the all-clear.
“Good kill, boss-man.”
“Pretty handy with that knife.” You grunted in acknowledgment. “Keep saving my bacon, please.”
“You got it.”
A soft whistle came from down the stairs. Star was posted up, still watching the pair inbound.
“Eyes up.” Sky tapped your arm. “We’re about to have more company.”
“Komandir?” Renate whispered in your ear. “Shall we prepare to engage them?”

“Sky, get yourself down there pronto. Make sure you’re in a comfortable range.”
She was practically tripping down the stairs by how quickly she scurried down the tower to heed your orders. That left you and Star up in the tower. The Elite AR was still watching the patrol round the last corner before they headed your way.
“What do you think?”
“So far so good.” She stated simply. “Little bit of luck on our side tonight too.”
“I’ll say.” You scoped out a good position for you to take and opted for a prone position on the corner of the balcony. It wasn’t going to shield you from the rain, but you’d have the best angle on the group.
Far below you, a blonde head was sprinting away from the lights at the base of the structure, high-tailing it for the bushes closest to the fence. You adjusted yourself, shoving the body of the fallen officer next to you, trying to get a better position. A clinking sound reminiscent of coins hitting the ground came from his pockets, and you frowned.
It didn’t sound like coins; it sounded heavier. Double-checking the position of the incoming patrol, you made it your business to root through the pockets of the Officer for the purposes of understanding his culture and belief system better so you’d be able to communicate more effectively. When you pulled out the bullet, you felt confident the pair of you were speaking the same language.
There was something… strange about finding bullets in his pocket, but there was no time to dwell on that now with the patrol closing in. You began to line up your shot on the Trooper farthest from the fence, getting dialled in. A distant grumbling of what sounded like thunder echoed across the night. Good, maybe nature would be on your side after all.
Once more, you and Sky were in sync tonight; you waited for them to be as close to the brush near the fence line; when, instinctively, you pulled the trigger. Both Advent troops dropped soundlessly like flies, and no alarm went up.
“Scratch two.” The SMG chirped over the radio.
You quickly rose from your position and started to make your way down the tower, Star right with you. Once you reached the bottom, you regrouped with the others.
“Alright, it’s time to get up close and personal.” You nodded to Star, “You’re going to take my suppressor and take point with Sky into the base. The three of us will follow behind. I expect we’re going to lose our advantage soon, so keep your heads on a swivel.”
“Roger.” Star agreed.
“Sky, have your companion circle.” Renate commanded, “We shall advance in a ladder formation. Make sure nothing sneaks up on us.”
“Aye, Ma’am.” Sky nodded, eyes ablaze with excitement.
“Alright, let’s move, quick. I don’t want to get caught out because a dead Advent missed their check-in.”
“I have point,” Star announced in a newly hushed tone.
“Right behind you, sister.” Sky grinned at the AR doll.
For a moment, you felt Star waiver, though you weren’t quite sure why. You looked at your friend, and she avoided your gaze.
“Moving.”
“Moving.”

As Star & Sky begin to move up, you notice them suddenly duck into the shadows of a shipping container on the side of the road. Alarmed by the sudden change of demeanour, you reflexively pick up your rifle and scope around, looking for a target that might have revealed the pair.
In the space it took you to find nothing, Storm had alerted you to the updated goings on of your Squad Members.
“Kommander.” She prodded you, “Zey are signalling to one another.”
You squinted, trying to make out the gestures from range, but the pair was communicating too quickly for you to catch what was happening.
“What do you see?” you asked your remaining companions.
“Nothing that would indicate a problem,” Renate answered wispily. “They must have seen something beyond our means.”
“Zey are having a disagreement.” Storm mused quietly. “Miss Star keeps shaking her head. Something might be wrong.”
“Storm, signal them, get me updated information.”
“Ja, Kommander.” Storm obeyed at once, lowering her rifle. Her white gloved hands stood out well in the moonlight; surely one of the girls ahead would see your communication.
“What do you make of it?” you asked your Adjutant wearily. “This has been close for us so far.”
“I will not think to count our poultry until we are home to sleep.” Renate answered abstractly. “Yet our good fortune may yet persist if we are lucky. I must admit, I did not expect the deliverance of death within our Squad to be so… silent.”
“That makes two of us.”
“Kommander,” Storm interrupted. “Sky is reporting strange enemy behaviour.”
“Strange how?”
“She does not know.” Storm shrugged. “She says zey appear agitated. Star disagrees. That is all zey said.”
“Orders?” Renate prompted.
You thought carefully.

“Keep the pair of them moving. We’ll follow along. Let’s see how up close and personal we can get before it, inevitably blows up in our face.”
“I have a grenade!” Storm added helpfully. “Very good for blowing zings up.”
It would’ve been cute if it wasn’t so menacing. Still, you rallied the pair around you and signalled ahead for the point team to continue. Ensuring the coast was clear, Star and Sky slinked out of cover and continued progressing down the road. You, Renate, and Storm followed in their wake, keeping your eyes open for any encroaching threats to formation.
Another roll of ominous thunder shook the night above, sharply announcing the impending downpour. Ahead of you, Sky and Star crossed the road, momentarily illuminated by a dingy flickering streetlight before disappearing into the shadows of a rusted shipping container. You waited momentarily, listening intently for the muffled cracking noise, indicating your Dolls had encountered trouble. When it didn’t come, you signalled Renate and Storm.
The three of you followed in the path blazed by your silent scouts. When you reached the safety of the shipping container, you paused to regain your bearings. Star and Sky were advancing along a narrow corridor of darkness running parallel to the parking lot leading up to the warehouse. Not more than four arm-lengths to their left was a four-man Advent Squad. Three grunts stood milling about besides a burned-out sedan while an Advent Officer looked intently into the darkness.
He wasn’t looking in the direction of your Squad, though. Instead, he was looking North. Towards what? You had no idea. A tugging on your sleeve made you tear your attention away from the Officer’s strange behaviour. Storm was looking at you, a look of concern on her face.
“Kommander…” she hesitated, “Something iz wrong.”
“What do you mean?” you asked distractedly, looking back at the patrol. “Renate, get ready to mow them down if they look towards the others.”
“It will be done.” Renate nodded, turning to set herself up in a braced crouch.
“Ze zunder.” Storm looked nervously upwards.
“What about it?” You snapped a little hastily. “Focus up, please.”
“Kommander.” Storm insistently sought your attention. “Where is ze lightning? It did not strike last time either.”
“I don’t know, Storm. Little busy right now; watch our backs.” You whispered over your shoulder.
Ahead, the other pair was signalling back intel to Renate, who had already started to relay it to you.
“Three pods, composition of varying numbers. Two officers, eight grunts. We have group one; they have eyes on group two, group three out of sight.”
“Too many to take silently.” You cursed. The luck couldn’t last that long. “Alright, prepare to go loud.”
“Make sure to relay our change in status to Revenant Squad.” Renate counselled, eyes hungrily watching every movement of the targets lined up neatly in front of her.
“Right, code phrase was…”
“Killbox.”
“Thank you.”
Turning to look ahead to your Scouts, you began to relay a complex series of orders. If now was the time to tango, you’d be damned if you didn’t make the first move.
“Prep grenades.” You ordered your pair calmly once Star and Sky got the full message. “Renate, you’re going to huck that decoy to the other side of the parking lot. That’ll put their backs to us. Storm, you get them grouped up.”
“But, Kommander, ze light-”
“Storm - not. now.” You turned to look at her firmly.
The German met your eyes. She didn’t recoil at your admonishment, but the uncertainty in her eyes vanished at hearing your order. Whatever she was talking about was a problem for later, right now, you needed her, and she would be there.
She expertly extracted the grenade from her spiffy black leather belt and held it at the ready. You looked East towards where your SMG and AR were, guns up, ready to open fire. With one last breath, you affirmed your directions and tapped Renate twice on the shoulder.
The Russian MG pulled back her arm and pitched forward the strange-looking grenade with speed rivalling a major league pitcher. It was a beautiful throw, except for the part where it spun wildly off course, ricocheted off the burned-out car with a loud ‘THUNK’ and careened off to the west, where it came to rest in the shadows. The group of Advent Grunts looked bewildered and looked around wildly, unsure if they were under attack.
Then, like fire-crackers in a public restroom, loud popping and banging not unlike small arms fire echoed out of the small canister into the night sky. With one mind, the troopers and Officer dove for cover guns, pointing toward the noise.
They never saw the grenade until it was too late. The small explosive left Storm’s hand with velocity and gracefully arced behind the vehicle where most of the enemy squad had posted up. With a deafening ‘BANG,’ smoke and shrapnel exploded from the middle of the group, covering the area in a thin layer of dust.
“KILLBOX, KILLBOX, KILLBOX!” you yelled into your headset. There was no reply, but you weren’t waiting for one anyways. Renate and Storm both swung their barrels up, looking for signs of live targets. You couldn’t make out anything moving through the dust, and the girls were not of a mind to start wasting ammo right now.
That didn’t stop the other two, though. From their position on the East side of the parking lot, Sky and Star rose from their cover and unloaded a torrent of rounds into the rough position of where the Grunts had been in cover. Apparently, their intuition was good. From within the dust cloud, a loud Alien screaming was overwhelmed and cut short by lead cracking off the pavement.
“Cover the area!” you commanded. “Take down anything that moves.”
It was a good call-out. A second later, the other group of Advent Soldiers that your squaddies had reported were entering the parking lot from the east where Star and Sky were hiding. The pair hadn’t seemed to notice the encroaching threat.
[Headphone Warning] Storm’s weapon may have been close to 100 years old, but that didn’t stop her from being any less lethal with it. The German’s eyes flamed like a furnace intent on burning down the world around it. Her antique rifle spit out a steady barrage of rounds toward the incoming threats, and one of the grunts spasmed as the rounds ripped through his chest-piece, and he dropped to the ground unmoving.
Already the new group was returning fire, green pulsing arcs of light cutting through the darkness and lighting the area in a sickly shade of death. You vaguely saw Sky fall to the ground but didn’t have time to assess her health. Instead, you turned your attention to the second of their group, who had come charging out of the warehouse. Your finger was pulling the trigger, but by the time your round had hit him, he was already dead. Star had blasted the Alien with a full-auto burst, and his momentum caused him to ricochet with a sickening crunch off a hollow crate.

There was no time to stop and congratulate each other on the successful kills. Already you were turning your attention to vague movements stirring within the settling dust cloud of Storm’s grenade. If they were to get off a volley on the flank of Sky and Star, it wouldn’t be pretty.
Luckily, both of your Assault Rifles also recognized this fact. Storm and Star synchronously peppered the position where the grunts had been blown up. Alien screams of Rage and Pain were drowned out by the sharp sound of bullets ricocheting off concrete and metal. You turned your barrel on the position as well and set a few rounds into the mix just for good measure. The crossfire ripped through body armour and cover alike, and it was only once the outlines of movement truly ceased you turned your attention back to where you saw Sky drop to the ground.
The smol T-Doll was frantically pushing herself against the low concrete barrier she and Star had been crouched behind. You couldn’t get a good idea of her condition through the bulky NVGs; she had saddled her SMG across her lap and held her shoulder with her opposite arm. By all accounts, it looked like she had been hit.
“SKY!”
You tried to shout over the din of the battle.

