Delta had woken up some minutes ago. Dawn hadn't broken yet, meaning it was still relatively dark outside their little hidey-hole. She noted the marks on her HUD minimap, which represented the multitude of decoys placed by both squads in order to ward off Raptures from their location. She stared up at the sky, noting the twinkling dome of stars up above and smiled a little.
It was a known fact that humanity's dream had long been to travel the stars. The Master Chief had told them that, at least in one universe, mankind had succeeded in that dream, which was heartwarming and a tad heartbreaking to some degree. The stars had been within their reach here, too, but the arrival of the Raptures had stolen that from them, had stolen much more from the others before them.
She sighed, then watched as their iDoll Sun unit joined her on watch, lifting up her goggles. A pair of blue eyes peered out from behind the technological piece, surprising Delta slightly. Though it should really have been obvious, she thought, considering it was a pigtailed blonde that iDoll Sun had as a form or basis. The girl lifted her rifle up against the debris making up the barricade, then looked back to see the Chief patrolling, checking the abandoned ruin that had presumably been a convenience store at one point.
She then looked to Delta and asked, "You mind if I stay with you on watch? I can't sleep..."
"I don't mind," Delta shook her head, then lifted her own rifle over the edge. She turned to iDoll Sun and asked, "Did you pick a name for yourself yet?"
She seemed confused, before Delta clarified, "Chief told all Mass Production Nikkes to pick names, or at least think of names before switching off for the night. Niner's apparently sticking with 'Niner' obviously, 137's considering actually going with Sammy or Samantha and Twenty? She kept repeating the name Pinne to herself before falling asleep, so that's what I and Signal called her."
"Oh," The Sun model hummed, then sighed and said, "I didn't get to pick yet, no... Honestly, why?"
"Why what?" Delta quirked a brow up.
"Why... Why tell us to pick names?" The iDoll Sun clarified, then licked her lips and spoke warily, "Aren't we supposed to be the expendable group? I mean, compared to you, Signal, Rapi, Anis and Neon..." as she motioned to the Counters and their commander dozing off in a corner, near the fire, with Mihara and Yuni close by. Delta had to take a moment to register that type of question. Delta thought for a moment, asking herself 'Was this iDoll Sun really that surprised?'
"Chief apparently doesn't view us like that," The elite soldier commented while the two of them kept watch. She told the iDoll, "You were at the briefing, after all."
"Him and commander Harris both..." The girl replied, her voice low, soft, happy. She quipped, "They're weird," while adjusting her weapon's optic. She hummed and turned back toward the Chief as the man continued his patrol. Much to her surprise, she saw him take a blanket out from one of the survival backpacks and wrapping it around a shivering Signal. The girl settled into an even deeper sleep.
"Heh," Delta chuckled when she saw that. Both girls looked into each-other's eyes as Delta told her, "Weird is good to some degree. We have a home to go back to in the Outpost, somewhere where we will not be judged due to being Nikkes," then she motioned slowly to Chief and to Signal now having a blanket and told her, "And our leaders care for us, more than our own Manufacturers."
"I mean..." Sun sighed, then shrugged and chuckled, "Hey, at least we apparently have these new romcom shows appearing about the whole Nikke x Commander love story, which is..." And her face grew a tinge scarlet as she averted her gaze and added, "Weird..." with a hint of embarrassment. Delta was amused by the reaction. She pulled out a thermal scope with which she replaced her current scope and peered through the eye cup.
All the while, she told the girl, "I know," before clarifying, "Signal watches them a bunch when we're off duty and not running training in the Simulators. It's almost an obsession for her," and, obviously, she had said it in a friendly, sisterly tone almost. She did consider Signal a somewhat less-trained little sister, though both were Elysion-born soldiers.
"Anything to pass the time, I guess..." Sun murmured, then turned to the woman and, with one thought in mind, asked, "What's your take, Delta?"
"Huh?" Delta raised a brow at that, fixing the girl with her gaze again. She inquired, "What do you mean?"
"What should I name myself...?" Sun murmured, then completed with an awkward, "If at all?"
