The Chief hummed as he entered the Outpost's headquarters again, alongside the Commander. Overhead, the engines of transport aircraft droned as the reinforced dual-rotor helicopters transporting Nikke squads touched down nearby to disgorge their cargo of humanity's machine soldiers. The Commander had apparently been given command of a slew of smaller Nikke units to fold into the Counters, a tactical squad of sorts that was far more flexible than your average Nikke unit. He was humming a song that Cortana had quickly identified as 'Bratishka', about a 1990s Russian Federation Pilot from the two Chechen Wars and the War in Dagestan... The two had met Anis and Rapi as well, surprisingly.
Understandable. The Commander wore names from both the East and West. Alyosha wasn't particularly western, quite slavic in fact. The young man continued strolling forward, leading the Chief back to the Dorms, only to see the Commander of the squad that had just landed. He smiled and raised a hand, greeting the boy of Asian descent, "Hey, Jake! Fresh outta hell, I see?"
The Nikkes behind him remained ramrod straight, faces and heads obscured by heavy-duty helmets and bodies covered by thick armor plating, while the other commander, a young man like Alyosha, smirked, rolled his eyes and said, "Missilis steel dealt with the hell, Aly. Good to see you, though, my man!" And he shook the boy's hand. The Missilis Products behind him hummed and looked to the Chief. A few gasps escaped their mouths, but they remained professional.
"How goes it in your sector?" Alyosha smiled, clearly familiar with the man as they shook hands. Chief waited in the rear for them to finish their greeting, while the Nikkes searched for something on their person to occupy their time with. They seemed used to this kind of thing, honestly, like waiting for the two men to finish their chat was a semi-common occurrence.
Jacob answered calmly, waving his hand as if to dismiss it, "Oh, same-ol' same-ol'. Raptures have been thinning out on our front is all," He then admitted as he arranged his uniform and made sure his pistol was still on his person. Chief shifted uneasily at the sight of a sidearm in the hands of a man he didn't know. Then again, anyone who was friends with the Commander he'd met could not be that dangerous, right?
"Not as much of a payout without them, eh?" Quipped Alyosha. That caught Chief's attention. They were getting paid for operations topside? Huh, curious little thing, he supposed, but a good incentive to make money and to win their war. The Ark probably didn't have a lot of money to spare, so they'd only give it to those who earned it by doing their most important jobs...
"Oh, no, it's still a decent pay," The young boy replied, arms crossed to his chest. He added with a hint of flippancy in his attitude toward authority, "It's just getting harder to hit some of the dogshit quotas the CG's putting on us," before pausing, noticing the Chief and blinking, staring at the up-armored Supersoldier that his Nikkes had long-ago noticed and chosen to stay out of the way of.
"Yeah, I get it. Counters situation ain't much better, though we're seeing a boatload more Raptures in our case... Annoyingly enough." Alyosha replied, then hummed as he saw his friend had probably noticed the newcomer of the gang. The Chief hummed, taking notice of the fact that the man was with other Nikkes in the squadron. And the fact that they were avoiding him.
"So... Uh... Who's the big guy?" The other Commander pointed at the SPARTAN, which garnered a short chuckle out of Cortana. He seemed fairly terrified of the Supersoldier, despite the two of them presumably working for the same objective:The safety of mankind and, now, if Chief understood it properly, the recapture of the surface from the Raptures. The enemy war machines were going to be removed by any means at his disposal. He would, obviously, take care of himself, too.
Alyosha hummed, then looked back at the Chief, "Oh, him?" and offered the big man a smile, crossing his arms to his chest, "Chief, why don't you introduce yourself?"
"Sir. Master Chief Petty Officer 117..." The Spartan replied calmly, yet with the authoritative tone they'd have expected out of him. Rapi, Anis and Neon looked to him as he continued speaking, "And, before asked, no, I'm not a Nikke or a new war machine, sir. I'm from somewhere else." while he cast a glance toward Alyosha, who gave a smirk and a thumbs up.
"Gotcha... Damn, man, talk about reinforcements." Jake laughed heartily, staring at Chief with a more jovial look. He complimented him, "This guy looks like he eats Raptures for breakfast." And that got a few chuckles out of Neon and Anis. Rapi, meanwhile, remained stone-faced, calm and relaxed, simply checking the ammo count in her heavy rifle's magazines.
"Heh, yeah," Alyosha offered a smile to his old friend, "He's pretty badass. He took down a Rapture commander unit by himself."
"Your squad distracted them, sir," Chief replied modestly, while Cortana let out a short giggle in his helmet, presumably finding said modesty cute... He added, "And we did come up with a common plan of attack," then he motioned to Rapi. The young-looking Nikke looked up from her checks and gave a nod, ruby eyes glimmering with a bit of surprise.
