:
Happy one-year anniversary, everyone.
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Chapter 44 - …For Now
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With a heavy, pained groan, Joe was set down a fair way's away from the ongoing battle. No pleasantries were exchanged, just curt words of instructions shared between soldiers. Now wasn't the time, and so, Snow White left Rapi to defend Joe while she rushed back to support Scarlet.
There, leaning against the side of a building which had once been a bank, Joe sat with his hand set over his aching chest - his ribs, to be more specific. Chatterbox had, intentionally or not, pressed Joe's modern AR-15-like rifle which he kept slung across his torso, into his chest when he'd been grabbed like a stress ball. Which had f*cking hurt. The man wasn't sure if he was fine, or just wasn't aware if he'd cracked a rib on account of an adrenaline rush, but either way, holy sh*t he wasn't having a good time.
"Commander!" Rapi immediately dropped to a knee and set a hand on his shoulder once Snow White had rocketed back the way they'd come. "Joe, I-" her breath audibly hitched. "I-I'm sorry…" regret worn plain on her features, she was being unusually expressive.
Joe, however, was just confused. "I'm the one that f*cked up, Rapi," he asserted as he reached across his chest to set his hand atop hers. "Intel is literally my entire goddamned job in and out of battle on the field. I'm the dumbass that should be apologizing to you."
Consternation writ large on her face, Rapi shook her head in protest. "No! I'm supposed to protect you, and-"
"And you can hardly do that when I sh*t the bed and fail to do so much as a cursory scan of the field, can you?" the Commander interjected, tiredly grimacing at the little blonde. "It was my f*ck-up, Rapi. Not yours…" Glancing down the street Snow White had charged down, Joe sighed heavily before directing the Nikke as he released her hand, "On guard, now. Chatterbox isn't down yet, and we know that bastard's gunning for me in particular."
With a determined nod, Rapi rose to her feet, brandished her anti-Tyrant rifle, and seemed to brace against the world itself, her expression uncharacteristically fiery.
Having no intention of distracting her further, Joe fell into silence as he simply remained still, lest he risk potentially aggravating an internal injury he may or may not have.
The rising chorus of gunfire mixed with explosions announced Anis and Neon's arrival on the scene, and after a time, the sounds of battle tapered off. Shortly after that, Snow White, Scarlet, Neon and Anis came barrelling down the street, the other members of Counters rushing right for Joe.
"Commander!" Anis cried, lips drawn into a heavy grimace. "Are you okay!?"
"Did you seriously stab Chatterbox in the eye?" Neon, meanwhile, eagerly inquired. "That's so cool, 'our Commander made a Tyrant scream in pain with a knife! What has your Commander done lately, losers?'" she asserted and declared to an imagined audience with an excited pump of her diminutive fists.
"Seriously!?" Anis immediately rounded on the silver-tressed shorty. "We just watched him get carted off by a Tyrant, and that's what you focus on-"
The usual bickering was firmly cut off as Snow White shoved her way past the two, immediately dropping to a knee alongside Joe, staring at him with incredible intensity.
There was a beat before Joe spoke up first, a small, uncertain smile worn on his face. "...Hey, Snow," he quietly greeted the stark-haired woman. Not quite sure just how to speak to her yet-
At once, Joe was engulfed in a tight, almost desperate hug. A shuddering, hitching breath made way for a heavy, singular sob. Snow White had grabbed and was clinging to him. "Joe…" she all but mewled out. "Commander…!"
Burying her face in Joe's shoulder, the Commander had a clear view of Scarlet behind her, a contented expression worn on her features at the sight. "Long has it been, Commander," the swordswoman mused happily. "Yet, all these lifetimes later, still, thy remain… Truly, a man of miracles thy are." She then looked aside at Rapi, who was pointedly remaining quiet, visibly uncomfortable with the affection and familiarity on display.
That certainly caught Anis and Neon's attention, the pair immediately and sharply meeting each other's gaze, having been staring at the exchange between Joe and Snow White with wide, startled eyes.
Luckily, the plan was to let the pair in on what was going on at this point anyways, so…
Returning the hug with a small, somewhat strained chuckle, Joe noted: "Okay, girls… looks like we found the White Pilgrim, and even a plus one," he declared to Counters, gesturing at Scarlet with his chin, while patting Snow White's back for emphasis. "Mission accomplished. Let's not push our luck and head back, yeah?"
