Within the Outpost, a day after the celebrations, Marines were being pretty much forced by Sergeant Johnson and Sergeant Forge to clean up the mess. The two bars, one trendy, one seemingly a little 'seedy', that had been used by the staff for celebrations were currently being refurbished after the party got a little... Wild. A pair of Marines hobbled out from a back room in nothing but their underwear and training tops in the seedy bar, with a short laugh echoing behind them. Two, actually. Yuni and Mihara stared at the two men. Mihara said to them, "Come back any time, boys~," then blew a teasing kiss their way while Yuni hugged her.
Johnson stared at this with his arms crossed, murmuring proudly, "Marines will really screw anything with two legs and a pulse," before looking at Forge. He took a drag from his cigar and asked, "We good, Sarge? Cuz I feel like my boys are gonna be poking me in the ass to get myself moving with them to eat..." only to see Forge hunched over and laughing at the two Marines that'd hobbled out of that room.
Johnson snorted and shook his head, then patted the man on the back and said, "Yeah, yeah, very funny..." only to walk out. He saw that much of the Outpost was being slightly renovated after the freshly-arrived pair known as the Carronades, a white-haired prankster named Belorta and her close friend Mica, both heavy weapons specialists, had set off some very powerful fireworks.
He found Liter at the base of the Hospital, mumbling as she read out the requisite form for the front door glass panes they needed to replace, not to mention some degreasers and whatever else they could find to wipe the soot off of it. He asked, "Kids got a little rowdy last night, eh?" with a little bit of joy behind his words as they walked forward
Liter sighed deeply, pinching the bow of her nose and replying, "You don't even wanna know, Sarge. I can already feel the maintenance costs ramping up because of those Carronade dummies," as she walked over to the broken doors, which were covered by Plywood now. Johnson snorted as he walked to join her, then shrugged. He looked over the constructor Nikke, noting that she was, in fact, wearing standard UNSC Marine armor over her bodysuit and under her jacket. It was painted with yellow 'warning' stripes, as well as the Mighty Tools emblem of a crossed power tool and hammer behind a dog head with its tongue sticking out.
Volt, the girl's doggo, ran forward and pounced on the Sergeant, licking the man's face with his metal tongue. The old man laughed and patted the half-machine creature with a smile, greeting, "Hey, boy," before looking to a smiling Liter and asking, "He don't bite, right?" almost jokingly.
"Only our power tools," She joked right back, grinning, then called out, "Down, boy! Leave the good Sarge alone."
The dog whimpered and plopped down, then trotted over to Liter, watching her check the stuff. Johnson, meanwhile, blew some smoke off to the side and said, "I'mma be goin' to meet the boys. Godspeed, ma'am," with a smirk. The dog beside the woman barked happily, watching the Sergeant's habit of smoking with a little curiosity, head tilted to the side.
"Later, Sarge," She gave a quick wave as she made sure the wood panels were set on right. The man walked off with that, looking around. He watched a pair of Corpsmen help Pepper and Mary through one of the windows on the side, then saw a Lieutenant being tended to for over-indulging in Alcohol a while back. He took a left past the massive amusement park in the place(Which still surprised he living hell out of him) then turned onto a side road. He stopped as a Warthog rolled past, carrying supplies in a light trailer. On board were a pair of MP Nikkes and Absolute, probably heading for the Armory. Eunhwa gave a nod of acknowledgement to the Sarge when they passed.
Sarge grinned and winked at her, causing the woman to blush, much to Emma and Vesti's amusement. Moving deeper into the place, the man walked toward the Command Center, to the sight of the Counters enjoying the newly-built basketball court together. To his surprise, among them was Rapi, probably being taught by her two teammates and pals how to play.
He felt a hand land on his shoulder and turned his head to see Alyosha, wearing his PT Gear. The Commander smiled at the Sergeant, sweat draping him from head to toe, to which Johnson quipped, "Early mornin' training helping sweat the alcohol and hangover outta your system, sir?" which got a laugh out of Alyosha. Good, early morning humor meant no headache, the man thought.
"Just doing morning PT for health-related reasons, Sarge," The boy replied, then hummed. He cocked his head back as he saw two Marines hobbling down toward their Barracks and asked, "Hey, what happened to those two? They look like they've had an even worse go at the celebrations the last couple nights... Like..." he paused as he saw one holding his ass, then winced.
