Chief had been called by Alyosha for a short walk as they awaited for the man's new squad, callsign 'ARES', as chosen by the Chief(and Cortana, secretly), to arrive. The Scouts were already present within the Outpost's confines, as was Oh-Niner. And Oh-Niner would stick around for Chief's combat operations for as long as the Chief could afford to keep her around. No soldier deserved to be torn to pieces before fully serving their duty, just because of one failed Mission or lost officer. If that had been the case for the Spartans, the Spartan Project would've died in 2530.

"Well, you're gonna be a fellow 'Commander' from now on, Chief, so I guess we can say mi casa es su casa, eh?" Alyosha quipped. Chief gave him a quick nod, to which Alyosha continued, "With that in mind, I'd suggest keeping an ear and an eye open on the goings-on here, by the way. I've been told that it's best to keep in contact with the girls, so most get a free pass when they need advice. Don't over-exert yourself, though. With you around, it means I can split the load."

"Sir," Chief nodded, "Not sure how I'll be able to advise them, sir."

"Oh, trust me, Chief, it'll be fine," Alyosha smirked, "They ain't as hard to help as it seems. Even if we're all on entirely different levels..." And then he shrugged, "As for you, Chief, if you ever do need advice, just swing by and we can talk. Though, going by how level-headed y'seem to be in general, I doubt you'd need my advice. Just something to keep in mind, though, I suppose."

"Will do, sir," The Spartan replied with his usual, impassive calm. He was unsurprisingly as stoic as soldiers came to be. Alyosha looked over to him with an awkward smile, while Cortana simply continued computations in his armor's CPU, probably trying to figure out yet more about the Ark, the Big Three and the likes. He had gotten a basic overview yesterday about them, plus data on some of the units he'd be working with. He'd found he picked well.

"You really need to stop calling me sir, Chief. Doesn't feel right to me to be called that by an actual Vet," Alyosha replied, taking the Spartan out of his moment of introspection. To a tune of Cortana's short chuckle at the comment, though that was inaudible to the Commander, the young man added, "You also haven't told us about your war, by the way. Kinda looking forward to learning about what kinda stuff you fought."

"I'll prep a report ASAP, though I'd like to get to know the squad I'll be working with first..." Chief hummed, then hesitantly added, "Sir..." as they passed by a statue located in the middle of the Outpost, that of the Wings of Victory. Notably, it did have some Nikke names carved at the base... Though not all of them were actual names, rather product numbers. He really needed to find time to name the actual MP Nikkes. Niner already got her nickname.

"Heh... Alright. I'm as excited to hear your war stories as the girls are." The man quipped, a smile on his face. He would certainly not be smiling when he heard of the Human-Covenant War, but then again, the war with the Raptures seemed just as bad in terms of casualties. If not worse, considering humanity was still only confined to Earth before these alien machines struck.

"Maybe I should get onto writing that Report..." The AI murmured as she shifted some of her processing power to that.

"Mm..." Her Spartan replied as they kept walking.

"Say, Chief, do you think...?" The girl then started, a chunk of her processing power still examining the data on the Ark. She paused, blinked, then shook her head and stated, "Hm, nah. Nevermind. Figured we can ask the one of the Big Three to provide me a certain type of servicing, but it'll have to wait for now. We gotta see who's the most trustworthy out of them..."

"Agreed...?" Chief was a little confused, though he chose not to question it much.

Cortana waved it off verbally, "Don't worry, what I want is ways away anyhow..."

"Fair... Commander."

"Yeah? What's up, Chief?" Alyosha quirked a brow up at the man.

"Have we got any missions slated for the force? Any I can take my team on?"

"Well, not for now, no, though I hear they are planning on tagging us in for another job... God only knows from who, this time."

"Hm..."

