Dual Randomness
Chapter 1 - Departure Time
Main plot node - Departure Time I
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Commander's side - Departure Time II - side plot part 1
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Commander's side - Departure Time III - side plot part 2
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Commander's side - Departure Time IV - side plot part 3
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Ange's side - The Curtain Rises I - side plot part 1
Bremen, Germany. A bustling city in the post-war world, and burgeoning with refugees. After dispatching some enemy agents following her, Ange enters through the city's quarantine wall with AN-94 and RPK-16, who are wearing suits!! They rendezvous with AK-12 and AK-15 inside the city.
Ange called in a favour from K to get them into the city to investigate Paradeus, and they meet Morridow Voight, who will take them to see Chairwoman Ulrich.
Ange's side - The Curtain Rises II - side plot part 2
Chairwoman Ulrich was with the commander in Belgrade, she's the blonde lady we helped out. Ange and Ulrich agree to exchange assistance and information, and Ulrich puts a bodyguard and Morridow at Ange's disposal. The team is in Bremen to hunt for William, he'll be hard to find.
Chapter 2 - Pollinosis
Main plot node - Pollinosis I
AR team (minus M4A1) arrives at the commander's office. They're tasked with a mission that Havier has requested. Dandelion will be going with them to help, and she's been given commander's uniform coat to help blend in while at the base. Architect is being sent along as well, which AR team doesn't like, to use as bait to capture Gager if the opportunity arises.
Commander's side - Pollinosis II - side plot part 1
AR team + Dandelion + Architect begrudgingly undertake the mission, no one is at ease with this arrangement. They search the village in the yellow zone as requested but only find everyone is dead, and some suspicious supply crates. It's similar to what they saw in Tallinn, so they suspect William is involved.
AR-15 and Dandelion stay behind to look for more clues, RO and SOP and Architect go ahead to carry out the baiting plan.
Commander's side - Pollinosis III - side plot part 2
Dandelion and AR-15 have a heart-to-heart, Dandelion is concerned about AR-15's mental state and her sentimentality for M4.
The residents of the town all died from acute radiation poisoning. After taking out a rogue Strelet, based on the remains Dandelion believes that Paradeus is turning the corpses into Strelets.
Commander's side - Pollinosis IV - side plot part 3
Meanwhile at Architect's old SF base, it's a dump. Gager announces herself to SOP and Architect over the intercom, and starts attacking them with Jupiter cannons surrounding the base.
Commander's side - Pollinosis V - side plot part 4
RO reaches the command centre of the base and downloads all the information SF has about M16. As she is leaving she runs into Gager.
They fight briefly before getting stuck in the command centre by a power outage. RO enables backup power systems and Gager escapes.
Commander's side - Pollinosis VI - side plot part 5
Dandelion and AR-15 catch up with the rest of the AR team, while Architect escapes briefly to confront Gager. Architect attempts to convince Gager to join Griffin, but she refuses and runs off. SOP cripples Architect and the team leaves her behind as they head to the chopper for extraction, Svarog will pick up both ringleaders later.
Ange's side - Hay Fever - Beginning - side plot part 1
Ange and DEFY are in the safehouse when they receive a satphone call. Intel has traced the supply crates that apparently wiped out the town that Dandelion and AR team found, and it's not an isolated incident. They roll out to start investigating the apparent source of those crates.
Ange's side - Clown - side plot part 2
At the Flora Botanical Research Institute, in Bremen. Ange, Morridow, and the bodyguard Hopps meet the senior researcher, Leone. She is a suspicious, polite but curt. She explains that she is researching plants for the sake of humanity's continued survival.
Ange gets a call from DEFY warning her that it's an ambush, but it's moments too late as Leone releases pollen into the air and Ange collapses.
Ange's side - Flower View - side plot part 3
AK-12 and RPK-16 are across town at a huge garden that grows flowers for the institute. They speak to a gardener, and a suspicious man calling himself the supervisor. Expecting trouble, they let the supervisor lead them to a building where they're ambushed by armed men.
Ange's side - Gathering Frost Wolves - side plot part 4
AK-15 and AN-94 sneak in via a back entrance of the Flora Institute to look for clues and any connections to William, while Ange distracts the people at the main entrance. They find a large batch of Epiphylla flowers ready to be shipped out, and a large contingent of armed men waiting to ambush Ange. They're discovered and attacked by more enemies, AN-94 declares that they will wipe out the enemies.