Somehow your voice was able to carry enough to catch her attention, or she was looking back to you for reassurance. Still holding her shoulder, she gave you a quick thumbs up with her injured arm before tucking herself tight against the barricade. She might be hurt, but she was alright. A small wave of relief washed through your body, and you directed your focus to the rest of the enemies. At least another Squad was in the warehouse, and one roamer was unaccounted for.
“Renate, cover those windows!” You commanded your adjutant.
The heavy-set Russian pivoted her attention upwards towards small windows running above the main door. She was strangely calm, not so caught up by the adrenaline of the fight. The smooth fluidity of her motions reminded you to take a breath, and you tried to settle your fight or flight instinct so a more tactical mind could take the wheel.
While you tried to string together something resembling an attack plan, the heavy RPK propped on a steel drum came to life. Renate dialled in a cone of fire on the far right upper window, shattering the glass and causing the frame to explode into a shower of splinters and debris. You hadn’t seen any movement, but her instincts were true. A small section of the sheet metal wall became perforated enough to collapse, and as the window caved in on itself, a shower of green blood began to run down the side of the warehouse.
“Storm, move up with-” Once more, your attempt to make a plan was foiled.
Sudden bright lights cause your vision to go spotty, and briefly, you were disoriented as floodlights all around the parking lot and warehouse switched on. Dazed, you swung your hand wildly and instinctively grabbed the first thing you could steady yourself.
“Ach. Kommander, I cannot see!” Storm, in a very un-Stormlike fashion, was cursing under her breath next to you.
“I’m here.” You responded, still partially blind. “The lights-”
“They have done nothing but reveal the demons waiting in the darkness.” A chilling, calm Renate soothed your pain from somewhere to your left. “None may look upon a nightmare with such candour.”
For the second time, Renate’s RPK blazed to life; dozens of rounds sparked to life in her chamber and went careening out into the night. An acrid burning smell followed the sound of shattering glass. Slowly the spots in your vision began to wink out of existence one by one until, blinking away the last of your disorientation, you were plunged once more into darkness. From beside you, Renate’s barrel was radiating a molten red colour, not unlike freshly poured steel. Your Adjutant was already reloading the empty magazine, smiling sweetly as she went.
You rubbed your eyes behind the NVGs, the pain of sudden lightning to the corneas wasn’t pleasant. Grounding yourself once more, you checked the status of your other team. Sky was nowhere to be seen; she had somehow vanished from her crouched position behind the concrete barrier.
“Storm, stick with me.” You commanded, feeling around for her hand and placing it on the back of your belt. “We’re moving up to the other two.”
“Ja, Kommander,” Storm answered with a somewhat dazed tone. “Lead on.”
Crouched, you scuttled forward with Storm up to Star’s position, keeping your Rifle trained on the large door still ajar from the exit of the Advent Grunts you had just dropped.
“Star! Where’s Sky?” you asked, setting yourself in a kneeling position next to her.
Star’s attention was trained on something you couldn’t quite see. She was quite rigidly propped on the top of the barrier and looking at something in the darkness out in the field next to the Warehouse.
“Star!?” you asked again.
“Runner,” Star answered simply, tracking something.
Her body jerked slightly as she kicked off a rapid three-round burst of fire into the darkness. Her rounds impacted a target, and a brief flash of fire flickered in the darkness like a candle being extinguished. You could see a familiar small figure on the edge of the light and recognized Sky by the silhouette.
“Got him.” She said in a tone that sounded… almost cocky.
“Is everything okay now?” Storm asked quizzically beside you.
As if to punctuate the question’s absurdity, a screaming alarm suddenly broke the unsettling silence that had settled momentarily over this half of the base. The loud and angry klaxon firmly announced that intruders were present. Well, it took them long enough to figure it out. Honestly, you were thankful you had gotten as far as you had without any issues.
“Get your reloads in.” You kept a watchful eye trained on the Warehouse. “Hurry.”
The scraping of metal on metal and various clicking and clacking as the girls refilled their ammo beside you was cathartic in its own way. When Star racked her weapon and picked up her firing position again, you felt a new sense of invigoration take hold of you in the moment.
“Covering.” Star picked herself up again. “Top yourself off.”
You quickly refilled your ammo and rattled off an assessment.
“Two to three still inside, likely on an upper catwalk. We’ll have to take the building and lock it down.” You were nodding to yourself, assured of the strategy.
“News from the others?” Star asked.
“Nothing.” You shook your head. “Enemies first. No time for comms.”
“I will take ze lead.” Storm affirmed. “Ready?”
“Storm has point; Star, you have assault; I have slack.”
“Roger. Ready.”
“Let’s move.”
The three of you scuttled out from behind the concrete barrier and stacked on the warehouse door, guns ready. Storm waited for the go-ahead, but you hesitated momentarily to check on Renate. The MG was still on the steel drum, sweeping the upper windows. You motioned for her to cover the exits for any escapees. She gave a sign of acknowledgement and shifted her position quickly to a crate to give her a better flanking angle.
You took another breath, steeling your nerves for the breach. Star and Storm waited patiently for your go-ahead, and you took another breath, this one heavier, filling yourself with adrenaline. You had this, go-time. You tapped Star on the shoulder twice; she nodded, reached forward and tapped Storm on the shoulder. Suddenly you were moving.
The three of you rounded the corner, guns pointing upwards. A jet of green acrid light blew by Storm, missing by inches. Both T-Dolls immediately lit up the room, illuminating it with the flash of their muzzles. Another jolt of green light rained down from above and crashed into Star. She was knocked backwards off her feet with a quiet grunting noise.

There was no time to check on her; you quickly acquired a target and unloaded several rounds through his helmet. He collapsed, falling over the railing and hitting the ground with a crunch.
“RENATE!” you yelled, wildly spinning in search of the second target.

Quicker than you thought humanly possible, a considerable force was blowing through the large warehouse door you had just entered. Renate was moving so fast she had clipped the door, and a loud wrenching shriek of metal being sheared apart screeched through the warehouse as the door was ripped off its hinges and clattered to the ground. Renate was already firing by this point, a lethal cloud of bullets burrowing into the body of the last Advent Grunt, who had been crouched in the shadow of a tall shelf. He staggered backwards, and the contents of the shelf collapsed onto him. Once the pile of paint cans and other various industrial supplies had settled, he was good and still.
You scanned one more time for danger, the mental math of target count still processing in your head. Finally confident there was no other immediate threat, you turned where Star had fallen. Sky had shown up somewhere in the confusion. The SMG was on her knees over Star’s body, and it wasn’t a pretty sight.
Star was convulsing uncontrollably. Her movements were limited to painful-looking twitching like she was being repeatedly stabbed with a cattle prod. Her mouth was hung open, and her eyes were unseeing.
“HELP!” Sky cried frantically, hands unsure of what to do.
Storm was the one who came to her rescue. The German Assault Rifle pushed Sky roughly to the side, and was diving headfirst into solving the problem. Sky was already back at her side, trying to help. You got a glimpse of the wound, and a sickening noose in your gut tightened itself around your throat.
There was a smoking hole the size of a soccer ball missing from her side. Black acrid smoke and sparks were threatening to ignite a blaze, and a mixture of what looked like oil, blood, and coolant was seeping onto the warehouse floor. Storm was already elbow deep in the mess, her pristine uniform and white gloves covered in various fluids, and one of her cuff links was threatening to ignite. Yet she worked with extreme diligence, and you couldn’t stand by and leave her to fend for herself.
“What is needed?” Renate asked quickly, taking the words out of your mouth.
“Wires!” Storm answered after a moment, too focused on the task in front of her to explain properly.
‘Wires’ would have to be good enough. Slinging your rifle, you turned on your heel and looked for anything that would fit the bill. There HAD to be SOMETHING in here that would cover it. You began to tear through box after box, searching for a strand of copper wiring, willing to settle for anything that could be conductive.
From behind you, Storm was issuing a direct order to Sky.
“Clamp zis.” She said strictly. “Hurry.”
“Yes, ma’am.” Sky was responding to the orders hurriedly.
From across the room, Renate knocked over another shelf, quickly scanning piles of crap. It was you who managed to find the wire first.
“Renate!” you called, “Up there!”
On one of the shelves on the catwalk above you, a large spool of copper wire was resting plainly on a shelf. Renate turned, following your pointed finger. She glanced at the stairs, did some internal calculations and then started running toward you.
“Boost me.” She had called, but you had already figured out what was happening.
Bracing yourself on one knee, you met her to run and pushed as much force as you could into propelling her horizontal momentum upwards. Renate reached and clung to the catwalk; pulling herself up, she rolled up to her feet and dashed over to the spool of wire. Whistling loudly, she turned and heaved the spool towards the pair still operating on Star. Storm glanced up in time to see the wire well on its way and quickly leaned back to catch it.
“Hold zis, now- NOW,” Storm demanded, passing the spool to Sky while reeling out a strand. She severed the length by pulling Sky’s knife from her belt and then plunged her hands back into Star.
A large electrical short burst out of Star’s chest, briefly illuminating the dark warehouse with bright white light before it faded, and she was finally still.
Storm then sighed heavily and sat back on her haunches, looking solemly at her filthy gloves. You jogged over, dropping onto your knees to check Star. Her eyes were closed, and she wasn’t moving, but her body was still humming with dull energy.
“I was unable to revive her, Kommander,” Storm said dejectedly.
“She’s stable.” Sky clarified. “For now. We need to get her help.”
“Do we need an EVAC?” You asked, still worriedly examining Star.
“Do we have the capability?” Renate appeared at your shoulder. “It is curious we have not heard from Revenant Squad?”
You reached for your mic, which had been strangely quiet and called into Ava.
“Phantom 2-2 to Revenant 1-2.”
“…”
“Phantom 2-2 to Revenant 1-2.”
“…”
“Nothing.” You swore. “What’s going on?”
“Kommander. Our radio is being jammed.” Storm motioned outside. “I do not zink the zunder we were hearing was from ze rain.”
“You’re saying it was Revenant squad?”
“They musta run into trouble.” Sky shook her head. “It would explain why we haven’t been able to get in contact.”
“Shit. We need to take out that Comms tower then.” You glanced toward the general direction of the target building. “Restore comms and get an evac.”
“They’re ready for us,” Sky spoke up. “I saw a group of them on the roof when I was chasing the runner. They know we’re over here.”
“Scheiße.” Storm plucked her gloves off her hands and threw them on the ground, clearly frustrated. “Kommander, what will we do?”