After a few moments, Snow White pulled away, once more intensely staring at Joe. After a beat, she grabbed him by the arm, and pulled him onto his feet. Though there was still discomfort in his chest, there was no agony, so he was probably not suffering from any broken or cracked bones. Immediately, reaching over to her hip, Snow White undid a strap of some kind and-
Presented Joe's old swords to him, an expectant look on her face.
Yeah, right. She had them back during their first encounter with Chatterbox, hadn't they?
Looking at the familiar old blades, secured in their black, worn-down Kydex scabbards. The weapons were ancient now, yet held strong, as they damn well should have, given that they were overbuilt to be effectively indestructible unless abused beyond the point of reason.
Joe traced his hands over the now bare metal hilts of the swords, the black leather wraps having likely long since been worn clean off, being organic material than had been exposed to a century's worth of hard life on the surface.
The kopis had been special to him in particular, and he felt no small amount of relief and joy to see it again. Yet…
Taking the forward-curved cleaving sword in one hand, Joe used the other to push the leaf-bladed xiphos back to Snow White, whose expression was deeply confused.
"This one is special to me," the Commander declared as he couldn't help but grin at the familiar weight of the steel in his hand once more - "But that one… I only got it because I thought it looked cool. So, I'll take back the White Reaper's Talon, but I think the White Reaper's Incisor is more yours than it is mine now."
Blinking once in surprise, Snow White's lips parted for a moment, before she replied in quiet understanding: "'A sword should be named in honour of its accomplishments, not whimsy.'" A sentiment Joe had held and freely expressed whenever someone would ask what his blades were named - indicative of the fact that, yes, she knew Joe well, as expected at this point. Yet more evidence that they had a history together; himself and Goddess.
Drawing the xiphos back and returning it to her waist, Snow White didn't protest, and set her hand to rest on the butt of the sword which had served her for an entire century with a firm nod, to which Joe did the same. No more words on the matter needed to be exchanged as Scarlet looked over the proceedings with a deeply contented smile.
Neon and Anis had gone completely wide-eyed, visibly overwhelmed by the implications going on in this interaction. After a few moments of little other than the wind to break the silence, Snow White then spun on her heel, advanced on Rapi, and just as suddenly latched onto the shorter blonde, eliciting a small gasp of surprise from her.
"Red Hood…" Snow White quietly whimpered. "Sister… I missed you," again she buried her face in Rapi's shoulder, "Thank you, for protecting our Commander on your own, for so long… You don't have to bear this responsibility alone anymore. Never again."
Needless to say, Rapi looked more than a little overwhelmed and uncomfortable, given that she… well, unlike Joe, she didn't even remember what little Joe did. But, it wouldn't be right to take this moment from Snow White, and just let her have her reunion, at least for now, before the bandage had to be ripped off.
Notably, Scarlet had a fair bit more restraint, keeping her feet planted, she seemed content to just take in the sight of the moment.
After a long pause, Snow White very gradually released Rapi, who would not, or could not meet the larger Nikke's eyes.
"...I'm not mad at you, Red Hood," Snow White asserted gently. "I'm sure there was a reason you disappeared. I'm sure you didn't abandon us. The fact that you've protected Joe all this time is proof of that."
Okay, yeah, this was starting to get really awkward-
"Snow White," Scarlet interjected. "Consider, perhaps, that this is scarcely the proper time or place for this parlay," the grey-haired swordswoman suggested to her compatriot.
Closing her eyes and letting out a bone-deep sigh, Snow White nodded once. "Right." At once, she spun in place to face Joe once more. "Commander… Scarlet and I were here hunting Chatterbox. But, now that you're here… what is our next objective?" she asked simply, looking to him for orders alongside Scarlet.
Taking a moment to centre himself, Joe nodded simply. "Our objective was to find you - Scarlet's presence is something of a bonus, but, either way, we were only prepared for Chatterbox if we had to fight the bastard. Now, we're here to make a proposition: join us-"
"I would accept without hesitation," Snow White immediately replied, not missing a beat as she did so. "But, we should involve the others in this discussion first."
Blinking, Joe the implications of that hit Joe like a brick. "'The others…' the rest of Goddess is alive too?"
"Wait, GODDESS!?" Anis jumped in place and immediately screamed at the top of her lungs.
"...Oh," was Neon's far more muted, visibly stunlocked response, in contrast.