Ange's side - Light Show - side plot part 5
K meets with Chairwoman Ulrich at city hall. They discuss how Ange has been sent by the "Prometheans" and how everyone in the world wants the information that she has, about what she saw in William's lab. Shadowy forces are at work and they need to root them out, while keeping Ange safe from them.
Ulrich also asks for K's help in... dealing with those who are against Rossartrism. They also have a mutual interest in dealing with Paradeus, but Ange will mostly do that work for Ulrich and K.
Ange's side - Hay Fever - End - side plot part 6
Ange wakes up with a nosebleed and is introduced to the supervisor, J. The Stasi has been investigating the Flora Institute too. It seems they've been attacked by some weird cultists, but no one that would pose a threat to DEFY and the Stasi.
RPK-16 interrogates Leone, she's a legitimate plant researcher but also a cultist that believes plants are humanity's future. RPK forces her to see that she was used pitifully by her benefactors, to test Ange and DEFY's strength. Out of hope and out of purpose she tries to commit suicide but has run out of ammunition. Ange and RPK parley before turning her over to the Stasi.
Chapter 3 - Ghost Sisters
Main plot node - Ghost Sisters I
Squad 404 heads to the site of an old pharma company, which has recently gone dark. They're suspected of working with William so the commander wants them to find any info that might help Ange. Anna, a young Nyto, has snuck on board 404's plane. She thinks the company is linked to Paradeus somehow.
As they approach the abandoned facility UMP9 notices a Dinergate scuttle past the doorway. Unknown figures inside realise they've got company from 404.
Commander's side - Ghost Sisters II - side plot part 1
404 descends to the basement of the pharma building and find a warehouse, everything has been shipped out recently. Anna finds a wooden crate and remembers being there. It's clear that Nytos were packed into crates and dispatched from this warehouse.
Dreamer and Destroyer are also here, they're researching Paradeus, and also want to kidnap the Nyto that 404 have brought with them.
Commander's side - Ghost Sisters III - side plot part 2
Squad 404 are searching the warehouse when Destroyer busts in, Anna is kidnapped in the commotion, then Destroyer escapes again. There's a large explosion then the squad is ambushed by a lot of SF units again.
Commander's side - Ghost Sisters IV - side plot part 3
Dreamer prepares to interrogate Anna. Squad 404 escapes from the basement and catches up with Dreamer and Destroyer.
Commander's side - Ghost Sisters V - side plot part 4
Destroyer takes a bullet for Dreamer so she wouldn't die first. We learn than Dreamer has been sacrificing herself to keep Dreamer running, but her condition is getting unsustainably worse. For as much as she badmouths Destroyer all the time, Dreamer cares about her.
The commander makes her an offer she can't refuse, Dreamer says she's think about it as they're allowed to leave.
Commander's side - Ghost Sisters VI - side plot part 5
Anna remembers being sent to a new home by an Uncle Powell. The commander explains that most of the Nytos at Paldiski submarine base were orphanage children. William got kids from orphanages for his experiments, Powell was an intermediary.
William had the pharma company develop a sedative drug to make it easier to transport the Nytos in crates, effectively putting them into hibernation. It wasn't perfect, some kids woke up in-transit and died from lack of air, and some never woke up at all.
Ange's side - Sweet Dreams Box - Beginning - side plot part 1
It is a dark and stormy night as Ange travels to an orphanage outside the city, having learnt some interesting things.
Morridow explains that the security situation is fragile and that Leone has links to an outlawed far-right terrorist group, the German Independence Party (GIP). The group's motivations are nationalist and conservative, and police believe they're behind a rise in anti-refugee violence. Despite being outlawed the party enjoys a degree of covert support from some of the population, and it's suspected they're receiving laundered money from some organisations, such as the Flora Institute.
Leone has been in contact with the orphanage and Ange thinks that's fishy, which is why they waste no time in paying a visit. On arrival they find the Housemother has been murdered and her office ransacked.
Ange's side - Piper - side plot part 2
RPK-16 watches as the teacher Krone tries to calm the children. The children tell RPK about the "demons" that they're scared of, especially now with the Housemother gone. Pressed for information, Krone admits that children have been abducted a few times now, and the staff have explained it as a demon taking them away. Police haven't been able to solve the case, and people think the orphanage is linked to child trafficking.
