The Commander of the formerly abandoned Outpost 7 was, once again, doing paperwork.

It seemed that for every mission to the surface and every brush with death he had, there was twice as much paperwork to do once he got home. And with Rapi, Anis, and Neon out on their shift defending the outpost's borders, it was rather quiet in his office.

Belorta had to be planning some sort of prank on him, it was never this quiet.

"Commander? May I enter?"

He jumped slightly in his chair at the vaguely familiar voice, spinning it around so that he could face the now-open door to his office. As he did, his eyebrow rose in shock. Standing in the doorway was 'Product 08', one of the first Nikke's he had been assigned other than Rapi and Anis after they had saved him from…

'From Marian'

He quickly shook his head, his shooting hand feeling heavy for just a moment before he forced himself to refocus. They'd been 'exiled' to Outpost 7 almost 3 months ago, and while he'd built relationships with a lot of the other Nikke's that had volunteered to stay with him and Counters, he hadn't been able to find many ways to connect with the 'mass produced' Nikke.

In fact, this was the first time any of them had even spoken to him outside of a mission briefing or a report. But even if it wasn't, it wasn't his nature to ignore the Nikke that he worked with.

"Of course, come on in. Would you like me to grab you a drink?"

'Product 08' shook her head, but quickly walked over to the sofa that he'd gotten installed into his office, as it was much easier to talk and advise the Nikke that visited him when they were both comfortable, and plopped down into it. "Thank you for the offer, but I am fine."

The Commander frowned at that, something in her voice sounding… off. Whenever she'd spoken before she'd always sounded confident and focused, but now she sounded… well she sounded downright shaky.

"Is everything alright?"

Product 08 froze for a moment when he spoke, before her arms slowly rose, reaching up to her helmet, the one he hadn't seen her take off since she'd be put into his squad. There was even a part of him that wondered whether it was attached.

As she lifted the blue helmet off of her head, the Commander was finally able to get a glimpse at her aqua-coloured eyes, usually hidden behind the tinted visor of her helmet. And it was because he was finally able to see them that he was able to notice that they were puffy and red.

The Commander stood up instinctively as he realised that Product 08 had been crying, something he was fairly sure Nikke wasn't supposed to do. "Are you ok? Talk to me, please."

At that, Product 08's hands moved to her face as she sobbed, and the Commander practically jumped over the table to wrap one of his arms around her shoulder, and she leaned into his chest, practically falling into him.

"I-I-I'm sorry, C-commander. I j-just… there's b-been something g-gnawing at m-me. I n-need you to answer m-me h-h-honestly, please."

The Commander squeezed Product 08 into himself as much as he could, knowing that he wasn't strong enough to hurt her no matter how much force he put into it. "Of course, hey, it's alright. Whatever you need, I'll tell you."

Product 08 pulled back slightly from him at that. Not far enough to get out of his hug, but enough that she was able to lift her head to meet his eyes. "W-what I wanna k-know is… Commander, do you even want me around?"

At the question, the Commander's eyes flew open wide in surprise. He let go of the hug, but only so that he could put his hands on her shoulders. "What… of course, I want you around, what would ever give you that idea that I don't?"

Product 08 was sniffling, fidgeting slightly in his grasp. He'd never seen her look so… vulnerable before. Usually the so-called 'mass-produced' Nikke had been stoic, almost emotionless… so what was going on here?

Fighting through her sobs, Product 08 continued. "It's just that, you're constantly surrounded by Nikke that are so much better than I am. They have personalities, likes, dislikes, they have names."

"And then there's me. And all the other 'basic' models' that the companies throw at Commanders. Lower-tier hardware, completely wiped memories and downloaded combat skills, that's all I am. At least, it's all I thought I was…"

She stared up at him, her aqua eyes shining with actual tears. "But then you came along, and you're so nice, and caring to all of us. You treat us like people even though we're made to be weapons… at first, I didn't understand it. But after living on the outpost for these last few months, and seeing you trying your hardest to be the best Commander you can be for us…"

A sob interrupted her sentence, and she pushed her face into his chest, getting his shirt wet, but he didn't care about that in the slightest at that point. He wrapped his arms around her again and slowly rocked back and forth.