"He's also very humble, apparently..." Anis commented, grinning as she cradled her grenade launcher. Cortana murmured something that was surprisingly inaudible for the Chief, before her com window appeared on the top-right corner of his helmet's HUD, showing her kindhearted smile to her partner. He gave a slight tilt of the head, just enough not to move the helmet, but for Cortana to spot it. He cast a glance at Anis and gave her a nod in thanks, to which she replied with a quick salute.
"Well, shit... I guess, welcome aboard, Chief," The other Commander stated, giving the Spartan a quick salute which he returned. Turning back to Alyosha, he spoke happily, "We'll talk later, Aly. Gotta give the reports to get the cash we need," before extending his hand toward the man. Their Nikkes gave each-other respectful nods, before the mass-produced units belonging to Jake gave the Chief the usual military respect.
"See ya, Jake," Alyosha nodded, shaking the man's hand. He then turned to his Nikkes and told them, "You gals arrived surprisingly quick. Where's Neon?"
"We left her at home," Rapi noted, "Figured it best for you to have an escort on the way home, Commander."
"Yeah, we didn't want anyone trying to poke at the Chief or you. Y'know, inter... Whatever... Incidents..." She looked to the Spartan and asked him curiously, "Would 'international' work, Chief?" to which the man simply stared back at her. She sighed and said, "Right. Should we take the road back to our little dorm room and show the Chief his place?"
"Sure," The Commander nodded, then said, "I'll be heading out to my room while you girls do that."
"Understood, Commander," Rapi replied with a quick nod. The group gave the man quick salutes, before separating. The girl looked over to the Chief as they walked toward Headquarters, then stated, "You're incredibly humble for a soldier that basically took down a Rapture Command Unit like it was nothing, Master Chief. I presume you don't like playing yourself up?"
"I was just doing my job," He replied bluntly and rather cryptically.
Anis snorted and said, "Well, ain't that the usual answer you'd hear out of a soldier... Relax, Chief, we're all pals here," before giving him a gentle nudge in the shoulder. The Spartan looked toward her and, much to her surprise, gave a simple nod in thanks. She grinned, then looked to Rapi, who simply shot her a deadpan glance. The grenadier Nikke stuck a tongue out toward her friend, who rolled her eyes, the corners of her mouth quirking up into a small smile. Anis grinned proudly at the small victory of getting her best friend to smile.
The group had made it to the dormitories, watching one of the other Nikkes doing a handstand in front of a gang of very colorful ones. This one was clad in a white sailor's uniform with blue outlines and a beret and had hair as white as snow. Her green eyes peered from behind a pair of half-rim glasses at the gang and she smiled, before jumping up and running to them, "Hey!"
"Hey, Neon," Snorted Anis, "You doing better?"
"Yeah, I'm alright now," She replied, then looked back to the other Nikkes. The girls gave them a wave before departing, with her stating, "Mary and Pepper managed to fix the servos in my shoulder and any other minor damage. Otherwise, I'm fit as a fiddle!" only to look at the Chief and salute him. The Spartan saluted back, obviously, while Cortana giggled in his ear again.
"... What happened?" Rapi asked, looking both at Neon and at Anis, arms crossed to her chest. The grenadier covered her mouth to conceal a hidden smile, while Neon looked like a deer caught in headlights. The Spartan probably didn't want to know what happened to the 'Spy' Nikke, as he'd heard the gang call her on the way back, but, at the same time, it was probably something mundane.
"Oh, I just fell..." Neon averted her gaze, while Anis snorted.
Rapi frowned, "How far?"
"... About six floors..." She replied in a low tone.
"WHAT?!" Rapi screeched, while Cortana burst into a genuine laughing fit. Neon laughed awkwardly, rubbing the back of her head as she started explaining to the worried unofficial XO of the Counters what had occurred. To the Spartan's surprise, Neon had fallen out of a god-damned window in the HQ while looking for them. Apparently, a change of parts had been all it took to get the girl back into action.
Rapi rubbed her face, then sighed deeply and said, "Thank goodness you're okay..." as she patted Neon on the shoulder. Both the white-haired girl and the grenadier let out sighs of relief, before Rapi turned to the Spartan and told him, "I and the Commander have had to deal with this since we came here. This entire place needs updating, building, technological development... Beyond what we can get at the moment."
"Shouldn't Mighty Tools be arriving any day now?" Anis asked as they started walking again, "I heard Liter's been interested in helping develop this place for a while."
"She'll still need raw materiel. I've left a requisition form on the Commander's desk before we got here, but as far as I know, we're short on funds..." The girl told her friend. Neon hummed and looked over to the Chief, then smiled as Rapi and Anis continued chatting. Cortana, meanwhile, continued to run checks on the place's security and on overall networking. It was as bad as the girls let on.
"Well, this is gonna be a rather hard job," Murmured Cortana, "I've also been looking into this whole Nikke business, but I can't access anything remote... I'm gonna need to get into either one of the computers here, or on the Ark itself, probably in the Government. You up for a little run in a few days, John?"