RPK asks Krone about her movements that evening and collects her alibi. She seems innocent enough for now, but this is turning into a murder mystery.
Ange's side - Cuckoo Clock - side plot part 3
AK-12 is playing detective, she inspects the murder scene. The Housemother was strangled to death, and she struggled with her assailant. The office has been thoroughly searched for something, apparently by multiple people. She finds a receipt addressed to "W" for a Sweet Dreams Box, which has been shipped to Powell.
Adam the resident handyman says the Housemother asked him to help with some "bookkeeping" that evening, and he knows about the receipt. AK-12 thinks he's involved, but not one of the murderers. Adam says he's been asked to do four deliveries of Sweet Dreams Boxes so far, and been paid handsomely each time. He's definitely a patsy here, but the Housemother is behind it all.
Ange's side - Air Raid Shelter - side plot part 4
André the security guard leads AN-94 to the north side of the property where it abuts a mountain range. The mountains are a known access route for refugees trying to rob the orphanage but they can't afford to secure it properly.
Telling André to return to the house, AN-94 follows footprints into the mountains and finds a mysterious manhole in the ground. Before she can investigate, she's attacked from behind and pushed into the hole. The hole is full of skeletons, two of them clearly belonging to orphanage children.
Ange's side - Rag Doll - side plot part 5
Ange knew there was something special about Lillian, a young orphan who was very close to the Housemother. The Housemother told Lillian to give her prized doll to A Good Person from the aid delegation, whom she finds in Ange.
Ange finds a note sewn inside the doll by the Housemother, along with a medal with "W" etched into the back of it.
Ange's side - Sweet Dreams Box - End - side plot part 6
Ange calls everyone to the hall to announce that it was a suicide. She killed herself to expose the truth, then whoever arrived later tried to make it look like a botched robbery. That culprit was... André the security guard!
The Housemother wrote a confession implicating the GIP's involvement, but André destroyed it and tried to frame her office as a robbery. Ange realised the GIP was involved thanks to the medal the Housemother had placed inside Lillian's doll. The medal is an Iron Cross, awarded to soldiers during the war but also coopted by the GIP, which has a lot of war veterans as members. André had been vocally blaming refugees for recent thefts. He was also the only one who could've attacked AN-94, and is responsible for all the dead bodies in the manhole.
Adam the handyman is revealed to be J from the Stasi, and he was also the sleazy "supervisor" from the flower garden earlier. The Stasi has been undercover on this GIP case for half a year and Ange's team just ruined everything with their arrival, oops.
Housemother Isabelle was enticed into trafficking the kids by Powell, who's a member of the GIP. A rich benefactor wanted to adopt "exceptional kids" in exchange for very generous funding that would keep the orphanage going. She found out that they weren't being adopted, they were being killed (and maybe this is why Ange noticed that most of the children that greeted them are blonde). She couldn't report it to the police because they've all been bribed, so she felt that suicide would get enough media attention that the truth couldn't be covered up.
Ange found banking records inside Lillian's doll, which she shares with J. They shows the money trail to the real "Adam" that they're hunting for, which J promises to investigate.
Chapter 4 - Operation Snake Eater
Main plot node - Operation Snake Eater I
Persica believes that SF neural clouds can resonate with Relics, similar to M4A1, and that this is a line of research that William is likely already following. Persica wants us to recover neural cloud backups and a spare body so she can research how SF neural clouds evolve.
Mondragon leads a haphazard echelon with damaged neural clouds to the mission in area S06, Ouroboros' old stomping ground.
Commander's side - Operation Snake Eater II - side plot part 1
Mondragon's echelon splits up to explore the SF base. Mondragon and General Liu discover what appears to be simple living quarters.
Commander's side - Operation Snake Eater III - side plot part 2
Meanwhile, AUG Para and VHS find the control room and a spare body for Ouroboros. It looks her neural cloud was trained here by making it run endless combat sims. While VHS dives into the system to inspect it, Ouroboros' body wakes up, loaded with an active neural cloud.
Commander's side - Operation Snake Eater IV - side plot part 3
Mondragon's echelon regroups in the command centre and pulls VHS out of her layer 2 dive, but are caught off guard by Ouroboros' awakening. Realising the threat, they prepare to charge her position and destroy her.
