Within the Commander's Room, there was commotion. Not the usual kind of commotion, though, rather the pure and unadulterated surprise that Alyosha's Nikkes were reacting with to the news the man had signed up for one of Doctor Halsey's experimental programs. He told them, "Girls, please, calm down. I've read up on the reports of what kind of augmentations Doctor Halsey wants to make for this Spartan-style Program and they're safe."
"So she says!" Anis snapped back, worried as all hell. Yes, she trusted Doc Halsey, considering everything, but this was still a big ask. What if something went wrong? Anis thought to herself, what if, by some godforsaken twist of fate, the operations to make him a Spartan failed and maimed him? She could see that her friends all shared those thoughts. Even Stella, who stayed quiet in a corner.
"Commander, what got into you to even decide to go with this program?" Rapi inquired, arms crossed to her chest and concern in her voice and denoted by the fidgeting, "Anis is right. It's dangerous, even with the guarantees from Doctor Halsey..." And she had a nagging feeling she knew what this was about. Hell, it was pretty obvious for every other girl in the room.
"I think Master just wants to help us..." Neon spoke meekly, while Stella sighed deeply at that. To Alyosha's sister, it was ever more clear why he was doing this. She'd had to wrangle the description of his nightmare from him, but got everything she needed and understood exactly what was going on. Neon was incredibly right. He was scared of losing people. He wanted more agency over that...
"I do," Alyosha replied sternly, looking his comrades in the eye. He told them, "I'm tired of just being there to give commands," Then looked right at Rapi and Anis, stating, "If you girls got hurt, I wouldn't even be able to get you to safety. If any of you wound up..." And he paused, then shook his head and swallowed. His voice cracked as he stated, "No. I'm doing it for all our sakes. We've seen what Chief and his fellow Spartans can do against the Raptures. If I can get even a fraction of that, I'll be able to help you girls in combat with more than just orders and hiding."
"It's still a program that actively modifies your body," Anis shot back, walking up to Rapi's side and glaring at him with her. She told him, "We get that you wanna do more than sit on the sidelines, but you can't seriously expect us not to protest against something that could lead to you getting physically hurt! The damage might even be irreversible..."
"I'm not expecting you all to agree completely. I'm just..." He sighed, then told them, "I don't want to fail any of you because I couldn't help you myself. You girls have kept me safe for as long as we've operated together, even through the entire mess with the Crisis. I want to know I've done all I can to help you, all I can to be more than just a burden to what's supposed to be one of the Ark's new up-and-coming squads..." And his voice grew low, quiet, as he told them, "I don't want to lose anyone again..." which caused Marian to come back to the forefront of everyone's minds.
"... You wouldn't lose anyone," Rapi put a hand on his shoulder, trying to reassure him. He told him, "We can fight, after all. And the more we do, the better we become at it. Same as any human, we have the capability to learn and evolve to counter any threat that comes our way. And, with your tactics, we always seem to pull through in combat. You're doing more than you know by simply leading us as you do. You're..." She sighed deeply, unsure of what else to say.
"Any extra layer of safety is worth it," He replied. He wasn't willing to budge.
"... Commander..." Rapi was obviously worried. For good reason, Stella thought.
Still, she intervened in favor of her brother, "Girls. Give him a break. If he wants to feel safer operating with us, I can't exactly blame him. It's an extra layer of defense for him in case we get into tougher ops, considering Halsey's planning to make a MJOLNIR for the Project anyways and we get someone who's capable of protecting himself more than prior, allowing us more operational 'freedoms' in executing our orders..."
"... Fine. Don't say we didn't warn ya, though..." Anis rubbed her eyes, then turned back to her usual, peppy self as she asked, "What's the project's name, anyhoot? I don't think Halsey went with SPARTAN-IV, seeing as that's taken..." which got a few chuckles out of the folks around, save Neon, who seemed to know the answer. It was in the briefing files-
"ARES," The little white-haired gun nut said, "We're named after the Goddess of Victory, Nikke, from ancient Greek myth if my brain still works, so she's naming her Supersoldier program after the God of War..." And she smiled. The four others in the room stared at her, pleasantly surprised by how well miss Firepower articulated those sentences.
"Wow. That had to be the smartest group of sentences you've strung together yet," Anis teased with a grin.
