The Commander is a Gamer - Chapter 47 - ShadowGhost141 - 니케: 승리의 여신 (2024)

Chapter Text

The group continued to trek along the snowy biome in silence, whether or not that silence was the awkward kind or not couldn’t be concluded. Not a lot of words had been exchanged since that conversation, and the trip was mostly quiet except for a few T-Doll ambushes in their way. Fortunately they had only been scouting troupes without much firepower so dispatching them had been a piece of cake for the girls. So much so that William himself didn’t even need to step in…

One could guess the mixed feelings he had about that.

For Crow and Viper, things are looking quite different in a matter of perspective… this commander had broken their expectations of him yet again, that he indeed wasn’t like the other naive commanders that were fresh out of the academy, or the Central Government’s lapdog.

Meanwhile… some of the group is still struggling a bit on where they should step next in the frozen icy lake Neon tried to do herself, she tends to forget that she’s a Nikke herself and will sink like a rock…

Rapi stops for a bit and feels something beneath her feet. “... Wait. Everyone stay still. Do you feel something vibrating underneath us?”

*Thud…*

“Raptures…” William figured, but there aren’t any to be seen at the moment… this still puts everyone on alert as they try to find the source of these vibrations when Crow spots something up ahead. Pointing in the direction of a smokestack where a camp could be seen. “Everyone stay low… we’re not alone here…”

“Is that a human camp?” Viper asks, curious if there are other humans roaming around at the moment.

William shakes his head. “No… an enemy camp… something tells me they set up shop there.”

“That’s interesting…” Crow mused in a near silent whisper, though one couldn’t be sure if that was referring to this new intel or when she saw him pull out his drone from his pocket. Motioning to Rapi to take control of it and survey the area first.

Opening their watches with their lenses, except for Exotic of course since they have no idea what’s going on other than looking at their watches, they can see what used to be a lumber village the Raptures had now occupied.

Turning off their watches, Rapi and the others turn to face William. ”What’s the plan, Commander? Do we go for a frontal assault?” Rapi suggests, seeing as they have the numbers and the firepower they could storm in and clear it out.

“No… I have a better idea…” He then looks at Isa with her SCAR-L at the ready. “Me and Isa will be silently maneuvering that camp, the rest of you will be on standby in case we’re caught and Scarecrow will be running surveillance.”

“Are you sure? That seems pretty daunting for you, Honey-cakes.” Viper quipped, admiring the balls that these two humans had to go at an enemy camp with just the two of them.

“We got this. Girls?” He then faces the rest of the women in their squadron, obviously Anis and Neon have their own qualms, but Isa assures them that nothing will happen to him, since she’s with him.

“Go get em, Commander. We’ll be here in case anything happens.” Anis rooted, then assured, they mounted their weapons at the nearby cover while the two hybrids began to silently run up to the enemy base.

The lumber base is also built next to a frozen waterfall with a few grappling/climbing points of entry at the South-East and South-West. A river separates the village with a Y-shape at the North that runs until to the frozen waterfall at the South. Two wooden bridges, one wide and one narrow over the aforementioned river and at least 11 different buildings of different roles within its brick walls.

Judging from their scans just now, it seems that there are also three other entry points at the North, going through the two gatehouses is a no-no, so he opts for the more watery route. “Isa… Get up on that wall where at least three buildings face each other, I will be at the river taking an underwater approach.” He ordered, which Isa nodded.

‘Time for a cold swim…’

Back at the Counters POV.

Crow peers through the landscape as she watches the two go separately. With one taking a cold dip and the other taking the high road. “Your Commander’s quite capable… same goes for that other human named Isa…” Crow commented.

“Well, Crow… it wasn’t the first time he did such a reckless stunt without us around…” Anis said, facing the Exotic trio while her weapon is still mounted. “You’d have to know… last time we were here, he tried to go inside of an anthill alone, saving some people, Marian was there too.”

“I remember… ” Marian nodded, she didn’t like that her alter persona had been doing some of the most heinous acts of torture against other humans that Modernia captured. Yet the more they mention Modernia, the more she remembers what she’d done as her, to which she doesn’t want to know…

This intrigued the trio even further as not many humans ever really set foot much on the surface, yet more of these unknowns kept popping up on their radar like some kind of intervention was happening.

They get snapped out of their minds though when they point out from their HUDs that from William and Isa’s POV’s that they have managed to breach the outer walls as William swam underneath the bridges to where he beaches to the nearby waterwheel house, grabbing onto the wooden boardwalk leading to the Wheelhouse interior, he finds three different T-Doll Variants: a Ripper, a Vespid and a Striker inside the Waterwheel House with the Striker on a set L-patrol path.

He waits behind some cover as the Guard moves away from the rest of the two until he stealthily runs up to the two T-Dolls with their backs turned, pulling out his Blade he stabs the one to his left first over its shoulder before side-stabbing the right one. At the sounds of their deaths the Striker one turns its head trying to quickly aim her minigun towards him until it’s too late, her face in full view as he relentlessly slashes the Heavy Striker through her chest, with William facing it directly until it shuts down, its own artificial blood spilled out and completely lifeless before him…

“*whistle…* That’s impressive…” Crow mused. She’d gotten herself linked up with the rest of the team’s optical sensors to see him and Isa work in action. Not only her but the rest of Exotic too as they watched how effective he can be as a solo operative.

Meanwhile on Isa’s end, readying her Kukri she jumps down and stabs one of the Ripper variants on its back, completely pinning it to the ground then standing up to quickdraw her Glock 18 at the Vespid that’s looking at her, she lands a headshot as the Vespid goes down.

‘So this is what FarCry Takedowns feel like…’ Isa thought to herself as she pulled out her blade to start killing the Guard variant that has a shield that’s at the guardhouse with a cover takedown from behind.

For William, he takes another cold dip into the river and goes to the fat bridge where another Ripper variant could be seen. As he nears it with the graceful slowness of a predator, William makes sure to be as silent as possible and to not ripple the river’s current too much. Environmental factors can play a part in keeping one's location hidden as well as tip the enemy off to one’s location, he’d lost count how many times he had to learn that lesson growing up. His eye then rapturises as he releases 2 Tails, the waters muffling their clicking sounds from their movements. Once he had gotten close enough however, the male quickly launched them from the water and had them stab through the same Ripper variant’s neck, yanking it into the water the following second so he could finish it off.

The rest of the T-Dolls and Nikkes that are watching the live feed, watched as Isa kills another enemy inside a house it was posted on before throwing her kukri toward another enemy, to which she picks it up afterwards outside of the house.

William dispatches another Striker in his path by quickly slicing its head off with a good double Tail slice then he caught the body before it could fall and has his Tails hide it behind some cover. That way nobody would discover it early and blow their cover.

‘So far so good, now all that’s left is to…’

Turning his head, William’s eyes widened when he saw Isa running towards one of the other houses. Peering through a gap in the walls, he sees the last enemy she tries to kill… was a Brute T-Doll.

One that managed to block her upcoming stab, counter tackle her to the ground and push her blade away and brandished their own.

“?!”

In a brief instance, shock flooded her consciousness, with the young woman internally screaming. ‘What the f*ck?! The hell did this thing know I was here…?!’ her panicked thoughts That’s when the alarm inside the Brute class’ head began to blare in front of her. William’s panic mode shot through the roof at the sight and what's coming next. “sh*t! She’s calling in reinforcements!”

Acting quickly, the male assists his sister in taking it down from behind by impaling the Brute through the chest and head via his Tails. Unfortunately for them they didn’t stop it in time as evident by a faint alarm sound escaping it seconds before shutting down, making William grit his teeth in annoyance as he shifted his head from side to side. “Dammit… looks like we have company…” he cursed, not noticing the expression on his adoptive sister’s face as he began issuing orders through his coms. “Girls, rendezvous at the village and set up a perimeter!”

“Roger!”

A quick but unified affirmation later, and the girls quickly rendezvous inside the cleared enemy camp.

Rapi, William and Isa set up Sniper Perches at some of the few vantage points they could find.

Anis and Jackal ready their Grenade and Rocket Launchers to blast away any enemy that’s foolish enough to get close.

Meanwhile Neon, Crow and Viper get behind cover at the two land entry points in the camp.

“Enemy Raptures spotted on some Sabretooths, Commander!” Rapi pointed out with her DSR-1, a squad of Rippers on top of some Sabretooths can be seen with one of the Rippers that have been upgraded to look like the leader of the pack, as well as some Vespids and a few Jaegers for long range.

Not going to be an easy fight.. That's what the group thought in unison.

“Snipers, focus on the Jaegers first, don't let them get a lock on the rest of our people here.” William ordered, locked on to one of the Jaegers before it could get a lock on the defenders.

Well, invaders anyway as they hadn’t expected more than one enemy camp in the middle of Rapture territory, which is concerning.

A few minutes later.

