Story/Summary

"I can't sleep yet, I still have work to do..."

This article still needs to be completed. You can help us by contributing.

This is an overview of the main plot points and beats of the story of Girls' Frontline in order of release.

Episode 1 - Awakening

A new commander in the Private Military Company Griffin & Kryuger takes their functions in the base of Area S09, in a region threatened by the rogue Tactical Dolls of the company Sangvis Ferri. They meet their logistics officer, Kalina, and are quickly assigned by G&K's second-in-command Helian to counter a sudden enemy deployment. The Commander's forces capture an enemy ringleader, Scarecrow, who self-destructs before they can interrogate her. Scarecrow learned the position of SF's target, the T-Doll M4A1, and entrusted her capture to another ringleader, Executioner.

Episode 2 - Echo

After the Commander's forces spot M4A1 and Executioner, G&K command, impressed by the Commander's previous performance, places them under Persica, a scientist from IOP. Persica is the creator of M4A1 and her squad, the AR Team, who had been collecting data in SF territory. Persica orders the Commander to find and assemble all members of AR Team.

The Commander manages to track down M4A41 and help her defeat Executioner. However, G&K command suspects that Executioner was able to track down M4 efficiently because their network has been breached.

Episode 3 - Silence

During the Commander's counter-offensive, M4A1 is reunited first with M4 SOPMOD II, then with ST AR-15, who let herself be captured by the ringleader Hunter to infiltrate SF's command system. AR-15 dodges the question when M4 asks her how she performed the hacking.

Episode 4 - Message

The Commander is tasked to assist the extraction of a covert team called Squad 404, who was investigating the site where AR Team got separated, then confront the ringleader Intruder. Meanwhile, a member of Squad 404, HK416, tracks down the last missing member of AR Team, M16A1, seeking revenge. M16 beats 416 and brings her back to Squad 404, and 404's leader, UMP45, warns M16 that Sangvis Ferri is preparing a major operation.

Episode 0 - Seed

With AR Team now assembled, M4 explains to the Commander how they got separated.

A month before, Persica deployed AR Team to the site called Safe House 3 in Sangvis Ferri territory. Their mission was to recover data from SF's main scientist before the T-Dolls uprising, the late Lycoris. When AR Team breaks into the database, they are attacked by the powerful ringleader Agent, who was waiting for them to crack the database's password. To complete the mission, AR Team decided to scatter to split the SF forces in pursuit.

Episode 5 - Kindling

The data recovered by Squad 404 has reveals that Sangvis Ferri is preparing an operation called Plan Parapluie. G&K's CEO Kryuger summons the Tactical Commanders to a secret base to convene on a counterplan, but their location is leaked and SF troops commanded by Destroyer and Dreamer launch an attack to take down G&K. Kryuger leaves the Commander in charge of AR Team, warning that M4 is of special importance. The attack is eventually pushed back and the source of the leak is revealed to be AR-15, who had previously been infected by SF's Parapluie virus back during her fight with Hunter. AR-15 runs away to track down the SF ringleaders herself, and leaves behind information to let G&K counter Plan Parapluie.

Episode 5.5 - Operation Cube

During the campaign against Destroyer and Dreamer, G&K hires Squad 404 to investigate a jammer in Area S06. They fight against Hunter, then Executioner, who are under the command of Ouroboros, a new ringleader who lacks the camaraderie of other ringleaders. Squad 404 exploits Executioner's loyalty by exchanging information about Ouroboros against Hunter's remains, which allows them to escape the explosion of the trapped jammer. Overconfident that her trap worked, Ouroboros is cornered by 404 and abandoned by Agent. 404 walks away with the intel recovered on Ouroboros' corpse, but 45 has unknowingly been infected by the same Parapluie virus as AR-15.

Episode 6 - Comet

As AR Team and Squad Negev do battle against Alchemist in Area S08, AR-15 kidnaps M4 on behalf of the Sangvis Mastermind. Both are interested in uncovering the reasons behind M4's creation, but M4 herself doesn't have access to this data and Mastermind orders AR-15 killed and M4 captured. The G&K Dolls retreat before the massive approach of SF troops, but AR-15 remains behind and takes down Mastermind's local body in a suicide bombing. AR-15 left a message for M4, where she bares her heart about hating her at first, due to her prime order to protect M4 conflicting with her ambition to become a respected Tactical Doll, but eventually came to admire her abilities for leadership, even if she was imperfect. While M4 is left mourning, Mastermind struggles to understand why AR-15 sacrificed herself for her friend.

