It'd been said this specific Elevator to the Surface had been sealed shut early in the Ark's decades, or maybe near century, of existence. Information suggested this shaft had been one of the few original ones to be used when evacuating survivors from the surface. Indeed, the elevator shaft and elevator itself were ancient, rust corroding parts of it. It could still bear a decent load, namely a full squad of Nikkes and their Commander, which was just enough for this mission.
It was impromptu and requested by Pinne, specifically, meaning only the Lucky Strikes were to deploy here. Around them, this newly-rediscovered Shaft was being rebuilt by UNSC engineers and staff. It had been reinforced ahead of time, too, to allow for a much safer transit for the large cargo elevator, and the team could definitely see the marks of construction on the walls.
Kilo, who'd had to forgo TALOS for this operation, kindly decided to stick by the Chief and Cortana because she was practically defenseless and shaking like a wet dog, hairs standing on-end as she looked around. She saw Sammy and Layla standing beside Pinne, chatting each-other up while the blonde stared ahead, showing visible signs of recognizing this place.
The green-haired Mech pilot scratched her chin, looked up at the Chief, then at Cortana and let out a breath, worried that something was gonna go wrong with this exploration. Chief, having noticed this, looked down at her and gave her a gentle pat on the head, causing her to blush a little. Cortana giggled at that and gave a thumbs up, then looked ahead, too.
Pinne herself continued staring forward, surprised by the fact she recognized this place so easily. She looked to the right, eyes focusing on one damaged panel attached to the railings. She saw the faint marks of blade scratches on it and a small smile formed. Turning on her heel, she marched over toward it and took a knee, looking at the faded-out blade marks.
They were a tally of the days they'd been on the surface. So she recalled. The battles in this sector were some of the roughest, with the Operation, nicknamed 'Ark Guardian', taking a lot of lives, both human and Nikke. That was many decades ago, though, to the point the eldest of the survivors had met Rapunzel down below while she was proselytizing. So why was she remembering it?
She hadn't been alive at that point, right? Had she been here once before and only heard the tales of the battle? She shifted uneasily, though, thinking hard about how she knew this. She paused and turned around when she realized Sam and Layla were looking at her funny. Delta and Signal were also not far behind, staring, too.
The elevator slowed, creaking a little as its ancient brakes, barely oiled as of two days ago, worked to stop it. When the group reached the top, they drew their weapons, descending from the elevator out into the open air, past the concrete door frame that once held a rusted, but heavily armored door in place on its massive metal hinges.
The area ahead was sprawling with greenery, though the signs of whatever old outpost had been here still poked through. A grey spot of concrete here, an old turret that was overgrown with vines there, destroyed vehicles slowly being reclaimed. The place was also full of UNSC Marines and engineering staff here to see if it was a viable defensive position.
From the looks of it, this old place was within the ruins of some sort of old military base, with parts of the walls still intact enough to form the basis of a decent defensive position. Although there were the visible remains of Raptures strewn about the place, too, there was no sign of the old defenders, which had presumably been cleaned up.
If word of mouth was to be believed and with no real way to ask them right now, the Goddesses themselves were said to have fought here in the waning months of Ark Guardian, keeping the people and the Ark itself safe and secure from Raptures. Signs of battle were obviously visible with the Rapture corpses mentioned before, plus a few destroyed wheeled APCs here and tanks there.
Pinne took the sight in, shotgun slung on her back now. She breathed in, feeling the familiar scent of the surface's fresh air. She noticed the Marines present, which included Sergeant-Major Johnson, were busy looking around for stuff to retrieve. Johnson walked up to her and asked, "Ya sure this is where we're gonna find your necklace, kid?"
"About as sure as what my name is, Sarge," The girl replied steadily, looking around. Flashes of memories played at each corner, images of battles and raining gunfire, of mortars from the Raptures and how they'd fought against them, of the moments in-between, where they could relax. It was all a blur, but most of the Mass Produced Nikkes had remained relatively the same.