Delta thought for a moment about the implications of one of her comrades asking her how to name herself. She hummed, then replied in the best way she could think of to reply, "That's your own choice, not someone else's to make. Just pick something you think should represent you," as she pulled out and inspected her magazine, then slammed it back into place and gently pulled the bolt back in a press-check, to make sure she had the right ammo loaded.
"... Alright." The iDoll replied softly, then chuckled as she lifted her rifle back up onto the barricade and told her, "I'll think about it some more. Was honestly just hoping for a suggestion."
"I understand," Delta shot back as she looked through the thermal scope again. He told her, "Trust me, picking out a name is an important part of a Special Regimen Nikke's personality. We usually pick names relating to our work or previous life experience, but for the most part, it's unnecessary. You can even go for an older name, or a human one by which you wish to be referred to. "
"Okay..." Sun nodded, then cupped her own chin as she thought about it, before suggesting, "Hm. How about Layla?"
Delta beamed at that, replying, "Rolls off the tongue easily and it sounds good. So, Layla?"
'Layla' chuckled, then nodded, "Nice to meet you. I'm Layla, iDoll Sun," and extended her hand. Delta shook it proudly, then gave the girl a quick salute. Both turned back to their work, while Mihara, who had been awoken by the chatter, looked at them with a smile as she patted Yuni's head. The young Nikke partner of Wardress's surprisingly voluptuous dominatrix leader had laid her head down on her friend's thighs, drooling and fast asleep with a smile on her face.
She watched the Spartan approach Delta and Layla, handing them food supplies. Both smiled at the Chief, with Layla properly introducing herself and standing up to give the Chief a salute while wearing an unusual smile for an iDoll Sun model. Chief saluted back and seemed to acknowledge Layla's name choice, which made her happy and, in turn, made Mihara crack a small smile, too. She watched the Chief walk past the sleeping Neon and Signal without disturbing them, before waving to him.
He turned to her and didn't hesitate in walking to her side. She spoke, "You and the Commander of the Counters are certainly the... Strangest... People I've ever seen, with all due respect..." as she offered a smile. The Spartan crouched down, while the girl continued, "Most people would not bat an eye or acknowledge us as anything close to human or comrades in arms. Yet here you and that Harris kid are, urging Mass Production models barely different from their base blueprint to take up names, individualize themselves. What exactly is your endgame?"
"Making sure the people I'm fighting side-by-side with to protect humanity don't feel left to the wayside," The Spartan replied calmly, "Because I've been taught a few things about being a human by two people back home. Someone I care for and have worked with closely and someone who was my commanding officer. I thought like a machine, that our duty, as soldiers, is to protect humanity no matter the cost, not putting together the fact that we're humans as well... No matter the type."
He took a moment to register Cortana's little 'awwwwwww' there, feeling his helmet slightly warm.
"Nikke aren't human, Master Chief," Mihara shot back, her tone of voice low, but neither combative, nor matter-of-fact. She actually seemed like she wanted to be contradicted by the Spartan.
Chief shrugged and said, "We may've gotten off on the wrong foot, but Wardress is as human as me and Commander Harris."
The black-haired woman chuckled, trying to avoid waking her smaller pink-haired companion as she shook her head, "You really are something else, Chief..." before humming and pulling her fur coat over herself and adding a quick, "Thank you..." Only to clarify to the suddenly confused Spartan, "For the kind words. We wouldn't have tried to do anything if Syuen hadn't ordered us to, mostly because I and Yuni both saw the little show of force you did for the Counters. No smart Nikke's looking forward to fighting anyone like you."
The Spartan hummed, then told her, "Syuen seems like a major problem. She lacks any sort of filter and could prove a detriment to humanity's continued survival. Keep this off the record, though..." as he stood up, "And get some sleep. We've still got a long hunt ahead of us." He then turned and marched away toward another part of the camp to do checks on his equipment.
"He's a good guy, from the looks of things," Chuckled Alyosha. Mihara looked over to the Commander with surprise, mouth slightly agape. He spoke to her with a smile, "Chief's clearly got a heart in there, though it's behind several layers of bulleptroof armor from what I can tell..." before stretching and standing up from next to Rapi. The young woman beside him had fallen asleep with her mouth open, a rather cute sight.
