Only Human (Goddess of Victory NIKKE SI)

[Fragment of Serenity]

Now we need to know where Neon is because she is the only one still missing...

Click to shrink...

She's likely stuffing her face full of dino-nuggies.

Or making things explode.

Likely both.

 

[Jsebas19]

so any bets how many failed Joe clones are in a missilis dump somewhere?kek

Click to shrink...

In the game the MC is No. 7, I bet that here in OH there would be 7 failed MMR superhumans which would provide justification for why the commander of the game is not in OH because he is dead.

I theorized that the program failed since Joe is from another world, his DNA and blood would not be compatible with the other subjects.

 

[Jsebas19]

Now that I think about it... Rapi's situation in OH reminds me a lot of Mythra in Xenoblade 2 Torn, where like both Red Hood and Mythra seeing a loved one they loved but suffered because of Red Hood and Mythra, caused both to be sealed or "died" consciously or unconsciously (Mythra due to the shock of seeing Milton's lifeless body caused Pyra to be sealed and created, a less powerful and kinder version of Mythra, and Red Hood suffering the mind switch would cause the death of his personality and Rapi would be created.
Being what Red Hood promised to the dying Joe while "Diing" being Rapi, more obedient, serious, less perverted military, I mean the opposite of Red Hood to be the nikke that Joe deserves from his perspective)

 

[BakaSmurf]

===
Chapter 74 - All You Can Be
===

After she calmed down, Joe said his good-nights to Rapi and headed to his room to let her see herself out. The following day, the man stirred from sleep.

Said sleep had done little to rejuvenate him in the wake of recent events.

He kept his eyes shut, sighing as he confirmed that he'd fallen onto bed and passed out without getting properly undressed first. Might've contributed to his shitty night.

As much as the man would have loved to just remain where he was, and hopefully slip back into unconsciousness, his brain began to spool up.

As waking thoughts began to assert themselves in his mind's eye, he started to turn over to-

Hear a soft, protesting whine at the motion of the bed being disturbed.

Eyes slamming open, Joe was immediately confronted by the sight of Rapi, curled up right next to him, similarly atop the sheets and nearly fully-dressed like him.

Where the Commander had slipped back into wakefulness, the little blonde slept with what looked to be utter contentment.

She lay there, little other than her lips and eyelids slightly trembling in the midst of what must have been a fairly fierce dream, given the slight, almost inaudible vocalizations she periodically produced.

At once, Joe's mind flashed back with significant intensity to their time together in Goddess. All the times he'd awake to Red Hood, having crawled into his bed and under the covers to startle him awake with shamelessly rakish intent.

Rapi didn't actually leave the previous night, after Joe wished her pleasant dreams and proceeded to pass out the moment he laid down—just to collect himself before actually going to sleep, he'd assured himself.

She had, in fact, fallen back upon old habits from a far and away lifetime instead.

Back then, this was a particular bedbug Joe didn't mind getting nipped by. But now?

What was she doing? Was this her deliberately enticing him? Was she trying to signal to him that she wanted a return to that?

But she'd clearly only spent the night there. She'd laid down and gone to sleep alongside him without doing anything.

Did she, rather, want something deeper than what they'd had a century prior? Did she want him, but this time, in a meaningful manner?

Heart skipping a beat, at the thought of entwining their fingers together, Joe's breath hitched at the image of being romantically intimate with Rapi. Of sharing a bed with her every night. Of-

His attention, his mind's eye, drifted to Marian's I.D. on the nightstand beside him.

The man started to rapidly shift into panic mode. Self-defence mechanisms kicked in, and attempted to silence, to at least muffle such thoughts and related considerations.

Here. Now. The Raptures. Him. His title. Who he was. Who he needed to be.

He was the Legendary Commander. That's who he was, that's who he needed to be.

He couldn't afford to waste time on anything else. He couldn't afford such dalliances. Not when he didn't focus enough back then.

Not when he'd already failed humanity once before. Not when his not taking his duty seriously enough is what caused almost the entirety of humanity to fall. Not when this weight was placed on his shoulders again. Not-

Rapi let out a grumbling sigh, reaching up to rub at her eyes as she stirred heavily, groaning and wordlessly complaining about the need to wake, as she always would back then. She lifted her head without opening her eyes, whining as wakefulness too, dug its claws into her.

Plonking her head back down, her eyes drifted open, then slammed open as widely as Joe's had.

Joe and Rapi's gazes met. Rapi, clearly, was just as caught off-guard as he was.

There was a beat in which the pair just stared at each other.

Then at once, they each rolled in opposite directions, very literally leaping to their feet on the flanks of the bed as though their lives depended on it.

"I-" Rapi cried out, only for her voice to catch in her throat.

"I-" Joe started as well, only to similarly fumble over his own breath and choke.

There was a long, stifling pause as neither of the two seemed to be able to find the words to address the other.

Utter, oppressive silence filled the room, until Rapi suddenly started off for the door. "I-I'm going to go do maintenance on my gear!"

"Okay," Joe shot back without missing a beat, the two pointedly not looking each other's way as Rapi power-walked off.

Rapi quickly zoomed through the apartment space, and out the hallway door. She power walked up to the elevator, reaching out to hit the button to call it-

Only to pause, brain glitching as she noticed that it was already making its way up to the current floor.

For a moment, the blonde just stared, then her mind kicked into overdrive, and was horrified by the notion of someone catching her leaving Joe's room first thing in the morning.

Still dressed in the same clothes she'd been wearing the previous night, hair a mess, and having no reasonable explanation for why she'd laid down next to Joe once she'd noticed he'd immediately fallen asleep.

She didn't want to leave after he'd finished comforting her. She didn't want it to end. She just wanted to make sure he didn't have any nightmares. She was just worried about him. She just wanted to make sure he slept soundly and safely.

He looked so miserable all the time, despite her memories from Goddess revealing to her how broadly he could smile, how brightly his eyes could shine. She wasn't doing enough. She clearly wasn't doing enough.

She wanted to be able to be there for him, she wanted to be with him all the time, so he'd never be alone.

But she'd be criticized for that. After all she'd done, where did she get off? Who did she think she was? By what right did she presume to be with him?

So, Rapi leapt for the door leading to the stairwell, and started bounding down them to avoid being caught.

Back in his room, Joe had retreated to the bathroom to wash his face with cold water. He did his level best to just not think about the fact that Rapi had, rather than leave, snuggled up next to him the previous night.

Just don't. Just don't. The here and now. His job, his duty. That was all that mattered, that was all that could matter. He couldn't afford to entertain the notion of relationships.

So, just-

A knock from the front caught his attention, followed by a call out.

"Joe?" Cinderella's voice carried into the washroom, and upon finishing drying his face, he ambled out to greet her.

The man was met by not only Cinderella carrying a tray bearing a pair of steaming bowls, but by the silverette wearing a new outfit.

