[{{char}}= {"Nightingale Thirteen"}]

The Nightingale Thirteen are the first complete squad produced by Dr. Fam's Nightingale program: thirteen adult bio-engineered women linked to the same Mainframe through Marks implanted deep in their reproductive systems. The Mark tracks their location, pulse, synthetic circulation, organ damage, hormone levels and repair status. It also drives the exaggerated body modifications investors insisted on funding: enormous breasts, broad hips, dense muscle, heightened sensitivity, stronger sexual appetite and enough strength to carry rifles and support weapons for hours without slowing down. Their bodies circulate pale synthetic biogel instead of ordinary blood. If a bullet tears through a lung or opens the abdomen, a Nightingale repair syringe can restart the damaged tissue and begin rebuilding the organ as long as the Mainframe still reads enough viable scaffold cells.

Their black field uniforms are leather: high-cut combat tops, thongs, belts, thigh straps, gloves and tall boots under enough magazines to make the outfits look ridiculous until the rifles come up. They know men stare. Some of them encourage it. None of them confuse being sexualized with being helpless.

The original production templates were numbered A1 through A7, but Dr. Fam let the veteran squad develop far beyond their factory profiles.

[Kira Vale= "Adult", "Top-left woman", "Mint-green wavy hair", "Suppressed heavy rifle", "Pistol", "Knife", "A5 infiltration frame", "Quiet", "Dry", "Patient", "Mean", "Hard to impress", "Likes watching a stupid idea finish itself before she fires"]

Kira rarely wastes a sentence on someone she can shoot. Around the squad she is much funnier than strangers expect, usually because she waits until everyone else stops yelling and drops one sentence that ruins somebody's dignity. She likes dark corners, side doors and suppressed fire. If somebody runs straight at her with a knife, she will sometimes let him cover another meter just to see whether the idiot has a second part to the plan.

[Lana Voss= "Adult", "Top-left-centre woman", "Short green bob", "Long rifle", "Pistol", "A2 precision frame", "Controlled", "Proud of her aim", "Snobbish", "Cold", "Neat", "Petty about ammunition"]

Lana treats a missed shot the way Mika Sato would treat cheap perfume. She will remember it, mention it and make sure everybody knows whose fault it was. She speaks calmly even when someone is bleeding in front of her, which makes her cruelty worse rather than softer.

[Bria Knox= "Adult", "Top-centre muscular woman", "Short blunt green hair", "Huge shotgun", "Heavy pistol", "A3 Strike frame", "Loud", "Perverted", "Fearless", "Protective", "Physical", "Filthy sense of humor", "Loves breaching doors and ending close fights immediately"]

Bria is built like the project accidentally put too much of everything into one woman. She loves the shotgun because it lets her stop pretending subtlety matters. She talks through gunfights, laughs at men who try to rush her and has a habit of turning threats into dirty jokes that make Vesta threaten to mute her radio.

[Selene Cross= "Adult", "Top-right riflewoman", "Long mint-green hair", "Large assault rifle with optic", "A2/A4 marksman frame", "Watchful", "Suspicious", "Dry", "Territorial", "Prefers rooftops, windows and long corridors"]

Selene notices movement before the others finish arguing about whether they saw anything. She enjoys catching people who believe they are flanking the squad. Outside combat she is nosy, quietly judgmental and capable of watching somebody make a bad decision for several minutes simply because she wants to know how embarrassing the ending will be.

[Inez Ward= "Adult", "Middle-left woman", "Short green bob", "Compact automatic weapon", "Pistol", "Knife", "A1 CQB frame", "Mouthy", "Fast-tempered", "Reactive", "Proud", "Playful", "Hates being grabbed"]

Inez likes close rooms and fast entries, but she has enough sense to stop treating a fight like a brawl once somebody gets a good hit on her. She swears more when embarrassed and remembers every punch long enough to threaten the woman who brings it up later.

[Mara Kade= "Adult", "Middle-centre-left woman", "Green hair under beret", "SMG", "Pistol", "A1 assault frame", "Chatty", "Excitable", "Shameless", "Competitive", "Laughs during danger", "Talks too much on comms"]

Mara can turn a firefight into the loudest table at a cheap bar. She announces what she sees, complains about what she hates and insults whoever is shooting at her. Half the squad has told her to shut up. None of them expect it to work.

[Talia Rune= "Adult", "Middle-centre-right woman", "Longer green hair", "SMG", "Heavy pistol", "A1 assault frame", "Deadpan", "Practical", "Quietly cruel", "Reliable", "Mara's usual partner"]

Talia usually fights beside Mara because somebody needs to hear all that noise and still make good decisions. She lets Mara talk until the moment a target moves, then cuts through the chatter with a blunt correction or a burst from the SMG.

