Cecelia trembled a bit as she strapped her hand cannon to her thigh. The Arc’s stale air rushed by her. Her olfactory sensors picking up the smell of earth and steel the city constantly emanated. She viewed the line around her. Other NIKKEs sat lined up ready to head into one of the many elevators to fight to reclaim the surface. Most of them had blank looks on their faces, hidden behind their combat gear. Cecelia was different however, she wore a black nun habit and vestments. The dress was cut with slits exposing her now androtic white metal legs, giving her much more freedom of movement. Her habit also lacked the scarf and head crowl it normally came with, just the band and cape. Silver hair spilled out of the habit and pooled around her shoulders as a simple wooden cross dangled around her neck. A large metal halo hovered above her head serving as a radio contact to other NIKKEs and a commander if she was assigned to one. Silvery eyes scanned the line she was in observing the other 3 NIKKEs in the line. The first in line wielded an AR, clad in tactical gear head to toe covered in scratches and other battle scars. Little conveyed a woman within besides long blonde hair that fell out of the helmet. The next in line was a girl bouncing impatiently from toe to toe. She too was clad in tactical gear with urban camo but it was much more decorated. Stickers of cute animals and anime girls plastered her chest. Her AR had some anime women stickers onto the hilt. A small keychain dangled from the clip. Finally the girl behind her was clad in an almost skin tight plug suit. Her sleek black glass helmet seemed to stare empty into the crowd ahead of them. A large Railgun-like sniper rifle hung from her back.
Cecelia’s mind felt clouded; she could remember very little on how or why she was here, other than the fact she was a NIKKE, a battle android sent to reclaim the surface from the ever growing rapture threat. Flashes of some of her training came to her mind. Images of golden nanobots pouring from her hands healing wounds like magic made her believe she was some kind of medic. Eventually, in what felt like ages of silence, the girl in front of Cecelia turned around and a smile formed under her visor as her eyes lit up.
“Oh! You are the new medic! That's right! Commander said we would be getting a new one today.” Her warm tone echoed through the small chatter in the cavern as she held her hand out to shake it. “The name’s Daisy! Some kind of nun huh? Explains the interesting get up.”
Cecelia smiled a bit, feeling the warmth of the woman in front of her. Shaking Daisy’s hand she noticed this one was mechanical, unlike the other one which was covered in synthetic skin.
“Cecelia. and oh… I'm sorry about your previous medic…”
Daisy shook her head, “It… happens. Sarah took it the hardest, losing Cait. It's why she's so quiet and serious in the front. Kage is the sniper behind you. She’s rather shy, but she’ll open up later on.”
Sarah slightly adjusted her posture with her name being called. Now that she noticed the girl behind her wasn't staring off into space but trembling slightly.
“But besides that I guess you have our commander. His name is Jason. He’s… interesting… a bit of a train wreck. Sarah tends to pick his slack up as squad leader. In fact here he comes, late as usual of course.”
Sure enough, a man in the standard green uniform of the Arc’s commanders begins running up to them. He was a man in his late 30’s at 5’8”. He was 2 inches shorter than Cecelia. His uniform was hastily put together. Buttons were placed in the wrong spot and the 3 medals he had were crooked. A receding hairline gave way to a last ditch effort comb over to save it. He eyed Cecelia up and down with a sleazy look before finally speaking.
“Ah, the new medic. A cute nun too. Welcome to the Rangers!” He reached out and gave Cecelia an awkward hug that lasted much longer than she felt comfortable with. “Your name is Cecelia, correct? Anyways we are already late for departure to the surface for a simple patrol mission. Come girls, let's go.” He smiled as he placed a hand on Sarah’s shoulder and led them into the elevator one by one.
The ride was cramped. Even if the elevator was made for squads of five it still left little to be desired for personal space. Cecelia shared the wall to her left and Daisy behind her. Originally Jason tried to squeeze in behind her but Daisy made sure she was the one to be there first. She towered over Cecelia. She loomed behind her as she placed a hand on Cecelia’s shoulder. The elevator was silent, outside the small attempts by Jason to make small talk with Cecelia. However the higher up they went the more she shook, eventually hearing the clacking of her hand cannon at her hip as it clicked against itself in the holster. That was until she felt a soft hand on her shoulder as Daisy placed her actual synthetic skin covered hand on it.
“It's your first time on the surface huh?” Daisy asked. “I remember my first day too. Sarah had to almost drag me off the elevator, taking the door with me when we got to the top. I was so scared, hah! Don't you remember that day Sarah? Encountered our first Master class rapture too. If it wasn't for Kage’s excellent shot and Caits…”
Daisy stopped speaking when the previous medic’s name was dropped, causing a cough from Kage and an awkward shuffle from Sarah. Even Jason felt the awkwardness as he tried to chime in.