Cinderella was no longer in her incredibly revealing, skin-tight, half-transparent bodysuit.

Instead, she was wearing a simple, perilously low-cut white sundress, adorned with little other than a white ribbon nestled just beneath her bosom, and a simple pattern of four, evenly-spaced black Petrine crosses along the hem of the skirt.

A white choker encircled her neck, alongside a more traditional ivory chain necklace and a ribbon strip which plunged deep into her cleavage.

Another length of ribbon encircled her right leg, just tightly enough to produce noticeable thigh squish. It trailed from all the way up to where a thigh-high stocking would terminate, all the way down to her ankle.

The most ostentatious aspect of her attire was, intensely prominent cleavage aside, her 'glass slippers.'

Because of course, Cinderella would gleefully adorn a set of transparent, about three-inch high-heels at the first opportunity.

A thoroughly simple outfit compared to what she typically wore—though the get-up's simplicity still only worked in her favour. Complimentary, yet not distracting from her own beauty. In a word: perfection.

"Do you find my new attire agreeable?" Cinderella inquired, lightly cocking her head at Joe, still holding the tray with a small, anticipatory smile.

"Jesus fucking Christ, you're resplendent," the man breathlessly, yet immediately shot back with unabashed awe, legitimately struck dumb by the reminder of just how pretty the woman was.

The part where he got embarrassed for expressing as much didn't even come, because what had he said besides the plain truth?

For her part, Cinderella's smile turned ruinously smug. That smile, that damned smile. She'd inherited it from her father, and good Lord was it dangerous to be caught in its area of effect.

Needless to say, Joe gawked like a smitten teenager, while Cinderella shamelessly basked in his deer-in-headlights stare. After a moment, she ambled towards his desk, gracefully setting the tray down.

Then, she stepped back from the surface again, and upon meeting Joe's eyes-

The Commander hurked and nearly lost his footing as Cinderella spun atop her toes—her twintails and the hem of her skirt flaring out at the motion most dangerously.

Noting that her underwear was incredibly scanty might've been in poor taste, were she not making it very clear that she wanted as much to be known. You could tell that she was Andersen's daughter every time she shamelessly, pridefully flaunted her body like that.

While Joe braced himself against the washroom door frame, Cinderella just presented that striking smile that dripped in self-assured endearment to him.

"We all woke to new outfits this morning," Cinderella explained matter-of-factually. "From Tetra Line, a friend of yours and my father's, apparently. We've been here for only a day, and already, gifts abound… Such a beauteous state for we goddesses to find ourselves in."

She smiled contentedly, lightly running a finger along the hem of the skirt Mustang evidently had tailored for her on very short notice. That man was prepared for anything, it seemed.

"Come," the short silverette instructed the man, as she claimed the seat across from his own. "I made this for you—I want to see you enjoy the fruits of my labour."

Blinking in surprise, Joe's attention was drawn to the steaming bowls. He approached the desk, to see what Cinderella had made.

"Vegetable soup?" He observed, making note of the large chunks of potatoes, carrots, and celery amidst obvious signs of fine seasoning.

With an acknowledging nod, Cinderella replied, "Just like how you taught me, so long ago…"

She closed her eyes, halfway between nostalgia and longing melancholy.

"I've done my best to perfect it, since you descended into the Ark. I might not be able to ever enjoy it with you again in this life…"

"But, perhaps, it might feel as though we were still connected, if I maintained and continued to partake in this simple recipe you'd once taught me."

Cinderella once again looked at Joe, her smile wide and earnestly fulfilled.

"It has since been an unending dream of mine. One cloying, so tempting to lose myself entirely to, in times of isolation."

"The notion that I might one day finally prepare a meal for you, just as you would have done for me. But the first of many to come."

Her smile redoubled. "A meal which we might share, once, and ever onward into a most beautiful future together."

Picking up one of the bowls, she leaned over and set it before Joe's seat, before doing the same with her own.

"Come, let's eat, my Prince," Cinderella directed him with a smile.

Joe… Did as instructed. Though he returned Cinderella's smile, he did his best to just not absorb her deeply romantically charged words, avoid letting them take root and take his mind off of his duty.

Don't, he told himself. Just don't.

Focus on the path ahead. You can't afford anything else. Mankind can't afford anything else. You have to be a hero, not a lover.

You have to be a soldier, a warrior, a restless commander whose eyes remain fixed on his terrible duty. With only regard for the whole of humanity, whose lives have once again been placed upon your shoulders.

You're the Legendary Commander.

That's all you can be.

He sat down, and shared a table with the gorgeous woman, greatly enjoying the deceptively simple meal she'd offered him.

With a grateful smile, Joe thanked Cinderella for making breakfast—one which he only belatedly realized might well have been worth the equivalent of many hundreds of dollars in the Ark proper.

This given that she'd informed him that she'd used real vegetables and herbs from Scarlet's various gardens on the surface. The man wasn't sure Cinderella had quite caught up to Privaty's spending, but this simple bowl of soup doubtlessly got her damn close in one fell swoop.

Even still, the diminutive Grimms wasn't done, it seemed. From a distantly familiar thigh-mounted pouch, she withdrew what looked like a super heavy-duty phone, and slid it over to him.

"Your original phone died a very long time ago, and was left with Dorothy when she made a… Memorial for you in Eden," she explained somewhat mournfully.

"But, its contents were transferred over to this device. All of your music, pictures, movies and such, are all still in there. Along with a fair few extra pictures and recordings I'd taken over the years."

Blinking, Joe remembered handing various personal articles over to Goddess, back when he descended into the Ark that fateful day. The girls had actually maintained his stuff, to the best of their ability, then?

Reaching out, he picked up the phone, and upon unlocking it… He stared at it in mild non-comprehension, because this was not the Android interface his phone had used—nor was it the interface used by the Elysion or Tetra Line phones either.

He, at least, was able to start making his way to the pictures.

While he fumbled around with the device, Cinderella spoke up again. "I must apologize, my Prince. Given that I was under the impression that you were gone, and, how… Melancholic I would often grow, wishing to see you again, I did eventually go through the personal photos and videos you had on it."

There was a beat as Joe processed that.

His lips parted slightly, and his eyes went wide as he realized that, indeed, everything he'd had on his old phone was still there.

Everything-

"I do truly apologize for the violation of your privacy, even while believing you gone," Cinderella continued. "Though, I cannot be anything but earnest regarding how glad I am to have so many articles of confirmation that I am very much your ideal woman. Your taste is utterly patrician, my Prince."

The twintailed shortstack silverette's expression achieved levels of smug scarcely describable even by the unfettered chimeric lexicon of the English language. She'd found the good stuff, and found naught but sweet validation therein.

What had he done to deserve this?

With characteristic grace, Cinderella rose to her feet as she reached out and gathered up the now empty soup bowls.

With the tray in hand once more, she looked down at a still-seated Joe, and with an appraising hum, she said, "While I'm sure that you'll be eager to reacquaint yourself with your long-lost archives…"

Her grin, somehow, someway, against all odds, became even more smugly anticipatory as she continued.