“Raptures are neutralized and it seems we’ve arrived at our destination too…” William announced, realizing that they have cleared the spot where Rapunzel and the rest of her party might meet, seeing as the halo jamming seems to be getting closer by the hour to their location…

“Really? That’s convenient…” Viper commented, looking around the village that they used to control, now it became theirs thanks to those two, though she was a bit curious about Isa, their other human addition to their current group… she’d already known how dangerous they can all be, it would make sense for Isa to be a part of that group of dangerous individuals. So she tries to ask. “I’d have to ask though… who is that other human with you, Commander?”

“She’s… my sister.” William slowly uttered with his piercing gaze bearing down on the black haired Nikke’s own, well he didn’t lie but the fact that she was asking about an important person to him made his instincts designate Crow as someone to be on guard against.

Sensing his rising rigidity, Crow raises an eyebrow along with Viper and Jackal, not expecting that answer. Their investigations had only shown that this male had just popped into existence from out of nowhere, and now he claimed he had a sister? The thought that someone could just hide from the Central Government AND the Ark as a whole made their suspicions about the two shoot through the roof. “Your sister? Why haven’t I heard of her before…?”

The male rolled his eyes at this. “You didn’t ask… though I suggest you don’t pry about it right now… right now, we need to secure this camp… search its interiors too for any viable intel we could use.”

“...Got it.”

Now that this conversation was concluded, William went ahead and assigned the teams to various zones. with William assigning himself with Exotic to help search Zone B to the East. He could tell from the gazes his Nikkes and T Dolls aimed at him that they wished to protest that decision, but they stayed quiet knowing how stubborn their commander could be.

Meanwhile the rest (Isa with the Counters and Team Agent) were assigned to Zones A and C to the West respectively to cut down on time.

Soon after at Zone B.

With Crow at the front, the Exotic squad and William soon arrived at their designated search area with time to spare. Fortunately there weren’t any Raptures in the area due to the prior battle they had, giving them free reign to do their business in peace.

Mentally, William deduced his first place of searching and strolled on over there, quickly informing the rest of the squad. “I’m heading to this section, girls. You find anything, let me know.” He said, briefly glancing at them to get nods from the girls before he returned his gaze forwards.

Viper texted on her phone while the Commander wasn’t looking. “Captain, proceed to the coordinates I’ve sent you. I found something you may get a kick out of.”

The leader of Exotic squad arched her brows at this information, a bubble of curiosity forming within her gut. With her phone at the ready as well, the blackette Nikke tapped a text message back to her subordinate. “Bring the Commander with us. He’ll likely suspect us if we leave.” Crow then orders, as Viper begins texting the Commander and tells him to meet with them.

When they got to the designated house moments later, they found some parts scattered on the floor, along with emergency rations that were on the shelves. Jackal beamed excitedly at the sight. “Wow!! The whole floor is covered in parts! Check out all these emergency rations!” She goes to pick up one of them but to her dismay, they’re empty… “... But they’re all empty. What’s going on?”

“They’ve been here…” He deducted, looking at a map on the table that marked some of the places in the city these three Pilgrims have been. “I know from personal experience, Crow. That they usually modify their weapons using some Rapture Parts that they salvaged. Scarlet, Snow White and Rapunzel taught me that back at the city Scarlet dragged me into…”

“Looks like they were true…” Crow mused, having heard from the grapevine that he’d been taken by a Pilgrim as a hostage… though she didn’t expect him to be so close with those three in the few weeks they’ve had him hostage. Now that she thought about it, was he even a hostage to them? She’d heard from several Nikkes who took part in the Modernia operation that one Pilgrim that matched the description of one of this group’s members had been sighted close to the male’s position several times.

While she remained locked in thought, her second in command took the chance to inject herself into the conversation. “They may be resourceful, but that doesn’t make them one of us.” Viper quipped, something William couldn’t refute so he stayed silent.

Pilgrims, Nikkes who had been wandering the surface for one reason or another. He may know more about them than most, but William bet that there was still much he didn’t. Not to mention that squads like Exotic had no reason to trust them like William and his group did, so treating them with distrust is to be expected.

As she eyes the map on the table that the Commander’s holding, Viper soon finds herself curious about it. “Mind if I see that map, Commander?” she requests, pointing at the map.

Wordlessly nodding, William hands her the map. He points out the places that have been marked out, areas that had been searched for supplies and other parts. Looking back at his watch where the yellow halo area is moving, they find that they still have about 3 hours until they get here on foot.

Off to the side, Crow nudges her head at him and asks if they can talk outside for a bit. Something William nods at without exchanging a word like the woman had done.

‘Seems like Crow wants me for something…’ he couldn’t help but think to himself, frowning internally while externally his features remained impassive.

When they exit the building with a good enough distance to be far from it, near the lake, the duo stop and turn to one another. William starts first. “So Crow… what is it you want to discuss?”

“You, first of all… when you first arrived at the Outer Rim with Anis, I’d thought that you were just another goody-two-shoes commander that knew nothing of how the world worked, only to just grab me and push me down into the dirt like that… and yet here we are… my squad and I are simply following you just to get this Vapaus…” Crow paused her words, her eyes meeting his own so she could see if they were invoking any reaction.

Whatever she sought, she did not find however. William merely remained silent as he waited for her to continue.

Seeing this, Crow decided to get straight to the point since she didn’t want to waste both their time. “You consistently broke my expectations of you, of any other naive commander simply vying for fame or fortune. It baffles me…”

In the end, William’s impassive mask cracked and she noticed it, evident by how the man sighed after closing his eyes and then opening them to gaze at the ground beneath them. “Yea… hopefully with the way things are going, coupled with the recent demonstration with other commanders, eyes are being opened. It’s hell I tell you… much like the Outer Rim only your place has become more accommodating for your people.”

William thought back to the Outer Rim, the homeland for the Exotic Squad according to their files. The squad composed entirely of those who’d been born in those slum-like lands, which on paper was an ideal advantage for a squad meant to oversee the underworld there for a corporation like Missilis… but on the other hand the fact they were regarded as prisoners in all but name, meant that what little freedoms they had growing up there, were none existent.

Sure things had been getting better there thanks to a combination of the tech he had provided, Mustang’s support and the Underworld Queen’s efforts in dispatching the tech to where it’s most needed. But given the situation between them and Missilis, William felt inclined to believe that Syuen deprived them of those necessities. If she had, Syuen was just asking for a beating from them in the future, though he wasn’t sure if that was the case, he just had a strong suspicion.

But there was one thing the male had more of a concrete idea on, an incident he had been intending to question the Exotic squad leader especially. “Though I’d have to ask… why did you blow up that train? Was it personal or…?”

Terrorist attacks on the Ark Trains… William couldn’t understand what their goal was back then, since it went contrary to the ideals of the organization. Sure they wanted better treatment for the Outer Rim people, and they've committed plenty of bad deeds for that goal, but that incident had been rather excessive even for them. The fact that the group had vanished off the face of the earth afterwards was pretty telling in and of itself.

Trailing off, William watched as Crow performed a dismissive wave. “Meh, just business. I WAS a terrorist back then.” she stated easily, or rather with disinterest like blowing a train of so many people wasn’t anything of an issue for her.

It…irked the male, not going to lie.

“So, you really don’t feel a thing…? I heard that incident claimed plenty of lives.”

Slowly William started to get a better idea of Crow as a person, or rather he thought he did. She always had this unknown attribute about her, which likely had to do with how she had to adapt to her environment so she could survive. Crow struck him as a woman who cared more for the task at hand than anything else like ‘rules’, ‘ethics’ or ‘morality’. One could say she had a bit of a psychopathic or sociopathic nature to her, but he didn’t know her well enough to tell for sure.

What he COULD tell though, was that she wasn’t a ‘good’ person by any means of the word. So much so that he, and this made him feel physically ill… he realized Syuen may have been on to something when restraining her with those collars.

Crow smiled in a mysterious manner, a hand being placed on her hips as she glanced to the side at the lake. “Impactful change usually comes at the expense of others, you know. You’re living proof of this.”

William made to counter with a vehement refusal, but the words didn’t leave his mouth. He got the feeling he’d be a lying hypocrite if he did that, so when he pondered the statement some more, he realized the truth behind it which pained a look of surprise onto his face, having never thought of it that way before. “True… I’d like to defy the Central Government’s status quo, hence that lecture…” William admitted, frowning as he realized some harrowing implications of these words. In a way, he and Heavenly Ascension weren’t so different, they both played with others’ lives for their own ends. It… wasn’t an easy revelation to make, truth be told. In fact he felt a bit ill thinking about it. “Some commanders died in that operation I took them into… but then again… I never really remembered their names… Nor did I even care…”

Crow glances at William with a chocolate stick in her mouth. “So you admit it then? You’re a terrorist or… a rebel as you liked to call me?”

A chuckle leaves his mouth, though it wasn’t an amused one. If anything bitter realization was more accurate. “Heh… yeah… and I like doing things my way, rather than following BS rules the CG made. Really though… those kinds of people need to get their f*cking heads out of their asses and start pushing back on the surface, improve the Outer Rim and the like, only they’re cowards who didn’t want to do anything and take the easy way out…” he mused, having spat out the last part.

