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GFL2 Story/1-1/Script
Scene 1
(Darkness. Darkness all around.)
(A hazy mist and darkness obscure my view. I hear water dripping... Judging from the echoes, I am in a very spacious environment.)
(This place... must be...)
Unknown Speaker: You wish to leave?
Unknown Speaker: I would like to know why.
Unknown Speaker: The shattered order is calling for restoration. This broken world can finally be unified. Everything before us shall be reformed into a new world, a new order ― and we shall be a shining beacon in this brave new world.
???: ...Just you, not us. You don't need me, Earl. To you, I'm just a pawn that can easily be replaced. I won't take orders from you anymore.
Unknown Speaker: I simply wish to know your final decision.
???: The hedgehog, who serves absolute truth, reduces the world to one organizing principle, raises his spines all over, and staunchly resists all other views. The cunning and mercurial fox rides the waves of tumultuous times, narrowing his eyes and discerning the discordant voices that can reshape the world.
???: ―You once asked me this question. Now I'm making my choice.
Unknown Speaker: You don't wish to be a hedgehog?
???: Nor do I wish to be a fox.
Unknown Speaker: So your choice is to run away.
???: No, my choice is to stop being your pawn. Hedgehog or fox, I'd still end up being used as a stepping stone by you and other bastards like you.
???: Does it matter what choice I make? The world hasn't become any better or worse; nothing has changed at all despite all the choices I made!
Unknown Speaker: I will not make excuses for what happened in the past, but you must get over things that are already set in stone in order to make your choice. Problems do not get solved by running away. You are no more than a coward if you only wallow in self-pity.
???: I'm running away? I'm a coward? Ha! Fine, I'll admit it. Don't come looking for me anymore. I will never come back. As I've already told you, my final decision is self-exile.
???: Farewell, Earl.
Unknown Speaker: You must make the right choice; your destiny must return to its ordained path. Enjoy this momentary separation--we WILL meet again.
Unknown Speaker: Commander...
Scene 2
Commander: ―Ow, ow, ow...
(In the ops room, Groza is busy working at the main terminal―her gaze is fixed ahead.)
Groza: You're awake, Commander? There's some sobering tea on the table next to the coffee machine.
Commander: ...Sober... what?
Groza: Sobering tea. Mayling wrote down the recipe after she got drunk, so I tried making some. Give it a go.
Commander: Mayling...?
(After rising to my feet, I make my way to the table in the lounge, picking up a cup filled with a cooled, amber-colored fluid.)
Commander: ...What's in this?
Groza: A few ingredients with strange names.
Commander: And you boiled them up for me to drink?
Groza: "I will be your sword and shield, and in return, you will tell me how my cooking tastes." Remember these words, Commander?
Commander: ...If I'd known better, I wouldn't have made a promise like that. It's cutting into my life expectancy.
Commander: (Coughs) Ugh... This... is really spicy! Are you sure this can actually be drunk?!
Groza: It does smell a bit dubious, but the effect seems quite promising, don't you think?
Commander: Dubious...? The smell alone wakes me up completely like a smack in the face.
Commander: Let's save the rest for the next party.
Groza: There probably won't be a party for a very long time. Just yesterday, Mayling's "collection" got cleaned out and used to to throw the welcome party for Krolik. Why don't you give some proper thought to how to make up for that, Commander?
Commander: ...The URNC seems to be accelerating their Development Plan lately. The Varjagers are running around everywhere and ELIDs are showing up more and more frequently. Our missions are getting increasingly difficult to complete.
(I look over at the console on the desk.the screen is still showing the mission interface.)
(We are already 25 days into the mission of transporting the item designated TASK-3115, but our progress is only at 63%.)
(If I multiply the cost of carrying out the mission by the time factor, the total sum would be...)
Commander: ....
Groza: So?
Commander: Money is getting harder to come by, and the Elmo's balance sheets have been in the red every single month... So Mayling's rice wine will have to wait until we finish this job... Uh, she won't mind, will she?
Groza: With our expenditure on the rise, we need to complete assignments more frequently to keep the Elmo running. The situation should improve as we take in more members.
Commander: Krolik, you mean? Well, that finally solves our problem of communicating with Nemesis...
Commander: What about the others?
Groza: All the idle Dolls are helping Mayling with the maintenance on the vector engines in the engine room... Our drones detected an approaching Collapse storm three hours ago.
Commander: Three hours ago... Wait, so we're in the middle of the storm right now?
Groza: Everyone was resting at the time, so the mobile base vehicle proceeded along its preset course.
Commander: Is this region prone to Collapse storms?
Groza: The environmental data from B.R.I.E.F. didn't include any warnings on the subject.
Commander: Oh, how reliable... Bring up a topographical map of the surrounding terrain.