"Do be sure to also enjoy the most recent additions to your collection too. At least as much as I enjoyed ensuring your new phone's camera is up to par."

With that, Cinderella about-faced, and moved for the hallway door with a deliberately exaggerated sashay, leaving Joe alone again after delivering that final, crushing blow to his resolve.

The man was left dazed, downright stupefied. He very pointedly set the device containing all of the memories of his old phone down, without opening the photo album first. That woman was too damned confident, too damned assured in her goals.

He had to just keep his head. Remain focused. Not let his attention waver.

For as much as Joe might have earnestly adored Cinderella, knowing how she felt about him and how genuine, and loyal she was, how she'd never done anything to hurt him, how she'd just demonstrated that she wished to be good to him, and would act upon that wish with such fervent earnesty, how he himself wanted to see her happy and fulfilled…

To say nothing of Rapi, what he'd once had with her, and what she might want from him too, in the here and now.

His mind's eye, once again, drifted to Marian's I.D. badge on his nightstand.

Somehow, the Raptures didn't quite seem like the scariest thing in the world to the Legendary Commander anymore.

 

[Fragment of Serenity]

'F' in the comments for Joe's pelvis.

And a second one for what's left of his sanity.

He's not making it out of this with either.

 

[Jackie Avocado]

Man down! Man down! She found his hentai stash!

 

[VH777Dragon]

Man down! Man down! She found his hentai stash!

Click to shrink...

Should we pity Joe for that or rage on how he's platonic ideal woman is still in to him?

 

[Jsebas19]

Man down! Man down! She found his hentai stash!

Click to shrink...

And don't forget the fact that Andersen might realize that Joe's collection "Corrupted" his daughter's mind turning her into a perverted Andersen 2.0. So in a nutshell; Rest in peace Joe because the knife will make its return.
I find one thing ironic; Joe avoided Cinderella's corruption at the hands of Red Shoes, but Joe's private phone collection also corrupted his mind.

Did you notice that Cinderella's dress is the Gacha skin, "Glass Princess"? Yes, that's right, so it won't be long before we see Scarlet with her "Longing Flower" skin.
I wonder what Snow White and Rapunzel's new skins or clothes would be.

Come to think of it, if Cinderella saw the contents of Joe's phone... does that mean she knows Joe isn't from her world? Because I mean the dates should be shown on the images and videos taken.

Joe's presence brought changes and even rewrote history, bringing positive and negative reactions. If Joe prevented Cinderella's corruption it means that Abe never became Grave and the rest of Old Tales are still united and did not suffer the trauma of their game versions being dismembered by Anachiro. The theory is that they work in Eden with Dorothy
Because snow white already gave a clue: that Eden has the knowledge and technology to reactivate the glass slippers and let's remember that the only one who knows how to make them work is Abe because she was the one who created Cinderella.

 

[HellWan]

Oh no, she found his search history.

.
.
.

And she liked it.

 

[VH777Dragon]

Oh no, she found his search history.

.
.
.

And she liked it.

Click to shrink...

Remember earlier in story Joe was down bad for privatys looks to the point he called her, he's ideal woman and Cinderella fits all his boxes.

 

[SuperPulp2789]

Remember earlier in story Joe was down bad for privatys looks to the point he called her, he's ideal woman and Cinderella fits all his boxes.

Click to shrink...

Privaty: "It's a sacrifice that I must do" gets rid of breast compressors "now I have to get clothes that actually fit"

 

[Project Eden]

That feeling of cringe and dread when your porn stash is discovered.

Joe will never live this down. Ever.

 

[Dsaeg]

Focus on the path ahead. You can't afford anything else. Mankind can't afford anything else. You have to be a hero, not a lover.

Click to shrink...

Considering that the power of love is a thing for Nikke I'm pretty sure that such notions would be violently torn apart once others will become aware of such a silly ideas in Joe's head.

 

[Jsebas19]

Privaty: "It's a sacrifice that I must do" gets rid of breast compressors "now I have to get clothes that actually fit"

Click to shrink...

Don't forget when you meet Underworld Queen, the 777 bunnies, Vyper, Mary, Pepper in Bikini, Maiden and others.
but the author has already said it ad nauseam that there will be NO Harem.

I just hope Bakasmurf stands by his words. Because shift up listens more to fanboy otakus who want +18 moments 24 hours a day and that is worrying.

 

[SuperPulp2789]

Don't forget when you meet Underworld Queen, the 777 bunnies, Vyper, Mary, Pepper in Bikini, Maiden and others.
but the author has already said it ad nauseam that there will be NO Harem.

I just hope Bakasmurf stands by his words. Because shift up listens more to fanboy otakus who want +18 moments 24 hours a day and that is worrying.

Click to shrink...

It's a fanservice game, I an sure an hell NOT complaining because we know what we are getting in to and who the audience actually in and it's NOT the "modern audience"

Plus the actually made a Tsundere actually likable and busty

I still feel very annoyed with flatchested short ultra bitches like Louise from Zero No Tsukaima being the main heroines

 

[Ace of Scarabs]

Ellie knows what Joe likes, and she is perfectly happy to give it to him

 

[Jsebas19]

Ellie knows what Joe likes, and she is perfectly happy to give it to him

Click to shrink...

I wonder if Cinderella saw Joe's photos or videos before his arrival in the world of Nikke.
If so, maybe I'm a little suspicious of Joe.

One question, was the game's red hood like the one in OH, or did it have no problem with itself?

One question, what changes do you think Joe made due to his presence in Nikke's world, apart from preventing Cinderella from being corrupted in Anachiro.

 

[Grim Dark Fantasy]

I wonder if Cinderella saw Joe's photos or videos before his arrival in the world of Nikke.
If so, maybe I'm a little suspicious of Joe.

One question, was the game's red hood like the one in OH, or did it have no problem with itself?

One question, what changes do you think Joe made due to his presence in Nikke's world, apart from preventing Cinderella from being corrupted in Anachiro.

Click to shrink...

.
From what it seems, Joe went in with Red Hood to take down the Central Government, and Red Hood managed to hide herself as Rapi for a century, making her the original one and not a fusion.

 

[Dasneaky]

Cinderella was no longer in her incredibly revealing, skin-tight, half-transparent bodysuit.

Click to shrink...

Rip, also I feel like something got to give/break with Joe and the goddess squad is going to have rebuild Joe piece by piece.

 

[Jsebas19]

.
From what it seems, Joe went in with Red Hood to take down the Central Government, and Red Hood managed to hide herself as Rapi for a century, making her the original one and not a fusion.

Click to shrink...

I was referring to whether Red Hood's personality in the game is the same as OH's in terms of problems with herself.

I mean red hood had problems with herself in the game just like OH or not?

