Once the team of Commander, Marian, Rapi and Anis had resupplied at a nearby ammo cache left behind by some mass-produced Nikke, they began their trek through a city in disrepair and got to talking to fill the dead air. The first thing Rapi asked was the Commander’s name, since she had forgotten to ask for it earlier. His name was nothing special. A completely normal name that didn’t stand out. Rapi turned to Anis who, surprisingly, seemed to be the brains of the operation. Anis had done her research, it’s how she knew who Marian was. She kept all relevant data available at a moment’s notice and had done her best to remember as much of it as she could. After double checking some files, Anis stated that their current commander, the young man walking with them, had only graduated from the Ark’s military academy a day ago.
“You only just took up your post?” Rapi asked in an almost monotone voice. There was the smallest hint of venom in her words. It was the first time she had expressed some amount of emotion towards Commander and it was hostile.
“Is something wrong with that?” Commander asked, confident in his ability to read his Nikke at this point. Especially when they were so simple. Rapi was the serious type. She was probably questioning if he was capable of completing the mission and getting her back to base alive.
“I wasn’t expecting you to be a complete amateur, is all. You may be the only one left but I may have jumped the gun in assigning you as our commander.”
Once again a conflict was brewing between Commander’s Nikke. Marian took offence to the one in charge being called an amateur. Considering it was his first mission and he had survived this long meant he was doing something right. He seemed to understand his position as commander. He exuded confidence to raise morale and was keeping this team together through giving them an objective to chase. The one thing Commander wasn’t doing much of right now was commanding Nikke in battle, but that was only because they hadn’t come across any substantial threats where his larger view of the battlefield was necessary. When that time came, Marian was sure he would succeed.
Rapi quickly reneged on her statement, understanding that Marian was defensive of Commander. The last thing Rapi wanted was in-fighting between fellow Nikke. “Since you’re our commander now, let me fill you in. Forty-six hours ago a Nikke squad operating in this area ceased all communications. We were the search party responsible for locating them.”
Now things were starting to make sense for Commander. The rendezvous point Marian led him to wasn’t a location to meet-up with any old squad. Rapi, Anis and their previous commander were the original search party. So everyone on BA-01 was back-up for Rapi’s squad. But then, why were there so many people aboard the helicopter? The Central Government wouldn’t usually send out a team of a dozen people just to find a missing patrol. That was evident in the fact that just three people were sent on this mission at first. It was as Anis said earlier, something about this whole situation was fishy. There was more to the story. Were the Central Government aware of a large Rapture threat in this part of the city? Was the plan to have this larger than normal encounter and kill the powerful Rapture?
“We were heading for the lost patrol’s last known location.” Anis picked up where her friend left off. “But the coordinates died with our other commander. I don’t suppose you know where we’re going, do you? Because right now we’re just walking in the general direction of the magical vanishing patrol.”
“Sorry, I haven’t got any coordinates.”
“Figured.” Anis sighed, slumping over. “We’re probably going to be stuck out here for another few days then. Great.”
“I have the coordinates.” Marian said rather matter-of-factly.
“Yeah, why would you have them?” It was such a surprise that no one really accepted it. That was until Anis realised what her fellow Nikke said. “Wait, you have them?!”
The injured Marian nodded in confirmation and then stopped walking. “Coordinates were input into my system just before we left the Ark. I can lead us to our objective, but with one condition.”
Everyone else stopped a few feet away and looked at Marian quizzically. Commander was ready to jump in and deny her request because, given how she’d been up until this point, he was sure Marian was about to say something he didn’t want to hear. She was going to tell them that if she ended up too injured to continue, if it got to a point where she was slowing everyone down, they were to carry on without her. Marian could not, would not, become a burden to her commander. She was going to make sure Rapi and Anis knew to protect Commander or, God help them, Marian herself would hunt them down. Marian had already proven time and time again that she followed rule one as if her life depended on it. She always acted based on the most positive outcome for Commander.
“Rapi, I don’t want to hear you bad mouth Commander again. You failed to keep your previous commander alive so as far as I’m concerned you’re just as much of a novice as he is. He’s putting his life on the line, just like we are. The least you could do is show him some respect the way he shows it to us.”