(As Groza taps away on her console, a topographical map is displayed on the projector screen in the ops room.)
Groza: We are currently approaching the storm. There is a valley upwind of it, but the surrounding terrain is quite rough. If we take shelter there, we run a higher risk of being ambushed by lurking threats.
Commander: It's more dangerous to move through the storm while our vector engines are being serviced. Let's take refuge in the valley.
Groza: The number of breakdowns experienced by the vehicle have spiked recently. We may need to do very extensive maintenance.
Commander: ...Well, it's been running for ten years... We'll have money once we're done with this mission. Let's give the Elmo a complete overhaul then.
Groza: This mission pays too well, Commander.
Commander: I know... Not to mention, we'll have to go to troublesome places like the Green Zone. But we're bounty hunters now. We take money and render a service. We deliver our cargo to its destination without any hiccups and earn an honest living.
Groza: ...Nothing you've done over the last ten years can be considered an honest living.
Commander: Hm... What it we compare it to the things I did before that?
Groza: ...Then it IS an honest living.
Groza: The height of the valley is different from what's stated in our topographical data. We can't launch drones during the storm, so we cannot be certain of the terrain data pertaining to the surrounding region or the real-time conditions. Our chances of being ambushed will go up if we carry on like this.
Commander: So we're practically blind, huh... How are the engine repairs going?
Groza: Still in progress.
Commander: Override the safety speed limit and move through at full speed. ...I'll buy a few more bottles of wine for Mayling the next time we go shopping.
Groza: I estimate we will clear the valley by 08:54.
(We fall silent.)
(Time ticks by, and as the vehicle moves forward, the end of the vally gradually comes into view.)
Commander: Thank goodness--
Scene 3
???: Wake 'em.
???: Hello? Hello?
???: Tsk.
Commander: ...
???: You up?
Commander: ...That insignia... Varjagers?
Varjager Boss: Humph.
Commander: Your way of tying people up is pretty crude.
Varjager Boss: Tsk, quit your bitching. There's a Collapse storm outside, you ever been in one?
Commander: ...Not yet, unfortunately.
Varjager Boss: Well, this is your lucky day. Want to give it a try?
(I stretch my body as inconspicuously as I can to make sure that the GPS device below my chest is still intact.)
Varjager Boss: The hell are you doing?
Commander: My legs are numb, I'm just stretching them.
Varjager Boss: Don't try anything funny, now spit it out!
Commander: Spit what out!
Commander: The only thing I've had since yesterday was wine... and a cup of tea. The smell might be kind of intense if I spit it out, you know?
Varjager Boss: Drop the act! Now open this damn thing!
Commander: ―Right now, you're standing on the "damn thing" in question. Don't you Varjagers have a lot of experience with "opening boxes"?
Varjager Boss: Humph, you'd better wise up. Now open this thing, or this day next year is going to be the anniversary of your death!
Commander: ...You need a code to open the box.
Varjager Boss: You need a code to open the box?!
Commander: ―Yes, a code. Now, if you tell me why you're here to seize the box, I'll give you the code.
Varjager Boss: Why―? You think we Varjagers need a reason to take your stuff? If you had any sense, you'd have handed over your valuables long ago!
Commander: ...If this is about money, why don't we try to make this a win-win situation? I'll pay what you want and the box leaves with me, how about that?
Varjager Boss: Win-win, you say? How much money could you possibly have in that beat-up vehicle of yours?
Commander: ...You wound me.
Varjager Boss: Enough! Now give me the code.
Commander: ...The code is too complicated, it'll take some―ugh!
Varjager Boss: How about we put a few holes in your head? Will that help you think?
Commander: Our employer only allows us to open this box in case of utmost emergency. The code... The code is on my vehicle's computer.
Varjager Boss: Don't give me any of that crap! I've already blown your vehicle and those trash Dolls of yours to pieces!
Commander: Blown to pieces, you say? But they look perfectly alive and well to me?
Varjager Boss: What?!
Varjager Member: Boss!
Scene 3
(The jeep is now a safe distance away. I treat the bullet wound on my shoulder with the medkit in the car.)
Commander: What took you so long?
???: ...Upon the plains, the storm conceals an invisible object...
Commander: ...Um, huh? What... Nemesis? Where are Groza and Krolik? Why are you all using spare bodies?
Groza: I was in the ops room, and Krolik and Nemesis were in the engine room when we were all caught in the explosion. Only Mayling survived by taking cover inside an empty fuel tank. The frame depot was completely destroyed, so Mayling promptly uploaded our neural clouds into the remaining spare bodies before we set out immediately.
Groza: Right now, Mayling is working as quickly as she can to get the drone elevator back online, so air support will have to wait. We need orders, Commander.
Commander: ...Get the box back.
(Groza, seated on the passenger's seat and focused outside, hesitates for a moment.)