Episode 7 - Partner

After the battle in Area S08, the Griffin Dolls are quarantined in Area S05 while 16Lab is developing measures against the Parapluie virus. Loss and boredom have amde M4 very irritable, but she's forced to return to her usual self when Mastermind attacks the detention center. She manages to break into M4's Neural Cloud, but she's saved by Persica's latest T-Doll, RO635. M4 is left in a catatonic state by the electronic attack, and RO temporarily takes over as AR Team's leader. RO demonstrates her abilities during a punitive operation against the ringleader who assisted Mastermind, Dreamer.

Minor Event - Maze Guess

At some unstated point in the past, AR Team carried Operation Viper under the command of Angelia. Persica finds that the team's performance was much higher than their specifications should allow, and she decides to run a controlled experiment to determine the source of the discrepancy.

While AR Team is facing increasingly difficult versions of Operation Viper by relying on Angelia's command patterns, two control groups go through similar ordeals. The first control group is made of average G&K T-Dolls who receive no instructions, but decide to confront the test to demonstrate their pride even when competing against the elite AR Team. The second control group is made of underperforming T-Dolls, but are placed under a commander candidate who refuses to consider their performance a done deal.

At the end of the tests, all three teams manage to defy Persica's expectations due to the influence of human commanders. Persica's experiment comes to an abrupt end when Angelia bursts into her lab to free her team and force Persica to sleep.

Episode 15.3 - Zero Charge

After finding the empty Elmo, Romy Riefenstahl returns to the Stasi's HQ in Frankfurt. She recalls all senior agents to take part in the upcoming National Defense Council, but many arrive late due to a police operation slowling down all incoming traffic in Frankfurt. Agent Q has brought back Colonel Dupieux from the Soviet border, and Romy orders her to interrogate him about the origins of StateSec's investigations on Samantha Shaw. Romy also reveals that Evangelist, the German agent who was supposed to let Dupieux through the border, and also the person who recruited Nemhran as a double agent and enabled her to access the Bee Sting System, has been killed. Evangelist's authority over Bee Sting is transferred to Q, marking the return of Bee Sting under the Stasi's complete control. Dupieux reveals that Shaw's file is a complete fabrication, since everyone who knew about Shaw's past was killed by an unknown party when she disappeared in 2062. The only remaining clue is that Shaw's sister, Sofya, was related to the anti-Relics organization Pandora. Soon after, Shaw's body is found in the morgue of a Moscow hospital, two years after her disappearance.

Embla, the person resulting from the fusion of RPK-16's Neural Cloud with Angelia's body, is enjoying her new human life in Frankfurt. She compares her situation to a Faustian pact with the devil. Morridow, in charge of monitoring her, is frustrated to see Embla enjoy the emotions and self-indulgence she hates in humans. On a walk on the Eiserner Steg bridge, Embla is attacked by AK-15 and flees, only leaving her with the clue that her motivations are contained in her new name: Embla Petrovskaya. When AK-15 relays the information to AN-94, 94 explains that Petrovskaya was Shaw's real name. Task Force DEFY is the first StateSec force in Frankfurt, but they are limiting their activities due to AK-12's unstable emotional state. 12 is blaming herself for giving RPK-16 authority over DEFY back in Berlin, and is disgusted by her current body, a Paradeus creation that she had to use to escape the destruction of Avernus. AK-12 finally snaps out of her rut after M16A1 announces that DEFY must pick up Stevens M520 to prepare for the upcoming operation, and calls her unworthy of leading DEFY in her current state.

On Paradeus' side, Nemhran is taking stock of their available resources after the loss of Avernus. Nemhran herself, Bramedb and Morridow are the last Paradeus command units since the defeat at Avernus, but Laplace leaves the execution of Operation Cocoon to her, as Laplace wants to focus on her final experiment now that the "key" has manifested. Before the Nytos can complete their preparations, they remotely feel the destruction of the Lake of Consciousness and flee when AK-15 launches an assault on their temporary base. DEFY next infiltrates Frankfurt's White Zone to gather data about Shaw's past. DEFY finally confront Embla in the Alte Oper opera house, where she intends to put on her "All Hallows' Eve" show and publicly reveal Paradeus' technology to the world. Bramedb ensure that the events of the theater are broadcast in the city, but right after claiming to be immortal, Embla allows AK-12 to kill her, ruining Paradeus' plans.