"Near the Ark, yes," Scarlet answered, paying Anis and Neon's responses little mind. "They were meant to wait for the opportunity to track and contact you, Commander. It seems, however, that you managed to evade their watch in tracking Snow White and I here to this Arctic wasteland."
Giving the messy-haired blonde and the firepower-obsessed weirdo an apologetic look, Joe made a point to address them: "We intended to tell you both only after we had… y'know, proof," Joe informed Anis and Neon. "Sorry, but, it seemed obvious that neither of you would have believed it if we'd told you ahead of time-"
"So you are the Legendary Commander!" Neon suddenly blurted out in a great realization. "You and Rapi are actually the reason the Ark didn't collapse ninety years ago! That was all true!"
To which both Rapi and Joe went pale in the face, staring in muted horror at the smallest present Nikke.
There was a beat wherein Neon realized she'd just projected that realization aloud. With a small, deeply self-conscious chuckle, she admitted: "I kinda forgot to turn off my smart glasses last night, and they picked up you two's conversation…"
Silence reigned supreme as the entire group stood in utter silence - save for Anis, who had curled up into a ball on her feet with her hands digging into her scalp, emitting a quiet, but very high-pitched scream at these revelations and confirmations.
"...Commander," Scarlet spoke up again. "We shall discuss these things as a squad united, not before," she dictated. "Long have we wished to know the fate of yourself and Red Hood. But Snow White and I shan't be privy to this knowledge before our sisters. Let us hear your tale together, as a squad reformed, and not a moment before."
Letting out a very strained breath, Joe nodded once. "Y-yeah… that sounds like a good idea. Alright then, let's-" pausing, he considered the plan as it was, and wondered aloud: "Should we bother going to the Northern Base now…?"
To which Rapi answered. "I don't see the point in doing so, Commander," she declared as sternly as ever. "The only reason we were headed there to begin with was to attain information on the potential whereabouts of the White Pilgrim. Given that we have already encountered her, doing so would be redundant at best. We should simply retrace our steps back to the insertion point where we arrived, call transport, and return to the Outpost. Doubly so given that Chatterbox has been driven off and is logically unlikely to attempt another attack immediately after the first ambush failed. The longer we dally here, the more time we are giving the Tyrant to recuperate and make another pass at us."
Nodding in acknowledgement of Rapi's assessment, Joe replied, "Yeah, given that the weather's clear today, we should be able to make it back to the drop-off for extraction well before the end of the day too if we just go straight back…" clapping his hands together, he continued. "Okay then, let's mosey on back the way we came and-" the Commander paused, the incredibly intense stares Snow White and Scarlet were directing Rapi's way being immediately apparent the moment he glanced over the group as a whole. To say nothing of how Rapi immediately and harshly retreated in on herself at the renewed attention, once more averting her gaze from her former squad mates.
…Yeah. That was the first time Rapi had properly spoken up, and in so doing, revealed that her militaristic cadence sounded nothing like Red Hood, the rabble-rousing idiot gremlin woman of Goddess.
Just as the atmosphere threatened to grow uncomfortable again, Anis sharply rose to her feet, and started trudging through the snow back the way they'd come without uttering a word. Eyes fixed forward, she marched with a mechanical focus very out of character for her. It didn't take a genius to figure out that she was likely terribly overwhelmed by this influx of information, and wanted to get away from the over-stimulation and back towards the familiarity of the Outpost as quickly as possible.
"...As Scarlet said," Joe began as he started off after Anis with a gesture for everyone to follow. "We'll discuss everything with the rest of the squad present. For now, let's just focus on getting the Hell out of dodge."
"...Fair enough, Commander," Scarlet spoke up as she about-faced and began marching on as well. Snow White's gaze intensely lingered on Rapi a fair while longer, though she did turn and start off just the same as everyone else. Neon gave Joe an apologetic look, sheepishly heading out too.
Joe hesitated long enough for Rapi to start walking, falling into pace with her as she did so. "Hey-" he started.
"Not now, Joe," she cut him off, however.
Point taken. She clearly needed some time to process sh*t herself just the same as everyone else.
So, choosing to focus on perhaps doing his actual job as the squad's Commander this time around, Joe fished the drone from his harness, and tossed it up into the air to get it started-
And watched it promptly arc through the air and plummet into the snow just ahead of Anis, who yelped and jumped at the sudden jump scare.