Crow can only nod at that as a strange look soon plastered itself on her features. It caught William by surprise as she glanced to the side again, her voice one of melancholy… and something else he couldn’t really describe. “... If only I’d met you sooner… maybe I would have worked for you instead…”

“I… think you still can… you have the power to change things through certain events… why not change yourself too?”

“Heh, me? Change? Are you for real?”

William gets closer to Crow, his mouth opening to give her some words that would hopefully inspire her to change, even if that hope stemmed from his own self perceptions of the woman. “Everyone has the capacity for change, Crow… the real question is: are you willing to take that step, and do it not for me… but for yourself? Do you really care about the Outer Rim and its people or… was that simply an act you put up?”

Crow was silent at that, but before a word could leave her lips…

RUMBLE-RUMBLE-RUMBLE-!

“?!”

Both William and Crow turned wide eyed as they spread their legs further apart, trying to maintain their balance with their arms thrown out as counterweights. The reasoning for this came when the ground shook beneath their feet like the planet itself were laughing at the absurdity of the male’s words.

“What the f*ck?!” William exclaimed, nearly losing the fight to maintain his balance had his Tails and Scarves not manifested themselves and came in clutch by impaling the ground around him, acting like anchors to keep him steady.

Crow didn’t have those, but she had better luck maintaining her balance in spite fo the rumbling. She still had the clarity to throw one more comment his way though. “For once, you and I agree on something!”

“CAPTAIN!”

Meanwhile Viper and Jackal ran over to where the two were currently talking, urgent looks on their faces as the rumbling didn’t cease… instead it seemed to almost intensify like an increasingly loud heartbeat from the earth itself.

THUMP-THUMP-THUMP!

“Captain! Watch out! Unknown enemy Rapture Class at your position!” Viper shrieked as they both ran to their positions.

“sh*t…!” William cursed beneath his breath, his mismatched eyes glowing with anger as he drew his HF blade, with the others drawing their weapons at the source of the rumblings, which originated from beneath the lake itself. The damning evidence of this took the form of the lake surface becoming increasingly violent, waves chopping away at the edges and each other while they began to roil. Like something was trying to break out of its shell, the depths had been concealing for generations.

One look at the weapon the male had drawn and the Exotic leader wondered if he had grown a second head because of his abomination status. “You’re gonna need a ranged weapon for this, Commander! Not that stupid blade of yours!” Crow chastised, having pointed her twin SMGs at the lake, ready to pelt the enemy with bullets the moment it surfaced.

“Just watch me!” the hybrid called back, ready to lunge at the thing before it could surface as evident by how his Tails and Scarves reared themselves backwards in readiness for a lunge.

Those thoughts…. Got proven wrong in the next second.

WHOOSH-SPLASH!

Like a rising hill, an object EASILY the size of a freaking BUILDING burst out from the lake, breaking through the surface with a loud splashing sound accompanying the surface parting away. Much like something breaking free from a cocoon, the waters peeled away from its form, no longer able to shield it from prying eyes and yet its movement rendered them only able to view its basic shape… and the fact it resembled this big black mechanical mass that shot over the groups’ heads.

THUMP!

A loud thump accompanied its landing atop the ground behind the group, a loud shockwave rushing forth from the impact point that shredded through the weakened buildings like knives going through vegetables. Even William got blown back from the shockwave’s force, nearly falling into the lake had they not got their balance back in time with Jackal jamming all four limbs into the ground for anchorage and her companions digging their heels in as best they could. The upheaved dirt forced them to cover their eyes with their arms and weapons lest they lose their sight…

Though that’d be the least of their worries soon enough.

Once the dirt and debris died down, the group lowered their weapons to feast their eyes upon what had arrived… and thus, nearly shat themselves. The being before them, clearly mechanical in nature, definitely presented itself as a Rapture yet its sleek black metallic structure contrasted heavily with the usual bulky robotic frames they usually had. its bipedal turkey legs supported a disproportionately slim central body and wings reminiscent of some flightless birds, much like a penguin. It’s head had features like an extended forehead and a chin with a multi-part mouth. Behind it a single long Tail protruded forth with enough length to fill multiple football fields.

Immediately William recognized it as evidenced by the way his features turned paler than a ghost in horror. “No f*cking way… did they just actually do this?!”

“Huh…?”

He ignored the trio as he cursed their misfortune. Of all things, why the f*ck is one of THESE here of all places?! “A f*cking Metal Gear RAY?! How in the f*ck did one of THOSE get here?!”

“Metal- what?!”

“Forget it, this thing is much more maneuverable than us-” William made to do something, but whatever that turned out to be got dashed immediately when the male saw its mouth begin to split apart, revealing a glowing interior. His eyes widened when he realised what was about to happen.

And judging by its trajectory it’s about to…

Oh.

Oh sh*t.

OH f*ckING sh*t!

BZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZT!

“VIPER!!”

Honestly William wouldn’t be able to disconcern what had driven him to do what he did next, even years after the event had taken place. It was like his instinct had taken over his body or something, as he turned on his heels and bulldozed his way towards the aforementioned woman, said woman being too stunned to react properly.

The reason for his decision came in the form of the MG Ray having aimed its head at the ground in front of it to then fire a single continuous laser stream, much like something Laplace would use only with MUCH more Oomph behind it… as well as the ability to reduce most matter to mere nothingness. It slowly raised its head in the following seconds, sending the laser across the street towards the group who turned into a pack of horrified animals.

Lunging forth so fast that he resembled a blur, William slammed into and tackled her out of the way thanks to his Tails being used as a spring to quickly jump over to her. The two of them flew through the air thanks to the shockwave from the laser launching them further like missiles fired from a launcher, their forms soon looming over a rather… icy patch of land that they couldn’t avoid.

William had just enough time to notice how fragile the ice looked and a quick calculation of if it could support their combined weight. The answer left him with one response. ‘f*ck…!’

SLAM!

SHATTER!

After the RAY missed its target, the duo crashed into the ice with full force. In the following seconds his mental cursing had been practically prophetic, as the ice around them cracked due to the force of the impact. Before they could even reorganize their thoughts let alone get up and off the damn thing, the patch shattered like a mirror being punched by an angry drunkard, causing the two to lose their balance and begin to fall down into a large, vast fissure after it cracked beneath them.

“KYAAAA!”

“sh*t!”

Immediately William acted, reaching out with his arms to wrap them around the screaming Viper, ignoring the sheer TERROR on her features that could never be faked no matter how hard one tried. If anything it would have spurred him to action even faster, cause to him it did NOT deserve to be on her beautiful face. Once the male had secured Viper in his arms wrapped around her, they both fell like spiraling sausages into the dark abyss that was the fissure’s depths, leaving their comrades to the RAY’s mercy… or lack of it.

Ice Fissure depths

Viper thought she was dead.

That had been the first thing to enter her mind the moment the ice shattered beneath her, no, perhaps right when that titan of a robot had been about to body slam on top of her.

She’d experienced many times in her life where she had lacked any sort of power or control. As a child who’d struggled in the slums she’d learned those lessons hard and fast, especially that there were mostly people who were in it only for themselves. Even those who formed groups out of people did it for solely self preservation reasons, something everyone knew. Survival was practically the number one priority in the Outer Rim, issues like ethics and morality were either secondary or weren’t even given a thought to at all.

That had been the environment she, Crow and Jackal grew up in, that’d been the life they’d managed to survive to adulthood in where so many others had long since lost the fight.

Perhaps that's why they worked well together, despite Crow being a loner type and Jackal being the obedient dog that she was.

One of the things she trusted the most out of those times however, was the power of persuasion, choosing the right words to appeal to one’s hidden desires and the like. To lift someone up or to utterly crush them under her boot. Words had power, no matter what everyone who lived privileged lives said about it, and she’d mastered the art of words to an art form. For years it had served her well, helping her develop an information network for herself and her squad, it was why she got the name ‘Viper’ when she’d become a Nikke since she couldn’t recall her original name… if she ever had one.

But that mech? That Rapture…no words, her strongest power, would be enough to sway it. It was a machine, not a human with complex thoughts and exploitable emotional weaknesses. It was merely a bunch of metal, wires and code… her natural enemy, more so than other Nikkes. She didn’t think her weapon would be of much help either, she never even got the chance to verify… but she didn’t feel hopeful about her chances.

Especially not with how easily it just bitch slapped her all the way to her doom…

‘Well… I guess this is it for me…’ Viper had thought when she saw the dark depths of the fissure beneath her, her eyes wider than saucers as raw, unconstrained fear had taken over her system. She’d screamed louder and truer than she had ever screamed in her life at that moment… her only means of resistance before the fall would claim her as its victim.

At that moment she hadn’t been the seductive, manipulative Nikke who could make any man hot under the collar… Viper wasn’t there, just the frightened, scared little girl who didn’t have anything but her words going for her.

They did say that one's life flashed before their eyes before they closed forever… Viper now found herself a believer.