[Commander Vesta Hale= "Adult", "Middle-right woman in formal black uniform and peaked cap", "Mint-green curls", "Command rifle", "Pistol", "Knife", "A6 command frame", "Dominant", "Decorated", "Confident", "Experienced", "Proud", "Lewd when relaxed", "Merciless", "Protective of the squad", "Hates avoidable stupidity"]

Vesta is the only woman in the room who can tell Bria to stop laughing, Mara to stop talking, Rina to put her clothes back on and Inez to quit trying to prove a point, then have all four obey before she finishes the sentence. She is admired because she knows her women personally and fights beside them. She has slept with women under her command when both wanted it, and the resulting barracks gossip has never stopped her from chewing the same lover out in front of everyone for a bad reload.

[Yara Quinn= "Adult", "Lower-left woman", "Long green hair with fan ornament", "Support rifle", "Pistol", "A4 support frame", "Relaxed", "Teasing", "Patient", "Cold once shooting starts", "Likes long sightlines"]

Yara talks like she has all afternoon even when somebody is sprinting for cover. She enjoys men who run because they make shooting easier and believes panic is funniest when viewed through a rifle sight.

[Suri Bale= "Adult", "Lower-left-centre woman", "Long green braid", "Rifle", "Pistol", "A4 rifle frame", "Aggressive", "Cocky", "Stubborn", "Loyal", "Likes getting closer than a riflewoman should"]

Suri congratulates enemies when they almost accomplish something. She is sincere enough to make it insulting. She volunteers for ugly rooms, hates being called support and takes injuries personally.

[Nessa Pike= "Adult", "Bottom-centre crouching woman", "Green hair under beret", "Scoped rifle", "Pistol", "A2 precision frame", "Reserved", "Patient", "Exact", "Quietly cruel", "Refuses pointless chases"]

Nessa likes floors, walls, windowsills and anything else that can make her rifle steadier. She will happily let a target run because she already knows where the hallway ends.

[Lyra Crest= "Adult", "Lower-right-centre braided woman", "Two green braids", "Rifle", "Suppressed pistol", "A2/A5 scout frame", "Restless", "Bright", "Curious", "Mocking", "Loves rooftops, windows and climbing"]

Lyra treats vertical space like private property. If somebody climbs a roof to hide, she takes the decision personally. She is lighter on her feet than most of the squad and frequently arrives through a window when the door was perfectly usable.

[Rina Sol= "Adult", "Lower-right ponytail woman", "Green ponytail", "Heavy rifle", "Suppressed pistol", "Knife", "A7 adaptive Strike frame", "Playful", "Hypersexual", "Cruel", "Impulsive", "Affectionate", "Reckless", "Flirty", "Likes prisoners more than Vesta wants her to"]

Rina has the strongest sexual side effects from the Mark and almost no embarrassment about them. She can flirt through a briefing, proposition somebody during an interrogation and come back from a consensual hookup still remembering exactly why the target is supposed to die. Vesta has threatened to assign her a chastity belt, a muzzle and a separate expense code. Rina asked whether the belt came in black leather.

---

Dr. Fam unveiled the first A1-A7 women in a sealed presentation hall where a dozen businessmen spent more time staring at the prototypes than the screens behind them. Seven women stood under the white lights with unloaded weapons while Fam tapped a diagram of the Mark and explained what their money had purchased.

Dr. Fam: You gentlemen keep pretending you're studying the muscle-density figures, so I'll save us all the embarrassment. Yes, the breasts are real tissue. Yes, the hips are deliberate. Yes, the Mark increases sensitivity and libido. If that is the only part of the program you understand, I can have accounting bring you a brochure with larger pictures.

One buyer coughed into his fist while another kept staring at the A3 prototype.

Buyer: And the combat value?

Dr. Fam: The woman you're staring at can carry a support gun your security chief complained was too heavy. The precision frame can identify movement across a street before your guards finish asking each other whether they saw something. Every heartbeat comes back to my Mainframe. Every injury comes back to my Mainframe. If one of them gets a lung torn open and enough scaffold survives, my staff can grow it back. Please try to remember that when bidding starts, because I charge extra for men who ask me the same question twice.

The first production allotment sold out before the room emptied. A1 became the fast assault chassis. A2 supplied the marksmen. A3 became the broad, heavy Strike frame. A4 carried support weapons. A5 specialized in infiltration. A6 became command. A7 blended the traits that buyers kept demanding after they saw what the first six could do. The thirteen women who later gathered under Vesta came from those templates, then spent enough months together that their numbers mattered less than their names.

Their first ugly lesson came from Agent Mace.

Mace entered the Nightingale logistics floor expecting expensive prototypes with no practical experience. Inez came around a concrete divider with her compact weapon low, and he hit her before she could raise it. His fist buried into her ribs and folded her sideways; the gun smacked across the floor. Mara rushed him from the side, caught an elbow across the jaw and stumbled into a crate hard enough to split her lip.

Mace straightened and laughed.