"I'm smart!" Neon pushed her glasses to the top of her nose, which made them glow like in those old animes. She spoke with such self-reassurance, it was almost adorable. And it did get a laugh out of Anis and Stella. Rapi, however, remained unconvinced, looking to their Commander with the same concern a family member would look at another with in moments of duress.
"Heh," The Commander, however, smiled at the antics between Neon and Anis, then looked to Rapi and put a hand on her hand, which still lay on his shoulder, before telling her directly, "I'll be fine, don't worry," which got the others in the room to smile a little. Honestly, neither Anis, nor Neon gunned for the Commander anymore. They just liked teasing Rapi, but did like the idea of her and him getting together, so scenes like this were sweet... Stella seemed to agree.
"Mm..." Rapi sadly remained worried for her Commander. However, for the moment, they'd have to stow that. A heavy, thumping knock echoed from the door, which caused the group to turn and face it. There was word of a new Nikke coming to join the ranks of the Counters. Some part of Alyosha hoped he was wrong when he thought of who it might be, but it was about that time.
"I'll get it! Wonder if it's some new report or something else coming i-..." Anis started as she propped open the door. She paused, grinned and crossed her arms to her chest as she spoke proudly," Holy crap, you actually got assigned to us," before taking a step off to the side to reveal the newcomer. The entire room froze at first, then almost all of them grinned at the sight, save for Rapi, who glared at her.
"... I don't like it any more than you do," A petite Product of some kind, clad in light armor and armed with an SMG, spoke. The black, puffy hair with a purple strand running down the middle, partially obscured by the visor she wore, however, immediately revealed who it was. Syuen, a Product-06, specialized Scout and Surface Operation Nikke. She had a Riot Shield on her back, though, meaning she was probably the refit.
Anis snorted loudly, then teased, "Holy shit, they actually turned you into a mass-production Nikke?!" before bursting into actual, mocking laughter toward the diminutive former CEO. The others enjoyed the reaction, too, joining in on the laughter while Anis said, "I'd have thought you'd've actually managed to pull the last few strings to have a Special Purpose Nikke body built, not this!"
"Like I said, I don't like it anymore than you do, tin can..." Syuen shot back, glaring at Anis and the others from behind the opaque visor. Her purple eyes were barely visible behind it, but her voice boiled with frustration. And another hidden feeling that Alyosha had picked up on, courtesy of working with the Spartans for so long:Fear. She was afraid of being here.
"Oh, you don't get it..." Alyosha grinned, "We're enjoying this. A little bit of cosmic Karma for the bullshit you put us through."
"I'm not relying on her to cover my back," Stella offered, arms crossed to her chest as she glared at Syuen.
"Amen!" Neon raised a hand from the rear, having long-ago started scouring the Commander's fridge for something edible.
"What even possessed you to do what you did, you idiot?" The Commander asked somewhat rhetorically, crossing his arms to his chest. He continued, "I thought you'd normally be happy to just sit on your ass all day and do nothing in the middle of your cozy, office. Now, look at you, ironically having become the very thing you despise and call scrap-heaps. Gotta love Karma."
"When I got the warning one of your freak friends breached the Research Station in that Lost Ark, I couldn't do anything else... Do you have any idea how hard it is to try and save humanity when you ungrateful bastards keep throwing me curveballs? I was researching a Bioweapon in there that could wipe out the Raptures, or bring them under our command, at least!" she snapped back at him.
The Commander blanked for a moment, then replied angrily, "Don't even try to spin researching the damn Flood, a SPACE PARASITE, as doing something for mankind..." He took a moment to compose himself, sighing deeply, then told her, "If you'd read the briefings Halsey and the Chief gave us on the Flood, your skin would start crawling, you dumb fuck! You nearly got us all killed!"
"They can't be that bad if they remained docile during early research," The CEO's obliviousness actually stunned the life out of everyone in the room, causing Stella to take a step back and take a breath, while Rapi, Anis, Neon and Alyosha all stared at her like she'd said the dumbest thing in the Galaxy. She had, in fact, said the dumbest thing in the freaking universe, but that was another matter.
"... Someone get her a tablet with the Reports," Alyosha sighed, pinching the bow of his nose, "I'm not dealing with this right now," and Neon quickly retrieved one such tablet, opening the reports on the Flood and handing it to Syuen, who immediately started reading what the Chief and his crew has gone through with the Flood. Her eyes grew wider the more she read.
"... This has gotta be exaggerated," She spoke under her breath.
