As Dealer drove down the road she could see the trees in the distance, they looked like rows of needles. Road was a poor descriptor for the path that she was on but since no one felt like making a road in the middle of nowhere it was the best one she got. She had travelled back and forth from this forest multiple times now that she could probably do it in her sleep, though she didn’t want to test out her theory right now. In the back seats were her three comrades, Sweeper was lying down straight on Savage’s and Reaper’s laps as they tried their best to keep their legs from shifting too much.

“Jeez couldn’t you guys have done something else to fix her spine?” Dealer remarked.

“We had no other options, if we hadn’t done what we had done she wouldn’t be here right now to take part in this operation.” Savage crossed her arms as she explained why they had to do it so haphazardly.

The situation sucked for Dealer as Sweeper was the only other person, that was still alive, that could drive a vehicle properly. Savage was too short and could barely see over the dashboard meanwhile Reaper drives like a maniac so she’s banned from taking the wheel. Dealer thought that maybe the recruits would be able to drive but they probably have some detriments that prevented them from going in a straight line. Speaking of recruits one of them was clinging on top of the jeep.

“You think she’ll be okay up there?”

“Quit your whining Private Dealer, Private Mirabelle has a grip of iron which makes sense considering she’s made out of a metallic composition that involves iron.”

“I’m not sure how I feel about us using a droid.” Sweeper said as she continues to stare at the roof of the vehicle, fearing that if she turned her head at a certain angle her back would explode.

“I don’t see the problem with giving us a little advantage in the battles to come Corporal Sweeper.”

“I’m pretty sure a war crime is still a war crime…”

The use of droids in any sort of conflict was banned after World War 3 and since droids were only good for killing that means they didn’t have any use in non-war situations. Though there was a time when a government official thought it would be a good idea to use them for pest control. The tests ended with a droid breaking out of the facility and leveling an entire city block. Since then, droids have been ordered to be scrapped on sight. Finding Mirabelle in the forest was really lucky or unlucky depending on your views on the sanctity of life.

“It’s not a crime if nobody finds out.” Savage said with confidence.

“No, I think that makes the crime even worse.” Dealer tried to keep focus on the path ahead. “Well I’m no law expert, maybe we should have Guard’s input on this, too bad we left her behind.”

“At least no one will find out about it, her disguise is perfect!” The Captain accidently elbowed Sweeper in the face in her excitement.

“Ow!” Sweeper rubbed her face and swept her brown hair away from her eyes. “I may have gone too overboard with Guard on the disguise.”

“It’s hard to hide someone that tall.” Reaper tried to comfort her.

“Making her look like a fashion model also doesn’t help.” Added Dealer. “Actually we could probably say we’re escorting a pop idol or something.”

Savage snapped her fingers, “Good idea, I heard models are required to be tall so it would make sense.”

“Models are tall but I don’t think they’re THAT tall, I mean she’s at a height where she could either be a basketball player or a mutant.” Still not pleased with how the disguise turned out, she was lost in Guard’s flow when they were picking out the clothing, Sweeper tried to think of other outfits that could work.

“I dunno she could be a basketball playing model.” Dealer shrugged, she could see that the trees were coming closer into view. This time instead of stopping at the front of the forest and walking towards their destination they would continue to drive and go around the forest. The plan was to have the jeep with them as they try and talk it out with the strangers, though it would take a little longer to get there it was still better than walking. As she started to take the new route the backseat was still in a heated discussion on what Mirabelle’s cover will be.

“I know!” Reaper shouted with more enthusiasm than the group had previously seen of her. “We can convince people that she’s part of the Knight Unit!”

“I guess that would help explain the height. But why would someone from such an important group take part in this battlefield?” Sweeper struggled to think of a reason for it. The US Knight Unit was a special group of androids made to handle extremely dangerous situations and there weren’t exactly many of them so the government has to prioritize where they are sent.

The Captain, on the other hand, thought about it for a second but the idea was less interesting than having Mirabelle be a model of some sort. She had already thought about plans that would involve models like tricking the enemy into taking her in thinking she’s defenseless only for her to rip them apart with her bare hands.

“Eh we don’t need help from some special unit, we’re handling this operation fine on our own!” Savage proudly said.

“I thought it was a good idea…” Reaper quietly muttered.

As the chattering died down Sweeper thought about the wooden door that she saw in her mind. She tried to think of where she had seen it before but nothing came up. It was the first time she saw that door so she wondered why she felt so nostalgic about it. The fact that it was made out of oak could be a lead she thought. The trees in the forest that they were driving around aren’t oak trees, she wasn’t exactly an expert on trees but she knew enough to tell them apart, and there were sparingly any trees around the region. As her head lay on Savage’s lap staring at the roof of the jeep, with the occasional bump in the road causing her body to shift, she kept thinking about that door.