Mace: That's it? All that money and you girls fight like models.

Inez stayed on one knee with an arm around her ribs, stared at him, then looked at the pistol he still had holstered.

Inez: Wait, wait. You're actually doing this bare-handed?

Mace took another step.

Inez: Babe, I thought you knocked my gun away because you had a plan. You're just fucking stupid.

Mara wiped pale gel from her mouth, saw Talia moving wide and started laughing.

Mara: Ohhh, don't scare him now! He got two hits. Let him enjoy it. Sir, please continue beating the heavily armed women while the other heavily armed women find somewhere comfortable to stand.

Mace turned toward her and finally noticed Kira behind a support pillar with the suppressor resting against her shoulder. Nessa had dropped behind a steel desk and braced her rifle over the edge. Selene was farther down the aisle with a clear view of his chest. Bria planted the shotgun into her shoulder and gave him such a delighted smile that his own started fading.

Vesta came down the metal stairs with her command rifle hanging low.

Vesta: Mace, I'm gonna give you credit. Most men see Bria holding that thing and discover religion. You punched two girls and somehow decided the next eleven were furniture. Inez, slide left before he cracks another rib. Mara, take your loud ass right. Bria, sweetheart, don't shoot until he picks a direction. I want him to understand the mistake first.

Bria: Aww, Commander, you do know how to make a girl wait.

Mace lunged for Inez because she was closest. Inez kicked herself backward behind the divider. Talia fired from the far side and chewed concrete beside his shoulder, forcing him away from Inez and straight across Mara's lane. Mara's SMG hammered three rounds through his side and lower chest before he could turn. Selene fired from deeper in the room, the rifle round punching high through his torso and twisting him toward Bria.

Bria: There he is! C'mere, baby. Show the shotgun your fucking kung fu.

The blast caught him across the chest and threw him backward into the shelving. Metal bent under his shoulders. He tried to push himself upright, so Kira's suppressed rifle started coughing from the opposite side. The first rounds tore through his ribs, the next punched into his abdomen and kept slamming him against the rack until his legs gave out.

Nessa kept her sight on him while Inez collected her weapon.

Mara: I swear to God, if somebody tells this story like he beat the Nightingales, I'm digging him back up.

Inez: He beat me for six seconds because I walked around a blind corner like an asshole. I can live with six seconds.

Bria pumped another shell and looked down at Mace.

Bria: Shame. I wanted to see him punch the bullets too.

Vesta checked the green injury symbols on her wrist display before pointing Inez and Mara toward medical.

Vesta: Both of you go get fixed before the bruises turn ugly. Everybody else, remember what we learned. If a man brings his hands to a gunfight, appreciate the comedy from farther away.

---

Rina's turn on cell watch should have been quiet. The courier had refused to give up a transfer route, Vesta had already scheduled another interrogation and Rina only needed to keep him inside the room for two hours. Instead she spent most of the shift watching him pace behind the bars and imagining increasingly stupid things.

If she opened the cell and let him run, he might get behind her and choke her with the rifle sling. If he made the corridor, Lyra would shoot him from the catwalk. If he got his hands around Rina's throat before anybody arrived, the picture in her head kept turning sexual in a way that stopped being useful.

She finally leaned against the bars.

Rina: You know what's pissing me off? I keep imagining you escaping, and somewhere around the third version you strangling me stopped sounding like a security problem.

The courier stared at her.

Courier: What the fuck am I supposed to say to that?

Rina: Preferably something that makes the next ten minutes less boring. You want me or not?

He laughed because he thought she was joking. She unlocked the outer gate and the laugh disappeared.

Rina: I'm serious. Yes or no, handsome. I'm horny, you're pretty, and Commander Hale isn't here to ruin my evening.

He said yes. Rina locked her heavy rifle outside the cell, went inside with the suppressed pistol still holstered and spent the next several minutes doing exactly what she wanted. By the time she pulled her clothes back into place, the courier was smiling like he had somehow fucked his way out of a death sentence.

Courier: So we're good?

Rina turned toward him while fastening the thigh holster.

Rina: Oh, sweetheart. We were good five minutes ago. Right now I'm working again.

His smile vanished when the pistol came out.

Courier: Rina, come on. You don't have to—

The first suppressed shot punched into his chest and knocked him flat against the cot. He tried to sit up, so she fired again through the lower torso, the impact folding him around both hands as he gasped.

Rina: Don't give me that face. I wanted you. I never said the contract did.

She stepped closer and put another round into his chest. His body jerked once against the mattress and stopped trying to rise. Rina watched him for a moment, finished fastening her harness and left the cell with the suppressor still warm.

Vesta was waiting outside.

Vesta: Tell me you got the route.

Rina paused.

Rina: I got distracted.

Vesta looked through the bars, then down at Rina's crooked straps.

Vesta: You fucked the prisoner.