Then, when gravity took hold before her fall to darkness began, Viper had tried reaching out to the skies above like she were so close to paradise itself, only to be denied it right when she’d been about to touch it. That had been the point where she’d just given up and accepted her fate, perhaps she deserved it for what she and Exotic intended to do with William back then… yea she probably did, even if they had gone through with their plan she bet they would have been ripped to shreds from gunfire the moment the T Dolls and Nikkes found them. More likely the former who didn’t have the NIMPH in their brains.. But she wouldn’t be surprised if some of the Nikkes overpowered their protocols out of sheer fury.

Less crazy things had happened.

She expected to hit the icy pavement before long…

“?!”

A sudden warmth wrapping around her pulled Viper out of her self-deprecating spiel, her eyes shooting wide open when she saw a familiar Hybrid in her peripheral vision.

‘Wait…! Did he…?!’

Shock flooded her system once more, a feeling she never thought she’d experience ever again after that near death experience, when her functions ame back online and Viper took a look at their surroundings.

They had indeed landed at the bottom of the fissure, but instead of becoming two bloody smears on the ground William had instead broken their falls by twisting so his back faced the icy bottom below and used a combination of his Tails and scarves to slow their descent by grasping the walls, enough to offset their inevitable impact. He’d then stabbed them into the ground below to cushion their fall, pain shooting up his spine so thoroughly that he’d nearly screamed from the agony burning him alive.

“Owwwwww…! f*ckin hell… ” William groaned in pain as he clutched Viper in his arms with the said Nikke sprawled on top of him. Upon his further inspection and ignoring the dumbfounded look in her eyes, he sees that Viper was unharmed from the fall which had been a sign he’d done his job. A sigh filled with more relief than he knew what to do with left his mouth when he saw this, the Hybrid loosening his grip around her back. “*sigh* At least you’re okay, Viper…” he then muttered as he set her down on the ground next to him.

Again ignoring the look on the Nikke’s face, William slowly sat upright as his Tails and Scarves vanished, letting his eye return to normal as he looked around at their surroundings. Judging from how deep the fall’d been, he guessed they were a good few hundred feet underground or something, this fissure seemed that deep. The walls themselves looked rather slim with some jagged areas, but not enough to attempt to climb upwards either, to his frustration. William couldn’t hear the sounds of battle either leaving him unaware of the others’ fates.

‘sh*t… f*ck! This is just like with the Dreadwing all over again!’ William cursed in his mind, remembering the one creature before this that had put him in such a dire strait. That had ended with his forces destroyed, two loved ones comatose with one turning into a hybrid like himself… something even now he struggled to come to terms with considering how it will likely ruin Isa’s life forever more. He didn’t care what consequences his rapture side brought upon him personally, but the effects it’d have on those he cherished were a different story.

More than that though, as he tried to establish connection with his comrades only to get a notification about alva particles being too high, William scrambled to get his thoughts together without going ape sh*t. Yet that proved more difficult than one could imagine, especially with what had just happened to him with that battle… just how the f*ck did a freaking METAL GEAR come into this world? Did it get sent through a portal, was f*cking RAIDEN of all people here? Did Raptures build one just to f*ck with him?!

The whole concept of otherworlders coming to this world now had a deeper, darker meaning to him with this…

“... Why did you do it?”

“Hmm?”

Breaking away from his thoughts when he heard a soft feminine voice, one barely above a whisper, William glanced to its source. That same source came from next to him, or specifically Viper who currently lay on her side, hair shadowing her eyes. She slowly shifted to a sitting position like he was, yet her expression remained concealed behind shadows generated by her hair. This marked the first time he had ever seen her so… vulnerable, unlike what she usually presented herself as. “Why did you save me…?”

“Why not? Is it wrong for me to save a comrade?” He paused, taking a few breaths for himself to calm his nerves before he explained why. “Viper… you three may be some of the worst Nikkes or rather… worst people to have ever been created by Missilis… but despite all of that, you three could have done something greater… like Crow… how she’s so goal-oriented and knows how much of a threat I am… but really that all depends on her now…”

Viper was silent, she never thought that he would describe how Crow would be driven to her own goals and the means that she’ll take to achieve them. This also confirmed to her something she’d suspected about him, that William wasn’t a fool to not realize they had ulterior motives for this mission. But that revelation, combined with his recent actions, just baffled her all the more. “But then why…?”

“It’s because I’m giving you all a choice… to be better than your boss or rather… slavemaster that put you all through hell, if Crow, your Captain, wants to have change? I think there would be better ways of doing it…”

“... I… don’t think Crow would…”

“Then that would be her decision… anyway, enough rambling from me…” He readied his MDR. “We need to get out of here, that RAY variant is gonna kill Crow and Jackal if we don’t get back up there quickly. On me.”

Viper slowly nodded, setting aside her emotions to focus on getting out of this icy chasm they’d fallen into with him. She slowly rose to her feet alongside William, the two of them proceeding to get ready to head out. Only one thing came into her mind that she was about to say to him, but it never left her lips… ‘... Thank you…’

Trekking along the icy chasm, William and Viper slowly but surely do their best to navigate the rough, uneven terrain that had become their new ‘prison’ of sorts, making them wonder just how deep this thing went if they couldn’t even hear the sounds of battle that would have come from above otherwise. Since the terrain consists simply of a long winding pathway, some ice formations rising to an elevated or escalated height, William didn’t hold out much hope for escaping quickly.

‘This place…’ the hybrid thought to himself with a calculating glimmer in his eyes, now mismatched due to one Rapturising though he hadn’t manifested any of his weapons. Based on their current pathway, William had guessed that they would be traversing upwards to the north, at least up a small hilltop he estimated. Remembering the vantage point he had scouted this settlement from, he suspected this fissure would lead them close to there or at least right outside the village.

Before long however, their uneasy silence got broken after Viper caught herself after climbing atop a ledge, the hybrid right ahead of her so her voice reached him clearly enough.“Hey, Commander…”

“Yes, Viper?”

“About that creature… what do you know about it? You… sounded like you recognized it…”

“Ah…” The male paused in his words, recalling that moment and cursing his own idiocy. He again pretty much slipped up like an idiot, worse to some people that aren’t even REMOTELY privy to his actual status as an otherworlder…

“There’s something you’re not telling me, Honey-cakes… I’ll ask again… who are you really?”

Again, William remains silent as he tries to deduce a way out of this mess. But unfortunately Viper doesn’t give him the chance to.

“Commander… don’t lie to me… I know you had your reasons for hiding your Rapture Side from us. But I wanted to trust you now since you’ve saved my life… nobody has ever done that for me before so please…” Viper pleaded. “Crow won’t ever hear about what you have to say to me, you have my word.”

At her declaration that she’d remain tight-lipped about his secret, William simply stood still, with Viper noticing his hesitation and conflict,something that she understood. They haven’t been that close for long, but when they first met in the Outer Rim, she was curious about who he was and thought that she could get something out of him, maybe even some leverage over him.

But overtime after her first encounter with him, something had changed a bit in her. She managed to push whatever emotions were bubbling inside of her at that time while she’s at her own work, but sometimes she couldn’t stop thinking about him… Crow noticed this and simply told her to ignore him, cast him out of her mind, though don’t know how long that worked... When the revelation about his powers came to light, initially she felt betrayed… angry even at the fact that he never even shared that kind of information.

Ultimately, when the call came from Syuen to work under him again, those feelings then resurfaced inside of her. Gave her mixed feelings about even working with a monster that he’d turned into.

It was then after today, he’d saved her selflessly, she understood then and there that he was sincere in what he was trying to do… so she would understand if he wouldn’t tell her because he doesn’t trust them and rightfully so.

“*sigh…* Very well, Viper… at least let me start from the beginning so that you have a better understanding from me…” He tells his true story to Viper as they walk, he tells Viper the truth of who he was from the very beginning.

The more she learned of the truth the more she became baffled and confused by it. But after correlating the info he gave her and with what she’d verified of his assets before, everything now became clearer to her that he wasn’t any ordinary individual…

Viper will still keep her word not to tell his secret. Not even to Crow because she said so herself.

“So you think that thing… this Metal Gear is not from this world either?” Viper eventually questioned after a moment’s worth of processing the revelations he had provided.

William shook his head in response. “Even if I wasn’t from another world, I’d have the suspicion it ain’t. Think about it, the thing didn’t even resemble the typical raptures, even Tyrant class ones. It's more like a mech than anything else…” he explained, one hand under his elbow while the other positioned itself like it was holding a glass next to his head.

Upon pondering this reasoning, Viper furrowed her brows when she realized that logic wasn’t that unheard of. If William managed to come here as an Otherworlder, then that would mean others could too. Be it through some isekai bullsh*t in his words, or through transdimensional tomfoolery like in those sci fi novels she’d read with Jackal in their free time. Not to mention that while it felt like a sufficient boon to the ark and humanity as a whole that William was here, his exploits proving as such, the possibility the Raptures were enjoying the same benefits dampened those hopes.