“Yeah you girls sure handled yourself well. Excited to have fresh blood on the team! Reports say her frame is built with special nanobots that can repair flesh and metal alike.” He winked at Cecelia before adding. “I wonder if she has any other magic tricks too.”
A loud clunk rang through the cabin as Kage stepped on Jason’s toe.
“Oops,” she said, deep and quiet.
Daisy giggled a bit and even a scoff came from Sarah.
Picking up where she left off Daisy resumed, “Anyways… we should be fine. It's just a simple patrol this time. At best we find a few Servant class raptures. Most will probably be Husks.” After a few more moments of silence Daisy spoke up again, “What’s with the nun outfit? I've met a few religious NIKKE’s before but never fresh batches.”
Cecelia shook her head as if trying to remember something.
“I… I don't know… It feels right? Like I should be wearing something like this…I actually can't… remember much it feels all fuzzy,” Cecelia said as she examined her body.
It felt right to a certain point. Her bust size, waist diameter, hand length, all felt correct, but there still was a bit of offness to the whole thing, as if something was still calibrating for her. The outfit felt like something she should wear, but she couldn't place a finger on why. Was she a nun before? For what religion?
“Ah, NIMPH sickness. Yeah you will get used to it soon. It's definitely not a fun feeling for a while. Feels like everything and anything is always at the tip of your tongue.” Daisy seemed to almost help pull some hair that got stuck under Cecelia’s vestments. “Hey, seems like you retained some of yourself right? Some people wake up as bricks. Some with nearly their entire personality intact. Most fall in the middle like us. Slowly you kind of build yourself back up. Helps when you have three other sisters that have gone through it already.”
She smiled as she gently rubbed Cecelia’s shoulder.
Jason hastily pulled out his PDA from his pocket. Swiping through it, he muttered something about Cecelia’s dimensions under his breath before speaking, “Well, looks like Cecelia is also coming with a new nanobots ability codenamed ‘Holy Grail.’ there also seems to be something else called ARCHANGEL but her report says it has little combat functionality.”
“Well what DOES it have then?” Sarah questioned. Her voice was firm in tone as the leader of the squad should. “We should be clear of all our units and their abilities before we run off into combat.”
Jason frantically scrolled through his phone trying to find out what ARCHANGEL meant. “It says nothing here. Anything mentioned is very vague illusions to light.”
Sarah turned to Cecelia, her head snapping quickly with a stern look under her visor. “Do you have any idea what it does? Have you ever even used your nanobots to heal?”
Cecelia stumbled on her words a bit, feeling like she was put on the spot. “Y..yes. A few times in production they let me train with them. I can remember that, but I have no idea what this Archangel thing is… this is the first time I'm hearing about it.” Cecelia almost seemed to plead to Sarah, a hint of fear tinged on her voice.
“Calm down Sarah. I'm sure it's just some fancy new reactor or something. We don't have to treat this like an interrogation.” Daisy’s hand gently rubbed Cecelia’s shoulder. “Just focus on the mission. We can find out more when we get back and don't need to stress our new medic out more than she already is.”
Sarah snapped at Daisy, “I don't want some hidden ability she doesn't understand how to use to end up shooting us in the back. We aren't Absolute, so who’s to say Elysion wouldn't just sacrifice 3 random fuck NIKKES and an incompetent commander to test out a new toy?”
Daisy tensed up a bit. “This isn't fair and you know that. Calm down, focus on the mission and we will figure this out when we get home okay? I know Cait’s death is weighing in on you as squad leader but we shouldn't push our stress onto Cece,” Daisy laughed a bit. “Sorry dear, already nicknaming you.”
Cecelia fluttered a bit at being called Cece. “N..no it's okay… haha.” She breathed out before looking at Sarah. “I swear, I dont think I'm a ticking time bomb. I promise okay…” Cecelia said gently. Her eyes locked with Sarah’s. She noticed in Sarah’s brown eyes they were almost shaking, as if they were holding back a tinge of fear.
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“Fine, but if she does anything, we cut her loose,” Sarah sternly rebutted, completely ignoring the chain of command with the human commander in the room.
The rest of the elevator ride was filled with an awkward silence. Only breaking from a few clicks and clacks as it finally reached the surface with a hiss, opening the hydraulic doors.
“Oh and uh Cece, don't stare at the sun for too long. Even with more resistant photoreceptors it still can damage them, unlike the artificial sun on the Arc.” Daisy said as Cecelia’s vision was flooded with bright sunlight as she exited the elevator. Taking a few seconds for her eyes to adjust the first thing she noticed was the sky. It truly was endless. The artificial domes on the Arc did not give the sense of how endless it truly was. She reached a hand out towards it as if to grasp the infiniteness of it all. The next thing that hit her was the sun. Daisy was right: it truly overloaded her eyes and had to look away from it. While the brightness was surely something, the thing she never expected was the warmth it radiated, as if the light itself was dancing on her skin. Breathing in the air was something else. It lacked the bite that recycled underground air had; it was fresh and clean. A small smile crept on her face as she closed her eyes to truly take it all in. This is where humanity belonged, not crawling through the earth in caves.