Everyone stopped and turned to look at a wide-eyed and confused Joe, to which Rapi noted with some measure of embarrassment: "...Alva Particle density is still high enough to disrupt low-level electronics, Commander. The drone won't work until we make our way to a less densely concentrated patch."
"...Oh," was all Joe said in response as he sheepishly shuffled forth to scoop up the drone and return it to its dedicated pocket, hoping that the reddening of his face would be attributed to the cold, even as Scarlet visibly, but silently chortled at the display.
How embarrassing.
"Commander Pholus!" f*cking Chatterbox called out from atop a distant, tree-topped hill. Brazenly announcing its presence with no apparent hesitation whatsoever. "A question for you-" A series of high-velocity bullets immediately screamed out and tore into the sophont Tyrant, blowing large chunks of its body clear from its catoonishly hyper-masculine form.
Pausing for just a moment to audibly chuckle, it give little indication that the momentary assault had so much as inconvenienced it.
"I have nothing to say to the Million-Dollar Chimp beyond a suggestion that you go f*ck yourself!" Joe shouted back as he flipped the Rapture the bird. "Girls, fire at will! Put that f*cker down!"
No protest was offered as all but Scarlet immediately unloaded at the beast. The swordswoman placed herself between Chatterbox and the Commander, clearly intending to serve as Joe's shield so long as the Tyrant was out of cleaving range.
Amidst the chorus of gunfire, Chatterbox leapt to-and-fro, the environment around it being shredded by the bullets meant to put down Tyrants, uproariously laughing all the while. Despite facing down three members of Goddess, despite having previously fled to avoid conflict with the group, here it was, now suddenly entirely without an apparent care in the world as it narrowly avoided being turned to a red mist by the combined attack. "Refuse to entertain my invitation or otherwise, I am serving precisely the role I needed to with this exchange regardless!"
That, notably, gave Joe pause, and he couldn't help but ask with anxiety rising in his gut: "You- What?" He called out, "What do you-"
"A distraction!"
At once, a high-pitched whine was audible from high, high above, and with a stone dropping into his gut, Joe noticed that the squad was all bunched together out in the open… "SCATTER!" he cried out as realization struck him.
Scarlet's arm hooked around his gut as g-forces once again acted harshly upon his limited human form, yet Joe was intensely grateful for it this time. The ground the squad had been standing on exploded in a flash, a flash which did not subside in the least - and it took but an instant for Joe to recognize that they'd been fired upon from the sky with a beam weapon.
Coming to a skidding halt, Joe tracked the beam skywards alongside Scarlet, and his eyes went wide at the sight above them, even as it blotted out the sun as though intentionally.
An airborne Rapture, one purely mechanical in nature. Humanoid from the waist up, and bearing segmented wings which jutted from what looked like great jet turbines - the laser cannons which had just fired on them, going off of the way they glowed and smoked. The two arms it had terminated in what looked like some kind of railgun on one appendage, and a f*cking energy sword on the other. Below the waist, the machine had a great tail not unlike a mermaid's, though lacking in fins, rather than legs.
From this stark white mechanical devil, Joe felt a terrible sense of overwhelming oppression and malice, a hatred and desire for bloodshed, suffering, and a will to inflict it which washed over him in a sensation he could only describe as preternatural. At once, Joe realized that, while he thought he'd known fear before… no, this feeling that ran clear through his body, a chill he'd only ever previously experienced in nightmares purged from his memory by his own mind to preserve him… this, this was fear.
"Oh- oh no, that's…!" Neon started as she rose to her feet, having leapt out of the beam's impact radius alongside everyone else.
"Another Tyrant-" Rapi started before the colour drained from her face and she corrected herself. "-Titan-class! That means-!"
"Heretic!" Snow White outright snarled in open fury, clenching her teeth hard enough that were she human, she'd have surely cracked, if not outright shattered a tooth.
As though responding to the declaration, the machine lowered itself closer to the ground, taking up a hovering position over a still gleefully chortling Chatterbox - all the while, it's torso unfurled and opened up to reveal…
A woman. A- A Nikke. The machine wasn't a Rapture - it was a piloted mecha. Standing from her seat, the figure rose to look over the brim of the co*ckpit, looking over the collective squad of Counters and a portion of Goddess with a smile that seemed far too gentle and genial for the raw, supernatural malice she emanated.
