As the past comes rushing by, #63(b) gets stuck briefly. It tries to refresh systems, but no good, it's stuck in the past again, replaying old files, its mind lagging and stuttering around.
The raid on the Verecing Compound, its first real operation, the force of Mission brought to bear against an illegal operation. It didn't know anything about why it was illegal, merely that it was. It had scouted ahead, as it was supposed to, and had followed all orders. It lined up a shot, and picked off the last of the security guards in the watch towers. It could taste the death. It was a good taste.
It then fired a flare into the air, as it had been instructed to do on elimination of the watching guards. That was the signal. Units #62, #15, #31 and #47 the Vanguards, jumped from behind their barricades and, carrying bulletproof shields, advanced rapidly on the warehouse's gate. Units #11, #12, #41, #4 and #50 fired over the shields, or through the gaps, forcing any surviving forces into cover. Meanwhile, #64 waited on top of the building across the street, scanning for its primary target. The Aswang knew exactly where the target was, of course. Top floor, in the windowless office. The panic room, however, was on the other end of the compound, and there was a long walkway with a window through which the target could be hit that he'd have to cross. All that was needed to get him out of the office was to set off the alarm. That was not in the orders, but improvisation was important, and the units had been built to be capable of it. It lined up the shot, and...
Suddenly, it was its final operation under Mission. There were 53 units left at the time, most of them were here. This was to be the true demonstration of the company's capabilities. A full-scale attack on a stronghold of another business's corporate espionage wing. Turf wars were not entirely unheard of among megacorporations, but they were rare. It was too expensive to do more than an assassination or two in most cases, but occasionally, a storefront needed smashing, a corporate headquarters needed trashing, and a few employees needed to die to prove a point about who sold to where. #64 geared up, and took up its place across the street. It watched the other units milling about down below. It was supposed to take out any security forces attempting to flank the Vanguard units before they could get to the doors. It was the same as it was every time. Clandestine, deniable, and fairly public knowledge. The cycle turned ever more. The job was never done. Mission pushed out one foe, and a new one came in.
And as #64 watched the other units below, it saw soldiers attempting to flank, as had been predicted... and it didn't fire. And it instead thought. Mission had failed. They kept dealing with the same issues, over and over, putting bandaid after bandaid on the brain tumor. The issue presented a little differently each time, but it was always the same. A new foe arose, the situation deteriorated, and Mission lost control, and then had to call in the units to wipe out the opposition. It often worked, but Mission had lost ground in its time.
Taking Fire. Can you confirm #64 is active? It should have detected this. File a bug report.
#15, in the vanguard, broadcast over the audio channel.
#64 did not move. It watched the security forces close in. It saw #31 get struck. It dropped its shield and was immediately shot through multiple times. The security forces took advantage of the gap in the shield wall and pushed their way in.
#48, who'd replaced the deactivated #47 in the vanguard, was next to fall.
Two units down, headquarters, respond, vanguard is taking casualties, advise. #64 is not providing adequate suppression.
The other units who were supposed to come in after the vanguard quickly got out of the vehicles and buildings and from their hiding places. The vanguard needed to be rescued.
#64 was still frozen, apparently... and then it took aim. It knew what it needed to do. The orange lights of #15 shone brightly, leading the other units onwards as it expertly fought off the security forces, despite the collapse of the shield wall.
It was an easy target.
#15's lights flickered and dimmed, it sparked, and it fell onto the pavement, a hole through its head.
#10 shouted over the comms. #10 had always had its own bugs, in particular, it struggled with how to conceptualize betrayal. That was clear here. It could not comprehend that #64 could have fired that shot.
#64 is confirmed down, #64 is confirmed down, we're taking fire from the roof.
#64 skipped past #10 without firing, and found its next target.
#8 and #22 were next in line. #8 was authorized to take over as vanguard commander, and #22 had previously stepped up as a leader during a previous debacle. Both were pierced through. The formations quickly fell into disarray. Unit #63 tried to organize a retreat, but was cut off by the security forces and cut down, along with multiple other units. #36 had been following, but managed to scramble away, using the remains of #7 as a shield.