"If it means getting us the information we need without relying too much on our new allies..." John hummed as he watched Neon do another handstand. Anis let out a short laugh, while Rapi seemed all the more concerned for their friend. He hummed and said, "Do you think you can get in from one of the datapads here? I might have a chat with the Commander later..."
"I'll try, unless we have a terminal in our room..." She suggested. Right, John's brain must've still been scrambled from the drop if he had forgot he got his own room in the Outpost. Speak of it, the three girls stopped in front of one of the Barracks doors, with Rapi sliding a card over a holographic display. A door slid open and she motioned to the Chief to enter, which he did.
A decent-sized single room with a bed built into the wall, seemingly reinforced, an armored window to view the outside ahead, a desk in the corner, a wardrobe nearby the bed and a bathroom to the far right, near the door. Cortana whistled and said, "Fancy... Despite the utilitarian look..." as John also noted the steel floors, walls and ceiling with only a couple of old rugs here and there.
Chief turned toward Rapi, who extended him the card as her two squadmates fooled around behind her. He gripped the card gently with his thumb and index, to which Rapi let go of it. She looked at the Chief and gave him another quick salute, then told him, "Welcome aboard, Chief..." her voice calm, collected. She offered a kind smile to him, a presumed rarity.
"Thanks," He nodded and saluted back.
With that, she and the others left, the door sliding shut and closing with a hiss behind them. The girl hummed, clicking her teeth together for a moment, then stating, "This should be interesting..."
"How do you figure?" Neon asked, "The Chief seems like a fairly calm and capable soldier."
"That's what I mean..." Rapi hummed, started, "He seems more like a machine than..." then hesitated, mulling over a good way to properly say this and not to offend both herself and her comrades. They weren't machines, not to themselves, at least, and not by a country mile. Still, as she saw her comrades watching her expectantly, she told them, "More machine than the Raptures. He's focused, sharp... Too much so, honestly. If he's supposed to be a human, he's..."
"One of the weird ones?" Anis asked, catching a confused look from the other two counters members. She clarified, too, "Kinda like the Commander?"
"Master seems plenty normal," Neon shot back, chuckling.
Anis retorted quickly, defending her point by stating annoyedly, "You both know what I mean. They're polar opposites in behavior, but the core thing is the same. There's something about'em in there that makes them tick weirder than the average human. I mean, the fact they see us as people's already telling enough... It's not like anything we've seen from the Ark."
"How do you know Chief sees us as people?" Rapi asked, half-jokingly, though one couldn't tell by the tone.
Anis snorted and said, "Well, simple. He treats us more like soldiers than war machines, eh? He salutes us, agrees with us, acknowledges us beyond some silly thoughts. I'm not sure he's doing it consciously, but I can tell ya, he's acting chummy in his own way. Now, I guess, it's kinda up to us if we accept the greeting and call him our buddy, or we just work with him."
"... You're right," Rapi murmured, "I suppose we'll see on the next op together, seeing as he's part of our squad..."
"Yep. Now, c'mon. I'm starving..." Anis smirked as she led the way out into the wider Outpost, a hand gripping her grenade launcher. They passed by the Scouts, waving hello to Delta and Signal, the tomboyish military sniper with 21st Century Gear and her petite radio-girl comrade, as they stepped off toward the nearby, freshly-built restaurant. Along the way, they met Liter...
"Well, ain't she new here?" Quipped Anis, "Welcome to the Outpost, Liter."
"Kids," The petite blonde builder in a bodysuit replied, rubbing her eyes, "I didn't expect this place to be this bad... Where's the Greenhorn?" And that seemed to get them a bit confused. She clarified, "The Commander of this place? I need to have a chat with him about provisions and supplies to build up this place..." And then everyone pointed to the main building. Liter gave a nod of thanks and stepped off.
"... So, that was Liter?" Anis snorted, "Heh, she's kinda small..."
A hammer flew and slammed into Anis's head, sending her to the floor. Neon burst into laughter, while Rapi smirked as she looked toward Liter, the petite woman already peeved as it seemed. She stepped toward the Command Center, mumbling something as her loyal cyberdog followed close behind. Rapi leaned over Anis, who was probably seeing birdies flying around her head, before she told her, "Liter also has good hearing... So..."
"Ow... Noted..." Anis groaned as a laughing Neon and a smiling Rapi helped her to her feet. The girls stepped off toward the mess hall, while the Commander looked at them from the building, a smile on his face. He sighed deeply, however, well-and-truly expecting the Mighty Tools representative to talk his ear off after Anis had presumably pissed her off enough for a hammer to fly. Honestly, he was glad. Things were starting to go up with the outpost and, hopefully soon, they'd make it into a proper home.
Speak of the diminutive builder woman, however, and she shall appear, the door sliding open with a slam as if to accentuate the idea that she was pissed... And the dog barking to also add to the comedic mix of the situation. Alyosha turned toward her, awkwardly rubbing the back of his neck and waving, all while praying that Anis was gonna show up later so he could talk to her about this event...