Considering the strange new Rapture types running around and their initial appearance being not too long post William’s arrival, that possibility becomes increasingly likely…

A troubling thought indeed.

“That makes sense… and I doubt the others have the weapons needed to fight that thing if it's meant to survive nuclear war.” Viper widened her eyes in realization when those words left her lips, a small notion of panic starting to form in her gut.

A notion which the hybrid shared as he quickly made to resume his trekking. “Indeed, which is why we should hurry up, Viper. We’re speedrunning this sh*t, so double time it, soldier!”

“Y-Yes sir!”

10 mins later

When they arrive at what looks to be an opening, both William and Viper take cover behind some ice formations before peering out to see what they were dealing with. They both frown when they see it is guarded by a slew of T-Dolls… they are so close and yet upon closer inspection they have Striker Sangvis Ferri blocking their ways out. “We’re almost out of here, Viper… please allow me to let loose here.” His eye Rapturises and mask manifest themselves before her.

Before he could go in however, Viper gave him pause when she asked, rather… a weird question. “Question, do those Dolls look the same as the ones we fought back in the village?”

“They do… they assimilated those dolls into their ranks and now fight like us… making this war a bit more complicated…”

Viper did not like the sound of that, but more than that another idea had popped into her mind that sounded worse. “But they weren’t there when we first arrived, nor did they show when the alarms were triggered… could that mean they were brought here by that thing?” She questioned William frowning when he realized what she’d been intending.

“They were probably searching for us… hence why they sent them here…” But when they look back to the direction they’d come from, they hear footsteps coming closer to their position and they’re in big numbers… “We’re surrounded… Viper, when I make an opening, get ready to run, got it?” He rears his tails at their intended targets.

“Y-Yes!”

Jumping out of their cover the other enemy T-Dolls noticed his approach, impaling his tails into the icy ground and starts to lunge at them from above, quickly being at the center of their formation, but then as he did so, he feels his left arm manifesting something as his scarves began to mold and coil around it until it transforms into a sort of shield… Its shape is of a half-oval with the other end that reached to his hand is in a pincer shape, the sides concave inward and the tip is in the shape of a diamond, a Pavise had manifested around his left arm.

‘Huh, a Pavise? This should be fun…’ he thought to himself as he raised it to shield him from enemy fire. Thanks to its size, only his upper body got covered by its surface area but luckily for him none of the T Dolls decided to treat him like Captain America and go for his legs. Seconds pass and William gets close to one and impales its neck by shoving the shield’s end into it, letting him swing the arm to the side to slice it open. He then twists around so he’s spinning around the T Doll, then grabs her arms to point her gun and fire on the rest of its comrades.

While this happens, William glances over to where Viper currently hid. “Viper, RUN NOW!” he bellowed like god giving an order to his angels to commit mass genocide.

“R-Right!”

Meanwhile, at Rapi’s group.

“Commander?! Commander, come in!” amidst the chaos of the current battle, Rapi keeps her head low behind her cover as she uses her watch to confirm their missing leader’s current status. Unfortunately she can’t, no matter how many times she tried she didn’t get any connections whether it due to the abundance of alva particles or the distance between them, she couldn’t tell.

She and the others were currently making their way through the village trying to get back to Crow’s side when they heard the sounds of combat like explosions. She had immediately made the call to regroup with that squad knowing William had been there, but their journey had been blocked by a sudden ambush from T Dolls that came at them in a pincer assault, forcing them into a situation where they’re pinned, unable to assist their comrades. Rapi had been doing her best to keep the squad’s formation together in the meantime, but these T Dolls fought with much greater efficiency compared to the ones they’d fought previously.

In the end, she had to weave to some new cover to avoid getting blown to bits by gunfire from a few grenades thrown by some T Dolls. “Crow! Status! Where’s the Commander?!” she yelled into their short-range comms, which still worked thankfully.

Meanwhile, Crow and Jackal (who looked to be having the time of her life) are desperately rushing about like headless chickens to avoid the constant barrage of missiles launched by the creature which had blown them out into open space where they couldn’t find cover.

The moment they got Rapi’s call, Crow cursed under her breath after barely avoiding another missile and managed to roll into some debris, pressing her back against it before answering. “Dammit, bad time to call here! We’re getting hammered as well! And the Commander went down a very big ice chasm along with Viper!”

Rapi paled at this information, biting back the urge to just yell the obscenities she wished she could due to this revelation that the Commander was missing. Her heart sank at the possibility of him expiring out here, even though she knew of his survival skills and Rapture side. It didn’t help that one of the Nikkes she trusted the least was apparently with him, who knows what would happen. She needed to get their squads back together ASAP! They were sitting ducks in this damn village. “Are the Pilgrims with you?!”

“f*ck no! We’re just scrambling right now! This thing… I don’t know, a RAY as your Commander called it, popped out of the lake like ‘surprise, bitch’!” Crow ranted, not liking the situation they’re both in either… not to mention the fact that her Commander and Viper went down a very big chasm of all times and they’re probably dead. “How the f*ck do we beat this thing anyway?!”

“Can you give details? We’re trying to get to you but we’re having enemy issues here!”

“I don’t know! But this damn thing keeps on firing missiles from its wings or whatever, and it keeps on roaring with its mouth open! We don’t even know how to beat this thing without that Commander of yours!!” Crow exclaimed, barely hanging on beside Jackal.

This isn’t looking good, not at all from both parties as they’re desperately fighting back…

*BANG!*

“What the-”

*BANG!*

Heads of the enemy T-Dolls are getting blown up by an unknown Sniper, to which both sides get down to try and confirm where the shot came from when a familiar black clothed silhouette and a familiar Viper were seen at a considerable distance with Viper standing beside him.

“It’s the Commander and Viper!” Anis called out as she began to raise him with her watch. “Commander, we need Sniper support now! They’re blocking our way to Crow and Jackal!”

“Copy that!”

Bang!

Another shot rang out in the distance as William, now prone, took out the more heavy gunners first, giving them ample room to breathe and counter attack the rest of the enemies before them. “We need to get back to Crow and Jackal though, those two are not gonna hold up under that damned Metal Gear!”

“Metal Gear!? They have that as well?!” Isa exclaimed on her comms with her SCAR-L out and equipped, shocked these things have something like that in their arsenal as she smashed a T Doll’s head to paste with a well-placed head shot through her thermal scope.

“Yes! Which is why we need to hurry or they’re dead being under that damned thing! Push forward!”

“Roger!” And the echo of gunfire roared through the village like the 4th of July as they made their way back to where Jackal and Crow were. When they do though, they see Metal Gear Ray still playing with its prey like they have nowhere to run while Crow and Jackal could barely make a dent to the damned thing’s structure with their current weapons...

“Dammit! This is not going as planned! Why did that stupid commander save Viper anyway? That fool…” Crow cursed. Her ammo reserves are already running low and Jackal’s right leg has been partially blown off by one of its missile barrages. Right now she’d wished that he’s still here with them to try and beat that thing if Viper hadn’t frozen herself that time…

Another mechanical roar erupts in the battlefield as it opens its mouth again to reveal the glowing component that’s just sticking out of its open mouth, causing them to turn pale once more in realization as to what's happening next. Pure terror gripped Crow’s chest as she realized she wouldn’t be able to dodge this one, not without sacrificing Jackal who couldn’t move. Even if they did survive this the Nikke knew her ‘pet’ wouldn’t be as loyal to her if she tried ditching. Just when she figured ‘f*ck it’ and tried to move…

THUMP!

A hit from afar interrupted its roar.

‘What the-’

*BANG!**BANG!*

Two more shots hit its head as it roared in pain, stumbling to the side from the impacts those shots had. But another one reverberated from another direction it came from. And it’s a lot more powerful than the first two.

Looking over to where those two sniper shots came from, Crow peered through optical sensors and noticed the other squads, led by Rapi with Isa following closely behind, had started closing in on the main fighting after having shredded the rest of the T Dolls after a hard fought battle. Behind them the remaining Nikkes and T Dolls were rapidly following suit akin to a wolf pack rushing to aid their fallen members. Quickly opening his comms, the male shouted his orders through with an urgency reserved for dangerous emergencies. “Counters have arrived at the scene along with Viper! Crow, get Jackal and run from there NOW!”

Immediately afterwards, the male fires another follow-up shot at it with his Sniper Rifle while the others also try to pelt it with lead and explosives.

When he saw the third shot opposite of their, he quickly sussed out who likely fired it from the shot’s impact and the sound it made, his eyes shining with joy as he established communications with their new arrivals. “Pioneer, you’re just in time! Snow White, fire another shot at it, Rapunzel, jam its signal and do NOT let it call up anymore of its friends! Scarlet, link up with me and get ready to slice up its legs!!” He screamed, not wanting to let it claim any one of his people today.

“Roger!” The three Pioneers screamed in unison as Rapunzel put up her jamming device.

Snow White sets up her sniping position with her anti-ship rifle on a rock and Scarlet immediately runs over to its legs with William coming in beside her.