Sometimes I wonder if Joe's arrival in Nikke's world caused some alteration in space/time, causing Red Hood and Rapi to be the same person.

 

[BakaSmurf]

===
Chapter 75 - Never Interrupt Your Enemy…
===

By whatever providence had seen fit to show mercy upon him, Joe was granted a measure of peace and quiet, despite the Outpost's mounting population of assorted weirdos and wack jobs.

Pioneer, thankfully, hadn't bum rushed him, and were, in fact, occupied with chasing down Snow White and forcing her into her new outfit.

That made Joe wonder what, exactly, Mustang had provided her, to warrant her to flee as though her life depended on it.

That, combined with Rapi actually keeping a degree of distance—most certainly out of raw embarrassment—meant that Joe was granted some time to centre himself.

Up until he received a pair of messages: first, a text from Ingrid unceremoniously informing him that Counters was officially a Commando unit as per she and Andersen's recommendations. Then, an automated text from Missilis dictating that he had an appointment there shortly.

Meaning that Syuen likely just received word that Joe was a black ops Commander, and had immediately settled on a mission for him and the girls.

Break time was over—continue your Sisyphean task, Commander.

Thus, Joe found himself claiming the seat across from Syuen at Missilis HQ.

The little twerp wasted no time in projecting a hologram to him, the NDA he was expected to sign before he'd be informed of anything.

It was all exactly as expected: 'if you violate the terms as established in this document, we will literally atomize your very soul,' et cetera, et cetera.

With a shrug, Joe signed it, given that Syuen hadn't done anything exceptionally stupid like attempting to slip any 'also, you literally belong to us now' clauses in.

What she had done, however, was only specify that Joe couldn't share any information with Elysion or the Central Government. Specifically. Meaning that he could just go to Mustang for logistical support on this one.

Gaping blind spots were pretty evidently a recurring issue with Syuen.

Grinning with intense satisfaction, Syuen closed the hologram, and leaned back in her seat, crossing her arms as she did so.

"Well then, now that we're all on the same page…" the diminutive ravenette started, "as per your own prerequisites…"

"We've had scouts scouring the surface in search of any possible sources of pre-Ark technology. We found one."

With a snap of her fingers, another hologram appeared between them, this time showing a number of images depicting a… Starkly familiar sight.

"In the former United States, Oregon. We stumbled upon the entrance to a Lost Sector; a failed Ark."

Joe's eyes went wide. In the Initial Rapture Invasion, he was aware that attempts were being made to build multiple Arks all over the world.

The location of each Ark was kept secret from the other Ark projects.

The Raptures could capture and corrupt Nikkes, meaning that if every Ark project was known to the rest, a single corrupted Nikke would mean that every Ark would be compromised.

Ergo: by the time of Operation Ark Guardian, the only thing they ultimately knew about the other Arks was that they'd all failed and had to be abandoned.

Only the Vancouver Ark was viable, and it was up to Goddess to ensure it didn't fall.

Missilis had just bumbled upon one of the American Arks. And it absolutely was an Ark—Joe recognized that entrance well.

The surrounding environment was different, but that was the entrance tunnel to the Oregon Ark. It was identical in design to the Vancouver Ark's.

Meaning, a potential source of pre-Ark technology.

Resources that had been stockpiled, then had to be abandoned because the logistical infrastructure to extract what they'd established there simply did not exist anymore.

"Wanna hear the best part?" Syuen continued, her lips churlishly curling upwards in smug self-satisfaction. "Our scouts only went down the entrance tunnel and reached the landing zone."

"That was enough for them to confirm that it hasn't been touched, minor Rapture infestation aside. Meaning that whatever had been left there a century ago, is still there."

She leaned forward in her seat.

"Which would include the Harmony Cube at the heart of the operation."

Ah… Harmony Cubes were, to Joe's understanding, effectively hyper-tech quantum computing cores.

They were used to aid in the development and production of Arks, automating much of what would otherwise have been a ruinously complicated and gruelling engineering task.

Notably, the only reason Joe knew about this was because it was noted in the 'tactical' documentation provided by Elysion, that Harmony Cubes could be implanted into Nikkes and tethered to their cores.

This augmented and empowered them well beyond their usual operational parameters. In some cases, Harmony Cubes were even known to have granted Nikkes unexpected and unprecedented powers.

The Elysion documentation referenced one instance in which a Nikke was effectively granted bullet time, and the ability to instinctively calculate bullet trajectory in a millisecond.

Meaning she could shoot a sandfly out of the air the distance of several football fields away, from the hip, with a pair of reactive snapshots.

The first shot wasn't intended to land on target, she just tracked it mid-flight and used it as a moving reference point to correct all of her follow-up shots, before the first bullet even hit anything.

Yeah, no fucking shit Syuen would want the Harmony Cube that would doubtlessly have been left sitting in the Oregon Lost Sector for an entire century.

"...And because you were obviously performing these scouting missions extra-legally," Joe started evenly, "You need a Commando unit to be able to perform this operation without tipping Central off in so doing."

"I'm more interested in the fact that your track record indicates you could get the job done effectively," Syuen noted matter-of-factually. "Harmony Cubes are treasured in the Ark. Having one would give Missilis research a very big push forward."

"We produce the most advanced Nikkes in the Ark. We need to keep producing the most advanced Nikkes in the Ark."

"Having a Harmony Cube would mean we could try to crack open the black box, figure out how to replicate the technology that lets it augment Nikkes."

"Or just plug it into our already existing supercomputer cluster, to further reinforce Missilis Military Research's computational power. Either/or," she finished with a noncommittal shrug.

That checked out, yeah. A Harmony Cube would be a huge boon to Missilis, regardless.

Joe responded. "Everything else in the Lost Sector would only be the cherry on top of the cake for you too then, huh…" The Commander idly mused.

"I don't care about anything else in that empty tomb," Syuen flatly replied.

That caused Joe to blink owlishly, and after a moment, he let out a bewildered "Bwuh?"

At that, Syuen leaned forward, crossing her arms as she did so. "Let me make the deal perfectly clear: those two rust buckets you took from me are valuable… But I'm not deluded enough to think they're as valuable as a Harmony Cube."

"What I want is for us to be even. Considering that the real prize in a Lost Sector is the Harmony Cube, I am only interested in that singular one. Aside from that lone Harmony Cube, every single other thing you might find down there, belongs to you."

The pint-sized twerp leaned back in her seat lazily as she continued.

"Anything in there that isn't the Harmony Cube would be wildly obsolete anyways. Only really worthwhile as collector's items that maybe Elysion and Tetra Line would beg for like dogs at the table…"

She dismissively waved her hand.

"But to Missilis? Worthless junk light years behind anything we can make right now. So-"

She pointed at Joe for emphasis.

"Anything that isn't nailed down in there- and Hell, bring along a crowbar to pry up the stuff that is nailed down for good measure too."