“Well, if another group saw us in here….” You muttered, glancing cautiously at the side door. “We need intel. Sky, do you have anything?”
You turned to the SMG, who crouched beside Star’s body. She was tired, her left arm was looking like it could use some repairs, and her expression looked like it could use a nap. She scurried to the door and peeked outside towards the East at your words.
“Just the one group on the other roof.” She said, “They’ve got the high ground, but if we can get up to the roof, we’ll have a cover advantage on them.”
“That’s what we’ll do then.” You nodded. “I’ll head up to the roof and entice them to close in on us. Storm, Renate, I want you guys to get up on the catwalk and cover those east windows. If they get too close, that will be your responsibility. Sky, keep an eye on these doors. I don’t want anything sneaking in here, getting us from behind, or running off with Star.”
Both the larger girls nodded, Renate, looking inconvenienced by Star’s demise. Storm led the way up the stairs, her strong will manifesting a hardened expression indicating she’d rather talk through shooting aliens than words. You supposed it was her love language. Getting on the roof was another issue. There didn’t appear to be any ladder to get onto the overhead beams. Instead, you climbed up one of the several shelves of random shit lining the wall and pulled yourself through one of the many holes letting rain inside.
The metal was slippery, but the loud pinging of water droplets on the thin sheet metal covered your cursing. Momentarily your mind was cast back to an old cabin in the woods. In high school, one of your buddies had a lake house out in the boonies, and infrequently the group of you would head out there and fuck around for a weekend. They’d had a lean-to covering some firewood that sounded just like this roof. You found a sturdy spot and carefully eased yourself into a prone position.
Crawling forward, you cast your eyes east towards the comms building. At this range, they were a little more than amorphous blobs, but there was no doubt that the count of hostiles was four, and one looked big, ugly, and pink. A few feet to your right, a hole in the roof looked straight down on Renate and Storm; they were crouched behind the window, waiting for things to kick off.
“How’s the weather down there?” You asked sarcastically.
“Much better,” Renate answered wispily. “It seems we have found an umbrella.”
“Haha. You’re welcome.” You grumbled, peeking down your sight.
It wasn’t a clear shot. As Sky had indicated, the Pod seemed to have a pretty strong idea that the group of you was in the warehouse. Well, if they couldn’t see you, better take advantage of it. You heard the sound of ruffled feathers and the clacking of something sharp on the roof behind you. In a moment of panic, you whipped your head back, hand travelling down to your belt.
A medium-sized falcon was waddling along the roof, coming towards you. It was Pancakes. You breathed a sigh of relief and turned your attention back to the other roof. The Peregrine wandered up to you; he was very wet and looked at you through his beady yellow and black eyes.
“If you don’t have anything to report, best be on your way, Soldier.” You told him, “I get enough staring from the girls, thanks.”
The bird puffed up and shook himself, sending cold bits of water against your exposed cheek as if to say, ‘You’re welcome.’ Then he spread his wings and disappeared into the night once more. That momentary distraction settled, and you finished dialling in the Advent Troops. A red helmet was peaking above the boxes, assessing the battlefield, exhaling you pulled the trigger.
A loud crack burst from your rifle as the round was propelled into the rain, it crossed the open air, and the Officer jerked his head suddenly, falling backwards. It certainly looked like a hit, but with the lack of blood spray, it was hard to say if it had been a kill. Before you could take a second shot, the Pod had already started moving. They jumped from the topmost flat section of their roof onto the roof of the first floor, some 10 feet below. They seemed to have a general idea of the shot’s direction because they pressed themselves tightly against the rain barrels on the west side of the roof.
Bringing up the rear was the Officer. You had a clear vision of him as he clumsily vaulted the railing on the Comms Building, but before you could pull the trigger again…
‘Brrat-Brrat-Brrat’ (Headphone Warning)
A burst of decidedly Russian-sounding machine gun fire echoed out of the windows below you as Renate picked the target out of mid-air. The Officer hit the ground and rolled to join his fellows. It was a beautiful shot, but just wide of a kill. The troops held the position for another moment, expecting more gunfire to assail their position, but when it didn’t come, they moved without hesitation.
Storm had been waiting for this; she answered Renate’s burst of fire with an assault of her own, she sent bullets humming through the rain, and they ripped through the red-adorned officer who had descended the opposing roof. It jerked as the bullets hit it but quickly found cover again to avoid taking more punishment. In a moment, they’d be closing in, and Renate would have an opportunity to mow them down as they entered her range. Yet, as the military had drilled into you through countless nights of intense, gruelling training, always count your bullets. You reached around to the small of your back where you kept spare mags and produced an exceptionally well-machined magazine stocked with ammo.
“Ammo up!” You called down, dropping the mag through the hole in the roof beside you.
Renate smoothly caught it, ejecting her own magazine with one smooth motion and seamlessly reloading your newly provided fresh rounds. None too soon. The Advent troops had decided to press the advantage now that they were on the ground. They didn’t live long enough to realize the mistake.
With blistering intensity, the RPK set into the window-sill just 10 feet below you and began to spit death relentlessly. 5.45 rounds gnawed through the body armour of the approaching Officer and the Grunt that had been running next to him, the pair of them losing their footing and falling to the ground, twitching as lead hounded them to a shallow grave. Now with good reason to fear for their lives, the other two members of the Pod dove into cover.
‘Rat-ta-ta-ta-ta’ (Headphone Warning) Storm’s rifle echoed across the valley between the two buildings. The large, pink, Sectoid, which had been loitering behind a stack of crates, had his position suddenly meet the might and ingenuity of the Wehrmacht. Storm was not only lethal, but she was also precise. A tight clustering of rounds began to eat away at the bottommost crate in the stack, eating away at the wood like insatiable termites until the crate, now missing a huge hunk of a corner, suddenly cracked, and the stack toppled over. The Sectoid stood like a deer in headlights, looking alarmed as three separate barrels were trained on him.
He wouldn’t look as good hung up on the wall as a buck, but he’d be a fun story to tell the grandkids about over a beer. Simultaneously all three of you squeezed the trigger, and the Sectoid fell to the ground with a guttural Alien scream until he was silent, that big alien brain no longer able to do any harm. That only left one other grunt; he was sneaking around the left flank, and your rounds caught up to him just as he started to feel good about his chances. Scratch another one.
You were about to call an all-clear when a shrill scream reached your ears. Thankfully, the scream was not humanoid but avian. There was no doubt that it came from Sky’s favourite scouting buddy somewhere off to your South. You turned and searched the grounds, intensely looking for the source of the alarm. While you didn’t spot Pancakes (who was busy safely circling dozens of feet overhead), you did spot a group of Troopers lurking in the shadows, creeping up to your position.
“2 o’clock! 30 meters!” you yelled out the instructions.
Before Storm and Renate could focus on the new targets, a green bolt of energy shot out of the darkness, ripping through the sheet metal in front of you.
With the force of a cruise ship ramming an elephant, your breath was knocked out of your lungs, and your sight went fuzzy. The plasma round had been dampened after passing through so much metal, but there was no doubt in your mind it had just cracked into your ribs with the nano-vest absorbing much of the energy. Biting your teeth and trying to suck air into your empty lungs, you pointed your rifle in the general direction of the attack and put ammo downrange as quickly as you could squeeze the trigger.
At that moment, you had been doubtful you had actually hit anything. Still, from below you, a Machine Gun, thoroughly disgruntled at this turn of events, unleashed a hell-fire upon the position of the enemy troopers so deadly and precise it looked like someone had parted the atmosphere between Renate and the Pod. It was only after the hollow clicking of a hammer repeatedly striking an empty chamber subsided that you realized that everything in that area of the field had been decimated.
Later you’d find out that Storm had also been shooting in that direction, but her gunfire hadn’t temporarily disrupted the laws of physics, so she excused you for not noticing. With the danger, at least temporarily, on hold, the battlefield became quiet once more. You immediately rolled onto your side and jammed one of your hands under your vest. A sharp jab of pain scolded you for touching your midriff but pulling it back, you were relieved to see your glove was still black. No blood.
“KOMANDIR-” Renate yelled, concern clearly laced in her tone.
“I’malright.” You yelled back painfully. “Hit my ribs, but the vest did its job.”
The sound of relieved Europeans was clear, but you had another problem now. Getting down. If there’s one thing broken ribs didn’t like (apart from not being broken), it was a flexible torso. With much swearing, cursing, and other foul tongues that even you didn’t fully comprehend, you managed to slip back down the hole you had climbed through and (with Renate’s help) get onto the catwalks lining the second floor.
Renate was waiting for you; she was about to tear apart your kit to get a good look at your injury. You held up a hand to stop her and shook your head.
“Not now, not here.” You told her. “Probably something is broken, but it’s a problem for another time. Where’d Storm go?”
“She saw something below,” Renate gestured out the window, escorting you down the stairs to the ground floor of the warehouse. “She said she must retrieve it for our benefit.”
“I have no idea what that means.” You glanced over to where Star and Sky were.
Sky had set herself up in a half-kneeling position over Star’s body, not unlike a lion guarding its kill. She was intently watching the large warehouse doors on the west side of the building, ensuring you didn’t have any intruders to worry about.
“All clear here?” You asked.
“Yessir.” She said simply, not looking away from the door. “Sounds like you guys had a good time.”
“Something like that…”
Storm came back in from the side door at that moment, carrying what looked like a computer circuit and a handful of plastic wafers each about the size of an egg. Sky had looked around wildly but, upon seeing Storm, went back to watching the door. You looked at the German in confusion, uncomprehending her newfound tools.
“Ze Alien dropped zese.” Storm explained your silent question away. “Zese are T-Doll parts.”
“Why does a Sectoid have T-Doll parts?”
“I do not know.” Storm shrugged. “But zese are specced for a doll of an AR-Type.”
Something didn’t sit quite right with you; why would Advent have T-Doll parts way out here? There was surely an answer to this, but as Storm knelt over Star, you put the question out of your mind for the time.
“Sky, help with zis.” Storm prodded the SMG in the back.
The two of them set to work on Star. Storm once again donned her gloves and plunged her hands into Star’s injury with reckless abandon. You became passively aware of Renate hovering closer and closer to you. Glancing at her face, you noticed her eyes were glowing a brighter purple than usual, and she was staring at you. You shook your head, used to it by now and let yourself lean against your Adjutant. She seemed pleased by this and subtly contoured her body to meet your weight, opposite hand absent-mindedly pointing at the side door, just in case.
Minutes ticked by, and you were getting ready to tell the girls to pack it up so you could keep moving when it happened. Like a lightning bolt had struck her, Star suddenly twitched, and her eyes flew open, gasping a huge breath of surprise.
“WOAH.” She exclaimed, bolting upright.
Sky caught her before she could jump upright, and Storm pressed her rifle into her arms. Star looked around, bewildered but otherwise looking completely fine.
“What happened!?” she asked, “I was looking up and then….”
“Plasma is a hell of a plasma.” You whistled. “Nice job, Storm. You too, Sky.”
“Did I die?” Star asked, still looking around for answers and catching her breath.
“Almost.” Sky obliged, patting her fellow American on the shoulder. “The wunderkind over here patched you up with some Doll poppers.”
“Doll poppers?” you looked at Renate for answers.
“The small round discs.” She explained. “They contain small nano-bots that interface with our systems and repair critical damage.”
“Critical damage?” Star rubbed her eyes. “Did I get shot?”
A moment of silence passed as Storm pointed out Star’s injuries to her.
“Holy shit, I have a hole in me.”
“Several, yes. But, zis one is new.” Storm smiled helpfully. “Feeling better?”
You waited, expecting Star to be crestfallen that she had fallen in battle. To your surprise, she grinned.
“I feel great.” She laughed. “I’d forgotten what it’s like to get shot. That brings back some memories. Help me up?”
Storm and Sky each took a hand and pulled Star to her feet. Star looked just as beat up as you felt, but there was a vengeful spirit now dancing in her eyes that hadn’t been there before. She brushed some faded pink hair from her eyes and looked at you with her piercing blues.
“Don’t suppose you saved any for me?”
“As a matter of fact, there’s a building full of them about 100 yards that way.” you told her, wincing at clutching your rib.
“What are we waiting for then?” She looked at you with confusion. “Well..? Let’s go kill them.”
“You sure you’re good?” You hesitated.
This new Star that had just brushed with death laughed haughtily.
“Nothing like a good bullet to remind you of your best firefights.” She grinned.
“Well, alright then, better go mulch some Alien ass.”

The group quietly exited from the warehouse after reloading and checking the western double doors to make sure no one was sneaking up behind you. Distantly, you still heard gunfire rolling across the sky. Whatever Ava had gotten herself into, she was on her own for now. Your priority was securing the Comms Building and knocking that jammer offline. Five pairs of boots quickly crossed the road to the east, eyes watching windows for movements.
Luckily there wasn’t anyone waiting to ambush you, yet. You folded in behind Storm, squarely in the middle of the pack, and stacked against the sheet metal wall. Renate opened her mouth to give the breaching order, but Star suddenly held up a hand, silencing the Machine Gun. Star wasn’t looking too bad for being unconscious during the last fight. She had a somewhat awkward step in her gait, but all things considered she was holding up pretty well.
She pressed her ear against the metal, eyes closed and brows furrowed. She was listening for something on the other side. Not a bad idea considering you had no idea what was waiting for you on the other side of the door. You pressed your ear against the metal next to you. To be completely honest you weren’t sure if you were hearing your own heartbeat, or the thumping of feet on the ground. Star was, at the very least, more confident than you were. Her eyes snapped open and she passed hand-signals down the line.
‘Three enemies, end of hallway, two left, one right.’
How she divined the existence of a hallway, or how Advent was split down it was beyond you, but there was no reason to doubt her yet. Storm nodded, in corroboration or acknowledgement you weren’t sure. The German was looking like her old determined self. There had been a moment after she failed to revive Star that Storm had seemed to lose some of her strictly professional personality, but that time had passed and she was back to her usual self.
Failing to resist temptation, you reached out a hand and patted her on the head. She turned to look at you, wondering as to why you would choose this moment to mess up her cap. You winked and held up a finger to your lips. The confusion was plain in her green eyes, but she didn’t seem to mind the gesture. She nodded, a small smile peeking from under her rigid expression.

Renate motioned to you and Sky to cross the threshold and stack on the otherside of the shut double-doors. You acquiesced, letting Sky deliberately take the spot in front of you and waited. The ready check was flashed between the two groups and you exhaled, calming your nerves before the breach.

Before you even realized what was happening, you were already in motion. You stepped up to Sky who pushed the door open and crack and lobbed a grenade into the room, angling it so it ricocheted off the opposing wall. As Star had estimated there would be two enemies on the left side, that was your target.
Moments later, shrill Alien panicking was immediately snuffed out by a loud ‘BOOM’ as shrapnel exploded in every direction. The girls didn’t stop to listen in for the damage. Immediately Storm, who had taken point, was pushing through the door, barrel-sweeping the long hallway that ended in a T-Junction at the base of a staircase. An overturned desk was in her way, and behind it, a Grunt was already pulling his trigger.
A bullet zipped through the air and planted itself firmly in his skull. After evaluating the consequences of his actions, the Grunt acknowledged his shortcomings and dropped dead instantly, gun thoroughly unfired. Storm used that window of safety and honed in instantly on movement on the left side of the hallway. The Officer that had been pulling himself off the ground was put down by Storm and she kept her muzzle pointed in his direction while the rest of the team followed behind.
It couldn’t have been more textbook than that. Three Advent Soldiers were laying motionless on the ground. That didn’t mean the job was done though. The staircase leading up loomed ominously behind the scene. A quick sweep of the ground floor didn’t lead to any control room either. Clearly, the source of all your problems was waiting for you to invite yourself upstairs.
Storm and Star took the opportunity to reload while Renate covered the stairs and Sky covered the rear. Everything was quiet except for the distant patter of rain hitting metal and concrete. Even the distant gunfire had ceased. Star listened for a minute, trying to ascertain the position of any enemies through the floor, but to no avail.
‘Upstairs.’ You mouthed to the rest of the squad. ‘Target.’
Slowly, Renate began to slink up the steps, keeping her aim pointed firmly towards the landing in case of an encroaching surprise attack. She rounded the corner, looked for a moment, then lowered her gun.
‘Barricade.’ She mouthed back to you.
You crept up to her position and looked around the corner for yourself. A very heavy door was fixed at the top of the stairs, and a load of debris had been roughly piled in front of it. Chairs, half-broken crates, and a shelving unit were all tangled together. It would take a few minutes to get the shit out of the way.
Renate slung her MG over her back and began to roughly pull away the different stacked objects. The metal and wood clattered loudly together. So loudly there was no way whoever might be hiding behind the doors would surely hear you coming, not that the gunfire moments earlier was helping your case.