"Mihara and Yuni," Johnson said simply, taking a puff from his cigar.
"OH..." Alyosha's eyes shot wide open and his faced flushed scarlet, the place suddenly feeling a mighty bit uncomfortable. Alyosha looked back at the one hobbling while holding his ass and started imagining things he did not want to imagine in regards to that. He shook his head, while Johnson simply nodded, well aware of the kind of crap his boys put themselves through and only feeling respect for them. Alyosha felt some degree of respect, but more remorse, considering he knew what Mihara and Yuni were like.
The pair then watched Chief march out of the Command Center, giving a quick salute to the Counters. To his right was Delta, the two talking probably about some new tactic or other they were gonna use in combat against the Raptures. Sarge asked Alyosha, "You going to go through that one-month re-training course Major Clarence is doin', sir? Cuz I heard it's a bit obligatory for all."
"I am," The boy nodded, "Gonna still be operating, though. In-between."
The Marine patted him on the back and stated, "No rest for the wicked, eh?"
Alyosha chuckled, "We gotta earn the Hazard Pay," then he looked to his team playing basketball. He paused as he saw Rapi dribble past Neon and Anis like she was a pro player, jump and hit a slam-dunk like a pro. He blinked, well aware that his Executive Officer had only recently touched a Basket ball proper, much less played the damn game. Johnson whistled and grinned at Alyosha.
He patted the boy on the back as he walked off toward Chief, leaving off with a, "We're rootin' for ya, sir!" which turned Alyosha into a stammering, embarrassed mess while the good Sarge laughed. The man really needed to find time to get back in the saddle with dating himself. Auntie Marcille was probably glarin' down at him from heaven for waiting for so long. For Christ's sakes, the man had been revived from the dead.
He greeted, "Chief, Delta," with a quick salute. Delta snapped one back, while Chief nodded, holding a tablet in one hand and an e-pen in the other. He asked the two, "What's this about, some new req forms?"
"Yeah," Chief replied, then flashed the man a genuine grin and spun the tablet around, "Happy V-Day, by the way."
Johnson grinned, seeing the signature for his requested and beloved Cigars, stating, "Hehe. You know the way to an old man's heart, you two," before tapping the file. Chief nodded, while Delta chuckled at the comment, before the Spartan himself pulled up some new data. Johnson took a deep puff from the current cigar and discarded the stub over the edge of the Outpost's platform as they walked. He told them, "Place's gettin' mighty busy."
"Point defense platforms have been built and upgraded with Coils from the MAC," Delta offered, "We've got a slew of new air assets coming in, including more Hawks and Vulture Gunships, not to mention the built-up Condors armed with energy weapons and Onager batteries to supplement our numbers. We haven't even got with what's going on in the Ark itself."
"Speakin' of... We know anything about the Terrorists? Y'know, Heavenly Ascension, or whatever pompous name the bastards picked?" The man inquired.
Chief shrugged and replied, "They went into hiding in the underground of the Ark the moment we started ramping up the support of the Outer Rim, in order to build out from it. It'd take us years to search the entire sewer system, not to mention the network of maintenance tunnels below the city itself. At this rate, best we can do is have QRFs on stand-by in case they start anything."
"Shouldn't be a problem, considering they got both us up here and a good bunch of FOBs built by the Spirit's crews down there. Most are manned by combat-ready Nikkes with their limiters off, too, meaning they ain't got crap they could pull up with without getting filled with lead," Johnson offered, then pulled up an image of the wider city and its defenses being reinforced.
Motioning toward the images, Johnson said, "See what I mean, Chief? We'll be fine. Only one we might hafta worry about is the Exotic Nikkes. If I recall correctly, they're former terrorists, too."
"Like you said, Sarge, we'll deal with them as they come," Delta quipped, smiling. She hummed, then pulled up some new data on the screen and said, "Seems as though they fell under Missilis's 'employ'. I can hardly imagine what the hell Syuen would need a bunch of convicted criminal Nikke for, but far be it from me to deny that woman her insanity at this point..."
"Missilis, huh?" Johnson snorted. He looked back, toward the top of a 'hill' where a statue stood, a statue of a single wing. The group watched the Commander climbing the stairs of that hill, to meet the three members of Goddess Squad currently within their roster. What they knew was there, yet didn't see behind the hill, was a new monument, the Angels of Victory. A monument to honor the dead.