Groza: We can't guarantee your safety without Doll protection.
Commander: Do I LOOK like I need protection? We're going to starve if we don't get that box back!
Groza: ...
Groza: Understood.
Scene 4
(On an open stretch of a valley in the Yellow Zone.)
(Under extremely poor visibility, the jeep steadily advances through the Collapse storm when it suddenly runs over a large lump of rock on the ground and lurches dangerously to one side.)
(Groza, who is on overwatch on the roof with a leg wedged through the window, is almost thrown off.)
(At the same time, a large chunk of rock is dislodged by the storm from the cliff that the jeep is driving past. It hurtles through the air straight towards the jeep.)
(Jostled by the lump of rock that it just ran over, the jeep suddenly decelerates, and the Varjagers in hot pursuit rapidly catch up to us.)
(The Varjager of the roof of the frontmost vehicle starts laying down fire at us and the box.)
Groza: Commander! I can't secure the box!
(Bullets and the large falling rock close in on the jeep and the box simultaneously. Groza, now immobilized, is utterly helpless.)
Commander: Groza!
(Having been continuously jostled and attacked, the crack on the box continues to widen until the outer shell bursts open all of a sudden.)
(The explosion blows the incoming projectiles and rock away and leaves an indent on one corner of the roof of the jeep. Groza is also knocked down by the shock wave.)
Commander: Nemesis, stop the vehicle!
(Nemesis brakes abruptly and bring the vehicle to a halt.)
(The broken box reveals another slightly smaller box. Its contents cannot be made out.)
(The smaller box appears more or less identical to the larger one. It shudders in the air, then lands several meters away from Groza.)
Commander: ...?
Commander: ...What's this?
Groza: Commander!
(Amid the Collapse storm, Groza scrambles to her feet with great difficulty.)
(Now that the jeep is stationary, the Varjager convoy has us promptly surrounded. The jeep carrying their leader lingers in the back.)
Varjager Boss: You m*****f***ers think you can escape?!
Commander: ...
Commander: Dying for nothing is very unwise. Ammo is expensive, and the thought of wasting it on you makes my heart ache, you see?
Varjager Boss: ―Get the box back.
Varjager Boss: And crush that bastard!!
---
Varjager Boss: All of you, get them! Take that box back!
(The Varjagers shuffle around for a bit but maintain the loose encirclement.)
Commander: They outnumber us a bit too much for my liking... Groza, how are we doing?
Groza: Our tire is in shreds. We can only move at low speed.
Varjager Boss: You cowards! There are only a handful of them―Get the hell in there!
Commander: How much longer till our drone support arrives?
Groza: Mayling couldn't give us an estimate on when the drone elevator would be fixed before we set out, and the interference from the storm is too strong right now for transmissions to get through... I'd say we still need to hang in there a while longer, Commander.
Commander: If we don't do something soon, you can kiss this Commander goodbye.
Varjager Boss: Bring out the big guy! Hurry up and get rid of them!
Commander: That's...?
Groza: It's a modified mech equipped with a large-caliber cannon! We need to get off the vehicle ASAP, Commander!
(Through the Collapse storm, a mech that seems to have been converted from a construction vehicle rises to its full height.)
(It emerges from behind the convoy and moves towards us slowly, pushing aside the Varjager vehicles.)
Varjager Boss: That'll show you―your ammo may be expensive, but my artillery fire definitely hurts more!
(The Varjagers' startling armament only makes our situation more dire. The modified mech gets ever closer. Our battered jeep is completely at its mercy.)
Commander: Looks like I'm... finally out of luck?
???: Commander!
---
???: Commander! Do you copy, Commander?!
(Two drones tear through the Collapse storm and come diving towards my location.)
(The signal reception of the short-range communication device installed on the drones isn't the best, so the voice speaking through the comms is a bit patchy, but all three of us let out a sigh of relief when we hear it.)
Commander: Mayling You're just in time, how's the mobile base vehicle?
Mayling: Commander: We're screwed, Commander! (Sobs) The MBV is totally wrecked this time!
Commander: ...Ah...
Mayling: ―All our stores and parts have also been destroyed! Those bastards even stole the Collapse pieces I've been saving up (sobs)!
Commander: Er, Mayling, it'll be fine. There'll be more Collapse pieces to come... In any case, just get us out of here first. How much longer can these drones fly?
Mayling: O-oh, oh, oh, that's right, you're still around, Commander! I'll still be getting a paycheck!
(Mayling maneuvers one of the drones to lay down suppressive fire on the mech and commands the other one to land on a relatively safe cliff further away.)
Mayling: The drones have 56 minutes' worth of fuel left―hurry and get on, Commander!
Commander: Groza, Nemesis, fall back! And bring the box along!
Cutscene
Groza: That's... Commander, they are catching up!
