Chapter Text
Elster flexed and unflexed her fingers, looking at her hands as a Replika Technician, one Doctor Nikolaus Brandt, worked to fix possible damage. Arranging his glasses with his prosthetic right hand, the young man before Elster spoke in clear English, “That should help with the actuator motors in your fingers. They’ve been through hell with all the loops…”
“They have,” Elster replied absentmindedly, looking at her hands. All the oxidant she’d spilled to get to Ariane and finally accomplish that promise. And all the oxidant and blood that followed after, trying to provide that final ritual so the Red Eye might let them live their lives instead of having them so gracelessly end.
And indeed, it worked. She clenched her fists and said, “Thank you, Doktor… I’ll make good use of these hands once more,” Then she stood up onto her feet and bid goodbye to the doc before marching out into the encampment of the Vinetan 5th, where most of the Eusan people had been resettled. The 5th’s base camp had been placed within the confines of an older industrial area of Mantle, so below Atlas itself.
There, the Soldiers and combat Replikas of the 5th stood guard, some manning the perimeter walls while others yet held position. A pair of Kolibris walked into the tent next, to get themselves repaired after a bout with the ‘Grimm’, the planet’s monsters, the same ones that had attacked the gathered survivors of everything from Rotfront to Sierpinski.
Military-grade Replikas noticed Elster. Each gave a nod to the lone wolf engineer as she walked past them, stump-like legs clapping against the concrete. An infantrywoman tended to the injuries of another, mumbling apologies about missing the one Grimm while she bandaged the girl’s leg, which had a nasty gash.
She paused, however, when two familiar figures emerged from another tent. A shorter young woman with red eyes and dark-brown hair and her compatriot, a tall, lanky one with a missing eye, a darker iris on the other and brown hair. She and Elster caught sight of each-other, then paused. Elster, however, as a free woman, decided to approach.
She asked, “Lilith Itou?”
“... Yes,” Lilith replied, “LSTR-512… AKA Elster,” then she shrugged, “AKA me,” and offered her hand. Elster shook it while Alina beamed and Lilith stared. She asked, “How does it feel to… Look at the origins of your little brain scan, kamerad?”
“Like an out of body experience,” Elster replied pensively, looking at the wounds and calluses on the rough hand of her original, original self. A flurry of thoughts flowed into her mind as she whispered, “The human Lilith Itou, Sergeant in the 5th Vinetan of the NVA…” then she sighed and let go, shaking her head, “How do you think you got here?”
“The Red Eye,” Lilith answered, stunning Elster. A small smile appeared on the otherwise-serious Lilith’s face. She gave a gentle gesture to Elster and said, “We share more than just a brain, Elster. Some of our memories are intertwined, courtesy of Alina’s and Ariane’s similar signatures and how close the two nearly became to turning into one person.”
Elster blinked, then looked at the girl with wide eyes. She smiled sadly and said, “I kept hearing your poor Ariane’s voice in the back of my mind… Crying all the time. I felt her sickness. Her pain,” then she pushed a strand of her brown hair out of her own eye and told the Replika before her, “I’m glad you managed to keep your promise.”
“Believe me…” Elster breathed a sigh, “Me, too…”
“We should be going. Colonel Nguyen’s going to want us to muster soon,” Lilith stated, then looked at Elster, saluted her and got a salute back before saying to her, “Say hi to Erika and Isa for me. I plan to go visit them first chance I get in the civilian side of the camp,” and she got a similarly small smile from Elster.
The trio went their separate ways afterward, with Elster marching toward the civilian side. She had to meet with Ariane while the talks were being finalized. Engineering units made up of Aras and Gestalts busied themselves with constructing a more permanent enlargement to the city of Mantle that would allow them to be housed safely.
She watched a patrol of Skimmer tanks fly past her, moving out with what looked like Atlesian VTOL Aircraft to deal with an advancing force of Grimm. Their commanders, male and female alike, acknowledged the LSTR unit with nods, some of them arranging their uniforms and headsets as the tanks moved out.
