The scent of burnt medal still clung to Vertin's plating as she stumbled into the remains of an abandoned town. The escape had been brutal, using her jetpack to escape through a hail of laser fire, leaving her thrusters damage. She found a dilapidated house, its roof half-collapsed, and ducked inside, the silence a stark contrast to the battlefield she'd just left.
"Damn those bastards," she muttered, wrenching open her personalized computer. Her words were laced with a bitterness that tasted like ash. "They left us to die."
A stark red [WARNING: OVERHEATING!] flared across the screen, followed by
[COOLANT LEVELS ARE AT 67% AND DROPPING].
Vertin groaned, leaning her head back against a crumbling wall. "I shouldn't have pushed my thrusters so far." The ache in her systems was a dull throb, a constant reminder of her precarious situation. "Sangvis will find me here sooner or later. I've got to move, get back to G&K."
She paused, the thought of G&K stirring a fresh wave of resentment. "Working with G&K was a mistake, but I need to be smart. I know they left us to die, but I still need them for supplies. Then again, joining Sangvis might not be bad… but I know better than to trust them."
Taking a deep breath, she addressed her system. "System, where's the nearest G&K base?"
[ANSWER: 5KM NORTH]
"System, pull out a compass."
[UNDERSTOOD]
A holographic compass shimmered into existence on her helmet's HUD. "Okay, this will work." With renewed purpose, Vertin rose, She stepped out of the house and began moving north.
"System, do a diagnostics on me."
[UNDERSTOOD…]
The data scrolled across her HUD, stark and unyielding:
[HP: 70,500
Armor: 300,200
Condition: Overheat (20%), multiple modules slightly to moderately damaged, combat effectiveness down (30%)
Sub HP:
Head: 1,200
Legs: 1,200
Arms: 1,200
Thrusters: 9,000
Power: 63% (dropping)
Fuel: 60%
Ammo: 81%
Coolant: 63% (dropping)]
"I need to hurry," she muttered, breaking into a run. The forest ahead.
"Right on cue." A voice, low and predatory, echoed through the trees.
Multiple shots rang out, ripping through the foliage.
"What?!" Vertin's system shrieked an alert.
[EMERGENCY EVASION CONTROLLER ACTIVATED!]
Her enhanced reflexes kicked in, and she instinctively ducked behind a fallen tree, pulling her weapon. "System, how many enemies are there?"
[UNDERSTOOD. I HAVE DETECTED 50 ENEMIES AND ONE SANGVIS RINGLEADER.]
"(Damn it! I need to get out of here!)"
"come out, trash doll! I know you are there!" The Sangvis Ringleader's voice cut through the air, filled with mocking amusement.
(System, give me my CQB kit!)
[UNDERSTOOD]
Her shield and heat hawk materialized, clicking into place. "(I can't use my beam weapons; it would drain me.)"Gripping her heat hawk, Vertin scanned the dense undergrowth, searching for the Ringleader.
"(Where are you?)"
A sudden glint of metal behind her. Vertin barely registered the sword strike before her [EMERGENCY EVASION CONTROLLER] activated again, making her doge the sword strike
"You! I found you!" The Ringleader's voice was a sadistic purr
Vertin leaped, swinging her heat hawk in a wide arc, aiming to bisect her opponent mid-air. But just as quickly, the Ringleader shifted, her [EMERGENCY EVASION CONTROLLER] mirroring Vertin's own.
After barely dodging that attack, Vertin pulled out her gun, firing a burst at the Ringleader.
"Too slow, trash," the Ringleader scoffed, closing the distance in a blur. She leaped, her sword arcing down. Vertin's skill activated once more.
[EMERGENCY EVASION CONTROLLER!]
"Tsk. Stop dodging! Is that how you're built?" the Ringleader snarled, annoyance seeping into her voice.
"Heh, I can do this all day," Vertin retorted, though the words were a struggle. Her breath came in ragged gasps, her systems warning her with every activation. She was getting tired.
"We shall see, shan't we?" The Ringleader grinned, a predatory gleam in her optical sensors.
Suddenly, a volley of shots ripped through the air, aimed directly at Vertin. Sangvis T-Dolls, emerging from the tree line, opened fire. Vertin raised her shield, deflecting the incoming rounds. Seeing the opening, the Sangvis Ringleader charged, her sword singing through the air. Vertin countered, her heat hawk meeting the blade with a jarring clang.
"Nice try," Vertin grunted.
But the Ringleader was fast. A swift, brutal kick sent Vertin hurtling backward, slamming into a thick tree trunk.
"Guh!" The impact rattled her entire frame. A Yeager, one of the heavily armed Sangvis T-Dolls, emerged from the brush and fired a precise shot into her chest.
[WARNING! ARMOR HAS BEEN PENETRATED!]
[WARNING! SHOT CONTAINS VIRUS! ATTEMPTING TO OVERRIDE YOU!]
[SYSTEM HAS ACTIVATED ANTI-VIRUSES.]
"What?" Vertin looked up, disoriented, to see the Ringleader standing over her.
"Night, night." A final, sharp kick to her head, and Vertin's world dissolved into darkness.
"Yo, Dreamer, I got her. Where do you want to meet up?" The Ringleader, Executioner, contacted her superior.
"Bring her to Base 8, Executioner. Bring her in one piece, okay?" Dreamer's voice was calm, almost bored.
"Alright." Executioner scooped up Vertin's unconscious body and tossed her into the back of a truck.
[ALERT! SYSTEM IS TRYING TO DESTROY THE VIRUS!]
[ALERT! VIRUS HAS INFECTED MULTIPLE MODULES! ATTEMPTING TO CONTAIN!]
[…]
Back at G&K Command, Gentiane had dispatched a search team to find Zeon's unit. Following their last known
coordinates, they found only destroyed tanks, and scattered T-Doll parts.
"Commander, there's no sign of them anywhere," a T-Doll reported, her voice grim. "Only destroyed Sangvis T-Dolls and wrecked tanks."
"Alright, continue the search," Gentiane ordered, her gaze fixed on the holographic map. "There's a town nearby. Check there; they might have passed through there."
"Understood," the T-Doll replied, saluting before turning to lead her squad deeper into the war-torn landscape.
"Sigh. Now I've got two teams to look for Zeon team and AR team. They're really giving the new guy all the hard work," Gentiane grumbled, rubbing her temples.
"My job gets worse every day."
Just then, a steaming cup of coffee, perfectly brewed, appeared beside her hand. Katerina, ever efficient, gave a small, comforting nod. Gentiane took a grateful sip.
Meanwhile, at Dreamer's secluded base, a triumphant cackle echoed through the sterile halls. "It's successful! The weapon works!" she exclaimed, her voice buzzing with an almost childlike glee.
"With this, we don't even need to infect them using cables," she continued, a wicked grin spreading across her face. "One shot with this bullet, and they'll be infected either way. Heh heh… now that I've infected that T-Doll, I wonder what interesting technology she has. But then again, getting a new team of T-Dolls... that's a new challenge."
Her fingers flew across a holographic screen, data scrolling rapidly. "Now I've got a new puppet. Well, as long as Agent doesn't confiscate it from me," she muttered, a flicker of annoyance crossing her features. "Then again, the data I got from this will be fascinating."