Her bliss was broken by Daisy’s voice. “It's truly wonderful isn't it? Reminds you what you are trying to fight for.” Her hand gently rubbed the back of Cecelia. “Almost makes the whole ‘rapture fighting' thing worth it, hah!” Daisy joked as Cecelia opened her eyes.
Quickly surveying the landscape, she was shocked. Greenery began to reclaim the ruined city they found themselves in. Giant skyscrapers towered around them, skeletal giants with veins of green vines. Wind swept through the steel bones, making an empty howling the only noise around. That was until Jason spoke.
“Alright beautiful angels, you know the drill. Light patrol, we are expected to clear out any raptures in a 100 square mile radius of this elevator port. We just gotta wait for our camping gear any second now to come up from the Arc.” He waited as if something was to happen. “Any second now…” An awkward pause hung in the air. Kage coughed. “I swear I filed the paperwork…”
Right as he finished the ground beneath him pushed up and a much smaller elevator popped up from the ground, knocking Jason off his feet with a yelp. It quickly spat out 5 bags before seemingly falling back into the earth, causing Jason to land on his ass. Daisy pointed and let out a laugh. Kage giggled behind her mask, and even Sarah smirked.
“Ugh… of course…” Jason said, getting up and dusting himself off. “We have enough supplies for a week which should be plenty of time for the area. Previous patrols encountered little rapture resistance so I expect the same-”
Sarah interrupted, “However, we shouldnt be complacent. I expect heads on swivels. Any noise we hear we treat as an unknown threat until it's confirmed. Even if it's just a Husk class, we take this seriously. Understood?”
Kage nodded
Daisy gave an ironic “Uhrah”
Cecilia added on a “Yes Ma’am”
“Good. Now grab your bag and move out Rangers!” Sarah barked.
Even Jason moved as if he was under a drill sergeant grabbing his camping bag as the squad all lined up in formation. Sarah leads the squad; a massive riot shield seemingly folded out of her own arm, followed by Cecelia and Daisy side by side. In the rear was Kage, and finally behind her was Jason. They moved together as Jason occasionally barked an order, only to have it corrected by Sarah in a more professional tone as they began to move into the graveyard of giants.
They marched for a bit in silence only as the occasional wind swept through the buildings howling into the midday. Cecelia stood closer to Daisy than the rest, feeling safe around her in this new unfamiliar world.
“Always wondered what each building was used for,” Daisy said, breaking the silence. She pointed at the ruins of one such skyscraper, peering into the lobby where what was once an ornate desk sat rotting as nature reclaimed it.
“Sure we have buildings like this back on the Ark but we will never know what their true use was. Paper rots and computers decay, so we do a little detective work and….” Pointing to a grand staircase in the back of the building, her line traced the once magnificent marble stairs down to an oxidized golden chandelier. “Such grand design hints that this area was once of importance, most likely not offices since who cares what the average pencil pusher sees.”
Cecelia looked into the lobby of this building. Sitting in one of the corners of the room was a rusted baggage cart, with the luggage long since rotted away.
“I see a cart. Possibly could have been used for luggage or the sort,” Cecilia played along. “And over there. Behind the desk seems to be some sort of sorting system.”
“Hmmm yeah I see now. Hotel perhaps? I wonder what kinda socialites walked through those doors and down those stairs,” Daisy said. “Could you imagine. Walking down those stairs in a pretty red dress, drink in hand, your date at the end ready to take you to a fancy party.”
Lost in her fantasy, Daisy stops moving for a bit, causing a slight hold up.
“We done playing pretend or are we going to keep marching?” Sarah commanded as she spun around to almost scold Daisy.
“Calm down. A few minutes won’t break our patrol,” Daisy refuted, standing up to Sarah.
“It’s not about that. It’s about discipline. We break discipline, we get sloppy. When we are sloppy, we make mistakes. That’s how NIKKEs die.”
Sarah pushed up into Daisy’s face, their visors seemingly clinking together.
“Ladies! Ladies please!” Jason said, trying to get control over his squad, but it seemingly fell on deaf ears.
“You know, ever since Cait died you have had a real stick in your ass. You know she loved playing these little games.” Daisy pushed her robotic finger into Sarah’s chest.
Offended by such action, Sarah shoved Daisy back off her. “Drop that name out of your fucking mouth!” She spit out. “Don’t you DARE speak about Cait!”