Not far behind the trio of tanks, three IFVs also based on the hovertank platform, but armed with 30mm autocannons and anti-tank missiles, moved with their complement of mixed Replika and Gestalt infantry aboard. She let them pass, then moved across the road they’d used to move out toward the civilian side.
There, she found Ariane and her mother tending to the radio they’d used to presumably get help from Atlas. She stared from the flap of the tent at the girl, seeing her bright smile and glimmering eyes as she and her mom continued working. Iris was kind and patient, showing Ariane how to adjust the transmission range and signal to maximize output like a pro.
Or, more-so, she was teaching Ari about it again, because the time spent on the Penrose had meant she had forgotten some tidbits about maintenance for radio equipment. With her arms crossed to her chest and eyes locked on her girlfriend, Elster almost didn’t realize she was smiling. Not until Ari had noticed her in the corner of her eye, turned and beamed.
The girl’s mom grinned, then waved her over. The Replika blinked, face turning a shade redder as the oxidant flowed to her cheeks. Her shoulders slightly sagged out of embarrassment, but she nodded and walked to join the two. Iris spoke, “Well hello there, Elsie,” as she handed the girl something to eat. She said, “Glad to see you could join us-” only to cut herself off as she saw Ariane pounce and hug the Replika. She smiled more genuinely.
“How’re your finger joints?” Ari asked with some concern, lifting Elster’s hand.
“They’re fine now. Doctor Brandt was quick on the repairs,” She replied, flexing and unflexing the fingers to show their mobility. She smiled and added, “Obviously, that means I’ll be able to get back to work pretty soon,” before looking to the right, where a trio of Aras were actively tending to a couple of plants they must’ve brought with them from Sierpinski during the transfer. White lilies.
Their destinies were tied to that specific kind of flower and Elster finishing the ritual for the Red Eye to awaken. She saw both the mother and daughter look at her with those same glowing irises, then sighed and told them, “If that is no problem. I have to ask if you’re willing to believe Falke and the Commander of the 5th…”
“That they’ll try to make things less dictatorial?” Iris shrugged, “We’ve been promised the same by the Revolutionary, damn her to hell,” then she sighed deeply, “I believe being here, in Atlas, might help them lessen the iron grip, but I doubt we’ll ever truly be free,” and turned to Elster to ask, “So that does bring up the question… Are you willing to rejoin the faceless automatons that serve the Regime, Elster?”
“No,” The Replika didn’t even hesitate, “... The Regime is the reason Ari went through what she did in that Pod. They’re the reason we couldn’t even get out without me summoning a literal Eldritch god of some kind to free us from the nightmare of centuries, hell, maybe millennia of loops. If they so much as attempt to restrict us the same way they did at the start?” and her grip tightened around Ariane’s hand, “I’ll put them down myself. I promise you that…”
A small smile crossed Iris’s face, eyes glimmering. She sighed and said, “Well, my daughter certainly knows how to pick them. Kaiserin verdammt …” only to then start giggling.
Ariane blushed, mumbling, “ Mama, bitte …”
Elster smiled, then paused as she heard Falke speak, “We made a promise, too, Elster,” and the trio immediately turned and stood at attention. The FKLR unit stood there, arms crossed and with her Kolibri Kader and Adler by her side. There was no hostility in her voice as she continued, “I and Colonel Nguyen concurred that to attempt to bring the Nation back from the dead completely would be suicidal. We will not impose the same draconian laws as we did…”
“Sure,” Elster whispered, “Not like we killed each-other countless times in the past because you tried to return things to normal.”
“All of us did,” Adler shot back, sliding the com system he’d been given, namely the Scroll, into a pouch on his belt. He put his hands behind his back and continued, “We don’t want to reinstate the Loop or the System that birthed it. We all want to make that as clear as possible… We’re guests in Atlas.”