Savage was starting to get bored out of her mind and she had nothing interesting to look at so she decided to check on how Sweeper was doing. As she looked down and prepared to speak she was stopped as she saw her Corporal’s intense gaze. Her pupils did not move and stayed affixed to a singular point on the roof, it honestly creeped Savage out. She tried to find something to say but it didn’t feel right to intrude on whatever she was doing.

Reaper, who got tired of looking out of her side of the jeep and decided to check the scenery on right side, was now staring at the Captain’s face. Reaper was confused about what Savage was doing but was too mesmerized to ask or look away, her eyes were wide open looking downwards and her mouth was moving a tiny bit as if she was trying to say something.

The jeep slowed to a standstill as they finally reached their destination. Dealer was unnerved by how quiet it was in the backseat, as she turned around to tell the others that they have arrived she was met with an intense staring competition.

“What the hell? Uh hey guys we’re here!” She shouted to get their attention.

It worked like a charm as each person snapped out of whatever they were doing and glared at Dealer as if she had just rudely awakened them from their nap.

“Huh? Oh alright, we made it! Get out everyone!” Savage commanded as she and Reaper slowly and carefully lifted Sweeper out of the vehicle.

The forest was right in front of them now, its trees towering towards the skies. As the group finally got out of the cramp confines of the jeep they surveyed the surrounding area. Savage took notice of the ground they were standing on, it lacked vegetation and looked like it had been stomped on all over the place.

“Hey wait a minute. Private Dealer, where did you drive us too?”

The orange haired girl paused at the question as she was confused on why the Captain asked it. “We’re at the place where we last saw those men in black. You know the place you told us to go to?”

“No you idiot, I told you to stop a little ways off of the place you saw them! Not directly on top of the goddamn place!”

The group raised their weapons and cautiously looked around to see if they could see anyone stalking them.

“Doesn’t look like anyone’s around Captain.” Reaper eyed the entrance to the forest to see if she could spot anything amiss.

“Actually it doesn’t look they’re even here anymore.” Dealer walked forward and motioned to the empty area. “No tents, no boxes and no vehicles.”

The area was desolate, just a dirt covered circle that had signs of people being here once. Sweeper walked around the rim of it to see if she could find any clues to where they could have gone.

“So you’re telling me these people made a camp here for a couple of days and then go off and disappear into thin air?” Savage leaned on the hood of the jeep holding her head in one of her hands. She noticed that the jeep was shaking slightly and looked up to the roof to see that Mirabelle was still on top of it, violently turning her head back and forth to survey the area.

“Private Mirabelle you can get down from there now.”

The droid heeded the command as she quickly rolled off the vehicle and landed on her feet with one of her hands still gripping onto the roof, the jeep almost tipped over due to her weight.

“No targets. Acquired for. KILLING.” She slowly said as she stood over Savage.

“Hey guys! I found a trail!” Sweeper waved to the group to come over to where she was.

As everyone regrouped they could find the track marks of a vehicle heading east.

“So you think they just went home.” Dealer hoped that this was the end of it and they could just go back to base and worry about other things. Like what’s the new episode of Phantastic Phantasmal going to be about. But deep down she knew that this wasn’t going to be the end of this.

“East huh…” Savage rubbed her chin. “Their heading towards the UCNA base and that could only mean one thing!”

“That they’re going to fight the UCNA and hopefully both destroy each other?” Dealer suggested.

“That but also-”

“They were spies for the UCNA and kept an eye on our base and found out that we are now using a droid in combat so they went back to report us to the Council?” Chimed in Sweeper

“Well that’s also plausible but-”

“They’re actually driving around and heading towards our base now because we left it defenseless?” Reaper pointed out.

“It’s not defenseless, Guard’s there, it’s almost defenseless.”

“So what are they going to do?” Dealer squatted and let her arms hang down, they were probably going to do something dumb.

“Well I forgot but let’s go attack the UCNA base anyways!” She strode back to the jeep. “Oh and don’t forget to get our secret weapon from the trunk this time.”

“Which one?” Sweeper was the first one to catch up.

“The rocket launcher one.” Savage glared at Dealer as she tried her best to ignore it.

The group managed to return to their position inside, and outside, the jeep. Dealer looked at the rear view mirror.

“You know, if you were a human, you’d get absolutely jacked from all the planking you’re going to do.”

“Shut up and drive Dealer.” Sweeper said as she adjusts her position so her spine doesn’t explode.