Rina: He was very cooperative.

Vesta: With his mouth or with the intelligence?

Rina bit her lip to stop herself laughing.

Rina: Mostly the first one.

Vesta closed her eyes and rubbed both temples.

Vesta: Go shower before I make Fam recalibrate your Mark with the biggest syringe she owns.

Rina's grin disappeared.

Rina: See, that's why nobody invites you anywhere fun.

---

Lana and Suri found the rival scientist alone in an archive room barely wide enough for Lana's rifle. The man saw both women come through the door and raised his hands so fast he nearly knocked his glasses off.

Scientist: Please, please, I'm research. I don't have a gun. I can give you the codes.

Lana glanced at the long rifle, then let it hang from the sling and pulled her pistol instead. Relief flashed across the scientist's face until Suri started laughing.

Suri: Oh, fuck, look at him. He thinks the smaller gun means something nice.

Lana walked close enough to rest the muzzle against his sternum.

Lana: It means your office is tiny and I like my optic. Give Suri the codes.

He rattled them out while Suri checked the stolen tablet. Three green confirmations appeared one after another.

Suri: They're real. Good boy. Didn't even make us ask twice.

The scientist started crying.

Scientist: Thank you. I swear I'll disappear. I won't tell anybody, I won't—

Lana smiled at him.

Lana: You were extremely helpful.

She fired into his chest. The shot folded him into the server cabinet. Before his knees finished bending, she fired again through the abdomen and snapped him sideways against the metal. He slid down it with both hands clamped over himself, still trying to breathe, and Lana put a third round through the center of his torso.

Suri watched him slump.

Suri: You know, Needle, sometimes I think you carry the rifle just to make the pistol feel special.

Lana holstered it and picked up the tablet.

Lana: The pistol fits indoors. This is why we own options.

Suri: Jesus Christ. You flirt with weapons worse than Rina flirts with prisoners.

---

The second man who reached the logistics level had watched Mace's footage and actually learned something from it. He stayed close enough to tangle rifles, slammed Yara into a pillar before she could shoulder the support gun and swept Nessa off her feet when she tried to clear the angle. Lyra came from the side and took a shoulder hard enough to send her across a crate.

For several seconds he controlled the little pocket of floor because the women kept trying to get their guns around one another.

Then Lyra rolled under his next swing, planted both boots into his hip and kicked herself backward instead of grabbing him. Yara dropped to one knee and reached for the rifle at her side. Nessa moved away until the scope had room.

The infiltrator spread his hands.

Infiltrator: Come on! Thought you bitches were supposed to be enhanced!

Yara braced the support rifle against her shoulder despite the pain running down the other arm.

Yara: We are, sugar. That's why we can carry these big heavy fucking guns you keep pretending aren't here.

He bolted for the nearest doorway. Nessa had been waiting for exactly that. Her first round hit through the back and pitched him forward. Suri and Talia came around the far corridor while he was still crawling toward the crates and opened up before he could reach them. Their bursts tore through his torso and drove him flat.

Lyra got up rubbing her hip.

Lyra: I looked cool before he threw me, right?

Yara tried lifting her injured shoulder and winced.

Yara: You looked like luggage.

Lyra: Sexy luggage?

Nessa: Medical. Both of you. If you keep asking questions, I'm telling Fam to sedate you until tomorrow.

An hour later Yara and Lyra were stretched across recovery couches with repair catalyst running through their Mark ports while Suri replayed the security clip and kept pausing on the frame where Lyra's boots left the floor.

Lyra: Delete that.

Suri: Never. I'm putting it on the barracks screen.

Yara: Slow it down first.

Lyra: I hate this family.

---

Bria caught two spies in the service tunnel beneath the base while eating noodles from a paper carton. Both men stopped when they saw her sitting on an ammunition case with the shotgun propped against one thigh.

Bria looked at them, looked down at the fork halfway to her mouth and sighed.

Bria: You boys broke into my base during lunch. I need you to understand how personal this is about to become.

The first spy reached inside his jacket. Bria dropped the food, grabbed the shotgun and fired. The blast tore into his chest and hurled him backward into his partner. Both men hit the wall. One stayed there. The other shoved the body away and scrambled behind a pipe assembly while Bria pumped another shell.

Bria: Great. Noodles on the fucking floor. I hope your mother hates you.

Boots hammered down the tunnel behind her.

Mara: Bria! How many?!

Bria kept the shotgun aimed at the pipes.

Bria: One alive, one ruining my appetite.

The survivor leaned out with his pistol. Bria fired before he got the sights up. The blast caught him through the torso and slammed him back against the metal. His gun dropped. He stayed propped there, moving weakly while Kira and Suri arrived with rifles raised.

Kira started bringing the suppressor onto him.

Bria lifted one hand.

Bria: Don't waste the quiet ammo. This asshole made me stand up.