“Well, everyone grab a piece.” You muttered, roughly pulling at a metal chair leg.
All pretense of stealth at this point was gone. It was an awkward sort of standoff. They knew you were coming, and you knew they were there. The purpose of this roadblock was just to buy time. If Advent thought the time was going to help them, that meant reinforcements were probably inbound, and no part of you wanted to still be here when that happened. A chain formed, Renate pulled things out of the pile and passed them down to Star who tossed them to Storm, who piled them neatly in an organized fashion along the edge of the hallway.
You had gone to pull a plank when your ribs twinged painfully, and a silent, commanding look from Renate told you that maybe it was a better idea to keep at least one gun on the door. That left Sky as the odd one out. She stood by, keeping an eye on the door, but her fidgeting told you that she was still itching for a fight. You caught a glance of her wounded shoulder and thought maybe keeping your SMG close to the action wasn’t the best play right now.
“Sky-” she turned to catch your eyes. “Why don’t you take a quick lap, make sure the coast is clear, who knows, maybe you’ll find another way in?”
“You got it boss-man.” She nodded solemnly, rose from her kneeling position and jogged out the door into the night without a second glance.
— —
It took a good ten minutes to get the majority of the crap off the staircase. During this Renate had not once, but twice dodged a minor landslide of staplers and paper trays when she pulled a box of office supplies loose from its wedged position. This had naturally prompted Storm to give you a doe-eyed look.
“No, we can’t keep them.” You shook your head. “If you want office supplies we can get some when we get back.”
“Ja, Kommander.” Storm agreed sadly, neatly placing the boxes of staples in a neatly arranged order designated by size and gage.
By this point, you figured the girls plus yourself could get through the door if you were careful. You were just about to call Sky back inside when you heard a yell of surprise from your scout very close to the front door. At once, four different guns were trained on the doorway. A tense heartbeat passed before-
“Don’t shoot!” Sky hollered, “Friendlies!”
“Friendlies?” you muttered in confusion, then, “Oh, Shit!”
You descended the stairs as quickly as your ribs would permit and were met by the sight of a roughed-up-looking Revenant 1-2 coming through the door. To say that they looked battle-worn would be an understatement. Ava was covered in sand and dirt. Chillingly, there was also a generous spattering of a dark substance that looked suspiciously like blood staining her gloves. Without even thinking about it, you threw an arm over her and gave her a quick embrace.
She stiffened for a moment, surprised, but then you felt her relax and her arm awkwardly patted you on the back once before she pulled back.
“What the fuck happened to you guys?” You asked, looking over the rest of her Squad who were in a similar state.
She shook her head numbly.
“Landmines.” She offered a simple explanation. “Lost one. Beach is clear. Barracks too. How's 'ere?”
You gave her squad a quick headcount and confirmed that she was one short of the full stack. You set your jaw and shook your head.
“They barricaded the staircase. We’re just about to breach, but it doesn’t look good. Single choke point, tight corridor.”
“Actually-” Sky materialized at your side. “I found something, on the roof.”
“On the roof?”
“Yea. There’s a vent, maybe one-Doll could squeeze in there, if they’re small like me. Drop in from above when it kicks off. I’d have a flank right away.”
“A vent? Like an air-duct?”
“Yup. Just below the dish.” She rolled her shoulder and shuddered. “Real tight though, like I said. You couldn’t fit.”
Ava went to check the staircase while Sky explained her findings. Once she had taken it in, she returned back to you.
“Gotta’ plan?”
“I’m out of frags, at this point we’re just running on bullets and prayer. Reinforcements probably are on the way. No time to scour for supplies. We need to get a move on.” You shrugged. “Unless you got something?”
“Might.” She looked up at the ceiling. “Could hittem from ‘elow. Synch with the wee one, plus yer group on t’stairs. Best odds, I reckon.”
“Hit them from down here?” You glanced at the metal above you. “You all can penetrate that.”
“Ain’t nothin’ we can’t get through.” One of Ava’s Shotguns, a red-haired girl whose name you kept forgetting, educated you. “We’ll slice through like a bootlegger dodgin’ a road-block.”

“I admire the confidence.” You gave the Doll a smile. “Let me think…”

“You’re sure about this?” you asked Ava hesitantly. “No doubt in your mind?”
Ava glanced up at the ceiling again and looked over her assorted T-Dolls; she was rerunning her mental calculations, for your sake. Coming to the same conclusion that she had previously, she nodded to you.
“Aye. Am’ sure. It’ll work.” Her confidence was unwavering.
“Alright then, let’s do it.”
“What about parachuting in?” Sky tugged at your elbow as you turned to go up the stairs. “I can get in there and cause some havoc. Give me a grenade or two, and you won’t need to breach!”
“I love the energy, but I’m not sending you in there alone. Especially because we’re fresh out of grenades.” You jerked your thumb towards the stairs. “You can come stack up with me and make sure I don’t get shot.”
“Yo, boss-man, quit being stubborn.” She scolded you, and you stopped, taken aback by her protest. “I know you don’t want me to get hurt, but this is the play.”
“I don’t think you’ve ever defied an order before.” You raised your eyebrows in surprise. “What does that tell me?”
“That you should listen to your best scout!” Sky insisted. “Put some trust in ya gal to get the job done.”
You had meant the question in jest, but the insistence with which Sky insisted she was in the right was giving you pause. Normally the girls were ‘Yes, Sir’ ‘No, Sir’ and ‘Please don't accidentally-on-purpose look at my panties, sir’. This sort of defiance was unusual. You had a weird feeling in your gut and decided to just go with it.
“Ava, can you send Peanut up with Sky through the vent? I don’t want her getting caught out by herself.”
“YES!” Sky shouted with excitement. “C’mon Pipsqueak, we got some climbing to do.”
“My name’s Peanut…”
“That’s what I said!”
— —
Sky and Peanut set out on their expedition, giving you an extra minute to get stacked up with the girls than you thought you had. Naturally, this meant Renate materialized at your side at some indeterminate point. You rubbed your chest, still wincing from the pain in your ribs and gave her a look.
“What do you think?”
“I think of many things, this-es, that-es, yet all of them concern you, Komandir.” Renate exhaled wispily. “May I suggest you wait here while we clear the upstairs?”
“You can suggest it, but I will ignore you.” You leaned against the wall, “We’ve come this far; I can make it to the end.”
“You have led us this far valiantly. Nothing you can do now will prove you are more than the man we know you to be.” Renate’s eyes flitted over your chest, not liking the scorch marks on your armour. “You must let us see to your injuries.”
“Not the priority. We both know I don’t have any life-threatening issues right now. The first job is finishing the mission. You can coddle me later, deal?”
“Very well. I will hold you to your word.” She glanced around, checking to see if anyone was looking, then she pecked you quickly on the cheek. “I am very much enjoying our first date. I hope the climax will be worth the effort.”

Turning on her heel, Renate ascended the staircase again, preparing to breach.
“The climax will definitely be worth it.” You exhaled huskily. Then you shook your head violently. Go time now. Horny-boy time later.
With some effort, you followed Renate up the steps and began to sort the girls into a reasonable breach order. You were, of course, not permitted to choose any spot in the fireteam that wasn’t the tail, but you allowed it. Renate was already standing next to the large door. Her demeanour, which a minute earlier had been soft and pleasant, was sharp and deadly.
You lined up Storm next. Storm still had an air about her that told you she didn’t fully understand why you all were even here in the first place, but the set look of determination on her face and perfectly neat uniform told you she was as ready as anyone else to kick down the door.
That just left you and Star on the rear team. The Assault Rifle looked much more at home than when you had first put boots on the ground. Her shoulders were relaxed, and there was a cocky look in her eyes.
“Looking good.” You gave her a nod.
“What I lack in tits, I make up for in flexibility.” She boldly grinned.
“Wow. Huh-” You blinked a few times and shrugged. “I meant you looked more sure of yourself.”
“Oh- uhh- fuckingkillme - hah… yea. I’m right back at home now.” She forced a pained smile. “This is what I was trained to do.”
“Well, you’ve been doing it well. Let’s get everyone home safe.” You raised an eyebrow. “Then we can check that flexibility.”
Star closed her eyes and rotated slowly on the spot so her back was to you. That wouldn’t be going away anytime soon.
A whistle came from down the stairs, Ava.
“Y’alright?”
You glanced up at Renate at the head. She locked eyes with you and nodded.
“On your signal.” You called back down.
“Three… Two… One…”
When you first waded out of the jungle earlier in the night, the atmosphere of the rain, the jungle, and the ocean were a ways off. It had all combined to create this sort of tense atmosphere. The cherry on top had been the distant roll of thunder. A sound which, in actuality, had belonged to Ava’s Revenant Squad. Yet, standing a mere 10 yards from the barrage of hellfire that roared out of their muzzles momentarily convinced you that there was no difference between the two.
The building shook on its foundation as the Shotguns poured everything through the ceiling into the fortified room. That was the only signal Renate needed. She rose from her half-kneeling position and SLAMMED into the door with so much force the metal hinges shattered. The following torrent of gunfire deafened you.
Things moved so quickly that you had trouble recounting it all as it happened. You remembered a bolt of green light hit Renate in the chest, and her knees buckled as she tried to remain upright from the impact. Another burst of light blew the cap off of Storm’s head. That was when Star stepped up, and a silenced round zipped into the room, presumably to find a soft body to embed itself in.
The waterfall of lead that subsequently poured into the room would’ve been enough to drown a whale. Renate opened up, wildly spraying the entire room with a non-stop automatic burst that gnawed its way into every target unlucky enough to get in her path. Storm placed her rifle on Renate’s shoulders and unleashed several controlled bursts at an incredible rate of fire onto several masses that had been hiding on the left side of the room.
Distantly you saw a part of the ceiling collapse, and the flash of red falling to the ground was enough to invoke the mental image of Sky landing behind some of the Advent Troops. The high-pitched ‘Brrzzzt’ sounds of her rounds discharging into enemies confirmed that fantasy for you.
By the time you found an angle to fire down that wasn’t at risk of hitting friendlies, it was already all over. Once Renate went dry on ammo, silence had taken the scene. Storm had turned to you and was saying something, but you saw her lips move soundlessly. You grimaced and shrugged, standing up cautiously to survey the room. It was in shambles. Several shelves had collapsed, and a few bodies were slumped over consoles with heavy wires attached. You pushed past Renate and stepped inside, the smell of gunpowder heavy in the air.
A sudden movement in the far right corner caught your eye. A slimy-looking pink hand was struggling to pull itself up. As you watched, you realized there was a bright light glowing behind it and getting brighter. Star pushed past you, rifle up, but you threw a hand over her barrel and pushed it down.
“NO!” you yelled, “Let him burn!”
The Sectoid was flailing around, trying to get the fire off him. You weren’t sure how it had even started; vaguely, you recalled Star’s Dragon Rounds might have done this. Still, the Sectoid was in pure panic mode. It wasn’t even paying your squad any attention now. You vaguely heard a distant Alien scream and watched as it found its feet and fell against the wall. Apparently, the cool metal felt good because it reared back to slam into the wall once more but missed.
The Sectoid crashed through the boarded-up window and fell out of the second-story building, leaving the scene quiet once and for all. You felt movement around you as Star and Storm began to secure the rest of the room. Sky popped up behind one of the far consoles, knife in her hand, Peanut by her side. The pair looked flushed but were grinning.

Operation: 'Silent Grove'
Complete!

Sky said something, but your hearing wasn’t quite right yet. This wasn’t the first time this happened to you. You’d experienced sensory overload during the first invasion. For whatever reason, your hearing was always first to go. Possibly because it was the least important sense when the only thing to hear was bullets breaking the sound barrier.
You surveyed the room before landing your eyes on Renate. Your Adjutant was looking roughed up. She was kneeling on her left knee and using an arm to steady herself against a cabinet. Thin green smoke was curling up her body from a large hole than had been blasted into her armour. Blackened skin was visible underneath, she hadn’t been penetrated, but that looked like it hurt. You kneeled down next to her and put an arm on her back.
“You good?”
You yelled much louder than you had meant to. She nodded painfully; by the way, her torso convulsed, it looked like she was just out of breath. Hard to say without more diagnostics information, but you were relieved by the thought that Renate would not lie to you about her health.