Commander's side - Operation Snake Eater V - side plot part 4
The echelon reports their success to the commander and VHS uploads a swathe of information about Ouroboros' neural cloud. The commander is confident that William has also captured this training data, which means Paradeus may have more highly capable combat dolls in future.
Ange's side - Delta Attack - Beginning - side plot part 1
Ange's team meets at the refugee settlement planning to extract Powell. Morridow, Hopps, and J are also present, though not by Ange's choosing. They believe Powell is trafficking the children between GIP and Paradeus, so they need him alive for information. This will be a dangerous mission and they have no backup if things go bad.
Ange's side - Spiderweb - side plot part 2
The team enters the refugee settlement and splits up, with DEFY doing recon while Ange and the other humans look around. They're immediately spotted and tailed by some disguised thugs, but Ange is easily able to get rid of them with AK-12's help. The rest of DEFY has spotted Powell.
Ange's side - House of Cards - side plot part 3
The mayor of Bremen visits Chairwoman Ulrich, people with various political interests are getting antsy. Ange's presence has been helpful but it risks destabilising things, especially in the refugee settlement. The settlement is effectively lawless because Bremen doesn't have the resources to maintain order, but there is a shady group providing "governance" within its walls.
The thugs that attacked Ange were local police special forces, they're corrupt and probably working for the GIP. Powell might have backup.
The team approaches the church where Powell is meeting his contact but the capture fails and Powell escapes. DEFY pursues Powell while Ange and the others hunker down in the church, surrounded by unhappy refugees.
Ange's side - Animal Chess - side plot part 4
The police unit wants the intel from Paldiski that RPK-16 and AK-15 are carrying, and are hunting them while they hunt for Powell. The dolls easily neutralise the enemies and beat up the squad leader for information. It turns out this is a big police operation, being directed by someone more powerful politically.
RPK decides to toy with their pursuers and calls the police HQ by radio. While verbally taunting them, they break into the operations centre and put down all the staff and police chief. Just as they finish, the entire building explodes.
Ange's side - Instigator - side plot part 5
Vignettes of activity. Police in an operations centre watch Ange's arrival with DEFY. Powell prepares for a meeting, dismayed at how Germany has turned its back on the poor. Powell addresses a gathering of refugees in the church, stirring them to uprising. Ange talks to Morridow as they wait in the church for extraction.
Ange's side - Delta Attack - End - side plot part 6
Records show that many refugees have found work in Bremen, all of them with the Flora Institute. The refugee assistance centre has links to the orphanage and the Flora Institute.
The explosion at police HQ triggers more unrest on the streets, now their only way out of the settlement is a chopper that Ulrich is sending. The church is besieged while AK-12 and AN-94 work to keep the attackers away. Ange and the other humans escape the church thanks to their efforts but it looks like DEFY are done for. Multiple enemy factions are now working with and against each other, to their own ends, and William has finally shown his presence.
Chapter 5 - Infernal Enlightenment
Main plot node - Infernal Enlightenment I
Morridow spots an unusual corpse while the group runs to safety away from the church. It's an ELID mutant, and it's surrounded by a scattering of yellow powder - pollen? Infected people don't turn into mutants so easily, something fishy is going on.
Ange is still hellbent on capturing Powell. They're heading to the Bremen Refugee Support Centre, it's a likely base for Powell's operations. Refugees are being driven mad by pollen in the air and are coming for Ange's team, the "invaders" that Powell has turned them against.
Commander's side - uhh this seems to be missing? Might be the game being buggy
Ange's side - Infernal Enlightenment II - side plot part 1
The refugee uprising against the Germans begins, and they're hot on the heels of Ange's group. No backup, not enough weapons, no plan, no way out but to keep running away from them and towards Powell. With luck, they might just be able to get the refugees to fight with the police. The police interrogate a captured refugee, it seems they want Powell as well.
Ange's side - Infernal Enlightenment III - side plot part 2
Ange's group is closing in on the refugee support centre. Morridow is grazed by a bullet but they carry her and keep moving. Powell's side is getting thinned out and there's no options left. They plan to head back to the refugee support centre to use some sort of special weapon...
Ange's side - Infernal Enlightenment IV - side plot part 3
Powell makes it to a refugee support centre branch but it's too late, the police (GIP) have caught up with him. They want his ledger so they can erase evidence of their dealing with Powell. He tries to escape by throwing hallucinogenic pollen at them but it's ineffective against their respirator masks. However, it's turned two corpses into ELID mutants right behind the police forces, and this give him a chance to escape, albeit with a gunshot wound.