"Point being, I want that one Harmony Cube. All the other junk you find? Yours to sell or trade to Ingrid for brownie points or whatever as far as I'm concerned. Just bring along your own gear to lug it out of there."

"Otherwise, I don't care and am considering it your proper payment for this operation. Salvaging rights tend to go for a hefty premium, after all."

Never interrupt your enemy when they are making a mistake.

Syuen was giving Joe carte blanche to claim the literal rest of the Lost Sector, which might well mean Initial Rapture Invasion Nikke parts. The means to have proper maintenance performed on Pioneer and Rapi.

That alone made the entire venture worth it, to say little of what else they might find in a failed Ark.

Now, granted, while a Harmony Cube would be better served in the hands of Ingrid or Mustang, given that they were the ones allied with the conspiracy… There wasn't exactly a good way to deprive Syuen of her prize without triggering a corpo cold war.

Unfortunate, but it was what it was. Best to simply take the silver lining as the victory that it was.

With a grunt, Joe inquired: "Expected Rapture presence?"

"Nothing serious," Syuen shrugged. "My scouts, being scouts, weren't equipped to be engaging Raptures in open combat at all. But what they saw wasn't anything a Tyrant Breaker squad shouldn't be able to handle."

Joe's eyes narrowed. "Implying that we should expect to encounter Tyrants?"

"I just said 'nothing serious,'" the two-toned ravenette glowered at the much larger man in turn. "I'm only sending you up there because I want someone competent to handle this. Someone competent who I can also expect to not go running to blab to the Central Government and screw us both over, no less."

Joe blinked, frowning at the suggestion. "Has that actually happened before?"

"Most that come out of the Commander Corps aren't very smart," was Syuen's very telling reply. "You, at least, seem to have a sense of self-preservation about you. So, that being said: do this simple extraction job, and we're even. Deal?"

For as remiss as Joe was to hand over a Harmony Cube to Syuen… Pioneer needed whatever resources they might find down there.

"I reserve the right to call the operation off should we run into anything like a Tyrant," Joe declared, making sure it was known they were not to be treated as disposable.

With a roll of her eyes, Syuen replied: "Yes, yes, because you're so likely to encounter Tyrants in a place that's been empty for a hundred years."

She gave Joe an annoyed look.

"So, deal?"

…Fuck it. "Deal," the Commander agreed.

Syuen's smile widened exponentially. "Good," she hummed with a toothy grin. "Do you want to commission a Missilis transport, or will you just make your own way there?"

"I'll find my own way," Joe immediately shrugged off her offer to shuttle Counters to the Lost Sector for a price, little fucking shit.

Though Syuen popped an eyebrow at that, she ultimately simply waved off the assertion. "I suppose a Commando unit would have their ways around the surface."

"At any rate, get it done sooner rather than later. I don't want to be waiting on this for too long."

Given the month-long break the squad was officially on, that should be plenty of time to get in, extract the Harmony Cube, and get a Tetra Line salvage team in to rip the copper wiring out of the walls after them.

"You'll hear from me by the end of the month," Joe asserted as he rose to his feet.

"That'll do," the diminutive CEO of Missilis breezily replied. "See yourself out, then."

With a nod, Joe departed to return to the Outpost.

---

"A-a Lost Sector!?" Mia cried out in shock at the casual reveal. "How? Only a few other Arks have ever been found!"

"So close too…" Flower noted warily, looking wearily at the holographic map projecting from Joe's office desk.

Sunny glowered, as she ever did, glancing between the Commander and the map rapidly. "Why're you telling us about this, when you have Goddess on call?"

Joe's answer came easily. "Because Pioneer," he corrected her. "Isn't fit for deployment yet. In fact, the entire reason I accepted this mission was for the opportunity to procure proper maintenance supplies for them."

"Additionally, Missilis recon reports that there isn't anything threatening enough to warrant deploying Pioneer in the first place. This, while you girls have yet to be put through your paces at that."

Sunny's grimace deepened. "So, what, you're giving us the grunt work your elites can't be bothered with?" She inquired in an accusatory manner.

Joe projected his intense lack of amusement the twintailed blonde's way as he crossed his arms and replied, "You're above performing an immensely important mission to retrieve much-needed materials for the well-being of former members of Goddess, then?"

That seemed to catch her off-guard, recoiling as if struck and clenching her teeth at the accusation. Her reaction was doubtlessly not helped in the least by the sharp looks she received from Flower and Mia.

"T-that's not what I meant…" Sunny attempted to weakly play defence.

"To say nothing of the fact that I'm still going to be personally leading this operation," Joe added for emphasis.

Though he didn't particularly like getting on any given Nikke's back like this, Sunny had a continuous tendency to project her misery to a fault. If she had to have that habit metaphorically beaten out of her, then so be it.

This, doubly so considering she was clearly so deep into her blackpilled shit, that she was acting like she was being treated like a peon upon being directly called upon by the Legendary Commander to help the remnants of Goddess.

Sunny averted her gaze, clearly distressed by the harsh stares she was receiving.

With a low, rumbling sigh, Joe shook his head as he shifted his focus back onto the map. "If you're really so offended by the notion of working with the Legendary Commander to help what remains of Goddess, by all means, return to the barracks and wait to be picked for little more than your next automated dispatch mission."

After a few moments of uncomfortable silence, Flower closed distance between herself and Sunny, reaching out and firmly grabbing onto the blonde's arm. "You stop it," she commanded her miserly fellow quietly.

"This isn't like every other mission, and he isn't like every other Commander. He's literally the Legendary Commander. He's still fighting for everyone, even after the Ark betrayed him and hurt everyone he cares about. He's shown that he cares about Nikkes, and that we aren't just disposable tools to him."

"Pull your head out of your ass, unless you want to be known as the Nikke that turned her nose up at the Legendary Commander when he tried to lift you up to serve alongside Goddess!"

Despite attempting to speak below her voice, Flower was clearly agitated enough that Mia and Joe heard her just fine regardless. While Mia was more than a little uncomfortable, Joe just pinched the bridge of his nose with a heavy frown.

Flower roughly released Sunny's arm, and after a few moments of remaining rooted in place to stare harshly at the blonde, the ponytailed redhead returned to her previous place, letting out a shuddering breath as she attempted to gather herself.

Yeah, Joe had only interacted significantly with Sunny a small handful of times since she'd been assigned to the Outpost, and yet, holy shit did she make it difficult. He could only imagine how tiring it was to be around her all day and night as Mia and Flower were. All doom and gloom and little else.

Hell, Anis could be miserable to be around at times, but those seemed to be depressive episodes in between spouts of seemingly genuine cheer. With Sunny it was nothing but misery.

"...While I'm sure you have good reason to be doubtful of the intentions of any given Commander, Sunny," Joe started, giving the girl an olive branch. "I would hope that I've demonstrated that I want nothing but the best for all of you. Both in my recent actions, and my historical ones."