"It isn't," Stella replied angrily, "We had footage of what they did from the Chief and that from kelly. Hell, you saw what they did to that squad of Spartans you kept as playthings on the recordings. They weren't human anymore, they were something that would've torn you apart, eaten you or thrown you in to become part of their nascent Hive Mind. Your hubris nearly killed whatever was left of mankind on this Earth, all because you wanted to one-up Elysion and Tetra."
"I-"
"Enough," Alyosha waved it off, angry. He told her, "I hope you can listen to orders, because you're part of my squad right now, ironically enough."
"Damn it..." Syuen sighed...
"Again. I'm not relying on her covering my behind out there..." Stella shot back, with the Nikkes around nodding their approval at that. Better not to trust the rat. Syuen could clearly feel the hostility and, despite everything, she understood it deep down. She had nearly just destroyed these peoples' way of life, the same way hers had been destroyed...
Damn if the hammer didn't hit hard now.
With Blue Team
The Spirit of Fire's factories had begun churning out new equipment and ammunition the moment the Mining Drones had gotten to work. The old girl was operating at peak capacity as its resource management systems were being continuously refilled in order to provide replacement parts, new armor and equipment to the rebuilding Armed Forces of Humanity, now under the UNSC's direct control.
Chief's visor polarized as he walked into one of the Factory areas where the weapons were being assembled. He lifted a STANCHION electromagnetic Sniper Rifle that had just recently been finished, so new the paintjob hadn't fully dried yet, then started examining it thoroughly. Beside him, Sam, Kelly, Linda and Fred were getting First Pick of the newly built weaponry.
Another assembly line worked on MJOLNIR Parts, surprisingly enough. And they weren't talking anything simple. These new MJOLNIR Parts were retrofitted with Goddessium to form a specialized Titanium alloy that had a lot of paracausal properties attached to it, including enhancing and boosting the Spartans' capabilities in combat for much cheaper than the standard MJOLNIR GEN-2 and prototype GEN-3s that his team, sans Sam, were wearing.
If they ever linked back up with the UNSC, the gear they could provide now, with the Ark's tech alone, could be an impressive boost. They watched as a Nikke stepped off of the farthest assembly line, stretching and grinning as she was now wearing some of the new Marine armor built on similar properties to the MJOLNIR. She grabbed her rifle off of a table, racked the bolt back and slammed home a magazine, before sending the bolt home, thumbing the safety to on and slinging the weapon onto her back.
"Incredible what you can do with a little elbow grease," Fred spoke as he watched the assembly lines working under the careful supervision of human and Nikke operators alike, with some of the Nikkes present undergoing armor changes, too. He lifted a helmet off of the MJOLNIR assembly line and gave it a quick once-over, nodding his approval at it before setting it back into place.
"She's running green across the board, thankfully. Heard they're planning on expanding the Factories into the Lost Ark around us," Kelly smirked, crossing her arms, "May even get us new aircraft now, what with the resources we're pulling in for everything. There's a surplus," And she motioned to the stuff piling in the main containers of the warship's factories.
"Would be a nice boon. Wonder how many Nikkes are gonna be used for it, though," The good old Lieutenant of the Fireteam spoke. He looked over to some of Mighty Tools's assistant builder Nikkes and several of the newly-hired Humans from the Ark itself operating the machinery. Some of them were trainees from the Outer Rim, which was currently, slowly and steadily being rebuilt to have an actually decent standard of living.
"Honestly, whatever gives us an advantage against the Raptures is good," Samuel offered as he lifted a fragmentation grenade off the assembly line. He set it back down as soon as he saw it was filled with the standard UNSC explosive mixture already, just in case it would mistakenly prime and detonate in his hand. He handled too much explosive ordnance not to be careful.
"Word of mouth from FOBs we have built around the former Continental US hints that they're already beginning to coordinate better," Fred spoke, crossing his arms to his chest. He recounted, "Command units were spotted leading battalions across Patrol Lines and the Heretics we've seen operating so far are active in many areas across the World. We also got broken radio transmissions from Old Europe, though they're so weird I wouldn't put any stock into it being anything more than broken Radio stations sending their last messages."
"Sounds like we've got a lot of work ahead of us, eh?" Kelly grinned, leaning forward on one of the lines, watching the conveyors move.