In a secret safe room he's offered bandages by... Ange?!? Checkmate. They make to secure Powell and extract him but she's double-crossed by Hopps, who has managed to subdue J. This leaves Morridow and Ange against him, who can't beat him right now.
Ange suspected they had a spy, the enemy was always too close, too quickly. But why Hopps? His record is clean and has no particular reason to hate the government. Apart from being a former German special forces operative, he's also an officer with the federal domestic intelligence agency (BfV).
It looks like Wolfgang Hopps, real name Franz Schreck, was leading this police unit all along. He's a nationalist at heart and is bitter about losing the last war, and doesn't want to see Rossartrism come to power. Him and his men are... GSG9! (this is a weirdly cringey display, and he's gushing information and admissions at us, but hey we're on a tight schedule here)
Hopps wants Ange to work with him in future, and he'll guarantee her safety. Apparently they're calling all the shots here. Sadly, the innocent Morridow can't be allowed to survive after what she's seen and heard just now. But not today! AK-15 comes literally crashing in followed by RPK-16.
Ange's side - Infernal Enlightenment V - side plot part 4
The GSG9 team is subdued and Powell and Hopps are dragged out to the church. K is on the way to pick them up in a chopper. Hopps expounds: he's rightly bitter that the government barely pays its own soldiers and veterans enough to live, while spending vast sums on providing for the refugees. Enough blathering, it's time to go. Ulrich needs to talk to Ange urgently.
A higher power laments that Hopps has been caught. But he won't crack, they can try again another time in future.
AK-12 and AN-94 didn't make it back at the church, but they'll restore them to fresh bodies back at the safe house. J talks Morridow into a coffee date. K and Ange talk, and agree that the whole jaunt to Bremen seemed like a prepared trap. Perhaps they've been played for the whole thing, by parties unknown. Someone is seriously pulling the strings of multiple players, each one unaware of what's going on.
Ange and Morridow fly off into the sunset, far from the refugee settlement.
Ange's side - Final chapter? - Bridge of Eternity
Ange and Morridow chat and debrief. Ulrich seemed suspicious of Hopps, but Morridow started working for her at the same time so she had no reason to be. Ange is annoyed that the whole trip was pointless, and that they didn't get any closer to William.
Ulrich and K only worked on the same side because they have a common enemy. The GIP didn't catch Ange because the real enemy didn't want them to. So many mysteries, and Ange has more questions.
- Morridow didn't get a nosebleed from pollen in the air during the chaos in the settlement; why?
- The children at the orphanage asked Morridow for candy, they knew to expect it; why?
- Morridow said she doesn't know how to use guns, but has kept a well concealed pistol on her this entire time; why?
Ange holds Morridow at gunpoint but she counters and disarms her, briefly. Is she a doll!? But if so, none of DEFY detected it. Ange suspected something was up in the settlement, Morridow couldn't completely hide her training while they were on the run.
Morridow was a Paradeus plant all along, and this plane isn't headed for Ulrich at all. Morridow wants her to join Paradeus and lead mankind into a new future. They fight, but Morridow has superhuman reflexes and is able to overpower Ange.
Until AK-12 arrives. Her and AN-94 weren't killed at all - just another backup plan for Ange, using herself as bait to find the real big fish. Morridow tries to attack but it's futile; AK-12's bullets tear into her and Ange shoots her in the shoulder. She says she's 100% human but clearly she's part-Nyto, with some human weak points.
Morridow damages the engines and jumps out of the plane, injured but escaping. Ange is now certain that William is here in Germany, and she's going after him.
Dual Randomness - END
AN-94 is accompanying K in the prison truck carrying Hopps. She's not talkative.
Commander's side - Foreshadowed Voyage
At the Griffin base, the commander is pulled into a party with all the revived dolls and everyone is having a good, if raucous, time.
The commander and Kalina make up after apologising for their callous remarks at the start of the story. They could both quit Griffin and live happy lives, but they don't want to. The commander promises to never lie to Kalina again.
Ten years later, as they sit on the train watching the city go by, the commander reminisces about those times. They've just bid farewell to Kalina and wished they could keep that promise.