'Ratatosk' HQ, Central Government Building, Ark

Shifty was... Uneasy, to put it lightly. Several of her fellow Operators, the people keeping tabs on Squads on the surface and providing them intelligence, had gone missing in the past week alone. The blue-haired Operator could do little to help them right now, simply peering through intelligence and reports on the movement of surface-based Rapture units, simply taking into account what little satellite coverage they had and the surface Alva sensors.

She checked her belt and felt the comforting self-molding plastic grip of her handgun. The blue-framed 'Glock-style' firearm with a grey slide sat pretty in its holster, noticeably covered in some cutesy patches. She sighed, leaned forward and peered into the screen of her computer, tapping away at the holographic keyboard in order to write up a report on the latest mission the Counters and her newly-assigned friends, 'LUCKY STRIKE' had gone through.

She sighed, murmuring to herself, "Lucky them, finding so many people in one go..." before pulling up a SAT image of the North. She traced their steps from the LZ to the Northern Base and further, to an area marred by clouds and full of Alva Particles that the scanners just couldn't punch through until recently. With a sigh, she attached the map tracing their steps to the report.

She pulled up a few more files, peering through the leftover data from previous Operators that had gone missing while nobody was looking. In the meanwhile, she eavesdropped on two of her 'new' colleagues to her right, men and women clad in more standard military uniforms with headsets, speaking. A young woman said, "Did you hear about the last disappearance? Claudia was taken..."

"Man, this is nuts," Whispered the male sitting with her by the coffee machine. He took a sip of his brew, then murmured toward his friend, "I get we were sent in as replacements for two of the guys that called in sick, but I'm suddenly regretting my choice of signing up with Ratatosk instead of the standard military, or even the REDGUNS..." with a hint of wariness.

The woman shook her head, "Don't... Commanders are going missing in even larger numbers and the REDGUNS have had more and more trouble with the law. Nobody really knows why, but they think it has to do with the rumors of the 'Green Folks' as the people some of our MP units apprehended call them. Some new faction that appeared in the Outer Rim," and she shrugged, "I dunno, man. Normally, I wouldn't suggest this, but part of me thinks it might be Missilis at fault here."

"The hell would make you think that?" He raised a brow.

The girl replied sarcastically, "Dunno, Genius. Maybe it's the fact a lot of the staff everywhere in the CG and Enikk's Court are slowly disappearing and being replaced by Missilis-friendly faces... Maybe it's the fact Missilis stocks have recently been skyrocketting, too. Maybe it's the fact Syuen hasn't made a public appearance in two weeks to boast about how good her stuff is in comparison to, say, Elysion or Tetra."

"Maybe she's busy? And maybe people realized Missilis is actually putting work into their tech... I don't know," He shrugged.

The girl rolled her eyes, "Whatever, man. Let's get back to work. We still got three or four more squads who need our support out there, not to mention the Wolves suddenly making appearances around the bend..." then she stepped off with a quick goodbye. Shifty, having overheard all of this, suddenly felt a chill shoot up her spine. She cast a sideways glance at the empty console beside her, remembering Tom, the other more quirky guy she used to work with had gone missing a few days ago. No replacement ever came.

As her phone alarm rang, the girl plucked it up, shuth the alarm off and got out of her seat, walking past several rows of consoles, some occupied, some not, toward the mess hall for her break. New people stared weirdly at the old staff around, the air around the entire Ratatosk HQ being of... Distrust. Clinical paranoia, almost. Shifty felt it, too. She swallowed empty as she entered the Mess, seeing it was half-full. Going to grab a tray, she waited to see what kind of Splendamin she should expect today.

One of the security detail Nikkes stared at her for a moment, cradling her shotgun. A Product 23, terrifyingly enough, with her standard six-gauge. Impassive and dead serious, compared to Pinne, whom Shifty had had a few chats with these past couple days. In truth, she'd kept in touch with every girl assigned to Commander Harris's outpost and even with the Chief as of late. It's why she knew just how well Nikkes would behave if treated like people.