“And I doubt that’s gonna stop some from trying to bring the Regime back in some form,” Iris crossed her arms to her chest, glaring at the Kolibri detachment. They were all surprisingly passive, a couple even smiling and waving. She paused, slightly confused, but didn’t ‘feel’ them trying to prod her mind. Ariane was the same, though, considering she was also a Bioresonant individual, she was safer than others.
“It might not,” Falke replied, “But that doesn’t mean we will be the ones to do it. We’ll help put a stop to it,” and she raised her hands. Gently, she set the spears that floated menacingly behind her on the floor, while the Kolibris visibly put their hands behind their backs, interlocking them. She looked at Ariane and Elster and told them, “I swear to you personally again, Elster and Ariane, I will do my damnedest to ensure we don’t fall into the same mistakes again. That Atlas won’t while we’re here.”
“We’ll see,” Elster sighed, then looked at Ari and Iris. Both of them nodded, while some of the Gestalt workers behind the group seemed to stare, almost awed by the sight. Erika and Isa, both of whom had just walked into the tent, were kind of stunned by the sight of a Falke unit visibly making herself more vulnerable.
Adler, who’d noticed them come in, greeted both of them with the same resigned look and calm gaze. He said to them, “I apologize again for the scare I gave you, miss Itou… Well, all of them, truly,” then he turned toward her and Erika. The ‘older’ twin moved in front of Isolde, seemingly more protective, but Adler took a step back and also showed his hands, “I mean no harm. I swear.”
“... Trust is gonna have to be earned, big man,” Erika answered, then looked at Elster, Ari and Iris and asked them, “You three good?”
“Just fine, Erika,” Ari chuckled, “Thanks…”
“We also came here for a reason outside of defending ourselves,” Adler spoke, then cleared his throat as everyone turned to listen to him and began, “... Starting today, the integration of the people of Eusan into the Kingdom of Atlas’s citizenship will begin, which means the Atlesian Military and Civilian Contractors will be looking to test, train and naturalize us to this Kingdom. In return, we will provide a boost to their armed forces and population of approximately 30,000 individuals per the quick Census we were able to take.”
“... That’s a lot of people,” Mumbled Elster, “Guessing a lot of Rotfront got transported over, too, Blocks of people…”
“They were,” Falke nodded, “... With that in mind, it seems they have jobs selected for a lot of us, too…” and she looked back at the Kolibris. Zucker laughed awkwardly when Falke told everyone, “... And the Kolibris are slated to be part of the Police Force,” which caused just about everyone in the tent to pause…
… Oh, that was gonna go well…
A couple of weeks later, Mantle
… The Testing of the Replika units under Atlas’s and Mantle’s specific Police Forces was ongoing. As more and more of Eusan’s people were slowly being inducted into Atlas’s overall command, control and civilian infrastructures, they were also seeing new training. At Precinct Number 06 in Mantle’s North University Center, a squad of Kolibris attached to a unit of Starlings and the command Storch, Sieben, was sat around a holographic table that displayed the objective of their current mission:Hostage Rescue.
More and more people emerged out of the metaphorical woodwork of the continent of Solitas. Hundreds, maybe thousands more that Atlas had agreed to house. Falke, so far, was the only one of her kind, while many more Protektor and Kampfkaders , ranging from KNCR-class Control Replikas to even a few of the heavy-duty SAPRs.
Zucker and Honig, the two closest of the myriad Kolibri Twins that had come from S23, listened intently at the Chief of the Station as he explained, “... And the Military and rest of the Police Force are stretched a little too thin to support us. What we know is the White Fang rebels within have seized several hostages. Though the Group remains tentatively peaceful overall, every party has bad apples. It’s why we’re sending this Experimental Force, The 96th Police Detachment, in, with a simple plan. Sieben, if you will.”
“Jawohl,” The tall Replika replied, then walked over to the table. She tapped a few buttons on the holo-screen, zooming in on the Dormitory they were going to raid, then began explaining, “As Chief Lila just said, the enemy has approximately a dozen hostages of the Mantle Polytechnic School in the dorm. It is unknown what they want to do with them, as they have not given any demands on the matter… But that doesn’t mean a damn thing. The White Fang’s demands for peace cannot be given at gunpoint.”