Layla knelt by an old stone pedestal, running her hands over the rough concrete, which'd been eroded by the elements. Sam sat down beside her and said, "This place must've been a Fortress back during Ark Guardian. I'm seeing three AA Towers and a bunch of lighter weapon ports on the walls alone, plus a few SAM radars."
"Course you'd be the one to notice that stuff," Layla joked as she lifted up a spent brass casing. She sighed and said, "Nope, not the necklace," before tossing it aside. She asked Sam, "Three-point orange leaf, right?" and only got an affirmative hum as a reply. The girl stood up, then looked around and watched the Marines searching the place, too. Chief and Cortana were helping.
"D'you think they're ever gonna hook up?" Sam asked, which caused Layla to stumble and almost double over as she looked at her friend. Despite the joke, Sam soon got back to searching for the specific item their close friend had asked them to search for. They could've used the Counters' help while searching, too, but they didn't wanna bother the Commander or the girls.
Regardless of that, this was literally gonna be like finding a needle in a particularly large haystack. As they walked through the place, though, they saw Pinne take it all in, seemingly trying to remember the details of this place. She had been here, no doubt about it, because she walked calmly around the place, whereas the Marines seemed a bit iffy about possibly finding a UXO or some sort of trap left behind by either the Ark's old troops, or the Raptures.
It did certainly seem as though Pinne was aiming for a specific spot on the map, though, marching ever-so-calmly toward it. There was a walled-off area with a lot of overgrowth and greenery in it. A massive tree rose high into the sky, canopy shielding it. The girls looked at one-another, then decided to follow, with Chief, Cortana, Johnson and Kilo not far behind.
They strode forward, entering the place, with Pinne herself drawing her shotgun just in case as she lead the way in. An overturned vehicle lay to the right, an old tanker that had been emptied of its fuel supply long ago, whatever it might've been. A few skeletons lay among the brush, but her target was just below the large tree growing from the middle of this small compound.
As she walked toward it, more and more memories played. Flashes of Ark Guardian replayed like they happened yesterday. From her stand with her fireteam, to watching Goddess Squad ripping and tearing through the enemy, though she knew for a fact there was an extra member in there. A pink-haired girl clad in a white dress whose back she had seen plenty.
She had seen the girl's face. It was starting to get clearer in her mind as she approached what was below the tree, her hands trembling, grip tight on her gun. A slew of headstones were visible, eroded and damaged by the elements. Some had fallen over thanks to the tree's roots, while others barely stood, the names illegible.
She didn't need the nameplates to remember them, though. Carly, Vina, Mary, Terra, Sheryl and Vicky. She remembered their faces. A Product-12, an iDoll, three Soldiers and a Product 08. She'd worked elbow-to-elbow with those girls. She'd asked the Goddesses to let them bury them in this specific spot.
As she approached, that last face, the one of the woman who'd managed to save her, the pink-haired one, flashed in her mind again. She whispered, "Dorothy…" as she stared at rows of the dead. To her surprise, blood-red poppies grew on the graves. She knelt in front of them, rows of the dead, looking at the small deformations in the ground, showing where they'd been buried.
Did Nikkes decay? She didn't recall. If they didn't… Forever youthful they'd be, even below, like true Goddesses. Niner also flashed in her mind, her smiling face, her helping guard the others. The prosthetic limbs that she used so happily after Mary and Pepper had installed them… She tried to fight back tears as the flashes of her Corruption played in her mind.
… Then they became hers. And she faced down Dorothy in this very spot, a broken toy. The chromed barrel of Dorothy's sidearm was pointed at her, but behind the gun's sights, she saw the pink-haired Goddess, her Goddess, crying, almost begging her Corruption to go away after everything. Pinne bit back tears and looked.
There was no grave with her name on it…
No new headstone.