She swallowed, moved toward a half-empty table where staff from the higher echelons of the Central Government sat, staring and talking with suspicion about random, uninteresting subjects. Shifty felt a few eyes fall on her from the opposite end of the table from both men and women, but they simply returned to their discussion as they sat there. She started eating what seemed to be apple Splendamin. Bittersweet. Not bad...

In the corner of her eye, she could still see the Product 23 staring at her, her visor's camera shutters slowly closing and opening. The Nikke turned her head and put her left hand up to her ear, replying to some form of communication quietly. She stepped off toward another area while a Product-01, a more standard, heavily armored soldier model, took her place.

Missilis-standard Mass Production Units had replaced a lot of the old security, it seemed. Even here, amidst the marble floors, mahogany tables and comfortable chairs of the Mess Hall, there was unease. The recessed ceiling lights buzzed ominously, terrifyingly loud for poor Shifty, whose eyes and ears were peeled just in case. Something felt wrong about today, alright.

She felt a new pair of eyes watching her. Looking toward the buffet, she caught sight of another new face. He had scars all over his face and wore a pair of sunglasses, though his scars were different to Andersen, same as his aviators. She could barely make out the item tucked away in his brown jacket as a pistol. Turning away when he turned to look at her, she quickly finished her meal, stood to her feet and marched back to her station to grab her reports.

When she did, she saw a second figure staring at her, a woman. Seemed like people really liked to pair up into girls and boys here. She grabbed her reports and walked over to deposit the physical copies in a nearby room when a third figure began to approach her. The room was shrouded in darkness, cold. She froze as she heard the door shut a few seconds later than normal, followed by the sound of a gun cocking.

She closed her eyes, expecting the worst. Damn Syuen and her rat bastards. If this was what they were doing to the others, she was gonna wind up in an unmarked hole deeper than the city itself and she knew it. Her lips trembled, expecting a bullet that never came, only to hear the silent cough of a handgun and the clatter of a pistol falling to the floor. She turned around and saw the tall man from before holding the passed-out assassin that'd come after her. The man kicked the pistol under a table and hid the body of the man in one of the multitude of lockers around, before sighing deeply.

Putting a hand up to his ear as he holstered his pistol, he spoke, "Challenge, this is Eagle. Made contact with Persephone, but I and Guillotine were almost a second too late. We'll be making our way out of Target Building Lubyanka now..." before stopping in front of Shifty. The girl trembled, gripping the reports tightly to her chest. He took the reports, set them on the desk to their left and asked quietly, "You Shifty?"

"Y-Yes..." The girl whimpered out, "A-A-Are... You here to... T-to kill me...?"

The man smiled at that, then gave her a gentle pat on the head, stating, "No. I and my associate are here to get you out safely. Commander Alyosha sent us," And that got her eyes to light up. He then told her, "Put these on and follow us," before handing her a small Commander's uniform. He turned around and walked over toward the locker he'd put the knocked-out assassin in, giving her privacy in the darkness. Should she trust them, or not?

Quickly, she grabbed the gun from underneath the desk and checked it, only for her eyes to widen as she saw real, live ammunition in it. She swallowed, set the gun down and whispered to herself, "Trust... Trust..." before taking off her headset and putting it aside. She dumped her clothes into a backpack that came with the gear and made sure she had her own pistol hidden underneath the brown coat.

The man nodded, "Looking sharp, kid. Keep that hair tucked away and the gun hidden somewhere you can grab it quick. Let's move..." and opened the door. He met up with his other compatriot, who also had a silenced dartgun hidden under her coat. He asked her, "We good, Park?" as he looked around at the other Operators and Commanders, some of which were also as colorful as Shifty.