She looked around and continued, “We’ll do this the standard way. Starlings armed with combat rifles. One sniper, that’s you, Jaeger, covering the teams from an adjacent building,” and she pointed at ‘Hunter’, the elite sharpshooter. The girl nodded, adjusting her black mask while Sieben continued, “Shield pointman. I’ll be breaching with the shotgun. Kolibris are to act as both our ears and as shock troopers. Carry SMGs, light loads. Four mags each. Three teams. Ground floor, second and third. We RV and all breach the Fourth as we go,” while pointing out the fire escape for teams two and three.
“Understood!” The entire Kader replied.
It was going to be an interesting ‘first mission’ of a sort. Most of the Replikas had been undergoing testing since the day after the first negotiations, which meant Zucker, Honig and their sisters were slowly being acclimatized to the world of Remnant and Mantle and Atlas specifically. Honig asked her sister, “ Do you think Kommandant Falke’s ever gonna lift this ban on mindreading… ?” through their bioresonant link.
Zucker, ever optimistic, said, “ Well, if we prove we can stop crimes ahead of time, maybe ? But it was kind of part of her chat with Atlas Command that we aren’t allowed to. Scares the folks and whatnot… ”
“ Like that doctor Brandt you like so much, ” Her sister replied, grinning proudly. Zucker began to stammer mentally, face burning red while the girl continued to tease her, “ I mean I understand. He is cute, if a bit of a buffoon, ” and tended to her equipment. She loaded a few flashbang grenades, non-lethals meant to incapacitate an enemy for easy capture, into the pouches on her belt and grabbed the 8mm Submachine Gun, the Drache, which they were always assigned.
She also had her 10mm pistol clipped to her belt in a black holster, which she patted to make sure was still there. Aiming the SMG, which was unloaded, she activated the laser sight and watched her optical sensors pick up and zero in on it. With a nod of approval, she thumbed the laser off, loaded a fresh magazine and pulled the bolt back and into a safe position, in a small notch on the side. She slid it onto her back, then watched Sieben march into the armory.
She had her standard EIN-12 Flechette shotgun with her, including the odd orange plastic/bakelite pump grip and the folded stock. Though, instead of standard issue buckshot or flechette shells, she had blue-colored beanbag rounds and a secondary 10mm Type-75 pistol as a sidearm. She looked around at the troops, then whistled, taking everyone’s attention toward her. She spoke, “Let’s make this clear, ladies… Commander Falke told us directly that we are here to integrate. As much as I dislike it, we have orders to bring these dissidents in, not kill them.”
She looked at the Starlings, telling them, “Shoot only if shot at and for the sake of Eusan, aim for extremities to disable them. Lethal force is authorized, but it’s a last resort…”
“You repeating this for us, or yourself, boss?” Hunter inquired, spinning her revolver on one finger. Sieben stared at her, dead serious, which caused the Star to pause. Sighing, she nodded, “Understood,” before grabbing the SG-3, a long-barrel, semi-automatic 12mm Sniper Rifle given to her by the Starlings’ Military Siblings. It had a twelve-times zoom scope, was a roller-delayed blowback model of rifle with a thick polymer handguard and bipod and had a 10-round magazine containing 12x100mm anti-infantry rounds.
Sieben continued, “To the Kolibri section, you’re authorized to utilize your mind-reading capabilities to confuse and apprehend the enemy,” which got a few of the girls to cheer. Zucker and Honig smiled at one-another, then looked at their leader as she continued, “The Police wants us to bring these people in alive. Let’s make sure we complete our mission without fault. Raus. ”
The platoon of about a dozen Replikas moved out toward the armored vehicles Atlas Police utilized for transport. Trucks with layered armor and bulletproof glass windows began their trip, trundling down the side roads of the Old City of Mantle toward their target area. Most of the buildings around the group of Replikas resembled the old, brutalist blocks of Rotfront. Repetitive, old and barely kept warm by the City’s heating system.