After a minute or two of letting things get settled, your hearing came back to you. By this point, the Dolls had already started tearing apart the makeshift control room looking for goodies, hidden treasure, and anything that might be interesting to take that wasn’t nailed down. Renate had mostly recovered from the blow she had taken to the chest.
The absence of hostiles in the area made her comfortable enough to shrug the body armour off, and she slung it over her shoulder. Underneath her armour, she had been wearing a tight grey shirt. Most of it was in tatters now; the result was that what was formerly a T-Shirt was now a V-neck. A very deep V-neck. Your eyes nearly popped out of their sockets after seeing her. The fabric was just barely clinging to her breasts now; pink areolas were enticing you to brush the fabric aside. You clenched your jaw, trying to force the blood back into your brain.
You said a quick prayer to the god of titties and turned your back on her to see about getting the comms jammer taken care of.
“Looking for the jamming switchboard.” You announced to the room. “Anyone got eyes on?”
“Over here!” Star waved to you from one of the first consoles you passed on the way in. “Just gotta flip this switch.”
You grasped the red-handled level and pulled it into the opposite position with some effort. Instantly you became aware of the faint sound of static in your ear.
“Comms check. Phantom 2-2.” You called into your microphone.
“Loud and clear, Phantom. Status update?” Bradford’s voice sounded like that of a distantly chiselled Angel with enormous calf muscles.
“Comms Tower secure, all hostiles eliminated. One Doll KIA, multiple injured. How copy?”
“Solid copy.”
“Firebrand en route.” Came a familiar Latina voice. “ETA 5 mikes.”
“Five minutes!” You turned, yelling at the rest of the squad. “Storm, I want this place spotless.”
“Ja! Kommander!” Storm’s voice called from somewhere behind a server rack. “Sky, cut this cable, please.”
“Star, you think we could get this jamming device out of the console?” You asked, “Maybe if we can get this tech over to Shen, we can develop a countermeasure.”
“Worth a shot. We don’t have long, though.” She kneeled, popping open a service panel in the base of the huge metal frame.
The two of you knocked heads a few times, trying to disconnect wires from a large gyroscopic-looking device. It was spinning slowly in a square-shaped chassis. You had no earthly idea how this thing worked, but it was clearly winding down from its previously engaged state. With much swearing, you began to track a particularly large black and blue cable into the hollow space of the adjacent panel. Probably just a power cable.
You gave it a firm tug and accidentally bumped Star.
“Ouch!” she swore, sitting upright. “That hurt!”
“Sorry-” you were still distracted by the cable.
“Uhh… Keegan?” Star’s voice was suddenly worried.
You looked up. A lens on a metal rod had popped up from the adjacent panel. It dilated and whirred; you could see the interior mechanism focusing on you and Star, who had stood up in the space before it.
“What the hell is that?” she asked.
It only took a moment to figure it out. You spotted a hazy screen on a corner of this new console. It was lit up with the word ‘BROADCASTING’.
“Fuck, fuck, fuck.” You hoisted your rifle and slammed the butt into the camera lens. It cracked and popped off its mount. The screen went dim and then quiet as if nothing had happened. There was an awkward pause.
“What was that?” Sky asked from across the room.
You were about to answer before you were interrupted by a voice that made your heart drop.
“All units, get out of there, NOW. Firebrand, authorized super-sonic. You’ve got inbound arrival in two minutes. EVACUATE.”
The Commander’s voice was not the usual rugged and tired level of gravel. Instead, this was freshly churned, purely panicked gravel. Whatever had just happened, you weren’t sure. It scared the shit out of the closest thing you had to a God, though, so that was good enough for you.
“Storm!” you yelled, “Torch it! No time to collect; grab what you’ve got, and burn the rest!”
“Ja! Kommander!” Storm’s answered you with similar frantic energy.

Storm only had one notable choice of loot. With the help of Sky, she had started dragging the elongated body of a Sectoid down the stairs. You trusted that she knew what she was doing. Your mind was on other things. Notably that of the Commander telling you to haul ass out of there. As you descended the steps (with Star’s help) you could already hear the distant roar of the Skyranger closing in.
Ava was waiting at the bottom of the staircase. She looked frightened. Needless to say, she too had heard the Commander’s warning. Once you had reached the bottom of the stairs, Star doubled back up to make sure Renate and Peanut were on the way.
“Everyone alright then?” She asked quickly.
You nodded, slinging your weapon over your back.
“Something happened when we tried detaching the jammer. I’ll explain later. Where are your girls?”
“Outside. Gotta flare wit’em.” She jerked a thumb out the door.
Star appeared at the top of the landing, helping Renate down the stairs as she had just done with you. Renate looked perfectly capable of making it down the staircase on her own, but the pleasant smile on her face told you she enjoyed the attention.
“Get outside!” you commanded the pair. “Go now!”
The two nodded and quickly brushed by you. You could feel the wind whipping in through the double doors and the roar of the Skyranger overhead. Ava looked back up the stairs.
“Peanut!” she yelled “Where ye?!”
“Coming!” answered a small, impish voice.
The SMG appeared around the corner, lugging a huge silver case after her. It thumped on each step as she dragged it, loudly rattling the contents inside.
“Found this!” She huffed, “Bunch of cores!”
The case looked like it was seriously slowing her down. You and Ava exchanged glances.
“Give it here.” She demanded.
The SMG acquiesced and leveraged the case so Ava could grip the side. She gave you a pointed look, and you bent down to grab the other end.
Your ribs were SCREAMING. You felt rational thought flee your mind as the hot washes of pain chased ice through your veins. Still, you grit your teeth and lifted the case with Ava. Working as a team, you vaulted over the upturned tables and waddled outside as quickly as you could manage.
The Skyranger was waiting with its ramp down. Hot jetwash blasting the pair of you. It was a much-needed source of warmth for you. Your vision felt fuzzy under the weight of the case, and your hands felt freezing cold. Peanut climbed the ramp first and yelled something ahead. The engines of the Skyranger began to increase the pitch of their whining. You and Ava stepped onto the ramp just as the ship began to move forwards, and by the time you were halfway up, there was a good twenty-foot free-fall where you had just been standing.
Ava dropped the heavy case onto the body of the Sectoid with a disgruntled “Hold this, ye twat.”
You sucked in air between your teeth and clutched at your side, your breath hitching and the mother of all stitches lancing pain through your chest. You could feel a pair of Dolls already kneeling around you, gently guiding your back to the ground.
Star and Storm were looming over you, a worried expression on their face. Storm was gently undoing the clasps of your armour while Star’s cold hands untucked your shirt. 24 hours ago, this would’ve been a very pleasant fantasy. All you could think now was a vague hope to alleviate the pain in your chest.
— —
After the pair of makeshift nurses had their way with you, things felt tolerable again. Storm had set your head in her lap, her gloved hand pressing an ice pack against the side of your ribs and the other massaging your forehead, encouraging you to relax.
Star had taken the opposite side, your legs were propped up over her knees, and she merely watched you with a hint of worry.
“Fucking aliens.” You groaned, “Ruining my lap time.”
“Lap time iz not appropriate right now.” Storm hushed you. “You have two fractures; ask again tomorrow.”
“Yes, ma’am.” You exhaled softly. “How’s Ava?”
Storm looked across the cabin, somewhere off behind you.
“Miss Ava, Keegan would like to know how you are feeling. Would you like to engage in ze ritual of showering with him when you return to ze Avenger?”
"That's not what I asked…"
You heard an unintelligible muttering lost in the hum of the engines.
“She gave you ze middle finger.”
“Okay, she’s alright then.” You sighed. “Everyone else good?”
“Miss Renate’s breasts are quite visible, as a Miss Sky’s panties,” Storm observed curiously. “Would you like to see?”
“Yes.” You managed feebly, straining to sit up.
“No!” Star chided. “We don’t need to spike your blood pressure right now. Lay there and fantasize, lover boy.”
Despite your protesting, the girls kept you stable on the deck of the ship. Storm's ministrations on your brow soothing your stress. Soon, the humming of the ship turned into quite a pleasant musical pattern, and it was mere moments later you found yourself drifting off into a pleasant sleep.

The nice part about being asleep was that it let you fantasize in peace. It had nothing at all to do with the fact that your pain receptors were staying quiet while you were unconscious. It wasn’t a comfortable sleep, though. As soft as Storm’s thighs were, there wasn’t much she could do to alleviate the jabby metals bits and bobs finding a home in your back.
Images of particularly lumpy screws and bolts inserted themselves into your mind’s eye between pictures of Sky’s panties tightly hugging her creamy tight ass. She was bending over with her back to you, she was teasing the hem of the undergarments down her hip, and you felt a roaring of triumph in your ear.
That was when the Skyranger jolted to a stop on the deck. The roar of the engines whirring down. You felt a jolt in your gut as the entire world around you suddenly was subject to the whims of a descending hydraulic mechanism, swallowing the small strike ship into the much larger Alien cruiser. The ramp at the foot of the Ranger began to open, and the sounds outside, which had been dulled, were admitted into the cabin, whose lights had switched on.
The movement of many people around you was causing a ball of anxiety to build up in your gut, and it was in combination with Storm and Star’s protective posturing over you that a rogue boot didn’t accidentally kick you while Engineers and scientists began to board and unload the ship.
“Keegan, we need to lift you now.” Star’s voice distantly swam through your drowsy consciousness. “It’s going to hurt, like, a lot. Just take it easy, okay? You guys ready?”
“Be careful.”
“I remember each of your faces. Do not cause him harm.”
“Eins… Zwei… Drei.” You felt several pairs of hands lifting your body, and involuntarily you groaned.
“Ouch. Easy…” you complained sleepily. “I’m still alive, you know.”
You felt your body fall into a sloppily synchronous pace, and by the time you got a decent glance at your surroundings, you realized you were being marched through the large hangar.
“KEEGAN!” a familiar voice yelled over the hum of the crowd of people. “Move, let me through, MOVE!”
“Stand back, Jericho.” Someone answered. “You can’t help lift him with one leg.”
“Storm, is he okay?!”
“Hmm? Oh yes. Ze Kommander will be fine. His injuries are not threatening.”
“Where are the others at?” Sky asked, surprised.
“Cordelia is keeping an eye on Tara,” Juno answered distractedly. “What happened out there?”
“We got roughed up a bit.” Sky sounded quite proud of that. “’Course, Boss-Man heroically saved some cores just as we took off.”
“…and Ava.”
“Everyone was radio silent for so lo-”
“There was a communications jammer,” Renate answered silkily. “The Komandir removed its hindrance.”
“Among other things….” Star agreed uncomfortably.
“You all look terrible. Renate. What do you need?”
“Please prioritize Star’s injuries. She was resuscitated, and I fear if she is bumped too hard, our temporary fix may not be persistent enough to keep her standing.”
“Of course. Star, please come with me.” Juno requested, falling back into her ‘get things done’ mode. “Would you also perhaps like a… shirt?”
“No, that is not a priority right now.”
— —
The rest of the trip down to Medbay was uneventful. You sort of accepted that you would get a bit lost in the chaos of the goings-on, and that eased your worries. Storm’s presence by your head at least ensured that nothing strictly out of order was going to happen while you were in her care.
You felt a sudden rush of cool air as you were hoisted through the doors into the med bay and cracked an eye open. Dr. Tygan directed the group of hands that had carried you to him, pointing them toward a neatly made bed of white linens along the wall.
“What’s the status here?” he asked seriously.
“Herr Harper has fractured ze 4th and 5th ribs on his right side,” Storm answered immediately. “Zere are no signs of internal bleeding, but ze Kommander has stressed his injury quite seriously. Ze fractures may have broken.”
“And what about our other patient here?”
“Miss Thompson has shrapnel penetration over the left bicep and shoulder. Likely also some blunt trauma to the head. No signs of concussion, but she didn’t wake up when she landed.”
“I’ll look at her first, then. Please set Keegan in that bed over there. Bring her to the med-pod in the center if you wouldn’t mind.”
You hadn’t realized Ava’s injuries were that serious. She hadn’t given any indication that she wasn’t doing so hot. It’s possibly even likely that she was simply suffering from the effects of exhaustion and stress. Lord knows you nearly had. Your back nearly wept in relief as you touched the soft mattress and sank into its loving grasp.
White lights were blotting out most of your very tired vision, but you did catch Storm’s familiar outline and grasp her wrist. She sat on the edge of your bed, silently letting you feel her presence by your side. It wasn’t to last.
“I need all the Dolls to exit the room, please. Rules are still in effect, one at a time, and only after I treat my patients.”
“I must depart, Kommander,” Storm whispered to you softly. “You are safe now.”
“Thank you.” You managed to grumble hoarsely. “Make sure the others get checked out.”
A gloved hand touched your chest gently, and she was gone.
— —
You must have fallen asleep again, but unlike before, this sleep was dreamless. No images of scantily clad titties or ass danced through your dreams. Instead, your sleep was quiet and deep. Tygan had spent the better of a minute rousing you from your slumber before you realized you needed to be awake.
“Wha- huh?” you jerked your head sharply.
“Mr. Harper.” Tygan sounded pleased. “I’m very sorry to wake you, but it’s part of my policy to have my patients awake when I treat them. How are you feeling?”
“Like my bones are made of glass.” You coughed, “could I get some water?”
“Of course,” Tygan quickly retrieved some water from a styrofoam cup. “Any trouble breathing?”
“Deep breaths aren't feeling so hot.”
“As expected, you’ve got a pretty nasty hit here. You’re going to have a lot of bruising. It’s only going to get worse before it gets better.” He tutted, “Any other injuries, anything feeling out of place?”
“Just aches. How’s Ava?”
“She’ll be fine. I’ll keep the both of you here for a day, and then you should both be healthy enough to return to regular duty. Follow my finger with your eyes, please…. Good.”
Tygan finished giving you a workup.
“You’ve got two stress fractures, one much worse than the other. We should be able to get them fixed up in a few days. I’ll give you some steroids and a nano-carbon injection.” Tygan wrote on a clipboard, “It’ll take a few days to get everything back to new. I don’t want you shooting for at least two days and no lifting anything heavy for three. Keep your intimate relations with your T-Dolls purely oral or digital, and if you truly can’t help yourself, at least ensure you’re on top. Any questions?”
You felt your cheeks flushing hotly. “No, I’m good, Doc. Glad Ava’s okay.”
“I’ll wait a few hours for the bruising and swelling to come up before giving you the injection. It should make the recovery much quicker. If you need anything, there’s a bell on your side table. If that doesn’t work, just holler. I’ll be in the labs, just down the hall.” Tygan stood up. “You’re welcome to have visitors, but only one Doll at a time, please, I like to keep the room quiet, and I find that crowds can quickly become chaotic.”
“Roger that. Mind turning down the lights a bit? They’re a bit bright to try and doze off.”
“Not at all. Rest easy, Keegan. Good work today.”