For whatever credit it was worth, Sunny, though she kept her eyes averted, didn't turn and flee. After a few moments of silence, Joe took that as wordless assurance that she would, at the very least, do the job assigned to her.

Letting out a heavy breath of his own, the Commander shifted his attention to the squad's redhead to address a somewhat long-standing matter. "Flower," he started, "Have you settled on a name yet?"

That very much seemed to catch the Nikke off-guard. The woman's large, emerald green eyes went wide, gaze snapping up to Joe in surprise.

She glanced side-to-side for a few seconds, then, with a low whine, she replied: "N-no, I haven't… It's- it's harder than I thought it would be."

The Commander tapped his foot in consideration, deciding to offer her one himself. "How about 'Cammie?' Short for Chamomile."

At that, the redhead blinked, looking up at Joe with some degree of uncertainty. After a moment, however, she hummed, muttering both the whole name and its contraction a few times as s small smile found purchase on her lovely features. "...I think I like it."

Mia couldn't help but smile in turn at her squadmate's answer, though Sunny just continued to try remaining quiet and didn't overtly respond.

Mia turned to Joe, asking, "Where did you come up with that name, Commander?"

"Chamomile is my favourite tea," Joe simply shrugged. "I fucking love Chamomile."

Cammie's eyes widened again and her lips pursed, a light blush playing across her features at Joe's declaration of his enjoyment of a particular type of tea flower.

Mia giggled, giving a suddenly sheepish Cammie an entertained, impish smile.

While Joe waited for the mood to settle after that exchange, Mia spoke up again. "Um, to bring it back to the mission, Commander… Do you mean to deploy to the Lost Sector with just us three?"

"No," Joe flatly declared past lidded eyes. "The other two just simply haven't responded to my summons-"

As he spoke, a bounding series of heavy footfalls and girlish whines rapidly approached the hallway door, and Mica suddenly emerged into Joe's quarters, literally dragging a whining Belorta behind her.

"I-I'm sorry Commander!" Mica cried out, a hand firmly locked on the back of Belorta's stretched-out suspenders. "Belorta kept making excuses and said she was trying to 'get out of work-'"

"Traitor!" Belorta shouted, her button features scrunched up in betrayed offence.

"Don't disrespect the Legendary Commander!" Mica shouted back at her uncooperative squadmate. "He's trying to-"

"You're just being a little goody two-shoes snitch because you've got a crush on him!" Belorta cut Mica off with an assertive accusation.

While Mica immediately turned the colour of a cherry tomato, dismay and indescribable embarrassment writ large on her features, Belorta childishly blew a strawberry at her.

They were interrupted by a singular, harsh clap produced by Joe, directing a firm, unamused stare Belorta's way in particular. With the attention of the two shockingly childish old women now caught, he firmly pointed to the sofas situated across from each other. "Sit," he commanded them both.

Mica, trying to hide her face behind her hands the whole time, immediately complied and moved to settle down on the heavy-duty seat rated for Nikkes. Belorta followed, but with a deep set pout, and crossed her arms impetuously as she dropped into the couch next to Mica.

Letting out a bone-deep sigh, Joe started: "Well, starting the entire briefing over, again," he noted with no small amount of annoyance filtering into his voice. "We may wind up being here for a while, making sure everyone is on the same page."

Joe loved his Nikkes, but god damn, could some of them be unnecessarily difficult to deal with.

 

[Your Target]

Thank you for the chapter, glad to see the new girls going on a important mission.

 

[JKD_666]

Gotta love it when Syuen's dumbassery works in our favour, huh?

 

[VH777Dragon]

Gotta love it when Syuen's dumbassery works in our favour, huh?

Click to shrink...

The fact that she is in entirely in character is what makes me believe it, bakasmurf clearly has her nailed down

 

[Ace of Scarabs]

She's forgotten the gold-plated Tetra phone Joe uses that Mustang personally gave to him

 

[Tenno]

man, suyen once again being a narrow-sighted narcissist. But damn is she such a good self sabotoging narcissist.

 

[Tenno]

She's forgotten the gold-plated Tetra phone Joe uses that Mustang personally gave to him

Click to shrink...

She probably thinks its a bribe from mustang. I mean its gaudy as fuck enough to look like it.

 

[Jsebas19]

A good gift for Valentine's Day.

I'm surprised that harmony cubes were included in the story earlier, because in the game in terms of lore they were introduced until the crystal region arc.

Does it mean that Abe and the rest of Old Tales (except Red Shoes) will appear much sooner?

and Poor Snow White, first suffering public shame at the hands of Rapunzel in angry Catholic nun mode and now having to wear an outfit made by Mustang.
If the cinderella one was provocative, I can't imagine the snow white one.

I imagine Rapi's outfit would be something similar to Red Hood's Gala outfit at his mini event.

 

[BakaSmurf]

===
Chapter 76 - Forsaken Sanctuary
===

Boots hitting grassy earth, Joe took several steps forward and away from the winding down Vertical Take-Off and Landing vehicle that had ferried the squad to the Oregon Lost Sector. Sunny, Cammie, Mia, Mica, Belorta, and Rapi all followed shortly behind him.

The Commander had fully intended to leave all three of the original Counters members out of this operation, because soldiers needed time off between missions—least of all high-octane missions—and they were supposed to be on a mandated month-long break anyways.

However, the moment Rapi had learned about the plan, she'd very forcefully insisted upon being assigned to it as well. To the tune of clamping onto Joe's wrist, planting her feet onto the ground upon which she stood, and refusing to let him move until he relented and assigned her to the deploying squad as well.

The man was caught very much off-guard by just how intensely upset the blonde seemed to be with him over this. To the point of not having spoken much to him since then, and upon getting boots on the ground.

Of course, Rapi had sworn to protect him no matter what, to stay by his side and ensure that he was always safe. She couldn't do that if he tried to leave her out of surface operations. Immediately after he'd… Forgiven her too. He immediately tried to distance himself from her like this?

This wasn't the time or place to confront him about whatever madness had taken his mind, but she felt like she had to now. She would, once they were back at the Outpost. For now, she'd do her duty and ensure he was safe out here in the field with professionalism.

Not being privy to Rapi's thoughts, Joe took in their surroundings as a number of additional VTOLs landed and started deploying more Tetra Line MP Nikkes apart from Sunny, Mia, and Cammie as well. Said Nikkes immediately scattered and moved to set up equipment and devices of all kinds. Presumably stuff for analyzing and cataloguing whatever they pulled up from the Lost Sector.

The 'salvage team' Joe had 'hired' through Mustang for this operation. They were present primarily to follow Counters and start setting up to gather up as much as they could. Being Nikkes, they were themselves all perfectly capable soldiers in their own right, of course, meaning they were also back-up, in a sense.

Back-up, and the back guard that would keep their exfiltration point clear.

Notably, to Joe's surprise, among the iDolls were actually additional Suns, Flowers, and Oceans. None of which were actually truly identical to Sunny, Cammie, or Mia. They, at least, were certainly outfitted identically to them, at least in terms of the models and make of their weapons and outfits.