Well that certainly was unexpected. Commander thought he was getting used to his Nikke and what they might be thinking, but of course he hadn’t actually been with them for that long. They were prone to acting in ways he didn’t expect. Commander was also happy to hear Marian wasn’t going to go the self-sacrifice route and leave him in the hands of others. He wanted Marian to stick around, he liked her. She was a reliable ally to have, and she was equally charming.
Anis was about to answer for Rapi, but Rapi removed a hand from her rifle and put her arm in front of her friend. “You’re right, I misspoke earlier. I’m sorry.”
Her reply was directed at Marian, who then looked at the young man beside her. Rapi picked up on her meaning without anyone having to speak. Rapi looked at her new commander. “I’m sorry.”
“Don’t mention it, there’s more important things to worry about. We’ve got a mission to complete so Marian, lead the way.”
No one outright said it, but as the squad walked through the streets and passed a construction site that acted as a time capsule from before the Rapture Invasion, Commander thought to himself about how he probably wasn’t acting how Rapi and Anis expected. First he was bandaging Marian up, then he was dismissive of Rapi’s insubordination. It was small, she didn’t express much emotion, but Rapi’s eyes widened slightly when Commander dismissed her attitude. But he believed what he said. There were more pressing concerns, he couldn’t worry about someone calling him a novice. And besides, Rapi and Anis were well within their right to be concerned about working for someone that became a commander just yesterday. Commander believed himself to be a novice.
Anis moved to the front of the group to walk alongside Marian, her hands in her jacket pockets. With a grin plastered on her face, she spoke up the moment Marian met her gaze. “Seriously, good job with those coordinates. You’re really saving our ass’ today.”
Marian nodded and put on a weak smile. “I have a job to do. I’ll make sure it gets done.”
“You sound like Ms. Serious over there.” Anis pointed over her shoulder using her thumb, directing her action at Rapi. Ignoring Rapi’s complaining, Anis continued. “Not that that’s a bad thing, yeah? Someone’s gotta get the job done.”
“Well I hope I don’t come off as that serious…” Marian looked back to see Rapi’s scowl that was still aimed at Anis. It was true that Marian was the type to take her job seriously. She was a soldier with a mission. But at least in the past she hadn’t been overly professional about work. A lot of Nikke would come to Marian and say she was like the big sister of the squad. Her soft expression and attitude was a welcome reprieve from the reality and horrors of combat. People were invigorated simply by having Marian around.
It took a moment for Anis to comprehend that the woman she was conversing with had also levied a playful insult at Rapi. Perhaps Anis had the wrong impression of Marian. She was just caught up in an attack that killed eleven allies and now she was trying to keep the last survivor alive no matter what. Even if someone is good at outwardly handling stress, they’re affected by it deep down. Marian was trying her best given the circumstances. Anis felt kind of bad for jumping to conclusions and immediately assuming Marian was uptight. Apologising to Marian in her head, Anis took a hand out of her jacket and patted her new ally on the shoulder.
“You’re all right, Marian.”
The Silver Gun member very clearly deliberated a similar subject in her mind, coming to her own favourable conclusions about the grenade launcher wielding Nikke. Anis was putting on a brave face and smiling her way through the conflict, but deep down she was struggling a lot. If she wasn’t forcing herself to smile and joke about her current situation then her mind would wander to some bad places and she would have a complete mental breakdown. Marian had met Nikke like Anis before, and she liked to think she managed to save them, even if just a little. Once they got closer, Marian was going to try and help Anis with her personal problems. It wasn’t good to rush into being an emotional aid for someone, Anis could see it as an affront. She might think Marian is looking down on her for being weak-willed. It was a tough balancing act that might take weeks, but Marian would carefully drag Anis from the edge of the abyss.
“I look forward to working with you.”
“Aw, come on. Don’t go all serious on me now.” Anis looked around at their worn-down surroundings, hurriedly trying to come up with a way to soften the mood again. “Okay, let's play a game!”
A questioning look flashed across Marian’s face as Anis made her declaration. That was until the game they’d be playing was announced. Marian’s expression softened into a gentle smile the way a mother looks at her child. The pair at the front of the group began playing the Last Letter game based on objects that might be found in a city.
The group eventually walked by a building that must’ve been an office in the past. Scraps of paper were strewn about, some caught by rusty cars, others tangled up in vines that stretched up the seven-storey building. Commander almost entirely missed the fact that there were two Nikke standing inside the office lobby. He only saw them because he was curious about the inside of the building. He saw what looked like a heavily damaged reception desk and a row of basic but damaged seats that were likely for people waiting to be seen for a job interview. Standing near those chairs were the silhouettes of two people. Two Nikke.