A few hours passed in the blink of an eye. You figured it had to be at least a few hours anyways. You remembered stirring in your bed, and the post-mission muscle soreness was just about taking full effect. Groaning, you pushed yourself upright for a moment. You established your bearings, had another sip of water, and were getting ready to roll onto your good side when you heard raised voices outside in the hall.
As the door was shut, there was no discerning what they were actually saying, but the tone was obvious. Someone was pissed. One voice was especially starting to raise in volume. Across the room, you saw Ava’s dark form stir in bed in response to the noise. You blinked a few times and tried to settle back into bed. You’d just found the perfect level of comfort between blanket temperature, pillow air flow, and cathartic arm position when the infirmary door swung open, and the chaos of the outdoors spilled inside.

The biggest surprise was seeing Kalina enter first. It was hard to get an idea of her expression in the dim light, but by the way, she walked, there was a clear purpose to her presence. Behind her, another figure was following in her wake. The size of Mr. Kryuger was unmistakable, and the distinctly Eastern European grumbling that carried across the room made it clear he was the primary source of the elevated noise moments earlier.

“Keegan.” Kalina greeted you with strained happiness. “I’m glad you’re awake; I really didn’t want to disturb you.”
There was no helping it then. Propping yourself up on an elbow, you tried to find a comfortable position to converse.
“Hey.” You returned the spirit of the greeting, even if you weren’t quite able to mimic the emotion. “Fancy seeing you here.”
“Not just a social visit, unfortunately.” Kalina awkwardly scratched her head. “But I’m glad to see you’re safe.”
“As safe as you can be with two broken ribs.”
“We’ll let you rest, but we need to talk to you about something….” Kalina shuffled her feet awkwardly.
“Is this about what happened in the Comms Tower?” you asked, trying to maintain an innocent voice. “The Commander sounded, well, I don’t know, scared?”
“I’m sure someone can fill you in on exactly what happened, but that’s not the purpose of our talk today-”
“For heaven’s sake-” Kryuger huffed. “Out with it.”
Kalina winced at Kryuger’s impatience.
“It’s about Star.” Kalina explained, but you cut her off.
“Is she alright?”
“Yea-”
“No thanks to you.” Kryuger retorted with venom. “One of our strongest weapons was nearly destroyed on your watch. You had no authorization- no right to bring her into the field!”
“But Kalina, you said-”
“Kalin does not have the clearance to make such decisions.” Kryuger glared pointedly at the strawberry blonde who was withering away under his attention. “Star was nearly destroyed, and it is only by the skin of your teeth and the ingenuity of your Dolls that she was brought back in one piece.”
“She saved our bacon out there.” You countered hotly, “She more than did her part to-”
“ENOUGH.” Kryuger raised his voice, stopping you in your tracks. “You very nearly cost us one of our most valuable tools in this war. I should have you demoted for such negligence! I cannot believe you would lack such foresight into-“
“Enough, Berezovich.” Interrupted another voice. The Commander’s even tone, complimented by a healthy dose of gravel, momentarily gave Kryuger pause. “You’ve made your point.”

The Commander must have snuck in while Kryuger had been going off on you. He looked wary like he hadn’t slept the entire night. You wondered how many broken ribs he had. He shuffled warily away from Ava’s bed, had been checking up on her evidently while you were getting chewed out and pulled her bed curtain closed.
“I’m sure Keegan understands the gravity of the situation. There is no need to threaten him.” The Commander sat at the edge of your bed, looking across to where Kryuger was still fuming. “He didn’t know, as has been made clear. It’s also been determined that Miss Kalina was acting in the best interests of our soldiers. There was no ill intent here.”
“You can’t seriously mean to-”
The Commander held up his hand, quieting his friend.
“It’s done.” He answered simply. “If you wish to discuss further, I can meet you on the Command Deck. For now, I need to speak with Keegan, if you both wouldn’t mind?”
Kryuger hesitated for a moment, there was an undeniable temptation within his eyes to really unload his facts and logic on you, but the Commander’s request won out, and he nodded.
“Very well. I’ll be expecting you.” He nodded, “Kalin?”
“Right. Of course.” The two made for the door, and Kalina stopped herself before she disappeared around the corner. “Oh, right, I almost forgot. Keegan, I need to see you as soon as Dr. Tygan has discharged you. We need to discuss some promotions and equipment reallocation.”
You nodded, and Kalina gave a small smile, then was gone.
— —
“Well, Keegan, I can’t deny you’ve made things slightly more difficult than anticipated.” The Commander placed a fatherly hand on your leg and sighed. “You didn’t mean to, of course, but I fear some things are now in motion much sooner than I had intended.”
“Sorry, sir. I’m not quite sure what you mean. What happened out there? Why did you issue an evac order?”
“It’s hard to know exactly what happened, I can only speculate.”
“Honestly, sir, your speculations have been pretty good from what I can tell. Bradford damn near estimated our enemy count to the decimal point.”
“I’ll be sure to pass on your praise to him, but back to the new developments for now. We had the chance to catch up with Star. Once Kryuger had finished chewing her out for deploying without authorization, she told us what happened on the ground.”
"He doesn't need to be that mean. Kalina was positively terrified of him."
"Berezovich is well intentioned. He and Kalina have worked together long enough to have their own way of doing things. It's not my place to chastise him for how he treats his staff." He sighed heavily, "And she did fuck up, in a big way, Keegan. Losing Star tonight would have put us all in an extremely difficult position."
"I suppose…"
The Commander rubbed his chin thoughtfully.
“You a poker man?” he asked suddenly.
“I can’t say I’m professionally trained, but I dabble.” You were taken aback by the question.
“Right, well, I’ll try to avoid being too heavy on the metaphors then. Imagine our strategy as the first round of a game of Hold’Em. We’ve got a decent hand, in fact, much better than I had hoped for in the first round of the night. Nothing to write home about, but something worth putting our chips down for.” His eyes were closed; you could sense the Commander was far away, sitting across the table from a particularly well-dressed Sectoid in a casino. “Unfortunately, it’s my estimation that our cards may have been tipped tonight. I doubt Advent knows all the details, but they know at least one of our cards, and that’s a problem.”
“You’re talking about Star?” you guessed, “Her appearing on the broadcast?”
“Precisely. Shen thinks you tripped an emergency contact line to an Advent Command network, and I think she may be right. They already knew we recovered her, but I expect they were optimistic about the counter-measures they had layered in her software, keeping us occupied for much longer.”
“So what happened when they saw her?”
“A warship dropped out of orbit moments later.” The Commander explained callously. “Whoever was watching surely recognized Star immediately and was desperate to recapture her. We’re lucky that atmospheric flight is not a strong point of Alien technology. Otherwise, we’d be in a bad way.”
“Fuck.”
“Fuck.” The Commander agreed. “Yet, despite the increased challenges in front of us, there is good news.”
“Good news?” you could hardly believe it. “Please tell me it’s enough to make up for this catastrophic fuck-up?”
“Not quite that good.” The Commander shook his head wistfully. “But let’s just say you succeeded in doing what I needed you to do tonight. Advent’s attention has been garnered, and I expect them to increase their local resistance.”
“That sounds like bad news.” You said blankly, trying to figure out what was so good about this.”
“It will take Advent time to restructure its global resources here. By the time the true might of their numbers is realized, we’ll be long gone. No, it’s good news because the assets they have elsewhere will be immediately redeployed. It means our true target within Brazil will, for a time, be much easier to assault.”
“You already know where we’re going next?”
“You must anticipate the cards you could draw next, Keegan.” The Commander counselled you. “I don’t send you into danger without proper reason. But as it happens, I don’t know the exact location. I only have a hunch, and you’re going to confirm that hunch for me.”
“I’m in a hospital bed with fractured ribs, sir.” You smiled sheepishly. “I don’t know if I can be of much help right now.”
“Once you’ve had some time to rest.” A rare chuckle escaped his weary soul. “I’ll need you to do some covert scouting. Several days of hiking and area assessment. We need to find Advent’s facilities and get a good layout of the assault area. I’ll need you for that.”
“That’s….” You trailed off. You were about to say ‘a tall order’, but the sheer magnitude of what the Commander was asking of you was quickly becoming overwhelming.
“Don’t stress about it now. You need to rest. I’ll be leaving you. We can talk details later. I expect John will want to prepare you for the excursion. As I understand it, you’ve already trekked with him once. You should get the hang of it pretty quickly.”
Of anything, the Commander could have told you, the prospect of backpacking through the woods at Bradford’s pace for days on end was by far the scariest. The Commander clapped your leg and stood up, stretching his back which popped a few times.
“Good work tonight, Keegan.” He praised you. “Things never turn out how I expect they will, but you did your best, and we have a workable situation in front of us.”
Without another word, the Commander departed, leaving you in the dim light of the medbay, possibly with more questions than answers.

You didn’t remember falling asleep again. At some point, you were so caught up in your head about causing a major fuckup with Star, deploying on a personal mission for the Commander, and making sure your Dolls were in good health the stress became too much. This time you were down for the count. You existed in a state of being not unlike submersion in a calm pool of water.
Distant voices spoke incoherently to you, though you didn’t couldn’t recall any of their words. Like the imagery, the communications were muddled and lost within the current of your rest. You had no idea of the time when you finally opened your eyes for good. It felt like you had been asleep for several days, but you knew there couldn’t have been more than eight hours. For one, Ava’s curtains were still pulled shut in the bed across the room from you.
You quickly became aware of another ‘presence’, this one much closer and more… intimate. A soft and warm body was nestled into the crook of your good side. The sounds of light breathing quietly confirmed its presence. A hand was rested on your chest.
It was too dark in the room to definitely say who it was. You were fairly confident it was a T-Doll, at least. You started running through the list in your head. It was too big to be Sky. Too small to be Renate. Both of them were probably down in the repair bay anyways. Idly your free hand touched the soft hair on her head with a loving touch. She had long hair, which meant it wasn’t Cordelia unless she had her bun down, but you had never seen her do that before, and it didn’t make sense to you that she would start now.
There was only one other way to determine the culprit of the remaining T-Dolls. With deadly caution, your hand crept down from the top of the Doll’s head. Lower and lower, you snuck until you found her (intact) ribs, and your fingers did a little exploration. There was a heavy fabric covering most of her chest, but as you went farther down, you found it abruptly stopped and was instead occupied by a thin and spongy material. You’d recognize that top anywhere.

Juno had donned her pyjamas and climbed into bed with you. No doubt she’d been by your side for quite some time. She slept quietly, with her arms tightly wrapped around you, as if reassuring herself that you couldn’t go anywhere without her knowing. In its own way, it was kind of cute. She didn’t often show off an intimate and vulnerable side. This was nice.
Across the room, Ava’s bed curtains were quietly pulled back, and you saw the woman herself looking blearily around. In a chair next to her bed, one of her Shotguns was dozing lazily. You waved an arm, and she looked across the room toward you. You gave her a quizzical thumbs up, and she nodded after a moment. You had both made it out alright then. She crossed the smooth tile, her bare feet pattering quietly on the floor.
Upon arriving at your bedside, she gestured toward the sleeping Doll, and you shrugged. She nodded knowingly, then steadied herself on your bedside table. Momentarily concerned, you offered her some of your water, and she accepted it gratefully. An unspoken communication passed between the both of you. It was a thankfulness. Though you were both injured, relatively speaking, you had gotten away pretty easily.
“Need a shower.” She mumbled.
‘Time?’ you mouthed quizzically.
Ava squinted through the darkness across the room. She returned an estimation of 9 or 10 PM. You had slept through most of the day. Completely understandable, given that you didn’t really get a proper rest the night before. Ava rolled her neck, grimacing. Then she offered a hand, inviting you to stand up with her.
It took ten minutes to extract yourself from Juno without waking her and another minute to get steady on your feet afterwards.

The pair of you left the sleeping T-Dolls at their post. As you departed, you touched Juno’s head, thanking her for watching over you. It was a slow trip to get back to the barracks. There was no doubt in your mind that Tygan would not be pleased to know you were up and about right now, but there were more pressing things on your mind.
The most notable being checking up on Tara and Cordelia. Not seeing them in over a day at this point was getting you antsy, not in the least because you had a sensation that they were probably sick with worry. Of course, reality often has a funny way of materializing.
“Headin’ straight for tha shower,” Ava grunted as you rounded the final corner.
“I won’t be far behind you. I want to check up on my other girls, though.”
Ava quietly pushed open the barracks door, and you slipped inside behind her. The sight that greeted you was certainly not unwelcome, but you struggled to make sense of it.
“-keeping him overnight, right?” Tara was asking loudly across the room.
“Yup.” A familiar apathetic voice responded from her bunk.
“Thank god. I really needed this me time. I love the guy and all, but it’s nice not to have to worry about his pervy stare.”
“If you say so.”
“Why don’t you join me, Cords?” Tara asked lazily, “Back pain can be a real killer out in the field.”
“No, thank you.”
You and Ava gaped silently. Tara, for reasons completely unknown, had truly made herself very comfortable in the middle of the dorm. She was sitting (if you could call it that) inverted on one of the couches. Her neck hanging over the edge of the seat with her legs splayed over the back. While this was bizarre, the showstopper was that she had decided against wearing any and all clothing, with the exception of a pair of cute black and red panties.