Rain pelted the road and the vehicles as each team-member made final checks on their equipment. Zucker and Honig looked at one-another again. Out of all of the Kolibri Sisters, the two were the closest, somehow proving that despite having the same face and a near-hive mind, Gestalt, or Gestalt-adjacent creations still developed a sense of individuality, like Zucker’s love for Sci-Fi, or Honig’s love for romance books, or Kaffee and Choco both liking cooking despite neither being Eules.
They arrived on-site, at the campus. Multiple police cars and officers clad in the dark-whites and blues of Mantle PD stood guard, forming a line between the families worried sick for their children and the place itself. The teams began to dismount, with the two Kolibris watching Sieben as she went to talk with the site commander.
The Starlings moved to their starting positions, with Hunter immediately grabbing a spotter and marching out to the nearest building with perfect LOS. She climbed the ladder with her fellow STAR, out of sight of the others as Sieben approached Team 1, Ground Floor. She put her hand up to her ear and said, “All units, be advised. Five assailants are confirmed on-site alongside two dozen civilians. Keep your eyes peeled and watch your fire.”
Zucker and Honig waved to each-other as the latter moved to join the second floor team. Ground Team was led by Sieben directly, following her in toward the rear of the dormitory in a line formation. The shield-toting Starling was in the front, bearing a massive titanium shield plate with a window to peer through, as well as her 10mm pistol with a laser sight.
The team advanced to the rear alley, finding trash and the likes strewn about nearby the rear door and listening in as Civilians were corralled by the White Fang toward the center of the building. Sieben stood on her ‘toe tips’, looking inside just enough to see one of the armed assailants dragging a pair of youngsters, a girl and a boy, out of a closet and throwing them on the floor, before forcing them to move out at gunpoint.
“We’re a bit tall,” Muttered Panzer, thumbing the safety off of her pistol. The other girls snorted, but quickly turned back to professionals. They switched off their rifles’ safeties while Sieben folded the stock of her shotgun, then patted Panzer on the shoulder. The girl nodded, flipping down the armored visor of her helmet and slowly creeping up to the door in a crouched walk.
Sieben put her hand up to her ear and said, “All units, Sieben. Stand by for breach,” as she aimed the Shotgun, activating the emerald laser clipped just below the magazine tube and pointing it at the door’s handle. She looked back and ordered, “Zucker, up front. Prepare flashbangs,” which woke up the Kolibri. She nodded, moving up to the third place in the stack, then off to the other side. Sieben then waved forward two more of her Starlings and another Kolibri, Melly(Short for Melone).
The team prepared with the leading Kolibri already pulling out her flashbang grenade from the pouch and wrapping her finger around the pin. Reports echoed over the com from the other teams, that they’d made it up the Fire escape to infil points and on the second and third floors and were just waiting for the order.
Zucker told everyone, “They’re pissed… I think they know their demands won’t be met…”
Sieben started counting down as she racked the pump back and looked in the chamber. A beanbag round, a less-than-lethal shell for shotguns, was loaded in. She shifted her aim toward the center of the door as the sound of muffled, erratic footsteps echoed from within. She gave a pat on Panzer’s back, then ordered calmly, “Breach…”
Zucker kicked the door’s lock in, breaking it as she pulled the pin. She threw the flashbang in and looked away while drawing her SMG. White filled the hallway, the rattling bang visibly shaking the man that was about to turn the corner, a Faunus with deer traits. Sieben barked, “PUSH!” before shooting the first of her shells into the Faunus’s chest. The beanbag round struck hard, sending the man to the floor and his machine pistol clattering away.
The teams pushed quickly inside, weapons aimed and drawn. Sieben barked, “DROP YOUR WEAPONS, NOW! NOW! ON THE GROUND!” toward another enemy. She watched him turn and fire a burst from his gun, shots that sparked off of the shield and did no damage to any unit as they moved out, spreading left and right.