As Alyosha climbed the stairs, however, up to the hill's top. He saw the monument being built in the distance. He wasn't there for it just yet ,though, stopping beside the Goddess Squad, all of whom sat in respectful silence in front of the Wings of Victory statue. A plaque of names lay at the base, surrounded by flowers, candles and cans of beer, left over by the Marines that'd come by. Kneeling in front of it, between Scarlet and Snow, Rapunzel pressed her hands together, head bowed, with a thick book that Alyosha immediately recognized as the Bible sat beside her.
Snow turned as she heard the man's footsteps, then smiled and whispered, "Commander Harris. Peace to the Fallen."
"Peace to the Fallen," The man replied with a nod, letting the solemn moment pass as the Nikke before them prayed. The new names had been scribbled in by knife, names of both Marines and Nikke that had died in the fighting on the Ark. He looked in the distance at the massive granite slab that would be the new Monument for them all, one where they could more safely inter the names of the lost, hopefully never to expand upon them again. Though this was a war. The likelihood of the list of names growing was disheartening.
"... They're building a new memorial wall," Rapunzel said with a smile as she looked up at Alyosha. She stood to her feet, picking up the book from the base of the statue and turning to face him alongside the rest of the squad. She held the book close, speaking, "A place where even the nameless lost of our war, Mass Production models that'd yet to pick their names, can be written in stone alongside the men and women of our newfound allies."
"A list nobody ever wants to see grow," Alyosha spoke softly, "Glad to see you girls are getting acclimatized."
"Eh. We'll be back in action before long," Snow quipped, arms crossed and a smile on her face still, "Sole difference is we'll be going out together again, instead of just keeping separate. Not to mention we have the UNSC and wider Ark as support elements now, meaning we can get spare parts, medical supplies..." And she paused, closing her eyes and smiling as a little drool dripped from the right corner of her mouth, then spoke with a strange reverence, "... Food..."
And that got a couple laughs out of the others. Scarlet shook her head, tipping her hat, and said, "'tis good to see times have not changed you much, Snow. Truly, a testament to thine will..." with a chuckle. Snow rolled her eyes and wiped the drool from her mouth, crossing her arms to her chest. Seemed only natural that Snow would be like this, honestly. It's how Alyosha had first met her, too.
Rapunzel spoke softly, "Oh, my memories may be a bit blurry, but I still remember when she was about yea high," and she put her palm flat down next to her chest. The two others smiled, while the Commander chuckled. She said, "She was quite the adorable little gun nut back in the day. And look at her now, dead serious and sharp, all save for the Food."
"Spend a few decades on the surface hunting for meals and you'll know why I'm like this," Snow shot back, though even so, she seemed much better off. She sighed deeply, "A lot of Missilis dolls to write the names of on that new wall, though..." before looking at the crane holding a laser engraving machine, the Engineers and staff aboard writing out the names with blades of light, carving them deep into the granite.
"Syuen's paying her dues in full, now," Alyosha replied, "They'll be remembered. Like everyone else."
"I know," Snow replied, "... I don't envy Doc Halsey, though."
"... What's wrong with Doctor Halsey?" Alyosha raised a brow at that comment.
Scarlet chuckled, "Poor woman has been elected as Missilis's new CEO by virtue of our beloved Commander's orders," and that caused Alyosha to blank. Oh, poor, poor Doctor Halsey. All of the black projects Missilis must've had that she was about to unearth were probably not gonna be conducive to her mental health, he thought to himself as he braced for it.
Missilis HQ
Indeed, Doctor Halsey was on a third cup of Irish Coffee at this point, looking over the number of files on her desk. Rian, her new assistant and bodyguard, had brought over every single speck of data for her to look through, including the paper on which physical copies were made. She could just as easily have peered through on her tablet. No, Syuen loved meticulous record-keeping, which was, in truth, what had really screwed her when the trial came.
Cortana, who was sat in a portable holographic display system, peered through the files after being connected through Syuen's computer and whistled, mumbling, "Some of this stuff makes ONI look like god-damned saints..." before looking to the good doctor as she read a paper on Missilis's spending in regards to that Nuclear Weapons program that was mentioned a while back. She said, "All the nukes she found were duds. Dead due to the decay of their triggers..."