Commander stopped his squad and listened to Anis complain about having to stop playing her game as the two Nikke walked outside. They were both mass-produced units. The taller of the two had bright blue eyes piercing her plastic visor and short white hair fashioned into a ponytail escaping her helmet. She was decked out in dull blue armour that covered her head to toe and she held a bulky-looking sniper rifle in her hands. The shorter Nikke was wearing a one-piece item of clothing that covered her entire body and had a zipper on the front for easy removal. It was a mix of white and generic woodland camo. Hair a similar colour to Rapi’s sprawled out the side of her helmet and down past her hips. At her back was a thick shield and a shotgun using a magazine instead of a tube to feed shells into the chamber.
Of course, with Commander being the way he is, the first thing he did was appreciate their bodies. And he realised mass-produced Nikke were not as stacked as unique Nikke. Earlier he observed his squad members had some rather plump thighs, but the two new girls before him were quite slender. Not all Nikke are created equally, that was for sure.
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“Product 08 and Soldier FA, reporting for duty.” The taller one said in a somewhat deep, emotionless voice.
So she was Product 08 and the short girl with the shotgun and shield was Soldier FA. Commander felt bad for them, literally being designated as a product and a soldier. He wanted them to have proper names. Quickly in his head he searched through any other language he could recall. He could be studious when he wanted to be, and one thing that interested him were records of civilization before Raptures appeared. He’d gone through so many records and seen so many old languages. Once he arrived at a name for the tall Nikke, he was happy with it even though he couldn’t remember what country the language came from. Eight in another language was osam. Sam. Samantha. It sounded good.
As for Soldier FA, she was already close to having a name. Her name was pronounced ‘ef-ay’ so Fay seemed to work well enough in Commander’s mind.
“What’s your squad code?” Anis asked.
When Anis heard the reply, she jumped for joy and high-fived her new best friend Marian, who reciprocated the energetic Nikke’s feelings and went along with her joy. Commander was surprised to see the two become so close so fast considering they got off on the wrong foot, but without question this was better than the pair throwing shade at each other the entire mission. He watched Marian pump a fist into the air half-heartedly like she’d never done it before and couldn’t help but enjoy the juxtaposition of a grown adult acting so cute.
Once she’d expressed her pleasure at the situation, Anis realised there was a discrepancy with what she knew about the missing squad. “But it’s just you two? You’re missing a Nikke.”
“We got separated during a battle with Raptures.” Sam replied. “Communications are down, we have failed to contact our missing squad mate.”
Commander looked at Marian, who shook her head. They may have only been together for a short time so far but they seemed to have a firm grasp on what the other was thinking. Commander was curious if they were at or near the last known coordinates of the missing patrol. Marian had confirmed that no, they were not at their destination. By pure chance Commander’s squad had managed to take the path that resulted in finding part of the missing patrol. He was starting to wonder if Anis was right. Maybe he really was lucky.
“For now how about you two come with us.” Commander said. “We’ll find your missing squad member and get you back to the Ark.”
Samantha and Fay looked at each other and then back at the young man, nodding slightly. Just like before with Rapi, they spoke aloud and confirmed their squad had been transferred to this specific commander for now. He didn’t know why they did that considering they couldn’t communicate with anyone right now, radios were down. He had to assume Nikke kept some kind of log as a record of what was happening.
Commander was certainly glad to have completed part of his mission by finding some members of the lost Nikke team, but he was also glad to expand his squad and have more support in a fight. He was achieving two goals with one action. He was saving Nikke and increasing everyone’s chances to live on this mission. Commander was working towards the best possible outcome and it took all his effort to hide his satisfaction from everyone.
The group of six continued to move through the rundown city until Marian, still walking upfront and acting as a guide, put a hand up. She said one word and everyone’s demeanour changed. “Raptures.”
Commander and his Nikke took cover behind various props covering the street. Their enemies weren’t visible right now, but they should appear soon. Marian used her radar to see Raptures approaching from around the nearest corner of the crossroad the team found themselves at.
With a fight on the horizon, Commander thought this was a better time than any to do his job. It was finally time for the young man to command his squad. “Sa- Product 08, head into that building and give us some covering fire. Marian, you move up with FA, but stay behind her. I don’t want you getting injured anymore. Rapi, you move up too but keep your distance from FA and Marian. Anis, hang back a bit and rain artillery down on the Raptures.”