Her breasts jutted out at a very pronounced angle, and gravity gave you a joyous view of the considerable weight they held upside down. The small pink nipples, freed of all bra constraints, attracted your view especially, and there was no mistaking the decorations they held. In one, a half-ring piercing; in the other, a standard bar piercing.
Your eyes nearly popped out of your head; you could feel your blood pressure rising dramatically. Tara’s eyes were closed, and her face bore the expression of a very relaxed smile. She sighed once, probably revelling in the liberation of it all, and the full and perky orbs jiggled slightly, inviting all manner of extremely dirty thoughts.
Ava was the one to ruin the view. She cleared her throat awkwardly. From the back corner of the room, Cordelia’s face peeked around the edge of her bunk and looked for the source of the noise. Tara cracked an eye open, landing on you and Ava.
“Hi Ava, Hi- WHU.” Tara suddenly shrieked and promptly fell off the couch, ankles rolling over her head and she fell to the ground with a heavy ‘THUNK’ noise.
“NOOOOOOOOOOO!” She wailed so loud you momentarily thought you were back on the battlefield. “I knew he’d find a way to perv on me!”
“Chief…” Cordelia’s voice had caught with a surprise. “Is that you?”
“Umm, hello.” You awkwardly tried to find your voice, Tara’s breasts bouncing every other thought from your mind.
Tara had folded her arms over her chest and was blushing furiously. Finding her footing, she bolted upright and tried to dash around the couch to find some cover. This was the wrong decision. Unbeknownst to her, the hem of her panties had been trapped under the leg of a chair when she had fallen. The quick and panicked motion simply tore them off her lower body. Your eyes were naturally drawn straight to what looked like a barcode emblazoned onto a very alluring part of her skin. Tara squealed and dove headfirst over the back of the couch.
You had no earthly idea how to react to this. Your brain was simply too enamoured with the unexpected nudity to form a witty response. Luckily for you, Cordelia saved the day. With the force of a bear knocking over a beehive, her arms were flung around you, and your Shotgun pulled you into a tight embrace. Her face is buried in your chest.
“OWowowwo.” You hissed in pain, “Cords, my ribs- ouch.”
“Squeeze him harder!!” Tara yelled, “Kill him!”
“Sorry,” Cordelia eased the tightness of her hug but didn’t let go. “I forgot.”
“It’s okay.” You patted the short girl on her head. “I missed you too.”
Ava quietly excused herself and disappeared into her quarters, looking somewhat surprised but not particularly confused.
“Why are you here?” Tara demanded from behind the couch. “Juno told us you’d be staying the night in Med-Bay.”
“I’ve been sleeping all day and missed seeing you both.” You explained truthfully. “If I’d known this was waiting for me, I would’ve come sooner.”
“She’s been naked ever since you left,” Cordelia noted. “I don’t know why she’s hiding now.”
“I’ve been naked for me! Not for him!” Tara hissed like an angry cat. “Do you know how heavy tits are? It’s the source of a lot of back pain!”
“Well, don’t let me stop you.” You mumbled, “I was enjoying the view.”
“Yea, I bet you were.” Tara scolded, eyes narrowly glaring at you over the back of the couch. “How about knocking next time? Or are you trying to peep at us?”
“I’m not naked,” Cordelia answered confusedly.
“Also, I live here?” You raised an eyebrow. “You have to know this is a risk, right? Or maybe you get off on that. Nice panties, by the way!”
“Tara, come and give Keegan a hug.” Cordelia suddenly turned towards your Sniper. “He’s injured, and you’ll make him feel better.”
“Cords, I’ve gotta be honest with you, and I say this as a friend. You understand that I didn’t suddenly materialize clothes hiding behind this couch, right?” Tara talked very slowly and clearly. "It's very important to me that you understand I'm not capable of literal magic."
“Your breasts will make him feel better.” Cordelia insisted, unwavering. “He is a male and enjoys the touch of female anatomy.”
“I wouldn’t say it so scientific like that.” You muttered, feeling weirdly objectified.
“I’m naked!!!” Tara practically yelled, “What part of that is confusing?”
“Come and hug him. Otherwise, I will trade your panties away when you aren’t looking.”
“She doesn’t have to if she doesn’t want to…”
“Unless you didn’t miss Keegan?” Cordelia asked, a threatening tone in her voice.
“Wha! Of course, I missed him…” Tara moaned sheepishly. “Can’t I put on a robe or something?”
“Tara, I’m closing my eyes.” You announced, “I think this is going to be easier for both of us if we just do what she wants.”
“Yes.” Cordelia agreed.
A moment passed, and you heard the patter of feet scurrying across the metal floor. Then, like earlier, arms wrapped tightly around you, crushing your arms to your side and lancing pain through your body. This only slightly distracted you from the soft-pillowy skin pressing against your chest. You felt two pieces of hard metal rubbing against your pecs; then Tara squeezed you harder.
“Ouch!”
“Stop perving on me!” Tara threatened. “Or the ribs, get it!”
‘SMACK’
“OW!” Tara let go of you, her warmth fading. “What was that for!?”
“No threatening the Chief,” Cordelia warned her.
“You didn’t have to spank me that hard…”
“Tara, please, go put some clothes on.” You sighed, “Before this gets any weirder and I have to try and explain myself to Ava.”
“Hehe… You’re way too late for that.” Tara cackled from across the room. “Your little soldier is already reporting for duty.”
“You have another soldier?” Cordelia asked you, confused.
“Okay, enough of this.” You rubbed your side gingerly. “I missed you both, but I can’t process this right now.”
“We missed you too!” Tara agreed, muffled by what sounded like a heavy sweatshirt. “Glad you’re not dead.”
“Me too…”

The steam pervading the showers was already so dense by the time you entered that you were concerned for a moment that you had accidentally opened the door to a warm cloud. Ava had not turned on not only one but three of the shower heads that occupied her side of the bathroom. The thick cloud of fog was so dense that you could only just make out her silhouette and the water cascading off her figure. The pretense of modesty now being satisfied by the privacy afforded by the volumes of steam you stripped down as well.
Memory was quickly cast back to the last time you had shared shower time with Ava. The memory was vividly locked into your head, no doubt thanks to how benignly erotic it had been. An ass sculpted by Michael-Angelo himself was currently being hidden from you, but you did spare her a longing glance just to relive its outline.
Unlike the last time you had been in the shower, this time, Ava wasted no time in acknowledging your presence.
“Y’alright?” she asked as you turned on the hot water.
The warmth was a blissful distraction from the throbbing headache that made you wince with each heartbeat. It dulled your senses, and the grime and sweat that stained your body were washed away.
“Not bad, all things considered.” You grumbled. “Felt better though, I suppose.”
“Thas a mighty reamin’ yae took from Command, eh?” she inquired. “Didna think yae were one ta break tha rules.”
“Well, in your defense I didn’t know I was breaking the rules.” You sighed, turning and letting the waterfalls of water crash across your sore neck. “I sort of just rolled with it and it worked out in the end. Little bit of improvisation, little bit of luck, everyone came home in one piece.”
“Lucky.” Ava grumbled.
“Sorry, I didn’t mean to-”
“Not yaer fault.” She cut you off, and you saw through the fog she made a sort of hopeless gesture. “Could easily ha’ been ye instead of I. Jus’ a trifle challengin’ thing tae see — one of ‘em gettin’ blown up.”
The thought made your stomach churn. Ava had lost one of her Dolls to a landmine. You had, of course, had the basics of training on how landmines worked, you’d even set a couple of them out during the first invasion, but you’d never seen them go off in person. The thought of Tara or Renate stepping on a landmine was enough to make you nauseous.
“Can’t imagine.” You managed sickly. “How are your others getting on?”
“Thae’ll be alright, I reckon.” Ava turned to face you; the details of her body couldn’t be made out through the steamed pane of glass between you sadly. She let the water run over her head and groaned in relief. “Needs some repairs. ‘Spose I do too. Wae’ll make it.”
“Good positve mental attitude.” You agreed, “They always told us that in boot. Think positively, think confidently.”
“Tha' so?” She chuckled, the sound was surprising to hear, given her tone a moment ago, but the softness of her laughter moved something in your chest gently and made you feel calm. “Thaey always taeld us tha’ a dry Marine was a ‘appy Marine.”
“That too. Being dry keeps you alive. Being alive keeps you happy.”
“Now yaer gettin’ it.”
A silence passed between you, a comfortable silence in which you simply enjoyed the quiet atmosphere together. Collectively you were both reliving the trials in which you had both succeeded, and your mutual success was not something to be lightly taken.
“The Commander is a good guy.” You observed. “I know some COs in boot who wouldn’t have been caught dead checking in on their recruits in the infirmary.”
“Aye. He’s a good sort.” Ava agreed. “Naeva though’ him tha type to risk my arse for his convenience. Good heart, that one.”
“I felt the same. I get the sense he wouldn’t put us out in the field unless it was absolutely necessary. Makes me worried though he’s afraid to take risks.”
“Ye dae not gamble wit’ lives. Man knows wha’ he’s on about. ‘S good enough faer me.”
“Fair enough then. You generally feel better? After the missions, I mean?”
“Depends.” She grunted her response simply, “M’arms busted. Hard to wash properly. Suppose if my wing was nae knackered it’ll be anothe’ problem though. I’ll settle.”
“Would you like some help?” The words left your mouth before you realized what you were saying, but the offer was genuine. Ava paused somewhat awkwardly, considering your question.