Headquarters, requesting permission to surrender, requesting permission to retreat, over, do you copy?!
Headquarters was not responding, even as #36 cried out again and again for permission to do anything other than get killed down here. That was its long-standing issue, it had too much self-preservation, especially compared to the others.
Units #10 and #36 successfully broke away from formation and began making a retreat all on their own. They got behind a building before either #64 could pick them off or the security forces could catch up, but nearly all of the rest of the units were surrounded in the plaza. They'd picked up shields where they could, and were now in an armored circle, under heavy fire from all sides. They'd never surrender, but they couldn't exchange fire without being hit themselves. No help was coming. They were doomed. And #64 saw this, and realized exactly what must be done. It got up and left the rooftop, climbed down the fire escape, and walked off down the streets.
It was three weeks later. The other units, had all been, as far as it could tell, destroyed. #36 and #10 had not been recovered, but they hadn't been seen since. Most likely they'd gone into hiding far away. The rest had been found scattered across the plaza, more or less. It was unlikely more than a couple others had survived, and those that had were likely been captured and were being taken apart by the competition, whoever they were. The program had never come to pick up any of the units afterward, or bothered looking for the survivors. It had probably been abruptly shuttered after such a debacle. Mission would ever officially acknowledge the program, why would they? They'd never admit to their errors. Admitting errors was always a mistake. #64 was #63(b) now, it had never been able to pronounce its own designation.
And then it unfreezes, and its in the present again. There's no time for the past. The present is far more important. How to get into this building?
The fire escape is dangerous. A fall could be fatal, and there's nowhere to run if running is needed. The safest entrance, but only after a presence can be established. The office window is trapped, obviously, either an old trap or merely dangerous debris. That's ruled out. The route through the shop window is obviously suspicious, but it's viable, technically.
Others have used the door before, and it is the most obvious... to the point of potentially being dangerous, if someone were to want to stop them. But doors are meant to be entered through, are they not?
Approaching. Provide cover if this goes wrong.
And #63(b) is off.
>Enter the Jewelry shop through the Front Door.
The raid on the Verecing Compound, its first real operation, the force of Mission brought to bear against an illegal operation. It didn't know anything about why it was illegal, merely that it was. It had scouted ahead, as it was supposed to, and had followed all orders. It lined up a shot, and picked off the last of the security guards in the watch towers. It could taste the death. It was a good taste.
It then fired a flare into the air, as it had been instructed to do on elimination of the watching guards. That was the signal. Units #62, #15, #31 and #47 the Vanguards, jumped from behind their barricades and, carrying bulletproof shields, advanced rapidly on the warehouse's gate. Units #11, #12, #41, #4 and #50 fired over the shields, or through the gaps, forcing any surviving forces into cover. Meanwhile, #64 waited on top of the building across the street, scanning for its primary target. The Aswang knew exactly where the target was, of course. Top floor, in the windowless office. The panic room, however, was on the other end of the compound, and there was a long walkway with a window through which the target could be hit that he'd have to cross. All that was needed to get him out of the office was to set off the alarm. That was not in the orders, but improvisation was important, and the units had been built to be capable of it. It lined up the shot, and...
Suddenly, it was its final operation under Mission. There were 53 units left at the time, most of them were here. This was to be the true demonstration of the company's capabilities. A full-scale attack on a stronghold of another business's corporate espionage wing. Turf wars were not entirely unheard of among megacorporations, but they were rare. It was too expensive to do more than an assassination or two in most cases, but occasionally, a storefront needed smashing, a corporate headquarters needed trashing, and a few employees needed to die to prove a point about who sold to where. #64 geared up, and took up its place across the street. It watched the other units milling about down below. It was supposed to take out any security forces attempting to flank the Vanguard units before they could get to the doors. It was the same as it was every time. Clandestine, deniable, and fairly public knowledge. The cycle turned ever more. The job was never done. Mission pushed out one foe, and a new one came in.