"I can read, Cortana," Doctor Halsey replied almost absentmindedly, then sighed and set the paper aside for a future 'decommissioning' of the Program. She sighed deeply, pinching the bow of her nose and rubbing her eyes, then said, "Apologies for my irascibility. This feels terrifying to peer through. It is like I was given open access to ONI's worst secrets."
"It's fine, doc," Cortana smiled, then pulled up another file. She winced and murmured, "MMR Vocational... We should probably pay a visit to that some time, see to it that the examinations there are more normal and less... Doctor Mengele-y. Same for MMR Central. Miss Mana wants to talk to us about some new projects for building up equipment without... Well, harming Nikkes."
"Understood..." Halsey rubbed her face, "We'll pay a visit to them tomorrow. Right now, I need to sort through this entire mess and see what programs remain," before pulling out a new file from the pile to the left and reading through it with the aid of her glasses' own special reading function. She mumbled, "Okay, this one is relatively harmless and can be maintained. Coffee supply for the HQ and various sub-sector headquarters."
Cortana chuckled at that, covered her mouth and said, "If Johnson never changed with his Cigars, you sure haven't changed in terms of your coffee, either..."
Halsey smiled a little at that and replied, "Do what one may, Cortana, we still need our vices to survive with our sanity intact. I have yet to start smoking, at least..." before she turned, grabbed her cup of coffee and downed the last of the Irish in it, feeling the slightly bittersweet aftertaste of the Whiskey that had been poured and mixed in with the content. She tossed the paper cup into an overflowing trash can beside her, where maybe a dozen other cups from previous drinks resided, half of which were Irish Coffee.
Rian stepped inside with a smile, greeting, "Doctor Halsey. I see you're still hard at work. And hello, Cortana."
"Rian," The AI and the Doctor both replied, a little jovial to see the woman. Halsey especially, since the girl was carrying a tray with coffee and some pastries off to the side. She set it down in front of the doctor, then pulled one of the other files from the pile and looked through it. The Doctor said, "Thank you. I can see why Syuen liked to have you around... Or at least tolerated it."
Rian chuckled at that, a bit awkward, "Yes, well, I do like making coffee. Might even open a shop in the Ark if I'm allowed to," as she looked around. Honestly, she still expected this to be a dream. Rian did. She knew it wasn't, that this was the new normal, with a boss that at least actually pretended to give a flying damn and a half about her and her fellow Nikkes, much more, under a government with a similar thought process, but Syuen had cast such a long shadow over the Ark and over Missilis that the Company would forever be stained by her name.
She hoped Halsey might be able to change that, though. She pointed at a form off to the left on Cortana's hologram display screens and said, "That's the form for a new Product Class. Also, doctor, if I may suggest to you two to look into PROJECT PANDORA... Might give some context to Heretic Nikke that CPO Kelly and Sergeant-Major Johnson ran into during their outing."
"We'll make a note of it and give it a look in the next few minutes," Halsey replied, "Thank you very much for telling us, though."
Rian nodded, smiling, then pointed to the door. Halsey shrugged and told her, "If you wish to leave, you have the rest of the day free as we parse through this mess. I do want a break after I'm done with at least half this pile..." and that got an even brighter smile out of the bespectacled Nikke. She saluted and quickly ran out the door, while Halsey and Cortana watched. Halsey commented, "How could anyone disregard someone like her?"
"We're talking about Syuen here. She disregards most Nikkes cuz she sees them as scrap heaps," The AI replied, then chuckled darkly, "Oh, sweet, sweet karma coming back to bite her in the ass," which got Halsey a little worried, she'd admit, but also made her let out a short snort. She waved to Cortana to focus on the work at hand, ignoring the little tidbit about Syuen for now. Better to have work done so they had the rest of the day off.
Halsey looked up at the office around them and noted its... Surprising opulence. Yes, there was no kitschy gold inlay like Mustang had, or an overly-militarized, gun-covered office like that of Ingrid, but still, the extremely futuristic, high-tech office of Syuen, with holograms and bright screens and white, almost hospital-like walls marked by decorations that actually made the place into an aesthetically-pleasing design, showed that the little runt had a sense of taste, at least.
... She blinked as she read a file, one on missing patrols in the North-East, then told Cortana, "Send this to Andersen. He might want to see it..."
She felt a pit in her stomach...