It took them a good while of walking and even taking a stairwell up a 'hill', so to speak, to a higher portion of the base. They passed by a pair of buildings still under construction and what seemed to be a specialized platform. He paused, however, as his coms started going a little haywire near the platform. He was hearing a multitude of voices, like digital ghosts of some sort nearby it. The closer he got to said platform, which turned out to be a tube-based turbolift complex that led to the Ark and Surface, he blinked, listening to the voices.

"... Chief, stop for a moment..." Cortana spoke softly as she tuned the suit's receiver to the sounds. She murmured, "Digital device transmissions... Almost as if it's a looping call caught on broadband, but it's... Continuously updating itself..." before shifting a few pieces of data to account for issues in terms of the Comm system's inability to hear it all. Soon, a quiet, somber choir echoed in the Spartan's ears, words unintelligible. Solemnly, the man stared at the elevator itself, though, seemingly understanding the message of the song of requiem.

"... Can you hear them, too?" The Commander asked, his voice solemn. The Spartan nodded, turning his head toward the Commander and staring at him. Alyosha spoke, "There's a rumor going around base that I can confirm to you. Here's a little history on the Nikkes... Several years ago, approximately two hundred Nikkes found themselves protesting against Humanity's treatment of them and their kind. In this protest, they boarded this very elevator so they may head for the surface and live freely..."

He took his commander's cap off, staring at the elevator complex with a small, melancholic smile, "Something happened to the Elevator. Something..." and he then frowned, "Or someone... Cut the wires. The Elevator started plummeting toward the Ark and, at the speed it was going, it would have supposedly caused major damage to a good chunk of Humanity's last surviving city, killing many. The Nikkes, still bound by their belief of being defenders of Humanity and no matter how they saw they were treated... Chose to sacrifice themselves to stop the Elevator via self-destruct. They saved many lives at the cost of their own."

"Oh..." Both Cortana and John voiced, though the Chief's voice was the only audible one. The man went quiet out of respect for them. Even under mistreatment and while openly mutinying against their creators, they chose to not forego the duty they were created for. He brought his right hand up to the side of his head in a salute, listening to the choir of 200 voices sing the lament of the Goddess' Fall. Alyosha smiled at that, then gave his own salute to those long passed.

Before long, both men continued their hike with Chief a bit more sobered up at the fact that these were still human soldiers, just in modified bodies not that unlike his own. They all had the same hopes and dreams as the Marines he'd fought beside, even if most didn't dare show it. He hummed, deep in thought, then asked, "Commander. Does anyone have any knowledge about who cut the wires?"

"On the elevator?" Alyosha raised a brow. He shrugged and said, "Speculation on the ArkNet and that's about it. Even the Central Government's investigative body hasn't turned up anything substantial."

"Probably Government," Cortana murmured, "Them or one of the Big Three..."

Chief hummed in agreement as they continued walking.

Some time later, the Spartan stood on the open concrete square ahead of the command center, watching as a platoon of Nikkes led by Delta and Signal. The two women both wore what seemed to be their standard uniforms. Delta had a short-sleeved brown shirt underneath a heavy-duty, MARPAT Desert plate carrier, a pair of shorts with the same camo, bandages and the likes on her thighs and combat boots. Signal, meanwhile, wore a dainty dress with camouflage patterns and a white shirt underneath that, while also hauling a radio backpack.

Behind her was iDoll Sun, an assault rifle MP Nikke armed with a fairly intricate firearm. She wore a pair of golden, opaque armored goggles, heavy armor across her body, tactical gear, thigh-highs and a rather weird undersuit. Next was Soldier EG, the tactical, heavy-coat and helmet-with-NVGs girl carrying what looked to be a very moddable AR-15-style platform rifle.

Next was Product-23. Heavily armored, goggles on her face, carrying a heavy-duty shotgun and a lot of ammo in what seemed to be specialized shell slots like those you'd see on other tactical vests, the blonde strolled forward with her heavy shotgun pointed at the sky. Last, but certainly not least, Oh-Niner completed the line, a wary-looking, red-eyed and brown-haired Nikke, her LMG leaned against her shoulder and helmet under her arm.