"Clear," The black-haired woman said. She turned to Shifty and smiled, then showed them to follow. The woman led them down the ornate stairs of the building and the man held onto Shifty gently, so as not to arise suspicion. The small girl kept her head tucked away underneath her cap, though she stole glances every so often at the staff. Some were old friends, others were new faces, probably sent in by Syuen.

When they arrived near the main lobby, the woman whispered, "Damn," with a hint of anger. The other two poked their heads past the corner and saw a checkpoint secured by that same Product 23 and a couple of her sisters. 'Park' leaned back and cocked her head to the left, whispering, "Our only way out's down, now," and putting a hand up to her ear, "Challenge, Park. Be advised:Ran into complication. Door has a checkpoint... We'll be exiting via secondary exfil."

The trio walked together in a close-knit V, past security details and even that Product 23 that was staring at them, her shotgun in hand. She tilted her head when she spotted Shifty looking at her, then furrowed her brows behind her visor. She gave a hand signal to her sister, who nodded, then moved out toward the back door that the trio were now taking to get out of sight.

She moved toward it, then inside, thumbing the safety of her shotgun to off and engaging her flashlight. She swept the area, finding it to be a simple backroom, a boiler area with a canal. She approached the manhole in the middle, where the floor sloped to allow condensation to drain, then knelt beside the manhole, checking if it was recently opened. What she didn't see coming was the woman of the group putting three Suppression bullets into her back and one in her head. The Nikke crumpled like a sack of potatoes beside the manhole.

The man motioned to Park to help him lift her, then groaned as they did so. Park complained, "Damn, are these girls heavy..." before they managed to set her aside in a dark corner, behind the last boiler on the left. The man then propped open the manhole while Park kept the door secure, telling a trembling Shifty, "We're in the home stretch, girl. You'll be at the Outpost, sipping tea with the Commander before long..."

"T-Thank you... Who are you two?" She asked, wary.

"Call me Adler. This is Park," He replied, pulling the Manhole cover off. He said, "We're friends of the Chief's and LUCKY STRIKES'," then he motioned to the manhole. Shifty approached and her face immediately wrinkled and she furrowed her brows, covering her mouth and nose. She sighed deeply and looked to Park and Adler as if to confirm and, when she got nods from both, she prayed to the good lord, held her breath and climbed down, landing with her feet on one of the side platforms of the sewers.

Park came down next, with Adler pulling the manhole cover back over. Finally, Shifty had the time to ask, "... Who are you guys, anyways? Like, I got a faint idea of who Chief, the other Spartans and Marines are, but... Are you guys from the Surface? Are you some new faction that managed to survive somewhere, or...?" while she followed them down a path. She gagged, covering her nose again.

"Commander Harris is better off providing info when we're not on our way out," Park replied. She hummed, then asked, "Adler, did you manage to disable her Chip?"

"I disabled its tracking, not the full thing," He replied, lifting a phone. Park nodded as they moved forward. Shifty blinked, wanted to ask something, but chose not to and followed them up the ladder they picked to climb out of the sewer area. They'd arrived in the middle of an alleyway, where a car with its lights off waited for them. A woman with greying blonde hair waited there, arms crossed. She was wearing casual clothes. Beside her, two rough-looking men with suppressed SMGs.

The blonde spoke, "This Shifty?"

"I am..." The girl nodded.

"Welcome to the Good Guys," The woman nodded, "I'm Captain Veronica Dare, Office of Naval Intelligence Section 3. Long story short, we're the Faction the Chief's from," and she propped open the door for Shifty. The rough men in SMGs soon moved out and uncovered another vehicle, a two-seater car. Getting in and starting it, they took the lead as Shifty, Adler, Park and Dare entered the rear car.

Dare sighed deeply, then radioed, "Challenge to all Assets... Greenlight. Persephone secured. RTB," only to turn back to face Shifty as Adler started driving. She spoke to her, "Commander Harris was insistent we get you out of the line of fire quickly... We've got assets searching for the rest of your friends in the CG building so we can bring them and a few Commanders to our side."