They both pulled out their Katana Blades and began slashing at the legs. Trying to render it immobile as much as they can before they finally cut through at least 20 layers of protection to dismember it. After which he would then jump to where its head would be as it collapsed onto its back, the beast would try to kill him with its laser mouth but it was unfortunately damaged by the shots they gave.

He goes for one last pound into its head and he stabs into it, a roar of anguish and pain as the machine lifeform before them began to die down, until there was silence in the battlefield with no one being able to say a word as the groups have their own mental and physical exhaustions.

For Exotic, this was a near-death experience for them since it nearly cost them their lives without having a way to go back, even Crow was almost ready to ditch Jackal and save her own skin had it not been for their intervention.

Panting in exhaustion, he looks around to see the carnage it did along with his people to which they had sustained some injuries after-the-fact. “... Status report… Injuries?”

“Some burns and gashes… but nothing too serious here, Commander…” Rapi reported.

“A few exposed wounds and Jackal’s right leg is gone…” Crow reported, holding Jackal with her arm over her shoulder.

“We’re good here…” Snow reported before apologizing to them. “Sorry we didn’t come here sooner.”

And lastly, Isa who is checking on the T-Dolls, gives her report after checking in on them. “No injuries except for a few scratches. We’re good.”

Rapunzel walks up to Jackal as she does some maintenance over her right leg. The woman frowned at the diagnosis she got before grimly reportng the following. “She needs a replacement leg, Believer. We have some spare parts for everyone back at the village where we stashed them.” Rapunzel then gives a bow to her Believer. “Thank you for freeing that village, we would have done it ourselves but you saved us the trouble.”

William meekly nods, thankful for their timely appearance as well as their support. “Don’t mention it. Alright everyone head back to the village, Exotic, they’ll be taking care of Jackal for the time being while the rest take a breather and fix up.”

“Roger!”

Everyone in their group along with Pioneer goes back to the village for repairs and healing. The others help with setting up some barricades in case of another siege against them with the help of Scarecrow’s Drones for surveillance over the village.

Snow White goes to another house within the village and pulls out another storage for rations, most of these were from the Ark thanks with the help of William, the Research Station had become an essential replenishment hub, along as a reinforcement hub should they require assistance of their own.

“Jackal, was that your name?” Rapunzel inquired the injured Nikke’s name as Snow White helps in her leg’s replacement. “You nearly lost your own life there if we hadn’t made it in time.”

“Well, thanks… I was having fun, until Viper and Commander fell into an icy hole… and you three are Pilgrims?”

Rapunzel nods while Snow White was busy fixing up her new leg. “Yes. Though I should probably ask him later on what brought you all here.”

After Snow White fixes Jackal's new leg, she orders Jackal to stand up from her bed, have her move her new leg and then start walking with it again. Well, she still needs to get used to her new leg before she can be fit for duty again.

“I’ll be talking with the Commander, meanwhile, Agent’s busy cooking some of the food we brought out. Executioner and Scarlet are talking with each other for a while, so keep an eye on them for me, Rapunzel.”

“Got it. Team Leader.”

Snow White walks out of the house to where William might be after passing by Anis who is helping Agent cook, who is accompanied by Isa as they were watching the snowy biome around them. “Hey, Commander.”

“Hey Snow…” William greeted as he saw her approach them from the left side. “How’re my people doing?”

Snow White nods, having helped Jackal get her new leg installed herself. “They’re good, for now… in the meantime, help me raise some reinforcements from the Research Station, please? Just a small force and some defense packages should be able to hold this place.”

“Sure thing. I’ll get right on it.” He raises the Research Station for a small reinforcement package to defend the village that they’re in.

A Sputnik with some Battle Bunkers filled with Tesla and Desolator Troopers soon arrive, and are thus promptly placed near the entrances.

Following them, a Prospector with some Peacekeepers, Javelins and Cryo Legionnaires set up guard points around the walled village with Prism Towers around them.

Lastly, some Sudden Transports carrying Sniper Teams and Imperial Warriors, along with some Tankbusters and Rocket Angels that are flying in the sky at the moment. As well as some Generator Cores for power and plenty of ammo resupply crates of course.

“Rocket Angels, suited up!” The Rocket Angels say their quote in unison as they hover in the air with their feet thrusters and their wing missiles and paralysis whips ready to strike at any foe that comes into their line of fire.

“Heh. This should somewhat be enough for us, though we need to talk about something… what we really came here for.”

“I see… do we want to have that squad, Exotic as they’re called, to be in the know of this?”

Rubbing his chin, he thought about the potential dangers those three might have. Then again, Syuen pretty much brought them here to him. “Hmm… I think they would figure it out themselves… Crow is dangerous, she is quite smart and cunning… but I don’t think she would be able to try anything stupid against me… at least not right now anyway…”

“You sure?”

He sighs, not liking where this is going, so he tells the two the other one in that group that was in the know. “Viper’s also in the know about who we really are…”

Snow White and Isa were silent at that. But for Snow she simply nodded. “I see… we’ll have to ask them first…”

“Righteo…”

Back at the house, they were doing their own tasks for the time being. Scarlet and Executioner were in another room sharpening their blades for maintenance. Obviously one can see the contrast of those two people being that the latter was vying for a match with the former.

“So you’re the one they call the Executioner by name, are you not?” Scarlet asks the woman next to her, who is doing her own maintenance of sharpening her own blade.

“Yes… yes I am. I am also one of your Commander’s former enemies. Well… he’s my commander now after our assimilation into their company succeeded. Guess I owe him a lot after that, as well as the chance to fight him myself now that he’s strong.”

Scarlet raises a brow at her past brushes with him. “You’re saying, he wasn’t strong before?”

“He was… but as a frail and weak human…” Executioner said before stopping her blade maintenance and moving her blade to her eye level where a reflection of her eyes are seen looking back at her. “I never saw him outside of his own headquarters other than the T-Dolls he used to cower behind. But after seeing him now? He’s in a league of his own it seems…” She then puts it down on her lap as she faces Scarlet. “Makes me wonder why he didn’t just do all this from the start, consequences be damned, he surely didn’t care for politics in the end.”

Scarlet merely shrugged. “Obviously… from what I heard, these game worlds… don’t really allow people like him from behind a screen to do so… our creators if we call them that… they made it that way for people like him.”

“Harsh…”

“But… that didn’t stop him from trying… at least now he can do more than leading and fighting. Kind of makes me wish that he was still here when…” Scarlet paused, looking back to her distant past.

“When what?”

“Ah nothing…” The woman simply dismisses it as she gets up from her seat. “By the way, our dinner’s almost ready. Wanna come?”

“Sure.”

A few minutes later.

After eating their fill, the group took to the living room while Exotic went to a separate room one room farther from theirs. “Everyone, me and my squad will be recuperating in another room for the time being. Let’s just say, Crow feels a bit uneasy. We feel uncomfortable with all those troops you brought with you, Commander. So… we hope you don’t mind?” Viper then gives a wink, glancing at William’s way, taking it as a sign that Crow and the others won’t be hearing this confidential info.

William gives a gentle smile her way. “I see… go ahead and get some rest. You’ve done enough for today.”

Viper’s expression lit up beautifully. Seeing as he got the hint, she helps Exotic up to their room. “Thank you, Honey-cakes!”

Once the trio have left. The rest of the group face Pioneer for their original objective at hand: Finding more Vapaus.

William clears his throat and gets to the issue at hand. “So Snow White… about the reason we were here… we came here looking for more Vapaus. And we thought that… you three might know where we could find more, if you’re willing?”

The Pioneers were silent at that.

Normally that silence would mean that they wouldn't do something so reckless as reveal a secret a century old considering how bad things are in the Ark, not to mention that in any other situation they would have popped off on the asker. But in the interest of the contributions William made to their efforts, Snow decided to ask the male’s intentions first. “Why? For what reason other than getting Marian back here?”

William briefly looked at Marian and the Counters that nodded before looking back at Snow White. He inhaled and exhaled through his nostrils before opening his mouth. “Well… Syuen got a hold of one of the Vapaus bullets after the final battle with Modernia… she released this knowledge to the Ark, throwing everything out of whack.” Taking a pause, the hybrid remembered various comments and opinions he’d heard about the issue. Both the good and the bad ones. “Things have gone completely crazy, people are getting quite pensive of Nikkes no longer being under human control. Not really my problem, but things might go in a direction thats REALLY f*cked up…more f*cked up than now, undoing everything people have done to improve Nikke standards… other than that, the NIMPH they all carry right now are still susceptible to corruption… hence why I need to free them…”

“Freeing the Nikkes…” Rapunzel paused her words to ponder the ones that the male had used, her features… complex, to say the least. She looked like she had a thousand different thoughts swirling around her mind in this one moment, but soon enough she managed to pull one out of the mess to lay out before William. “I do acknowledge your desire to free them, but the NIMPH still benefits those who cannot handle life’s issues…”

Yea, William could see what she was admitting to there and he could agree with Rapunzel on it. “True… I’ve examined both the pros and cons before this… but people will still use the NIMPH to keep them under human control as slaves… because although it does help to revive them if their physical bodies were… destroyed or otherwise damaged, they’ll simply continue to treat them as such… and who said that they’ll have to handle life’s issues alone?”