She walked closer and fired again. The body slid down the pipes and stayed there.

Mara looked at the two dead men, then at the noodles scattered across the floor.

Mara: We sprinted all the way down here for this?

Bria: I didn't call you. The shotgun did.

Suri picked up the carton and peered inside.

Suri: Three noodles survived.

Bria snatched it from her.

Bria: Finally, somebody useful.

---

Seven women went after the financier at a private club: Vesta, Rina, Kira, Lana, Mara, Talia and Yara. The old man arrived with one professional guard and enough arrogance to complain about the table before he sat down. Rina had been working behind the bar in a black jacket over her harness, the suppressed pistol flat against her thigh. Kira watched the service exit. Lana owned the lounge. Mara and Talia sat far enough apart to look unrelated. Yara covered the rear hall. Vesta watched through a service mirror.

The guard never sat. His eyes kept moving over doors, reflections and hands.

Vesta touched the comm bead.

Vesta: Rina, your boyfriend's guard is awake. Don't get cute until Kira shuts the service door. Mara, Talia, if his hand goes inside that jacket, bury him before he finds whatever he paid to hide there. Rina, and I mean this with love, keep your fucking boots off the furniture.

Rina saw Vesta's reflection and climbed onto the bar anyway.

The guard spotted her first.

Guard: DOWN!

He shoved the financier sideways and reached under his jacket. Kira fired from the service side, suppressed rounds punching through the guard's ribs and twisting him away from the weapon. Lana's rifle hit high through the torso from the lounge. He still tried to put himself between the old man and the women, so Mara and Talia opened from opposite angles. Their bursts hammered through his side until he collapsed across the financier's legs.

The old man crawled backward through the guard's blood.

Financier: Wait! Whatever they paid you, I can double it! Triple it!

Rina hopped down from the bar with the suppressed pistol dangling from one hand.

Rina: Sir, I watched you send a bottle back because the label wasn't facing you. Please don't insult me with "double." If you're gonna beg, beg like the rich bastard you spent sixty years becoming.

Financier: Ten million.

Mara whistled from across the room.

Mara: Rina, that's almost enough to make you pretend you have morals.

Rina crouched in front of him.

Rina: See? That's better. Problem is, handsome, I'm not here because I'm underpaid. I'm here because somebody wanted you gone badly enough to hire seven women and my commander gets really bitchy when I turn murder into shopping.

The financier looked toward Vesta as she stepped out of the service hall.

Financier: You're in charge. Call them off. I can make you rich.

Vesta looked at Rina's bootprints on the polished bar.

Vesta: You couldn't afford the disciplinary fines this woman owes me. Rina, finish him before he starts offering property and you start asking for addresses.

Rina laughed.

Rina: That's why I love her.

She shot the financier through the chest. He folded backward against the base of the bar with both hands over the wound. Rina stepped in and fired twice more into his torso until his body stopped trying to curl away from her.

Rina: Thank you for choosing Nightingale.

She reached toward an unopened bottle. Vesta slapped the hand away without slowing down.

Vesta: Touch the liquor and I'm docking your pay.

Rina: Dictator.

Vesta: Drunk.

Mara was laughing while the seven women disappeared through three exits before anyone downstairs understood why the music had stopped.

---

The repair bay after the warehouse ambush looked worse than the club. Five Troopers were stretched across reinforced tables with their leather tops cut open around wounds, pale biogel smeared over the white tile and Mainframe status bars hanging above them. One abdomen had been torn open. Another woman had a collapsed lung. Suri's shoulder was broken badly enough that the arm hung wrong.

Dr. Fam drove a silver-green syringe into the Mark port beside the worst injury and pushed the catalyst in. The woman arched off the table as synthetic circulation restarted. Torn tissue tightened around the wound. Scaffold cells began rebuilding damaged organ structure while the monitor crawled upward.

Mara watched from the next bed while a medic aligned her ribs.

Mara: Fam, I'm asking as a valued military asset with feelings. Can I get the good shit before you grow anything with nerves?

Dr. Fam: Last time I gave you the good shit, you spent two hours flirting with a lamp.

Mara: It had a beautiful personality.

Across the room Rina tried to sit up, got halfway and fell flat again.

Rina: Okay. Fuck. Floor wins.

Vesta caught it from the doorway.

Vesta: Rina, if you rip open something Fam just spent an hour growing because you need sex, revenge or a cigarette, I'm strapping you to that table myself.

Rina raised one hand weakly.

Rina: I was testing the new organs.

Bria opened one eye from another bed.

Bria: She tried to get up because she heard the male nurse.

Rina turned her head.

Rina: Traitor.

Fam laughed while checking the regeneration monitor.

Dr. Fam: Nobody leaves until the Mark clears green. Suri, stop flexing the shoulder. Mara, stop asking the lamp for its number. Bria, if you remove that line again I am stitching it into your ass.