"... Who's trying to kill us...?" Shifty asked, finally feeling like she could let out a few tears, her heart thumping in her throat.

Park sighed, then looked to the girl, asking, "Would you be surprised if we said Syuen?" only to note a faint surprise in Shifty's eyes, otherwise calm. She snorted and asked, "Guess not... Yes, there's an ongoing power struggle within the Ark. It's why we're ensuring everyone important to the continued survival of Mankind is on our side. Syuen isn't on that list, rather obviously..."

"Okay," Shifty nodded as she slowly began to settle. Dare handed her a handkerchief with which she wiped her tears, then said, "... So, Commander Harris told you about me?"

"Him and the rest of the Counters and Lucky Strikes," Adler replied, then sorted and shook his head, "You guys picked one hell of a name for his squad, I swear. Fits Chief to a Tee..." only to pause. He held his hand up to his ear and said, "Divert right..." before tilting his head forward. Dare turned around and Park poked out from behind his seat, all three looking forward at what Shifty also saw to be a checkpoint around the CG Building.

"Man, we nailed the Lubyanka bit, didn't we...?" Park murmured, then pulled up a GPS and said, "Keep with our escorts, Adler. We'll make it out of here yet..." only for Shifty to feel the car turn on almost a dime. The two vehicles continued down a road parallel to the one they were supposed to go down, noting that there was also an increase in patrol units in the AO. Police and Central Government enforcer troops.

Shifty spoke, "They've got Triangle and the rest of the CG's Security Personnel out, too...?" in a murmur. The vehicles continued to roll, avoiding patrols until they finally made it to one of the checkpoints they had to cross. Shifty soon realized, "We're going into the Outer Rim...?" only to watch the Agents that had retrieved her tense up. They handed the Policewoman guarding the Checkpoint some IDs, which she scanned. Peering inside, she saw Shifty hiding her face and showed her to lift the cap.

Park gave her a nod, but patted her own sidearm just in case. Shifty did as asked, trembling a little. The Policewoman gave one quick glance again at the ID card, then at the girl, nodded approvingly and said, "Safe trip, Commodore. God knows the youngsters need to learn how dangerous that shithole is..." which got a short, annoyed laugh out of Adler.

They rolled past the walls and into a garage to the right of the gate and some blocks down, where another platoon of armed, green-clad soldiers came in. The leading Marine spoke, "Hope the trip over wasn't too much, Spooks," while the Marines also unloaded some supplies into the place, a seeming safe-house for these people. A pair of them waited by a ramshackle door.

"Went off almost without a hitch," Dare commented as she got out of the vehicle and opened the door for Shifty. She offered the girl her hand and said, "Follow me. we'll get you to a Pelican and out of here ASAP," to which Shifty gently took her hand. Dare looked to Adler and Park and nodded, "Good luck on the next one, kids. Make sure you don't shoot too many narq darts."

Adler snorted, "See you, Captain. Godspeed, Shifty."

"... Thank you," She said, finally relaxing, "All of you."

Park nodded, "You're welcome. We'll be seeing you, kiddo," And the vehicle rolled out. Dare led the girl out the door, under the guard of the two Marines. What stunned Shifty, however, was not the presence of armed security. That was necessary in the Outer Rim. No, not the guards, or the armed Marines, or the turrets hidden amidst the ramshackle buildings.

It was that these folks, the United Nations Space Command, were somehow providing medical aid to the children of the place. A clinic lay to her right where what looked to be soldiers clad in medical garb sat, tending to kids with their medicine in hand and rifles on their backs. Families were flooding to the small encampment where soldiers brought in food. Food. Not Splendamin. It didn't look like damn Splendamin anyway.