A Goddess's grave would've been tended to by her Comrades, same way she heard they were tending to that of Liliweiss. That meant Dorothy was probably still out there, somewhere. And she'd left her alone. Left her Goddess alone out there. When that realization struck, she let the dam break… Tears she'd held back flowed freely.
The first to come to her side was Layla. The girl was stunned, asking, "Hey, hey, Pinne, you alright!?" just as Chief approached.
"... I died here…" She managed to let out as the realization finally struck. Sam, Delta, Signal and Layla all stared at her, stunned, while Chief and Cortana walked over, seemingly not surprised by the revelation. The girl continued, "I know all of these graves… I helped bury them. Old Comrades in arms during Ark Guardian…"
The rest of the Lucky Strikes looked at the Chief as he started comforting Pinne, while Cortana sighed deeply, crossing her arms. Johnson spoke, "That'd make ya decades older than your memories. Guessin' that's what that Monitor meant back at the Recomp Station when it talked to ya," as he leaned his own shotgun on his shoulder, a cigar between his lips.
He took his cap off, putting it up to his chest. He paused as he heard the faint whispers of a song, then looked at the others. All of them seemed to have picked it up, with Pinne speaking softly, "... Of course, I am… I remember Goddess as they were back then, starting out as what they are," then she looked ahead, tears still flowing, "I hear you, girls…"
She slowly stood up, wobbly on her feet, with the help of the Chief and the rest of her new squad. As light shined on the meadow around them, it all seemed just that bit more serene. For a moment, the Spartan and his friends could all swear they saw six Nikkes of various models and makes standing behind the old, worn gravestones and mounds of dirt, smiling as they pointed at one grave without its occupant.
Sat beside the grave which was seemingly slightly more maintained than the others, or at least more recently, an old, rusted Product-23 model shotgun resided, leaning against the eroded gravestone. Atop said gravestone, an object glinted in the sunlight, drawing Pinne closer. As she approached, she saw it:A familiar necklace, untainted by rust and untouched by the elements, though it had been sitting there for about as long as the grave itself.
Chief let go of Pinne's hand. Layla did, too. They and the rest of the team watched the girl stand over what many would assume was her own grave from years ago. She spoke, her voice quiet, "Explains why you reacted the way you did when you saw me, Scarlet… You guys knew me…" and she wrapped her hand around the necklace, lifting it slowly off the stone and looking at it in the sunlight.
She opened the back latch, wrapping it around her neck and clipping it shut, before gazing down at it as it lay on her battered chest plate. It glowed in the light. And in that same light, she could swear the figure standing ahead of her was Niner, a Product-12 with the same quirks and looks. She smiled at Pinne from behind her helmet, then put a nigh invisible hand on her own and wrapped the girl's fingers around the necklace…
To you, from failing hands, we throw, the torch be yours, to hold it high…
… She looked up from the pendant, to the sight of all her old comrades, now gathered 'round the grave. She didn't care if anyone else could see them or her at this very moment. She simply fell to her knees, leaning against the grave and letting herself sob for a moment as all her memories flooded back to her, only feeling the comforting hands of her comrades on her shoulders.
The Outpost
Headquarters
Alyosha had settled into writing the next batch of requisition forms for the garrison, including acquiring some more food-stuffs for the entire place. Soda and such, too, for Anis, rather obviously, he thought to himself as he jotted down a small shopping list to take to the req officer. Thankfully, it seemed like the UNSC wouldn't soon run out of food to hand out. Hell, they were still going through the cheese reserves from that one cave they'd found.
There was also data sent from Doctor Halsey's laboratory, with the doc herself presumably on her way to visit his office within the next thirty minutes. He wanted to get as much of the paperwork done as possible before they went on to meet the threat that was this 'Modernia'. Though she was familiar, Alyosha couldn't quite put his finger on it.
It was concerning, but they'd figure it out and deal with her when the time came and all operations plans were finalized. He soon realized he still had to work on those, too, in order to have what to send to Chief Deputy Andersen and Captain Cutter later down the line. Shifty was also busy with helping finalize the battle plans for some other stuff.
