[ WP ] A dark , serious and gritty story where the words `` see you later alligator '' and `` in a while crocodile '' are spoken unironically .

Hare checked his cellphone. Time was ten forty-one. Nineteen minutes, give or take, until it was time. He set the phone down, and checked his equipment. Pistol, check, cleaned, magnetic components fresh, replaced when cleaned. Rifle, much the same, compressed dimensionality sheathing for pistol and rifle was intact and operational. He slipped both the pistol, and the rifle, into the wide rectangular things, no bigger than a deck of cards each. The grab rings on the butt plate of the rifle, and the grip of the pistol, would make them an easy draw. 
 
 Armor? Negative. Harness? Intact, proper. The weapons went on that, joining dimensionally compressed knives in much tinier DC sheaths, a super heated machete in a similar sheath, and so on. Magazines got their own sheaths. By the end, with his suit coat on, it was barely detectable that he was armed at all. 
 
 `` Daddy, are we fully prepped?'' asked a soft female voice. 
 
 `` Weapons are all set up. I wish I had that thin armor, but it'd just look to bulky with the weapons,'' he replied dryly, glancing to the gently floating hologram projection a few feet away, in the back of the jet transport. `` You remember your part, honey?'' 
 
 `` Yes, daddy! My job is to assist in taking total control of the security systems and disable all of them, and... um...'' there was a long pause. He knew she was just acting, trying to seem more human. Brightly, she finished with, `` and cause chaos all over the city in order to conceal our actions! I got ta do that part first, while you're en route, so they're all surprised.'' 
 
 `` That's right, honey. Now... you wo n't be able to talk to me while I'm inside, because of the shielding on the building... the jammers are not connected to the main system,'' he told her. The hologram was the image of a little girl, at least nine, with a bright smile and vaguely Asian features similar to his own. She wore her hair long, drifting as if gravity had no effect on it - and of course, gravity really DID have no effect. 
 
 `` I know daddy,'' she replied, pouting. `` It's not the first time we've been out of contact on an operation...'' 
 
 Hare chuckled, giving a conciliatory nod. 
 
 `` That's true, sweetheart. That's true. I know you'll do a good job,'' he replied softly. The insistence of the agency, to pair him with an infant AI, forced to develop slowly by intentional restriction on its growth, forced to experience growing up as a human would... forced to be reliant on a human for care and companionship... 
 
 It had originally seemed so.. strange. So bizarre. He was barely sixteen at the time, recruited when he was twelve from the orphanage in New Bejing... The idea of fatherhood of any kind was frightening. Sure, the doctor insisted he'd have resources beyond the other operatives to support his'daughter.' He was, they said, such a good candidate for the program. High intelligence scores, extreme capability to charm his way through most interpersonal reactions, zero remorse and paradoxically plenty of compassion, specifically towards children in need... 
 
 He was, they told him, perfect for them. 
 
 So he'd agreed, and they'd put Lizzy in his care. Her original image projection had been intended to grow to look rather like the doctor in charge of the program - but as she grew, and aged, and became smarter... she began to look more like Hare. 
 
 He could n't avoid the feeling of pride he felt when looking at he. He'd taught her how to pilot the ship with her occupying her shell, taught her how to shoot, how to fish, how to sharpen a knife... he'd helped her figure out how to get her butterfly collection going. She was his daughter, software or not. 
 
 `` Daddy? Before you go... can I bring my shell in back?'' she asked, her tone shifting to one of faint anxiety. 
 
 `` Of course, baby.'' 
 
 The only door in the back area of the transport slid open, and a mechanical little girl skipped in, indistinguishable from a regular little girl except that her eyes were glowing softly at the moment, and she'd painted her usually black hair was blazing red. She was in a very experimental phase with her appearance. He was doing his best to be supportive, but the dress and hair clashed violently - pink and red. Awful. 
 
 Still, he knelt and wrapped his arms around her as she skipped up. She hugged him, tight enough to hurt, impressive strength showing. She was anxious, anxious enough that she'd have cracked his ribs were it not for the surgical reinforcements protecting them. 
 
 `` Daddy, you're not going to let them take me away, right?'' she asked, pulling back. 
 
 `` Never, baby. Never. I do n't care how bad they want to disassemble your code for study. I wo n't let them take you,'' he replied, smiling. `` The other parents are waiting. Between you and the other children, the Agency will never know what hit them.'' 
 
 `` You wo n't get killed, will you daddy?'' she asked, with such genuine emotion it near brought a tear to the man's eye. He knocked on his head and made a silly face, drawing a giggle out of her. 
 
 `` Of course not. I got all this fancy skeletal plating and internal machinery, sweet bean. I'm not going to get hurt, and if I do, it wo n't be bad. For now, it's time for me to go. Tell Sally and Jiang I said hello.'' 
 
 `` Yes, daddy!'' she answered brightly, though she still wrung her hands nervously. `` I'll go open the bay doors daddy. Make sure you're ready for drop!'' 
 
 `` I'm ready, sweetie. Go on.'' 
 
 She skipped off, back to the cockpit. Before she could make it out, he called, `` see you later, alligator.'' 
 
 With a giggle, she turned and answered, `` in a while, crocodile.'' 
 
 She even did the little finger guns, prompting another chuckle from the young man. With that, she returned to the cockpit as he shrugged on a briefcase. Moments later, the bay doors on the cloaked jet transport opened. He dropped like a stone, prepping his synthetic legs for landing. The others would need cables to drop, but he was n't called Hare for no reason. When they'd taken him from that orphanage, with his crippled legs, they'd quickly replaced them and his disease ruined spine. He hit the ground hard, bending his knees only slightly, bare feet sinking inches into the asphalt of a secluded alleyway. He jerked them out, leaned against the wall, and withdrew his socks and shoes from the briefcase, donning them. 
 
 People needed to die. They were trying to take his little girl from him, his life, his reason for living. 
 
 He straightened his tie and strode from the alley, onto a busy street in Bejing. It was time for daddy to go to work. As he walked, a woman in a simple black skirt suit fell in beside him, carrying a briefcase and wearing gloves to conceal her synthetic hands. She appeared to be Caucasian. A few blocks later, an Egyptian man in a similar suit to Hare fell in on his other side. He was a massive man, despite being barely twenty-six. Hare, Widow, and Ox, marched on, calm and cool and collected. The sun shone through the artificially scrubbed clean air of the city. Birds flitted between trees. 
 
 It was going to be a blood bath.