She paused when Dare offered her a bar of Chocolate and said, "Freshly unfrozen from the Spirit of Fire's stocks... Take it," with a smile. Shifty nodded in thanks, too stunned for words, then bit down onto the bar. What she found wasn't the usual bland sweetness of standard-blend chocolate-flavored Splendamin. It was not your chemically-infused slop, so common in the average citizen's diet. It was real chocolate... And it tasted so sweet, the girl let out a squeak as tears welled in her eyes.

Dare smiled at that as they climbed to the top of one of the shanty buildings. It was there that an aircraft waited, a bulky, four-engine armored transport. Dare motioned to the back door, where medical staff were also waiting to check on her. Shifty then boarded the transport shyly, looked upon Dare and said, "I... I don't know if I can thank you all enough for saving me..."

"Just stay close and keep being Harris's Operator. He'll need it," Dare offered. She lifted her hand and showed the Pilots to lift off. Giving a wave goodbye, the woman descended as the aircraft took off. In about 30 minutes, the aircraft swung in for landing at one of the newly-built landing pads in the Outpost. Shifty stood up, trembling still and with the chocolate wrapper in hand.

She watched the back hatch open, revealing the place was slowly becoming a garrison for the UNSC. Marines patrolled the streets alongside Nikkes, staff chatted with smiles on their faces and some UNSC combat vehicles were already present. Flying machines hovered overhead, flying toward the Outpost's exposed surface access point. Twin-engine heavy transports armed with gatling cannons and missiles, too.

Getting off of the Pelican transport, the girl was greeted by the sight of the Counters. Anis opened her arms for a hug and cried out, "Shifty!" as she beamed. She and Neon rushed and immediately hugged the voice that was formerly inside their heads. Even Commander Harris and Rapi were present, both of them smiling at the sight of the young woman.

Alyosha walked up to her and patted her on the head, saying, "Glad to see you made it, Shifty..." only to gasp as the girl broke free of Anis and Neon's grips and hugged him, too, tears welling in her eyes. He spoke, sighing, "Must've been terrifying for you, huh...? Well, don't worry. The UNSC's gonna keep us safe now... And they've got plans for the entire Ark, to stop Syuen..."

"Thank you..." She could only whisper. The Counters and their commander exchanged one quick look, then nodded and walked off the landing pad as the Pelican took back off. Walking into the Command Center, with Shifty having finally let go, they met with the present staff. Captain Cutter pointed at an area on the Ark's map, then paused as he saw Shifty come in.

He nodded to the Commander and Counters and said, "Glad to see she got off scott-free. Welcome to the Outpost, Miss Shifty," before approaching. He gently knelt in front of her and said, "I'm Captain James Cutter, officer of the UNSC and commander of the ship all these fine men and women are from. You're safe here."

Shifty mustered up a quick salute, to which Cutter replied in kind. She looked around, made mental notes and asked, "Where's the Master Chief?"

"Currently busy escorting Commander Keyes alongside Blue Team," Another UNSC officer said, hands behind his back. He told her, "Speaking of, we'd like to talk to you, miss Shifty. We believe you can help us identify the best locations to move onto..." only to pause as Cutter cleared his throat. He sighed and added fondly, "Obviously, after you get some rest. Commander Harris..."

"I'll let Neon and Anis get her to her room," He replied. The tired Shifty yawned as the two Nikkes walked her out of the place and toward the dorms upstairs. He sighed deeply, letting the tension leave his body as he said, "I don't think we can thank you guys enough for that. Shifty's the reason we survived several close encounters with Raptures when we did, so..."

"Any asset's important in a game of this scale, Commander," Cutter offered, "We're still working on tracking other Commanders and crews down, but I think ONI's got it down pat for now. As I said, though, we'll need targets to seize. Power Stations, police buildings, offices, everything up to and including the CG's main building over here," and he pointed at it, "Though, if I were to hazard a guess, Andersen has that covered."

"I think the Police is fine," Alyosha replied with a smirk, "I know some of them. They'll help."

He wondered how Poli saw all this as it was happening. Then again, the ACPU probably knew to stay low. Elysion trained them well.