And as #64 watched the other units below, it saw soldiers attempting to flank, as had been predicted... and it didn't fire. And it instead thought. Mission had failed. They kept dealing with the same issues, over and over, putting bandaid after bandaid on the brain tumor. The issue presented a little differently each time, but it was always the same. A new foe arose, the situation deteriorated, and Mission lost control, and then had to call in the units to wipe out the opposition. It often worked, but Mission had lost ground in its time.
Taking Fire. Can you confirm #64 is active? It should have detected this. File a bug report.
#15, in the vanguard, broadcast over the audio channel.
#64 did not move. It watched the security forces close in. It saw #31 get struck. It dropped its shield and was immediately shot through multiple times. The security forces took advantage of the gap in the shield wall and pushed their way in.
#48, who'd replaced the deactivated #47 in the vanguard, was next to fall.
Two units down, headquarters, respond, vanguard is taking casualties, advise. #64 is not providing adequate suppression.
The other units who were supposed to come in after the vanguard quickly got out of the vehicles and buildings and from their hiding places. The vanguard needed to be rescued.
#64 was still frozen, apparently... and then it took aim. It knew what it needed to do. The orange lights of #15 shone brightly, leading the other units onwards as it expertly fought off the security forces, despite the collapse of the shield wall.
It was an easy target.
#15's lights flickered and dimmed, it sparked, and it fell onto the pavement, a hole through its head.
#10 shouted over the comms. #10 had always had its own bugs, in particular, it struggled with how to conceptualize betrayal. That was clear here. It could not comprehend that #64 could have fired that shot.
#64 is confirmed down, #64 is confirmed down, we're taking fire from the roof.
#64 skipped past #10 without firing, and found its next target.
#8 and #22 were next in line. #8 was authorized to take over as vanguard commander, and #22 had previously stepped up as a leader during a previous debacle. Both were pierced through. The formations quickly fell into disarray. Unit #63 tried to organize a retreat, but was cut off by the security forces and cut down, along with multiple other units. #36 had been following, but managed to scramble away, using the remains of #7 as a shield.
Headquarters, requesting permission to surrender, requesting permission to retreat, over, do you copy?!
Headquarters was not responding, even as #36 cried out again and again for permission to do anything other than get killed down here. That was its long-standing issue, it had too much self-preservation, especially compared to the others.
Units #10 and #36 successfully broke away from formation and began making a retreat all on their own. They got behind a building before either #64 could pick them off or the security forces could catch up, but nearly all of the rest of the units were surrounded in the plaza. They'd picked up shields where they could, and were now in an armored circle, under heavy fire from all sides. They'd never surrender, but they couldn't exchange fire without being hit themselves. No help was coming. They were doomed. And #64 saw this, and realized exactly what must be done. It got up and left the rooftop, climbed down the fire escape, and walked off down the streets.
It was three weeks later. The other units, had all been, as far as it could tell, destroyed. #36 and #10 had not been recovered, but they hadn't been seen since. Most likely they'd gone into hiding far away. The rest had been found scattered across the plaza, more or less. It was unlikely more than a couple others had survived, and those that had were likely been captured and were being taken apart by the competition, whoever they were. The program had never come to pick up any of the units afterward, or bothered looking for the survivors. It had probably been abruptly shuttered after such a debacle. Mission would ever officially acknowledge the program, why would they? They'd never admit to their errors. Admitting errors was always a mistake. #64 was #63(b) now, it had never been able to pronounce its own designation.
And then it unfreezes, and its in the present again. There's no time for the past. The present is far more important. How to get into this building?
The fire escape is dangerous. A fall could be fatal, and there's nowhere to run if running is needed. The safest entrance, but only after a presence can be established. The office window is trapped, obviously, either an old trap or merely dangerous debris. That's ruled out. The route through the shop window is obviously suspicious, but it's viable, technically.
Others have used the door before, and it is the most obvious... to the point of potentially being dangerous, if someone were to want to stop them. But doors are meant to be entered through, are they not?
Approaching. Provide cover if this goes wrong.
And #63(b) is off.
>Enter the Jewelry shop through the Front Door.
I am the They who says it!