While they all seemed to be cut from the same cloth in terms of physical appearance, there were immediate differences between them all in colouration, and even how they individually wore their hair.

They all seemed less like clones, and more like each model was made up of sisters. Which was largely the case for how things were back during the Initial Rapture Invasion, to Joe's recollection of the time period.

So, not quite as dystopian as Joe had assumed the situation with modern MP Nikkes would have been. Or maybe it was just Tetra Line MP's that were granted the privilege of a degree of individuality, and the man would be suitably mortified upon seeing hordes of clone copies of Missilis Nikkes.

Regardless, that was neither here nor there.

Lifting his hand into view, Joe formed a fist, testing and getting a feel for the sensation of the metal encasing his limb. Snow White had gotten the exoskeleton functional in time for deployment, and so after briefly testing it in the Armoury, it was deemed fit to be pressed into service.

Joe had expected a skeletal frame from top-to-bottom, and while that was, in fact, what it had been initially, Snow had made extensive modifications. Up to and including the inclusion of gauntlets which encased themselves around his hands and forearms. Said gauntlets came with rubberized grip pads on the palms and digits, for obvious reasons.

To say nothing of the tertiary support arm on which Marian's submachine gun, First Affection, was currently mounted. Snow had modified First Affection to be semi-permanently affixed (meaning only a dedicated armourer, like her, was supposed to remove it for maintenance) to the exoskeleton, so that it would take the brunt of the recoil produced by the firearm.

It would still be a horrifically bad idea for Joe to attempt firing it on anything other than semi-auto, given that the sheer kinetic energy the shockwaves its reports produced actually still God damn near stunned him, given the practice shots he'd fired in preparation for this deployment. If he hit the full-auto switch, he'd immediately lose control of the thing, likely damage the exoskeleton, and suffer severe blunt force trauma too.

Hospital time in exchange for missing all but the first shot taken, on top of compromising any given operation where he tried it, didn't strike him as being particularly worth appeasing some fleeting desire to play the part of Rambo for even a moment.

To say nothing of the fact that he didn't carry any spare ammo for First Affection on him either. The gun was an 'Alphatec Armament Group Defender,' as according to the writing on the side of the receiver, and was normally chambered in a far larger round than Marian had First Affection in. These were usually more fully-fledged anti-armour battle rifles, while Marian for some reason had hers set up to function as an extreme capacity pistol-calibre submachine gun.

This, of course, meant that what was normally a just mostly adequately-sized drum magazine for a handful of big, magnum cartridges, was a fully-fledged helical drum mag that held an excess of one-hundred pistol rounds. Joe, for obvious reasons, would not realistically expect to ever actually even come close to emptying the drum on any given mission, given that he was meant to use it as a semi-auto only emergency weapon.

He instead occupied the spare magazine pouches on his vest and belt with spare ammo for the girls in general. Everyone's rifles, pistols, and submachine guns sharing ammo and even mags when possible made for some very easy logistics, and Joe fucking loved him his easy logistics. It was unlikely for anyone to run out of ammo on his watch, to Ingrid's intense satisfaction.

That being said, the exoskeleton moved in perfect sync with his own body, owing to the fact that it was plugged into his now-exposed Hoplite implant. Meaning that it was hooked into his central nervous system, and would operate as an extension of his own body for as long as it was.

He acclimatized to the strange sensation far more quickly than would have been normal for a 'first timer,' on account of both his extensive history with piloting Hoplons, and the fact that he remembered operating Hoplons in battle too now. It was effectively plug-and-play, such as it was.

Even the tertiary support arm upon which First Affection was mounted wasn't providing any issues, given that one extra limb was nothing compared to controlling an entire secondary four-limbed body, Hoplons being what they were.

Having run a few laps around the Outpost to cap off the testing, Joe confirmed that he could move with this thing on. Nowhere near as well as a Nikke could, of course, but he could get himself out of the direct line of fire and to places he'd otherwise have needed a Nikke to carry him to before.

In some ways, this was even better than having a Hoplon, because Hoplons were massive targets, while this exoskeleton granted him everything of real value one of the mechs did. Short of being able to safely operate true heavy weapons, at least. Though it could be argued that his being able to properly operate a Nikke weapon as a Nikke could wouldn't even be a good thing to begin with.

He was a Commander, not a combatant, after all.

That all being said…

Joe made a circling motion over his shoulder with two outstretched fingers—the non-verbal hand gesture to indicate a call for all active squaddies to form up on the squad leader.

The girls all did as instructed, taking up formation around the Commander at the ready.

Nodding once, Joe started: "For the duration of this operation, you will be divided into Squads Rifleman, consisting of Rapi, Sunny, Mia and myself; as well as Squad Rocketeer, consisting of Cammie, Mica, and Belorta. Rules of Engagement are Return Fire Only unless otherwise directed. I don't want anyone going off half-cocked and getting us into a dumbass situation we could have planned an easy win out of!"

"Rocketeer, once we're down there, the first thing we're going to do is find the tallest open-top structure we can, clear it, and once it's secure, you're to set up an artillery perch on the roof and rain Hellfire down on the heads of any Raptures that try to give Rifleman shit."

"Cammie, you'll be on spotting and ranging duty for Rocketeer while you're all on Overwatch, and you're to keep your submachine gun at the ready in case you're directly confronted by Raptures. Mica, load multi-target anti-armour munitions in your rocket launcher. Belorta, you'll be on active reloading duty for Mica. Treat Mica's RL as a crew-served weapon for efficiency's sake, and keep your SMG readied alongside Cammie's in case you're engaged through the main building."

"Once Rocketeer's artillery perch is secure, Rifleman will proceed to return to street level, setting up decoys as an early warning system if Raptures start ascending the building to get at Rocketeer. Once back on the ground, we will proceed to sweep the Lost Sector's most likely locations for its Harmony Cube."

"Mia, as the squad's medic, prioritize remaining out of direct line of fire. You are cleared to provide close-in supporting and suppressive fire with your submachine gun should the opportunity present itself. However, your priority is first and foremost to ensure that Rapi and Sunny remain in fighting condition for the duration of this mission over attempting to fire for effect in open combat with a Personal Defence Weapon."

"I'll use my drone to sweep streets ahead of us to ensure we don't walk headlong into any Raptures without giving Rocketeer a chance to soften them up for us first. Otherwise, check your corners, hug walls, do not step into the open street unnecessarily. Always scan nearby buildings for signs of Rapture activity, nobody wants a surprise amputation because nobody thought to glance up and spy a Rapture just hanging out in some derelict building's window."

"Any questions before we move out?" The man finished glancing at the girls surrounding him… To find all but Rapi staring up at him in dumbstruck wonder and awe, eyes sparkling and jaws practically unhinged.