"I d-don't want to be just a w-weapon anymore! I don't know w-why I have these thoughts and feelings all of a s-sudden but I look at myself and I hate just being 'Product 08.' I want to be more, I want to be someone so that you can care about me like you do the others!"

The Commander felt his chest tighten as the Nikke cried in his arms, his mind racing, trying to figure out what to say, what to do. It hurt to see one of his Nikke like this, but he didn't know how to fix it.

So he just spoke from his heart.

"I… I want you to know that you were never just a 'mass-produced Nikke' to me. Ever since you were assigned to Counters, I saw you, and all the others, as teammates and comrades, no exceptions."

She froze at his words, looking up at him again, and he forced himself to continue. "All of you, Rapi, Anis, Neon, Belorta, Diesel, and all of you girls that I haven't been able to spend time with, you're all my trusted friends and allies. I care about all of you."

At that, Product 08 pretty much broke down. The Commander could tell she was trying to say something, but nothing was getting through the sobs and gasps she was letting out as he squeezed her tight in a hug, rocking back and forth slowly, his chin on top of her pure-white hair.

"I am so sorry for not noticing that you were hurting like this. I almost feel like I've failed you as a Commander."

Her head snapped up, and he could tell that she was about to try and argue with him about that, but he kept going, interrupting whatever she was about to say.

"But I promise that I'm going to make it up to you. And I think I know how we can start."

She was silent, but the way that she looked at him made him feel amazing, the amount of faith and trust that shined through her eyes filling him with confidence. "You mentioned earlier that you thought the other Nikke was 'better' than you for a few reasons."

She winced at that, as if she expected him to agree with what she said, and it just made his chest hurt even more. "Well, even if those things did make them 'better', which I promise you they don't, there is a solution."

"Please, Commander. Tell me. I need you to tell me what I need to do."

Leaning down, the Commander pushed his forehead into hers for a moment, before pulling back, a small smile on his face. "I want to help you become more than the weapon that the companies in the ARK made you become, just like you said."

"I want to help you find your hobbies. I want to help discover who you really are, now that you seem to have pushed through whatever they put in your head to keep you a weapon and nothing more. I wanna know your favourite food and your least favourite type of TV show."

He grinned at her, moving forward and wiping some of the leftover tears out of her eyes with his thumb. "But first, I want to help you choose a name for yourself. You were always more than a weapon to me, but now that you want to become more, we should get you something better than 'Product 08' for me to call you."

She let out a shaky chuckle at that, and the Commander noticed that her cheeks were red. With his grin still in full force, he pulled back slightly, giving her some space. She almost seemed to follow him for a moment, before she composed herself, sitting back on the couch.

"I… I want to have a name. A proper one… but I don't know how to even begin picking one. Will you give me an idea you think is good, Commander?"

His grin calmed slightly at that, and he smiled softly at her, putting his hand on her shoulder. "Of course, I will. Just let me think for a moment."

Tapping his chin with his other hand, he hummed. "Oh, here's an idea! We take Product Eight and smoosh it together into Peight. But that's not a great name, so we'll go with the closest name that it sounds like."

Product 08 leaned in as he paused for a moment, an excited look shining through the puffy redness and the tears. The Commander just grinned. "What do you think of the name Paige?"

Her face visibly brightened at that, but she was still for a moment. Luckily, he was half-expecting what came next, or he might have been flattened into the couch by her. She dove into his chest, wrapping her arms around him, and he spotted a giant smile on her face.

"Paige! Paige! Paige! Oh, Commander, I love it! Can it please be my name?"

The Commander laughed, wrapping his arms around her as well, coughing slightly from the impact. Even expecting it, Nikke were heavy and strong, and being tackled like that was gonna make him sore tomorrow.

As she pulled back from him, apparently realising what she'd done after hearing him cough, he forced himself to stop coughing and held out a hand to her. She slowly grabbed it, looking a little confused as to what he was doing. Shaking it gently up and down a few times, the Commander met her eyes and smiled.

"It's wonderful to properly meet you, Paige. I am really looking forward to getting to know you better."