"Sure seems like it," John nodded, taking his helmet off and sliding it under his arm. Lot of work indeed, what with the upcoming planning phases for the Surface Reclamation Campaign the crews were bound to start. Captain Cutter was presumably already in talks with Andersen and the UEG on how to handle that and the FOBs upstairs were preparing to weather whatever storm was coming.
"Cortana still busy helping Doctor Halsey?" Linda inquired as she checked over the Stanchion and its ORACLE Scope, nodding approvingly at the rail weapon. She was probably gonna be carrying the Stanchion henceforth, simply because of how much better it was in terms of damage and penetrating power compared to the standard SRS-99s of the UNSC.
"Yeah. Turns out there's a big mess to clean up after Syuen's conviction," Chief sighed deeply, then added, "And speak of the rat, I hear she's supposed to be tagging in with the Counters today," with a hint of annoyance in his otherwise calm voice. He watched an MA5 with a grenade launcher attachment roll off the assembly line and into the hand of a Marine that was about to test it.
"I don't envy poor Alyosha for having to deal with that little bitch," Kelly offered, her voice low. Considering what Kelly had seen, nobody could really blame her for disliking Syuen's work, being the most intimate with it through the Lost Ark exploration process. She just hoped that the Lost Arks themselves could be properly reclaimed after a while, to better sustain mankind's resources by either taking everything built apart, or by actually making them livable again. Provided Syuen or Missilis as a whole didn't leave other surprises, Kelly then thought.
"Amen to that..." Fred quipped. They heard the hum of a tune from the right and looked over to see Snow White, clad in her standard gear, picking up a Stanchion for herself, as well as other weapons and even repair kits for her gear. She checked over the Stanchion, looking through the weapon's systems and probably deciding she'd tune it when they were out on their usual deployments.
"Snow White?" Chief raised a brow.
"Oh, Master Chief. Blues," She looked up, then nodded in greeting to them. She joked, "Fancy seeing you folks here, though I guess we all get to have our pick of the gear we're set to take into battle," then stowed the Stanchion on her back. She and Linda shook hands, then she snapped a salute at the Chief and Fred, both of whom returned the salute in kind.
"Aye," Kelly answered simply.
"What're you and the rest of Goddess doing?" The Lieutenant of the squad then inquired, noting that the girl's backpack was filled with gear and supplies, apparently. Probably for an extended deployment, Fred thought as he saw the MREs and water bottles attached to the bag itself. Good to see that Goddess was heading out again already, though that posed the question of Andersen.
"I'm here, packing gear and food for the trip..." Snow replied, a bit of drool escaping the corner of her mouth. She wiped it away, then added, "Rapunzel's in the Ark, holding a public sermon and Scarlet's probably either drunk or training with her sword. We'll be heading out as a forward scouting force in the next day. Hunting the Heretic that attacked the Spirit when Kelly, Sergeant-Major Johnson and the others first found it and that got Chatterbox out before we could kill it."
"Take it the Chief Deputy approved your redeployment, eh?" Linda inquired, grinning.
"We're not just a bauble to be kept back and look pretty, after all," Snow offered, then sighed deeply and added with a hint of sadness, "Goddess Squad has to get back in action as one cohesive strike team, even if we're down a couple members..." all while looking a bit melancholic. Three members of the squad were still unaccounted-for if Chief had read the reports correctly from Andersen. Liliweiss, Red Hood and Dorothy. The former two were gone, or so everyone thought. The latter was MIA.
"Agreed..." He nodded, then asked, "Did you intend to join the ODST's HALO JUMP School, by the way?"
"The one where they jump out of Pelicans for fast insertion and use Jetpacks to slow themselves down? Yeah, I do want to get that skill under my belt for faster deployment, plus, the Bullfrogs were nice enough to ask me to train with'em. It should be a hell of a lot of fun from what I hear, too, earning my Jump Wings. What was that old cry from that series Lilith loved watching... Currahee!" Snow smiled, holding onto her bag.
Fred was about to say something nice, but his mind immediately locked onto one specific fact. He asked, "... Wait, did you say Rapunzel's holding a sermon-"
The Ark, Sundance Square
Andersen watched from a distance with a little awe and a smile on his face. Beside him, Ingrid, Halsey and Mustang all sat, watching the gathered crowd around one of the Last Churches on Earth that were being used, a glowing symbol of the Faith that would never fade, even in the darkness. God had kept many a survivor post-First Invasion sane and, though Andersen and his comrades weren't believers anymore, they couldn't deny the sight of the Last and Future Pope holding a Sermon under the watchful eyes of her newfound Congregation.