The group walked in a column in front of the Chief, with Delta calling, "Halt! Platoon, right-face!" which stopped the group. All of them swiveled about and turned to face the Chief. Delta saluted and called out in a DI's voice, "New Commander on-deck!" words which garnered salutes out of the ladies ahead of him. He saluted them back and nodded to them to go at ease.

"Thank you, Delta," The man gave the Military Nikke a nod, garnering another quick salute from her, as well as a soft smile, "I know three out of the six of you, that being Product 12-09, Signal and Delta. Requesting the three remaining members identify themselves now, so that I know who I'm working with. iDoll Sun unit. You're first. Consider it an order."

"Sir," The woman stepped forward, "iDoll Sun Number 61. I'm a newly-built unit, reassigned from Platoon 23, sector 11 of the Ark..."

Chief nodded, "Understood. Thank you. Soldier EG."

"Sir, I'm Soldier EG, Elysion, serial number 137..." She saluted, "Ready for orders."

Chief nodded and looked at the last unit, a Product 23. She gave a nod, setting her Shotgun to the side and holding it by the barrel as she gave a crisp salute, "Product 23-20... Pin-..." She shook her head, though the Spartan noticed she was about to say something. She did cut herself off and calmly continued with, "Call me Twenty, sir. Ready for orders..."

"Six-One, One-Three-Seven and Twenty, then..." Chief hummed, "I'm Master Chief Petty Officer 117."

"Sir," The group snapped back. Signal asked, "A-Are you a product, sir?"

"No," Chief shook his head, surprising the girls. He stated, "I'm as human as the Commander of the Outpost. Though I am not one for long, drawn-out speeches, so I will put what I have to say out there. Humanity's survival is not a new fight for me. As I am sure it is speculated on the ArkNet, I am not of your world..." and he waited for the reactions, the gasps of surprise and the likes, to stop, before continuing, "However, we all fight for the same thing. We are all on the same side... And we are all soldiers. I understand humanity has not treated you well, but... I'm sure you'll find I'm not like them."

Another moment of stupefaction seemed to pass, all save for Signal and Delta, the latter of which still maintained her smile. He nodded to them and said, "I'm still waiting for a mission for our unit to go on so we can test cohesion. I want to see what works between you all and what needs to be ironed out before we move on to building upon that cohesion."

"We actually had a mission we had to continue," Alyosha quipped as he approached. Chief turned about and saluted the man, who waved it off and told him, "C'mon, Chief... Heh..." only to turn to the man's Nikkes. They, too, saluted him. He saluted them back with a smile, then stated, "We might actually need the reinforcements, considering the fact it's a pretty big targ-"

"Hey, you!" Snarled a young woman's voice. The entire group turned their heads to see a diminutive woman with black hair that had a purple streak through it, a white sleeveless shirt with a collar and a purple necktie, as well as a weird jacket, a skirt and boots. The two Nikke beside her, Chief assumed, looked about as out-of-regulation as one would expect, the tall one with black hair being the weirdest of the pair. The Commander looked to Chief, fearful, to which the Spartan furrowed his brows behind his helmet.

"... Hello, Syuen," Murmured Cortana, "That's the CEO of Missilis... The same one who leaked the footage on us..."

The young woman seemed pissed, her two hair buns a little unkempt. She stopped in front of the Commander and glared up at him, barely a head above his waist. She berated with an annoyingly sharp voice, "The hell are you doing back here? Shouldn't you be out finding Chatterbox, you little useless rat?" and with those words alone, Chief knew he wasn't going to get along particularly well with her.

The Spartan stepped between the Commander and the woman before she could get another word off, surprising her. She called, "What do you want you scrap-Huh?!" only to pause as she looked up at the Spartan. She furrowed her brow, then grinned, "Well, I'll be... it's the War Machine of the hour. You're the unit that the others are trying to keep from me, then, ain't you?"

"Suppose I am," The Spartan replied, "What is it you want with me?"