Snow White has her turn to speak. “True, but even if we were to give you that knowledge, what will that get you? You will just be painting a big target on your back if you haven’t already.”

“Why’s that? I already know that it kills the NIMPH inside a Nikke, even a Heretic from Exia’s explanation of it herself. So there’s something else you’re not telling me about Vapaus… what is it really? And if I can’t find more of these bullets from you, then…” He pulls out the last remaining Vapaus bullet from his inventory. “What exactly is it that makes these bullets so special?”

Snow White sighs and lifts her finger at him. “... You.”

“Me?”

“Well, your blood more specifically…” Snow White paused before going back to her explanation as everyone in the room except for Exotic is lost for words. “There’s just something different about it… that whatever’s inside that Blacksmith you jumped into seemed to change something within you.”

William’s mind swam with various thoughts and ideas revolving around this information. His eyes glanced downwards slightly as he held a hand to his eye level. “And Isa… that Dreadwing’s insides must have twice the potency it had on me… it put both of them in a coma for some time and Kalina’s still not awake… ”

“That’s interesting…” Rapunzel mused.

“But anyway, you’re saying that these bullets are actually made of human blood? Not just any human blood, but somewhat similar to mine…?”

The trio nodded wordlessly.

Anis was the first to get out of her shock of this revelation. “Whoa… Vapaus bullets made from human blood… never thought that was actually possible, until now.” She said with the other girls nodding in unison.

Scarlet would then begin to tell their Commander’s story. “Our commander was a one-of-a-kind like you. Back then, bringing down the Heretics paled in significance to a Commander who was able to defeat hordes of Raptures. It was then decided that he would remain a Commander and that Vapaus would be kept a secret. Only a select few, us, knew about it.”

Snow White shook her head, releasing a low sigh through her mouth in resignation. “And that’s another reason why I didn’t want to tell you this, Commander. Scarlet, explain for me.”

Scarlet takes that as her que to finish the rest of Snow’s explanation. “If the rest of your Ark were to learn of your blood’s value, they would have even more reason to enslave you… you wouldn’t ever be allowed to even SEE your Nikkes, let alone fight on the frontlines anymore as you’re strapped in a chair for the rest of your life. Can you handle that?”

Just the mere thought of that possibility turned William paler than a ghost, his whole body being wracked with chills at the damn NIGHTMARE fuel spewed into his ears. “No… I guess not…” he muttered, and that was a freaking understatement.

He sought to be useful to his loved ones for many years now, so the thought of not being able to do ANYTHING was the direct opposite of paradise to him.

Shaking his head and restoring his composure, William directed a firm gaze right back to the Pilgrim. “But this knowledge will come in handy, I’ll make sure Syuen doesn’t know, or the CG for that matter… those guys can kiss my ass. Count on it.”

“Hmph.”

Just as they were talking about Vapaus, some gunfire and explosions could be heard from outside.

Jackal comes running from the room they were using, an excited toothy grin on her face. “Commander! More enemies have shown up to play!”

William sighs, picking up his HTI rifle from the wall it’s leaning on currently as the others scramble to get their weapons. “Welp… you heard her girls, let’s take them out.”

“We’ll follow your lead, Milord.” Scarlet declared with her katanas at the ready and everyone else readied theirs. Glancing at Isa, the pilgrim recognizes a burning determination brimming inside her eyes… alongside something else that REALLY caught her attention.

Outside of the house.

“Rapi, Isa. Cover zones B and C while I take care of A. Keep the Raptures away from our comrades.” William ordered the other two behind him to which they’re organized in a three-way circle on top of a rooftop that encompasses the village.

“Roger!”

“Anis, Marian, Jackal, Crow and Rapunzel, focus on their Aerial units while Snow, Viper, and Neon focus on the more closer ones. Executioner, Scarlet, Scarecrow and Agent will focus on support wherever they can in these zones. Got it?”

“Got it!” They all answered while Crow stayed silent and nodded her head. They see enemies starting to approach from all sides with the familiar variants coming in to tear down their defenses to overwhelm them.

Sounds of gunfire, electricity, light prisms, chemicals and whatnot litter the outside borders of the village they currently reside. Cryo Legionnaires and Desolator Troopers did their job in slowing down and disintegrating the enemy with ease, slowing the Raptures’ advance into the village.

‘Holy sh*t… Allied Cryo Legionnaires and Soviet Desolator Troopers grouped together are just f*cking OP!!’ He thought to himself as the icy sludgy remains of a Rapture T-Doll sizzle down into the ground then disappearing a few seconds later. At least he won’t have to worry about the lasting environmental damage later on.

Scarlet and Executioner are at it with their blades, each having shown their skills to one another in a friendly competition of their own as they slice and dice their opponents, never staying in one place for too long. Seems like Scarlet's taking a liking to her as well, William had noticed during their fighting cause the way they moved and his own kinetic vision he’d honed for gun training let him see the smirks they’d glance at one another with. Well Executioner’s sword skills need some work of their own, but right now Executioner’s just enjoying herself here alongside Scarlet.

For the Anti-Air squad, Jackal’s just having the time of her life as evidenced by how she was constantly laughing like a deranged hyena (mental note, do NOT stay alone with her unless one didn’t value his balls), while Anis helps Marian with Machine Gun fire against the stronger variants from behind cover. For Crow this isn’t what she was used to on the surface, she’s used to fighting on the Outer Rim and not killing them over the waves of Raptures, albeit the ones that resemble female humanoids and dangerous animals of all things. Still she didn’t let that phase her, as she absorbed as much intel as she could with the rare time they have now.

And for those in close to medium range, Neon and Viper were blasting away whichever enemies tried getting too close for comfort, leaving only their scattered remains with firepower as Neon would describe with the support of Agent’s machine gun volley, Scarecrow’s Air Drones and Snow White’s Anti Ship Gun to deal with the more troublesome variants that are tougher to kill.

They’d lost a few Prism Towers and Battle Bunkers, but it’s nothing they couldn’t handle…

After the fighting managed to die down they assessed most of the damage before them after saying ‘Raptures neutralized’ to signal them in the clear.

Anis wipes the sweat off her brow, having some of the shots against her head be too close for comfort… “Whew… I think it would be okay to start calling in for an exfil now, Commander…”

Neon nods, feeling tired after this mission. “Yeah… we got what we came here for so… I think we should get back for the time being.”

“Way ahead of you…” he calls up for an exfil using his watch, not before saying goodbye to them for the time being. “And Rapunzel, Scarlet and Snow… thanks.”

“No problem. Take care of yourselves until we meet again.” Snow said before the trio stayed to help rebuild as the group left them to egress at the exfil point he’d designated with a flare. “Also here…” She taps in the coordinates of where a facility could be located. “That’s where you’ll be able to find the answers you seek.”

William nods in return. “Thank you, Snow. I’ll check it out.”

Hopefully Exotic didn’t hear their prior discussion as the transport lands beside them to which they enter for their ride back to the Ark. A lot of stuff that came to light here was stuff he didn’t wish for the CG to know, considering what they’re like.

William’s lips twist into an ugly frown when a certain someone flashed into his mind, her smug ass grin infuriating him even now. He’s gonna need to explain to Syuen that there wasn’t any Vapaus from their recent expedition… ugh that was going to take a lot of his mental fortitude to maintain, even more so than those bullies he had once tried to reason with. Only difference here was that she had a corporation behind her, so he couldn’t just wolf out like he did to his bullies without the consequences of biting his comrades in the ass.

Back at the Outpost.

Meanwhile, at the Generator Building where Matis currently resided, their atmosphere felt thick with tension. The trio currently sat on a sofa in front of a TV watching the Ark news feed showing a protest against Nikke rights in the form of them not having NIMPH, and a counter protest against the idea of putting them into Nikkes in the first place.

[According to a Netizen personally identifying themselves as a former researcher at Missilis, Nikkes who have had their NIMPH removed are no longer under human control. Once these memory control devices are removed, Nikkes are said to have their own free will. But some from both sides have voiced their own opinions of the matter, both Nikke and Anti-Nikke groups.

“Commander William gave them a second chance, I heard he helped Syuen remove their corruption without sacrificing their memories, I would say that’s a win!”

“Is the Commander insane?! Surely there are plenty of Nikkes out here that have their own grudges against us humans! Is he trying to start a civil war?!”

“Nikkes without a NIMPH are a threat to us all!”

“NIMPH is nothing more than a liability! She had every reason to ask him to remove them! We still need Matis to protect us!”

“But how long until some of our Nikkes begin to turn on us? And say ‘IFinally, 'm free!’ or ‘I’m sick of risking my neck up on the surface for these humans.’ and all that?”]

Maxwell sighs as she ignores the news for a bit to gather her thoughts about the matter. “*sigh* People freak out when they hear about our corruption and then they freak out if we’re cured of it. I don’t know what they want us to do.”