He paused as he heard a knock on the door, then said, "C'mon in," and saw it slide open. Doc Halsey walked in and set down the Vapaus ammo he'd given her before, to which he looked up and asked, "I'm gonna guess you got this stuff researched, doc?" as he picked up the rounds. They would probably be useful for dealing with Modernia.
"Indeed," Halsey nodded. She sat down on the chair in front of him, picking up one of the req forms and looking it over as she asked, "I believe you've read what I also sent ahead of time in regards to specifics… Such as where to find more, per some old Missilis databases," before she set the paper down and lifted up her tablet.
He nodded and said, "I did. It might have to wait until after the Modernia op. Taking her out is a priority for just about everyone," as he lifted up his own tablet and started looking over the full report. There had once been a lab that was studying Vapaus specifically. He paused, however, when he saw what it said about how Vapaus was made. He blinked, looked up at Halsey and asked, "Blood…?"
"Seems like it, yes. Blood with a very specific mutagen that is about as rare as can be," The woman replied calmly as she read through all the data, "A mutagen that only appears in four people I have files on," then she set it down. She looked at him, saying, "You, Chief Deputy Andersen and the Master Chief are among them…"
"... Holy crap," Alyosha murmured, "What about the fourth guy…?"
"I am afraid Noble Six has yet to make an appearance here," Halsey stated, audibly disappointed, before she added, "Though he might be one of the dozen contacts who are, for now, out of range of our coms," and turned the tablet off. Alyosha still stared, stunned at the data before them and the fact Vapaus was quite literally under their noses. And in their blood vessels. She told him, "It is good news… It might help us avoid a future issue like Niner or Marian."
Alyosha whispered, "Yeah," as he looked at it. He blinked for a moment, then asked, "Hey, Doc… Common keywords between Chief and Noble Six… Hyper-Lethal?" to which Halsey cracked a proud smile. She tapped the definition and Alyosha was once again taken aback, before turning a bit giddy, "You think Vapaus might…? I mean, do you reckon I could reach this, too?"
"Vapaus would be at least some form of semi-scientific explanation for your and their preternatural luck," Halsey shrugged, then sighed and said, "Certainly a non-satisfactory one for any person in the scientific field, but one that at least alleviates the concerns to a degree," as she looked around for some coffee.
He pointed at the coffee machine on the counter, a gift from Mustang, before continuing to write his paperwork. He paused, however, when he saw a Missilis transfer order for a Product-08, a sniper unit. He looked up at Halsey, who noticed the paper he was holding and showed him to read more from it as she brewed her mug of coffee.
When he looked down at the transfer request, he blanked as he saw it was for the Counters. Halsey told him, "I figured I would send you a Sniper, Commander. Your unit is lacking in the long-range department from what I've seen of the Roster," with very little issue. She shrugged and said, "You can also send her back if you wish… Though she is strange."
"... Y'know, that always piques my interest, so…" He sighed deeply, then signed the transfer order. Halsey chuckled at that, then whistled. The man sighed, pinching the bow of his nose. She was already here, wasn't she? He turned to the door and watched a very disinterested-looking Product-08 walking in.
She raised a hand and said, "Yo," before blanking and whispering, "Oh, holy shit, you're actually built," before clearing her throat and standing at attention. She snapped a salute and said, "Product-08-91, at your service, Commander. Doc Halsey wasn't very forthcoming with what happened to me between me getting conked out and waking up with orders to transfer to a new squad."
"... Huh," Alyosha spoke, then stood up and saluted, "Welcome to the team. Do you have a name?"
"I'll be," She mumbled, "A commander who actually asks," before she nodded and said, "Call me Rio, sir. Hopin' you have some actual intel on how the hell I wound up here from the surface… Combat Missions don't just get abandoned unless there's a MAS-CAS event, so… Kinda worried about my pals," and she scratched her cheek.