No one hesitated, they all did as they were told. It was their job as Nikke to do what their commander told them to. Product 08, Samantha, sprinted into a building on the corner of the street just as she was told and forced her way up to the second floor, throwing various items aside. At some point in time people must have attempted to seek refuge here because various items like desks, chairs and drawers were piled up to block the stairs. These objects were no match for a Nikke’s strength though.
Fay held her riot shield at a forty-five-degree angle in one hand and rested her shotgun atop it so she could both protect and attack. Marian took up position behind Fay, her submachine gun muzzle pointed at the ground. That didn’t mean she was inactive, however. Marian was ready to appear from behind her ally and start shooting within a split second. Roughly ten feet away, on the other side of the road, was Rapi who had put her rifle through a car window. Anis, as ordered, was by Commander’s side. She looked eager to lay down some covering fire, and it wasn’t long until she had to.
A Rapture force thirty members strong marched around the nearest corner. The red lens of the leading flying Rapture flashed red as it detected Nikke opponents, but its glass eye was immediately shot out by Samantha. It flew sideways to the ground after being taken out in one hit and the Rapture horde behind it all locked their red eyes onto their prey at the same time. Among them was an elite enemy that Commander couldn’t remember the name of, but it looked like it had two long mouths atop its body. Those mouths would occasionally open up and spit homing energy orbs just like Perennial from his squad’s previous battle.
That weird Rapture with two mouths spawning from its main body didn’t appear to be the biggest threat though. Right at the back, hovering thirty metres above all the other Raptures, was a Watcher. It was considered to be one of the more annoying Raptures to fight since it could move fast. It was like a man-made jet but with more manoeuvrability, making it hard to hit.
It was best to deal with as many regular Raptures as possible first. Take out the small fry first and leave the biggest nuisance for last. So Commander ordered his squad to open fire and take everything out. Sam was told to keep taking potshots at Watcher to keep it distracted while Anis fired round after round of explosives at her enemies. There were so many Raptures grouped so close together that even if Anis didn’t score a direct hit, part of the group of Raptures would be peppered with shrapnel.
Marian peeked out from behind FA to keep accurately firing bullets into her metal enemies and FA was doing a good job at protecting the injured Nikke from taking any more damage. Miniguns spat countless bullets at FA but not many hit her and the ones that did were not strong enough to push her back.
Rapi had to change position multiple times as she kept being targeted. Likely because she was on her own and the most visible target the Raptures thought it was a good idea to take her out first. Blue laser orbs homed in on her, tearing through cars and digging into concrete as Rapi fired her rifle and moved from cover to cover. She was being pushed back bit by bit, but that was fine. As long as she kept dealing with the right, the battle would be won. If anything, it was beneficial to have so many Raptures focused on just one Nikke.
There was next to no warning for their enemy’s next move. Watcher fired a rocket at Samantha, which Commander barely saw coming. He had to raise his voice to a shout as bullets whizzed over his cover. “08, get out of there now! Jump!”
Product 08 vaulted over a desk and out of an open hole in the building as the rocket struck just a second later. Commander knew he shouldn’t keep pushing his luck, but he wanted to ensure the safety of his team. He had begun running towards Samantha’s perch before she jumped and was there to grab her arm as rubble rained down around them.
“Move, come on!” He shouted, leading her to some cover.
Commander was so focused on getting Sam to safety that he forgot to pay attention to his own safety. Thankfully Samantha was looking out for him. She forcefully pulled herself from Commander’s grip, grabbed his head and pushed him down as bullets came his direction. She went down with him, practically unscathed. A single bullet had struck her helmet but it was just a glancing blow leaving a small dent in her helmet. She was not injured in any way. Sam immediately went on the offensive and peeked over cover with her sniper, taking shots at Raptures firing in her direction. She managed to take out a few of them before having to duck down to reload.
“You’re really pushing your luck, Commander!” Anis had moved to him and immediately began berating him.
“Everything’s fine isn’t it?” He shrugged and attempted to poke his head over the concrete wall.
Anis grabbed his collar and shoved him back down. “Are you stupid?! You’re stupid, right?!”
“I need to see what’s going on.”
“Then connect to 08’s helmet or ask me for a situational report, dumbass!”