"Both figuratively and literally," Mihara snorted, still patting Yuni on the head. She would pass out some time later, fast asleep with Yuni still laying her head in her lap. The changing of the guard came, meanwhile, with Rapi and Anis taking over for Delta and the newly-named Layla. Niner, however, had not gone to sleep yet. Chief had noticed this and decided to walk up to the MG-toting Nikke.
He took a seat beside her and asked, "Shouldn't you be sleeping, Niner?"
"Sir," She smiled calmly, "I'm fine, sir," then she set her weapon aside and pulled out a half-finished chocolate splendamin can. To the Spartan, the foodstuffs from the Ark were far more... Obtuse than standard Rations. He didn't usually mind Meals-Ready-to-Eat from their military, but the 'Splendamin' was certainly one of the weirder foodstuff items the Chief had seen.
"We're going to need everyone to be well-rested. Get some sleep," He told her, his voice low, calm. With a sigh, she nodded and gave a quick salute to the Chief, before hugging her machine gun and closing her eyes. He sighed as Cortana continued her research, though she tended to appear every once in a while and give him a smile from the com window on the top-right of his HUD.
Come next morning, the group had begun their march yet again in two columns. The Chief led the left column, farther ahead than the right. Rapi, meanwhile, led the right, with Alyosha close behind, eyes scanning the rooftops for any attempted drone ambush. Cortana, meanwhile, spoke, "I've managed to decrypt a few more files from the Ark, namely talking about a group called 'the Pilgrims'. A squad of surface-dwelling Nikkes. Wonder if we'll run into any of them?"
... Chief knew that, for all intents and purposes, Cortana had just jinxed them. That was all he could think as they continued to follow the somewhat humanoid tracks of what they assumed to be Chatterbox, gripping his rifle tightly. Rapi told the Chief and Commander, "Seems as though our trek's gonna be taking us deeper into the north of the city... What used to be the city center."
"What was this place?" Cortana murmured, trying to pick up any sort of network from within the city. Some residual energy signal, something to give her an idea of their exact location planetside. She sighed and told Chief, "The fact we can't even access the Sat network worries me, Chief. Keep your eyes open..." Only to then gasp loudly, a faint voice echoing in the back of the Spartan's and her minds. She called out, "Wait, energy signature, rooftop, approximate one o'clock..."
Chef balled his fist and lifted his hand, causing the entire unit to tense up. With a single chop of his hand, his team scattered into cover, with Anis, Neon and Rapi following suit. Mihara and Yuni took Chief's flanks, while Rapi had dragged Alyosha into cover. A bolt of energy lanced forward and struck the Chief's armor. Cortana blinked as the electric current coursed through the Chief's shield, then said to him, "That was an electric discharge... As if they were trying to stun you. Sniper position's pinned on the HUD, Chief!"
The Spartan took a knee, drew his pistol and aimed exactly where the NAV Point Cortana had set was, switching to the smartscope system. He spotted the Rapture shooter, a slimmer frame than its brethren, and shot twice. Two fifty SAPHE rounds punched through the Oculus before the Rapture had a chance to retreat and it collapsed to the floor, before detonating. Chief quickly checked his motion tracker. Empty for now.
He dropped the half-pent magazine into a side pouch on his armor, then slotted the pistol back into its magnetic lock and stated, "Area clear..." only to switch over to his rifle and turn off his external speakers. He asked Cortana, "Did you hear something just before you detected the target...?" as the formation tensely regrouped, the Spartan continuing his advance while Yuni and Mihara stared at him, surprised.
"Yes..." Cortana murmured, "On the Rapture battlenet. It's still a jumbled mess right now, but there was a focused voice there. A whisper, the machine calling out a target... I think they wanted to capture either you, or Alyosha alive, Chief. Let's be careful..." And Chief tensed. If Chatterbox was smart enough to order its troops around so it could attempt captures?
That didn't bode well, he thought.