She shot the next beanbag into the shooter’s chest, sending him to the floor in a heap. She marched up to him, checked him over and kicked the gun away, then looked at the two civilians inside, half-naked. She put her hand up to her ear and said, “Command, Sieben, two enemy combatants down, multiple civilians secure! Advancing!”
“Clear left!” Panzer called out.
Zucker added, “Clear right! Rooms are open and ransacked, but there’s nobody else on this floor!”
“Push up!” Sieben barked, “Reform and push! Shield front, I’m second! Zucker, you’re third in the stack!” before she marched over toward the stairwell of the old apartment. The leading Storch demanded, “Sieben to Second and Third Team, status report?!” as she marched up the stairwell, right behind Panzer.
“ Both floors are clear. We’re converging back out on the Fire Escape and moving onto the final floor as we speak, Kommandant, ” Replied the leader of Team Two, their footfalls audible on the steel.
Jaeger scoped in the fourth floor, noticing only two rooms were occupied. She spoke, “TL, be advised… I’m counting the last three in two separate rooms. One on the South-Westernmost room, right near the stairwell and another two holding out in a room with the rest of the hostages,” as she settled the crosshair of her rifle onto one of the men. He was arguing with a female student whom he seemingly knew. The huntress tilted her head at her spotter, who gave an approving nod.
Jaeger then said, “I have one lined up… I can take him out if you want.”
“TOC?” Sieben asked.
Tension filled the com as silence greeted Sieben at first. Jaeger watched the bastard point a gun at some of the other students, but the girl pushed his hand down and seemed to try and stop him. She grit her teeth behind her respirator mask and mumbled, “C’mon, already. In Eusan, I’d have shot this waste of space already…”
Command then replied, “ Unless you can confirm he has injured an officer or a Civilian, hold your fire. Teams are to take them all in… ” to which Jaeger swore under her breath. Sieben affirmed just as the teams set up on each side of the Dorm complex. When the go-ahead to breach was given, the men in the room visibly staggered. One of them marched to the door and opened fire toward the teams coming in from the fire escape, while the other, who was at the opposite end of the hall, opened up on the Fireteam led by Sieben.
The latter fell down to a shell from Sieben’s shotgun. Beside her, Kolibris and Starlings seemed to be lining up the other guy as he took cover. Sieben ordered, “Hold your fire! We might catch Teams 2 and 3 in the Crossfire!” before calling out, “BOUNDING! TEAMS OF TWO CLEAR THE SIDE ROOMS!” and starting to run with her squad. Jaeger saw them through the open doors of the other dorm rooms, pushing up. The guy turned and opened fire toward them, but got a beanbag to the head. He dropped.
The final guy grabbed the girl, wrapping an arm around her and pointing his gun at the side of her head. Sieben poked through and took cover again as a burst from the autopistol filled the wall with bullets. The man barked at the Replikas as he pulled the girl’s head slightly to the side, pointing the gun right at her temple.
Jaeger grit her teeth, then slowed her breathing and said, “... Command, I have a shot. The bastard’s threatening a hostage.”
Another tense moment of silence, yelling over the com and bursts of fire. One Kolibri took a burst to the arm and fell back, only to quickly be pulled back. Jaeger scoffed, grinned behind her mask and said, “And he just wounded an Officer…” as she aimed for his head, crosshair settling in right on the top, between the two feline ears poking out from brown hair.
“ Permission granted, Overwatch, ” A female voice spoke over the com this time. Jaeger’s finger wrapped around the trigger as she breathed in and out, zeroing in. The moment he twitched and she was sure she wasn’t going to hit the girl, she fired. The glass window cracked in a spiderweb pattern, blood staining the floor and wall as the corpse fell. Screaming filtered through the coms as Civilians, probably stunned by the violent display, couldn’t contain themselves.
Jaeger spoke, “Assailant down…” as she thumbed the safety of her rifle on.
Sieben radioed back to command coldly, “ Hostages are secured. One enemy KIA, one allied WIA and in need of repairs… Mission accomplished. ”