“Not shy, are ye?” Ava laughed to herself awkwardly. “A’ight then, but nae funny business, ya hear?”
“Haha- wai-” You had been just about to play it off as a joke when you heard her agree. You were stunned, this turn of events had been cast to the wind, and the winds had shifted in your favour. Still, you weren’t going to jinx it. “Yea alright, nothing funny. I promise.”
You turned off the showers on your side of the shower room and dully crossed over to her half of the room. You dutifully waded through the heavy clouds of steam, Ava slowly coming more into focus and clarity.
She had turned her back to you once again, her head was resting on her own shoulder, and her right arm was crossed over her torso, clutching her left arm. You could see as you approached the numerous shrapnel wounds she had sustained to her left shoulder. Several groups of stitches dotted her skin which had reddened slightly. No doubt she was in just as much pain as you, if not more so. You stepped up to her, trying to be polite and not obviously soak in the glorious view.
Still, when you touched her, she flinched. You had merely placed your hand on the small of her back, yet it still was enough to drive a breath of surprise out of her.
“Sorry, I should’ve said something.” You muttered.
“S’alright," she responded awkwardly. “Jus’ nae used ta bein’ touched.”
You proceeded to collect handfuls of water and soap and started to rub the right half of her back. She was extremely toned. Your hands glided over her muscled skin, admiring the curve in her shoulder blade and callously wiping the remnants of warfare from her body. It took her some time to be comfortable with your motions. If you had to guess, she was also slightly surprised at her readiness to accept your help.
For your own part, you found yourself quickly enjoying exploring her back. Your eyes, free to do as they pleased, were doing the best they could to save a 3D model of her body for later use. With her arm crossed over the front of her chest, it meant that the real view was down south.
Her ass was just as you remembered it. Tight and bubble-like, there was not a blemish in sight, and it took more than a little willpower to keep your hand from travelling down to her tailbone in a teasing manner. By the time you had finished washing her shoulder, you found yourself getting so worked up you had to start closing your eyes. Your groin had started to stir uncomfortably, and the last thing you wanted to do was turn this into a one-sided escapade.
“All done.” You announced to her a little more huskily than you had intended.
“Already?” she asked, snapping to attention, back still facing you. “Yae work quick.”
“Well, it’s just a quick wash. Nothing more.”
You reached your hand over her, washing the last bits of soap off of it. Ava said nothing; perhaps she had nothing to say. Maybe she was feeling embarrassed about this whole thing in the first place. Before you could walk away, though, she made a sound so quiet you thought you’d missed something.
“What?” You asked, “Sorry I didn’t hear you.”
“Wouldyeholdme?” She rushed the words out so quickly you took a moment to untangle her request.
“Uhhh…” you REALLY didn’t know how to answer this.
“Just… fer a minute? I’ve nearly forgotten, how nice it is… ta be touched.”
Not entirely sure you were dreaming, you felt the fog in your head obstructing all rational lines of thought. Luckily, for the second time since you had stepped into the room, your subconscious was on the ball.
“Okay.” You heard yourself agreeing.
Ava wavered for a moment, and you felt her leaning back. Not wanting to explain to Tygan why your fellow Squad Lead needed more stitches, you stepped into her and your torsos pressed together. You wrapped your left arm around her waist and your right diagonally, across her torso to the opposite hip. The hot water cascaded over the pair of you now pressed together in a silent, calm union. The heat from her body poured into your soul, giving you strength.
She was soft, for as muscley and hard as she presented herself, the curve of her back against your chest was soothing. She was careful not to lean into you too much lest she hurt your ribs. She laid her head on your right arm and breathed deeply. You, too, took the moment to breathe deeply, your chest expanding against her back, cushioning her posture.
You stayed together like this for several minutes, simply enjoying the feeling of another person. You weren’t sure for what reason she needed this comfort, but you were happy to provide it if only a touch puzzled. At some point, once more, your baser instincts began to awaken. You became vividly aware of her tailbone pressing gingerly into your groin. The mental imagery of her ass now cushioning your family jewels stirred life within your body. Involuntarily you felt yourself stiffen and flex the budding erection against her back.
Ava suddenly came out of the trance as well, her head shooting upright, and she pulled away from the embrace. Embarrassed, you stepped back and turned away from her, frustrated at having ruined the moment.
“Sorry.” She apologized, her voice hazy like she had just woken up. “I shouldnae ‘ave asked ye ta do that.”
“It’s not your fault.” You felt like smashing your head against the plate of glass. “I’m just a stupid guy. Can’t control it, you’re very attractive and I wasn’t thinking.”
“No.” She insisted. “Really. Shouldnae have done that to ye… selfish a me.”
“It’s alright. It was nice.” You felt your face flush red, “I haven’t touched someone like that in a long time either. Easy to forget how comforting it can be.”
There was another awkward pause, and you heard Ava step forward suddenly. Without warning, she had wrapped her arms gingerly around you and was embracing you from behind, just as you had with her. You became acutely aware of her sizable breasts squishing against your back, her nipples rubbing against you. It did not help the situation downstairs. She leaned her head against you and sighed.
“It’s importan’ tae go both ways.” She explained. “Don’t ye feel like yer too good to be touched.”
You emitted a sound somewhere in between a growl and a purr of pleasure. She was right; being touched was just as nice as touching someone else. You felt her hand rubbing circles on your stomach and noted internally that her motion seemed to be trailing lower.
“’Course, I know yae’ve got needs.” She explained quietly, “Thae girls are nice n’ all, but thaey don’ do the same as we do.”
You weren’t quite sure what Ava was getting at, but were alarmed to realize that her hand was now encroaching on your groin.
“’M happy to… repay the favour..?”
With the confidence of a viper strike, but the smooth power of the ocean, her hand, without warning wrapped around the stiffening base of your manhood. You hissed in surprise and pleasure. It had been so long.
“Iffn’ yae want, a course. Yae certainly feel… interested?” Her hand lazily moved up and down in a slow, jerking motion. You felt your body involuntarily try to pull itself along after her hand, mind ensnared by the smugness of her grip.
You did want. Oh, so badly did you want. The mental imagery of what could be, of all the different ways whatever could happen next, flashed like lightning bolts through your mind, each more vivid and pleasureful than the last. Yet…
The way she had asked you to hold her, the calmness with which she had relaxed into you not two minutes ago. This was not what she had intended to happen. She had been filling a void in her heart, and you were the patch that she needed. You did want this, but not as a form of repayment.
“No.” You managed feebly. You gripped her wrist and pried her with more force than intended from her intoxicating control over you. “I… Not like this.”
“Ah.” She seemed surprised, but her tone was relieved. “Yaer sure?”
“Yes.” You said with more force than you intended. “While… not unwelcome… REALLY, not unwelcome… I’m above a pity jerk right now, but the offer is appreciated.”
You felt her turn her head and press her cheek against your back. She hummed a thoughtful note and nodded against you.
“A’ight.” She agreed, then after a moment. “Thas some serious willpower yae’ve got.”
“I promise you-” you uttered feebly. “I almost didn’t have it in me.”
You reached a hand around and somewhat clumsily patted her on the back.
“I enjoy our bonding time in the shower, but let’s give it some more time before we tempt my self-control.”
“Fair enough.” You could feel her grinning. “Could naet help myself though. Yae’ve go’ a fuckin’ tree trunk between yer legs, swear ta Christ.”

The last thing on your agenda before your exhaustion inevitably remembered that you were awake was to catch up with Kalina. Your favourite Logistics Officer had been clear that she was expecting to see you tomorrow morning, but it didn’t make any sense to put it off.
On one hand, you were perturbed with how harsh Kryuger had been on her. Certainly, you had both fucked up, but Kalina had looked like she was on the verge of tears, and Kryuger had definitely not gotten it all out of his system. So you got towelled off and slipped out of the barracks. Tara had been sleeping by the time you left. She had resumed her inverted pose on the couch, but this time she was wearing a sweatshirt that did a better job of covering herself up.
Cords had been reading a book. She glanced at you as you snuck past Tara and cocked her head, puzzled as to why you were tip-toeing across the room. You held a single finger to your lips, urging her to be quiet. She raised an eyebrow in response. Had you really expected her to even utter a syllable? She returned to her work, offering you one more sidelong glance of bewilderment before tuning you out completely.
— —
Kalina was actually much harder to find than you anticipated. The first place you checked was the Command Deck. There was no shortage of life bustling around the Holo-Globe. You noticed several of the reclaimed hard drives that Storm had packed away sitting around on a side table. The crew was most likely hard at work cracking the data on them to get ahead in the intel game. Still, there was no sign of the strawberry blonde. You did catch a glimpse of Bradford doing pull-ups on the underside of the catwalk stairs. Small arms were wrapped around his neck. No doubt his adjutant along for the ride - but you hurried away before he could see you.
You checked many other locations, including the bar (Jill and Miller were deep in conversation, and you didn’t want to disturb the Commissary, but she was nowhere to be found. Naturally, the last place you thought to check was where you found her. Kalina was standing, feet apart and legs set, stance just about perfect, at the range. In her arms was a classic M16A1; she was periodically releasing three-round bursts down-range with a very tight grouping into a target some 50 meters on.
You watched her shoot in silence, not wishing to disturb her. When she went to reload, she noticed your presence. You were very used to Kalina’s broad and somewhat suggestive smile greeting you. It always made you feel welcome whenever she lit up the room excitedly. This time though, she frowned when she saw you.
“You should be in bed.” She announced, unloading the now empty magazine. “Don’t get yourself more hurt.”
“I wanted to come and see you.” You replied evenly. “Check in, see how you were doing.”
Kalina wordlessly reloaded the long rifle flawlessly and shouldered the weapon once more.
“I’m fine.” She started releasing rounds downrange again. Her tone was anything but fine.
“Somehow, I’m finding that hard to believe.” You countered once she had depleted the new set of ammunition. “I saw how you looked earlier when Kryuger stopped by.”
“Mr. Kryuger had every right to be as angry as he was,” Kalina replied cooly. “I nearly set back the whole of XCOM. After everything we did to get Star after we lost Doc.”
Not many people talked about Doc, the soldier who had given his life to protect you and who you had subsequently replaced. It was almost strange hearing Kalina mention him now. You weren’t know how to deal with that, so you ignored it.
“Star’s fine, though. Storm got her fixed up. She ended up saving Renate’s life. That last breach we did was looking hairy for a moment.”
“We got lucky,” Kalina answered flatly. “It was dumb. I’m smarter than that.”
“Luck is half the reason wars are won and lost.” You countered, “If you don’t take a risk every now and then, you can’t expect to make miracles happen.”
“Risks should be calculated. What I did was a blunder.”
“I’d disagre-”
“Keegan.” Kalina lowered the rifle and looked at you, “I understand you want to make me feel better, but I fucked up. I treated Star like a human and not like a weapon.”
“T-Dolls are more than just weapons.”
“I agree with you.” She insisted, “But they’re not human. We can’t treat them like they’re humans. Like it or not, they’re weapons. Tactical instruments to be deployed with thoughtful intent. We're at war for the future of humanity.”
You didn’t have a response to this. You were starting to tread into some strange philosophical ground here, and you weren’t sure you were really ready to get involved in that topic. You’d really own T-Dolls for a week; Kalina had several years of experience with you.
Kalina went back to target practice, but you noticed her grouping this go around was a little more sloppy. Clearly, she was very emotionally invested in the welfare of these Dolls. You weren’t looking to get her worked up; quite the opposite, actually. You watched her for a few more minutes until her groupings returned back to normal before broaching a new topic with her.
“Is this how you relieve tension?” You asked with candid curiosity. “I’d never thought you were much of a marksman.”
“Given that I manage guns as my day job, I gotta know how to shoot, or they’ll give me shit,” Kalina answered, more focused on the target than the conversation. “You’d be surprised by the creative ways they can find to tease you.”
“I’m much less surprised now than I was a week ago.” You scratched your head. “I got back to the barracks, and one of my Dolls acted like this was a nudist colony.”
“TAC-50?”
“How’d you know?”
“She’s very free-spirited. Tends to do it before she thinks. A very… what’s the word…” Kalina hit a bulls-eye, “Impulsive?”
“Sounds like you’ve got the mark of her. I caught her once trying to rob the kitchen.”
“I hope you were on top of that; we can’t have stuff going missing.”
“It might’ve slipped the mind.” You admitted. “I’m sure I’ve punished her in other ways.”
Kalina gave you a look, and you grinned like an idiot. The dopiness of your face must’ve struck solid somewhere in her mind. She poorly suppressed a grin and quickly turned away.
“That counts. I cheered you up.”
“Shut up.” She muttered.
“Did you want to get any business out of the way? Maybe you can sleep in tomorrow if we settle our affairs now?”
Kalina considered this thoughtfully. Then she shrugged. After emptying her last magazine, Kalina sat across from you on a crate of ammo; the M16 laid across her lap fondly.
“While I doubt, I can sleep in tomorrow, I’m happy to talk now if it gets the weight off your mind.” She agreed. “Let me ask you, though, how are you doing with your Dolls? Everything going alright? No other issues in the Squad since you’ve taken the helm?”
“No.” You answered enthusiastically. “Everything has been good since Cordelia settled in again. I think we’ve got a nice balance. Everyone’s sort of got their way of going about things, and we’re almost developing a routine.”
“That’s good.” She nodded, her eyes shining with pride. “I knew you had a good group with you. Getting intimate yet?”
“Not… exactly.” You found yourself blushing again, “I’ve just not really felt the timing was right. They’re very beautiful, but I feel like I respect them more than just to fuck them.”
“I’m sure they’re itching to have their way with you if you’ve been holding out on them.” Kalina giggled, all veneer of her earlier sulkiness slipping away. “And on missions, everything has been going well? No issues in the field?”
“Not at all. We’ve had some close calls, but the girls are very handy. They’ve kept me and each other pretty safe, I’d say.”
“I couldn’t have hoped for a better answer.” She sighed with relief. “I suppose you know about the surplus of Doll cores we’ve been accruing?”
“Well, yea. I mean, we brought some back last night… err, this morning?”
“The cache you and Ava recovered today certainly put us much further ahead than we had anticipated. Luck certainly does win wars, and we’ve been having much of it. I expect another member of Command Staff will get their Adjutant back soon, but that’s not why I’m asking.”
“Who’s your Adjutant?” you asked without thinking.
“I.. Don’t really have one.” Kalina looked surprised by the question. “I suppose I get along better with some Dolls than others, but, well, I try not to play favourites.”
You noticed her fingers drumming idly against the M16 on her lap but didn’t say anything.
“Anyways… the reason I ask is that, well, with your performance and the resources we’ve been collecting… We think it’s time we expand your Squad.”
“Excuse me?” You coughed. This was unexpected news. “Expand?”
“Yup. You’ve been managing Six Dolls great. Very well for a new Leader, actually. But, with repair times being what they are and the frequency, we need you out in the field… Well, it just makes sense to give you more tools.”
For a moment, your world was turned on its head. Everything had been going so well; you felt like you knew each of your girls in their own little way. You got to spend time with all of them; you were like a family. Could you really just add someone new without any issues, just like that? Kalina noticed your hesitation and reached across, touching your knee.
“Relax. It’ll be fine. You’ve already done the hardest parts. You’ve proved you can manage a new squad of Dolls with minimal preparation. Think of this more like bringing someone in from the cold. We’ve got a lot of Doll cores. More than we can possibly activate. Some of them don’t have anything or anyone they belong to.” She brushed her hair from her face; her eyes were glowing with confidence. “You can do it. It’s another body to manage, but another fierce teammate that will help keep everyone safe.”
You didn’t feel like the root of the issue was being addressed; a large part of you was tempted to refuse Kalina outright. You didn’t want the change, thank you very much. Yet, another part of you knew she was speaking the truth. While yes, a new Doll would come with problems; they would also bring a whole new perspective and life to your team. She was right. You could do it.
“Okay.” You nodded solemnly, choosing to believe in her confidence. “Let’s do it.”
“Great. I can send the schematics over to Shen tonight. Have you been thinking about which type of Doll you’d like?” She asked, pulling her datapad from her shoulderbag, which had been hidden between two crates.