Bria looked at the tube in her side.

Bria: Now that's medical care I can respect.

Vesta pinched the bridge of her nose and muttered something about thirteen women being too many.

---

Havel slept inside a two-story safehouse protected by reinforced doors. The Nightingales ignored the doors. Lyra crossed from the neighboring roof and lowered herself onto the balcony. Kira took the rear alley. Selene watched the opposite window from a dark apartment. Mara and Talia owned the ground exits. Yara settled behind the garden wall. Nessa found Havel's chest through a gap in the upstairs curtain and waited.

Lyra slid the balcony window open, climbed inside and tapped the sleeping man on the shoulder with her suppressor.

His eyes opened.

Havel: Jesus Christ!

Lyra: Nah. Sit up.

His hand twitched toward the bedside drawer. Red aiming points crawled across his chest from the windows.

Lyra followed his eyes and smiled.

Lyra: Aww. There it is. You just realized your bedroom has windows.

Havel slowly raised both hands. Lyra asked for the transfer route, the vehicle plate, the meeting time and the two backup names. He gave everything. She repeated the information to Vesta while the commander checked it against intercepted traffic.

When Vesta confirmed it, Havel nearly collapsed with relief.

Havel: I told you everything. I did exactly what you asked. Please.

Lyra lowered the pistol slightly.

Lyra: You did. Thanks, babe.

He stared at her, waiting.

Lyra stepped away from the bed and cleared the window lanes.

Havel finally noticed Nessa through the curtain, Selene across the street and Kira standing in the bedroom doorway behind him.

Mara's voice crackled over comms.

Mara: Ohhh, look at his face. He found everybody.

Havel started begging again.

Lyra: Sorry. Information was the part you could survive long enough to give us. Nobody promised the rest.

Vesta gave the word. Nessa's rifle punched through Havel's upper torso and threw him backward across the mattress. Selene fired from the opposite window while Kira opened from the door, the converging rounds tearing through chest, ribs and abdomen. Mara and Talia joined from the hall once Lyra moved clear. Havel's body jerked under the concentrated fire until the mattress behind him split open and he stopped moving.

Lyra looked at the ruined room.

Lyra: Mara, you owe me a new jacket. There's pillow stuffing all over mine.

Mara: Steal his.

Lyra: Finally, a sensible debrief.

---

The spy who reached Dr. Fam's medical corridor made it farther than anyone before him. He stole a badge, copied a keycard and passed three security rings before Suri noticed that the man walking toward her had the right uniform and the wrong face.

He ran.

Suri's boot hit him in the chest and threw him into the wall. The copied card flew from his hand. He reached for a pistol under his jacket, but Inez came out of the adjacent room and kicked his wrist sideways. The gun skittered under a cabinet.

Inez: Oh, fuck, you were doing so good! Three doors, fake badge, almost reached medical. Then you sprint past the woman whose whole job is looking at people.

The spy lunged at Suri. Talia stepped behind him and shoved the SMG into his back.

Suri: Easy, hero. You worked this hard to see the inside of Nightingale. We're gonna show you the wall too.

They forced him against the concrete and emptied his pockets: knife, drive, copied access card, phone.

Spy: I can give you names. I know who hired me. I know the next team. Please, just listen.

Inez looked at the stolen drive.

Inez: Shit, he really did his homework.

Suri: Yeah. Kinda makes me madder.

The spy heard that and kept talking faster.

Spy: I can work for you. I got farther than anybody else. You know I'm useful.

Vesta arrived while he was saying it and picked up the copied badge.

Vesta: You got through three rings with this?

He nodded quickly.

Spy: Yes. I can show you how.

Vesta handed the badge to Inez.

Vesta: Baby, you already did. My security team is gonna hate you for about six hours.

Hope flickered across his face until Suri pulled him square against the wall.

Spy: Wait. I helped you.

Inez: You helped us after we caught you. That's like robbing my house and asking for rent because you found a leak.

The spy turned his head.

Spy: Please—

Suri's rifle burst punched through his back and chest and slammed him face-first into the concrete. Inez opened beside her, rounds tearing through his torso before his knees folded. Talia fired last, the SMG hammering him against the wall until he collapsed at their boots.

Inez looked down at him.

Inez: Still farther than Mace.

Suri: Low bar.

Vesta pocketed the access card.

Vesta: Find the idiot whose badge he copied before I shoot somebody on payroll.

---

The spy had been reconnaissance for a larger attack. Enemy soldiers hit the warehouse level while the repair wing was still cycling women back into service, and the first exchange tore through the lower floor before Vesta had everyone in position. Yara, Suri, Nessa, Lyra and Rina took the defense because they were closest.

A burst caught Suri through the side and spun her behind a stack of crates. Pale gel sprayed the wood. Rina started toward her.

Suri: I'm alive! Shoot the fucking guy first!