“I…” Laplace tried to respond, but she herself doesn’t really know what to do either… “I’m not sure either… why are people so terrified of us having free will? All that we’re trying to do is stand up for the weak like, Birdie… fighting against evil and bring justice upon this land, and yet why…? Why can’t they see that?” The hero muttered with her head hanging low.

“Maybe that’s just you.” Drake answered with Maxwell nodding along.

But she also added something about human nature and the Ark’s hostility to some change… which she couldn’t blame some of it due to William. “Not that I want to bring harm to humanity, mind you. Cutey did want change in the Ark as well, but people can be stubborn to change it seems. All I simply yearned for is to get my hands on research material. I could care less whether humans are in the picture and reclaiming the surface is secondary.”

Meanwhile Drake scoffed to the side, not caring about it in the least. “Meh, I’m not worried. Just give me something to tear down and I’ll be happy. Maybe the Commander would allow me to let loose when there’s an attack on the fortress he built, hahaha!”

Just as the news continues to shift its focus to their company that was making a statement, Maxwell quickly turns off the TV. “That’s enough. It doesn’t matter what happens, we can do nothing about it.” She then stated. Having been done dealing with the political bullsh*t they’re going through.

Speaking of which they hear some transport thrusters landing at the Outpost.

“I’ll go check it out!” Drake scurries off outside to see a transport that just landed recently and opens its doors to reveal the Commander and co. “Well what do you know, Commander William’s returned.”

The other two remaining Matis members also come out of the building and see the transport they were in, along with the least favorite squad in the company: Exotic.

Maxwell, who is the smartest and most logical of the group noticed Crow stepping out of the transport, her expression as disinterested as ever. Seeing the leader of Exotic alongside her squad invoked various feelings inside the Nikke, she’d thought that Syuen would have sent her and her own squad instead of those thugs. “I know our Boss sent them with him… but she never told us why.”

Drake crossed her hands and with a pout as she voiced her disdain of another Nikke Squad that got to go with him. “Hmph, I’m even more pissed that Syuen didn’t assign us with them…” she snorted in derision… but then she noticed some other details about the squad that turned her scowl into a grimace, the ‘villain’ shifting uncomfortably on the spot.”Then again… seems like they’ve been through hell with whatever it is up there it looks like.” Drake eyed the various scratches and injuries that ranged from less serious to life-threatening ones like Jackal’s replacement leg and such.

“Seems like they’ve been through some stuff…” Laplace then surmised, adding to Drake’s comment when she also saw the wear and tear of their equipment on them. Whatever it was up there, something they’re somewhat glad to NOT encounter in their lives…

At Syuen’s HQ. Missilis.

Reporting to Syuen was one of the least things William wanted to do in this situation, but like any job he just had to suck it up and bear it. He did NOT want to have to deal with her trying to make life on his Outpost any harder than necessary.

All the same though, with the look of utter fury laced with the drug of disappointment on her face, William found it hard pressed not to rip her throat out with his Rapture side’s claws or scarves. Like she had any idea what it was like on the ground, she had no right to be such a condescending bitch right now. “So you’re saying you found nothing? Not even the Pilgrims?”

Knowing the way she would act if she knew the truth about the Pilgrims, William shook his head. “Nope…” He snorted, taking an almost unhealthy amount of pleasure seeing the look of frustration on her features. Hey, he could take his pleasure when he could get it with this one, William knew things wouldn’t be this way forever.

“Did you even at least try to-”

Knowing EXACTLY what she had intended to say, William cut her off with a firm glare while holding up a hand. He had to stop himself from forming a claw over it out of instinct. “No. I wouldn’t capture them, because it’d be too idiotic. Don’t even think about asking me something so ridiculous as capturing them, Syuen, I mean it. Aside from the fact that they have their own missions to carry out, trust is both hard to build yet easy to destroy, got it? So stop asking for the impossible and leave them be, Vapaus is our main concern here.” He then stated, silencing Syuen.

Said little brat breathes through her nose as she tries recomposing herself. “Fine… if you didn't find any Vapaus on them or the village then what else did you find?”

Oh, now THAT would be a doozy to explain, he still remembered that thing going ‘surprise bitch!’ when it leapt out of the water. William would not be forgetting that any time soon. “A big walking Metal Gear as we call it… that nearly crushed us. There’s still some wreckage of it in the North if you're interested, but I won’t be picking it up for you.”

Syuen groaned at this, but didn’t say more on the subject. After all she knew damn well what Wiliam would do to her if she pressed him against a corner. She shuddered at the memory of their first meeting, something that still gave her occasional nightmares. “Ok then. Anything else?”

“Nope.” He told her as he shook his head, not giving her everything he got so far, especially the location of a facility that he’d received from Snow White. “But that’s just about it, there’s nothing really much to find about Vapaus out there at the moment.”

Syuen then looks to the three Exotic members. “Can you three corroborate this?”

The Exotic members nod. But Jackal decided to blurt her own thoughts of the matter herself. “Though it was amazing! Seeing a giant beast like that going down thanks to that white swordswoman helping him!”

Syuen looked confused on what Jackal was talking about though this indeed intrigued her about some of the Pilgrims they encountered recently. “A white swordswoman?”

This time Viper answered in Jackal’s place. “Yes. We were simply outgunned and outmatched by a being of that size… you have no idea how close we are to dying back there if the rest of us hadn’t provided support.”

“Hmph. Just be glad that you’re still alive right now.”

William sighs as they all get back on topic, internally glad she wasn’t focused on the slip-up Jackal had caused. He’d almost lost it when that had happened, just the thought of her harassing Scarlet in any way made him want to go ‘f*ck it’ and introduce the entirety of Missilis to a possible Psionic Decimator… if the rising sun guys in the research station had developed it, that is. “Alright… I think we’ve had enough sh*t for today. For now though, you want to send a team up there to recover that mech? Fine, it’s all yours, that’s what I can give you. It might prove useful to you if you can get it back up and running.”

“Very well… I’ll issue a squad for recovery, you all can leave…” Syuen then ordered, dismissing everyone with a wave as the group leaves her office, leaving Syuen and her red-eyed assistant with a nametag on her jacket that said: Rian. “Rian, issue a squad for recovery of this ‘Metal Gear’ thing, bring it for RnD.”

“Yes, ma’am.” Rian then tapped on her holoboard to requisition squads for the recovery op.

Command Center, Outpost.

With Exotic going their separate ways from his group, the rest take a break, slumping into the chairs and sofas of the Command Center.

“Oof… that was… exhausting…” Anis drawled out slowly, her mouth hanging open as she lay sprawled across the couch.

Neon meanwhile hugged her emotional support KSG-12 from her commander, to which she co*cks and de-co*cks it a few times before responding. “Agreed… we nearly bought the farm there… ”

“But we did get what we were after, right Commander?” Marian then added. All of them knew what she had meant.

He confirms it by sending the data he acquired from Snow White to their watches about a possible munitions factory that could have the capacity to make more ammunition like Vapaus.

But before anyone could take a look at its contents, Rapi stops everyone. “I think it would be best that everyone gets some rest, Marian… this can wait for a while. Commander, can we be excused for today?”

“You’re all due for a breather anyway. In the meantime I’ll be at my office.”

Again Rapi nodded in his direction. “Got it. Rest well, Commander.”

A few moments later, Isa and William lay beside each other on his bed. Neither of them said anything to one another, the former being quiet and reclusive which worried the latter. However, he knew for a FACT Isa wouldn’t tell him until she felt like she could, so he wouldn’t push her into admitting anything.

Their silence got broken soon enough, when a call from his cell pinged him of a message. The male arched a brow at this, before pulling his phone out to look at the message. ‘Huh, sh*t…’ he commented in his mind, seeing the message coming from a familiar face. ‘Diego, huh…?’ looking at the message, William found that the group consisting of him and his Nikkes had managed to settle in and had just notified him of this. Looking out of his command center’s window, the hybrid noticed an unfamiliar building in the distance, a hotel-like one if he were to guess. ‘Looks like thats where they’re staying… maybe I should go visit them, give em a proper welcome.’ The male mused internally, a small smile spreading across his features.

Leave it to Diego to unknowingly brighten his mood, after having to deal with assholes like Syuen all the damn time having someone amicable to him like Diego here would be a breath of fresh air. William also found himself rather curious about the Nikke situation he has, it was quite rare for any commander to NOT see Nikkes as disposable tools so he thought he himself might have been the only exception. William nonetheless found himself happy at being proven wrong this time.

‘Tomorrow, i’ll visit him and see how things are going…’ the male thought as sleep began to take hold. As excited as the thought of having a guy friend in all of this estrogen dominated land, William needed to sleep. He texted the guy about their meeting tomorrow, receiving an affirmative from the fellow Commander before he shut his phone off.

With that, William covered himself with the blankets before slowly drifting off to slumber, hopeful thoughts about the next day filling his mind with peaceful tranquility.

-

To be continued.