"Oh, nothing. Seeing what makes ya tick, seeing how to mass produce you, that type of thing," The girl replied snidely, crossing her arms to her relative lack of chest. Cortana scoffed, while she continued, "Ain't this a pretty picture, then? You're cozied up to the military and working with this guy and his buckets of bolts..." before eyeing his own squad, "Ooh, my bad, you have your own trash cans."

"... Are you referring to the Nikkes?" He replied, his voice low.

"Obviously? What other heaps of crap do you see walking around? Plus, ain't you one of'em?" She quirked a brow, smugly talking as if she knew what the Chief was. She added, "Some sorta new toy from those bastards in Elysion, I bet, what with all the OD Green and the armor. Though I'd've figured they'd stopped making First Generation Nikkes at this point."

Despite the impressive disregard for her own safety, the group felt the general area chill, dropping to subzero temperatures almost immediately as the seven-foot-tall Supersoldier glared down at the little human, who barely reached halfway up his thigh, yet still acted so high and mighty as to talk to him that way. Alyosha, however, didn't want to intervene, a sort of smile on his face as he knew what came. Anis, Neon and Rapi, who had also come in, saw that look, with Anis grinning ear-to-ear.

"I believe your Government and military call them Nikkes for a reason... Ma'am," He replied, pressing down on those words. He was not usually one to snap under pressure, Cortana thought, but she knew just how much the man cared for those under his command. Even newcomers like his as-of-yet-unnamed Strike Team. Syuen furrowed her brow at him, confused as she raised the other. He told her, "I would appreciate it if you would refer to them as such. Especially my new squad."

Delta, Signal and the others looked to one-another, yet again stunned by the display of a soldier that seemed completely done with one of the Big Three's CEOs from the get-go. Syuen, however, scowled and said, "Did the supposed 'Commander' of this hell hole already corrupt you into a disrespectful little toy, soldier-boy? Nikkes are expendable war machines. The iDolls, the Elysion units and the Products you have?" And she then eyed Oh-Niner, "Oh, wow... You actually have that defective one!"

12-09 bowed her head, avoiding the Chief's gaze when he turned around. A look of terror lay in her eyes, while Syuen continued, "You should've just given her back. Her Combat Data might've actually been useful for others of her type not to fail as hard as she did. Her Commander's dead, alongside the rest of her unit, and here she is, still standing, still walking? Heh, just do yourself a favor and play nice. We'll take her off your hands and give you a proper new Unit. Mihara, Yuni?" She turned to her two escorts and tilted her head toward 09, who froze in fear as Syuen called, "Grab her."

What the Spartan did next stunned the group. As the two Nikke belonging to Syuen's little personal bodyguard walked toward the frightened Oh-Niner, the Chief walked in front of them, outright ignoring Syuen's stunned ramblings. He stopped both of them, stating, "She's staying here..." with all the determination of a father protecting his daughter, "And you two, stay right there..."

Both of them paused, then looked to Syuen, who seemed to be fuming. The Spartan glared right back at her and said, "You're overstepping your boundaries, ma'am. You may be one of the CEOs of the Big Three, but this is a military Outpost, military operation... And it is under the Jurisdiction of the Central Government," his voice, though impassive, denoting the fury boiling within him. Syuen glared at him, her face now glowing red with unreleased fury...

That she'd dare, he thought, that she'd even think he would let her get away with taking one of his soldiers to be scrapped. Audacious.

"Alright," She growled, "Fine... Guess we have to teach a disobedient scrap heap who thinks he's hot shit for having his own Nikke squad under him for some sort of dumb experiment some MANNERS..." before barking, "Yuni! Get him on his KNEES!"

"Yes, ma'am," the little Nikke laughed heartily as she pulled out a whip that seemed to become electrified.

"Pff... Idiot..." Cortana murmured smugly. Chief felt pinpricks on his skin and watched as his shield glowed gold just as the pink-haired little Nikke whipped at him. The strange conductive whip wrapped around his armor's legs and electrical current coursed through it as the shield overcharged. The current reversed... And burst down the length of the whip into Yuni's form.

