Waving to signal his dolls to lower their weapons, Angelia and her two companions stood unarmed. Whether they were armed beneath their protective suits remained unknown, but at least on the outside, there wasn't even a tiny dagger in sight.
"Why did you rush over here? Don't tell me you're here to compensate for my losses?" Renault asked.
"You! Renault, where are my two dolls?" Annoyed, Angelia glanced around Renault's side at the several dolls but didn't spot UMP45.
This guy, causing trouble with her assignments was bad enough, now he had taken her dolls! She didn't have many hands to spare, and although she had some authority, deploying tactical dolls was unprecedented in the Security Bureau.
Therefore, while she commanded UMP45, it was technically under a contract, and now that UMP45 had no owner, her authority over them had vanished from this world.
Except for M16, who was part of Operation Butterfly, no one else survived among the combat personnel and dolls. Was UMP45 just an accident?
"They're lying in my workshop. If you want to see them, go take a look yourself," Renault said, sizing up the two people Angelia had brought with her—a man and a woman, both looking quite young beneath their helmets.
Was she short on manpower? Coming all the way to the Red Zone with just these two?
Under the scrutiny of the dolls and Renault, Angelia walked boldly into the sterilization room, not fearing what Renault might do to her. She had only met him once before, but she had a good sense of his character—he wasn't much of a thinker, and action always took precedence over words for him. But as long as she didn't threaten him, Renault was reasonable.
Although occasionally, his bad side would show, under normal circumstances, there was no need to worry about Renault stabbing her in the back.
However, Angelia strode in confidently, but her two companions were not as comfortable. They hesitated as they walked, as if they couldn't walk properly with so many eyes on them.
But one of them seemed more curious than nervous. His eyes were fixed on the dolls, as if he were studying the difference between these dolls and the ones produced by IOP.
Facing scrutiny, M1 Garand and the others frowned in displeasure.
"Commander, can we just knock this guy out?" SPAS-12 asked Renault bluntly.
Hearing SPAS-12's words, all the dolls turned their gaze to Renault. Clearly, SPAS-12 had spoken their minds.
"It's up to you," Renault said.
Of course, it was just to scare them. While SPAS-12's words were harsh, it was only talk, not enough to provoke Renault to shoot them down.
"Huh!" When Renault spoke, the guy who had been looking around aimlessly hadn't moved. Instead, it was the girl in front who exclaimed and ran after Angelia.
Perhaps the girl's cry had reminded Angelia, who quickly turned around and saw the guy standing there dumbly, as if he had been frightened by SPAS-12.
"Del, what are you doing? Hurry up and come over!" Angelia roared, grabbing Dell and dragging him into the isolation room.
"Idiot! Behave! Don't do stupid things on someone else's turf!" Angelia scolded Dell as she dragged him into the isolation room, lowering her voice.
Before, she had said Renault was easy to deal with, but that was only when she hadn't provoked him! If he wasn't angry, he was like a good old man, but if he was provoked, sorry, you're done for!
Didn't the destruction of several major doll trafficking organizations in District F prove his violent temper?
"Um, but the dolls here look completely different from the ones produced by IOP..."
Smack!
"Keep talking and you'll go back to the helicopter!" A smack landed directly on Dell's head, and Angelia looked at him with some annoyance, her mechanical prosthetic arm already starting to twitch.
If her arm weren't still a bit stiff and if she had someone else who could fly the helicopter, she wouldn't have let Del come over!
Putting the protective suit on the shelf by the door, Angelia stood with her arms crossed, waiting for Renault to come back from outside.
But before she could speak, she caught sight of several dolls running out from around the corner.
And the dolls who had been surrounding the entrance had already dispersed, leaving only two women and a short man, all human.
They weren't a threat to their commander, so naturally, they did whatever they wanted.
Who had the time to stay here with these strangers? Wasn't it better to go to sleep or lie down and browse their phone?
Of course, it couldn't be said that they were completely unfamiliar; after all, they had seen Angelia during previous missions. Although they were wearing helmets, the dolls' vision was good enough to see Angelia's face.
They were just uninterested in Angelia's purpose.
"It seems you've managed this place well. It's only been a little over half a month since you left that city," Angelia remarked, looking at the brightly lit corridor with admiration.
"Can't compare to you. After all, someone is now a member of Statesec, with the authority to use helicopters directly, but the number of subordinates is a bit pathetic. Did you bring these two kids over here? Are they siblings?"
Del, who had taken off his protective suit, and another woman looked completely like teenagers who hadn't grown up yet. Renault couldn't understand what Angelia was thinking, bringing these two over to the contaminated area. Wasn't she afraid they'd end up staying here?
"That short one is Dier, and this is his sister, Sier. By the way, what's the situation with UMP45 and them now? You didn't just kill them off, did you?"
As Renault walked calmly, Angelia's ominous feeling grew stronger.
"Of course not. Unlike ordinary humans, I've always been lenient with dolls. I've just temporarily disabled them," Renault said, pushing open the door to the workshop, revealing the two doll bodies lying side by side.
Seeing the two doll bodies lying on the workbench, Angelia's anger surged as she looked at the disassembled armor plates and doll components, as well as the empty slots where the neural cores should have been.
"Where are their neural cores!!!"