Near Eden
Patrol Zone 17
Gunfire filled the air. Inherit had deployed to counter a Rapture assault against one of their outposts within the Patrol Zone. The desert sands turned to glass as particle beams lanced past the members of Inherit, Six included. The Spartan himself charged forward, modified rifle at the ready. His shields flared as a scarlet-glowing beam of anger and disdain pretty much hit him dead-center, but they didn't die.
Glowing azure now thanks to the modifications of his armor, the shields quickly recharged as the Spartan jumped left, dodging a volley of missiles from the escorting drones. The massive quadrupedal 'Thermite'-class aimed its plasma cannons at him and fired again, two bolts striking just beside him with several more going wide as it tried to refocus its aim on Isabel up above.
Despite her usual demeanor at base, Six now saw Isabel's huntress side kick into gear. Scarlet eyes glared down at hostile raptures as she flew low, firing a volley of flechettes from her strange shotgun. The rounds pierced the tops of raptures' heads and disabled their guns. Six utilized one of the damaged Raptures as a Springboard, stomping its head into the ground as he launched himself up at the taller beast.
It aimed its twin guns at him and fired, bullets sparking off the shield. The armor glowed in the sunlight like it'd had a new, fresh coat of paint put over it. The Spartan landed on the machine like a hammer, staggering it as he grabbed onto it. He drew his pistol, put it up against the oculus and fired. Six SAPHE shots pierced the eye, cracked it and caused it to shatter, the monster following suit soon after.
Johan came in next, grabbing two smaller Raptures and throwing them at their comrades, before ordering forward the giggling Noah. The girl brought her shields together in front of her, stopping another volley of missiles from the Rapture MLRS in the rear, then swiveled them about. Their bases opened up, revealing twin railgun barrels. Charging the two launchers, the girl called out, "You guys are WEAK!" before firing.
Two bolts of emerald lanced forward, cutting down maybe fourteen Raptures of varying sizes. Behind her, Harran came in next, swinging her Scythe low from above and vivisecting another large Rapture. She and Six nodded to one-another, before the Spartan gave a hand signal to Isabel. The girl nodded, grinning proudly, then dived low, flying amidst the Raptures and firing shot after shot of Flechette rounds.
Six nodded to Johan, who stared with a bit of surprise as the Spartan slid under another big beast, firing his pistol into it before slashing open its rear left leg, causing it to stagger. He climbed onto it, pulled out a frag grenade and pulled open a top panel from the machine, throwing the frag in there. He kicked off of the robot before the grenade detonated, spinning backward and firing his pistol just before landing.
Turning about, he saw Johan wave forward the rest of Inherit...
It wasn't long before the entire Rapture platoon had been destroyed. Six dropped a spent magazine from his pistol into a belt pouch, then approached one of the leader Raptures. He punched through its armor and pulled out the central oculus and Core, telling them, "I think this oughta help Cecil find a way to track that Heretic you lot keep talking about," as he looked to Johan.
Johan nodded, "Good. Let's return..." before radioing, "Eden Central, Inherit. Mission accomplished," as they walked, or in Isabel's case, flew back. The girl seemed to think for a moment about snatching Six up, but decided against it when she saw he was glaring right back at her. Harran chuckled from beside Six, leaning her Scythe on her shoulder as they walked.
"It's alright, tiger. She seems to know it ain't her place to mess with you," The girl offered. He didn't really know if he believed that, considering everything, but it wasn't like it mattered. Upon making it back to Eden, the man had quickly gone to deliver Cecil the Core. She seemed happy to have something more to go off of, considering the Core was the same 'element' as Nihilister, supposedly:Fire. HSTA, or HESTIA.
That one name felt familiar to him. He knew it was some Greek Goddess, probably tending to a Flame, but it felt a little more personal than that. He sighed, squelching the thought as he approached the Gardens. Upon entering them, he saw Dorothy sat at her usual place, enjoying a nice cup of tea below a tree. He approached her and said, "Got another core."
She smirked, "I heard. I'm not surprised."
"Thanks for the vote of confidence," The man replied as he sat down on the ground, staring at the greenery. He spoke, "Now, where was I with the story about Reach...? Oh, right, Jorge..." and he took his helmet off. Dorothy had told him of Goddess Squad and their escapades during the First Invasion a while back, so it was only natural she would listen to him about his old team. NOBLE seemed like a very nice group. A genuine loss for Humanity as a whole, she thought to herself as she listened the man talk of the team's kindest member.
Honestly, by description, Doro thought he was a bear...