A flashback reveals that RPK is not originally a Doll, but Shaw's AI assistant Nadia. Shortly after RPK was created, she witnessed Shaw's assassination, but didn't reveal it to the rest of DEFY while she investigated the identity of the murderer. RPK eventually learned that Shaw's technological advancements aimed to replace the use of Relic technology, which she deemed to be a Pandora's Box. Her ideal conflicted with the plans of the world's leaders, who had her killed. In Bremen, the Earl secretly contacted RPK and ordered her to infiltrate Avernus and steal Paradeus' technology, causing RPK's betrayal. RPK used her unconventional neural cloud to save AK-12 from the attack on DEFY's safehouse in Berlin, and transported her all the way to Avernus so she could take the role of Koleda. After undergoing the surgical operation planned for Lunasia, she accessed Tarot Paradise and took the identity of Laplace's Demon, becoming an imperfect Relic key by assembling the three necessary elements of connection to Nirvana, a vessel body and a powerful AI mind.

Episode 15.4 - Angular Gyrus

Following the explosion of the Alte Oper, announced as a Doll terrorist attack, the city of Frankfurt imposes the Interim Regulations for Doll Security, which prevents the Elmo Dolls from entering the city to search for the Commander. AR-18 receives a message for the Commander sent by Nele, who is asking to meet the Commander to investigate the impersonation of Professor Gray. Pretending that the Commander is merely busy, AR-18 asks Nele to first use her family's status to help the Griffin Dolls enter the city. Nele obtains access permits from her cousin Meyer, enabling Squad 404, AR-18, Hertha and Cross to join Stevens M520, M16 and Task Force DEFY.

Next, while Paradeus is distracted by attacks on multiple Paradeus bases by Task Force DEFY and the appearance of fake data about a new edition of Hume's Human Intelligence Research, Squad 404 infiltrates the Bee Sting System to find the Commander's location. During the mission, 416 reveals her intention to take over as Squad 404's leader, as UMP45 is becoming more and more swayed by her emotions. They manage to find the coordinates, but are attacked by Nemhran as they pull out and 416 is secretly infected by a virus prepared by the Nyto in charge of Frankfurt, Hebe, who's impersonating a former movie star and friend of Nele's family. Since the Commander is held in the White Zone, Nele is tasked to reconnoiter the grounds. Nele enters the White Zone to visit her grandfather, former Minister of Health Vogt which whom she's not in good terms, and runs into agent J who shows her around. Before J can catch on to Nele's plan, the White Zone is breached as the Commander escapes their prison.

All the while, the Commander had been into Lunasia's custody in a house of the White Zone. Because the personalities and memories of M4 and Dandelion are blended with Lunasia's, she's been rejected as imperfect by William, who is using her to monitor the Commander as a bargaining chip. Lunasia's mind is unstable and she acts both kind, possessive and cruel towards the Commander, who responds by testing her limits. Lunasia eventually admits defeat when she refuses to cut the Commander's throat and let them go, and the Commander kidnaps her. The Commander, the Dolls and Nele, along with the captured Lunasia and J, escape the White Zone with DEFY's help, but 416's virus activates during the escape. Before being destroyed, she manages to capture some data from Hebe.

The data reveals more about the connection between Morridow and Machlian. Both of them, along with a third Nyto called Babdsca, were part of Project Cocoon in Frankfurt. Cocoon was Paradeus' plan B in case Laplace's research proved fruitless, and entailed the capture of individuals with partial immunity after identifying them with Iaso's Boxes, and the integration of their mind in a framework that would let them be reborn every time they are killed, another iterative approach to the creation of a fully-immune individual. When M4 bargained with Morridow in Berlin, she taught her a way to absorb Machlian and Babdsca and attain the perfection she sought. With the destruction of the channel to the Lake of Cognition by Erma, Project Cocoon has become critical for Paradeus to build a secondary channel, and they activate the Iaso's Boxes hidden in Frankfurt.