Mass-produced Nikke often wore helmets or visors, and said helmets or visors had cameras attached to them. This was originally done so as mass-produced units marched to their deaths they could feed information to the Central Government in the form of videos showing what Raptures could do and how they did it. The only reason humans know as much as they do about Raptures is thanks to the brave but forgotten Nikke fighting on the frontlines at the beginning of the war.
Such a thing was common knowledge but it’d slipped Commander’s mind. After BA-01 crashed and Marian couldn’t get through to anyone, he had forgotten the earpiece in his left ear and the phone in his pocket. He undid the golden button of his military coat’s top pocket and pulled his smartphone out. The screen was cracked, no doubt during his fall to Earth, but the screen came to life when he pressed the power button. It was still functioning.
After firing another few grenades from her launcher and ducking down to reload, Anis looked at Commander. “What kind of psychopath keeps their phone in their top pocket?”
Retorts would have to wait. Given that he was lying down but his legs were raised, it was easy for Commander to see that a phone would slip out of his trouser pocket and he would lose track of it. He didn’t like his phone being on his chest, but it was safer there. He pointed the screen at Samantha when she crouched back down to reload and she understood what he wanted. She pressed the side of her helmet and gave a thumbs up. Commander looked at his phone’s screen and saw what Sam saw.
Over half of the enemy force had been destroyed. Rapi was currently in the middle of doing something similar to what Marian had done in an earlier fight, taking a minigun from a Rapture and using it to mow down her enemies. Commander guessed it was necessary, when out in the field Nikke didn’t have infinite resources. They needed to improvise weapons when possible otherwise they’d run out of ammunition really fast.
As he thought this, a Rapture tried to use a front leg like a sword. It raised its metal limb as high as it could and swung down on Fay. She simply used her shield to push aside the leg and then she shoved her shotgun into the Rapture's red lens and pulled the trigger at point blank range. Needless to say, it was dead. Chunks of metal and wires blew out of its back as it went limp and dropped to the asphalt. Commander was also happy to see Marian doing what she was told. She was sticking to Fay’s back like glue, only peeking around her ally’s shoulder and firing when absolutely necessary.
Their major enemy, Watcher, had just finished preparing another rocket. Seeing this through the camera, Commander jumped up before Anis could keep him behind cover and shouted. “Marian, FA, get to cover! Rapi, suppressive fire! Shoot the rocket if you can!”
Although the orders were not directed at them, Samantha and Anis decided to join in with Commander’s commands and shoot at the rocket Watcher just launched. The force of Samantha’s sniper bullet made the rocket swerve a foot, directing it straight into Anis’ grenade. Rapi held the trigger down and fired as many bullets as it took to detonate the explosive device as Marian and Fay took cover behind a large tree rooted to the ground between roads.
The rocket blew up long before it got close to Commander or his squad, destroying a building wall. This was enough for the building to start falling from the fourth storey and up, and it toppled straight onto Watcher. Other Raptures were struck by heavy chunks of rubble, leaving big dents in their metal bodies, but they didn’t do anything about it. The metal menaces just continued to move towards Commander’s squad while firing their miniguns and lasers.
Moments later, the heavily damaged structure had fallen over, presumably crushing the remaining Raptures. Watcher had tried to fly away, but being struck by concrete in the right places had slowed it down to the point where it couldn’t escape in time. As the dust settled and Commander’s squad came out into the open street, they saw half of Watcher’s body sticking out from beneath the fallen building. With its body sparking and red eye flashing, Watcher was clearly still alive. Commander was almost tempted to unholster his handgun, walk up to it and say a cool one-liner as he shot it in the lens. His silly fantasies would never be a thing though since his weapon couldn’t pierce Rapture parts. The young man left it to Rapi to kill Watcher. She casually executed it at range, which was a somewhat anticlimactic and boring end to the biggest threat in the fight. She could’ve at least tried to go along with Commander’s fantasy. The fantasy she knew nothing about.
Now that the fight was over, it was eerily quiet. Commander had already forgotten that this was how it should be. Quiet. No gunfights erupting between factions, no heavy Raptures stomping around, no whizzing sound of fast flying Raptures overhead.
“You all did a great job.” He said confidently. He really was proud of this squad. Observing them all, he saw that no one was injured. For the first time today, Marian had gotten through a battle without getting herself hurt.
“It’d be easier if someone didn’t have a death wish.” Anis sighed at her leader.