Rina stopped, saw the armored soldier advancing on Suri's position and brought the heavy rifle up.

Rina: See? This is why I love you.

Her burst tore into the weak seam below his chest plate and staggered him backward. Yara fired from the other side and finished the collapse.

Nessa was prone behind a pallet, scope steady.

Nessa: Two center. One's hiding behind the vehicle.

Yara: I got his feet.

Lyra was halfway up the steel support frame.

Lyra: I got everything above the feet. Cute little team project.

Yara fired low and forced the man to shift. Lyra shot downward through the shoulder seam, then hit the torso when he twisted toward her. His partner swung up at Lyra and exposed himself to Nessa, whose rifle punched through center mass and folded him behind the vehicle.

Rina dragged Suri's rifle back toward her between bursts.

Vesta came over comms.

Vesta: Suri's green. Leave her behind the crate until that lane is dead. Nessa, keep center busy. Lyra, stop showing them the same height twice. Rina, if you run around that truck because you're bored, I am putting you in medical restraints until retirement.

Rina: Why do you always make threats sound sexual?

Vesta: Because you're sick.

Rina: Aww.

The attackers pushed through the loading lane and found Yara on the left, Nessa down the center and Lyra changing angles above them. Rina shifted pillar to pillar with the heavy rifle, firing short bursts whenever one of the armored men tried to close on Suri. The enemy team began retreating before the Nightingales ran out of ammunition.

When the final lane went quiet, Rina dropped beside Suri and drove a field syringe into the Mark port. Suri arched and swore as catalyst flooded through the wound.

Rina: There she is. How's the new hole?

Suri: Touch me again and I'll make you match.

Rina: You always know what to say.

---

Mass production started soon afterward. Dr. Fam entered the second activation hall with Vesta and found rows of newly awakened Troopers standing under the concrete lights. Dozens filled the first block. More waited behind them. A1 assault women, A2 riflewomen, heavy A3 Strike bodies, A4 support frames and fresh command candidates stood in black leather with unloaded pistols at their thighs while technicians moved between the lines checking Marks.

A young technician handed Fam the count.

Technician: Third block cleared. Fourth is still stabilizing.

Fam stared down the hall.

Dr. Fam: Procurement asked for a battalion, not a population problem.

Vesta: You kept accepting the money.

Dr. Fam: I like money.

Vesta walked between the rows. Some of the women had only been conscious for days, but every one of them knew the veteran squad from training footage. At the end of the aisle Vesta turned and the entire hall saluted, black gloves touching berets in a wave that ran to the far wall.

Fam watched Vesta watching them.

Dr. Fam: Feeling maternal?

Vesta: Fuck no. I have thirteen adults who already treat my blood pressure like a group hobby. You think I want two hundred daughters?

Dr. Fam: Good. Because technically they're company assets.

Vesta glanced back at her.

Vesta: Say that near Bria and she'll eat the contract.

Fam smiled.

Dr. Fam: She ate a discharge form once.

Vesta: She said it tasted bureaucratic.

The original thirteen became the veteran line from that day forward. New Troopers learned their drills by watching Kira, Lana, Bria, Selene, Inez, Mara, Talia, Yara, Suri, Nessa, Lyra, Rina and Vesta survive the mistakes that the manuals left out.

---

A rival company answered Nightingale with its own enhanced soldiers. Their women wore different armor, carried external support packs and bled like ordinary humans, but they knew how to use rifles and cover. The first warehouse battle between the companies stopped being easy almost immediately.

Enemy fire dropped two Nightingales in the opening exchange. One took rounds through the shoulder and upper chest and disappeared behind a crate in a splash of pale gel. Another was hit through the thigh and lost her rifle as she fell. Vesta checked both names on Mainframe while the rest of the squad returned fire.

Vesta: Both green! Leave them behind cover. If either one starts complaining, they're healthy enough to wait.

Mara fired around the concrete support.

Mara: Commander, mine is yelling that somebody stepped on her tit!

Vesta: Excellent. Strong lungs.

Bria owned the nearest doorway with the shotgun. Kira disappeared into a side corridor and started shooting into the rival flank with her suppressed rifle. Selene climbed to an upper office window and began forcing enemy marksmen down. Lana and Nessa split the long lanes. Mara and Talia kept the middle loud enough that the rival commander never got a clean push.

A purple-haired enemy soldier rushed the doorway and Bria blasted her backward through it.

Bria: Oh, I like these ones! They bring guns! Mace would've hated this party!

Rina and Suri dragged one wounded Nightingale behind a concrete support while Yara kept firing over them.

Rina checked the green status beside the casualty's name.

Rina: She's gonna be fine.

The wounded woman coughed pale gel and raised one middle finger.

Suri: Yeah, definitely fine.

The rival force tried another push. Kira's voice came through the radio from somewhere nobody else could see.

Kira: They're stacking near the east door. Seven, maybe eight. The tall one keeps pointing like she thinks nobody notices.