As all Nikkes were, even from a distance, Joe could tell that she was gorgeous - but moreover, her appearance was striking, if only because of her inexplicable resemblance to 2B, the character from NieR Automata. Her moderately long hair shone like silver in the high Arctic sun, framing a hauntingly, oddly familiar fair-skinned face which was itself shielded by a black, armoured visor which hid her eyes from view. She wore a dress with dark sleeves, puffed shoulders, a black brassiere piece which transitioned into a white, silken skirt which was only just long enough to cover her crotch. Joe thought she was wearing tights, but he couldn't make out any finer details of her appearance from this distance, and Holy Mother of God, he hoped and prayed that he wouldn't be able to any time soon.
"So," the rogue Nikke - the Heretic started in a sugary voice, a voice that sent chills down Joe's spine for so many innumerable reasons - least of all being the intense, palpable aura of incalculable hatred which projected off of her and continually struck him like stormy waves. "These are the troublemakers that have been hurting you, Chatty?" she inquired downright sweetly, without a solitary ounce of anything but downright affection.
"That is right!" Chatterbox eagerly replied. "None other than Goddess Squad, no less! At least, part of Goddess!"
With a hum, the Nikke continued. "Mn, well, harming my-" a duo of thunder cracks sounded out, and after a disorienting moment, Joe processed that he'd just heard two back-to-back sonic booms. The first, a shot taken from Snow White's gargantuan anti-Tyrant rifle. The second…
The hostile Nikke slapping the f*cking bullet out of the air, her arm still outstretched as she continued to smile ominously at the group.
"-sweet little friend," she continued without missing a beat, demonstrably entirely unbothered and unshaken by what had just happened, and what she'd just done, "will hardly do at all! Why, I'd say that it's downright upsetting, knowing that a group of common ruffians has been abusing my friend…"
Chatterbox continued to laugh rapturously, clearly and ruinously entertained by this ongoing development.
"Wretched cur!" Snow White called out furiously. "Vile creature, betrayer! Judas! Abominable Heretic! You've turned on our purpose, you've spat on every sacrifice we have ever made as Nikkes! You've allied yourself with the Raptures! You've betrayed mankind-!"
"As they well deserve!" The Heretic declared pointedly. "Which you, of all people, would know, wouldn't you? After all the Ark has done to Goddess… I pity you, you know! Like a beaten dog tucking its tail between its legs and continuing to beg for affection from its shameless, remorseless abusers… have you no pride? None at all-?"
Another pair of thunder cracks. Another shot fired by Snow White, the bullet, this time, backhanded away by the Heretic, just as casually and effortlessly as before.
"Scarlet!" Snow White cried out over her shoulder. "Take the Commander and run! Now!"
At that directive, one of the laser cannons immediately shifted to focus squarely on Joe, who god damn near sh*t himself in response. Needless to say, Scarlet did not lunge for Joe, a gun pointed right at his head as it was. Even Rapi, who had looked like she was about to leap for him as well, was frozen in place by the sight.
Notably, there was a lull in the exchange. Everything fell silent for a moment, little other than Anis and Neon's terrified mewling audible and-
"Commander," the Heretic repeated the word, attention shifting to Joe, seeming to stare at him directly for a few moments. "Commander… Commander, Commander… Commander," she repeated the word a few times, her voice rising in inflection each time before she suddenly leaned forward on the brim of the co*ckpit's opening, and…
The hatred, the fury, and malice, the wish, the desire to inflict unspeakable suffering, the oppressive, nightmarish aura… vanished, all at once.
There was another beat as Joe blinked in uncomprehending confusion, sweat pouring down his forehead at the inexplicable development, and it was Chatterbox that broke the silence.
"Modernia?" The Tyrant inquired of the Heretic, evidently named Modernia.
"Hehe…" In response, Modernia giggled downright girlishly, tilting her head at Joe and grinning widely. "Commander… Commander…" she continued to repeat the term, seeming to fixate entirely on Joe as she did so. "Chatty," she spoke up properly again. "The Commander… He's special. Don't harm a hair on his head."
"As was the plan all along," Chatterbox declared in affirmation, huffing in preparation.
"Good!" Modernia cried out cheerfully, waggling her fingers Joe's way as she continued to single him out, focusing entirely on him. "Slaughter the rest," she commanded the Tyrant happily even as she dropped back into her seat, the co*ckpit of the Titan-class closing around her once more, Chatterbox booming out in laughter as it became clear that a fight was at hand.
A fight Joe could only hope and pray they were prepared for.