"Why don't you introduce her to the rest of the unit, Commander? I'm certain Andersen's paperwork can wait a few more hours," Halsey quipped, partially sarcastic as she grabbed her now-filled coffee mug and walked out with them. Alyosha sighed deeply, surprised when it came to the Doc's antics, then she showed Rio to follow.
He stretched, straightening his back and somehow causing the girl to whistle. She spoke, "Tell me you're actual brains, not just brawn," to which he looked at her, a bit surprised. She shrugged and asked, "What? My team and I had some pretty shitty commanders going into our deployments upstairs…"
"What was your squad's name?" He asked. Part of him wanted to see if he knew them.
"Skull Head," She shrugged, "Which is why I'm still kinda stunned I got reassigned… Did things really get that bad for us while I was out cold? Like… I haven't even gotten a quick brief on how long I've been asleep," to which Alyosha already had thoughts. A mindwipe or maybe a Mind Switch must've occurred with her, though a mild one.
She noticed the fact he had stopped to process it, then hummed. She added, "I do like the new gear, but the Government change weirds me the hell out. Like, did things really go that bad for us to where we went from the 'Central Government' to the New Unified Earth Government in the timespan of me being KO?"
"Long story," He spoke, then sighed, rubbing his face and saying, "Sorry for the bad introductions. I'm Commander Alyosha Harris. Welcome to the Counters, Rio," and offering her a smile and a shake of the hand. Though she hesitated at first, she shook the man's hand and offered a nod, before watching him take the lead again.
She put her hands on her hips and said, "Everything's fuckin' weird up here, man…" as they approached the dormitory door. He knocked on the door, which surprised the girl yet again, but she commented nothing on it, crossing her arms and waiting. The door itself slid open next, revealing a short-haired woman with dirty blonde hair, auburn eyes and a very revealing outfit.
The Tetra Nikke spoke, "Oh, hey, Commander. Thanks for knocking," with a smile. She looked over at the new girl and said, "... Guessing doc Halsey did what she did to the Chief, huh? Welcome to the Squad, newbie. We were kinda lacking in Sniper support," before turning about and calling out, "Hey, girls! We got a newcomer!"
"Huh," Rio hummed, then nodded and watched as the other three moved forward. She recognized an iDoll Ocean when she saw one, but it wasn't her old friend, Wendi. She looked closer to the Commander, like they were siblings or something. Then, there was a shorter white-haired girl with a sailor outfit and, finally, one with pink hair and red eyes.
The lattermost seemed slightly surprised to see a new unit, but she spoke, "Welcome aboard," before looking at the Commander and asking, "I don't suppose Doctor Halsey ever gives anyone advanced warning when it comes to redeploying troops nowadays, does she?" before looking at the girl and asking, "What's your name?"
"Sup," The girl smirked, "I'm Rio."
A look of pure surprise, mixed with a sudden bout of fear, flashed across the other girl's face. Rio, confused, was about to ask the somewhat familiar figure what had happened, when the Commander asked, "Rapi, are you okay?" thus driving home who Rio was looking at. And despite everything that Rapi might've expected…
… Rio beamed and said, "Holy shit! Rapi!? Look at you!" before she opened her arms and laughed heartily, "I never thought I'd see ya in new digs! What happened to ya, did you get an upgrade or something while I was out!?" all while Rapi was trying to process what she was seeing, turning slightly pale. Rio blinked, suddenly worried, then asked, "Hey… You alright?"
"... Rio…" She whispered, stunned and visibly concerned, "It's you, isn't it…?"
"Duh! I just said so!" The Product-08 replied with a smirk, putting her hands on her hips and stating, "What's your deal, Rapi? You look like you've seen a Ghost! Was me passing out that bad?" before she paused, remembered and laughed, "Oh, man, I can't wait to see how Wendi looks like if this is the kind of upgraded stuff we get after long missions! Where is she, by the way?"
Rapi frowned and Rio's happy demeanor faded, eyes widening, "Rapi… What happened?"