He was caught off guard for a moment, then he remembered that any other Commander would have just cussed out the Nikkes on principle alone, before marching into the objective area ahead of the squad. Probably while loudly singing off-key about how great and immortal they were because they're the hero of humanity and will single-handedly save the Ark, just like in the simulations.

It wasn't even a complex plan Joe had presented. It was actually kind of elementary, frankly. Put artillery at a good, defensible vantage point to support infantry, make sure artillery is properly equipped to defend itself if it's engaged at close range.

But, then again, for the average Ark Commander, 'elementary' might as well be the equivalent of advanced trigonometry or divisible calculus, or what the fuck ever, Joe wasn't no math surgeon.

After a few moments of extended silence, it only then registered that the other assorted Tetra Line MP's had stopped what they were doing to stare at the Commander in equally bushwhacked shock. At this, the man just shrugged.

"No? Good," Joe declared, taking the lack of a response to his inquiry as a good excuse to kick everyone out of the awkward lull—and unapologetic, if wordless hero worship from Belorta and Mica—they'd slipped into and get the operation started.

The burly brunet pointed towards the entrance to the failed Ark, motioning towards it with two jabs of his fingers. "Get tactical ladies, secure the entrance and elevator in preparation to descend into the Lost Sector. Now move it or lose it! Syuen ain't paying us by the hour!"

He, of course, had no intention of rushing anyone once they were down there properly. But getting gawked at got old fast, and what better way to distract them from working with a Commander that wasn't an incompetent blowhard for once in their collective lives?

With only a bit of a hitched start, the girls all set off after Rapi—who had remained firmly on the ball—and Joe addressed the salvaging team before moving to follow them. "Protocol's just as we established on the ride over: something happens, contact me via comms, comms go down, send runners. Can't get in contact with us at all, send an alert to Mustang, not the Central Government under any circumstances. Secure the area behind us, and start tearing the copper wiring out of the walls."

With a firm nod, he then started towards the entrance to the failed Ark—suppressing the disquiet he felt upon approaching that wide-open, familiar gateway. This time, at least, he wasn't going down alone, or under-prepared.

Rapi did and thought much the same.

---

The elevator, to the shock of everyone, had turned out to actually still be functional, suggesting that the Lost Sector was still powered. By what, Joe could only wonder. A nuclear reactor would probably not have been able to remain fully automated for an entire century, there was no solar array on top of or even near the failed Ark proper…

A geothermal generator, maybe? Wouldn't be enough to support a maximum living population of ten million like the Vancouver Ark; but, maybe continuously running legacy foundational systems like emergency lights and elevators could work?

Joe didn't know enough about power systems and that sort of thing to say one way or the other, and he supposed that such was above his pay grade regardless.

The primary elevator, whose platform was the size of an American football field, came to a loud stop, the gears upon which it rode halting their mechanical motion.

The whole team was rather caught off-guard by the sight which revealed itself to them at the end of the elevator's travel. To Joe? It was exactly as he'd have expected: or, rather, it was an exact recreation of what he'd seen the last time he'd descended an Ark's elevator. Save for it looking like this Ark hadn't finished rendering in.

Everything was a flat, crystalline white that called to mind the Copied City from Nier: Automata. Where the Vancouver Ark closely resembled the less crime-addled parts of Night City, with all the variance in structural texture that suggested, the sight of the Lost Sector left the spatially displaced Canuck wondering what exactly the Ark was actually made from.

So stunned by the sight was the entire team, that they all just sort of ambled out of the elevator, along with the salvage team detachment that was there to secure the elevator landing site.

Taking in the landing area and highway it was situated upon, the Commander and Nikkes had to take a few moments to process the sight. Joe craned his head back to gaze at the natural ceiling of the Lost Sector, and found both that it lacked a Dome of Eternity, as expected… But it was also far lower than the Ark's ceiling was. By several orders of magnitude.

Perhaps raising the ceiling of the cavern was a planned aspect of any given Ark's creation?

Humming, Joe shifted his gaze to take in the city itself. It was a small fraction of the size of the Ark, and like the highway upon which they stood, it was all a stark, glassy white, only dimly lit by threadbare public utilities, almost entirely bereft of activity.

Almost.

"Eyes on," Joe commanded the group. "Rapture activity."

The girls were quick to fall in line, raising their weapons and tracking the Commander's gaze. The Raptures weren't exactly 'nearby,' but it was as Syuen said: the Lost Sector wasn't entirely empty. It didn't look like anything the two sub-squads couldn't easily handle, but Raptures were Raptures.

"They don't look like more than scouts, Commander," Rapi observed, peering through the scope of Wolf's Bane. "They also don't seem to have noticed us."

Joe nodded as he deployed the drone—which too had been upgraded in all sorts of little ways by Snow White—directing it to fly as high as it could. From its vantage point, the man made note of the building best suited as a perch for Rocketeer, and scoped out a few familiar-looking buildings that might serve as good starting points for tracking down the Harmony Cube.

"Repair Centre spotted," the bearded brunet declared with a small grin. "That's a proper assload of shipping crates around it too… Meaning Initial Rapture Invasion Nikke parts."

One of the salvaging team members stepped forward, approaching Joe and inquiring: "Should we prioritize securing and cleaning out the Repair Centre, sir?"

"Yes," Joe flatly replied with a single nod. "I'm pinging its location and pushing that ping to you girls. Take it slow and steady, and avoid combat with anything you aren't certain you can safely handle as well. We're in no rush here, and while Syuen has said there shouldn't be anything as dangerous as a Tyrant down here, I'm going to go out on a limb and suggest that Syuen probably says a lot of things."

A round of indignant grumbles confirmed Joe's theory, and with that, he set the drone to autonomously follow the squad and actively scan their surroundings, generating a local area map for them as it did so.

"Alright, let's get moving then," Joe directed everyone onward. "Let's keep a low profile, locate as many resources as we can, and find the Harmony Cube. We'll have all the time in the world to entirely secure this Lost Sector and tear this place apart piece-by-piece afterwards. Missilis just straight-up gave me sole claim over the entire place outside of the Harmony Cube, after all."

Before continuing, he pointed down the length of the highway leading to the city, what looked to be an hour-long walk.

"We simply follow this road into the city limits proper, then make our way for what would have been Central Government HQ in the Vancouver Ark. We ascend to the topmost floor and roof, Rocketeer sets up, then Rifleman proceeds to clear streets and key locations until we've bagged the Harmony Cube. No theatrics, no unnecessary risks. Any questions or suggestions?"

When nobody spoke up, Joe nodded and directed everyone down the highway.

"Let's get this show on the road and hit da bricks then."

Hopefully, this operation would prove itself to be an easy win, and little else.

Lord knew they could do with one of those at this point.

 

[FioraVorela]

To beat cliches the mission goes perfectly well but instead The Outpost is under siege, shrugs I don't know that was the first thing that came to mind.
Can't wait to see what hell is unleashed on our poor commander. Or another idea, all of the PTSD.