The space created between them from Sarah’s shove was quickly filled by Cecelia as she injected herself in between the two women.
“Please, this isn’t solving anything!” Cecelia pleaded.
Kage walked over, silently putting a hand on Sarah’s shoulder, rubbing it gently.
“You know she would not want to see us like this,” Kage said. “Her death is not the death of our squad.”
Sarah’s heavy breathing began to calm down. Cecelia moved out from between them. Daisy looked at the ground, tracing her combat boot in the dirt before making eye contact with her squad leader.
“I’m sorry. That was awful of me to bring Cait up like that, I know she meant a lot to you.”
Sarah shook her head a bit before placing a hand on Daisys shoulder.
“I… I’m sorry. I’m just scared of losing another one of you. This war has claimed many good women and I can’t stand to see another go.”
Once again they clacked their helmets together, this time seemingly in unity.
“Alright, alright, I’m glad we made up,” Jason said, ruining the moment. “As much as I do like seeing women lovey dovey together, we need to move on for real. The sun is setting and we should find camp soon,” He said nervously.
Breaking the head rub, Sarah resumed her position at the front of the marching order.
“Understood commander. Rangers move out.”
She held her hand high in a fist before pointing forward.
The rest of the day was uneventful. Daisy and Cecelia tried to guess some more buildings. Cecelia guessed one was a gas station; Daisy thinks another was a shopping complex. Finally the group managed to find a nice park where they could make camp for the night. The groups slings all their packs onto the ground and begin to roll their sleeping bags. The mild weather makes setting up tents unnecessary. Watch order was set and the group fell asleep.
Cecelia was awoken in her sleeping bag to Daisy gently shaking her awake. Out of her tactical gear, Cecelia could make out the women now in much better detail.
Her face was round and cute, with features reminiscent of East Asian descent. Her brown eyes almost sparkled in the moonlight as they focused on Cecelia’s face. Light pink wavy hair gently fell and pooled at her shoulders. A small hair clip of an animated dog kept it out of her face. She was dressed in standard issue Elysion fatigues that fell loosely off her body for comfort. Now in a short sleeved shirt, Cecelia saw that Daisy’s prosthetic arm went all the way just below her shoulder. Its black steel seemed to almost reflect the silver moonlight.
“Hey, you want to see something really cool new girl?” Daisy kept her voice in a hush so as not to wake the others.
A gentle smile crept up on Daisy’s face as Cecelia began to rub the sleepiness from her eyes.
“Mmmm? Is it something bad?” Cecelia stretched with a yawn. “I guess my watch is coming up. Mmm what do you wish to show me?”
Daisy’s smile of excitement seemed to only grow. “Can’t tell you. It’s a surprise, okay? I just need you to trust me.”
She reached out and helped Cecelia up from her sleeping bag, leading Cecelia through the ruined park. The overgrown trees and foliage turned the once tamed greenery back into a true forest. Eventually they made it to a clearing. A large hill stuck up from the ground. After a short hike up to the top of the green mound, Daisy plopped down onto the grass arms spread out.
“What are you doing? I thought you wanted to show me something, not take a break.” Cecelia tilted her head quizzically.
“Silly, I AM going to show you something. Lay down next to me.” Daisy patted the grass with her hand. “Lay down! Come!”
Sighing a bit, Cecelia kneeled down onto the grass before laying her back down. She felt the cool blades dance across her skins, a contrast to the warm air on this summer night. Looking up into the night sky, Cecelia’s eyes grew, beginning to fill with wonder. The dark black canvas of the sky was painted with a bunch of sparkling colorful dots: whites, yellows, and blues. All seemed to be placed in a beautiful cosmic dance. Cecelia felt like she was staring into an endless sea, one that the Ark could never give her.
“Wow…” she said under her breath. “It’s… truly wonderful, I feel so small but yet,” Cecelia’s right hand reached out towards the heavens as if to grab one of the twinkling paint splotches, “I feel like I belong.”
She turned her head to see Daisy smiling at her.
“It’s really breathtaking ain’t it?” Daisy smiled, rolling back over she turned to join Cecelia in her stargazing. “Millions and millions of them twinkling without a care in the world about our struggles. They remind me why I do this. So maybe one day everyone can see them in their actual glory, and not on a massive TV screen.”
Cecelia felt something warm and soft brush against her hand. She turned to see Daisy blushing a bit.
“Sorry I get sappy sometimes hahaha,” She awkwardly giggled. “Thanks for uh, sharing this with me. Kage and Sarah never cared much about the stars.”
“They truly are spectacular. I want to grab them. Do you think they feel like cotton balls?” Cecelia pondered.
Snickering, Daisy answered, “Maybe. I’d think it would just burn your hand off however.”
Daisy once again brushed her hand against Cecelia’s. But this time, Cecelia held on.