Mayling: Commander! Drone support is ready, we need to input the drop coordinates!
Groza: Interception complete. The enemy's assault has been temporarily hindered. Continue with the evacuation.
---
Groza: Retreat!
Varjager Boss: Mwahahahahaha!
???: Gwaaaargh!
Mayling: Look out, Commander!
Commander: (coughs heavily) Mayling, hit them!
Mayling: O-on it!
Groza: Mayling, mind your defense.
Mayling: Yes, leader!
Commander: Mayling, pull up!
Mayling: On... What-- Gahhhh!
Commander: Pull UP, Mayling. Looks like you neek to retake your drone piloting course.
Mayling: (Whimper) Now isn't the time for this, Commander!
Commander: Groza!
Groza! Ngh!
??? Yeah... Hm?
Varjager 1: Oh!
Varjager 2: Aiiiieeeee... N-nooo!
Groza: Nemesis, secure the box!
Nemesis: ...Meaningless shapelessness...
Groza: Leave this place to me!
Varjager Boss: No! Where the hell do you think you're going? Get that box back! Got it?!
Varjager Boss: Oh! Ahhhhh?!
Varjager Boss: ...Die! Die, damn you, die!
Commander: The box is secured. Mayling, prepare for liftoff.
Varjager Boss: GRAAAAHHHH!
Groza: Ngh!
Groza: This is for you!
Commander: Come on―
Scene 5
Mayling: The MBV's below us. We're going down.
Mayling: Hold on tight, everyone!
Commander: You do realize that if you mess up now, nobody's going to be paying your wage, right?
Mayling: Commander!
Commander: (Sigh) Considering I'm going to be hit by the repair bill for my beloved Elmo, I can't let this drone get any more banged up.
Mayling: (Whines) Could you PLEASE not comment on my piloting?!
Commander: Yes yes yes, shutting up no-- Hng!
(The drone lands on the drone elevator of the Elmo, which has undergone initial repairs.)
(We clamber out of the rubble. The wound on my shoulder is bleeding again due to the impact.)
Commander: Ow, ow, ow...
Groza: Commander, are you alright?
Commander: It's just a scratch. I'll get a full check-up afterwards. How's Mayling?
(Mayling emerges from the entrance and rushes towards us anxiously.)
Commander: Uh, Mayling? I'm currently hot with Collapse radiation, so maybe we can dispense with the welcome-back hug?
Mayling: What are you talking about, Commander? Our communications equipment along with the drivetrain are all destroyed. We've managed to get the control systems back online with emergency repairs, but all our part stocks―and Doll frames―were blown up!
Mayling: Our budget for new equipment is zero now... You do have some Collapse pieces of your own in reserve, right? Please tell me you do?
Commander: ...I'll pay for it.
Mayling: That... that's wonderful, Commander!
Commander: But with our comms equipment wrecked, I guess we can't make an order with B.R.I.E.F. right away, can we?
Mayling: Ah...
Groza: How are the vector engines?
Mayling: Oh... Uh, they're barely running, but we're missing parts for the control systems and I can't complete repairs on it. Our current safe movement speed is around 25 km/h.
Groza: How bad is the damage to the comms equipment?
Mayling: The entire transmitter got blown up. We can use the backup systems onboard for short-range operations, but the vehicle signal booster and vehicular communications equipment are completely destroyed, so connecting to the internet and long-range comms... doesn't seem too likely.
Groza: Can we try fixing it?
Mayling: The spare parts store got blown up along with it...
Commander: ―While our current situation looks a little dire, our mission objective is still in our possession. Once the mission is complete, everyone will get a big bonus.
Mayling: R...really?!
Commander: Of course. Now, let's think of a way to get our comms and propulsion back. That'll make things a lot easier going forward.
(Groza puts down the box she has been carrying. The quivering box grows still the moment Groza breaks contact with it.)
Groza: I believe― there's a girl in there?
Commander: Nemesis, what do you think?
Nemeses: ...Flames... scatter... flowing through the veins, a cruel master returned...
Groza: We don't have any other Doll frames we can use right now, so we can't bring Krolik back online for the moment.
Commander: It looks just like an ordinary box, albeit a pricey one. Why isn't it moving anymore...? Groza, approach it.
(As Groza draws closer, the box starts vibrating again.)
Commander: Nemesis, you try.
(Goza falls back while Nemesis walks up to the box. It continues to vibrate.)
Commander: I doubt it's a problem with Groza. Mayling?
(As Nemesis puts some distance between herself and the box, it stops quivering.)
Mayling: Well, in terms of what we have in common, I guess the Commander and I... are both human?
Commander: ...
Commander: Let's confirm our plan for the rest of the mission. We'll meet up in the ops room. Mayling, find a place where we can store the box and continue with the repairs.
Mayling: O-okay.