Tale of a Girl and a Mercenary

* Title screen
* Original title card

**Tale of a Girl and a Mercenary** introduces players to Orca and the R7 Irregular Scouts. In the story, a young girl struggles with the violent personality implanted within her Watch.

## Synopsis

> *It was a day like any other. During a recon mission, veteran mercenary Eddie Fisher meets with a Counter he believes only exists in urban legend. The rumored vicious Orca's true identity was, in fact, a feeble little girl.*
>
>

## Appearances

* Orca
* Orca (Demon)
* Eddie Fisher
* Jessica Green
* Charlie Rockwood
* Replacer Pawn
* Replacer Queen

## Plot

### Act 1

The story begins with the R7 Irregular Scouts — Eddie Fisher, Jessica Green, and Charlie Rockwood — driving to a designated area to rendezvous with a Counter. They are ambushed by a pack of Corrupted Objects and, though they managed to defeat them, their driver is killed and the APC is damaged in the fight. Another horde of C.O.s attack, and Charlie notices a person approaching them in the distance as well. Charlie thinks it may be the Counter their contractor, Finley Mining Industries, set them up with, but Eddie disagrees. Nonetheless, Eddie orders his squad to make their way to the Counter.

After defeating the C.O.s, the Scouts thank the Counter, but she gives no response and walks away. At Eddie's urging, the Scouts decide to follow her despite her unusual personality. Eventually, the Counter stops and notices even more C.O.s approaching. After that threat is neutralized as well, Jessica uses the communicator to report their situation to their employer, Jacob Finley. Eddie takes the communicator away from her and shoos her away so he can talk to Jacob privately. Eddie reveals to Jacob that he is aware that the mission he and his squad are on is not an ordinary patrol job as they were told and accuses him of having ulterior motives. Jacob doesn't confirm or deny these accusations and considers the mission to be a failure, but Eddie adds on that he has just encountered the Orca, a supposed urban legend that dons a unique red Watch, and can use her to help salvage their mission. Jacob agrees with Eddie's plan and sends him additional information on the mission via a secure line.

Eddie explains to the team that their real mission is to find and secure a large Eternium crystal hidden somewhere in the area. Jessica and Charlie are enthusiastic but point out that they don't have what's needed to take on a large number of C.O.s to reach the crystal. In response, Eddie goes up to Orca and shows her another horde of C.O.s coming their way, and Orca instantly runs off to kill the C.O.s. Eddie reveals to the others that Orca is a special Counter that goes berserk upon seeing a C.O. After the horde is killed, he convinces Orca to work with him by mentioning that the Scouts will fight many C.O.s tomorrow. He further sweetens the deal by offering her to use the Scouts as bait to lure C.O.s towards Orca.

### Act 2

The next morning while eating MREs for breakfast, the Scouts decide to find parts to repair the APC. Jessica mentions that many Corrupted Objects are already surrounding the vehicle, unwittingly causing Orca to aggressively look for C.O.s to kill. Eddie catches up with Orca and injects her with a sedative to knock her unconscious. The scouts then take Orca to the APC, repair it, and continue with their mission.

The group encounters a roadblock and are again ambushed by C.O.s. Once the C.O.s are defeated, Eddie asks Orca why she is so determined to kill Corrupted Objects, floating the possibility that she and the "Orca" are not one and the same. Orca cannot remember her past and so asks Eddie if he knows her. Eddie says he does not but tells her about the previous owner of Orca's Red Watch - a man in his 40s - who was eventually consumed by the Watch and died from fatigue and starvation. He then gives Orca some marshmallows for her to eat instead of the MREs, and she quickly grows fond of the snack.

After Eddie finishes giving Jacob a status report, the Scouts find the Eternium the C.O.s are guarding. However, they encounter a building-sized C.O. and are forced to retreat to a defunct assault ship, though Orca still fights the C.O.s regardless of the danger. Eddie and Jessica then use the ship's medium particle cannon to kill the C.O.s outside, knowing Orca will be able to survive the cannon.

Now exhausted, Eddie brings Orca inside the ship. Charlie also finds a large crate of Eternium in the hold, brightening the mood of the team. As they discuss the suspicious circumstances of the Eternium in the ship, Orca detects the large C.O. again. Charlie and Jessica hold her down before Orca can leave the ship while Eddie injects her again, this time with grounded Eternium. Orca realizes that the Orca's voice in her is gone, but Eddie says that the Eternium is only a temporary measure to prevent the Orca from consuming her. He then explains to her that humans can turn into Corrupted Objects, recounting the time he had to continually give purified Eternium to his daughter to delay her transformation into a one for years. He urges her to prevent the Orca from consuming her for as long as she can.

### Act 3

Eddie reports back to Jacob and says he now knows that Jacob was after neither the Eternium nor the ship the Scouts are in but rather the ship's databank. Jacob haggles with Eddie over how much the ship's Eternium he and his squad can keep before finally agreeing on a 50/50 split. Jacob says he will send an extraction team to the ship but warns Eddie not to pull anything up his sleeve. While the Scouts think over the situation thus far, the extraction team announces their arrival, but Eddie suspects that they will likely try to capture the Scouts alive. When Eddie requests help from Orca, she initially says that she's not interested in fighting humans but changes her mind when she realizes she cannot allow herself to be killed or captured so as long as she can regain her memories.

After fighting off the initial extraction team, Eddie confirms to Jessica that the ship's self-destruct mechanism is ready to engage. The extraction team soldiers turn into Replacer hybriders, and Jacob orders them to capture the Scouts alive. Eddie laughs at Jacob, however, because the Replacers are considered Corrupted Objects by Orca, who instantly goes beserk on them. The hybriders are unable to endure Orca's assault, but the Counter is unable to calm down once the fight is over. Eddie gives her another Eternium injection but is mortally wounded by her in the process. Before he bleeds out to death, Eddie tells Orca to keep on living because there's always someone out there who hopes she'll live.

In a flashback scene, Eddie's daughter is at the hospital and close to fully transforming into a C.O. Eddie pleads her to keep on taking the treatments, but his daughter wishes to die and thanks her father for being beside her the whole time. Armed security guards enter the room and kill Eddie's daughter.

Back in the present outside the ship, Jacob reports to the Replacer Queen that the Replacer hybriders have been wiped out, so Queen orders him to retrieve the combat data from the fight himself. As Jacob's team breach the ship, the Scouts escape on the extraction team's aircraft. They activate the self-destruct once Jacob reaches the bridge. The Scouts then pay their respects to Eddie as they fly away.