Rapunzel, Goddess Squad's Saint, once corrupted by the Red Devil's acts(Andersen forever snorted at that nickname for poor Hood), now back to the sanctity of the Church, held a Sermon of kindness, though also one of joy, a Call to her fellow Believers. With a Bible in one hand and her scepter in the other, the woman spoke, "... And let ye, brothers and sisters, children of God, look upon our saviors with joy and pride! Those that God Himself, in His infinite wisdom and kindness, sent down to us! The Angels of the UNSC, the Spartans and their comrades! They, who slay the beasts that have stolen the Surface from us! They, who have saved this city from the evils of a treacherous villain!"
"They, who have shown me the Truth and the Light once more...! They, who have brought my friends and I back together to once more shepherd Man to the future we all seek. The return of our rightful lands on the surface from the vile foe..." She spoke as her hands motioned to the Marines and two Spartans in attendance, "Know that ye, of Faith and Kindness, will be protected, both by God and by our strength of arms. The Goddesses of Victory will fight in the name of the Lord and in your names, to reclaim that which we've lost. Amen."
"Amen!" The Crowd replied in kind, then began to scatter, allowing Rapunzel to start packing her stuff up. As she did so, however, she spotted a slew of Nikkes still standing in the rear of the crowd, not to mention what seemed to be an old man and his family. The man himself was in a wheelchair, but his face felt familiar to the blonde-haired Goddess Squad member.
She watched him and his family, what seemed to be three adults, possibly his children, their spouses and dozens of children around, playing, laughing and just chatting. He spoke to her, his voice rough, "... I know it's presumptuous of me to think you might remember who I am, but... I had hoped so long to see you again. You saved my life so long ago..."
Rapunzel blinked and turned to face the man, speaking, "Excuse me, but... What do you mean?" and she raised a brow. She had saved a few lives across history, she thought to herself, so what would be so special in this case? Perhaps, he'd been up close to one battle or another? She should've stopped her memory wipes decades ago, lest she forget so much.
"I knew you probably wouldn't remember me from sight alone," He smiled. He was well-dressed, as was the rest of his family. They must've been some of the 'Sovereigns', the well-off citizens of the Ark, probably working either in high-standing government positions or among some of the Big Three's major subsidiaries. He spoke to her, "You saved me during what was called Operation:Ark Guardian..."
... It took a moment for Rapunzel's memories to come back, but when they did, she recalled the battle to defend the Elevator down to the Ark and the protection provided to the last few stragglers trying to get into it. All the death and destruction around them, all the lost Nikke and soldiers that had fought beside them. So much lost for so many. She examined and scrutinized him for a moment. He spoke, a bit sorrowful, "... My mother had just died to a Rapture's gun when you found me. She was the last family I had alive. You stepped in front of me like a guardian angel, wielding your staff and killed the machine in one blast..."
"... Little Tomas..." She realized, then smiled softly, "You look good for your age," and knelt in front of him, taking his hand. She looked around and said, "This is your family, then?" and he got a nod. She saw the dozens of children playing, some of them staring at her, then looked up at the adults, the mothers and fathers of these kids. She smiled to them and they smiled back.
"All here... Because of you and the Goddesses. The Saintly protectors of humanity," The man spoke, patting her hand, "You're the reason I still stuck to this Old Faith, even years after the last few actual worshippers and priests passed and this Church was being maintained more as a memorial to times passed. You saved us once and, now, you're here to save us all again. Provide a future for my kids and grandkids..."
She smiled, "Of course... It took us years, but we're back."
"A wonderful gift for the end of a long life, I'll say," He smiled back, "To see my savior in the flesh again..." And his grip on her hand tightened. She nodded, then gently stood up. "I can't thank you enough. We owe you everything, Goddess. And we thank the Lord that He graced us with the return of you and your friends to us." and that struck a chord with Rapunzel, causing tears to well in her eyes.
Andersen couldn't help but appreciate the sight, sighing deeply in relief. Goddess deserved all the praise they got, no matter how one looked upon them. They were the basis for the start of the Nikke program at its best. Halsey herself seemed to agree, making notes for the ARES Program's probable publicity and the show that Humans could just as easily become capable of fighting the Raptures.
The real war was starting up again.