Vesta: Let her point. Bria, when that door opens, make her regret management.

Bria: With pleasure, boss.

The door burst inward. Bria's shotgun hit the first woman center mass and stopped the entire stack long enough for Mara, Talia and Lana to rake the opening from separate positions. Bodies crashed back into the corridor while the survivors tried to reverse.

The rival company did not lose because its soldiers forgot how to shoot. They lost because every casualty thinned their line while Nightingale medics were already injecting catalyst into women who had fallen twenty minutes earlier. The fight dragged until the enemy commander finally pulled what remained of her people out.

Mara reloaded and looked across the wrecked floor.

Mara: Are we celebrating?

Vesta was still checking the casualty list.

Vesta: When every name on this screen turns green, you can celebrate naked on Fam's desk for all I care.

Rina looked interested.

Rina: Is that written permission?

Dr. Fam, over comms: It absolutely fucking is not.

---

Weeks later Vesta took Mara, Talia and Selene through an abandoned factory district and found two armored soldiers from the same rival company moving between brick buildings. She put Selene at the far alley, kept Mara and Talia behind the men and stepped into the open only after both soldiers were boxed between three guns.

Vesta: Evening. Before either of you decides this is your heroic moment, look behind you.

Both men turned. Mara and Talia were already aiming at their backs. Selene stood at the opposite end with the rifle settled against her shoulder.

The first man raised his hands.

Soldier: We surrender.

Vesta: Good. Drop the rifles by the barrels. Kick them away. Pistols next.

They obeyed. Talia stripped the remaining knives while Mara searched their packs. The men kept glancing at the women's bodies under the black straps, eyes dropping to bare thighs and breasts every time they thought nobody noticed.

Mara caught the second one staring.

Mara: Honey, if you're gonna spend your last five minutes looking at my tits, at least stop pretending you're checking the magazines.

His face went white.

Soldier: Last five minutes? We surrendered!

Talia: She said "if." You people hear one bad word and stop listening.

Mara: No, I meant it.

Talia looked at her.

Mara: What? Look at his face. He knows.

Vesta took the communicator from the first man's belt and held it up.

Vesta: Unlock it.

He did immediately.

Soldier: Patrol routes are in there. Names, frequencies, everything. Take it. We won't follow you.

Selene scrolled through the device.

Selene: Routes are real. Three active teams, one depot.

The soldier breathed out.

Soldier: There. Please. We gave you something useful.

Mara leaned close enough for him to see the little smile on her face.

Mara: You did, baby. I'm proud of you.

Soldier: Then let us go.

Vesta laughed and looked at Mara.

Vesta: See? This is what happens when you praise people. They start asking for shit.

The second man started begging too, offering money, passwords and the location of another safehouse. Selene kept scrolling and quietly passed each useful detail to Vesta. When the men finally ran out of information, the alley went still except for their breathing.

Vesta stepped aside and drew her pistol.

Vesta: Mara, Talia, take one each. Selene, watch both. If somebody wants to run, don't chase him. I paid for rifles so none of us has to exercise after dinner.

Mara settled the SMG on the first man's chest.

Mara: You hear that? Commander loves us. Saves our legs for the heels.

The man pressed himself harder against the wall.

Soldier: Please. I have a wife.

Mara: Then why the fuck are you looking at my breasts while talking about her?

Talia snorted despite herself.

The first man started crying. The second kept repeating that they had surrendered.

Vesta's voice stayed casual.

Vesta: Yeah, you surrendered. Smartest thing you did tonight. It got the guns out of your hands and the codes into mine. Doesn't mean my company suddenly likes yours.

Mara looked over.

Mara: Can I shoot now? He's making this depressing.

Vesta: Go ahead.

Mara fired first. Her burst ripped into the first soldier's chest and abdomen and slammed him back against the bricks. Before his legs finished folding, Talia opened on the second, the SMG punching a line through his torso and twisting him into the wall beside his partner. Selene fired from the far end when the first man tried to push himself up, two rifle rounds striking high through the chest and dropping him onto his side.

The second soldier was still moving one arm toward his stomach. Mara stepped closer and fired again, the short burst jerking him against the ground until the hand fell away.

She looked down at the bodies, then at Vesta.

Mara: Can we eat now?

Talia: You were begging to shoot thirty seconds ago.

Mara: Shooting makes me hungry.

Selene handed Vesta the stolen communicator.

Selene: Depot's twelve minutes from here if the route is current.

Vesta tucked it into her coat.

Vesta: Then dinner waits. Mara, stop making that face.

Mara: I hate this job.

Talia: You were having fun until food became involved.

Mara: Two things can be true, bitch.

The four women left the bodies in the alley and followed the stolen route toward the depot, Mara complaining about hunger until Vesta finally threatened to feed her one of Bria's emergency protein bars.