The girl let out a piercing scream, much to the horror of Syuen and Mihara and the delight of the others. The girl collapsed, trembling as the electrical field around her caused her hair to slightly puff up. She looked up, fearful and trembling at the Spartan, causing Syuen to stagger. She yelled, "M-Mihara! DO IT!" to which the black-haired Nikke that looked like a BDSM enthusiast had her eyes light up for a moment, a blue laser poking at him.

Cortana replied, "Oh, no you do not..." as she sent another feedback loop. Mihara's muscles locked up as she yelped, collapsing to the floor, much to Syuen's surprise. Yuni staggered to her feet at that and screamed something incomprehensible, aiming her weapon at the Spartan. Chief moved like a flash of lightning, grabbing the girl by the arm and twisting, throwing the massive rocket launcher aside and picking her up by her collar.

As Mihara's sensors reset, the girl staggered to her knees, only to be met by the barrel of the Spartan's M6G Magnum. He warned her, "Stand up, or go for your weapon..." Without finishing the threat. Mihara lifted her hands defensively, nodding, then looked to Syuen with fearful eyes, while Anis pumped her fist up in the air and screamed cheers at the Spartan and his squad looked on, awed.

"Y-You aren't human," Syuen's voice cracked as her legs gave out under her, causing her to fall on her ass. She whined, "N-No way... No human moves that fast..."

Chief dropped Yuni to the floor and pointed his pistol at her, then took his helmet off. It revealed a rugged, middle-aged man, handsome, but scarred. His brown hair was slightly greying at the tips and his brown eyes burned with cold fury as he stared at the little witch before him. Mihara blinked, while Yuni froze at the sight. He addressed Syuen, "... Threaten my troops again... Or dare to overstep your boundaries in the middle of this military base... And I'll make sure the Central Government gets a good enough report of what happened here, ma'am..."

He slid his helmet back onto his head, to hear Cortana cackling. He holstered his pistol and glared down at Yuni, who stood to her feet, hands raised to show him she wasn't a threat as she trembled. She helped Mihara to her feet and grabbed her launcher, which she slid onto her back, before looking to the fearful Syuen. The Spartan breathed in deeply, then exhaled, shoulders sagging as he holstered his pistol and all the tension left his body.

Meanwhile, the CEO of Missilis looked up at him and asked, "What the hell are you...?!"

He glared back at her, "A human... Like you, or the Commander..." Before turning to Alyosha and asking calmly, "Now, I hear we have a mission?"

"Y-Yeah..." Alyosha smirked, rubbing the back of his neck, "Was from Missilis, to find an enemy Tyrant Rapture called Chatterbox. Wardress was gonna join us, but I think you gave them a helluva scare..." as he motioned to the two girls huddling away, still coursing with electrical current as they covered their boss. He waited for them to disappear behind a building, before bursting into a hearty, releasing laugh which Neon joined in.

"That was awesome!" Anis called out, throwing her hands up and grinning, "Goddamn, Chief, I frickin' love you, man! You have no idea how long we wanted to do that to the little runt!"

Rapi sighed, relieved, then rubbed her eyes as she said, "That's one way, I suppose... Though she'll certainly come back," looking to the Spartan. She clarified, "Syuen is a very... Proud person. Arrogant to a fault. She'll definitely take this as a challenge," before slowly gazing over toward the Chief's new squad. Several of the MP Nikkes laughed and patted Product 12-09 on the shoulder, while 09 wiped tears away from her eyes as she smiled. Signal and Delta, meanwhile, regarded the exchange, both of them smiling.

Cortana replied, "Not wrong, but we'll deal with her if she tries anything, eh?" appearing on his HUD with a smile on her face.

Chief let out another deep sigh, then nodded and replied, "We'll deal with her..."

Not like he hadn't dealt with arrogant officers before her...